New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-04-17


stipct Of the Divine perfection From my infancy hsd
bern religious - to the b, Mt snd purpose Of my mind
and although remarkable for nothing In character OF
conduit fe . peculiar activity Of conscience ever
occurring me into and more timorou pr sosal
rron with Deity was not eouseiOus Of any hcnoW OF
fcpscs un OF health and spirlts oonvivia! and
prope 10 pleasure and occasionally doubt like every
one ebe capable Of excuses but with con-co ness
OF IN injurious resnon any human being that san
remember Indeed tie morbid susceptibility of my
eorscienre-f.y extreme accessibility a. public opinion
secured nv general inoScnsrrncss while i left
prev Ia de mot issnsu surruws for mistakes and 70
s,drp,s % trivial ;hai ashamed To mcu,un them
To ,o.sle h.. cou.csncc and fald moreover what I
deemed ,scred Obligation ca every man. joined ths
- ten-,cd the theology Of the church quite n.
6lv re ,i event "a sfterwsrd but iet insecure
- lt o. s,rropristc the Christian hope until h.d
- t,,oaI rroies.ion OF faith. ky Coincidence of sin
,rte'tlv pscibed had fousd a refuge seains,
- uui,crine 81 vndIcti'e wrath. - Tar good But
.n'.r f.t nueasy The church had delivered me
- COINCIDENCE OF Gin. Ia, had ., no ron.einus-
. t,,-s,ess IN II. place The house Of nv ,ouI
It,s, -pt OF IT. evils hut II sti remained desolste
9s... could accuse uIyscli of no ukcwaruiness in
~ crrse 81 piety hnd yrt was iniscrably unhappy
-. r,,f,cu a my time Rather let me- say unllersrd
SN.ftst :, antrd wa indo1uabe inward or onward
r.c whose absence did not actually destroy nv hap
,,,,. in outlying things. but whose pro<enee seemed
.o,pehow necessary To authenticate II.
The cutirc influence Of the pulpit went o. the intens
tr,nc Of this condition. Every sermon heard agra
,s,ed NV inward remoteness from God NV vi
ter di-propoTtiOn between Him and me. Neither my
clergyman my devout acquaintance appeared 20
dersiand my trouble. Ny bosom harbOrcd no secret
guilt nor dd my actions betray any overt niquity. 1t
not onsCOu-ncss O sin IL any rcspect which bur
dened me hut simple uncon-ciuusncs. Of righteous
had found perfect repose from guilty conscience
III the doctrine Of Chrir But had found assurance
Of Code personal love or coinpaccncy in me. WA
sudou,y even superstously pure in thought and act
cherished no emotions but those OF complete benignify
toward my kind. spoke no evil OF any man, much
ess devised any gave freely Of my good. TO the poor
contributed profusely TO missionary and similar enter
prses read every famous book and diligently observed
every precepi of mystical snd ordinary pefy. vowed
my he to the service Of the Gospel and placed mysef
in the chief seminary Of my sect with view " the min
stry abounded in prayer, day and night. | sought
the aid of eminent, Christians In both hemspheree, and
obeyed their counsels In short touching the righteous
nee, which wac in the law Of my sect and nation
utterly hIamcles. And yet for all hi. my eoul dcs
ututc Of peace and while my hs familiar with the
traditional formulas Of Christian prise and jubilee yet
all Practice cherished the spirit and exhibited the
manners Of an ahject slave
!, would be- tedious report the gradual dawn OF the
Truth upon my understanding. Reading. one day, the
Epste 10 the Romans attention became arrested by
the words, read before thousand times without notice
Faith concth b. hearing said 10 mysoli, Faith then
means belief Of the truth and not any magical operation
IN the bosom DO no, believe the Truth have taken
for granted the, do all along but perhaps am unss
qubutcd with some OF liz proioundor features. So be-
tool mysef to new reading of the Gospels and of the
Older Scnptures bearing upon the advent OF Christ
aud soon perceived that had not been just to the
truth. had divorced the Christ from that historical po-
eOn which gives him oil his meaning, and acity attb
him az related to certain exclusive hope on the
part Of the Jew toward God his character began to
unparalleled majesty, and to reveal depth OF
humantary perfection in God who cent him, such a.
