Republican Christianity; or, True liberty, as exhibited in the life, precepts, and early disciples of the Great Redeemer

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REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY :

OB,

TRUE LIBERTY,

AS EXHIBITED IN THE LIFE, PRECEPTS, AND EARLY
DISCIPLES OF

THE GREAT REDEEMER.

E. L. MAGOON,

ACTHOB OF " PB0TERB5 FOR THE PEOPLE," " LIVING OKATORg OF AUXBICA,'
" ORATORS OF THE AMERICAS RETOLUTIOS."

SECOND EDITION.

BOSTON:
GOULD, KENDALL, AND LINCOLN,

59 WASHINGTON STKEET.

1850.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by
GOULD, KENDALL, AND LINCOLN,
In the Clerk 'ti Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts

I

TO ALL

"WHO HATE TYRANNY,

REVERE HUMANITY, BELIEVE IN PROGRE-SS,

AND FOLLOW CHRIST,

THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED,

PREFACE.

The author of the following work avows his creed iii a brief
formula, as follows : —

First, he believes in Jesus Christ

Second, he believes in no one else, as having the slightest
authority over the personal freedom and religious rights of mankind.

Christ came into the world to redeem it, by the power of a benefi-
cent life and vicarious death. He was born at the base of the
pyramid of society, where the masses are densest, widest, and most
oppressed; mingled with every class; endured every wrong; miti-
gated every form of suffering; sympathized most with the most
abused ; denounced political and spiritual tyraimy in the strongest
terms ; and, finally, fell a victim, mangled by that malignant pride
and power which, in the persons of high priests, crafty scribes, and
official Pharisees, ever stand ready to inflame the popular mind
with cruel prejudice, leading the multitudes to spare a robber and
murder their greatest Benefactor, so that oppression may yet flourish,
and their own ungodly immunities remain secure.

In the first part, we have attempted to portray the human, as well
as the divine career of Christ. Viewing him at five different stages
of his progressive work, we see how he lived out the diversified
1*

6 PREFACE.

experience of all the injured, before he came to the consummation
of his mission, and that this preparatory discipline fully qualified
him gloriously to accomplish the salvation he came to perform.

In the second part, an examination is entered upon touching the
character of the primitive church. The author believes that Jesus
Christ, eighteen centuries ago, gave our race a perfect model of
republicanism ; and that this was not only exemplified in his life,
and confirmed by his death as the highest gift to all men, but that
it was strikingly imbodied in the original formation of the Christian
church. The analysis of the argument on this point, as well as
the authorities by which it is fortified, are before the reader, and he
may judge with respect to the correctness of the deduction. It will
be seen that the autlior nowhere offers a direct defence of the
views held by his o\vn denomination, but presents data from
standard writers, which can easily be verified. If any persons are
dissatisfied with the statements adduced, they need not long doubt
with whom to quarrel.

In the third part, premises laid in the character of Christ, and
illustrated in the constitution of the primitive church, are applied
to existing evils, showing the legitimate influence of Christian
doctrine. The author is aware that this is a delicate matter; but
he would hope that the topics involved in the discussion have been
handled in a way adapted neither to exasperate the passionate
unnecessarily, nor make the judicious grieve. With prayerful
solicitude, and, he thinks, true conservatism, he has written under
the influence of no sectarian feeling or sectional prejudice, express-
ing as plainly as possible what he sincerely believes, and fawning
for no favors. Herein are thoughts and emotions wliich have
haunted tlie author fur yc:irs; and they are now sent forth to stir

PREFACE. 7

in other bosoms, and thence to produce,, according to the soil of
their gTowth, a blessing or a curse.

There are many young men in our country, cultivating the earth,
swinging the hammer, or driving the plane, whose superior endow-
ments and hidden aspirations generate in tlieir acliing bosom pur-
poses most honorable to human nature, but which true merit is slow
to confess. These are surrounded by the mercenary and grovelling,
who are as indiiFerent to the effulgence and utility of sanctified
genius as they are to the glories of a flower crushed under their
miry heel. To arm such young brethren with fortitude, foster their
beneficent purposes, and share their sympathetic regards, has been
a primary purpose with the author, and will constitute his most
genial reward.

We live in what we are pleased to call a free and happy land.
As we here enjoy the amplest means, and are urged by the strongest
motives, it is certain that we should employ the wisest and most
heroical enterprise, to bless every section and rank of our common
country and the world. The present is an age auspicious for
humanity, inasmuch as good books are every where multiplied,
benevolent institutions are springing up of every kind, and the
divinest enfranchisement is rapidly embracing all our race. Tele-
graphs, with lightning alacrity, bring the remotest regions into
near neighborhood, and speak almost simultaneously to multifarious
classes and states. Commerce, with a body of iron and soul of
flame, darts athwart oceans, the mighty auxiliary of the cross, and
pledge of universal brotherhood. In our western world, innumer-
able presses multiply intelligence with a speed and profusion truly
sublime, causing all the intellects of antiquity to become contemporary
with ourselves, and tlie willing agents of a civilization perpetually

8 FREFACE.

improved and indescribably grand. In the eastern hemisphere, the
most startling developments of Providence are continually tran-
spiring. Napoleon is represented as saying, "When I am dead,
my soul will return to France, and dwell in the hearts of the
French people, like thunder in the clouds of heaven, and throb with
ceaseless life in new revolutions." In an infinitely nobler sense, it
would seem as if all the champions of outraged humanity, in every
epoch and nation, were becoming incarnate again, or exerting,
through occult means, a redeeming power in every clime. The
masses are finding their hands, feeling their powers, and asserting
their rights. The almightiness of the great Captain of our salvation,
the rejected, toil-worn, lacerated, murdered Nazarene, is imbuing
the intellect and heart of man — of all mankind. Let bigots
tremble, and let tyrants flee, for the hour of their doom draws near.
Crumbling thrones, decaying mitres, obsolete creeds, and shattered
chains, are blown aside by the tempests of popular indignation,
giving space and capacity for humanity to exercise itself, and taste
the rapture of those energies which heaven bends low in our
day to emancipate, and which hell must be permitted no longer
to bind.

E. L. M.

Cincinnati, April 1, 18-19.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

THE EEPUBLICAN CHAUACTER OF JESTJS CHRIST.

CHAPTER I.

The Ittfajtct of Chebt 15

In his advent, identified with the lowly condition in which the masses
of mankind are bom.

1. His coming was prepared ;

2. The place of his appearance was appointed ; and was

3. The type of all redemption, pledge of universal freedom.

CHAPTER II.

The Totjth of Chbist, 31

In his youth, occupied in toil such as the great majority of men
pursue.

1. His best energies were developed by the worst trials ;

2. His finest sympathies became the source of most rugged

strength ; and

3. His earliest aspirations arose to emancipate the world.

CHAPTER III.
The Makhood of Chbjst 48

In maturity, trained by sufferings such as mankind in general are
doomed to endure.

1. In his manhood subjected to severe social oppression ;

2. "Was compelled to exercise personal self-reliance ; and

3. Experienced much of the seductions of power.

10 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.
Chkist as a Preacher 79

In his public life, the beneficent champion of universal rights.

1. He addressed a common nature ;

2. Aroused common emotions ; and

3. Imparted common blessings.

CHAPTER V.

The Sacrifice of Christ, 106

In his sacrifice, the divine atoner in whom all are invited to tnist
for the highest freedom and immortal joy.

1. He died for the wretched, whose sorrows he felt ;

2. Atoned for the sinful, whose guilt he assumed ; and

3. Triumphed alone on the cross in gloom, that he might open

the gates of glory to all, and proffer to each a crown.

PART II.

THE REPUBLICAJSr CONSTITUTION OF THE PEIMiTlVE
CHURCH.

CHAPTER I.
The CHxracH withotjt a King 136

1. History of the alliance between the church and kings ;

2. Nature of this relationship ; and

3. Its practical results.

CHAPTER II.
The Chttrch without a Pope 163

1. Popery originated in degoneracy ;

2. Flourished most in the darkest times ; and

3. Is destined to disappear before increasing light.

CONTENTS. 11

CHAPTER III.

The Church -nTrHoxn: a Bishop, 196

1. Bishops are not essential to constitute a church ;

2. Were never designed to exercise lordship over equals in

Christ ; and

3. Are no longer needed to oppress the sacred brotherhood.

CHAPTER IV.

The Church tvithout a Priest, 230

1. Priestcraft is the product of every age ;

2. The defender of every bigoted creed ; and

3. The chief foe to Christianity, and greatest curse to mankind.

CHAPTER V.

The Church without ax Aristocrat 261

1. Aristocracy was the first foe of the church ;

2. Is at best but a hypocritical friend ; and

3. A perpetual impediment as weU as consummate disgrace.

PART III.

THE REPUBLICAN IXFLVEXCE OF CKRISTIAN
DOCTRES'E.

CHAPTER 1.

Christianity the Solace of the Obscure, 291

1. Christianity arose in the deepest gloom ;

2. Is designed to mitigate the keenest pangs ; and

3. Pour solace upon the obscurest children of mankind.

12 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER II.

Chbistianitt the Patrox of the Aspiking, 316

1. Christianity was proudly contemned when most pure ;

2. Is adapted to encourage the deserving when most depressed ;

and,

3. Patronizes all aspirations that are both free and grand.

CHAPTER III.

Cheistianity the Fortifier of the "Weak, 343

1. Christianity was fiercely persecuted when most feeble;

2. Sympathizes with the suffering when most wronged ; and

3. Fortifies the confiding with invincible strength.

CHAPTER IV.

Chbistianitt the DELrvEREK of the Oppressed, 367

1. Christianity was given to subdue the most ungenerous foes;

2. Is most merciful towards those who sufier the greatest

abuse ; and

3. Inspires ceaseless rebellion against every species of ungodly

bonds.

CHAPTER V.

Chbistianitt the Rewarder of the Sacrificed 395

1. Christianity has ever been the fairest and foremost victim of

tyranny ;

2. The mightiest antagonist to every form of injustice ; and

3. Most glorious rewarder of all devotees for her sake sacri-

ficed.

REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

" Know, then, that when I say the religion of Protestants is in prudence
to be preferred before yours, on the one side, I do not understand by your
religion the doctrine of Bellarmine or Baronius, or any other private man
amongst you, nor the doctrine of the Sorbonne, of the Jesuits, or of the
Dominicans, or of any other particular company among you, but that
wherein you all agree, or profess to agree, the doctrine of the Council of
Trent, so, accordingly, on the other side, by the religion of Protestants,
I do not understand the doctrine of Luther, or Calvin, or Melancthon, nor
the Confession of Augsburg, or Geneva, nor the Catechism of Heidelberg,
nor the Articles of the Church of England ; no, nor the harmony of Prot-
estant Confessions; but that in which they all agree, and that which they
all subscribe with a greater harmony, as a perfect rule of faith and action ;
that is, THE Bible. The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of
Protestants." — ChilUngworth.

" It was from Christianity that man derived the spiritual element wherein
he could once again become self-sustaining, free, and personally invincible ;
a new vitality awoke in the bosom of the freshened earth, and she became
fructified for the development of new productions." — Ranke.

" Christianity, which has declared that all men are equal in the sight
of God, will not refuse to acknowledge that all citizens are equal in the
sight of the law." — De Tocqueville.

"L'Evangile est democratique, le Christianisme est republicain! " — Les
Conventionnels.

" I am come to send fire on the earth ; and what will I, if it be already
kindled? "

"One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." — Jesus
Christ.

PAUT I.

THE REPUBLICAN CHARACTER OF
JESUS CHRIST.

CHAPTER I.

THE INFANCY OF CHRIST.

IN HIS ADVEXT, IDENTIFIED "WITH THE LOWLY CONDITION IN "WHICH
THE MASSES OF MANKIND ARE BORN.

The ancient economy of grace was closing; the era of
transition to a better dispensation had arrived. Every thing
indicated the approach of a radical and stupendous change.
The concluding words of ancient prophecy were full of blended
fear and hope. The language of Haggai was startling. " For
thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and
1 will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the
dry land." All reliable interpreters consider this as referring
to the coming of the great Redeemer of mankind. His ap-
proach was prepared ; the place of his appearance on earth
was appointed ; and his advent was the birth of salvation,
the type of all redeeming influence, the pledge of universal
freedom.

In the first place, the coming of Messiah was prepared.
Jehovah declared aforetime, that he would shake the mighty
kingdoms of the earth, and deprive them of that power with
which they withstood the progress of exalted principles among

16 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

men. " And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all
nations shall come." This, doubtless, refers to the great politi-
cal concussions whereby the power of the heathen should be
broken, their pride humbled, and they should thus become
quahfied to receive the salvation prepared for the world.
Hence God declares, " And I will overthrow the thrones of
kingdoms ; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of
the heathen ; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that
ride in them ; and the horses and their riders shall come down,
every one by the sword of his brother."

In view of this great revolution in the condition and pros-
pects of mankind, Isaiah had long before declared, " Behold, a
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel." The fulfilment of this gracious promise is re-
corded in the words which the angel of the Lord spake unto
Joseph. " Take unto thee Mary thy wife ; for that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus : for he shall
save his people from their sins. Now, all this was done, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel;
which, being interpreted, is, God with us."

It is interesting to observe that all nations known in history
have ever expected a Liberator, a person mysterious, divine,
and one who, according to the ancient oracles, should bring
them salvation, and reconcile them with the Eternal. Prideaux,
in his work on the Jews, observes that " the necessity of a
mediator between God and man was from the commencement
a prevailing opinion among all people." In proportion as the
glorious realization approached, an extraordinary light diffused
itself over the world, like the bright beamings of Jacob's star.
Cicero caught some of its beams, and in his Republic an-
nounced a law eternal and universal, the law of all nations
and all times; a single and common master, who should be
God even, and whose reign was about to commence. Virgil,

THE INFANCY OF CHRIST. 17

recalling the ancient oracles, celebrated the return of the Vir-
gin, the birth of prevailing order, and the descent of the Son
of God from heaven. To his eye a grand epoch speedily-
advanced ; all the vestiges of crime were effaced, and earth
was forever delivered from fear. The divine infant, virho should
reign over the peaceful world, will receive for first presents
the simple fruits of earth, and the serpent will expire near his
cradle. The universal tradition, moreover, was, that this celes-
tial envoy would be man and God combined, and that he would
come to achieve the salvation of the world. " He will save
us," said Plato, " by teaching us the true doctrine," — " Shep-
tierd, prince, universal teacher, and sovereign truth," said Con-
fucius, " he will possess all power in heaven and upon the
earth." This lively anticipation of a mighty liberator and
restorer, vanquisher of demons and imbodiment of supreme
good, was doubtless permitted to prevent the nations from
falling into complete ignorance and despair. It never ceased
to prevail, in a manner more or less distinct, through all the
pagan world, from a period long anterior to Moses to the
auspicious night when the Magi, guided by a supernatural
meteor, came from the East seeking the Star destined to ele-
vate Israel and overthrow idolatry. Who is this Savior — the
desire of all nations — the true Messiah, sent of God? We
have but one response, and shall never need another — Jesus
Christ, who was all that the nations expected him to be, all that
the prophets declared he would be, the true Son of God, be-
gotten from eternity, his Wisdom and his Word, incarnate and
divine.

Humanity has never ceased to pour forth its desires and
tears at the foot of such altars as could be found ; it has never
ceased to adore under some form ; and hence, since worship is
a universal instinct, in the most sacred of books God has
entitled himself " the desire of all nations." But at the time
Jesus of Nazareth was born, more than ever before, poor,
degraded, persecuted, bleeding humanity laid its hands upon
its mouth, and its mouth in the dust, cry'wg for a deliverer to
2*

18 REPUBLICAN CHKISTIANITY.

appear. Its prayer was heard. The fulness of time had come,
and " the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us." The
eternal Son of God deigned to take our nature and clothed
himself with our mortal flesh. He united in himself the divine
and the human ; and these two natures formed but one person,
Jesus Christ, the God -man who was the expectation of all the
nations. He appeared at the time foretold, " and we have seen
his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father, full of grace
and truth." His incarnation was a great mysterj' indeed, but
a mystery so analogous to our wants and so conformable to the
universal reason of mankind, that it has been perpetually be-
lieved ever since the fall.

But what end did the divine Word propose to himself in his
incarnation r What secret designs impelled him to descend so
low, and unite himself to our nature ? " He came," says
Paul, "to regenerate all things in the heavens and upon the
earth." His mission was as grand as it was benevolent. It
was worthy of Him by whom all things were made ; and who
alone was able to renovate — regenerate all. Our nature had
become depraved, and it was the prerogative of Christ, by his
sacrifice, precepts, and example, to create us anew in the im-
age of the Highest. It seemed to the apostle that this sublime
work, achieved through such wonderful means, would blaze
with inefl^able splendor, not only in the world which we inhabit,
but beyond us to all worlds, even to the most exalted height of
the heavens. It was necessary that the Source of all light, by
making himself man, should enter the night in which humanity
was involved in order to disperse it. The regeneration of our
nature is the image of its primitive creation : the first and the
second are equally the work of the divine Word. " For by
him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or domin-
ions, or principalities, or powers : all things were created by
him and for him." lie renews our spirit in the same way as
he formed il, by the communication of himself: to hear, be-
lieve, obey, this was man's first act ; he was born by the throes

THE INFANCY OF CHRIST. 19

of faith, and the word which originally gave to him Ufe, is the
same which reproduces it.

The king of day is glorious and sublime in all his course,
but he is the most beautiful as he comes into view and disap-
pears. The resemblance which this bears to the great Sun of
Righteousness is manifest. We are ever to remember that in
Jesus Christ our nature was intimately united with Divinity the
most exalted, and that in the triumphant Redeemer humanity
is already enthroned in heaven. He came to unfold to man-
kind their capacities of greatness, to impart generous concep-
tions and reveal the splendid destiny that awaited them, to
awaken aspirations after a nobler character and a higher being,
to kindle in their bosoms a love for all the virtues imbodied in
himself, and throw wide open before them the gates which
invite to life without a pang, and glor}'^ without a cloud.

This, then, is the truth we are to observe at the outset of our
discussion; on the one hand, that the appearance of Christ
had been, from eternity, predetermined by the divine will ,
and, on the other, that this determination was carried into
etfect precisely at the period when all was made ready for the
purposes of his mission. But Christ, according to all records,
sacred and profane, does not stand isolated in universal history,
but was heralded among the Jews by the law and the prophets,
— ^among heathen nations by symbols, significant myths, and
vivid traditions — by philosophy, poetry, and art — by the very
depravity which kept alive a painful consciousness of a doom
deserved, and which awakened the deepest longings for the
appearance of one mighty to save. This fore-appointment of
the Messiah from all eternity is especially stated by the apostle
Paul ; as when, for instance, he asserts that God chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world ; while the historical
necessity of the Redeemer's appearance at a particular period
is announced in those assertions of Scripture, that the Son of
God and of man was born in the fulness of time ; in other
words, that he appeared at the precise moment when the prep-
arations for his advent were completed, and the world in such

20 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

a State, that the influence of his mission, however much op-
posed, could never be entirely lost. He appeared in the
period prepared — at exactly the right time.

Secondly, the birthplace of the Redeemer was appointed,
and comported well with the character of his mission. It re-
sembled the spiritual character and the temporal condition of
the great masses of mankind. Man had fallen from his high
estate into the most abject condition ; and, in order to redeem
him, it was necessaiy for the great Captain of Salvation to pass
through the deserts of penurj' and the tomb. The first Adam
had desolated Eden with sin ; the second Adam, in the hum-
blest home of misery, will open the fountains of life for all.
" As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
The first man had changed every zephyr of the world's garden
into destructive tempests, every flower into thistles and venom-
ous stings, every sweet stream into bitterness and woe. But
He who, from the eternal throne, wings the thunders with
power, stoops to the manger, and lies bound in swaddling
clothes. Celestial purity blends with and springs from the
least corrupt source on earth, exemplifying at once the great-
est marvel in physical creation, and the most astonishing move-
ment of heavenly love. In the first instance, the divine was
destroyed by the human ; in the second, from humanity divin-
ity is produced, pledged to heal every wound sin has inflicted,
and spread over a groaning and degraded world joy and glory
again.

It is worthy of especial remark that the circumstances of
poverty and desolation which characterized the advent of
Christ were the same that attend the birth of the great masses
of mankind. Doubtless the coming of the Redeemer was
arranged with reference to this fact. " He who was rich for
our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be
made rich." He rendered himself in ihc greatest possible
degree accessible to all ; he bore the deprivations of the most
obscure, and, from his very birth, accumulated a wealth of
experience and sympathy with the outcast and suficring of

THE INFANCY OF CHRIST. 21

every degree, so as to be able to enrich every child of poverty,
and mitigate every pang of woe. In every age and cUme
there has been many a Simeon waiting for the consolation of
Israel, all of whom felt that the needed Redeemer, to be effi-
cacious, must be weak as well as strong, poor as well as in-
finitely rich. Plato not only shows that in his day a divine
instructor was desired^ but he strikingly described the attributes
he would need to bring and the doom he would meet. " He
must be poor, and void of all quahfications but those of virtue
alone ; that a wicked world would not bear his instructions and
reproofs ; and therefore, within three or four years after he
began to preach, he would be persecuted, imprisoned, scourged,
and at last be put to death." The feebleness and penury of
Christ would give him ready access to the great majority of
mankind, while his omnipotence and infinite stores of heavenly
merit would qualify him to atone for all their sins. Blessed
was the lowly condition of the infant Redeemer, and auspicious
were the mild beamings of the star that heralded his birth.
Then a softness began to spread over the obdurate heart of
man ; the curtains of mysteiy began to fall, and immortal
glory rose on the enraptured view.

Lamartine, in visiting the spot appointed to be the scene
where the advent of Messiah should transpire, gave utterance
to his feelings in the following words : —

" It appeared to me, on ascending the last hills which sep-
arated me from Nazareth, as if, from the summit of the moun-
tains of Galilee, I were about to contemplate at its source that
all-comprehensive and fruitful religion which for nearly two
thousand years has established and is establishing itself in the
universe, and which has refreshed so many generations by its
clear and vivifying waters. Here was the source in the hollow
of the rock, which I here tread under my feet, and the hill of
which I have ascended the last heights, has borne on its sides
the salvation, the life of the light, the hope of the world. It
was here, a few paces from me, that He, the model of man, was
born amongst men, to withdraw them by his word and his

22 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

example from the sea of error and corruption in which the
human race had been for some time immerged. If I reflected
on these important subjects in the character of a philosopher,
it was the period at which took place the greatest event which
ever affected the moral or political world ; an event the reper-
cussion of which still impresses at the present time a principle
of m-otion and life upon the whole intellectual world. It is
here that the greatest, the most just, the most wise, the most
virtuous, of all men emerged from obscurity, from ignorance
and miseiy ; here was his cradle, here was the theatre of his
actions and his affecting discourses. Thence he departed,
whilst yet in his youth, with a few obscure and illiterate men,
whom he had inspired with confidence in his genius, and with
courage for the accomplishment of their mission, which was
knowingly to contend against an order of ideas and things not
strong enough to resist him, but still strong enough to cause
his death. Thence, I repeat, he went forth with confidence to
conquer death, and the universal empire of posterity ; thence
has flowed Christianity, its source obscure ; a drop of water
unperceived in the hollow of the rock of Nazareth, from which
two sparrows could scarcely allay their thirst, which a single
beam of the sun could have absorbed, and which, at the pres-
ent day, like the vast ocean of mind, has filled every abyss of
human wisdom, and bathed with its inexhaustible waves the
past, the present, and the future. Did I entertain a doubt of
the divinity of that event, still would my soul have been
strongly affected on approaching the first theatre on which the
glorious deed was enacted, and I should have uncovered my
head, and bent my forehead in reverence of ihat occult and
governing will which has made such mighty and important
things flow from so weak and so iinperceptible a commence-
ment.

" But, on considering the mysteries of Christianity as a Chris-
tian, it was here, under this small portion of the blue firma-
ment, at the bottom of this narrow and sombre valley, under
the shadow of this little hill, the old rocks of which appear

THE INFANCV Of CHRIST. 23

even at the present day to be all split with the trembling of joy
which they experienced in giving birth to and in bearing the
infant Word, or with the shivering of grief which they felt in
entombing the Word crucified ; here was the fatal and holy
spot of the world which God selected from all eternity, on
which his truth, his justice, and his incarnate love, in an infant
God, was to descend upon the earth ; it was here that the divine
breath descended, at its proper time, in a poor cottage, the
abode of humble labor, of simplicity of mind, and misfortune ;
it was here, that within the bosom of a pure and innocent vir-
gin, he gave life to something like herself, sweet, tender, and
compassionate ; as a man, it was full of suffering, patience,
and lamentation ; as a God, it was powerful, supernatural,
wise, and strong ; it was here that the God-man submitted to
our ignorance, our weakness, our labor, and our miseiy, during
the obscure years of his retired life, and in some measure
entered into the exercises of it, and practised the ways of the
world, before he edified it by his word, healed it by his prodi-
gies, and regenerated it by his death ; it was here that the
heavens opened, from which burst forth upon the world his
incarnate spirit, his fulminating word, which was to consume
till the end of time all error and iniquity, to try, as in the fire
of the crucible, our virtues and our vices, and to kindle before
the only holy God that incense which was never afterwards to
be extinguished, the incense of the renovated altar, the perfume
of universal charity and truth."

Yes, along those ancient plains reverberated the angelic
shout, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will
to men." Thei'e the Word sowed divine seed, and the Spirit
made it productive. For eighteen centuries men have seen it
blossom and ripen ; they recognize the beneficence of a God
in the inexhaustible supply, and every where pant to feed on
the fruit produced from that tree of life which was removed
from the paradise radiant with riches of eveiy kind, and planted
in the abode of the wretchedly poor. Lamb of God, thy birth-
place was well chosen, and thy fii-st moan seems to say, " Chil-

24 EEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

dren of a fallen race, the night is dark, but the morning breaks !
Liberty is born ! "

In the third place, in his advent, Christ was the type of all-
exalting power and the pledge of universal redemption.

Whenever God wishes to execute some grand result, one of
those comprehensive and profound revolutions which leave
perpetual traces among mankind, — when he would rend down
the obscure curtains of his providence, and reveal newer and
vaster domains whereon to develop his own almightiness and
the expanding faculties of man, — he does not ordinarily choose
as instruments those who are armed with power or clothed with
authority ; but, in some retired walk of life, on some secluded
farm, in some lonely shop, suddenly his potent spirit seizes a
rugged worker, unknown, unlettered, void of all force save
that which swells in his aspiring soul, and, from that obscurity,
go forth trumpet tones to arouse the nations, flame and energy
to enlighten and bless mankind. He who possesses all re-
sources, and can readily select from means infinitely diversified,
sees fit forever to employ weak things in the destruction of the
mighty. Before honor is humility, or a lowly station. Joseph
was raised from the prison to the throne. Moses and David
were called from the shepherd's fold to feed the inheritance of
the Lord. Gideon acknowledged himself to be of " the least
of the families of Israel ; " but the great Captain of our salva-
tion arose from an origin still more obscure. It would seem to
be the initiatory truth of Christianity, that the lower one de-
scends in humiliation, the higher shall he rise in exaltation.
The lower his foundation of humility is laid, the loftier and
wider shall his crown of glory shine.

More true greatness is born in hovels than in palaces. All
great conservative influences come up from the oppressed and
industrious classes. Ordinarily from the husbandman's cottage
or the artisan's shop emerge the efficient pioneers of social
improvement and national weal. As the exponents and exec-
utors of divine purposes, they trample on hoary wrongs, dis-
solve unholy coalitions, and win deliverance for the down-

THE INFANXY OF CHRIST. 25

trodden every where. They ai-e the true nobility of heaven,
the born monarchs of mind, whose credentials are manifest in
their beneficent deeds, and whose patent of royalty consists in
their native grandeur of soul. They are infinitely greater
than the kings of physical empire, since they can defy the
greatest concentration of martial force, and laugh to scorn the
rack and the flame. The god-leavened ponderers on creation,
and the god-armed deliverers of their race, always struggle up
from the lowest depths of experience, meditation, development,
till they obtain a firm hold on the deepest as well as broadest
mass : then how these moral Titans will make the mountains
shake ! They have drunk from every bitter cup, felt the gall-
ing weight of every burden, smarted under every lash ; their
own wounds have become the inlets through which they im-
bibe the pangs of all their brethren in endurance vile, and they
rise up in the omnipotence of humanity made divine by its
purpose to redeem and disinthrall mankind.

Individual excellence dawns on the world from obscurity,
like day from night. The mightiest rivers rise frjom sources
the most occult, and the brightest gems are found in caverns
the most obscure. Like Iceland moss, the finest capacities of
our race often grow beneath the snow, and must thence be
sought. The matured champion is a babeling at first, cradled
in poverty, nursed on the bosom of loveliness, invigorated by
stern realities, while down on his loneliness heavenly beams
are streaming, and filling him with splendors in due time to
inundate the globe. It may be that the young heart for a long
time lies torn and bleeding in the predestined deliverer, before
it has generated momentum adequate to the emergencies he is
called to meet. Gently at first gleam angelic thoughts on the
darkness of the infant brain ; long and silently in the soul
mature the incipient purposes of moral warfare, like unfolded
flowers in the profoundest depths of the sea ; but by and by
they burst on the world's gaze and fill heaven with odors most
sweet. Such a heart is born to become the temple of religion
the rnost pure, the diffuser of an influence the most beneficent,
3

26 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

and the tomb in which it goes at length a broken sacrifice to
repose, becomes the altar of liberty for all our race.

" 'Tis rare in Fame's rich, galaxy to shine
With steadfast blaze unwithering, but to dawn
From darkness, scatter off the black eclipse
That veils the withered lustre — this, most rare,
Maketh man's soul an everlasting fire
Worthy the God that hung the heavens with light ;
'Tis hard for downcast spirit to o'erleap
Ruin's sad barriers ; but Heaven's angels drop
Soft dews beneath his burning feet, his flight
Imp with strong plumes ; his coming doth adorn
The earth he moves on ; till Remorse, abashed,
Before the orient glories fades and flies."

We have observed that all exalting power springs from the
dense masses of mankind ; that redemption is seldom or never
born in the palace but in the hut ; and that of this fact Jesus
Christ is the highest illustration and the most striking type.
We would here add, that the greater the want the greater will
be the supply which Providence ever grants to suffering man.
Great occasions have never been wanting in great champions ;
nor have the greatest and best of heroes ever failed in finding
fitting scope for the divinest energies they possessed. This
palpable and merciful law is of itself sufficient to demonstrate
the existence of an infinitely wise and powerful Lawgiver.
Its most glorious exemplification was recognized by the wise
men who came to Bethlehem. They there found Immanuei,
God with us, born at the base of the pyramid of human soci-
ety, where the masses are broadest and most oppressed, far
down there unveiling the Sun of Righteousness, that up through
all the superincumbent myriads of men, purifying and eman-
cipating beams might shine to diffi.ise impartial goodness and
universal hope. The ancient patriarch saw in his dream a
ladder reaching from earth to heaven. Perhaps its foot meas-
ured the broad diameter of earth, but its top rested at a single
point on the throne of God. Christ came to give substance to
that vision, in the presence of all men, as the inspiration of

INFANCY OF CHRIST. 27

faith and encouragement of hope, to pour effulgence from base
to summit of that highway to glory, planting attendant angels
on the lowest step, increasing attractions at each ascent, and
the amplest provisions of immortal joy at the journey's end.

It remains to show that Christ was not only the type of all
exalting power, but that he was the pledge of universal free-
dom. This will appear from a consideration of the divine na-
ture he possessed, and the divine tokens which heralded his
birth. He was the " Word made flesh," the creativeness of
Jehoveih incarnate among a created, fallen race, himself with-
out sin and powerful to redeem the depraved from every stain.
A word is the clothing of an idea ; an idea never presents
itself made ; the human mind can only conceive it under the
drapery of expression. As soon as an idea presents itself, the
mind hastens to create the equivalent word ; without this the
idea remains vague at least, if not forever unseizable. Christ
was the incarnation of eternal power, ancient truth and mercy
imbodied. He was the Word made flesh, the Divinity in idea
divinely clothed in a vesture of manhood, God humanized. In
order to save man, to conduct him to the Supreme, the Word,
all-creative from eternity, becomes flesh in time on behalf of
those who could not behold him as Divinity alone. He as-
sumes mortal shape and substance, passes through every phase
of human experience, and through a human voice, thrilling
tiirough human sympathies, calls to himself those who, by
being first conformed to the God incarnate, may afterwards
gaze on the unclouded majesties of Jehovah. ]\Iay not this be
the meaning of Paul ? " Though we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." He
became human and dwelt among us. He was transformed on
the mount, where he not only appeared in his own glory, but
where he caused the spiritual law and the prophecies to be
represented by Moses and Elias. Then they who were pres-
ent could say, " We have seen his glory, the glory of the
only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth." Those
spirits whom Christ summoned to the transfiguration, and

28 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

revealed to men panting with astonishment on earth, were old
acquaintances, with whom he talked in familiar terms respect-
ing the great redemption he had come to achieve. Older than
the human race, mightier than the worlds h-j formed, the babe
of Bethlehem struggled into being amid tears, and groans, and
oppressions, that from the ox's stall and that shepherd group
might go forth a transforming power to revolutionize all tyran-
nical customs and break all accursed bonds. He was the new
representative of mankind, a divine one, the destroyer of hea-
thenism, the founder of a new era, the universal atoner, the first
born of God, the father of a new spiritual human race. His
advent was unseen save to the pure, the humble, and discon-
solate, and was as noiseless as the falling dew or gleaming stars.
But as that young breath first blended with the chill night air
where suffering reclined, and even the brute creation moaned,
earth felt a new power whispering above and penetrating be-
neath, like light and life pervading every where, foretelling
complete redemption and universal joy.

Man has indeed become debased, cast down, and trodden
under foot. He has crawled on abjectly for centuries in the
very dust. Tyranny, superstition, and vice have bound him
in cruel fetters, and hurled him down to the caverns of igno-
rance and night. But the vital spark has never been extin-
guished ; the most outrageous abuse can never quite obliterate
the image of God in his soul. In the deepest degradation,
in the gloomiest dungeon, man has ever prayed for light and
struggled for freedom. Independence of mind, of heart, of
body, of soul, — this is the great boon designed by Heaven for
all ; and to reconquer this the wonderful star burned on the hills
of Judea, and Mary laid her still more wonderful child in the ox's
crib. He will come forth from that comfortless abode to be-
stow on earth richer blessings than all her kings can give —
moral and intellectual improvement ; free limbs to toil and
free minds to soar ; blood unchilled by the oppressor's touch ;
thoughts, souls, sv/ift to compass the skies and ascend to
lieaven.

THE INFANCY OF CHRIST. W9

We live in an age of fearful commotion. A mighty storm is
overturning thrones and changing the aspect of whole conti-
nents. What we have yet seen is only the beginning of the
end. The germs of more radical and comprehensive revolu-
tions were planted eighteen centuries ago. In order to interpret
the present and anticipate the future correctly, it is necessary
often to go back in thought and " place ourselves at the Chris-
tian era. This was, in every respect, a most interesting period.
It was the one to which all prior history had been pointing.
It was ' the fulness of time,' for which all preceding time had
been making ready. It stands conspicuous, not because a
new order of things, different in causes and tendency entirely
from the old, was then established, — but because a new
and mighty instrument weis then first put forth, in aid of
the same purpose, which before had made but slow and feeble
progress. For these reasons, therefore, that it imbodies in
itself the result of all that had gone before, and because the
series of events, from that time to this, is sutTiciently long to
illustrate their connection, it is the most appropriate and inter-
esting point that we can start from."

We stand, then, at that momentous period, which the intro-
duction of Christianity has immortalized. And what is the
first thought that bursts upon our mind ? It is, that we are
standing, at the very moment, in the midst of a most glorious
revolution — a revolution glorious in itself, but incomparably
more so in its tremendous and never-ending effects upon the
human race. Yes, the star that rose in the east, — mild, peace-
able, and radiant, as the young child to which it pointed ; the
guide of the wise men ; the light, as it has proved, of the
world, — the " star in the east" was the herald of an event,
mightier in itself, and mightier in its consequences, than any
which the dazzling sun, in all his brilliancy, ever looked upon.
The pcean of angels, as it sounded in the ears of the shep-
herds on the plains of Bethlehem, proclaimed the advent of a
Being, before whom and whose kingdom tyrants have trem-
bled and conqueroi-s fled away. The introduction of Chris-
3 *

30 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

tianity was, indeed, a revolution. And what a revolution !
Where can we learn that such events belong to the world,
that they interest man, whenever and wherever he is found, if
not from this, the first, the greatest of the series.? Where can
we be taught that the great end of great events has been the
improvement, the progress, the elevation of man, if not in this,
this " Heaven's best gift to man " } We need not say, in this
day and generation, that Christianity stopped not with those to
whom it was proclaimed, that the influence of this greatest,
because religious revolution was neither limited nor partial.

For what was Christianity, and what was the purpose of the
revolution which ushered it in ? It came, indeed, to proclaim
that there was a God, a kind and beneficent Father. It pointed
to a heaven. It spoke of a hereafter. But it did more than
this. It came nearer to man as an inhabitant of earth. It
whispered to him that he was an immortal being ; that he had
within him a noble spirit, capable of exalted attainments, and
destined to lofty purposes, even here ; a spark of divinity itself.
It bade him cultivate, improve, exalt it. It bade him rise up in
his native strength, to shake off the tyranny of ignorance, of
vice, and of his fellow-man ; to burst asunder the shackles
which bound down his high nature. It bade him be free; in
mind, that he might be intelligent ; in conscience, that he might
be holy; free in every thing, as his Creator had designed him.
This was the grand purpose of the Christian dispensation, to
fit man for heaven, by making him all that he could be on
earth, and to give him an impulse, in this upward direction,
which he should feel to the end of time.

In the book of Revelation the perpetual promise to the Re-
deemer is, " I will give him the morning star." Yes, there, in
the sombre, but yet brightening skies, still shines, in full view
of man, the ever-enduring star of morn, the herald and pledge
of that " hope that comes to all." Beneath its placid beams
the great purposes of infinite love and mercy will be rolled
into full execution. Neither kingcraft nor priestcraft can hurl
it from its lofty home, nor has hell storms dark enough en-
tirely to obscure its cheering light. It will forever shine, the

THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. 31

pledge of deliverance from all wrongs, and freedom to all ranks ;
the memento of that beginning of good days when God de-
scended to the lowest parts of earth, that he might exalt man to
the sublimest heights of heaven.

" All stars, that fill Time's mystic diadem,
Are falling stars, save that of Bethlehem."

CHAPTER II.

THE YOTTH OF CHRIST.

IN HIS YOUTH, OCCUPIED IN TOIL SUCH AS THE GREAT MAJOEITT
OF MEN PURSUE.

Jesus Christ came into this world to redeem it, to fill it
with needful instruction and saving grace. There is not only
infinite efficacy in the power of his blood to cleanse from sin ;
there is also light in his life adapted to every age, force in his
example vouchsafed to sustain the aspiring every where, and
fortify the weak. The period of early youth, his preliminary
training, is less amply portrayed in the Gospels than his public
ministry ; but the stupendous achievements of his maturity
bear an intimate relation to his juvenile career, rendering it
desirable that we should contemplate the entire life of the
great Redeemer as a unit, his teachings and actions as they are
connected throughout, so as to derive the greatest profit from
the harmonious view.

In this discussion, we will consider two general points. In
his youth, Christ was occupied in toil such as the great majority
of men pursue. That toil was prosecuted under circumstances
adapted to develop his powers, and prepare him for the perfect
accomplishment of his divine mission on earth.

In the first place, Christ, in his youthful condition on earth,

32 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

was occupied in toil such as the great majority of men pursue.
The Roman domination embraced nearly all the known world,
when the Redeemer was born at the precise moment and in the
exact locality where the sacred oracles had predicted that he
should appear. Springing from a race of kings, and, in his
extreme indigence, deprived even of the humblest asylum upon
the earth he came te save, he represented in this double state
the entire race of man. All the unfortunate who bear the
burdens of toil and of pain, exiled patriotism, banished merit,
wandering tribes, and outraged benefactors of every degree,
may turn to the babe of Bethlehem, and recognize a brother in
" Him through whom Jehovah bestows salvation," who was
cradled into suffering by both power and want, and was from
the outset violently pursued by the tyranny he came to overthrow.
Several of the first years of our Lord's temporal life were
passed in almost entire obscurity, wherein he accomplished the
destiny of man, eating the bread which he gained in the sweat
of his bi'ow. Submissive to every filial obligation, it is recorded
that he obeyed Joseph and Mary with perfect docility ; he ac-
complished with them the precepts of the law, and it was thus
that he grew in wisdom, in age, and in favor before God and
men. As the deliverer of man condemned, the ennobler of man
degraded, it was necessary that Jesus should at every step be
the model of man in perfection, the source of all the graces by
which we can, in following his precepts, and imitating his
examples, reestablish in ourselves the image of God, which sin
has defaced. No period of his progress, no incident in his life,
is unworthy of our profoundest study. We should strive to
penetrate the thoughts of eternal wisdom, and contemplate his
ways in the marvellous work of our redemption.

Infinite wisdom has not seen fit to grant us copious and
minute details of our Savior's early life, but enough are trans-
mitted to us to excite interesting thoughts and impart the most
profitable lessons. The events of his maturity command our
attention by their grandeur; but they are not the only ones
worthy of our observation. On the contrary, we should study

THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. 33

the growth of this divine Being, " seek for the bud which con-
cealed the seed, and the powers that conspired to unfold it."

No other child was ever harassed by adversity and subject to
the necessity of exhausting toil, like Jesus Christ. It began in
the manger and ended only on the cross. A divine messenger
came to Joseph, and directed him to fly with the child and his
mother to Egypt. Think of the length of the journey required ;
the ignorance of the parents with respect to the way they were
to pursue ; the youth and feebleness of Mary, and the trembling
age of Joseph ; the delicate condition of the infant they were to
transport so far, over so rough a way ; and especially think how
utterly unprovided they were with means of supporting them-
selves in a foreign land. Groups of the lonely, sojourning in
poverty far away from natal soil, behold your prototype and
consolation in Christ ! How did that family procure food by the
way, a shelter from the sun, and a covert from the storm ?
Think of the tasks and sorrows that encompassed the child
Jesus, in the dawning of his first consciousness, and the exer-
cise of his first strength.

At length the angel of the Lord again appears unto Joseph,
saying, " Take the boy and his mother, and go into the land of
Israel ; for they are dead who sought the life of the boy." Jo-
sephus has told us who the tyrant was who had driven the young
Redeemer from Judea, and whose death now allows his return.
It was that Herod, who, at the close of a blood-stained life of
seventy years, goaded by the furies of an evil conscience,
racked by a painful and incurable disease, waking for death but
desiring life, raging against God and man, and maddened by
the thought that the Jews, instead of bewailing his death, would
rejoice over it as the greatest of blessings, commanded the
worthies of the nation to be assembled in the Circus, and issued
a secret order that, after his death, they should all be slain
together, so that tlieir kindred, at least, might have cause to
weep for his death. It was this monster who sought to destroy
the infant Christ, and it is the like of him that perpetually
persecute the innocent, feeble, and unfortunate of earth. But
he who is about to return from Egypt will grow up to be a

34 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

mightier than Moses to conduct the people from bondage and
deliver the tyrant's prey. His first impressions are those of
cruel wrongs ; his earliest days are troubled by despotic rage ;
his youthful limbs are chafed with incessant toil ; and he grows
up keenly to observe on the one hand benignant old age buf-
fetted by scorn and doubt, while on the other the " bright
consummate flower " of her sex bends before the storm she
cannot resist, diligently labors to foster the excellence she has
produced, and at the source of human hope and fear tempers
for our redemption the swelling attributes of one mighty to
save. Thus, says Neander, " in the very beginning of the
life of Him who was to save the world, we see a foreshadow-
ing of what it was afterwards to be. The believing souls, to
whom the lofty import of that life was shown by divine signs,
saw in it the fulfilment of their longings ; the power of the
world, ever subservient to evil, raged against it ; but amid
all dangers, the hand of God guided and brought it forth
victorious."

From this general statement of the circumstances attendant
on the early days of Christ on earth, let us proceed to remark
that the suffering and toil into which he was plunged at so
tender an age were adapted to develop his powers and fit him
for the perfect accomplishment of the redemption he came to
execute. The painful experience of his earHest struggles had
the triple advantage of unfolding his energies, his sympathies,
and his aspirations.

In the first place, as is the case with all redeemers, his best
energies were developed by the worst trials. Christ assumed
our nature, bore our sorrows, fought our battles, won our tri-
umphs. He came to this tearful and stormful earth to live out
in actual experience, from the first pang to the last, tlie spiritual
sorrows and physical deprivations of all Adam's race. Mon-
arch supreme in heaven, and regal on earth even by right of
birth, he chose to appear in the most humble condition. For
our sakes he became poor, and entered upon the conquest of the
world without noticing either its honors or its emoluments. In
the eye of the wealthy and powerful he was regarded only as

THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. 35

" the carpenter's son." The morning of his career dawned
in the lowest vale of life, where he shared the sufferings of the
most destitute, the wretched abode of cattle even, for there
was no room for him and his associates at the inn. Such was
the pomp in which the Deliverer of mankind appeared. The
first acts of his divinity here below were struggles against want,
and his destitution increased in proportion as his functions
arose. The foxes had holes, and the fowls of the air had
nests ; but the Son of man had no reposing place for his head.
Poor and toil-worn to the end, he earned all with his own
hands, or received from charity the bread he ate, the garments
he wore, and the winding-sheet in which he was entombed.
Whoever has struggled with difficulties almost to strangling at
the very outset of his heroical career, — whoever has toiled
all day to win a scanty sustenance, and, in mental desolateness
and gloom deeper than night, has shrieked in agony to the
God of heaven, — whoever has cloaked his outward wants and
inward aspirations beneath the humble mechanic's garb, and
gone forth, firm, silent, and resolute, learning the " priceless
wisdom from endurance drawn" among his fellow-men, —
whoever has mourned for " all the oppressions which are done
under the sun," and been " mad for the sight of his eyes that
he did see," — whoever has felt all the "wanderer in his
soul," and striven through the tender years of youth with
sweating brow, blistered hands, and bleeding heart, to win the
weapons of moral warfare, and cleave a way to self-emanci-
pation and the disinthralment of all mankind, — let him come
and hug to his bosom that brother of the poor and young
champion of the weak ; let him receive cheering words of
fellow-feeling, and strength that shall never fail, from that
Boy of Nazareth, the working Son of God. And in his inter-
course with such an example of overcoming courage and
patient efforts for the common weal, let him never despond,
but remember

"He that is bom is Ksted; life is war —
Eternal war -with woe."

36

REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Early to task tlie energies of a predestined hero through
severe toil is gradually to make him acquainted with his latent
might, and causes him to taste the glory of his own puttings
forth and triumphs. It is thus that personal power is quickened
and kept in motion. All that is divine on earth must be de-
veloped and find expansive scope through resolute exertion.
Of what use are wings to a young eagle so long as he sits in
his eyry, looking out idly upon the vast expanse around him ?
Because the first flappings of those pinions are of necessity
feeble, they are not therefore to be kept perpetually unem-
ployed. Mere instinct teaches the parent bird better than
this. He early induces his young to try his strength, and if
he refuses, for lack of confidence, he pitches him out ; and a
few weeks of trials, constantly increased, constitute the glory
and the joy of the young monarch of the air. Had he been
moored in the dove's downy nest, his first flight would have
sent him down dazzled before the rising day ; but with strong
plumes growing from within himself, and strengthened by
struggles to surmount or penetrate opposing blasts, he wins
and adorns the birthright of his race, darting to the zenith
unblenched, and bathing himself in the splendors of the noon-
tide sun. The very condition of one in this world of sin and
sorrow — the obscurity in which we perish, or from w'hich we
are compelled to emei'ge — vicissitudes of every degree, and
■wants of every kind — every objective difficulty, and every
subjective trial — all that can by any possibility be made to
invigorate the body or arouse the mind — may be regarded as
the compost out of which true heroism draws sap. acquires
fibre, and imbibes the sustenance which aids the rising cham-
pion to disclose the hidden beauty of his spirit, the symmetry
of his form, and the flexile majesty of his invincible strength.
Says Cowper, truly, —

" No soil like poverty for growth di^^ne,
As leanest land supplies the richest wine."

All our higher faculties gain infinitely more of purity and
power by breathing in content the keen and wholesome air of

THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. 37

penury, than by all the enervating fumes which wealth can
furnish through luxuiy and lust. The history of true great-
ness exhibits not a single model who did not from the first
accustom himself to drink only from the well of homely life.
Adversity, in exercising her power, loses her most offensive
features, and develops in her victims their best strength.
Said William Wallace to King Edward I., " Thou hast raised
me among men. Without thy banners and cross-bows in
array against me, I had sunk in utter forgetfulness. Thanks
to thee for placing me, eternally, Avhere no strength of mine
could otherwise have borne me ! Thanks to thee for bathing
my spirit in deep thoughts, in refreshing calm, in sacred still-
ness ! This, O king, is the bath for knighthood : after this it
may feast, and hear bold and sweet voices, and mount to its
repose." The best energies of the greatest men are never
fully unfolded within and whhout except by the ordeal of
severe struggles and malignant sufferings. Almost every
champion who has won eminent influence among his fellows
might adopt the motto of Rousseau : " I was born weak ; ill
treatment has made me strong." They who " wander in the
torrid climes of fame," the sons of beneficent genius, who are
born to elevate the existence of the human race, must in the
beginning shed many bitter sweat-drops, and give vent in soli-
tude to many tear-steeped sighs. It is thus that the godlike
is ever compelled to do penance for superabundant powers,
and pay, with exhausting interest, the debt which he owes to
suffering humanity. No great redeeming spirit appears on
earth to be ministered unto, but to minister ; it is his highest
prerogative and best reward to serve, to elevate, to bless.
All wisdom that pertains to salvation is bought with labor and
pain, and he who pants for the holiest truth and the highest
power, will be indulged just so far as he climbs the rugged
heights of tribulation with delight.

Lord Bacon compared virtue, or true manliness, to precious
odors, " most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed ;
for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best
4

38 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

discover virtue." Here is a high truth ; but Jesus came, in
the circumstances of his birth, in the toils and deprivations of
his youth, to teach us a higher and a better. He would have
us no longer leave, unperceived, or, if known, despised, the
numerous examples of heroical poverty, which He all around,
and which should challenge the fostering sympathy of all
mankind. Shrouded in obscurity and enduring neglect, still
are they the choicest denizens of the earth, coming here to
devote their lives to benevolence, sacrificing themselves to
duty and the defence of justice in view of inevitable persecu-
tion, perhaps of prisons or the rack. O, what moral grandeur
in such examples is exemplified, and what divine lessons do
they teach. We almost hear each consecrated votary at the
shrine of Eternal Righteousness exclaim from the depths of
his soul, " Poverty may humble my lot, but it shall not debase
me ; temptation may shake my nature, but not the rock on
which thy temple is based ; misfortune may wither all the
hopes that blossomed in the dewy morning of my life, but I
will offer dead leaves when the flowers are no more. Though
all the loved objects of earth perish, all that I have coveted
fade away, I may groan under my burden, but I will never be
recreant to duty, never disloyal to thee, O my God." Such
resignation, suffering supported with so much constancy, was
indeed noble, as seen, for instance, in the immolation of Soc-
rates ; but how much more sublime in the youthful struggles
of Jesus Christ ! What is there so exalted or divine " as a
great and brave spirit working out its end through every
earthly obstacle and evil ; watching through the utter dark-
ness, and steadily defying the phantoms which crowd around
it ; wrestling with the mighty allurements, and rejecting ihe
fearful voice of that Want which is the deadliest and surest of
human tempters ; nursing through all calamity the love of the
species, and the warmer and closer affections of private ties ;
sacrificing no duty, resisting all sin ; and amid every horror
and every humiliation, feeding the still and bright liglit of that
genius, which, like the lamp of the fabulist, though it may

THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. 39

waste itself for years amidst the depths of solitude and the
silence of the tomb, shall live and burn immortal and un-
dimmed, when all around it is rottenness and decay?" But
if it thrills every generous fibre of our nature to observe a
fellow-creature thus toiling to be free and beneficent, what
shall we think of that wondferful Being who deigned to assume
humanity's woes, and struggle up from childhood through the
most abject trials, that from the throne of heaven and the
thrones of earth he might win the energies of almightiness to
redeem mankind ! It is indeed strange to see a Savior incar-
nate in a manger, and, from the first developments of youth,
tied with base entanglements which, through all subsequent
life, are destined to grow closer and closer, till death sets the
inthralled divinity free. But the sight is glorious and instruc-
tive as it is strange. It tells us that efTort is the condition of
growth ; that he who came to be a matured and perfect Re-
deemer had first to perform the appropriate toils of a youth-
ful God.

In the second place, the sympathies of the young Messiah
were as efTectually developed by the stern necessity of toil, as
were the other elements of redeeming strength. Man's destiny
is best achieved, and his most valuable fruit produced, through
the agency of suffering. This is a great mystery, and would
be stranger still, did we not see the fact exemplified in the
purest man " that e'er wore flesh about him," and who, in all
his career on earth, was the greatest of sufferers. Standing
on the shore of that great sea of agony into which the Deliv-
erer plunged to rescue a perishing race, we learn, through our
own limited but bitter expei'ience, that in the tumult and pres-
sure of the profoundest billows of dark despair, God elaborated
, the sympathetic love, and gave to the world a tortured and
bleeding heart, as the best symbol of its condition, and solace
for its woe. As the unfathomed deep which unceasingly
vibrates, the billows which forever moan, the waterspouts
which fall back with crashing might upon the tempest that gave
them birth, the lightnings that fringe cloud and billow, and the

40 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

thunders which shake the mighty main, may all be necessary
to perfect the pearl lying in the obscurest coral depth, — so are
the storms of life designed to develop in their gloom bright
gems for the sunshine of heaven. Pliny tells us that the ring
of Pyrrhus contained a jewel which had the figures of Apollo
and all the Muses in the veins oP it, produced by the sponta-
neous hand of nature, without any help from art. The youth
of Christ was adorned with fairer features than any that belong
to the loveliest productions of earth, but they were unfolded
amid the severest exactions of sublunary toil. At an early age
he was given up to the powers of darkness, to the end that,
tempered in suffering, like a blade of steel in furnace flames
and mountain torrents, he might become an irresistible sword
to conquer the genius of evil and set humanity free. It was
necessary that he should traverse " the vacant bosom's wilder-
ness," and stand worn and desolate in " the leafless desert of
the soul," that he might sympathize with the great mass of our
race, who are born in that condition, and in it are compelled to
grow. "If misfortunes could be I'emedied by teai-s," says
Muretus, " tears would be purchased with gold. Misfortune
does not call for tears, but counsel." This advice, however,
whicb is adapted at the same time to soothe and guide effectu-
ally, can originate only in a tenderly-experienced soul. " Few
are the hearts whence one same touch bids the sweet fountain
flow ; " but Christ was the chief of such, and was always ready
to relieve the distressed, because from his tenderest yeai^s he
had experienced their direst pangs. In ever)'- respect he was
a model of moral excellence, possessing superlative worth ;
and this superiority consisted not a little in the fact that, con-
sidered in his human qualities, his was one of those

" Souls that carry on a blest exchange
Of joys they meet ^vith in their heavenly range,
And, ■\\ith a fearless confidence, make known
The sorrows sympathy esteems its own,
Daily desire increasing light and force
From such communion in their pleasant course,
Feel less their journey's roughness, and its length,
Meet their opposcrs with united strength,

THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. 41

And, one in heart, in interest, and design,
Give up each other m the race divine."

The youthful days of our Savior were full of toil, such as is
common to mankind ; and this toil was adapted to develop his
energies for the coming strife, and enlarge his sympathies for
the suffering of every class. These are the points thus far
considered. We would remark, thirdly, that in those early
scenes of bitter experience, his aspirations were divine, and
doubtless urged him with profounder ardor to break the fetters
of the world. The Hebrew nations expected a Deliverer, and
Micah had foretold that the promised king should be born in
Bethlehem, the very place where the house of David had its
origin. The Messiah appeared ; but the lowly circumstances
of his birth and youth were in striking contrast with his inhe-
rent dignity, and the glory it was supposed he would bring.
That he should make his advent in the giiise of a carpenter's
son, and accustom himself to manual toil, instead of assuming
at once the splendors of worldly dominion, rendered him, to
the minions of priestly and regal power, the object of loathing
and contempt. \^'^e must remember that Christ was all the
while conscious of this ; that, in the face of the upper and most
oppressive circles, and in spite of their rage, he, from the be-
ginning, chose to identify himself with the lowest rank of com-
mon people, share their burdens, sympathize with their sorrows,
and aspire to deliver them from all their wi'ongs. In the midst
of the most menial pursuits, he fostered the sublimest purposes
of soul ; in " clear dream and solemn vision " he contemplated
the auspicious destinies of the human race, and, in view of
what his own almighty hand should, at the proper time, per-
form, labored on in patient thoughtfulness, lifting his young
brow ever and anon toward heaven, to " hail the coming on of
time." Let the youth, whose divine aspirations chafe against
the chill impediments of earthly want and depressing toil, con-
template the history of the great pattern, and be content to

" Wait for the da^^Tdng of a brighter day.
And snap the chaui the moment when he may."
4*

42 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

The fallen race of Adam have an Advocate who ever Uves to
make hitercession in their hehalf; one who was thrust out from
the houses of the rich and powerful here below, that he might
prepare for outcasts mansions of glory on high ; one who
graced the mechanic's shop, and sweat great drops of agony
on the barren earth, ere he broke his mighty heart on the cross,
and ascended in triumph to the mediatorial throne. He was
humanity's worker before he was humanity's Savior. His ex-
perience in the flesh spread out liis sympathies from the lowest
to the highest, prompted him to break down all hinderauces to
personal freedom, and, by both precept and example, encour-
aged pure aspirations in every breast. There is vast signifi-
cance in his command, " Suffer little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
Because Christ had himself been a child, he knew to what
sublime height the thoughts of children, the most obscure,
may rise.

So abjectly subject to sin and the slavery of grovelling hab-
its is man, that he needs some one who has not partaken of the
fall to stand by his side at every step, and with divine earnest-
ness to tell him how much he is yet able to perform, despite
the degradation he has incurred. The world of youth needs
the example of that sinless one, whose every action and ap-
pearance are designed to disclose how that we should put fortli
all the divinity of deed, of attitude, and of expression, of
which our immortal nature is capable. He demonstrated that
all fortune can be conquered by bearing it ; and no more valu-
able lesson can, by the young, be learned. Every soul has its
brifrht visions, as well as its sombre ; but, unfortunately, in this
uncon'^enial world, it is the better aspirations that we are least
disposed to indulge. " Tlie vision and the faculty divine " is
o-reatly obscured, because its exercise is but little encouraged
by our associates. Each one may have his own occasional
gleams of exalted things, but he will be little inclined to con-
template the revelations made to others. The world is less
disposed to recognize our sincerity, when delineating the gor-

THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. 43

geous heights of celestial achievements which, m meditation,
we have seen, than when detailing those loathsome phantasies
in which the best of depraved beings sometimes revel. Thus
the frigid multitude without forces us to be hypocrites, when
we have the strongest disposition to be sincere in the best pur-
suit, and to assume a supineness and meagreness which ill cor-
respond to the height, and depth, and lavish variety, of the
inner man, in its spontaneous etibrts to expand and soar. But
Jesus most acutely experienced " the Teachings of our souls,"
and made provision for their freest and widest flight. Impelled
by divinest aspirations, he would have us mount to the starry
gates of God's dwelling in the skies, and drink into our panting
souls, with unutterable ravishment, broad and clear beamings
of his mysterious splendor, and then, in our generous warmth,
he would have us hasten to distribute among our brethren the
glad and sanctifying beams with which we are imbued. If
they spui'n our gift, depreciate its value, deny even its existence,
and question our capacity to attain views so blissful, he would
not have us chilled into despair by the captiousness we incur,
but hold on our way in patient effort, till Omnipotence comes
to crown with success our beneficent design.

Says Neander, " There was peculiar fitness in Christ's being
born among the Jewish people. His life revealed the kingdom
of God, which was to be set up- over all men ; and it properly
commenced in a nation whose political life, always developed
in a theocratic form, was the continued type of that kingdom.
He was the culminating point of this development ; in him
the kingdom of God, no longer limited to this single people,
was to show its true design, and, unfettered by physical or
national restraints, to assert its authority over the whole human
race. The particular typifies the universal ; the earthly the
celestial. So David, the monarch who had raised the political
theocracy of Jesus to the pinnacle of glory, typified that greater
Monarch, in whom the kingdom of God was to display its glory.
Not without reason, therefore, was it that Christ, the summit
of the theocracy, sprang from the fallen line of royal David,"

44 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

And yet, what is remarkable in the youth of Christ, he never
fortified his claims to popular regard by allusions to an illus-
trious ancestry, and his origin from royal blood. On the
contrary, he avoided courting the favor of the worldly great,
refused to meddle with every thing connected with oppressive
sovereignty, and preferred the humblest position among the
masses, at once their symbol, their champion, and friend. The
beautiful spirit of young Christ, rising from the people and
shining on them all,

" Looked do-RTi on earth's distinctions, high and low,
Sunken or soaring, as the equal sun
Sheds light along the vale and mountain's brow."

Great and beneficent souls always rise from the general
mass and belong to it. They spring from the industrious ranks,
diffuse the principles of equality, bind the great elements of
society together, and ennoble them. They inspire fresh
thoughts, execute generous deeds, and transmit the grandest
influence to the end of time. Such, in a preeminent degree,
was the case with the " child Jesus." Though he was in
character divine and of exalted birth, he claimed no immunities
on account of these considerations, but, from the lowest grade
of rational existence, dared to aspire to the highest, and win
the most glorious attitude by his own sufferings and toil. He
was not educated in a learned school, nor sustained by any
favorable combination of clique and circumstance. " He was
obliged to contend with poverty, lowness, and contempt, and
was surrounded with obstacles, difficulties, and dangers, which
seemed invincible. In his obscure and helpless condition,
however, we find him capable of forming a plan for the good
of all nations, and cherishing a thought which lay beyond the
reach of human intellect, though possessed of the greatest
powers, and exercised under the most favorable circumstances.
We find him capable of making a bold eilbrt to carry it into
execution, and indulging a hope that all would be accom-
plished, never firmer than in the moment when to human view
all was lost ; when he was forsaken by his Ultimate friends,

THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. 45

opposed and even put to death by his nation. What conclu-
sion must we draw from a phenomenon so distinct in its kind ?
Shall we not be justified in considering him the most exalted
sage, the greatest benefactor of mankind, a most credible mes-
senger of the Godhead J "

The aspirations of our Lord in his early youth, their intensity
and lofty aim, are indicated by the circumstances of a well-
known event, concerning which the profoundest of modern
commentators remarks as follows : —

" Of the early history of Jesus we have only a single inci-
dent ; but that incident strikingly illustrates the manner in
which the consciousness of his divine nature developed itself
in the mind of the child. Jesus had attained his twelfth year,
a period which was regarded among the Jews as the dividing
line between childhood and youth, and at which regular reli-
gious instruction and the study of the law were generally en-
tered upon. For that reason, his parents, who were accus-
tomed to visit Jerusalem annually at the time of the Passover,
took him with them for the first time. When the feast was
over, and they were setting out on their return, they missed
their son. This, however, does not seem to have alarmed
them, and perhaps he was accustomed to remain with certain
kindred families or friends. Indeed, we are told (Luke ii. 44)
that they expected to find him ' in the company,' at the even-
ing halt of the caravan. Disappointed in this expectation, they
returned the next morning to Jerusalem, and, on the following
day, found him in the synagogue of the temple, among the
priests, who had been led by his questions into a conversation
on points of faith. His parents reproached him for the unea-
siness he had caused them, and he replied, ' Why did you
seek me ? Did you not know that I must be about my Father''s
business 7 ' Now, these words of Jesus contain no explanation,
beyond his tender years, of the relations which he sustained to
the Father; they manifest simply the consciousness of a child,
— a depth, to be sure, but yet only a depth of presentiment.

" We can draw various important inferences from this inci-

46 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

dent in the early life of Christ. At a tender age he studied
the Old Testament, and obtained a better knowledge of its
religious value by the light that was within him than any human
instruction could have imparted. Nor was this beaming forth
of an immediate consciousness of divine things in the mind of
the child, in advance of the development of his powers of dis-
cursive reason, at all alien to the character and pi'ogress of
human nature, but entirely in harmony with it. Nor need we
wonder that the infinite riches of the hidden spiritual life of the
child first manifested themselves to his consciousness, as if
suggested by his conversation with the doctors, and that his
direct intuitions of divine truth, the flashes of spiritual light
that emanated from him, amazed the masters in Israel. It not
unfrequently happens, in our human life, that the questions of
others are thus suggestive to great minds, and, like steel upon
the flint, draw forth their inner light, at the same time revealing
to their own souls the unknown treasures that lay in their hid-
den depths. But they give more than they receive ; the out-
ward suggestion only excites to action their creative energy ;
and men of reflective and receptive, rather than creative,
minds, by inciting the latter to know and develop their vast
resources, may not only learn much from their utterance, but
also diffuse the streams which gush with overflowing fulness
from these abundant well-springs. And these remarks, apply-
ing— in a sense in which they apply to no other — to that
mind, lofty beyond all human comparison, whose creative
thoughts are to fertilize the spiritual life of man through all
ages, and whose creative power sprang from its mysterious
union with that Divine Word which gave birth to all things,
show us that his consciousness developed itself gradually, and
in perfect accordance with the laws of human life, from that
mysterious union which formed its ground.

" And further, without in the least attempting to do away
with the peculiar form of the child's spiritual life, we can
recognize in this incident a dawning sense of his divine mis-
sion in the mind of Jesus ; a sense, however, not yet unfolded

THE YOUTH OF CHRIST. 47

in the form in which the corruption of the world, objectively
presented, alone could occasion its development. The child
found congenial occupation in the things of God ; in the Temple
he was at home. And, on the other hand, we see an opening
consciousness of the peculiar relation in which he stood to the
Father as the Son of God. We delight to find, in the early-
lives of eminent men, some glimpses of the future, some indi-
cations of their after greatness ; so we gladly recognize, in the
pregnant words of the cliild, a foreshadowing of what is after-
wards so fully revealed to us in the discourses of tlie com-
pletely-manifested Christ, especially as they are given to us in
John's Gospel."

The history of rising worth has nothing to compare with that
temple scene. A youth appears " sitting in the midst of the
doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And
all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and
answers." He comes into the assembly of venerable sages
with a mild and pensive countenance, that seems haunted with
earnest thought. He is no favorite of earthly fortune, no scion
of aristocratic pride, no pet of exclusive schools, but the sim-
ple child of the unsophisticated people, steeped to the lips in
suffering ; and yet, mightier than the domes that bend above
him, he is for the intellect and heart of man a glorious living
temple, built with the choicest riches of unnumbered worlds.
The first question he propounds startles the attention of all who
hear him, and creates the greatest astonishment in the most
profound ; for his words bear that charm of immaculate wis-
dom which can neither be defaced nor excelled. Question
succeeds to question, and learning, in despair, grows more and
more confused, in this, the grandest gladiatorship of mind yet
witnessed on earth. Sage after sage, swelling with wounded
pride, is silenced before that youth apparelled in the plain attire
of peasant life, radiant with the celestial light that emanates
from an aspiring heart, and bent on throwing wide open the
gates of instruction to all. The whole park of artillery which
power and craft have erected on their contracted citadels he

48 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY,

has spiked, and, like " a mailed angel on a battle day," he
rejoices in his triumph, not foj himself, but for the sake of the
benighted multitudes around. Free thought and free discus-
sion then and there were born !

CHAPTER III.

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST.

IN MATURITY, TRAINED BY SUFFEEIXGS SXTCH AS MANKIND IN GENERAL
ARE DOOMED TO ENDURE.

It is important that we keep constantly in view the rela-
tion which the progressive development of Christ's manhood
bore to the complete accomplishment of his divine mission,
The years of his life which were most veiled in obscurity were
full of preparatory discipline, wisely adapted to the sublimest
ends. The lowly circumstances of his infancy, the severe toils
of his youth, and the varied experience of his early manhood,
were doubtless designed gradually to awaken the full con-
sciousness of that divine call, and fortify him with that perfect
mastery over adverse powers, which he displayed on entering
upon his public life. From an infinite diversity of sources,
sublunary and celestial, Jesus imbibed energies of every kind,
which, with irresistible concentrativeness, were at length em-
ployed to redeem and renovate the world. To the silent,
solitary preparation which transpired in the life of Christ be-
tween the ages of twelve and thirty, let us now attend.

In examining this period of transition from youthful conse-
cration to perpetual struggle and triumphant sacrifice, we shall
find that our Redeemer experienced much of social oppression,
personal self-reliance, and the seductions of power.

In the first place, Jesus Christ experienced much of the

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST.

49

bitterness produced by social oppression. Suffering humanity
drank from no cup and experienced no wrongs in which he
did not participate. He was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet sinless. He knew no actual participation of depravity ;
but, as he rose from the lowest vale of human existence, and
pressed through eveiy barrier that sin has raised, he learned
how to sympathize with a fallen race in every pang they
endured. This was essential to the full development of the
Messianic character, and the perfect discharge of the work he
came to perform. He entered upon various human relation-
ships, mingled intimately with human beings of every class, and
witnessed human wretchedness of eveiy degree. That which
he saw, felt, and wept over, made profound impressions on his
mighty heart, and nerved him, amid the tempest of vicarious
woe, to win peace for mankind.

Jesus, in common with nearly all who are born to elevate
and bless the world, was disparaged by those who had the best
evidences of his worth, and found least encouragement from
the kindred to whom he was most closely allied. Various state-
ments of the evangelists inform us that Christ had younger
brothers and sisters. For instance, they who witnessed the
first marvels of his career said, " Is not this the carpenter, the
son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and Simon, and
Juda ? and are not his sisters here with us ? " A distinguished
critic observes, —

" It is worthy of note that Mark and John agree in stating
that these brothers of the Savior remained unbelievers during
his stay on earth — a fact which illustrates the truthfulness of the
history, since it by no means tended to glorify either Christ or
his brothers, one of whom, at least, (James,) was in high re-
pute among the Jewish Christians. It is not to be wondered
at that the prophet was without honor among those who dwelt
under the same roof, and saw him grow up under the same
laws of ordinary human nature with themselves. True, this
daily contact afforded them many opportunities of beholding
the Divinity that streamed through the veil of his flesh ; yet it
5

50 REPUBLICA?J CHRISTIANITY.

required a spiritual mind and a lively faith to recognize the
revealed Son of God in the lowly garb of humanity. The
impression of humanity made upon their senses day after day,
and thus grown into a habit, could not be made to yield to the
divine manifestations, unless in longer time than was required
for others ; but when it did yield, and, after such long-continued
opposition, they acknowledged their brother as the Son of God
and the ^Messiah, they only became thereby the more trust-
worthy witnesses."

The whole life of Christ on earth was tragical in the highest
degree ; the portions which were most obscure, not less so
than the scenes on Calvary and Olivet. Think of the desolate-
ness of that preparatory state, wherein his own kindred dis-
carded his claims, and oppressed him with all the chilling
weight of undisguised distrust. Nothing is sublimer in the
history of mind than the lonely struggles which precede and
generate success. Every predestined hero will have to de-
monstrate his superior worth by encountering and overcoming
the most undeserved obstructions. Long before an effective
foothold is attained, he will have suffered most from unex-
pected quarters, and been more aroused by neglect than by
timely aid. Misfortune is a fire that melts weak hearts, but
renders the firm purer and stronger. How many of the best
of our race can recognize their model and consolation in the
unfriended youth of Nazareth ! Let the young man compelled
to struggle with that sorest destiny, relatives who foster not
but rather congeal his warmest hopes, lake heart from the
experience of his Lord, homeless and brotherless among his
own kindred, but yet on his way to the conquest of popular
prejudice, the redemption of degraded humanity, and the pos-
session of power the most comprehensive and supreme.

How merciful was God to the best desires of the best hearts,
to portray before the world the discipline of toil and neglect
which his beloved Son endured ! Alas for the nobly aspiring,
if they derive not more solace from this heavenly example
than can be found in the selfishness of earth ! In every age,

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 51

oppressive sceptres and galling chains have been broken by
youthful hands nerved by wrongs, " as the rock shivers in the
thunder stroke;" and in almost every instance these saviors,
like their great Pattern, have been inured for the strife by the
contempt or envy which at the outset they incurred. They
arose in the field or shop, panting to be useful, and demanding
only the patronage of good will and a fair opportunity to ex-
ercise their gifts. Some have contemptuously glanced at the
lowly condition of such, saying, " Can any good thing come
out of sources so obscure ? " and have done what they could to
depress the native talents with which they are too ignoble to
sympathize. But when the wealthy and powerful of earth
discard all claims on their regard proffered by the indigent
candidate for usefulness and the highest fame, how sweet to
turn to Christ for sympathy and support ! How easy of access
is he ! How grateful to walk with him in the dusty path of hard
endeavor, and spread before his generous heart our own
benevolent and comprehensive schemes, when all others are
distant and deaf — him, my fellow-mechanic, brother sufferer,
kindred student, friend, teacher, God !

At an early day, the great Deliverer began to look out from
the centre of his own domestic circle through all the ramifica-
tions of the human race, and saw that injustice and oppression
every where prevailed. His keen experience of this set in
operation his superhuman energies to defend the feeble and
demolish the strong. He won a mastership over injustice even
while suffering it, and through the paths of distress ascended
to the highest triumphs and the best repose. Hence he ex-
claimed to those who would tread in his footsteps and emulate
his deeds, "In the world ye will be oppressed ; but be of good
courage, I have conquered the world." In a manner full of
light and encouragement, he has taught the champions of
righteousness that it is their doom and reward to endure much
that is oppressive, in order that they may the better know how
to appreciate the invulnerable nature within man, which may
be abused but cannot be destroyed. Providence has armed

5Q REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

the mind with a quality which lies at the foundation of many
excellences, and supports them all. This is fortitude which,
by throwing a spirit of graceful endurance into every mental
energy, gives beauty to grandeur, and tranquillity to zeal.
Much is this quality needed, since

" In this wild world the fondest and the best
Are the most tried, most troubled, and distressed."

In addition to the bestowal of fortitude as a prime element
of the soul, there is a fact connected with its exercise which
claims our gratitude. It is, that when the victim has endured
his appointed suffering with unflinching heroism, and when
vanquished fortune is compelled herself to admire, he is
always the admiration of the world, as well as its greatest
benefit. There is a potency in the daring heart of the resolute,
to which even destiny must yield. Let us remember that, as
the most beautiful roses bloom in dreary Lapland, as the richest
diamonds are found on the stormiest coasts, and as porphyry
hardens the more it is exposed to the elements, so the best
virtues of the soul are generally disciplined by the sternest
trials.

This truth has been felt and enforced by all who have ex-
celled in every age. Zeno taught it in the severe philosophy
of the Porch ; and the artist who gave to fame the wonderful
group of Laocoon felt this sentiment deeply, as he sculptured
colossal agony in marble, and transmitted to succeeding gener-
ations that sublime representation of anheroical spirit struggling
in the serpent-coils that would cripple his benevolence, and yet
not altogether overcome by his pangs. The great father of
tragedy imbodied this idea in his masterpiece, when, in Pro-
metheus bound, he demonstrated that neither the shaking earth,
nor the rending heavens, a bed of rock without, nor vulture
fangs within, could cause regret for good deeds already done,
or terror in view of evil yet to be inflicted. Filled with for-
titude based on conscious merit, the torn victim, even amid his
most cruel tortures, would not stoop so low as to be envious

THE MANHOOD OF CHPJST. 53

towards the dishonorable prosperity of Mercury, his tyrannical
foe. Ahhough so borne down with sufferings that naked ex-
istence, alone remained to him, still the sweets of benevolence
and the balm of heavenly courage flow in each pulsation of the
throbbing heart through all the avenues of tortured life. Marius,
seated among the ruins of Carthage, was the impersonation of
heroical endurance, and a striking exemplification of this in-
herent power of the manly mind. The shattered and pros-
trate city was a type of the fallen fortunes of the conqueror ;
but the contrast between the soul unbent, the hero undaunted,
and the surrounding mass of ruins, presents in a striking aspect
that element of indomitable power which forever glows in the
brave of soul. But Christ came, the mighty architect of all
things majestic and fair, to reconstruct with pristine glory a
world far gone in moral decay. His object was not only to
suffer in our stead, but to teach us by example how superior to
suffering mind can be made. Every event of his life, and
every phase of his sorrow, inward struggles and outward ob-
structions, are full of meaning for us, and for all persons who
have sensibilities to be crushed or hardships to endure. Es-
pecially should they who have to do with the young and the
unfortunate recognize the latent germs of worth and capacity
which the Almighty has deposited in every human soul. This
was what Christ was most prompt to do, the mighty achieve-
ment which he alone could effectually perform. At the mo-
ment when all the earth groaned with longings for deliverance,
a voice arose in Judea, the voice of Him who came to suffer
and to die for his brethren, proclaiming the dawn of freedom
for every land, solace for every woe. This was the capenter's
son, poor, persecuted, forsaken, who cried to the multitudes
crushed beneath the burdens of depravity and toil, "Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest." To heal the evils which afflict our race, he assumed
their condition, on their belialf met every claim of infinite jus-
tice, and opened the fountains of redemption and charity freely
to all mankind.

5*

54 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Men every where became manageable under the eye and
the moulding hand of Christ, because, in addition to the
native divinity of his character, the depth and variety of his
human experience enabled him to get close to them — closely
in contact with their iinnost selves. He did not spin about him
an impervious web of conventional prejudices and feelings,
which protected his tender soul from the touch of ordinaiy
bystanders. The beings and vicissitudes with which he came
in contact day by day and hour by hour, touched the inner-
most and tenderest fibres of his being. He thus learned to
sway the masses, because he could draw them with the cords
of a man. The winding passages to the human heart he had
critically scanned, and all its trembling sensibilities he had felt ;
hence, through the outer sanctuary, into the very presence of
the most hidden spirit, he could advance at once, holding the
object of his mercy spell-bound by his tones and the first
glance of his eye, because that eye moistened with sympathy
for the suffering, and there were tears in his voice which no
degree of obduracy could resist. But what was the educa-
tional process preparatory to a mission so divine ? How were
results so grand and beneficent attained .''

This leads us to remark that Jesus experienced much of
personal self-reliance. His education was not professional, bui
personal ; it was self-development, in the most free and un-
limited degree. Neander has profoundly explored this topic,
and on it remarks, —

" We have already seen that in the early progress of the
mind of Christ every thing was original and direct, and that
external occasions were needed only to bring out his inward
activity. As we must suppose that his development was sub-
sequently continued in the same way, we come at once to the
conclusion that his education for a teacher was not due to any
of the theological schools then existing in Judea. But we can
reach this conclusion only by comparing the peculiar tenden-
cies of those schools with the aims of Christ, with his mode
of life and instruction, and with the spirit which he diffused

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 55

around him. In the outset, how unlike Christ was the legal
spirit of Pharisaism, with its soul-crushing statutes, its dead
theology of the letter, and its barren subtilties ! Some few of
the sect, endowed with a more earnest religious sense, and a
more sincere love of truth than their fellows, could not resist
the impression of Christ's divine manifestation; but they came
to him with a full knowledge of the difference between his
mode of teaching and theirs, and not as to a teacher sprung
from among themselves. They had first to overcome their
surprise at his strange and extraordinary language, before they
could enter into closer connection with him. They had to
renounce the wisdom of their schools, to disclaim their legal
righteousness, and to attach themselves to Christ with the same
sense of deficiency in themselves, and with the same desire for
what he alone could impart, as all other men.

"The spirit of the Sadducees presents a still more rugged
contrast to the spirit of Christ. Their schools agreed in noth-
ing but denying ; their only bond of union was opposition to
the Pharisees, against whom they strove to reestablish the
original Hebraism, freed from the foreign elements which the
Pharisaic statutes had mixed up with it. But an agreement
in negation can be only an apparent one, if the negation rests
upon an opposite positive principle. Thus certain -negative
doctrines, that agree with Protestantism in rejecting the au-
thority and traditions of the Romish church, separate them-
selves farther from Protestantism than the Romish doctrine
itself, by the affirmative principle on which they rest their
denial, and by carrying that denial too far. The single posi-
tive principle of Sadduceeism was the one-sided prominence
given by them to morality, which they separated from its
necessary inward union with religion. But Christ's combat
with the Pharisees arose out of the fullest interpenetration of
the moral and religious elements. The Sadducees wished to
cut off the progressive development of Hebraism at an arbi-
trary point. They refused to recognize the growing conscious-
ness of God, which, derived fi'om the Mosaic institute, formed

56 REPUBLICAN CHKISTIANITV.

a substantial feature of Judaism, and hence could not compre-
hend the higher religious element from which, as a germ, un-
der successive divine revelations, the spiritual life of Judaism
was to be gradually developed. Rejecting all such growth as
foreign and false, they held a subordinate and isolated point to
be absolute and perpetual ; adhering to the letter rather than
the spirit. To the forced allegorizing of the Pharisees in
interpreting the Scripture they opposed a slavishly literal and
narrow exegesis. But Christ, on the other hand, while he
rejected the Pharisaic traditions, received into his doctrine all
the riches of divine knowledge which the progressive growth
of Theism, up to the time of John the Baptist, had brought
forth. His agreement, then, with the Sadducees, consisting,
as it did, solely in opposition to Pharisaism, was merely nega-
tive and apparent.

" Had the source of Christ's mighty power been merely a
doctrine, it might have been received, or at least suggested,
from abroad. But his power lay in the impression which his
manifestation and life as the Incarnate God produced ; and tins
could never have been derived from without. The peculiar
import of his doctrine, as such, consists in its relation to him-
self as a part of his self-revelation, and image of his unorigi-
nated and inherent life ; and this alone suffices to defy all
attempts at external explanation. Had Jesus been trained in
the Jewish seminaries, his opponents w^ould, doubtless, have
reproached him with the arrogance of setting up for master
where he himself had been a pupil. But, on the contrary,
we find that they censured him for attempting to explain the
Scriptures without having enjoyed the advantages of the
schools, (John 7 : 15.) Plis first appearance as a teacher in
the synagogue at Nazareth carried even greater surprise, as
he was known there, not as one learned in the law, but rather
as a carpenter's son, who had, perhaps, jiimself worked at his
father's trade. The general impression of his discourses every
where was, that they contained totally different materials from
those furnished by the theological schools. (Matt. 7 : 29.)"

I

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 57

One of the most striking features of Christ's education was
the purit}', strength, and copiousness of his affections. From
the aristocracies of the age, in both church and state, he was
isolated and contradistinguished ; but to his sisters, to children,
and to all spirits not dwarfed by bigotry and degraded by pas-
sion, he was ever closely allied. He first breathed on the
breast of a virgin, and perpetually grew in intimate contact
with the great heart of humanity, throbbing in the bosom of
unsophisticated life. He came to uprear love's standard upon
the battlements of truth ; and he won his best preparation for
the task, not in the contracted and desiccative influence of po-
lemical warfare, but amid the expanding and ennobling ten-
dencies which prevail where " glides the calm current of do-
mestic joy."

Speaking of a great master of American theology, a dis-
tinguished professor at Andover recently remarked, —

" We cannot help wishing that he had been somewhat more
of a brother, and somewhat less of a champion ; that he had
left his book on the Will just as large as it is, but had made his
book on the Affections and sentiments more comprehensive and
full ; that he had been a little more like one on whose bosom
we might lean our heads at a supper, and a little less like one
standing in the gloom of solitude, and awing down every
weakness of our poor nature. We need and crave a theology
as sacred and spiritual as his, and moreover one that we can
take with us into the flower-garden, and to the top of some
goodly hill, and in a sail over a tasteful lake, and into the
saloons of music, and to the galleries of the painter and the
sculptor, and to the repasts of social joy, and to all those hu-
manizing scenes where Virtue holds her sway, not merely as
that generic and abstract duty of a ' love to being in general,'
but also as the more familiar grace of a love to some beings in
particular. We do want a theology that will not frown with
too great austereness on every playful sentiment, nor disdain
all communion with those things which hard-nerved men
call ' innocent follies,' but which were designed by Him who

58 KEPDBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

remembereth our frame to make the intellect more pliant and
versatile, and the manners more polished, and the whole man
more human. Many of our systematic treatises on theology
have been written in schools, and garrets, and cloisters, and
prisons ; some of them by men bearing the title of ' bachelors
in divinity,' and the character of bachelor in humanity also;
but these treatises would have been more exacdy true, had
they been composed amid the scenes of a more sympathizing
and social life, and by men not so ' intensely married to their
folios and parchments.' Much of our theology has been ham-
mered out by metaphysicians ; and we all know what Burke
says of these men — ' There is no heart so hard as that of
a thorough-bred metaphysician.' "

Christ was the divinest of theologians, because he taught
not in absti'action, but exemplification ; not in dogmas merely,
but deeds ; in the ardor of his heart, as well as the energy of
his mind ; in the gentleness of his demeanor and the benefi-
cent industry of his life. The love of the beautiful, the good,
and the true, were a trinity in his soul, never mutilated, smoth-
ered, or divorced. From the earliest youth he so deepened and
refined the sentiment of the beautiful, that he could not be
otherwise than good ; and he so deepened and refined the sen-
timent of the good, that it was impossible for him to be other-
wise than true. He chose this order and condition of devel-
opment here below, that he might prepare for earth that
which earth most needs — men and women in whom the beauti-
ful, the good, and the true, may be one, harmonious, and divine,
causing their hearts instinctively to soar toward heaven when-
ever they behold the flowers of the field, the stars in the fir-
mament, and, with purer vision still, gaze on angels round the
eternal throne.

Christ assumed our humanity, and rendered it intensely hu-
man, that it might become divine. He did not isolate it, nor
associate it more closely with the exclusive few ; he socialized
it — blended it intimately with the great masses, knowing that
every development of our social nature tends toward the

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 59

development of our religious emotions. Absolute solitude is
unnatural to mankind. It is unfavorable to the profoundest
meditation, and suicidal to all that is elevated and comprehen-
sive in the unfolding of our powers. Man is not by nature an
ascetic, sown by hazard on earth, to live and die in the hidden
shadow of a rock or forest ; he is born in the midst of society,
which adopts him, nourishes him, trains him, communicates to
him its ideas, its passions, vices, virtues, and to which hi turn
he leaves, with his dust and memory, the influences of his own
life. In humanity every thing which is true of the individual
is true of the race ; and whatever is true of all was designed
to be concentrated in each for his improvement, enjoyment,
and safeguard. Our fellow-men are our fellow-men in all
respects ; and Christ, who through his incarnation obtained the
truest knowledge of our condition, by the most perfect expe-
rience of our wants, felt the most profoundly that human nature
admits of no privileges ; that in distributing the two richest
treasures we can possess — freedom and truth — partiality is a
crime. Hence the first thing the Redeemer did, was to rec-
ognize and fortify the great and holy law of mutuality, of
reciprocity, in every w'orthy deed. Who better than he could
perceive that beings endowed with passions and affections are
necessarily dependent upon and responsible to each other ? A
distinguished follower of his taught that the obligation of broth-
erly love among men is a debt from which we are never ab-
solved or acquitted, saying, " Owe no man any thing, but to
love one another." But the great Master had long before
inculcated this law by his example, when, disowned by his
brethren according to the flesh, and discarded by the worldly
great, he was compelled to rely on his own resources, and
illuminated the retired but social sphere of his development
with the torch of love, calm and majestic, like " the waveless
ocean in its noontide slumbers."

The chief design of Christianity is, to create in its subjects
a new life, and to accelerate their spiritual progress. That this
may be accomplished with the greatest certainty and widest

60 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

success, a minor motive is, to develop and refine social ties,
that through these others may be wooed into companionship by
the way, and a participation of the final reward. Therefore
its Founder, though superhuman, did not wish to appear as a
giant, least of all a solitary one, lest the multitude of ordinary
mortals should be alarmed at his height, and shudder before
him as a monster. He first taught that family life, social
spirit, patriotism, universal brotherhood, or by whatever name
the law of reciprocity may be designated, all spring from the
existence of our affections, which indissolubly bind our fates
to those of our fellow-men; that intellectual, or moral, or
religious solitude is impossible so long as love is exercised ;
and that without the development of this, the best portion of
our nature, perfection can never be attained. Therefore all
the superstitious admiration ever felt for the life of anchorites,
so far from being the legitimate product of true religion, is di-
rectly opposed to it. Hermits are monsters, inasmuch as they
adopt a mode of life in conflict with the nature of man, and
in every respect injurious to his health}' growth. Nothing but
the corruption and impiety of the times can justify a solitary
life ; and even this is not a sufficient excuse, according to the
apostle Paul : " I wrote to you in an epistle not to company
with fornicators ; yet not altogether [to break all intercourse]
with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous or ex-
tortioners, or with idolaters ; for then must ye needs go out of
the world." One of the most attractive features in the char-
acter and life of Christ, is this early and unbounded develop-
ment of his social nature under circumstances which were
apparently so adverse. He may have been neglected by
others, but he neglected none. His birth was so low, and his
preparatory career so obscure, that the great and influential of
earth found themselves incapable of stooping to foster his
worth ; but he who was greater and mightier than all, volun-
tarily assumed that position, not for the purpose of dragging
any down, but for raising all up. Kings, princes, and priests ;
Sadducce, Pharisee, and Esscne ; all sects, orthodox and hetT

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 61

erodox, may have striven equally to make their respective
adherents bow and mould themselves to their own creed ; but
he, the lowly and loving man of the people, the Son of God,
the Son of man, every where and in every condition, would
let his mighty heart swell under a prostrate and abused race,
that he might raise them above oppression, by imparting to the
soul a power and a deliverance which sectarianism and tyranny
can never wrest from its grasp. As Christ moved about from
scene to scene where the great masses antagonized with pen-
ury and wrong, drudging through long periods of unproductive
toil, that a kw might riot in luxurious ease, and gathering at
remote intervals a few gleams of home-joy, while their op-
pressoi-s wasted their whole lives in riotous delights, it is easy
to see how he constantly yearned to be their Redeemer, and
to make other redeemers ; to spread far and wide ideas and
emotions fitted to make men divine ; to undergo all privation,
peril, and pain ; to love where he was hated, and to die that
humanity might live, in loyalty to the widest affection and the
highest truth. Hence has generation after generation been
disinthralled and beautified, blessed with patriots, sages, mar-
tyrs, prophets, and apostles, men facing the dungeon, the sword,
and the flame, rather than desert their allegiance to the best
interests of the greatest number. This was indeed God man-
ifest in the flesh — a Deity full of justice, wisdom, and benev-
olence ; who passed from heaven to earth, that he might raise
earth to heaven ; who adopted our shape and carried our sor-
sows, that he might comprehend us better, compassionate more
benignly our infirmities, and vindicate us without defeat when
tortured by the evils which in this bad world we cannot escape.
It is this intense human ness of the Savior, as well as his
divinity, which gives to his religion its ineffable gentleness and
irresistible power.

