Year: 1859

upon his apprehension and conception Of
the character of the Being who made, pro-
tects aud sustains him. The man who be-
lieves that he has a Father in Heaven
whose heart is affected by infinite tender
ness for all His children, loving them with
an inexpressble love even when they wan
der from Him, patient aud gentle beyond
measure, contributing from His treasures
of good all that will not be abused and
often more, anxious for the happiness of
every soul and delighting in its happiness,
walks in the light and is child of light.
To such man all the phenomena Of ma
ture, all the workings and ways of Provi-
dence, all sights and sounds, all things in
earth and heaven are exhibitions of power
whose name and nature are love.


To man like this, the world is not
gloomy world. 1t is a world of faith and
hope aud joy. Sorrow may come, misfor-
tune may befall, pain may poison, but they
are not the judgments OF an avenger they
are the chastenings of affection. To such
a man the earth is q world of beauty, brm-
ming with good and he cannot recall aud
recount the varied ministry Of nature and
Of Providence to the wants of each moment
without tears of happiness. With faith in
his heart, he walks boldly and confidently
forward towards his death Nogate crosses
his path that an angel unseen does not open
for him. Hand iu hand with the seasons
that yield him ceaSeleSS round of blessings,
accompanied by hours each of which pours
at his feet its burden of good, life becomes
to him a great and goodly thing, and the
world, marvel of beauty aud lovelness.
| do not write this for poetry. l write it
for a grand, a magnificent fact, transcend
emily beyond my power of statement, yet
within the realization of every soul soundly
constituted. l believe that this world is
good world-a world which it took inf
mite wisdom infinite ages to make for us,
and that it is both shame and sin for
US to turn our backs upon all this beauty
and all this good-to accuse God Of plac-
Jig US in bad home-a deceitful, misera-
BILE, dangerous place-and to long to be
well rid of it.


God has given US the power to enjoy the
! things of this world What has he done
it for Has he done it to make US happy
aud contented with the life which He has
possessed US, or has He done it to lure US
to ruin Answer me that, o plous misan-
thrope Has He spread this beautiful
/ sky, formed this wonderful earth, given us
companions, children and friends, endowed
us with senses that thrill with pleasure at
the touch of fruits and flowers, and music
and beauty, that we may enjoy them, or
has He given US all these to cheat us, to
fool US, to mock US, and thus to furnish bait
to the DEVILS hand by which be may tempt
us toward perdition Is God dealing with
us foully or fairly Is He providing for
us that which we may safely receive and
honestly rejoice in, or is He playing US
tricks, and looking on with approval to see
how cleverly VIC dodge them? l am tired
with this everlasting, cantiug whine, that
seems bent on cheapening every blessing it
receives, deprecating the quality of that
which infinite love has provided, and con-
temning its lot. 1t is time it were stopped,
aud that those who pretend to be Christians
had stepped out into the liberty of the
| Christian life.


Yet we find Christian men, and among
them many Christian ministers, clutching at
their bondage and their bonds-clingng to
them as if the very meat of Christianity
were in them,-fearful lest they should real
ly get up an affection for the good things
provided for them and should enjoy some
! thing-prOnouncing the amusements abSo-
lutely necessary to their own health to be
sinful, and sinful in the very degree IN which
they are enjoyable. Is this Christian liber-
ty, or is it internal slavery? Is this life,
or or is it death What wonder is it that
the world of young and healthful life is re-
PEELED 10y such a religion as this What
wonder is it that those who possess a reli-
gion like this are forced to the employment
of the most terrific threats and the most in
tensely seasoned objurgations to drive souls
into an experience like their own? Is the
attractive love Of father to be seen through
such medium? ] declare that the aspect
which too large fraction of the religion
of the day presents-and that fraction per-
haps the most pretentious and the most
zealous-is one which utterly misrepresents
Christ to the world, and frightens back into
indifference or infdelty some of the best
minds of the age


l have said thus much on this point, first,
because | believed it ought to be said and
l wished to say it and second, because it
was necessary as definition of the com
plement of the philosophical basis of the
asceticism and misanthropy which have af-
fiicted the Christian world in the past still
curse it. For this misanthropy, there is
neither love above nor truth below There
is no faith in human nature, and the little
that there is in God is struggled for with
"groanngs which cannot be uttered" Life
is path of thorns, and all the ministers
of Heaven who stand by its side with cor
dials in their hands and benisons upon their
tongues and saluted with the insult-"Get
thee behind me Satan p


What men have become, aud are, is one
thing what human nature is, is quite an.
other. Human nature is constituted, in
stituted thought of God Sin and all its
consequences proceed from man aud one
of the gladdest, most grateful facts made
known to man, is, that this nature is so val
liable, so beautiful, so great and precious a
thing, that, to obviate the consequences of
its selfperversiOn, to cure it of weakness
Self.imposed, of tendencies to evil selEpro-
cured, Of sickness and wounds and sores
sef-infcted, scheme has been devised and
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