Observer, May 1,72.

responsibility bestowed by God upon man, of the will to choose good or evil. Some might say that her theory was a melancholy and hopeless attempt at the solution of social difficulties, but she believed it to be far from hopeless if it were admitted that the spirit of man was capable of illumination and his moral nature capable of being renewed. Mrs. Butler traced the present inequality in the requirements of society with regard to male and female morality to the natural tendency of the stronger to obtain the victory of the weaker, working with the animal passions. This tendency had led men to impose a strict rule of continence and fidelity upon women, while it allowed license to their own sex. That strict rule had only been imposed upon a part of the female sex, and had brought about the hideous anomaly of setting apart one portion of women for license and unspeakable degradation, and the other portion for maintaining the conve nience of domestic life and the building up of families. The Christian religion sets up an equal standard, of morality for both sexes; it proclaims an absolute rule of personal purity on all alike, and as if to correct, with scourging, the falsehood of the existing double standard, Christ threw the whole weight of His authority into His rebukes of male profligacy, while with infinite tenderness, He restored the slave of man's lust to her place among the free. When Chrysostom first preached that doctrine of equality to the ladies of Constantinople, the latter were so bound down by conventional ideas that they screamed at him in the church and threw their fans and scent-bottles at him. They could feel a certain sympathy for the poor preacher, for again in these latter days God had called forth a band of preachers to the doctrine-new and strange doctrine it would seem-of essential moral purity for man equally with woman. The existence in society of the false standard was evident wherever they turned. Mothers, even Christian mothers, still whispered to their daughters that they must not be too hard on men, that men would be men and their errors must be over-looked. The very language of the day is tainted by the prevailing falsehood, as shown in such phrases as "fallen women." They heard of "fallen angels". and of "fallen women;" but who ever heard of "fallen men?" Is it that man is incapable of falling, or has man raised for himself a standard of morality so little raised from the ground that a fall from it is impossible? It has been said that the laws of the country were deeply responsible for fostering the false standard, and that they had a moral victory to effect before they could win a political one. That were a terrible fact if true. What must be the moral condition of our lawmakers if those foul enactments were embodiments of it? Mrs. Butler went on to speak of the unequal provisions of certain Acts, and severely censured the pharisaical self-righteousness of many of their legislators. She pointed out that the needy condition of women of the humbler classes greatly aggravated the injustice of the unequal judgment of society, and that in order to obviate women going upon the streets through want, new avenues of employment must be opened up for them. Much might be done towards blotting out the false standard by the more careful education of their boys. By educating them more in company with their sisters and friends they would produce a modesty and simplicity of character which it was difficult to obtain with long absence from each other's society, which made periods of reunion periods of harmful frivolity and excitement. Finally, she expressed her faith in the working classes and in the aid of God.

A vote of thanks, moved by Mr. W. Morgan, and seconded by Mr. R. S. Martineau was unanimously passed.

Observer, May 1, 72.

REFLECTIONS.

ONE of the first objects of the reformation, for which we plead, is to bring people to a more simple and practical view of Faith, as the essential principle of all spiritual life. To this end it has been a constant aim with all our preachers and writers, to state and illustrate the great proposition, that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," as the embodiment of all Christian truth, as distinguished from all other kinds of truth. We have maintained this to be the Christian Faith, objectively considered, and the belief of it with the whole heart, as subjectively the act of the mind, that brings us to the obedience of Christ, and, consequently, to the enjoyment of all the promises of God in the gospel of His grace.

As this is fundamental in our presentation of the gospel, any misapprehension of our meaning here, must place us in a false light, to the mind labouring under that misapprehension. Supposing him to understand our meaning correctly, when we lay this great truth before the world for its faith, and that he still objects to our procedure, we must meet his objection and remove it, before we can induce him to accept the Saviour and his religion intelligently and Scripturally.

Now, we are inclined to think, that if our contemporaries understood this matter, that is what we mean by believing with all the heart, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, their objections would disappear. It seems to us that they and we differ more in respect to terms than things; that our disagreement is more verbal than real. They look upon this proposition as a truth accepted, logically or historically, by multitudes who never obey Jesus, or have any respect for His authority, while we contend that no one can be said, Scripturally, to believe this understandingly and sincerely, without yielding himself, body, soul and spirit, in loving submission to Him-as his Prophet to instruct him, his Priest to sanctify him and his King to rule over him.

With us the Messiahship is the Christian faith, and in confessing that, the man that believes it, places himself under the most solemn obligation to accept all that it implies. If Jesus be the Christ, the anointed of the Father, then all He teaches the world is to be accepted as the truth of God. The simple fact that Christ says so is enough; we both believe Him and believe in Him. We may differ about what He may mean in any given case; it is freely conceded we may mistake His meaning in what He reveals, or in what He commands; but, given His meaning, we allow no place for hesitation in receiving His teaching, or doing His will. He says so is an end to all controversy, that is final. To falter here is incipient unbelief; to refuse submission is to reject all authority given Him of God. "Hear ye him," was God's authoritative utterance on the Mount of Transfiguration, immediately following the grand announcement, "This is my Son, the Beloved." When, then, we believe in the Scripture sense, that Jesus is the Christ, we receive Him as our teacher; and all He reveals of God, Himself, human duty and destiny, must be accepted without exception and without a doubt.

The same may be said in respect to the other relations He sustains to us. As our Priest He saves us by His blood, sanctifies us by His Spirit, helps our infirmities, and pleads our cause before God. As our King He rules over us, protects us, and will ultimately enfranchise us in heaven.

It is thus seen that we regard the good confession as embracing in epitome the whole of Christian duty. That it is a grand generalization.

Observer, May 1, '72.