But if the necessity of self-reliance occasioned the thorough
and compi-ehensive development of Christ's sensibilities, it had
an equally beneficial influence on his intellect. In some re-
spects, the early training of the Old Testament prophets and
6

62 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

that of the great Prophet of the New, were similar ; but in most
particulars the contrast was very great.

" The most extraordinary beings, as imaginative objects, who
ever appeared upon this planet, were the prophet-bards of
Israel. Mark one of those wondrous beings, in his most per-
fect character ! He was a solitary and savage man, residing
with lions, when he was not waylaying kings, on whose brow
the scorching sun of Syria had charactered its fierce and ter-
rible hue ; and whose wild eye swam with a fierce insanity,
gathered from solitary communings with the original forms of
nature ; the sand, the sea, the mountains, and the sky ; as well
as with the divine afflatus. He had lain in the cockatrice's
den ; he had put his hand on the hole of the asp ; he had spent
the night on lion-sui'rounded trees, and slept and dreamed amid
their hungry roar ; he had swum in the Dead Sea, or haunted,
like a ghost, those dreary caves which lowered around it ; he
had drank of the melted snow on the top of Lebanon ; at Sinai
he had traced and trode on the burning footprints of Jehovah :
he had heard messages at midnight, which made his hair to
arise and his skin to creep ; he had been wet with dews of the
night, and girt by the demons of the wilderness ; he had been
tossed up and down like a leaf upon the strong and awful storm
of his inspiration. He was essentially a lonely man, cut off,
by gulf upon gulf, from all tender ties and human associa-
tions. He had no home ; a wife he might be permitted to
many, but the permission, as to Hosea, might only be a curse;
and, when her death became necessary, as a sign, as in the
case of Ezekiel, she died and left him in the same austere
seclusion in which he had existed before. The power which
came upon him, cut, by its fierce coming, all the threads which
bound him to his kind, tore him from the plough or from the
pastoral solitude, and hurried him to the desert, and thence to
the foot of the throne, or to the wheel of the triumphal char-
iot. And how startling his coming to crowned or conquering
guilt ! Wild from the wilderness, bearded like its lion lord,
the fury of God glaring in his eye, his mantle heaving to his

THE MANHOOD OF CHKIST. 63

heaving breast ; his words stem, swelling, tinged on their ter-
rible edges with poetry ; his attitude, dignity ; his gesture,
power ; how did he burst upon the astonished gaze, how ab-
rupt and awful his entrance, how short and spirit-like his stay ;
how dreamily dreadful the impression made by his woi'ds, long
after they had ceased to tingle on the ears , and how myste-
rious the solitude into which he seemed to melt away ! Poet,
nay, prophet, were a feeble name for such a being. He was
a trumpet filled with the voice of God ; a chariot of fire car-
rying blazing tidings ; a meteor kindled at the eye, and
blown on the breath of the Eternal ! "

The above sketch may be true respecting the heralds of the
ancient theocracy, but it does not apply to the Founder of a
newer and better dispensation. He was diviner than they —
had more character, and therefore was habitually more majes-
tic and calm. He was equally private in his habits of life,
was even more conversant with nature them his predecessors
on the heights of inspiration ; but he was imbued with Deity
more than any man — relied incessantly on himself for aug-
mented force, and exerted the greatest public energy, for the
ver}' reason, probably, that he threw abi'oad his heavenly gran-
deur from the shadows of the most humble sphere. It was
this retired, calm, and truly godlike self-unfolding of our Re-
deemer that shed an epic splendor around every step of his
progress, made each injury he suffered a solace to emulative
disciples on his track, and eveiy act he performed a symbol
most significant of truth and freedom to all mankind.

We have seen how our Lord early relied on resources
native to himself, and arose superior to the religious dogmas of
the day, as they were taught by all the popular theological
schools. At the outset, oppressed as he was by toil and exclu-
siveness, he strove to stand forth the first among our race, an
independent thinker, struggling for the sufl^ering of eveiy class,
with head, hands, and heart disinthralled. Mankind yearned
for the advent of one in whom the love of the beautiful, the
pursuit of the good, and the defence of the true, would not be

64 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

a mere artistic perception, but a natural and ardent passion,
such as in Christ only is realized. He best served the salva-
tion of humanity by the peculiar education of himself as an
individual. When he had once made the beautiful, the good,
and the true, an harmonious unity for himself, the divine ex-
ample of this imity became a more resistless argument to his
sympathetic brethren than all the eloquence that man or angel
could employ. He broke away from sectarian despotism, and
aspired to become thoroughly and energetically individual in
the purity and power of his own light, that he might excite
kindred aspirations in all other individuals ; and, for their en-
couragement, while his own person was yet sombre in the
lowest vale, he poured the dawn of universal deliverance along
every summit of the world. All that was needed to make him
a tender friend, a perfect teacher, and a mighty Redeemer, he
acquired by experience on earth, and transmitted for its hope.
He had the same faith in himself as in his doctrine ; and feel-
ing that both were divine, he was more than willing — it was
his only ambition and delight — to lay them at the feet of every
man. He would transform each immortal creature of our race
not only into a disciple, but a prophet, placing in his heart a
sublime idea, a celestial sentiment, which he should profoundly
feel was destined to redeem the world. With a modest but
majestic self-reliance, he shi'ank from no peril, no pain, no
obloquy, that he might accomplish the advocacy of mercy and
truth in word and deed. He went abroad, armed with no ex-
clusiveness and no coercion, but radiant with the energies and
beatitudes of a salvation designed to bless all nations, free,
purify, and exalt all mankind.

The mental independence so prominent in Christ is a rare
thing on earth, and most worthy of our esteem. We see many
persons who are able to act with vigor so long as they are
sustained by popular opinion ; but the moment this deserts
them, they fall into utter imbecility, and the wonder is, how
they ever have commanded the confidence and admiration of
their fellows. But such are never heroes ; they belong not

J

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 65

to the goodly fellowship of those who stoop their anointed
heads as low as death, in defence of ennobling and saving
truth. Christ, on the contrary, was the consummate model
of the noblest cast of character ; one " by its own weight
made steadfast and immovable." Suffering emancipated,
instructed, and consolidated his mind, as it does in every hero
truly great. The burdens which Isaiah, Stephen, Paul, and
Luther bore, gave steadiness to their movements and energy
to their limbs.

"Thus doth strength

To -vrisdom, courage, and long-suffering love,

Minister like a slave."

Schiller, full of that self-relying individuality which after-
wards made him a master in his sphere, when encompassed
with the gloomy auspices of his early manhood, exclaimed
bravely to his friend, " O Karl, so long as my spirit can
raise itself to be free, it shall bow to no yoke ! " Christ
acted on this principle, above and beyond all human beings.
Difficulty was the element in which he wrought out his mental
greatness in the presence of man, as if on purpose to teach
him to resist resistance, and in the fierceness of holy endeavor
to grow strong. The opposition of men, and the buffetings
of elemental storms, the sudden vicissitudes of time, and the
adversities of adverse fate, are all designed to drive man from
the vassalage of grovelling conventionalities, and lift him to
the exalted regions of pure action and free thought. To
the true champion, susceptible of great improvement and
beneficent deeds, " if misfortune comes, she brings along the
bravest virtues." The path to perfection is always difficult ;
but the trials which the aspirant meets are designed to rouse,
and not to discourage, him. He must win strength and speed,
as grow the eagle's wings and the giant's arms ; he must
tunnel the mountains in his way, or soar above them.

Doubtless the ditliculties of our state are among its best
blessings. " The distance at which good objects are placed,
and the obstacles which inten^ene, are the means by which
6 *

66 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Providence rouses, quickens, invigorates, expands, all our
powers. These form the school in which our minds and
hearts are trained. Difficulty and hardship bind us more
closely to objects. We love more ardently what we have
suffered to attain, and enjoy nothing so exquisitely as what
we have pursued through calamity and danger. It is in such
pursuits, when we endure and labor for ends which con-
science and religion enjoin, that our whole nature is called
forth and perfected. The heart gains new ardor, the under-
standing new clearness and vigor. A delightful conscious-
ness of rectitude sustains us, even if we fail, and gives a
rapture to success." Christ came to teach us that all wisdom
is bought with labor and pain, and that we arrive at holy
truth and the highest bliss only through great tribulation.
True, we are on a field of battle, and imminent are the perils
which menace us on every side ; but the vestiges of a celes-
tial Leader are palpable all around, telling both where and
how he fought and conquered, winning from this tear-wet
and sanguinary ground crowns of righteousness and victory
for every braVe comrade in the war. This independent
self-reliance of the great Captain of our salvation is happily
adapted to soothe and encourage every manly follower, and
in the hours of exhaustion and doubt to rouse in him invinci-
ble faculties kindred to the perfect model he emulates. Like
him, he will struggle most for elevation of soul, and press
perpetually towards a throne on high, not advancing like an
earth-fowl blown upward by the chance direction of impetuous
gusts, but soaring through a purer and calmer medium to genial
skies, upborne by wings full of living and growing power.

In contemplating the discipline of Christ preparatory to his
public career, one cannot but be struck with the fitness he at-
tained through the practice of perpetual industry and fearless
thought. He never required others to earn his bread or do
his thinking. He endured patiently many personal wrongs,
and much social oppression ; but he never permitted tyrants
of any degree to dictate to him what to believe. He would

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 67

suffer no spiritual intolerance, and he practised none. He
pitied the ignorance and bigotry of mankind, and devoted his
entire hfe to the work of teaching them ; but he never coerced
an individual to a particular belief. He poured forth heart
emotions and rational motives enough to subdue and lead
captive all ; but he left his disciples, like himself, free in
every decision and act. He wished to see none involved in
meshes, or incarcerated in gloom, which suffocated every
exhilarating breath, and crippled all vigorous growth. Every
act he performed, every precept he inculcated, every prayer
he offered, was designed to open a free and fascinating com-
munication between himself and every other soul, that all
might stand inthralled by affection and rapturous thought in
his presence, but no one palsied by ignorance or chilled by
fear. He came to earth, burdened with immortal verities
which he panted to distribute through every avenue of the
general heart ; he was accustomed to " breathe in worlds to
which the heaven of heavens is but a veil," and his only desire
was to elevate the degraded of every class to an unbounded
participation of a mental life and moral grandeur as un-
shackled and glorious as his own. If we would be like him,
we must not fail to imitate this divine trait in his character
and life. We must rise above contracted dogmas, disregard
ephemeral dignities, inhale the sublime majesty of Jesus, and,
like him, be at once the servant and victor of the world. In
the language of another, we may exclaim, —

" What faculties slumber within, weighed down, by the
chains of custom ! The want of courage to carry out great
principles, and to act on them at all risks, is fatal to origi-
nality and freshness. Conformity benumbs and cramps genius
and creative power. We must commit ourselves fully to a
principle of truth and right ; we must dare to follow it to the
end. Moral independence is the essential condition of loving
warmly, thinking deeplj^ acting efficiently, of having the soul
awake, of true life. This habit of reliance on principle should
give us a buoyant consciousness of superiority to every

68 nEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

outward influence. A far-sighted anticipation of great results
from worthy deeds should make us strenuous in action, and
fill us with a cheerful trust No particular interests should
absorb our sympathies ; but our hearts should flow out in sen-
sibility to every thing which concerns humanity, so that the
pursuit of particular objects may expand and exalt our whole
power of good, and free us from all narrowness of spirit or
fanaticism. A minister should be possessed with the con-
sciousness of a higher law than public opinion, traditionary
usage, prevalent fashion. Strictness, sternness, may often be
demanded of him to whom conscience is the supreme law ;
and power and majesty belong to him who yields himself up
in willing obedience to the absolute rectitude of God.

" A bold, free tone in conversation, the decided expression
of pure and lofty sentiment, may be influential to change the
whole temper and cast of thinking of society around us. Are
we not traitors to great truths when we suppress the utterance
of them, and let the opposite errors pass unrebuked ? Ought
not the spirit of the world to be continually met with mild-
ness, yet unfaltering firmness ? It cannot be opposed too
steadily and uncompromisingly. To bring out a noble spirit
into daily intercourse, is a more precious offering to truth than
retired speculation and writing. He who leaves a holy life
behind him, to bless and guide his fellows, bequeaths to the
world a richer legacy than any book. The true, simple view
of right should be presented without disguise. High princi-
ples are to be advanced as real laws; the vague uncertainty
wrapped round them by unmeaning professions and practical
renunciation is to be stripped away, and they are to be firmly
set up as standards for the judgment of all men, public and
private. No air of superiority, contempt, anger, no fault-
finding cynicism, no thought of self, should mingle with this
testimony to right ; but a true love of mankind, a reverence
of virtue, a desire to elevate all men to the nobleness for
which they are destined, should manifest the depth and
purity of our moral convictions."

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 69

Our greatest anguish is internal, connected with those
efforts which transpire in every thinking soul, as it gropes in
that partial night wherein Providence has thought best to leave
the reason of man, with respect to his origin, his nature, and
his destiny. In relation to the most important matters, we
acutely and constantly feel the need of a guide, one who can
arrest us from the labyrinths of doubt, and transport us to the
regions of light and security. Christ is that blessed guide,
who, by his own severe experience in our flesh and among
our toils, escaped from the cold and gloomy abstractions of
heathen philosophy, rose above the confused jargon of the
schools, resolved the problem of human destiny, and unveiled
life and immortality to the feeblest vision and the dullest heart.
He demonstrated that for the simplest and rudest mind to
embrace true religion, it had but to seize on a few salient and
saving truths. It had not to entangle and confound itself
amid a maze of manifold claims, conflicting authorities, and
impossible persons. Supreme love to God, obedience to the
Great Teacher sent, and devotion to the welfare of our
brother man, — these constituted the one gi-eat doctrine which
gleamed in all his discourse, and was exemplified in all his
career. With Christ, religion was not a mere theoiy, but a
holy and radiant fact, a prolific and powerful life, adapted,
through its urgency and agency, example and appeal, to
qualify its subjects, struggling to vanquish oppression without
and whhin, to rise above feverish excitement and fainting
flesh, to serene heights in the skies, where Jehovah wel-
comes the champions from earth, and crowns them with joy
forevermore.

In his own person, Christ naturalized human affection and
intellect, as well as set it free. At the time of his advent, the
earth groaned, being burdened, as at the present day, with a
surplusage of mechanical contrivances, to force arbitrary prin-
ciples upon man, crushing his unfolding faculties, instead of
promoting their natural evolution, the growth of the mind
itself. Spiritual faculties, susceptibilities, and tastes, of the

70 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

highest power and progressiveness, lie wrapped in that germ
of vital intelligence which has been planted in every human
being ; and it is the budding forth, the legitimate unfolding and
expansion, of this manifold embryo, which demands our chief
care. All the kingdoms of knowledge on earth, and all the
appliances which can by any means be produced, only form
the compost out of which the living germ grows, extracts ali-
ment, and assimilates all strength and fruitfulness to itself. It
is just so far useful, and no farther, as it contributes to develop
and fortify the faculties around which it is accumulated and
applied. The growth of the inner and essential man is all
that is needed, and this only is valuable. The mind of man
is not a soil, and its varied information the diversified flowers
and harvests that root themselves therein. On the contrary,
mind itself is the plant of immortal worth, and knowledge the
soil to be drawn around, not to overwhelm it, but to promote
the growth of its roots and to ripen its fruits. Christ came " to
plant the tree of life, to plant fair freedom's tree," simultane-
ous with the growth of which, every soul should expand its
roots and stretch its boughs, imbibing vigor from all healthful
elements, and producing fruit in every land. He would not
have the plant of righteousness cooped in the effeminate air
of Pharisaic conservatories, nor boxed within the contracted
dimensions of Sadducean creeds, but rooted and grounded in
the firm soil and granite of world-wide truth, where the free
mountain winds of Heaven's own divinity might have leave to
blow against it.

Christianity is as flexile in its adaptation as it is potent in its
efficiency. It is a power which can cope with the grossest
systems of idolatry, or eradicate the last stain from a saint ;
kindle in an infant the first gleam of devotion, and thrill the
highest angel forever with aspiring thought. What the world
most needs is, to be brought under the influence of a religion
so happily adapted to its constitution and wants.

" An amusing story is to be found in tlie Spectator of a man
in the pursuit of health by rule. He was possessed of a sti'auge

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 71

notion that his constitutional soundness might invariably be
tested by the weight of the body. He furnished himself,
therefore, with a weighing-chair, and regulated his food, exer-
cise, sleep, and all other movements, by a perpetual reference
to the index of his machine. This is a fair type of the
mechanical regularity within the range of human contrivance.
How different is that of nature ! There, too, we have laws,
constant as the daily course of the sun in the heavens ; but
laws, the special and external modifications of which adjust
themselves with the nicest accuracy to the multiform conditions
under which they develop themselves. The vital energy
which moulds the oak or the elm, will unerringly put itself
forth according to certain definite structural rules ; and the
result will be that, in the form and color of the leaf, the gen-
eral groupuig of the twigs, the direction of the branches, and
the contour of the whole tree, the one may be readily distin-
guished from the other. But with this wonderful regularity
there is combined a variety yet more wonderful. No two trees
of the same species are identically alike. The inward law,
which secures a structural sameness, leaves its work to be
modified by the innumerable external circumstances in the
presence of which it exerts itself ; and accordingly, instead of
having a dull monotony, wearisome to the eye and oppressive
to the spirits, we have an infinite variety adapted to give play,
by turns, to all our pleasurable emotions.

" Christianity in the heart of man, say, rather, in the bosom
of society, is a vital energy, working by rule, clothing itself in
certain well-defined and identical forms, fashioning out of
human powers and passions certain structural results, weaving
into a tissue of the same general character and fabric all the
moral elements which constitute the material of its designs, and
thus securing an external regularity and order. But the laws
by which it works out these results are, to a certain extent,
capable of modification by every variety of surrounding influ-
ences. The unchangeable tendencies of the vital, motive prin-
ciple, which, hke leaven, is to leaven the whole mass of

72 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

humanity, are found, nevertheless, to harmonize with an ex-
tremely flexible and self-adjusting system of instrumentality ;
a system which, retaining under all circumstances certain lead-
ing and cognizable forms, may yet adapt itself to the special
peculiarities of time, place, custom, habit, and political consti-
tution, and may take an outward modification of form — here,
for instance, by a healthy excitement, stimulating an active
zeal ; there, by enlightened instruction, regulating fervor in
danger of running into fanaticism — from the peculiar moral
atmosphere, the combination of outward influences, in the
midst of which it grows."

The most conclusive proof of the supernatural origin of our
religion is found in its naturalness, in its adaptation to our high-
est wants and noblest growth. It imparts to its possessor " that
inner eye which is the bliss of solitude," and causes him to
" hear the veiled gods walk at night through the hushed cham-
bers of his listening soul." Intellect reigns supreme, associ-
ated with invincible faith, its living soul and quickening spirit.
Throned in the august temple of universal truth, the votary
yields to no error, and sinks before no obstacle ; fortified as he
is by God on high and his own true purpose, he is destined to
conquer all enemies, and work out a resistless life through self-
reliance and heavenly aid. He makes his body and all its
senses subservient to the higher interests of the soul, and
walks abroad under the everlasting firmament, rejoicing in the
light which radiates every where in the placid regions of his
choice, and becomes worthy, because willing, to commune with
Jehovah, face to face. The mind thus emancipated from
earth-born conventionalities, and made one with great nature,
has its movements measured by the movements of the universe.
Stationed on the Alps of divinest knowledge and holiest delight,
the devout sei*vant of God and man, watchful and free, beholds
the effulgence of a brighter morn bursting on a world too long
obscured by superstitious fear, and rejoices at the sight as an
exiled angel would rejoice before the unfolding gates of heaven.
These are the true disciples of Him who appeared on earth to

THE MANHOOD OF CHraST. 73

give liberty and natiiralness to the human mind. They are
beacon-hghts, kindled to cheer and guide the benighted race.
They resemble the mountains which the pure and tranquil dawn
smiles on long before the rising of common day, and which, as
they were the first to hail the rising sun, so, struggling against
darkness early and late, they preserve far into night the linger-
ing beams of his glory.

B}' emancipating the affections and intellect of man in his
own person, and by providing for their natural growth, Jesus
Christ rendered these attributes more intense and palpable to
every human being. It is hard for man to become the abso-
hUe slave of custom, to efface completely from his brow the
mark of his divine origin, and crush fully from his heart the
dream and the daring of his immortal destiny. Yet is he often
so abjectly subservient to the powers of darkness, that he needs
some one who has partaken of his sorrows, but not of his guilt,
to stand up with divine earnestness, and tell him how much he
has deflected from virtue's path, and how much energy, as well
as happiness, by this rebellion he has lost. This was the mis-
sion of humanity's great model and sufferer, the immortal
Nazarene. His infant slumbers, his juvenile toils, his manly
experience, his public ministry, his conquest over hell and tri-
umphant ascent to heaven, had a much more intimate connec-
tion with human history than theologians are wont to recognize.
If we would follow in his footsteps, we must develop the entire-
ness of our energies, as he did his, loving as well as learning,
doing as well as believing, since knowledge and faith are val-
uable only so far as they conduce to vigorous thinking and
beneficent deeds. When Jesus appeared, he found power and
craft leagued together, and every where employed in grinding
man in the dust. Priests claimed the privilege of exercising
the twofold function of teacher and tyrant ; and it was against
fragmentizing the human soul that he was prepared to protest
with the whole force of his life and all the eloquence of his
warmest blood. It was this tenderness of Christ that touched
all liearts, and drew the multitudes close around him, and made
7

74 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

his frank and courageous example, as well as his benignant
words, an irresistible sermon which will speak to the remotest
generations of mankind. All ingenuous spirits will see the
adaptation, and verify in themselves the infinite worth, of that
religion which unfolds the harmony of our physical nature as
it ascends to the intellectual ; th(^ harmony of the intellectual
as it ascends to the moral ; the harmony of the moral as it
ascends to the I'eligious ; and when it has unfolded all the
harmony of the religious, causes its subject, by a spontaneous
and glorious transition, to ascend to heaven as a son of God.
While preparing for his public toils, our Lord moved about
gently among the ra.ce he came to redeem, like " stillest
streams watering fairest meadows ; " but he every where made
hearts feel his presence, and from first to last ruled only by
the power of his love.

We have considered the experience which in his early man-
hood Christ had of social oppression, and the trials he endured
of personal self-reliance Let us now glance at the discipline
he was made to feel under the seductions of power. From the
account which the evangelists give of the fast, and the scene
at the pinnacle of the temple, it is clear that the Savior did
not wish to free himself from the sense of human weakness
and dependence ; that he would work no miracle for that pur-
pose. Speaking of the still more remai-kable temptation of
universal dominion, Neander remarks, —

" We do not take the third temptation as implying literally that
Satan proposed to Christ to fall down and do him homage, as the
price of a transfer of dominion over all the kingdoms of the world :
no extraordinary degree of piety would have been necessary
to rebuke such a proposal as this. We consider it as involving
the two following points, which must be taken together, viz.,
1. The establishment of Messiah's dominion as an outward
kingdom, with wordly splendoi-s ; and, 2. The worship of Satan
in connection with it, which, though not fully expressed, is
implied in the act whicli he demands, and which Christ treats
as equivalent to worshipping him. Herein was the temptation,

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. . 75

that the Messiah should not develop his kingdom gradually, and
in its pure spirituality from within, but should establish it at
once, as an outward dominion ; and that although this could
not be accomplished without the use of an evil agency, the
end would sanctify the means.

" We find here the principle, that to tiy to establish Mes-
siah's kingdom as an outward, worldly dominion, is to wish to
turn the kingdom of God into the kingdom of the devil ; and
to employ that fallen intelligence which pervades all human
sovereignties, only in a different form, to found the reign of
Christ. And in rejecting the temptation, Christ condemned
every mode of secularizing his kingdom, as well as all the
devil-worship which must result from attempting that kingdom
in a worldly form. We here find the principle, that God's
work is to be accomplished purely as his work and by his
power, without foreign aid ; so that it shall all be only a share
of the worship rendered to him alone.

"We find, then, in the facts of the temptation the expression
of that period that intervened between Christ's private life and
his public ministry. These inward spiritual exercises bring
out the self-determination which stamps itself upon all his sub-
sequent outward actions. Yet we dare not suppose in him a
choice, which, presupposing within him a point of tangency
for evil, would involve the necessity of his comparing the evil
with the good, and deciding between them. In the steadfast
tendency of his inner life, rooted in submission to God, lay a
decision which admitted of no such struggle. He had, in com-
mon with humanity, that natural weakness which may exist
without selfishness, and the created will, mutable in its own
nature; and only on this side was the struggle possible — such
a struggle as man may have been liable to, before he gave
seduction the power of temptation by its own actual sin. In
all other respects, the outward seductions remained outward ;
they found no selfishness in him, as in other men, on which to
seize, and thus become internal temptations, but, on the con-

76 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

trary, only aided in revealing the complete unity of the divine
and human, which formed the essence of his inner life.

" Nor is it possible for us to imagine these temptations origin-
ated within ; to imagine that Christ, in contemplating the course
of his future ministry, had an internal struggle to decide whether
he should act according to his own will, or in self-denial and
submission to the will of God. We have seen, from the third
temptation, that, from the very beginning, he regarded the
establishment of a worldly kingdom as inseparable from the
worship of the devil ; he could, therefore, have had no struggle
to choose between such a kingdom, outward and worldly, and
the true Messiah-kingdom, spiritual, and developed from within.

" Even the purest man, who has a great work to do for any
age, must be affected more or less by the prevailing ideas and
tendencies of that age. Unless he struggle against it, the spirit
of the age will penetrate his own ; his spiritual life and its
products will be corrupted by the base admixture. Now, the
whole spirit of the age of Christ held that Messiah's kingdom
was to be of this world, and even John Baptist could not free
himself from this conception. There was nothing within
Christ on which the sinful spirit of the age could seize ; the
divine life within him had brought every thing temporal into
harmony with itself; and, therefore, this tendency of the times
to secularize the theocratic idea could take no hold of him. But
it was to press upon him from without : from the beginning,
this tendency threatened to con-upt the idea and the develop-
ment of the kingdom of God, and Christ's work had to be kept
free from it ; moreover, the nature of his own Messianic minis-
try could only be fully illustrated by contrast with this possible
objective mode of action ; to which, foreign as it was to his
own spiritual tendencies, he was so frequently to be urged
afterward by the prevailing spirit of the times."

From an early period in his sublunary course, our Re-
deemer "suffered, being tempted ;" but with strong hope and
patient endurance, he resisted the most crafty onsets of the foe.

THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST. 77

The divinity of his nature was firm as the eternal throne, while
the sensibilities he bore, swayed by all the innocent infirmities
of humanity, were as lovely and flexible as a rose-bough waving
in the breeze. It was only so far as he was intrinsically
divir.e that he was competent to redeem ; it was by resisting
in his own'person the evils we incur that he could best open
a way of deliverance and teach us how to overcome. He thus
" fought to protect, and conquered but to bless ; " each battle
being directed against our common adversary, whose tempta-
tions, under the guise of wealth and dominion, are hardest to
resist. Thankful, indeed, should we be that we have a High
Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; who
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet sinless. It is
from his own experience that Christ speaks, when he directs
us to resist the devil and he will flee from us. Every hero,
destined to struggle against the powers of darkness with energy
and success, will first be most sorely tried in view of emolu-
ments and power, proffered by the great enemy of good. The
church too much neglects its most gifted sons. But when
human friendship is dumb, and earthly resources are all sealed,
how sweet, in the sadness of young hopes oppressed, to hear
Jesus whisper, " Be of good cheer ; I have conquered the
world!"

How did Christ resist the temptations of power ? He made
himself his own fountain of honor, and guarded that fountain
with strength derived from on high. He was the root of Jesse,
the offspring of mightiest kings, the herald and pledge of the
greatest renown ; but so far from boasting of royalty, he ever
scorned to assume the airs of superiority. It seemed to be his
purpose to demonstrate before all the world that it is only in
personal merit that genuine distinction lies, — that one can no
more invest himself with ancestral fame, than he can clothe
himself in the beams of yesterday's sun, which departed with
the sun itself. " He who works God-like, works for his brethren
and his age ; purifies his own blood beyond all the factitious
quackery of heralds, and the lies of fashion ; he makes it a
7*

78 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

foundation of honor to himself and his children, if they follow
in his steps; — of shame to them, if they depart from them.
He, and he alone, is the noble. He alone carries God's
patent in his hand, the star of unflccked honor in his heart ;
and all besides, though they number ancestors by thousands,
are but wretched impostors, and presumers on a lie.'

" That old boast
Of blood is but opinion's idle brag,
And nature knows no 'scutcheons."

Jesus Christ, in the discipline of his early manhood, the type
of all redemption, from the most sombre depths of obscurity
rose before men and angels, developing the attractiveness of
infinite worth, nurtured amid trials of every sort, like a sea-
flower, whose roots interlace and penetrate the profoundest
caverns, but whose stem mounts through unfathomed billows
to the surface, and unfolds its petals to wanderers in storm and
calm. His royalty began in the nakedness and gloom of tlie
manger, was educated through a career of incessant toil, fa-
tigues, and watchings, in which the rising Champion gathered
a few palms and acclamations from the masses, between whom
and himself there was cordial love, until bigoted power inter-
posed. But these were soon followed by the maledictions
which kingcraft and priestcraft had inspired, the anguish of the
garden and the tortures of the pretorium. Finally, bowed
beneath the cross he bore, his brow being wreathed with a
diadem of thorns, and his lips redolent of blessings on his
murderers, he goes forth to expire on the mount which over-
looked Tophet, that type of hell, whose powers he came to
conquer and destroy.

In the above description, we have limited our views mainly
to the discipline which our Lord experienced anterior to his
public life, in which, wc think, his most manly energies were
educed, and a divine example of consecrated genius was
displayed.

CHAPTERIV.

CHRIST AS A PREACHER.

IX HIS PrBLIC LIFE, THE BEXEFICEXT CHASIPIOX OF rXrVERSAL
RIGHTS.

In his advent, Christ identified himself with the lowly con-
dition in which the masses of mankind are born. In his youth,
he was occupied in toil such as the great majority of men pur-
sue. In his maturity, he was trained by sufferings such as
mankind in general are doomed to endure. These are points
elsewhere discussed. It is our present purpose to consider the
character of our Lord as a preacher.

Having passed through the preparatoiy discipline requisite
to the Messianic office, and having spoken to his disciples in
private, he enters upon his public career. Popular attention is
excited ; persons of every age, sex, and condition are ad-
dressed ; and this extraordinary Teacher draws around him
crowds of men who never leaned on the bosom of a loving
master, were never instructed in the language of sympathy
and friendship, but who, despite the power of depraved pas-
sion and prejudice, now listen with attention the most profound,
and with delight openly declared. The most significant and
valuable encomium on record, respecting preaching, is the tes-
timony of Mark, that the common people, the miscellaneous
multitudes, heard Jesus gladly. We interpret this fact by sup-
posing that he addressed a common nature, aroused common
emotions, and imparted common blessings. Christ addressed
a common nature, since he shared our human condition in all
its wants, and respected it ; he aroused common emotions, be-
cause his own sympathies were excited, and his esteem for our
ruined race was legitimately exemplified ; and he imparted
common blessings through labors for the redemption of the

80 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITV.

common people which were most intense, and by the exercise
of love towards them in every respect the most impartial. Let
us examine these points consecutively.

Our primaiy remark is, that the multitudes who attended the
ministry of Christ heard him with delight because he addressed
a nature common to them all. He was qualified to do this
effectively for two especial reasons.

First, he shared our human condition in all its wants. We
believe that the true humanity of the Son of God is as fun-
damental an article of Christian doctrine and consolation as
his true divinity. To say that Christ was not real man, we
regard as heterodox as that he was not real God. Scripture
describes him as being at one time " in the form of God,'''' and
at another as " being in the form of man." The expression
is exacdy the same when applied to the preexistent state of our
Lord, and when describing his incarnate condition. The pro-
priety of this is seen in the necessity of the case. He is a
mediator between God and man ; and " a mediator is not a
mediator of one," but must partake of the nature of both.
The most comforting and upholding truth in the Bible, consists
in the fact that the Redeemer is, in the strictest and most en-
dearing sense, our kinsman. We may often have occasion to
resist erroneous doctrines touching the humanity of Christ ,
but we should neither underrate, nor overlook, this grand truth
of salvation — that the Son of God became as truly, and as
literally, human, as the beings he came to redeem are human.
We cannot, and we need not, allow that there was in him that
fountain of evil which there is in oui-selves. " We contend
that the absence of the fountain, and not the mere prevention
of the outbreak of its waters, is indispensable to the constitu-
tion of such purity as belonged to the holy child Jesus. But
that he was like myself in all points, my sinfulness only ex-
cepted ; that his flesh, like mine, could be lacerated by stripes,
wasted by hunger, and toi'n by nails ; that his soul, like mine,
could be assaulted by temptation, hiirasscd by Satan, and dis-
quieted under the hidings of the countenance of tlie Father;

I

CHEIST AS A PREACHER. 81

that he could suffer every thing which 1 can suffer, except the
remorse of a guihy conscience ; that he could weep every tear
which I can weep, except the tear of repentance ; that he
could fear with every fear, hope with every hope, and joy with
every joy, which I may entertain as a man, and not be ashamed
of as a Cliristian ; — there is our creed on the humanity of the
Mediator. If you could once prove that Christ is not perfect
man, — bearing ahva}^ in mind thai sinfulness is not essential
to this perfectness, — there would be nothing worth battling for
in the truth that Christ a^s perfect God ; the only Redeemer
who can redeem, like the Goel under the law, my lost heritage,
being necessarily my kinsman ; and none being my kinsman
who is not of the same nature, born of a woman, of the sub-
stance of that w^oman, my brother in all but rebellion, myself
in all but unholiness."

Various reasons have been suggested why Christ styled
himself the " Son of man : " probably the best was his con-
scious relation to the human race — a relation which stirred the
very depths of his heart. He called himself the " Son of
man " because he had appeared as a man ; because he be-
longed to mankind ; because he had done such great things
even for human nature, (Matt. ix. 8:) because he was to glo-
rify that nature ; because he was himself ihe reaUzed ideal of
humanity.

Says Schleiermacher of the title " Son of man," " Christ
would not have adopted it had he not been conscious of a
complete participation in human nature. Its application would
have been pointless, however, had he not used it in a sense
inapplicable to other men ; and it was pregnant with reference
to the distinctive differences between him and them." As has
been suggested, the fundamental idea of the title is, perhaps,
allied to that involved in the Jewish designation of Messiah
as the " second Adam ; " but it is clear that Christ was not
led by this fact alone to adopt it. "Much rather do we sup-
pose that the name, although used by the prophets, received
its loftier and more profound signification from Christ's own

82 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

divine and human consciousness, independent of all other
sources. It would have been the height of arrogance in any
man to assume such a relation to humanity, to style himself
absolutely Man. But He, to whom it was natural thus to style
himself, indicated thereby his elevation above all other sons of
men — the Son of God in the Son of Man."

The time arrives when the Redeemer should manifest him-
self more openly to the world : he emerges from the artisan's
shop, through a long and varied course of experience, rises
naturally into the sphere of benefic™ action, and his public
life has commenced. He instructs, reproves, commands, and
exercises all the functions connected with our social condition.
The cares of authority, the fatigues of power, and all the
yearnings of charity divine, were exemplified in him. In sol-
itude he has garnered every sentiment that is pure, and in
pi-actical efforts to do good he has rendered himself skilful in
the use of all the means adapted powerfully to move mankind.
Filial love dwells in his bosom, intimately blended with chaste
friendship and generous compassion. He shares in the joys
and griefs of all around him ; mingles in the festivity at Cana,
and anon passes forty days in the desert without either com-
panion or food. Vicissitudes of joy and grief, complacency
and indignation, sweep over him as over other men. Cal-
umny, treason, and dark ingratitude pursue him at one mo-
ment, and boisterous applause hails him the next. Envious
priests spread vengeful nets in his private paths, and state
tyrants plot more publicly to destroy his life. He experienced
every form of favor and hate, serene confidences as well as
sombre despair, and in his own destiny wrought out the desti-
nies of all our race. Truly did he carry our sorrows and
experience our griefs ; and it was this practical knowledge that
gave him unlimited popular power. Fie addressed no peculiar
or limited order of feelings, but united in his discourse all the
qualities and emotions which are spontaneous in every order
and condition of mankind. His audience was coextensive
with humanity itself, because his experience included the

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 83

experiences of all, and as his heart thrilled and responded to
their own, he verified in the highest sense the saying that " one
touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

Hence the mercifulness and wisdom of Christ's incarnation ;
he must assume the form, and experience the condition, of a
servant, that he might bind our hearts to eternal life with the
trembling fibres of his own. Even for those fledged souls who
desire to soar upon the wings of devout meditation, it is well,
from time to time, Antseus like, to rest upon thLs gi'osser sphere ;
it was infinitely more necessaiy that he who came to elevate
us from earth to heaven should absorb into his own pei"son, and
destroy the oppressions of our present state, that we might have
both space and power to rise. This he did. He became the
son and companion of the common people ; was born in a
town proverbially depraved ; of a nation preeminently distin-
guished for superstition, national pride, bigoted self-esteem, and
contempt towards all other men. He chose to arise " in an age
of singular corruption, when the substance of religion had
faded out from the mind of its anointed ministers, and sin had
spread wide among a people turbulent, oppressed, and down-
trodden ; a man ridiculed for his lack of knowledge, in this
nation of forms, of hypocritical priests and corrupt people,
falls back on simple morality, simple religion, unites in him-
self the sublimest precepts and divinest practices ; thus more
than realizing the dream of prophets and sages ; rises free
from all prejudice of his age, nation, or sect ; gives free range
to the spirit of God in his breast ; sets aside the law, sacred
and time-honored as it was — its forms, its sacrifice, its temple,
and its priests ; puts away the doctors of the law, subtle,
learned, irrefragable, and poui-s out a doctrine beautiful as the
light, sublime as Heaven, and true as God. The philosophers,
the poets, the prophets, the Rabbis — he rises above them all.

Christ was greater, more popular as a teacher, than those
who preceded him, because he was more manly, imbued with
more natural dignity and grace. He habitually spoke as a
being related to all whom he addressed. He never arrogated

84 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

to himself superiority over the humblest, and a narrower
sphere than the whole world for the exercise of his benevolent
regards seems never to have entered his thoughts. This
native tone of grandeur and love which pervaded his teaching
was duly impressed on his hearers. He breathed more energy
into them thandid common teachers, because he had more to
breathe ; and they in turn were inclined to manifest esteem for
him proportioned to the natural enthusiasm he kindled in their
souls. The multitudes pressed upon his steps, published his
glory, and diffused his fame all around. Until corrupted by
priestcraft, and suborned by aristocratic power, the common
people spread their garments, and cast palm branches in the
triumphal way of the great Teacher whom they adored.

Secondly, Christ not only shared our human condition in all
its wants, but he profoundly respected it ; and this was another
secret of his great popular power. He recognized the fact that,
whatever may be the feebleness of man and his degree of
corruption, the immortal principle within, which reminds him
of his origin and destiny, never loses its empire upon the soul ;
a deathless fibre forever remains in the heart to vibrate to the
influence of true religion. Connected with this is another fact
of great importance : it is, that the common people are com-
petent to appreciate the profoundest truths that any teacher
can distinctly state. Not many mighty, not many noble, in
this world's estimation, become the disciples of Christ, be-
cause they rely more on mind, the faculty of pride, than on
love, the faculty of devotion. In the day of judgment, many a
peasant will appear more imbued with faith and light than the
doctors of the law, because afl^ection sees farther than intellect ;
and when the soul yields to her mild but potent influence,
truth accompanies her flight, as an eagle seizes her little ones
upon her back and bears them to the sun.

It is the plain, practical, and yet profound common sense of
the masses, that saves the world when statesmen and men of
genius fail in their mission, and betray, with the cause of God,
the cause of humanity. It is reason in the toil-worn and

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 85

suffering which counteracts ambitious diplomacy and the vaga-
ries of inexperienced abstractionists. It is the people, the great
masses, between whom and Jesus were such mutual sentiments
of esteem, who in every age receive from God the instinctive
wisdom necessary to resist the treason against popular rights
which the masters of the world employ all their resources to
execute. This, the heroical aspect of human nature, Christ
respected, as he did every thing interesting and great in man.
Those profound aspirations, latent in eveiy mind, and which the
thoughtful keenly feel compelling them to live in the past as
well as the future, Christ did not despise ; on the contrary, he
incurred the deepest opprobrium, and suffered the greatest sac-
rifice, that he might bestow on our race a religion adapted to
educe all our faculties, and impart to them the divinest growth.
He would deliver from all oppression, and conduct us out of
the regions of contracted perception into the unbounded do-
mains of enjoyment and thought. The soul pants for the
unlimited and undying with a thirst which human objects can-
not assuage. From the beginning, as Novalis remarks, " every
science had its god, which was its end. Philosophers sought
the unlimited, though they found only what is limited. They
sought infinity, though they found only things." But Christ
brought to earth the elements of a nobler science, free for all,
and opened for every devotee instructions the most satisfying
and sublime. They were in harmony with the deepest wants
of the human heart and intellect ; with the idea of perfection
which slumbers there, and which, by his teachings, is awak-
ened to reality and consciousness. Man every where requires
not merely intellectual excitement and luxury, but an adoration,
which humbles, sanctifies, and regenerates his higher powers :
this was the prerogative of Him who is higher than all the
sources of mere genius, and who came to the weary and
heavy-laden people that they might freely drink of the waters
of life. His words were spirit and vivifying power to the lis-
tening multitudes. He profoundly respected every vestige of
God in man, feeling that the feeblest intellectual life, of which
8

86 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

obedience is the law, is but a participation of the supreme
reason, a full consent to the testimony which Jehovah has him-
self rendered to his creature. All created intelligences are
animated by rays of the eternal intelligence, that divine reason
which communicates itself through the words of Christ, and is
the cause of that divine life of which faith is the essential
mode. The mortal combat of the flesh against the spirit goes
ever on, and Christianity comes with its mighty energies to
emancipate, enlighten, and transform the soul — a task effect-
ually accomplished because the agency employed is but the
assemblage and manifestation of all the truths useful to man.

They who do not profoundly respect the worth and capa-
bilities of the common people, are always themselves unwor-
thy of being confided in. The mind of the masses may often
be quite uncultivated, but its instincts are always sure, and they
never long adhere to leaders, or eulogize talents, which are
not destined to enduring fame. The multitude, in its igno-
rance, is wiser than philosophers crippled and perverted by
factitious learning, because it will not shut its eyes to that light,
truly natural, which shines in the midst of the world, and
enlightens all who are sincere. Who gave the signal of revolt
against Jehovah, and provoked those calamities, the record of
which is so frightful ? Kings, and their courtiers, the leaders
of schools, and the priests of a party. Such have ever been
the instruments of supreme selfishness, and the chief destroyers
of popular rights. They have always persecuted and op-
pressed humanity, as, under the false and lying protection of
hypocritical sovereignty, they betrayed Christ to their pretorium,
crowned him with a diadem of thorns, and, after having ren-
dered his sacred head gory with their blows, knelt before him,
exclaiming. We salute thee, Ki?ig of the Jews !

On the contraiy, who pressed around Christ, on the moun-
tains, by the sea, and in desert places, to listen with profound
respect to his instructions ? The people. AVho wished to
choose him for ruler supreme, in the greatest transports of pop-
ular admiration crying, " Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in

CHRIST AS A PREACEER. 87

the name of the Lord ? " The people. Ay, who was it that
professed to be scandaHzed because he healed the sick on Sab-
bath days, and thereupon interrogated hirn insidiously, that they
might entrap him with their malice and destroy his life ?
Scribes and Pharisees, the tools of power and paragons of
bigotry. Their astute and cunning hypocrisy deceived the
people even, and in a moment of popular caprice impelled
them to demand the death of Him who had nourished them in
the desert with seven loaves, who gave health to their sick,
sight to their blind, and life to their dead. But seeing how the
heartless aristocracies of church and state had deceived the
people, as the serpent deceived Eve, Jesus prayed his Father,
saving, " Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do."

Thus far we have considered how that Christ addressed our
common nature, by personally shai'ing its wants and respecting
its capacities. We proceed to remark, —

Secondly, Christ aroused common emotions, so that the
multitudes heard him gladly. This result was produced from
two causes : his own sympathies were excited, and his esteem
for his hearers was leghimately exemplified.

In the first place, Christ aroused common emotions of interest
and delight, because his own sympathies were excited in be-
half of those who heard hirn. He who was rich, for our sakes
became poor. He chose povei'ty, and laid aside all the outward
appearances of high station and power, that he might come
near to the multitudes and ingratiate their esteem. At the
opening of his ministiy, what a spirit of humanity did he
breathe in the festive gathering at Cana of Galilee ! But his
chief sympathies are with the ignorant, the sinful, the op-
pressed, and those who mourn in solitude. He drew his con-
fiding disciples and the common people into the most intimate
relations with himself; journeyed with them on foot, com-
muned whh them as a loving equal, siept in their houses, sat
at their tables, partook of their frugal fare, and poured upon
their minds the liighest truth in the simplest forms. He came
to seek and to save that which was lost, and his awakened

88 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

sympathies were the unerring guides which led him to the
needy of every class. It was this combination of the spirit of
humanity in its tenderest form, with native glories the most un-
rivalled and divine, that gave Christ such a hold on the masses
of mankind. He was evidently anxious to see the cloud of
ignorance and superstition, that darkens over our world, rent,
and the full and sanctifying effulgence of truth flaming down
into the chaos and torpidity of the people's being. As this
was a true feeling on his part, it was promptly recognized and
acknowledged on theirs. We cannot wonder at the solicitude
which Christ felt, nor at the applause which his hearers be-
stowed. Ignorance wears a fearful aspect to one whose brain
has been pierced by rays, however few and feeble, of a purer
and more beautiful light than that of earth. To the Sun of
Righteousness, then, how revolting, how overwhelmingly dis-
tressing, must be the sight of an ignorant, bigoted, depraved
being! But such objects never repelled the active beneficence
of his hands, nor chilled the ardor of his heart. However
grim and incongruous might be such a spectacle of death in
life, of life in death, Christ saw in it a human reality fitted to
unseal all the fountains of liis most weeping Godhead. He
regards the victim of lust, and fully comprehends how depraved
he is. The serene light of heaven has never visited his soul;
but a lurid glare, engendered of the most loathsome corrup-
tions, has flashed on his senses, and when he takes one step
more desperate than the rest, it is only when that glare adds
ten'or to his dismal path. Nature is fierce within him, and
yet he is not natural ; for though the companionship to which
he seems doomed has gifted him with nothing else, it has
taught him ingenuity in vices. But does Christ despise this
brand almost consumed ? No ; to his eye the most deplorable
aspect of the victim is, that the very faculties which prove^and
constitute his identity with the Omnipotent should be employed
only as the instruments of sin, and that he should be able {o
sink so low in the abyss of iniquity, only by the aid of those
energies which were generated in the bosom of God himself.

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 89

You may almost hear this humane Savior in every such case
saying, Here is a brother, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh,
formed in the same exaUed image as the best of his race, with
the same mark of the divine upon his brow, with the same
traces of celestial ancestry all through his soul ; yet he crawls
on, unconscious of his divinity, in bestial degradation. And
shall nothing be done to rescue him from the thrall of those
appetites he unquestioning obeys ? nothing to arouse him from
a slumber grosser and more gloomy than that of the brutes ?
O, yes ; even in the most stupid and most depraved, the reli-
gious sentiment has an indestructible vitality ; and He whom
humanity heard with delight will prove his claims on popular
regard by breathing hallowed emotions into that wretched
brother's heart. It was from condemnation, from sin and hell,
that he came to save us ; and he delivers men from the worst
practices and the most fearful doom, even though they have
reached the lowest degree of corruption, and grovel at the
very gates of the eternal pit.

Christ commanded the popular ear, because he sympathized
with the popular heart, over which he poured his tears, and
to redeem which he was ready to shed his blood. The eternal
laws which slumber in the human breast he awoke into free
action, and expressed with a clearness and power forever
unsurpassed, developing, as he spoke, "energetic reason and a
shaping mind." His own heart melted through all the tones
and- words he uttered ; and thus he engraved the noblest senti-
ments on the hearts of mankind with " such fiery characters
as lightning on the rocks inscribeth." He impressed through
his discourse the seal of life and action, energizing the " might
that slumbers in a peasant's arm," every where making " the
fresh air blow through the soul's shut-up mansion," that each
bosom might swell as rapturously, and each mind soar as
freely, as his ov/n.

Jesus Christ fulfilled his ministry in the streets and highways.
He did not seclude himself in some lonely sanctuary, but toiled
and taught constantly among the masses, in the midst of the
8 ^

90 nEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

world. He was compassionate toward all men, and was par-
ticularly attentive to the most destitute. When he saw the mul-
titudes, he was moved with tender sympathy on their behalf,
because they had neither instruction nor support. He wept
for a fallen race, not with the tenderness of w.eakness, but of
almighty strength ; and it was the love of the purest among
the mighty, the mightiest among the pure, that touched the
hearts of the populace and swayed them as the whirlwind
sways summer foliage. His object was not to compel, but per-
suade ; to gain consent where consent was wanting ; to make
willing what before was reluctant ; to actuate the affections
and woo their force ; to make man say " yes," willingly and
with joy, in a matter in which he was before inclined to say
" no." The power he aimed at was the persuasion of crea-
tures endowed with reason, capable of faith, and strongly
affected by passion ; accordingly the course he pursued was
harmonious with the end he desired. The secret of his in-
fluence consisted in the nature of the religion he taught, in
its depth of meaning and warmth of love, in its perfect sim-
plicity and universal application. He expanded into innu-
merable forms, and diversified by infinite varieties of illustra-
tion, the great truths of human sinfulness and the infinite
fulness of divine redemption. He humbled himself to the
condition of the most humble, and poured out the greatest
treasures at the feet of the most indigent, while in each act he
was never formal, but fraternal, under the guise of a servant
performing the functions of a God. He knew that a delicate
and close net-work of sensibility is diffused over the entire
body of society, rendering it susceptible of being acted upon
at every point ; and along this he poured a tide of his own
sympathy, seeking the greatest good of the greatest number,
until he had drawn all segments of the great circle of humanity
to one central spot, the throbbing core of his own great and
benevolent heart. It was this kind of address that aroused in
the common people " all the mysterious world of eye and ear,"
making them to hang with delight uoon the lips of the Son

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 91

of God, and to lean fondly towards his swelling breast. Each
new principle he announced resounded in their intelligence
like echoes from beyond the grave ; and while they stood
inthralled by the splendor of a truth then first seen, they be-
held in it a glass which showed them many more, — inter-
minable vistas of glory, joys that should never end. It was
Christ who first made the pulse of true religion beat in all the
arteries of the common heart, and caused the people to feel
that, invested with the serene and blessed atmosphere of his
presence and instruction, they indeed stood in " the presence
chamber of the King of kings."

Let us remember that " there is in man an inward con-
sciousness of worth, not individual, but generic, which, how-
ever it may be given to slumber, is almost invariably awakened
by the show of sincere reverence. Pitiable as may be his lot
for the most part ; cheerless and dark as may be the igno-
rance in which he lives ; vitiated and vulgar as may be his
appetites, worthless his ordinary pursuits, and perverse his
will, — he yet possesses the elements of a noble nature. What
susceptibilities lie buried in the bosom even of the most
degraded ! what high-wrought sympathies ! what glorious
powers ! ^\'oe be to them who can deliberately insult and
despise man, clothed in any garb, or presenting himself to
view under colors even the most repulsive. Ignorant as we
may perchance find him, he is, nevertheless, a being capable
of thought ; malignant, as oftentimes he is, he was yet formed
to love. There is nothing deep which we search into, nothing
excellent which we feel, nothing heroic which we attempt,
nothing great and praiseworthy which we do, which the poor-
est, meanest, most wretched outcast of us all, might not search
into, feel, attempt, and effect. Lift him out of very abjectness
of spirit ; do homage, as becomes his fellow-mortal, to the
imprint of divinity still visible upon his soul ; remind him of
his true dignity, by gently and reverentially appealing to the
higher attributes of his nature ; bow to him as a member,
forgetful though he may have been of his relationship, of the

92 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

same family to which you yourself claim to belong, — and
some 'touches of kin' will show themselves. A new life will
quicken that man's heart. The obeisance you have done to
his nature, and to the image of God which you discerned there,
if rightly, wisely, feelingly offered, will turn his attention,
haply for the first time, to the rich worth of those elements of
character, which, in self-ignorance, he has treated with cruel
disrespect. By this means he is led to see himself — to feel
his own powers — to learn the secret of his high birth. Other
and nobler thoughts than those with which he has heretofore
busied himself, will come ci'owding into his mind. The
respect you have paid him will apply the match to a train of
new aspirations. You will have aroused that consciousness
within him, which alone can look round upon a home of dark-
ness and disorder, — darkness in the understanding, and dis-
order in the passions, — and exclaim with surprise and shame,
' What misery and pollution are here ! ' True, that new-born
consciousness may die again ; but surely he does most for
human nature, whose every aim is to keep it alive, and nourish
and strengthen it, until it can bear no longer to dwell amid
scenes so revolting."

Christ best knew what was in man, and he was so bent
on developing and ennobling his torpid powers, that gracious
words and beneficent deeds were as common to him as vital
air and daily bread. If he was the wisest teacher that ever
descended from heaven, it was because he habitually acted on
the principle that the religious sentiment in human beings is
the mightiest agent on earth. To give this a proper training,
and to preserve it from a perverted use, was his constant aim.
To accomplish this the more benignly, and with the widest
advantage, he did not conduct his hearers through the dubious
region of conflicting theories, but brought them at once into
the lucid medium of absolute truth ; by word and action he
reached their intentions through his own deepest and most
tender consciousness, without permitting any intellectual re-
finements or fastidious niceties of the brain to check and chill

CHRIST AS A PREACHEK. 93

their outpouring. His ambition was to teach not so much the
new as the true, and the true not as a logical formula or dog-
matical proposition, but as a transparent and comprehensive
religious sentiment, enlightening the conscience, spiritualizing
the heart, elevating the soul, and regenerating the entire
family of man, as it swept outward with infinite expansive-
ness to embrace the world. Hence, in the gospel, there is
the calm of a mighty possession, the ravishing peace which
follows the gratification of immense desires, the tranquil
serenity of heaven even. He whom the earth waited for so
long and anxiously has come. " The Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us ; and we have seen his glory, the glory
of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth."
Under his auspices all assumes a new appearance ; the time
of symbols is passed ; salvation is accomplished ; and human
nature, having won confidence in itself through the great Re-
deemer, experiences a calm and august repose, such as was
never known before. The benighted has found light to guide,
the feeble imbibes energy to sustain ; and thus fortified with
resources from on high, the confiding disciple is crowned with
a divine sovereignty, " like Strength reposing on his own
right arm." It is the prerogative and glory of Christianity to
awaken in its subjects the free, earnest exertion of their pow-
ers ; to kindle inward inspirations, and rouse the whole soul
to a healthful activity and useful life. Therefore its nature is
not arid and barren, revealing a precise and frigid doctrine
which admits of no expansion, and feels no purifying and
guiuing fires in the heart and intellect. The religion which
comes from the Creator of the human soul, which is adapted
to its constitution, and which honors both the Maker and his
work, tends perpetually to burst its limits and grow forever.
Christ loved the people because they were common ; because
they were immortal creatures, men. He had faith in their
improvement, and labored to promote within all " the fiery
grandeur of a generous mind." He showed himself to be
eminently the friend of the multitude ; the defender of popu-

94 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY,

iar rights, as well as the foundation of eternal hopes; and by
these demonstrations of practical goodness he took a power-
ful hold on their judgments and hearts. He made popular
impressions through preaching and practice, that was replete
with love, overflowing with mercy. He was not the imper-
sonation of reason so much as affection ; he dealt not so much
with the moonbeams of cold dialectics, as with the brilliant
sun-rays of fervid benevolence. He bent his ear to every
sigh, put forth his hand to relieve every want of the distressed ;
and even when he had departed, it was natural that his sym-
pathetic tones should come back upon the popular heart again,
thrilling even to the eye's fountain. Christ addressed him-
self to the tendencies of our nature most easily awakened,
whose education is the promptest, and whose results are the
most enduring ; to the powers of enjoyment, and he thereby
won souls to happiness and peace ; to the affections, and thus
captivated tliem by love ; to conscience, and caused it to
respond to the instinctive voice of the moral sense ; to the
religious principle, and gave it the amplest means of redemp-
tion and eternal progress. In every miracle he performed on
matter or on mind, it was our merciful Savior's purpose

"To raise tlie human to the lioly,
To wake the spirit from the clay."

We have said that Christ aroused common emotions, because
his own sympathies were excited on behalf of the multitudes.
"We remark further, that his esteem for his hearers was legiti-
mately exemplified, and for this reason especially he was
heard with delight.

Consider the mode and the spirit of Christ's teaching. In
the first place, the manner in which he addressed the people
was calculated to fix their attention and conciliate their belief.
In his teachhig, says an American writer, " he was wont to em-
ploy a great variety of illustrations ; sometimes by means of
short and pointed similes; sometimes more expanded parables;
and sometimes by incidental allusions to present objects and
passing occurrences in the natural world. Scarcely ever does

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 95

he teach any important truth without making use of some
well-chosen illustration, to render it more clear or more im-
jjressive. He knew the mental habits of the people to whom
his preaching was addressed. He knew, that in general they
were not a cultivated and an intellectual people. Their con-
ceptions were gross, and they needed a species of instruction
which should make much use of their senses in so setting
truth before their minds as to do them good, and he adapted
his instructions to them accordingly. When he would rebuke
the pride of man, and inculcate on his disciples the need of
cultivating a lowly and confiding temper of heart, he does not
merely deliver to them the abstract and general, though all-
important truth, that man must be converted and experience
a radical transformation of character, in order to their being
saved ; but, to impress this sentiment more strongly, he takes
a little child and sets him in the midst of them, and then tells
them how salvation is to be obtained : ' Verily I say unto you.
Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of God. Whoso receiveth
not the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter
therein.' When he would teach men to confide in the all-
governing providence of God, and not yield to impatience, or
discouragement, or unbelieving fear, he summons to his aid
the objects of Nature around him, and makes the dependence
of all her tribes, animate and inanimate, subservient to his
design. ' Consider the lilies of the field.' ' Consider the
ravens.' Who nourishes them ? Who gives them their deli-
cate clothing ? Who protects them in the storm ? Who
preserves them through the changing seasons ? The field,
untrodden by the foot of man, and uncultivated by human
care, has flowers surpassing in glory the richest and wisest of
earthly kings ; but ' they toil not, neither do they spin.' Who
rears and upholds these little and delicate structures ? ' If
God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-
morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not clothe you, O ye
of little faith ? ' When our Savior would impress upon us the

96 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

duty of kindness to our poor neighbor, and tell us who is our
neighbor, he relates the misfortune of a Jew, who ' went down
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves.' Waylaid
and plundered by a band of robbers, he is left upon the high-
way, weltering in his blood, and half dead. A priest and a
Levite pass by that way, but offer no aid to the sufferer. It
is a Samaritan that, passing by, takes pity on him and saves
his life. What a beautiful illustration is this, to show us who
is our neighbor, and what is the proper conduct which is due
from us one toward another in any circumstance of need!
When he would make known to us the real feelings of our
Creator, and of all holy beings, in view of the recoveiy of lost
sinners, he gives us the story of the prodigal son ; and thus
refers us to the strongest sensibilities of nature within us, as an
illustration of the paternal interest which God himself takes
in beholding one of his lost creatures recovered to virtue and
to happiness. This delightful interest, which the Creator
himself feels in receiving back to his favor the lost sinner, is
represented too as a diffusive common interest, felt throughout
the heavenly world. What a vivid impression does this give
us of the importance of a single conversion ! In what other
way could we have been made to feel this fact so strongly, or
been prompted to use our powers so earnestly, in spreading
abroad through the earth the means of salvation to our fellow-
men ! When he would teach us what it is to be finally lost
from God's holy kingdom, or finally happy in his favor, what
appalling and what delightful imagery does he employ ! The
poor, suffering Lazarus, coldly and disdainfully repelled from
the sympathies of his fellow-men, and left to die of hunger
at the gate of human affluence, because no man would give
unto him, is carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. Despised
on earth, he is admitted, beyond the grave, to the intimate
fellowship of the ' father of the faithful.' Friendless on earth,
when he dies, he is admitted to the bosom-confidence and com-
munion of the ' friend of God.' Angels perform the office of
conducting him to his blissful home. How exceedingly does

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 97

the imagery here employed heighten the impression of the
simple truth thereby illustrated, that good men, however neg-
lected and overlooked on earth, will be honored and happy in
the world to come ! So, too, on the other hand, what a fear-
ful picture of wretchedness is that which is drawn by our
Lord, in the same chapter, as descriptive of the state of a
wicked man after death ! "

It is to be observed that the miracles which Christ performed
were designed to direct popular attention to his doctrines more
than to his person. He knew that the fundamental principles
of religion which he taught lay so near to the reason and con-
science of mankind, that they needed only to have their atten-
tion directed towards them, in order to secure assent. For this
reason, Jesus delivered his instructions with such a clearness
and simplicity, such an energy and power, that they commend-
ed themselves immediately to every ingenuous heart. " His
instructions exhibited none of those dialectical subtilties, deep
speculations, and prolix demonsti'ations, which abounded in the
systems of the old philosophers, and rendered them, how much
soever good they might contain, totally unfit for the multitude
at large. The most important truths, which, in the way of
speculation, and by the greatest efforts of philosophizing reason,
had either not been discovered at all, or but imperfectly, were
represented by Jesus with such a lucid and touching simplicity,
that they must be obvious to the most illiterate, and fill the
most acute thinkers with admiration. At the same time, he
delivered them as the instructions and expressions of God him-
self, and thereby clothed them with that authority, every where
and to the highest degree valid, which is indispensable to the
great mass of people, and, with them, holds the place of
demonstration and the profoundest proofs, without prohibiting
reason, however, from laboring further upon them, and endeav-
oring to deduce them from principles peculiar to itself alone."

One of the most important conditions fulfilled by the human
life of our Redeemer was that of showing himself to be our
brother. Under this character he always appeared, and never
9

98 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

more so than when employed in teaching. He realized, in the
presence of the human race, an ideal of human perfection
level to popular comprehension and within the reacli of all.
In his person, his demeanor, and his speech, the world saw the
infinite brought down to our standard, so realized that we can
easily understand it, and feel the majesty and beauty of that
love to Christ which is nothing but the imitation of God brought
near to the roused intellect and heart. We cannot wonder that
the people were spell-bound in the presence of such a teacher.
The pure and joyous elTulgence of truth emanating from him
must have captivated their vision, like the sun as he bathes
with his beams fragrant vales and bleak mountain-tops. Christ
was radiant with celestial benignity, which he transfused into
the surrounding multitudes through the simplest expressions and
most transparent life, fascinating the popular heart, and lifting
it to a participation of immortal bliss.

But, turning from the form of his teaching, let us look more
particularly to its spirit. The chief element of Christ's power
lay in the fact that he thrilled the principle of perfectibility
latent in every rational creature whom he addressed. By his
o.wn incarnation he glorified humanity, and came breathing intO'
every recess of its bleeding and aspiring heart nothing bui
peace and love. He explained the possibility of our being one
with God, and presented motives for our becoming grand as
eternity. In this way he portrayed the soul as a treasure most
precious, which the universal Father bends down with infinite
solicitude to rescue, ennoble, and forever preserve. " My
Father workcth hitherto, and I work," said he ; and his inces-
sant effort was to elevate souls, by revealing to them the gospel
plan of spiritual perfection. All his labors and lessons were
designed to lift up the fallen race of Adam, to remove every
obstruction in the way of moral improvement, and to show
how man is to be loved as God's child, a creature of immortal-
ity, a temple built for the skies. Of all teachers Christ was
the best, of all reformers the wisest and most beneficent ; for
his thoughts were the mightiest, and he strove with divinest zeal

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 99

to plant them in all the masses of mankind. He unfolded the
reality of spiritual life, his example the best model, and his
teaching the only sure guide.

The doctrines of Christ were at the same time the most prac-
tical and profound. His precepts were level to the capacities
of a child, and yet they contained principles which the most
matured and soaring intellect could never outrun. These were
addressed to the wants, rather than to the worth, of their recip-
ients. Their most distinguishing mark was a fulness of gen-
erosity ; since the one avowed object of their Author was, " to
do good and to communicate.'' Like a delicious air, laden
with the most delicious odors, Christ every where made his
presence manifest by the joys he awakened and the benefits he
conferred. Sweet, gentle, conciliating, and yet most power-
ful, he approached human hearts to imbue them with something
of his own divinity ; and, by investing them with his own spir-
itualizing influences, not only to purify and gladden them, but
to make them the almoners of like blessings to all other men.
From first to last, there is all about the career of Christ the
highest witchery of love. Unasked and undesired, he sped his
flight from celestial glory earthward in search of moral wretch-
edness, that he might relieve its woes. Then, with a bearing
exquisitely harmonious with his mission, in unassuming gentle-
ness, he knocked at the door of sick and sorrowing humanity ;
pityingly lifted the latch of our dilapidated nature ; spoke in
sympathizing, soothing accents ; and, having beguiled the faint-
ing and guilt-burdened spirit into peace and hope by a kiss of
forgiveness, he smilingly displayed a store of inestimable bless-
ings, and bade us welcome to the eternal feast. He knew that
the soul can never be contented to be fed with trifles or
amused with bawbles, and he therefore came not to work on the
surface of human character, but to pervade it with himself,
thus rendering it divine. He would breathe into the soul a
heavenly energy, an indomitable force of will, teaching at once
the love of wisdom and the wisdom of love. His spirit pos-
sessed a most purifying and expanding warmth, because " a

100 KEPTJBLTCAN CHRISTIANITY.

thousand hearts were great within him ; " and he was the glory
of all spirits, since he was the pattern of the grandest ideas.
Every speaker who would be influential must stir in the bosom
of the people the noble sentiments of liberty, equality, and
justice. Christ was the most efficient in this respect, because
he invigorated every attribute he wrought upon, inspired infinite
hopes, and clothed human nature with unfading righteousness
and majesty. His own spirit was large as the suffering world
he came to save ; and, in all his vicarious toils, he gathered
bliss in seeing the needy blessed. The principles of Chris-
tianity are adapted to man's nature, and are designed to make
him a better citizen, kinder associate, truer friend, a nobler
being every way. They excel all other influences, not in
intensity only, but in extent ; they not only command, at one
moment, the whole spiritual being, but retain their power
through the whole course of existence, over every moment of
an immortal life. They appeal to the thinking faculty of man,
no less than to his heart and his conscience, making all our
spiritual faculties to partake of the divine nature, to be filled
with all the fulness of God.

Such were the mode and spirit of his teaching whom the
common people gladly heard, and who aroused in them emo-
tions common to all, because his own sympathies were excited,
and his esteem for his hearers was legitimately exercised.
Herein is a model for us not only to admire, but imitate ; for
such must every disciple be who would honor God and benefit

mankind.

"He lives and breathes
For noble purposes of mind ; liis heart
Beats to heroic things of ancient days ;
His eye distinguishes, his soul creates."

We have considered two general points — that Christ ad-
dressed a common nature, and that he aroused common emo-
tions in the masses among whom he moved. It remains,
thirdly, to show that he imparted common blessings, and that
he accomplished this through labors for the redemption of the

I

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 101

common people which were most intense, and by the exercise
of love for them in every respect the most impartial.

In the first place, the labors of Chi'ist for the redemption of
the common people were most intense, and this caused them to
receive him gladly. The world was divided into two classes,
the rich and powerful on one hand, and on the other the poor
and unfortunate. There was no middle space. The Messiah
comes, and behold which side he takes ! He confers his roy-
alty and divinity mainly upon the destitute. " He is poor,"
exclaims the prophet Zechariah, as he beheld him from afar ;
and, declaring his own mission, " The Lord," said he, " has
sent me to evangelize the poor." His precursor, John, sent
disciples to question him, saying, " Art thou he that should
come, or is it necessary to expect another ? " And Christ
responded, " Tell John what you have heard and seen. The
blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are purified, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised." Is this all ? No. Hear the crowning
wonder ! " The poor have the gospel preached to them."
That is, science, light that is truthful, and dignity truly divine,
are I'estored to that immense portion of humanity who had
been cruelly deprived of these gifts designed for all. Jesus
Christ never formed the slightest alliance with the oppressors
of the masses ; but, sweeping splendid tyranny from his path
as often as he encountered it, he exclaimed, with ineffable ten-
derness, " I thank thee, O my Father, that thou hast concealed
these things from the educated and sagacious, and that thou
hast revealed them unto docile little ones." In a word, he
established between himself and such, a bond of fellowship
which will eternally protect the poor, and guaranty to them
the respect of all coming time. " Whatever you shall do to
the most dependent among these my brethren, it is even to me
that you do it," were his gracious words.

Christ conquered the world by experiencing its deprivations,

its oppressions, and all its woes. He started from the base of

the pyramid of human society, and struggled up, by incessant

toil, through all the superincumbent mass, before he entered

9*

102 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

upon his public ministiy ; and then, from the highest point of
eartlily toil, lie showed how we are to accoinpany him through
much tribulation to the fairest heights of celestial glory. The
Son of man was the manliest of men ; the most humane, and,
at the same time, the most brave ; he taught as never man
taugiit, because he sought usefulness rather than honors, and
was ready to enter the lists against the most numerous and
mighty foes, whenever the feeble were to be defended or the
captive set free. It mattered not tliough crowned and mhred
tyranny condemned his advocacy of mercy and truth. It was
impossible for his righteous soul to be otherwise than " bold in
the right, and too bold to do wrong." Christ was never afraid
to speak out and tell men the truth. His denunciation of the
hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees, those " whited sepulchres"
of the nation in those last stages of degeneracy and moral
putrescence which they had mainly produced, is in point to
show that he was above the influence of fear or favor in his
teaching, whatever might be the reputation of his hearers or
the rank in which they moved. He never injured the wealthy
and powerful by refraining from dealing out to them wholesome
counsel ; but his especial solicitude was for the welfare of the
great multitudes who did not scorn his lowliness, but, on the
contrary, in a measure, appreciated the constant labors he per-
formed for their sakes, and gladly listened to his discourse.
They recognized in him a sympathizing friend, an untiring
brother, a champion divine.

" Patient of toil, serene amidst alarms,
Inflexible in faith, iiiA'incible in arms."

Finally, the love of Christ for the common people was not
only deep beyond all precedent, but it was also in every respect
the most impartial ; and, if any thing was wanting to secure
their undivided regard, this would succeed beyond all other
means.

Christianity was the first universal educator. Its spirit is the
patron of all excellence, the enlightener of all mind, " the light

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 103

that lighteth everj' man that cometh into the world.'" When
tliis Liberator of universal thought appeared, he signified the
divine purpose of his mission in the well-known words, " The
Lord has sent me to evangelize the poor." Why the poor?
Doubtless because they formed the greatest number, and suf-
fered the greatest wrongs ; and, since all souls are of equal
value before God, when he weighs them in the balance of eter-
nal justice, the soul of the great masses should certainly pre-
ponderate. The common people recognized Christ, and adored
him in the deepest obscurity, while, as he rose on the general
view, men of station and power saw in him nothing to admire,
but every thing to persecute. The people loved him, because
they saw in him the transparent wisdom and impartial love they
so much needed ; and he in turn loved them the more, because,
in their destitution and despair, they were \yilling to confide in
him as the great Master who had come to teach every class of
mankind without money and without price. This was instruc-
tion and love which met men's entire yearnings, aspirings, and
powers, and was employed to raise human nature, by enlarging
and cultivating its faculties, but not to fortify tottering thrones
and exclusive sects. As Christ himself was conscious of a
perfect union with God, he designed to produce, upon all who
were susceptible of such a feeling, a corresponding impression
of an existence pervaded with the fulness of the divine spirit
and nature. Devout emotions, tender, fraternal bonds, and the
sublimest aspirations, are inherent in the nature of the gospel,
flowing spontaneously forth from the word, the spirit, and the
life of Christ, and were most strongly confirmed by the perfect
harmony between his manifestation in the flesh and that inward
perception of the godlike, which, through it, was first awakened
to full consciousness in the popular heart. Jesus was the
Shekinah to the world ; a palpable imbodiment of Jehovah to
all men, in a far wider and higher sense than the Shekinah of.
old ; for he was not merely a symbol of the divine perfections
gleaming in the cloud, and circumscribed by a narrow sanctu-
ary, but infinite wisdom and universal love realized distinctly

104 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

and rapturously to the common intellect and afTection of
mankind. The beloved Son was the bright image and rep-
resentative of the great Father of us all, whose advent was
designed to testify the worth of the soul in the sight of God,
and to qualify it for the infinite functions for which it was
framed.

In qrder best to accomplish the work which was given him
to do, our Savior appeared in the greatest poverty, and lived
upon the generosity of those who suffered with him the ills of
life. With the noblest zeal he attacked the strongest party
among his countrymen, and seemed purposely to excite the
indignation of all who were tyrants and bigots at heart. To
know who were the wretched creatures he most denounced, we
have only to ascertain who had already inflicted the greatest
wrongs on their race. The Pharisees had transformed mo-
rality into a subtle casuistry about ceremonials, and made it the
patroness of most pernicious hypocrisy. The Sadducees had
reduced it to a system of arbitary maxims for the use of un-
principled sensualists ; and the Essenes, to a gloomy asceti-
cism, fit only for fanatical anchorites and morbid enthusiasts.
They all agreed, however, to abandon the common people to
uncultivated desires, and were satisfied themselves, selfishly, to
conform to their own frivolous formulas, and treat the excluded
multitudes with bitter contempt. To rescue morality from
such degradation, and to open on earth the fountains of free
salvation, instead of priestcraft so accursed, was the design of
Christ and his glorious reward. He would convert men to
himself by making them like himself, and tlius bind them to
each other with a love as comprehensive and magnanimous as
his own. He would disabuse them of all prejudice, destroy
from amongst them all hinderances to mutual improvement, and
invest each devotee, at the shrine of impartial justice, with the
nobility of heaven. He drew golden truth from its original
sources, and scattered it as widely as possible among the mis-
cellaneous crowds, not simply to meet their immediate wants,
but to stimulate their appetite, and to remind them that the

CHRIST AS A PREACHER. 105

inexhaustible mine was laid open to be explored by all. He
sowed the field of the world with the seeds of most precious
harvests thickly scattered, and invited every rank and con-
dition to gather unlimited stores for themselves. He addressed
the masses, and not private circles ; went to the reading-desk
of the synagogue, and not the secret alcoves of the temple ;
and made every spot where his feet stood and his voice re-
sounded, a perpetual source of the widest, highest, freest, and
most powerful instruction. It was his own declaration, " And
I, if I be Hfted up, will draw all men unto me." That is, all
men are made susceptible of emotion, as well as capable of
believing ; all men love to feel, as well as to think ; and in my
gospel is an exciting and exalting power, adapted to the human
mind, and to which, if permitted through appropriate instruc-
tion, it will every where respond, feeling that by the contact
all its faculties of head and heart are refreshed.

Can we wonder that the eyes of the Redeemer, " which
seemed to love whate'er they looked upon," as they met the
popular gaze, held all spirits spell-bound ? Is it strange that
those tones of his which every where proclaimed that all
rational beings have an equal right to live and enjoy elicited
applause from the throbbing hearts on which they fell ? The
common people must have been something less or more than
human to have resisted the power of wisdom so exalted, and
love so impartial. He taught them to look into the everlast-
ing mysteries of God's might, to be assimilated to infinite
excellence, and thus to become divine. He created in the
common people faith, that living power which grows by the
struggles it encounters, and outruns the demands made upon it
by the trials of life. As Elijah, who wore a rough garment,
arose to heaven with chariot and horses of fire, so Christ would
encourage the humblest of earth's children to aspire after
celestial treasures of the greatest worth, through a career the
most resplendent and full of beneficence. Standing in the
presence of such a teacher and such a friend, the people saw
God manifest in the flesh, who addressed a common nature,

lOG KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

aroused common emotions, and imparted common blessings,
and whose life, as well as doctrines, proclaimed a model
worthy of being not only admired hut imitated by all.

CHAPTER V.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.

IN HIS DEATH, THE DIVIXE ATOXER IX -WHOM ALL ARE INTITED TO TRUST
FOR THE HIGHEST FREEDOM AND IMMORTAL JOY.

We have surveyed the infancy, the youth, the manhood,
and the public ministry of Christ, It remains to consider the
crowning act of his life on earth, and the results which thence
emanate and spread through time and eternity. We believe
that the divine Savior died for the wretched, whose sorrows he
felt ; atoned for the sinful, whose guilt he assumed ; and tri-
umphed alone on the cross in gloom, that he might open the
gates of glory to all, and proffer to each a crown.

In the first place, Christ died for the wretched, whose sor-
rows he felt. The progressive character of his career was
climacteric in the most interesting and sublime degree. The
different traits of his life grew fairer and brighter at each
successive development, until his person was invested with
multifarious charms, each one perfect in itself, and all blended
in a perfect whole ; as celestial hues appear one after another
only to consummate their beautiful union at last in the rainbow,
spanning earth and touching heaven. If our Lord was more
than human in his human growth, and infinitely beneficent in
his earthly toils, he was indeed divine in the merits of his
death, and in those consequences of his sacrifice which so in-
timately connect the destinies of our race with the councils and
career of the Almighty.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 107

Consider what difficulties the Redeemer had to encounter,
and what a victory he won. Human nature, which was origin-
ally adapted to a union with the divine, had incurred a fearful
obstruction, which interposed between this original design and
its accomplishment: that obstruction, which necessitated the
life and death of the Son of God, was sin. As it is the first
truth of our religion, that this evil influence had obtained com-
plete dominion over man, thus causing his immediate union
with God to become impossible, it follows that the power of
sin was first to be vanquished, annihilated within him, before
reconciliation could resuh, and salvation be secured. But this,
from the peculiar state of subjection in which man was held,
could not be eflfected by his own effort ; it must be the work of
that Being alone, whose very nature renders him unassailable
by sin, and supreme over it. He, therefore, through whom
the Deity opens, as it were, afresh his intercourse with human
nature, becomes necessarily the Redeemer, not from one special
spiritual burden, pressing on one particular period, but from
the burden which weighed down the whole human race, at all
times and every where. The atonement which Christ effects
is that of mankind with their holy Creator ; and it is in this
character we behold him invested with a special and unrivalled
importance, a dignity the most attractive and divine.

Undoubtedly one of the greatest proofs of the heavenly
origin of the gospel consists in the fact that it is prepared for
all ages, the pioneer of all progress, and adapted to every con-
dition of mankind. In it the moral law is every where laid
down — great, simple, absolute, and positive. " For this, thou
shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not
steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, and if there be any
other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying,
namely. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." " So like-
wise ye, when ye have done all those things which are com-
manded you, say, ^Ve are unprofitable servants : we have done
that which was our duty to do." Then came Peter to him, and
said, " Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and T

108 REPUBLICA.N CHRISTJANITY.

forgive him ? till seven times ? " Jesus saith unto him, " I say
not unto thee, Until seven times ; hut, Until seventy times
seven ; " that is, indefinitely, without reckoning the number of
pardons. " For in Jesus Christ neither cii'cumcision avaiieth
any thmg, nor uncircumcision ; but faith, which worketh by
love."

By the death of Christ, a basis has been laid for faith, and
freedom won for its exercise ; so that every where the applica-
tion of the law is left to the individual conscience, emancipated
and enlightened by the Holy Spirit to be our g<jide. And
when we remember that the gospel succeeded the Mosaic dis-
pensation, which constitutes an immense and minute system of
outward ceremonies and cumbrous discipline, it is impossible
not to see the merciful hand of God in the difference — a dif-
ference which man, in his imprudence or his pride, has vainly
attempted to efface. It is the aim of " the glorious gospel of
the blessed God " to make our responsibility complete and
entire ; and, in order that we may be responsible, we must be
perfectly free — a condition won only by the death of Christ.
It is in reference to the oppressive precepts of the Mosaic law,
and the superior privileges of the gospel, that Paul observes,
" Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." " Stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us
free." James tells us that the law of Christ is the " perfect
law of [moral] liberty," the only sense which the context of
the passage in which it occurs permits us to adopt ; and Paul
has laid down the fundamental principles of Christian morality
in these words : " Let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind .... for whatsoever is not of faith, is sin."

Chi'ist is every where described, in the sacred record, not
so much a teacher as a doer. If he taught as never man
taught, he did what only God could do ; he grappled the infinite
evils of sin, and atoned for a world, that all men might be both
teachers and doers of eternal truth. He was a light indeed,
broad-shining and effective, which lighteth every man that
Cometh into the world ; the luminary supreme, which causes

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 109

what it shows, as well as shows what its genial beams have
caused. The great Redeemer came to the rescue of fallen
and oppressed man in the desperate hour of his need. And
what treasures did he bring and bestow on the race whose
sorrows he pitied most, because by him they were most deeply
felt ? He elevated the obscure and protected the weak, by
teaching the common origin and sacred fraternity of mankind.
He gave force to the imbecile, dignity to babes, and unwonted
charms to woman, by unfolding the idea of a new and more
exalted domestic law, and threw round all oppressed persons
the highest and best munitions of safety and affection, by
demonstrating, in life and death, that he came to set up the
universal republic on earth, founded and governed by God.
What could be more magical and sure in its effects on the pop-
ular heart ? When Jesus Christ appeared, and from the deep-
est obscurity of Judea the all-embracing air had borne to the
remotest regions his liberating influence, with what sacred hope
did the human race tremble as it rose to hail his progress, gaze
on his attractiveness, and listen to his words ! Who wonders
that the impotent strove to approach him, rose and walked ?
that the deaf leaned towards his lips, till his miraculous tones
broke rapturously on their brain ? Who wonders that children,
females, laborers, slaves, the poor and despised of every class,
country, and condition, gathered along the dusty highway
which he covered with monuments of mercy, spreading their
garments under his feet, waving boughs over his head, just
before his death, and crying, " Hosanna to the Son of David :
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ! " That
hosanna was the cry of deliverance, the response of abused
humanity to Him who gi-oaned over popular wrongs, sympa-
thized with the better desires of the popular heart, lived and
died in the defence of popular rights. That cry accorded
well with the master purpose of the great Deliverer ; in part,
perhaps, fortified and rewarded it. There is a picture by
Raphael which represents our Lord bowed down to the earth
by the weight of his cross and his sufferings ; but, in the
10

110 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

expression of the countenance, the artist has made visible an
inward satisfaction, struggling over pain, that he is yet to save
the world.

We have said that Christ died for the wretched, whose sor-
rows he felt. We proceed to remark, —

Secondly, he atoned for the sinful, whose guilt he assumed.
We are to remember constantly that it was the criminality of
man which occasioned the atonement of Christ ; but for sin,
the light and warmth of Eden would never have been changed
into flames round the sword of the guardian angel, nor blazed
in the terrors of expulsion at the forbidden threshold. This
is the abasing truth of the gospel, which teaches us to rejoice
in Christ chiefly as a Savior. By the same record in which
our ruinous fall is proclaimed, the exalting process of complete
redemption is also displayed. Said the Savior himself, at the
institution of the commemorative supper, " This is my blood
which is shed for you, for the remission of sins." " The Son
of man came to give his life a ransom for many." " He died
to redeem us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us." " God has set him forth as a propitiation for sin, that
he might be just, and yet justify him that believeth in Jesus."
" He made reconciliation for the sins of the people." Schleus-
ner, commenting on these passages, says, " Christ came an
object of execration in our stead. He was made an expiatory
offering, in the place of sinners, to procure their deliverance
from the curse. Christ was sent of God, for the express pur-
pose of undergoing death, as the cause of human salvation ;
and God has proposed Christ, as the expiafor, or expiatory
victim, expiating the sins of mankind, by a sacrifice offered."

The fact of our utter inability to atone for our own sins, and
the fulness of redemption secured for us by the sacrifice of
Christ, are well stated by Dr. Edwards, as follows : —

" The very idea of an atonement or satisfaction for sin, is
something which, to the purposes of supporting the author-
ity of the divine law, and the dignity and consistency of the
divine government, is equivalent to the punishment of the

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. Ill

Sinner, according to the literal threatening of the law. That
which answers these purposes being done, whatever it be,
atonement is made, and the way is prepared for the dispensa-
tion of pardon. In any such case, God can he just, and yet the
justificr of the sinner. And that that which is sufficient to
answer these purposes, has been done for us according to the
gospel plan, I presume none can deny who believe that the
eternal ' Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,' and that
he, the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of God, ' bare our
sins in his own body on the tree,' and ' gave himself a sacrifice
to God for us.'

"But perhaps some, who may readily grant that what Christ
hath done and suffered is undoubtedly sufficient to atone for
the sins of his people, may also suppose that, if God had seen
fit so to order it, we might have made a sufficient atonement
for our own sins. Or, whether they believe in the reality and
sufficiency of the atonement of Christ or not, they may sup-
pose that we might have atoned, or even now may atone, for
our own sins. Tliis hypothesis, therefore, demands our at-
tention.

" If we could have atoned, by any means, for our own sins,
it must have been either by our repentance and reformation, or
by enduring a. punishment, less in degree or duration than that
which is threatened in the law as the wages of sin. No other
way for us to atone for our own sins appears to be conceivable.
But, if we attend to the subject, we shall find that we can make
DO proper atonement in either of these ways."

Thus conditioned, where is our hope ? It is in God, whose
Son descends from heaven, takes upon him the nature of man,
suffers in his stead, and, having consented that the whole bur-
den of offended justice should be laid upon him, bears it in his
own body on the tree, that the Father may be glorified, the law
magnified and made honorable, by pouring out his soul unto
death for all who trust in his blood. He ascended on high,
and, by the arm that was lacerated on the cross, now energized
with everlasting strength, he has levelled the wall of partition

112 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

which traversed and darkened the path of redemption, so that
now eveiy barrier on the part of God is done away, and he,
with untarnished glory, can dispense forgiveness over the whole
extent of a guilty creation, and pour balm upon every penitent
iieart. On this theme Robert Hall has spoken with his wonted
piety and eloquence. Said he, —

" The conclusion to which we are conducted is confirmed by
inspiration, which assures us that a great revolution has actually
befallen the species ; and that, in consequence of the entrance
of sin into the world, we have incurred the forfeiture of the
divine favor and the loss of the divine image. In this situation,
it is not difficult to perceive that the economy adapted to our
relief must include two things — the means of expiating guilt,
and the means of moral renovation ; in other words, an atoning
sacrifice and a sanctifying spirit. Both these objects are ac-
complished in the advent of the Savior, who, by presenting
himself as a sin-offering, has made ample satisfaction to
offended justice, and purchased, by his merits, the renovating
spirit which is freely offered to as many as sincerely seek it.
By the former, the obstructions to our happiness arising from
the divine nature are removed ; by the latter, the disqualifica-
tion springing from our own. By providing a sacrifice of
infinite value in the person of the only-begotten, he has con-
sulted his majesty as the righteous governor of the world, and
has reconciled the seemingly incompatible claims of justice and
of mercy. By bestowing the Spirit as the fruit of his media-
tion and intercession whose soul toas made an offering for sin^
pollution is purged, and that image of God restored to sinful
creatures, which capacitates them for the enjoyment of pure
and perfect feUcity. Thus every requisite which we can con-
ceive necessary in a restorative dispensation is found in the
gospel, exhibited with a perspicuity level to the meanest capa-
city, combined with such a depth in the contrivance, and such
an exquisite adaptation to our state and condition, as surpasses
finite comprehension. This is the substance of those glad
tidings which constitute the gospel, to the cordial reception of

THE Sacrifice of cheist. 113

which must all the ditTerence be ascribed which will shortly be
found between the condition of the saved and the lost.

"Be assured, my Christian brethren, it is by a profound
submission of the soul to this doctrine, offensive as it may be
to the pride of human virtue, repugnant as it undoubtedly is to
the dictates of philosophy, falsely so called, that we must
acquaint oursehes with God, and be at peace. When we
mention peace, however, we mean not the stupid security of a
mind that refuses to reflect ; we mean a tranquillity which
rests upon an unshaken basis ; w^hich no anticipations, however
remote, no power of reflection, however piercing or profound,
no evolutions which time may disclose or eternity conceal, are
capable of impairing; a peace which is founded on the oath
and promise of Him who cannot lie ; which, springing from
the consciousness of an ineffable alliance with the Father of
spirits, makes us to share in his fulness, to become a partner
with him in his eternity ; a repose, pure and serene as the
unruffled wave, which reflects the heavens from its bosom,
while it is accompanied with a feeling of exultation and tri-
umph natural to such as are conscious that, ere long, having
overcome, they shall possess aH things.

" While the prize is so transcendently great, no unparalleled
efforts, no incredible exertions, are requisite to obtain it ; it is
placed within the grasp of every hand. If the great sacrifice
had not been presented, if the succors of Heaven had not been
offered, if the glad tidings had not been proclaimed, nor life
and immortality brought to light, our condition would indeed
have been deplorable ; and little encouragement should we
have had to engage in the great work of seeking salvation.
But now all things are ready, and the chief, or rather the only
prerequisite is a childlike docility, a disposition to derive wis-
dom from the fountain of light, strength from the strong, to-
gether with a fixed and immovable conviction that the care of
our eternal interests is the grand concern."

HalT, like the great apostle, spoke with the greatest con-
fidence, in contrasting the vain sacrifices of the law with the
10*

114 REPUBLICAN ClirJSTIANITY.

inherent sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ. " If tlie blood
of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling
the unclean, sanctilieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit,
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God ! " " The blood of
Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." He has
effected for believers an entire exemption from all liability to
punishment, and procured for them a title to the blessedness
of heaven, because he was the Son of God ; and the heirs of
grace are one with him, the sufferings of the Redeemer are to
be regarded as vicarious, that he appeared in the character of
a substitute for sinners, in distinction from a mere example,
teacher, or martyr. Only as we thus embrace the atonement,
both penitently and actively trusting in its merits, can we believe
to the saving of the soul.

