Be

ing Himself and manifesting to principalities and powers his manifold wisdom in saving sinners, it is surely to his honor that we should credit that revelation, and frankly avow our faith in the record which He has given us of his Son. This is to confess Christ before men. It is, moreover, conducive to the stability and peace of the church, to have the principles of the Gospel distinctly declared in the confession which is the bond of Christian union. And when persons have, before uniting with the church, endeavored to obtain certainty, or a fair and full decision upon the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel, and can say, “I know what I believe," they may be expected to derive comfort and strength from the open profession of that faith. They will be more free and manly to work in it, to hope in it, and to die in it. Besides, the profession is a testimony to the world, which the world needs, and which can be conveyed to it in no way so impressively as by the public avowal of our faith in the leading doctrines of the Gospel. it that some of the doctrines are offensive to unregenerate minds, and are accounted foolishness; still they are a part of our revealed Christianity, and really they are the wisdom of God. We have no reason to be reluctant to avow them, much less to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Men need to learn what Christianity is, and to learn it, not only from preaching, but from the profession of Christians, that they may read the true Gospel of Christ from his "living Epistles," and that they may understand what, we think, should be the condition of membership in the church. It is a poor compliment, which those pay to the Christian religion, who reduce their articles of faith to the minimum of a simple declaration of belief in Christianity, or a few general platitudes of religious doctrine; as if the Bible had no positive and distinct revelations of momentous truth, but left us to grope in wide and foggy regions of theological indefiniteness. Certainly the Christian Scriptures warrant that definiteness of doctrinal statement in the creeds of our churches, which characterizes the theological expositions of Calvin, Edwards, or the Westminster Assembly. The independence of Congregational churches with respect to their creeds operates to diminish the traditional authority of the creeds, which prevails more in consolidated bodies of Presbyterians,

Episcopalians, or Methodists, but it encourages thought and stanch intelligent conviction in individuals in consenting to the standard of faith. In our congregational polity, we sacrifice something of the esprit du corps for the sake of individual strength and discrimination, and thereby gain a more complete union to Jesus Christ through an enlightened faith in the doctrines professed.

We must not lose sight of the unquestionable fact, that Christianity has an intense individuality, beginning its benign work with the individual, and not with the corporate church. "The kingdom of God is within you." It aims to regenerate the world by the conversion of individuals. It advances, "not with observation," but by the silent, unseen work in the quiet parish, and in the quiet heart. A standing in the church is secondary to personal godliness. When a person is converted, he will desire to occupy his proper place in the organization of the church, which is Christ's body. He must survey the Christian sects, and inquire how they severally understand the Bible, that he may enter that one whose creed and polity suit him best, as containing the system of doctrines taught in the Holy Scriptures. If he sees himself depraved, polluted, ruined, lost, in need of regeneration and atonement, then he could not accept the Universalist system, nor the Unitarian, nor the Pelagian, nor the Arminian system; but he can, in fundamentals, agree with any evangelical denomination. He must join the denomination with which his faith best agrees, and with which he can best act in harmony; where he shall find himself in the ranks of a sympathizing and consciously agreeing people, each individual strengthening his neighbor's hand. This sort of unity is a blessed union, not a blazoned pretence; it is a reality, not a sham.

It is no doubt better that, for the present, there should be a diversity of denominations. The Almighty Governor of the world deduces good from it. For illustration of this, we need only to call attention to what may be called the division of labor, like what is developed more and more in the industrial processes of civilized society. Men gain in expedition, efficiency, and heartiness in the several departments of work, by each one working according to his adaptations, and attain bet

ter results by this balancing of forces in the division of labor. There is very little reason for the antagonisms of professions and trades. But even the delusive preference and prominence which each individual is apt to accord to his own calling may work well for society. So the diversity of the Christian sects, in the wisdom of Providence, operates, to a considerable extent, to bring about good results. Ideas of vital moment are kept alive by the zeal of sects; activity is stimulated by a really noble emulation; earnestness is maintained by rival bodies provoking each other to love and good works, whereas, otherwise, they might sink into the dulness of a stupid and lifeless uniformity. These are not the highest motives of action. But in speaking of man, we have to acknowledge at every step that he is fallen. In his best estate, his motives are not often the simplest and the highest which might be; but they are strongly mixed. In the multiplicity of sects, God is ordering it well, that Christian love and zeal should flow through the world not in one broad river, making its immediate banks verdant and fruitful, and leaving the rest an arid desert, but in many little rivers, creeks, and rills, fertilizing the mountain sides and the valleys in their course. There are differences of temperament, cast of mind, and education which demand different shades of doctrinal statement and different modes of administration and church action.

