is the amount of philanthropy, that will admit of the slightest comparison with that of the church? By the church we mean, not that various multitude who have agreed to corrupt the gospel down to their own level; but the men who have embraced the substance of the Christian doctrine, and borne the fair impress of its sanctity and beneficence. The existence of anything resembling an association for purposes purely benevolent, was unknown in the earth, until called forth by the generous influence of Christianity. These, it has now so multiplied, that they can scarcely be enumerated; and along with them, are the many confederacies of devout men, which contemplate nothing less than a universal diffusion of the truth, and the salvation of the word of God. All these movements indicate, that the obligations of men with regard to each other, are more widely understood, and more adequately felt. And as this state of things is peculiar to regions which the scriptures have enlightened, it reminds us of those surpassing motives, in favour of whatever is just and compassionate, which the scriptures have supplied. Nor is it possible to foresee the extent of those changes, which this principle of voluntary association in the cause of religion and humanity is yet to produce.

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CHAP. VIII.

THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE, AS CONNECTED WITH

-PERSECUTION.

A patriot's blood,

Well spent in such a strife, may earn indeed,

And for a time ensure, to his loved land

The sweets of liberty, and equal laws;

But martyrs struggle for a brighter prize,
And win it with more pain.

COWPER.

TOWARD the close of the epistle to the Hebrews, an appeal is made to the history of the church, as exhibiting the triumphs of faith. The sacred writer begins with Abel. The mind is then conducted through a travel of nearly four thousand years, and becomes associated with patriarchs, and prophets, and devout men, who, during that lengthened interval, had borne testimony to the truth, amid much affliction, and in the face of the utmost danger. Some of these, it is observed, had trials of cruel mockings, and scourg

ings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheep skins, and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

The object of the apostle when adverting to these facts, is to urge on the converted Hebrews an imitation of examples so truly noble. With the same view, he calls their attention, in conclusion, to a still more memorable instance of patient suffering, under the same kind of evil. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. FOR CONSIDER HIM THAT

ENDURED SUCH CONTRADICTION OF SINNERS AGAINST HIMSELF, LEST YE BE WEARIED AND FAINT IN YOUR

MINDS. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

In this chapter, we have to consider the warfare of the believer as connected with PERSECUTION. In doing this, it will behove us to Explain what we mean, by the term Persecution; and to notice something of the manner in which the spirit so designated still Manifests itself. We shall then be prepared to consider its dangerous Tendencies, with regard to the Christian, and the provisions of the Gospel as Opposed to them,

I. Men sometimes speak of being persecuted when exposed to repeated importunities, of a nature not exactly agreeable to them. But this is a

light, and improper use of the term. It denotes an unjust employment of power. It is a substitution of authority, or resentment, in the place of reason and persuasion. It is always understood as including a feeling the opposite of benevolence. The persecutor would accomplish by force, what should only be sought by means of conviction. His appeal is not to the gratitude, or the love of the human heart, so much as to its fears, and its selfishness. He denies to others, the freedom which he claims for himself; and is ever ready to employ the law of the strongest, that those who differ from him may be kept beneath him. It is true, the influence of education, and of circumstances, is frequently such, that men become, in some important respects, voluntary slaves, and may therefore appear to act but consistently, in endeavouring to impose a yoke upon their fellows. This has often been the case with those who have subjected themselves to the bondage of the Romish church. Having resigned their own spiritual freedom, they become the enemies of such freedom wherever it exists. While burning their fellow-creatures, on account of some alleged error in doctrine, they have professed to consider the penalty awarded, as no more than should be attendant on any similar delinquency, if occurring in the case of their nearest connexions, or in themselves.

Such men must, nevertheless, be designated persecutors. Their boasted equity is a wretched subterfuge, though it may not always appear to

them in that light. They are chargeable with a forbidden use of power. They are equally without a right to surrender their own freedom, or to become the foe of it in other men. And, in fact, they do not mean what they say, when they speak of the punishment that would be due to themselves, should they learn to hold prohibited opinions. The simple and obvious truth is, they would have that restraint to be a matter of necessity in the instance of their neighbour, which is a matter of choice in their own :—a somewhat singular mode of evincing consistency!

If required to state, in few words, what should be understood by the term persecution, in matters of religion, we answer, that wherever injury or suffering is inflicted, purely on account of religious opinion, or of any religious practice, not opposed to the acknowledged laws of society, there is persecution. A degree of suffering, indeed, may be inseparable from our subjection to the laws of brotherly reproof. But this is not to be included in the above statement, since we must suppose all such reproof to be the offspring of benevolent feeling; and to be administered in a manner, which should make it conducive to the advantage of the sufferer. The man who would deprive me of my substance, or of my personal liberty, as the punishment of my religious peculiarities, is not more certainly, a persecutor, than is the person, who, for the same reason, has endeavoured to lower my reputation, or to inflict an unnecessary wound upon