tensive, and very pernicious influence. I have shown you that truth is in order to goodness;-and that truth and duty cannot be separated. In the same manner, it is impossible to separate faith and good works; genuine morality and true religion; or the use of means and the blessing that comes from God alone. These things are often separated in practice; or rather the attempt is made to separate them, for a real separation is impossible. They are indissolubly united by the Divine appointment. Never, therefore, attempt to disunite them. Let it be your object to avoid error, not only that your speculations may be correct, but that knowing the truth, you may reduce it to practice. Let a lively faith in Christ, as the ground of your justification, be evinced to be sincere by every good word and work that can adorn religion, honour God, or do good to mankind. Never imagine that there can be any religion that will save the soul, without good morals; nor that good morals without unfeigned piety will render you a whit safer. Use all the means of God's appointment diligently and faithfully, and yet look to him, and depend on him, at every step, for his grace and blessing to render them effectual. Here is the true gospel system; and every thing contrary to it, is unquestionbly erroneous and delusive.

4. Finally-From the whole that you have heard on this subject, let me earnestly inculcate the importance of practical piety. After all that can be said, or taught, there is no full security against running into the most ruinous errors, except in real, experimental, heart religion. The human heart is depraved throughout, in its natural state; it is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." It is, therefore, in natural alliance with all those principles which will admit of sinful indulgence; and is hostile to those which forbid that indulgence: And one error in prin

ciple and practice, may lead on to another, till every extreme of impiety is reached. But when the heart is renewed and sanctified, this dreadful bias of corrupt nature is corrected and changed. The love of holiness is implanted, which is always connected with a supreme love of truth and duty. And above all, the soul is committed, for its safe keeping, to Him who will assuredly "keep that which is committed to him." Here, therefore, is the only absolute safety, against those errors that destroy the soul. Seek, therefore, with the utmost engagedness, the renewing grace of God; and give yourselves no contentment, till you have obtained this "pearl of great price."

FOR THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

FUGITIVE THOUGHTS.

Christians love God. He is the object of their sincere and supreme affection. Upon him they fix their highest admiration. Toward him their warmest desires go forth. In him they place their greatest delight. Such are the predominant moral feelings of all the saints.

But, while these feelings dwell and prevail in every sanctified heart, they are not equally strong and lively in all Christian bosoms; nor in the same one at all times. Some believers are very sensible they love Jehovah, and feel the sacred flame so ardent within them, that they entertain not the least doubt on the subject. Others scarcely realize their affection for him; and, feeling so little of the celestial fire within them, are afraid to say more than this-that they desire to love him. To-day the Christian spirit, glowing with most intense affection, darts upward to the skies, treads the wide expanse of glory, and feeds on "angels' food." Tomorrow it sinks into "a horrible pit," and struggles in the "miry

clay." Yet, as the rose in winter retains its essence, though not its bloom; so the believer's heart, cold and desolate as it is in the season of spiritual dejection, contains the warm and vital principle of love to God.

Now there are two seasons in particular, in which Christians are generally very conscious of their affection for him. The one is when they commence their religious pilgrimage; the other is its closing period. As in the land of Palestine, the former rain descended just after the husbandman had sowed his fields, and as, in virtue of this moisture, the green shoots immediately displayed themselves fair and vigorous; so the love of God, is usually shed abroad in the heart of a saint, directly after the spiritual principle has been implanted, and thus a powerful spring is instantly given to the Christian graces. And as the latter rain came down shortly before the harvest, in order to ripen the fruits of the earth; so, when the believer is about to be gathered into the heavenly granary, the love of God is often made to abound within him, and thus he is matured for glory, and enters into his eternal joy, "like as a shock of corn cometh in, in its season." The hearts both of young and of aged saints are commonly very soft and tender: and, doubtless, it is chiefly this peculiar correspondence of feeling between juvenile and old believers, which makes both desire each other's conversation, in preference to that of middle aged Christians.

