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They will desire holiness with an intense earnestness; their souls will hunger and thirst after a better life; and the riches, the pleasures, the honors, the learning, the elegance of earth will seem to them lighter than a feather's weight, when put in opposition to eternal salvation; yet worthy of pursuit, when sought with such a chastened zeal as shall be consistent with the soul's future peace.

In this devotion to the real purposes of existence there will be no tincture of fanaticism, and no disregard of social ties, and no pernicious excitement of the mind. Men will think earnestly, but calmly; they will feel strongly, but with a rational fervor, on the subject of religion. They will not be 'slothful in business,' because they are 'fervent in spirit,' nor negligent in serving their families, because they are diligent in 'serving the 'Lord.' Literature will not lose its charm, by its subjection to the influence of piety. Sound learning will not be discredited, because divine Truth is allowed to have preeminence. Social life will not become monotonous or barren of delight, by introducing the sympathies of heaven, and the felt and visible action of pious sentiment. No; home will have holier and more blissful associations than it now has in the minds of most men ; literature will be instinct with a new and more generous life than has yet determined its character; and the mercantile transactions of the world will be as honorable as now, but more safe and of more equal advantage. In brief, a new day will then dawn upon mankind, and unborn generations will rejoice in its light. Our object has been to draw attention to the evil

which marks our times, and therefore we have dealt chiefly in such inquiries or allusions to facts, as would produce a sense of its reality. The remedy must be found in the improvement of each individual. If a want of a sober employment of the general mind on the truths and commands of Christianity is the defect-we do not say, the vice, but the defect-the serious defect of the age, then in the name of God, of Christ, and of man, may we call upon each other to correct it; in the name of God, for the purpose of his miraculous communication to our world by his Son was the deliverance of the soul from that bondage of error and sin which prevents the developement of its spiritual energies; in the name of Christ, for in his devotion to this object he sacrificed his life, and died in agony and shame; in the name of man, for it is the cry of human nature that demands assistance in surmounting the tendencies which draw it to earth, and the influences which enclose its action within the concerns of a brief state of existence. Reason and conscience lift up their voice, and charge us to be faithful to ourselves. They say to us, that it will but aggravate our guilt to have had signal opportunities for improvement, if we slight them. They tell us that if we have arrived at a better conception of Christianity than others, we are bound to be better men. They speak to us of immortality and retribution; and ask us if we are prepared for judgement. The question is a solemn one; what answer can we give?

E.

IN WHAT SENSE CHRIST SAYS, 'I AND MY FATHER ARE

ONE.'

(From Rammohun Roy's Second Appeal.)

THE Saviour having declared that unity existed between the Father and himself, John x, 30, 'I and my Father are one,' a doubt arose with regard to the sense in which the unity affirmed in those words should be accepted. This Jesus removes by defining the unity so expressed as a subsisting concord of will and design, such as existed amongst his apostles, and not identity of being; see chap. xvii, verse 11, of John, 'Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.' Verse 22, 'The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one.' Should any one understand by these texts real unity and identity, he must believe that there existed a similar identity between each and all of the apostles; nay, even that the disciples also were included in the godhead, which in that case would consist of a great many times the number of persons ascribed to the trinity. John xvii, 20-23, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word—that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.-That they may be one even as we are one. I in thee and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one.' I know not how it is possible for those who pro

VOL. I.NO. III.

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fess obedience to the word of Christ to overlook the explanation he has here so clearly given of the nature of the unity existing between him and the Father.

CREED OF TERTULLIAN.

Messrs Editors-In your number for January, I noticed some interesting and useful remarks concerning Tertullian. The writer of those remarks appears to have overlooked what has always struck me as the most remarkable and important passage in all the writings of that eminent Father. In his work 'De Præscript. Hæret. part. xiii,' he declares and defines his own faith and that of the Orthodox of his day in the following creed.

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There is one, and only one God.

He alone created the world. This Being formed the universe out of nothing, by the instrumentality of his word, which proceeded forth from him, the first of all derived beings(verbum suum primo omnium demissum.) This word called his Son, appeared variously to the Patriarchs under the name of God (in nomine Dei ;) its voice was always heard by the Prophets. It was afterwards brought down by the spirit and energy of God the Father (postremo delatum se spiritu Patris Dei et virtute) into the virgin Mary; it became flesh, or a human being, in her womb, and proceeded from her as Jesus

Christ. Afterwards he promulgated a new law, and a new promise of the kingdom of the Heavens; he practised and developed the virtues(virtutes egisse); was crucified; rose again on the third day; was taken up into the Heavens, and seated at the right hand of the Father; and sent down in his stead, the power of the holy spirit, which actuates believers. He will come in conspicuous glory, to take up the holy to the enjoyment of life eternal, and of the celestial rewards, and to adjudge the unholy to perpetual fire, both which descriptions of persons having, in the first place, been raised again to life, and reunited to their bodies.'

This creed is remarkable in several points of view. It is entirely destitute of allusion to the doctrine of the atonement, and contains not the least sign or mark of the distinctive doctrines of Calvinism. We look in vain for what are called the peculiar doctrines of the gospel. In searching it from beginning to end we catch no glimpse of the doctrine of the trinity. It declares on the contrary the unity of God. It asserts that Christ, or the word, was created in time, (primo omnium ;) that he derived his being from God the Father; that he came to establish a new law, to proclaim new promises and to influence us by practising the virtues, that is, to be our example. Finally, I would remark that the account given in this creed of the holy spirit, is substantially the same with that presented by unitarian interpreters, that is, the spirit which actuates believing and faithful Christians. As long as this creed can be adduced, it will be impossible to accuse of heresy, or con

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