man's neglect to fulfil the part which had been assigned him, through his unwillingness to till and subdue the earth which he was meant to till and subdue, through his idleness and distrust and selfseeking, his refusal to walk in the ways which God had commanded. They knew too well, for they felt in themselves, how strong the disposition in all men was to choose a way of their own, and to forget the covenant of God. They could only look up to Him to overcome this tendency in them and in their countrymen by whatever discipline or punishment He knew to be needful.

IV. And therefore, brethren, it cannot be true, the whole history of the Jews declares it not to be true, that the blessings of adversity were unknown to them, were reserved for a later period. Which of the good men of the Old Testament was not proved in a furnace ? Into whose soul did the iron at some time not enter? It was not because they believed in God's promises to their nation, and were sure that its outward prosperity must and would at last correspond to its inward health and vitality— it was not because they longed for the earth to bring forth and bud, to have heaps of corn upon it, that its presses might burst forth with new wine-it was not on this account that they had to endure less of inward sadness, or fewer reproaches from the kings and priests and people to whom they spoke. No; the more strong their feeling was that God had chosen their nation and made a covenant with it, the greater was the struggle with their individual selfishness, their desire of

great things for themselves; the more need had they of God's fires to purify them. The more they believed that the nation could only be what it was intended to be when it was remembering the covenant of its God, the more had they to reprove those who were living to themselves and glorying in themselves, not caring for the privilege upon which all the outward blessings of Israel depended, not caring to know Him who executed righteousness and judgment upon the earth. These reproofs brought, as they were certain to bring, reproaches, shame, persecution upon those who uttered them. No men could be more taught than the Jewish seers were, that punishments are necessary for individuals and nations, and that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.'

I have thought it necessary to examine these often-repeated dogmas respecting Old Testament history, because they seem to me to have just the same effect in hindering the right and manly investigation of it, as the idols which Bacon denounced and overthrew, in hindering the fair investigation of nature. But I have felt even more anxious to discuss them upon another ground, because, if I am not mistaken, they are as hurtful to the rightful understanding of the New Testament as of the Old. They prevent us from seeing the difference which does exist between them, by inventing one which does not exist, and they both indicate and foster tendencies, which in our day I fear are ripening and are bringing forth very evil fruits.

For it is surely a perilous and an almost fatal

notion, that Christian men have less to do with the present than the Jews had, that their minds and their religion are to be projected into a region after death, because there only the Divine Presence is dwelling. Is it possible that this is what the writers of the New Testament meant when they proclaimed that the Son of God had taken flesh and become man, and that thenceforth the Lord God would dwell with men and walk with them, and that they should be His children and He would be their Father? Do such words import that the world in which God has placed us has lost some of the sacredness which it had before; that the visible has become hopelessly separated from the invisible; that earth and heaven are not as much united as they were when Jacob was travelling to the land of the people of the east; that now earth is merely a forlorn place, in which men are forced to stay a certain number of years, engaged in a number of occupations with which Heaven has nothing to do, while yet it is held that the preparation for Heaven is the great business of those who dwell here? Surely there must be terrible contradiction in such language, a contradiction which cannot fail to exhibit itself in our practice, to introduce unreality, insincerity, heartlessness into every part of it.

This unreality, insincerity, heartlessness, may remain hidden for a time, though its mischiefs will be at work. There may be a sort of compromise and understanding in the upper and middle classes of society, that certain persons shall have religious

1

tastes and indulge them, while the majority shall be given up to their farms and merchandise. The hollowness of the arrangement will often come to light; it will divide those who feel and know that they ought to be at one; family obligations, family affections will break it down, or will be destroyed by it; at length, those whose consciences tell them that they must work in the world feel themselves excommunicated, and act as if they were; while those whose minds are in the future declare that they must separate themselves and form a world of their own, or their souls will perish. Such things have happened again and again in all societies, are happening now. But still, as I said, these social conventions, often broken, may be renewed; there may be truces if there can be no solid peace, so long as what are called the respectable classes have the power of settling the terms. But from the moment that the men of toil and suffering, the real stuff of which every country is composed, claim to exercise any direct and independent thought upon such subjects, from that moment it becomes absolutely impossible that arrangements which are grounded upon the notion of a part of mankind having certain religious propensities, and a part belonging to the world, should last. The alternative then is a faith which shall belong to men as men, which shall concern all their ordinary pursuits, toils, relations; which shall not only bestow upon them an artificial sanctity, a passing benediction, but which shall shew that they are holy according to God's eternal purpose and

order the alternative, I say, is between such a faith and absolute Atheism. We must settle it in our minds clearly and decisively, not that we may come to this point hereafter, but that we are come to it now, here in England and in every country of Christendom. The revolutions of three years ago announced this crisis; oh! do not let us delude ourselves with the notion that any plots or devices of ours have suspended it. God in his mercy is giving us a brief respite during which we may decide on what ground we will take our stand. If we hope anything from a conventional religion adopted to keep the existing system of the world together, we shall find ourselves utterly deceived; the fabric and its props will fall together. If we hope anything from a religion having no deeper foundation than a wish for our own personal security, we shall find that the protest against selfishness which Christianity has borne for 1800 years will prove the destruction of the counterfeit which usurps its name. But if we believe in our hearts that the New Testament is not contrary to the Old; that our Covenant is larger, deeper, more social than the Jewish, not narrower, more individualizing, less rooted in the Nature and Being of God; that every maxim of trade or government, however sustained by custom, opinion, authority, which is opposed to Truth and Righteousness, is doomed to perish-then we have a Gospel which men will listen to in the nineteenth century more than they did in the sixteenth or the third; a Gospel that will uphold all ranks and orders of