What is true of Christianity in general, is equally true of its peculiar doctrines. The more rigidly they are examined, the more worthy do they appear of God; the more perfectly adapted to the condition of man; the more consistent with each other, with the lights of pure philosophy, and the discoveries of real science.

But these results which have shed, and are shedding, their lustre upon the evangelical system, combine the researches of the ablest men in the most literary periods of the world. There is no department of human knowledge which God has not laid under tribute to his word. Linguists, mathematicians, astronomers, botanists, mineralogists; chymistry, physiology, and medicine; the antiquarian, the traveller, the natural, civil, and ecclesiastical historian; commerce, agriculture, mechanics, and the fine arts—are all to be found waiting at the temple of God, opening their treasures, and presenting their gifts. Whoever has the least acquaintance with things older than himself, and without the petty circle of his personal agency, knows that the mass of all valuable learning, since the introduction of Christianity, ever has been, and is yet, in the hands of professed Christians. They have employed it in her defence, to an extent and with an effect of which thousands, who are now reaping the benefits of their efforts, can have no possible conception.

Yet, certainly, among those who have thus fortified the citadel of truth, many were believers in name only, and never tasted the salvation to the influence of which they contributed. "How much better," you will exclaim, "had they loved the Redeemer not in name only, but in deed and in truth!" How much better indeed! But how much worse, we rejoin, had they sided with his open enemies, and levelled against his word, all that artillery which they employed for it. And that such would have been the consequence had none been admitted into his church, who were not partakers of his grace, is as evident, as that a cause, left to its own operation, will produce its proper effect. We are well apprised of the contempt which some men affect to heap upon human learning. And we are equally well apprised that in this their hostility their ignorance and vain glory have at least as large a share as their spirituality of mind. Nor are we regardless of the mischief which "unsanctified learning" has done in the church of God; and of the jealousy with which, on that account, many serious people look upon learned men. But why? Shall we never distinguish between use and abuse? Learning is good in itself. The evil lies not in its nature, but in its application. Because some have prostituted their learning to pervert the truth and institutions of our Lord Jesus

Christ, shall we not accept the aid of the same weapon, rightfully used, to vindicate them? Shall we commit them to the illiterate and the stupid, in expectation of miracles to elicit wisdom from the mouth of folly? and bribe letters and genius to enlist themselves in the service of the devil? The very same objection strikes at wealth, at strength; at every power, moral and physical, which God has seen fit to create. Because "unsanctified" opulence has spread corruption through Christian communities, is it desirable that all Christians be beggars? Because strong men, if they be of quarrelsome temper, may keep a whole neighbourhood under the terrours of assault and battery, would it therefore be desirable that all Christians should be pigmies? It is the nature of every thing to work harm when misdirected, in exact proportion to its power of working good when directed well. This is a law of God's own enacting and is one of the means by which he makes sin to punish itself. Therefore, to reject a potent agency because its perversion will involve calamity proportioned to its vigour, is the very rectified spirit of absurdity. Carry your principle through; and tell your maker that he did a foolish thing in creating angels, because such of them as, by their fall, have become devils, can do infinitely more mischief than if they had been men! No-Let us put away these childish

things. If unconverted men get into the church under the cloak of a credible profession; if they remain there undetected; if they bring their wealth and their talent to the support of the Christian cause, let us accept the boon with all thankfulness. It is so much of the arm of iniquity palsied; nay, more, it is so much clear gain from the interests of hell to the comforter of the church of God. If the gospel is to be maintained, or a starving disciple to be fed, it will make no difference in the market whether the dollar was given by a hypocrite or a believer. And if the bible be happily illustrated; or its adversaries victoriously encountered, the truth is still the same, whether the talent which demonstrates it be connected with the spirit of faith or the heart of unbelief. The excess of these two benefits over and above what could be performed by Christians alone, is the advantage, in point of resource, which the church derives from her present constitution, over and above that which she would enjoy were none to enter into her communion but true converts.

The second way in which the mixed character of the visible church contributes directly to her prosperity, is by increasing her numbers.

The gospel is the great means of turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. For this purpose it is necessary that they and it should meet. How shall they call on

him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher ?* Whatever brings sinners within the reach of the means of salvation, and places them under the " joyful sound," puts them into the way in which alone they have a right to expect the pardoning and the renewing mercy of their God. Let it, then, be considered, how many members of the external church have remained for years in their habit of decent but unprofitable attendance upon the public worship of God, and have at last been arrested by his grace, and made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. "Their number," it may be objected," is smaller than we suppose; and forms too inconsiderable a portion of the saved to have any weight in the argument."

We believe this, upon the whole, to be true. It was long ago observed, and the observation ought to sink down into the hearts of both the old and young professor, that where the gospel is enjoyed in its purity, it is the ordinary method of providence to call sinners into the fellowship of Jesus Christ in the days of their youth. Among those who have enjoyed from their childhood the benefit of religious instruction, of holy example, of sound and faithful ministrations, the instances of conversion after middle life, are, for the most part, ex* Rom. x. 14.