CHRIST NO IMPOSTOR;

OR THE RELIGION OF JESUS WITHOUT BRIBERY.

F the Great Founder of our holy religion had been an im

and if the Saviour's defign had been to feduce the people, and promote his own intereft, he most certainly would have taken the fame courfe that other deceivers do. He would have flattered the people's humours; formed his doctrines according to their fancies; courted the favour of fuch as were in authority, and ftudied and practifed all other popu lar arts that might infinuate himfelf into their good opinion, and gain fuch an interest with them as would be fufficient to accomplish the end he propofed. In a word, he would have endeavoured to have answered the raised expectations of the Jews refpecting their temporal Meffiah, whom they vainly and ignorantly fuppofed would redeem Ifrael, free them from the Roman yoke, and greatly exalt their nation. But did he adopt these maxims? Did he ever flatter any? Did he ufe any means to obtain the favour of the Scribes and Pharifees? Did he connive at their fins and vicious practices! Did he teach them or any others to expect any worldly advantages from him, (fuch as wealth, power, honour, &c.) No-he continually expofed their wickedness, oppofed their practices, preached the most humiliating doctrines, and when thousands who faw the wonders of his power, and how eafily he could have maintained armies without expence, would have made him a king, he fled from them, and uniformly declared that his "kingdom was not of this "world." Though he was Lord of all, we hear him say, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nefts, but "the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." Nor has he taught any of his difciples to expect worldly advan tage from embracing his intereft; in this refpect he has left the foundation of virtue and religion entire. No doubt, if he were constantly to feed his difciples with loaves and fishes; if he were to bestow upon them abundance of wealth and honour; if he were to grant them crowns and fceptres; if he were to fit his doctrines and precepts to their corrupt propenfities, and make the way to heaven broad instead of narrow, he would have many more followers, the work of VOL. II. 3 L

his minifters would be eafy, his churches would be full, and all would flock to his ftandard.

But let us attend to fome of the ftanding laws of this kingdom : If any man will be my difciple, he must take up his "crofs and deny himself, and follow me. In the world ye "fhall have tribulation." Though our fins fhould be as dear to us as our eye or hand, we muft part with them for his fake; nay, all that is dear to us must be deemed nothing, when put in competition with his honour; and we are not worthy the honour of being his difciples, unless we can sacrifice all things for him. Can any thing short of principle engage us to be the fervants of Chrift? Is there any bribery in his religion? Can he reasonably expect the crown who is not willing to endure the cross? Let no Chriftian wonder or be difmayed at his fufferings. This is the state of trial, and not of reward. Let him not murmur at the providence of God, because good men are afflicted, and bad men often profper. "The wicked have no changes, and therefore they fear not God." They have their portion in this life. Nor let any be deterred from engaging in the Lord's fervice from this reprefentation, for, though religion is attended with difficulties, and requires facrifices, yet it brings infinite bleffings to the foul-" it is the foul of happiness." Her ways are pleafantnefs and her paths peace; O'tafle and fee that the Lord is good. Let poor deluded infidels reflect on the difinterefted character of Chrift and the true nature of his religion, and blush and be filent for ever.

To the Editor of the Evangelical Magazine.

MR. EDITOR,

Whatever is calculated to imprefs the public mind with a deep fenfe of the importance and practicability of enlightening the Heathen, ought to be circulated through channels the most extenfive. You'll oblige me, therefore, by the infertion of the following extract.

A

W. M.

LTHOUGH the Negroes, in general, have a very great idea of the wealth and power of the Europeans, I am afraid that the Mahometan converts among them think

but very lightly of our fuperior attainments in religious knowledge. The white traders in the maritime diftricts take no pains to counteract this unhappy prejudice; always performing their own devotions in fecret, and seldom condefcending to converfe with the Negroes in a friendly and instructive manner. To me, therefore, it was not fo much the fubject of wonder, as matter of regret, to obferve, that while the fuperftition of Mahomet has, in this manner, fcat. tered a few faint beams of learning among thefe poor people, the precious light of Christianity is altogether excluded. I could not but lament, that although the Coast of Africa has now been known and frequented by the Europeans for more than two hundred years, yet the Negroes still remain entire strangers to the doctrines of our holy religion. We are anxious to draw from obfcurity the opinions and records of antiquity, the beauties of Arabian and Aliatic literature, &c. But while our libraries are thus ftored with the learning of various countries, we diftribute with a parfimonious hand the bleffings of religious truth, to the benighted nations of the earth. The natives of Alia derive but little advantage, in this refpect, from an intercourfe with us; and even the poor Africans, whom we affect to confider as barbarians, look upon us, I fear, as little better than a race of formidable, but ignorant heathen.

