shall have been subdued unto him, and God become "all in all," then, and not till then, will the divine law be wholly fulfilled, and all its claims entirely met and satisfied. Endless misery, therefore, must be a monstrous absurdity.

EDITORS' TABLE.

THE PATERNITY OF GOD.

It is a fact worthy of particular consideration, that Jesus, in speaking of God, almost invariably styled him the Father. In all his descriptions of him, he not only represents him as supremely merciful, as having a love that is free and unchanging, but as having the love and mercy of an infinite Father. The apostles pursued the same course. They said, There is one God, the Father, who is above all, through all, and in you all. Now why was God thus described? Why was he always held up as the infinite Father, as a Father of infinite love?

In order to answer this inquiry, we have only to consider the feelings which we cherish towards a good earthly parent. They are peculiar, and such as we cherish towards no other person, however kind or generous he may be. We love good men,-we feel grateful towards benefactors. Still our feelings for a parent are widely different. The man who bestows upon us a large possession, or who risks health and life to save us from a fearful evil, has our warm affection; but it is not like the affection we cherish for a parent, not of that close and endearing character,—not of that binding and controlling power. How does the word father vibrate upon the ear, and ring through all the chambers of the heart! How mighty and holy are the emotions which it awakens! Around it gather our tenderest affections. Here, then, is the reason why God was so uniformly set forth as the infinite Father of all men,-it was the highest and most endearing view of him that could be presented,- -a view that would act upon the heart when all other views of him had failed,—a view that would wake up its affections, when they were dead to all sense of obligation, and wasting themselves on the vanities of the world. Other views had an influ

ence.

To be told that God was a Benefactor, might make some grateful; that he was a supreme King, might inspire some with awe; that

he was an infinite Judge, might convulse some with fear; but to be told that he was a Father, awakened that warm, confiding, yielding affection, which caused them to surrender their whole hearts to him; and to grieve that they should ever have sinned against him, or been wanting in an active, obedient love.

Here, then, we see the power of the divine paternity. It is God's paternity that gives him the entire possession of our hearts; that makes us feel the same nearness to him which a child feels to his father, which binds us to him by ties far stronger than the ties which bind us to sin or the world. We not only feel that he has a right to demand our affection, since he gave us being, and has supplied all our wants, and has been our constant guardian and guide; but we feel that he has a right to demand it, in consequence of that intimate and sacred relation he sustains to us. He is our Father, not merely our Friend, our Benefactor, our Guide, our Guardian, but our Father, a Father of mercies, a blessed Father,—a Father of infinite love! O what a thought is this! How does it elevate and ennoble us! How does it win our hearts! How closely does it draw us to him! We stand not afar off, and give him a formal homage, but we go into his immediate presence with hearts beating with affection, willing only what he wills, loving only what he loves, open to all his influences, drinking in his spirit, and animated by his smiles! The very thought of offending him pierces our souls with a mysterious sorrow. Our language is,— Whom have we in heaven, O Father, but thee, and there is none on earth we desire beside thee. He is all in all to our souls. We love him with an affection that makes our obedience entire, constant, and cheerful. If our lips speak his praise, they speak the feelings of grateful hearts; if we bow in adoration, it is in obedience to souls filled with profound reverence; if our hands are stretched out in kindness and charity, it is because those to whom they are extended are children of our Father; if we struggle against evil, it is because our Father has frowned upon it; and if we gird on our armor to achieve conquests for truth, it is because our Father is pleased with these conquests.

According to these views of the divine paternity, we cannot estimate too highly a religion which uniformly and clearly asserts that God is a Father of infinite goodness; which gives to him no character incompatible with that of a Father, and which ascribes to him no purpose or work inconsistent with his paternity. In this respect our religion stands above all the religions of Christendom. Though all gay that God is a Father, and speak of him in the most exalted terms, yet they

all teach that he can so far forget his children as not to raise them to heaven; and with a single exception they all teach that he will doom countless numbers of them to undying agony! Why, to hear some religionists speak of God, it would be supposed that he is the perfection of cruelty and revenge. They depict him as a being infinitely terrible, with a countenance of rage, with a bosom convulsed with anger, as impatient to hurl to remediless wo the millions that have incurred his displeasure. Before this God men have quailed, and trembled, and wept with agony. But they have not loved him, for they have seen nothing to love; not a beam of pity upon his face, not an expression of kindness in his eye, and from his lips they have heard only terrific words of cursing,—stern and unfeeling sentences of hopeless agony ! Such descriptions have driven men far from God,—they have made his name odious,—they have associated with it all that is terrible and disagreeable. But they have never caused men to love him, and they never can. You might as well ask men to love the hateful gods of the heathen,—gods for whom affection was never required,—gods that existed only to be feared. Indeed, Christians have never required that such a God as this should be loved; they know it would be requiring an impossibility; that if you would give man a million of worlds he could not love him; that if you were to threaten him with a thousand hells he could not do it. No; before they ask the sinner's love, they turn away the divine wrath; they change the divine cruelty into clemency; they make love beam upon his face, mercy shine in his eye, and words of tenderness drop from his lips. Now I will say nothing of ascribing such a changeful character to God,-nothing of his assuming different characters, like an actor in different scenes of a play; it is enough for us to know, that this terrific view of God cannot excite emotions of love, cannot gain our hearts. How injurious, then, are these false representations of God. They cannot sanctify,-rather do they harden, degrade, and drive from God! If you would have your heart sanctified, filled with a holy affection for God, and love him and his truth and the path of holiness supremely, you must look upon him as your Father,- -as a Father whose goodness never changes,-a Father whose grace is free as the vital air,- -as a Father who will exalt you to heaven, however great and expensive the means! How strong are the claims of our religion! How zealous and faithful should we be in defending the divine paternity! It is that blessed truth by which the soul is sanctified, that glorious gospel which is the power of God unto salvation.

