before men." Practical godliness supposes consistent and open profession. What remains to be said in view of these features of practical godliness must relate to its supreme importance. And at the outset it may tend to impress our minds more deeply on the subject if we ponder certain statements of Holy Writ. Saul, king of Israel, made a credible profession of religion, and bade fair as a man of God. He was zealous for the law, and rigidly adhered to the ritual of service and worship. But he lacked the inner life. Thoroughly formed principle had no place in his bosom, so that whenever it appeared expedient to transgress, he was ready to sacrifice true propriety. On one testing occasion he had done so, and the word of the Lord came unto him, 1 Sam. xv. 22, 23: "And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” "To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice," Prov. xxi. 3. Listen to the beautiful soliloquy and appeal of Micah Micah vi. 6—8, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" And now it may be observed, concerning this practical godliness, that It is the only religion that has evidence of genuineness.-Most certainly, that only can be a divinely appointed and sustained religion that "loves righteousness and hates iniquity." No other can have the impress of His approval "who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity." What, it may be asked, is the design of a religion for man, if it be not to make him really holy now, and to fit him for a holy future? We may be very orthodox in faith; very evangelical in our views; very zealous in the maintenance and propagation of our sentiments; we may be identified with a scriptural church, and live uncomplained of by its members or officers ;-but if we are gay and pleasure-loving; if we choose for our companions the fashionable and the trifling, instead of those who fear God; if we love the opera-house better than the house of prayer, and the hilarity and laughter of the careless, rather than the meeting for devotion; if the service of God is secondary, and that of mammon primary; if we can indulge in evil tempers, detracting and backbiting conversation, tale-bearing, gossip, while we seldom speak of Christ, and do not seek to commend him to our fellow-men; then, reader, judge ye if this can be genuine religion. Was it to create this for man that the Father spared not his well-beloved? Was it for such a thing as this that Christ died? Can this be dignified with the name, salvation? Are there in this any of the features of the Holy Spirit's work? Can these, with any propriety of speech, be called "disciples of Christ,"- "saints and faithful in Christ,"called, and chosen, and faithful,' '-"the dear children of God,"(6 pilgrims, strangers, sojourners in the world,"-" heirs of the inheritance which is incorruptible," &c.? It cannot be! Only practical godliness is genuine. 66 It is the only religion from which springs true enjoyment.-That which is false and hollow is not fitted to impart happiness. Men may amuse themselves with deceits, but they cannot trust them; unless indeed they are given over to a strong delusion, that they believe a lie, and assuredly that is not to be happy. We are so constituted as to be without abiding satisfaction apart from repose in God, as our chief good and portion,—a state of the affections which can have no existence otherwise than in connection with practical godliness. They who seek their pleasure in sensual gratification, or who glow with the fire of ambition, or who make an idol of the pleasures of taste, or who are worshippers of mammon, always find in their bitter experience that they have "fed on ashes;" "a deceived heart hath turned them aside.' The sigh of disappointment seems to articulate the question, "Who will show us any good?" They are not happy. Nor have pleasure and folly-loving professors of religion any abiding satisfaction. They are conscious of inconsistency, and that consciousness is as a worm at the root of the gourd under which they have taken shelter. They know too much of "the powers of the world to come" to be content ever to live, and then to die, amid their present pursuits and scenes. This makes them afraid. Besides, they dare not take full draughts of the consolations of the gospel; indeed, they feel that such are not for them: without practical godliness, they have no right to appropriate them. We read of the blessedness of "the poor in spirit," of "the meek," of "the merciful," of those "who hunger and thirst after righteousness," and of "the persecuted for Christ's sake;" but we never read of the blessedness of the gay, the worldly, the selfish, or of the hungry and thirsty after mammon. "O fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him;" but those who have no practical godliness do not fear the Lord. How intolerably wretched was Saul, king of Israel, because of his want of practical godliness! It was this lack during so many years of inconsistency which drew from Solomon the bitter exclamation, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." This was the bane of those churches in Asia so solemnly warned and reproved in the Apocalypse. Much of the happiness of genuine | religion is found in the growth of the celestial plant; but the mere imitation, however perfect, cannot grow, it is not a thing of life! It is the only religion that can be useful to others.-There is no 1 fitness for usefulness in our Lord's kingdom apart from practical godliness. In the mysterious workings of his all-wise providence, he can make wicked men useful in the fulfilment of his purposes; but such are not the agents he employs to enlighten and to save. There are exceptions to confirm the rule, but the rule itself is, that eminent piety is essential to eminent usefulness. The ground of this is two-fold. First of all, no man without practical godliness can be really in earnest for human salvation. He may be zealous in building up a party, but he weeps not over lost and ruined souls, nor does he toil and pray with intensity of desire for their conversion. The preciousness of his own soul is not in such a state realized; he has no lively conviction of the wickedness and misery of sin; nor has he any longings of spirit for the glory of the Redeemer. One cannot expect grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles. It is in vain that we look for the cedar of Lebanon where only can grow the heath of the desert. As little may we anticipate earnestness, without practical religion. Secondly, without this element influence is essentially defective. If "the salt have lost its savour, it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot." "If the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness!" What can be expected from the influence of a professor of religion, however sound he may be in the faith, who neglects family worship and religion,-who shows his children continually how secondary is his attachment to the sanctuary and to the God of the sanctuary, and how supreme is his interest in this world's goods, and in the god of this world? These are false epistles of Christ, who go forth only to deceive. They are ensnaring lights on the coast, which greatly endanger the voyager. They are clouds without water, which grievously deceive the thirsty earth, and mock the expectations of the weary traveller. Nothing can be more unfitted for usefulness; indeed, few things are so pernicious. Behold the importance of practical godliness! It is the only religion that honours God.