ple of Unitarianism; which principle stands not so much in rejecting the TRINITY, as in denying the necessity of a vital union of our nature with the Divine, through the gift and power of the HOLY SPIRIT supernaturally communicated to us and dwelling in us. In other words, the entire doctrine of Unitarianism hinges upon this, that for the working of moral results, none but moral agencies are necessary; and that the whole work of regeneration, which is but a moral change, is suffi ciently explained and provided for by the proper action of mind upon mind. What need, then, what adequate reason could there be why the Divine Nature should become incarnate? An inspired prophet and teacher, specially gifted with all the knowledge and armed with all the truth that man could ever take in, was surely enough to set in operation all the moral efficacies of which humanity is capable. So that for the whole process of the Atonement and Mediation, nothing more was needed than the moral influence and example, in life and death, of a man perfectly upright, pure, and just.

The truth seems to be, that our assailants, at least the more positive and confident of them, have totally lost the true doctrine and idea of regeneration, and of the place it holds in the Gospel system. Too ignorant of the thing even to suspect their ignorance, they keep applying the term where neither the Church nor any well-instructed divine of the Church has ever thought of applying it. Regeneration they understand as being or involving simply a moral change. And when they hear us speak of persons being regenerated by GOD in the sacrament of baptism, they still understand us as meaning none other than that change of moral character, which is all they mean by regeneration. Thus they keep putting their meaning into our words, and then proceed to hold us responsible for their own errors and absurdities.

We will conclude for the present, by beseeching them to vouchsafe us an explanation of one point. It is this: If none but the regenerate can be saved, and if regeneration be or imply a moral change, then what is to become of those who die, with all the petals of their moral nature still budded up in infancy? For it will scarcely be denied that moral changes necessarily involve some exercise of the moral faculties on the

part of the subject; and surely none will maintain that unblown infants are capable of any such exercise: from which it must follow that for such there can be no savlation but on the old Pelagian ground, that infants are by nature in the same condition as ADAM was before the fall.

THE GOODNESS OF GOD MANIFEST IN DISEASE.

WE discover in organic beings a principle of resistance to the laws of inanimate matter. The instincts of the lower animals, which regulate their movements in times of danger, are necessary to their preservation; but man, who has the faculty of reason for his guide, and is therefore responsible to the Source of reason, must take the consequences of his freeagency. As these consequences are invariable, we should learn to accommodate our conduct to them, and to apply known truths in furtherance of practical good.

Disease forms no exception to the Divine arrangement of uniformity in physical phenomena. The beginning and end of human life are only steps in an eternal existence. The principle of death is bound up with the principle of life. Death is the completion of life; but if disease had no other purpose nor end than death, it would be an anomaly in the works of the Creator, as involving an arrangement of vitality without salutary tendencies. Like our own handy-work, which has in itself no provision for repair, we should wear out; labour and sorrow would be the end of all our days; life would be a burden, health beyond hope, and eternity a new creation.

The Divine institution of disease requires that there should be more or less of uncertainty and irregularity in its action. Diversity and dissimilarity in the works of nature are everywhere manifest; and not less so in disease than in the classes, orders, genera, and species of the animals and vegetables of the naturalist: individuals of the same species are yet strikingly different. The vital and physical laws of the universe are unchangeable. Human health and disease are alike subect to those laws.

The qualities of physical objects all proceed from the same

source, and have certain operations each peculiar to itself, yet in harmony with every other; so that we have a complexity of result from the simplest means; which is eminently characteristic of the works of GOD.

Latitude, elevation, nature of the soil, degree of cultivation, relative position in regard to mountains, forests, rivers, &c., and general aspect of the neighbourhood, all modify the condition of man, and prove his adaptability by such effects as serve to make him understand his relations to what is around him. These relations are uniformly present, and do not require lengthy investigation nor instrumental experiments to discover their pressure; but are such as can be judged of and acted upon from our sensations alone.