It is this love which forms the most eminent trait in the truly pious character. So says the apostle Paul. "Now abide faith, hope, charitythese three; but the greatest of these is charity." Oh that men would take this matter into their serious consideration! Be their knowledge of doctrinal and controversial theology ever so great, and however able and ready they may VOL II.-Ch. Adv.

be, on every occasion, to display' their stock of information; yet, without love to God, all their religious intelligence is a mere bubble a thing of no solidity nor value. Mere knowledge, transcendent as it may be, shall never carry a person into heaven-otherwise the devil would very soon stand high and glorious among the hosts of Paradise. Truly, if ever we enter the realms of bliss, we must be borne up thither on the wings of love. Why then is this greatest of all moral virtues so much underrated and despised in the Christian community? Ignorance, no doubt, causes many in the church to mistake the relative value of religious acquirements; and stubborn prejudice will not allow the removal of the mistake, by having the ignorance cured. Vanity, however, is perhaps the more prevalent cause of this common error: for men are very apt to magnify the lesser attainments which they have made, and underrate the greater attainments which they have not made; lest they be thought inferior to their neighbours. And some there are who seem to think that this love, which the scriptures represent as the pre-eminent characteristick of the Christian, is a sort of effeminate virtue; and that men manifest great weakness in cherishing it to any considerable degree. But, let the votaries of the world and mere professors of religion, imagine what they please on the subject, all genuine saints love God supremely.

There are two extremes into which men run on the subject of religion. The one is, to embrace, without examination for themselves, every thing received by their ancestors; and thus rest their faith upon the basis of mere education and custom. The other is, to reject every thing connected with the religion of their forefathers, and of the age and place in which themselves live; because, in the pleni

H

ON DIFFERENCES OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION IN FAMILIES.

Mr. Editor-The following little narrative, if you think it worthy of insertion in your excellent miscellany, is at your service. It is founded in fact. My only doubt, however, whether you will think it deserving of a place, arises from the apprehension, that similar facts are so common, that few, perhaps, will consider them as entitled to attention. But I commit the article to your candour. It is not judged necessary to subjoin any reflections on the facts narrated, as those which are most important will probably occur to the mind of every reader. Yours, &c.

Lancaster County, Penn.

Dec. 1823.

MARITUS.

Mr. W. M. was bred a Presbyterian. His father, and all his near relatives, for several generations, had belonged to that church; and were considered as highly important and very respectable members of ecclesiastical as well as civil society. He had been early taught to respect religion; and although his education, in many respects, had not been of the strictest sort, yet he was a constant attendant on publick worship; was remarkably grave and decorous in his whole deportment; was excelled by none in his neighbourhood in the promptness, liberality, and zeal with which he contributed his proportion, and more than his proportion, for the support of Christian ordinances; and on the whole, more than promised to

make good the loss occasioned by his father's premature decease.

In a few years after engaging in business, having prospered exceedingly, he married. In forming this connexion, he was governed less by the dictates of sound wisdom and prudence, than by those of passion. He pleased his fancy; and he asked few questions, and made few calculations as to other points. The lady whom he sought and obtained, was genteel, accomplished, amiable, and generally much respected. She belonged to an Episcopal family in the neighbourhood of his residence; a family which had been long noted for its wealth, and still more for its high-toned and inflexible attachment to the Episcopal church. Although not pious, she had a veneration for religion in general, and partook largely of the feelings cherished in her family, in regard to all churches but the Episcopal. These feelings, however, during the period of courtship, had never been offensively manifested to Mr. M. Mutual affection banished all thoughts of such subjects; and not even the most distant suspicion seemed to be entertained by either party, that any difficulty could possibly arise afterwards from the differences of feeling which existed between them on the subject of religion. Whether, among their negotiations which preceded marriage, any explanations or adjustments were ever made in reference to this point, is unknown. One thing, however, is certain, that they were no sooner married, than it became apparent to all their acquaintances, that they meant to continue to worship in different charches, as heretofore. At this time the writer of the present narrative lived next door to them, in the city of the place of their residence. And he was often struck with seeing, what was to him not a little revoltinga young couple who, as every body believed, really loved one another-when Sunday came, instead

of going to the house of God in company, and there making their common confessions, and imploring a common blessing,-turning their backs on each other at their door, and going off in different directions to worship God. It sometimes, of course, happened that they went to church in stormy weather. When this occurred, instead of being together, to aid and protect each other against the rage of the elements, they abandoned each other to struggle with the beating storm alone. Yet it was observed, that in bad weather they both more frequently staid at home on the Sabbath, than they probably would have done, if they could have been more completely companions in religion as well as in other things. Thus early and insidiously did a consideration, which, in the beginning, they in a great measure disregard ed, commence a baneful influence on their habits and character.