Such views are the life and power of the gospel. They
constitute the chief efficiency of the pulpit every where,
and were well exemplified in the preaching of the great man
to whom we have just referred. Dr. Gregory, in describing
Hall's removal to Cambridge, where he had to encounter the
pernicious antinomianisra of his predecessor, remarks, —

" Attentive to the voice of heavenly admonition, thus ad-
dressing him from various quarters, he entered upon his new
duties with earnest desires that he might be able ' to commend
himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God.'
Feeling that to him was consigned the charge of transforming,
with God's assistance, a cold and sterile soil into a fruitful field,
he determined not to satisfy himself with half measures, but
proceeded to expose error, and defend what he regarded as
essential truth. The first sermon, therefore, which lie deliv-
ered at Cambridge, after he had assumed the office of pastor,
was on the doctrine of the atonement and its practical tenden-
cies. Immediately after the conclusion of the service, one of
the congregation, who had followed poor Mr. Robinson through
all his changes of sentiment, went into the vestry, and said,

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 115

' Mr. Hall, this preaching won't do for us ; it will only suit a
congregation of old women.' ' Do you mean my sermon,
sir, or the doctrine ? ' ' Your doctrine.' ' Why is it that the
doctrine is fit only for old women ^ ' ' Because it may suit
the musings of people tottering upon the brink of the grave,
and who are eagerly seeking comfort.' ' Thank you, sir, for
your concession. The doctrine will not suit people of any
age, unless it be true ; and, if it he true, it is not fitted for old
women alone, but is equally important at every age.' "

A negro boy, when informed by his teacher that God had '
sent his Son to die for the world, replied, " O massa, me no
wonder at that ; it be just like him." Yes, the untutored child
of nature feels that " God is love ; " the pupil of Providence
learns the same great truth at every step ; but it is for the
happy subject of redemption to repeat whh unutterable delight,
" God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life." " Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for
our sins." Love is the mightiest inspiration in the weakest of
mortals. What, then, shall be its power and products, when, in
behalf of a lost race, it is exercised by the Almighty himself!
Herein is love, that " God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through him might be
saved." In a late disaster on the lake, a benevolent individual
was swimming with a mother and child. Becoming exhausted,
he inquired which he should drop, and the mother replied,
" Drop me." In a more fearful emergency. He who is mighty
to save exclaimed, " Spare the rebel from going down to the
pit. Lo, I have found a ransom ! "

" He had joined the offending nature to his own, for the dis-
tinct and deliberate object of pouring out the blood which
flowed through its veins, and of making hs soul an offering for
sin. His whole life was only a preface to his death. Having
taken a survey of all that would be required from the Surely
of sinners ; having cast up and pondered the mighty sum of

116 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

guilt to be cancelled, and measured with his eye the thunder-
stores of wrath which must be exhausted, and fathomed the pit
which to them was bottomless, — he pressed the entire respon-
sibility to his heart, and addressed himself to the task. Our
nature, to him, was a robe of suffering, assumed expressly
that, when the crisis of our redemption came, Justice might
find him sacrificially attired and prepared for the altar, a sub-
stance which her sword could smite, a victim which could ago-
nize and die. And, if the human soul admits of an indefinite
enlargement in its capacity of pleasure and pain ; if the admis-
sion of the purified spirit to the uncreated splendor above aug-
ments that capacity to such a degree that almost an infinitude
of emotion can be compressed into the space of a moment, —
what must have been the measureless capability of the human
soul which he took into so perfect a union with his divinity, that
the two natures composed only one person ? What must have
been the acquired intensity of its antipathy to sin, and what
the consequent intensity of his exceeding sorrow, when, being
in an agony, he had, in a sense, to absorb the infinite mass of
human guilt, and to exhaust, in one short moment, the mighty
cup of omnipotent wrath ! "

Christ came to make a new world by changing the moral
character of its inhabitants. His cross was the throne of love
inexhaustible and unconfined. lie loved, toiled, died for the
whole world. He loved man for his own sake, all men with-
out exception or exclusion. His ministry was elevated, like
the moimt from which he taught ; unlimited, like the heavens
above which he would raise the hearts of all our race. His
temple was universal nature, his congregation the promiscuous
representatives of every class of mankind ; and the truths he
imparted, like the blessed influences of sunshine ajid rain, fell
on each and all alike. " This is life eternal, to know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." This
alone can cure the conscience, cleanse the heai't, wipe away
the tear of sorrow, sanctify the soul, and fill it with the joys
of heaven. And this the gospel can do, since it is the

THE SACRIFICE OF CHlflST. 117

revelation of one whose arm is almighty to save, and whose
heart embraces every child of fallen Adam. As the repre-
sentative of the Father, our blessed Lord ofTci-s this gift to all.
" Human reason, arguing from the limited appropriation of the
priceless benefit, would infer that the extent of the love which
provided, and the value of the means which procured it, are
limited also ; would examine them by the torture of its logic,
and bring its insignificant line to the measui-ement of boundless
grace. Human selfishness would make a monopoly of eternal
life. The Jewish Christians would fain have made it a local
and national benefit ; till the unconfinable spirit came and
showed them that, like the air, it belonged to the world. And
the inheritors of their selfishness, in every succeeding age,
have attempted to number Israel, to count the people ; have
adhered to the persuasion that the great gift of eternal life is
only to be offered to a party. But an attempt to imprison the
air, and to enchain the light, would be wise and salutary com-
pared with this."

Christ died for the wretched, whose sorrows he felt ; he thus
atoned for the sinful, whose guilt he assumed. Having con-
sidered these points, let us proceed to remark, —

Thirdly, that he triumphed alone on the cross in gloom, in
order to throw wide open the gates of glory to all, and proffer
to each a crown.

Jesus Christ was the representative of the Deity in this lower
world, the Savior by his incarnation, divine spirituality im-
bodied and made palpable to all the spiritual faculties of man.
" Ye have neither heard his voice at any time," said Christ,
" nor seen his shape ; " that is, as an infinite spirit he can have
neither outline nor dimensions, and yet he who thus spake was
so literally the manifestation of Jehovah, that Paul character-
ized him as " the image of the invisible God." He was the
image, in the same sense as he was the word, of the Almighty.
What speech is to thought, that is the incarnate Son to the
invisible Father. Thought, w-ith unseen wing, can traverse
space, fly to and fro through the universe, and pass instantane-

118 REPUBLICAN CIIKISTIANITY.

ously from one outer bound to another, without being discerned
in its mighty careerings by the eye of man. But speech is
thought manifested, imbodicd in palpable shape, and rendered
sensible to the multitudes who could not apprehend it in its
secret workings and silent flight. Thus the Son is the man-
ifested Father, and fitly termed " the Word ; " since the rela-
tion between the incarnate Son and the Father is the same as
that between speech and thought ; the one imbodying and
making intelligible the other to the simplest mind. It was this
that the world most needed, because without some sensible
representation of the divine Being, the understanding can make
no approach to him, and the affections have nothing to em-
brace. " Faith itself, like the dove of the deluge, has nothing
on which it can alight ; it finds itself voyaging in an objectless
universe, an infinite vacuity ; and piety must suffer and pine
as in an atmosphere too subtile and unsubstantial for its present
earthly constitution."

But He who had been from eternity in the bosom of the
Father, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the
world, appears the representative, and the only adequate rep-
resentative, of the divine character. Invested with a bod).
which God had prepared, and not man, he claimed to himself
the exclusive power of unveiling those perfections which are
the groundwork and pledge of eternal life. "No man," said
he, " knoweth the Father except the Son, and he to whomso-
ever the Son shall reveal him." He who alone blended hu-
manity immaculate and the fulness of the Godhead in himself,
felt that he could control the salvation of the world, and that
the illumination of mankind was within his power, by virtue
of the attributes placed entirely at his discretion. And wliat
did he do? — that wonderful Being whom "they shall call
Emanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us." " With-
out controversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received
up into glory." " We are in him that is true, even in his Son

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 119

Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal hfe." It was
indeed for no work of slight importance that Christ was man-
ifested in the flesh. It was not to found exclusive schools of
recondite wisdom, or bless favorite sections of the world, that
he came. He was v.'ith us, partaking of the divine nature and
our own, that he might save our common i-ace from its lost
condition, restore to life the dead, and transport to heaven
those who had become the prey of hell. " Jesus answered
them. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." If to create
a race like ourselves was a wonderful work, to save us from
the guilt we had incurred, and the eternal misery we deserved,
was a divine task wonderful indeed. The Father created
every thing that is by his word ; the Son redeemed, by an inef- -
fable sacrifice, the human race condemned ; and the Holy
Spirit concurred, by the infusion of his grace, to the sanctifi-
cation of man purchased with blood divine. Briefly stated, this
is the summary of all religion, the substance of ancient faith,
the accomplishment of the hopes of the world, which Jesus
Christ came to save. " Whosoever believes in him, is not con-
denmed ; but whosoever believeth not on him, is already con-
demned ; because he believes not in the name of the only Son
of God."

Circumstances of hereditaiy prejudice, local laws, and par-
tisan education, may modify the legitimate influence of Chris-
tianity on the souls of men, but they cannot narrow the infinite
amplitude of its source, nor long degrade the ultimate dignity
of its power. The sunlight, indeed, produces a different effect
upon the eye, as it passes through the painted glass of palatial
halls and cathedral altars, from that which it bears when it flies
unimpeded and untinged through the transparent air. The
flowing stream may have different hues upon its surface,
reflected from the blue canopy of heaven or the clouds which
float beneath ; but sky, stream, and sunlight are in themselves
the same, perpetual, boundless, and free, bestowed, like God's
highest gift to humanity, without respect to station or class.
The offers, gifts, and graces of Christianity arc not for one, or

120 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

for a few. They are proffered to all. Even when the gospel
is preached to a single individual, it is offered to him as to one
of a great household. Not only man, but, says Paul, the whole
creation, is included in the consequences of the fall : so also
are all included in the change wrought by redemption. " God
was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself." Christianity
is redemption and reconciliation, by virtue of the union of
Christ with God ; it becomes salvation to the believer, by the
union of his penitent and faith-inspired soul with Christ. The
condemnation of the law is averted, since the great Atoner
died in the sinner's stead. It is this grand truth which consti-
tutes the deepest significance of Christianity, which makes it a
gospel to those that believe therein, love which alone can give
life to something superior to the dead forms of Judaism ; ana
when this is done, as in the life of Christ, the law becomes
written in the heart, a vital principle thenceforth destined nei
ther to condemn nor destroy. " For what the law could noi
do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemnea
sin in the flesh ; that the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.*'
" For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness
dwell ; and, having made peace by the blood of his cross, by
him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven." The utmost
effort of the dispensation of types and shadows was only a
preluding overture, till he should come to lead a loftier song,
who had said, " In the midst of the church will I sing praise
unto thee."

" He took up the strain at a point beyond which creation
would have carried it. His voice gave the key-note to the
universe. His description of the divine character furnished
words for the new, everlasting, universal song. His uncon-
fined power ; his unsearchable understanding ; his holiness, on
which no spot, no shadow could settle, and which the eyes of
wickedness could not gaze on for its brightness ; his untiring

TIIK SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 121

patience ; his constant contimunity with the general heart of
man, which he wept over and bathed in tears ; his meekness
clothed with majesty ; his personification of infinite love, — these
were the several parts of the harmonious song. All the attri-
butes in him became vocal, and made infinite music in the ear
of that glorious Being in whom they eternally reside. Each
myriad-voiced rank of the church above, overflowing with joy,
took up the mighty, whelming, ocean strain ; the church below
redoubled, and returned it back again in alleluias to the throne
of God ; age after age has heard it swelling on, as lisping
infancy, and newly-pardoned penitence, and misery beguiled of
its woes, and ingratitude charmed into thankfulness, and hope
spreading her pinions for heaven, and all the new-bom heirs
of grace, have awoke up their glory, and joined the general
choir ; and on it shall continue to roll and swell, attuning and
gathering to itself all the harmonies of nature ; till all space
shall become a temple ; and all holy beings, actuated by one
spirit, and swayed in perfect diapason, shall become one great
instrument, sounding forth praise to God in the church, by
Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
A redemption is the correction or renewal of a creation,
and consequently must be what the nature of the creation
requires. It is a remedy whose speciality depends on that of
the evil which it proposes to cure. The terms which express
this idea, are those which in particular characterize the lan-
guage of the gospel. " For we [Christians] are his workman-
ship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." " If any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature." " And be renewed [as
Christ taught you] in the spirit of your mind : and that ye put
on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness
and true holiness." And Jesus said, " Except a man be born
again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The idea
of a redeemer is intimately associated with that of a creator ;
the one depends upon the other ; two terms necessarily united
and correlative forever. This great principle is as significant
as it is simple, and may be expressed in the infinite formula :
11

122 REPUIU-ICAN CHRISTIANITV.

As God, so Christ. " The only-begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father." " Who, [the Son,] being the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person," was "the
exact image of the invisible God." Consequently, " whoso-
ever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father ;" that is,
knoweth not the Father so as to be united to him ; " but he
that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also." It follows
that Jesus was entitled to make the requisition of all in abso-
lute terms: " Ye believe in God, believe also in me."

The first announcement of redemption was general ; it was
a promise which belonged to the whole family of man, and
had nothing in its origin either peculiar or special. God said
to the serpent, the type of evil, " I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." In this
passage, universal redemption is foretokened in the most
appropriate manner. "The seed of the serpent" we may
consider as representing evil of all kinds, perpetrated from
generation to generation; " the seed of the woman" signifies
mankind ; the enmity spoken of is the universal struggle
which mortals have to maintain against evil ; the inevitable
bruise is an image of the sufferings which must always be
experienced in this struggle ; the complete victory, the crush-
ing of the serpent's head and venomed fangs, is an image of
the triumph over evil, achieved by our Lord, and of which all
mankind enjoy the fruits ; all is universal — the conflict, the
wound, and the triumph. What was true of the first promul-
gation, is also true of the actual accomplishment of redemp-
tion in its perfect, Christian form ; it has nothing exclusive or
particular, and is in no respect national, but, by its own in-
trinsic nature, is nationalized every where. " For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek ; for the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon him." " Where there
is neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free ;
but Christ is all and in all."

Providence prepared afi\r off the way for free and full

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 123

salvation. We see its light faintly dawning, even in the age
when Solomon erected the temple of a local and national
religion. In the prayer of dedication, the king, acting as priest,
says, " Moreover, concerning the stranger tliat is not of thy
people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's
sake ; . . . when he shall come and pray toward this house :
Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to
all that the stranger calleth to thee for ; that all the people of
the earth may know thy name, to fear thee." Isaiah proclaims
the rights of even eunuchs, (who, in whatever manner they
had become so, were not considered as Jewish citizens.)
" Neither let the son of the stranger that hath joined himself
to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated
me from his people : neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am
a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord, . . . Those that choose
the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant, even
unto them will I give, in mine house and within my walls
a place." Another striking passage in the same prophet
opened to the Mosaic system a vast perspective of expansion.
" In that day shall five cities [the definite for the indefinite
number] in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan
[that is, the language of the worship of the true God,] and
swear to the Lord of Hosts. . . . And the Lord shall be
known to Egypt. ... In that day shall there be a highway
out of Eg}^pt to Assyria, [frequent and intimate communica
tion,] . . . and the Egyptians shall serve the Lord with the
Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt
and Assyria." It was impossible more effectually to over-
throw ancient particularism than by placing Israel as the third
with strange nations in the service of the true God. The law
of Moses had its court for the men, more sacred and nearer
to the sanctuary than that of the women, because it recognized
a shade of distinction in holiness between the sexes. All
ancient religions had sacred localities, contracted creeds, and
bigoted priests, ready to condemn all not born of their own
casle, and sworn to their own ritual. But Christianity came

124 KEPTTBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

to receive all nations and ranks by the same title, into the
same church, and lead them towards the same immortality.

As is redemption so is revelation, its evidence and record
to man. As God has granted to all a remedy equal to the
evil of sin, so has he granted light equivalent to the impor-
tance of the work, which is the Bible. From this, saving
thought reaches the soul of the believer, as the sun's rays
reach his eyes. It has pleased God by religious, biblical
teaching, to save them that believe. If one denies inspiration
because he cannot trace its path to the human mind, in order
to be consistent, he ought to deny light because he cannot
explain the manner it penetrates to the bottom of the eye, and
through a dark avenue kindles the brain. It is much farther
from the retina which covers the interior of the visual organ
to the globe of the sun, than from the soul of a sincere inquirer
to the spirit of God. " Say not in thine heart. Who shall
ascend into heaven ? that is, to bring Christ down ; or, Who
shall descend into the deep .'' that is, to bring up Christ again
from the dead. But what saith it ? The world is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart ; that is the word of faith
which we preach." " For God, who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our heails, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ." " God is light," says John ; that is to say,
perfection, which is the signification of this term, often em-
ployed in this sense by Greek writers. There is nothing more
beautiful than light, nothing more mysterious, nothing more
necessary, nothing more universally diffused. In this respect
is light the best symbol of our holy and expansive religion,
which courts investigation, promotes and rewards it ; never
more powerful than when in contact with the highest improve-
ment. It was at the doors of the great centres of the civiliza-
tion of antiquity — Antioch, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Rome,
and Alexandria — that it first knocked to obtain admission,
and thence flowed out in augmented streams of intelligence
round the globe. All the enterprising nations of antiquity

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 125

inhabited the countries washed by the Mediterranean : their
cities studded its coasts ; their fleets ploughed its billows ; the
commerce of the fairest and most potent ideas took place
for ages along its shores, or from coast to coast ; the pagan
Olympus was reflected in its waves, and the genius of activity
seems to have emerged thence, as the goddess of beauty was-
fabled there to have been born. It is a very significant fact,
that, at the extremity of this great inland sea, and at an equal
distance from the three continents — consequently in the veiy
centre of the known world — God placed the theatre of re-
demption. This took place, too, at the fearful moment when
evil had reached its culminating point ; when imagination
could conceive no excess left untried ; when the intellect
despaired of truth, conscience of morality, and hope of reli-
gion,— when the manifest symptoms of spiritual decay ap-
peared to be consummate in the human race, and nothing
but the cross of Cln-ist could arrest the descent of a revolted
world to eternal woe.

Surely a godlike redemption was requisite to meet the
emergency in which man was placed by sin, and this seems
to have been felt by the thoughtful of every nation and age.
Cicero, who in his Republic painted so eloquently the gran-
deur of human nature, could not fail of being struck with the
astonishing contrasts presented by that nature, subjected to
so niany miseries, maladies, griefs, fears, and devouring pas-
sions ; so that, compelled to recognize something divine in
man so unhappy and so degraded, he called him a soul in
ruins. Ttfe Chinese have a tradition that once man revolted
against his Maker : then the columns of heaven were broken ;
the earth shook to its lowest foundations ; the system of the
universe was deranged ; the general harmony was disturbed ;
calamities and crimes inundated the earth. But if men the
most benighted, as well as men the most enlightened, have
ever known and acknowledged their degradation, they have
always hoped also to be one day reestablished in their primi-
tive slate, and this has sustained their courage. All nations
11*

126 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

have lived In expectation of a Redeemer, a mysterious and
divine person, who, according to traditions and sacred oracles,
should bring them deliverance and reconciliation to God. This
the world has received in the marvellous riches and power of
the gospel, which, by the grandeur and fruitful simplicity of
its doctrines, develops and renovates reason ; by the perfec-
tion of its morality, imparts a permanent base to wholesome
laws ; by the sublimity of its worship, unites man closely to
God, without reflecting on infinite justice and without flattering
human pride ; — a glorious blending of truth and righteous-
ness, which from so much corruption causes exalted virtues
to arise ; which before immense miser)'' places merciful love
as immense, a Redeemer to expiate all, a Mediator to sanctify
all, a godlike salvation to shower on all blessings every way
inexhaustible and divine. The primary truth of the gospel
is, that " Christ tasted death for every man ; he gave himself
a ransom for all." Even the Gentiles, who were without the
benefit of an outward revelation, were by no means destitute
of an inward knowledge of the law of God, and some of
them showed "• the work of the law written on their hearts,
their consciences also bearing witness." " Christ is the true
light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
Hence we may infer that as the Father appointed the death
of the Son to be a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world,
so all men receive through Christ a measure of moral and
spiritual light, and all have their day of gracious visitation.
The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is revealed in the
Bible, is designed for the whole world ; it is adapted to men
of every condition, clime, and character ; all are invited to
avail themselves of its benefits ; all who will come, may
come, and " take the water of life freely."

If the fountains of life are absolutely scaled to a single
mortal ; if one of our race, without some crime of his own
grounded on free choice abused, searches in vain for the light
of which he has need, and, opening his ear, does not hear the
voice of God speaking within, then redemption, it must bo

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 127

confessed, is not universal ; and, very distinctly let us add,
such a fact would be the most frightful of all, at once anti-
divine and anti-human. But we have not so learned Christ.
We rejoice with exceeding joy in the propitiatory sacrifice of
the Mediator, and trust confidently in the atonement made by
" the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world."
We can conceive of no right and availing preparedness for the
vast hereafter, but such as is grounded by faith in the one perfect
Sacrifice, through renovation from the one infinite Spirit, inspir-
ing constant devotion to the service and honor of the one
Almighty God. ^V'e look to Christ reconciling the world unto
himself, and not imputing unto them their trespasses ; see him
lift off from the men of this guilty planet the burden of the
violated law, bearing it himself in his own body on the tree,
that he may magnify that law, and make it honorable : we
hear him proclaim a full release from all its tremendous penal-
ties, but in such a way that the truth which declared them, and
the justice which should execute them, remain untainted under
a dispensation of mercy, and feel that the mild, peaceful light
of the Sun of Righteousness, shining benignly on all, has great-
est power to melt the obdurate into penitence, and the believing
into joy. True religion is perfect reconciliation, and is every
way reciprocal in its influence, as well as ennobling in its
effects. In Christ, all our powers, all our faculties, are brought
to unite with God. He knows, and we are made wise unto
salvation. He is holy, and the sinner is accepted through the
imputed righteousness of the sinless Redeemer. He is supremely
happy, and the sanctified soul, having partaken of the divine
nature, shares forever in the felicity of the highest divinity
whom it serves and adores. Thus Christianity is a bond which
time cannot loosen nor eternity outlast, and if man holds one
extremity of the chain, God holds the other.

The mysterious constitution of the person of Christ, and the
glorious atonement consequent upon his sacrifice, form the
stupendous link which unites God and man, earth and heaven ;
that mystic ladder, on which the angels of God ascended and

128 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

descended, whose foot is in the dust of our sinful world, and
whose summit scales the pinnacles of celestial glory. Fully
to comprehend the obscure wonders of this theme is a task
and a privilege reserved for the future state ; the nature of the
case forbids a perfect comprehension. Says Robert Hall, —

" It is the greatness which forms the mystery of the fact ;
the matchless love and condescension constitute the very
nucleus of the difficulty. It could only be brought within the
sphere of our comprehension by a contraction of its vast
dimensions, by a depression of its native grandeur. A pros-
tration of it to the level of our feeble capacities would only
render it incapable of being the magnet of souls, the attraction
of hearts, the wonder of the universe. The effect of this great
fact on every one who has sufficient humility to believe the
word of God, is not at all diminished by its mysterious grandeur.
On the contrary, the fact itself is replete with moral influence
and practical effect. Could the whole theory of the incarna-
tion be laid open to our view, no additional force would be
given to those motives to fervent gratitude and devotedness to
the service of our Redeemer which the mere fact is adapted
to inspire. The practical influence is not at all impaired, but
rather heightened, by the speculative difficulties which attend
it, because they result merely from its ineffable grandeur. The
same may be said with respect to the doctrine of the Trinity.
The distinct parts assigned to the three divine persons exhibit
the beautiful harmony of the plan of redemption ; the Father
sending his Son, the Son executing his Father's will, the Holy
Spirit sanctifying the people of God by dwelling in their hearts.
These truths are not less practical because of the mystery
which attends the doctrine. We are as able to adore the grace
of the Father, the love of the Son, the communion of the Holy
Spirit, to value the distinct agency of the several persons in
the work of our salvation, as if we could perceive the theory
of this unspeakable mystery.

" With regard to the doctrine of the atonement, we are taught
all that it is necessary for us to know — that the blood of Jesus

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 129

Christ is the price of our redemption, and that it was infinitely
worthy of God, ' in bringing many sons unto glory, to make
the Captain of their salvation perfect thj-ough sufferings.' We
can perceive, in some degree, its tendency to advance and
maintain the honor of God, as Moral Governor of the world.
But many questions may be proposed, with respect to the
extent of its efficacy, which our reason cannot penetrate.
What connection this great sacrifice may have with the happi-
ness, what influence on the destiny, of beings of a higher
order, of which the Scriptures give some faint intimation, we
have no distinct and satisfactory knowledge ; but this affords
no objection to the testimony they contain, that ' for us otp«,
and for our salvation,' the Son of God became incarnate,
suffered, and died. It is worthy of the reserve of Infinite
Majesty to give us very brief hints with respect to the influence
of these great facts on the innocent and holy part of creation,
to the utmost extent of his dominions."

It is with the practical character of the atonement, rather
than with its speculative aspects, that we as sinners have to do ;
and it is enough for us to know that, however far the radiance
of the cross may flow beyond the domains of humanity, it at
least includes all our race. Christianity was designed for the
whole world, not merely as a system of instruction, but an
awakening, an appeal, the means and source of spiritual life.
Its Founder taught every truth, performed every miracle, em-
ployed every agency, moved every part of the universe,
exhibited every perfection of the divine character, which was
in the least essential to the instruction and salvation of man-
kind. Tnie Christian liberty consists in a common gospel for
all, unfolding its sacred records for general instruction, and
bestowing the spirit of all grace to seal each believer unto
eternal life. It does not necessarily follow that all will avail
themselves of the means of salvation which infinite love has so
amply provided, or that all the disciples of our blessed Lord
attain unto the same degree of progress, but that resources
adapted to every possible want are proffered to each without

130 KKPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

money or price. " There is one body and one spirit, even as
ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all." " But unto
every one of us is given grace according to the measure of
the gift of Christ ; " and it is Christ " from whom the whole
body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love." We can no more conceive of the
means of salvation being limited, than we can conceive of a
limit to the affections of an infinite God ; the capaciousness
of both of which gloriously characterizes the whole New
Testament, and at its close bursts forth in the overwhelming
eloquence of mercy and love, the epitome of the entire gos-
pel : " The spirit and the bride say. Come. And let him that
heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

Herein we have attem.pted to show that Christ died for the
wretched, whose sorrows he felt ; that he thereby atoned for
the sinful, whose guilt he assumed ; and that he trium[)hed
alone on the cross in gloom, that he might open the gates of
glory to all, and proffer to each a crown. From this whole
discussion we deduce three points.

First, the divine atonement is unlimited, and all of us should
avail ourselves of its saving power. We are aware that some
think this a too generous view of the gospel. They profess
to believe that its worth is vitiated, and its Author dishonored,
by such a wide expansion and comprehensive grasp. They
look rather for a monopoly of heavenly grace, and will be
very sure to regard themselves, the special and selected fa-
vorites of predestined life. Christ found the earth burdened
with such, and strove with all his might to drive them from the
altars they disgraced, while standing and thanking God heart-
lessly that they were not as other men are ; and planted purer
examples along the highway of salvation, which they encum-
bered in arrogant and hypocritical display of fine morality, not

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 131

in their daily life, but patched on their garment's filthy hem.
These were the bigots of an earlier age, who were accustomed
to speak of themselves as chosen of God, befoi'e all meaner
creatures, holy and clean ; while the Gentile nations were sin-
ners beyond the reach of salvation, reprobate dogs. And why
was this ? It was because they, like the Pharisees of modern
times, clung to the dogma, " out of their church, no salvation ; "
the latent principle of death in all those sects which have
embraced or ever do embrace such a creed.

The immediate influence of teaching like this is bad enough,
leading the hearer stupidly to wait for conversion, if that chances
to be " a fixed fact " in his case, as a dead tree stands on a
dreary mountain top to be struck by lightning, should a sov-
ereign cloud, in passing, vouchsafe it an irresistible bolt.
But the hereditary influence of such doctrine is, if possible,
still more pernicious. Who can read, without horror, the state-
ments in some standard works ? One says, " God by his own
will has made the frightful difference between the elect and the
reprobate." Another asserts that " God needed, anterior to
the foresight of original sin, to predestinate some and condemn
others ; all this is arbitrary in God." While a third, still more
orthodox in the faith of that age, declares, " Jesus Christ no
more died for the salvation of those who are not elected, than
he died for the salvation of the devil." It was only one step
farther that a disciple of the same school went, when, at the
funeral of a woman who died in childbirth, he stated, for the
edification of the faithful and consolation of all the bereaved,
that " it is certain that the devil possesses the soul of a little
infant in the womb of its mother." This theology, in all its
glory every where, we think, comes from Man, and not from
Jesus Christ. It has little affinity for the cross, when he who
dies thereon, the Savior of the world, cries, " It is finished"
— the veil of the temple is rent in twain, and every barrier
between the ranks of men broken down — in this preternatural
gloom the Sun of Righteousness is apparently extinguished here
in this place of a skull, overlooking the metropolis of a limited

132 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

dispensation henceforth dead, only to kindle every star of
heaven, every page of Scripture, and every rood of earth all
a-blaze with the light of salvation for every eye. It is here, on
the ragged irons, in the expiring moanings of Him " in whom
dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," and " who
tastes death for every man," that a meaning high as heaven,
deep as hell, and wide as the outskirts of creation, is given to
his own gracious words : " Come unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." " The living
heavens shout with thousands of angel voices round the throne,
and a glory of love gushes out over the universe, which shortly
before had fastened its looks upon a fearful place of sacrifice."
In the second place, redemption does not infringe upon free
will, and all should profit to the utmost by its sanctifying and
ennobling influence. Since freedom of action is the principal
and indispensable means of progress, the very object of re-
demption is to lead men to, and confirm them in, the path of
perpetual advancement. From the very dawn of the gospel,
the free use which would be made of it was announced :
" Simeon said unto Mary, his mother. Behold, this child is set
for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign
which shall be spoken against." To be compelled to carry
the cross of Christ is not to " take up " his cross. In his
lamentation over Jerusalem, whose inhabitants he " would have
gathered together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings," Jesus utters the simple but terrible reproach, " ye
would not." This free use of Christianity goes even so far,
that, from being the chief instrument of peace, it may be per-
veited to the occasion of war ; this Jesus declared : " Think
not I am come to send peace on earth ; I am not come to send
peace, but a sword ; for I am come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her motlier, and
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's
foes shall be they of his own household." " I am come to
send fire on the earth ; and what shall I if it be already kin.
died ? " It is as an explicit recognition of free will under the

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 133

power of redemption, that the angel says to the apostle : " He
that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; and he that is righteous,
let him be righteous still ; and he that is holy, let him be holy
still."

Christianity leaves the mind of the individual, as well as the
civilization of the masses, to its own free course of develop-
ment, sure that the divine principles of puiity and love it
implants will suffice to moderate and guide it, so that excesses
of all kinds and differences repugnant to its spirit, of every
degree^ will be either restrained or averted. Independent of
every thing earthly, temporal, and transient ; independent of
nature, which is merely the domain on which it toils and its
progress is accomplished ; and independent of mankind, which
is its pupil and beneficiary, Christianity is divine, and therefore
cannot be destroyed ; it is the soul and substance of perfect
freedom, and therefore is too mighty for sectarian chains, and
too capacious for exclusive creeds. It is a beneficent and all-
blessing spirit, like the sun shining on the imbecile and blind.
It gently permeates the arteries and veins of the whole social
system, softens manners, calms hatred, enlarges sympathy,
expands benevolence, and every way exalts and ennobles the
soul. Let us be most anxious to imbibe this influence, and
thus become " filled with all the fulness of God."

Thirdly, Christianity being designed for the world, it is our
first duty and highest privilege to exert our utmost powers in
diffusing this invaluable treasure among all mankind. Every
one who truly receives the gospel, and by it is made anew after
God's image, has, by the very nature of his renovated affec-
tions, an inclination and indescribable joy in rendering the gifl
of inspiration saving to others, as it has been to himself. This
sentiment was sublimely expressed by the apostle Paul : " Fulfil
ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being
of one accord, of one mind. Yea, and if 1 be offered on the
sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you
all " — he the missionary, they his supporters, and co-workers
at home, all loving and toiling together to fill the earth with the
12

134 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

knowledge of Jesus Christ. " We have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and
not of us." The means of distribution are earthen, adapted
to every section of our globe, and the most solemn obligations
require that the disciples of Christ should go every where,
diffusing light, life, and immortal joy. This is God's gift to
humanity, and is to be bestowed without respect to condition
or rank. We are appointed to carry out, along every meridian
and through every zone, the whole Bible and the gospel entire,
not the religion of a sect or section, but the Christianity of
Christ, a divinely original, majestic, beneficent, godlike type,
as it is found in Jesus of Nazareth, and is destined to be exem-
plified in all the world.

PART II.

THE REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTION
or THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.

" Being persuaded of nothing more than of this, that whether it be
in matter of speculation or of practice, no untruth can possibly avail the
patron and defender long, and that things most truly are likewise most
behovefully spoken." — Hooker's Polity.

"To endeavor to impose our sentiments by force, is the most detestable
species of persecution. Others are as much entitled to deem themselves
in the right as we are." — Godtcin's Political Justice.

"They who contend that nothing less can justify subscription to the
Thirty-nine Articles, than the actual belief of each and every separate
proposition contained in them, must suppose that the legislature expected
the consent of ten thousand men, and that in perpetual succession, not to
one controverted proposition, but to many hundreds." — Paley's Moral
Philosophr/.

" Christianity will civilize, it is true ; but it is only when it is allowed to
develop the energies by which it sanctifies. Christianity will inconceiv-
ably ameliorate the condition of being. "W'ho doubts it ? Its universal
prevalence, not in name, but in reality, will convert this world into a
semi-paradisiacal state ; but it is only while it is permitted to prepare its
inhabitants for a better. Let her be urged to forget her celestial origin
and destiny, — to forget that she came from God, and returns to God;
and, whether employed by the artful and enterprising, as the instrument
of establishing a spiritual empire and dominion over mankind, or by the
philanthropist, as the means of promoting their civilization and improve-
ment, she resents the foul indignity, claps her wings, and takes her flight,
leaving nothing but a base and sanctimonious hypocrisy in her room." —
Hall's Address to Eustace Carey.

"La revolution est tout entiere dans I'Evangile. Nulle part la cause
du peuple n'a ete plus energiquement plaidee, nulle part plus de mal^^dic-
tions n'ont ete infligee aux riches et aux puissants de ce monde. Jlsus
Christ est notre maitre a tous." — Les Gircmdiiis.

" My kingdom is not of this world."

" Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's ; and unto
God the things that are God's." — Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER I.

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KING.

The policy of kings and the avarice of priests have ever
sought to blend religion with civil power, and make the church
an appendage of the state. But every such attempt has served
only to emasculate Christianity of its true force, and utterly to
destroy its greatest glory. Such results might indeed be
expected; since, as John records, Jesus himself declared, —
" My kingdom is not of this world." When human power
subordinates the altar as a prop to its throne, earthly majesty is
sure to receive much more of the incense than the King of
heaven, whose divine prerogative alone it is to govern the
spirits of men. That kingdozn, whose comprehensive rule
embraces at once the highest and the lowest ranks of our race,
has nothing to do with our petty affairs of state, and seeks no
protection save the right of free discussion, and unimpeded
intercourse with all mankind.

Such, doubtless, were the nature and original design of our
holy religion ; but its high use and beneficent influence have as
yet been but partially enjoyed. Primitive purity was soon cor-
rupted, and secular alliances fearfully dwarfed and degraded
those ennobling institutions which were vouchsafed to disinthrall
and bless the world. Let us glance at the history of the alli-
ance between church and king ; the nature of this relationship ;
and its results.

In the first place, our discussion requires an historical glance
at the great evil the world has so long had occasion to deplore.
But it is not our intention to go into minute details. All intel-
ligent persons are familiar with the circumstances under which
Constantine, in the fourth centui-y of the Christian era, seized

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KING. 137

upon supreme power in ecclesiastical as well as civil affairs,
and in his own person exercised absolute control over both.
Others succeeded liim in like domination, increasing the
pressure of their sway, and darkening the world. But despite
the evil influence of imperial dictation, Christianity for a long
time maintained something of its primitive elasticity, and nobly
resisted the oppression it endured. In her darkest hour and
most crippled condition, she was conservative of all that was
valuable in the past, and the herald of a much more auspi-
cious future. Numerous laws and facts might be cited to show
very strikingly, that between the Roman municipal system and
that of the free cities of the middle ages, there intervened
an ecclesiastical mimicipal system ; the preponderance of the
clergy in conducting civil affairs succeeded to that of the an-
cient Roman magistrates, and paved the way for the organiza-
tion of our modern free institutions. It is easy to see that the
church gained a vast accession of power by these means, not
only within its own appropriate sphere, but also in the circles
of those with whom it united in temporal matters. It is from
this period its influence began powerfully to promote the ad-
vance of modern civilization.

Says Guizot, "It was of immense advantage to European
civilization that a moral influence, a moral power, a power
resting entirely upon moral convictions, upon moral opinions
and sentiments, should have established itself in society, just
at this period, when it seemed upon the point of being crushed
by the overwhelming physical force which had taken posses-
sion of it. Had not the Christian church at this time existed,
the whole world must have fallen a prey to mere brute force.
The Christian church alone possessed a moral power; it main-
tained and promulgated the idea of a precept, of a law supe-
rior to all human authority ; it proclaimed that great truth
which forms the only foundation of our hope for humanity ;
namely, that there exists a law above all human law, which,
by whatever name it may be called, whether reason, the law
12*'

138 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY".

of God, or what not, is, in all times and in all places, the same
law under difTcrent names."

In the fifth century, the church began an undertaking of
great importance to society — the separation of temporal and
spiritual authority. " This separation," continues the same
historian, " is the only true source of liberty of conscience ; it
was based upon no other principle than that which serves as
the groundwork for the strictest and most extensive liberty of
conscience. The separation of temporal and spiritual powers
rests solely upon the idea that physical and brute force has no
right or authority over the mind, over convictions, over truth.
It flows from the distinction established between the world of
thought and the world of action, between our inward and in-
tellectual nature and the outward world around us. So that,
however paradoxical it may seem, that very principle of liberty
of conscience for which Europe has so long struggled, so much
suffered, which has only so lately prevailed, and that, in many
instances, against the will of the clergy, — that very princii)le
was acted upon under the name of a separation of the tem-
poral and spiritual power, in the infancy of European civiliza-
tion. It was, moreover, the Christian church itself, driven to
assert it by the circumstances in which it was placed, as a
means of defence against barbarism, that introduced and main-
tained it.

" The establishment, then, of a moral influence, the main-
tenance of this divine law, and the separation of temporal and
spiritual power, may be enumerated as the great benefits which
the Christian church extended to European society in the fifth
century.

" Unfortunately all its influences, even at this period, were
not equally beneficial. Already, even before the close of the
fifth century, we discover some of those vicious principles
which have had so baneful an effect on the advancement of our
civilization. There already prevailed in the bosom of the
church a desire to separate the governing and the governed.

THE CHUKCII WITHOUT A KlXG. 139

The attempt was thus early made to render the government
entirely independent of the people under its authority — to take
possession of their mind and life, without the conviction of their
reason or the consent of their will. The church, moreover,
endeavored, with all her might, to establish the principle of the-
ocracy, to usurp temporal authority, to obtain universal domin-
ion. And when she failed in this, when she found she could
not obtain absolute power for herself; she did what was almost
as bad : to obtain a share of it, she leagued herself with tem-
poral rulers, and enforced, with all her might, their claim to
absolute power at the expense of the liberty of the subject."

From the beginning of the sixth century, as the alliance be-
tween church and state grew much more intimate, the progress
of deterioration rapidly and wretchedly advanced down to the
fifteenth century, when, on the occasion of the martyrdom of
Huss by the council of Constance, the emperor Sigismond
seated himself by the side of the infamous pope Balthasar
Cossa, his soul tormented with remorse, and his hands stained
with blood. In the words of PoUok, —

" Then was the evil day of tjianny,
Of kingly and of priestly tyranny,
That bruised the nations long. As yet, no state
Beneath the heavens had tasted freedom's ■\vine,
Thoiigh loud of freedom was the talk of all.
Some groaned more deeply, being heavier tasked ;
Some wrought with straw, and some without ; but all
"Were slaves, or meant to be ; for rulers still
Had been of equal mind — excepting few —
Cruel, rapacious, tjTannous, and vile,
And had with equal shoulder propped the Beast.
As yet, the Church, the holy spouse of God,
In members few, had wandered in her weeds
Of mourning, persecuted, scorned, reproached,
And buffeted, and killed — in members few,
Though secmmg many whiles ; then fewest oft
"When seeming most. She stUl had hung her harp
Upon the willow-tree, and sighed and wept
From asre to asre."

140 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITV.

But this evil is not confined to what we are accustomed to
term " the dark ages." All history and observation attest the
danger, the fearful curse, connected with the insurmountable
vice of absolute power, wheresoever it may exist, whatso-
ever name it may bear, and for whatever object it may be
exercised. The religious influence of an unlimited monarch
is often as dangerous as the rankest impiety. In the middle
of the nineteenth century, it is easy to perceive from the proc-
lamations issued by Nicholas, that he considers God as the
guardian of legitimate kings, and the special patron of Russia's
autocrat. Aided by a sycophantic hierarchy, he has contrived
to throw an air of sanctity over his infamous usurpations ; with
pious pretensions extirpates a noble race, and, in the name of
a merciful God, drenches their country in blood.

There is something supremely frightful in the idea of one
man fastening chains on a whole people, and crushing millions
beneath his iron heel ; of tyrannical dictation to those millions
in matters of eternal moment, so that the entire country they
have received from God is overshadowed and desolated by the
despotism of a frail fellow-being. In view of the invasion of
Greece by Darius, Diogenes is represented as having said,
" An Athenian is more degraded by becoming the counsellor
of a king, than a king is degraded by becoming the school-
master of paupers in a free city. Such people as Dionysius
are to be approached by the brave and honest from two motives
only — to convince them of their inutility, and to slay them
for their iniquity. Our fathers and ourselves have witnessed
in more than one country the curses of kingly power. All
nations, all cities, all communities, should enter into one great
hunt, like those of the Scythians at the approach of winter,
and should follow it up unrelentingly to its perdition. The
diadem should designate the victim. All who wear it, all who
offer it, and all who bow to it, should perish. The smallest,
the poorest, the least accessible villages, whose cottages are
indistinguishable from the rocks around, should offer a reward
for the heads of these monsters, as for the wolf's, the kite's,
and the viper's."

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KING. 141

But regal power is a more pernicious impediment to religious
progress than it was to ancient freedom ; and the Christian has
occasion to deprecate its influence as earnestly as did Athena's
sage. What can possibly justify the transformation of im-
mortal men into the mere echo and image of one unbridled
tyrant, who is bowed to as a God ? The soul has become a
wretched thing indeed, when it is compelled implicitly to obey
a foreign will as a despotism with which it is foolish to strug-
gle, and which it is vain to resist. All such obedience is
mechanical, grudging, constrained. It wants the elasticity of
faith and the spontaneousness of love. All persons would im-
mediately rebel against this iron yoke, only that they some-
limes have been so long serfs that they have lost the courage
to rebel. If they partially escape from their thraldom, they
are quite likely soon again to bow with a still more crouching
and cowardly prostration to the tyranny that has already fet-
tered them. Thus, in harmony with the example of Luther,
and the example of Calvin, Voltaire preached at the same time
revolt against spiritual authorities, and submission to temporal
power. The reformation was far from being complete, because
its leaders continued to be the helots of the state. They
violently denounced the true reformers, who, applying the same
principles to political oppression as to religious, sought to
emancipate the nations from this craven slavery, and bring all
mankind into the free, the joyous and energetic service of their
Father, God. We shall hereafter have occasion to discuss this
point at large.

If the reformation was imperfect in Germany, it was vastly
worse in England. "The best and most perfect church in the
world," it should ever be remembered, was founded by that
meek and immaculate " Defender of the Faith," Heniy VIII.
This title was conferred upon him by the pope for writing a
pamphlet against Luther, and was a reward to the Protestant
crown for its first blow against the infant Protestant cause.
Through a career of frightful licentiousness and blood, the king
pursued his course in establishing the English church in igno-

I'i2 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

ranee and bigotry. While Luther was translating the Bible
into his native tongue, and diffusing it all over Germany,
Henry, this first " head of the church," was intriguing to get
Tvndal, the early English translator, persecuted to death in
Holland, and was issuing his royal pious proclamations that
the Bible should not be read by the working men, or any
woman whatever, except by the special permission of the
priest. In Germany, notwithstanding the leaders feared to go
the whole length for freedom, the popular feeling spread itself
rapidly ; but in England, aristocratical cupidity, state patronage,
and priestly influence, connected themselves with every depart-
ment of what was called the reformed religion of the country,
and, from that day to this, either shut out all education from
the masses of the people, or made it the mere tool of ecclesi-
astical power.

If any religious institution in the world deserves to be called
a creature of the state, it is the Protestant church of England.
It was shaped originally very much after a wretched king's
own will, and has been the dupe and tool of bigoted kingcraft
ever since. It is surprising that a people generally so sturdy
and sound-hearted could tamely submit to dictation, in mat-
ters of religion, under such creatures as Henry VIII., Edward
VI., Mar}', and Elizabeth. The most melancholy feature
of all is, that religious functionaries of every order, from
the lowest to the highest, continue with impunity to advocate
" the divine right of kings to govern wrong." It is not long
since that a lordly bishop, in a sermon before the House of
Lords, declared that " the divine right of the first magistrate,
in every polity, to the citizen's obedience, is not of that sort
which it were high treason to claim for the sovereign of this
countiy. It is a right which in no country can be denied,
without the highest of all treasons. The denial of it were trea-
son against the paramount authority of God." This ridicu-
lous, if not impious, claim set up by one of the lordships of the
realm, in favor of the absolute authority of the sovereign,
masculine or feminine, adult or babeling, is urged by a yromi-

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KING. 143

nent religious satellite near the regal sphere, and is a striking
instance and illustration of the pernicious alliance between
church and king. Fearful, indeed, is that consolidation of
selfishness and tyranny,

*' That sets the emaciate -woK to dog the flock,
The hawk to guard the dove-cote ! "

In the second place, let us look more minutely into the
nature of the relationship which royal ambition is so prompt to
form between the church and state.

In former discussions, we have shown that the sole object of
Jesus was to instruct the world in true religion, and labor for
the moral improvement of all mankind. He never appeared with
the arrogance and importunity of a boisterous demagogue, but
always in the peaceful character of a teacher from heaven,
who had the instruction and salvation of his fellow-citizens
supremely at heart. He even pronounced those the best fitted
for the kingdom of God, who possess a feeling of universal
benevolence, and an anxious desire for perfection in moral
excellence ; and as the rich and exalted in station are too often
fatally deficient in this respect, he declares it next to impossible
for them to enter the heavenly kingdom. As was the Re-
deemer, so was the church he founded, in idea and character,
directly opposite to that of a state, and especially antagonistic
to every thing like royalty. A state does not regard individuals,
hut classes ; and its regard for favorite classes is measured, not
by intrinsic merit, but by accidental circumstances, as wealth,
birth, station, &c. But a church, so far as it is Christian, acts
on directly the opposite principle ; disregarding all adventi-
tious externals, it regards men as individual persons, allowing
no gradation of ranks, but such as grace and practical good-
ness have conferred. For this reason, therefore, as Coleridge
has well said, " A church is, in idea, the only pure democracy."
Christianity, developed and exercised as its Author designed,
is a power self-subsisting, in its own proper vitality independ-
ent, and designed to counterbalance, by its influence, all the

144 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

exorbitant influences wliich tend to subjugate and oppress the
nations. To exercise civil power in her name, to subordinate
religious institutions as tools of state, is as impious as absurd ;
and it is among the chief dishonors of Protestantism to have
recognized crowned and coroneted sinners as the supreme head
and legislators of Christianity, in every earthly kingdom claim-
ing to be Protestant.

Christ never forced the truth upon any one. He could
speak, indeed, with an eloquence which melted every heart,
and affected even his foes ; but he never dazzled that he might
make superficial converts, nor did he ever cunningly confound
his hearers that he might more successfully entangle them in
the meshes of a creed. He always respected reason in man,
and addressed himself frankly and magnanimously to man's
free will, teaching every where that when we neglect those
faculties given us by nature for perceiving the truth, we judge
falsely of true religion, and involve ourselves in disgraceful
inconsistencies. For examples, consult Matt. xii. 9 — 12 ; Luke
xiv. 1 — 6 ; Matt, xxiii. 16 — 33, &c. In reading the whole his-
tory of Christ's life and instructions, we cannot fail to be struck
with astonishment and delight at the carefulness with v/hich he
ever honored the freedom and capacities of the human mind,
in all cases seeking to create rational convictions, and never
employing coercion aside from the constraints of love. He
did not consider it of so much importance for men to believe,
as for them to believe aright, with reason and reflection ; and
he was not so anxious for the accession of numbers to his king-
dom, as for the establishment of that kingdom on the basis of
exalted freedom and the most perfect brotherhood. Christ
gave the church authority, but not force, — the authority vested
in their own equal, voluntaiy suffrages, and never allowed to
go forth in individual domination over the mass. No law in
religion, no duty, can result from force, whicli differs essen-
tially and eternally from authority. Force is the power that
compels, authority the law that equitably directs. From the
right to command results the duty to obey ; from the power to

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KIN«. 145

compel follows the necessity to yield. The two ideas are
heaven-wide. To confound them would be to discard the sig-
nificant sense of common language, allowing us to say of the
tempest uprooting an oak, that it exercises a right, and that the
oak in falling fulfils a duty.

In planting the church on earth, Christ established a govern-
ment infinitely superior to all others, and of which he is the
only head. All religious allegiance is due only to him. All
Christians, by the very process of becoming such, are most
solemnly pledged to serve the Savior, and him alone. For
kings and their perjured satellites to usurp ecclesiastical con-
trol, is to obtrude into the holy place an impertinence not more
splendid than profane. This fact was strongly felt by the
early church. Said Tertullian, " I consent to recognize Caesar,
provided he will exact of me nothing that conflicts with the
laws of Him from whom the highest authority descends. Be-
sides, I am free ; I have no other master than God the omnipo-
tent, eternal, who is also the master of Caesar." But a sad-
der day of personal and national imbecility has come, when
over the greater portion of earth, religion is made an institution
of the state, completely subordinate to the sovereign in both
doctrine and form. As might be expected, infidelity and
hypocrisy of the darkest dye follow in the train ; for when men
refuse to believe Christianity on the authority of God, they will
be sure not to believe in God on the authority of the king.

It does not appear in the Bible and providence, that infinite
wisdom has suspended the dominion of Christ upon the fiat of
Caesar ; nor do we think that those teachers are most worthy
of being heard, who maintain that this dogma lies at the basis
of every thing purely orthodox. Christianity never once rec-
ognizes her dependence upon law. We search the sacred
record in vain for a single hint intimating that it would ever
rely for triumph upon aid extraneous to itself. Its power is all
within itself, and its ultimate universal success is suspended, not
upon the machinery that may be gathered around it, but upon
the divine energy which is evolved by and from it, using no
13

146 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

means that are not both peaceful and original with itself, while
it anticipates no successes that are not grounded upon its own
transcendent excellence. Such is the Christianity of Christ,
but quite another thing is the religion of state. That bids
every man throw his individual conscience into one public
caldron, " that, by the potency of some invisible fire, they
may all be melted down into a state conscience, which state
conscience is, in respect of making provision for the spiritual
wants of man, to do duty for every member of the community,
and become a universal proxy."

Tyrants have ever oppressed human thought by hindering its
free development ; they would control, as far as possible, the
ethereal power which tends constantly to escape from the bonds
it is too often forced to endure. Genius and free thought are
always on the side of popular improvement and national
progress. Freedom is essential to produce the best mental
creations, which masterpieces forever generate and fortify re-
publicanism. The whole circle of the arts and sciences join
in choral song to mankind, like Christianity herself proclaiming
nature's decree, " All ye are brethren." They acknowledge
no despotism, nor unchanging dynasty. Their life is derived
from unimpeded advancement, and therefore do they scorn
all lordship, whether solitaiy or consolidated. Science, like
the air, is Heaven's gift for all, and works more naturally for
the millions than for the few. Literature, like an immortal
blessing, lives on from age to age and from land to land,
always the most widely beneficent when permitted to be most
free. At the period of the reformation, the wise and inde-
pendent heroes of old awoke as it were from the grave, and
came forth to teach the world. With the revival of intel-
lect and letters, there was the resurrection of that spirit of
ennobling power which is always the pioneer and patron of
intellectual and civil liberty. In England, when the parasites
of spiritual oppression foresaw the coming storm which was
about to burst upon the Stuarts, they translated and published
ancient classics, to avert, if possible, the outbreak which so

THK CHURCH WITHOUT A KING. 147

speedily followed. But the result was the contrary of what was
expected ; for the thoughts of free men acted as a stimulus,
rather than a quietus, to the people. There were many who,
like Algernon Sidney, were

"By ancient learning to th' enlightened love
Of ancient freedom warmed."

Whatever inspires in the masses of the people a disposition
to think for themselves, and to act fearlessly according to the
dictates of God's word only and their own convictions of right,
is inimical to the relation of church and king, and for this rea-
son is most furiously opposed. When John Huss came before
the council at Constance to give a reason for the faith dearer
to him than life, he was hooted down by kingcraft and priest-
craft, so that not a word of his defence was heard by the popu-
lar ear. The only provocative to this royal uproar was the
fact, that' he and his co-martyr, Wicklifle, proclaimed the
sovereignty of the people in matters pertaining to their highest
rights. Said Huss, " The people can, if they wish, correct their
masters when they fall into error." Hearing this, the em-
peror Sigismond, springing to his feet, furiously exclaimed,
" Not content in having degraded the priesthood, dare you
wish to degrade kings ? " For this offence his books were'
burned with his body, and his ashes were thrown into the River
Rhine. The spirit of the craft is ever the same. Charles V.
sent a herald through the chief city of his realm, proclaim-
ing with a trumpet, that no minister would be suffered to
preach any more without special permission from the emperor.
" Thus," as the elector of Saxony wrote to Luther, " our Lord
God is commanded to be silent at the Imperial Diet at Augs-
burg." We hear much of the horrors of the French revolu-
tion ; but in this, as in other things, we are in danger of ex-
aggerating the effect, without sufficiently noting the guiltier
cause. The priesthood who revoked the edict of Xantz, and
drove from their country the skill, industry, virtue, and piety
which were the sinews of her strength ; the sycophants who

148 EEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

intoxicated Louis XIV. with the ambition of universal em-
pire; the profligate and shameless Orleans; and the still
more brutalized Louis XV., with his retinue of ecclesi-
astical panders and prostitutes, were the infamous cause of
national revulsions whose end is not yet. Says the amiable
Channing, " The revolution was, indeed, a scene of liorror ;
but when I look back on the reigns which preceded it, and
which made Paris almost one great stew and gaming-house,
and where 1 see altar and throne desecrated by a licentious-
ness unsurpassed in any former age, I look on scenes as shock
ing to the calm and searching eye of reason and virtue as the
tenth of August and the massacres of September. Bloodshed
is, indeed, a terrible spectacle ; but there are other things
almost as fearful as blood. There are crimes that do not make
us start and turn pale like the guillotine, but are deadlier in
their workings. God forbid that I should say a word to
weaken the thrill of horror with which we contemplate the
outrages of the French revolution ! But when I hear that
revolution quoted to frighten us from reform, to show us the
danger of lifting up the depressed and ignorant mass, I must
ask whence it came ; and the answer is, that it came from the
intolerable weight of misgovernment and tyranny, from the
utter want of culture among the mass of the people, and from
a corruption of the great too deep to be purged away except
by destruction. I am also compelled to remember that the
people, in this their singular madness, wrought far less woe than
kings and priests have wrought, as a familiar thing, in all ages
of the world. All the murders of the French revolution did
not amount, I think, by one fifth, to those of the massacre of
St. Bartholomew's. The priesthood and the throne, in one
short night and day, shed more blood, — and that the best blood
of France, — than was spilled by "Jacobinism and all other forms
of violence during the whole revolution. Even the atheism
and infidelity of France were due cliiefly to a licentious priest-
hood and a licentious court. It was Religion, so called, that
dug her own grave."

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KING. 149

When the church and state are united by law, the resuh is
always intolerance and tyranny. It matters not whether the
alHance is with Romanism, with Unitarianism, with Calvinism,
or with democratic infidelity, as has been proved in the old
papal dominions, at Geneva, in Canton de Vaud, in Protestant
England, and Presbyterian Scotland. The virus is every
where the same, and, when once infused into the body politic,
the identical plague is soon certain to rage. The chief ones in
authority seem to suppose that the poor creature whom they
judge to be a heretic is God's personal foe, and that their
hatred of a fellow-man is shared by the merciful Father of all
mankind. The only alternative before such Christian kings is
to drive their victim into the church which they control, or out
of the world into that hell of which their elder brother is the
sovereign ; and they are usually surrounded and sustained by
ecclesiastical props, to whom such service is a genial task.

Consider the means by which the alliance between church
and state is maintained. They are two — legislation and the
hierarchy; and, for examples of both, we will turn to England.
We will not stop in the House of Commons, whom a recent
writer of their own describes as " an aggregate body of gen-
tlemen called honorable, the sons of peers or near relations,
lawyers and stockbrokers, country gentlemen and bankers,
fortunate speculator and [7'ar(e aves'\ successful gamesters, rich
manufacturers, Indian nabobs, soldiers, and seamen, with here
and there a philosopher. All the varieties of creed may find
their abettors in this assembly, and every commandment of
Heaven, saving that which says, ' Thou shalt not steal,' its vio-
lators,, without disqualifying them for the exercise of legislative
authority. They are chosen without the smallest reference to
religion, gathered from all classes but the poor, brought together
from all quarters, and selected of every shade of character,
from the roue to the devotee, and, being associated together in
one body, they forthwith undertake to construct and work an
apparatus of means, having, for its object, to persuade all the
subjects of the realm to revere, love, obey, and confide in
13*

150 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

God." We should give especial attention to the peers, the
chief source of church government and patronage. Every
reader of history knows that when tlie Norman conqueror had
succeeded, by fire and murder, in robbing the original occu-
pants of that land of their possessions, he gave to his ruthless
accomplices tlie estates which he had seized, and conferred on
them most of the privileges of nobility. From time to time
the number of these worthies was enlarged by the elevation of
other successful warriors. Some civilians have been added,
and the eldest of their male descendants wear the title, and
assume the functions, of their ancestors. These are the august
personages who, by the accident of birth, become the heredi-
tary legislators for the church of Christ, with power to dictate
religion to the people, and make them pay for it. They
may be good or bad, wise or foolish, it matters not. What
they themselves believe, or wliat they do, is equally a matter of
indifference ; the grand fact is, they are born lords, and, con-
jointly with their idol, the monarch, lord it unquestioned over
all the consciences and souls of the realm. Prominent in that
House of Peers is the " bench of bishops," mingling with these
great proficients and supporters of the sword-power, and receiv-
ing their marked approbation. Together they exhort the peo-
ple to " stand by the altar and the throne ; " and, when a
bloody war is resolved upon, and executed in support of the
unholy prerogatives of the mitre and crown, one of their num-
ber writes, and, by united action, they command, through-
out the kingdom, to be read, a special tribute of thanks-
giving, that they, the hereditary legislators of the church,
and their gallant allies, have succeeded in blowing out so many
brains. The most fruitful source of bloodshed for centuries
has been the alliance between church and king, that most per-
nicious relic of feudalism, the complete eradication of which
will, we fear, occasion yet more terrific wars. Certain it is
that nothing can be more unjust and absurd than the legal sup-
port we have described. "The philosophy of a people," says
Bonold, " is its legislation. When men, greedy of domination,

THE CHUECH WITHOUT A KING. 151

impose their own opinions upon a people for laws, and endeavor
to make their particular sentiments a general doctrine, foolish
and impious legislations are the consequence."

Another and even more pernicious resource upon which
tyranny mainly relies, is perverted education. Kingly govern-
ments are becoming rapidly modified. Some of them are
essentially republican in their politics, as in England, where
freedom of thought and speech is comparatively unfettered.
But in religious matters another spirit prevails. Precisely
where there should be least restraint, there is the most of it.
Touching one's spiritual creed, liberty means just what the
royal vocabulary pleases to make it mean. The most thorough
mental slavery sways every rank, from the palace down to the
hovel. No British regality is allowed the right of conversion
to other theological notions than those sworn to in the Thirty-
nine Articles, whatever the individual possessing that royalty
may think of them. For a king or queen publicly to avow a
change of religious belief, is to forfeit the exalted station they
occupy. What vassalage is meaner than this ? The peers
seem to be as loyal as the Cavaliers who followed the standard
of Charles I., and who declared they would fight to death for
the crown, though it were only stuck upon a thorn-bush. This
reverence for royalty affected strongly even the mind of such
a man as Lord Bacon. How so ? They w ho grow up under
the enchantments of amalgamated Cunning and Strength are
very likely to become a fatally-fascinated prey. To them the
crown is the great mystery of antiquity, the symbol of all mor-
tal divinity, the blazing star of all glory and conquest. It is
regarded as the arcanum of power, virtue, and righteousness,
the ark of the royal covenant, — that w'hich descended from
heaven to earth, to subsist expressly between God and kings.
Hence the grovelling adoration, on the part of aristocracies,
towards royal prerogatives, the second downward degree of
mental slavery. Below these we meet a long gradation of
ranks and classes composing the gentry and common people.
How are these moulded into shape, and held in abeyance to

152 RErUEMCAN CHRISTIANITY.

the purposes of the alliance we are discussing ? That is per-
formed expressly and almost entirely by the church, which
receives and distributes, not pelf only, but power ; that state-
church which is not simply a monopoly in itself, but the shield
and patron of all other monopolies. Let Miall describe the
process in his own vivid and forcible manner.

" Fifteen thousand clergy, trained in the most exclusive spirit
at universities where subserviency to rank is not only taught,
but practised ; receiving each his appointment to a living from
the hands of a land-owning patron, or, what is much to the
same purpose, from those of a bishop or the crown ; looking
to the same source for future preferment ; dependent, for inter-
course with aristocratic society, upon the good will of the neigh-
boring squire ; sympathizing with all the sectional feelings of
the order, as being themselves members of a privileged class ;
wielding, to appearance, the dreadful sanctions of religion ;
almoners, usually, of parochial funds and the great man's
bounty ; conduits through which may flow to bowing tradesmen
the custom of the rich ; having access to every house, able to
assume an air of authority, and, in virtue of their office, to
work upon religious fears and affections ; fifteen thousand
clergy thus dependent on the one hand, and powerful on the
other ; to the aristocracy pledged servants, to their own flocks
supreme dictators ; stationed at convenient intervals over the
length and breadth of the land, and thus coming in contact
with society at all points, — could mechanism more fatal to
religion, or more serviceable to the interests of the upper class,
be framed and put together ?

" All the movements of this tremendous engine are under
the complete control of the class for whose advantage it exists.
The appointment of bishops, to whom is intrusted the superin-
tendence of this well-organized corps, who dispense no small
portion of its patronage, and whose requests, in consequence,
have all the force of law, is vested in the crown, that is, in the
ministry for the time being. That they are selected for their
spiritual aotitude for the office, none will pretend. Their ele-

THE CHUKCH WITHOUT A KING. 153

vation is in most instances owing to their connection with, or
their former subserviency to, the aristocracy. They thereupon
become members of " the order." They breathe exclusive
atmosphere. They are thoroughly imbued with the aristocratic
spirit. Is any inroad upon sectional privileges threatened, they
have but to nod the head, to give the well-understood sign, and,
on the instant, tenants, tradesmen, parish officers, paupers,
small gentlemen who occasionally dine at the squire's, matrons
who tremble for religion, and young ladies who are lookuig up
to respectable connections, send forth a ciy of disapprobation,
and send up a shoal of petitions, at which the boldest statesman
may be excused for standing appalled.

" The intimate dependency of the one class upon the other
is sufficiently illustrated by daily facts. If any instance can
be pointed out in which tlie clergy and the aristocracy have
taken different sides, we would be content to give up the whole
argument. But, in truth, it cannot be. The hands must obey
the mandates of the head."

It is the policy of every hierarchical establishment to obtain
exclusive control over every university, as was seen until
recently all over the continent, and is still the fact in the British
islands. The church claims the supreme prerogative to be the
only source of education ; and, as the moulder of the popular
character, it is most ambitious to prepare its dupes for the use
of the state. If the king needs subjects who will implicitly
obey his mandates ; soldiers who will not question the righteous
necessity of pouring out their blood to support the immunities
of splendid indolence, and ministers who will stoop to any tru-
culent subserviency to " the altar and the throne," the church
stands ready to furnish an abundant supply. Her principle of
unlimited obedience, inculcated from earliest infancy on all the
youth of the land, has done the work of succumbing prepara-
tion, and she goes with her vassal hordes to the state, saying,
" Here are so many hundreds, thousands, or millions of tools,
ready to obey any command, and to perform any task ; they
will be perfectly subservient to all your wants and wishes, so

154 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

long as you do not interfere with us ; hand us over the tithes
in payment."

It could not be expected that a communhy thus trained
would be very magnanimous on the score of the rights of con-
science, or very zealous in the defence of general liberty.
Take an illustration. On the 14th of July, 1791, a few per-
sons at Birmingham met to commemorate the destruction of
the Bastile. Among these was that distinguished philosopher
whom Robert Hall eulogized for his personal worth, and de-
fended when deprived of his religious rights — Dr. Priestley.
Soon after the meeting broke up, a ruffian mob was raised and
led on by " most respectable men." The -windows of the
hotel at which the party had met were speedily demolished.
A cry was raised to burn Dr. Priestley's chapel, and also his
house. The residences of many of his friends shared the
same fate. The sky was illuminated for miles round by the
blaze they kindled that night. History accredits all this loyal
work to clergymen and high civil functionaries ; for such per-
sons connected with the magistracy were seen and heard in the
outrageous rabble while all this was going on. Driven from
Birmingham to London, no sooner had Dr. Priestley arrived in
Hackney, where he intended to reside, than a very pious
church-and-state placai'd was in every public place posted up,
couched as follows : —

" Dr. Priestley is a damned rascal, an enemy to the political
and religious constitution of this country, a fellow of a treason-
able mind, consequently a bad Christian ; for it is not only our
duty, but the glorious ambition, of every good Christian to fear
God and honor the king."

We have presented enough to show the horrid nature of the
relationship that ever subsists between allied political and reli-
gious power. Its whole history is one loathsome picture of
clerical selfishness, ambition, intolerance, and hypocrisy. No
deeds of darkness have been too foul, no attacks upon the
rights of man have been too malignant and infernal, to be per-
petrated by ecclesiastics in the name of state Christianity.

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KIXG. 155

When were they ever seen struggling with the people for civil
freedom and mental independence ? Never ! Despotism and
tyranny have ever found in them the willing and zealous tools
to enslave the masses of mankind. Doubtless there are good
men among them who regret the condition of things in which
they are placed ; but the talents and sacred calling of the great
majority are notoriously prostituted at the beck of infamous
courts, in preaching up the divine right of kings, and in enfor-
cing the duties of passive obedience and non-resistance to the
most oppressive wrongs. What they ever have been they are
to-day, modified only in some slight respects by the progressive
spirit of the age.

Having taken a brief historical view of the alliance between
church and king, and having portrayed the nature of that
relationship, let us, in the third place, look at some of its
results.

" My kingdom," said Christ, " is not of this world." He came,
indeed, to rule mankind, but not to rule them after an earthly
mode, not by force and menace, not by arbitrary dictation, but
by setting before them a heavenly example, and by inculcating
those divine precepts which educate, ennoble, and save the
soul.' He came to exert a moral power, and not martial or
legal ; to reign by the exemplification of exalted virtues ; to
arouse the energies of the free mind, and invest the spirit and
life of his disciples with all the mild splendors of true godli-
ness. He came to publish liberty to the captives ; to open the
prison door ; to deliver from the thraldom of passion ; to break
the yoke of cumbrous rituals in religion fitted only for the
childhood of our race ; to transform us into the divine image
and exalt all to an equal participation of his own eternal thrond.
The Redeemer never authorized the slightest alliance of his
institutions with civil power, but condemned the passion for
such dominion with the greatest abhorrence, as being the most
pernicious foe to true religion. He would have Christianity
separated from state control, as the " church in the wilder-
ness" was happily isolated from the Egyptian bondage from

156 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

which it had just escaped. Christ came to reahze the subhme
idea of true independence, and through his doctrines to impart
it to all mankind : to be himself the heart of the church, and
its only Lord. Says Dr. Harris, —

" The voice of prophecy had declared that such would be
the spiritual character of his new kingdom. For while some
monstrous type, of brute ferocity and power, was deemed an
appropriate symbol of each preceding monarchy as seen by
Daniel, the ensign of the Messiah's reign was distinguished by
the likeness of the Son of man ; aptly denoting, that while
they prevailed by the ascendency of physical might, from his
kingdom should be banished every carnal weapon and instru-
ment of coercion ; and that to him should belong the honor
of recognizing and erecting the prostrate elements of humanity,
of reigning by the spiritual action of mind on mind, the almighty
influence of enlightened reason, of sanctified gratitude and
love. It was distinctly predicted that his kingdom, instead of
symbolizing with any of the governments of earth, should be
to the world an image of his own sufficiency, surpassing and
encompassing them all. At first, it would resemble an impe-
rium in imperio, a dominion of principle and affection flourish-
ing amidst the kingdoms of the world, like the verdure of para-
dise set in the desert ; but in the end, as Bacon describes the
prevalence of a far different principle, ' it bringeth in a new
primum mobile, that ravisheth all the spheres of govemment;'
forming, from first to last, in the eyes of the w^orld, an anomaly
of government. Accordingly, when Jesus came to erect it, he
appeared at a loss for suitable illustrations by which to explain
it to the minds of his hearers. ' Whereunto,' saith he, ' shall
we liken the kingdom of God, and with what comparison shall
we compare it ? ' None of the governments of the world sup-
plied an analogy : he who is the wisdom of God seemed
embarrassed, as he looked around the world of civil society
for a similitude, and saw that it contained none."

Next to his own supreme dominion in every thing pertaining
to our highest welfare, Christ fostered and enforced the sov-

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KING. 157

ereignty of the people ; that sovereignty which is the essence
of hberty itself, founded on equality, political, civil, and reli-
gious, and which respects the rights of all by the especial pro-
tection of each. This theory, first realized by the Son of God,
is the most beautiful ever presented, because it is the most
true ; and is the most consoling, because it leaves no grief
unmitigated, and no injury unavenged. But its retribution is
that of justice and mercy only ; hence it is the most sublime,
as well as the most holy, because it is the expression of univer-
sal suffrages here below, harmonious with the infinite will on
high. If there be aught in Christianity which elevates it above
the pestiferous region of mere fable, any thing lovely and true,
any thing divine, of this fact we may be sure, that whatever
principle it contains is worthy of being trusted to the utter-
most, and foremost among its principles stand the rights of
an unfettered conscience granted to every rational being on
earth. To infringe on these, is to inflict the greatest injury
man can possibly endure. In church relationship, Christ is
God with us, and we with God ; and no finite being has any
authority to interpose himself in the slightest degree. The
imiverse has no grant of nobility, and no dignity higher than
that of being inscribed in the Lamb's book of life ; and this
the lowliest Christian enjoys equally with the highest. As
early as 1532, the church at Berne declared that the state
ought not to interfere with religious matters, except in respect
to external order. " But as to the work of grace, it is not in
the power of man, and is dependent on no magistrate. The
state should not meddle with the conscience ; Jesus Christ our
Lord is our only Master. If the magistrate meddles with the
gospel, he will only make hypocrites." Switzerland has ever
maintained a noble primitive spirit in this respect. "Let the
moderator have the presidency," say the ordinances of SchafT-
hausen, " but nothing more, lest a monarchy should take the
place of democracy.''''

The legitimate results of the system we deprecate are indi-
cated by the present condition of the eastern hemisphere com-
11

158 UEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY,

pared with that of the west. Look at the old and imbecile
empires where immemorial kingcraft and priestcraft were born.
Their annals are full of convulsions, but not movements. Ge-
nius, under their sway, is too often struck with a torpidity which
unfits it to perfect even the mediocrity it has invented. The
popular mind is palsied by the sceptre it obeys, and moves
sluggishly in a circle which perpetually returns to the same
starting-point. This result is produced by the combination of
all those institutions which fetter, embarrass, and retard human
progress ; systems of state religion, worship of ancestors, and
division of the people into castes. On the contrary, look at
the west : what activity, what ardor, what a thirst for improve-
ment and advancement, what an impetuosity of life ! Citizens
here find a spur in the present which urges them onward to
something broader and nobler yet to come ; they see that they
have a hopeful and glorious future to conquer ; their lot is not
immutably fixed ; they feel that they are free incessantly to
modify and improve it. The principal cause that has created
and perpetuated this distinguished state of things was religion,
an influence which grew more and more free and expansive as
it perpetually advanced. It outgrew Abraham and tradition ;
it outgrew the heroic and federal times in Israel when Moses
and Joshua flourished ; it outgrew the powers of monarchy
exercised by David and Solomon, in endeavors to maintain
spiritual unity by political consolidation ; finally, h outgrew the
prophets, in their struggle against idolatry, by giving the pre-
eminence to the moral element of worship above the ceremo-
nial, that clearest unfolding of the spirit of true religion which
heralded the Messiah, and gave the gospel of redemption to
mankind. That religion is still advancing, having been made
perfect and divine in " the man Christ Jesus," and is destined
to mature Christian manhood every where. It scorns to use
the rod that hung up over the mantel-piece to frighten the
infancy of our race. Human character, and the religion given
to redeem it, have passed this stage of childishness, and,
released from nursery trammels, man is coming to pursue the

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KIXG. 159

great ends of existence, loving all and fearing none, guided
only by the light of heaven in his own consciousness, and
feeling that there can be no sin without its punishment, no
virtue without it appropriate reward. Kings and their gew-
gaws in the church are regarded as a nuisance by all the good,
and must soon become every where obsolete. Their only hope
of being tolerated at all in this age lies in their speedy divorce-
ment from ecclesiastical affairs. The great masses of the
people will submit to the alliance no longer. It is an unmit-
igated curse to all concerned, as Milton saw the results it pro-
duced in his day, and described in the following magnificent
passage : —

" I cannot better liken the state and person of a king than
to that mighty Nazarite, Samson, who, being disciplined in
the practice of temperance and sobriety, and without the strong
drink of excessive and injurious desires, grows up to a noble
strength and perfection, with those his illustrious and sunny
locks, the laws, waving and curling about his godlike shoulders.
And while he keeps them about him undiminished and unshorn,
he may, with the jaw-bone of an ass, that is, with the word of
his meanest officer, suppress and put to confusion thousands
of those that rise up against his just power. But, laying down
his head amongst the strumpet flatteries of prelates, whilst he
sleeps and thinks no harm, they wickedly shaving off all those
bright and weighty tresses of his laws and just prerogatives
which were his ornament and strength, deliver him over to
indirect and violent counsels, which, as those Philistines, put
out the clear and fai'-sighted eyes of his natural discerning,
and make him grind in the prison-house of their sinister ends
and practices upon him ; till he, knowing this prelatical razor
to have bereft him of his wonted might, nourish again his
puissant hair, the golden beams of law and right, and sternly
shook thunder with ruin upon the heads of those his evil
counsellors, but not without great affliction to himself."

The cry of the popular conscience grows more distinct and
universal every day against allowing monarchs any longer to

160 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

subordinate Christianity to their own degraded designs. The
nations desire no more to see her enslaved in tlie ante-rooms
of despots, prostituted in service the most base. The grand
cry of rousing humanity is for the rescue of religion from all
control of the state. Henceforth aspiring to be independent, and
not fearing royal or hierarchical interference, the church will
say to her teachers every where, as did one of old, (Amos vii.
12, 13,) " Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee
away into the land of Judah,and there eat bread, and prophesy-
there ; but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el, for it is
the king's chapel, and it is the king's court."

This growing discontent under the united tyranny of church
and state results from the rapidly-increased consciousness of
its fearful effects in every clime. In Russia and Greece, it
successfully resists all attempts to reform the idolatrous wor-
ship of the Greek church. In Italy and Austria, fortified by
the state, Romanism maintains itself, tremblingly, it is true, but
not yet overthrown. For centuries the cimeter has defended
the Koran ; while the bayonets of Germany and England have
hitherto sustained the hollow formalism of a defunct Protestant
establishment.

It is on the latter domain that tlie greatest evils of church
and state relationship are at present found, and it is doubtless
there that the last and greatest battle for religious freedom is
to be fought. How does that religion appear in the English
church, which disclaims worldly pretensions, warns against
" the decehfulness of riches," and courts not " the honor which
Cometh from men" — that religion which was cradled in pov-
erty, baptized in suffering, dwelt from choice among the labo-
rious, and has forbidden to its followers all titles of distinction ?
We will let a distinguished living English author present an
instance and illustration.

" Take the last royal christening, and look at it simply as a
state imbodiment of Christianity. Without staying to question
the rite itself, or the authority upon which it is founded, look at
it as a simple act of divine worship. Why, the religion of

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A KING. 161

the thing is a trifle, compared with its worldly environment.
Nothing but costly splendor ! Royal sponsors landing amidst
salutes of artillery and popular acclamations; cavalcades and
processions ; jewels and feathers ; fetes^ banquets, balls, on
the most magnificent scale ; how can a religious thought or a
religious emotion harmonize with the bustle, and the circum-
stance, and the bravery of a scene like this ? Wc know who
retired into a desert to pray. But religion now-a-days can
plunge into the very whirl of fashion, and perform its most
solemn acts amid the parade of all the accompaniments of
frivolous greatness.

" Alas ! that that meek, sober, earnest, spiritual reality,
Christian truth. Heaven's best and noblest gift to man, should
thus be tricked out with meretricious ornaments, and sent
flaring through these realms, so berougedand beribboned by
aristocratic frivolity, as to leave upon men's minds an impres-
sion of nothing whatever beyond earthly pomp ! They see the
coaches and the gold, but where is the moral loveliness to
which they are bidden to do homage ? They hear the thun-
dering cannon and the swelling organ, but do they, can they,
discern, amidst it all, the words of persuasion which drop as
the dew ? Is, then, that coarse thing which barbarians can
equal, if not outvie, Christianity ? Are her claims and her
instructions thus fitly symbolized? Does she delight in gairish
attire, and love to show herself first among the foremost in
surrounding herself with a vain show ? No ! But this is what
legislators make of God's truth. Their wisdom turns a
strangely solemn reality into a plaything for nobles; a fresh
occasion for the indulgence of their costly tastes ; a mere peg
upon which to hang aristocratic pomp and pleasure. Ay,
they have turned their hands to religion, and a fine thing they
have made of it. Strip this state-church of its titles, power,
and wealth, and what would be left ? What is it but a bubble,
reflecting the colors by which it is surrounded ? Burst it, and
there remains — nothing."

And bui-st it will, that bubble, very soon. The people are
14 *

162 REPUBLICAjN curistianitv.

coming to understand, and estimate at its proper worth, the
value of that government which, a few years since, in minute
detail, prescribed to its agents in Canada odious measures of
persecution against the Catholics, and at the same time, by a
formal treaty, guarantied to the inhabitants of Ceylon the
liberty of idolatrous rites, sanctioning, by the presence of
ambassadors, those pagan ceremonies, and offering to their
divinities sacrilegious gifts. Light is spreading on this subject,
and the great body of the nation are looking with rapidly-
increased disfavor upon this unholy and insufferable alliance,
in which gold, state honors, and ecclesiastical dignities become
the spoils of intrigue, the recompense of indolence, and the base
pension which functionaries of every grade receive, for crip-
pling the capacities and betraying the rights of the people at
large.

But, thank God ! Christianity is diffusing the leaven of its
influence widely and deeply through the popular heart, ren-
dering its subject both socially regenerative and politically
energetic. From age to age it has bequeathed to earth a
mighty accumulation of power, which, in the era upon which
we are entering, seems destined to burst into freedom, glad-
ness, and salvation in the presence of all mankind. Revolu-
tions the most radical and retributive are growing rife, in view
of which let tyrants and bigots take heed, for chasms dark and
frightful as their own deeds are yawning wide to give a quick
passage down the fiery depths of the oppressor's hell. Com-
binations to support allied aristocracies around the altar and
throne, must bow before the gathering storm of reformation in
church and state, or be swept before it like summer dust.
"Through this house or over it," said Lord Brougham, on the
occasion of a noted debate in the English senate, " this reform
bill must pass." Tlie Lord of lords and ^Monarch of mon-
archs has decreed that through every chapter house, every
ministerial cabinet, and every legislative hall, or over them
with crushing might, the great Reform Bill of primitive Chris-
tianity shall pass, leaving every where in its course the mind
without a fetter, and the church without a king.

CHAPTER II.

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A TOPE.

Popery originated in degeneracy, flourished most in the
darkest times, and is destined to disappear before increasing
light. These are the main positions which in this discussion
we shall endeavor to substantiate.

In the first place, it was in degeneracy from the primitive
purity of the church of Christ, that Papal domination arose.
Careful research into this matter will show that the first society
of Christian believers was bound together only by the bonds
of mutual love, and a free devotion to their common Lord.
After his ascension, they continued to cooperate with the
same singleness of heart and spontaneous enterprise, for the
worship of their heavenly Master and the promotion of his
kingdom on earth. The government under which they volun-
tarily placed themselves was the purest form of freedom ever
imbodied and exemplified. " Each individual church possessed
the rights and powers inherent in an independent popular as-
sembly. The right to enact their laws, and the entire govern-
ment of the church, was vested in each individual association
of which the church was composed, and was exercised by the
members of the same, in connection with their overseers and
teachers ; and, when the apostles were present, in common
also with them."

Next to the inspired historians themselves, perhaps the most
reliable writer on this subject is Dr. Augustus Neander. Speak-
ing of the office of the apostles, he says, " They stand as the
medium of communication between Christ and the whole Chris-
tian church, to transmit his word and his Spirit through all
ages. In this respect the church must ever continue to ac-

164 EErUBLlCAN CHRISTIANITY.

knowledge her dependence upon them, and to own their right-
ful authority. Their authority and power can be delegated to
none other. But the service which tlie apostles themselves
sought to confer, was to transmit to men the word and the
spirit of the Lord, and, by this means, to establish independent
Christian communities. These communities, when once estab-
lished, they refused to hold in a state of slavish dependence
upon themselves. Their object was, in the spirit of the Lord,
to make the churches free, and independent of their guidance.
To the churches their language was, ' Ye beloved, ye are
made free ; be ye the. servants of no man.' The churches
were taught to govern themselves. All the members were
made to cooperate together as organs of one Spirit, in connec-
tion with which spiritual gifts were imparted to each as he
might need. Thus they, whose prerogative it was to rule
among the brethren, demeaned themselves as the servants of
Christ and his church. They acted in the name of Christ and
his church, as the organs of that Spirit with which all were
inspired, and from which they derived the consciousness of
their mutual Christian fellowship. The brethren chose their
own officers from among themselves. Or if, in the first organ-
ization of the churches, their officers were appointed by the apos-
tles, it was with the approbation of the members of the same."
Possibly as early as the latter part of the life of John, when
he was sole survivor of the other apostles, the custom obtained
of distinguishing by the name of episkopos (bishop) the pres-
ident of the sacred assembly. There is, however, no evidence
that the apostle himself introduced such a change ; much less,
that he authorized it as a perpetual ordinance for the future.
Such an innovation would be directly opposed to the well-
known spirit of that apostle. " When, however," continues
Neander, " the doctrine is, as it gradually gained currency in
the third century, — that the bishops are, by divine right, the
head of the church, and invested with the government of the
same ; that they are the successors of the apostles, and by this
succession inherit apostolical authority ; that they are the medi-

THE CHURCH AVITKOUT A POPE. 165

um through which, in consequence of that ordination which
they have received, merely in an outward manner, the Holy
Ghost, in all time to come, must be transmitted to the church,
— when this becomes the doctrine of the church, we certainly
must perceive, in these assumptions, a strong corruption of the
purity of the Christian system. It is a carnal perversion of
the true idea of the Christian church. It is falling back into
the spirit of the Jewish religion. Instead of the Christian idea
of a church, based on inward principles of communion, and
extending itself by means of these, it presents us with the
image of one, like that under the Old Testament, resting in
outward ordinances, and, by external rites, seeking to promote
the propagation of the kingdom of God. This entire perver-
sion of the original view of the Christian church was itself
the origin of the whole system of the Roman Catholic reli-
gion,— the germ from which sprung the Popery of the dark
ages."

The control of the apostolical churches was administered by
each body of believers collectively, until the third or fourth
century. It was about this period that the simple form and
etBcient discipline of the primitive church, exchanged for a
complicated and oppressive system of penance, came to be
administered by the clergy, and the usurpations of the Episco-
pal hierarchy began. Then, instead of being simply an assem-
bly of brethren, with God only for their Word, their Spirit,
and their Life, the church became a mere thing of creeds and
ceremonies ; its head was a man, and if the devotees recog-
nized the presence of Jesus Christ at all, it was mainly in a gross
material sense. But he had said from the beginning, with an
infinitely higher signification, " Lo ! I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world." This is the grand doctrine
of the Real Presence, which was too early overlooked, but
which should never be forgotten by the disciples of our Lord.

The true church is built on the foundation of the purest as
well as most sacred liberty, and is cemented with unconstrained
confidence and mutual love, the strongest of all bonds. It is a

166 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

voluntary assemblage of equals, wherein every one obeys and
no one commands. Every rational being is created in a nat-
ural independence of every other being ; and if the most ex-
alted finite intelligence should come, of his own accord, and
with no other credential but his own will, to dictate laws to
man, and to subjugate him to his dominion, himself would be
a tyrant, and his subjects would be slaves. What shall we say,
then, when frail man arrogates sovereignty over man, his equal
in rights, and often his superior in reason, in cultivation and
virtue .'' Can there be any pretension more iniquitous or more
insolent ? Does the universe present a more ignominious
servitude ? Surely, we may not hesitate to affirm with Rous-
seau, "A long perversion of just sentiments and ideas is
necessary, before one can resolve to take a fellow-man for his
master." If this is true with respect to natural society, what
shall we say concerning Christian organizations .'' The duty
of obedience implies the right of commanding ; and he who
has a rightful authority to dictate in religious matters must be
above him who submits to his decrees — so much above him that
higher than this no superiority can be conceived. An angel,
by his nature, is above human beings ; and yet man is not
bound to yield obedience to an angel in any thing. If Gabriel
should assume palpable shape and appear in our midst as a
religious ruler, where should we find either reason or revela-
tion directing us to follow his behests ? There would be no
right on the one hand, or duty on the other.

Plutarch tells us, in his life of Numa, that in the age of
Saturn, there will be neither masters nor slaves. In the highest
sense, this can be applied only to the peaceful domain and per-
fect sway of Christianity. Her law is not the expression of
a single dictator, nor the avenger of a few wills the most prom-
inent and strong ; its object is rather to protect private inter-
ests, and to establish righteousness, the supreme interest of all.
"Jesus called the disciples unto him, and said, Ye know that
the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and
they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 167

not be so among you : but whosoever will be great among you,
let him be your minister; even as the Son of man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a
ransom for many." This plainly declares that God only has
the right to impose on rational creatures religious laws, and
that these are imbodied and exemplified before each independ-
ent believer in Jesus Christ. Equity the most severe, blended
with benignity the most divine, duty and the reason of duty,
the precept sanctioned by the highest example, all are found in
Christ alone. He is our great Exemplar, Lawgiver, and Judge,
and no other are we bound to obey. " Away, then, with the
interference of your Popes and your Right Reverend Fathers
in God ; and let the minister of Christ, to all intents and pur-
poses whatsoever, be the bishop of his flock. And away with
the nauseous and insufferable arrogance that claims a whole
state for a parish, and tells the ministry of every denomination
but its own, — men who, ' by pureness, by knowledge, by the
word of truth, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned ;' and,
not a few of them, in ' fastings, in necessities, in distresses, in
stripes, or imprisonments,' are approving themselves the min-'
isters of God, — that tells such men, 'Your credentials are
spurious, and your work unauthorized ; ' and, turning to a
whole commonwealth, says to its hundreds of thousands, ' Ye
are the people of my pasture, and the sheep of my hand.' "

We have shown that Popery originated in degeneracy ; and
we remark, secondly, that it flourished most in times of the
least spiritual light and power. We can best prove this point
by noting yet more fully the process of degeneracy through
which Christianity in her dark days passed.

At the time Christ appeared on earth, the Je\vs had changed
the worship of the only true God into slavish ceremonies as
much opposed to genuine I'eligion, and as injurious to morality,
as idolatry itself. They proudly conceived themselves to be
the chosen people of God, and preferred by him above all
others. They not only conceived the very essence of religion
to consist of corporeal exercises and sacred ceremonies, but

16S REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

despised all other nations, and fancied themselves holy, if, not-
withstanding the grossest vices, they fasted diligently, otfcred
sacrifice, and zealously observed the foolish superstitions of
their fathers. Under such circumstances, it is easy to perceive
that the spirit of true religion had vanished from the world
Jesus came to redeem, that the pernicious influence of super-
stition controlled every thing, and tliat a mighty body of priests,
whose existence and authority depended upon this influence,
were incessantly engaged in preserving and fortifying it. To
provide a remedy for these evils, and to destroy every sort of
superetition, by establishing a simple, rational worship of the
true God, was an object of Christ's mission. By the diffusion
of pure and universal truth, he would extirpate all heathenish
rites and exclusive creeds, making the divine word, which had
hitherto been the exclusive property of the Jews, to become
the faith of the whole human family, the foundation of a nobler
and more comprehensive popular belief When our Lord ap-
peared, religion, in all nations, had constituted an essential part
of the civil regulations. All the kingdoms of the old world
were theocratical and hierarchical ; which state religions,
endowed with special prerogatives and armed with high civil
power, were, as they ever are, insufferably intolerant. But the
religion which Jesus came to spread was directly opposed to
this in nature and design, and therefore he kept it carefully
distinct from political affairs. He gave the Christian church
such regulations as are compatible with any form of national
government, but which are to be allied to none. By both
example and precept, he inculcated this primary principle in
the most clear and emphatic manner. Constraint and power,
under no form whatever, were to be employed in matters of
religion. The only bond laid upon his disciples by Christ was,
allegiance to himself; the only enginery of conquest commit-
ted to their hands was the enginery of truth and love.

For several centuries after the establishment of Christianity
in the world, there were two distinct societies mutually inde-
pendent, the one civil, the other religious. This was based on

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 169

duty, that on interest ; the first reigned by justice, the second
oppressed by force. Christ separated the two as far asunder
as possible ; but the pope caused them to coalesce, and made
despotism to be the fundamental law of both church and state.
The power with which our Lord endowed his people, far from
enslaving, elevates and makes more free those upon whom it is
exercised, and, in this respect, differs infinitely from the sway
for the attainment of which vulgar ambition strives. But he
knew, too, that there is another kind of sovereignty, which does
not quicken and exalt, but crushes and degrades ; a power
which robs men of all the best qualities of their nature, and
compels them to bend in base subserviency to the will of a
fellow-man. This is the potency which men, even the best,
most eagerly grasp ; and, when wielded in ecclesiastical domi-
nation, is earth's most fearful curse. Guizot says very truly
that " all religion is a restraint, an authority, a government. It
comes in the name of a divine law, to subdue, to mortify human
nature. It is then to human liberty that it directly opposes
itself. It is human liberty that resists it, and that it wishes to
overcome. This is the grand object of religion, its mission,
its hope.

