designs of divine mercy were thus hid under figures, and the divine presence was shrouded within the innermost veil of the tabernacle, there is a sense in which, at that time, every heart might be a sanctuary, in which the "good THE IDENTITY OF RELIGION, IN ALL AGES. Spirit" of the Lord condescended, in measure, "Religion is a tie."-CRISP. (Concluded from page 749.) III. In hastily surveying that dispensation of divine mercy, into which the children of Israel were introduced, through the intervention of Moses, we find the same great essential features of true religion, both as respects its object, and its means. 1. We would, in the first place, observe, that we see no reason to believe, that the divine favour and sanction were universally withdrawn from the patriarchal institutions, at the moment when the divine voice from Mount Sinai gave to Moses the special instructions by which the family of Abraham was to be governed. Nor would we presume to set limits to the strivings of the Holy Spirit, with those who lived in times when the primitive institutions were much corrupted. The family of Abraham were the favoured instruments in the Lord's hand, of preserving the knowledge of divine truth in the midst of prevalent idolatry, and also of a further unfolding of his merciful intentions to the whole family of man. In this economy, under a variety of significant shadows, that grace and truth were represented which were to be fully seen in the face of Jesus Christ; and thus, in respect of the universal church, the people of Israel were chosen, elected, to act as the initiatory schoolmaster, to prepare for the higher form of the Christian economy. 2. The most distinguishing privilege of the children of Israel was the divine presence. This was constantly manifested to them in their early wanderings, by the sign of the cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night; and as soon as the tabernacle was prepared, with its appropriate figures and emblems, the divine presence was manifested between the cherubims, within the veil of the innermost sanctuary, and became the living oracle, to be consulted in all times of emergency. Here was a constant means of divine intercourse established, for the government and guidance of this peculiar family; but it must be observed, that every individual was not admitted to it, but only certain delegated persons, divinely appointed, who acted as mediators between the Lord and his people. Yet was it a high privilege indeed, to each individual of this family, through this intervention, to have the Lord so near them at all times, and to be permitted to join in the appropriate sacrifices and services which, though but the patterns of heavenly things, when offered in faith, were accepted of God, and therefore strengthened and consoled the worshipper. But though the full to instruct, and in which the intercourse of holy affections was to be known. 3. Not less evident is it, that the sacrifices and ritual observances under the law had reference to two great objects, viz.,—the remission of sins, and the change of man's heart, as the essential means of reunion and true peace with God. There were various sin offerings, and services for purification, but there was one great annual occasion on which all the people were commanded to afflict their souls, and the highpriest entered into the holiest of all, with solemn and significant rites, to make atonement by a propitiatory sacrifice, for his own sins and the sins of the people. There was also the daily incense, and the appointed offerings of acknowledgment and thanksgivings for mercies received, figuring those sweet and holy affections, which are ever due from man to his Creator, Redeemer, and Preserver. 4. There was a legal national righteousness in the fulfilment of the appointed services of the law, but the very basis of the covenant, as regarded the people, was, that they should be conformed to God, and obey his statutes in all things. Moses, by the divine command, said to the children of Israel, "Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." Levit. xix. 2. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Deut. vi. 5. And when the people forgot their love and duty, and yet thought to be accepted in their legal services, how severely were the prophets commanded to reprove them, and with what comparative slight do they speak of the appointed services of the tabernacle, or the temple. Thus we see that at all times God has had regard to the heart. 66 5. To what purpose," says Isaiah, "is the multitude of your services unto me." . Bring no more vain oblations,-incense is an abomination unto me." "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow: come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. "ch. i. v. 11–18. "Wherewith," says the prophet Micah, "shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed | upon me O God, according to thy loving kindthee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." ch. vi. 6–8. 66 ness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions." 2. Change of heart.-"Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin; create in 6. The character of true religion, in all ages, me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right is here strikingly portrayed; and it is observable, spirit within me." 3. Repentance." For I that the prophets speak to the people as being acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is in possession of a spiritual energy, to obey the ever before me." 4. The divine requirements of call to repentance, although Isaiah describes man." Thou desirest truth in the inward parts, those whom he addresses, as "the rulers of and in the hidden part, thou shalt make me to Sodom and the people of Gomorrah." Those know wisdom." 