-" Religion," as defined by Johnson, is "virtue, as founded upon reverence of God, and expectation of future rewards and punishments.' If man be sunk in guilt and depravity, God must be the author, is indeed the only possible author of a system or plan by which this virtue may be restored to the human character. To him alone is the glory due for the nature and effects of the scheme of redemption and salvation. But in order to that glory there must be virtue,—in other words, practical godliness. Without this a slur is cast upon the pian of salvation, adherence to which is professed by the inconsistent disciple. An attempt is made to mock God; and the woe is incurred of the man who striveth with his Maker." God is not glorified in hollow-hearted, lifeless, false profession, except in its punishment. This does not show forth his praise, or adorn his doctrine; it rather grieves his Holy Spirit, and wounds the Saviour in the house of his friends. Nor without practical godliness is the soul itself in a condition truly to worship and do homage to the Most High. It cannot have sympathy with spiritual exercises. There is no drawing nigh unto God. Its expression is not, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." No religion can actively honour the Lord which is not practically holy. Finally, It is the only religion that ends well.-In connection with this alone is the "eternal life" which "God has given us in his Son." "He that hath not the Son hath not life ;" and "if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." That only can end well which is genuine, which is true,—that from which springs happiness, which only can be useful to others, and by which alone is God honoured. How solemn and emphatic are the words of Scripture on this point! Do the five foolish virgins knock in their agony at the door after it is shut? the voice from within utters the terrific words, Depart; "Verily I say unto you, I know you not." Hear ye not the utterance of the great Redeemer himself, "Not every one who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven?" Behold then the supreme importance of practical godliness! It only can end well, did we say? The term is recalled; it hath a blessed issue, but it never ends! Here, at last, is something that endures that is permanent-that flows a perennial stream for ever. The unregenerated hath nothing of this sort, nor the inconsistent professor; but the truly godly have eternal life! Its pulsations never fail-its heart ever beats-its sympathies ever glow-its fire ever burns. This plant flourishes most when transplanted into the paradise of God. Now hath come salvation! Montreal, October 5, 1848. H. W. ON TOLERATION. By Toleration is meant, a liberty to worship God according to a person's conscience, without any encouragement from the civil government on the one hand, or any fear of infliction of punishment on the other. That intolerance is contrary to Scripture appears from the following passages: "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of," &c., Luke ix. 54; "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual," &c., 2 Cor. x. 4; and from several others. Calm reasoning, persuasion, explairing our own opinions, showing the falsehood of the contrary opinions in a composed, rational, and convincing manner; proving the thing from the Holy Scripture, to show the conformity of our tenets with the Christian law, and these proposed in the spirit of meekness, without gall, bitterness, or invective; also earnest prayer to God that he would enlighten the minds of our fellow-creatures ;-these are the methods which alone are proper, and may be justifiably used for the conver ligion. sion of those who err in matters of re- conscience' sake, but never to whip, To these may be added, a con-imprison, or kill; for indeed it is not the nature of lambs to destroy or devour any. It is quite contrary to the nature of Christ's gospel and ministry to use any force or violence in the gathering of souls to him. His reproof to the sons of Zebedee shows that such kind of zeal was noways approved of by him; and those who think to make way for Christ and his gospel by this means, do not understand what spirit they are of. The word of the Lord saith, "Not by power and by might, but by the Spirit of the Lord," Zech. iv. 6. But intolerant persons say, "Not by the Spirit of the Lord, but by might and carnal power." sistent conduct, or an acting up to the The kingdom of Christ is altogether different from the kingdoms of this world, and the rules and principles of it differ also from all worldly and political rules and principles. The propagators of the gospel are often to suffer by the wicked, but never to cause the wi.ked to suffer. When Christ sends forth his disciples, he tells them he sends them forth "as lambs among wolves," Matt. x. 16; to be willing to be devoured, but not to devour; to be whipped, imprisoned, and killed for Christ hath made this matter plain in the parable of the tares, Matt. xiii.; of which we have his own interpretation. He expounds them to be the children of the wicked one, and yet he will not have the servants to meddle with them, lest they pull up the wheat therewith. Although these servants saw the tares, and had a certain discerning of them, yet Christ would not they should meddle, lest they should hurt the wheat; thereby intimating that that capacity in man to be mistaken ought to be a bridle upon him, to make him wary in such matters; and therefore to prevent this hurt, he gives a positive prohibition: "But he said, Nay," &c. It is argument, and evident demonstration of reason, together with the power of God reaching the heart, that can change a man's mind from one opinion to another, and not knocks and blows, and such like things, which may well destroy the body, but never can inform the soul; it being the nature of the soul either to accept or reject |