intimately acquainted with the subject things of absolute necessity in carrying on the system? All attempts to correct them, while you justify and uphold the system, are futile. The system itself is abominable, and must bring down the divine displeasure on those who practice it. To justify the thing and yet complain of its necessary results is idle. "Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit." Was not slavery according to our author designed from the beginning to be a curse and not a blessing to the enslaved? And has it not been so conducted in all ages and countries, especially in our own country, so as to secure its legitimate end, by proving emphatically a curse to its victims? Why should the slaveholders be blamed for not making the institution a blessing to its subjects? Why should they be criminated for not acting in opposition to divine providence by making what was meant to be a curse, no curse at all? Surely there is but slight ground for those who hold that Slavery was designed to be the execution of a terrible curse, to complain of the evils which make it so, but those who view the whole system as unjust and cruel, may with propriety lift up their voices against it, for what it is both in principle and in fact.

The concluding section of the remarkable publication which we have been considering propounds, in substance, this inquiry

XI. Whether a minister of the Gospel who has become convinced that Slavery is a divine institution, and who could without conscientious scruples or misgivings, and with gratitude to God for such an opportunity of benefitting his degraded and suffering creatures, become himself a slaveholder, may not still hope for the forgiveness and charity of his brethren, though he differs from them in the honest profession of his views?

Here we have proof of the author's perfect sincerity, and readiness to carry out his principles. He would not hesitate, should convenience and personal advantage favor it, to become an active agent in supporting and using the slave system, but would think he did God and his enslaved fellow-men a good service by so doing. He would, doubtless, intend to be a good and exemplary slaveholder, but would in fact give his sanction to the whole system, as defined and supported by the laws of the land. His views, if carried out, would not only give a firm establishment to Slavery where it exists, but extend it indefinitely into new regions, reëstablish it in all the States and countries in which it has been abolished, restore the Slave

trade between Africa and other nations, and fill that great continent not with harbingers of peace and good will to men, but with armed desperadoes in pursuit of their human prey; and all this in virtue of the curse which Noah pronounced on Canaan, not one of whose posterity is known to exist among all the tribes of that vast and populous, but cruelly oppressed quarter of the globe!

That these views and the course of conduct naturally growing out of them are clearly and flagrantly wrong, unjustifiable, and pernicious, we cannot doubt. But whether a really good man may not fall into such dreadful errors, and yet have some good thing in him, which will, after all, work out repentance and salvation, we leave for the Great Searcher of hearts and Judge of all to decide. But those who hold such errors, and practice such sins, especially if they occupy stations of honor and extensive influence, should be firmly resisted, that they may, if possible, be reclaimed; and that, at all events, their dangerous influence may be counteracted and restrained. If their good characters and Christian conduct in times past, and the generally good spirit which they now exhibit, constrain us to feel that they must be good men, after all, then, though our hearts are burdened with grief and our countenances filled with blushing, let us, in imitation of the reverent sons of Noah, with averted faces, step softly backwards, cast a broad mantle of charity over them, and leave them to repose quietly under it, until they awake to a due sense of their present humiliating condition, and come to themselves again. "Charity suffereth long and is kind."

ART. VIII. THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN.

SUCH was Paul. His conduct on several occasions makes him a worthy example for Christians of this nation to observe and imitate. In his estimation the rights of citizenship were of value. They were not to be despised, or surrendered, without a vindication. On one occasion we hear him preaching his rights, as a citizen of Tarsus, in self-defense, when an excited populace were bent upon his destruction. The chief captain, under the influence of unfounded prejudice, charged him with

being a vagabond and a seditious leader of a band of renegades. To this Paul replied with the dignity of one who is conscious of standing upon a solid foundation-"I am a man, a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia; a CITIZEN of no mean city." Observe, here, how he advances in his argument for a hearing. It was something to be considered that he was a man. This, of itself, gave him rights. It was more, to be considered, that he was a JEw. This should disarm them of prejudice, especially in the Temple. But another and a still higher claim upon their consideration was found in the fact that he was a CITIZEN. This gave him rights, which it were not safe for even the great captain to despise.

This is not the only instance in the history of Paul in which he brought the fact of his citizenship as a defense against the violence of his enemies. It was upon this that he rested his claim for indemnity from the hot-headed magistrates at Phillippi, for their unwarrantable severity towards himself and Silas. And we are led to infer from his conduct and language on other occasions, that, in his estimation, the rights of citizenship were of no little value and importance to him as a Chris

tian.

If these rights were worth asserting in the days of Paul, surely they are worth asserting now. If they were of value in the Roman Empire, much more are they of value in the American Republic. If a Christian Missionary under the government of Cæsar, might find protection and security under the "Imperial Eagle," surely a Christian Missionary under our government should find protection and security in the presence of "The Stars and Stripes."

