tive. We claim that these wants of the soul, these instincts of nature, these heavenward attractions that pervade the very centre of our being, this deep and ardent love of life, this longing for immortality, this intuitive and irrepressible dread of annihilation, and this involuntary recoil from non-existence, all these may be heard in the premises; and though they may not lead us up to the point of absolute science, yet they may minister to faith, and encourage hope, and confirm the revealed truth, that, though a man die, yet shall he live again. It is a poor philosophy, and a wretched theology, which sets the intel lect at odds with the instincts of the soul, and compels men to crucify their affections, and check the upward aspirations of the spirit that is in them towards its native home. Rather should theology and philosophy both conspire to cultivate and nurture the heaven-given instincts of the spirit, and lend wings to faith and hope, so that the soul, when it feels that it is "uneasy and confined from home," may nestle the more closely to the bosom of its God and Saviour, and truly "rest and expatiate in a world to come."

But, after all, it is to revelation that we must be indebted for a full and explicit answer to the question, If a man die, shall he live again? Man is the creature, God is the creator; and man's existence and its duration depend ultimately upon the will of God. His destiny is in the hands of his Creator. What that destiny is, none can know except God reveal it. Hence, any system that ignores this will of God, must rest upon an unsubstantial foundation. Faintly indicated, indeed, that will may be in nature; but known it can only be by revelation.

"Now, that the dead are raised, Moses showed at the burning bush; for he said: I am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." The same blessed truth was taught of Jesus in theory, and demonstrated in fact, when he died and went down into the grave, and rose from its power. We turn to our philosophy, and having wasted the midnight oil until the brain throbs with the effort to solve the great problem of death and life, we discover some footprints in the sand. We see a gleam of light, and here and there a faint star, encouraging us to hope that there

is a life beyond the grave. But we turn from these, and listen to revelation. That authoritative announcement that the patriarchs, though dead, were alive again; that vacant tomb where the Saviour was laid, and whence he arose with the cheering words, "Because I live, ye shall live also," these are appeals to human faith, and they are worth more to the soul than all the reasonings of human philosophy, from Aristotle downward to the present day. We cleave to them as the sheet-anchor of our hope. We hold them fast in the day-time, when the skies are bright and the earth is green and beautiful; and when the night comes, and the storm gathers dark and thunders loud, we cling to them still. In the hour of our bereavement, when our idols are shattered and the loved ones are smitten and go up in a chariot more awful than that of Elijah, until the lone spirit cries, "More are they that are gone than those that remain"-it is then that the heart aches for sympathy, and we feel that we want no soulless system of dead philosophy, but a loving Father, and a pitying Saviour, that we may go to him, and laying our hands in his, look up into his dear, loving countenance, and hear fresh from his blessed lips the cheering words, "I live, and the dead live, and are alive forever more." afraid; I have passed through the dark valley, and am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Then it is that we look forward and realize faith as the substance of things hoped for; and departed treasures pass in vision before us-a goodly company-their robes all white and pure, and in their hands the harps of the angels; and we feel the blessed assurance, that yet a little while and we shall be with them. And thus the mighty question, If a man die, shall he live again, is answered. It is answered. by faith, and the result announced is to the soul what cool water is to the thirsty, or bread to the hungry. A sad case were it for the masses of men if they might not eat bread until it had passed the chemist's hands. And so of the soul; waiting for philosophy, it will starve. It must be permitted to follow its higher attractions. The wings of its faith must not be crippled, but it must be allowed to listen with reverence to the cheering word which saith, Though a man die, he shall live again; for the dead do live, and are alive forevermore.

"Be not

But why not give us knowledge? Simply because faith is better for us. The unfolding of the glories of the better world, so that we could see them, face to face, would make this world dim and uninteresting, and unfit us for its trials, its duties, and responsibilities. In the patience of hope we can wait all the days of our appointed time until our change come, and prize the present the more for the mist that hangs over the future. But in the certainty of knowledge, we should be impatient of delay, and neglect the present because of its unfavorable contrast with the future. It is wisest and best as it is. The veil that interposes between us and a full vision of the future was left there by the hand of infinite Love; and, pierced by faith and hope, it is neither too thick nor too dark. Enough it is, that we are permitted to "see through a glass darkly ;" and that we enjoy a confiding trust in God, assuring us, that though a man die, he shall live again.