" But while it is with human liberty that all religions have to
contend, while they aspire to reform the will of man, they have
no means by which they can act upon him ; they have no moral
power over him, but through his own will, his liberty. When
they make use of exterior means, — when they resort to force,
to seduction, — in short, make use of means opposed to the
free consent of man, they treat him as we treat water, wind,
or any power entirely physical ; they fail in their object ; they
attain not their end ; they do not reach, they cannot govern the
will. Before religions can really accomplish their task, it is
necessary that they should be accepted by the free will of man ;
it is necessary that man should submit, but it must be willingly
and freely, and that he still preserves his liberty in the midst of
this submission. It is in this that resides the double problem
which religions are called upon to resolve.
15

170 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITV.

" They liave too often mistaken their object. They have
regarded liberty as an obstacle, and not as a means ; they have
forgotten the nature of the power to which they address them-
selves, and have conducted themselves toward the human soul
as they ■would toward a material force. It is this error that has
led them to range themselves on the side of power, on the side
of despotism, against human liberty; regarding it as an adver-
sary, they have endeavored to subjugate rather than to protect
it. Had religions but fairly considered their means of opera-
tion,— had they not suffered themselves to be drawn away by
a natural but deceitful bias, — they would have seen that liberty
is a condition without which man cannot be morally governed ;
that religion neither has nor ought to have any means of influ-
ence not strictly moral ; they would have respected the will of
man in their attempt to govern it. They have too often forgot-
ten this, and the issue has been, that religious power and liberty
have suffered together."

All persons historically informed, and accustomed to ex-
tended observation, know that civil and religious freedom are
inseparable companions as well as mutual supports, and that
in no country can one exist for any great length of time with-
out producing the other. It has been the misfortune of the
greater portion of Christendom that state tyrants have assisted
a degenerate church in fettering the popular mind, while she,
in turn, has powerfully aided them in enslaving the body. This
combination of political and ecclesiastical despotism constituted
and perpetuated the Popery of the dark ages. Then was de-
clared the infallibility of the pope and his bench of cardinals,
thus excluding all dissent. The Bible was suppressed, knowl-
edge in a great measure extinguished, and the human mind
shut up to bo amused with tlic most unsubstantial bawbles. The
first act of the popes, having arrogated to themselves complete
sovereignty in the church of Christ, was that which had been
the practice of impious bigotry in all ages — to monopolize the
true knowledge among themselves. As the priests of Egypt
and Greece enclosed it in mysteries, they wrapped the simple

THE CHUKCH WITHOUT A POPE. 171

truths of the gospel in mysteries too ; as the Brahmins forbade
any except their own order to read the sacred Vedas, they shut
up that holy revelation given to enlighten the world, the very
book that declared of its own contents, that they were so clear
that " he who ran might read them ; " that they taught the way
of life so perspicuously, that " the wayfaring man, though a
fool, could not err therein."

Christ imparted no secret doctrines, and would perpetuate his
reign on earth through the agency of no occult institutions.
The apostles, far from being allowed to consider the private
instructions of their divine Master as addressed to them alone,
received from him this especial command, which was at the
same time a great encouragement : " What I tell you in dark-
ness, that speak ye in the light : and what ye hear in the ear,
that preach ye upon the house-tops." But there is an opposite
system, flattering to pride, and convenient for despotism ; a
system to which the East is indebted for its castes, and ancient
Europe for its superstitions ; which possesses the enormous evil
of system.atizing and legitimating ignorance. " As man pos-
sesses nothing more precious than his thoughts, his conscience,
and his religious powers, it follows that intellectual and religious
privileges are the worst of all privileges ; they fetter progress
in both senses ; among the people, by devoting them to hered-
itary darkness, and among the initiated, by persuading them
that the degree of knowledge conferred by the nature of their
institutions is sufficient," This mode of teaching, in which the
whole truth is brought to the privileged alone, while what is
communicated to the multitude is truth veiled and mutilated,
was early adopted by the Papacy, and became one of the most
fruitful sources of their power.

The progress of Papal aggression and assumption reached
its culminating point in Hildebrand, better known in history as
Gregory VIl., who made the church wholly dependent on him,
and entirely subservient to the papal views. The example of
the pontiflTs Wcis not lost on the bishops, abbots, and inferior
clergy. Says a credible historian, " These, even in the time

X78 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

of Charlemagne, had actually obtained for their tenants and
their possessions an immunity from the jurisdiction of the counts
and other magistrates, as also from taxes and imposts of all
kinds. But in this century they carried their pretensions still
further, aimed at the civil government of the cities and territo-
ries in which they exercised a spiritual dominion, and even
aspired to the honors and authority of dukes, marquises, and
counts of the empire. The nobles were forever resisting, in
their respective domains, the assumptions of the clergy in mat-
ters of jurisdiction and other affairs. These, therefore, seized
the opportunity which was offered them by the superstition of
the times, to obtain from the kings these, the ancient rights of
the nobles ; and, as the influence of the bishops over the peo-
ple was greater than that of the nobility, the kings, to secure
the services of so powerful a priesthood, generally granted
their requests. Thus they became bishops and abbots clothed
with titles and dignities so foreign to their spiritual office, —
reverend dukes, marquises, counts, and viscounts !

" It was not, however, by these means only that they sought
dominion over the world. They had a thousand arts to rivet
their power into the souls of the people. Cou^'CILS were one
of them. As if the sacerdotal name and inculcations were not
influential enough, they sought, by collecting together all the
dignities of the church into one place, to invest them with a
more awful character, and to render the enactments of these
priestly congresses everlasting and indissoluble laws. These
enactments were such as the worship of images, decreed in
the council of Nice, 787 ; the holding of a festival to the
Virgin Mother, instituted by the council of Mentz in the ninth
century ; taking the cup of the sacrament from the laity ; and
a declaration of the lawfulness of breaking the most solemn
engagements made to heretics, by the council of Constance, in
the fifteenth century, with a thousand other despotic measures
equally inimical to all freedom of opinion, and destructive to
the rights of mankind."

A fearful policy prevailed at that gloomy period, when " the

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 173

man of sin " had throned himself in the temple of God, and
exalted himself " above all that is called God, and that is wor-
shipped." Shadows were substituted for substance, theological
life Was smothered under sacerdotal gorgeousness, and the
people at large were taught to be content with such instruction
as they could derive only through the medium of priests. Men
sat in judgment on God's record of salvation, the charter of our
immortality, and, sifting its precious contents to suit their OAvn
selfish ends, decided what was proper to be communicated and
what to be withheld. The medicine of life was dealt out with a
sparing and cautious hand, and mixed with foreign ingredients,
" like arsenic or hemlock, which are only safe when adminis-
tered in a diluted form, and in small quantities." In allusion
to this condition of things. President Du Paty is represented by
Landor as saying to Peter Leopold, " Wherever there is a sub-
stitute for morality ; where ceremonies stand in the place of
duties ; where the confession of a fault before a priest is more
meritorious than never to have committed it ; where virtues and
duties are vicarious ; where crimes can be expiated after death
for money ; where, by breaking a wafer, you open the gates
of heaven, — probity and honor, if they exist at all, exist in the
temperament of the individual. Hence a general indifference
to virtue in others ; hence the best men in Italy do not avoid
the worst ; hence the diverging rays of opinion can be brought
to jio focus ; nothing can be consumed by it, nothing warmed."
With equal truth Middleton said to Magliabechi, "You tell us
that you do pot v/orship images, but worship in them what they
express. Be it so. The pagans did the same, neither better
nor worse. What will you answer to the accusation of wor-
shipping a living man ? Adoration is offered undisguisedly and
openly to priests and monks, however profligate and infamous
their lives may have been and be. Every pope is adored by
the holy college on his elevation."

A writer in the Foreign Quarterly Review of July, 1840,
reviewing a work by the famous French preacher Lacordaire,
notices the fact that Popery has every wrere been the same,
15*

X74 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY,

and that its modern aspect is by no means sufficiently improved.
Says he, " Great pains have been taken of late, not only on the
continent, but especially in this countiy, to propagate the belief
that Romanism is synonymous with every kind of liberality, as
well as the security and order of the state ; than which asser-
tion, triumphantly refuted by history, there can be none ad-
vanced more entirely groundless. In the language of Popery,
the state means the church, and vice versa ; excluding the co-
existence of any other power not subordinate to it. The ortho-
dox Papist must look upon every heretical government as
illegal, and as that which they are bound in conscience to
overthrow. The absolute submission, indeed, which the pope
requires from his followers, is incompatible with their duties as
subjects of an independent state ; and, to take one instance out
of a thousand, we may refer to the words of a pope's legate
addressed to Casimir III., king of Poland. When the latter
refused to give the see of Cracow to a Papal nominee, saying
that he would rather lose a kingdom than comply with such a
request, the legate replied, that it would be better that three
kingdoms should perish, than that a word of the pope should
be set at nought. This sublime of despotism is linked with
moral degradation of the worst description ; one of the popes,
Alexander VL, having boastingly said, that the more foolish a
religion was, the more fitted was it for the people. To keep
the latter in the most abject slavery is the main object of
Popery, and this principle was well expressed by a talented
supporter* of the system, when he represented the state in the
form of a triangle, the top of which was occupied by the
clergy, and the body by the king and nobles. The remainder
of the nation was left out of his construction. No wonder,
then, that in whatever country Popery succeeded in establishing
its power, it left behind its pestilential effects, not to be oblit-
erated for centuries. Look at the Roman States, the finest
district in the world, converted by the Romish juiesthood into

* Orichovius.

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 175

a morass ; look at Spain, Portugal, and Poland, during the
sway of the Jesuits, still suffering from its baneful influence.
Hence it has been invariably the case that, whenever a nation
endeavored to rise from a state of degradation, it has always
shaken off the Papal yoke. And what does Popery say of
such spiritual regeneration ? Does it not always stigmatize it
as the tyranny of human reason 7 Lest we should be accused
of misrepresenting facts, we extract a passage from the letter
of Abbe Lacordaire. The abbe, well known by his controv-
ersy with Lamennais, is now one of the most distinguished
preachers in France, and a zealous defender of Papacy.

" War," says he, " has been in Europe for fifty years. . . .
But where is that war ? It is higher than opinions, higher than
kings, higher than nations ; it is between Jiuman reason and
faith — betweeen Roman Catholic and rational power. The
Papal see, therefore, does not join any party, does not interfere
with any form of government, but keeps up a friendly inter-
course with every country in which, as, for instance, in
Belgium and in France, the tyranny of reason has been put
down ; it protests against the violence offered to church and con-
science wherever, as in Spain and Portugal, tliat tyranny raises
its head.''' It will be easy to see that the tyranny of reason.,
here so much complained of, means nothing more than a purei
sense of religion, liberty of conscience, and, above all, inde-
pendence of the Papacy.

The Roman Catholic church is a strange combination of
things the most absurd and the most sublime. For instance,
how absurd that so many millions of rational beings, some of
them enlightened in the highest degree, should submit them-
selves in spiritual matters to the dictation of a poor frail man,
the pope at Rome ! How absurd the interminable and unin-
telligible ceremonies of the church ! How absurd is the doc-
trine of celibacy and transubstantiation ! How absurd the
sanctity which devotees attach to the bones and other relics
of the canonized ! How absurd that thousands and tens of

176 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

thousands of men and women should immure themselves in
melancholy seclusion from the world, under the notion that
they are best serving God by abstaining from all intercourse
with the creatures he has made.

But there are many associations connected with the Papacy
by no means contemptible ; on the contrary, glorious and sub-
lime. The Catholics were a church long before England was
a state, and fought the battle of civilization a dozen centuries
before America weis known. They coped with those northern
tribes who subdued them ; and even while yielding to physical
force, they taught them manners and arts, and led them to-
wards the refinements of social intercourse. It was a church
cloth'mg itself with all the authority of ancient days ; " the
word of God in its hands, both tradition and Scripture ; believ-
ing it had God's infallible and exclusive inspiration at its heart, —
for such no doubt was the real belief, — and actually, through its
Christian character, combining in itself the best interests of
mankind, no wonder it prevailed. Its countenance became as
lightning. It stood and measured the earth. It drove asunder
the nations. It went forth in the mingling tides of civilized
corruption and barbarian ferocity, for the salvation of the
people — conquering and to conquer ; its brightness as the
light." But this v/as in her earlier and better days, when she
owed no such allegiance and subordination as the church of
England does to political authorities, but both claimed and
exercised supremacy. We should not forget that the Catholic
church has taken eighteen centuries to grow ; that it was the
heir, not only of IMosaic institutions, but of all classical an-
tiquity ; that many of the ages it traversed were ages of bar-
barism, when the will of the strongest was law ; that while it
has served as a spiritual guide to each generation, each genera-
tion has stamped upon it its own impress ; that while it was
encompassed by imperfection, and all the social as well as
political institutions of its domain were rude in the extreme,
it could not be expected suddenly to attain perfection in con-
trast with the universal degradation it had to oppose ; and that,

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 177

notwithstanding the mighty evils against which it had perpetu-
ally to struggle, it has served powerfully to civilize all Europe,
and, through Europe, the world. The Papacy has ever been
a tremendous power for good as well as for evil. It put its
foot upon the necks of kings, distributed crowns, consecrated
banners for the conquest of the British Islands, and arbitrarily
disposed of empires in the old world and new. It is a
church that has boasted of always having the power to work
miracles, and has claimed to extend its influence even into the
unseen regions and eternal cycles of the spiritual world. It is
a church which, in its palmy days, could scorn nobility and
blood, while they were the objects of superlative popular ven-
eration ; which took the butcher's boy and raised him to the
highest ecclesiastical eminence ; gave him prerogatives that
enabled him to look down on princes, with all their pomp
and pride, and make them the mere puppets of his political
schemes, — a church which survived the " reformation" with
power enough yet in her hands to shame and baffle the most
successful aspirants to universal empire ; and which, even in
modern times, has shown itself the church of the enslaved as
well as the triumphant, the poor as well as the rich, degraded
multitudes as well as dignified classes, and has been true to
the forlorn, when most destitute and despairing. Let us rec-
ognize and generously appreciate what Catholicity has done for
the religious culture of the world, when no other source for
such culture existed, as well as what it has done for every
other species of human improvement. It has preserved for us,
and not for us only, but for all coming time, the immense and
invaluable treasures of Greek and Roman literature. It kept
alive a taste for art, even in those barbarous times, when on
every hand the feeling of the beautiful seemed ready to be
destroyed. To it we owe the most exquisite music, and those
venerable cathedrals, which reveal to both sense and soul the
loftiest poetry and sublimest genius of the past. It is not
wonderful that the Catholic church has such a hold upon the
affections of those who have gi'own up under its influence. It

178 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

is not only their church, but the church of their fathers, and is
made beautiful and engrossing to their hearts by a multitude
of the most thrilling associations. It is the church which in
infancy they were taught to love, and which threw the whole
magic of its myriad hues on their childhood's brow and youth-
ful path. In many a dark hour its priests, its consecrated
utensils, and symbolic rites, have imparted to them consolation,
when from no other source it could be derived. Therefore,
right or wrong, for weal or woe, does the Catholic profoundly
love his church. Nor should we indiscriminately condemn the
faith and practice from which we so widely differ. Catholicism
has doubtless added many things to the word of God, but she
also preserved most of the fundamental doctrines of Christi-
anity, the depravity of man, salvation through the atonement,
the essential divinity of the Redeemer, and the indispensable
work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. Protestants are in no
great danger of dishonoring themselves or their faith, by being
mindful of the respect which is due that ancient class of
Christians, in whose ranks have shone the names of Laurence
de Bilva, Sadolet, Borromeo, Vincent de Paul, Pascal, and
Fenelon.

These remarks, we think, are not in much danger of being
perverted. No right-minded person will accuse us of undue
partialities for the Catholic church, because, when compelled,
by the nature of our discussion, to refer to its history, we
magnanimously recognize the merits it is well known to the
intelligent to possess. We frankly affirm, in the language of
Channing, " Of all Protestants, we have fewest sympathies with
the Romish church. We go farther than our brethren in re-
jecting her mysteries, those monuments of human weakness ;
and as to her claims to infallibility, we repel them with an
indignation not to be understood by sects, which, calling them-
selves Protestant, renounce in words, but assert in practice, a
Popish immunity from error, a Popish control over the faith of
their brethren. To us, the spiritual tyranny of Popery is as
detestable as Oriental despotism. When we look back on the

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 179

history of Papal Rome, we see her, in the days of her power,
stained with the blood of martyrs, gorged with rapine, drunk
with hixury and crime. But what then .•* Is it righteous to
involve a whole church in guilt, which, after all, belongs to a
powerful few ? Is it righteous to forget that Protestantism, too,
has blood on her robes ? Is it righteous to forget that Time,
the greatest of reformers, has exerted his silent, purifying
power on the Catholic as well as on ourselves ? Shall we re-
fuse to see, and to own with joy, that Christianity, even under
Papal corruptions, puts forth a divine power .'' that men cannot
wholly spoil it of its celestial efhcacy ? that, even under its
most disastrous eclipse, it still sheds beams to guide the soul
to heaven? that there exists in human nature, when loyal to
conscience, a power to neutralize error, and to select and in-
corporate with itself what is pure and ennobling in the most
incongruous system ? Shall we shut our eyes on the fact, that
among the clergy of the Romish church have risen up illus-
trious imitators of that magnanimous apostle, before whom
Felix trembled, — men who, in the presence of nobles and
kings, have bowed to God alone, have challenged for his law
uncompromising homage, and rebuked, in virtue's own un-
daunted tone, triumphant guilt?"

Two general points have now been considered — first, that
Popery originated in degeneracy ; secondly, that it flourished
most in the darkest times. It remains to suggest, thirdly, that
it is destined to disappear before increasing light.

Under this general topic, we will consider three particulars —
first, in the primitive days of Christianity, all the churches
stood on a perfect equality ; secondly, of these churches Christ
was recognized as the only head ; thirdly, all revolutions and
reformations in modern policies tend perpetually toward the
original condition of religious affairs.

In the first place, no fact in history is clearer than that, as
ordered by Christ and executed by the apostles, all the churches
stood on a perfect equality with each other. The New Testa-
ment uses the word churches, as applied to local bodies of

180 REPUBLICAN CHEISTIANITY.

Christians living in the same region, and sometimes in near
neighborhood ; as, " the churches througiiout all Judea ;" Paul
"went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches ;"
" so were the churches established in the faith, and increased
in number daily." We read of the churches of Galatia, the
churches m Asia, Macedonia, (fee, &c. Paul says to the
Corinthian church, " I robbed other churches, taking wages of
them to do you service." The force of the appeal rests
wholly on the churches in question being regarded as separate.
distinct bodies; otherwise he should have said, "I robbed other
branches or dioceses, or parishes, of the church, to supply
this branch."

The more magnanimous and reliable class of Episcopal and
Papal writers recognize and acknowledge the scriptural truth
on this great subject. Archbishop Whately, in his essays on
" The Kingdom of Christ," says, " The church is undoubtedly
one, and so is the human race 07ie ; but not as a society. It
was from the first composed of distinct societies, which were
called one, because formed on common principles. It is one
society only when considered as to its future existence. The
circumstances of its having one common head, (Christ,) one
Spirit, one Father, are points of unity which no more make the
church one society on earth, than the circumstance of all men
having the same Creator, and being derived from the same
Adam, renders the human i-ace one family." And again,
" The church is one, then, not as consisting of one society, but
because the various societies, or churches, were then modelled,
and ought still to be so, on the same principles ; and because
they enjoy common privileges, — one Lord, one faith, one
baptism. Accordingly, the Holy Ghost, through his agents
and apostles, has not left any detailed account of the formation
of any Christian society ; but he has very distinctly marked
the great principles on which all were to be founded, whatever
distinctions may exist amongst them. In short, the foundation
of the church by the apostles was not analogous to the work
of Romulus, or Solon ; it was not, properly, the foundation of

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 181

Christian societies which occupied them, but the establishment
of the principles on which Christians in all ages might form
societies for themselves." Gieseler saj'^s, vol. i. § 29, " The
new churches every where formed themselves on the model of
the mother church at Jerusalem. At the head of each were
the elders, all officially of equal rank," &c.

Says Mosheim, vol. i. pp. 80 — 86, Murdock's 1st edition,
" All the chtjkches in those primitive times were inde-
pendent BODIES, or none of them subject to the jurisdiction
of any other. For, though the churches which were founded
by the apostles themselves, frequently had the honor shown
them to be consulted in difficult and doubtful cases, yet they
had no judicial authority, no control, no power of giving laws.
On the contrary, it is clear as the noojiday, that all Christian
churches had equal rights, and were in all respects on a foot-
ing of equalitij.

In giving an account of the government of the church dur-
ing the second century, the same distinguished historian re-
marks, " The form of church government which began to
exist in the preceding century, was, in this, more industriously
established and confirmed in all parts. One president, or
bishop, presided over each church. He was created by the
common suffrage of the whole people.

" During the greater part of this century, all the churches
continued to be, as at first, independent of each other ; or,
were connected by no consociations or confederations." — Vol.
i. p. 142.

The Magdeburg Centuriators, in their famous work, pub-
lished in 1559 — 1574, in describing the constitution and disci-
pline of the churches of the first and second centuries, furnish
the following testimony with respect to the republican spirit of
primitive Christianity : " A visible church was an assembly,
or congregation of persons, who believed and foUosved the
writings of the prophets and aposUes ; which should be com-
posed of persons regenerated by the word and sacraments,
though there might be in this assembly many persons, who,
16

182 UEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

though they agreed with the regenerate in doctrine, were, nev-
ertheless, not sanctified in heart. Clemens [of Alexandria]
says, I call not a place, but a congregation of the elect, a
church." — Century ii. ch. 4, p. 39, ed. Basil. 1624.

Of excommunication they say, " The right of excommuni-
cation was committed to the hands of the church and its min-
isters." — Cent. i. lib. 2, ch. 3, p. 274.

" The power of announcing the remission of the sins of pen-
itent offenders was also in the hands of the church ; though,
for the sake of order, except in cases of necessity, it was ex-
ercised by the ministers of the church." — lb. p. 276.

" The whole assembly, or church, m any particular place —
including laymen and clergy — had power to elect, call, and
ordain suitable ministers, and to depose and avoid false teach-
ers, or those whose evil lives threatened injury to the church.
These things appear from the testimony of the Scriptures con-
cerning the power of the keys ; for the keys were given to the
whole church. But the church, if she calls her ministers to
act, does nothing else, than commit to them the keys. That
power, therefore, pertains to the whole of the church. More-
over, the examples in the New Testament teach the same
thing ; for, in the first of Acts, it appears that not by the apos-
tles alone, but by the whole church, Matthias was put in the
place of Judas ; and in Acts, sixth chapter, the deacons were
chosen, called, and ordained, not by the apostles alone, but also
by the rest of the church. In Acts, thirteenth chapter, the
whole church of Antioch gathered together by command of
God, and sent forth Paul and Barnabas to teach the gospel to
the Gentiles." — lb. p. 299.

The following summary view of the constitution, govern-
ment, and rights of the churches of the second century is given
by these learned ecclesiastical historians.

" If any one examines the approved writers of this century,
[the second,] he will see that the form of church government
•was very like a democracy, {di^fwxQaTlac.) For each church
had equal power of preaching the pure word of God, of ad-

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A ?0P£. 183

ministering the sacraments, of absolving and excommunicating
heretics and wicked persons, of observing the ceremonies
received from the apostles, or, even, for the sake of edification,
of instituting new ones; of choosing ministers, of calling, of
ordaining, and, for just causes, of deposing them again ; of as-
sembling councils and synods ; of instituting and supporting
schools ; and, in matters of doubt or controversy, of demand-
ing the opinion of others ; of judging and deciding." — Cent,
ii. ch. 7, pp. 102—103.

These and numerous other testimonies which might be ad-
duced, go to sustain the following positions, viz. : "1. The
apostolic churches were single congregations of Christians,
with their appropriate officers. 2. The government of these
churches was essentially democratical. Each church elected
its own officers, determined by what particular regulations it
would be governed, exercised discipline upon its members ; in
a word, did every thing that those possessing the supreme
power icere authorized to do.

" 3. Their officers at ffi-st consisted simply of presbyters
(who were also called bishops, or overseers, and elders) and
of deacons ; and when, for prudential reasons, a president was
chosen from among the elders of a single church, and the title
of bishop, or overseer, was given to him, to distinguish him
from his coequal elders, his authority was confined to a single
church, or religious society, and was essentially unlike a mod-
ern diocesan bishop. 4. That all the churches in those prim-
itive times, though bound together by a common faith and
order, were equal and indei^endent bodies, subject to no earthly
power nor authoritative control beyond themselves."

We proceed to remark, secondly, that of these equal
churches, Christ was recognized as the only head. The su-
preme power of Christ in and over his churches has been well
indicated by Mr. Crowell, in his admirable work, called the
"Church Membei-s' I\Ianual," p. 61. Like every judicious wri-
ter on this solemn topic, he expresses his positions in the lan-
guage of Scripture itself. As, 1. The sole power of making

184 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIAMITY.

laws for all churches is in him, and is not transmitted to any-
other. James iv. 12. The only power given to churches is
to publish and execute his laws. Matt, xxviii. 20. Being per-
fect and able to make the man of God perfect to every good
work, (2 Tim. iii. 17,) they need no addition. 2. That He only
can erect and establish the true church constitution. Heb. iii.
3 — 6. No man has a right to set up a church except ac-
cording to that frame or pattern. 3. All offices, ordinary and
extraordinary, are established by him, and the authority belong-
ing to them, (Eph. iv. 11. 1 Cor. xii. 5 — 18.) as well as all
gifts of wisdom and grace to discharge the duties of every
station in the church, (Col. ii. 3 — 9,) together with all spiritual
efficiency to make these gifts and offices effectual for the per-
fecting of saints and the conversion of sinners. Matt, xxviii.
20. Col. i. 29.

Speaking of the nature of church power, the same writer
adds, pp. 61, 62, 81, " A church is to learn, and then to exe-
cute, the will of Christ. Its power is therefore exclusively
spiritual and executive. It has no right to the use of political
power, nor to form any coalition with the state ; and if it does
so, it ceases to be a true church of Christ. Nor has a church
the right to use force, either directly or indirectly, to accom-
plish its purposes. It may persuade, exhort, entreat, admonish,
and rebuke, to produce obedience, but has no right to resort
to corporal or pecuniary pains and penalties.

" This spiritual power must be used in an executive sense
only. Christ has made all the laws hy which it is to be gov-
erned. He has delegated no legislative power to any church.
The i-ight of each to execute his laws among its members,
implies the right to study those laws for itself, and to adopt that
construction which the united wisdom of its members believe
to be true.

"To the same point are the directions of our Savior in Matt,
xviii. 15 — 20, in regard to the course to be pursued in cases
of private quarrels between brethren. The final resort is, ' if
he neglect to hear the church, let him be to thee as a heathen

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 185

man and a publican.' As the offence which subjects to excom-
munication is ' neglecting to hear [that is, to obey] the church,''
the whole body, of course, and not its officers, must pass the
sentence. He connects the solemn assurance, ' Whatsoever ye
[the church] shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.'
The righteous decisions of every church shall be ratified in
heaven. And then, as if to forestall the inquiry, What is a
church ? he immediately adds, that it is a company of believers,
however small, united in covenant to obey him. ' For where
two or three are gathered together i7i my name, there am I in
the midst of them.'

" As it is certain that each church is invested by the Savior
with the highest ecclesiastical, disciplinaiy, and judicial power,
it follows, necessarily, that each is an independent body, com-
plete in itself for all the purposes of a church on earth. Al-
though this point has already been proved, yet this furnishes
an independent, and alone a sufficient, proof of the same.
There can be no higher act of sovereignty performed by a
nation, than that of expulsion from citizenship."

The beginning of ecclesiastical degeneracy, and its fright-
ful consequences, are compendiously stated by Gieseler, sect.
49, vol. i, wherein he shows most clearly that the independ-
ence of the early churches was lost by laxity in discipline, till
heresies had crept in, and then by " the churches which held
to the ancient faith making common cause " against the her-
etics. "Thus was developed the idea of a catholic (universal)
church, as opposed to and excluding all heretics ; and this idea,
in its turn, as well as a common interest, led to a more intimate
union." " The result was, first, prelacy, w^ith its worldliness
and pride ; and finally, papacy, with its legion of abominations.
Let churches, then, beware of two things: First, of neglect-
ing discipline by suffering persons who have adopted danger-
ous heresies to retain membership ; and Second, of combining
their power for any disciplinary purpose, however urgent or
desirable."

We have shown the condition of equality among the primitive
16*

186 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

churches, and the fact that Christ was universally recognized
as the only lawgiver and head : it remains, finally, to indicate
how that all modern revolutions tend to bring the church back
to its original condition of republican simplicity and power.
Doubtless complete victory will be but gradually attained, and
in a manner best adapted to exercise religious patience and
faith ; but the ultimate triumph will be both certain and glori-
ous. God deals with the modern church as he did with the
ancient in view of the Canaanites, which foes might have been
quickly destro5^ed, had not infinite wisdom seen fit to discomfit
them in a more moderate way. Said God, " I will not drive
them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become
desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By
little and little will I drive them out from before thee, until thou
be increased, and inherit the land." Exod. xxiii. 29, 30.
In all the movements of divine Providence, as Lamartine has
WfiU remarked, " there is evidently a double motion of decom-
position and organization at the same time. The creative spirit
is at work in proportion that the destructive spirit destroys.
One faith supersedes another ; one form is substituted for
another form. Wherever the past crumbles to pieces, the
future is all prepared to appear behind the ruins. The tran-
sition is slow and rude, as every transition is, in which the pas-
sions or the interests of men have to fight in their progress, or
in which the social classes or the difierent countries march
with an unequal pace ; in which some will obstinately go back,
whilst the general mass advances. Their confusion, dust,
ruins, darkness prevail for the moment ; but from time to time
also, the wind disperses that cloud of dust, which conceals both
the track and the end, and those who stand on the eminence
distinguish the march of events, recognize the promise of fu-
turity, and perceive the earliest dawning of a day which is to
enlighten a vast horizon."

All great revolutions tend, sooner or later, completely to dis-
inthrall the church of Christ. Such are the designs of Prov-
idence, and such will be the final result. WhatevtJr may be

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 187

the personal views of those who excite and execute national
commotions, their chief producing cause is more latent and
profound than the influences which the supei'ficial observe. It
is no other than the need, universally and invincibly felt, of a
fairer and higher social order, founded upon that exalted and
immense development of liberty which Christianity has ren-
dered necessaiy by unfolding itself to the soul of the masses
in the true conception and feeling of justice. Hence are tlie
collisions which occur between the multitudes and their op-
pressors conservative of the most salutary principles, con-
formed to that law of progress which rules humanity, and
which to it is a perpetual pledge of a grand epoch of complete^
renovation, the signal of future victories by which, subordinat-
ing national policies to its light and force, will consummate its
glory by establishing the human race in the unity of righteous-
ness and peace. To the love of liberty which the spirit of
Christ excites and nourishes in the popular bosom, more than
any other cause, are joined a principle of order which controls
it, and a charity unbounded in its exercise, which unite and
consolidate those healthful elements that distempered ultraism
tends to isolate and disperse. By her disinthralling and enno-
bling power, Christianity delivers man from the yoke of man ;
by the principle of order it contains, and the mutual esteem it
creates, it perpetually conducts mankind, free in Jesus Christ,
to social harmony and national improvement, in anticipation of
the promised day which approaches, when it will establish all
ranks and conditions in one perfect whole. " And there shall
be one fold and one Shepherd."

The world does not need, nor does it desire, the false and
destructive freedom of anarchy which traces itself in blood,
and which, in the end, plants a cimeter over the homble ruins
it has formed ; but that real and enduring liberty, founded upon
righteousness, and inseparable from it, pure as heaven, whence
its last development will descend, and holy as God, who has
graven an ineffaceable desire for its enjoyment in the bi'east of
every human being. To the unlimited possession of this, a

188 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

consummation so devoutly to be wished, all the grand upheav-
ings and down-dashings of our day conduct. We have reason
to believe that the pei'iod is not remote vvlien all our race will
come to enjoy, without let or hinderance, the inestimable bless-
ings, civil and religious, which the Creator designed for all.
Then, and not till then, Christianity, disengaged from the clouds
which have so long obscured her, will appear, in primitive
splendor, above the horizon of society, as a star, to enlighten,
vivify, and guide the people, and toward which they will direct
their enraptured gaze, accompanying its magnificent course
with harmonious chantings of joy incessantly renewed.

Two systems have for centuries contended for the empire
of the world — the system of freedom and the system of abso-
lutism; doctrines which establish societj^on the basis of justice,
or those which subjugate it to brutal force. The future des-
tinies of the human race depend on the issue of the final bat-
tles soon to be fought. If the victory remains to absolute
force, then, stooping to the earth like burdened beasts, mourn-
ful, mute, and panting, must men, lacerated by the scourge of
ruthless masters, continue to plod, moistening with sweat and
tears the rough furrows they upturn, with no other hope but to
bury at length under the obscurest turf the bloody burden of
their miseries. But, on the contrary, should justice triumph, —
as we are certain it will, — then will humanity advance in the
predestined path of progressive glory, with elevated head,
serene brow, and eye fixed upon that auspicious future, a
radiant sanctuary wherein Providence has deposited the highest
benefits for all who bravely persevere. The conflict becomes
keener and more general every day. On the one side are
the great multitudes of the people, exhausted of suflering and
patience, yet struggling in desire and hope. These masses of
outraged humanity are profoundly moved by the rousing up of
the too long dormant consciousness of all within them that
constitutes the dignity and grandeur of man. They are ren-
dered potent by their faith in prevailing justice, their love of
liberty, and that firmness of will which makes them invincible.

THE CHDRCII WITHOUT A POPE. 189

On the other hand, all absolute powers are leagued against
popular rights, with their armies and agents of every kind, a
mighty organization of tyrannous iniquity, whose strangling
elements are interchained in one isolated and compressed
whole, beyond which thei'e is no movement but between two
bayonets, no speech but between the malicious ears of two
spies. Lamennais, himself a Catholic, and the victim of
hierarchical oppression, has recorded many noble sentiments
on this point, of which the following specimen is a literal trans-
lation : " Spiritual liberty has for expression the liberty of
religion or of worship, the liberty of teaching, of the press,
and of association. Where one of these is not complete, and
above all, the last, the others are but a vain name. Do not ask
under what form of society the people live thus deprived of
their natural rights ; ask under what tyranny." — (Euvres Com-
pletes, tome vii. p. 286.

We believe that the Papacy has usurped individual rights,
and for this the appropriate retribution is at hand. For centu-
ries it has been imposing restraints on human nature, where
development should be the grand aim. The soul is not to be
cramped, but cultivated. True religion is a liberating power,
tending constantly to provide a wider and purer sphere for the
exercise of both intellect and heart. It puts a people in a
condition to be saved, by diffusing among them the word of
life and the power of love. Before it the mountains sink,
rough places become plain, and the great salvation is revealed
to all without partiality or disguise. Christianity teaches that
our highest happiness, as well as foremost duty, lies in obey-
ing God rather than man, even the best of men ; since a
church made and ruled by human hands kills the substance of
religious belief, whereas the spirit that moulds the church of
Christ vivifies the form. In the Papal system, the most prom-
inent things are men — priests, bishops, popes ; but in Chris-
tianity, Christ is all and in all. Unlike the Mosiac system, it
was not an ecclesiastical, sacerdotal, and hierarchical com-
pound to confuse and oppress ; but, as all the declarations of

190 REPUBLICAN CHKISTIAxNlTV.

the New Testament prove, tlie religion given to the world by
our Lord is " life and spirit" only. " The kingdom of God,"
saith Jesus, " cometh not with observation : neither shall they
say, Lo, here ! or, Lo, there ! for behold, the kingdom of
God is within you." "The kingdom of God is not meat
aiid drink but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost."

There is an infinite disparity between inward graces and
outward institutions. Christ came to elevate mankind equally
above Judaism and Paganism, — to make them superior to
every form of religion dependent on symbols, and administei'ed
through artistic representations. Speculative philosophy and
priestly craft are often inclined to divert the popular eye from
the original source of purest light, in order that earthly lamps,
ministering to selfish purposes only, may be ostentatiously
employed ; but the highest obligation resting on religious
teachers, as the only means of saving the souls of men, is to
woo all to the unveiled beamings of the one great, free, moral
Sun. It is his light alone that has made generation after
generation beautiful and blessed by patriots, sages, martyrs,
prophets, and apostles, men facing the dungeon, the sword, and
the flame, rather than desert their allegiance to the truth of
God. Contemplating these, we ought to be still more con-
firmed in the belief that humanity should never bow to a frag-
ment of itself; that the only infallibility to which we should
kneel is the infallibility of conscience, enlightened by the
Holy Spirit — that most sacred of all creeds, which is written
by the finger of God in the depths of every renovated heart.
As a system of ecclesiastical domination, it is evident that
Popery is rapidly going to decay. Human nature is tired
of the political and theological dismemberment in which, for
centuries, it has been living, and yearns intensely to unfold
itself once more in the exercise of natural faculties and rights.
A new era is beginning, when Man and the divine prerogatives
about to be restored to him will constitute the noblest privilege
and most exalted name. The hour is at hand when the true

THE CHURCH AVITHOUT A POPE. 191

glory of a state will be regarded as consisting, not in the
aggrandizement of wealth and honors among a few exclusive
mdivlduals, but in the elevated character, the magnanimous
spirit, and improved condition, of the generality of the citizens.
Now, it is not a Roman Catholic church, but a Human Cath-
olic, a truly Christian church, which alone will meet and
respond to the wants of this new era ; a church which will
resemble the infinitude of nature, wherein the lowliest things
and the sublimest things are found side by side, and which will
seek to gather children into its bosom, not by the tricks of priest-
craft and inquisitorial coercion, but by intensest love, most gen-
erous freedom, and the utmost ministration to human aspirings
and needs.

When Jesus arose to work through the simplest means the
most wondrous of revolutions, mankind had so much forgotten
God, that they had come to waste their affection and reverence
on material emblems of the Deity, rather than on Deity himself.
This depraved inclination of our race has ever formed the
chief strength of the Papacy. It ought ever to have been
the prompter and promoter of intellectual progress, and its
response to this requirement of the true church should have
been equally conducive with its moral beatitude to its perma-
nent power. But its intellectualization and moralization have
not maintained an abiding vitality, because they have not been
the cardinal motives of church polity. The gospel is pro-
foundly republican : it shows how little regard it has for the
power of man, by teaching its followers, as their primary
lesson, to submit themselves only to God. It constitutes prog-
ress an autocracy, and consequently prefers that man should
in every thing be his own master. This fundamental truth the
Papacy has either ignorantly overlooked or unjustly suppressed.
But it is now too late, however much it may be desired, to
keep the masses longer in ignorance on this point. The spirit
of the age is too intelligent and free, to suffer the chains of
ignorance and injustice to be permanently rivetted on their
minds. The multitudes have learned to weigh many things,

192 KEPUBLICAxN CHRISTIAN ITV.

and among other valuable lessons they have learned their own
weight in the affairs of both churcyi and state.

Revolutionary principles, springing from the gospel of Christ,
have for eighteen centuries been in a continued process of
gi'owth, through all vicissitudes generating the means by which
to act on society with fresher vigor and more comprehensive
force. This spirit of renovation and improvement has not
ceased to operate, even during those long periods of apparent
suspension in which Imperial or Papal policy has given for a
time a sinister direction and sombre hue to the movement. It
is still at work, having much done, and being in a condition,
undoubtedly, to do vastly more for humanity in the times at
hand. We are, perhaps, to feel its greatest momentum and
witness its mightiest shocks. This is a revolutionary age in
the best sense ; as all the omnipotence of nature and Provi-
dence are combined to energize freedom and promote progress.
All things powerful and good coalesce to diffuse the spirit of
free institutions, vindicate them from reproach, fortify the fee-
ble for their defence, and plead for the injured of every class.
The whole civilized world is heaving like an ocean, and the
great issues of freedom are working themselves clearly out
amid the throes of the storm. The great designs of Providence
are unfolding with tremendous import, before which the arro-
gance of petty monarchy is lost like the buzz of an insect in
the thunder-crash. In the light and liberality that begin to dis-
tinguish our age, read the following dictum of Gregory IX. :
" There is only one name in the world — the Pope. He only
can bestow the investitures of kings ; all princes ought to
kiss his feet. No one can judge him ; his simple election
makes him a saint ; he has never erred ; he never will err.
He can depose kings, and absolve subjects from their alle-
giance." A church holding such principles cannot walk in
proportion to the speed of all around it. Hence says Fran-
cisque Bouvct, " Roman Catholicism has vanislied at the aspect
of civilization. It is undergoing due suffering for the evil of
having subjected all spiritually to its views of temporal aggran-

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POPE. 193

dizement." Doubtless the Romish church did much good in
its day ; but it has fulfilled its mission, and has become, in the
estimation of most persons, a hoUowness, and a lie ; therefore,
in the progress of truth, all its trumpery must be swept away.

" Bulls, pardons, rolics, cowls, black, white, and gray,
Upwhirled, and fljing o'er the ethereal plain,
Fast bound for Limbo Lake."

The great foe of the Papacy is human nature rejuvenated,
with a keener consciousness of its powers, catching clearer
glimpses of its legitimate career, panting for free action and per-
fect development. Man will soon learn that there is something
diviner than ceremonies or creeds; will recognize in Jesus
Christ the only celestial example, the only Master we are
bound to obey. The common people are winning a familiarity
with grand principles, political as well as religious ; and this
kind of knowledge is death to all tyranny. Christianity dis-
plays truth and discloses happiness in its own records ; and
these were given to the church to be spread out before all
mankind. Because the Papal prerogatives have been employed
in restricting the circulation of divine truth, humanity, instinc-
tively soaring towards the needful light, like a shaded plant
towards the sun, has outgrown the pope. Spiritual despotism
can no longer with impunity forge fetters for the mind, since
man, the indignant victim of superstition, now renovated in
spirit and advancing with unshackled limbs, has learned to
stoop only to gather up the fragmentary chains that lie shat-
tered all along freedom's path, and hurl them at the sham in-
fallibility it has unwillingly too long revered.

The peculiar tendency of the popular movements of this age
is to expansion, diffusion, and universality; a tendency directly
opposed to the exclusiveness and monopoly which character-
ize the institutions of the dark ages. The masses scorn an
abject position, and are determined to rise from the dust. The
many have assumed and worthily fill the posts once restricted
to a few ; the privileges once sacred to a segment of human-
17

194 KLI'UBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

ity's circle now are flowing equally round the whole. It is
beginning to be understood that, of all rights, religious truth is
the property most dear to every man. This is stronger than
councils or popes ; it is the spirit of primitive Christianity, the
divine beauty of which will put to shame the hollow dignities
of hierarchical pomps, and pour the splendors of salvation all
over earth. The ruling forces of universal empire are latent
in her spirit, ready to be unfolded every where ; and, however
reluctant the bigoted may be to yield to her sway, the hour
hastens when all v.ill be compelled to bow to her sovereignty
of soul. The truthful earnestness of the true church of Christ
must speedily be crowned with complete success.

" Her weapons, like the sword
Of Michael, from the armory of God,
Are given her so tempered, that neither Pope
Nor Papist can resist their edge."

But let us remind ourselves, again, that, however great have
been the degeneracy and crimes of the Papal church, her
monuments of usefulness are numerous, and her example is
not only a beacon to warn, but a model in many respects to be
admired. With fierce bigotiy she may have armed herself
with the frightful enginery of the inquisition, and inflicted the
most terrible injuries on the bodies as well as the souls of men.
But she can never do the like again, even if she desired it, which
we do not believe. It is something worse than folly to overlook
the fact that the Papacy has participated in the progressive
spirit of our age, as well as all other powers. Indeed, the pope
of to-day stands in the front rank of national reformers. He
has struck the key-stone from the arch of feudal power, and
the whole infamous edifice is now tumbling around his own, as
well as many other regal heads. Concerning the commingled
excellences and evils of the Papal progress, Guizot, in his
" History of Civilization," has well said, " Human thought and
liberty, however fettered, however confined for room and space
in which to exercise their faculties, oppose with so much

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A POl'K. 195

energy every attempt to enslave them, that their reaction makes
even despotism itself to yield, and give up something every
moment. This took place in the very bosom of the Christian
church. We have seen heresy proscribed, the right of free
inquiry condemned, a contempt shown for individual reason,
the principle of the imperative transmission of doctrines by
human authority established. And yet where can we find a
society in which individual reason more boldly developed itself
than in the church ? What are sects and heresies, if not the
fruit of individual opinions ? These sects, these heresies, all
these oppositions which arose in the Christian church, are the
most decisive proof of the life and moral activity which reigned
within her ; a life stormy, painful, sown with perils, with errore,
and crimes, yet splendid and mighty, and which has given place
to the noblest developments of intelligence and mind."

The tide of improvement is sweeping forward through all
Europe with increased volume and speed. A mighty influence
is at work every where, tempering the clay to mould great
men, true Christians, and effective reformers. How unlike is
the condition of things this moment around the Papal throne,
compared with what it was only four years ago, when IMazzini
complained, in view of the martyrdom of some of his co-patri-
ots, " There was in these men a will of iron, which only hard-
ened on the anvil of obstacle. They wished to die ; they had
perceived the great cause which yet hinders us from being
free — the want of harmony between thought and action. They
knew that the national opinion — the opinion which says that
an Italy ought to be — is general amongst us ; but they felt
that, even to the present day, it is only an opinion ; that faith
is wanting ; the faith which compels men to incarnate that
which they think in acts ; the faith which teaches that life is a
representation, continual, progressive, of what we believe to be
truth and justice. And this faith they saw no means of teach-
ing in the Italy of to-day, without press, without parliament,
without schools, without liberty of conscience, without any
thing to render education possible, except it was by example

196 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY,

They wished to set this example ; they wished to bear witness ;
they wished to say to their fellow-citizens, ' See, the belief in an
Italy to come, the belief in the duty of action to engender that,
is so true, that we step to death for it ! ' Tyranny, they would
say, can stifle all except the last cry of the man who dies upon
the scaffold for his faith."

But not in vain have martyrs toiled, wept, prayed, taught, and
died. Their redeeming spirit survives to witness earth's des-
tiny, as, in these auspicious days, it is gloriously working out.
Chains are sundering, truth is spreading, shouts of redeemed
nations are to heaven rising, and soon, from his effulgent throne,
will the sun look down on all the world without a heretic, and
the church loithout a pope.

CHAPTER III.

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP.

In the two preceding chapters, we have considered some of
the unhappy consequences flowing from an alliance of the
church with Imperial and Papal power. But there are evils
connected with the amalgamation of ecclesiastical and civil
institutions under other forms of not less magnitude. Unfortu-
nately, Protestant establishments present to the world, in the
nineteenth century of the Christian era, the most intimate and
injurious coalitions of church and state.

We shall be likely to apprehend some of the iniquitous fea-
tures of this system, while we observe that bishops are not
essential to constitute a church, were never designed to exer-
cise lordship over equals in Christ, and are no longer needed
to oppress the sacred brotherhood.

In the first place, let us prove historically that, according to
the Episcopal meaning of the word, bishops are not essential

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 197

to constitute a church. The authorities we cite are from stand-
ard works only, used in all theological schools, and most gen-
erally approved.

Says Coleman, in his work on the " Apostolical and Primi-
tive Church," p. 255, " In the beginning, there was but one
church in a city, to which all the Christian converts belonged.
But the care of the church was intrusted, not to one man, but
to several, who constituted a college ofpresiyfers, and divided
the duties of their office among themselves. This arrangement
was analogous to that of the Jewish synagogue, after which the
church was organized. A plurality of persons every where
appear in the Acts as the representatives of the church at
Jerusalem. They represent, also, the church at Ephesus, (Acts
XX. 17 — 28,) and at Philippi, (Phil. i. 1.) . Titus was also in-
structed to ordain elders in all the cities in Crete. In such a
college of elders, sharing a joint responsibility in the care of
the churches, it would obviously be convenient, if not indispen-
sable, for one of their number to act as the moderator or pres-
ident of their assemblies. Such a designation, however, would
confer on the presiding elder no official superiority over his
fellow-presbyters ; but, coupled with age, and talents, and spirit-
ual gifts, it might give him a control in their councils and in the
government of the church. This control, and this official rank as
the nQoeanbg^ the presiding elder, which was first conceded to him
by his fellow-presbyters only rts to a fellow-pi^eshyter, a 2)}'imtis
inter pares, he began, in time, to claim as his official preroga-
tive. He fii^st began, by moral means and the influence of
accidental circumstances, to be the bishop of the church, and
afterwards claimed the office as his right. This assumption of
authority gave rise to the gradual distinction between bishop
and presbyter. It began early to disturb the relations of equal-
ity which at first subsisted between the ministers of the
churches, and, in the course of the second and third centuries,
resulted in the division of the clergy into two distinct orders,
bishops and presbyters."

This comprehensive exposition of the origin of domineering
17*

198 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Episcopacy has the sanction of all the leading writers of eccle-
siastical history.

The " King's Book," published in 1543, asserted that there
is " no real distinction between bishops and priests," and taught
essentially the same doctrine respecting the deacon of the
primitive church as is now held by Congregationalists. It
further declared, that the Scripture made no mention of any
other church officers but these two — priests, or elders, and
deacons. — Hist. Cong.ut sup. Dwight's Theology, serm. 151.

Neander's account of the officers and government of the
Gentile churches during the apostolic age is as follows : " It is,
therefore, certain that every church was governed by a union
of the elders or overseers chosen from among themselves ; and
we find no individual distinguished above the rest, who presided
as a primus inter pares, [a chief among equals,] though prob-
ably, in the age immediately succeeding the apostolic, of which
we have, unfortunately, so few authentic memorials, the prac-
tice was introduced of applying to such a one the name of
inlaxonoc, [bishop, overseer,] by way of distinction." — Hist.
Apost. Chh. vol. i. pp. 168, 169.'

The correctness of Moshcim's account of the humble char-
acter and limited authority of the primitive bishop is admitted
by Waddington, who says, " The government of a single per-
son protected each society from internal dissension ; the elec-
tiveness of that governor rendered probable his merit." — Hist.
Chh. p. 44.

Lord King's representation is, " There was but one bishop,
strictly so called, in a church at a time, who was related to his
flock as a pastor to his sheep, and a parent to his children." —
Inquiry, ch. 1, § 5. And again, " There was but one church
to a bishop." And this church, he tells us, was " a single
congregation." — lb. 2, § 1- "The bishop's diocese exceeded
not the bounds of a modern parish, and was the same, as in
name so also in thing." — lb. § 2.

Dr. Campbell gives the following account of the bishop's
relation to his church in the third century : —

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 199

" The bishop, who was properly the pastor, had the charge
of no more than one parish, one church, or congregation, the
parishioners all assembling in the same place with him for
the purposes of public worship, religious instruction, and the
solemn commemoration of the death of Christ." — Lee. 8,
p. 128.

Gieseler's account of the apostolic churches is this : " The
new churches every where formed themselves on the model
of the mother church at Jerusalem. At the head of each
were the elders, TiQea^vje^oi, i.-ilaxonoi, [elders, bishops,] all
officially of equal rank, though, in several instances, a peculiar
authority seems to have been conceded to some one individual
from personal considerations. After the death of the apostles,
and the pupils of the apostles, to whom the general directioa
of the churches had always been conceded, some one amongst
the presbyters of each church was suffered gradually to take
the lead in its affairs. In the same irregular way the title of
in[ay.o,-iog, bishop, was appropriated to tiie first presbyter." —
Coleman's Antiq. pp. 101 — 103.

It is evident, from these witnesses, and the still clearer testi-
mony of the New Testament itself, that in the primitive church
there were but two kinds of officers, and two classes of duties
corresponding to these. The lirst was a pastor, or bishop, who
was to " take heed to all the flock," " to feed the church of
God," and to "give himself continually to prayer and to the
ministry of the word." For this reason, " a bishop must be
apt to teach," " able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to
convince the gainsayers." Says Crowell, " The duties of this
office are therefore to teach religion, and to look after the spir-
itual welfare of the church. The other class of duties is of a
temporal nature, requiring not aptness to teach, but eminent
piety, honesty, sobriety, good sense, and business habits. These
are provided for in the office of deacon, whose duties may be
inferred from the word diaconus, waiting servant, from the cir-
cumstances in which the office originated, and from the requi-
site qualifications. 1 Tim. ili. 8 — 13. The wants of churches

200 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

are all provided for in these two ofFices. They have no
more occasion for the services of prelates, or diocesan bishops,
to govern churches, ordain ministers, and administer discipline,
than a civil state has for those of an autocrat, or a dictator."

The church of Christ, as originally constituted, is purely
republican. Christ commissioned all his disciples to go forth
and proclaim the truth, giving them no authority over others,
no preeminence among themselves. Of all kinds of instruc-
tion, religious exercises were to be the most free. Every
apostle received wisdom from the original source, and acted on
his own responsibility in its distribution. Paul, the last acces-
sion to the apostolic band, was the most independent and pow-
erful. He boasts that he received his doctrine straightway from
God, and not from those " who were apostles before him." He
would not allow the council at Jerusalem to cripple his spirit
by their decision, but expanded his views beyond Jewish big-
otry and local prejudice, under the legitimate influence of that
ennobling Christianity which he loved and heroically toiled to
spread abroad. In those days. Christians were "a royal priest-
hood ; " all of them being " kings and priests " appointed to ofl'er
" a spiritual sacrifice." When, for practical purposes, a church
organization was required, the synagogue was adopted as their
model, which claimed no power to domineer ; and not the
temple, whose officers assumed the exercise of high govern-
mental powers. Their elders and deacons were chosen by
popular suffrage, and were as much of the people after their
election as before. The distinction between clergy and laity
was unknown ; all were sons of God, upon whom the Holy
Ghost in equal measures fell. They were "anointed of God,"
and " knew all things ; " they " needed not that any man
should teach them." Christ broke every priestly yoke, and
bade men pray as he did, with no intermediate official, nothing
between them and the Father of lights ; making the whole
earth a temple, and each true breathing of the heart acceptable
adoration. More than two centuries passed before masters of
doctrine arose, who claimed to bind and loose on earth and in

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 201

heaven. These were the favored ones, who knew expressly all
about " the mind of the Lord," the " successors of the apos-
tles," who, as " the clergy," first made themselves " the
church," and ended by setting themselves above the reason
and conscience of every individual soul.

Christianity, by its very nature, is independent of every thing
terrestrial and himian. It has no sacred locahties, no station-
ary shrines. Should Sinai and Calvary, Jerusalem and Rome,
Wittemberg and Geneva, disappear from the earth, Christianity
would remain unaffected. Least of ail should we infer from
the Scriptures that such an anomaly could exist as a national
church, wherein all the religious organizations sink their inde-
pendencies into uniform subserviency to a single worldly sov-
ereign and a few semi-political prelates. Christ is the only
Master in Christianity, and the entire framework of his admin-
istration is spiritual. Attempt to combine with it state patron-
age or coercion, and you utterly destroy its power. The prime
command of divine religion is, " Choose ; " that of a state
church is, " Who are you, sir, that you should presume to
choose ? " When God approaches a man, he recognizes his
individuality, his independency, and freedom of action. But
when man presumes to legislate for his fellow-man in religious
things, he arrogates authority which belongs only to God, and
degrades the passive victim of his tyrannical control. The
instant civil government is employed as a means in Christianity,
all its primitive beauty and force are destroyed. For a little
while longer, perhaps, it may continue " the be-all and end-
all " of Episcopal religion to exalt " the church " above Chris-
tianity, the hierarchy above God, ordination above edification ;
but surrounding multitudes are wakmg up to juster and more
scriptural views, not having yet forgotten the cry of the Wal-
denses — "All Christians are priests."

John Huss was burned at the stake for asserting, " If he
who calls himself the vicar of Jesus Christ imitates the life of
Jesus Christ, he is his vicar ; but, if he follows an opposite
course, he is the messenger of Antichrist." This truth we hold.

20ii REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

We believe that gospel institutions are not formed by a power
without, but within. Every man born of the Spirit of God, and
obedient to the commands of Christ, has a perfect right to all
church privileges; and every such Christian, according to his
measure of gifts, is divinely commissioned to be a teacher of
the doctrines he has professed. In the language of D'Aubigne,
" Where the Spirit is, there is the church ; this is the principle
of the reform : where the church is, there is the Spirit, is the
principle of Rome and Oxford ; and it is also, though in a
milder form, that of Lutheranism." John Milton had a vivid
conception of the republican character of the primitive Chris-
tianitVj and of its infinite superiority over all state religion.
Says he, " That the magistrate should take into his power the
stipendiary maintenance of church ministers, as compelled by
law, can stand neither with the people's thought nor with
Christian liberty, but would suspend the church wholly upon
the state, and turn the ministers into state pensioners. For the
magistrate to make the church his mere ward, as always in
minority ; the church, to whom he ought, as a magistrate, ' to
bow down his face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of
her feet;' her to subject to his political drifts, or conceived
opinions, is neither just nor pious ; no honor done to the church,
but a plain dishonor ; and upon her whose head is in heaven, —
yea, upon Him who is the only head in effect ; and what is
most monstrous, a human on a heavenly, a carnal on a spirit-
ual, a political head on an ecclesiastical body : which at length,
by such heterogeneal, such incestuous conjunction, transforms
her ofttimes into a beast of- many heads and many horns."
What the Christian church is, has been admirably defined by
the same profound thinker and unrivalled author, in his
" Treatise on Christian Doctrine, compiled from the Holy
Scriptures alone."

" The visible church is either universal or particular.

" The universal visible church is the whole multitude of
those who are called, in every part of the world, and who
openly worship God the Father through Christ, in any

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 203

place whatever, either mdividually or in conjunction with
others.

" A particular church is a society of persons professing the
faith, united by a special bond of brotherhood, and so ordered
as may best promote the ends of edification and mutual com-
munion of the saints."

Having thus shown that bishops are not essential to con-
stitute a church, we proceed, secondly, to observe that they
never were designed to exercise lordship over equals in Christ.
The plan projected by our Lord for planting the kingdom of
truth and righteousness in the world is admirably stated by
Eeinhard in the following extract : " He directed his apostles
never to think of striving after civil power, or any other influ-
ence than that which could be obtained by exhibiting the truth
and setting a virtuous example. Luke xxii. 24 — 27. 1 Pet.
V. 2, 3. They were to gain none by promising them earthly
advantage, but were ever to inculcate upon their hearers the
truth, that virtue must look for its full reward to another world.
j\Iatt. X. 37 — 39. They were not to constitute a secret soci-
ety, nor operate by secret arts, but to go forth into all the
world and make known the truth freely and publicly to all
nations. Matt, xxviii. 19,20. Acts i. 8. In so doing they were
not merely to enjoin it upon eveiy one to believe their word,
but they were to call upon every one to hear their reasons and
examine them for themselves. Wherever they found people who
advocated the truth, they were to establish institutions for the
preservation and extension of a more thorough acquaintance
with it. Hence they were to prepare men by education for
teaching others, and institute meetings and exercises for the
common information and encouragement of all the professors
of this pure religion. In their efforts, indeed, they were not to
allow themselves to be checked or disturbed by vetoes or magis-
terial power, (Matt. x. 17 — 33. John xv. 17, to chap. xvi. 4,)
for no earthly ruler has a right to prohibit his subjects from
receiving this religion, addressing itself, as it does, to the con-
science, or to lay down precepts for directing them in attend-

204 BEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

ins to their moral education and the welfare of their souls-
Acts iv. 19, 20. On the other hand, they were not to allow
those who wished to become of their number to occasion any
discord in society, or, under any pretence whatever, to trans-
gress the several relations to which they had been assigned,
(1 Cor. vii. 17 — 22,) or refuse to give due honor to their rulers,
and yield the most willing and punctual obedience to their law-
ful regulations. Rom. xiii. 1 — 7. 1 Pet. ii. 13 — 17. Tit. iii. 1.
They were rather to aim earnestly at transforming all the ad-
vocates of the truth into the most diligent, faithful, and useful
citizens, by inculcating it upon them, as a general principle,
that they were bound to honor the doctrines which they pro-
fessed, and advance the truth as much as possible, by exhibiting
the most upright and dignified conduct in all their relations.
Matt.v. 16. 1 Pet. ii. 11, 12. Phil. i. 27. Col. i. 10. Tit. ii.
5 — 10. In this way, then, was the truth to conquer of itself.
It needed no foreign aid. The nations of the earth would
gradually ascertain that it would be for their interests, in every
respect, to embrace it and obey it. All those, also, who gave
themselves up to the advancement of the Savior's great views,
were to expect the protection and assistance of Heaven, which
was of far more importance than the favor of the world ; for
the plan in which Jesus was engaged, was the work of God.
John iv. 34, with chap. xvii. It was the object of the Governor
of the world, and of the Father of mankind, to bless the whole
human family, and give the inhabitants of the earth the highest
proof of his infinite love, by carrying this great undertaking
into effect.

" Such is the great plan, which, according to historical testi-
mony, Jesus devised for the good of our race, and such are
the means which were to be employed for carrv'ing it into com-
plete effect. That it has been misapprehended and misrepre-
sented, is neither his fault nor that of his friends. It has not
yet been carried into complete effect, at least to such a degree
as its author intended, and as could be wished. With this,
however, we have nothing to do. It is sufficient that Jesus

THE CHUECH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 205

intended it should be ; that this was tlie object which he had in
view." pp. 117, 118.

Now, any form of rehgious establishment, papal, primatical,
or episcopal, we believe calculated to violate these scriptural
principles by fostering servile education, training an obsequious
priesthood, and ri vetting the bonds of degrading tyranny upon
the popular mind. We will examine these points in the order
named.

In the first place, the existence of episcopal primacy in
the church tends to foster a servile education in all its mem-
bers. In the presence and under the control of national reli-
gion, national education will be a political agency mainly,
employed to fortify tottering thrones and decayed dynasties,
not to promote human greatness and joy in all the practical
walks of popular improvement. The despots of Europe dis-
covered some time since that, from the extension of liberal
sentiments, and the growing empire of the press, it would be
unsafe for them to rely on the old weapons of tyranny as they
had been hitherto employed. They knew that standing armies
are losing their value ; the sword is growing patriotic rather
than oppressive, and the bayonet is inclined to fraternize with
the populace, instead of piercing its heart. To secure general
control, other influences must be put in operation, of which
powers education occupies the front rank. But it is a great
mistake to suppose that an educated nation will necessarily in
the highest sense be free. Educated slaves abound as well as
ignorant ones, and quite as disposed to " crook the pregnant
hinges of the knee, where thrift may follow fawning ; " indeed,
they are generally the most degraded, for there are rugged
energies in the ignorant which occasionally rebel against
oppression, and perform the work of holier agencies, whereas
an educated slave is too abject to rise against dignified despot-
ism. How have Austria, France, and especially Russia, been
employed for the last half century ? They have been uncom-
monly active in establishing institutions and promoting plans
for the instruction of their subjects. But what are the nature
18

206 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

and tendency of the lessons imparted to the masses of the peo-
ple ? Not such as are calculated to unfold in each soul the
true, the beautiful, and the just, in harmony and holiness, but
such as would incline them still to remain the quiet serfs of
tyranny. The bold, free characteristics and aspirations of the
individual, by this process, are sacrificed, and one mechanical,
levelling scheme is pursued, fatal to all manly earnestness, all
enthusiasm, all lofty emulation, all courage, and all strength.
Our countryman, Horace Mann, not long since went personally
to survey this process, and has described its effects. He regrets
the incompetency of the Prussian population, and accounts for
it as follows : —

" When the children come out from the school, they have
little use either for the faculties that have been developed, or
for the knowledge that has been acquired. Their resources
are not brought into demand ; their powers are not roused and
strengthened by exercise. Our common phrases, ' the active
duties of life,' ' the responsibilities of citizenship,' ' the stage,
the career of action,' ' the obligations to posterity,' would be
strange-sounding worcls in a Prussian ear. There, government
steps in to take care of the subject, almost as much as the sub-
ject takes care of his cattle. The subject has no officers to
choose, no inquiry into the character or eligibleness of candi-
dates to make, no vote to give. He has no laws to enact or
abolish. He has no questions about peace or war, finance,
taxes, tariffs, post-office, or internal improvement, to decide or
discuss. He is not asked where a road shall be laid, or how a
bridge shall be built; although, in the one case, he has to per-
form the labor, and in the other to supply the materials. His
sovereign is born to him ; the laws are made for him. In war,
his part is not to declare it, or to aim at the end of it, but to
fight and be shot in it, and to pay for it. The tax-gatherer tells
him how much he is to pay ; the ecclesiastical authority plans
a church, which he must build ; and his spiritual guide, who
has been set over him by another, prepares a creed and a con-
fession of faith all ready for his signature. He is directed

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 207

alike how he must obey his king and worship his God. Now,
although there is a sleeping ocean in the bosom of every child
that is born into the world, yet, if no freshening, life-giving
breeze ever sweeps across its surface, why should it not repose
in dark stagnation forever ? "

At the same time he believes the stagnation in Prussia not to
be so profound or enduring as it may appear to a superficial
observer. He proceeds to remark, —

" A proverb has now obtained currency in Prussia, which
explains the whole mystery of the relation between their schools
and their life. ' The school is good, the world is bad.' The
quiescence or torpidity of social life stifles the activity excited
in the school-room. Whatever pernicious habits and customs
exist in the community, act as antagonistic forces against the
moral training of the teacher. The power of the government
presses upon the partially-developed faculties of the youth as
with a mountain's weight. Still, in knowledge and in morality,
in the intellect and in the conscience, there is an expansive
force which no earthly power can overcome. Though rocks
and mountains were piled upon it, its imprisoned might will
rend them asunder, and heave them from their bases, and
achieve for itself a sure deliverance. No one who witnesses
that quiet, noiseless development of mind which is now going
forward in Prussia, through the agency of its educational insti-
tutions, can hesitate to predict that the time is not far distant
when the people will assert their right to a participation in their
own government. The late king made a vow to his subjects
that he would give them a constitution ; he survived a quarter
of a century to falsify his word, and at last went down to his
grave with the promise unredeemed. This was a severer shock
to his power than if he had lost half the wealth of his realm.
Thousands of his subjects do not hesitate now to declare that
fidelity on his part was the only equivalent for loyalty on theii-s ;
and, standing in his mausoleum, amid the costliest splendors
of architecture and statuary, — the marble walls around cov-
ered with gilded inscriptions in honor of the royal name, —

208 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

they interpolate a black line upon his golden epitaph, and say,
' He promised his people a constitution, but violated his royal
faith, and died forsworn ! ' "

Ay, within a few months past, the outraged people have
done more and better than that ; they have rebelled en 7nasse,
and won the privileges so long refused. But there are other
examples which should give timely warning of similar results
against political and spiritual despotism. Look at England,
and observe how education there produces little or no other
effect than that of substituting a polished for a barbarous sla-
very. All the great universities ai-e in the hands of the Epis-
copacy, and no student can enter their halls without first
swearing fealty to her Thirty-nine Articles. Oxford and
Cambridge are the richest educational establishments in the
world, furnished with the choicest spoils of literature and sci-
ence, and offering to the emulative the accumulated thought of
earth's sages and poets, from Homer down to our own day.
What is the result ? One would suppose that these two univer-
sities would produce the most zealous prophets and magnani-
mous legislators, the wisest leaders of civilization, the bravest
tribunes of the people, the most beneficent disciples of Christ.
" But," says William Maccall, " the only fruit of so much
intellectual wealth, of such varied intellectual stimulus, is
slavery, — slavery of the most abject kind. Those who emerge
from those famous halls, from those cloisters professedly sacred
to religion and philosophy, may be scholars, may be gentlemen,
but they are not what is higher, men. They are crammed
W'ith Greek and mathematics, armed with the glittering eti-
quettes which habit can teach the dullest to use with as much
dexterity as the shrewdest. But they dare not think, they dare
not wander from the beaten path ; they are as much chained
to custom, and to the paltriest absurdities that custom has hal-
lowed, as the felon is to his galley. Instead of aiding social
and political progress, they are its fiercest enemies. Instead
of a comprehensive knowledge of the tendencies and wants,
and an enlarged and generous sympathy with the fate of

THE CHURCH 'VVITHOUT A BISHOP. 209

mankind, they display an ignorance of humanity which is
equalled only by their indifference to its destiny. They confine
their interest entirely to England, and, even in England, their
interest is further narrowed to those who hold the same political
opinions or are connected with the same ecclesiastical institu-
tions as themselves. I am convinced that the great mass of
the clergymen of the church of England know absolutely
nothing of the state of feeling and opinion beyond the narrow
circle in which they usually move. I say this more in regret
than in reproach, and as having a special bearing on my sub*
ject. Now, my friends, the slaves that Oxford and Cambridge
thus create, have heads and hearts like their neighbors. Apart
from their bigotry and prejudice, many of them display the
greatest acuteness, the profoundest erudition, the keenest sense
of honor, the warmest benevolence. It is an atrocious system
which renders them w hat they are, and dwarfs so deplorably
their moral and intellectual stature. Blame them we cannot
help occasionally, and in harsh terms, when they stand so ob-
stinately in the way of all human improvement ; but they are
still more to be pitied than blamed, as having been, from earli-
est childhood, crushed by a burden of formulas, which have
gradually grown to be a portion of themselves, and under which
they can only move with a tortoise gait and at a tortoise pace."

The sinister motives which constitute and controf the eccle-
siastical establishments of England are easily understood. By
national education is simply meant the training up proselytes
to her church, vassals to her creed ; and, if so be their shib-
boleth be constantly and correctly repeated, as they hold the
children's souls in the way of salvation and servitude, all the
ends are accomplished about which any real interest is felt.
But we have not so learned Christ. We believe that " the just
shall live by faith ; " not by the Thirty-nine Articles, not by
court patronage, not by the favor of mitres, nor by clinging in
base subserviency at the hem of bishops' robes.

This leads us to remark, secondly, that the subjugation of the
church of Christ to the control of episcopal primacy, requires
18*

210 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY,

the training and agency of an obsequious priesthood. Preach-
ers, in counnon with all professional men, depend mainly for
support upon the good will of others ; and, whether those others
be few or many, a people or a government, a church or a
patron, deacons or lords, there is always a powerful induce-
ment to accommodate truth to vitiated tastes. Against this dan-
ger, nothing but the independency of both churches and cler-
gymen can provide a sufficient check. If each congregation
is left voluntarily to support such services as they believe to be
sincere and edifying, no danger will result ; since, however
much people in general may love a lie, they are never long
disposed to pay for having it taught. But, if men ordinarily
betray a disposition to make the truth they preach coincide
with the views and wishes of those upon whom their temporal
comforts depend, then, in the primatical system, this kind of
danger will most certainly be incurred. Subservience to an
individual is far more to be deprecated than subservience to a
congregation. For this reason, pay received at the hands of a
state, or sacred functions held only at the will of a bishop, will
be sure to work the most disastrous consequences. Enslaved
by the frigidity and formality of an artificial and conventional
existence, the sworn parasite of power will be content to move
in the petty and monotonous round of a despotic etiquette,
squanderii'^ his modicum of intellect and God's precious leg-
acy of time on matters all unworthy of a teacher of free and
immortal truth. So long as he sits at the table of an earthly
patron, or crouches at his feet, with an eye to future prefer-
ment, and with all his interests indissolubly linked with " things
as they are," right or wrong, he will be expected to gloss over
fashionable vices, debase the spirituality of the gospel, preach
the divine right of kings and bishops, the virtue of passive obe-
dience, the efficacy of sacraments, and the exclusive preten-
sions of that priesthood of which he claims to be a member, in
spite of his boasted independence of his flock.

The tendency of primatical religion is the same wherever it
is allowed to preponderate, the legitimate character of which

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 211

is seen most clearly displayed in the chief kingdom of its
source. There, according to the highest authority, only such
gentlemen as are educated at Oxford and Cambridge, in the
dead languages and exact sciences, with a quantum sufficit of
spirited irregularities, are divinely commissioned to supersede
human reason and common sense in religious affairs. These
extraordinary men attain their heavenly attributes by the rite
of Episcopal ordination; by the sublime privilege of havhig
laid upon their head the hands of some other member of their
class, who has been fortunate enough to have been promoted
by the prime minister of the day to a vacant see ; which inef-
fable blessing fuses down, by some mysterious agency, all the
crude materials which pedantic tutors have crammed into their
brains, and converts them into that species of supernal wisdom
which is entitled, by its own superiority, to treat all common
wisdom and saintship as mere surplusage — infinitely contempt-
ible in the presence of those whom the premier of the British
lion, and his jackal, the bishop, have dovetailed into "the reg-
ular apostolic succession." By such means, the soul's freedom
is subverted, rather than sustained ; and religion appears before
the world as a miserable monopoly of priests, conferring on
man a right to dictate to his fellows, instead of inspiring in all
alacrity to sympathize with and succor each ; treating Chris-
tianity as if designed expressly to be an instrument by which
the kvf may awe the many into abject servitude, and not as the
lawful property of every human being, the great boon given to
make cheerful and happy every immortal mind. It is not
strange that reflecting persons look on with disgust, when, by a
round of formal prayers and empty rites, attempts are made
to propitiate God, and fawning the most abject pervades all
ranks of an arbitrarily-graduated priesthood, from the humblest
candidate to the highest functionary. It is painful, in this
enlightened age, to see those who enjoy the privileges of a (so
called) liberal education, and whose knowledge, sympathies, and
aspii-ations, should raise them far above the meagre and con-
tracted region of factious strife and bigoted antagonism, yet

212 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

condescend to yield their manly neck to the yoke, and their
luminous brow to the brand of a petty and dwarfing thraldom,
which the accident of birth or station has created. Jesus
Christ never established such dictatorship amongst his primitive
disciples, nor do we believe that it is desired, or will long be
endured, by the progressive piety of modern times. On the
contrary, we believe that few things are regarded with such
unqualified abhorrence, by the masses of the people, as the
iniquitous influence of this system and its oppressive results.

" A hundred humble pastors starve,
AVTiile one or two, impalaced, mitred, throned,
And banqueted, burlesque, if not blaspheme.
The holy penury of the Son of God ;
The fastings, the foot-wanderings, and the preachings,
Of Christ and his first followers,"

Under this general division of our subject, we are noticing
some of the forms of primatical or episcopal religion which
violate the simplicity of the original institutions of Christ. We
have mentioned two, and it remains to describe a still worse
feature, viz., the process by which it rivets the worst bonds
upon the popular mind. Many of the best writers in Europe
are not insensible to the importance of this subject. Says an
able contributor to the Edinburgh Review, of August, 1820, —

"The 'alliance of church and state,' when rightly inter-
preted, seems to mean merely the alliance of the majority with
the majority, in order to keep down the minority — which does
not appear either to be a very just or a very necessary measure.
And, accordingly, the doctrine of this famous alliance, which
was at one time crammed down our throats with so much vigor,
and which some persons seem sufficiently disposed to revive
at the present moment, has been so generally discredited of
late years, that it may fairly be considered as abandoned by
all the temperate and enlightened advocates of the establish-
ment. Dr. Paley, for example, has stated unequivocally, that
to ' make of the church an engine or even an ally of the state,
serves onlv to debase the institution ;' and that ' the single end

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 213

we ought to propose, by an ecclesiastical establishment, is the
preservation and communication of religious knowledge.' And
to the same purpose Mr. Burke, in terms still more direct and
decided : ' An alliance,' says he, ' between church and state,
in a Christian commonwealth, is, in my opinion, an idle and a
fanciful speculation. An alliance is between two things that
are in their nature distinct and independent, such as between
two sovereign states ; but, in a Christian commonwealth, the
church and the state are one and the same thing.' To us,
indeed, it appears more like a burlesque upon government than
any thing else, to say that the only way to secure the excel-
lence of any political institution is to connect it with a corpora-
tion of priests, dependent upon it by their interests, and conse-
quently bound, as far as interest is concerned, to support it
when it invades the rights of the people as well as when it pro-
tects them."

Milton, in his " Reason of Church Government urged
against Prelacy," chap, iii., says, with forcible pertinency to
this point, —

" When the church, without temporal support, is able to do
her great works upon the unforced obedience of man, it argues
a divinity about her. But when she thinks to credit and better
her spiritual efficacy, and to win herself respect and dread, by
strutting in the false vizard of worldly authority, it is evident
that God is not there, but that her apostolic virtue is departed
from her, and hath left her key-cold ; which she perceiving, as
in a decayed nature, seeks to the outward fermentations and
chafings of worldly help and external flourishes, to fetch, if it
be possible, some motion into her extreme parts, or to hatch a
counterfeit life with the crafty and artificial heat of jurisdiction.
But it is obser\^able, that so long as the church, in true imitation
of Christ, can be content to ride upon an ass, carrying herself
and her government along in a mean and simple guise, she
may be, as he is, a Lion of the tribe of Judah, and, in her
humility, all men, with loud hosannas, will confess her great-
ness. But when, despising the mighty operation of the Spirit

214 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

by the weak tilings of tliU world, si e thinks to make herself
bigger and more considerable by using the way of civil force
and jurisdiction, as she sits upon this Lion, she chai\ges into
an Ass, and instead of hosannas, every man pelts her with
stones and dirt." This great and good man knew that what-
ever is binding upon us as Christians, whatever is essential to a
Christian church, must be recorded in the New Testament ; if
it be not there, the assumption of divine right is false. He
knew that the whole fabric of jure divino Episcopacy is built
upon dubious sophisms derived from the (so called) fathers,
instead of the explicit directions of Christ and the apostles ;
hence his distrust of those corrupters of the middle ages whom
in the following manner he has characterized : " Whatever
lime, or the heedless hand of blind chance, hath drawn from
old to this present, in her huge drag-net, \<^hether fish or sea-
weed, shell or shrubs, unpicked, unchosen, those are the fa-
thers." Milton was too much of a republican and sincere Chris-
tian, to abandon the Scriptures, and swear allegiance to man on
the authority of these exceedingly fallible fathers, whom he
calls " a fog of witnesses."

The architect of prelatical religion succeeds only by destroy-
ino- the temples of freedom and revelation. The physician of
the soul thus contrives to live by the death of the body. Brit-
ish Christianity has long been petrified by the Gorgon head of
frightful worldliness. By the act of supremacy, Henry VIII.
became as truly pope in England, as Clement VII. had previ-
ously been. He claimed the right to regulate the church as
seemed good in his own eyes ; and his parliaments sanctioned
that claim. The successors of Henry, with the crojon, inher-
ited also the headship of the church of England. At present,
the " supreme head " is a gay woman, who " convenes, pro-
rogues, restrains, regulates and dissolves all synods and eccle-
siastical convocations ; " for, though there is the formality of
an election of these functionaries by the deans and chapters
of their respective dioceses, yet this is authorized only
by what is called a coiige cVelirc, or permission to elect,

i

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 215

which is accompanied by a nomination of the person to be
elected.

Says Dr. Cheever, " Episcopalianism becomes Popeiy in
essence, when it takes to its bosom the apostohcal succession.
Its priests assert that every thing is in their hands, that baptism
is regeneration, that there is no regeneration without it, and
that there is no baptism except through a prelatical bishop. If
you enter the prison of such a system, it will make you do as
it pleases. Its monopoly cannot be broken. You dare not go
elsewhere, for salvation is only within its walls. Let its rules
be ever so rigid, you are obliged to abide by them ; it may tax
you to its heart's content, but if there is no salvation out of its
ordinances, what are you to do ? It may take away all your
libei-ties, but if it holds the key of your salvation, you are a
helpless victim, and cannot stir. Once give to the system of
Episcopalianism the claims which the apostolical successionists
are advancing, and you have a perfect spiritual despotism, quite
as remorseless as Popery itself.

" Whether these odious pretensions are rightly attributed to
Episcopalians as a body in this country, we do not undertake
to decide ; but they are the pretensions of those who love the
preeminence, and who possess it, to a degree, in their conven-
tions, and in their metropolitan royalties. And those who do
not side with these dignitaries, will nevertheless have to bear
the reproach of such pretensions, unless they plainly disavow
and resist them, and are willing to make some effort to reform
their church of them. Whatever persons in the church do
not, so far as they may be able, oppose these injurious maxims
and practices, they are themselves partakers in the ungodliness
of that zeal which was marked of the apostle John in the case
of Diotrephes, who loveth the preeminence and casteth us out
of the church."

The church of Rome fulminates her thunders clear and loud,
— every heretic accursed !

The Episcopacy, which is only Papacy diluted, with subdued
arrogance imitates the same thunders. There is no church but

216 Ri:ruBLicAN cHrasxiANiXY.

our church ; no true muiistry, nor any regular salvation, out of
it ! Even in this country, wliere all sects are indebted to the
Puritans in general, and to Roger Williams in particular, for
religious liberty, this small sect swells uito a puny resemblance
to their mother across the sea, and talks of dissenters with ill-
disguised contempt. Can any thing be more absurd ? The
church of England, and her offshoot in this country, have no
better claim to be denominated Protestant than the " dissenting
bodies," whom they charitably place beyond the pale of Chris-
tianity. It was not an act of the British church, by any means,
that first caused the application of the term Protestants to the
supporters of the reformation. The term arose from the six
Lutheran princes, at the diet of Spire, in Bavaria, in 1529, who
solemnly protested against a decree of Ferdinand of Austria,
and other Popish princes, abridging their religious rights.
Hence the name of Protestants was first applied to the follow-
ers of Luther. But it was not confined to them, " It soon
after included the Calvinists, and has now of a long time been
applied generally to the Christian sects, of whatever denomi-
nation, and in whatever country they may be found, which
have separated from the see of Rome."

In the gospel, divine worship is a truth of fact, of practice,
and of sentiment, ever}' where prescribed, but no where re-
stricted ; it remains free as to its forms, its language, and its
place. The New Testament does not arrogantly dogmatize,
but lovingly instruct ; does not enumerate decretals to excite
strife, nor rouse enmities by coercing conviction ; it ever}''
where inculcates one firm, uniform, consolatory, and saving
faith, a sufficient guide and support in life and death, which
faith is not the arbitrary result of a human creed, but the legit-
imate fruit of free investigation of the inspired word. Dictat-
ing to man how he shall worship God, is dictating to God how
he shall be worshipped — prescribing what kind of prayer and
praise he shall receive. Unfortunately quite too much of this
is done.

The oppression which the people suffer under compulsory

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 217

bisohprics is twofold — pecuniaiy and spiritual. We now are
speaking of the first of these, and the iniquitous means by
which it is maintained. To the archbishop of Canterbury a
yearly revenue is allowed of .£19,182, or $85,168 ; and
to the archbishop of York, .£12,629, or 856,072: making
a sum total of one hundred and forty-one thousand two hun-
dred and forty dollars annually, for two ornamental digni-
taries of the only scriptural church ! Beside these, there
are some five and twenty bishops, the direct successors of the
apostles, and who receive their authority as well as dignity
from Him who had not where to lay his head, and to support
whom, the people must pay annually no less than^re hundred
and seventy thousand four hundred and ffty-fve dollars. The
amount appropriated yearly to the twenty-eight deans and
chapters is one million two hundred and sixty-two thousand
and thirty dollars ; to the support of other ecclesiastical ranks
in the establishment, sixteen and a half millions of dollars ;
making the gross annual expenditure, including the branches
in Ireland and Wales, more than Twenty Millions of Dol-
lars, which the industrious classes have to pay from their own
pockets to keep themselves in bonds. The English Episcopal
church is indeed, as they modestly call themselves, "</^e Won-
der of Christendom,'''' but whom Lord Chatham more justly
characterized as having " a Popish liturgy, a Calvinistic creed,
and an Arminian clergy."

The chief means of raising this enormous revenue is by
cheating the popular mind with the idea that bishops are sacred
personages invested with all but divine authority. The word
apostle is prominent in the Bible, and is most sacred in its asso-
ciations, but the general masses of the people have not learned
the simple fact, that it only means sent, and is never a term
signifying office, except when applied to the original twelve,
and to Paul, who was also called and sent by our Lord per-
sonally, though after his ascension. " This is evident from the
manner in which the word is used in 2 Cor. viii. 23 — 'or our
brethren be inquired of, they are the messengers [apostles] of
19

218 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

the churches, and tlie glory of Christ' ; and in Phil. ii. 25 — ■
' Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labor, and fellow-
soldier, but your messenger, [apostle.]' The apostles, there-
fore, neither had, nor could have, any successors in ofRce,
since each must be appointed by our Lord personally ; their
apostleship ceased with their lives, and contained in it no war-
rant for appointing nor for ordaining successors, nor made any
provision for transmitting or perpetuating the apostolic office.
They were not officers in, or of, any church ; they do not in
their official epistles style themselves the apostles or bishops of
any church, or churches, or diocese, nor ' Right Reverend
Father in God,' but simply ' apostle of Jesus Christ,' and 'ser-
vant of Jesus Christ.' They never appoint any one to office,
nor interfere with the internal affairs of any church, but simply
assert their right to declare the infallible will of Christ, as his
inspired messengers, requiring obedience^ of faith from all in
every age, whether bishops, deacons, or private Christians."
The justness of the above statement, quoted from Mr. Crowell,
is sustained by what the most intelligent member of the Epis-
copal hierarchy, Bishop Whately, has affirmed in the following
words : " Successors in the apostolic office the apostles have
none. As witnesses of the resurrection, as dispensers of
miraculous gifts, as inspired oracles of divine revelation, they
have no successors. But as members, as ministers, as govern-
ors, of Christian communities, their successors are the regu-
larly admitted members, the lawfully ordained ministere, the
regular and recognized governors of a regularly subsisting
Christian church." This is putting the matter on the true
ground of scriptural equality among the disciples of Christ — a
position very unlike that which in church and state establish-
ments is almost universally assumed. If it were necessary to
say any thing more respecting the true character and appro-
priate functions of bishops, we have only to add what Mosheim
says, vol. i. p. 85 : " Wlioever supposes that the bishops of
the first and golden age of the church corresponded with the
bishops of the following centuries, must blend and confound

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 219

characters that are very different. For in this centuiy and the
next, a bishop had charge of a single church, which might
ordinarily be contained in a private house ; nor was he its lord^
but was in reaUty its minister or servant ; he instructed the
people, conducted all parts of public worship, and attended on
the sick and the necessitous in person ; and what he was una-
ble thus to perform, he committed to the care of the presbyters,
(elders,) but without the power to ordain or determine any
thing, except with the concurrence of the presbyters and the
brotherhood."

Another means by which Episcopal hierarchs win and main-
tain authority over the masses is by imposing upon them big-
oted and dwarfing creeds. The Bible is the freest and most
ennobUng book ever written, heaven wide from those pinching
compendiums which ecclesiastical craft has invented to abridge
the natural prerogatives of the soul, and mould it into subser-
viency to their selfish schemes. It is most deplorable to observe
how long and how sadly our holy Christianity has been de-
formed, degraded, and disgraced, by being subordinated to that
remorseless lust of power, and insatiate thirst for gain, which
labors toward the inthralment of mankind, rather than to
enlighten and set them free. Who strives to dim the glare of
outward distinction, and disabuse the world of those prejudices
which caste and rank have created ? Shall we never estimate
man above his wardrobe or his title, nor understand that to be
a Christian is to be a philanthropist ; that, in fact, the very
essence of Christianity shows itself in a consecration to the
welfare of all mankind ?

The degrading influence we deprecate spreads itself through
all gradations of society where it is found, from the highest to
the lowest. In the House of Lords, Lord King one day in-
quired of Bishop Hoi-sley what was the meaning of "ortho-
doxy " and "heterodoxy." "My lord," replied the bishop,
" orthodoxy is my doxy, and heterodoxy is another man's
doxy." This is the language of a theological slave ; but to
the man who in a Christian spirit really respects human nature,

220 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

every other opinion is as orthodox as his own, however much
they may differ. Like the engineer, who imagined all rivers
to have been created exclusively for the purpose of feeding
canals, so these bishops act on the principle that the ultimate
object of revealed truth is, to facilitate the success of their
particular system — to invest them with artificial sanctions,
without which they would find it difficult to play their part, and
to dispose dupes to unlimited submission, which they account
the highest style of personal and social virtue. Hence all the
force of religious artifice is employed to bolster up their indo-
lent dignity, and compel the people, out of their hard earnings,
to pay the expense without complaint. This scheme is not
original, though it is certainly very oppressive. The chief
priests and Pharisees of a former church were not less positive,
certainly not more puerile in their assertions of self-importance,
than these ; and the world knows both their wrong estimate
of themselves and their despotic rule over others. True, there
•was not the slightest flaw in the chain of their succession, and
yet we do not find them commended for having taken away
from the people " the key of knowledge." The nations, there-
fore, are beginning to think that the human understanding and
heart were given for some higher purpose than to be made
blind tools in the hands of such a regularly ordained and apos-
tolical clergy. This kind of popular apprehension is quick-
ened, among other means, by frequently seeing inserted in the
public prints that a living is or will be vacant ; inviting special
notice to the fact that the said living is in a fine sporting coun-
try— that the present incumbent is quite old, and rather given
to be apoplectic. But the most notorious and exasperating
fact is, that where the seats of the squirearchy most thickly
stud the land, where established churches are most numerous,
and clerical magistrates most abound, there, usually, ignorance
and demoralization are most marked ; and there the zeal of
pious and patriotic dissenters is most opposed. The same
influence which produces the evil, prevents the good ; and the
consequences of aristocratic vices, fortified by Episcopal intol-

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 221

erance, are permitted to darken the fairest auspices of human
progress. It is not in God or man much longer to allow this
tyranny to subsist.