But citizenship now, and in this nation, should not be regarded merely in the light of a privilege. It should not be looked upon only with reference to the rights it gives. Along with these rights there come also obligations. And it should be written in letters of light over against the door of every Christian in this land, that though he may forego the rights of citizenship, he cannot thus remove its obligations. As the servant of God in the work of reclaiming, elevating, and blessing mankind, he is in duty bound to use all available helps in that work which do not conflict with the spirit of the Gospel.

That great pattern and example, set before all Christians for their imitation, the man Christ Jesus, brought his influence, in every way possible in His day and in His circumstances, to bear upon the laws and rulers of His nation. We have reason to believe that, if He were now among us, His discharge of obligations, as a Christian citizen, would be as punctilious and as

conscientious as was His conformnity to the regulations of the civil government under which He lived. Sure we may be that He who so pointedly censured some of the laws and rulers of His day, though He might have no voice in making either, would not hesitate to do as well as say, in the matter of laws and rulers, were He under a government like ours.

And the same would undoubtedly be found true of Paul. Were he now a citizen of this nation, his character and history warrant the inference, that he would be found rigidly faithful to the obligations of citizenship. For we cannot suppose that he who so often and so boldly claimed its rights, when it consisted chiefly of rights, would shrink from a full discharge of its obligations when these were actually imposed by it. To suppose that if he were now living among us, he would be entirely silent respecting iniquitous laws, and wicked rulers, and stupendous national crimes-to suppose that he would fail to do all that he could legitimately to set things right, and keep them right-to suppose that he would see iniquity abound, oppression and violence legalized, and desolating vice encouraged by the government, without lifting his voice and casting his vote against them-is to suppose that he would not be that Paul who reasoned with the tyrannic and adulterous Felix upon righteousness, chastity, and a coming judgment, until the royal transgressor trembled under the lashings of conscience, and hid away from his presence the fearless and faithful preacher of truth.

THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN.

A careful and conscientious study of this theme is demanded by the times in which we live, and the great interests of humanity which are involved in the destiny of our nation. The nature of our government and institutions imposes upon Christians who live under them a very much greater measure of obligation than has ever before, or by any other government, been set to their account. The responsibility thus laid upon Christians in this land cannot be shuffled by them without betraying a sacred trust, conferred by Him who has said-" To whomsoever much is given, of him will much be required."

There is an essential difference between a citizen, in the merely political sense of the term, and a Christian citizen. Citizenship, politically considered, implies the right to enjoy all that the constitution and laws of the country guarantee to individuals, and the obligation to allow to other citizens of the country the same immunities. A citizen, politically considered,

is under no obligation to look beyond himself and his fellowcitizens, in his motives and endeavors. To get what benefits he can from the government, and give what benefits he must at the dictation of the government, are the two great commandments which, merely as a citizen--a member of a particular State or body politic-man is obliged to regard. Hence, merely as a citizen, man may be as selfish, politically, as he is naturally. And as supreme selfishness is a natural characteristic of man, it should not surprise us that the politics of past ages have uniformly been selfish. This has been one of the greatest barriers to human progress in all past time. Selfishness is the bane of mankind. Political selfishness is the bane of the nation. Each nation, by its laws and regulations, calls for a regard to the interests of its own citizens, and considers it lawful and right to do that which tends to their advantage, whatever effect it may have upon the citizens of other nations, or upon those within its own limits who are not citizens. We should not look far along the records of our own government, (which, without boasting, we may say is as unselfish as any of the present governments of earth,) without falling upon instances in which the characteristic of which we are speaking has left its dark signature. The advantage of citizens has been consulted by mere politicians among us, to the deep and lasting injury of the red man, the black man, and the white man not yet naturalized among us. And all this is right, according to the political standard of right, which very generally obtains among the nations of Christendom. Indeed, the more selfish a policy is, the more acceptable it is, and the more highly it is applauded by politicians, and citizens who look no further than politics for their principles of action.

Now the Christian citizen cannot in conscience subscribe to this purely selfish creed. As a Christian, he is bound to respect the rights and labor for the good of all men, whether they are recognized by our government as citizens of this country or not; and he is no more at liberty to take advantage of the weakness of a red man than of a white man-he can no more rightly neglect the interests of a German than those of an American. Every Christian, who takes for his law in matters of feeling and obligation, the comprehensive and sublime rule -whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them-will feel himself bound to seek, in every possible way, the good of inan as man, of whatever complexion or nation. He cannot consult the good of one man to the injury of another, even though the former be of his own color and country, and the latter a foreigner of darker or of lighter hue. And