Things, however, went on pretty well until they became parents. Their first two children were daughters. These, by a kind of common law in such cases, the mother had baptized by her own clergyman; and they were thenceforward considered as pledged to the Episcopal church. The third child was a son, whom the father, according to the ordinary prescription of the same law, claimed as his ecclesiastical property, and had baptized by the pastor of his church. After these, they had, successively, three sons and four daughters, all of whom were disposed of, in regard to their dedication to God in infancy, on the same principle with those which have been already mentioned. Still the parents, though each perceived that the state and course of things as to this point, were different from what could be wished, were not, as yet, at all apprehensive of any material evil, as likely to arise from the plan which they were pursuing.

When the children became old enough to accompany their parents

to church, still further light began to be shed on the unhappy character of this plan. They began to act upon the principle that the boys were always to accompany their father, and the girls their mother, to the house of God; and each appeared disposed to be pretty tenacious on this point. It soon became apparent, however, that this was a very inconvenient system. Children from three or four to seven or eight years of age, ought certainly to be taken out to publick worship; but, at the same time, at this tender age they continually need a mother's eye, and a mother's care. A thousand circumstances relating to their dress, their petulant humours, and their little wants, can be managed by no one so quietly and properly, especially in the house of God, as by a delicate and tender mother. This was soon found to be the case. Mr. M. took his two eldest sons with him to church very punctually, for two or three Sundays. But finding that he could not manage them comfortably, either to himself or to them, he became tired of his undertaking, and left them at home. At least this was the plan for a number of weeks, after he abandoned the practice of taking them with him. At length a painful accident, which proved injurious for life, and had like to have been fatal to one of the little boys, happening to him on Sunday, while the parents had gone to church, through the carelessness of a profligate servant, with whom he was unhappily left, they never afterwards consented, in good weather, to leave at home those who were old enough to accompany them. The boys, thenceforward, until they became ten or twelve years of age, uniformly accompanied their mother to the Episcopal church.

Though neither of the parents became members in full communion of the churches to which they respectively attached themselves

yet they fully recognised the obligation they were under to teach their children the catechisms and the prayers usually taught in the Presbyterian and the Episcopal churches. Mr. M. put into the hands of his sons the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which he had himself learned in childhood, and which was early consecrated in his memory and feelings. Mrs. M., in pursuance of the same system, directed her daughters to commit to memory, and to recite to her once a week at least, and sometimes daily, the catechism commonly used in the Protestant Episcopal church. Mr. M., in his theological creed, was an orthodox Calvinist, and wished his sons to be instructed in that system; though he by no means laid to heart the practical importance of the subject, in such a manner as to induce him to submit to the patient labour of instilling into their minds the principles which he believed. His wife, on the other hand, had been always accustomed to Arminian preaching, and entertained very strong prejudices against Calvinism. The consequence was, that she took no small pains to inculcate on her daughters the doctrines which she had imbibed. She sometimes, indeed, heard her sons recite the Shorter Catechism: but this seldom occurred; and when it did, the remarks on her part which accompanied the recitation, were generally calculated to fill them with prejudices against the little formula which their father had instructed them to commit to memory. This, of course, rendered the task of learn ing their catechism less pleasant, and led eventually to a frequent remission of that task, particularly with the two younger sons. The eldest, who was peculiarly attached to his father, after arriving at the age of ten or eleven years, insisted on accompanying him to the Presbyterian church, and uniformly continued this practice. His younger brothers appeared to be so much

distracted and divided by different catechisms, and different modes of worship, that they seemed hardly to be satisfied what they ought to believe or do. All that docile, implicit confidence on the part of children toward their parents, which is so desirable, and productive of so many advantages, especially so far as religion is concerned, seemed to be banished from the minds of these younger boys. They saw their parents constantly going to different places of worship, and believing and teaching very different doctrines; and which to consider as entitled to their preference, they seemed scarcely able to decide.

Dialogues sometimes occurred between the parents and their children, and between the children themselves, of no very equivocal character, and which but too plainly showed that the minds of the children, and especially of the younger of them, were by no means in the most desirable state." Mamma," said one of the little girls one day, "Mamma, why do you and Papa go to different churches? Do you worship different Gods ?" "No, my dear," said Mrs. M., "we worship the same God; we have only different forms of worship." ." "Well, mamma," said the little girl again, "which is the best church, yours or papa's?" Why, my dear," replied Mrs. M., "I, of course, think mine the best, the same that I take you to; but they are both very good."

66 But, mamma, you ge every where else with papa, and why not go with him, when he goes to love and serve God? I'm afraid, mamma, that papa is not as good as you are, because he does not go to as good a church. Are you not afraid that God will be angry with papa, and not love him?”

These dialogues corresponded in their character with others which now and then occurred between the children themselves. Take the following as a small specimen. When the younger boys and girls were