5. The need of the Holy who yielded to the divine call were not, however, Spirit.-" Cast me not away from thy presence, we may safely believe, led to think lightly of the and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore house of the Lord, and of its services. The unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me pious Jew, who was turned from the error of with thy free Spirit." 6. The true offerings.his way-hating sin-rejoiced in his intercourse Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give with God, through the divinely appointed means. it; the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a He found his confidence in the covenant of broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt mercy confirmed in the solemn services of the not despise." There is but one direct mention temple, and especially of the annual atonement, in the midst of these petitions of any typical though he might see very dimly the full signifi- rite. In the seventh verse, David says, "Purge cation of these rites. Walking by faith in that me with hyssop and I shall be clean: wash me which was revealed to him, he was a true son and I shall be whiter than snow." With a of Abraham, believing in, and looking for, the bunch of hyssop, dipped in the blood of the pas fulfilment of the promises made unto the fathers. chal lamb, the Israelites sprinkled their doors, 7. Glorious as was the temple, whilst the when the destroying angel smote the first-born presence of the Lord was there, the evangelical of Egypt. David rests not, however, on any prophet was directed to declare, "Thus saith the outward rite; but, penetrated with the sense of high and holy One, who inhabiteth eternity, his alienated condition by nature, and his deep whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and sinfulness, he throws himself altogether upon the holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and free and tender mercies of a compassionate Lord. humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, It is pardon, change of heart, and renewed comand to revive the heart of the contrite ones." munion with God, that he seeks, with all the The light of the gospel day beams through the earnestness of his soul. Surely we have here clouds and shadows of the legal dispensation, an exhibition of the principles of the one only and shows the essential character of true religion, religion-the religion of all ages. Let it not, in the restoration of man's immediate intercourse however, for a moment, be supposed, that the with his reconciled Father and Lord. Here we feelings expressed by David, in the fifty-first see the lines of that glorious day, which, glori- Psalm, are at variance with his love of the hill ous in its simplicity, was in the latter times to of Zion, or with his coveting, poetically, the supersede all the splendour of the temple of Solo- privilege of the birds which dwelt about the mon, and the imposing ceremonies of the Mosaic altars of the Lord. There the Almighty had ritual. chosen for his people to meet and to honour him, in divinely appointed services. It is ever the pleasure and the longing of the true servant to do his Master's will; and ever in connexion with doing the will of the divine Master, his living presence is known to stimulate, strengthen, and comfort the faithful servant. 8. Very strikingly are the features of the one religion portrayed in the Psalms of David. Absent from his beloved Jerusalem, he longs, he thirsts, he pants for the courts of the Lord. "How amiable," he exclaims, "are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts; my soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God;" yet highly as he values the appointed place and means of access to Jehovah, he recognises, at the same time, the divine omnipresence, and says, "My mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches." But it is in the hour of his distress, under deep compunction for sin, that he recognises most fully the universal means and attendant circumstances of man's reconciliation with a just and offended Creator. 1. Remission of sins.—" Have mercy IV. Nothing which we have said, with reference to the essentially spiritual character of true religion in all ages, will, we trust, have been considered as in any degree derogating from the value and importance of that fuller display of the divine mercy which is exhibited in the new covenant of grace, by Jesus Christ. Though the holy men of the former dispensations walked in the one true faith, and took a living hold on the great promise of a deliverer, who was to come in the latter days; yet, in the words of the Apostle to the Hebrews, "These all having obtained a good report through faith, re ceived not the promise: God having provided | creature." The law of Christianity is a law of some better thing for us, that they without us love and holiness-it is a dispensation of blessed should not be made perfect." Heb. xi. 40, 41. liberty, and at the same time, of holy restraint. Those good things which all the services of their No more is Jerusalem or the temple