had conceived until then Before this had been
regard the Christ atSoisIe person. to
speak, whose extraordinary virtue Il mat
ter OF course dowing from some special hbcraty OF D
viny to him. and dispensing therefore from any
honal homage. In short practically esteemed his do
mincn rejecting some passive relation he was under
to Deity, rather than wrought out and won by simple
int he
mainly the spirit Of God Now my view completely
changed saw clearly why II behooved the Christ
to de-why the Divine glory absolutely forbade him
hive. For the living personal Christ belonged " the
Jew alone. To the Jew all the PROMISES belonged III the
letter. And therefore the Christ intended to erect
freshly Kingdom To God upon the earth, the Jew alone
vas entitled TO its admission But 10 the mind of Jesus
God sprusl-was the Father of the Gentle N wc
the Jew-aDd hence would be daf ia him tn
recognize the Jewish pretcnsion. In short unless he
mpesched out and out the letter Of their Scrpturc-n
which case OF course he would his claim
the AcssshshIp-he bound either rigidy funlI it,
else manfuy die in testimony Of It's having larger
spiritual and universal import Thus his very death
became the irrefufsble evidence Of his truth and the D
vine glory identified with the welfare of universal
man. gathered i bcs, sser even from the extremity Of
hs suAerings
Looking at my past history illumincd by this new
and glorious revelation Of the Divine character began
perceive that had been wrong hitherto In craving
pGso~ai righteousness In desiring To be distinguished
by Gods pcrsonal favor 10 me- IPerccived that uis
was only Christian form OF Jewish error and that
the only righteousness the only experience VI inward
smity with God, which could attain ~, must lie
simply In my participation OF the spirit Of God that spirit
o hunsnitsy universal love which had animated all
the actions u Christ What had all along been groan.
Ing for a righteousness In myse, assured
conviction that God had esteem for me, Henry
James, that he knew my festurss, recognized when
I kneh down to pray, and said to himsclf in eject
There u q person whose interests shall certainly
look after, while that rupulous John Smith, and ss
prayerless Tom Jonc. may go to purg"tory or further
now perceived that God could not possibly sustain aiy
such personal relation to . this Being = spirit Ut
universal love- lie of could become related
only in far ~ mbbed this spirit. only in far
dropped all personal pretcnsOn hopc-such hope
pretension stood In my moral differences from other
men-and consented to identity myself with the greAs
interests Of humanity. God had no passrt relations 70
Being purely active living force, being spris
ot living love, Of could into anything
but scssss relation with Him. arclaon which utterly "
.sined wholly to d. .psris Il b. mind Hence per
ceved that all my solcitWls for personal passive
nearncss God nearncss superior to that Of the pub
hrsn end sinner had In fact involved complete nsen
sibihty to the Divine pchecton-hsd argued Complete
overnight If his spiritual character of his essenual
love to all mankind and that to urge IL any longer
would be the most nagrsnt shroni could possibly oder
And now dscerncd very clearly how utterly fatal
the sensuous idea Of God which regards Him
spirit but external person, tinted in space and time,
must be 10 that inward rcposc 10 that conscience Of
perfect unity with Him. which had * long and vainy
solicited For IN measure a. this external person grew
and lowered Ia all perfection In my Imagination, must
I myself decline Ia all rnperfecton. Should l
throughout eternity. therefore, feel q growing ado
ration of the Divine funcss it WA clear that this
alteration mart be logged step by step by grow
ing sense OF my emptincss of my own destttuton
This rcsult Vas totally undenabc to reason According
the theory Of the Divine existence the very
perfection Of the Creator became denonstrHb. only
through the mpeect1on Of his creature, and that rcla-
ton which In all rational estimation should have secured
the happiness Of the latter became the bond of his end
ess and unspcaksble misery Could then really he
divine end in creation to ordsin such relation between
Himself and his crraturcf Could the great God take
ss,isaction in seeing Hisef pcrpetuAly sggrsndiscd
st the expense Of his ofsprngi Did the splendor
than this namely to display his endless perfection
by u the endless imperfccuon Of another. and