We have shown that bishops are not essential to constitute
a church, and were never designed to exercise lordship over
equals in Christ : it remains to state that, —

Thirdly, they are no longer needed to oppress the sacred
brotherhood. Our preceding remarks relate chiefly to the tyr-
anny of Episcopacy, as it is felt by the people in common ;
but we now refer to the injustice inflicted by this system on
Christians of every name in particular. There are a good,
many pei-sons who are disposed to call their souls their own,
and to judge, in relation to their spiritual welfare, for themselves.
The fundamental principle with them is, that the religion of
Christ ought to be left to make its way among mankind in the
greatest possible simplicity, by its own truth and excellence,
through the labors of pious, voluntary, and free advocates, pre-
sided over by its great Author alone. They think that true
religion cannot, without fatal injury to the primitive purity of a
"kingdom not of this world," be subordinated to the political
arrangements of monarchs and statesmen, and blended insep-
arably with secular intei-ests and clerical intrigues, the most
ambitious and degrading passions. When religious authority
is vested in an individual, it assumes the papal, primatical, or
episcopal form, identical in character, and in influence every
where the same. Whether it be wedded to sceptres and cor-
onets, an engine acted on by state corruptions to crush strug-
gling subjects, or develop its arrogance through domineering
bishops and secret conclaves in a country where the sanctions
of legalized oppression have been wrested from its greedy
grasp, the fervor of high church aspirations after absolute dic-
tation in theological afl^airs, should tend constantly to intensify
the detestation of freemen towards hierarchies of all forms
and ecclesiastical combinations of every name. No religious
oi^anizations in this country, or any other, stand strictly on
apostolic ground, except those whose principles, ordinances, and
19*

222 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

polity are the same as those of the primitive churches. These
only are in harmony at once with the principles of Christianity ;
and the genius of all institutions which adorn, as well as fortify,
a republic, are most favorable to the cultivation of personal
virtues, and possess the only real claim on the regard of repub-
licans. " Where one particular priesthood has rank in the
state, others are not free ; and where they all have, the people
are not free. So far as the ceremonies of one particular faith
are connected with filling any particular occupation, entering
into the relations, or enjoying any of the advantages, of civil
life, there is not religious liberty. It is a fallacious distinction
which has sometimes been drawn, that a state may patronize,
though it should not punish. A government cannot patronize
one particular religion without punishing others. A state has no
wealth but the people's wealth ; if it pay some, it impoverishes
others. A state is no fountain of honor. If it declai-e one class
free, it thereby declares others slaves. If it declares some noble,
it thereby declares others ignoble. Whenever bestowed with
partiality, its generosity is injustice, and its favor is oppression."
It has ever been the ambition of false religions to employ
solemn and hypocritical attempts to drain the multitude for
the benefit of priestly aristocracies and the defence of regal
wrongs. The most flagrant instance of this feudal barbarity
now extant flourishes around the head-quarters of Episcopacy
in England. There, as Robert Hall has said, " in theory, the
several orders of the state are a check on each other ; but
corruption has oiled the wheels of that machinery, harmonized
its motions, and enabled it to bear, with united pressure, on the
happiness of the people." But such a state of things cannot
be long endured. For, as the same distinguished advocate
of English freedom remarks, "to invest idleness and dissi-
pation with the privileges of laborious piety is an impracticable
attempt. For by a constitution more ancient than that of any
priesthood, superior degrees of sanctity and of exertion will
gain superior esteem as their natural reward. We must not
wonder to find the public forget the reverence ue to the sacred

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 223

profession, when its members forget the spirit and neglect the
duties on which that reverence was founded. The natural
equity of mankind will not sutfer the monopoly of contradic-
tory goods. If the people are expected to reverence an order,
it must be from the consciousness of benefits received. If the
clergy claim authority, it must be accompanied with a solici-
tude ^or the spiritual interest of their flocks, and labor sus-
tained. To enjoy at once both honor and ease never fell to
the share of any profession. If the clergy neglect their charge,
if they conform to the spirit of the world, and engage with
eagerness in the pursuits of ambition or of pleasure, it will be
impossible for any human policy to preserve them from sink-
ing in the public esteem."

It is pitiable indeed to see a bench of bishops conspiring
with tyrannical lords of the secular orders against the popular
desire for liberty already too strong to be overcome, and which
is constantly on the increase. How vain and futile the effort,
in this nineteenth century, to interpose bayonets before the
progress of free principles, — the prerogatives of supercilious
rank and sanctimonious presumption, as barriers in that path
which conducts to the wider area and loftier privileges in
reserve for mankind ! " The pope eats the grain, we the
straw," said Luther. But millions of Christians are, even in
this enlightened age, worse conditioned. They are obliged to
assist in supporting a pompous show of religion, which they
abhor, and yet, out of the scanty resources that remain, pro-
vide preaching more genial to honest piety and the word of
God. Milton told splendid " hirelings," long ago, that " forced
consecrations out of another man's estate are no better than
forced vows, hateful to God, who ' loves a cheerful giver ; ' but
much more hateful wrung out of men's purses to maintain a
disapproved ministry against their consciences."

It is manifest, that God never purposed to bind redemption
to forms, fixed and inviolable ; it is a divine kingdom that
" Cometh not with observation," but is established " within us,"
that it may pass freely from heart to heart, through all ranks and

224 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

degrees of mankind. By this independence of forms, Chris-
tianity admits the poorest and most humble to rites that soothe
and doctrines that save without money and without price. The
rehgion of Israel, which was ceremonial and transient, could
not exist without the temple, with its treasures, its vessels of
brass, of silver and gold ; hence, when the sacred vessels em-
ployed in the service were carried away to Babylon, the whole
was removed. But pure religion borrows nothing from worldly
wealth and power; the cross of wood is her only instrument
given to conquer the world. Devout worshippers of gowns
and bands, and the whole round of ecclesiastical mummery,
are only attempting to revive what eighteen hundred years ago
became obsolete. Great and glorious improvements are taking
place in every other department of life ; and yet what do we
see in the most important of all ? Nations are calling for the
word of life, with their myriads of immortal souls in danger
of eternal death, which urgent demands must be set aside till
bigots shall terminate their transcendental controversies on
tapers, bowings, and surplices, — till they shall have decided
whether the salvation of the world depends upon their having
a stone altar instead of a wooden one, and when they stand up
to read a prayer, whether they shall face the east or west.
The directions of the rubric are in debate, and the bishop of
Exeter, for one among the spiritual lords, insists upon their
observance in every church throughout his diocese, whatever
may be the opposition of the laity assembled in town and parish
meetings. All agitation in favor of greater freedom of thought
and speech is suppressed with a zeal exceeded only by the
gross and brutal outrages which are frequently committed on
the most sacred feelings of humanity. For instance, a short
time since, in London, the body of a child was brought by its
parents to the churchyard, that its remains might rest by the
side of its brother or sister ; but the weeping parents were
rudely repulsed from the gate, because the little infant had not
been sprinkled in " the regular apostolic succession." A dis-
senting preacher is not allowed to bury in consecrated ground.

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 225

A line of demarcation is set up among the dead, as every-
where among the living. His father may have been buried
there if he was a member of the church, but he is not per-
mitted to lie by his parent's side ; at least, with his own chosen
minister to consign him to the grave and pray over his body.
It is this same bigoted feeling that has excluded the republican
Cromwell's statue from the new palace of legislation, and still
more recently has denied the statue of John Wesley a place in
Westminster Abbey. It is the more remarkable that the latter
should be denied Christian honors, since he lived and died in
the establishment.

As the great mother gives the word beyond the sea, her
loyal children, with apish pretensions to infallibility, repeat the
arrogance among ourselves. But the end draws nigh. Pri-
matical religion is death-struck throughout the world, and no
ostentatious forms can vivify it with spiritual life, nor can fine
dresses long hide its putrescence. The decree of the Omnipo-
tent has gone forth, that the will of one or a few shall no
longer break down the will, the heart, and conscience of the
many. The religion that will not educate and bless the multi-
tudes of earth is doomed speedily to be extirpated by them.
Episcopacy has always and every where been as tyrannical as
the spirit of the age would permit ; therefore is it to be depre-
cated as anti-Christian and anti-republican. It tends to subvert
all- true religious liberty, and all political freedom. It began
by removing the checks and guards of a popular government
against the exercise of arbitraiy power. It invested the
bishops with prerogatives, which can never be safely intrusted
to any man or body of men. The subsequent history of this
church abundantly confirms the position that popular rights
can never be confided to the hands of the clergy without
detriment. Says Arnold, one of the most magnanimous and
enlightened of the English Episcopacy, " To revive Christ's
church is to expel the Antichrist of the priesthood, which, as it
was foretold of him, as God, siUeth in the temple of God,
shovnng himself that he is God, and to restore its disfranchised

226 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

members, the laity, to the discharge of their proper duties in
it, and to the consciousness of their paramount importance."

Home Tooke, quoting from Christ's words to Nicodemus,
said, " Truth is that which a man troweth." That which
another man thinks is as true to him as what I think is true to
me. This right and duty, resting on every rational creature to
examine and decide for himself, was the first lesson inculcated
by Christ, and the last privilege which selfish bishops are dis-
posed to grant. The patrons of ceremonialism have too much
mercenary interest in their hollow rites willingly to give them
up, though they are known to constitute almost invincible
obstacles to the inward spiritual life. The absurdities of the
gloomiest superstition are attempted to be modified in our day,
not for the better, but the worse. It is not enough that the
world for centuries should have derived its principal illumina-
tion from wax lights, fixed on iron spikes, before pictures ;
while its most substantial nutriment for the soul was derived
from the sacrifice of the mass ; not as the Neo-Catholics refine
and explain it, but such as it is defined by the council of
Trent — to sacrifice the Lord by manducation — to eat and
drink the Lord God himself; or, according to the terms of the
council, in "his flesh, blood, soul, and divinity." The happy
period has arrived when high Episcopacy, insolent and insipid,
reviving the faith of the middle ages in a modern dress, would
impose on us the carcass of defunct Catholicity without a par-
ticle of its soul, wax tapers lighted up, not as an act of worship
to the virgin, but to gleam on moral as well as political false-
hoods designed to confuse the vision and enchain the under-
standings of mankind.

Spiritual truth is moral force, and thought, as moral force,
is spiritual truth in action, and adoration ; though that action
is most often revolution, still we had better have anarchy
than stupidity — the hcavings of the ocean rather than its
stagnation. A great human or divine reality, in whatever
garb it appears, is always better than a great pretence de-
ceiving all, itself the most deceived. What the world most

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 227

needs is truth that is simple and energetic, infinitely nobler
than truth ceremonial and sectarian. Christianity is that truth,
the sublime ideal that Christ conceived and nurtured in the
profundity of his breast, to be breathed abroad freely on the
aching brows and sorrowing hearts of all mankind.

Coleman, in his " Primitive Church," sums up this matter as
follows : —

" Thus, as we have seen, ecclesiastical history introduces
first to our notice single independent churches ; then, churches
having several dependent branches ; then, diocesan churches ;
then, metropolitan or provincial churches; and then, national
churches attempered to the civil power. In the end, we behold
two great divisions of ecclesiastical empire, the Eastern and
the Western, now darkly intriguing, now fearfully struggling
with each other for the mastery, until at last the doctrine of the
unity of the church is consummated in the sovereignty of the
pope of Rome, who alone sits enthroned in power, claiming to
be the head of the church on earth. The government of the
church was at first a democracy, allowing to all its constituents
the most enlarged freedom of a voluntary religious association.
It became an absolute and iron despotism. The gradations of
ecclesiastical organization through which it passed were, from
congregational to parochial — parochial to diocesan — diocesan
to metropolitan — metropolitan to patriarchal — patriarchal to
papal.

" The corruptions and abominations of the church, through
that long iaight of darkness which succeeded the triumph of
the pope of Rome, were inexpressibly horrible. The record
of them may more fitly lie shrouded in a dead language, than
be disclosed to the light in the living speech of men. The
successors of St. Peter, as they call themselves, were frequent-
ly nominated to the chair of ' his holiness ' by women of in-
famous and abondoned lives. Not a few of them were shame-
fully immoral ; and some, monsters of wickedness. Several
were heretics, and others were deposed as usurpers. And
yet this church of Rome, ' with such ministers, and so ap-

228 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

pointed, — a church corrupt in every part and every particular,
individually and collectively, in doctrine, in discipline, in prac-
tice,'— this church, -prelacy recognizes as the only representa-
tive of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the period now under consid-
eration, invested with all his authority, and exercising divine
powers on earth ! She boasts her ordinances, her sacraments,
transmitted, for a thousand years, unimpaired and uncontami-
nated, through such hands ! High church Episcopacy proudly
draws her own apostolical succession through this pit of pollu-
tion, and then the followers of Christ, who care not to receive
such gi'ace from such hands, she calmly delivers over to God's
' uncovenanted mercies'! Nay, more, multitudes of that
communion are now engaged in the strange work of ' unprot-
estantizing the churches ' which have washed themselves from
these defilements. The strife is with a proud array of talents,
of learning, and of episcopal power, to bury all spiritual reli-
gion again in the grave of forms, to shroud the light of truth
in the gloom of Popish tradition, and to sink the church of God
once more into that abyss of deep and dreadful darkness from
which she emerged at the daw-n of the reformation. In the
beautiful and expressive language of Milton, their strife is to
' reinvolve us in that pitchy cloud of infernal darkness where
we shall never more see the sun of truth again, never hope for
the cheerful dawn, never more hear the bird of morning sing.' "
— pp. 312,313.

Yes, humanity shall behold a fairer morn, a clearer sun, and
listen to more enrapturing melody, than has yet been enjoyed.
The minions of power and the slaves of religion may move and
combine, according to their fantasy, the grains of their glitter
ing but worthless sand on the bank where truth and progress
roll their billows along ; but the hour of flood tide comes, and
nothing can retard or avert its overwhelming power. Nothing
can arrest popular thought now in full revolt against spiritual as
well as political despotism, and marching to certain victory over
everj' form of wrong. To demand liberty as a Christian is to
demand liberty as a man. Luther, whether he designed it or

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP. 229

not, led the way direct to Munser. This point did not escape
Bossuet. Said he, " Luther, in affirming that the Christian was
not subject to any man, nourished the spirit of independence in
the people, and gave to their leaders dangerous views." Luther,
however, was a very imperfect reformer, since he admitted in
religion, but rejected in civil poUcy, the right to resist tyranny.
He fought against the pope for a point of doctrine, but left in
the hands of kings and sub-pontiffs the power to strangle all
belief. What would ecclesiastical domination have accom-
plished long before this, had it not been for the principles of
brotherhood and spiritual freedom contended and bled for, not
by Catholics, Lutherans, nor the self-styled Protestants, but by
Waldenses, Hussites, Anabaptists, Moravians, and other great
defenders of the' rights of conscience in recent times ? But a
more glorious advancement is before us, and it must speedily
come; "another and greater reformation, the more complete
for its deky. Not even the church can render itself perma-
nently invulnerable to public opinion. The strength which it
resists grows yet more formidable by that resistance. At last
the voice of truth must be heard, and the light of knowledge
must be admitted. At noonday, in the height of summer, it is
silent, cold, and dark, in the cloisters of a cathedral. But the
thunder resounds along its vaulted roofs, teaching them strange
echoes ; and, in the glare of the lightning that flashes through
its aisles, the very stones seem to move, and the monumental
dead to be stirred, like a slumbering world aroused to the ne-
cessity of change, revival, and reformation. The stroke of
heaven's lightning spares neither tower, nor spire, nor gilded
ball, nor the very cross itself. It unroofs the church, and lets
in t|ie free air and sight of the blue sky. Institutions no more
than buildings are made for eternity. They only prolong
themselves by improvement and renovation ; nature alone is
everlasting. Truth, justice, right, imbodied in opinion, are
nature's thunder and lightning ; and, when they shatter institu-
tions, as elemental powers the material building, it is that from
the ruins humanity may raise a purer and nobler shrine, wor-
20

230 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

thier of that great Spirit whose temple is the universe, whose
altar the human heart, his best worship the activity of benefi-
cence, and the only uniformity he requires the oneness of
brotherhood in all mankind."

If we are to have freedom of conscience in full extent, and
a religion emanating from Christ and harmonious with the
republican institutions projected eighteen centuries ago, and, by
a merciful Providence, now begun to be realized in the world,
then must the hierarchical element be discarded by all, that the
enfranchised nations may joyfully verify to themselves that,
under God, the best security of freedom, civil and religious, is
a church without a bishop, not less than a state without a king.

CHAPTER IV.

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST.

Priestcraft is the product of every age, the defender of
every bigoted creed, the chief foe to Christianity, and greatest
curse to mankind. These are the general points which, in this
discussion, it will be our purpose to elucidate.

In the first place, priestcraft is the product of every age.
The makers and patrons of consecrated silver shrines have
ever deprecated the innovation of free principles, such as Paul
diffused, summoning local prejudice and partisan bigotry to the
defence of their established prerogatives, with the mercenary
plea that by this craft they have their wealth. This is peculiar
to no clime, hmited to no sect, but is indigenous to our fallen
nature in every place and association. As before Menes the
Egyptians precipitated a young virgin into the Nile, in sacrifice
to a superstitious creed, so, under the emperors and kings of
later times, and in league with civil power of every degree,
priestly domination, under all varieties of artificial forms,

THE CHURCH WITHOCTT A PRIEST. 231

pagan ceremonies, and unscriptural rites, has been sanguinary
without exception, and inimical to all the best interests of man-
kind. The sacerdotal corporations who thus tyrannize over the
masses betray their intrinsic infamy by the fact that, while they
willingly lend a mercenary support to political oppression, they
do not seem to regard as a divine thing the worship they
impose, and by which they most of all desire to aggrandize
themselves. Hence the greatest evils have been inflicted upon
liumanity in the name of religion. The auto dafe has taken
the place of human sacrifices, and a new monopoly, embracing
almost every source of knowledge and enjoyment, has, for
many centuries, plunged the nations in ignorance and despair.
Because priestly oppression is oftener made the rule than the
exception, the attempt to break this accursed yoke demands
the greatest efforts, and involves the most formidable perils ;
but the auspicious hour has at length arrived when, in the pop-
ular estimation, no treasure of gold or blood can exceed the
value of that boon Heaven designed for all — freedom to wor-
ship God.

Any system that places human intermediaries between the
individual believer and his Creator, is in direct conflict with
man's rights and the law of Christ. Such obstructions, rather
than aids, to the welfare of our race do exist, and it is easy to
trace their origin and detect their motives. Says Ranke,
"Among the heathens, sacerdotal offices were conferred in like
manner with those of civil life. The Jews set apart a particu-
lar tribe for the duties of the priesthood ; but Christianity was
distinguished from both these by the fact that a certain class
of men, freely choosing the sacred profession, consecrated by
the imposition of hands, and withdrawn from worldly cares and
pursuits, is solemnly devoted " to things spiritual and divine."
The church was at first governed in accordance with republi-
can forms ; but these disappeared as the new belief rose in
preeminence, and the clergy gradually assumed a position
entirely distinct from that of the laity." After truth, ema-
nating from the manger and the rural simplicity of Judea, strug-

232 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

gled through centuries to make the nations free, and, in the
strife with craft and power, became but the more inthralled,
the ancient depth of degradation was again nearly attained,
when the pope resolved to demolish the basilica of St. Peter,
the metropolitan church of Christendom, every portion of which
was crowded with hallowed monuments which had received
the veneration of ages, and erected a temple, planned after
those of pagan antiquity, on its site.

To represent the priest as the sole and immediate vicegerent
of Heaven, clothed with authority the most divine, and conse-
crated with a sanctity the most puye, no imposition is reckoned
too gross, and no fable too absurd. The undeviating aim is to
gain power over the credulous, ignorant, and superstitious, of
all times, as we may infer from the ridiculous claims of apos-
tolical succession and other ecclesiastical fooleries propounded
in our own day. If men calling themselves Christians, and
Christian ministers, attempt, as every body knows is done, to
concoct a new infallibility, and dig up from the consecrated
churchyard of defunct absurdities a revolting system, which
they strive to fasten on the free minds of the nineteenth cen-
tury, what must have been the amount of deception and spirit-
ual tyranny when priests had an unquestioned recognition as
the messengers of God, were the sole depositaries of science,
the uncontrolled conservators and communicators of knowledge
to the world ? We live at a period when " the solemn and
plaintive tones of the ancient church, once heard amid the
pangs of martyrdom, or resounding as soft echoes, wakening
the solitudes of the deserts of Syria, Arabia, and Upper Egypt,
— the very same tones, and the same testimony, at once for
great truths and for great errors too, for eternal verities, and
for futile superstitions, are now, and after so long a silence,
breaking from the cloisters of Oxford," and other haunts of
corrupted truth, to subvert, if possible, pure and simple Chris-
tianity every where.

This passion for spiritual power is as common and intense in
modern sects as it was in the hierarchies of an earlier type.

THE CHURCH WITHOtTT A PRIEST. 233

Its means differ, but the end in view is always the same — to
estabUsh a sovereign control over the faith of mankind, by
assaihng the timid with threats, and the credulous with arrogant
assertions. Free and independent minds it would seduce with
fawning, or coerce with invective ; indifferent as to the process
used, so that the fabric of superstition may be reared with all
its crushing weight on the brain and soul of mankind.

Since the reformation, so called, there has been as much
spiritual despotism and spiritual slavery, as abject submission
to priestly rule, as ever there was before. This has followed
because that reformation, while it pruned off some of the
branches of the deadly Upas, yet left its main root of vigor
and source of all its poison unscathed. Luther himself was
too much of a priest to the last, and therefore a great deal of
imperfection depreciated the work he performed. Natural
religion is not adequate to meet and satisfy our higher wants,
though it imparts many noble influences through those voices
which from the stars of heaven and the flowers of earth speak
to the soul, ever tending to raise it above a low and sordid
system of action, towards virtue and sacred love, as the blossom
of our nature, and its highest development. Christianity is
therefore sent by our heavenly Father freely to bestow every
assistance we can need ; truth, mercy and love not to be inter-
fered with by those who pollute what they touch, and render
the purest agency subservient to their own sordid purposes by
the perverted modes of its application they are most ambitious
to employ. We do not always find clerical functionaries
advocating the dearest interests of humanity, ample freedom,
civil and religious ; freedom of speech, thought, and action,
against arrogance and despotism of every kind. On the con-
trary, beyond the sea and in our own country, we too often
find dissenting intolerance coalescing with episcopal bigotiy,
while Christianity^ like its divine Founder, between the two
thieves is crucified.

Such religionists, the disgrace of their profession, are aptly
described by Robert Ilall, in his " Antinomianism Unmasked."
20*

234 REPUBLICAN CIIRISTIAMTY.

In their own estimation they are " a privileged class, who dwell
in a secluded region of unshaken security and lawless liberty,
while the rest of the Christian world are the vassals of legal
bondage, toiling in darkness and in chains. Hence, whatever
diversity of character they may display in other respects, a
haughty and bitter disdain of every other class of professors
is a universal feature. Contempt or hatred of the most devout
and enlightened Christians out of their own pale, seems one of
the most essential elements of their being ; nor were the an-
cient Pharisees ever more notorious for ' trusting in themselves
that they were righteous, and despising others.'"

Professor Park, of the Theological Seminary at Andover, has
described the dictatorial spirit of arid dogmatists, and the impo-
tency of their rage in the present age, by the following appro-
priate instance and illustration: "The Alexandrian fathers,
Clement, Origen, and Athanasius placed a punctuation mark
after the word ef in the third verse of the first chapter of John's
Gospel. Chrysostom was alarmed at this punctuation, and
denounced it as a heresy. Epiphanius declared it blasphemous,
and the sin against the Holy Ghost ; and this commotion on
account of a single dot contributed to delay for years the per-
ilous work of punctuating the sacred page. The li^e hostility
to free thought bound the energies of the schoolmen down to
the most profitless inquiries. Not daring to rise up and labor
in the sunshine, they burrowed in darkness, and wasted on
puerile conceits the power that was meant for discovery and
l)rogress. This substitution of polemic rancor for fraternal
interest has driven the mind of others to an extreme of error,
which they did not themselves anticipate. As the child, so the
man, and as every man, so the theologian, is apt to do right if
you convince him that he is expected to do so, and is apt to do
wrong if you assure his neighbors that he is past recovery.
He is won to truth and repulsed into error. Arminius, if he
had been kindly reasoned with, instead of being rudely de-
nounced, had never pressed his corruptions so far ; and the
history of many pitiable writers is this — first, they inquired

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 235

with honest intent ; secondly, they were called heretics ; lastly,
they became heretics. This domineering spirit of ecclesiastics
has incited other minds to revolution against authority. There
are some spirits who will think for themselves. You might as
well chain the Hellespont as them. You may stand at the
portal with a pointed bayonet, they will come out and do what
they list. When the bull of the pope has fallen on such a
mind, and the edict of the bishop has oppressed it, and the
Presbyterian book of discipline has held it down too closely,
this mind has stirred under its load, and has struggled against
the walls that confined it, pressing against them like lava
against the sides of ^tna, and at last has heaved, and poured
itself out of the rent crater, and scattered books of discipline
to the four winds, and taught the aspirants for mental sway
that what God has made elastic, and expansive, and inflamma-
ble, is not to be compressed and stifled."

That priestcraft is endeavoring to gain a foothold in this free
land is evident from notorious facts. For instance, on July 2,
1843, a young man was ordained by Bishop Ondcrdonk of New
York, who openly avowed his agreement essentially with the
church of Rome. 1. " He did not see any thing to prevent
or forbid " his having recourse to the ministry of Rome, if
denied admission to the ministiy of the Protestant Episcopal
church in this country. 2. " He did not deem the diflierences
between them [the Protestant Episcopal Church] and the church
of Rome to be such as embraced any points of faith." 3. " He
was not prepared to pronounce the doctrine of transubstantiation
an absurd or impossible doctrine." 4. " He does not object to
the Romish doctrine of purgatory, as defined by the council of
Trent." * * b. " He was not prepared to say whether she
[the Romish church] or the Anglican church were the more
pure." 6. " He regarded the denial of the cup to the laity
[in the administration of the sacrament of the Lord's supper]
as a mere matter of discipline." * * 7. " He believes that
the reformation from the church of Rome was an unjustifia-
ble act, and followed by many grievous and lamentable results."

236 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

8. " He was not disposed to fault the church of Rome for
using Apocryphal books ; nor was he prepared to say that
the Holy Spirit did not speak by these books Apocrj'phal."

9. " He considered the promise of conformity to the doctrine,
discipline, and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church as not
embracing the Thirty-nine Articles in any close and rigid con-
struction of them, but regarded them only as affording a sort of
general basis of concord — as those which none subscribed
except with certain mental reservations and private exceptions ;
and that this was what he regarded as Bishop White's view."
He further declared his conviction of the lawfulness of the
invocation of saints ; thought the souls in purgatory might be
benefited by our prayers ; received the creed of Pope Pius
IV., so far as it was a repetition of the decrees of the council
of Trent, which decrees he could receive, the damnatory
clauses only excepted, &c., &c. See " A Statement of Facts
in Relation to the recent Ordination in St. Stephen's Church,
New York, by Drs. Smith and Anthon, 1843."

Of the overbearing nature of hierarchies, under the forms
of papacy and English prelacy, we have said enough in the
preceding chapters. The above statement is abundantly suffi-
cient to show that, if it were possible, we should soon have the
same oppressive absurdities established here. There is another
class of Christians to whom we shall refer in this connection,
and with profound respect. The Methodist Episcopal Church
is exceedingly active, and doing a great amount of good ; but
we think they would do much more, if they were governed by
a more primitive ecclesiastical polity. Punchard, in his work
on "Congregationalism," speaks of this as follows: —

" 1. 'The government of this church is strictly Episcopal.'
So says one of its leading members. Another says, ' It is a
moderate Episcopacy.'

" Like the Protestant Episcopal Church, it asserts that there
should be three orders in the ministry — bishops, elders, and
deacons ; and its book of discipline, contains the substance of
the form and manner of making and ordaining these officers,

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 237

which is found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episco-
pal church. Their bishops, however, claim not the exclusive
right to ordain, and may themselves be ordained by presbyters.
See 'Discipline Methodist Episcopal Church,' chap. i. § 4 ;
chap. iv. § 1,2, 3. They are regarded as superior to elders in
office rather than grade. Zioii's Herald, on jMethodist polity,
Oct. 6, 1841. Still they appear to sympathize with Episcopacy.
Soon after the establishment of an 'episcopate' in the Prot-
estant Episcopal church of the United States, Dr. Coke, the pre-
siding Methodist bishop, expressed his entire accordance with
the Protestant Episcopal church, in their order and discipline,
and his earnest desire for a union between the two denomina-
tions. And though there is now, perhaps, less sympathy be-
tween these hierarchies than ever before, yet, as late as 1840,
this proposal was renewed by a leading Methodist.

" So far, then, as this church approves of the constitution
and discipline of the Protestant Episcopal church, so far must
we disapprove of Episcopal Methodism.

" 2. The national character of this church is another ob-
jection to it. All the congregations throughout the United
States are regarded as but parts of one great national estab-
lishment. In no church system in these United States, Popery
alone excepted, is there such a centralizing of power as in this.
Viewed in its national character, it is an oligarchy. Six bish-
ops are at its head, as its supervisors, and, to a very great
extent, its uncontrolled governors. And these, unlike the bish-
ops of the Protestant Episcopal church, appear not to be per-
manently confined to particular dioceses, or districts, but to
have equal power and authority in every part of the church,
over its spiritual and temporal affairs. More than Iigo thousand
travelling preachers, in every part of the United States, are
under their control, and go and come at their bidding — a
power which the very apostles, the vicegerents of Christ him-
self, never pretended to exercise over the pastors and teachers
of particular churches.

" 3. The absolute and exclusive power of the clergy, in the

238 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

government of this church, is, in our view, another very ob-
jectionable feature in the system.

"The United States are divided into thirty-three 'confer-
ences;' in each of which there is a yearly meeting of all the
travelling preachers, and such as are eligible to this office, with
a presiding bishop at their head, called the ' yearly confer-
ence.' This body of clergymen manage the affairs of the
church within their conference.

" From these yearly conferences a number of delegates,
one for every twenty-one members, go up to form the ' gen-
eral conference,' which has in its hands the supreme power of
the church. Into neither of these bodies are any laymen ad-
mitted. The general government of this church, then, is en-
tirely in the hands of the bishops and clergy — a most unscrip-
tural and dangerous location of power ; as is manifest from the
infallible word of God, and from the past history of the church.

" 4. Not only are the people thus robbed of all participation
in the general government under which they live, but likewise
of all right to call, ordain, I'etain, or dismiss their ministers.
The general conference chooses the bishops. Discipline,
chap. i. ^ 4. The yearly conferences choose the travelling
elders and deacons, and present them to the bishops for ordi-
nation. Discipline, chap, i, § 6, 7. The quarterly confer-
ences recommend the preachers to the yearly conferences.
The bishops appoint the presiding elders, who are virtually
bishops in their respective circuits. Section 5. The presiding
elders, the travelling elders, the deacons, and the preachers,
are, as we have already seen, all under the direction of the
bishops, who station them where they think proper, and
remove them when they think best, subject to certain general
restrictions. Sections 4, 5, 8. Answer 11, 12.

" In none of these important matters is the voice of the peo-
ple heard. I mean the hndi/ of the people, in distinction from
the officers of the church." pp. 230, 231, 232.

Secondly, priestcraft is not only the product of all ages, but
it is the defender of every bigoted creed. The priests of the

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 239

old nations were in some respects the benefactors of the human
race ; but in most instances they were a curse. Reinhard and
others have shown that, though the sacerdotal orders were
appointed for the express purpose of preserving true religion,
and extending good dispositions and feelings, yet it is well
known that they not only neglected this important calling, but
acted in direct opposition to the duties imposed upon them.
They were every where zealous to maintain and propagate the
crudest notions of religion, and the most senseless forms of
superstition ; to cry down and suppress all the new light and
information that might be derived from philosophy, while they
favored the bitter hostilities which originated in antique creeds,
and employed them to their own advantage. In Egypt, and
through all the nations of the East, priests bent all their pow-
ers of artifice to secure their own dominion, and maintain the
dependence of kings upon their order, without doing any thing
towards enlightening and improving the people.

When Jesus Christ appeared on earth, he came to destroy
ecclesiastical tyranny, by founding a kingdom purely spiritual ;
one that might be admitted into all countries without the cum-
brous use of sacerdotal engineiy. Whatever may be the
modifications of the civil constitution, and the vicissitudes of
climate, or time, he prescribed only two ceremonies, which
have a noble simplicity, and can be observed wherever men
reside, without priests to mystify or turn them to a perverted
use. Every thing was left, both by Jesus and the apostles, to
the judgment and conscience of those who might embrace the
true religion, and follow only the word of God, as best ex-
pounded and exemplified in the lessons and life of the great
Redeemer. They well knew that therein nothing is said of
sacred places or stated feasts ; of pious journeys and pil-
grimages, or of oppressive ceremonies binding on those whom
the truth has made free. The whole earth is God's temple ;
in every place, man can lift up holy hands ; every creature of
God is clean and good, and no worshipper is to have dictated
to him, by earthly authority, the attitude and language in which

240 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

he shall divinely adore. Jesus attacked the pernicious tradi-
tions and presumption of the ancient priesthood on all occa-
sions, (Matt. V. 21, et seq.) and did it with an earnestness which
evinced itself by the most vehement reproaches. Matt. xv.
1 — 9. Mark vii. 1 — 13. Matt, xxiii. 1 — 39. He compared
all these merely human precepts to poisonous plants, which
must be entirely rooted up, (Matt. xv. 13,) bitterly censured
the Pharisees for taking so much pains to make proselytes to a
disfigured religion, (Matt, xxiii. 15,) and finally engaged to
deliver the poor, oppressed people from the whole burden of the
Mosaic law, and give them the easy yoke of a pure, spiritual
religion in its stead. Matt. xi. 28, 29. By the representation
which Jesus gave of the doctrine of the one only and supreme
God, and of the nature of acceptable worship, very important
objects were to be accomplished. He exhibited true religion
with such clearness and simplicity, that those of the humblest
capacities, even children, might comprehend it. By calling
God Father, and putting that endearing name in the first breath
of all our supplications, the Savior would extirpate those fright-
ful images under which both Jews and Gentiles had contem-
plated the Deity, and substitute a childlike confidence, a heart-
felt love, instead of that slavish mortification and the service
extorted by fear, which had usually been thought necessary for
appeasing him and retaining his favor. "In particular, the
priests, those promoters and protectors of superstition, who had
hitherto claimed for themselves the authority of an indispensa-
ble mediatorship between God and man, and thus rendered
themselves of very great importance, were to he deprived of
their injiuence forever ; for he who knows God to be a conde-
scending and affectionate Father can apply to him directly, and
needs not a prior introduction from such mediators and con-
fidants."

Christ would teach man that there is no spiritual progress for
liim till he discovers that truth is as much a thing to be felt as
a thing to be perceived, and that it is only a very small portion
of truth that the philosopher's analysis, the logician's syllo-

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 241

gisms, theological dogmas, and sectarian creeds, can impart to
the immortal soul. The searcher after true light and strength
will have to sweep from his path a dense host of antiquated
chimeras, before he can run rejoicingly, like an unbound giant,
in the way of holiness. To mould, transform, and elevate, all
the elements of our deathless nature is the legitimate influence
of Christianity, and not to degrade it into a monstrosity absorb-
ing the entire being, and deadening much that is eminently and
beautifully human. One main cause of this unrighteous effect
is the supposition, most earnestly inculcated by priestcraft, that
religion consists in certain formal acts ; whereas religious ser-
vices are only the expressions of a sentiment which can with
equal acceptance find utterance in a thousand other shapes
beside those which temple shrines and gorgeous ceremonies
exhibit. In the depths of the savage wilderness, amid the
foaming billows of stormy ocean, or on thunder-scarred moun-
tain peaks, the incense of an honest heart can rise in prayer to
the Omnipotent as fervently and as welcomely as from beneath
the lofty cathedral dome. And even when the lips move not,
and v/hen the eyes, weighed down by sickness and sorrow, are
closed, the heart, gratefully devout, can throb its silent adoration
as sacredly as if it mingled its tones with the melody of thou-
sands, and bowed ostentatiously before altar and priest. True
worship is as different from the mere forms on which priestcrafl
mainly depends, as a hundred beautiful flowers, fragrantly
blooming in the verdant, dewy, and sunny field, are unlike the
mere arithmetical statement that there are a hundred of them.
To substitute this in the place of that simple and divine adoration
which Christ appointed and Heaven requires, is worse than to
prefer a hortus siccus to the delicious odors and diversified hues
of a blooming parterre ; it would be the supei-stitious madness
that drains the veins of a human being to make a warm bath
for his feet.

The church, so far as it corresponds to its true character, is
Christianity realized in the world. The life of Christ, as the
life of perfect love to God and man, binds those who share it
21

242 REPUBLICAN CllRJSTIAMTT.

into fellowship, and this is their only bond. As the God re-
vealed in Christianity is a God of order, so must this fellow-
ship, notwithstanding the variety of gifts and characters therein
comprised, constitute one perfect whole, organized and devel-
oped according to its own essential and inherent laws. " If,"
says UUmann, " the church is only the natural expression, the
realization of Christianity, then must the essential character-
istic of Christianity be that of the church. We therefore say,
on the one hand, the church is no mere moral institution, no
school for the dissemination of doctrine, or the promotion of
redemption or reconciliation ; but, on the other hand, as Christ
taught and bore witness to the truth, so must the church teach
and bear witness ; as he, by word and deed, promoted morality,
so must the church cultivate and cherish it ; the redemption and
reconciliation which he revealed, the church should, with all
its powers, diffuse and render available. But all must be done
with reference to the central point of Christianity, which is the
life and character of Christ himself; and the more all sec-
ondary objects are kept subordinate to this main principle, the
better will the church fulfil its office, the more Cln-istian will it
become." Now, as eighteen hundred years ago, men can
become Christians only by entering into a vital communion
with the divine character of Christy and, through it, with God.
They can participate in the full benefits of Christianity only so
far as they persevere with growing steadfastness in this com-
munion, obeying eveiy command, so that Christ becomes more
and more a living existence in their souls, pervading their
whole life, and calling forth within them a higher nature, like
unto his own.

Creeds fabricated by priestly craft constitute the heaviest and
most corroding chains ever fastened on human minds. The
inquirer after truth is drawn away from the words and example
of the great Teacher, and confused by those who shout around
him their own articles so violently, that the voice of the only
infallible Master is nearly drowned. And what are these sub-
stitutes for the plain teachings of the New Testament, but mis-

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 243>

erable skeletons, freezing abstractions, unintelligible dogmas,
as dubious to the understanding as they are repugnant to the
heart ? The confessions of faith, books of discipline, and
creed concoctions, in general adopted by most Protestant sects,
imbody the grand idea of infallibility, as truly as the decrees
of Trent and the Vatican; and, if I were compelled to choose
between the two, most assuredly would I prefer the despotism
of Rome ; for that has some historical dignity, if no other
merit. The spirit which has dug dreary dungeons, kindled
martyr-flames, and invented instruments of exquisite torture for
the body, yet reappears, from time to time, in little books, man-
ifestoes of synods, conferences, and councils, to exert a no less
fearful influence over the human mind. The bonds of gross
outward intolerance may be broken, and the pressure of state
religion may be removed, yet the agents of evil, who, at an
earlier day, exerted their unhallowed tyranny even in this free
land, still lurk with cunning alacrity to spring upon us those
spiritual chains that eat like aspics into the soul. Were it not
that the spirit of the people is essentially liberal, and that intel-
ligent conceptions of republican Christianity are spreading
wider and deeper every day, human auspices would be sad
indeed. Coalitions are as practicable in the church as in the
state ; and recent events show that minor differences can be
sunk, for the purpose of achieving a common end. If the
ministry, instead of forming alliances among themselves, would
exercise individual faith in a higher operation of Christianity,
a nobler development of humanity, they would more directly
and efficiently commend themselves to the popular heart, and
more gloriously sway the destinies of all mankind. Christ was
the greatest of reformers ; and perpetual reform is the charac-
teristic spirit of a true ministry. Without this spirit of truth
and power, fine churches are but painted sepulchres, and
priestly disquisitions in them are but sounding brass or a tin-
kling cymbal. Wherever we meet with persons who teach that
the special mercy of God and the saving power of the Holy
Spirit are bestowed through a wafer, bread and wine, some

244 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

form of benediction, baptism, and ordination, or any other out-
ward ministration, from the hands or lips of a frail fellow-
mortal, there is priestcraft the most rife to be reprobated and
despised.

Christ came to put an end to hereditary faith, to make each
man's belief original and independent with himself, directly
drawn from the only source of Christian doctrine and practice.
Nothing is more certain than that religion is a subject upon
which all persons are under obligations the most solemn to
deliberate, choose, and act for themselves. Freedom of
inquiry is a high privilege, as safe for the masses as for indi-
viduals ; and this boon Christ procured for all our race. He
never designed that a few should lead, and that the multitude
should be compelled to follow in their steps. But what are the
spirit and language of many professed teachers of Christianity .''
" Out of my creed there is no orthodoxy ; out of my church
there is no salvation." But, fortunately, the days of such
priestly arrogance are numbered.

" The spirit cannot ahvay sleep in dust

"Whose essence is ethereal; they may try
To darken and degrade it ; it may rust

Dimly a -while, but cannot wholly die ;
And, when it wakens, it will send its fire
Intenser forth and higher."

Priestcraft lays hold of man as soon as he is born, and holds
him in degrading vassalage from the cradle to the grave.
Infant sprinkling, youthful catechizing, confirmation, creeds,
and extreme unction, — these are some of the machinery which
sacerdotal falsehood, in varied forms, employs to cramp the
free thoughts and mould the eternal destinies of its unhappy
dupes. Imbecile babelings are made church-members by a
senseless rite, before they have a will of their own to exercise,
and are often domineered over, by artificial restraints, against
their will, until, having grown mature enough to judge for
themselves, they either supinely yield to the tyranny that has
been imposed upon them, or recklessly repel all religions as

THE CHURCH ■\\aTHOUT A PRIEST. 24&

equally absurd. Blind superstition or mad infidelity is the
common result by priestcraft produced.

It sounds very inconsistent, if not absurd, to hear sectarians
boasting of their Protestantism, and abusing most violently the
superstitions of the Romish church, while they themselves
attach such efficacy to the very practice which constituted
the first radical corruption of Christianity, and has ever re-
mained the chief strength of the Papacy. As a specimen of
the most recent views on this subject, the following extracts are
adduced from " Dodsworth on Romanism and Dissent," the
American edition, printed at Baltimore, 1842. Speaking of
" the church," the author says, " It is certainly most surprising
that any one can call in question the fact that she holds the
efficacy of Christian baptism. By adopting the Nicene Creed
into her formularies, she calls upon her members to profess
their belief in ' one baptism for the remission of sins.' In her
baptismal service she adopts such language as this : ' ^^'e call
upon Thee for this person, or this infant, that he, coming to thy
holy baptism, may receive remission of his sins by spiritual
regeneration.' ' Sanctify this water to the mystical washing
away of sin.' And after baptism, ' We yield thee hearty
thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to
regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for
thine own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into thy
holy church.' Consistently with this, in her Catechism, she
teaches every one of her baptized children to say, ' My bap-
tism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of
God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven ; ' and asserts
that ' the inward and spiritual grace ' of baptism is ' a death
unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness ; for, being by
nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby
made the children of grace.'

" Such, then, is clearly the doctrine of the church of England.

She teaches her members to look back to their baptism as the

instrument whereby they were grafted into Christ, and began

to receive from him the element of a new and spiritual life ;

21 *

246 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY,

not only as a badge and token of our Christian profession, but
rather as 'a sure witness and effectual sign of grace, and of
God's good will toward us, by the which he doth work invisi-
bly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and
confirm our faith in him. ' " pp. 126, 127.

Herein we are distinctly told that sprinkling is a saving ordi-
nance ; and, on page 129, we are further informed that infants
unfortunately born beyond the pale of " the church " cannot,
even by sprinkling, be saved. The author continues, " The
general rule obviously is, that those children alone are entitled
to baptism who are born within the bosom of the church, of
parents in her communion. So Hooker teaches : ' God by cove-
nant requireth in the elder sort faith and baptism ; in children, the
sacrament of baptism alone, whereunto he hath also given them
right, by special privilege of birth, within the bosom of the holy
church.' Ecc. Pol. v. 62. And again : ' We are plainly
taught of God, (1 Cor. vii. 14,) that the seed of faithful
parentage is holy from the veiy birth, which albeit we may not
so understand, as if children of believing parents were without
sin ; or grace from baptized parents derived by propagation ;
or God by covenant and promise tied to save any in mere
regard of their parents' belief; yet seeing that to all professors
of the name of Christ this preeminence above infidels is freely
given, that the fruit of their bodies bringeth into the world with
it a present interest and right to those means wherewith the
ordinance of Christ is, that his church shall be sanctified,' &c.
lb. v. 60.

" In the time of Augustin, the question arose whether chil-
dren whose parents were under excommunication and the
church's censures were entitled to baptism ; which that father
decides in the affirmative, maintaining that the excommunica-
tion of a parent did not deprive the child of his right to bap-
tism. But in this case, as in every other, it is obviously pre-
supposed that the sponsors of such child are in communion
with the church. This, indeed, appears from the analogous
case of children born of heathen or Jewish parents."

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PEIEST. 347

These are the blessed offspring who from the first are trained
to believe that their salvation began with a few drops of water
on their brow or linen, and that it will be perfected if they
carefully " look to the south while reading prayers, and to the
west while reading lessons." Coleman, in tracing the rise of
Episcopacy, makes a remark or two quite pertinent to this
point. Says he, " Very few of that communion know or
believe that the prescribed mode of baptism in the church of
England is immersion. This, however, is precisely and accu-
rately the fact. The words of the formulary for the public
baptism of infants in their Book of Common Prayer are as fol-
lov/s : ' then, naming it after them, (if they shall certify that the
child may well endure it,) he (the priest) shall dip it in the
water discreetly and warily, saying, &;c. But, if they certify
that the child is weak, it shall suffice to pour water upon it.'
In this, under circumstances the most improbable, an innovation
has been made of which the mass of the people are totally
ignorant. The mode of baptism has been entirely changed
without their knowledge or belief, while every churchman holds
in his hand the prayer-book which describes the exact manner
in which the ordinance shall be administered. Shall we wonder,
then, at the gradual change in the government of the church in
that early age, when every thing favored its introduction, and
in the absence of any written constitution, or remaining records
of the primitive church ? " This shows what priestcraft has
been able to effect in changing the prescribed form of a rite ;
and let us here add, that whether sprinkling, pouring, or im-
mei-sion, is insisted on as having in itself a saving efficacy, the
claim set up is equally impious and absurd. To " believe and
be baptized " is undoubtedly the duty which Christ has laid
equally on every one. But to believe with one's own mind,
and to be baptized according to one's own con%'iction of duty
in view of the teachings and example of our Lord, we hold to
be duties equally clear, and indispensable to the full discharge
of the one grand obligation upon which all true religion is
based.

248 REPUBLICAN QIIKISTIANlXy.

Christians who lived at the period of the Lutheran reforma-
tion, and who caught a large share of the true spirit of Christ,
were far from thinking to analyze it ; they had yet to free
themselves and their religion from the stifling encumbrances of
ecclesiastical authority — a task which they never radically per-
formed. All their struggles were practical, and confined within
the sphei"e of the church; all that lay beyond was for them of
little interest, and hence Christianity to their eyes presented
but a limited view. The moderns have attempted a more
e.xact definition of the distinctive character of the gospel, and
a wider application of its beneficent influence. This has been
the natural result of their advance in historical and philosophi-
cal culture, which enables them to perceive that Christianity,
independent, original, and divinely derived, is the model of
purest republicanism, the teacher of most comprehensive wis-
dom, and inspirer of the divinest life. Progressive improve-
ment will undoubtedly still advance under the direction of
merciful Providence, until the last priest shall have perished
with the last anti-scriptural creed, and then the whole dis-
burdened and rejoicing world may sing with PoUok, —

" O love destroying, cursed bigotry !
Cursed in heaven, but cursed more in hell,
"^Tiere millions curse thee, and must ever curse.
Heligion's most abhorred ! perdition's most
Forlorn ! God's most abandoned ! hell's most damned !
The infidel, who turned liis impious war
Against the walls of Zion, on the rock
Of ages built, and higher than the clouds,
Sinned, and received his due reward ; but she
"Within her walls sinned more : of Ignorance
Begot, her daughter. Persecution, walked
The earth from age to age, and drank the blood
Of saints, with horrid relish drank the blood
Of God's pecuUar children — and was drunk ;
And in her drunkenness dreamed of doing good.
The supphcatmg hand of innocence.
That made the tiger mild, and in his wrath
Tlic lion pause — the groans of suffering most

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 249

Severe, -were nought to her : she laughed at groans :

No music pleased her more ; and no repast

So sweet to her as blood of men redeemed

By blood of Christ. Ambition's seL^ though mad.

And nvirsed on human gore, "v\T.th her compared,

"SVas merciful. Xor did she always rage :

She had some hours of meditation, set

Apart, wherein she to her study went,

The inquisition, model most complete

Of perfect ■^•ickedness, where deeds were done, —

Deeds ! let them ne'er be named, — and sat and planned

DeUberately and with most musing pains.

How, to extreraest thrill of agony.

The flesh, and blood, and souls of holy men,

Her victims, might be wTought ; and when she saw

New tortures of her laboring fancy bom.

She leaped for joy, and made great haste to try

Their force — well pleased to hear a deeper groan."

In the third place, let us remark that priestcraft is not only
the product of every age, and the defender of every bigoted
creed, but it is also the chief foe to Christianity and greatest
curse to mankind.

Christ came to earth to establish thereon a church, not of
the clergy, but of the people ; his own true disciples, trans-
formed in heart and divine in purpose, the conservators of all
excellence, the teachers of all truth. Christian patriots, to reno-
vate and bless their race. Having composed his church of
those only whom he had healed of the worst malady and illumined
with the best light, and in the original organization having con-
structed it on the most perfect republican principles, Christ
designed each branch to be the model and school of perfect
freedom, the Gilead of its district, and the Pharos of the
world.

Primitive Christianity had something better than a pedantic
priesthood to lay its broad and salutary foundations after the
pattern revealed from heaven ; it had its Marks, as well as its
Peters; its Timothies as well as its Pauls. And from the
apostolic age, from the morrow of the divine foundation of

250 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

the church till a long after period, all historical monuments
positively assert, that a clergy, properly so called, an ecclesi-
astical body established upon the basis of a hierarchy, and
recruiting its ranks according to conventional rules, did nowhere
exist. The clerical ofRce, with its incommunicable privileges,
its pretended indelibility and investiture, to whatever remote-
ness it may presume to ascend, is far from being as old as
Christianity, but began in the degenerate age when the distinc-
tion between priest and layman first commenced. It was then
that our holy religion came to be regarded, not as a system of
free and divine instruction, but of arbitrai-y human dogmas;
when knowledge and faith were theoretical only, instead of
being exalted doctrine applied — practice, holiness, love, life.
Then, as is ever the case under like circumstances, authority
was introduced into the hallowed sphere of Christianity, to for-
tify imbecile and hollow creeds, and truth was strangely trans-
formed into something absolute and despotic, to facilitate the
despotism of crafty men. Having usurped the functions of a
governing body, they gave a preponderance of the earthly
over the heavenly power of Christianity, and ended by decree-
ing formulas of faith — forging those heavy chains, which in
some measure have ever since kept the masses of the world
under the yoke of ecclesiastical dominion.

The grand curse of the day is the inthralment of man's
nobler nature, the sophistication of conscience through conven-
tionalism, the overthrow of which giant evil is destined to
evolve all the blessings which mental and moral culture can
diffuse. Sacerdotal dynasties of every order and degree will
soon learn that the soul of man is not a frozen formula, on the
glassy surface of which they may with impunity scribble their
dictations, but a free, fervid, and fragrant vitality, branching
forth majestic aspirations toward the heavens of eternal truth.
The world is beginning to regard Christianity in its true light,
not fragmentary, but as a u-JioJe, at once historical and ideal,
doctrinal and practical, human and divine ; capable equally of
individual and universal application, to be studied in its origin,

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 251

its essential elements, the conditions of its progress and cer-
tainity of final triumph.

The true creative energy of religion, to which now, as at
first, its main influence is owing, consists, not in the propaga-
tion of abstract ideas, but in legitimate fruits of pious souls,
rather than in the sanctimonious cantings of sectarian creeds.
Christianity is doctrine, so far as it relates to the circumstances
nnd divine revelations that signalized its birth ; but it is more
than this, a testimony, glad tidings, gospel^ not in selfish axioms
and frigid deductions, but by religious and moral principles
expanded in the spiritual consciousness of its recipients, and
imbodied in beneficent deeds. No doctrine can possess either
dignity or force apart from the spirit which was first exemplified
in the life of Christ, and designed, in a smaller or larger meas-
ure, to be practically displayed by all who profess to follow in
his steps. He who has not erected a temple to the Deity in his
own bosom will never be a true and holy worshipper ; and he
who neglects both the example and precepts of the Lord, whose
disciple he professes to be, will not fail to dishonor the profes-
sion he has made.

One of the most beautiful characteristics, and one of the
greatest advantages of Christianity, is the independence of be-
lief and life which it both requires and rewards. In the laby-
rinth of existence in which we all wander, not knowing whither
the brittle thread will lead, when or where we may die, it
is the blessed prerogative of a true Christian, to carry his
priesthood always in his own heart, feeling that redemption is
not bound to any hierarchical constitution or sacerdotal rite.
He believes that his progress toward God will not be arrested
w hen no longer accompanied by a human guide ; that his chief
resource lies in recognizing the light of divine truth, and re-
membering, with an humble, docile heart, that the only priest we
are bound to serve is the great One who ever lives to intercede
for us on high. The love of such a believer is derived from
his faith no less than his faith is nourished and purified by his
love. In his faith, knowledge and obedience ai-e comprehended

252 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

in delightful union ; so that these elements can as little be
separated from it, " as the light of the fire from its warmth."
The character of a true disciple, like that of his Lord, can
be very imperfectly understood, if we regard it as consisting
wholly either in morality or in piety : it lies rather in the
symmetrical combination of the two — in holiness, a life from^
and tn, and ybr God. This is that creative and ennobling power
Christ brought to earth ; not a mere abstract theory of the invisi-
ble world, but a redeeming influence, which awakens in its sub-
jects a capacity for union with God, and causes them to radiate
with the genial effulgence of charity all around.

All true religion is essentially communion of man with his
Maker, in which there is but one Mediator ; it is that which
stands between God and man, and which in Christ blends both
in one. Such being the relation between the reason as well as
heart of man and its Author, every act of rational devotion
must not be an artificial ceremony, but a living reality, the
mutual operation of spirits finite and infinite. God must stoop
to communicate himself to the worshipper ; and he by simul-
taneous act must raise himself to God, and have a conscious-
ness of his presence, not in idea alone, but in spirit, power,
and love. But priestcraft most effectually destroys this central
point and chief glory of Christianity, by degrading what in it
is life, reality, and moral energy, to an unsatisfactory specula-
tion or hollow form. Hence the importance of our keeping
before us constantly and only Christ, the whole Christ, as he
was possessed by the apostles and primitive Christians, who
invites us to stand before him independent of all self-constituted
rabbis, to receive light for our understanding, joy for our heart,
guidance and support for a temporal and eternal career.

Life can proceed only from life. The priest contrasts man
and God because he wishes to make himself important as a
messenger to a race whom he represents as superlatively
degraded ; but Christ came to render every man his own
priest, by inviting all to himself in whom the human and divine
are one, and teach us to rise to heaven by developing heavenly

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 253

graces in ourselves. Thus at the outset the Messiah demon-
strated that his mission was not to confuse and oppress, but to
teach and save. He would vanquish all obstacles to our eman-
cipation from sin and perpetual progress in holiness, raising
feverish and fainting spirits above the skies, where Jehovah
breathes eternal blessedness on the sincere, the loving, and the
free. Seeing man, the image of God, trampled in the dust by
priestcraft, that God himself, in their estimation, may be fitly
honored, the pitying Redeemer comes to our rescue, and
imparts religious instruction so simple and yet potent, that the
least educated need not err as to its import, nor the most sin-
ful fail by its efficacy to be saved. The dead blank of our
spiritual night he does not make still more dubious by the
twinkling of a few artificial lights, but unveiled to every vision
he hangs blazing on high the great luminary that smiles
through every petty storm and eclipse, the king of our spiritual
planetary system, the God of an ultimately cloudless and
eternal day.

Every person has a vital interest in this question. In order
that morality may be free, faith must be free also. If one is
compelled to believe, he is also compelled to act. It is impos-
sible to conceive a being endowed with moral liberty, who does
not also possess religious freedom ; which is merely saying,
that a being is really free only when he is {ree in the whole of
his being. Christianity, to attain pristine beauty and power
again, must perfect itself; not by modifying its essence, which
has been completely divine from the beginning, but by disen-
gaging itself from earthly clogs, by emancipating itself from
the entanglements of priestcraft, which envelop, obscure, and
degrade it. Perfection in religious teaching is attained when
that which constitutes its soul fulmines through its body, and
manifests itself to the gaze of all with a sublime brilliancy,
like the throne of God. This is its nature and only design.
Its two weapons of warfare are light and love. From genera-
tion to generation, its invitation, resounding to the Nathaniels
of every land, is. Come and see ! Starting in the lowest vale
22

254 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITV.

of life, the ocean of Mercy would roll its flood-tide abroad over
the earth, to renew the energies of a fallen race, and bear
them upward on its billows as they swell to be immersed anew
in their divine source. But priestcraft is afraid of so much
benevolence here below. It is as incapable of appreciating its
worth as of measuring its proportions ; therefore it goes on
stupidly exacting impossible duties, denouncing impossible sins,
confounding honest minds with conflicting dogmas, and to the
utmost extent keeping Christianity in leading-strings. Condor-
cet said truly, " Kings persecute persons, priests opinion.
Without kings, men must be safe ; and without priests, minds
must be free."

Christianity was strikingly characterized by its Author as
leaven. This is destined to put the whole mass of mankind
into a state of fermentation, that it may work itself clear of
all heterogeneous grossness, purge itself of every form of error,
absurdity, and delusion ; until, by this natural process, it shall
have refined and clarified our race with pure and profound
views of truth. Our eyes, so delicately organized, and guarded
with so much care, were not made to be closed and bandaged
from the cradle to the grave, but to gaze freely on the beauties
and sublimities of earth, sea, and sky. The soul of man, of
all men, pants to contemplate brighter and broader glories than
the natural vision can perceive ; and is there a fiend more
worthy of hell than he who would darken heaven from human
view ? Our business as Christians is to throw wide open to all
mankind the temple gates of Truth. Her influence, when once
it roots itself in the human heart, never dies: it lives, grows,
multiplies itself, and becomes indestructible. The laws which
guaranty this may be but dimly discerned, but their operation
is constant, potent, and universal. Nothing is beneficial with-
out this. " All the great advances made by society are spon-
taneous movements. The positive benefits which have flowed
to man out of the fount of civil authority and law are few and
comparatively trivial. Civilization owes far less to political
instructions than they to civilization. Science has flourished

THE CHUKCH WITHOUT A PKIEST. 255

without the aid of law. Morality has purged itself of gross
admixtures, and manners have passed through many revolu-
tions, and refinement has reached its present pitch, and litera-
ture has spread abroad its blessings, not by means, but often in
spite, of legislative interposition. And why not religion ? Is
it not, when once fairly planted in the human heart, the most
powerful of all impulses ? Does it not incessantly yearn to
multiply itself .-* Are not all its tendencies to increase, to repro-
duction, to universality .' Can it exist and be silent ? Can it
shake hands with indifference, or take home to its bosom a
careless negligence of others' welfare.'' Die ! It was not born
to die. It is hnmortal. Nominalism may die — hypocrisy
jnay give up the ghost. Priestly pretences, wearing the guise
of Christianity, may want the factitious support derived from
state enactments. But an enlightened apprehension and a cor-
dial love of revealed truth will, up to the measure of its own
existence, not only continue to live, but to work. Safely may
it be left to its own noble impulses. It can neither dwindle
nor decay. And if, at times, it disappears from the surface, it
is only, like streams working their way through a subterra-
neous passage, to emerge again from obscurity in greater clear-
ness, in larger breadth, in yet augmented power."

Of all the contemptible efforts of modern priestcraft, none
can exceed in absurdity that which complacently eradicates
from man the diviner half of his nature, and then proceeds
to coerce the other half into the reception of its own husky
dogmas, as the only food on which an immortal creature
should feed. Reason and free will are strangled or denied,
that a despotic system may be substituted in their place. The
soul is killed to save the body. Truth, God's own word, as a
great, earnest, awful reality, is kept out of sight, and the mis-
erable victim is dwarfed into the pigmy proportions of the puny
creed in which his cramped faculties are bound.

Bigotry is not the vice of a peculiar sect, but of every
ruling party. Luther and his confederates imitated the powers
of Rome in intolerance, as soon as they possessed the means.

256 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Says D'Aubigne, " It was Luther, that great man of God, who,
in this, as in every thing else, advanced at the head of his
church. When, in 1527, the Reformed pleaded for brotherly
love and Christian concord, he answered, ' Be such charity and
unity cursed, even to the bottomless depths of hell.' He him-
self relates to one of his friends that, at the conference con-
voked at IMarburg by the landgrave of Hesse, to unite the
Lutherans and the Reformed, Zwingle, moved to tears, ap-
proached him, saying, ' There are no men on earth with whom
I so much desire to be united as with the Wittembergers.'
And Luther repulsed the Zurich reformer, answering, ' Your
spirit is not our spirit,' and refused to acknowledge Zwingle
and the Swiss as his brethren.

" Since that day, a sectarian spirit has always pervaded
Lutheranism. When, in 1553, the unhappy Reformed were
driven from London by the unfeeling order of bloody Mary,
they were cruelly repulsed, in the midst of winter, by the
advice of the Lutheran theologians, from the walls of Copen-
hagen, of Rostock, of Liibeck, and of Hamburg, where they
asked for shelter. ' Better Papists than Calvinists,' said they ;
'better Mohammedans than Reformed.'"

Viewed as a whole, we hold Luther's influence in high
esteem ; but some portions of his creed and conduct have
doubtless entailed much wrong on mankind. When Erasmus
defended the existence and obligations of free will, the prophet
of Wittemberg exclaimed, " No ; in that which concerns God,
in that which relates either to salvation or damnation, man has
no freedom. He is subjugated to the will of God, or that of
Satan; he is chained and a slave." (Subjectus et servit^ est
vel voluntatis Dei., vel voluntatis Satance.) This is bad enough
belief, surely. His worse conduct, perhaps, is portrayed in the
following extract from the works of ^V. J. Fox, now of the
British parliament : —

" He had puhlisiicd an eloquent tract on Christian liberty.
This work found its way, as such tenets, when once broached,
will ever do, into other quarters than those for which it was

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 257

originally intended. It obtained circulation amongst the peas-
antry of Westphalia, Suabia, and the provinces adjoining the
Rhine. These peasants were just m the condition of men
whose ears would tingle at the very word liberty^ whether
Christian or otherwise. In their politically degraded state, it
must have sounded to them as enchantingly as Paradise or
Utopia would to others. They were at that time ground down
under the horrible feudal system. The great bulk of them
were slaves, who were bought and sold like any other market-
able article ; a class whom their masters multiplied systemati-
cally, by breeding, as jockeys do their horses, and with as little
regard to the preference of the parties themselves. Their
masters might wound and maim them at pleasure, and kill them
with impunity, if the murder was not complained of within a
day ; and, even when that happened to be the case, the offence
was only punished by the payment of a small pecuniary fine.
The farmers and peasants were scarcely in a better condition
than the slaves. They were subjected to those horrible imposts
which have always been associated with the name of the feudal
system. At the best, they could merely earn for themselves,
out of the soil, a wretched pittance, just sufficient for their sup-
port ; all the residue went to their lords. Their state was such,
that, if a farmer was taken ill, no one connected with his farm
would work a stroke more, knowing very well that, if the mas-
ter died, whatever was in his house or upon his farm would be
forthwith seized upon under pretence of arrears for rent, or
fines and payments due to the lord upon passage of the farm
from one tenant to another. The little miserable protection
which the laboring people, slaves, and peasantry had, was only
a kind of game-law regulation, to keep their proprietors from
interfering with each other's property, and had no regard what-
ever to the parties for whose benefit they nominall}' existed.
This complicated oppression was too much for human nature to
bear, especially when these victims of tyranny found, in Martin
Luther's tract, that there was such a thing in the world as lib-
erty. They began to consult together whether they might not
22*

258 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

have a Hi tie of this same good thing for themselves, in their
social condition as well as in their theological opinions. This
intercommunication led to cooperation among them, and, at
length, they mustered 300,000 men. Having attained this
strength, they issued a manifesto, claiming the right of com-
monage, and some of the most simple and elementary privi-
leges which are due to humanity, in a tone and temper, a spirit
of reason and moderation, which induced Voltaire to say that
their manifesto would not have been unworthy of the signature
of Lycurgus. In this state of things Luther was applied to.
He first strongly advised the lords to be humane, then I'ecom-
mended the slaves to be obedient ; but, as neither the one party
nor the other appeared disposed to adopt this advice, — and
certainly it could not be expected that the vassals should return
to obedience while the lords showed no symptoms of returning
liumanity, — why, then Luther first rebuked them both, and
afterwards advised the princes of Germany to unite in their
strength to put down the insubordination. No doubt excesses
were perpetrated by this people ; history has not spared them ;
history never spares the faults or excesses of democracy, or of
unsuccessful insurrection ; the reason for which fact may be
found in the connections and partialities of those by whom his-
tory has usually been writen. A very great part of the alleged
excesses of the Anabaptists of Munster, as they have been
called, because a number of them were identified with the plain
and homely flocks of the Baptists of Germany, have, beyond
all doubt, been grossly exaggerated, piled up in heaps before
the world, who have been taught to look back upon them as the
most outrageous enthusiasts and fanatics that ever scourged
mankind or disgraced the face of the earth. Yet, if we go to
the original document from which they started, it is plain that
this was only one portion of that great serf movement through-
out Europe uliicli took place about that period ; the feudal
system being found every where so intolerable that the serfs,
like trodden worms, writhed and rose against the oppression,
having a glinniicriug ;unl in<lislinct percepliou, but vet to them

THE CHURCH WITHOUT A PRIEST. 259

an animating one, of a better state of things, wherein the equal
value of each human being, and the just rights of humanity,
should be acknowledged by all."

Civil and religious freedom were never designed to flow in
two separate channels. Those who, in every age, take sides
with the best and broadest interests of the people, defend this
point as fundamental, while time-serving and sycophantic
priests always oppose it. Every man is to be esteemed who
honestly endeavors to give a reason for his belief, and claims
the freedom of its peaceful enjoyment, however mistaken or
absurd he may be. To despise the intellect of another, to hint
his want of integrity, or to ridicule his convictions of right, is
but poor evidence either of philosophical judgment or Christian
charity. The spirit that leagued with an emperor and excited
him to murder the Anabaptists of Munster, burned Servetus at
Geneva, hunted Roger WiUiams beyond the boundaries of civ-
ilization with no less savage rage, persecuted the elder Carroll
in Maryland, and more recently burned the convent at Charles-
town, as well as the churches of Philadelphia, is part and par-
cel of the bigoted priestcraft that dug the prisons of Venice
and erected the inquishion in Spain. Milton had good reason
for asserting that " Presbyter is but old priest writ large." The
Hildebrands of Rome may soon become obsolete ; but we fear
that it will take much longer to extirpate the " parish popes,"
who call themselves Protestant, and under whose benignant
sway millions of the spiritually oppressed have had occasion to
declare, as was said of the ancient Baptists of Germany, when
some one doubted whether they really knew what " church
authority meant : ' O, yes,' replied a Catholic divine ; ' they
know what church authority is, just as a dog knows a stick.' "

Pastors who rise from the people, are chosen and sustained
by the free suffrages of the people, while they toil magnani-
mously for the greatest good of the greatest number, are un-
doubtedly among the best instrumentalities for promoting the
general and highest good. On the contrary, a priesthood edu-
cated apart from and arbitrarily imposed upon the masses are

260 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

the greatest obstacle to their progress, because they are them-
selves sworn to think only certain things, which are prescribed
for them, having begun their subscription to articles and creeds,
which subscription has to be renewed with every preferment
they truckle for, and evei-y prerogative of oppression they ob-
tain. Such training and such relations are hostile to progress
in every department of social improvement and public enter-
prise. It is in direct conflict with whatever principles belong
to the best interests of humanity ; for those interests are inti-
mately allied to the largest freedom and most unobstructed
advancement. But attempts to effect the permanent thraldom
of mankind, however cunning and fortified with power they
be, cannot longer succeed. The mind and heart of the nations
are arousing. Catholic priests withhold the communion cup
from the laity, and Protestant priests arrogate the right of secret
legislation over the household of faith, both classes uniting to
make the sources of religious emotion and divine grace special
monopolies limited to their own cliques. The people, however,
are coming to search after truth for themselves, make their
own regulations in moral affairs as in civil, bow in base vassal-
age to no human creed, swear allegiance to no selfish interces-
sor, but take God's word as their only guide, and Christ as their
only Lord.

Liberty is the word inscribed on the banner of modern civ-
ilization, and is destined soon to shine still brighter on the ban-
ner of the world's Christianization. The soul of man demands
free air to breathe, a wide and lofty area whereon to expand
its faculties, and will remain no longer cramped. The Bible,
fairly opened and fully translated before all ranks and condi-
tions of mankind, with one Spirit to teach and one Mediator to
atone and intercede, is the highest boon we can possess ; and
this, it is certain, the whole world will soon enjoy. Providence
is loudly proclaiming that the shepherd was made for his flock,
not the flock for the shepherd. Crumbling thrones, dispersed
dynasties, rending chains and exploding revolutions in every
zone, proclaim in tones of thunder, " God hath made of one

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 261

blood, and for the enjoyment of equal rights, all nations who
dwell upon the face of the earth." The reverberations of this
celestial proclamation will continue to roll onward with deep-
ening tones, amid the blazings of still brighter splendors, till
the human mind shall endure no fetter^ and the church of Christ
crouch to no priest.

CHAPTER V.

THE CHURCH AVITHOUT AX ARISTOCRAT.

We have traced some of the baleful influences which encum-
ber and degrade Christianity when subjected to the control of
kings, popes, bishops, or priests. In this last discussion of the
present series, we propose to consider the church without an
aristocrat. We hold that aristocracy was the first foe of the
church, has ever been but a hypocritical friend, and is a per-
petual impediment as well as consummate disgrace.

The first and greatest foe Christianity encountered was aris-
tocratic malignity and contempt. To meet and subdue this at
the outset, our Savior proclaimed the universal law of human
relationship, and, at a single stroke, reduced all mankind to one
level. He recognized no higher personage in morals than our
" neighbor," no other rule of conduct than love, and taught
that, when we have discharged this duty to our " neighbor," we
have fulfilled our obligation to all mankind ; for we can owe
our equals neither the allegiance of flattery nor any service
that is constrained. Christ was the first to declare all men
royal compeei"s and nobles by nature, each one sent on earth
to do that for which he is fitted, and, with noble independence,
to fill the niche he was ordained to fill. In tones that " open
every cell where memory sleeps," he would have man speak
to his brother man with magnanimous esteem as a sovej-eign
like himself, and never pour forth libations to church and state,

262 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

or seek to hold the appointment of priests to ofTei- fulsome sac-
rifices and obsequious oblations.

All who listen to other words, or follow the dictates of
authority less exalted, are "after ill example gone astray."
" One is not born," said he whom principle and nature made a
republican, but circumstances and ambition an emperor, — " one
is not born with a boot on his leg, and another with a pack-
saddle on his back. There are no naked kings ; they must all
be dressed." We enter upon the present existence invested
with certain inalienable rights, which constitute natural liberty ;
if we are components of a true republic, the enjoyment of our
inherent rights is guarantied by righteous laws ; and this is civil
liberty. Civil liberty is natural liberty established and pro-
tected upon fixed principles by equitable government, the right-
ful possession of all mankind, to bestow which in the highest
and purest form is the grand prerogative of Christianity alone.
Cicero defined a republic to be " the union of a multitude,
cemented by an agreement in what is right, and a participation
in what is useful." Christ announced the eternal law of true
social and national organizations more definitely and divinely
when he proclaimed that but one is our ]\Iaster, and all we are
brethren. Never, for one moment, are we to stand in awe
before presumptuous rulers, civil or religious, " alien from
heaven, with passions foul obscured ; " but reverence and obey
only the almighty King, " who was on earth for our sakes cru-
cified."

Truth, even the most abstract, invariably becomes the
object of hatred, whenever practical virtue is not the object
of love ; and as hatred, by its intrinsic nature, is destructive,
in the same manner as love is conservative, man, brutalized
by sensuality, and given up to physical pleasures, naturally
becomes a hateful destroyer. His obdurate soul gloats over
spectacles of ruin and blood, while he confirms barbarous
tastes and ferocious habits : hence it is remarkable that all
people who are incredulous or impious are voluptuaries, and
the voluptuous are always cruel. As a primary example,

THE CHURCH -WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 263

look at pagan nations : what forgetfulness of humanity in war
as in peace, in laws as in customs, in their temples as at the
theatre, in the heart of the father as in that of a tyrant with
his scourge ! Under such circumstances, what abject materi-
alism do we see in religion, and what aversion to those doc-
trines which tend to elevate men and spiritualize their
thoughts ! Polished and erudite Greece condemned Socrates
to martyrdom because he despised the gross superstitions of
his country ; and those same refined patrician Greeks,
crowned with flowers and singing exquisite songs, strangled
human victims, and covered their territory with altars the
most infamous.

Always the aristocratical subjugation of soul to sense pro-
duces haughty opposition to the noblest intellectual and moral
truths, and is the only explanation we need seek for the
profound hatred which, in all ages, certain nations and ranks
have manifested toward the example and doctrines of Christ.
It is the perpetual and deadly conflict of the fiesh against
the spirit. The one would degrade and destroy ; the other
tends constantly to enfranchise, enlighten, and render divine,
through those precepts and influences which are the aggregate
and manifestation of all the truths useful to mankind. When
Christianity first appeared, the human race were universally
involved in the grossest sensuality. What little worship
remained on earth was but an empty phantom, allied to no
substantial belief, but a mere ceremony preserved by habit,
because of its ostentatious pomp suited to lascivious festivals,
and, above all, because of its relation to civil institutions.
The religion of that age inspired neither faith nor veneration.
The sages and grandees, who first produced the degeneracy
they could but despise, committed religion to the masses with
contempt, who, less corrupt than the aristocrats, still contin-
ued to imagine, even in ignoble emblems, something divine.
Nevertheless, there existed really no other religion than that
of voluptuousness ; and the sects most sincere at first, degen-
erated rapidly into factitious austerity, and, by a confusion of

264 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

ideas, which passed into current language, went even so far
as to identify virtue with pleasure.

The " upper classes," as they are usually termed, but really
the most degraded, and who have ever demonstrated their
superiority only by standing aloof from the greatest good of
the greatest number, as they were the most active corrupters
of ancient religions, so were they the most malignant foes to
Christianity, from the first. All who have sacrificed their
worldly interests and comfort for the good of their fellow-
men, and been impelled to painful efforts by no motive but
love to God and his creatures, are viewed and treated by them
in every age as the vilest criminals, and as enemies to their
arrogant prerogatives. The aristocrats of Judea, under the
pretence of patriotism, entreated that Jeremiah might be put
to death, because " he weakened the hands of the men of war,
and of all the people ;" of Paul they said, " We have found
this man a pestilent felloic, and a mover of sedition ;" and of
Christ himself, " We found this fellow perverting the nation.'*''
But the teachers of truth and freedom the most divine perse-
vere in their beneficent enterprise, knowing that the love of
liberty, turbulent though it be deemed by exclusive circles,
has so much affinity to law, and so wholesome a jealousy
of force, that, if generously treated, it composes in the end
popular disorders, and confers the widest and most salutary
blessings on all. When Christianity shall come at length to
pour its tide of sacred republicanism through the chief arteries
of the body politic, it will impart healthful action to limbs
long palsied by the inactivity which tyranny has produced,
and elevate the masses into the gladsome possession of those
functions of which all have need. Says Sir James Mackin-
tosh, " The generous sentiments of natural equality are so
deeply engraven on the human heart, and so inseparably
blended with the dictates of reason and conscience, that no
appeal to them can be wholly vain ; their power over those
who grievously suffer from their violation never can cease to
be great."

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 265

The ancient republics were much more aristocratic than
democratic in the form and spirit of their institutions. The mass
of the people were slaves ; and those that were nominally free,
with a few exceptions, were excluded from popular influence
and power. The few were as entirely the masters, as autocrats
and priests were in Persia and Egypt. Petty tyrants rose up
with blasphemous pretensions to the right of excluding their
fellow-men from the bountiful repast of providence and grace.
In their despotic lust of possession, they were eager then, as
now, to monopolize the popular share ; or, worse still, they
would frighten or coerce the common people to forsake the
exalted privileges which Heaven designed all equally to grasp
and enjoy. These are the persons whose character, conduct,
and fearful destiny, are so strilvingly described by our Lord,
whose equalizing spirit and ennobling doctrines they always
so much hate. The true Light " came unto his own, and his
own received him not." " I am come in my Father's name,
and ye receive me not : if another shall come in his own
name, him ye will receive." " Woe unto you. Scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites ! for you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men : woe unto you, lawyers ! for ye have
taken away the key of knowledge ; for ye neither go in your-
selves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
" Ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation
of hell ? " And»when some well-disposed listeners inquired
of the apostles, " Men and brethren, what shall we do ? "
they were obliged to reply, " Save yourselves from this unto-
ward generation." Arrogant and hypocritical aristocrats were
Christ's most malignant adversaries, and the worst obstacles
which the apostles met.

It is recorded of Cornelia, the noble mother of the Gracchi,
that, on a certain occasion, when some vulgar and haughty
gossip boasted of worldly wealth, ornaments, and power, she
proudly and magnanimously cried, pointing to her children,
some of them the future saviors of Rome from aristocratic
thraldom, " These are my jewels," Thus of the true church
23

266 REPUBLICAN CHKISTIANITV.

of Christ, the mother of all exalted virtues, patriotic, civiliz-
ing, and saving. Her brightest ornaments are they who
recognize the great brotherhood of the liuman race, who
labor to break down all iniquitous oppression, and to raise all
to a like participation of unclouded light and undistinguished
love. Says Pollok, —

" ' He was the freeman whom the truth made free ; ' —
'Who first of all the bands of Satan broke ;
Who broke the bands of Sm ; and for his sovil,
In spite of fools, consulted seriously ;
In spite of fashion persevered in good ;
In spite of wealth or poverty, upright ;
Who did as reason, not as fancy, bade ;
Who heard temptation sing, and yet turned not
Aside ; saw Sin bedeck her flowery bed,
And 3-et wo^dd not go up ; felt at his heart
The sword unsheathed, yet would not sell the truth ;
"VNTio, having power, had not the will to hurt ;
"WTio blushed alike to be, or have, a slave ;
Who blushed at nought but sin, feared nought but God ;
Who, iinally, in strong integrity
Of soul, 'midst want, or riches, or disgrace,
Uplifted calmly sat, and heard the waves
Of stormy folly breaking at his feet ;
Now shrill with praise, now hoarse with foul reproach,
And both despised sincere!}' ; seeking this
Alone — the approbation of his God,
"Wliich still with conscience ^vitnessed to his peace.
This, this is fi-eedom, such as angels use.
And kindred to the liberty of God.
First-born of Virtue ! daughter of the skies !
The man, the state in whom she ruled, was free ;
AU else were slaves of Satan, Sin, and Death."

Secondly, aristocracy was not only the first foe of the
church, but has ever remained, at best, but a hypocritical
friend.

The true principles of republican Christianity do not con-
sist in degrading the higher ranks to the lowest, but in elevat-
ing the greatest possible number to the highest standard of

THE CHDRCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 267

independence and intelligence. Hence the divine Author of
our faith, when rebuking the Scribes and Pharisees, demanded
of them the exercise of charity, liberty, and light, toward
every human being, because these would guaranty perfecti-
bility to religious institutions, and impart to them an invincible
force. That which is most needed to promote human welfare,
is a bold and independent spirit of inquiry', which will seize
on all classes, and sift every question of political or religious
right to its last analysis. Every mind needs something which
is more reasonable than coercion, and less dubious than
priestly dialectics ; and this our greatest necessity is abun-
dantly supplied by the doctrines of Christ, which impart to
every honest inquirer too much light to suffer him long to
remain the dupe of either force or fraud. Despotism, dis-
guised under martial or sacerdotal forms, for thousands of
years, was the chief means resorted to to govern the world.
But, in Christianity, the discovery has been made, that the
agency which is at once the most powerful and salutary in
its operation, consists in that inward spiritual force which
prompts the best private virtues and generates the freest and
most beneficent public opinion. The tendency of this is to
draw light from every source it can reach, and concentrate
all the rays it accumulates upon the best interests it can
promote.

The men who most perseveringly oppose this heavenly
influence are they who plead " the right divine " for kings,
popes, bishops, or priests to govern wrong. They throw
before the people " an infinity of impertinent and vain things,"
and corrupt the popular mind and heart through the distorted
dogmas of their own misguided wills. They are " Jove's
satellites much less than Jove," but full of pagan adoration at
the footstool of the worldly great. The drapery around the
scats of prelatical and regal power is almost always crimson,
as if yet wet with blood, and aristocrats have a strong afiinity
for that. But they never averted a great danger nor pro-
moted a great good. They are ever ready to deprive their

268 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

fellow-men of that feeling of infinity, without which nothing
grand is accomplished, and no lofty height attained ; but to
aid in such tasks suits neither their talents nor ambition. The
character of such base sycophants is well described by IMilton:
" A king must be adored like a demigod, with a dissolute
and haughty court about him, of vast expense and luxuiy,
masks and revels, to the debauching of our prime gentry,
both male and female ... to the multiplying of a ser-
vile crew, not of servants only, but of nobility and gentry,
bred up then to the hopes, not of public, but of court offices,
to be stewards, chamberlains, ushers, grooms ; . . . and
the lower their minds, debased with court opinions, contrary
to all virtue and reformation, the haughtier will be their pride
and profusion."

The Christian and republican bard of Paradise Lost had
witnessed enough of aristocratic meanness and oppression to
make him denounce it in strong terms. For instance, when
Richard Cromwell fled before popular rebellion, he took with
him two large trunks full of those addresses and congratulations,
customary with all servile creatures, in honor of those who
possess. and pervert the uses of power. In these addresses
he was told that God had given him the supreme authority
for the happiness of the three kingdoms. " What have you
in those trunks } " said some one to him. " The happiness
of the English nation," he replied with a laugh. Such jeer-
ing and mockery constitute the most sacred solicitude ever
felt by aristocracies and their pets for the suffering masses
of mankind. The Bible tells us of a certain king who lived
a wild beast in the woods seven years, and then re-assumed
the human form. It has often happened that such is the lot
of the people. For seven years they are the ferocious beast,
and then they become men. But their madness has been
produced by the regal wrongs they have endured, and revolu-
tions are beginning to metamorphose their condition, as well
as elevate their hopes.

There are moral tories all over the world, as well as politi-

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 269

cal, neither of whom care any thing for what they term " the
lower orders" beyond what their own interests will allow;
they have no hearty desire for the general elevation and
progress of the people. This might be expected, since
aristocracy and true humanity are incompatible. Humanity
they cannot have, who entertain no respect for men as men,
ds essentially on an equality with themselves, by a participation
of the image of God. Such persons claim the right to dog-
matize without examination, and impose their vagaries without
restraint, as if they had discovered some nearer road to truth
than that of argument, and some better means of moral con-
quest than that of conscience and common sense.

The combined horrors of kingcraft, priestcraft, and aristo-
craft, the chief support and most oppressive component of
all, constitute one of the very greatest curses that has afflicted
earth ; and till its hydra heads are crushed beneath the car
of true republicanism, there can be no perfect liberty for
mankind. Seated around sumptuous tables, loaded with
viands the most delicious, wines the most exquisite, and
flowers of the sweetest perfume, men of might and women
cf fashion float gayly in an atmosphere of voluptuousness, and
is. toxicate every sense with pleasure. But what to them are
W s wants and woes of the Lazaruses groaning and famished
at their doors t In the intervals of their hilarity, one hears
tb** sharp sound of clattering fetters, and they smile ; or the
whizzing lash as it scarifies the skin or scoops out a fragment
of bleeding flesh, and they smile ; or the low groans which
arise from some dungeon, and they smile; or the sobbings of
inexpressible anguish, the death-rattle of famine, or the shriek
of one about to be strangled, and still they smile, as if the
world was made expressly to fill their coffers, and every
thing beautiful and fair to satiate their lusts. But, thank God,
the ranks which have heretofore most abused the rights and
patience of the great masses, now provoke them to a just
retribution. Through this fearful process the old world is
now passing. " The strange illusion, that a man, because he
23*

270 HEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

wears a garter or ribbon, or was born to a title, belongs to
another race, is fading away ; and society must pass through
a series of revolutions, silent or bloody, until a more natural
order takes place of distinctions which grew originally out of
force. Thus aristocracy, instead of giving order to society,
now convulses it. So impossible is it for arbitrary human
ordinations permanently to degrade human nature, or subvert
the principles of justice and freedom ! The past is gone, the
feudal castle is dismantled, the distance between classes
greatly reduced. Unfortunate as it may be, the people have
begun to think, to ask reasons for what they do, and suffer,
and believe, and to call the past to account. Old spells are
broken, old reliances gone. Men can no longer be kept
down by pageantry, state robes, forms, and shows. Allowing
it to be best that society should rest on the depression of the
multitude, the multitude will no longer be quiet when they
are trodden under foot, but ask impatiently for a reason why
they too may not have a share in social blessings. Such is
the state of things, and we must make the best of what we
cannot prevent. Right or wrong, the people will think ; and
is it not important that they should think justly ? that they
should be inspired with the love of truth, and instructed how
to seek it ? that they should be established by wise culture
in the great principles on which religion and society rest, and
be protected from skepticism and wild speculation, by inter-
course with enlightened and virtuous men ? It is plain that,
in the actual state of the world, nothing can avail us but a
real improvement of the mass of the people. No stable
foundation can be laid for us but in men's minds. Alarming
as the truth is, it should be told, that outward institutions
cannot now secure us. Mightier powers than institutions
have come into play among us — the judgment, the opinions,
the feelings of the many ; and all hopes of stability, which do
not rest on the progress of the many, must perish."

The influence of feudal institutions has ever been unquali-
fiedly pernicious in the old world, and was imparted in quite

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCKAT. 271

too large measures in the first settlement of the new. That
influence still remains among us in some degree, and cannot
be too soon extirpated from our institutions, root and branch.
Sir Walter Scott, in describing one of the original vassals in
England, after depicting the other peculiarities of his costume,
adds, " One part of his dress only remains, but it is too
remarkable to be suppressed ; it was a brass ring, resembling
a dog's collar, but without any opening, and soldered fast round
his neck ; so loose as to form no impediment to his breathing;
yet so tight as to be incapable of being removed, excepting by
the use of the file. On this singular gorget was engraved, in
Saxon characters, ' Gurth, the son of Beowulph, is the bora
thrall of Cedric' " This describes the condition of " born
thralls," in the hands of ancient aristoci'ats ; but we think they
are not demanded by the enlightened spirit of this age, and
least of all should they be found associated with the boasted
institutions of this free land.

If physical bondage yet remains to disgrace a portion of the
United States, we yet enjoy the rights of conscience without
restraint ; and it is easy to learn to whom we are indebted for
the inestimable boon. Bancroft, speaking of the priestcraft,
inflamed and fortified by the primitive aristocracy of New
England, says, " The larger number of the friends of Anne
Hutchinson, led by John Clarke and William Coddington, pro-
ceeded to the south, designing to make a plantation on Long
Island, or near Delaware Bay. But Roger Williams welcomed
them to his vicinity ; and his own influence, and the powerful
name of Heniy Vane, prevailed with Miantonomoh, the chief
of the Narrangansetts, to obtain for them a gift of the beauti-
ful island of Rhode Island. The spirit of the institutions
established by this band of voluntary exiles, on the soil which
they owed to the benevolence of the natives, was derived from
natural justice ; a social compact, signed after the manner of
the precedent at New Plymouth, so often imitated in America,
founded the government upon the basis of the universal con-
sent of every inhabitant : the forms of the administration were

212 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

borrowed from the examples of the Jews. Coddington wa3
elected judge in the new Israel ; and the three elders were
chosen as his assistants. Tlie colony rested on the principle
of intellectual liberty ; philosophy itself could not have placed
the right on a broader basis. The settlement prospered ; and
it became necessary to establish a constitution. It was there-
fore ordered by the whole body of freemen, and ' unanimously
agreed upon, that the government, which this body politic doth
attend unto in this island, and the jurisdiction thereof, in favor
of our Prince, is a Desiocracie, or popular government ; that
is to say, it is the power of the body of freemen orderly
assembled, or major part of them, to make or constitute just
Lawes, by which they will be regulated, and to depute from
among themselves such ministers as shall see them faithfully
executed between man and man.' 'It was further ordered,
that none be accounted a delinquent for doctrine ; ' the law
for ' liberty of conscience was perpetuated.' The little com-
munity was held together by the bonds of affection and free-
dom of opinion ; benevolence was their rule ; they trusted in
the power of love to win the victory ; and ' the signet for the
state ' was ordered to be 'a sheafe of arrows ' with ' the
motto Amor vinget omnia.' " — Vol. i. pp. 392, 393.

This points to the first home of true principles ; and another
extract will show some of their first struggles with growing
aristocracy. Continues the same historian, " When Clarke,
the pure and tolerant Baptist of Rhode Island, one of the happy
few who succeed in acquiring an estate of beneficence and
connecting the glory of their name w ith the liberty and happi-
ness of a commonweaHh, began to preach to a small audience
in Lynn, he was seized by the civil officers. Being compelled
to attend with the congregation, he expressed his aversion by
a harmless indecorum, which would yet have been without
excuse, had his presence been voluntary. He and his com-
panions were tried, and condemned to pay a fine of twenty
or thirty pounds ; and Holmes, who refused to pay his fine,
was whipped unmercifully.

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 273

" Since a particular form of worship had become a part of
the civil establishment, irreligion was now to be punished as a
civil offence. The state was a model of Christ's kingdom on
earth ; treason against the civil government was treason against
Christ ; and reciprocally, as the gospel had the right paramount,
blasphemy, or what a jury should call blasphemy, was the high-
est offence in the catalogue of cnmes. To deny any book of
the Old or New Testament to be the written and infallible word
of God, was punishable by fine or by stripes, and, in case of
obstinacy, by exile or death. Absence from ' the ministry of
the word' wcis punished by a fine.

" By degrees the spirit of the establishment began to subvert
the fundamental principles of Independency. The liberty of
prophesying was refused, except the approbation of four elders,
or of a county court, had been obtained. Remonstrance was
useless. The union of church and state was fast corrupting
both ; it mingled base ambition with the former ; it gave a false
direction to the legislation of the latter. And at last the gen-
eral court claimed for itself, for the council, and for any two
organic churches, the right of silencing any person who was
not as yet ordained. Thus rapidly did human nature display
its power ! The creation of a national, uncompromising
church led the Congregationalists of Massachusetts to the
indulgence of the passions which had disgraced their English
persecutors ; and Laud was justified by the men whom he had
wronged." — pp. 450, 451.

It is greatly to be deplored that Christianity has so often been
crippled or despised by those who misunderstand its genius, or
are too much blinded by bigotry to perceive its superiority over
the religions it came to supersede. Judaism had its theocracy,
and paganism its aristocracy of divinities circling the brow of
Olympus ; but Christianity is encompassed and adorned only
by one grand brotherhood, bound together by love, like the
angels, and blended in republican equality, like flowers blos-
soming in Tempe's vale. All the great gifts of God and nature
bear the same marks, and are evidently designed for a common

274 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

benefit. The aii* is clearly free for all to breathe ; water pours
abroad its currents of beauty and richness with undistinguished
profusion ; and earth, with all the bounty of diversified soil,
proflbrs the fruits of national fertility in proportion to the indus-
try of every man. With wonder and admiration we contem-
plate the miracle of Christ, when, with five loaves and two
fishes, he fed assembled thousands. Let the principles of his
religion but preponderate among mankind, and that miracle
will become perpetual ; the supply will outrun the demand, and
wretchedness of every form be banished from earth. But no ;
the poor must be made poorer, that the rich may become yet
richer. Millions per annum must go to support sinecures and
worse than useless luxuries, while the great masses inherit
nothing but ignorance, servitude, and want. When will the
opulent, the proud, and the pompous, learn that the code of the
rights of property is destined to be modified at least by the
rights of humanity .'* The one is artificial, temporary, and
often exceedingly oppressive ; the other is natural, universal,
and immovable. The negro admires the skill of the white
man ; he says that he makes every thing work. " He catches
horse, makes him work ; catches nigger, makes him work ;
catches smoke, makes him work." But the mighty, who are
playing this imperial game, compelling humanity unceasingly
to toil, should exercise Christ's law of mercy, or they will
speedily learn, to their cost, that the workers are themselves
becoming qualified to define their just rights and defend them.
Over thrones, dominions, and powers, over whatever ancient
bulwarks or modern prejudices may oppose to their advance-
ment, truth and justice are marching to inevitable and speedy
triumph. In tones most clear and exhilarating, God is speak-
ing in the soul of the masses, telling each to realize all of which
his energies are capable, and toward which his aspirations
tend, recognizing no human master, and wearing no fetter on
faculty or limb.