IMPORTANCE OF BELIEVING THE TRUTH.

We often hear it said that it is immaterial what men believe, if they only live righteously. Paradoxical as this saying is, many regard it as correct, and frown upon all attempts made for the removal of error, and the defence of truth. Overlooking the fact that what we believe moves the springs of human action and gives the form to our character, they seem to imagine that grapes can be gathered of thorns and figs of thistles.

All error is pernicious in its tendency,—all truth good. Hence to teach truth was the object of Christ's mission, and for its establishment he wrought his miracles, endured his persecutions, and submitted to the death of the cross. In describing its effects, he compared it to the seed which the husbandman sows, to the bread which nourishes the body, and to the light which guides the steps of the traveller. It would be as absurd, then, to say, It is immaterial what a husbandman sows, if he only raises the crop he desires; immaterial what the hungry man eats, if he is only nourished; what light the traveller follows, if he only pursues the right path, as to say, It is immaterial what we believe, if we only live righteously. Such sayings imply that from bad seed it is possible to raise a good crop; that by poisonous bread it is possible to nourish the body; that it is possible for a false light to be a true guide; in other words, that a cause can produce an effect exactly opposite to itself,-an idea too unphilosophical to be admitted for a moment. Hence the saying under consideration implies an impossibility, and is like such sayings as the following :—It is immaterial whether a man has eyes, if he can only see well,-immaterial whether he has ears, if he can only hear well. Truth is the cause of holy living; and unless we can have an effect without a cause, we are chargeable with absurdity, if we say it is immaterial what a man believes, if he only lives as he should. Therefore Jesus says it is the truth on which we must rely to enlighten, regenerate, and save the world. Truth is a transcript of God, and in proportion as we understand it and feel its influence, God is with us, acting upon our hearts and directing our steps. The elements of truth are the eternal principles of righteousness; its light is that which directs the infinite God, and its holiness is that which enrobes the inhabitants of heaven. It is universal in its application to our wants and relations, and benign in all its influences. It stands in the place of God. It speaks his language, enforces his law, and breathes his spirit. Let it come, then, into our hearts. Let us open them for its reception, that we may be illumined by its light,

clothed with its virtues, armed with its power. Let us not fear it, and shut our eyes against it, and say to it, Depart from us, we desire not thy laws to govern us; thy grace to sanctify us; thy hopes to sustain us.

THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE RACE.

It is one of the distinguishing excellences of Universalism, that it uniformly urges, as an essential fact, the brotherhood of mankind. It declares that the world is one great family,-that however remote we may live from each other, however different may be our complexions, we are all brethren. And it teaches that, as brothers, we are under obligations to each other,―obligations that require us to be just, kind, and merciful, whether belonging to the same nation and the same religion or not. While it recognizes national ties, and bids us love our country and our countrymen, and while it recognizes denominational ties, and bids us love our sect,-above, far above them and all conventional ties, it places our common relation, with which it allows no conventional relation to interfere. It says to us, that we can owe no duty to our country, or any conventional body, that conflicts with our duty to any man. It requires us to love man because he is a man,—a brother.

By this universal relationship all things are to be regulated. If this were done, we should have fewer men with great piety without morality. The piety of our times is not proof of goodness. If we are told a man is pious, we still have to ask what are his morals. This arises from his understanding only his duty to his God. While he prays to him, and sings his honors, and regards his ordinances, he does not appear to apprehend his duties to his fellow-man, whereas the sole object of prayer and praise and all the ordinances is to give man the disposition and the strength to do his duty to his fellow-man. If our relationship to each other were truly understood, you would not find so many men, in their zeal for creeds and in their efforts to make proselytes, so often resorting to unfairness, and injustice, and deception ;they would not be such devoted Christians and yet such unfair men! If our relationship were duly understood, you would not find so many, who, while they are kind, and gentle, and obliging to those of their own sect or party, are cruelly unkind and disobliging to all others. In a word, we should give to the moral and social virtues their true value. Now we under-estimate them. We do not look upon them as the end of all religion, as the bonds of society,-as the sum of human enjoy