the eslaw signified, are fulfilled in Christ. "The lawpecial place of worship; but in every place, and made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God." Heb. vii. 19. The fact that the legal services of the Temple constituted a system of symbols-the types of good things to come, which good things are introduced by the Gospel, places the two dispensations in their true relation to each other. The Gospel consists of realities. The full remedies for the guilt of sin, and for the removal of the separation of man by sin from his heavenly Father, are found, and only fully found, in Christ, whose birth was announced to the shepherds of Bethlehem by the angel, as "glad tidings of great joy." He came to "give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.' Luke i. 79. Of Him, the great forerunner said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John i. 29. Our remaining space in this little work obliges us considerably to contract the concluding portion of our essay; if, however, we have correctly indicated the essential features of true religion, under the preceding dispensations, the reader, we believe, will not be unwilling to admit that they are pre-eminently characteristic of the gospel day. If true religion always brought man into a measure of likeness to his holy Creator, and into peaceful union with him, such is pre-eminently the office of the religion of Christ. Its great idea is this nearness-this reunion. The predicted name of the deliverer is "Emanuel," God with us. Isaiah vii. 14. Christ, in his people, and his people in Him, is the high privilege of the gospel times. "Through Him we all have access by one spirit unto the Father." Ephes. ii. 18. There is an entire harmony between the finished work of Christ, in his one offering without the gates of Jerusalem for the sins of the world, and the continued work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of the soul. These things are bound together in inseparable union. He who is the One Mediator between God and Man, is to be known in the hearts of his lowly disciples, and in the midst of his Church, as their King to rule over them, and their Bishop to instruct them. The Law, with its multiplied figures, "its weak and beggarly elements," has passed away, as clouds and shadows which obscured the full shining of the Sun of Righteousness. Its expiatory sacrifices are superseded by the offering of Jesus Christ, once for all; its washings and purifications, by the one baptism of the Holy Spirit; its paschal supper, by the spiritual partaking of the body and blood of Christ. "Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new from every heart, incense-the pure offering of holy affections-may ascend acceptably to God, through Jesus Christ. The primitive union of faith, love and filial fear, is fully restored. In concluding this imperfect essay, we would observe, that if true religion in its objects and character, was heretofore a definite thing, founded on divine appointment and revelation, it is at least not less so at the present time. Its basis is-that God hath spoken-spoken outwardly, through various agencies, chosen by infinite wisdom and love to man; and inwardly by his Spirit, enlightening, convincing, and converting the soul. True religion never was the work of human invention or mere human feeling. All its contractions and corruptions more or less assume the opposite of this position; and it would not, we apprehend, be very difficult to show, that error as well as truth, in connexion with religion, has been essentially the same in all ages.—Annual Monitor. HUMANITY OF THE MOSAIC CODE. One of the most striking characteristics of the Mosaic code is the rich vein of humanity which runs through it. The poor there find themselves traced back to the same parentage, loved by the same God, bound by the same religious ties, with their wealthy neighbours. At the sanctuary and the altar, the only distinction is one in their favour, namely, that by which the least costly offering on their part is pronounced no less acceptable than the hecatomb which the rich may bring. In the rest of the Sabbath, the voice from Sinai made special mention of the man servant and the maid servant; nor is there one among the many appointed festivals, in which they, together with the poor and stranger, are not specially enumerated among the guests. Mark the spirit which breathes in the following laws: "If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen into decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger and a sojourner.' "Take thou no usury of him nor increase." "If thou take his raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it to him again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment and bless thee." "Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of the strangers that are of the land within thy gates. At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." "When thou cuttest down thy harvest in the field, and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go 99 symptoms of being undermined, and its pillars of tottering. However faint these may be, the philanthropist and the Christian will fondly cherish them, and pray to our common Father that he would enlighten us all to perceive, that on all occasions, there is an expediency even, in the claims of immu table Justice. again to fetch it. When thou beatest thine olive | tion of the monstrous