We have said that aristocracy was the first foe of the
church, has ever since been but a hypocritical friend at best.

THE CUURCil WITHOUT AN AEISTOCEAT. 275

and we now remark, thirdly, that it is a perpetual impediment
and consummate disgrace.

There always has been something fiendish in absolute power,
and in the mode with which ambitious worldhngs have mahgned
the nature of Christianity, or attempted to pervert its use. For
centuries after the primitive church was planted, this evil was
the greatest which truth struggled to overcome. TertuUian, in
his "Apology," (chap, xlv.,) has occasion to allude to this fact,
and indirectly sketches a beautiful outline of what Christianity
then was. Says he, " We pray for emperors, and for all
officers in power, for the present state of the world, for peace,
and for the delay of the final consummation. We unite to
read the Scriptures, whence we derive, according to circum-
stances, the light and warning of which we have need. This
divine word nourishes our faith, elevates our hope, confirms
our confidence, establishes the bond of discipline, and incul-
cates its law. . . . Old men preside. They attain this honor,
not by wealth, but by the popular suffrage offered to their well-
known worth. Money has not the slightest influence in things
pertaining to God. If there is found among us a kind of
treasure, its source is pui'e, and no one has occasion to blush
for having sold rehgion. Each one contributes a moderate
sum every month, in such manner and amount as he pleases ;
there is no compulsion ; the offerings are voluntary. This is
the deposit of piety ; it is never dissipated in festivals or in
debauches, but is employed to relieve or bury the destitute, to
nourish forsaken orphans, superannuated domestics, and those
who have sufl^ered shipwreck ; and, if there are Christians con-
demned to the mines, held bound in prisons, or banished to
islands, only for the cause of God, Religion expands her ma-
ternal solicitude in behalf of those who have confessed her
before the world."

This shows, with every other form of testimony, that truth
has much more to fear than to hope from unsanctified great-
ness. Her chief strength is in the attachment of the feeble
whom she protects, and the law of righteousness upon which

276 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

she is based. Love is her great power, and the unlovely great
are her chief impediment and disgrace, " without one glory spar-
kling in their eye, one trium[)h on their tongue."" Christianity
has been shorn of" its best energies ever since it fell into the
thraldom of aristocratic patronage, and wherever the masses
have been prevented from selecting, at their own will, pious
and philanthropic pastors to fill free pulpits, and station in every
community a lover of justice, humanity, and God.

In the history of the past and observation of the present, we
meet with artificial distinctions much oftener than the enjoy-
ment of natural rights. Particular dignitaries domineer over
and obscure our common nature. Autocrats and aristocrats,
nobles and priests, are more frequently obtruded upon the gen-
eral notice than men, — human beings made conscious of
divinity within them, and acutely conscious of the worthless-
ness of all outward decorations, compared with what is treas-
ured in their own souls. Man does not sufficiently value him-
self as man, but looks rather to the chance circumstances of
blood, rank, or caste — unworthy prejudices, which obscure
what we most need to know, the invaluable worth and immortal
destiny of eveiy human being.

To maintain arbitrary distinctions and power, there has been
a frightful expenditure of money, blood, and human happiness.
Says a distinguished English writer in relation to his own
country, " We talk of education and institutions for the peo-
ple : why, the country might have been covered with endowed
schools, institutions, museums, libraries, picture and sculpture
galleries. We might have brought the luxuries of life home
to every village, and furnished the means of intellectual and
artistical improvement and enjoyment to the entire population
of these realms. Nor was it merely a waste of money, but
of human life and happiness, which the principles of the Cor-
responding Society would have averted. During the long and
bloody wars with France, men fell as thick as pounds were
wasted, by hundreds of thousands and by millions. There was
scarcely a stream which was not stained by British blood, how-

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 277

ever remote the country in which its waters flowed, — scarcely
a soil which was not saturated and fertilized with the blood of
our countrymen. And for what? To keep down freedom
both abroad and at home ; to arrest the course of the French
revolution, and prevent the commencement of an English
reformation. Not only is the loss of life to be considered, but
also the sacrifice of human enjoyment and peace. Widows
and orphans were made by wholesale ; sorrow and suffering
were spread over Europe ; every department of trade and
commerce was disturbed. There was, so to speak, almost an
omnipresence of evil generated ; bad passions, lashed into a
fury of demoralization, spread from country to country, too
often under the name of religion, by means of which it was
attempted to establish over humanity the reign of the most
demoniacal principles and practices. There was a fearful sus-
pension of that regular career of improvement by which the
human race, left to itself, would advance, a throwing back of
the destinies of humanity, and, as far as human power extends,
counteracting the purposes of divine Providence for the
amelioration of the condition of mortals, and their gradual
advancement towards a higher state of being. If the Corre-
sponding Society had been successful, not only would external
warfare have been prevented, but internal dissension likewise.
The Irish rebellion of 1798 would not have taken place ; the
tremendous horrors of which have not yet been forgotten, and
never will be until that country has every wrong redressed.
Pitch-caps, floggings, triangles, and all the gross barbarities to
which the inhabitants of that land were subjected by an inso-
lent soldiery, — the recollection of which accumulated so much
of horror and hatred around the name of Lord Castlereagh,
that it could not be obliterated even by the death which he
inflicted upon himself, — these would have been saved, and all
the passions and collisions which have resulted from this state
of things, and have spread so much derangement and confusion
abroad in society since that time."

The oppression suffered by the laboring classes at home is
24

278 KKPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITV.

equalled only by the miseries of those who are driven into wars
abroad. Coleridge said of the first, —

" Those institutions of society which should condemn me to
the necessity of twelve hours' daily toil would make my soul
a slave, and sink the rational being into the mere animal. It is
a mockery of our fellow-creatures' wrongs to call them equal
in rights, when, by bitter compulsion of their wants, we make
them inferior to us in all that can soften the heart or dignify
the understanding."

Upon this truthful text, Rev. Mr. Fox makes the following
equally truthful remarks : —

" There are those who can bear well the amount of toil
which Coleridge disclaims for himself, as likely to exercise
such a crushing influence over his faculties. While there are
a few who are subject to the curse — for such it is — of indo-
lence, the great body of the people, most assuredly, are over-
tasked in their labors ; they have to wear out life, thought,
sensation, and all the higher and better powers of our nature,
in the mere exercise of muscular strength ; they are doomed
to a sort of engine mode of existence, having to fulfil their
allotted task from day to day ; and, however much medical
men may be puzzled to say exactly what is the average meas-
ure of labor which is good for human beings, there can be no
doubt, nor, I believe, is there any with scientific men them-
selves, that that measure is, in an immense multitude of cases,
largely overpassed.

" The results of this system force themselves upon our
notice. They evidence themselves in debilitated frames, pre-
vailing epidemics, and shortened duration of life. Death, like
a stern monitor, keeps his account-books well ; he swells his
numbers, and records with unerring pen the consequences of
a deteriorated and oppressive condition of society ; he points to
nameless graves in the distance as the total and the end of all.
If, in the struggle of the Scottish people with Episcopacy, they
can now point to their distinguished martyrs and others who
fell in the cause of religion or their country, — so numerous

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 279

that they were called upon to erect one gravestone to the mem-
ory of ten thousand martyrs, — why, excessive toil has also its
records in graves without a tombstone, where lie the hundreds
of thousands and the millions of martyrs to the imposition of
labor too great for humanity to bear."

To limit the blessings of education to the smallest possible
number, and to monopolize its power for selfish purposes, is
another form of craft practised by priests and aristocrats.
" Their only real object is to render education subservient to
the interests of certain wealthy and powerful classes ; while
that moral appreciation of its benefits, that earnest wish that
humanity, wherever it exists, however lowly its condition,
should have all the gladdening views and lofty aspirations
which a wholesome training and guidance would bestow, is
altogether thrown overboard, and the whole thing is sacrificed
to a thirst of power, and a principle of sordidness." Hence all
the great universities are closed against those who will not fii-st
swear to stand by " the altar and the throne," because unshackled
republican students are, of all agencies, those which despotism
has good reason most to fear. They would have subjects,
not of right, but of sufferance — not of independence, but of
charity — a sort of slaves who, like tame animals, should lick
the hand that grudgingly feeds them, and obey the unquestioned
biddings of their meisters, upon whatever errand they may be
sent. The first article in the creed of such dons is, that
" whatever is is right," and especially is it right that they
themselves should be comfoi'tably off, and care as little as
possible about the unfortunate millions. Everj' child they
produce to propagate their ignoble character and prejudices,
is instructed in infancy to distinguish between a rich and poor
relation, while he sucks in the absurdities of his catechism,
receiving " all that the nurse and all the priest have taught,"
as the ultimatum of truth and the only rule of life.

The crowning iniquity of aristocratic influence is found in
the monopoly it aims to secure in secular and religious legis-
lation. It is yet too true, in Europe and America, that " the

280 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

largest possessors of wealth have the greatest influence in the
enactment of laws by which the people are taxed. Thus we
find, as a consequence of this undue influence of property, that
the whole round of taxation falls most hardly upon the poor,
and those who have the least ability to pay. It is not upon
large properties, immense estates, and great accumulations
of wealth, that the burden of taxation ever falls with a pres-
sure which can be felt for an instant ; but the weight bears
upon all the necessaries of life, taxing every thing which
comes to the poor man, and making him pay without im-
mediately seeing the hand of the tax-collector ; but although
the process is invisible to the eye of the oppressed individual,
it is in reality plundering him of a large portion of his earn-
ings. This is the result of legislation being exclusively in the
hands of the money power, by which the taxation is thus
imposed ; instead of being, as it should be, in the possession
of that moral power which would make realized property pay
for its security and permanence — a tax which would scarcely
be felt by the individual, and which is amply due from him
as the amount of his insurance in the great office of social
safety.

" The contest which is now going on between monopoly and
free trade is another struggle of the same description. Here,
indeed, it may be said that there is the money power on both
sides ; and that accumulation is the object of those who are
striving for the one object, as well as for those who are fight-
ing against its attainment. But there lies something deeper
in the conflict than a mere struggle between two sections of
the money power ; there is a most vital elementary principle
at stake — man's right to what he earns, and to the greatest
amount of good which his industry will produce in the world's
market — his liberty to buy, at the lowest price that he can,
any of the connnodities of which he stands in need. This is
a question involving the natural right of the people, and which
is not the less infringed for the interference beinsc veiled
under a variety of terms, and practised indirectly. It is, in

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 281

reality, the same thing as though that portion of his earnings
which is abstracted in taxation, or by what is called ' protec-
tion,' was actually taken from him by force, and applied,
against his own consent, to purposes in which he had no
concern."

The only aristocracy worthy of our esteem is Nature's
own. This is differenced from every factitious kind by two
invariable marks ; it is ahva5^s practically useful to society, and
never hereditary. Mere learning, wealth, and artificial honors,
may be acquired mechanically ; but the sons of their posses-
sors are never born with their actual possession. At the
advent of every child of Adam, in the hovel or palace,
Nature presents herself before him with the eternal charter
of human rights, declaring — all are horn free and equal.
But of the rightful inheritance belonging to all new-comers,
false greatness seizes the lion's share, leaving to be doled out
to the weaker classes only a few scraps and crumbs of
privilege. If the possessors of more copious brain, heart,
and living soul, work out the results which constitute the
dignity of human nature, and the moral grandeur of either
church or state, no thanks to fostering wealth or official
patronage for their success. Solitary and unsympathized
with in their lofty aspirations, they win a peaceful, honorable,
and useful victory over the world, benefiting those whom
they subdue by the majesty of their intrinsic worth, and
raising them from the degradation of privileged classes, to
the higher dignity of membership in a free state and republi-
can church.

Monopolists are all of the same feather, and their influence
is the same in eveiy country and age. They are known by
the positions they covet, as well as by the deeds they perform ;
as innocent birds build their nests in the grass, but birds of
prey on domineering heights. The finest creatures of im-
agination, and the grandest masterpieces of inventive genius,
are estimated by what they will contribute to personal
aggrandizement, and not by their relation to the common
24*

283 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

weal. " Discover what will destroy life, and you are a great
man ! what will prolong it, and you are an impostor ! Dis-
cover some invention in machinery that will make the rich
more rich, and the poor more poor, and they will build you
a statue ! Discover some mystery in art that would equalize
physical disparities, and they will pull down their own houses
to stone you."

The English aristocracy are, at this moment, greatly
alarmed, as they have been for the last half century, in their
conflict with republican France, and other abused neighbors.
They profess to fight under the banner of Liberty ; but the
least informed can easily see that the only freedom they
desire is to enjoy their own selfish privileges, which are
endangered by every advance of liberal opinions and rational
institutions. But liberty does not cease to be a great fact in
the heart of humanity, and the most strengthening of its
hopes, because the base, the cunning, and the tyrannical, are
ready to offer mock incense on her altars, when about to
murder Liberty's champions, and to transtlorm into curses all
which it is her prerogative to bestow. For instance, look at
that beautiful and abused land, of which her noble son, Grattan,
said long ago, " I found Ireland on her knees : I watched
over her with an eternal solicitude : I have traced her prog-
ress from injuries to arms, and from arms to liberty." No :
not yet to liberty quite, but justice to all oppressed people will
yet come.

The common sense of mankind has declared Brahminism
hostile to civilization, because it produces stagnation in the
moral life, and perpetually limits the exercise of intellect.
The influence of all feudal institutions is exactly the same. It
is a system which has rendered but one good service to man-
kind— the example of individual will, displaying itself with
the utmost energy in revolt against insufferable wrongs. The
lesson prospered : in spite of the weakness of the serfs, and
the prodigious inequality between them and the great pro-
prietors, their lords, whole cities broke out in rebellion, and

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 283

began the battle of freedom for the world. Says Guizot, " It
is difficult to fix a precise date to this great event — this
general insurrection of the cities. The commencement of
their enfranchisement is usually placed at the beginning of the
eleventh century. But in all great events, how many un-
known and disastrous efforts must have been made, before
the successful one ! Providence, upon all occasions, in order
to accomplish its designs, is prodigal of courage, virtues, sacri-
fices— finally, of man ; and it is only after a vast number of
unknown attempts, apparently lost, — after a host of noble heai-ts
have fallen into despair ; convinced that their cause was lost,
— that it triumphs. Such, no doubt, was the case in the
struggle of the free cities. Doubtless in the eighth, ninth, and
tenth centuries, there were many attempts at resistance, many
efforts made for freedom ; — many attempts to escape from
bondage, which not only were unsuccessful, but the remem-
brance of which, from their ill success, has remained without
glory. Still we may rest assured that these attempts had a
vast influence upon succeeding events : they kept alive and
maintained the spirit of liberty — they prepared the great
insurrection of the eleventh century."

The battle of the popular heart and will, against feudality,
has never ceased ; it is mightier and more successful now than
ever before. In the days of Becket, archbishop of Canterbury,
sumptuary laws were passed which allowed traders and arti-
sans the use of meat at one meal only ; even the rich were
allowed only two courses and two sorts of viands, with the
exception of barons and prelates, who were at liberty to de-
vour as many kinds and as much as they pleased. But people
in our day seem disposed to take the law-making and food-
providing business into their own hands. In the grand final
conflict, which every moment approaches a more deadly crisis,
aristocrats in church and state will be the first to perish,
according to the righteous ordinance of Heaven, that they who
most outrageously invade the liberties of others shall first lose
their own. The time has come when every man, deprived of

284 RliPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

his lawful rights, will exclaim, as did Mirabeau, when expelled
from the assembly of the nobles at Marseilles, " So perished
the last of the Gracchi ; but, before yielding up his life, he
threw dust toward heaven, and from that dust Marius grew —
Marius, less great as the exterminator of the Cimbri, than as
the destroyer of patrician aristocracy at Rome." These words
expressed the daring resolution of their author, which he lived
to accomplish, and which enabled him to say on his death-bed,
" I carry to my grave the shreds of the monarchy." So true
is this that, although there have been a few royal puppets since,
we hope Louis Philippe correctly said, in his recent flight, " I
am the last king of France."

It is matter for devout acknowledgment that the Church of
Christ, like every thing else really good, is progressive, and
is destined to sweep away every obstacle, become as universal
as the wants of our race, free as the dew and effulgence of
heaven. She marches nearer and ever nearer to the infinite
grandeur of the universe, and the perfect unity of its God. We
are to look perpetually forward, and press toward the mark of
our high calling, cultivating the conservatism, not of bigoted
feudality, but of generous fraternity, holiness, and joy. Yester-
day we cannot bring back ; it is antiquated : our duty is to perform
the duties of a better to-day, and anticipate a still more glorious
to-morrow._ Christianity must not be allowed to lag behind
the other elements of civilization which it so much excels.
Every new power that Science discovers, Religion hallows and
consecrates to the widest advantage of all ranks, or they inevi-
tably suffer together the greatest harm. True development is
a constant growth from the past into the future, at every
advance imbibing the mystic and mighty agencies by which
the heart is purified, intellect enlarged, and the whole person
fitted to serve God and man. As it is with individuals, so is it
with the church as a whole. If it remains stationaiy a mo-
ment, incompetent to satisfy the religious wants, or grapple
with the religious perils, of an era chai'acterized by great social
and political revolutions, then must it perish, or receive from

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 285

some new source immediate accessions of intelligence and
force. Hence do we see modern Cliristianity, true to her
mission of progress, gaining new vigor every day from inno-
vators within her fold, who float more freely between habits of
ancient submission, associations of bigoted attachment, and
allegiance to revolutionary ideas.

AH auspices indicate the dawn of a new era. Storms gather
with irresistible might to sweep down thrones, disperse mitres,
chastise aristocratic and priestly arrogance, awaken the masses
to a sense of their capacities as well as their wrongs, and give
stability to free institutions every where, by giving elevation of
sentiment to all classes of mankind. Then rulers will under-
stand that one of the best means of improving men is season-
ably and generously to employ them ; that the good of the
laborer is to be regarded, as well as the profit to be derived
from his toil. Then, too, it will be known that the vitality of
Christianity is in itself, or rather in the will, precepts, and exam-
ple of its divine Founder ; not in arid creeds, sacerdotal des-
potisms, and hollow forms. True devotees, then, will be genteel
and highly accomplished, not by an imprudent or effeminate
unison with the tastes and customs of feudalism, ancient or
modern, but by a profound and yet independent reverence for
virtue, rather than rank; for worth, more than wealth. Should
we live to enjoy the full splendors of that day, we shall have
learned, beyond all present experience, that to be the servant
of all is to command all ; to give is to receive ; to love is to
be loved ; to die is to live ; that true happiness consists in the
flowing out of our affections upon others, rather than the
flowing in of their treasures or affections upon ourselves ; — that
dispersion, not accumulation ; self-spending, not self-seeking ;
is the grand design of our earthly existence and its highest
reward.

We have already seen that the first home of true religious
freedom was in a few hearts among the first colonists of this
western world. The Roman Catholics of Maryland, dreading
the aggression of English bigotry, and profiting by Roger

286 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Williams's wise liberality, on April 21, 1649, placed upon their
statute-book the following noble act : " Whereas the enforcing
of the conscience in matters of religion hath frequently fallen
out to be of dangerous consequence in those commonwealths
where it lias been practised, and for the more quiet and peace-
able government of this province, and the better to preserve
mutual love and amity among the inhabitants, no person within
this province, professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall be any
ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced, for his or her
religion, or in the free exercise thereof." But notwithstanding
^these generous and Christian movements on the part of reli-
gionists who differed most widely in their tenets, their mutual
foes in Massachusetts soon employed

" The skeptic's might, the crosier's pride,
The shackle and the stake," —

if not to mangle their flesh with the engineiy of the most fiend-
ish bigotry, to attempt what is worse, and " lock its hard fet-
ters on the mind." Too soon for the peace and honor of that
age, but not too speedily and outrageously for a warning to all
time, and the ultimate disinthralment of all men from priestly
and aristocratic domination, came the actors and their acts, cel-
ebrated by Whittier : —

" O, glorious days, when church and state
Were wedded by j'our spiritual fathers !
And on submissive shoulders sat

Your Wilsons and your Cotton Mathers.

" Then wholesome laws relieved the church
Of heretic and mischief-maker ;
And priest and bailiff joined in search.
By turns, of Papist, Witch, and (Quaker !

" The stocks wore at each church's door ;
The gallows stood on Boston Common ;
A Papist's ears the pillory bore —
The gallows-rope, a Quaker woman."

THE CUURCU WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 287

Who were the bold advocates of religious liberty in this
country in her first struggles, and who have been her stanch
friends every where ever since ? Says the " New Englander,"
(not a Baptist magazine,) " Among them, in the providence of
God, American Baptists seem to have been called to lead the
van. In the report on the subject of European missions, which
was adopted at the last meeting of the general convention in
Philadelphia, American Baptists have put this testimony on
record : —

" ' In Greece, the great practical value of our principle, — to
recognize no national church, but to build up churches of spir-
itual Christians that shall be independent of the state, and in-
dependent of each other, — has been early and signally mani-
fested. To attempt to reform^ by fraternization, the corrupt
national churches of the East, is, we believe, a fruitless
EFFORT. We act on another principle. A church, composed
only of hopeful converts, independent, and, as far as man gov-
erns it, self governed, is our view of the New Testament polity,

AND OUR SCHEME FOR MODERN MISSIONS.'

"That is the American Baptists' stand. Be it theirs to
maintain it everj' where, in good faith and entire. In doing so,
let them, by prayer, sympathy, and succor, stand by their per-
secuted brethren in Germany and Denmark ; let them encour-
age and uphold their suffering brethren in France, and if
' Protestant evangelists and colporteurs,' sustained, perchance,
by American funds, make common cause with high-church
' Nationals,' in multiplying their afflictions and upholding the
doctrine of state alliance and control, let them tell tlie story,
as in the last report of their Board of Missions, to all the
churches, and they will see that American Christians of other
names will not send funds across the Atlantic, to help the
vengeful bond woman to beget abortions, or to strangle at the
birth the free babes of the free woman ; just when her Lord,
too, is saying, ' Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not ; break
forth and cry, thou that travailest not ; for the desolate hath
many more children than she which hath a husband.' Let

288 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

them, in the same spunt, bid their brethren in Greece be of
good courage and fear not, both to preach and to baptize in the
name of the Lord Jesus ; and if those good brethren dare not
do so, let American Baptists unite with the weak, and timid,
and prudent of other faiths, and call home all Protestant mis-
sionaries from the East, ' to stay in Jericho till their beards be
grown,' or other men are found, who, like Paul, will carry the
gospel there, and bear themselves, in its propagation, in respect
to civil relations and authorities, worthily of the gospel of
Christ ; or, like Christ, will be ready to obey unto death in the
maintenance therein of his supremacy over all authorities,
whether of heaven, earth, or hell."

This was published in July, 1845 ; and since then what has
the same denomination done for civil and religious liberty in
Asia, Africa, and Europe, especially in those grand fields of
modern civilization — France and Germany ?

We believe that nobler conflicts are yet to be fought, and
ampler trophies won. Heaven has evidently predestined the
Christian heroes of this age " to fight the battles of the future
now," and woe be to him who is too imbecile or cowardly for
the strife. The era has come when, as a redeeming and con-
trolling agent, the days of expediency, priestly cunning, and
aristocratic compulsion, are numbered, and henceforth not
power, nor conventional morality, nor parasitical talent, but
truth, simple, unshackled, and sublime, is the untaxed dowry of
every Christian soul, and the only crowned monarch of all
mankind. There is a luminary risen fairer and more extended
than all other lights — even the word that was in the beginning ;
the all-blessing effulgence of the highest Heaven, of which
solar beams are but the Shechinah and cloudy tabernacle ; the
blessed word that shines for all, and giveth eternal life to as
many as seek to be transformed by his influence. He has
offered himself, a divine atonement for the sins of the whole
world, thus abolishing all lesser sacrifices, and destroying the
functions of all other priests. He has taught us to call no man
master, and in no way to create in others or ourselves the

THE CHURCH WITHOUT AN ARISTOCRAT. 289

degradation of a slave. He has planted on earth a sacred asso-
ciation of members every way equal to each other, and mu-
tually esteemed ; and this perfect model of republicanism, given
to the world eighteen hundred years ago, Christ carefully iso-
lated from kings and popes, bishops and priests ; and that these
four classes of tyrants may ever be deprived of their chief
support, he would most zealously banish from the holy broth-
erhood every aristocrat.
25

PART III.

THE REPUBLICAN INFLUENCE OF
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.

" Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the
earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibit-
ing to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple ; who ever
knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter ? Her confuting
is the best and surest suppressing. . . . For who knows not that Truth is
strong next to Almighty ? She needs no policies, nor stratagems, nor
licensings, to make her victorious ; those are the shifts and the defences
that Error uses against her power. Give her but room, and do not bind
her when she sleeps." — Milton^ s Areopagitica.

" If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or
to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments
of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason
is left free to combat it." — Jefferson^s Inaugural Address.

" Croyez-Tous que le lache, qui traine en tout lieu la chaine de I'esclave,
soit moins charge que I'horame de courage qui porte les fers du prison-
nier ? " — Paroles d'un Croyant.

" If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
" And there shall be one fold and one shepherd." — Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER I.

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE
OBSCURE.

In parts first and second of this work on Republican Chris-
tianity, we have portrayed the progressive character of Christ,
and the spirit of the primitive church. It remains to discuss the
repubUcan influence of Christian doctrine ; and our first duty
will be to show that it is Heaven's best solace to hidden
minds.

Under this general head, three points are to be discussed, as
follows : Christianity arose in the deepest gloom ; is designed
to mitigate the keenest pangs ; and pour solace upon the
obscurest children of mankind.

First, it WEis in the deepest gloom that our holy religion arose
to diff'use its light and blessedness all over earth. This is
" the dayspring from on high, which has visited us, to give
light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace." From the darkest
night, the Sun of righteousness burst on our world with healing
on his wings, light and joy for all. Christianity is not the
religion of a sect or section, the tool of kings, popes, councils,
hierarchies, synods, or creed-makers, but Heaven's own sys-
tem of infallible truth and free salvation, with few doctrines
necessary to be believed, and many duties necessary to be
performed.

Human society is a natural condition, the state necessary
for man ; since without sociality man could neither reproduce
nor preserve himself. Hence religion, without which social
institutions cannot exist, is necessary as society itself, and
cannot be a mere human invention. If our existence is

292 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

designed for some exalted end, as that of all beings, it is evi-
dent that the end designed cannot be attained but by the aid of
revelation, which alone can give us positive information in
relation to our nature, origin, and destiny, while it guaranties
the possession of that which is supremely good and true. Chris-
tianity, as it is found in the New Testament, is " ordained to
better and to beautify existence as it is ; " a religion of love and
saving grace, addressing itself to the head and to the heart ;
in harmony with tllfe natural as well as moral world ; and
bringing to all the magnificent proofs of Deity without us,
and the still more impressive proofs of Deity within us ; a
religion which is adapted to man's condition and wants every
where, admitting no compromise with vice, making sincerity
the test of sanctity, and practical benevolence the test of
sincerity.

True religion is every way infinite, because it is all full of
God. Between it and our faculties there is a perfect harmony ;
therefore, in all time, and in every place, man, naturally
inclined to worship in some form, has felt the need of being
enlightened by divine doctrines, consoled, vivified by lofty
hopes, and conducted by unerring precepts. The more reli-
gion is pure, holy, and vigorous in its claims of truth and
justice, the greater is its power over man, and the more is it
conformed to his nature, despite the disasters of the fall.
Hence, in every region of earth, Christianity has only to be
proclaimed in purity to be universally heard. The follies and
crimes of paganism, superstition, bigotry, and fanaticism, can-
not long resist its influence, taint its spotless purity, nor pre-
vent its diffusion even in the darkest corners of earth, where,
as on the boldest heights, its prerogative is to create the " sun-
minds that warm the world to love, and worship, and bright
life."

The voice that cries, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
his paths straight," always resounds in the desert rather than in
the garden, among the masses of the obscure, 'who pant for
improvement, and not in the halls of the luxurious, already

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 293

satiated with ease. Christ has taught us not to seek him in a
terrestrial paradise, but in the Nazareths of virtuous penury,
the Bethanies of simple domestic joys, the Gethsemanes of
agonizing prayer, on the Calvaries of martyrdom, and the
Olivets of triumphal ascent from earthly sufferings to immor-
tal joys. He who came down from the Father of lights,
kindled the mild splendors of Christianity first in the most hid-
den vales, not that the more prominent should be left benighted,
but that the most unfortunate should be especially blessed.

As the young eye of Christ opened upon the world he came
to redeem, he every where saw vice and tyranny in the
ascendant, crime and imposture ruling supreme. He had not
made kings to destroy their fellow-men, nor priests to harness
them, like brutes, to regal chariots, thus in the person of reli-
gionists giving to the world the basest example of pride, perfidy,
and avarice, to debauch and destroy ; but as he had built the
universe to proclaim his power, so he came to enlighten and
protect the feeblest of the rational creation, the most glorious
manifestation of his mercy. It is in this respect, especially,
that Christianity excels all preceding religions. It alone lays
a pure basis, adapted to the community at large, inculcating
the spirit of universal authority, and at the same time of such
a character as to unite all hearts together, and bind them to
God himself. This was an innovation upon all local systems,
an overthrow of all contracted creeds, of which Plato, for
instance, the wisest of uninspired reformers, never dreamed.
Says he, "No man who has sense, whether he undertakes to
erect a new state from the very foundation, or merely to restore
an old one which has been broken down, will attempt to change
those things relative to the gods and to sacred ceremonies
which ought to be stable, — from whatever gods or demons
they may have received their appellation. Nor should the
legislator touch in any respect that which is founded upon the
authority of the oracle, or upon sacred old sayings." We
should infer from language like this that paganism, as religion,
never rose to the full conception of the Divine, as something

294 HEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

holy, spiritual, individual, and superior to nature. Judaism, on
the other liand, was an ethical, monotheistic religion, distin-
guishing God from the world, it is true, but, like preceding
systems, leaving man more as a phantom of another state of
being than as a social cre-ature to be cultivated in this. The
great ditficulty was, that whilst paganism confused the ideas
of the Divine and Human, of God and Nature, Judaism not
merely distinguished, but separated them. Christ came to
correct this fatal falsity of view, and placed the whole truth,
unmutilated and unobscured, palpably before the eyes of all
mankind. He taught and exemplified his teaching in his own
wonderful person, that all true religion has both a divine and a
human character. He showed from the nature of God, as Spirit
and Love, that he should communicate himself to his creatures,
even the most lowly, receive them into intercourse with him-
self, and impart to each some measure of the fulness of his
own infinite blessedness. This is at once the origin and con-
summation of Christianity. " God reveals and communicates
himself; man accepts this revelation, and enters into this com-
munion. All genuine religion is therefore of divine origin.
But this is only one side of the question ; there is another, also
of much importance. This divine message can be received
by mankind only through means adapted to human capacities.
Revelation has to work upon the human mind, with all the fac-
ulties and susceptibilities with which it has been endowed for
this very purpose, and which constitute its rational character.
Nor is this all. This mind, at whatever period revelation is com-
municated, must be in some particular stage of progress, and
under some peculiar historical influences. Thus all true, liv-
ing religion must have also a human form, an historical impress
and character. But while this is the case with all religion, it is
especially so with Christianity. No religion is at once so divine
and so human, so creative and original, and at the same time
so deeply and grandly historical, as this ; and in none are the
two elements so entirely and so indissolubly united. The
grand ideas which form the basis of all religion are here

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 295

presented in their greatest perfection and simplicity ; God
manifests himself in a form wholly corresponding with his
character, and imbued with his spirit ; and this type of his
perfections is a 7nan, thinking, feeling, acting, and suffering ;
as a man, exemplifying every human quality in its entire sim-
plicity and truth, condescending lovingly to the smallest human
interests, and thus investing them with a divine glory. Viewed
in this light, Christianity appears divine in its essence, human
in its form ; divine in its origin, human in its imbodiment and
development. It possesses the full originality and independ-
ence of a new religious creation, such as could proceed only
from an immediate divine impulse ; and is yet in the fullest
sense historical, bearing the most intimate relation to the whole
previous training and progress of the human race. It appeared
when the fulness of time was accomplished ; it is entwined by
a thousand threads with reality ; and has been, ever since its
first appearance in the world, so completely the moving spring
of history, that we cannot but regard it as the germ of the
hi"-her development of humanity ; while, superior both to rea-
son and nature, it is at the same time the highest reason and
the truest nature. For no reason could have invented, no
reflection discovered, that which forms the central point of
Christianity ; the self-sacrifice made by divine love on the
cross, for the sake of sinful humanity ; and yet both recognize
therein the only effectual means for the redemption and regen-
eration of humanity."

Christianity alone distinguishes between God and man with-
out dividing, portraying the true characters of both, and realiz-
ing their perfect union in the person of its divine Author. It
teaches the perfect holiness of God, but at the same time his
infinite grace and condescension to our fallen race ; the dis-
tinctly human nature of man, but also his divine origin and
capacities. In this respect has our holy religion attained the
end to which all previous systems vainly aspired, being the
grand luminary of absolute, unchangeable Truth, into whose
effulgence all the subordinate beams of imperfect systems are

296 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

sublimely merged. And it is the highest glory of " the day-
spring from on high, which hath visited us," that it arose in the
deepest gloom, on purpose to pour solace on the most obscure.
Secondly, Christianity is designed to mitigate the keenest
pangs. All religion not intrinsically Christian is deficient in
respect to the prime element of true morality — sympathy for
liidden suffering. This was one of the fatal defects that pre-
vailed in the morality of pagan antiquity. Apart from the
fact, that it favored selfish principles mainly, and constituted
merely a system of rules for sensual gratification, which ren-
dered man a proud and obdurate being, it exerted no influence
upon the great mass of the common people, and had no tender
emotions to soothe the suffering poor. Its guardians satisfied
themselves with disputing in their schools about certain abstract
principles, and left the struggling people to their fate. All
moral restraint and fraternal obligations derived their chief
support from traditionary customs, dogmatical ceremonies, and
mercenary maxims ; and even this poor basis, always weak,
was rendered still more insecure and pernicious by the preva-
lence of the most degrading superstition. But such disposi-
tions, feelings, and moral habits, Christ came to extirpate,
and to substitute in their place the most salutary laws of
personal and social improvement. The feeble and unfor-
tunate were no longer to be despised, but as brethren to be
recognized and protected. Matrimony was to cease being a
state for the male to exercise unjust dominion over the fe-
male, and keep her in miserable bondage. Every house
was to become a temple, and every inhabitant, however
humble and destitute, to be ennobled, improved, and conse-
crated to the service of God and mankind. Animated by
the highest and purest mutual esteem, every family, neigh-
borhood, and state was to become a venerable and beneficent
whole, wherein all should be equals, and none abused. How
desirable a consummation is this ! Said Plato, " Could wc
create so close, tender, and cordial a connection between the
citizens of a state, as to induce all to consider themselves as

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 297

relatives, as fathers, brothers, and sisters, then this whole state
would constitute but a single family, be subjected to the most
perfect regulations, and become the happiest republic that ever
existed upon earth." What Athena's sage vainly hoped to
accomplish by the feeble power of consanguinity, the obscure
Teacher of Nazareth will accomplish through fraternal love
and grace divine. By the legitimate influence of Christianity
alone can the citizens of this world be united together in such
a manner, that they will become harmonious members of the
same body, and yield each other constant assistance, by labor-
ing together for the common good, mutually participating in
the cares of each, and tenderly mitigating the sorrows of all.
Then will the rich and powerful search for those condemned
by want and misfortune to dwell " in dead Hadean shades,"
and from the deepest gloom agonized merit will emerge, " as
of yore out of the grave rose God."

The proper excitement and beneficent use of our sympa-
thies conduces powerfully to the best mental cultivation.
Christianity is founded on this principle ; for it is a central
light, which imparts a proper tone to all surrounding objects,
and is designed to pierce the obscurest depths, as well as adorn
the loftiest heights, of society. Having the revelation of God's
will and the example of Jesus Christ especially before us, we
learn that correct believing and merciful acting, equally and
perpetually combined, are indispensable to the formation of
perfect moral worth.

" AH declare
For what the Eternal !Maker has ordained
The powers of man : we feel within ourselves
His energy divine : he tells the heart
He meant, he made us to behold and love
^\Tiat he beholds and loves, the general orb
Of life and being — to be great like hun,
Beneficent and active."

Novalis has beautifully said, that man stands with the visible
universe in as various and incomprehensible relations as with

298 IIEPUBLICAN CHKISTIANITV.

his fellow-men ; that, as it shows itself childlike to the child,
and bends itself condescendingly to his childish heart, so does
it appear godlike to divine men, and sound in harmony with the
highest spirit. It is the strongest passion and highest delight
of many in the lowest walks of human life, " nature's low
tones and harmonies to hear — heard by the calm alone." To
these tones, to these harmonic sympathies pervading all worlds,
they possess the acutest sensibility, and by them are inspired
with the loftiest aspirations. Their hearts shine through their
native lowliness like live coals through ashes, and they instinc-
tively soar on high to " search the golden-globed skies for deeds
of grace." It is the prerogative of Christianity to succor,
guide, and console such, and has planted disciples here below
that light may issue from them to impart warmth and lustre to
every needy soul. Thanks to its benign influence, there never
need be winter in the spiritual regions most genial to tender
minds, nor need sympathizing spirits ever be cut off from each
other, and frost-bound by selfishness, but all may be fused
everlastingly into one living whole by the breath of heavenly
love. The great Teacher of universal brotherhood smiles
down upon our race in common, teaching man every where
to be merciful to his fellow-man, and, with the gentlest
regards, wooing the obscure into the bland splendors of his
presence, to " lift up their hearts, like grass blades to the
sun."

Mental and moral cultivation has too often, hitherto, been a
gift thrown into the lap of affluence alone ; but the doctrines
of the cross would make it a garland twined round the brow
of the poorest child of Adam, rendering him joyfully radiant,
and bounding from the conquest of a thousand perils and pangs.
Christianity alms to regenerate and perpetually improve the
moral nature of the masses of the people, strewing her richest
and most roseate blessings on the million victims whom re-
morseless Mammon has trampled under his all but omnipotent
foot. It comes with cheering words and timely patronage to
those whose hearts are wrinkled long before their brow, wasted

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 299

by worldly neglect, or broken by oppressive care, and plants
therein healing joys and auspicious hopes

" More pure than dewdrops, Nature's tears, which she
Sheds in her own breast for the fair which die."

In the life and lessons of Christ is traced the influence of
those agencies given to mould and bless our world in all its
unceasing process of creation and improvement. Until regen-
eration is perfect and universal, the first step will ever be regard
for the feeble, and the last, martyrdom to the malignity of the
powerful. In the mean while, humanity vvill not cease to march
steadily upward toward perfection. Every step of progres-
sive light and improvement, from the manger wherein virgin
worth lays her poorest child, to the throne of ultimate and tri-
umphant grandeur, Christ attends the race he came to console
in the darkest hour, its Redeemer, illumination, and reward.
Compelled as we are, by the necessities of our being, to look
to the outward world for much of our comfort, and for no small
share of our happiness, Christ would counsel us rather to look
within our own bosoms for the best law, guidance, salvation,
and God. With earnest love he transfers to his disciples the
truths which the pangs of his earthly experience stamped on
his innermost soul, and would have us never forget that what-
ever he draws as an illustration from his own nature has its
counterpart in our nature, and that he suggests advice and
inspires purposes divine in our hearts, in order that we may
raise ourselves from the prostration of worldliness to soar to
the infinite spiritualities of heaven. This ambition, so useful
and pure, God most often kindles in the darkest and bleakest
nooks of earth, prompting the sons of penury to joy in their
fearful strife, " even as an eagle, nigh famished, in the fellow-
ship of storms." In these emergencies, wherewith talent is
elicited and worth matured, success results only from an humble
but firm resolve to be individual, a being girt with that unity
of manhood and divinity that God designed. Such a purpose
is not formed in moments of excitement and enthusiasm, to be

300 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

abandoned with the first ebbing of emotion ; neither is it a res-
olution barren of practical use in the world. It says, in all
calmness, and with the utmost fixedness of will, " If no other
man shall be found disposed to stand by my side through every
vicissitude, I will be an unflinching hero to resist evil, delusion,
and despotism, of every form." Such persons are imbued with
deep-seated strength, won from fiercest elements, and which,
like manna in the desert and wilderness, they can live upon,
and, " spider-like, spin their web out any where." The pur-
pose of their life is to improve mankind in general, and espe-
cially to encourage those who, like themselves, have known
the direst struggles ; to show them the beauty of holiness, and
urge ihem, by the most potent entreaty, to aspire to its posses-
sion ; to paint before the eye of their mind the ideal of progres-
sive virtue, and to indicate the agencies by which individual
perfectibility can best be attained ; to state and exemplify the
renouncement, the self-denial, the martyr courage, the perti-
nacity, the unity of purpose, and earnestness of pursuit, by
which men may best fulfil the end of their existence, best ac-
complish the will of their Creator, and shine with most health-
ful brightness over the wide ranks of their race. To such
persons religion is not a frigid, stationary thing ; but, as soon
as it has passed into the form of vital experience, its progress
is thenceforth illimitable and its influence unbounded. As sym-
pathy threw them, when sorrowing, on the Invisible and Immu-
table, and, in all their subsequent career, conducts them to the
same infinite sources of light and strength, when all around
their dimmed eyes and yearning heart the visible is dark and
troubled, so do they delight most, in every interval of their own
bitter strifes, to search out the still worse conditioned, and
relieve their woes. They know full well how slight an act
may raise or sink a soul, and multiply, in the most desponding,
those serener and sublimer moments which convey the spirit
away through the gate of devotion to the throne of the Infinite,
where the poorest are most bountifully enriched, and the proud-

CHRISTIAMTY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 301

est honors of earth appear less valuable, as well as more tran-
sient, than summer dust.

The truth as it is in Jesus of Nazareth, the victim of oppres-
sion and patron of the obscure, exalts, consoles, and raises us
above the sphere of ordinary suffering, chases despair from
anguish, restores to us " the loved, the lost, the distant, and the
dead," pours into minds the most deeply hurt the most healing
balm, ministers to the loftiest hope, and awakens those imagin-
ings which " bring all heaven before our eyes." The sincere
teachers of this truth will not tai'ry on their errands of mercy
because of the rain and wind, nor will they wait until the day
shall break, when tyrants are crushing their victim, demons are
impatient for their prey, and an expiring sinner may be saved
from eternal woe. When man, loving and serving his fellow-
man, the most wretched even, goes forth in the tempestuous
midnight, ascends wintry hills, traverses the pathless wilder-
ness, till, faint, cold, and dripping, he at length reaches the
hovel of deserted and tortured humanity, with what a gasping
of inarticulate gratitude, interpreted most strongly in smiles
mantling the cheek of agony, is his coming welcomed ! There
are thousands of such abodes, which, but for the tender mer-
cies of Christianity, would never be lighted up with a single ray
of health or hope. Most persons, like Tacitus, delight to por-
tray the corruptions of their fellow-men, without once attempt-
ing either to reform or alleviate them. Instead of making
human culture as universal as heavenly light, the influence of
redemption coextensive with the disasters of the fall, the selfish
would forbid the sun to shine beyond the boundaries of their
own useless domain, and concentrate their intrinsic meanness
to the violent enforcement only of their own bigoted creed.
If pure and promising talents start up in humble shades, like
rosebuds peeping out of snow, these tramplers on the best
hopes of mankind will stamp down their fii-st unfoldings, or
leave them to freeze beyond all power of further growth. But
not so would Christ have us deal with those who are in danger
of abiding in a perpetual Cimmerian sojourn ; he directs each
26

302 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Struggling plant of humanity to be brought out into a genial,
salubrious air, not mutilated by tyranny nor chilled by neglect.
Each congealed sensibility would the Savior gently loosen with
the soft breath of love, and each incipient faculty would he
energize with power undying, that he might transform the most
hidden heart into a perennial fountain, " flinging its bright, fresh
feelings up to the skies it loves and strives to reach."

The noblest are always the most tolerant, the basest the most
arrogant, and the most deserving the most uncomplaining. We
often have occasion to remark, with an early Greek father, that
" it is the rich and prosperous who condemn Providence, in
affected pity for the sufferings of innocence." Said Bernardin
de Saint Pierre, " It is from the midst of voluptuous prosperity
that these murmurs against Providence issue. It is from these
libraries, so filled with light, that the clouds rise up which have
obscured the hopes and virtues of Europe." " It is not Laza-
rus," says St. Chrysostom, "that pronounces such blasphemy.
He would have shuddered at the thought of it. Is it not revolt-
ing, then, that, while those whom God has visited with all kinds
of misery, bless him and give him thanks, you, who are only
bare spectatoi's of the combat of humanity with suffering, should
thus blaspheme against Providence ? For, if the sufferer
should for a moment give way to grief, and utter some guilty
words, there would seem to be some excuse for him ; but that
another, who is a stranger to the sorrows of life, should lose
his soul and outrage his Creator, condemning things which are
regarded by those who endure them as benefits, and a subject
of gratitude, this certainly is inconceivable, and undeserving
of pardon."

Sincere Christians are the most uncomplaining, however great
the sufferings they endure, because they are most conscious of
their own demerits and the unspeakable mercy of God. If
their good deeds are calumniated, their integrity denied, or
their faults exaggerated, they inflict on their foes nothing but
tears of sorrow ; for their heart tells them to set against the
unjust treatment they receive on earth the boundless rewards

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 303

laid up for them in heaven. The lone pilgrim who journeys,
it may be with tender feet and feeble limbs, along the gloomiest
vales of life, remembers that He who built the universe, and
possessed all treasures within himself, was, 01:1 earth, more des-
titute and despised than all the children of men, yet bore in his
youthful bosom a heart forever swelling with inexhaustible
compassion, which finally broke on the cross, when, in the hour
of dark despair, he stretched out his arms to embrace and bless
a world redeemed.

Thirdly, Christianity not only arose in the deepest gloom,
and is designed to mitigate the keenest pangs, but, in harmony
with its origin and first experience, it also pours solace upon
the obscurest children of mankind.

Christ inculcated nothing with more earnestness than a belief
in the universal and impartial love of the Father of all, which
is extended even to the feeblest fowls of heaven. He inces-
santly labored to place the wretched in an attractive light, and
cause them to be approached with feelings of benevolence and
esteem. He portrayed, in brilliant and fascinating terms, the
alacrity with which God pardons the vicious and wandering, as
soon as they repent and reform. The parable of the prodigal
son (Luke xv. 11 — 32) in the most touching and beautiful
manner applies this truth to the heathen nations, and represents
them, after a long wandering, as returning and again received
into their Father's house. In order to inspire the proud and
domineering ranks of his countrymen with merciful dispositions
toward their fellow-men, Christ employs the strongest and
most vivid colors to represent the exalted worth of human
nature, and shows them that it ought to be respected in the
smallest child even, and the meanest slave. His most distinct
command was to love all mankind, which obligation, on our
part, he grounded upon the universal love of the Father in
heaven, who makes his sun to shine equally upon all nations,
and sends his rain as plentifully upon those who are most
benighted or deformed by vice, as upon those who are decorated
with the fairest virtues. The neighbor to be loved as one's

304 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

self was every man without exception ; and, by thus represent-
ing love to the weakest and most unworthy of mankind in con-
nection with love to the Almighty Father in heaven, as the
substance of all morality, our Lord entirely and forever abol-
ished all party considerations in respect to distinction of family,
rank, nation, and religion. He would have each rational crea-
ture, in his appropriate sphere, fostered with the tenderest
regard, that each succeeding day he may possess more of mind
and freedom than he ever had.

In a strain of ineffable melody do we hear resounding on
the wide air, from the sacred mount, " Blessed are the poor in
spirit." Blessed the poor! Ah, how unlike to this were the
wisdom and demeanor of pagan antiquity ! Said the great
Stagirite, " We fear all evil things, such as the loss of fame,
poverty, sickness, friendlessness, and death." The Athenian,
with Plato, would make a law in every state to this effect —
" Let there be no poor person in the city ; let such a person be
banished from the cities, and from the forum, and from the
country fields, that the country may be altogether pure and free
from an animal of this kind." In short, for four thousand
years poverty was looked upon as a dreadful evil, a sign of
malediction ; and, where true Christianity does not predomi-
nate, the same sentiments continue to maintain their ground
among men, and impel them to ungenerous deeds. The
children of penury and misfortune, however richly they may
be endowed, are still regarded as those vile animals against
whom the Grecian legislator proposed to make laws, banishing
them from every place of public resort, that the more favored
might not be annoyed by their presence, and even rural seclu-
sion be cleared of their contaminating touch.

All vitiated forms of Christianity, patronized and enforced
by the head of the state, by princes, nobles, magistrates, and
hierarchies of every form, descend slowly into the lower ranks,
and do little or no popular good. But the great Founder of
the true church took exactly the opposite course ; he himself
was born and began his divine mission among the plebeian

CHRISTIAMTY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 305

classes, the poor and ignorant, and the power of faith ascended
rapidly into the higher classes, reaching at length the impe-
rial throne. The two impressions of these two origins of reli-
gious belief have remained distinct on their respective classes,
manifested in the magnanimous zeal of one and the bigoted
mummery of the other. The great masses hail the advent of
the first, and are blest by their influence ; while to the exclu-
sive arrogance of the latter, contracted aristocratic circles al-
ways furnish the most favorable soil. So little alive are they
to the natural inference from this palpable and disgraceful fact,
that in magnifying national, religious, and pharisaical creeds,
they always boast of their wonderful eflects in giving a digni-
fied tone to high society, the monopoly of literary elegance to
a clique, or in contributing to some worldly advantage, which
by special grace should belong alone to the ranks above the
poor. There is in truth always a secret tendency in the higher
walks of life, where pride and affluence reign, to despise the
company of the shepherds of Bethlehem, who were the first to
believe, as well as to scorn treading in the steps of those fish-
ermen who were the first to obey. But it would be well for
all to remember what St. Jerome, the hermit of Bethlehem, in
the fourth century said : " The apostles have written, and our
Lord himself has spoken in the Gospels, not that a few merely,
but that all, should understand. Plato wrote, but he wrote for
a small number, and not for the nations. Scarcely three men
understood him. But these, that is, the princes of the church
and of Christ, have written, not for a few, but for all men."

Christ appeared on earth invested with sublime and holy
doctrines, which he labored to impart, not to sects and secta-
ries, but to universal mart. He taught with a completeness of
wisdom and love that contemplated all those laws which reg-
ulate our sublunary career, often so stormy, but over which
never ceases to gleam the rainbow of hope. He had a vivid
personal experience of all the delicate sensibilities that melt
and trickle around the heartstrings of the obscurest bosom, as
streams of pearl flow darkly beneath the mighty mountains ;
26*

306 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

and t]iis same great patron of trembling merit, who remotely
read the better desires of Nathaniel when under the fig-tree,
says to each obscure youth panting to arise and shine, —

" I saw thy secret longings — unsaid thoughts,
Which prey upon the breast like night-fires on
A heath."

The redeemer who goes forth to bless this world, must be
a prophet to arouse and encourage, rather than a philosopher to
dogmatize and confound ; one speaking to our spiritual intui-
tions more acutely than to our mental speculations — aiming
at the diffusion of universal light, as the means of securing
individual rights and promoting perpetual progression. Thus
Jesus came — divinity veiled under the luminous shadow of
immaculate humanity, which combination garnered within
itself the suggestive and stimulative power of all the genius in
the universe, to kindle and feed the purest flames in the most
secluded bosoms. His interest in the beneficiaries whom it is
his highest joy to solace, is not fitful and brief, but rooted in
the eternal substance of his glorified being, and always
prompted, by the sublime faithfulness of Godhead, to elevate
and ennoble the profoundest emotions that ever struggle in the
otherwise disconsolate heart of man. Christ can sympathize
with those whose backs are lacerated with the injustice, and
whose eyes are dimmed with the tears extorted by those who,
instead of gazing on benighted and abused humanity with com-
passion, rend it in pieces, and throw away the palpitating flesh,
in order to fit the reeking bones into an arbitrary system, to
which, for yet longer cycles of agonized years, they would con-
demn, the great multitudes of toiling men. These are the un-
fortunate offspring of obscure destiny, who plod on their weary
way, as stars wear through the night, fair in their nature, though
remote from brighter spheres, and scarcely seen by the com-
mon eye. But He who at evening was admitted to no hospi-
table home in the metropolis wherein all day he had toiled,
and walked wearily to Bethany to repose on a rustic couch,

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCUHE. 307

regards all who labor unrequitedly with heart, hand, and brain,
for the public good ; else would their prospects be blank in-
deed, as the blue skies when the sun is gone. He is forever the
solace of the injured and obscure, lingering yet on earth by
the energies of his spirit, to make every aspiring child first a
hero, then a sage, then a saint, partaking of the divine nature,
and breathing holy and elevating influences all around. As
the good, the true, and the lovely, are an harmonious unity in
God, and an harmonious unity in the universe, so would Christ
make them an harmonious unity in every son of man. Since
man is a perfectible being, he is, from every low gradation of
existence, to be urged upward, by the radiance of perfect right-
eousness, from one height of excellence to another, till he shall
be filled with all the fulness of God. Every human creature
that struggles into existence, even in the lowest vale of life, is
to be looked upon as the child of the Infinite and the Divine,
gifted with latent energies, that may be taught to swell with
unbounded progress, and yearn into the deep bosom of im-
mensity. Who can be indiflTerent to the condition and destiny
of the obscurest among such creatures ? Who would not eman-
cipate them from every bond, awaken them from eveiy lifeless
formula, and cheer them gladly on the way to bliss? And, to
this end, who would not pray, —

" Let them not
Be forced to grind the bones out of their arms
For bread, but have some space to think and feel,
Like moral and immortal creatures " ?

Too many religionists are mere compounds of intolerance
and indifference. Where, as it respects their fellow-creatures,
they should be most strenuously active, full of discriminating
zeal, dispensing generous blessings, there it is precisely that
the eye is blind, the ear deaf, the hand shut, and the heart
cold. Christianity teaches them to rise above sectarian consid-
erations, and do good to all men for their own and the blessed
Redeemer's sake. This they are too mercenary or too indo-

308 REI'UBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

lent to do ; but where they have no right whatever to interfere,
and where their bigoted meddHng can ])roduce only mischief
and misery, there it is they most pertinaciously obtrude them-
selves, and degrade all they touch. If their poor forsaken
brother is dying in the next street, on a pallet of straw, fam-
ished, diseased, and almost driven by sheer neglect to despair,
they hasten not to relieve the wants of his body, or soothe the
pangs of his soul, but leave him to fight out the fierce last fight
with the grim destroyer as best he can. If you direct their
attention to the ignorance, crime, and misery of the commu-
nity, some of which can be removed by social action, and
much more by private benevolence, and ask them to put their
hand to the holy work of diffusing light, purity, and happiness,
they shrug their shoulders, and reply, that they have enough to
do to mind their own affairs, and it is a shame there are
so many wretched creatures in the world. It is in vain that
millions pine and perish on every hand. It is in vain that the
captive longs for deliverance, that the heel of tyranny is on
the neck of the feeble, and the lash resounds on the back of
the enslaved. It is in vain that abused and exasperated out-
casts darkly grope for instruction and compassion, till, goaded
to madness by starvation, they violate laws the moral propriety
of which they have never learned, and are hurried by judicial
martj-rdom to the consummation of inhuman abuse. As they
have lived uncared for by the large majority of those classes to
whom fortune has been more merciful, so they die the objects
of their profoundest contempt.

Some of the Roman emperors hung their laws so high on
brazen pillars that the people could not read them, and then
punished those as offenders who knew not a description of their
offence. But no exalted philanthropists of our day of aug-
mented light, and in this country of freer institutions, would do
this, except such as either contentedly hold or would create
slaves. If one who is a tyrant at heart does not find men
already brutish enough for his brutal purposes, he will strive
most successfully to complete the dcgradali jn of his victims

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 309

by excluding divine light from their minds. Christ's com-
mand to " teach all nations," he practically nullifies ; and since
all who are saved are rescued by lessons, and not miracles, he
forecloses the redemption of the poor, and with fiendish tri-
umph seals their eternal doom.

In the obscurest walks of life may be found many a youth
richly endowed with latent germs of greatness, who contin-
ually exclaim to themselves, in shrinking sadness, " O, I feel
like a seed in the cold earth, quickening at heart, and pining
for the air ! " To whom can such look for appreciating sym-
pathy and appropriate aid but to those who really possess and
practically exemplify the spirit of Christ?

" The wild flowers' tendril, proof of feebleness,
Proves strength ; and so we fling our feelings out,
The tendrils of the heart, to bear us lip."

And none comes quicker to our solace and support than He
whose heart most yearned over a sutTering world, and was
pierced to redeem it from eternal woe. The thought of ame-
liorating the condition of mankind inspired and fortified the
great Redeemer in planting his doctrines on earth ; and his only
direction to his disciples is to love all, and perpetually to ad-
vance. The institution of Christianity is designed to purify our
hearts and regulate our demeanor by the love of God. In the
practical accounts of the proceedings of the last day, given in
the Scriptures, the excellency which is represented as being a
criterion and distinguishing feature of the disciple of Christ,
and which He will acknowledge, is Christian benevolence —
love to man manifested in the relief of the poor. The apos-
tle John has given us a most sublime description of the benefi-
cence of God, when he says, " God is love." Love is not so
much an attribute of his nature as his very essence — the spirit
of himself. Christian benevolence is the imitation of Christ ;
and just so far cis we possess his spirit, and exemplify his char-
acter, we bear the image of God, and are his sons indeed.
But few can enter the more exalted sanctuaries of earthly

310 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

wisdom : Christ, to meet the emergency, has richly endowed
the highest school of the most generous instruction, and thrown
open its portals wide as the world. He proffers to every one
of the most benighted and destitute among the children of men
a handful of eternal truth, and bids them make a hcartful of
it. Christ won the emancipation of our race from the w^orst
bondage by the sacrifice of himself, and has transmitted the
privilege and duty of universal education, with all the other
inestimable blessings connected with the patrimony of his
blood. His lessons are most abundant, better understood, and
best enjoyed by the most needy and deserving — the inheritors
of genius obscured, who gather truth from trials, " like snow
from clouds, the most, and whitest, from the darkest."

The true Christian, who is instructed properly with respect
to the nature of the soul and its fearful destiny, will love man
as man, and be interested in him, whatever may be his rank
and wherever he may dwell. The bounds of family complex-
ion and country cannot confine him. In whatever form hu-
man nature puts forth its energies, he delights to contemplate
them, and feels a bi'other's solicitude to promote their happiest
growth. Says Channing, " Christianity lays the foundation
of a universal love, by revealing to us the greatness of that
nature in which all men participate ; by inspiring reverence
for the human soul, be that soul lodged wherever it may ; by
leaching us that all the outward distinctions of birth, rank,
wealth, honor, which human pride foolishly swells into impor-
tance, and which separate different classes from each other, as
if they were different races, are not worthy to be named in
comparison with those essential faculties and affections which
the poorest and most unprospcrous derive as liberally from
God as those who disdain them. Christian love is founded on
the grandeur of man's nature, its likeness to God, its immor-
tality, its powers of endless progress, — on the end for which
it is created, of living forever, diffusing itself inimitably, and
enjoying God and the universe through eternity. He who has
never looked through man's outward condition, through the

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 311

accidental trappings of fortune and fashion, to the naked soul,
and there seen God's image connmanding reverence and a
spiritual grandeur which turns to littleness all that is most glo-
rious in nature, — such a man may have kindness, for of this
he cannot easily divest himself; but he is a stranger to the dis-
tinctive love of Christianity, and knows nothing of the intense-
ness and diffusiveness with which the heart can bind itself to
the human race."

It is matter calling for deep gratitude on the part of all who
desire the best welfare of mankind, that the doctrine of broth-
erhood, first announced and exemplified by Christ, is coming
more and more to occupy and illuminate the highest, as vvell as
the lowest, ranks of humanity. In the beginning, the cross
rose above all, and there must it remain. For, if the principle
of fraternity thence emanating is either forgotten or betrayed,
all hearts are injured and every thing luminous in religion is
obscured. Thank God, imperishable and adored, the sign for
eighteen centuries has saved from oblivion the thing signified ;
and, destined still to raise its blood-stained arms aloft until the
world shall cease, the cross will continue to rebuke the treach-
ery of tyrants, and cheer all the abused.

" Star unto star speaks light, and -world to -world
Repeats tlie password of the universe
To God — the name of Christ ; the one great word
"SVell worth all languages in earth or heaven."

The Savior of the world never sanctioned that narrow big-
otry which would confine the soul in some one particular
department of moral culture, but opened many mansions of
glory, at once the infinitely varied field of its excursions and
reward. Forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching
upward to the things that are before, the devotee whom the
best friend has rescued from the deepest gloom is eternally to
soar with wider views and purer joys, verifying, at each ad-
vance, that " in the garden of his Master there are many kinds
of flowers." It is not the true disciple who has had this
experience, and tasted these delights, but spurious Christians,

312 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

who would monopolize all high culture among a few luxurious
favorites, and leave the great masses of industrious poor to
ignorance, superstition, and loathsome vice. To do this, is to
outstrip the heathen in obdurate cruelty, for they had household
gods who were patrons of all the oppressed. Coriolanus, after
having laid waste the country of the Volscians, felt himself free
and secure by the hearth of Aufidius, under the protection of
the penates, or household gods of his enemy ; while here, in
this Christian and republican land, unoffending children are
born slaves, ignorance is plead as the only safety of tyrants,
and persecution is the penalty which sympathizing benevolence
is sure to meet. O, it is time this foul blot were removed, this
most bigoted and disgraceful spirit become extinct. Until such
improvement transpires, Christianity will continue to appear
sadly obscured, like the sun when belts of clouds hide half his
burning disk.

The needed reform will shortly come. All moral truth, as
well as scientific, is learning to work for the millions rather
than for aristocratic cliques. Assuming numerous forms, both
powerful and salutary, free thought will drive oppressive toil
from the earth, and become the one grand laborer, the slave
and drudge to mitigate the weariness of universal man. Sci-
ence, guided by religion and subordinated to the highest ends,
will create means of existence and enjoyment for myriads
more than now breathe the air of true liberty ; will people earth
all over with men, instead of clods in the field, fops in the
parlor, or machines in the factory ; men, with industrious
leisure, intelligent feeling, and holy hope, who will recognize
the equality under which we are made to exist, and the heaven
to which we should all aspire.

But, before this auspicious day arrives, it will be necessary
for secular and religious tyrants to remove the splendid pinna-
cles falsely called the " pillars of the church ; " hierarchies
and arrogant aristocrats must take down the golden dome of
special privilege, which has already become too ponderous,
and begins to totter over their heads ; they must take down the

CHRISTIANITY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 313

gorgeous mass of hollow ceremony and priestly despotism
which never belonged to the Christian order, if they would save
any portion of the sacred edifice, which such deceptive corrup-
tions have always endangered and never adorned, or an unex-
pected concussion will speedily lay the hypocritical time-servers
and their desecrated altars together in ruins. The affluent, the
powerful, and the proudly great by the accident of birth or
ignominious adventure, must stand aside, that the honest though
obscure peasant may come forward,

"His rights to scan,
And learn to venerate himself as man."

The voluntary association of a truly CInnstian brotherhood,
where each one enters and retires freely, seeking individual
enjoyment only in the general welfare, according to the simple
conditions determined by one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,
is the most efficacious alleviation, if not cure, of the three
grand evils of this world — penury, bondage, and corruption.
The church, from the morrow of Pentecost, has loudly pro-
claimed this ; she founded among the first disciples a voluntary
community of the blessings of life ; and hypocrisy was struck
dead, when it first attempted to corrupt the primitive law of
benevolence. Since then, for eighteen centuries, Christianity
has not failed to inculcate a tender regard for the happiness of
all, and especial solicitude for the most obscure and needy.
The union of all ranks and conditions, for the purpose of mu-
tual protection and sanctification, has ever been her motto, as
the world has taken for its motto to divide and subjugate.

The only force Jesus Christ employs to propagate equitable
and saving doctrine is himself; that profound force, the sure
possession of an immortal essence, which he brought with him
from eternity to difl^use all through the diversified ranks of
mankind. He knew that the truth he inculcated, all sim-
ple as it was in form and substance, was the way, the truth, and
the life ; and this he sowed profusely wherever he went, as the
sower scatters wheat. The Christian husbandman has no need
of worldly policy, force, recondite science, philosophical mys-
27

314 KKPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

tery, or cunning skill ; he has the wheat of the word, earth
and heaven, and lie opens wide his hand to sow the seed of
life. While human policy advances with her train and disap-
pears, force antagonizes with force, science exhausts science,
the philosophy of to-day supersedes the philosophy of yester-
day, and subtle craftiness is captured in her own net; the
wheat falls from the hand of God into the hand of man, and
from the hand of man into the bosom of earth, whence the
germs spring, grow, and ripen ; humanity gathers the precious
harvest with joy, partakes with rejoicing appetite, and soon
attains strength to comprehend tlie most invigorating principles
and defend the highest rights. Thus did Jesus Christ ; and
thus proceeds every one who sincerely holds to the truth as it
is in God. He first comprehends the worth of truth by expe-
riencing its power in his own soul, then diffuses it as widely as
possible, and the world, tchich is the JieJd, at length blooms
with the fragrance and fruitfulness of heaven.

Christ smote the popular heart with the concentrated influ-
ence of infinite attributes, melted it into penitence, transformed
it into adoring love, and filled it with expanding joys. He
taught the multitudes that they had a God and Father in
heaven ; and thenceforth humanity, however abased and sor-
rowful, raised its joined hands to the skies, and, in beseeching
God to relieve present miseries, felt the dignity and consolation
which thence descend. The people have a God, not only in
heaven, but nearer to themselves ; a God who was made mor-
tal and poor, born in a stable, cradled on straw, and who suf-
fered more in all his life than any man. The people have a
God, not only in heaven, not only in kindred flesh and poverty,
but there is a God upon the very cross the great masses are
compelled to bear, a living and triumphant God, to teach,
defend, save, and coiisole them.

Christianity, in its primary lessons, inculcates the principle
of equality among men in the presence of God, which princi-
ple necessarily generates another, which is but the development
or application of this, namely, the equality of men among

CHKISTIAMTY THE SOLACE OF THE OBSCURE. 315

themselves, or social equality ; for, if there exists, under this
relation, an inequality essential and radical relative to justice,
this inequality will render them primarily unequal before God.
Religious equality tends, then, to produce, as its consequence
and ultimate result, political and civil inequality. Now, civil
equality has liberty for its form, for it excludes originally all
power of man over man, and obliges him thenceforth to con-
ceive temporal society under the idea of unconstrained associa-
tion, which has for its end to guaranty the rights of each of its
members, that is to say again, his freedom and native inde-
pendence. Thus the freest and most salutary culture is
secured by that religion which Christ came to establish, and
which every way works a beneficial influence on the mind and
destiny of even the obscurest of mankind. Says Hieremias,
" In youth, in health, and prosperity, it awakens feelings of
gratitude and sublime love, and purifies at the same time that
it exalts ; but it is in misfortune, in sickness, in age, that its
effects are most truly and beneficially felt, when submission in
faith, and humble trust in the divine will, from duties become
pleasures, undecaying sources of consolation ; then it creates
powers which were believed to be extinct, and gives a fresh-
ness to the mind which was supposed to have passed away
forever, but which is now renovated as an immortal hope."
These mercies Christ bought for the poor, deserted, and discon-
solate every where. Let us appreciate the blessings conferred
on ourselves, and deprive no one, not the weakest and most
obscure, of the slightest mercy designed for all. Like Christ,
let us seek with tender solicitude to pour solace upon the
obscurest children of mankind ; and, to do this effectually,

" O, pray for those who in the world's dark womb
Are bound, who know not yet their Father, God."

CHAPTER II.

CHRISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE
ASPIRING.

The following positions mark the outline of the present
discussion. Christianity was proudly contemned,, when most
pure ; is adapted to encourage the deserving, when most
depressed ; and patronize all aspirations that are both free
and grand.

In the first place, Christianity, in the immaculate purity of
its unoffending youth, was treated by worldly greatness with
chilling indifference and overbearing contempt. It was
almost impossible for the insolent cliques of the day to sup-
pose that any good thing could come out of Nazareth — a
country town — a rural hamlet, away from the pollutions of
their own bigoted and degraded metropolis. They were too
dull to perceive, or too supercilious to confess, that in all ages
of the world not one strong intellect, brilliant genius, generous
redeemer, in a hundred, is ever born in a great city, garnished
with ostentatious wealth and enervated with effeminate ease.
Pride and intolerance were the mighty passions Christ first
encountered, and towards which he ever remained the most
unyielding foe. He gave no quarter to the mental oppression
of the Scribes and Pharisees, and looked down with pity upon
the great buildings, the palaces of affluence and power, amidst
which deserving merit wanders unnoticed, and innocent genius
too often goes weeping and bleeding from the humblest cradle
to the most ignominious death.

All true greatness is invariably born in the sphere of in-
dustrious seclusion, and is there nourished from the beginning
with that chastity of heart which loves God supremely. It

CHEISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE ASPIRING. 317

scarcely ceases to draw the elements of loveliness and strength
from the purest source in the calm gladness of domestic joy,
than it turns to ruder and bolder scenes, where it pants " for
fresher growth and for intenser day." But what encourage-
ment does the young heart meet ? Who hails with discrimi-
nating eye and cheering tones the advent of a new hero, the
dim but auspicious auroras of a bright and beneficent mind .-*
Shepherds with their lowly flocks, or, perchance, a few wise
men, bring offerings that attest their appreciation of the new-
comer, and foster his worth ; but the majority who bask in
the profuse bounties of Providence, and too often pervert the
blessings they have received, are busy in suffocating the best
energies of their own offspring with costly luxuries, while they
leave true worth to groan in unmitigated want, saturated with
the cold dew of darkness, and bound in the chains of unde-
served contempt.

These are the baleful influences which at every age are
most suicidal to meditation, the sister and mother of genius.
They are most fatal when brought to bear on youth, as the
frost is most destructive in spring. Nothing is more sacred
than the first reveries of a young soul, and nothing should be
more kindly treated, since their issues are unbounded and
eternal. A dreaming infant is the prelude to a thinking man,
in whom love may become the mightiest inspiration, and
thought all but omnipotence. Profound and aspiring medita-
tion gave Milton heaven, Dante hell, Michael Angelo the
Sistine Chapel, Columbus a new hemisphere, Herschel un-
numbered worlds, Paul visions of unclouded, unmeasured,
and eternal glory. Thoughts that may become the architects
of noblest grandeur, limners of greatest beauty, moulders of
sublimest worth, usually originate under the most rustic cos-
tume ; as to the unreflecting, an apparently loathsome worm
prepares for its perfection while it creeps in the dust, and
at length bursts from its silken tomb with newly developed
form, nature, and aspirations. Like a " winged flower," with
brilliant and delicate pinions, and decked with the richest
27*

318 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

gems, it gladly soars with the light, and sips nectar from the
hand of God. In this image of the butterfly, first sluggish in
the grub, then dormant in the chrysalis, and finally vitalized
with a free and happy existence, amidst loveliest flov/ers or in
loftiest light, the ancients saw a striking illustration of mental
progress and immortality. What they felt in their conscience,
they imbodied in the consummate excellence of plastic art,
and gave us in the Apollo of Grecian intellect when he gazed
in triumph on the smitten Python. " We seem to see in this
statue the visible idea or image of the man who aspired to be
a god. At length he stands triumphant over the temptation
and the tempter, content in the consciousness of a renovated
and perfect humanity. Passion and intellect are blended in
calm unison ; knowledge and affection are at peace ; the
attributes of feeling, thought, and action, are combined in one
attitude, expressive of the delicate might of a living spirit.
The mind reigns in that body. The incarnate intelligence
manifestly controls matter by his will, and appears as if con-
scious of being always resisted, yet never vanquished ; but,
inspired by the apprehension of his right, as vicegerent of
Almightiness, he subdues resistance and surmounts difficulties
by perseverance in the use of strength, that continually and
spontaneously increases with every opposition to his purpose.
Such is man, when sustained by the divinity which stirs within
him ; the only creature on which the Creator has shadowed
divine perfections, and therefore he is to be honored even in
his ruin ; for when his affections and faculties are restored, as
they may be, to divine sympathy, he shall again stand upright,
the conqueror of the mighty serpent."

The tyrants of this world are always ambitious to stifle the
tones of freedom, that silence may cover their own wretched
demerits ; but Christianity strives to promote the utmost culti-
vation of all that the personal worth of each, however obscure,
may be revealed and rewarded. Truth presides within the
holy of holies, in the temple of knowledge opened by heaven
for every inhabitant of earth ; but craft and bigotry stand in

CHRISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE ASPIRING. 319

the dark vestibule, to obstruct the approach of all save a
favored few, who are their own servile and contemptible
satellites. They brutally repel the child of misfortune from
every point of redeeming confraternity, and, if possible, doom
him to remain forever a melancholy monad, a contemned
solitaire, in the deserts of unsympathizing and rayless despair.
So far as sublunary counsel and support are concerned, he
has but to sit down, and exclaim, " O world ! how from thy
every quarter blows a gale, wintry, cold, and bleak, to the
heart that would expand ! "

All youth are dead for the present life who do not hope for
the future, and aspire to shine in beneficent goodness as they
soar to attain eternal rewards. They are unworthy of being
the companions of the exalted, and the recipients of bliss
without alloy, so long as they do not elevate themselves to a
level with the objects they revere, and nourish in their bosoms
feelings kindred to the purest truth and divinest good. These
objects of the highest reverence, and this fountain of the
noblest desires, it is the prerogative of Christianity to create
in the mind and heart of the most ignoble in the world's
estimation, invigorate with the best supplies in the most ex-
hausting race, and crown with the highest honors at the ultimate
goal. Therefore, however cold and constant may be the self-
ishness of earth towards the youthful aspirant in his purest and
most needy days, he never should yield to despondency,

" "^iMiile tlic voice
Of truth and virtue, up the steep ascent
Of nature, calls him to his high reward,
111' applauding smile of Heaven."

Christ combined in his own person all the wrongs, griefs,
and hopes, of humanity, because he passed through all the
stages of human progress, and especially felt the bitterness of
penury and neglect crippling the aspirations of his youth.
The acorn, bedded in the loneliest dell of the forest, may
know, perhaps, that it is an oak ; but it was with keener sen-
sibilities, clearer intuitions, that Christ, in the unheeded isola-

320 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

tion of his youth, felt, knew that he was God. It is through
that bitter experience, transfigured in the person of Divinity
itself, by him borne from earth to heaven, and thence rained
down in the blended showers of pity and power, like dew and
sunshine, on all aspiring youth, that he would create in them
a consciousness of the highest existence, and prompt in them
a readiness and competency for the noblest strife. He would
have us know that a soul, though cradled in penury and
nursed with wrongs, is not a fortuitous fraction of mind in
the world, but a germinal system, in itself complete, written
all over with indelible thought, every line and word and dot
being a sparkling chapter in the great book of the universe.
Who but the cruelly base, the insufferably despotic, will dare
to blacken the obscurest page of such a work !

God is love ; consequently, the disposition which his spirit
and word inspire, is in perfect harmony with his nature ; and
it is easy to understand that, as the divine intelligence and
mercy must be expansive, it would be impossible to form an
idea of a godly man, or of God, keeping all his knowledge
and kindness to himself. Supreme selfishness is contrary to
a nature gifted with pure affections, human or divine. The
search after and discovery of truth is one of the secrets of
exalted happiness, and therefore shall we always find that
those who are in reality the wisest and best, are most impelled
to communicate their knowledge to the widest ranks. The
man of God and friend of humanity explores most assiduously
even in the deepest gloom, that he may learn, not for himself
alone, but for all around and about him ; he acquires and im-
parts with an equal degree of pleasure, provided the desires
of fellow-aspirants are aided, and the hearts of all made glad.
If any burn to be great and useful, be assured that those who
have themselves felt the flame in early and neglected youth,
will be the first to recognize the kindling of kindred bosoms,
and will blow the latent embers into a free and gladsome
blaze.

Christianity teaches all her pupils to say to despots " Ilark!

CHRISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE ASPIRING. 321

we yearn for all the blessings you have permitted us to enjoy,
but we yearn for liberty, restrained by no man, more. We
want education, science, art, and religious institutions, in the
highest form, — we want whatever may make us good, great,
and influential, as individuals ; but we want these favors not
as a substitute for, but as a consequence of. Liberty the most
perfect and unlimited. We do not want one good to be the
compensation for another good, but one good to be the cause
and consequence of every other, all derived from one source
and conferred on all. We do not want Knowledge to do the
work that Ignorance has hitherto done ; nor would we have a
few favored ones monopolize the secrets of earth, ocean, and
sky, in order that they may the more effectually transform the
masses into hypocrites or slaves. What is most needed in
our day is a band of moral heroes, to reconstruct and adorn
the whole fabric of society ; men who will regard the past as
the preparation of the present, the guide and happy presage
of the future. We greatly need the services of those good
soldiers of Jesus Christ who bravely fight out the patriotic
battles of the only true republicanism, taking their best hints
from the great Captain of our salvation, who with pure purpose
struggled for the greatest good of the greatest number when
most contemned, from obscure youth to splendid maturity
toiled and bled, that the most neglected and abused might be
cheered by the example of his life, and share in the glory of
his death."

Christianity plants enthusiasm, and not fanaticism, in the
bosom of its devotee. There is an important difference be-
tween the two. The fanatic is furious to disseminate his faith
for his faith's sake ; the enthusiastic believer seeks to diffuse
his faith for the sake of the benefits it is calculated to confer.
There is something noble, generous, and loving in enthusiasm,
of which fanaticism is utterly incompetent either to conceive
or exemplify. True religion imparts to the mind all those
ideas that are fitted most potently to stir the heart of man, and
impel his intellect to the most substantial and useful exercise.

322 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

It kindles and perpetually feeds that wise zeal which has a
grasp, breadth, and elevation of which mere sectarian selfish-
ness is destitute, because not possessing the self-denying hero-
ism and affection of which true greatness is always formed.
Christianity is not a blind, headlong, brutal passion, that com-
pels the few and scorns the many, but a mild, genial heat, that
enlightens without distinction ; a light that warms with the fond-
est encouragement all it can reach. It is such a union of light
and heat, such a blending of thought the most free with cour-
age and love the most exalted, as most irresistibly triumphs,
however low born its votary and however mighty its obstacles
may be ; triumphs not simply because it is thought, but because
it is courage also ; because it is comprehensive and ennobling
love. It is not merely that indolent good nature which often
steals the name of philanthropy, but the supernatural fire that
flashed transforming ideas on the brain of Paul as he journeyed
to Damascus, and poured still more celestial revelations on his
heart, rousing divine yearnings that bigotry had smothered, and
unsealing that fountain of charity, toward all which theologi-
cal thorns tend so much to choke, and which partisan bitter-
ness is sure to destroy. It is this spirit that evolves in the
bosom of the young a deep longing for goodness, beautj^ and
truth ; a passion that impels through all time, and happily fits
its possessor for eternity. What he most pants to possess, he
is equally ambitious to diffuse ; he has great truths to utter as
well as good deeds to pei-form, the uttei'ance and the doing of
which tell potently and blissfully on all who are darkened by
ignorance, crushed by tj^ranny, or polluted by sin. Great
revelations are enclosed in his breast, and revolutions both great
and good are promoted by the labors of his hands, because his
religion is not a lifeless creed, but a sympathizing belief subli-
mated into divine action, that seeks most to assist those who,
innocently toiling in the deepest gloom, are most worthy of
beneficent aid.

In the second place, Christianity, which was proudly con-
temned when most pure, is adapted to encourage the deserving

CHRISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE ASPIUING. 323

when most depressed. The great and truly divine idea of rad-
ically cui'ing all the evil with which humanity is afflicted, of
planting institutions which should be equally advantageous to
individuals of every rank and communities of every clime,
thus raising up for the Creator a better generation on the most
beneficent plan, originated entirely with Jesus Christ. No
mind before his ever conceived the purpose of establishing a
kingdom of God, ruled only by truth, morality, and mutual
joy, into which should be gathered all the nations of the earth.
All this, too, was to be done without the use of any arbitrary
force, merely by the gentle influence of convincing instruc-
tion, ordinances adapted to arouse the moral sensibilities, stim-
ulate each individual to reflect upon his most important con-
cerns, and warm his heart with fervid aspirations after the
highest good. Christ would have man feel, even the humblest
of our race, that he is endowed with a nature far exalted above
the brutes, a soul infinitely superior to his body, and that he is
capable of knowledge, goodness, and friendship of the highest
order — intercourse the most delightful with Heaven. The
faintest intellectual nature that gleams far down the vale of
life admits of endless improvement, and he cheerfully bestows
resources that will promote growth far beyond mortal existence
and the decay of unnumbered worlds. Lifting an aspiring
eye to the loftiest pinnacles of finite attainment, the youth who
leans on Christ and follows his directions, soars rapturously in
eternal approximation to the infinite excellence he was made
to know. Fostered by such patronage, in view of such attain-
ments, the obscurest and weakest aspirant bravely exclaims, —

" Rouse thee, heart !
" Bow of my life, thou yet art full of spring ;
My quiver still hath many purposes."

Christianity is the quintessence of heroical fortitude, and
therefore is it best adapted to encourage the deserving when
most depressed. Its superiority in this respect was strikingly
indicated by the magnanimous grandeur of its original design.

324 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITV.

If a few spirits of antiquity seemed to be benevolent in their
schemes for popular improvement, there were none who ex-
tended their views beyond their own people, and comprehended
the advantage of foreign nations in their plan. Such projects
bear little affinity to that greatness of mind and heart which
includes the whole human family in its grasp, and would fill
each individual with all the fulness of God.

Over the gates of Plato's school it was written, " Let no
one who is not a geometrician enter." But very different is
the inscription which invites the ignorant, the homeless and
unpatronized of earth to enter the school of Christ and be
freely taught the consummate wisdom of heaven. One of the
most absurd laws at Athens was that which prohibited the
exercise of the elegant arts to any but freeborn men. It would
seem that selfish pride in that age, as in our own, deemed some
men unwoilhy to exercise their powers of mind, as if the Al-
mighty God had pronounced such unworthy of his gifts ! On
this principle, so disgraceful to those who maintain it, wliat
would have become of the fables of ^sop, or the plays of
Terence ? both of whom were slaves. Many there are amongst
the lowest gradations of human society whose most cherished
thoughts

" Will rise and shake their breast, as madmen shake
The stanchions of their dungeons, and howl out."

Shall these be imprisoned and stifled still ? No ! says Chris-
tianity ; let every pure and noble feeling of the soul become
" free of wing as Eden's garden bird." Socrates was said to
have called minds into existence ; but unfortunately the intelli-
gence which is ushered into life by human means only, is at
best but a beautiful slave. Christianity does infinitely more
than this; it sets free each subject mind, and develops those
sturdy generations of men, who bear abroad the seeds of lib-
erty and light all round the globe. It first addressed itself to
the lowly, and they rallied round the doctrines so happily
adapted to invigorate their confidence and make fruitful their

CHRISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE ASPIRING, 325

souls ; SO that, starting from the point where all true redemp-
tion originates, divine faith gradually ascended from the lower
to the upper ranks, and filled at length the highest functions
of imperial beneficence. The career and conquests of truth
are ever the same. Wherever the free exercise of reason is
opposed, or the happy extension of the arts and sciences is
stayed, — wherever superstition has rendered the general intel-
lect indolent and fearful, or a bigoted and intolerant priesthood
has thrown the spirit of social improvement into chains, — there
is it her province to appear, and emancipate all classes from
every accursed bond. Under her influence alone can human
nature obtain the full and unabridged possession of those rights
of which it has so long been deprived — rights which should be
immediately and universally enjoyed.

Says Hugo of St. Victor, "The tree of wisdom is only
strong through love ; it only becomes green through hope, which
yields the joy that keeps the heart warm during the winter of
this life." The aids here spoken of are most needed in the
timid beginning of our upward course, when the young facul-
ties are in greatest danger of being depressed. Frigid cour-
tesy and yet more pointed neglect will cower the best powers
sometimes, and becalm their bold adventures on the deep.
Many a youth lingers in the shop or in the field, filled with the
most auspicious desires, and waiting in tearful impatience for
some one to encourage their development,

" Even as a boat lies rocking on the beach,
Waiting the one white wave to float it free."

Christ never pictured this world as a scene of incessant
gloom designed for any human being. He never looked
frowningly on the sympathies which give beauty and perma-
nency to the relations of the tenderest friendships. He never
trampled on the joys of home, nor contemned those unspeak-
able delights which tell of true brotherhood, as impediments to
holiness. He never stood amidst thronging congregations,
an isolated prophet clad with omnipotent strength, but spuming
28

326 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

affection, and repelling the approach of docile, revering, and
ardent discipleship ; if he had, we might bow in admiration
before the grandeur of his power ; but where would be an
effective appeal to our sensibilities, where a thrilling contact
with the gentlest and profoundest yearnings of our existence ?
No ; Jesus did not extinguish human impulses, but endowed
them witli a keener ardor and a wider grasp. He did not dis-
robe youthful hearts of fond memories and fervid aspirations,
but filled them with a precious incense, to be blended with the
sacrifices they offer on the altars of wisdom and benevolence.
He would stimulate the early devotee to imitate himself in
giving food to famished thousands, sight to the blind, speech to
the dumb, cleansing to the leper, vigor to the paralytic, reason
to the insane, and ministration to infirmity in whatever form it
may appear.

All the discourses and miracles of Christ were surprisingly
beneficent and social, while, at the same time, they were as
patriotic as they were humane. He pitied individual wants,
and relieved them ; he mourned over his country, because its
religion had become a hollow, pharisaical mechanism, and its
freedom lay strangled under the iron heel of a foreign despot-
ism. As the best solace under these evils, and the means of
their speediest destruction, Christ planted those pure republican
doctrines on earth which elevate while they equalize, and pu-
rify while they redeem. He was evidently most anxious to
reach the whole world of youth, that by a wise direction of
their powers, judiciously given, he might train up a free and
vigorous race in revolt against every wrong. Hence he caused
the star of truth that gladdens the eternal dwelling which God
hath prepared for his children to shine broadly, clearly, and with
inextinguishable beams, on every earthly home. He was a
perfect Redeemer, as well as a perfect Creator, seeking to
render the feeblest votary perfect as himself, by stamping upon
him the image of his perfection, alike as a speculative idea
and a practical adaptation. Christianity breathes into the
young heart, laid open to its influence, a spirit of love and

CHRISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE ASFIRIXG. 327

power that expands inimitably to the illimitable necessities of
man ; weeps with his weepings, and rejoices with his rejoi-
cings ; crowns his best triumphs, and becomes the rainbow of
hope amid his bitterest depressions ; cools the fever of inordi-
nate excitement, spiritualizes his worldliness, consecrates his
endeavors, and immerses him in the threefold baptism which
all true soldiers of Christ require — the baptism of enthusiasm,
reason, and religion.

Vague yearnings of soul fail not to the gifted youth, as he
grows up a predestined hero : dreaming fancies, like gorgeous
clouds, hang around him, as the curtains of existence slowly
rise, in commingled splendor and gloom. Bright visions greet
him, ever and anon, like star-formed faces peering between
sombre clouds, and the auroral light of intense love gilds the
horizon of auspicious day, while the music of heavenly song
is on his path. And so he walks, — as was said of Burns, —

"In glory and in joy,
Behind his plough, upon the mountain side ! "

But " the w'orld knows nothing of its greatest men." It has
ever shown but small favor to the most deserving. " Hunger
and nakedness, perils and reviling, the prison, the cross, the
poison-chalice, have, in most times and countries, been the mar-
ket price it has offered for Wisdom, the welcome with which
it has greeted those who have come to enlighten and purify it.
Homer and Socrates, and the Christian apostles, belong to old
days ; but the world's IMartyrology was not completed with
these. Roger Bacon and Galileo languish in priestly dungeons.
Tasso pines in the cell of a madhouse ; Camoens dies begging
on the streets of Lisbon. So neglected, so " persecuted they
the prophets," not in Judea only, but in all places where men
have been. But the gold that is refined in the hottest furnace
comes out the purest; "and, as Jean Paul said, " the canary-
bird sings sweeter the longer it has been trained in a darkened
cage."

The Scotch peasant, the British laborer, and American slave,

328 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

have a painful, but we hope not long, road yet to travel before
they arrive at what the soul calls liberty, and which it is the
highest crime to impede or destroy. Too many laws and cus-
toms, now in full force, have for their whole tendency to pam-
per the pride and feed the luxuries of the born-great, while
they check the aspirations and depress the hopes of the born-
little ; and, as this state of things is in direct hostility with the
spirit of Christianity, we cannot believe that a just God will
permit such systems long to endure. The spirit of heavenly
freedom, like the poetry of earth, never dies; its light is grow-
ing brighter, and its spreadings wider, each day ; and speedily
shall each cottage be reached, and each troubled spirit be filled
with the radiant light, the invincible power, the austere charms,
and immortal peace, of celestial virtue. In the obscurest
walks of life, as in the most prominent, true religion will then
develop its legitimate influence and worth, acting upon every
mind as Nature when she forms a flower, unfolding the whole
system of the plant at the same time, and breathing life and
beauty on every leaf. Sectarian creeds and partial systems
actuate only fragmentary natures, leaving the best faculties in
worse than useless repose, like palsied limbs ; while to Chris-
tianity, as a whole, in its primitive purity and power, belongs
the glorious prerogative of eliciting each vital principle of the
soul, giving appropriate exercise to every function, proportion
to eveiy part, and to the harmonious whole a happy reward ;
thus animating its subject when most depressed, maturing all
his powers with the most salutary discipline, and bringing him,
in the end, to the exalted condition of "a perfect man in Christ
Jesus." It is this religion which opens to the obscurest devo-
tee the prospect of unbounded progression and improvement;
inspirits him to enter on a career of emulation with angels ; to
despair of nothing, but to hope for every thing requisite to
promote the moral advancement of the world ; to stop at no
point short of universal liberty and perfect holiness ; to toil for
these results without ceasing, and to invoke, in every struggle,
the almighty energies of God.

CHRISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE ASPIRING. 329

That which is most needed amongst the youth of our age is
the cuhure of a humanizing spirit, which would refine the feel-
ings, call forth the affections, purify and expand the reflective
faculties, and which, ever aiming toward true catholicity of
sentiment, of perception, and aspiration, would evolve the good
from the husk of error and sin, would transmute antipathy into
affection, and evil into excellence, would teach men to scan,
not so much the transient and repulsive in each other, as the
unchangeable and praiseworthy, which is the glorj' of their com-
mon nature, and which makes them one with their Father in
heaven. It is kindness that we want, and not coercion ; sub-
stantial support, and not hypocritical homilies. The heart must
have a prop without as w^ell as within, on which to lean, or it
will fall and break. O, how sad and crushing it is to the young
heart thireting for truth, to be mocked with empty traditions and
frigid advice, which tell nothing to, and nothing of, the mystery
within that burns for utterance, sympathy, and solution ! arro-
gant dogmatizers, who set up antiquated mummies, skeletons
of by-gone barbarism, as their idolatrous standards, and teach
youth that their damnation is certain to result if they do not
implicitly adore. But the greatest and best messengers from
God to man, who reveal God to man, and man to himself, —
who elucidate the universe, as a divine language to humanity,
down to its most desponding sons, teaching each of our brethren
to address his Maker in the fervor, fulness, and sincerity of his
heart, without foolish formalities inspired by craft or fear, — are
not trained after this manner. They are the greatest, wisest, and
best teachers, because the Bible is their only creed, the Spirit
of God and the universe their only inspiration, and Jesus
Christ their only master ; therefore are they the most truthful,
instructive, and free. The predominant feeling of their bosom
is that of perfection, aspirations after something sublimer and
more beautiful than our gross physical perceptions can ever
present. Beyond the brightest, they would soar to a brighter ;
beyond the grandest, to a grander ; beyond the best that we
are permitted to attain beneath the skies, to a better more glo-
28*

330 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

riously beaming beyond. All external glory waxes dim, when
compared to the radiant forms that burst brightly on the ima-
gination of such, and perpetually purify, while they inflame, the
heart.

When a brave-hearted and noble-minded youth appears on
the public stage, stained not by the prevalent vices of the age,
and yearning with earnest desire to consecrate his faculties to
the benefit of his race, his country, and his God, the probabil-
ity of distinguished success will depend mainly, whether con-
ventional forms have a firm hold upon his nature, and whether
he have moral force enough to shatter and escape from the
base trammels they impose. No youth ever becomes a man
fully developed in head and heart, till he feels most deeply and
constantly that the universe exists as much for every other
human creature as for himself, and that every such fellow-
mortal exists in order that he may freely receive and enjoy
every good and perfect gift that the Maker of the universe can
confer. Feeling and knowing this, the exemplary Christian
will be most studious to seek out and encourage the most timid
and needy, knowing that in this consists the greatest bliss and
best reward.

" We live in deeds, not yeaxs ; in fhouglits, not breaths ;
In feelings, not in figiu'es on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most liA^ea
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best."

We have said that Christianity was proudly contemned when
most pure, and is adapted to encourage the deserving when
most depressed. ^Ve remark, —

Thirdly, it patronizes all aspirations that are both free and
grand. He whose own moral powers are most divinely culti-
vated is always the most kind and tolerant towards all mankind.
He will gladly hail the fond hopes of the human spirit, its most
daring enterprise, the bold and illimitable navigation into the
unknown regions of truth ; he will cheer on the Argonauts of
humanity who boldly put to sea beyond the pillars of Hercules,

CHRISTUNITY THE PATRON OF THE ASPIRING. 331

and who already seem to discover rising before them the Fortu-
nate Islands of the future. Through the gathering tempests that
lower on the present view, they behold a better era dawning,
which shall bring a perfect regeneration of popular ideas, a
full development of Christian civilization, and the universal
establishment of truth republican and omnipotent. These are
the brave and beneficent citizens of the time to come, who
prove the solidity of their faith and the sincerity of their zeal
by most industriously toiling to promote present good. It is

thus :

" Thej' prove imto themselves tliat nought but God
Can satisfy the soul he maketh great."

Moral perfection, by its vital energy and symmetrical pro-
portions, always kindles the most fervid desires in the heart,
and makes the most beautiful as well as sublime impressions
on the mind. Introduced to the soul through a pure medium,
it produces, in the greatest degree and most salutary mode, an
elevating, liberating, and purifying effect. It elicits and forti-
fies in the popular heart that nobler sense latent in all which is
adapted to the perception of divine things ; and does this, not
by a formal, didactic process, but by fostering a spontaneous
worship of the beautiful and good, through that life-giving,
inspiring influence which invariably attends the labors of him
who exercises all his better faculties for the best interest of all
his fellow-men. He bends his ear with fraternal solicitude to
hear the melody of free spirits every where overflowing with
irrepressible joys, like birds " singing of summer in full-throated
ease." These are the workmen for building up eternal things.
They are of divine origin, serve a divine law, fulfil a divine
mission, and lead to divinely-ordained results. Their piety is
a living and loving essence, which assuredly stands higher than
mere ceremonial worship. It is that adoration of God as the
merciful Father of a common race, the Christian faith, which
makes Jesus its own, in a fuller, deeper, more consolatory
sense, as the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, the
Intercessor on behalf of the most wretched and obscure, than

332 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

those hollow and unfeeling rites which, in fact, only assign to
him a selfish existence on earth, and an arbitrary control over
the mercies of heaven.

The truth as it is in Christ is " the power of God unto salva-
tion." But, says Channing, " let none imagine that its chosen
temple is an uncultivated mind, and that it selects, as its chief
organs, the lips of the unlearned. Religious and moral truth
is indeed appointed to carry forward mankind ; but not as con-
ceived and expounded by narrow minds, not as darkened by
the ignorant, not as debased by the superstitious, not as subtil-
ized by the visionary, not as thundered out by the intolerant
fanatic, not as turned into a drivelling cant by the hypocrite.
Like all other truths, it requires for its full reception and pow-
erful communication a free and vigorous intellect. Indeed, its
grandeur and infinite connections demand a more earnest and
various use of our faculties than any other subject. As a single
illustration of this remark, we may observe, that all moral and
religious truth may be reduced to one great and central thought
— perfection of mind ; a thought which comprehends all that
is glorious in the divine nature, and which reveals to us the end
and happiness of our own existence. This perfection has as
yet only dawned on the most gifted human beings ; and the
great purpose of our present and future existence is, to enlarge
our conceptions of it without end, and to imbody and make
them manifest in character and life. And is this sublime
thought to grow within us, to refine itself from erj-or and im-
pure mixture, to receive perpetual accessions of brightness from
the study of God, man, and nature, and especially to be com-
mtmicated powerfully to others, without the vigorous exertion
of our intellectual nature ? Religion has been wronged by
nothing more than by being separated from intellect, than by
being removed from the jjrovince of reason and free research,
into that of mystery and authority, of impulse and feeling.
Hence it is, that the prevalent forms or exhibitions of Chris-
tianity are comparatively inert, and that most which is written
on the subject is of little or no worth. Christianity was given,

CHRISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE ASPIRING. 333

not to contradict and degrade the rational nature, but to call it
forth, to enlarge its range and its powers. It admits of endless
development. It is the last truth which should remain station-
ary. It ought to be so explored and so expressed, as to take
the highest place in a nation's literature, as to exalt and purify
all other literature."

Christianity is worthy of supreme regard, because it is a
redeeming power of the highest order. But side by side with
the idea of redemption stands another idea, of at least equal
importance — that of reconciliation. Redemption is something
essentially internal ; it is liberation from the yoke of sin, res-
toration of the harmony between the material and the spiritual
life ; while reconciliation implies an external relation, which
restores the appropriate connection between the sinner and a
holy God. To experience the practical power of these is to
possess Christianity in its essence, which communicates a
higher, more perfect knowledge of God, as love, as the merci-
ful Father who sent the Redeemer to save the world, and has
vouchsafed his Spirit to reveal to all men his own nature and
perfections. As only in acts can the living God be fully
revealed, and in their saving power his spirit be manifested, so
it is only in action, wise and benevolent, that our own virtues
can be developed, and, by their influence, the world be blessed.
All the will of Jehovah in relation to man was clearly and
fully represented in the life of Christ, full of grace and truth ;
and it is precisely in the same way that all the mercies we
receive are to be lived out benevolently for the good of all our
fellow-men.

Christianity teaches not only the human nature of man, but
also his divine origin and deathless capacities. It does this by
causing the souls in which it dwells to aspire towards God, as
bright flames, at night, stream upward to the stars. The hum-
ble votary longs not only for something higher than can be
found on earth, but even for the unconditional, the primal
fount of life and being. His insatiable spirit requires not
merely something more perfect and more pure, but finds entire

334 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

satisfaction only in the absolutely perfect and pure, the adora-
ble One, the essential Ideal of truth, love, and holiness. It is
this that generates the immortal impulse from within which
makes the gladsome soul cry, on, alway, on !

The ambition which Christianity creates it gloriously sustains
and usefully employs. It transforms the obscure youth, often,
into the eagle which you see piercing the storm and braving
the sun ; an eagle in every fibre of his body, in every look of
his eye, in relation to the earth he has left, the air he winnows
with sovereign wing, the lightnings on which he gazes
unblenched, and the heavens to which he darts unwearied
and unalarmed. It is said that the Danes used to make their
horses deaf, lest they should be frightened at the war-songs
sung by their foes on the field of battle ; but no such precau-
tion is requisite for the better success of those who contend
under the banners of our holy religion. Each young volunteer
struggles valiantly from the cradle to the tomb, that he may be
useful to virtue, serviceable to merit in distress, and ascend
from the field of complete conquest, to enjoy in heaven, with
the great Deliverer himself, the sense of consoling, generous,
liberating ideas, left by him on earth.

Men of the most refined sensibilities have usually the most
ethereal intellects ; and they are always the most radical
reformers, because it is the best and strongest part of their
nature to love freedom. They have more hope, more enthu-
siasm for justice, more impatience under oppression, more
acuteness of perception, more readiness to act, than common
men, and less inclination to despair. The heart of a true hero,
confiding in a righteous Providence, and wholly consecrated to
the advocacy of universal rights, like the sea-fowl that rests
upon the bosom of the tempestuous deep, seems to float upon
the foaming billows with as much composure as if it ruled
them. Such men prefer death to desertion of duty. They
encounter the menaces of power, endure the gloom of prisons,
and, if need be, ascend the scaffold or embrace the rack with
a step that never falters, lips that never are recreant, and looks

CHRISTIANITY THE PATRON OF THE ASPIRING. 335

that never change. They love God and injured humanity with
all the nobleness of their sympathetic nature, and they are
ready to encounter death in the most dreadful forms, if from
their tears and blood a higher life may spring to bless the
masses that sur\'ive. The feeling of progress is the greatest
spring of personal delight, and the prospect of promoting this
amongst the people at large imparts cheerfulness and courage
to the heroical under the severest lot. With prostrate soul
'and kneeling heart they undertake any task required by duty,
and submit to any fate, resolved on resisting ever}' form of
injustice on earth, contented with nothing less than universal
rights and approving Heaven.

It has been said that " no man can be just to himself, can
comprehend his own existence, can put forth all his powers
with an heroic confidence, can deserve to be the guide and
inspirer of other minds, till he has risen to communion with
the Supreme Mind ; till he feels his filial connection with the
Universal Parent ; till he regards himself as the recipient and
minister of the Infinite Spirit ; till he feels his consecration to
the ends which religion unfolds ; till he rises above human
opinion, and is moved by a higher impulse than fame," To
bestow this is the prerogative and essence of Christianity, which
recognizes and teaches us to reverence in God the attributes
of impartial justice and universal love, and to hear him com-
manding us through the spirit of his word and the monitions of
our conscience, to become what we adore.

Wantonly to depress, rather than patronize, free and grand
aspirations in a rational, moral being, is to inflict on him the
greatest wrong. We never acquit ourselves of the highest
duty we owe every human being, till we have exerted our-
selves to the utmost in planting within him the seeds of wisdom,
disinterestedness, the firmest fortitude and most beneficent
piety. We are to address all with the timely aid and soothing
tones which reveal to the richly-endowed glimpses of a not
very distant perfection, which prophesy improvements propor-
tioned to persevering efforts, increase energy of purpose, and

336 KEPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

add wings to the soul. It is thus that we may send forth those
who become preeminently "lights of the world," shining the
more splendidly in contrast with the gloom from which they
emerged. The first word of encouragement spoken by kindred
greatness to the gifted heart awakens therein a consciousness
of having been created to attain something greatly good ; and
this primary truth becomes a motive power, whose momentum
and usefulness are augmented at each new remove, until the
soul flies at length with a majestic and swift effulgence that
flings the sun into the shade. Thus aspirations that are
divinely free in their nature, and grand in their aim,

"Pursue the flj^ng storm ;
Ride on the volleyed lightning through the heavens ;
Or, yoked with wliirhvinds or the northern blast,
Sweep the long track of day."

Men of rare endowments early and acutely feel that the
finger of Providence is upon them, and that they have some
high destiny to perforan. Such was the case with Cyrus,
Homer, Alexander, Shakspeare, Milton, Keats, Scott, and
Napoleon. Of all men on earth, Socrates was the least likely
to be superstitious ; yet he believed he was acted on by a spirit.
The greatest men in every department of high etlort have
always asserted their belief of a supernatural stirring in their
youthful natures, which supported them in calamity, guided
them through sombre doubts, and urged them upward cour-
ageously, whenever they were encompassed with silence and
solitude. But over and above all other resources of genius,
Christianity bestows the blessings of infinite support and eternal
reward. As the dew by night, and the sun by day, the genial
rain and lavish smile of summer, endow a tree with its beauti-
ful fecundity, so do the hallowed influences of the cross make
both fragrant and fruitful the mind on which they descend.
They are the generators of fair ideas, the sole regenerators of
fallen humanity, breeding a brightness and a beatitude every
where, and nourishing in the feeblest nature a potency to

I

CHRISTIANITY THE PATROX OF THE ASPIRING. 337

hallow and redeem. Whatever visits mankind with aspirings
for something higher and holier than the meagreness and
monotony of dull earthliness ; whatever tells them of more
brilliant and substantial possibilities tlian those that hover tran-
siently round the selfish concerns of their present career ;
whatever kindles within them emotions that warm and stretch
beyond the narrow affections of their hearths, and the corroding
anxieties about worldly pelf, — is derived from a source above
this world, is an impulse and a strength which guaranties
human progression, and points to glories above human ken, a
gladness hereafter to be fully revealed. Enough is possessed
here, however, to make the participant exclairn, " O, to create
within the mind is bliss." He prays perpetually that Heaven
would breathe on him inspiring spirit-breath, and pants with
perpetually increased longings to ascend beyond those high
diademed orbs which show to the enraptured aspirant his
crown to come.

The religion which actuates a true disciple of Christ is no
mere faith of custom tagged on the gross outside of his nature,
like a dormant bat to a dead bough, but the spirit of a new
life, a second and better, by which he is enabled to scrutinize
and comprehend all the mysteries of the first. It is the freest
part of man made still freer by a divine emancipation, and
endowed with a competency to achieve the grandest results.
It is infinite excellence infused into every finite faculty by
asshnilation, causing all the spiritual attributes of the subject to
swell into the sublime proportions of the model upon which
they are formed, and ultimately to be filled with excellence
the most complete. Under this process, limited views are
excluded, and spiritual bondage is impossible. The first truth
a mind once disinthralled learns is, that forced obedience is the

" Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,
Makes slaves of men, and of the human frame
A mechanized automaton."

He who really feels the price of his redemption, and longs
'29

338 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

to live to Christ, a pure, free mind, actively and widely employed
in the promotion of human welfare will most industriously
accumulate resources from without, while his best strength
always springs from within his own soul. The greatest load
of erudition lends the lightest wings to real genius, and never
encumbers them. True aspiration riseth from research, as
the force and splendor of the flame are measured by the
amount of fuel that feeds it. From his earliest youth, the true
man is governed only by his own deep-rooted convictions of
truth and duty, from the prompt and persevering discharge of
which he is never flattered or forced to flinch. In all the des-
perate struggles generally requisite to promote the cause of
personal and popular improvement, — one day in a prison, and
the next day in a palace, — he never for an instant loses sight
of the one grand end, — mercy for the unmerciful and increased
light for all. He knows that the temple of honor is seated on
an eminence, to be approached but by some difficulty, and to
be entered only through virtue, which in magnanimous strug-
gles is always tried. The treachery and cruelty of the envious
and mean may do much to destroy his confidence in human
nature, and often depress his mind when it would rise to the
contemplation or execution of sublime designs ; but his equa-
nimity can never be long disturbed, nor the dignity of his
ambition become permanently debased. Ill treatment from the
strong, and bitter experience in common with all the weak,
will only render him but the more diligent in accumulating for
timely disbursement the resources of mercy and truth ; for the
gentle and pure emotions of benevolence ever hang about the
soul of genius, " like a pearl-wreath around beauty's brow."
There is a sense in which it may be properly said that
Christianity has but just begun its work of reformation in the
highest and broadest form. Under its influence, we see in our
day a new order of society created, and invited to the enjoy-
ment of unprecedented privileges and rights. The beneficent
changes already begun, and advancing on the largest scale, wp
believe, will shortly accomplish yet greater good by revealing

CHRISTIA:<ITy THE PATRON OF THE ASPIRING. 339

to mankind at large the worth and capabilities of their nature,
and by teaching them to " honor all " who of that nature par-
take. Viewed in its light, the most obscure children of our
race are beings cared for by the Almighty, to whom he has
given his Son, upon whom he pours his Spirit, whom he has
created for the greatest good, and whom he would elevate to a
participation with himself in the highest glory. Perfection in
Jesus Christ is revealed to all, even the most infantile capacities
of mankind, not for their discouragement, but most glorious
consolation — a model which all are qualified, just in proportion
to the purity and grandeur of their desires, both to approach
and imitate. The aspirant may at first bend in deepest gloom ;
but if he holds on his way patiently and imploringly, he shall
soon possess himself of divine light and strength, that will
make his spirit bright and buoyant as morning is in heaven.

The best product and proof of true progress in our day is
the superior self-culture sought and obtained by most individ-
uals amongst the masses of mankind. Popular institutions are
every where rising, which are so many centres radiating light
and improvement over the largest areas of industrious mind.
Under these genial influences the people at large are induced
to think and act for themselves, cultivating their own powers
and faculties. This is most clearly indicated by the increased
appreciation of those whom it is most important the body of
the people should rightly estimate, — the men of talent, genius,
and worth, who spring from their own humble ranks. Work-
ing-men toiling daily with their own hands, find or make leisure
to produce the finest creations of matter and mind, which are
deemed none the less valuable because they are not the fruit
of aristocratic patronage. Time was when the creators of
beautiful things were obliged to look to a higher grade of soci-
ety to obtain a proper appreciation of their worth. Then they
were wont to stoop in order to rise ; become servile in order to
obtain support; degrade the fair and holy gift within them
before they could obtain the position which seemed to belong
to their superior endowments. But such is the state of the

340 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY. •

case no longer. Now, intellect is beginning to be esteemed
according to its intrinsic worth, originate where it may ; benefi-
cent, beautiful, and potent genius reigns supreme everywhere.
This is perfectly harmonious with the spirit of the age and of
Christ, for all great gifts are always republican in their char-
acter and works. They deal with the universal, and appeal
most directly, as well as most powerfully, to the common heart
of man. They are the imbodiments and chief agents of feel-
ing, thought, adoration, and not of external rank, form, or
station. The finest exemplification of worth oppressed by
wrong in olden time, — such as Prometheus blessing mankind
while he defied the thunder of Jove, even when fastened to the
barren rock, with the vulture tearing at his heart, — pictures
exactly those who strike for freedom in modern times, braving
the dungeon, the stake, and the scaffold, in their enthusiasm
for popular improvement, and determination to promote it,
putting every thing at stake, even their own lives. This spirit
has no affinity with the few in their exclusive distinctions, but
with the many in their generous passions, fraternal fears, sor-
rows, joys, and triumphs. It invites man to the great feast of
which God and nature are the ample provisions in all their
diversity of refreshing gifts. These make their lover to grow
up in lovely order and s\iblime harmony ; to aspire towards an
affinity of infinite grandeur with a speed and splendor to which
the " lightning shall be shadow, and the sun sadness."

It has been said that poetiy " imbodies the loftiest abstrac-
tions in the noblest forms ; the spirit of divinity in divine
imagery. It excites admiration at the great deeds of great
men, and realizes times of old with the heroic virtues which
they exhibited. ' It opes the sacred source of sympathetic
tears,' touching with pity as with admiration. It rejoices in
the simplicity of the flowery meadow, and the gorgeousncss of
the Gothic cathedral. It teaches lessons of wisdom in the
unity of the epic and the collisions of the drama. Its range is
from the profoundcst philosophy to the lightest sport ; and in
all, it cheers the spirit, purifies the aim, excites the exertions,

CHRISTLiNlTY THE PATROL OF THE ASPIRING. 341

and graces the conquest, of those who are aspiring towards
political freedom and social improvement. It gives them
power in the pursuit of their object, and enhances the faculty
for its enjoyment. And in this diversified power there is room
for the rainbow fancy that makes even tears sparkle ; that
resolves light into its varied colors, and with their hues paints
the water-drop ; that gives grace and adornment to whatever
it touches ; that points the keen sarcasm, which must be taken
with a smile as it is pronounced with a smile ; that calls in the
alliance of kindred arts, rendering music and verse reciprocal
echoes of each other ; that enshrines poetical fancies in ele-
mentary and enduring melodies ; that aids the exhilaration of
banquet and bower, of camp and court ; that weaves the light
wreath for gaj'est hours, and sounds the inspiring march to
which men advance in sterner times." We should particularly
observe that this power, with all other attributes of gifted
minds, when not perverted by priestly or regal influence, inva-
riably advocate the cause of popular freedom. Thus Homer
was the poet of Greek republicanism. Amid all the diversified
imagery of his writings, through all his conflicts, single or
multitudinous, there stands out palpably one pervading idea —
the mischief which accrued to his country from the strife of
aristocratic partisans, when " for the king's offence the people
died." Still more strikingly is this seen in the great Christian
poet Milton. In his correspondence, some one who had written
to him praised his " policy." He disclaimed the term, saying
that it was not policy upon which he acted, but religious pat-
riotism. This was ever the prevailing principle with him ; it
was his head, heart, and conscience ; and it was in perfect
harmony with his nature, always aspiring to perfect freedom,
that, having at one time selected King Arthur for the subject of
an epic, he soon discarded that theme, and determined to rep-
resent the fortunes of the human race as imbodied in that of
their first ancestors ; in which production he showed the strong-
est love of freedom and the clearest principles of republicanism
29*

342 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

beating in liis heart and crowning with a supernal glory all the
creations of his lofty intellect.

Thus have we endeavored to show that Christianity, pure of
spirit, and legitimate in exercise, which was proudly contemned
when most pure, is adapted to encourage the deserving when
most depressed, and ever delights to patronize all aspirations
that are both free and grand. It coins words in young and
generous hearts that are often as brave as the bravest deeds ;
words that have created revolutions more memorable, more
enduring, and more blissful, than the most glorious battles that
freedom ever gained with martial weapons. They are words
compounded of wisdom, courage, and love, but not of that
shallow cunning, and commonplace charlatanism, which hunt
for insipid popularity by fawning on arrogant power. The
brave, free, and consistent Christian scorns all crippling conven-
tionalisms, stands up fearlessly, though alone, to resist every
form of injustice, labors assiduously and kindly to foster every
order of merit, and sows with a lavish hand the seed destined
to make glad the eye of coming centuries, in view of unlimited
harvests gleaming with immortal richness and eternally repro-
duced. Thus obscure and discarded youth, like young Christ
battling against the penury, hypocrisies, and popular wrongs
of his day, learn in solitude and gloom to continue undaunted
by obstacles, while they nourish noble thoughts, and verify to
themselves that to persevere unsubdued by defeats, is itself the
most glorious success we can know on earth. The blows of
adversity prepare them for future triumphs ; more closely
incorporate the greatest mental strength of their being with
its greatest affection ; and in the full development of both,
create an enthusiasm for perfection, and a sympathy with all
who aspire toward it, which no hardship can depress and no
tyranny resist.

CHAPTER III.

CHRISTIANITY THE FORTIFIER OF
THE Y*' E A K .

The general points discussed in this series of chapters, on
the repubUcan influence of Christian doctrine, will be found
to harmonize with those considered in the corresponding de-
lineations of the republican character of Jesus Christ, which
constitute the first part of this work. In saying that Chris-
tianity is the solace of the obscure, the patron of the aspiring,
the fortifier of the weak, &c., we but remind ourselves that the
Savior of the world emerged from the deepest earthly gloom,
was most contemned in his early aspirations, and needed
continually to pray that his human weakness might be divinely
sustained. As was our Lord in the lowly and trying circum-
stances of his incarnate state, so is every truthful disciple who
has imbibed his spirit, and would imitate his beneficent life.
He needs all the succors afforded by a divine example, aswell
as the history of a divine belief: and, in all his struggles, should
remember that Christianity was fiercely persecuted when most
weak ; sympathizes with the suffering when most wronged ;
and fortifies the confiding with invincible strength.

In the first place, the fact that Christianity was fiercely per-
secuted in the feebleness of its youth, is perfectly consistent
with the character it bore in contrast with the world it came to
redeem. At the time Christ appeared, the world stood in the
greatest need of a religion at once moral, intelligible, and
spiritual ; adapted to human nature, level to the capacities of
the multitude, fitted to all countries, and ennobling in its influ-
ence upon all institutions. Christianity exactly and fully met
this want, because all its doctrines respecting God and our

344 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

relations to him agreed perfectly with the moral law, and most
facilitated human obedience. It poured the clearest light upon
ethics, and rendered their sacred obligations "-most intuitive.
Moreover, it prescribed no external rites and ceremonies, but
such as, by their manifest moral and exalting efficacy, best
demonstrated their own intrinsic worth. Because Christianity,
by its very nature, was most intimately connected with all in
man that is most lasting and unchangeable, it was happily
fitted to become universal, and was designed, by infinite wis-
dom and love, to exert the best influence on man's temporal
and eternal welfare. She lends human nature that aid which
is indispensable to self-conquest, and which has always been
most anxiously desired. In this new fountain of salvation,
infinitely capacious and purifying, the world was invited to
participate in energies the most potent and salutary, animat-
ing and ennobling man in every faculty and every where,
rescuing body and soul from every form of vassalage, regulat-
ing all his social relations, and filling him with all the fulness
of divine freedom and love.

The better to conceive the worth of this religion, we have but
to glance at the moral character of the world, when its divine
Author was fiercely persecuted, and all its heavenly claims
were first repelled. When Christ appeared, earth presented
nothing but the frightful spectacle of ignorance, slaughter, and
slavery. The foot of the strong was perpetually on the necks
of the despairing and unresisting masses, while the oppressors
never ceased to carry on the bloodiest conflicts among them-
selves. Thus, while the majority were in perpetual chains,
and the minority in perpetual strife, the whole race appeared
supremely cursed. From the perpetuity of such misery
Christianity came to free mankind. Infinite truth and mercy
appeared on the field of conflict to encourage the feeble to
resist the strong, and to resist them effectually. But while the
tyrannical minority was to be checked and overthrown by
redeemed and enlightened majorities, it was not anarchy that
was appointed to rule, but love. Both j)arlies were first to be

CHRISTIANITY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 315

reasoned with, then conciliated, and finally blended in one
common championship of the highest freedom and blandest
truth. Thus, amidst the greatest oppressions and most ex-
asperated antagonists, Christianity appears with weapons at
once invincible and unavenging, because she comes to save,
and not to destroy. Her design is, if possible, to convert into
a votary the enraged tyrant, even while she rescues the bleed-
ing victim; and therefore does she mildly interpose for the
benefit of both, with a power

•' T\Tiich., like a strong man's arm,
Keeps back two foes whose lips are white,
Whose hearts ■v\'ith rage are warm."

Moral aspirings and religious yearnings have never been
entirely unknown to human nature ; but it was impossible for
spiritual perfection to be obtained, so long as blind coercion was
predominant. The kingdom of physical energy was carried
to its grandest height by the Romans, and was doomed to pass
away at the dawn of that better kingdom, based on intellectual
immunities for alt, under the beneficent dominion of which the
most mutilated and degraded child of a suffering race might
become a perfect man. And though the main purpose of
Christ, and the immediate effect of his incarnation, was to
teach true morality and a saving religion, the indirect and very
important influence of his doctrines, for eighteen centuries, has
been to substitute the reign of free intellectual power for that of
arbitrary dictation ever}' where. This tends to the repossession
of original rights, and the equal balance of all our faculties, in
which every man will become a son of God, by uniting, in their
just proportions and healthful exercise, his physical energy, in-
tellectual power, moral abilit}', and religious affections. The
chief instrument for working out this external equality and in-
ternal equilibrium is Christianity, the divine balm of the keenest
woe, which tyrants of every grade most fiercely hate. But
the time has come, when consolidated power and vengeful
persecution can no longer prevent the steady growth and
ultimate triumph of the true lawgivers and most potent rulers

346 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

of the age, who, at the outset, seldom or never occupy situations
of note, are Uttle known, and are seldom heard by the unheed-
ing crowds around them. Nevertheless, it is they who appear
as the high priests of destiny, whose whispered thoughts evoke
the tempests which annihilate empires and shatter chains.
From the nineteenth centuiy onward, earth will be governed
by crownless and sceptreless monarchs, whose only homage
will be the revolutions they have promoted, and the universal
blessings they have conferred. Our race will soon have
learned that there is human truth and divine truth harmo-
niously blended, and offered equally to all in Christ, the first
great Teacher of republican doctrine, infinitely higher and
more salutary than the bigoted creeds which selfish priests sell
to their victims, and which trembling despots are always
ambitious to bind on all free souls. From such wretched
creatures the good may expect persecution, for that which
they most hate they certainly have good reason most to
fear.

Christianity plants redemption and perfects order in society,
by imparting force to reason and uprightness to conscience ;
and these are precisely the attributes which it is impossible for
oppression long to resist. In vain may despots expect to hold
mankind bound by a chain, every link of which has previously
been sundered by the lightning of truth. As, in the original
creation, the kindling elements raved and struggled in the
gigantic chaos — water and fire, darkness and light, at war —
vapor and cloud hardening into mountains, while the Breath
of Life moved a steadfast splendor over all ; so, in the grand
moral renovations of our day, — when the new heavens and
new earth seem rapidly forming, — light pierces to the lowest
depths, permeates tlie greatest masses, discriminates between
all spiritual and material elements, energizes every rational
being to act for himself, and qualifies him to be his own teacher,
guide, and judge. The word of God is open for all, and there
is but one Priest in the universe who has a right to say, " If
any man lack wisdom, let him ask of me." It is the religion

CHRISTIANITY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 347

of this our only Prophet, Priest, and Ruler supreme, that
declares the poorest child ever born in the lowest vale of
human life, to be like himself, infinitely more worthy of
regard than planets, satellites, and suns, in their harmonious
movements, because, with all their magnitude and magnifi-
cence, the intellectual, the moral, the patient, the energetic,
the overcoming immortality in a human bosom, swelling
though it may be under the tatters of most absolute want, in
its diversity of endowment and grandeur of destiny, is the
most interesting and sublime of all finite objects upon which
the universe can gaze. As Christianity regards every human
being as an heir of earth's best blood, born with no inferior
right to the free and full enjoyment of Heaven's highest bless-
ings, it is not wonderful that it is arrogantly hated by those
whose only delight is in persecuting the weak.

Secondly, we proceed to remark, more fully, that Christianity
sympathizes with the suffering when most wronged. It is a
truth proved and exemplified by numerous examples on every
hand, that merit the most elevated and abundant originates
in apparently the most unpropitious scenes. It is a fact
worthy of reflection, that those persons who are reared in
homes of classic elegance, improved by art, and embellished
with natural charms, like Edens, whence stark, deformed, and
vulgar need is excluded with greatest care, are rarely bene-
fited by, or worthy of, their superior blessings. The man-
ners and superficial culture of such, are, indeed, generally
tinctured with the refinement that surrounds them ; but rarely
does it imbue the intellect with rugged power, or invest the
heart with sterling charms. The master-spirits who sow the
earth with grand thoughts, and adorn it with beneficent deeds,
are invariably the produce of a pure and free soil, who pro-
claim, in a healthful and fruitful growth, the vigorous source
w^hence they sprung, and the unbounded resources they com-
mand, delicate in their diction, rich in their imagery, ex-
alted in their thought, thrilling in their own heart with an
exquisite sense of the beautiful, and impressive before others

348 RErUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

witli the most august unfoldiiigs of the subUme. The passion
which family pride, sectarian zeal, or pedantic exclusiveness
aims to feed, is light which, like straw on flame, may be a
fierce, but is also a fading fire. Whereas the education con-
ferred by our holy religion on the minds and hearts of sufTei*-
ing devotees who kneel at her altars in the solitar}' glen, or on
the mountain-side, is as profound as it is comprehensive, sub-
stantial in its basis, and gorgeous in its adornments ; a system
of ennobling truth and unfading glory, built like the temple of
the Infinite, " whose bright foundations are the heights of
heaven."

That sympathy for the suffering which Christianity most
strongly prompts and most bountifully rewards is designed to
teach, as the first lesson in its school, that earth, and the sepa-
rable elements which compose it, were not created for a class,
but as free blessings for all. " The common sun, the air,
the skies," were not designed for more equal apportionment
among mankind than were the common blessings of intel-
lectual enjoyment, moral cultivation, and personal liberty.
This position, we know, is denied by some, and its practical
realization is opposed by many. It is to be confessed, more-
over, that great minds, such as impress their characteristic
marks upon the age in which they are matured, and thence-
forward, like the mightiest rivers, pursue their beneficent course
from the obscure fountains of their origin, making continents
fruitful as they perpetually flow, are very rare. The severe
circumstances which usually attend superior merit, will easily
explain the cause. But it is not only manifest that the best
gifts of Providence are the commonest, and the best gifts of
intellect the rarest ; it is equally clear that there is a perpetual
tendency in these rare gifts to become common, and it is the
peculiar office of Christianity to promote such a republican
equalization. The highest order of intellect is always the
most active and beneficent ; this law holds good from God
himself down through all gradations of moral existences.
Around the most exalted mental and moral excellence the

CHRISTIANITY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 349

purest atmosphere is most rapidly generated, which tends most
powerfully towards distinct expression, in order to teach most
widely the most important truths. Hence persons who are
born in the possession of the greatest native excellence always
bring with them that indomitable energy and useful activity
which characterize Him who never wearieth, and with a
divine purpose diffuse themselves wider and yet wider through
society, until they become the common portion and heritage
of mankind. All great prophets, apostles, poets, artists, wri-
ters, orators, redeemers, are products and proofs of this prin-
ciple. Their being's end and aim is to diffuse knowledge :
the ever-increasing and multiplying excitement of intellect ;
the renovation and exaltation of hearts ; the rescuing of im-
mortal souls from apathy, grossness, absorption in the things
that perish ; the carrying forward an impeded race, and train-
ing our common nature for its predestined maturity of thought
and holy emotion, — this is the grand reason why all true great-
ness is born, antagonizes through frightful gloom with frightful
wrongs, is persecuted by tyrants, revered by the masses, and
at length, in mockery, is crucified that all the world may be
blessed.

In this connection, it should be observed, that the commonest
material auxiliaries are subservient to, and connected with, the
spread of the rarest intellectual and spiritual blessings. As if
Jehovah was especially intent on causing the most desirable
treasures to be most rapidly and widely difTused, he requires
only the very simplest means to be employed in connection
with his own invaluable gifts. For instance, printing demands
only some bits of metal, and not types of precious gems ; a few
rags spread into paper, and not sheets of refined gold. The
telegraph, that streams the creations of genius over earth, asks
only a coil of iron wire as a track, while all heaven furnishes
the lightning messengers to play thereon. The guide which
conducts commerce athwart oceans is but a tiny rod of steel
vitalized with a power direct from God ; and the almost om-
nipotent agent working so patiently and in'esistibly beneath
30

350 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

the deck, while its sturdy arms lash the huge billows into foam,
and sweep sublimely from continent to continent, is but the
simple subordination to a high purpose of two elements the
most universal and accessible to man. As in nature, art, and
science, so is it in grace ; the most needful is most abundant,
and should be most equally diffused : since God grants all
gratuitously, the man who presumes to deprive his fellow of
his lawful share, is dastardly mean and the most accursed.
The effeminate, the selfish, and the proud may treat with neg-
lect the predestined sons of might and heroes of good ; but
Christianity sympathizes with them when most wronged, and
is rapidly preparing the way all over the world for the full
development of their worth, and its appropriate reward.

" Beneath the frown of wicked men
The people's strength is bowing ;
But, thanks to God, they can't prevent
The lone wild flowers from blowing !

" On useful hands and honest hearts
The base their wrath are wreaking ;
But, thanked be God, they can't prevent
The storm of heaven from speaking."

There is another great law of divine beneficence eminently
worthy of observation. It is, that those things which relate to
our highest welfare most powerfully affect the common mind,
and most strongly cleave even to the weakest memory. The
missionary Moffat says, that, when he had concluded a long
sermon to a great number of African savages, his hearers
divided into companies, to talk the subject over. " While thus
engaged, my attention was arrested by a simple-looking young
man, at a short distance. The person referred to was holding
forth, with great animation, to a number of people, who were
all attention. On approaching, I found, to my surprise, that
he was preaching my sermon over again, with uncommon pre-
cision, and with great solemnity, imitating, as nearly as he
could, the gestures of the original. A greater contrast could
scarcely be conceived, than the ft\ntastic figure and the solcm-

CHRISTIANITV THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 351

nity of Ins language — his subject being eternity, while he
evidently felt what he spoke. Not wishing to disturb him, I
allowed him to finish the recital, and, seeing him soon al'ter,
told him that he could do what I was sure 1 could not, — that
was, preach again the same sermon verlatim. He did not
appear vain of his superior memory. ' When I hear any thing
great,' he said, touching his forehead with his finger, ' it re-
mains there.' " What shall we say of those who despise the
condition and wants of their fellow-beings, who grovel in such
deep degradation, and yet, even when most benighted, possess
such abilities to feel and know }

Lessing sa3's, " Revelation is to the whole race of mankind,
what education is to the individual person. Education is a
revelation made to a single man ; and revelation is the educa-
tion of the whole race of mankind, which has taken place,
and continues still to take place." We may consider it as a
training, by diversity of means, and through a succession of
efforts, by wonders real and apparent, by a beautiful ari'ange-
ment of the most common occurrences, as well as by an influ-
ence both hidden and divine. The spirit of Christ sympa-
thizes with the suffering, and labors on their behalf, by sending
forth its redeeming energies through tender and intelligent
disciples who spring from the multitudes, can comprehend
their struggles, mitigate their anguish, and supply all their
wants. Hence it was not scholastic erudition, or the influence
of royal station, that Christianity first employed to plant her
institutions; but the fishermen, the tax-gatherer, and the tent-
maker, who could replenish every vale with truth, easily un-
derstood and rapturously enjoyed ; plant gospel banners on
every shore, which should be seen in all directions afar ; and,
beginning at the lowest rank, ascend to the highest, with ac-
cents adapted to the faculties of each, and good news of great
joy for all. The most industrious and most oppressed classes
were first disciplined by the hopes and fears, sorrows and di-
vine consolations, of our holy religion, that they who had suf-
fered most and been most consoled by the heavenly treasure

352 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

they possessed, might become the instructors of the world in a
loftier theology, purer morality, and brighter prospects of free-
dom and improvement than the world had ever before received.
It was this sympathetic gospel which gave a new and unusual
depth of feeling, a fulness of inward life to mankind. It im-
parted moral earnestness, intellectual energy, and religious
fen'or to the lowest grade of its subjects, and thus emancipated
them from the tutelage of effete dogmas, and developed in
their souls a new, living form of truth, the most dignified,* and
graced with all the glories of felt redemption, atonement, and
justification before Almighty God. It was this that awoke hu-
manity to a keener consciousness of its character, its wants,
and the infinitude of heavenly supplies. In Christ earth saw,
for the first time, the religion of freedom the most republican
and pure — freedom toward God and toward all mankind.
It is this only that can make one feel how grand a thing it is to
be in perfect harmony with the infinite universe, and in perfect
identity with the infinite God ; to be, instead of social slaves,
the agents of social emancipation ; to revere none of the
monstrous idols human weakness or human vanity hath set
up ; to bear a brow always bold and radiant, as if the sinile of
heaven beamed thereon ; to tread the green earth with an
innocent but intrepid step, not crouching to any human lord ; to
be effulgent in the midst of surrounding darkness, cheerful and
strong before the desponding and weak ; spurning, not merely
fetters for ourselves, but breaking the fetters of all the op-
pressed ; the distributors of great and regenerating ideas, as
well as the prompt performers of the most commonplace
duties ; and, thrilled by the recollection of glorious deeds
already done, and inspired by the consciousness of augmented
purity and power yet in reserve, to pant for the possession of
a loftier ideal of individual excellence, an unlimited prospect
of universal bliss. The diviner the enjoyments we receive
from Heaven, the greater is our obligation, and the warmer is
our impulse to lavish them on others, that all the earth may
come to share equally in our joys. The true Christian will be

CHRISTIAJ^ITY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 353

untiring and impartial in tlie exercise of his sympathetic re-
gards and beneficent activity, remembering the great Redeemer
said, " Freely ye have received, freely give."

Divine truth is the primary want of the human soul, the
ground of its own emancipation, and the means of its triumph
over all outward foes. The full expansion and complete
donation of this highest gift God has reserved to the ultimate
energies of Christian doctrine on all mankind. All virtue is
the inimitable fruit of truth ; and the gospel is worthy of all
acceptation, because the excellence it produces is the most
veracious and enduring. It is this that has traversed the tem-
pests of so many generations, perpetually unfolding a brighter
horizon to the world, regenerating its ideas, and developing
the best civilization eveiy where in its course. If we are in
possession of this heavenly treasure, and, as true Christians,
sympathize with the suffering when most wronged, wc shall
at any cost impart to them the assistance which nfiost mitigates
their sorrows and augments their strength. We have it in
our power to bestow on the needy a favor the highest in the
universe, and which the loftiest angel might well be ambitious
to convey. This treasure is enlightening and redeeming truth,
more productive than earth, more lasting than time, exalted as
God, and glorious as the eternal throne. When a man gives
his property, the earth he holds under his feet, it is much ;
nevertheless, it is the gift of something foreign to himself.
When he gives his heart, it is more and better ; bi|t that heart,
all precious as it may be, is the gift of something full of fick-
leness and mortality : a time will come when the giver will no
longer be able to create even the movement necessar}' to make
his heart a gift. But there is in a Christianized man something
which, while it is in and of himself, so made by divine grace,
is more than himself, something that never recedes, never
changes, never dies : we may even dare to say that it is some-
thing more than immortal ; it is eternal. Man is a compound
of time and eternity, and it is by truth that eternity enters into
his composition. Daughter of eternity, deathless herself. Truth
30*

354 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

has descended to time by incarnating herself in the intelligence
of man, and, endangered by this inhabitation of suffering from
our nature, she communicates to her possessor the immunities
and rights of all her original strength. While all else changes
within us, even the sentiments of the heart and faculties of
the mind. Truth preserves her immutable life, and, in giving
her to others, we impart something that will survive ourselves,
will outlast the decay of all transient things, and bloom perpet-
ually beyond the grave, redolent of the graces gathered from
every generation of time to crown the unending youth of her
eternity.

Truth is every thing to the soul, while error is worse than
nothing. The first is a profound well, wherein the farther it is
sunk the more profusely and powerfully the water gushes ; the
other is a stagnant pit evaporated, or, as the Scripture says,
" broken cisterns that can hold no water." The truth bestowed
and fortified by divine religion, that religion which God has
given to earth in Jesus Christ, is profoundly seated at the
centre of humanity, like the primitive granite which supports
the world; it there conceals divine fire and divine water, a fire
that forever burns but to purify, a water which it is impossible
to exhaust while it eternally flows. In proportion as we explore
the depths of this wisdom and love, we discover new tributa-
ries, streams unknown, reservoirs unlimited, even until we
pierce to the centre, and, having given the last blow, the
immortal stream of immaculate truth springs up to the skies,
satisfying our thirst without extinguishing it, and raising the
enraptured soul on its swelling tide even to the threshold of
heaven's own temple, wherein God will crown the humble and
diligent believer wilh all the fulness of himself. Until we
reach that consummation of mental and moral bliss, we cannot
expect entirely to escape from the influence of falsehood and
the pangs of doubt. Whatever may be the charms of truth here
below, there will always be opposed to it the charm of error;
whatever may be the abundance of light, enough of clouds
will always remain to obscure it. It is by faith and patience

CHRISTIANITY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 355

that the checkered path through sunshine and storm is to be
traversed, and the goal of shadowless glory be finally attained.
Truth itself is unaffected by the vicissitudes of time. Like a
pyramid immovable and unshattered, it stands amid the moving
sands and desolating elements of earth ; but we have only to
descend to its base, in removing the dust and ruins that encum-
ber it, and a light brighter than the sun will flash from founda-
tion to summit, to satisfy the intelligence of all who honestly
inquire, recompense their attention, and imbue them with
unwasting strength.

The breath of the Almighty, as it originally vivified and
inspired the human soul, compelled it, by the very nature of
its attributes, to be intellectual, moral, affectionate, susceptible
of happiness, and religious. Man is the same still, so far as it
pleases himself; his will is free ; he is a free agent. Revela-
tion, while it has not a word of discussion on the subject of
moral liberty, every where addresses itself to our race, under
both covenants, as to free beings. " See," said Moses to
Israel, " I call heaven and earth to record this day against
you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and
cursing ; therefore choose life ! " " Thus saith the Lord, Be-
hold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death."
" Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of
hosts," by the voice of JMalachi. " This do and thou shalt
live," were the words of Christ to the doctor of the law.
Now, this will, power, liberty of man, which cannot go so far
as to rob him of the cardinal pro[)erties of his nature, does
often go so far as to disturb their just equilibrium, and to induce
in him the cultivation of some one faculty to the detriment of
others, and even so far as to subject the religious to the baser
tendencies, although its legitimate province is to rule supreme
in all the faculties, harmonize and approximate them to the
infinite. It is the divine prerogative of truth, therefore, to
restore the original sovereignty of the best powers, and the
symmetrical development of all. In this matter, there is no
question of more or less ; freedom exists or it does not ; and it

356 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

is obvious that the liberty of a rational being consists precisely
in the free use of the faculties inherent in his nature, and of
all his faculties or powers, without exception or extravagance.
This is only saying that freedom in the lowest grade of spirit-
ual existence, as in the highest, is strength ; that a mental
power is not a power except so far as it is independent.
Man, renovated by divine truth, is made free in his part of the
finite, as God is in the infinite ; that is, he acts in his quality
of man with the same independence that God acts sis God.
It is the redeeming power, given to the world in Christ, that
impels humanity both highest and farthest; the only spur
which can arouse our dormant energies, and excite them to the
most beneficent action. Mental freedom is the only true free-
dom, the foundation of all other liberty, without which an
immortal creature is a degraded slave, and not the less a vassal
because his chains may chance to be made of gold.

" For what is freedom but the unfettered use
Of all the powers which God for use hath given? "

Intellectual conception and moral appreciation are two attri-
butes the grandest of human nature, the germs of which are
lodged in every bosom. The intellectual power of man proves
that there must be an object suitable "for its exercise and
demanding its study. This object is truth, the knowledge of
something real, and consists in the exact understanding of the
highest realities that exist. This is the grand boon proffered
to us here and in a more exalted life. " Then shall I know,"
says Paul, " even as also I am known ; " that is to say,
thoroughly. The apostle dOes not, in this instance, speak with
respect to himself alone. He had just said, " Now ice see
through a glass, darkly ; " and, by a lively change of phrase,
familiar to his style, he suddenly passes to the first person, and
says, " I shall know," which is equivalent to we shall know.
The force of the idea expressed in this sentence rests on the
point of comparison, on the sense of the particle as. It is
evident that, of the two principal significations of this word in

CHRISTIANITY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 357

the Greek of the New Testament, viz., as imich as, and in the
same manner as, the last mentioned alone can be the one
employed in this passage. The glorious hope which Paul
expresses is, therefore, that the knowledge of immortality will
embrace, not the appearances only, the mere outward mani-
festations of the divine laws and creations, but their perfect
truth and infinite reality.

The moral faculty of man proves the existence of a law, by
which each will should be governed, and to which all should
have access. " Sin is the transgression of the law." " Where
no law is, there is no transgression." Thus man is never
without a moral law ; for when he does not receive one from
God he makes one to himself. But all history, sacred and pro-
fane, proves how difficult it is for man to discover, by his own
unaided powers, the true law of progress, the basis of genuine
morality, real justice and goodness divine. The reason of this
difficulty is, that the mission of conscience is much more to
apply itself to the law which it finds in force, than to discover
or confer this law. Hence it often applies the rule without
first comprehending it, and the benighted man conscientiously
executes the most evil deeds. These are our fellow-creatures
who suffer the greatest wrongs ; and for us, as the professed
followers of Christ, to withdraw from them our sympathies and
deny them his holy word, is at once to proclaim our own
hypocrisy and seal their doom.

Truth of the highest and purest form, the object given for
the rescue and exaltation of our intellectual powers, is the
same in all worlds ; it is what God thinks, and is what we with
the greatest avidity should strive to possess and distribute, since
what occupies his thoughts ought to occupy those of all his
creatures, according to the graduated capacities of each and
the mutual welfare of all. The object given to ennoble and
eternally bless our moral powers, is holiness ; and this, too, is
the same in all worlds: it is what God wills; and as what satis-
fies his will is most happily adapted to satisfy that of all his
creatures, according to the measure of sensibility and moral

358 EErUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

excellence in each, to distribute instriimentally tlie word that
enlightens and the spirit that saves the soul of the poorest and
meanest child of Adam, is to do that which confers the greatest
happiness and I'eflects most honor upon the sons of God.

We are not to covet for ourselves, nor inculcate upon others,
that demoniac spirit which springs from wrong and leads to
wrong, but the sacred liberty which dwells with justice, and
wages a conflict both mighty and perpetual against every form
of oppression. It is that merciful and yet resolute spirit which
to the last gasp of existence resists the arrogance of despots,
and when its warring energies are spent, so that inevitable
dissolution impends, it will, like the father of Hannibal, take
the offspring it has produced to the altar of its adoration and
swear them to eternal hostility against all the invaders of
private rights and a public prosperity. This is

" A liberty, which persecution, fraud,
Oppression, prisons, have no power to bind ;
AMiich whoso tastes can be enslaved no more :
'Tis liberty of Heart, derived from Heaven,
Bought with His blood, who gave it to mankind.
And sealed with the same token. It is held
By charter, and that charter sanctioned sure
By the unimpeachable and a^s-ful oath
And promise of a God."

Thirdly, Christianity, which was so fiercely persecuted when
most weak, and which therefore sympathizes with the suffer-
ing when most wronged, ever fortifies the confiding with
invincible strength. This grand truth is inherent in it as the
doctrine of Christ, and is its crowning glory as the manifesta-
tion of his spirit and life. A just discrimination recognizes this
difference between the science of religion and its practice. For
analytical examination and popular communication, it is neces-
sary to reduce Christianity to the form of doctrine ; but for all
practical purposes, in its highest influence on individuals and
nations, it is animated with a more efficacious life, and always
exemplifies itself under the triune majesty of essence, life, and

I

CHRISTIANITY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 359

action. The relation Christ assumed towards fallen man ; the
position in which he placed mankind with reference to God ;
his own teachings and example, together with the declarations
of the apostles to him, his person, and work, — these constitute
Christian doctrine, from the highest point of which, if we would
obtain a perfect view, we must pass to the manifestation of
Christ as the exemplar of a newer, higher, and more perfect
religious life. The essential substance of Christianity is the
illustrated character of its Author, spoken to all the world, and
developed in all his existence here below. Only as life is
Christianity the light of the world ; which position is based on
the fact that Christ does not say, My doctrine is the truth,
but, "I am the truth," adding immediately that he also is "the
life." Christianity is not all faith, neither is it all morality, but
a perfect combination of faith, love, and moral authority, form-
ing true religion as its aggregate, from which harmonious
whole the several components can as little be separated " as
the light of the fire from its warmth." The character of our
Lord can never be thoroughly understood, if we regard it as
consisting wholly either in outward morality or in hidden piety ;
since the peculiarity of his nature lay in the perfect coalescence
of the two — in holiness ; a Me from and in God, designed in
all of its infinite excellence to be diffijsed from himself into
the world. It was this exalted capacity and unprecedented
benevolence that made Christ to be something more than merely
a great, pure-minded man ; he possessed a superhuman, world-
swaying and world-pervading influence, w^hich no pious fiction
could invent, and which could proceed only from real, living,
and perfect Divinity. It is equally clear that it was the strong-
est desire of Christ, that his life and spirit should be shared by
his disciples; that this life should be perpetuated in them, and
become, through their instrumentality, the light and life of all
mankind. This is most distinctly declared in the gospel,
especially in the record by John. Thus Christ, himself glorified
by the Father, desires to be glorified again in his disciples ;
they are commanded to partake of his flesh and blood, that

360 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

thereby they may receive his hfe ; " that they all may be
one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us ; " and again, " I in them and thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one ; and that the world
may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou lovest them,
even as thou lovest me." All which is God's is Christ's, and
this divine fulness he will impart to his followers ; or, as
Paul expresses the same idea in an inverted form, "All is
yours, and ye are Chi'ist's, and Christ is God's." This is not
a creed, but Christianity, the absolute religion that came down
from heaven, to be incarnated in life and action on earth, to
be inculcated in the simplest forms, and eventually to reign
the supreme and salutaiy faith of all mankind. Having con-
quered every foe otherwise invincible, and having ascended to
the throne of the universe, thence to bestow on all believers
every resource they can need, Christ says to each, I will give
the power of soul unbound and purified,

"To crown thy life with liberty and joy,
And make thee free and mighty as I am."

Our holy religion never throws her choice gifts into the lap of
luxurious ease and selfishness, but creates strength in the strong,
purity in the pure, and wreaths a glorious garland round the brow
of true heroism, as, glad, radiant, and undaunted, it bounds on-
ward ceaselessly to vanquish every oppressor and mitigate every
wrong. It is not truth smothered in musty formulas, and faith
having no more stable foundation than the idle dreams of a list-
less brain ; but the religion of Christ, more than any other influ-
ence, deepens and fortifies in the bosoms of its adherents ven-
eration for duty, confirms the most sacred convictions of right,
arms with a power of execution equal to the most heroic
resolves, kindles martyr aspirations, and urges their possessors
not to live for their own puny personalities, but to offer these
and every thing dearest and best on the sublime altar of pro-
gressive Humanity. Before this substantial zeal, magnani-
mous spirit, and luminous enthusiasm, all empty theories and

CHRISTIANITY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 361

crafty schemes dissolve and disappear like morning mists
before the god of day, as he rises to shine on the diffusive and
resistless redemptions which spring in rapid developments
round the cross of Christ, to bless all the earth.

Every man is good in proportion as he manifests the spirit
of love, and great in proportion as he manifests the spirit of
self-sacrifice. True religion is something more genial and
vitalizing than "the patient brilliance of the moon," and is
adorned with a beauty still more beauteous. It is a power,
secret, sweet, precious, and profound, lending the soul swifter
wings to fly, and always guiding its career to the most practi-
cal and most profitable results. The greatest works of mind
or hand have always been executed in behalf of the largest
masses of men and the highest glory of God. This follows,
because divine truth qualifies its possessor to break spears
with the brave till he quells all, enlighten the ignorant till he
has reformed all, and create monuments of science, art, and
religion, which, like the spirit that inspired them, shall purify
the tastes, enlarge the intellects, and ennoble the aspirations of
all who, at the most open and unobstructed shrines, learn to
gaze and admire. The spirit of all goodness and greatness
is prompt to minister to the wants of the most needy, pro-
mote the welfare of society at large, aid the changes which
obviously tend to raise man to a higher order of civilization,
and in every lawful way to impel the moral progress of the
world. It takes the feeblest of our race, and, leading him to
the summit of each mountain, thought says to him there, —

"Worship thou God; for Deity is seen
From every elevation of the soul.
Study the Light ; attempt the high ; seek out
The soul's bright path ; and since the soul is fire
Of heat intelligential, turn it aye
To the all-Father, source of light and life."

It is under the tuition of such sympathies and such wisdom,
that the pupil of the skies, and predestined benefactor of our
globe, early learns to partake, in glad and vigorous fruition, of
31

362 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

the Tree of Life, of which the loftiest stars are fruit, and the
lightest leaf the food of still loftier power. The partaker thereof
is increasingly conscious of firmer courage joined to purer
affection within himself, and is willing to give all or renounce
all things else, at any risk, and in view of any pain, rather than
witness suffering which an effort of his own might, in some
measure at least, remove ; and in proportion as his life is
moulded by this law, sinking his own personal advantages and
enjoyments in the higher destinies of our race, he becomes
truly great, — great with a grandeur kindred to that of God.
His greatness is hewn from that mount of light whereon the
throne of heaven's eternal love is built, and, while obeyingly
he bears the cross close in the footsteps of Christ, always
ascending toward the highest bliss, eveiy act he performs is
a monument of beneficence fitted to animate and sustain fellow-
disciples, and every breath of his lips is the inspiration of in-
vincible strength in every panting soul. Such heroes reproduce
and multiply themselves perpetually. Every great result that
has been achieved for the promotion of human weal, has had
for its doer some solitary redeemer, one thrust forth from the
sweet charities of social bliss, from the comforts and enjoy-
ments to which generous hearts cling most tenderly, and, by
personal experience the most bitter and lonely, is trained to
win for others, like conditioned, blessings the most exquisite,
exalted, and general. Their example stands out cheeringly
before all successors, teaching them that the best powers are
multiplied and strengthened in a marvellous degree the mo-
ment we, with stern resolve, throw ourselves on our own per-
sonal prowess and persevering endeavors. Such men are
always the revolutionizers of the world, and conquer with a
greater, more beneficent, more enduring potency, than the
sword's edge or cannon's roar. Yet how unseen arc their best
energies fortified, how unostentatiously they enter upon their
mission, how divine is the wide influence they exert, and how
sublimely they ascend to the glories of heaven ! They move
through the world with a heart full of hardihood, benevolence,

CHRISTIANITY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 363

and power, fanning the hot brow of mental anguish, and sooth-
ing the pangs of secret suffering, with sympathies balmy and
grateful as evening zephyrs, singing the sun to repose, as
down " he lays his head of glory on the rocking deep." Such
benefactors of mankind burst away from all puny restraints,
grasp and communicate the most comprehensive as well as
important truths, and form the grand brotherhood throughout
the world, who in all lands and ranks are working for the
redemption and improvement of man, obeying no other law of
duty than that of making the universe, material and spiritual,
an increasingly glad and glorious revelation to the heart and
intellect of all our race. It is their privilege and glorious
reward, in common with the great Redeemer himself, to sym-
pathize with all the suffering in their deepest wrongs, and
fortify the feeblest endowments of rational existence

" With strength like that -which lifts an eagle's v,-mg
Where the stars dazzle, and the angels sing."

All that man can be, this side of the grave or beyond, he
becomes by the free use of his own faculties ; by the strength
he attains while emulating the strongest, bj'^ the purity he wins
through admiration of the purest, and by the direction he im-
parts to these attributes in himself. His freedom and power
are con-elative, exactly proportioned to each other. The in-
fluence of Christianity is most salutary ih a temporal, as well
as eternal point of view ; it is not a frigid semblance of useful-
ness, like a burning-glass of ice, but a powerful lens pouring
the converged beams of universal truth upon the brain and
heart. It is to the mental and moral world what aggressive
civilization is to the natural, — it tends to dispel the vapor and
dislodge the frost, by felling tangled forests, draining fetid
marshes, and cultivating unproductive wastes, so that coming
generations may breathe, without effort, the purified air, and
enjoy without peril a chastened climate and the richest har-
vests. Its holy flames purify the temple they burn in, emanci-
pate the intellect, regulate the passions, and e.xalt the soul. It

364 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

is necessary that the heart should first find repose, that the
mind may be active and useful in the greatest degree. The
disciples of Christ became such at the moment they obtained
this rest ; and in proportion to its measure and permanency,
they were emancipated from the worst bonds, and remain in-
dependent in proportion as they are penetrated by the splendor
and beneficence of God. Under the guidance of this spirit,
and upborne by its power, even while the body stands heavy
and solid on earth, as a deserted tomb, the free soul wanders
from star to star in quest of that fountain of unbounded wis-
dom and life, which excursions are at once the sublimest
luxury and the foretaste of eternal joy. Catching a dim
glimpse of this, Jamblicus said, " Tliere is a principle of the
soul superior to all external nature ; and through this principle
we are capable of surpa&sing the order and systems of the
world, and participating the immortal life and the energy of
the sublime celestials. When the soul is elevated to natures
above itself, it deserts the order to which it is a while com-
pelled, and, by a religious magnetism, is attracted to another
and a loftier, with which it blends and mingles." It is not
pagan philosophy, however, that can thus inspire and invigorate
the believer; it is religion, the cross of Christ, that raises
patience first into a fortifying virtue, and then into undying
hope. It is through the ceaseless throes and invincible strug-
gles thus sustained, that penury wins sustenance, and whole na-
tions of the enslaved attain the blessings of freedom which to all
mankind belong. On this point Bishop Taylor well says, " The
will is in love with those chains which draw us to God. And
as no man will complain that his temples are restrained, and
his head is prisoner, when it is encircled with a crown, so,
when ' the Son of God hath made us free,' and hath only sub-
jected us to the service and dominion of the Spirit, we are free
as princes within the circle of their diadem; and our chains
are bracelets, and the law is a law of liberty, and ' God's ser-
vice is perfect freedom ; ' and the more we are subjects, the
more we ' reign as kings;' and the farther wc run, the easier

I

CHRISTIAMTY THE FORTIFIER OF THE WEAK. 365

is our burden ; and Christ's yoke is like feathers to a bird, not
loads, but help to motion; without them the body falls."

The faithful disciple, in the act of entire consecration, enters
into perfect rest, and thenceforth, unimpeded by crippling
doubts, devotes all his energies to the promotion of the Re-
deemer's kingdom. The wisdom which in this school is
attained, and the strength which in this service is employed, are
the most exalted in their character, and the most divine in their
results. Says one of the deepest thinkers of modern times,
" No man can have been conversant with the volumes of
religious biography — can have perused, for instance, the lives
of WicklifTe, Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Wishart, Sir Thomas
More, Bernard Gilpin, Bishop Bedell, or of Egede, Swartz,
and the missionaries of the frozen world, without an occasional
conviction that these men lived under extraordinary influences,
that in each instance, and in all ages of the Christian era, bear
the same characters, and, both in the accompaniments and
results, evidently refer to a common origin." That origin, we
scarcely need add, is the pure spirit of primitive Christianity,
whose glories will remain forever resplendent, when the meteors
of science shall have fallen from the sky, and unsanctified genius
withered like a flower in the icy charnel's breath. Much of
the reward which conscious worth every where enjoys, comes
to the soul simultaneously with the performance of its beneficent
acts ; but the fulness of its high fruition remains to be unfolded
with the bursting glories of that eternity which commences
from the grave. The spirit of Christ is the most active life,
continually evoked from kingdom to kingdom, and increasingly
illumined as it unceasingly ascends. It sustains, from the
profoundest depths, the beings it emancipates, and arms them
with invincible strength, by imbuing them thoroughly with the
genius of heavenly liberty which created and made them free.
If the sage of this world is to be pronounced blessed, whose
heart is the home of the great dead, and their great thoughts,
how much more desirable is the condhion and destiny of him
whose soul is the temple of divinity itself, and who, by virtue
31*

366 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

of this possession and the deeds it has inspired, soars with un-
speakable rapture, through immensity, toward that palace of
the Eternal, of which our sun is but a porch-lamp.

We have seen that the inspiration which fortifies the con-
fiding with invincible strength, which impels to the sternest
conflicts, and secures the highest reward, is truth; the very
essence of omnipotence, the breath of vital energy in the
nostrils of the brave and good, which, as it inspires the nobly
endowed, when all outward circumstances are dark and deso-
late, so, by its absence, is sufficient to countervail the most
splendid advantages of rank or fortune. It is this that creates
the true prophets of every age, the mighty teachers and doers
who startle the stupid with profound and stimulating thought,
rouse the injured to a horror at their wrongs, and inspire the
love and practice of virtue, by the stern and zealous reitera-
tion of those great moral principles, which are as old as man
himself, which are the basis of all that is noble in his nature,
and enduring as the bright dccdshe was made to achieve.

This omnipotence and ineffable glory of truth is vouch-
safed to man only for the purpose of promoting practical
godliness. All its emanations are infinitely superior to the
inertness of mere dogmas, since they are designed to make
mail both politically energetic and morally regenerative.
Truth, in its widest development and noblest exercise, tends
always to social regeneration, and bequeaths to posterity
expanded conceptions of a holier gladness, and salvation more
comprehensive and complete. It is truth to be proclaimed,
not simply as theological doctrine, but a mighty and saving
revelation, a celestial fact free for all, which ought to inter-
fuse every thought we think, adorn* every deed we do, and
be allowed unobstructcdly to grow, less as a mere luxury of
the intellect, than the mightiest passion of the heart. It is the
spirit of wisdom and holiness, prompting its subject to be a
man as God originally created him, and as, in Christ Jesus,
he may be formed anew. Hence will he devoutly strive to
appropriate, in his own being, the good, the beautiful, and

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 367

the true, from all the universe around, seeing God in every
thing, and blessing the creatures of God every where, that in
this perpetual devotion to the highest aims, and approximation
to the functions of Divinity itself, he may, in the noblest sense,
become divine. All who have really partaken of this spirit of
Christ's truth, and are truly his soldiers, demonstrate the truth-
fulness and grandeur of their calling by being always found on
the outward frontiers of civilization, carrying light to the be-
nighted, strength to the feeble, salvation to the lost. They are
the beloved offspring of that Christianity which was fiercely
persecuted when most weak, which sympathizes with the suf-
fering when most wronged, and forever fortifies the confiding
with invincible strength.

" For soiils

Be-made of God, and moulded over again

Into his sunlike emblems, multiply

His might and love : the saved are suns, not eartlw,

And -with original glory shine of God."

CHAPTER IV.

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIYEREE, OF THE
OPPRESSED.

The subject for our present consideration is of the greatest
interest and importance. With the wisest possible blending of
firmness and magnanimity, that just discrimination and equita-
ble judgment which are obtained only in answer to humble
prayer, let us proceed at once to the discussion. The foUov/ing
are our general points : Christianity was given to subdue the
most ungenerous foes, is most merciful towards those who suffer
the greatest abuse, and inspires ceaseless rebellion against
every species of ungodly bonds.

368 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

In the first place, to subdue foes at once the most ungener-
ous and unyielding was the primary task of Christianity, and,
to the end of spiritual warfare, will ever constitute its highest
mission. The substance of Christ's doctrine and the grand aim
of his life was in the highest degree emancipative, and most
happily adapted to the divei-sified wants of mankind. He
labored to abolish every pernicious superstition, destroy all
forms of degrading unbelief, break every oppressive bond, and
eradicate the skepticism of the leading men of his age, which
openly denied, or industriously subverted, the foundation of
morality itself. He i-epresented God under the true light, that
of a purely moral character, and portrayed him palpably to the
common heart and eye as the supreme Father, loving and edu-
cating all the rational creatures he has formed. "The conse-
quences that flow from this fundamental view are also moral.
A man cannot honor this supreme Father by ceremonies and
external exercises, but only by doing his loilL and endeavoring
to become like him. With a religious truth that represents
God as the supreme Father, no moral truths can be connected
but such as reduce every thing back to love. The practical
part of what Jesus taught, therefore, had the great excellency
of containing principles not only benevolent, but pure, noble,
and exalted, eveiy where applicable, and adapted to human
nature. He who loves God and man according to the precepts
of Jesus, is a most willing, punctual, and disinterested per-
former of all his duties; a most active promoter of all that is
true, beautiful, and good ; a most faithful and useful citizen of
the state to which he belongs; a most sympathizing and benev-
olent friend of man ; and, in all the relations which he sustains,
whatever they are called, the author of innumerable blessings.
Nor did the external jmrl. of the religion which Jesus intended
to bring into vogue, have any other object in view than strength-
ening its moral power and sustaining its activity. In order to
preserve a lasting consciousness of their high calling and their
destination in respect to moral altaininonts, and to be perfect as
their Father in heaven is perfect, iiis followers were to meet

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 369

together and unite as a body in pious exercises ; the object of
these meetings was to be their advancement in virtue and reli-
gious improvement. And for what other purpose, than as the
means of moral improvement, did Jesus institute his two sacred
rites ? The one was to make it evident, that as soon as a man
becomes a Christian, he takes upon himself an obligation to
practise the purest and most immaculate virtue ; the other was
to admonish him of this with reference to his approximating
nearer to the pattern of all human virtue in the performance
of his duties. The religion, therefore, which Jesus destined to
become that of the human race, was, in all its parts, a moral
religion."

Moi'eover, the doctrines and spirit which Christ planted in the
woi'ld were as heroical as they were moral. Nothing is more
erroneous than the supposition that Christianity regards indig-
nant bravery and heroical resistance as vices ; that, instead of
their exercise on just occasions, it legitimately transforms man
into a defenceless and passive creature, which chooses to en-
dure outrageous wrongs rather than defend natural rights. It
is true that the religion taught by Jesus was adapted to dimin-
ish the causes of war, prevent aggressions upon all sorts of
freedom, awaken in every soul the acutest perception of what
is right, and thus gradually produce universal peace upon earth.
" It is equally certain," says Eeinhard, " that the commandment
enjoining love, which is the soul of all the precepts of Chris-
tianity, forbids no man from bravely opposing unjust oppres-
sors, and maintaining his rights by force, so long as that uni-
versal peace does not prevail, and cruel disturbers of public
security and repose, and unjust aggressors, are every where to
be found. It is not the business even of that love whose efforts
are directed entirely to the promotion of the general good
magnanimously to offer itself in sacrifice, as soon as this gen-
eral weal is in danger ? Can he whom it animates remain idle
when the society of which he is a member is assailed and
threatened with danger r Will he not, on the other hand,
select, and be obliged to select, the only way left him, in this

370 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

case, for exhibiting his love, namely, by laying down his life
for the brethren ? 1 John iii. 16. Besides, is there not every
thing to be met with in the soul of a genuine Christian, from
which real bravery and rational heroism may spring in as good
if not a better degree than others .' Is bravery grounded upon
natural courage, a certain innate intrepidity ? Christianity does
not suppress this quality, but only liinders it from degenerating
into savageness and temerity. Is genuine bravery accompanied
with a contempt of all effeminacy, with diligence, and temper-
ance ? Christianity inculcates these virtues as indispensable
duties. Is bravery, without a desire of honor, impossible ?
No one can possess a livelier and more tender sense of honor
than the Christian. Does bravery draw its nourishment in a
particular manner from genuine patriotism .'' The patriotism
produced by Christianity is the noblest and most zealous that
can exist. Finally, are confidence in God and a belief in
immortality able to contribute any thing toward strengthening
courage in danger and rendering men intrepid ? Then no one
has less to fear than the Christian. A religion which, with the
tenderest love, combines such an aversion to all injustice, and
so much to encourage in the hour of danger, cannot be preju-
dicial to genuine bravery, but will merely hinder it from de-
generating into savage barbarity and inhuman cruelty. If,
therefore, Christianity in any state produces in only a part of
the citizens those disposhions and feelings which its Founder
intended it should produce, even then the state, whatever be its
regulations in other respects, manifestly loses nothing thereby,
but, on the other hand, gains infinitely in the improvement of
its subjects."

The true nature of Christian morality, and the righteous
heroism which moral truth was designed to stimulate, were
most clearly unfolded to the world by the teachings and exam-
ple of Christ. Soon after he entered upon his ministry, he
held the remarkable conversation with a Samaritan woman, in
•which he advanced far beyond all previous instruction, entirely
laid aside the Hebrew phrase the kingdom of God ^ and, instead

CHFaSTIAMTY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 371

of it, spoke of the worship of God in spirit and in truth, as
then about to be introduced into all parts of the world, without
regard to the distinctions of nation and country. John iv. 23,
24. Continues Reinhard, "The Jews expected of the Messiah
the restoration of their freedo?n. Jesus promised freedom, but
a freedom from the tyranny of vice, to be obtained by the
power of the truth. John viii. 31 — 36. Shortly before his
death, he conversed with his friends respecting the great work
for which he had selected them, and in which they were soon
to engage. For their encouragement and support, he promised
them nothing but the Spirit of truth. This was not only to
guide them, but through them to teach and reform the whole
world. John xiv. 17, 26 ; xv. 26 ; xvi. 13. Whatever we
understand by this Spirit of truth, we must admit it to have
been given to the aposdes to prepare them for the moral under-
taking, the accomplishment of which had been intrusted to
their hands. I have already observed that, in the presence of
Pilate, Jesus declared his kingdom to be a kingdom of truth,
and not of this world, nor intended to injure the power and
authority of its rulers in the least degree. That it was his
intention to benefit all men by laboring in the cause of moral-
ity, is a position fully confirmed by the fact that he speaks in
express terms of a new birth, an entire reformation and reno-
vation of the heart, and, in the most direct and definite man-
ner, declares his intention to create mankind anew and make
tliem better. In Matt. xLx. 28, he calls the new order of things
which he had in contemplation a regeneration ; and that this
regeneration was not to be a political change nor a resuscitation
of the old national constitution, he asserted in a manner worthy
of the deepest attention, in the well-known dialogue which he
held with Nicodemus. John iii. 1, et seq. He told the aston-
ished scribe, with the dignity of an ambassador of God, who
was conscious of being engaged in the most important business,
and felt his appropriate sphere of action to be without the
bounds of the corporeal world, (verses 11 — 13,) that a man
must be renovated by the influences of a better religion

372 REPUBLICAN CIIKISTIANITY.

before he could be admitted into the kingdom of God, (verse
3 ;) that indolent human nature, altogether sunk as it was in
sensuality, must experience an entirely new birth in order to
become spirit, and awake to a higher moral life, (verses 4 — 6 ;)
not that there was any lack of spiritual faculties, for they were
every where in action, but that they were destitute of the proper
direction. He told Nicodemus that they should now receive
the proper direction by means of the new birth, under the
influences of this belter religion, (verse 8 ;) that though it
would cost him his life to effect this great and universal change,
yet his death should result in the salvation of all mankind,
(verse 14,) for that he came to make all happy who adhered
to him and were willing to be improved ; to' do good to all
mankind whhout exception, (verses 15 — 17,) and hence that
none should remain miserable but those who hated the truth,
and, out of a love to vice, rejected it, (verses 18 — 21.) Jesus,
therefore, had a new moral creation in view. His object was
to animate all mankind with better life, to arouse, direct, and
ennoble their spiritual faculties, and exalt the human race to a
state of moral dignity and happiness. This was the kingdom
of God which he had in view, — the important work which
occupied his mind."

Christianity is omnipotence armed against all perversions of
divine truth, and all invasions of human rights ; blended with
infinite justice, it wields the spiritual sword destined never to be
laid aside so long as these corruptions and tyrannies endure.
It is a potency which enables its heroical subjects on earth to
resist the pressure of wrong and the storms of life without
timidity or defeat. They stand on a sure foundation, having
partaken of that freedom wherewith Christ makes his people
free ; and, walking in his footsteps, they rise from sin to re-
pentance, from repentance to faith, from faith to sanctification,
from sanctification to salvation, a lofty height, whence they
look down with pity upon all who suffer, and with avenging
scorn upon tyranny of every degree. Each good soldier of
Christ feels that he has been fashioned after the nature and

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 373

capacities of an all-embracing, creative, and loving intelligence,
a rational and godlike type of humanity, to exemplify every
virtue, antagonize against every vice, and, for the glory of the
Creator, as well as the welfare of all immortal creatures, live
and die a moral Spartacus among mankind.

The only justification wliich tyranny is wont to plead in
extenuation of its wrongs is, the right of possession ; " I have
ruled, therefore I rule : I have exercised this power, therefore
I exercise it still." Thus it is

" The queen of slave;?,
The hoodwinked angel of the blind and dead,
Custom, with iron mace, points to the graves
"SMiere her black standard desolately waves."

But Christ unfurled a fairer banner to the w"orld, and made
innovation upon all forms of established iniquity, all ranks of
oppressive men, the grand feature of his religion, and the true
glory it imparts to progressive humanity every where. Christ
came to qualify all persons to govern themselves, and to bestow
on each the qualities requisite to a safe and beneficent exercise
of this high prerogative. True republicanism is not agrarian,
but Christian ; it is an equal division of rights, not of property.
It creates and adorns a nobility both original and true, " the Co-
rinthian capital of society," in the highest sense ; and not the
pernicious aristocracy which is not merely itself radically cor-
rupted, but the most powerful and vile agent of corruption.
Such are the hereditary nobles, whom Burke described as
being " swaddled, and rocked, and dandled into legislators ; "
the mere puppets of craft and power, who, by the inanimate
possession of a mere casualty, are allowed to prescribe laws
of a most fearful influence on innumerable beings of a rational
and immortal nature.

The right of self-government, with all its attendant immuni-
ties, is a consideration which Christianity proffers as its first
gift to every soul oppressed, at once the best solace and the
greatest strength. It is an idea which has no aflinity to des-
32

374 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

potism, and can never enter into an argument for the oppres-
sor. " He can only allege the right of the sti'ongest, which,
in the very nature of moral reasoning, can never be any right
at all. Be it once granted that all are universally competent
to practise self-government, the tyrant is stripped of his plea,
the usurper must be dumb in his own justification, and the
monarch must abdicate his throne, how ancient soever the tyr-
aimy that upholds it, or live in a state of lawless and adulterous
union with Power."

As the word jtis/, or righteous, has an absolute signification,
so the word^ree has but one meaning, and admits of no qual-
ified sense in any comparative degrees. An action is right or
wrong ; a government is free or oppressive ; Christianity is
republican or despotic. " If it leave every man in the pos-
session of his native liberty, it is free ; if it depredate upon
and circumscribe that liberty in the least degree, it is arbitrary
and oppressive. No circumstances can alter the nature of
justice ; none can palliate the severity and wrong of despotism.
As justice is practicable under all circumstances, because it
has its foundation in the nature and constitution of man, so is
self-government, his ability for which is in like manner pred-
icated upon his moral attributes ; and the universal practica-
bility of self-government is no more to be questioned than the
universal practicability of private morals." Hence we may
add, that a treatise on political or religious doctrines, which
adopts all the various forms of government as equally legiti-
mate and Christian, simply because they have all at some time,
or in some place, been actually reduced to practice, is as
absurd as any despairing plea of infidelity which sanctions all
usages and practices alike. But this is not the prevailing spirit
and tendency of those institutions, through which Christ de-
signed to place the common enjoyments of life within the
reach of all, to make instructive books and ennobling educa-
tion to be accessible to the most obscure, and attainable to the
feeblest mind ; to spur forward inventive genius to that per-
fection which will bring literature, art, and science within the

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 375

means of the indigent, resting for the best success upon the
number, rather than the rank, of their patrons ; leaving unob-
structed to merit every station in society, to interpose the
broadest and most prolific domain ; every where and always
tending to promote " the greatest good of the greatest num-
ber." These are the ends which republican Christianity pro-
poses to itself ; no exterminating war but that of reason and
love against blind force ; no destruction but that of tyranny ;
no division but that of universal and heaven-descended rights ;
no supremacy but the permanent dominion of just principles,
the dignity and glory of true righteousness. It was by the
irresistible power of these influences that Christianity came to
subdue tlie most ungenerous foes, and m proportion as they
prevail over the vices and oppressions of our world, the proph-
et's dream will be realized, wlien

" Sovereign law, the state's collected will,
O'er thrones and globes elate
Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill."

" Secondly, Christianity is most merciful towards those who
suffer the greatest abuse. Its immediate office and uUimate
design is, to crown all social institutions with the highest free-
dom, and teaches every where that each individual has the
same right to be independent that a nation has. As compre-
hended in the great law of moral obligation expounded and
exemplified by our Savior, the duties we owe as citizens are
merely a part of our duties " as neighbors," which implies that
the whole family of man are both competent and bound to sus-
tain and discliarge the duties of free citizens of a free com-
monwealth. No book ever written makes us so sensible as
the Christian revelation of the dignity of man as man, and the
frivolity of all those temporary or accidental distinctions with
which the world has been so long oppressed. The time, place,
and circumstances of Christ's advent are all significant of the
true nature of the religion he came to diflxise on earth. He
did not sav that he was a Jew, that he had appeared to glorify

376 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITV.

a particular people, and establish dynasties more splendid and
enduring than the power of David and Solomon. He said
simply, " I am the Son of man," never taking to himself even
the thle " Son of God ; " as if he was anxious in every form
to teach the great and fundamental principle of his life and
doctrines, that, next to the name of God, nothing is more grand
than the name of man, nothing more efRcacious to procure
succor, honor, and fraternal regard. The ancient law was the
incarnation of a threefold inhumanity, manifested in the sac-
rifice of the feeble to the strong, the many to the few, and the
enmity of every man toward his brother. But the royal law
of love, given to the world in Christian institutions, is directly
opposite — the protection of the feeble against the strong, the
many against the few, and the love of all for each. It was
this gospel that the apostles were commanded to go forth and
" preach to every creature." The propagation, distribution,
universality of divine truth became the perpetual order of the
day to every disciple, and in the place of selfishness and op-
pression, unbounded charity and love came to reign. It was
redeeming truth whose perfection was to be kindled before the
eyes of all, that even down to the most inferior ranks, con-
demned before to vegetate in a shameful and almost invin-
cible barbarism, vitalizing heat and light might descend, to
sustain the most depressed and enlighten the most benighted.
Lycurgus deemed it a great privilege to consult the oracle at
Delphi, and Numa is fabled to have rejoiced to take counsel
of the nymph Egeria; but Christianity gratuitously prutlers
wider sources of purer wisdom, from which the most destitute
may derive the inspirations of sovereign justice, and be invested
with a panoi)ly of invincible strength. Thus enlightened and
fortified, the victim of human injustice, coming to comprehend
his just relations to the Almighty, and the rights connected
therewith, says to himself and his comrades in afiliction, —

" Why should wc be tender,
To let an arro<;ant piece of flesh threaten us,
Play judge and executioner all liimselt" ?"

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 3T7

Christianity protects all human feebleness against all inhu-
man force, all purity against corruption, all modesty against
insolence ; it protects the tenderest plant against the most stub-
born, the vassal against the lord, the cabin against the palace.
The English Magna Charta has been much praised, because
of the improved rights wrested from King John. But the vic-
tory at Runnymede was for the advantage of the barons only ;
the masses of the common people were left by it just where
they were before. It is the influence of the cross alone that
unfolds the basis of public welfare as well as personal secu-
rity ; let the masses but see the simplicity and feel the power
of this, and, with free minds in bodies disinthralled, they will
not vote Barabbas especial immunities while, blinded by priestly
prejudice, and craftily impelled by despotic power, they send
Jesus to be crucified. There is no hope for the world, except
as the feeling of true Christian brotherhood guides and adorns
the influence of its master minds. Not unfrequently they are
distinguished for arbitrary political doctrines, or religious infi-
delity, which lead their possessors to consolidate the despotism
of a few to the most effectual injury of the many. Gibbon
and Voltaire attacked the foundations of the Christian faith,
while they prostituted history to the dishonor of popular rights.
Hume labored in defence of English tyranny ; and Mitford
attempted to dignify the monarchs of Persia and Macedon at
the expense of the republic of Minerva, whose history is the
brightest glory of ancient intellect. As these pets of aristo-
cratic and regal power pen'erted their fine talents to bolster
up the tyranny of the eighteenth century, so Alison yet lives
with tinsel show to decorate the insufferable torjism of the
present age.

" Thou bane of liberal knowledge, nature's curse !
Parent of misery, pampered vice's nurse !
Plunging, by thy annihilating breath,
The soul of Genius in the trance of death.
Unbounded Power ! beneath thy baleful sway
The voice of Freedom sinks in dumb decay."
32*

378 KKPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

The h-ee spirit of Christianity quickens and elevates the soul
by a consciousness of its innate capacities and glorious destiny,
making proselytes who are independent because they are intel-
ligent, and who never surrender their wills, their responsibil-
ity, to an earthly master. Under its influence, man no longer
grovels in the dust beneath imperial frowns, but walks erect
and unterrified, himself the lord of creation, with eyes raised
to that heaven whence comes the only authority he obeys, and
whither tend all the aspirations of his heart. He is a free
agent ; thinks, speaks, acts for himself ; claims to enjoy the
fruits of his own industry ; follows the career most genial to
his own taste, and persists in maintaining for all others the
same inalienable right ; lives peaceably mider laws which he
lias assisted to form, and dies at length, having never intention-
ally caused suffering in a single fellow-being, but achieved
much to promote the happiness of all. Earth is blest with
their existence, and when the beneficent depart from sublunary
scenes, it is with spontaneous joy and a natural ascent they rise
in a loftier degree to imbibe the freedom of that city of God,
which they have long enjoyed, and which is indeed a city of
refuge to the just, and their appropriate award. To them,
religion is the highest harmony, and most thriUing power, like
the majestic organ-notes that forever resound through heaven.
It nerves their faculties, exalts their ambition, and mingles in
the "cup of trembling," which every human lip must taste,
many ingredients that most happily mitigate anguish and
enliven hope.

Said Bolingbroke, " Liberty is to the collective body what
heahh is to every individual body. \\ ithout health, no pleas-
ure can be tasted by man ; without liberty, no happiness can
be enjoyed by society.'" But this spirit of freedom, which is
so essential to the promotion of personal worth and social
progress, is often destroyed or sorely crippled by those who
ungenerously strive to dim its light in the souls of their fellow-
men. VV^ere it not that, to defend and perpetuate the best
interests of humanity, God raises up, in every rank and age,

CHBISTIANITY THE DELIVERER, OF THE OPPKESSED. 379

heroes who feel great truths and dare to tell them, and whose
words seem winged with angels' wings, purifying the air
they winnow, and scattering light and strength in all their
flight, we should indeed fear that tyranny at last, by some fear-
ful combination of nefarious powers, might succeed in blotting
the bannered constellations from Freedom's skies. Of such a
result, however, there is little occasion for fear, since we know,

" That there are spirit-rulers of all worlds,
Which fraternize with earth, and, though unknown,
Hold in the shining voices of the stars
Communion on high, ever and every where."

We do not believe that man on earth is doomed to perpetual
slavery in any form. Christianity plants in the heart a subhme
idea, a celestial sentiment, potent enough to redeem every
individual and bless the world. It makes its recipients not dis-
ciples merely, but prophets to teach and redeemers to rescue
from bondage all their fellow-sufferers. It sends them forth
completely armed with an invulnerable panoply, commissioned
to avoid no peril and shrink from no pain which the advocacy
in word or action may require. They encompass the earth,
fortified with the energies and exhilarated with the beati-
tudes of heaven, that they may elevate the remotest victim of
oppression, and make all nations a band of brethren joined.
The source of this unique and ennobling influence it is easy to
trace. In Christ was born the rising genius of all those revo-
lutions through which progressive humanity advances to the
full possession of its highest rights and widest glories. From
age to age, his ideas become acts, his principles grow into
combats with everj' form of oppression, and his disciples prove
their vital relation to himself by becoming at all hazards the
emancipators of mankind.

The chief forms of government that prevailed in ancient
times were, the autocratic, or the rule of a despot ; the theo-
cratic, or sway of a priestly corporation ; and tlie aristocratic,
or dictation of a select and privileged few. The three great

S80 REPUBLICAN CHKISTIANlTY.

vices that predominated in connection with these were, sensual
indulgence, religious ostentation, and the cruellies of war.
When Christ arose, he did not meddle with governments as
such, not because he was indifferent to the injuries they inflicted,
but because any thing like political action would have defeated
the mission on which he came. Neither did he assail antago-
nistically, and apart from the political institutions with which
they were connected, the great evils we have named ; but he
overthrew them more effectively, by teaching positive and
universal principles, whose operation would lead to their inevi-
table destruction. He assailed sensual enjoyments by teaching
spiritual purity and elevation ; he assailed empty religious show
by exciting practical religious feeling ; he assailed tyrannous
war by inculcating fraternal peace. Such instructions then, as
now, were much needed, and in all the progress of moral
reform they will ever be the most triumphant. "The idea
of the just is one of the glories of human nature ; man per-
ceives it at first, but he perceives it only as a light glimmering
in the deep night of primitive passions ; he sees it perpetually
violated, and every moment obliterated, by the necessary dis-
order resulting from conflicting passions and interests." Never
had this latent perception of the true and the good become so
dim in the soul of man, as under the oppressions he bore
eighteen centuries ago. Then the universal sway of arbitrary
power, after having chained the nations to its grandeur, held
them bound to its humiliations, and, for the first time in the his-
tory of the human race, liberty had no asylum on the earth. At
this critical moment Christ came, and ever since Truth has had
her Maccabees in the world, to preside with brave purity at
public altars, and kindle holy joys on every domestic hearth.
At the moment Cato of Utica despaired of human welfare and
committed suicide, Jesus Christ sent his apostles to announce
the gospel of life and peace to every creature, and plant in
their faith, their love, and adoration, the empire of eipiitable
justice and ennobling truth. If, therefore, Christ did not single
out sonic local evil for parlicukir attacks, and if he did not

CHKISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 381

revolutionize a single existing government, he did what was
infinitely better ; he planted a republican church amongst man-
kind, thenceforth to be a perpetual Pharos, the source whence
should emanate principles mighty and beneficent to renovate
and save the world.

Says Dr, Channing, " History and philosophy plainly show
to me in human nature the foundation and promise of a better
era, and Christianity concurs with these. The thought of a
higher condition of the world was the secret fire which burned
in the soul of the great Founder of our religion and in his first
followers. That he was to act on all future generations, that
he was sowing a seed which was to grow up and spread its
branches over all nations, this great thought never forsook him
in life and death. That under Christianity a civilization has
grown up containing in itself nobler elements than are found
in earlier forms of society, who can deny.' Great ideas and
feelings, derived from this source, are now at work. Amidst
the prevalence of crime and selfishness, there has sprung up
in the human heart a sentiment or principle unknown in earlier
ages, an enlarged and trustful philanthropy, which recognizes
the rights of every human being, which is stirred by the terri-
ble oppressions and corruptions of the world, and which does
not shrink from conflict with evil in its worst forms. There has
sprung up, too, a faith, of which antiquity knew nothing, in the
final victory of truth and right, in the elevation of men to a
clearer intelligence, to more. fraternal union, and to a purer
worship. This faith is taking its place among the great springs
of human action, is becoming even a passion in more fen'ent
spirits. I hail it as a prophecy which is to fulfil itself. A
nature capable of such an aspiration cannot be degraded for-
ever. Ages rolled away before it was learned that this world
of matter which we tread on is in constant motion. We are
beginning to learn that the intellectual, moral, social world has
its motion too, not fixed and immutable, like that of matter, but
one which the free will of men is to carry on, and which,
instead of returning into itself, like the earth's orbit, is to stretch

382 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

forward forever. This hope Hghlens the mystery and burden
of Hfe. It is a star which shines on me in the darkest night ;
and I should rejoice to reveal it to the eyes of my fellow-
creatures."