I. D. W.

ART. XVIII.

Universalism as a Purpose and a Power.'

Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.-HEB. vi. 1.

WE are not to understand that reference is here made to the principles of the doctrine of Christ, as stated by himself. The connection shows that the text makes special reference to the types and ceremonial significances of the Hebrew worship, as containing those principles in a latent or germinal state. The epistle from which the text is taken, was addressed to the Hebrew Christians,to persons who had been converted from Judaism; and the basis of the exhortation to go on unto perfection, was, that they already possessed, by virtue of their former ex

1 Preached, as the Occasional Sermon, before the Massachusetts State Convention, at its session in Quincy, June 1, 1858.

perience as Jews, the germinal principles of the doctrine of Christ; and hence in their new character as Christians, they had only to develope those principles into a more perfect expression. Unlike the case of the Gentile converts, with whom the work of conversion was more par ticularly abrupt,-not a going forward from what they already had, but a going back to lay the very foundation of the new faith, the Hebrew Christians brought with them. from their Jewish experience, the principles of the doctrine of Christ; and the new call was to start from those principles and go unto perfection.

My present purpose does not call for a statement of the particulars wherein the text applied to the peculiar condition and conduct of the persons to whom its author was writing. The preliminary object is gained, if the brief explanation now given, enables us to perceive, that there is even in Christianity a germinal, as well as a perfected state; that there is a sense in which the principles of Christian doctrine are to be left behind, while the soul presses forward towards the perfect life. There is, however, nothing unreasonable in being called upon to perceive. and acknowledge as much as this; for herein Christianity is neither strange nor peculiar. The whole course of the Christian character, from its germinal principles to its complete expression in human life, is strictly in accordance with the universal law of growth,-applying to spirit ual as well as to material things, whereby there comes "first the blade, then the ear after that the full corn in the ear." In the experience of many individual souls, and certainly in the general experience of the Christian world, the religion of the New Testament has presented itself as one thing at one time, and as something more at a subsequent time. No one person, no one age, can take in the whole of Christianity at once. The first apprehension of its principles will be crude and fractional; and a period must elapse, it may be a very long period, a period embracing a severe and arduous process of spiritual endeavor, before the spiritual vision shall become so purified, so enlarged, so acute, that the complete ideal of the Christian life may be perceived in all its relations, and in its full beauty and strength. When a man becomes in any degree a Christian, he immediately finds himself not

the master but the servant of the new truth. He becomes conscious of a new spirit at work within him—a spirit having authority, moving and controlling him as it will -inspiring his understanding, nerving his will, unlocking his powers of articulation, and compelling him to speakto speak words too, that, were he left to the guidance of his own deliberate judgment, he might not dare to utter. So distinct, indeed, is the mastery of this, his new spirit, that it almost seems to be something distinct from his individuality, though vitally connected with it. When a man first comes to such an experience, it is not for him to know the full measure of the new truth that has possession of him, or to foresee the specific mission to which in due time it will call him, or to anticipate all the divine disclosures it has in reserve for him. Columbus went down to his grave without the slightest suspicion that he had discovered a new continent. Without a thought that the papacy itself was even to be disturbed, Luther prospectively broke its right arm, when he denounced the sale of indulgences. When the American patriots first resisted an unjust tax, the most prophetic among them did not anticipate the Independence of which that resistance was the prophecy and pledge. The pioneers of every great cause, always build wiser than they themselves know. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the spirit."

In the application of these considerations, which you have anticipated, my spirit and purpose would be greatly misapprehended, if any one should suppose that when I state the fact, that the pioneer defenders of Universalism did not clearly apprehend the practical relations of the doctrine, I find any occasion for complaint, or even for regret. On the contrary, nothing seems to me more clearly susceptible of proof than the statement, that so far as those pioneers were earnest men, were devoted to the great truth they had received, and were impelled and guided by it in their ministrations, they not only did the best they could do under the circumstances of their time, but more than this, did the precise work that was needed.