institution of slavery shows tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward. It shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow." "If a stranger sojourn with thee, thou shalt not vex him, but thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye know the heart of a stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." In addition to all these merciful provisions, when a poor man alienated his patrimony, or sold himself into servitude, he could do so only for a term of years; and when the year of jubilee arrived, though the debt were unpaid, the debtor resumed his freehold and returned to the home of his fathers. These laws banished from poverty all show of abjectness, and embraced the extremes of social life in a finely woven network of the kindliest sympathies and charities. Nor does the whole period of Jewish history, prior to the Christian era, among its many records of apostacy and guilt, reveal a single trace of the disabilities, sufferings and unnatural crimes among the poor, which deform the annals of all other ancient nations.-N. American Review. FRIENDS' REVIEW. PHILADELPHIA, EIGHTH MONTH 19, 1848. Our readers will learn from the Summary of News, that Congress, in conformity with a resolution some time previously come to, closed its sittings at 12, M., on Second day, the 14th inst., after a session of more than eight months. It is scarcely necessary on this occasion to advert to the high responsibilities attached to all bodies of this character, or to our own Senate and House of Representatives in particular. These are pretty well understood, and it ought to be but a liberal presumption, that each Senator and Representative is desirous conscientiously to discharge them, as in the sight of Him who controls the destinies of nations, and for the best interests of our common country, which their position makes it more especially their duty to guard and promote. A Peace has happily been negotiated with Mexico; and long may the sword-if that period so devoutly to be desired, when it shall be turned into a ploughshare, is not yet to break upon our country-rest, sheathed in its scabbard! We have come into possession of, and extended our jurisdiction over territories of untold acres, including many tribes of Indians, who should confidently look to us for protection, and for instruction in the arts and advantages of civilized life. Shall we disappoint this reasonable hope? The action, in several particulars, of the Congress just closed, has declared, in no equivocal language, that the prospects of the slave are brightening-that the founda Stretching, as our country does, over such a range of latitude and longitude, it is perhaps to be expected that almost every season there may occur in particular sections a deficiency in some of the crops. So far, however, as we are able to judge, the crops of wheat, oats and grass, have been almost uniformly good, and although partial droughts have affected some neighbourhoods, the prospect of Indian corn-our great staple--is very promising. General health prevails; and surely prosperity should make us kindly affectioned one towards another. DIED, On the 4th inst., with bronchial and pulmonary consumption, at Laurens, Otsego Co., New York, GIDEON CORNELL, aged 45 years, a member of Butternuts Monthly Meeting. Through a protracted illness, this dear friend was enabled, by the power of divine grace, to bear his sufferings with Christian patience and resignation; often expressing a desire to endure all for Christ's sake, who died for him, and to experience have to suffer. Having passed through much experfect purity of soul, whatever the body might ercise of mind, and being anxiously solicitous to witness the great work of salvation accomplished, he was mercifully favoured toward the close, to triumph over death and the grave; saying, they had neither sting nor victory: and though he was to pass through the valley and shadow of death, he feared no evil, for the rod and the staff comforted him. He expressed his thankfulness for his sufferings, saying they were to finish the great work, and he should go to sleep in Jesus. He gave much pathetic exhortation to those who were with hin, admonishing them to keep close to their divine Master, and be thus prepared to enter into left to mourn as those who have no hope, but rather to rejoice in the evidence afforded of his final acceptance through the mercy and merits of the Redeemer. his rest. His bereaved widow and friends are not At his residence in Farnham, Canada East, on the 10th of last month, in the 47th year of his age, DAVID E. KNOWLES, a valuable member and minister of Farnham Monthly Meeting. Within the last ten years of his life, this Friend had travelled extensively in the exercise of his gift, though he visited several of the Indian tribes, on the under great bodily infirmity. About the year 1840, west of the Mississippi; and the meetings of Friends in Ohio and Indiana. He afterwards paid a general visit to New England Yearly Meeting, and at a subsequent period visited the eastern parts of New England, besides New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. In the summer of last year, after a partial recovery from a painful disease, be again set out on an extensive journey through Canada West, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio. From this service he was favoured to return to his family and home, where in a few days afterwards