"Perhaps a fhort and eafy introduction to Christianity, fuch, as is found in fome of the catechifms for children, elegantly printed in Arabic, and diftributed in different parts of the coast, might have a wonderful effect-the expence would be but trifling; curiofity would induce many to read it; and the evident fuperiority which it would poffefs over their prefent manufcripts, both in point of elegance and cheapness, might, at least, obtain it a place among the school books of Africa.

"The reflections which I have ventured to fubmit to my readers on this important fubject, naturally fuggefted themfelves to my mind, on perceiving the encouragement which was there given to learning (fuch as it was) in many parts of Africa. I have obferved that the pupils at Karmalia were moft of them the children of Pagans; their parents, therefore, would have no predilection for the doctrines of Mahomet. Their air was their children's improvement; and if a more enlightened fyftem had prefented itfelf, it would probably have been preferred."

Trav, Inter. of Africa, by Mungo Park, p. 315, 316.

ON EVANGELICAL PEACE.

VANGELICAL peace implies reconciliation betwixt

Maker; and for this reafon "God is angry with them every "day." But Jefus is the glorious Mediator, who, by his death, has opened a way for the honourable exercife of mercy on God's part; and, by the powerful agency of his Spirit, makes his people willing to receive the atonement, to lay down the weapons of their unreasonable oppofition to the caufe of Heaven, and chearfully to yield themselves to the fervice of their most righteous Sovereign. Hence arifes that inward compofure, that heart-felt fatisfaction, which none but its happy fubjects can poffibly comprehend. Hence originate thofe wifhes which, expanding the good man's foul, aim at the diffufion of peaceful principles and of a peaceful behaviour among the whole of human kind. And, I may add, hence fpring thofe juft notions and thofe delightful anticipations which the Chriftian forms of the happiness

of heaven.

There are fome people, it is to be feared, whofe minds are ferene merely through ignorance of their condition. Though they are by nature the children of wrath even as others,' yet they liften to the repeated, the too fuccefsful whisper of their own deceitful hearts, until they feel a confident perfuafion that there is no danger: while others, who cannot deny that in fome cafes at leaft they have finned, depend on the virtue of what they term their good actions, as a fufficient atonement for thofe which are confeffedly bad. This, however, is not the peace of the real Chriftian. This peace (if it deferves the name) arifes from a total overfight of the first principles of Chriftianity. The Gofpel, in all its gracious propofals, takes it for granted that mankind are finners, under the difpleafure of God, and utterly incapable of atoring for their past offences, by any of their future duties. The Gofpel proclaims "peace by Jesus Christ," and affures that "He is our peace." It is "being juftified by faith, that "we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." That peace, therefore, which the Chriftian enjoys, well correfponds with the deepest fenfe of guilt, and originates in a humble dependance on the finished falvation of Jefus; and in thefe refpects it boafts an exclufive peculiarity. At the

fame time, it must be remembered, that a principle of holinefs in the heart, difplayed in the life and converfation, is abfolutely neceffary as an evidence of intereft in the Redeemer, and is the very effence of genuine religion.

This peace is productive of the moft fubftantial benefits, in regard both to the prefent and the future world. In all the various conditions of the life that now is, Gospel-peace will prove itself an invaluable bleffing. Suppofe the Chriftian called forth into a public fphere of action; the peace which his religion infpires will render him great fervice. If he be a man invested with any important office in the state, the tranquility of his mind will be a fource of pleasure to himself, and will impart energy to the meafures he may adopt for the good of others. If he be a man engaged in an extenfive line of bufinefs, he will here alfo find the happy influence of evangelical peace. While the ungodly finner purfues his calling, at once with greedinefs and distraction, the man of real piety will follow his occupation with regularity and fobernefs. The peace of his mind will fecure him from that bustle and precipitation which are fo frequently the occasion of commercial mifcarriages, and will tend, at the fame time to order and good-will among fuch as act under his authority. Let us fuppofe the good man's fituation in life private and obscure; ftill he feels the happy influence of this peaceful state of mind. If his talents be but five, he has no terror from a thought that his Lord will require the improvement of ten. If he be denied the applaufe of the populace, he refts amply fatisfied with the approbation of his God. If he have no preferment among his fellow-mortals on earth, he rejoices in the hope of being a companion to angels, and of dwelling in the prefence of the King of heaven for evermore.

Do

Let us fuppofe the Christian to be a man of confiderable opulence. He is happy, not fo much from the extent of his fortune as from the fweetnefs of his religion. He does good to his neighbours, not merely because he has it in his power, but also because his own mind is always pleafed to enter, in one form or another, into the abodes of the wretched. we view the man of a mind fo tranquil, in an indigent condition? Even the hard hand of poverty is incapable of grafping from him the enjoyment of a good confcience, and of peace with God his Saviour. Though deftitute of that abundance which the Divine Being beftows on fome, yet that facred compofure with which the Holy Spirit has replenished his foul, operates as an antidote to envy when furveying the condition of the wealthy, and as a stimulus to gratitude