The advocacy of an honest and uncompromising creed is not a plea for sectarianism, nor is its aim or tendency to divide. Sectarianism, fired with "a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge," is an evil, which has often plagued the church. But sectarianism in the church of Christ is not the only evil, nor the worst. Laodicean apathy is a deeper evil. The tendency of poor drowsy humanity is to fall asleep, and lapse into a spiritual state of stagnation, indifference, death. In that state, men hide their eyes from the light of God's Word, - have a distaste for creeds and doctrinal discussion, and, omitting the weightier matters of the Christian religion, they content themselves with loyalty to man, with the custom of society, and an easy respectability. Sectarianism is antagonistic to this, and merits some mitigation of our condemnation of it for its protest and resistance against a form of depravity so odious and de

structive. The Christian ought to desire union. But what union? The answer is, that union in which Christians are "of one mind and one spirit"; in which the watchmen shall "see eye to eye" and speak the same "truth in love"; and in which the church shall act together for common ends and by common means. A disposition to divide is surely bad in its nature. Yet, as the world is, there must be division, and the truth proves the occasion of it. The Lord Jesus apprised his disciples of his bringing division into the world. Every great revival of religion has occasioned division and debate. This fact is important. It is well to settle it in our minds that Christianity is an unwelcome light in this dark world, a fermenting leaven, a two-edged sword piercing to heal, and tending always to "turn the world upside down." And no yearning for peace must be permitted to neutralize this effect, nor to abate our zeal to spread the Gospel of our Lord.

In our endeavors to leaven the world with Christianity, we should work in hope, depending on God to give demonstration and power to the truth for the salvation of individual souls. The world has too entirely cut itself off from allegiance to God to warrant the hope of its being easily and speedily won back and reconciled by simple declaration of error, and proclamation of truth. Hope that kindles at the idea of the world's being friendly to the reception of Gospel truth, will end in disappointment and sorrow. We must hold fast the form of sound words, and preach the Gospel to all the world, — gathering ever fresh and exultant hope from the promise of our Lord, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Great is the office of the theologian and pastor. Soundness in doctrine is of vital importance. So is the Spirit of Christianity, the heart in the ministerial work, the human sympathy, which can be acquired in no school but that of Christ. The grand practical work before him is the world's conversion, — that done, all is done. He may not see it accomplished, but he should labor for it; so should all Christians, and then expect, at the end, to receive the crown.

ARTICLE VII.

GIBEAH- A LESSON FOR THE TIMES.

"And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel." -Judges xxi. 15.

THIS was while Phinehas was high-priest, and therefore during the days of the elders that overlived Joshua," and while Israel yet" served the Lord." Yet idolatry had begun to creep in, and had not been punished, and there was a growing relaxation of manners and morals, which the magistrates did not repress.

A crime, equalled in vileness and atrocity only by that attempted, but not accomplished, in Sodom on the night before its destruction, had been committed in Gibeah. Gibeah was a city of Benjamin, of seven hundred fighting men, and therefore of three or four thousand inhabitants. But a few of them could have been engaged in the crime, or had any knowledge of it when committed.

The principal surviving sufferer, though a conscientious, religious man, of easy temper, was terribly exasperated, and, instead of appealing to the elders of Gibeah, or of Benjamin, whose duty it was to punish the crime, made a most awfully exciting appeal to all Israel against them. The appeal took effect. A mass meeting of four hundred thousand was held at Mizpeh, and Benjamin "heard" of it. The sufferer addressed the meeting, and they swore vengeance against Gibeah. They sent messengers through the whole tribe of Benjamin, charging the tribe, virtually, with connivance at this wickedness, and demanding that the criminals should be delivered up to be punished. Many of the Benjamites, probably, never heard of the crime before, and were incensed at what seemed to them an unjust accusation. The demand, too, was unconstitutional. It was not the duty of Benjamin to deliver up the criminals, but to punish them; and if they had felt as they ought about the crime, they would have punished them, notwithstanding any provocation to the contrary. But instead of that, they thought only of the unjust accusation and unlawful demand,