he finished his course. At Nantucket, on the morning of the 11th inst., after a short illness, ZENAS GARDNER, in the eightieth year of his age. He was a member, and for many years an elder of Nantucket Monthly Meeting. His end was peaceful, and his friends have the consolation of believing that his spirit, purified under trial, has, through redeeming mercy, found a home with the just made perfect, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. On the 3d inst., after a short illness, JACOB PARKER, of Rahway, N. J., in the 71st year of his age. ADVICES OF LONDON YEARLY MEETING. (Continued from page 747.) Amongst the numerous benevolent undertakings, which now interest the minds of our countrymen, we contemplate, with much satisfaction, the general circulation of the Holy Scriptures. Our sense of that inestimable treasure has been frequently acknowledged; and we feel ourselves engaged to call the attention of such of our mem bers as may be employed in this salutary work, to the supreme importance of giving heed to that Divine Word, to which the Scriptures bear testimony. This Word is Christ; the "Bread of Life," and the " Light of men;" that "Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." If we are earnest to obey the teachings of this unerring guide, we shall be led to cry to the Lord, that he would preserve us from selfexaltation; from attributing to ourselves or others, that honour which is due to Him alone: we shall be on our guard lest we should mistake our proper sphere of usefulness, or suffer any pursuit, however laudable in itself, to divert us from our true allotment of labour in the church. This watchfulness unto prayer can alone ensure our growth in religious experience, and our establishment in every good word and work. 1813. sincerely for help to Him of whom these Scriptures testify, may not unfrequently, on such occasions, feel themselves enabled and engaged to open to the minds of their interesting charge, the great truths of Christian duty, and Christian redemption. 1815. P. E. The practice of frequent retirement in spirit, greatly assists us on our way to the kingdom of heaven. If an impartial review of our conduct then takes place, and if the sincere and secret petition is raised for Almighty help, we are led from an undue attachment to the things of this life, and our hopes and dependence are increas ingly placed upon our Holy Redeemer. The sacred truths of the Bible are often at such times brought to remembrance with consolation and strength. It is one among the many evidences of the divine authority of Holy Scripture, that, in the various ages of the Christian church, its invaluable contents have produced in true believers a harmonizing sense of their blessed effects. If in humility, and in reliance upon the Spirit which gave them forth, we are diligent in reading these sacred writings, we become increasingly sensible of their value. prepared from our own experience to say that they are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus; we readily subscribe to the truth of the position, that in order to the accomplishment of this great end they need no human comment: and we are anxious that our fellow-men, in every region of the globe, may possess and may be able to read the volume of inspiration. 1825. P. E. We are then We are glad to know that the daily reading of the Holy Scriptures in the families of Friends, is this practice may be observed by all our memso prevalent as it is, and we earnestly desire that bers, and that those who neglect the performance of it, would seriously consider the great injury which they and their families suffer by such omission. The more we rightly know and comprehend the truths of the Bible, the more we shall find that they contribute, under the power of the Holy Spirit, by their practical application to our moral and religious conduct, to lead us It has afforded us much satisfaction to believe, forward in the way of life and salvation. We that the Christian practice of daily reading in therefore earnestly recommend to all, the dilifamilies a portion of Holy Scripture, with a sub-gent private reading of the sacred volume, in adsequent pause for retirement and reflection, is in-dition to the practice already alluded to. P. E. creasing amongst us. We conceive that it is both P. E. 1828. the duty and the interest of those who believe in In addition to the practice of the family-readthe doctrines of the Gospel, and who possessing of the Holy Scriptures, the importance of the invaluable treasure of the sacred records, fre- which we deeply feel, be encouraged often to quently to recur to them for instruction and con- read them in private: cherish a humble and sinsolation. We are desirous that this wholesome cere desire to receive them in their genuine imdomestic regulation may be adopted every where. Heads of families, who have themselves experi- all vain speculations upon unfulfilled prophecy. port; and at the same time, dear friends, avoid enced the benefit of religious instruction, will do Forbear from presumptuously endeavouring to well to consider whether, in this respect, they determine the mode of the future government of have not a duty to discharge to their servants the world, or of the church of Christ. Seek an and others of their household. Parents looking enlightened sense of the various delusions of our common enemy, to which we are all liable; ask • John vi. 48. f Ib. i. 4, 9. |