CHRISTIANITY A GLAD FAITH.

Ir must have struck you, I think, in reading the Christian Scriptures, that there is a peculiarity in speaking of life, as in. the words I have just read; "life" here meaning not the body's life, but the soul's life. The living man is the good man, the bad man is the dead man: "dead in trespasses and sins." And this is not a figure, but a fact. It is not something which may be true, or may be false, and which the future world only will disclose, but a fact, true always; a fact of our innermost consciousness and our hourly experience, and interwoven with all the business and relations of life.

true now, and

Now, this only true life is the life of the Son of God. "In him the LIFE was manifest;" and the question arises, Who are members of his Holy Catholic Universal Church? We answer only for ourselves, Those who have his spirit. Thus our creed is simple and short. There is, strictly speaking, but one true Church in this city or in the wide world. Its "builder and Maker is God.". "Jesus Christ is the chief corner-stone." Its members are that great household of faith, "the true worshippers," with all their vast variety of opinions, honestly held, who, according to Christ's own definition, "worship God in spirit and in truth." We must set aside, then, the multitudes whom no man can number, to whom all modes of faith are alike, since they are equally indifferent to all. We must also set aside those of every visible Church, whose religion is only a tradition or an inheritance, and who take possession of it as of a patrimonial estate, asking no questions, or who at best regard Christianity as a good civil institution, an admirable police arrangement, to keep society in order, and protect property and life, that we may sleep quietly in our beds. And we are hardly authorized by the New-Testament standard to enroll in this Church those who only regard Christianity as a historical phenomenon, as the highest moral philosophy, — satisfying their understandings,

their tastes, and in short their ideal of a perfect religion, but who feel no further personal interest. From this class, indeed, come some of the finest interpretations of Christianity, descriptions of the character of Christ, like that of Rousseau, -which have never been surpassed; hymns, even, sung in almost every Christian Church, which it seems incredible should have come from any but saintly souls. Modern literature affords numerous illustrations. The explanation probably is, that a man's expressed sentiments are not always his real ones, that the religious instincts never die out; and, in one of those devout moods which sometimes come to every man, those instincts assert themselves with great power, and the soul pours itself out in grateful hallelujahs or penitential Misereres. Alas that they should spring only from transient emotions, and not from settled habits of the soul!

It may be said that this is reducing the members of the true Church to very narrow limits. We answer, the limitations are not ours. Christ has himself given the definition of "true worshippers ;" and John, "the disciple whom Jesus loved," says, "He who hath the Son, i.e., the spirit of the Son of God, hath life; and he who hath not this spirit hath not life."

It becomes, then, a serious question, Why have not the classes we have mentioned, whom it is the very object of Christianity to convert, accepted this most simple, pure, and sublime faith? It is impossible here to give all the reasons. But one prominent one is false representations of this faith. We do not mean false dogmatic representations, but false representations of its character considered as a moral faith, a religion of the heart and life, which are prejudicial to its cordial reception.

Thus we sometimes hear views of this life, with its manifold relations, claiming, indeed, to have the sanction of Christ, but which seem to us morbid and exaggerated. There is a fault-finding spirit, which criticises the world's social enjoyments, with its absorption in business, or, as it is oftener called, "love of money,"-its pride of intellect. It speaks of all these things in a hard and unfeeling manner,

without sympathy, without discrimination, and often in a tone of harshness and assumption. It is belligerent and artificially solemn, instead of conciliatory and serious. But if the religious spirit is to find its growth and development in human society, in all human employments, in its joys, griefs, temptations, and triumphs, it should have taken a hearty interest in every thing of the kind, not only as good and right in itself, but as absolutely indispensable to the proper development of character. It should have rebuked all excess. It should have encouraged the legitimate employment of every faculty, and the indulgence of every reasonable enjoyment. And all this because it is the stuff of which a true life is made, and constitutes "the beauty of holiness." Why should the natural world be so lovely, and the moral world so ghostly? A man is as much a saint in shining garments as in sackcloth and ashes. Our instincts, even our animal instincts, are not unclean things. They are God's promptings, - not the Devil's seductions. If it were possible to annihilate any one of them, our nature would only be stunted and dwarfed. Educate them, and they expand into flower and fruit.

It is strange that this hoary error should not have been extirpated long ago. The idea that this human life should be made so dreary, that the spiritual life may be made more heavenly, finds not the smallest countenance in Nature or in Christianity. The shining heayens, the green earth, every ray of light, every flower that opens to the sun, is a silent and ample refutation. And with these the teachings of Jesus perfectly correspond. If the impression is given that Christianity is characterized by a morose, gloomy, and litigious spirit, we must not wonder that religion itself should, with common consent, be banished from the parlor and the exchange, from the realms of literature, and wherever scholars do most congregate; that clerical gentlemen and strictly religious men should sometimes be jealously excluded from scientific, and even philanthropic associations. Even the illustrious Newton protested against The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge holding its meetings in the rooms of

the Royal Society, saying, "It is a fundamental rule of the Society not to meddle with religion; and the reason is, that we may give no occasion to religious bodies to meddle with us." We must not complain of empty pews and deserted communion-tables, if the one thing needful is presented as the one thing repugnant to all our natural tastes. The features of virtue should be radiant with celestial beauty; and we have always supposed that society was in no small degree indebted to Christianity for the amenities and graces of life; and that most men are quite as much edified by "glad tidings of great joy," and descriptions of the happiness of a true life, as by wailings over sin and its consequences. It is better to fill up the "army of the faithful" with loyal volunteers than with reluctant recruits by a forced draft.

If the only true Church is a Church in conformity with the spirit and life of Christ, then men must be brought into sympathy with the character of Christ. And it is in no cynical spirit that we say, that the expounders of Christianity have here often made only a one-sided representation of this character. They have dwelt too exclusively upon the suffering Christ, and too little upon the social and triumphant elements of his character.

The records of the Gospels are too full of Christ's active benevolence to suggest a doubt of his prevailing cheerfulness. The somewhat common impression, that he was severely serious, and had little sympathy with human life in its secular and social aspects, - with the glad feelings of human hearts, and the joy of festive occasions, rests on very slender foundations. With the exception of the very brief period of his ministry when he was burdened with the heaviest cares, history and tradition are absolutely silent with regard to his character, except to hint that he was a precocious and remarkable boy. There is not a particle of evidence that he always wore a solemn and sad aspect, as some appear to think becomes a teacher from heaven. It was a very different type of men whe long afterwards affected to walk in his steps, and, from the far-off loopholes of their sacred retreats, discoursed dismally of the vanity of this world.