If, then, any one asks, " Why should we pity and help the
poor man .'* " let us answer in the language of the same phil-
anthropic writer, "Because he is a man; because poverty
does not blot out his humanity ; because he has your nature,
your sensibilities, your wants, your fears ; because the winter
wind pierces him, and hunger gnaws him, and disease racks
and weakens him, as truly as they do you. Place yourself,
my friend, in his state ; make yourself, by a strong effort of
thought, the inhabitant of his unfurnished and cold abode, and
then ask why you should help him. He is a man, though rags
cover him, though his unshorn hair may cover his human
features, — a member of your family, a child of the same
Father, and, what is most important, he not only has your
wants and feelings, but shares with you in the highest powers
and hopes of human nature. He is a man in the noblest sense,
created in God's image, with a mind to think, a conscience to
guide, a heart which may grow warm with sentiments as pure
and generous as your own. To some this may seem declama-
tion. There are some who seldom think of or value 7nan as
man. It is man born in a particular rank, clad by the hand of
fashion and munificence, moving in a certain sphere, whom
they respect. Poverty separates a fellow-being from them,
and severs the golden chain of humanity. But this is a gross
and vulgar way of thinking, and religion and reason cry out
against it. The true glory of man is something deeper and
more real than outward condition. A human being, created
in God's image, and, even when impoverished by vice, retain-
ing power essentially the same toith angels, has a mysterious
importance, and his good, where it can be promoted, is worthy
the care of the proudest of his race. . . .

"Next to the great doctrine of immortal life, we mav say
that the most characteristic element of our religion is that of

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 383

UNIVERSAL CHARITY. And the doctrine of immortality and the
duty of charit}' are not so separate as many may think ; for
love or benevolence is the spirit of the eternal world, the tem-
per which is to make us blest beyond the grave, and to give us
hereafter the highest enjoyment of the character and works of
our Creator. There is another view by which it appears that
the Christian doctrine of immortality blends with and sustains
charity ; for, according to this doctrine, all men are to live
forever, C|irist died for all, all are essentially equal, and the
distinctions of their lives are trifles. Thus it is seen that the
poor are recommended with an infinite power to the love and
aid of their brethren. No man can read the New Testament
honestly, and not learn to measure his religion chiefly by his
benevolence. If the spirit, and example, and precepts of
Jesus Christ have not taught us to love our fellow-creatures,
we have no title whatever to the name and the hope of Chris-
tians. If we have not learned this lesson, we have learned
nothing from our Master. About other things Christians may
dispute, but here there can be no controversy. Charity is a
duty placed before us with a sunlike brightness. It comes to
us from the lips, the life, the cross of our Master; and if
charity be not in us, then Christ does in no degree live within
us, then our profession of his religion is a mockery, then he
will say of us in the last day, — 'I was hungiy, and ye gave
me no meat; thirsty, and ye gave me no drink. I know you
not. Depart.' "

There can be no doubt that, by enforcing the principles of
Christianity in all their comprehensiveness and power, we must
effectually uproot and destroy oppression of every form ; be-
cause the gospel is most opposed to slavery, and is directly
antagonistic to the most fearful curse of earth, the spirit which
enslaves, and which too habitually dwells in us all. But it is
a most inhuman and unchristian spirit, be it found in individuals
or commonwealths. We hear much about " Christian states."
A bold and free writer of England asks, " Can any one point
out, upon the whole face of the earth, a real Christian state or

384 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

government ? No form of authority which recognizes slavery
in a community can be entitled to that appellation; for I think
it must at all events be admitted, that whatever else may be
disputable in Christianity, there is one principle belonging to it
which stands out most prominent in its character ; and that is,
to ' do unto others as we would that they should do unto us.'
There is no rule in Christianity which can justify me ia
making my fellow-creature a slave. No man is desirous of
being a slave, except perhaps under very particular and extra-
ordinary circumstances. Unhappily there are conditions of
life which generate this wish. I can, for instance, imagine in
this country a laborer, poor and old ; his days are now declin-
ing toward the shades of night and death ; his form is wasted
by many successive years of toil, and by exposure to a variety
of hardships; his strength fails him; his muscles and bones
refuse to do the bidding of a mind which would still, if it could,
task them for more and more toil. Such a man, probably, in
the bitterness of his heart, with only the prospect of a removal
from his wretched hovel to the yet moi'e repulsive poorhouse,
and from that to the cold grave, — why, he might, in the agony
of his soul, wish to Heaven that he had been a slave, in which
case there would at least have been the condition imposed upon
his master of preserving him from nakedness and starvation in
his latter days. Show me institutions and their administration
which can produce such a feeling as this in the human heart,
and what a mass of wretchedness on the one hand, and abuse
of authority on the other, will you find in that state of society !
But, apart from this or any other extreme case, every man
recoils from the notion of slavery. It cannot be a thing which
he would ' wish to be done unto him ; ' and if, therefore,
Christianity be brought into the question, — for the rule in the
New Testament applies to the state as well as to individuals, —
the man must stand self-condemned and convicted of incon-
sistency, who wishes to make others slaves, or to keep them in
such a degraded condition if they are so already."

Every community in which provision is not made for the

CHEISTIAXITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 385

destitute, and in which a single individual is deprived of the
necessary elements of social existence, either is not yet a
Christian community, or has ceased to be so. Of the primi-
tive behevers in our holy and beneficent religion it is said,
" Neither was any among them that lacked." But alas ! to
how many of their successors in the sacred profession might
not the reproach of the ascended Redeemer to the church at
Ephesus be justly addressed : " I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love," — charity, or merciful
attention to the wants of the most abused. Individual liberty,
the unconstrained privilege of private judgment and public
worship, the human and divine illegality of slavery in all its
forms, are principles so profoundly Christian, and so preem-
inently consecrated by the gospel, that their absolute violation
would soon render Christian society impossible. The com-
parative inefficiency of the modern church results from the
fact that the greatest wrongs do yet exist in modified forms,
and which Christianity was divinely appointed completely to
destroy. Man was made to go forth freely from his own
home, armed with the implements of honest industry, to enjoy
unmolested the fruits of his own toil on his own domain.
There is but one definition of a slave ; and that is, a being
who has no rightful possession of earth's soil, no just compen-
sation for the labor of his hands, or no suitable sphere and
motives for the exercise of his mind. Delegate to a few
favored ones the power to possess, represent, and govern these
invaluable blessings, and what would remain but universal
servitude, hunger, thirst, and misery the most abject, marshalled
under the scourge of unfeeling despots, the infernal presump-
tion and tyranny of whom it is impossible adequately to
describe ! Then man, the image of God himself, is debased to
a helot crushed under the heel of a human wretch ; earth flies
from beneath, heaven from above, and there remains to the
victim no other glory than to hang joyless in the vacuum
between, to please an individual tja'ant, and shame the passive
indignation of abused mankind.
33

386 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Jesus Christ rendered the poor necessary as well as useful
to the rich, and made man every where the proprietor of him-
self and all the worth of his toil, by procuring for every rank
and condition of our race the undoubted right to share equally
in the privileges of the purest freedom and the unobstructed
sources of the highest life. If any one demands on what page
of the gospel slavery is positively condemned and abolished,
we answer, that it is not upon any one page, but upon all ! Je-
sus Christ never spoke a single word that was not the condem-
natioii of servitude, which broke not every link of all the
chains ever imposed on humanity. When he entitled himself
the Son of mail, he emancipated all mankind; when he com-
manded each one to love his neighbor as himself, he recog-
nized in every mortal a brother, and made him a fellow-citizen,
beloved and free ; when he chose fishermen, tax-gatherei's, and
tent-makers for his apostles, he broke down all distinctions of
proud rank, by levelling all up to a divine standard, and
degrading none ; when he died for all without distinction, he
delivered all without exception, and constituted the involuntary
servitude of rational creatures redeemed by his blood thence-
forth to be the deepest disgrace and most damning crime. It
is our consolation to know that the eye of Christ is upon the
victim as he groans under abuse, drags his fetters, or bleeds
under the lash ; that he experienced all this in his own person,
subjected for a season to like tyrants, and that in due time he
will righteously avenge the infinite wrong.

The illegality of all tyranny, whether of one or of several,
and of all privileges legally guarantied to a particular class ;
the chimera of the rights of birth ; the injustice of an unequal
division of family property ; and all such questions of social
order or individual rights, — cease to be doubtful the moment
Christianity is allowed to be arbiter and judge. There is
always something the most anti-Christian and diabolical in the
religious pretexts by which, even in our day, attempts are
sometimes made to protect and defend them. The gospel sets
out from the principle of brotherhood and equality throughout

CHEISTIANITY TUE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 387

the whole family of man, and might easily have applied this
principle to the knowledge of truth, thus showing that this is a
common right. But the Savior knew that it v;as much better
to overturn the bushel than formally to discuss the pretexts
which had caused the light to be hidden under it ; consequently
this was his mode of procedure, and, from the very commence-
ment of his reign, placed every kind of teaching at the dispo-
sal and within the reach of all. Christ, who understood man
perfectly, and who was God manifested most divinely in the
institutions he planted on earth, knew that entire freedom of
thought and action is the only system favorable to human
progress ; and the gospel has ever invited the world to follow
that course with such glad distinctness, that it is impossible to
deny or disguise the fact, without the greatest disgrace to him
who makes the attempt, and the most frightful dishonor to
Christianity thus mahgned.

Christianity was given to subdue the most ungenerous foes,
and is most merciful toward those who suffer the greatest abuse.
Having said sufficiently, perhaps, on these two points, let us
proceed to remark, —

Thirdly, that it is the highest and most salutary prerogative
of this heavenly power to inspire ceaseless rebellion against
every species of ungodly bonds. The fable of Tantalus is the
history of the human race, so far as they are deprived of the
redeeming and satisfying influence of Christian doctrine. The
mighty want is perpetually felt, and the prayer for redemption
springing naturally from the popular heart is the cry of the
captive lifting up his chains, and seeking for a link where he
may most easily break them. It was to meet and satisfy this
universal need that Christ appeared. He became a member
of the human race, mingled with the multitude, was seen and
known of all, member of a family, chizen of a country,
believer in a religion, participated in all our experience, laid
the foundation for consummate human progress, and gave to
the masses of every land the amplest means for obtaining per-
fect freedom and eternal life. Christianity creates the noblest

388 REPUBLICAN CHKISTIANITY.

heroes, by engaging the best thoughts of most earnest men,
and by giving birth to deeds the most beneficent and sublime.
While these remain, it will be hard for the world to be whiffled
out of its own independent reason and indisputable rights by a
handful of selfish legislators and bigoted priests. A great bat-
tle is soon to be fought, and will surely end in auspicious vic-
tory, because those who obtain the triumph deem it no deroga-
tion from their dignity to be magnanimous and just in their
warfare, to consult the highest oracle of truth, and to bow in
allegiance only to its response.

Up to the time of the Christian era, as has been the Ccise too
much since, mankind were considered as a herd of deer which
the privileged classes were to employ to gratify their lusts, or
which they were at pleasure to hunt down for spite or sport, as
liked them best. But resistance to such aggressions is an
instinct wisely kept alive even in the brute creation.

" To whom do lions cast their gentle looks ?
Not to the beast that would usurp their den.
Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick ?
Not his that spoils her young before her face.
"X^Tio 'scapes the lurking serpent's mortal sting ?
Not he that sets his foot upon her back.
The smallest worm will tuin when trodden on ;
And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood."

This is true to nature ; and with equal verisimilitude Diogenes
is represented as saying to his great pupil, Plato, " Is it no evil
that truth and beneficence should be shut out at once from so
large a portion of mankind > Is it none when things are so
perverted, that an act of beneficence might lead to a thousand
acts of cruelty, and that one accent of truth should be more
pernicious than all the falsehoods that have been accumulated
since the formation of language, since the gift of speech ? I
have taken thy view of the matter; take thou mine. Hercules
was called just and glorious, and worshipped as a deity, be-
cause he redressed the grievances of others. Is it unjust, is it
inglorious, to redress one's own ? If that man rises high in

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 389

the favor of the people, high in the estimation of the vahant
and the wise, high before God, by the assertion and vindication
of his hoHest law, who punishes with deatli such as would
reduce him or his fellow-citizens to slavery, how much higher
rises he who, being a slave, springs up indignantly from his low-
estate, and thrusts away the living load that intercepts from
him what even the reptiles and insects, what even the very
bushes and brambles of the roadside, enjoy ! "

Undoubtedly there is great danger of inculcating extravagant
notions with respect to the great evils of our age ; but perhaps
the greatest danger of all lies in being ultra against ultraism.
We should never forget, in the language of a living English
writer, that " the world is in a transit from one set of extremes
to another ; from the extreme of ignorance to that of knowl-
edge ; from the extreme of servility to that of independence ;
from the extreme of bigotry to that of mental freedom ; from
the extreme of war and oppression to that of peace and justice.
All the world's liberators and reformers have gone to extremes,
and by that served humanity. The suggestion of independence
for the United States of America was an extreme proposal,
which horrified all timid and compromising men. The refor-
mation of Luther was an extreme movement. lie offended
all the more moderate of the reformers by what they deemed
his violence. What was the Founder of Christianity himself
but a propounder of extreme opinions, as they appeared to the
established formalists and religionists of his day ? Every great
and good movement in the world has been for a time regarded
as extreme. Extreme thought is generally the most far-going
thought of the time in which it is uttered, and therefore it is
most likely to be the true thought ; for it goes deeper into the
reality and farther into futurity than any other. O, it is not
your extreme, but your compromising people w'ho do the mis-
chief, and indefinitely retard the good. Those who trim be-
tween party and party ; who coquet with both sides ; who
would have a Ihtle of the right and good, but not too much of
it ; who forget that in politics we have to deal not so much with
33*

390 KEFUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

principles as with interests, and that it is not that people do not
see and know, but that they have their own advantages to gain
by holding on in a corrupt course ; compromisers of their own
thought ; patchers-up of something to last tlieir time ; willing
mixers of clay with the pure gold into a mongrel Nebuchad-
nezzar's image for false worship, — O, these men are ever the
traitors to improvement, and work more enduring damage than
its worst enemies."

Christ declared that he was not come to bring peace, but a
sword, a war terrible and grand beyond the conception of
imagination. It begins in the individual, where it produces the
mightiest conflict, and thence extends into society at large,
where it augments its force and works the most radical revolu-
tions. The predestined mission of Christianity, before achiev-
ino- its final results, will be sure to excite commotions through-
out the whole mass of humanity the most profitable and
profound. Its great Author would most effectually improve
the world by placing the leaven in it, and by causing this vital
and transforming power to spread out its redeeming and sanc-
tifying influence through all the ramifications of society, and
all the relations of life ; proving that there is no capacity of
mind which it does not enlarge, and no social relation which it
does not ennoble ; spreading refinement of manners and deli-
cacy of thought, rendering individaais more polished, and
nations more happy, by banishing from the woj'ld every thing
calculated to intimidate, inthrall, or offend. Says the apostle,
" We preach Christ, warning every man, and teaching every
man, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."
This passage, confirmed by the whole New Testament, teaches
that the great design of all the doctrines and precepts of the
gospel is to exalt the character, to promote eminent purity of
heart and life, and to make man every where intelligent and
free, " perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect." If Chris-
tianity did not, in specific terms, command the master to free
his slaves, and the despot to descend from his infamous throne,
it formed its alphabet of such simple and yet sublime truths

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED, 391

with respect to the paternal character of God, and our mutual
relations as fellow-mortals, that no one can mistake the highest
requisitions, and be either bigoted or tyrannical, and yet a true
disciple of the great Redeemer.

As the last and grandest collision between the powers of
light and darkness draws near, wicked passions will grow more
boisterous and threats most severe. A reign of terror may
prevail for a while, when the heroes of freedom will have to
speak and write with the fetters of turnkeys gaping for their
limbs, and the minions of despotism impatient to " slip the
slave's handcuffs on, and snap the lock." Free discussion is
what unprincipled dictators always most fear, since the wisdom
of God has so constituted things that the mass of mankind,
instructed as was originally designed, should always be able to
resist oppression ; and tlie injurious know very well that they
could not long inflict popular injustice with impunity, if the
people are permitted to comprehend the will of God and their
own inalienable rights. But when "padlocks for our lips are
forging," every true Christian man will feel that then, above
all other emergencies, " silence is crime." Said Burke,
" Oppression makes wise men mad ; but the distemper is still
the madness of the wise, which is better than the sobriety of
fools." It is that wise and beneficent zeal which transforms
rights into mights, and mights into rights, happily rectifying
and sustaining each other. It melts away the clogging icebergs
from the stream of life, disperses dark and depressing thoughts,
and disinthralls the world.

" It is thus we feel,
"With a gigantic throb athwart the sea,
Each others' rights and wrongs ; thus are we men."

Says Christ, " The truth shall make you free." But the
real disciples of this truth never suppose themselves like
Noah, who awoke from his wine, and immediately prophesied.
They do not deceive themselves nor flatter others that they

392 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITV.

are free, because they may have written on a sheet of paper
the word liberty, and posted it at the corners of the streets.
True Christian freedom is not a placard on a dead wall, or an
empty word on indifferent lips. It is a living and holy power,
the protection of the feeble, instruction of the benighted,
fairest adornment of the domestic hearth, complete disinthral-
ment of all the oppressed, only guaranty of public health and
perpetual progress. It was once disputed whether persons
of a different color from Europeans ought to be considered
as having a lawful claim to the immunhies of men ; but
Christianity, pouring light upon their foreheads, and revealing
the superscription of God thereon, has forever silenced that
discussion. If civil tyranny and bigoted craft shall for a short
time longer combine their infernal machinations to destroy
the privileges which belong to every human soul, their time is
short; both will soon sink on the fiery billows of eternal ruin,
as they richly deserve, even as a vulture and a snake, out-
spent, drop, twisted in inextricable fight, into a shoreless sea.
In an age of most degraded barbarism, man came to be
estimated so low as to have a pecuniary price put upon him ;
he was bought and sold as a common chattel, to abolish which
infamous traffic, it was necessary that God himself should be
sold for thirty pieces of silver. That execrable bargain was
the pledge of emancipation for every poor, deserted, stripped,
and lacerated slave. The Almighty would show to the uni-
verse that he never formed the limbs of his children to be
chafed with fetters, nor their souls to be murdered by base
servitude. To this end, through the gospel of his Son, he
gave to the world an entirely new element, one which imparts
worth, health, and growth to all the rest, and without which
they can have but a brief and comparatively useless being
in the minds, hearts, and characters of men ; and that element
is independence — personal, political, and moral. This gives
strength to virtue, intensity of feeling as the mainspring of
upright principle in every soul, and blends the greatest public

CHRISTIANITY THE DELIVERER OF THE OPPRESSED. 393

reformations with the every-day aspirations of private life.
It resembles a vigorous though obscure tree, upon which the
sun shines and the rains fall, which puts forth its ample foliage
in the summer, and preserves its vitality unrestrained by
wintry storms for another spring, which, despite all vicissitudes,
gives its shade and fruit to all in the proper season, and is
even more deeply rooted and rendered more prolific by freez-
ing sleet and howling storms.

We must not shrink from the approach of moral tempests,
because the agitation they produce may threaten to be great.
When the tyranny of ages is to be heaved off the popular
breast that it may breathe freely, when outraged humanity
starts up to a full consciousness of its rights and dignity, it is
not in the law of Providence or nature of man that the boon
desired should be easily won.

" Great evils ask great passions to redress them,
And whirhvinds fitliest scatter pestilence."

" Curse ye Meroz, saith the angel of the Lord ; curse ye
bitterly the inhabitants thereof," sang Deborah. Was it
that she called to mind any personal wrongs, rapine, or insult,
that she, or the house of Lapidoth, had received from Jabin
or Sisera ? No : she had dwelt under her palm-tree in the
depth of the mountain. But she was a mother in Israel ; and
with a mother's heart, and with the vehemence of a patriot's
love, she had shot the fire of love from her eyes, and poured
the blessings of love from her lips, on the people that had
jeoparded their lives unto the death against the oppressors ;
and the bitterness awakened and borne aloft by the same
love she precipitated in curses on the selfish and coward
recreants who " cajne not to the help of the Lord, to the help
of the Lord against the mighty.''^ Well will it be if many
who profess to be the disciples, and even the authorized
teachers of Christianity do not justly incur all that is frightful
in this truly awful malediction.

394 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Danby has painted a picture which represents the " opening
of the sixth seal." The heavens are receding ; mountains are
rending ; earth is on fire ; weaUh, honors, power, are gone ;
and blank despair seizes every class of mankind, save a poor
bondman, who alone stands upright, his chains broken, and
his hands with gratitude raised to heaven. Others sink to
a frightful prison ; but, thank God, he is free ! Let us not
wait till that fearful day, but now boldly strive,

" Until IMMORTAL MIND

Unshackled walks abroad,
And chains no longer bind
TJie image of our God ; —

" Until no captive one

Murmurs on land or wave,
And, in his course, the sun
Looks down upon no slave ! "

CHAPTER V.

CHRISTIANITY THE REWARDEE, OF THE
SACRIFICED.

In the first part of this comprehensive discussion, avc con-
sidered the republican character of Jesus Christ; and, in the
second, the republican spirit of the primitive church. In this
third part, devoted to the analysis of the republican influence of
Christian doctrine, we have already portrayed Christianity as
being the solace of the obscure, patron of the aspiring, fortifier
of the weak, and deliverer of the oppressed. It remains, in
this concluding chapter, to show that our holy religion is not
only the best inspiration of heroical goodness, but an adequate
and eternal re warder of the sacrificed. To this end we will
consider the following leading points : Christianity has ever
been the fairest and foremost victim of tyranny, the mightiest
antagonist to every form of injustice, and the most gloi'ious
rewarder of all devotees for her sake sacrificed.

In the first place, the fairest and foremost victim of tyran-
nous hate has ever been the divine religion which Christ
imbodied and exemplified on earth. He came to destroy all
local religions, with their exclusive privileges, and to open the
fountains of a purer, more efficacious, and diffusive faith foi
all mankind. This he avowed at the opening of his ministry,
and constantly reiterated up to the close of his earthly career.
Just before his sacrifice, he openly affirmed in the temple
" ' that the kingdom of God was to be taken from the Jews,
and given to the Gentiles,' (Matt. xxi. 43. Mark xii. 9. Luke
XX. 16,) and went so far as to clothe his predictions with vari-
ous instructive narratives, (Matt. xxii. 1 — 14.) Now, how could
the Jews have been rejected, and the heathen substituted in

396 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

their stead, without the introduction of an order of things new,
and entirely different from the former ? When Jesus first
sent out his disciples with a commission to excite the attention
of their fellow-citizens to his enterprises, he did not conceal
from them, in the least degree, the fact that their calling was
a very dangerous one, (Matt. x. 16,) and the business in-
trusted to them greatly detested, (Matt. x. 22.) He told them
of the abuses of every kind to which they would be subject-
ed, (verses 17, 18,) and observed that the accomplishment of
his views would unavoidably result in a universal exaspera-
tion and dissension, which should even disturb the peace of
families, and sever the tenderest connections, (verses 34 — 36.)
Had Jesus had no other object before him than the improve-
ment of the prevailing religion, could he have anticipated
such dangerous commotions, and spoken of them beforehand ?
The labors of John the Baptist did not disturb the public
tranquillity, for he undertook nothing in opposition to the
established constitution. Now, if Jesus, as the result of what
he intended to accomplish, looked forward to a dissolution of
all former relations, and a state of war between all parts of
society, must he not have intended to go much farther than
John did ? Must he not have purposed the actual overthrow
of the regulations then in existence ? There is something
remarkable in the manner in which, on every occasion, he
explained those commandments of the law of Moses, which
related to the external service of God, and made up a great
part of the Jewish constitution. Nothing was more sacred in
the estimation of a Jew than sacrifice. Jesus never intimated
that a man should offer sacrifice, but he often censured the
abuses, which, to the prejudice of morality, had crept into the
service, (Matt. xv. 5, 6 ; Mark vii. 11, 12,) and, with feelings
of marked approbation, told a learned man who had asserted
love to God and man to be of more value than 'all whole
burnt offerings,' that he was not far from the kingdom of
God, (Mark .xii. 34.)"

From the discourses of Christ, recorded by the evangelists,

CHRISTIANITY THE RE'U'AEDEK OF THE SACRIFICED. 397

two things are most evident. First, he makes it the duty of
his friends, in their future efforts for the accomplishment of
his purposes, to exercise the most discreet moderation, and
the most patient submission, while he informs them of the
oppressions they must suffer in the conflicts about to ensue.
Violent movements would surely result from the blind re-
ligious zeal of the Jews and pagans, and their opposition to
the promulgation of his doctrines ; but the welfare, demanding
the fortitude and sacrifice of his disciples, was to be strictly
moral, not political. Thus they understood him ; for none
were more willing to act the part of good subjects, and comply
even with unjust regulations, than they. Hence we learn
from Tertullian, that, for the first three centuries of the Chris-
tian era, though they were numerous, and might easily have
done so, not one instance can be found in which Christians
ever opposed power with power, or took up arms against the
inhuman tyrants by whom they were often most cruelly per-
secuted.

The second truth to which we referred is, that, while Christ
inculcated moderation and the spirit of self-sacrifice upon his
friends, he enforced upon them most strongly the duty of
boldly avowing their real sentiments, and if they perished from
earth as the consequence, they should be abundantly rewarded
with himself in heaven. On this point, a German author has
well arranged Christ's own words : " In more than one in-
stance, his very expressions are of such a character as directly
to contradict the idea that he operated by means of private
institutions. He told his friends, explicitly, that they should
resemble a city set on a high hill, which, on account of its posi-
tion, cannot be hid ; that they should be a light for illuminat-
ing the whole world ; and ought never to think of keeping any
thing secret. Matt. v. 13, 16. He announced to them, in
plain terms, that the extension of his doctrines would excite
great commotions, and draw down severe persecutions upon
his friends. Matt. x. 21 — 32. Had it been his intention to
advance his object by secret springs, he must have charged
34

398 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

his apostles to avoid all public curiosity, and shun the very
appearance of general movements. Instead of "doing so,
however, and making it their duty to maintain a suspicious
reser\'e and operate in secret, he commanded them to teach
every thing that he had delivered to them, with boldness, and
preach what he had told them in the ear, upon the house-top.
Matt. X. 26, 27. Stronger expressions could not well have
been employed for showing that he wished them to act with
perfect frankness, and avoid every thing like mystery. Of
the same character is all the instruction which Jesus im-
parted to his apostles, in his last familiar discourses with them,
(John xiv. — xvi.,) respecting the manner in which they were to
labor for the accomplishment of his object after his death.
They were to do every thing in public, and without a shrink-
ing reserve. They were not to hesitate, should they be com-
plained of, persecuted, and oppressed, for their candid and
open efforts. They were to remember that his frankness of
action had drawn down upon him the same fate, (John xv.
18 — 21,) and that the object before them was to effect a radical
improvement, which could not be done w-ithout great public
commotion, (John xvi. 8 — 11.) It appears even that Jesus
intended expresslj' to guard his followers and friends against
being entangled with societies, in which he referred to some-
thing secret and mysterious. The admonition which he is
known to have given them against believing any, who, during
the last calamitous times of the Jewish state, should try to
persuade them that Christ was here or there, was in the desert
or in the secret places, (Matt. xxiv. 23 — 26,) can have no other
meaning. His object undoubtedly was to make his followers
suspicious of all secret institutions, notwithstanding they
promised great things and excited seducing hopes. Finally,
the declaration which Jesus made, respecting himself, before
Annas the high priest, when interrogated as to his disciples
and doctrines, is worthy of particular attention. Jesus told
him, in the strongest terms, that he had never labored in a
corner, nor taught nor attempted any thing in secret ; that he

CHRISTIANITY THE KEWARUER OF THE SACRIFICED. 399

had delivered his instructions in the synagogues and the tem-
ple, where all could hear him, and hence, that people were to
be tbund in every place, who were well acquainted with what-
ever he had said or done. John xviii. 19 — 21."

Christ came to teach mankind at large " the art divine which
heals each lurking ill." He opened the most copious sources
of lofty thought and enraptured emotion ; taught the clearest
and most salutary truths ; relieved the heaviest woes ; bene-
fited the greatest numbers, encountered the fiercest hatreds,
and foremost fell the fairest victim of tyranny in the sublime
crisis when

" He seized our dreadful right ; the load susaincd,
And heaved the mountain from the guilty world."

Secondly, against every form of injustice, Christianity is the
mightiest antagonist. The disciples of the great Redeemer
are never to forget that the spiritual sword given for their use
must not be laid aside so long as truth is discarded or corrup-
tions endure. Theirs is a great and holy work, incalcula-
ble in its results through innumerable generations : but it
is also a labor of toil and sorrow, a work for which human
sagacity and earthly strength are insufficient ; an enterprise
the most divine, but which can be accomplished only by re-
sources perpetually derived from God. It is only when
thus equipped, that men can resist the storms of life, and
the potency of persecuting falsehood, feeling that a sure
foundation is laid whereon fahh is to stand and build, beside
which no other basis can subsist. The one is everlasting rock,
the other transient sand. The spirit of all grace sends its re-
cipient first to Christ, the only true Teacher and Lawgiver, and
thence perpetually forward to Christ the Redeemer and Rec-
onciler ; to him who not only says, " Thy sins are forgiven
thee," but goes even unto death under the pure impulse of
divine love, and sheds his blood that all the world may have a
pledge of the divine mercy. All who have actually received

400 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

into their mind and heart this new treaty of peace with God,
will earnestly desire to see it every where established ; that
man, abandoning all idea of merit in his own imperfect works,
may surrender himself wholly to divine love as manifested in
Christ, and receive in return that strength of heroical consecra-
tion, that joys in all the struggles of merciful justice, and which
waits not for commands, but does, before the order is formally
issued, and, if possible, more than its letter enjoins. This
mastery

" Means but commimion, the power to quit
Life's little globule here, and coalesce
With the great mass about us."

The spirit of Christ is preeminently the spirit of sacrifice,
and this, wherever found, or in what manner soever it may
be manifested, is always a spirit of illumination. It is born of
might immortal, a spirit kindred with the angels ; and neither
sky, nor night, nor earth, nor all the powers of darkness com-
bined, can extinguish its vision or foreclose its final triumph.
No one, however lowly his lot, can be entirely wanting in
knowledge or strength, who is capable of irradiating his eartlily
path with the light of divine self-renouncement ; and this
Christianity in its most lowly votaries is sure to do. Partici-
pants of the power of the cross become mighty in obedience ;
each one labors for the common weal, and he who was at first
full of infantile weakness, soon grows into manly, even colos-
sal proportions with whole nations hi liis mind. His soul is
such a harmony of light and heat, such a union of thought
and courage with love, that he has a heart with room for every
sorrow and joy of humanity, and in the end irresistibly tri-
umphs, however formidable the obstacles that may be arrayed
against it ; triumi)hs not because it is thought, not because it is
courage, but because it is love, that love which waters cannot
quench nor floods drown.

The good, the true, and the lovely, components of all

CHRISTIANITY THE REWARDER OF THE SACRIFICES. 401

excellence, form an harmonious unity in God, and a harmo-
nious unity in the universe ; and Christianity, in its ultimate
development, would constitute the same harmonious unity in
man, in all mankind. This is the divine ideal which man, a
perfectible being, from one radiant height of excellence to
another, is urged onward to attain. In reference to this sub-
lime end, every era of persecution that has yet smitten our
race with fierce and blasting breath, has been a divine neces-
sity subordinated to progressive emancipation, and has thus
accomplished purposes the most divine. Born in Bethlehem,
tempted in the wilderness, sweating agony in the garden,
bleeding on Calvary, bursting victorious from the confines of
death and hell, holy love sacrificing its dearest treasures on
behalf of Adam's fallen family, has ever kindled its beneficent
flame to consume rising oppressions, and to serve as a torch to
pioneer auspiciously a perpetual progress towards the purer
light of loftier worlds. In every past age, the moral heroes
who through a divine growth approximated divine perfections,
prophesied that a period would arrive when all men would
attain this desired consummation by similar means. Upborne
by that hope wliich is the anchor of faith, they persevered in
their glorious enterprise, till the weary and mangled springs of
life were compelled to stand still ; but, before ascending to reap
the fields of immortality, they bequeathed to their successors
here below an example blissful and beautiful, which we are to
imitate as the only means of attaining loveliness, and joy of
soul which shall never fade. They were the sages who be-
came perpetual redeemers by lofty ideas and lowly deeds, and
who fought their toilsome way step by step, through the pro-
cess necessary to be traversed by all who would supplant the
manifold sophistries, superstitions, and cruelties that meet us
on every hand. They trod the heavenly paths which lead and
lure souls to the most salubrious heights, making the feet free
and swift with loving alacrity that do tread in them. Impelled
by this spirit, and panting to achieve the greatest amount of
good, the disciple stretches his strength unto its greatest limits
34*

402 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIAMTY.

on behalf of the greatest number; in reaching upward for
richer fruit to feed the famished muUitudes beneath, he loftier
grows, and in reaching outward to distribute blessings among
the most remote, he larger, holier, more resplendent grows.
To develop himself in beneficent actions as practical as they
are diversified, and to live only for the genei'al good, is the
master purpose of his heart, his hope, his nature's sum and
end. Born of God, it is his perpetual luxury to feel inflamed
with godlike aspirations ; to glow within himself, like a fire-
opal, and to shine abroad with influences more ardent and
enduring than the stars — the most potent heat and pervading
light, even like the sun, "God's crest upon his azure shield,
the heavens." Love, holy and all-embracing, which is the
soul and life of true Christians, they pour abroad cloudlike, to
freshen and render fruitful every parched heart, w^hich lonely
and arid nook of immortality, thus refreshed and made verdant
from life-seeds beneficently vitalized, becomes in turn the
loveliest scene blooming beneath mortal skies, the fairest flower
of the world's garden, —

" So sweet and pure,
That it might freshen even the fadeless wreaths
'T^\'ined round the golden harps of those in heaven."

Tl;e power and purpose of Christianity were foretold by
Isaiah when he declared, " Every valley shall be exalted, and
every mountain and hill shall be made low ; and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." And
again, "Go through, go through the gales; prepare you the
way of the people ; cast up, cast up the highway ; gather out
the stones ; lift up a standard for the people." And who is he
who reopens every closed gateway, levels all obstructions,
breaks all bonds, and blesses all mankind ? Ah, prophecy
and history both tell us, " Behold, thy King cometh unto thee,
meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass."
It is he, the crownless Monarch of all free spirits, himself the
most divinely invested with unostentatious freedom, save when

CHRISTIANITY THE REWARDER OF THE SACRIFICED. 403

the world forces upon him its bloody regal robes ; this is the
champion of humanit}', who opens every salutary path, and
revolutionizes every pernicious institution. Long anterior to
his advent, he cried to the world through the evangelical
prophet, " Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which
keepeth the truth may enter in." Science could not enter ;
power could not enter ; Nineveh, Babylon, Alexandria, Gre-
cian genius and Roman force could not enter ; but the Son of
man, mounted upon the foal of an ass, the Maker of the uni-
verse, clothed in our nature, and borne by the most lowly
animal of earth, will enter, has entered, and will pass on,
bearing forward humanity in its ascending progress forever.
It is Christian truth that imparts fortitude to traverse deserts,
scale mountains, and encounter the most terrific storms for
the good of mankind. The missionary departs, knowing very
well that he has but a few years or months to live ; but the
truth he proclaims is eternal, and this truth he knows will
repay him infinitely beyond the measure of time and ease he
has sacrificed. Their goodness of head and heart is not a mere
abstraction, but a beatitude practically exemplified in deeds of
peacefulness and kindness toward all their associates in a com-
mon strife. Their faith sweeps the future like a glass, reads
clearly the events of Providence as they come full freighted
with unfolding destiny ; and this faith, harmonious with the
hands it employs, works incessantly to promote the widest and
happiest weal. Thus every child produced and uplield by the
God of might, not only loves and lives on beneficent power,
but accomplishes the grand end of his existence by subduing
moral evils through moral good, and making the highest con-
quests to be at once the joy and reward of life.

" For every tear by pity shed
TJpon a fellow-sufferer's head,
O, be a crown of glory given ;
Such crowns as saints to gain have striven —
Such crowns as seraphs wear in heaven."

The greatest benefactors of our race have not been those

404 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

of illustrious birth, but the humble artificers of a glorious life ;
men who, having risen to great truths, the perennial growth
of the grandest principles, have held them as a sacred trust for
mankind, and have borne witness to them amidst the greatest
darkness, in the face of most persecuting scorn, and often
being obliged to suffer the most cruel death. But their post-
humous influence, like the progressive power of their active
life, tends still to diffuse most widely an example that -enlight-
ens, and doctrines that redeem. For example, the council of
Constance, who had previously burned John Huss, ordered
the body of Wickliffe to be dug up and burnt, and his ashes
cast into a neighboring stream, which, as Fuller in his Church
Histoiy quaintly says, " conveyed his ashes into the Avon,
Avon into the Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, these into
the main ocean ; and thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the em-
blem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world
over." Men of this stamp stand firm and undismayed in times
that most severely test the purity and durability of Christian
allegiance. They show themselves at all times to be honest
and true-hearted, ready to act with firm reliance on the arm
that built the pillars of the universe ; and if they are opposed
by sanguinary or vindictive laws, they imbibe " a vigor beyond
the law," calmly meet and brave the storm, and court the
horrors of martyrdom rather than sliare the infinitely more
frightful horrors of recreancy to truth, and treason to the best
interests of mankind. They are willing to let ruin bury ruin,
while, as the children of light, it is their business to diffuse
intelligence on the highest subjects at any cost ; and for this
purpose they soar and shine in exalted influences which wing
their way through widening space forever, and endure as
eagles outlive insects.

That man will surely be venerated, who, if need be, flinches
not from becoming a martyr ; who says, under gloomiest aus-
pices, " I will give my voice openly, and do my duty boldly, in
spite of greatness, tyranny, and death." But posterity will
revere his worth still more if he docs not endeavor to involve

I

CHRISTIA>'1TY THE REWARDER OF THE SACRIFICED. 405

Others in martyrdom with himself; if, while standing forth most
palpable to the peltings of the pitiless storm, he yet pleads for
others, that the injury Nvhich he defies may be escaped by
them, that the weak shall not be crushed because he is strong,
and not a spark of hope be extinguished because in his bosom
the full, free flame is burning brightly. It is a spirit which
responds to the minions of murderous power, as did its Author
to his murderers, " If ye seek me, here I am ; let these go
their way." This self-obliviou and sacrifice for others most of
all exalts the character ; it blends beautifully with the grandest
energies, and makes the most resolute hero tenderly feel
toward the timid and helpless, while he himself is superior to
all compromise, and goes straight to the direst issues with
the boldest decision. These are the "salt of the earth, the
virtuous few who season human kind." The puny and selfish
potentates of earth may sue for slavedoms and win them, but
emancipators and benefactors like these will live in perpetually
augmented glory, " when tyrants' crests and tombs of brass
are spent." They are true heroes, garlanded with the unwith-
ering flowers of heaven, crowned with sunny jewels, — crys-
tallized tears wept by the blessed on earth in grateful joy, —
clad in light derived from the throne of ineffable glor}% and
girded with the lightnings which scath all injustice and sunder
every bond.

•' The -world must have great minds, even as great spheres
Or suns, to govern lesser, restless minds,
"\\'hile they stand still and burn with Ufe, to keep
Them in their places, and light and heat them."

It is a sad thing to see the torch which should illumine the
altar employed to kindle fagots around the stake, and the soul
of the persecutor become as ferocious as the immolation of the
victim is devout. But such things have been, and may yet be.
Mahomet II. had an Icoglan decapitated for the purpose of giv-
ing a painter an idea of life ; and many a mad fanatic has
exhibited the life of religion in much the same way. But, de-
spite all the manglings Chiistianity has suffered, she still lives

406 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

in the fulness of her beneficent power, teaching all true disci-
ples from the foot of her altars to address hymns to misfortune,
exhortations that shall impart vigor to the wear^^, and pour balm
upon every wounded heart. It is the truth as it is in Christ
which teaches all whom it can reach that there is no just law
against duty; and all persons, youthful, enslaved, or superan-
nuated, may say to every invader on the domain of rights
inherent in each soul, as Pius Vlf. said to Napoleon, " Sire, I
can yield to you my goods, but I cannot surrender to you my
obhgations ; I can greatly love you, admire you, even give my
life to you, but I cannot yield you my conscience ; I can even,
O emperor, sacrifice for your sake all earthly things, but not
my soul ; for my soul is eternity, and eternity is more than
God ; it is man and God all together." Armed with this cour-
age, the product and glory of the cross, the feeblest woman
will say, in unshrinking fortitude, as did the noble victim of the
bigoted Edward, —

" My death the Lord may make a ■way
To advance his gracious purpose to this land;
They'll see a delicate, timid woman
Lay do'mi her cheerful head upon the block,
As on a silken pUlow ; when they know
'Twas Christ that oven at that dread hour rehuked
Weak nature's fears ; retumhig home, they'll kneel,
And seek that power that turns our death to triumph."

The intelligent and patriotic Christian loves peace, cautiously
guards against disorder, most of all men hates anarchy and
war. But he at the same time knows that the violent remedy
of an hour, though it pain us to the quick, and fearfully ex-
hausts our strength, is better than the perpetual prostration of
disease. If the remedy of water or fire, in the most trying yet
renovating shapes, is our only resource, let it come. If it is a
remedy indeed, surely it must be just and well-timed, a boon
greatly to be desired for the ricli blessings it will produce. Tlie
sluggish fever that has long been latent in the system, oppress-
ing and destroying its best energies, had much belter kjndle

i

cnrasTiAMTY the rewarder of the sacrificed. 407

into a preternatural heat, the first token of a radical cure and
the first breath of real health, than collapse into helpless inan-
ity, the presage and commencement of lingering death. This
condition of the body poUtic characterized that period of the
Christian church when the divine dispensation of grace and
truth seemed to have reached the earth in vain ; a period when
superstition and priestcraft debased and inthralled the free-
born spirit of man, not only causing the whips of tyranny to
ring on the backs of their victims, but binding the most cruel
and corroding chains on the brain and bosom of the beggared
and butfeted populace, trampled on like dogs. The book of
life was closed against the humble votary of religion by
" destruction's sceptred slaves, and folly's mitred brood," while
the volume of nature, by the same bigotrj.', was interdicted to
the adventurous votary of science, and non-subscription to
falsehood was punished by the most cruel tortures and death.
The darkness of that era has mainly passed away, but there
are yet those who would interdict the pages of reason and rev-
elation to the common eye, if they do not forbid philosophy
freely to explore the wonders of creation. But Christianity,
when allowed to declare the first right and highest obligation
of her devotees, insists that human thought, redeemed by the
light of revelation and blended with its glorious splendor, shall
go forth under the whole canopy of 'heaven, to proclaim to all
mankind the wisdom, power, and goodness, of their Father,
God. Such a proclamation is destined to teach every where
that the true homage of unshackled hearts has no prescribed
locality ; that acceptable worship has no stereotyped form ; and
that the gracious Being we adoringly serve fills all space, sup-
plies all the necessities of time, and will cause all who suffer
for the truth's sake here to participate with him hereafter in all
the glories of eternity. As a fitting support under present
hardships, and a cheering preparative to the final fruition on
high, Christ ever speaks soothingly to his faithful servants,
saying,—

408 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

"Think on noble thoughts and deeds
Ever ; count o'er the rosary of truth,
And practise precepts which are proven wise.
It matters not, then, what thou fearest. Walk
Boldly and wisely in that light thou hast ;
There is a hand above will help thee on."

Says the late Mr. Hamilton, " The convict labor and hire-
ling tasks of the alien and bondman are exchanged for the
free-will offerings and affectionate services of a son and a
disciple. Reconciled to God, he is reconciled to every thing
which comes from God ; and, full of the love of Christ, he
courts every thing which he can do for Christ. ' Come, labor,
for I rather love thee now. Come, hard work and long work,
I am in a mood for you now. Come, trials and crosses, for I
can carry you now. Come, death, for I am ready for thee
now.' His relation to Christ has put him in a new relation to
every thing else ; and the same fountain which has washed the
stain from his conscience having washed the scales from his
eyes, an inundation of light and of beauty bursts in from the
creation around him, which hitherto was to him as much an
unknown universe as its Creator was the unknown God ; and
the boundless inflowings of peaceful images, and happy im-
pressions, and strong consolations, dilate his soul with an elas-
ticity, an enterprise, and courage, as new as they are divine.
He has found a Savior, and his soul is happy. The Lord
Jesus is his friend; and his spirit, once so frigid, is become a
fervent spirit. His new views have made him a new man."
It is the office of Christianity to unite our existence and ambi-
tion in the highest sense with the life and purposes of God, not
simply by a necessity or a desire, but by an efficacious reality,
by the transformation of our being into the splendor of his
own. It was comparatively easy for Prometheus to aspire to
heaven, and to lay his hand upon the sacred fire ; but, to his
sorrow, he learned that the flame he coveted burned when
stolen. It is other fire, and for yet loftier uses, we desire to
possess, and, in the great Mediator, may abundantly obtain.
God is light and holiness infinite and impartial : possessing

CHRISTIANITY THE KEWARDER OF THE SACRIFICED. 409

these treasures, it was no small thing for him to draw near and
blend them with the faculties of the feeble, the debased, and
the lost. It is no small thing to receive God into our intelli-
gence to enlarge it, into our heart to purify it, and into our
' senses to regulate their deranged potency and sanctify their
irregular use, thus uniting two natures so disproportioned in a
blessed oneness eternal and divine. This union, first realized
in Christ, and, by the grace of God, reproduced in every true
believer, is accompanied by an energetic force, a virtue truly
sublime, which is wise to subdue the spirit of man to the spirit
of God, without causing the human spirit to lose its personality
and freedom in the divine Spirit ; which transports the heart
of its subject to an impassioned love of the invisible, and there
perpetually recreates it with undecaying joys, subjugates carnal
desires, emancipates thought, wings the soul redeemed from
the lowest degradation, and bears him through unfolding glo-
ries to the otherwise inaccessible heights of divinity. This
heavenly influence descends graciously on those who receive
it and are saved, and on those who reject it and are destroyed.
As the dew descends upon the heart of a poisonous flower, the
same as where the rosebud bends upon the lily's breast, God
also causes goodness and truth to be diffused copiously even on
those who most maliciously pervert the blessings they enjoy.
Constantly does Christianity woo to herself souls from the
remotest sides of our earthly horizon ; while, throned serenely
and majestically amidst central glories on high, she confirms
the doubting, fortifies the feeble, delivers the oppressed, ac-
knowledges the utility of reason without accepting its yoke,
enlightens and elevates without annihilating nature, the mother,
sister, and daughter of truth, God and man coalesced, impel-
ling whh a firm and equal step the generations of mankind
toward a brightening future, improved institutions, and ever-
lasting joys.

To render its disciple chaste, humble, fraternal, and apos-
tolic, Christian doctrine has taken its point of support aside
from man ; it has found it in God. It is in the divine name,
35

410 REl'UBLICAK CHRISTIANITY.

by force of that relationship it has created between him ana
ourselves, by the efficacy of his precepts and the ordinances
connected with pure adoration, that our rebellious spirit is
changed into virtuous docility, reanimated, purified, trans-
formed, clothed with the glory of Tabor, and then, being thus
armed from head to foot, is cast as a newly-formed hero into
the battle of life, feeble yet by nature, but energized with per-
petual resources from Omnipotence, incessantly aspiring after
the loftiest wisdom, and as perpetually antagonizing with all
forms of injustice with the mightiest strength. Such are the
causes and consequences of every true conversion. The hu-
mility, chastity, love, and all those internal exaltations which
result from the transfiguring power of the Holy Spirit, are pro-
duced by that fire from heaven's sublimest altar, given to con-
sume all false virtues that oppose ; that sacred flame v/hich
alone is competent to burn each proud spot and lustful passion
from the heart. Without this religion, the key to blissful
mansions, and prompter to heroical benevolence, there can be
no communion with God, no conquest over injustice on earth,
and no sure foundation for heavenly peace. But, under the
perfection of its benign swav, humanity will come at length to
possess the amplest freedom and the holiest joys. Mightier and
more beneficent than Orpheus or Amphion, Christianity, in the
ultimate development of truth, the glorious melody of love
from her simple and entrancing lyre, will build of our globe a
divine Thebes of men, where injustice never wrongs and fet-
ters never bind. Thus to be inspired, guided, sustained, and
rewarded, is to live under the protection of Him who made the
whole universe at one thought as at a glance, and who infuses
much of his own immensities into every true-hearted devotee.
In this world they receive a hundred fold, whh the infinitely
higher destiny guarantied to them of a final home forever

" Amid the august and never-dj'ing light
Of constellated spirits, who have gained
A name in heaven by power of heavenly deeds."

In the third place, Christianity, which, as we have seen, has

CHKISTIAMTY THE RE\VAKD£R OF THE SACRIFICED. 411

ever been the fairest and foremost victim of tyranny, and the
mightiest antagonist to eveiy form of injustice, is the most
glorious rewarder of all devotees for her sake sacrificed.
Christ glorified martyrdom, and caused it to be the object of
profound veneration, when encountered in a just cause. Be-
fore the advent of the great Redeemer, the world was incapa-
ble of appreciating the pure morality of martyr sacrifice which
he taught in every action of his life, and sealed by his death.
The brave and yet quiet manner in which this doctrine was
inculcated, is as worthy of observation as is its intrinsic worth.
Divine precepts teach us to be good, true, and beneficent, with-
out a ceaseless struggle so to appear. The divine example
shows us how we ought to burst through all artificial restraints,
cumbrous conventional trammels, and cast ourselves with the
utmost freedom into the hands of Providence, to live or die, as
may be best for human improvement and the glory of God.
It is thus that we become divinely qualified for usefulness, and
are religious in the highest degree, and yet with a noiseless
manifestation, as the sun shines, dew falls, trees and flowers
unfold their leaves in spring.

To this grand end, in the first place, Christianity provides
adequate means, by bestowing on the devoted disciple the
inexhaustible resources of peaceful fortitude. If the heart be
enslaved, the soul can never be free. Whatever manacles we
may escape beside, with the power of sin still binding us, we
but " wear the name of freedom, graven on a heavier chain."
It is soul freedom alone that is the mother of valuable thought,
making a Christian to be the highest style of man. The true
disciples of Christ are the blessed spirits radically and eternally
disinthralled, by the mode of their emancipation divinely qual-
ified to act the part of redeemers every where ; " and all are
slaves beside." It is only when we are calm that we can see
clearly; and, as the double basis of most perfect wisdom and
purest bliss, Christ's consummating gift to his followers, were the
earnests of his own untroubled peace. This he knew is most
requisite to that perfect freedom of mind, through the develop-

412 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY,

ment of which, in inward reflection, matter and mind are interro-
gated, the highest knowledge is revealed, and every useful aid is
estimated as well as secured. Thus conditioned, the conscience
of the understanding keeps itself awake with the moral con-
science, and the heroical spirit, at one with God and man, time and
eternity, is prepared without dismay to examine self, commune
with self, adorns with the highest virtues his internal dwelling-
place, makes his own bosom the residence of unsurpassed
happiness and the inexhaustible fountain of unlimited benefits.
He receives truth into a pure and fearless soul, diffuses light
through a transparent medium, sows earth with the seeds of
all excellence, and pours on all the distressed solace and sal-
vation mighty and enduring as the eternal throne.

" The freebom Christian has no chains to prove ;
Or if a chain, the golden one of love :
No fear attends to quench his glowing fires :
"What fear he feels liis gi-atitude inspires."

As vacancy of heart is the source of painful agitation, Chris-
tianity comes to refresh and fill it with those gentle affections
and generous sentiments which compose and strengthen the
understanding, perpetually giving birth to the serene thoughts
and beneficent deeds which are the emanations and proofs of
celestial purity. The labor of reflection is best facilitated by
internal quietude ; and hence there have been so few really
great minds, because it is rare that we meet with those who are
eminently pure of heart. It is only the taught and sanctified
of God who can penetrate the meaning of the celebrated
oracle of Delphi, " Know thyself;" and they who at the foot
of the cross most feel their weakness, will be most filled with
power. Thus from our feebleness, experienced and bemoaned,
grace educes and confirms the greatest strength ; as from the
acorn, driven before the wind to root itself in genial soil, springs
an oak which the mightiest storm can scarcely bend.

Christian doctrine ever tends to produce the three moral
conditions which most of all conspire to develop the best fac-

CHKISTIANITV THE REWARDER OF THE SACRIFICED. 413

ulties of the soul : first, the greatest freedom of mind, which,
self-actirig and self-directing, penetrates every where, seeking
more serviceable elements to be moulded into loftier combina-
tions, mightier munitions within as v/ell as without, like the
bee, drawing wealth and sweetness from every flower ; sec-
ondly, that refinement of taste and symmetry of spirit, which
lead us to seize upon those relationships which are most natu-
ral, comprehensive, and heavenly, in all things seeking the
greatest mutual harmony and the greatest general good ;
thirdly, that energy of character, which collects and concen-
trates all diversified agencies, and with a divine grandeur of
purpose producing an invincible potency, not less majestic than
practical, and at every hazard perpetually employed to crush
the oppressiveness of infernal wrongs. Without this freedom,
which the gospel alone can confer, the spirit of man never
reaches that high love it was designed to attain, nor executes
the deeds which it is his greatest glory to perform. But under
its influence, the sterile intellect and heart are made simulta-
neously to produce the purest sentiments, which are themselves
the strongest motives ; as the rock, struck by Moses, satiated
the thirst and fortified the limbs of famishing multitudes. All
truth as it is in Christ, exactly so far as it is known and felt,
becomes a moral force which acts. The best principles may
be forever talked about and curiously analyzed without gener-
ating in the spectator energy enough to reduce one of them to
practice ; indeed, this is most frequently seen. But true doc-
trine is always practical force ; it is the vir within us ; makes
the heroical possessor to deserve the inscription cut by the
ancients on the pedestal whereon stood the statue of a cele-
brated benefactor : Vir, a man ! When the Spartans at Ther-
mopylae in their hearts prepared themselves to die for the
salvation of Greece, they inscribed upon the overhanging
crags of the famous pass these words : " Traveller, go tell
Sparta that we lie dead here in obedience to her sacred laws."
Then, embracing each other for the last time, and binding gar-
lands of young branches around their brows as ready sacrifices
35*

414 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

on the altar of freedom, they rushed to universal immolation,
exclaiming, " Rocks, fields, and mountains, ye will remain ! "
They died to leave the domain of freedom behind ; and why
should they fear death standing in front ? A messenger from
Marathon, mangled and exhausted with the battle, the result of
which he was despatched to proclaim in Athens, ran cheerfully
till the last throbbings of strength were spent, and fell at the
foot of his country's altar, crying, with death-struck lips yet
quivering in extatic joy, " Victory ! " Such is the spirit of
unflinching fortitude, which Christianity, in forms infinitely
nobler than these, tends constantly to generate and employ.

We said above, that, in teaching martyr-morality, Christ
bestowed on his disciples the divinest peace, as the chief cause
and support of persisting endurance in his service. We pro-
ceed to remark, secondly, that he at the same time showed how
we are best employed when we are obliged to incur the most
trying sacrifice in giving the highest and widest freedom to
mankind. All mind is created for improvement through
instruction ; hence education is a universal want. The soul
of man forever pants after this invaluable boon ; his faculties
of thought and will are fitted for nothing else. When a child
is born, under any meridian, with whatever hue, a mightier
result is produced than the formation of worlds. These see
not their own light, feel not their own grandeur, and must soon
perish. But the soul is immortal, and will eternally glow with
inextinguishable and constantly augmented emotions of weal
or woe. As in the incipient process of primitive creation God
said, " Let there be light," and moulded the universe amid
increasing splendors, so around the latent germs of every
rational creature, stamped with his image, endowed for eternity,
God, in all his works, in all his word, with the full almightiness
of his spirit, cries, "Let there be light!" — let this mind be
matured in symmetry, purity, and strength, to fly like a seraph
toward heaven. Naturalists tell us that if a bird's beak is tied
and his wings are broken, he can still live and breathe through
the broken bones ; but in the name of humanity we beg, give

CHKISTIANITY THE REWARDEE OF THE SACRIFICED. 415

the bird an open mouth, give him unmutilated wings, to sing
his free song and fly an exalted flight, as the God of love
designed.

The human mind every where, groping along the entrance
path to immortality, responds to the highest questionings, like
poor blind Bartimeus, " Lord, that I may receive sight ! " Ed-
ucation is like the sword of Goliath, concerning which David
said to Abimelech, "There is none like that; give it to me."
Every mind, in every place, to some extent feels this want.
Many of the benighted feel it acutely, and pray, with the
rugged warrior encompassed by preternatural night, —

" Disperse this cloud, the light of heaven restore ;
Give me to sec, and I wUl ask no more."

As education is man's greatest want, our Savior gave the
strongest emphasis to his parting command, " Go teach ! "
When the down-trodden are visitited in mercy, and by benefi-
cent instruction are made to partake of the more than necta-
rian sweets of knowledge, the stimulated and enraptured soul
exclaims, like Homer's giant, quaffing from the goblets of
Ulysses, " More, give me more ! "

That which the nature of the soul and the results of sin
constitute a universal want, Christianity makes a universal
duty and right. As I am born with the want, so I inherit the
right. That which corresponds with my first and greatest
necessity is education ; that which I and all men inherit as the
first privilege to be enjoyed, is the right of receiving and
imparting instruction. The tyrant of antiquity who ordered
the tables of the law to be himg so high that they could not be
read, and then punished with severity the offences which re-
sulted from a necessary ignorance, was merciful compared
with those who would extinguish all improvement, and yet hold
their victims accountable for their degradation.

It is by being taught fully in the elements of political and
moral justice that man is rendered competent to judge and act
for himself. And this is clearly an inalienable right ; else why

416 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

that natural impatience of control, that admiration for those
who sacrifice themselves at the altar of liberty, which all feel,
and which would be useless passions, and without any corre-
spondent aim, had not God made us for self-goverimnent. More
than this, the divinest qualities we possess constitute but an
incredible artifice of Nature to reduce us from the path of
legitimate obedience, and subject us to the accumulated evils
of the worst tyranny, if soul development be not our first
privilege, and free action the ground of our eternal doom.
Each mortal, through the healthful exercise of all his physical
and intellectual powers, is to be made conscious of immortality,
and that he has been already crowned with a portion of that sov-
ereignty which was conquered for the world by Emanuel, who
poured out his soul unto death, that in the vicarious sacrifice
he might breathe a vital air through all our faculties, I'egen-
erate the depraved, enlighen the benighted, and raise the dead.
Such is Christianity ; it creates liberty, equality, fraternity, as
its legitimate fruit, and is by necessity destructive to tyranny
of every type and degree. It brings into view the multitudes
so long obscured and savagely oppressed, softens their re-
venge, moderates their counsels, and ennobles their action. It
is divine truth only that can effectually transform the heart,
clarify the vision, and rectify the judgment of mankind ; and
this it does accomplish best, because of all instruction it most
clearly shows that whatever is opposed to equality and freedom
is impious and abhorrent before our Father in heaven. This
was the grand lesson v»hich was announced to all men in
Bethlehem, reiterated itself on the lake shore, on the mount,
in social joy as well as garden gloom, and was finally con-
summated on Calvary's cross. Our elder brother is a Savior
indeed, a Monarch divine ; but never did he bind a faculty or
enslave a limb. He lived and died that he might liberate, and
was royal only to save.

" The crown he wore was of the pointed thorn ;
In puri)lc he was crucified, not born."

CHRISTIANITY THE EEAVARDER OF THE SACRIFICED. 417

Freedom desires to be conquered ; and it is remarkable that
every where, ever since Christ, she has been primarily indebted
to the generous efforts of some artisan, always the first to
demand, and the first to obtain, her blessings by dying for her.
This treasure is of the greatest value when it is obtained for
the largest number. The great Redeemer came for this pur-
pose, and found the majority of mankind placed, like an inert
base, at the lowest stratum of society, where it was compelled
to bear the most cruel weight. It was there, in the lowest
depth, and under the greatest burden, that he chose to be born,
bleed, and conquer. In thus doing, a religion arose from that
abysm of abasement which declares man to be the child of
God, the brother of Christ, equal in the order of nature and
in that of grace to his oppressors ; and this contradiction
between sanctimonious professions and social facts, with per-
petual and omnipotent force, thank God ! shall lead to the
redress of social injustice.

The rock in which the cross of Christ was planted was the
corner-stone of the first true republic, and eighteen centuries
liave been placing thereon the broad foundations of freedom
for the world. The bleeding sacrifice thence ascending for-
ever proclaims the unity of our race and equality of rights ;
the boon he won is unlimited, and its full enjoyment must
speedily come. The principle of the equality of men before
God necessarily gives birth to another, which is but its devel-
opment, or rather its application, namely, the equality of men
among themselves, or social equality ; for if there exists, un-
der this relation, an inequality essential and radical relative to
privilege, this inequality will render men primarily unequal
before God. Religious equality, then, tends' to produce, as its
consequence and consummation, political and civil equality ;
excluding all power of man over the rights of his brother man,
recognizing his freedom, and revering his native independence.

Christ chose the cross for his standard, and protested against
every success of force by the success of sacrifice. The gos-
pel, regulating the rights and duties of all, is elevated to the

418 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

power of a universal constitution, which serves to apportion
to all legitimate authority, and which, by a beneficent conser-
vatism, preserves from those excesses to which human ambi-
tion is perpetually inclined. Under this sovereignty the empire
of souls was established in conflict with Roman tyranny,
between which and its own peaceful, republican spirit, it is
impossible to imagine an antagonism more complete. The
Roman empire was based on complete servitude ; the empire
of souls, on freedom complete. Between the two, to be or
not to be was the grand question, which led at once to a con-
flict both inevitable and most sanguinaiy. And what muni-
tions could the empire of souls array against the martial em-
pire covered with its armed legions ? The forum ? It had
no foothold therein. The senate } It had not a representative
therein. The people ? They were chiefly suborned by craft
or terrified by force. Speech .? Its only eloquence in all the
terrors of primitive struggles was silent suffering, self-sacrifice,
and rejoicing death. As it had been with the Master, so now
was itwhh his disciples. It was requisite to confess Christ, and
then to die for his name's sake ; to conquer enforced bondage
by the peaceful use of soul-freedom, to rise by falling and
conquer by apparent defeat. It seems that to them it had been
declared, If during three centuries you will boldly affirm, I
helieve in God, the Father almighty. Maker of heaven and
earth, and in his only Son our Lord Jesus Christ, who was
horn of the virgin Mary, who died and is risen ! — if during
three centuries you will boldly in every presence declare this,
and then die in attestation of the truth, you shall be masters
and most free. Such was the result. With a calm brow and
undimmed ej^e, rejoicing in that salvation to promote which
they were ready to perish, they willingly embraced the most
frightful martyrdom, believing that their sacrifice would eman-
cipate the earth.

V Whenever the victim of political or spiritual tyranny cleaves
to the cross rather than be recreant to truth and righteousness,
like Stephen, he has but to raise his eyes to see the heavens

CHRISTIANITY THE RE WARDER OF THE SACRIFICED. 419

opened, and the Son of man sitting at the right hand of God ;
and their reward will be as substantial as the vision is glorious.
Christianity creates true republicans, citizens always ready to
sacrifice their own interests for the general well-being ; and
when she shall have sufficiently accomplished this work in the
bosom of humanity, peace and purity will become universal,
and all injustice obsolete. The pioneers and founders of this
blissful era are all who are the victims of unrighteous power.
They are the world-benefactors, who throw out truth, fructi-
fied by tears and blood, as it were, at hazard, like the invisible
seed sown by the winds of heaven ; assured that germs thus
planted will grow and increase, and become a great tree, under
the shadow of whose branches mankind will ultimately take
refuge against all errors and all wrongs.

Sacrifice exacted by integrity is always its own exalted
reward, since he whose life is consecrated to sufl^ering for
others must necessarily be a participant of the universal feli-
city which the Deity difi^uses, infinitely more than he whose
life is a mere pursuit of sensual pleasure. The existence and
deeds of such men are bright revelations of omnipotent benev-
olence and power. This is, in some degree, true of all disci-
ples, but more especially does it apply to the prophets, the
apostles, the martyrs, who have bravely consecrated their ener-
gies to the service of their race. Truly do they resemble God
manifest in the flesh. Their example in time is the brightest
and their preparation for eternity is the best ; for we hold that
in the day of final reckoning, the Judge will not so much in-
quire. What was your belief.-* as. What was your conduct on
earth ? What hast thou done .'' Where are the proofs that thou
hast fulfilled a beneficent mission with all thy might ? It will
then be seen that all who in every age boldly wore a martyr's
crown of thorns, in order that truth and righteousness might
acquire comprehensive, pervading, and ennobling sway, there-
by won the brightest honors and were destined to the highest
thrones.

The countries blessed with the footsteps of such moral

420 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

heroes have their deeds associated with the noblest scenery,
exertions not merely of chivalric prowess or military talent,
but of true patriotism, resistance to tyranny, strife the most
hazardous for peace and freedom the most divine. They are
champions who appear at fitting intervals, as if Providence
especially designed, by the mercifulness and durability of their
influence, to remind the world of what is most characteristic
of his own eternal throne. They are the foreshadowing of
infinite harvests, leave earth much better than they found it,
and ascend with scarred brows wreathed in immortal garlands,
to participate more fully of that infinite excellence which they
exemplified here below. Following and surpassing the great-
ness of antiquity, Grecian philosophers and Hebrew prophets,
the moral heroes of later times, armed with the pen, the living
voice and omnipotent press, have sowed most profusely the
seeds of intellectual profit and power in the world, scattering
them on every hill, plain, and shore. They all contribute to
build up that power in the earnest devotee, which, in the unity
and utility of its results, corresponds with the magnitude and
variety of the costly materials which have contributed toward
its erection, and which in turn render him competent to do
much toward advancing the world in grace, mercy, and peace.
Such men are the architects of the noblest institutions, and the
almoners of the richest blessings. They fearlessly confront
the darkest terrors, brave the most despotic wills, and in life,
as well as in death, are ready, if need be, to glorify God and
humanity in the dungeon, on the battle-field, or the scaffold.
Between recreancy to principle and the sacrifice of life, it
takes them not a second to choose. So long as one warm
pulsation of heart remains, they breathe through all ranks of
mankind a spirit of life and aspiration, teaching them to rebel
against every wrong, and, if necessary, in their sublime ca-
reer, like themselves to fall, chanting the Marseillaise of the
world's march toward the final victories of freedom, civiliza-
tion, and humanity. When such redeemers are silenced under
the axe of tyranny, they fall like stately sacrifices. If con-

CHRISTIANITY THE REWARDER OF THE SACRIFICED. 421

demned to the lingering immolation of the prison, their hero-
ical faculties, lofty principles, and indomitable purpose, assert
most clearl)' and widely, in the presence of despotism and of
death, the true " Monarchy of Man."

Intellect and affection alone confer dominion to the strong
over the weak — not indeed further to enfeeble, but to increase
both their happiness and strength. It is a sovereignty that does
not cripple, stultify, and degrade its victim, but enlightens,
enfranchises, and exalts him, by gently inducing him to open
wider the doors of his soul, and let the ethereal tides of thought
and feeling roll therein. Christ came to bestow infinite mer-
cies on all ; to nourish the thought of the obscurest soul, beau-
tify it, and make it most attractive, —

" As the dissoh-ing warmth, of mom may fold
A half infrozen dew-globe, green, and gold.

And crystalline, till it becomes a winged mist,
And wanders up the vault of the blue day.
Outlives the noon, and on the sun's last ray

Hangs o'er the sea, a fleece of fire and amethyst."

When flame is smothered in flax, or when lightning wears a
chain, such minds may with impunity be bound, or be dis-
suaded from the discharge of duty thi'ough fear. Landor has
said that " there is a pause near death when men grow bold
toward all things else." With habitual solemnity and invincible
fortitude, the true-hearted disciple of Christ will encounter
every difficulty, and quail before no foe. If an emergency
occurs in which the devotee must empty his veins rather than
disgrace his Master's cause, then will he, with calm firmness,
say, as did the gladiators to imperial tyrants of old, " They
who are about to die salute thee ! " and those last words of
virtuous heroism shall seal the damnation of accursed oppres-
sors, burning through their miscreant souls in retributive flames
inextinguishable, and eternally increased, while the victim of
their hellish hate, soaring to the highest firmament of bliss,
shall shine as the stars forever and ever.
36

422 REPUBLICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Thus have we attempted to show that Christianity has evef
been the fairest and foremost victim of tyranny, the mightiest
antagonist to every form of injustice, and most glorious re-
warder of all devotees for her sake sacrificed. In all the fore-
going work, it has been our purpose to portray the character
and influence of those persons who reproduce, from time to
time, and exemplify, that idea of immortal worth which first
sprang from the tomb in the Arimathean's garden, in the defi-
niteness of doctrine and tangibility of fact, to reanimate and
adorn the whole moral world. Some of its first fruits we have
seen and felt ; much more of its ultimate glory was indicated
in that glorious vision which appeared to the primitive martyr
of Christ on the right hand of the Majesty on high, encour-
aging him, in the midst of the agonies of a violent death by
the hands of an enraged multitude, to say, " Lord Jesus, into
thy hands I commend my spirit ; " and not only thus to resign
his soul, but at the same time to pray for his murderers. The
same spirit was again displayed in the apostle Paul, when,
after a most useful life, he calmly faced the terrors of martyr-
dom. And here, as the pen inscribes the author's prayer
on this page, it shall be that the reader, with the same
holy retrospect and anticipation, may exclaim, " I have fought
a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ;
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous-
ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at
that day ; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love
his appearing."

REPUBLICAN CHEISTI AXITY:

OR TRUE LIBERTY;

As Exldbited in the Life, Precepts, and Early Disciples of the Great Redeemer,

By E. L. il A G o o X .

12mo. Price $1.25.

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GOULD, KENDALL AND LINCOLN'S PUBLICATIONS.

CLASSICAL studies: Essays on Ancient Literature and Art.
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GESENIUS'S HEBREW GRAMMAR. Translated from the Eleventh
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LIFE OF GODFREY WILLIAM VON LIEBNITZ. On the ba.sis
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SERMONS DELIVERED IX BROWN UNIVERSITY.

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SACRED RHETORIC:

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HISTORV OF

AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONS,

IN ASIA, AFRICA, EUEOPE AND NORTH AMERICA.

By William Gammell, A. M.

THi/t Seven Maps. Vlvw. Price Seventy-five Cents.

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mejid this volume to our readers." — Baptist Memorial.

Ct;^ The icork is printed in haiuhcime style, and sold at the very lota price
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Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, Publishers, Boston.

CHAMBERS'S

CYCLOPEDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE:

A SELECTION OF THE CHOICEST PRODCCTIONS

OP ENGLISH AUTHORS, FROM THE EARLIEST TO THE PRESENT TDIE.

CONNECTED BY A CRITICAL AXD BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

EDITED BY ROBERT CHAMBERS,

ASSISTED BT BOBEBT CABECTHEFS AXD OTIIEE EMI>E\T OEXTLEMEy.

Complete in tuo imperial octavo volumes, of more than fourteen hundred pages of

double column Utter press: and upivards of three hunUrtd

elegant illustrations.

The Cyclop.bdia of English Literature, now presented to the
American public, originated in a desire to supply the great body of the peo-
ple with a fund of reading derived from the productions of the most talented
and the most elegant wTiters in the English language. It is hoped hereby
to supplant, in a measure, the frivolous and corrupting iiroductions '.vii'h
which the community is flooded, and to substitute for them the pirh arid
marrow of substantial English literature; — something that shall prove food
for the intellect, shall cultivare the taste, and stimulate the moral sense.

1 he design has been admirably executed, by the selection and concentra-
tion of the most exquisite productions of English intellect, from the earliest
Anglo-Saxon writers down to those of the present day. The series of
authors commences w.th Langland and Chaucer, and is continuous down
to our time. We have specimens of their oest writings, headed in the sev-
eral departments by Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton, — by Slnre, Bacon,
Locke, — bv Hooker, Taylor, Barrow, — by Addison, Johnson, Goldsmith, — ■
by Hume, Robertson, Gibbon, — set in a biofrraphical and critical history
01 the literature itself. The whole is embellished with splendid wood en-
gravings of the heauls of the principai authors, and of interest in g events con-
nected with their history and writings. No one can give a glance at the
work without being struck with its beauty and cheapness. The editor,
Robert Chambers, is distinguished as the author of many valuable works,
anil as joint editor of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.

To those whose educational privileges are few, who reside at a distance
from libraries, and whose means are limited, such a book must be of un-
speakable value, — A whole English Library fused down into one
cheap book ! Any man, whatever his avocation or his location, may thus
possess, in a portable and available form, the best intellectual treasures the
language alTonls. To those more fortunate individuals who may have the
adv.antages of a regular course of education, this miiltum in parvo will be
a valuable introduction to the great galaxy of English writers.

As an evidence of the great popularity of the work in England, it may be
Btated that no less than forty thousanA copies lijive been sold in less than
three yexirs ; and this almost without advertising or being indebted to any
notice in the literary Re\iews.

In addition to the great number of pictorial illustrfitions given in the
English edition, the American publishers have greatly enriched the work by
the addition of fine steel and mezzotint engravings of the heads of Shak
epeare, Addison, B_\Ton, a full length portrait of Dr. Johnson, and a beauti
ful scenic representation of Oliver Goldsmith and Dr. Johnson.

IJp" Booksellers and Agents supplied on the most liberal terms.

GOL'LD, KEXDALL & LINCOLN, Publishers, BOSTON.

THE EARTH AND MAN:

Leetures on Comparative Phyiical Oeographj, in it* Relation to th-e Hiitor-j of Mankind.

By Arnold Govot, Prof. I'hys. G«o. & Ki>t., Ncucliitel.

Translated fi-om Vie French, by Prof. C. C. Fklton. — Jf'ith Illiutraliont.

12mo. Pbice §1.35.

" Those who have been accustomed to regard Geography as a merely descriptive
brancli of learning, drier than the remainder biscuit after a voyage, will be delighted
lo find tliis hitherto unattractive pursuit converted into a science, the principles of
whirh are definite and the results conclusive ; a science that embraces the invesii^d-
ti'in of natural laws and interprets their mode of operation ; wliieli piofesses lo dis-
cover in the rudeet forms and apparently confused arrangement of the m.'iterials com-
posing the planets' crust, a new niHniU-slation of the wisdom which hiLS filled the
earth with its riches. * * * To the reader we shall owe no ap.dogy, if we have
paid enough to excite his curiosity and to persuade him to look to the book itnelf im
further instruction." — J^orth American Review.

" The erand idea of the work is happily expressed by the author, where he calls it
the treo^raphical march of history. * » * The man of science will hail it as a beauti-
ful generalization from the facts of observation. The Chrictian, who trusts in a mer-
ciful Providence, will draw couiage from it, and hope yet more earnestly for the
redempiioii of the most degraded portions of mankind. Faitli, science, learning,
poetry, taste, in a word, genius, have liberally contributed to the production of llio
work under review, yoinetinies we feel as if we were studying a treatise on the
exact sciences ; at others, it strikes the ear like an epic poem. Now it reads like
liistory, and now it sounds like prophecy. It will find reiiders in whatever language
it inav be published ; and in Ihe elegant English dress which it has received from li.e
accomplished pen of the translator, it will not fiil to interest, instruct and inspire.

We congratulate the lovers of history and of physical geography, as well as all
those who are interested in the growth and expansion of our common education, that
Prof. Guyot contemplates the publication of a sern-s of elementary works on Physical
Gei>graphy, in which these two great hranclies of study which God has so closely
joined together, will not, we trust, be put asunder." — Christian Examiner,

" A copy of this volume reached us at too late an hour for an extended notice. The
woik is ouK of high merit, exhibiting a wide rangi? of knowledge, great research, and
a philosophical spirit of investigation. Its perusal will well repay the most learned
in such subjects, and give new views to all, of man's relation to the globe bo inhabits."
SiUiiruin's Journal, July, le49.

"These lectures form one of the most valuable contributions to geographical science
that has ever been published in this country. They invest the study of geography
with an interest which will, we doubt not, surprise and delight many. They will
open an entire new world to most readers, and will be found an invaluable aid to the
teacher and student i-f geography." — Ecening Traveller.

" VVe venture to pronounce this one of the most interesting and instructive books
which have cme from the Americ;ni press for many a month. The scieii'-eof which
it treats is comparatively of recent oriinn, but it is of great import nee, not only on
account of its connections wiih other branches of knowledge, but for its bearing upon
many of the Interests of society. In ihese lectures it is lelieved of statistical details,
and presentfd only in its grandest features. It thus not only places before us most
instructive facts relating to the conditmn of the eailh, but also awakens within us a
stronger syinfiathy with the beings that inhabit it, and a profounder reverence for the
beneticont Creator who formed it, and of whose character it is a manifestation and
expiession. They abnund with the richest interest and instruction to every intelli-
gent reader, and especially fitted lo awaken enthusiasm and delight in all who are
diAoled to the study either of natural science or the history of mankind." — Providence
Journal.

" Geography is here presented under a new and attractive phirse ; it is no longer a
dry description of the features of the earth's surface. The influence of soil, soeuery
and climate upon charactiT, has not yet received the consideration due to it fiom his-
torians and philosophers. In the volume before us the profound investigations of Hum-
boldt, Kitter and others, in Physical Geography, are premented in a popular form, and
with the clearness and vivacity so characleiistic of French tieatises on science. The
work should be introduced into our higher schools." — The Independent, .\'cw York,

" Geography is here made to assume a dignity, not heretofore attached to it. The
knowledge cominunicated in these Lectures is curious, unexpected, absorbing."—
Christian .Mirror, Portland.

GoiLD, Kendall & Lixcolk, Pububhsbs, Boston.

GOTTLD, KENDALL AND LINCOLN'S PUBLICATIONS.

(L§c tHotRs of i?v^^tt f)rtm$, W3,

THE PRE-ADAMITE EARTH: Contributions to Theological Science.
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him in a new position to sni-vey the wonders of Gorl's works ; aiid compels Natural Sci-
ence to bear her decided testimony in support of Di\-ine Truth." Phila. Ch. Observer.

MAN PRIMEVAL; Or, the Constitution and Primitive Condition of the
Human Being. A Contribution to Theological Science. With a finely
engraved portrait of the author; 12mo. cloth, price SI. 25.

%* This is the second volume of a series of works on Theological Science. The first waa
received with much favor — tlte present is a continuation of the prin-'^iples which wer«
Been holding their way through the successive kingdoms of primeval nature, and are here
resumed and exhibited in tlieir next higiiCr application to individual man.

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THE GREAT COMMISSION ; Or, the Christian Church constituted
and charged to convey the Gospel to the World. A Prize Essay. With
an Introductory Essay, by W. R. Williams, D.D. Price $1.00

" Of the several productions of Dr. Harris, — all of them of great value, — that now before
us is destined, probably, to exert the most powerful inllueuce in forming the religious and
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of thousands in our own laud sis well as in Europe. Every clergyman and pious and re-
flecting layman ought to possess the volume, and make it familiar by repeated perusal."

JjO^ton HecorUer.

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THE GREAT TEACHER ; Or, Characteristics of our Lord's Ministrj'.

With an Introductory Essaj', b}' H. Humphrey, D.D. Tenth thousand.

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It will be read: it ought to be read. It will find its way to many parlors, and add to the
comforts of many a happy fireside. The reader will rise from each chapter, not able, per-
haps, to carry with him many striking remarks or apparent paradoxes, but he will have a
sweet impression made upon his sold, like that which soft and touching music makes when
every thiug about it is appropriate. The writer pours forth a clear and beautiful light, like
that of the evening light-house, when it sheds its rays upon the sleeping waters, and
covers them with a surface of gold. We can have no sympathy with a heart which vields
not to impressions delicate and holy, which the perusal of this work will naturally make."

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miscellanies; Consisting principallv of Sermons and Essays. With
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MAMMON ; Or, Covetousness, the Sin of the Christian Church. A Prize
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%» This masterly work has already engaged the attention of churches and individuals,
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ZEBULON ; Or the Moral Claims of Seamen stated and enforced. Edited
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*,* A well written and spirit-stirring appeal to Christians in favor of this numerous, use-
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THE ACTIVE CHRISTIAN; Containing the " Witnessing Church,"
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THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT, In its relation to God and
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THE UNION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH, In

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London Evangelical Magazine.

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ANTIOCH ; Or, Increase of Moral Power in the Church of Christ. By
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Price 50 cents.

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author is favorably known to the religious public, as an original thinker, and a forcible
writer. His style is lucid and vigorous. The Introduction, by Mr. Stow, adds much to
the value and attractions of the volume." — Christian Reflector.

" By some this book will be condemned, by many it will be read with pleasure, because it
analyzes and renders tangible, principles that have been vaguely conceived in many minds,
reluctantly promulgated, and hesitatingly believed. We advise our brethren to read the
book, and judge for themselves." — Baptist Record.

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church. It is replete with suggestions, which, iu our view, are eminently worthy of con-
sideration."— Rhda, Christian Observer.

" This is a philosophical essay, denoting depth of thinking and great originality. . He
does not doubt, but asserts, and carries along the matter with his argument until (he difler-
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In admir:;tion of the warmth and truthfulness of the latter." — /"AiV. I/. S. Gazette.

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, By Thomas a Kempis. With
an Ifitroductory Essay, by T. Chalmers. D.D. A new and improved
edition. Edited by iL JIalcom, D.D. Price 38 cents.

*,* " This work has for three hundred years, been esteemed one of the best practical books
in existence, and has gone through a vast number of editions, not only in the original
Latin, hut in every language of Europe. Dr. Payson, of Portland, thus warmly recom-
mended it :

"If you have not seen Thomas n Kempis. I beg you to procure it For spirituality and
Weanedness from the world, I know a/nothinu ci/iial to it."

*,»"That the benefit of tho work may be uni¥ersally enjoyed, the translation of Payne,
which best agrees with the original, has been revised by Mr. Alalcom, and adapted to
general use."

G<1Ur.D, KENDALL, AND LINCOLN'S PUBLICATIONS.

THE FOUR GOSPELS, WITH NOTES. Chiefly Explanatory ; in-
tended principally for Sabbath School Teachers and Bible Classes, and
as an aid to Family Instruction. By Henkv J. Ripley, Newton Theol.
Institution. Seventh Edition. Price SI. 25.

%* This work should be in the hands of every student of the Bible, especially erery
Sabbath School and Bible Class teaclier. It is prepared with special reference to this clasa
of persons, and contains a mass of just tlie kind of information wanted.

" The undersigned, having examined Professor Ripley's Xotes on the Gospels, can
recommend them with coniidence to all who need such helps in the study of the sacred
Scriptures. Those passages which all can understand are left ' without note or comment,'
and the principal labor is devoted to the explanation of such parts as need to be explained
ajid rescued from the perversions of errorists, both the ignorant and the learned. The
practical suggestions at the close of each chapter, are not the least valuable portion of tlie
work. Most cordially, for the sake of truth and righteousness, do we wish fur these Notes
a wide circulation.

Baron- Stow, K. H. Neale, R. Tcrkbcll,

DisiEL Sharp, J. W. Pakkee, N. Culver.
Wm. Haoce, R. W. Clsumax,

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, WITH NOTES. Chiefly Ex-
planatory. Designed for Teachers in Sabbath Schools and Bible Classes,
and as an Aid to Family Instruction. By Prof. Henuy J. Ripley.
Price 75 cents.

"The external appearance of this book, —the binding and the printed page, — 'it is
a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold.' On examining the contents, we are favorably
impressed, first, by the wonderful perspicuity, simplicity, and comprehensiveness of the
author's style: secondly, by the completeness and systematic arrangement of the work, in
all its parts, the ' remarks "' on each paragraph being carefully separated from the exposi-
tion : thirdly, by the correct theology, solid instruction, and consistent explanations of
difficult passages. The work cannot Vail to be received with favor. These Xotcs are much
more full than the Xotes on the Gospels, by the same author. A beautiful map accompanies
them." — Chruitiatt Ri'JIector, Boston.

CRUDEN'S CONDENSED CONCORDANCE. A Complete Con-
cordance to the Holy Scriptures ; by Alexander Crudex, M.A. A
New and Condensed Edition, with an Introduction ; bv Rev. David
King, LL.D. Fifth Thousand. Price in Boards, 31.20 ; Sheep, S1.50.

•,*"Thi3 edition is printed from English plates, and is a full and fair copy of aU
that is valuable in Cruden as a Concordance. The principal variation from the larger book
consists in the exclusion of the Bible Dictionary, which has long been an incumbrance,
and the accuracy and value of which have been depreciated by works of later date, contain-
ing recent discoveries, facts, and opinions, unknown to Cruden. The condensation of
the quotations of Scripture, arranged under their most obvious heads, while it diminishes
the bulk of the work, greatly facilitates the finding of any required passage.

"Those who have been acquainted with the various works of this kind now in use,
well know that Cruden's Concordance far excels all others. Yet we have in this edition of
Cruden, the best made better. That is, the present is better adapted to the purposes of a
Concordance, by the erasure of superfluous references, the omission of unnecessary expla-
nations, and the contraction of Quotations, &c. ; it is better as a manual, and is better
adapted by its price to the means'of many who need and ought to possess such a work,
than the former larger and expensive edition." — Boston Becorder.

" The new, condensed, and cheap work prepared from the voluminous and costly one of
Cruden. opportunely fills a chasm in our Biblical literature. The work has been examined
critically by severalministers, and others, and pronounced complete and accurate."

Baptist Becord, Pkila.

" This is the very work of which we have long felt the need. We obtained a copy of
the English edition some months since, and wished some one would publish it ; and we
we much pleased that its enterprising publishers can now furnish the student of the Bible
•with a work which he so much needs at so cheap a rate." — Advent Herald^ Boston,

" We cannot see but it is, in all points, as valuable a book of reference, for ministers and
Bible students, as the larger edition." — Christian Kejiecior, Boston.

" The present edition, in being relieved of some things which contributed to render all
former ones unnecessarily cumbrous, without adding to the substantial value of the work,
becomes an exceedingly cheap book." — Albany Aryxts.

GOOLD, KE^'DALL AND LINCOLN'S PUBLICATIONS.

THE APOSTOLICAL AND PRIMITIVE CHURCH ; Popular in
its guverniueiu and simple in its worship. By Lyman Colkman. VVitli
an introductory essay, by Dr. Augustus Neandek, of Berlin. Second
Edition. Price $1.25.

The Publishers have been favored with many highly commendatory notices of thia
work, from individuals and public journals. The first edition found a rapid sale; it has
been republished in England, and received with much favor ; it is universally pronounced
to be staudaj-d authority on this subject; and is adopted aa a Text Boolt in Theological
Seminaries.

From the Prof efsora in Andover Theological Seminary.
" The undersigned are pleased to hear that you are soon to publish a new edition of the
•Primitive Cliurcli,' by Lvma-N Coleman. Tliey regard tliis volume as the result of
exlen^i\e and original research ; as embodying very important materials for reference,
much sound thought and conclusive argument. In tiieir estimation, it may both interest
and instruct the intelligent laym:in, may be profitably used as a Text Book for Thcologi-
cul Students, and should esiiecially form a part of the libraries of clergymen. The iutro-
duction, by Keakdeb, is of itseU' sufficient to rcct.mmend the volume to the literary
public" Leoxard Woods, Bela B. Edwards,

Kali'H Emerson, Edward A. Park,

From Samuel ^filler, D.D., Princeton Theoloyical Seminary.
"Gentlemen, — I am truly gratified to find that the Kev. Mr. Coleman's work on the
'Apostolical and Primitive Church,' is so soon to reach a second edition. It is, in my
judgment, executed with learning, skill, and fidelity; and it will give me great pleasure to
learn that it is in the hands of every minister, and every candidate for the ministry in our
land, and indeed of every one who is disposed, and who wishes for enlightened and safe
guidance, on tlie great subject of which it treats."

Yours, respectfully, Samuel Miller.

THE CHURCH MEMBER'S MANUAL Of Ecclesiastical Principles,
Doctrines, and Discipline ; presenting a Systematic View of the Structure,
Polity, Doctrines, and Practices of Christian Churches, as taught in the
Scriptures ; by Wm. Ckowell. With an Introductory Essay, by Henky
J. Riplet, D'D. Price 90 cents.

The Per. J. Doicling, D.D., of \ew Yorl:, writes .■ — " I have perused, with great satis-
faction ' The Church Member's Manual.' I have long felt in common with many of my
ministering brethren, the need of just such a work to put into the hands of the members,
and especially the pastors and deacons of our churches. . . As a whole, I have great
pleasure in commending the work to the attention of all Baptists. I think that Bro. Crtiwell
has performed his task in an admirable manner, and deserves the thanks of the whole Bap-
tist community."

We cordially concur in the above recommendation. S. H. Cone, Elisha Tucker, TV. W.
Evarts, David Bellamy, Henry Davis, A. N. Ma^on, and A. Haynes.

THE CHURCH IN EARNEST; By John Angell James. 18mo.

cloth ; price 50 cents.

" A very seasonable publication. The church universal needs a re-awakening to its high
vocation, and this is a book to effect, so far as human intellect can, the much desired resus-
citation."— y, Y. Com. Adv.

" We are glad to see that this subject has arrested the pen of Mr. James. We welcome
and commend it. Let it be scattered like autumn leaves. We beUeve its perusal will do
much to im]>ress a conviction of the high mission of the Christian, and much to arouse the
Christian to fulfil it." — iV. r. iJecorc/er.

*' We rejoice that this work has been republished in this country, and we cannot too
strongly commend it to the serious perusal of the churches of every liarae.'' — AtUance.

** y\r. James's writings all have one object, to do execution. He writes imder the impulse
— Do something, do it. He studies not to be a profound or learned, but a practical writer.
He aims to raise Uie standard of pietv, holiness in the heart, and hobness of life. The influ-
ence which this work will exert on the church must be highly salutary." — Boston Recorder.

THE CHURCH MEMBER'S GUIDE, Bv Rev. J. A. James. Edited
by Rev. J. 0. Choules. New Edition ; with" an Introductory Essay, by
Kev. Hubbard Winslow. Price 38 cents.

A pastor writes — "I sincerely wish that every professor of relianon in the land may
possess this excellent manu.al. I am anxious that every member of mv church should
possess it, ond shall be hnppy to promote its circulation still more extensively."

"The spontaneous etl'usion of our heart, on laying the book down, was, — may every
church-member in our land soon possess this book, and be blessed with all the happinesf
which conformity to its evTingelic sentiments and directions is calculated to confer."

Ohrittian Seeretarv.

^^ Magoon, Eli as Lyman,
304 1810-1886

'^ Republican Christianitic

M28 or. True liberty, as
18^0 exhibited in the life
precepts, and early
disciples of the Great
Redeemer.
2d ed.

Gould, Kendall an^
Lincoln (l850)

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