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other sufficient helper. As Christians we expect no other "teacher sent from God;"-He is "the mediator between God and men." There have been many martyrs, many faithful defenders of the truth, in various ages of the world, but there has never been but one Redeemer. To him we look in hope of the world's sanctification. Before the foundations of the earth were laid, God sealed his Son to this holy mission of the world's deliverance from the bondage of evil. Whatever methods were necessary to make the end certain, infinite wisdom has devised, and infinite love made operative. But all these agencies centre in the "one Lord." Christ contains within himself the help we need. That help we must have. Sadly is the world in need of it to-day. But the only way in which we can obtain it, is to "seek," and then we "shall find." Human nature, noble as are its endowments, has shown itself impotent under the influence of the withering depravity which every'where abounds. There is no justification of the somewhat prevalent error, that man unassisted can find his way to God -that human nature by its own inherent powers is capable of lifting itself clear of all imperfections, and so does not need special Divine help. The whole course of history is opposed to such a view of man's efficiency. Even of the ancient religions, however given to man,-it is true that the nearer we. get to their origin the purer they are. Man left to himself corrupts everything he touches. Take Christ and the influences of God's gracious Spirit out of the world, and humanity would be irrevocably condemned to hopeless ruin. Nor does the circumstance that the body dies lessen the dependence of the soul. upon Christ as the only Saviour. That death will largely increase the soul's opportunity for growth in grace seems too plain to be disputed. Paul's doctrine of the war among his members is of universal application. The passions of the body tempt the soul astray. The soul consents to the temptation and so is stained by guilt. Death will liberate the spirit from this bondage to the flesh. The change of condition will be indescribably great. "And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal im

"For

mortality." And not until we stand face to face with the realities of the eternal world, shall we know the meaning of these memorable words: "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Matt. xxii. 29–32. But great as the change necessarily must be from life in the flesh to life in the spirit, it is not to be supposed that the structure of the soul will be affected thereby. The opportunity for progress may be a thousand-fold increased, but the progress actually made comes through personal exertion as before, and not from arbitrary force. Whether in the body or out of it, Christ is the soul's Saviour, and he alone posessses the remedy that can heal it of its diseases. Obedience must be voluntary in order to be efficacious.

IV. It is the Duty of every Christian Teacher to Make the Doctrine of Personal Regeneration the most Prominent Theme in his Ministry. This is but the corollary of the three foregoing propositions. The topics which belong to the pulpit are manifold, but each should in some way relate to the spiritual health of the hearer. To convince is well; to convert is better. Right ideas in the head is the human method; right motives in the heart is the Divine method. Man is a sinner; he is to be addressed as such. Nor can much be done toward converting him, until he so far realizes his condition as to seek for help. It will not do to flatter his pride by teaching his competency to save himself, nor ease his conscience by the shallow philosophy that "whatever is is right." Sin must be treated as sin. And we need to be in earnest about the matter-look the real facts straight in the face. God help us as a people to be faithful to our great charge. And God dispose all our ministers, in their pulpit labors, and in their pastoral care, patiently and inquiringly to consider, whether they have hitherto always employed the best methods to make our holy faith the "power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." J

God help

ARTICLE IV.

Contributions of Science to Religion.

Methods of Study in Natural History. L. Agassiz. Boston: Ticknor & Fields.

LESS than eight years ago, a Doctor of Divinity in a New England State, solemnly warned his congregation from the pulpit against the infidel tendencies of Science. The immediate call for such a sacerdotal counterblast came from the presence of an itinerant geologist, who, in well-pointed and popular lectures, was discussing the past changes of the globe. But the fossils of the rock, with their immense chronology, their slow succession of rising and dying races, their intricate chains of suggestion as to the progress of the creative energy, seemed to clash violently with the more flinty fossils of the creed. There appeared no escape for Genesis against Geology, if the testimony of the eye and the judgment of reason were correct. It must be, said this new defender of the Faith, that Satan has his snares among these studies of false science. "I hold in my hand the embossed semblance of a shell, or tooth, or bone, or fish. But how do I know that it ever lived? May it not be true that God suffered the strong elements of chaos to gather into this multitude of fantastic shapes, mocking life, pointing back to an apparent history, and ages which yet have never had a being? Is it not in this very way, by these delusive dreams of knowledge, that the faith of God's people is imperilled, and the simplicity of religious truth brought to totter to its fall?"