In fact that it is our confession of faith, the very sign and symbol of our adoption into the family of God. Such being the case, it ought to relieve us from the obloquy often heaped upon us and our profession; that if a man say he believes Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is baptized, he becomes a Christian. In our sense, this is the truth, the simple truth; in the sense of our opponents it is not true, for we include in it more than they ever conceived.

In justification of our position, in making the confession of the Messiahship the only condition precedent to baptism, we can plead the positive declarations of Scripture, and the fact that for many years after the apostles nothing more was ever required. "If thou believest thou mayest," expresses the practice of the apostles and evangelists of the New Testament, and that of the church till the simplicity of the primitive Christians was destroyed by the introduction of pagan and papal rites, that changed the beautiful and expressive ordinances of Christ into the pomp and pageantry of the great apostacy.

To hold, then, the Lordship of Jesus, as faith of the heart upon the testimony of God, given through prophecy and miracle, and confirmed by the wonderful life and character of our Redeemer, is to accept all His teaching, to trust in Him for salvation and to yield to Him affectionate obedience in all things. This it is to be a Christian. None others are. This it is to have true Christian faith. None other is. Not more surely does sense bring the outer world, with all its rich provisions of God's bounty, to nourish and delight the body and mind of man, than does this faith bring to his spirit the things unseen and eternal. walk by faith, not by sight." In Jesus the Christ are treasured all the fulness and glory of the Godhead substantially; so that he that believeth on the Son of God hath life, and he that believeth not on Him hath not life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.

SOUND UTTERANCES.

"We

G.

THE New York Observer, in reviewing the question, as to whether women have the right to preach in pulpits, gives utterance to the following sentiment: “The most of all the controversies in the Church have grown out of the unreadiness of human nature to accept the authority of the word of God, as the end of strife."

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Again : Christianity is the religion of the Bible. To be a Christian requires submission to the will of God, as taught in the Bible. To accept a part of it, and reject or pervert the rest of it, is treason. Many creeds, and confessions, and platforms, have been made for the purpose of giving the human idea of the Divine mind; and there is, therefore, imperfection in all human improvements upon the Bible as a rule of faith and practice. Yet, some men exalt their human laws above the Divine."

The same principles which apply to this woman question, which the Editor handles so Scripturally and expertly, applies with equal force to other religious propositions, of still greater importance. We are exceedingly glad to see representative Presbyterians, such as the Editors of the Observer, lay down correct principles for the guidance and benefit of others, even if they violate them in their own practice. It shows that they are theoretically right, though, in some things, practically wrong. If only their practice corresponded with their rules of Scriptural exegesis, what a

Observer, May 1, '72.

mighty power they could exert. But, inasmuch as they started in wrong, and inasmuch as they are too proud to correct their theological mistakes, they are kept in a state of constant fermentation by the fact, that while essaying to correct their contemporaries in their deviations from the truth, they are, themselves, daily confronted by their own blunders, which are thrust upon them by their opponents. The theological warfare, which has been going on for fifty years, and still continues unabated, has, by force of the Divine testimonies and logical conclusions, driven these Presbyterians to give up Calvinism as a distinctive tenet of the Church, and as a test of Christian fellowship. The same with regard to Arminianism. As neither of the systems can be sustained by the Scriptures, so neither of them can be made identical with Christianity, and, therefore, in this crucial age of criticism, they must both go by the board. Infant baptism is going in the same way. Sectarian names have lost their effect on the intelligent masses. Confessions of faith are hid away, and thousands are ashamed to confess that they were ever enslaved by them. You will insult a man if you dare to offer him a human creed. The mould of the ages is gathering upon the trumpery of scholasticism.

The crucial test is being applied to every living Bible issue of the day. The day of dogmatism has passed. The protest of an enlightened age confronts Protestantism. Protestant Churches must adjust their differences, and square their creeds by the infallible test of the Bible, or suffer the sharp criticisms of the Romish Church, or be shamed into reformation by the taunts of a sceptical world. The circumstances of the religious and sceptical world place Protestantism in close quarters. It must reform, or succumb to the pressure. All great Protestant leaders feel this, and how to get out of their entanglements, is the perplexing question. It is refreshing to listen to their enunciations of truth, and invigorating to the soul, to see them lay down correct principles of interpretation. This is, indeed, a healthful sign of the times. Miserable and confounded as we are sometimes, we feel as if the dawn of a splendid epoch was about to burst upon us, more refulgent of supernal glory, and more hopeful of grand and stirring events, than anything that has yet preceded us since the inauguration of the Christian era. If the principles, now daily declared by the great Protestants leaders of the day, are strictly adhered to, and stoutly maintained, they must not only, by the necessity of the case, yield up their false tenets and traditions, but they must at once occupy unassailable ground, and intrench themselves behind the fortifications of the Bible, to which they are now driven as their sole ground of defence. There is no mistaking the fact, that sectarianism is crumbling; and until the readjustment of the religious elements, and the polarization of the truth around the one grand proposition of the Bible, we shall appear, for a while, to be adrift, and to be in the hands of the enemy. And many will become faint of heart, and go back; and many will hope and pray, in the midst of their alarms; and many will cry to God for help, in the dark hour of trial; but those who are self-reliant, and confide in God, see light ahead, and as a matter of course, anticipate the auspicious day of glorious achievement.

To-day I hung up my oil chromo of Alexander Campbell, the grand old hero who, fifty years ago, proclaimed, the length and breadth of the land, the very principles of reformation which are only now beginning to be appreciated by the leading men of the present generation. How majestic that brow! how penetrating those eagle eyes! how life-like that genial

and beaming countenance! how resolute every feature, as I saw him in the days of his glory! how thrilling that heroic expression! how suggestive of a great and glorious man!

Intelligence of Churches, &c.