It may not be in our power to comprehend the various causes of diseases that exist in nature; yet we can cultivate experience and observation to that degree of perfection, which will teach us how to act prudently and safely. Ordinary occupations rarely have anything in them incompatible with health. Disease and short life, when associated with special pursuits, are usually consequent on the omission of precautionary measures in the removal of pernicious influences. So that these influences form no valid argument against the proper exercise of such pursuits. The safety lamp of Sir Humphrey Davy protects the miner from the terrible choke-damp, which, if neglected, is almost always followed by fatal consequences; while the habitual neglect of a slower poison in other circumstances is attended with equally fatal though less sudden results. Our knowledge of the human system in health, if applied in tracing the causes of disease, will enable us to escape all such diseases as spring from ignorance and misconduct. We cannot prevent the dews of heaven, nor the heat of the sun, nor the process of decomposition; but we can understand the course and order of natural phenomena, we can trace out the laws that govern them, and ascertain our relations to them.

The gratification which the reasoning faculties constantly seek, even if it involve a sacrifice of individual health, discloses truths of universal application. And as a man tastes the delights of intellectual action, and gives way to the

impulses of his nature to pursue them, he will see in disease a Providential mercy, to encourage his willing submission to it, and to mitigate its severity: as its pains are but temporary, he can find strength to bear them patiently, if not to welcome them, in the thought of that enduring good which they are adapted and intended to work within him.

The uncertainty of the issue in any disease, however slight in the beginning, is evidence of its merciful object. Were it otherwise, were we so constituted as never to be sick but unto death, how appalling and hopeless would be the condition of man, hardened in sin by deliberate postponement of immortal concerns on account of the certainty of time! But the uncertain duration of even the most fatal diseases, guards and secures their fitness for the common purpose, and prevents them from being any exception to the Divine arrangement. Consumption, the most uniformly fatal of all diseases, is variable and insidious in its onset, fickle in its determination, and frequently cut short by the unexpected invasion of other maladies. But let us go further, and suppose disease to be of one kind only, and always fatal at a particular period. Then the case would be much aggravated. A death-bed repentance would be the universal reliance. While health continued there would be no concern for the future state. Feeling sure of time for necessary preparation, convenience and necessity would take the place of duty; and the deceptions of weakness and bewilderment, instead of strength and clear perception in the full enjoyment of health and faculties, would determine the chances of eternity!

On the other hand, men sometimes die without the intervention of disease-are suddenly cut off in the full possession of health. But such deaths are rare, and are exceptions to the law of nature. And how would it be if they were the rule instead of the exception? How indescribably dreadful would be the fear of certain sudden death! The whole of life would consist in the dread of impending danger, pleasure would be unexperienced and unknown, and civilization among the things that are not.

In short, it is only by the present arrangement of disease that its Divine origin can be approved, and its beneficence dis

cerned. In any other way, it woul i have no analogy to the diversity every where manifest in natural phenomena, nor would it serve the merciful purpose for which it was ordained.

Disease was not instituted simply as the road to death, or it would have been uniform and certain in its course. True happiness consists in the influence of religion, to which the whole of life should be devoted. That fullness of communion with GOD which actuates the most kindly emotions, induces peace, inspires love, and waits for heaven, is more or less the fruit of disease. All the finest feelings of our nature are brought into exercise and nourished by it. When strength is laid low, and man is made to feel and see his dependence on his fellow-men, who has watched the skill of the truly Christian physician, and seen the sympathy of his full heart overflow, lest, through too much confidence in human aid, the purpose of GOD may not be fully accomplished ;-who has seen this and not felt the benefit of the sick room? What heart is so hard as to be proof against the tender attentions required by intense pain and the feverish excitement of protracted suffering? And, when disease appears in its sternest aspect-when the physician has to take the responsibility of hazarding the most intense suffering with the last bare hope of relief-with what sympathy, what self-denying devotion, the wife, the mother, the sister, the friend, aye, the enemy, and the most abandoned of mankind, find their feelings softened!-each and every human soul confesses that it is in mercy and not in wrath that GOD has sent disease into the world. All conflict with this conclusion is removed by our blessed LORD's answer to the question, "Master, who did sin? this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind? Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of GOD should be made manifest in him."

The apparent punishment of Azariah with leprosy for prc fanity, and of Gehazi for covetousness and falsehood, was in reality a correction in mercy. And in like manner were the punishments of the Israelites: "When Thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against Thee, and confess Thy name and pray and make supplication, then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people." The purpose of such judgments was not to punish