in Jesus Christ? We have then one hope of our calling, and into this hope we are baptized.

Having ascertained what kind of union is to be expected or wished for, we shall find little difficulty in determining how it is to be secured. The means which have been sometimes resorted to for preserving it are neither just nor politic. It has been thought, that men might be saved from heresy and schism by being kept in ignorance, and denied the privilege of examining and judging for themselves. There may perhaps be little diversity of opinion where there is profound darkness, and entire prostration of the understanding. But can we desire to prevent diversity of opinion by blotting out the noblest feature of intelligent natures? After all, light will burst in through some unguarded avenue. Men will learn to think and reason for themselves, and those who having held the keys of knowledge, have abused their trust, will find at last that the imposture has been discovered, and their magic power is gone forever.

The most effectual method of preserving union, all the union which is worth having, is diligently to cultivate the temper and spirit of the gospel of Jesus. It is time Christians were more earnest in their endeavors to nourish and strengthen in themselves the great principles of love to God, and love to man, which constitute the sum of all religion and virtue. So far as these principles are nurtured and carried into action, the evils of strife and division will cease; practice will come to

be considered more important than theory, and charity than doctrine.

It is important too that men endeavor to become enlightened as a method of becoming catholic and charitable. Persons of enlarged and well informed minds will be able to entertain different views on subjects connected with religion, without losing their respect for each other's understandings. They will regard diversity of opinion as unavoidable in the present condition of human nature, and will not, therefore, be disappointed or exasperated on meeting with it. They will recollect that though they differ in some points, they agree in more, and that those on which they agree are probably more important than those about which they differ. Finally, they will conclude that after all, diversity of sentiment is little to be regretted, if it do not kindle the unhallowed passions of strife and hatred. It furnishes opportunity for exercising the virtues of forbearance, mutual candor, and charity. The temptations to uncharitableness to which it exposes us may be among the methods heaven appoints to try and perfect our virtue.

Let men be purged

To conclude, Christians should recollect their fallibility. They will not then find it difficult to preserve that moderation and forbearance which lay the sure foundation of fellowship and union. of that foolish pride of opinion, let them be cured of their extravagant pretensions and tacit belief of their infallibility, let them learn to think modestly of themselves, as beings partaking of frail and erring natures;

and bitter dissensions, mutual reproach, and anathemas will be no longer known.

A COTTAGE SCENE.

I saw a cradle at a cottage door,

Where the fair mother with her cheerful wheel
Carolled so sweet a song, that the young bird
Which timid near the threshold sought for seeds,
Paused on his lifted foot, and raised his head
As if to listen. The rejoicing bees

Nestled in throngs amid the woodbine cups
That o'er the lattice clustered. A clear stream
Came leaping from its sylvan height and poured
Music upon the pebbles,--and the winds
Which gently 'mid the vernal branches played
Their idle freaks, brought showering blessings down,
Surfeiting Earth with sweetness.

-Sad I came

From weary commerce with the heartless world,-
But when I felt upon my withered cheek

My mother Nature's breath,—and heard the trump
Of those gay insects at their honied toil,
Shining like winged jewelry,—and drank
The healthful odor of the flowering trees,
And bright-eyed violets,-but most of all
When I beheld mild slumbering innocence,
And on that young maternal brow the smile
Of those affections that do purify

And renovate the soul, I turned me back
In gladness, and with added strength to run
My thorn-clad race,-lifting a thankful prayer
To him who showed me what there was of heaven

Here on the earth,-that I might safer walk,
And firmer combat sin,-and surer rise
From earth to heaven.

H.

WORCESTER ON THE ATONEMENT.

We have long contemplated with grief the very gross, and, as we think, injurious misapprehensions, which have pervailed for ages on the subject of the atonement. The progress of light and spirit of modern inquiry, it is true, have done something to correct these misapprehensions, but multitudes of Christians, we are persuaded, are still very imperfectly informed respecting the real purpose and efficacy of Christ's death. Of those, who are convinced that the popular theory is irrational and unsupported by the scriptures, many, it is to be feared, entertain very indistinct and unsatisfactory views of the true design of Jesus' sufferings. The belief is yet very common that some mysterious efficacy is to be ascribed to those sufferings. There is yet great want of light, great want of just and rational conceptions on the subject. We have been long anxious to see a work adapted to meet this want. in our view, is the treatise of Dr Worcester, recently published.* We regard its publication as exceedingly

Such,

* The Atoning Sacrifice a display of Love-not of Wrath. By Noah Worcester.

well timed. The state of public opinion and feeling loudly called for a work of the kind, and we rejoice that it was undertaken by one so well qualified for the task as Dr Worcester. It is not our design, at present, to enter into any analysis of his book. Our purpose in calling the attention of our readers to the subject is simply to recommend the work to their careful perusal. We know of no work so well fitted to assist their inquiries on the important and interesting topic to which it relates. One of its excellences is, that it is eminently scriptural. The author appears to have taken the Bible in his hands, and divesting himself of a reverence for human creeds and systems, and guided solely by a spirit of earnest piety, by a love of truth, and by common sense, a quality too often discarded by theologians, to have inquired into the real import of the several expressions, which the sacred writers employ with reference to the death of Jesus. We think that he has been successful in his inquiry.

We mean not to say that we coincide with him in every opinion he has incidently expressed in the work, but his prominent and leading views we believe to be correct. He writes not in the character of a partisan. 'In this work I wish,' says he, 'to be regarded not as the advocate nor as the opponent of any denomination of Christians, but as the friend of truth and the friend of peace. Indeed I know not that my present views on this subject accord with those of any sect, or any individual Christian. Still I have a hope that many things in the work will be found accordant with the feelings of many good men in every denomination.'