It is perfectly true, that even the humblest exhibition of modern science opens more than one battery on the superstition lingering yet in life. The smallest truth rarely finds a vacuum waiting for it in the world. It has to push something false away, invade and occupy a corner of the human mind, already populous with error. But it never fails to win its proper place, and so there is a Millennium waiting for science as well as religion. They grow greater and purer together every day. And

when the golden year of promise comes to the Church, and faith in the unseen, fills with its glory the souls of all men, the knowledge of the laws and methods of the visible world will be universal too. Meantime the infidelity of philosophers against the Church is as vain as the protest of theologians against the rising tide of science.

The limits of the two Kingdoms are clearly marked. On one side there is the domain of observation, experiment and reason; dealing with tangible and measurable results, studying analogies and classifications, making the perfect crystal of creation furnish its own secrets of time, order, and law. On the other, is the attempt to understand and believe certain information. from a higher source as to the spiritual history and intention of the world, including man; to follow out the lines of being which science drops at death, into immortality; and so to impress these lofty truths upon the soul that it shall obey God and enjoy His heaven. Nothing can be clearer than that, if both are provinces of the great Kingdom of God, their borders must meet in peace, and a common atmosphere of harmony sweep over both. And we maintain in opposition to the bigotry already quoted, that every scientific book, if true to its sphere must be religious, and must cast the weight of its contribution of positive knowledge on the side of the power, and wisdom, and love of God.

Such, in an eminent degree is the last published group of papers by the famous Agassiz. " Methods of Study in Natural History" is imbued with a sincere religious faith. The God of medieval theology indeed is not pointed at in its reverential studies of the order of Nature; nor could we desire this. It is the believer in a final and joyous age of perfection for God's plans of goodness to the moral world that will find the delineations of these pages most delightful. They will unsettle no Christian experience and blur no Christian revelation. They will show that their illustrious author might have been the profoundest of theologians as well as the acknowledged prince of naturalists.

The study of Nature may be divided into Observation and Classification. The first requires a quick and close, the latter

a far-reaching, sight. A mere catalogue of facts, or forms, or phenomena, is only science in the crude ore. The work of distribution must follow. Time is required for this, and the broad generalizations of Natural History, or its kindred branches of knowledge, are the work of centuries;-the broadest, even now, belong to centuries yet to come. The same principles of organization that convert a mob into an army must be applied to the crowds of gathered observations, with this difference, that an army is arranged upon some human plan and model for its warfare, and the groupings of natural science must be made upon the clearly indicated plan of God. It thus becomes possible for poor, finite man, actually to open a chamber in the Creative Mind. Physically it was not for us to read beforehand the methods of preparing and furnishing the globe for the human race, or to stand upon some spiritual eminence and calmly listen while the Master Workman described and executed his vast plans. But we can penetrate so deep into the order of things, as now to reach what we may believe was the very system of arrangement with God, when he laid the foundations of the earth. To Him there must have been types of what he was to create, and when we ascertain the real essence of Nature, we see and touch the substances that correspond to them. Whether it be a simple or complex order, baffling or confirming our expectations, its lessons acquaint us, by the nearest natural avenue, with God.

The work of classifying requires a higher order of intellect than observing. And its religious suggestions are just so much the higher. Observation brings us into contact with many wonderful contrivances, and beauties, and adaptations, which show at every step the presence of a Superintending Mind. God has finished the world to the last atom, and shed the reflection of his glory on the flower and insect, the dewdrop and the worm. And thus the study of Nature is so fascinating to those delicate and loving souls, who delight to trace in the details of the Universe the hand of Heaven. Most men are better fitted to observe than generalize. The union of both qualities is rare-so rare that Cuvier and Agassiz, and Linnæus come to the same high distinction as the giants of the law or

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