The conqueror shall inherit all things." And Paul, "We are not of those who apostatize to perdition; but of those who persevere to the salvation of the soul." And why not? Because we have added, or are adding to our faith, courage, and knowledge, and temperance, and patience, and godliness, and brotherly kindness, and love. We have done these things, or are doing them, because we have in us this hope this glorious hope of the appearing of the great God, even of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of being welcomed by him to those mansions he has now gone to prepare for them that love him. We know that he was holy, harmless, and undefiled and separate from sinners. Therefore, this is the character which we are perfecting in ourselves. We are not satisfied with having begun in the Spirit. We are pressing forward to the mark of Christiau perfection. We are keeping our body under and bringing it into subjection. We are continually looking to Jesus the great leader and perfecter of the faith. We are learning of him, and striving after conformity to him in all things. In whatever circumstances placed, What would Christ answer? How would he conduct himself? are the questions and these answered, we speak and act accordingly. Thus are we "purifying ourselves, even as he is pure."

Christian brethren, are not these the principles by which we are, and wish to be, actuated in all things? I presume to answer for you. They are. But, high as is this our heavenly calling and relationship, it must be confessed that we have yet too much of the grovelling character of servants: free as we have been made by the Son of God, the world is yet too much in our thoughts and affections: clear as are our apprehension and comprehension of some of the first principles of Christian doctrine, we still live in a dark and cloudy day-the most perfect of us have not yet unlearned all our sectarian errors, and we have much yet to learn as the disciples of Christ.A neglected lesson follows-

"Moreover, when you fast, look not dismal as the hypocrites, who disfigure their faces, that men may observe that they fast. Indeed, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not appear to men, but to your Father, and your Father, to whom, though he is unseen himself, nothing is secret, will recompense you." Matt. vi.

Our Great Teacher in this lesson evidently speaks of FASTING as a duty. He supposes occasions for it-he gives some directions about the mode of observing it-and he speaks of a reward, as consequent upon the right performance of it.

Brethren, the subject on which we purpose to address a few short essays to you, is introduced. In our next we will endeavour to give a Scriptural answer to the first question, which our lesson suggests.

ADELPHOS.

SPIRITUALITY.

[CONTINUED FROM PAGE 341, VOL. 1.]

THE spirit of Adam was also gifted with the intellectual and moral powers of Deity. These powers it enjoyed, and exercised in augmenting strength and holiness, till that hour in which our great sire permitted the Evil One to prostrate and bind his spirit in the chains of sense, then its divine attributes became enfeebled and defiled. True, they still existed in its nature, but, alas! the strength of the intellectual powers was crippled, and the purity of the moral, corrupted; yet they still characterized his spirit. Be it therefore remembered, that after Adam was banished from paradise, he possessed the same mental faculties as he did when the tenant of Eden-the porch of heaven; but having ceased to live in the effulgence of heaven, their glory was departed. A revolution had arisen in his soul, and those faculties which God ordained to be vassals had become tyrants, and his guiding powers the serfs of passion. But it is absurb to argue from this fact, that our sin-stricken father, in his flight from the presence of Jehovah, lost some of his faculties. And every one of his rational sons and daughters possesses the same number of these powers that he enjoyed. It is granted, that in the great mass of his descendants, the nobler attributes are inferior in prowess and authority to the propensities, but still they exist in their spiritual natures either in activity or torpitude.

We shall know what were the powers, which being possessed by the spirit of Adam, allied it to Deity, if we can discover and examine any system constructed by God for the benefit of man, which has not been disorganized by sin. The Divine Being has adapted every system of this character to the mental nature of man; in other words, he has so arranged it, that the spirit of his earthly son can derive life and happiness from contemplating and reflecting upon its component works. If the systems have been adapted to the physical constitution of man, yet they have been so wisely constructed that during the period of their purity they also supplied the needs of the spirit. Of this character were paradise and the Mosaic dispensation. The mental powers obtained strength and pleasure by meditating upon the blessings which the systems contained for the sustenance and comfort of man's physical nature. Christianity differs from these arrangements in this respect. It is peculiarly a moral system; being constructed for the benefit of the spirit rather than of the body.

But any system arranged by Jehovah for the service of his creature man, whether formed for Adam, for the tenants of the past ages, or for us of these latter times, will give us the knowledge of which we are in quest, for all the tribes of humanity inherit in a

greater or less degree the mental nature of their first parent; a system of this character is therefore adapted to the constitution of man, as a being. It is true, that the systems of God have shone in different degrees of splendour, but the same intellectual and moral attributes have characterized them all; because the spirit of men to which they are adapted remained unchanged, though possessing the same powers in varied proportions.

The reason for why a system thus adapted to man, when unshadowed in its glory, teaching us what Godhead attributes dwelt in Adam, and as a consequence what those are inherited by his sons, is, because a system to be thus adapted must be originated by the same mental powers as those which exist in man, and through it they must be brightly and fully developed. Necessity requires it, because, when the parts and principles of a system effulgently develop the intellectual and moral powers of its author, it is adapted to every being who has the same powers, but to none other: for every mind can derive life and bliss from the contemplation of those works, and of those alone, whether individual or component of a system, which develop attributes of the same order as its own. Thus, those faculties of our spirits which are ectasied, when we are intensely viewing the scenes of an intellectually designed and nobly executed painting, are of the same nature as the powers which produced them. Hence, an adaptation is an homogeneity of the principles which either exist in the thing adapted, or are developed through it, and of those of the object to which it is adapted. Thus the various articles of food which are adapted to the physical constitution of man, are thus suited to it, because they have the same constituents of nature as he, however diverse they are from him, and from each other in outward appearance. In this case the principles exist in the object adapted; in that of the painting they are developed through it. But where is there a system existing in its full adaptation and glory? Paradise and its splendours are vanished; the Bible does not reveal its glories; and Nature, with its tenant man, is sunk deep into chaos. There is no oasis in all her blasted domains, blooming in its virginal beauty-a bright mirror in which the intellectual and moral attributes of Deity are effulgently reflected. We look in her volume in vain, to discover what portion of the Divine nature is united with the human, in the constitution of man. We ask her the important question, but her answer is confused and unsatisfactory. But is the religious system, adapted and given by God to the favoured sons of Abraham, fully developed in the Bible? It is; and had we not a more spiritual one, we would inquire of its oracles how much Divinity resides in our nature. This system is Christianity; it will freely and amply supply us with the knowledge we ask. For the design of this religion is, to resuscitate and quicken the deadened powers of man's

spirit, that it may, as a polished mirror, reflect the spirit of Jehovah. Hence, the attributes of Deity work through this medium, in order to awaken their offspring attributes slumbering in the soul of man. Now, no faculty can be brought into full action, except by being operated upon by a power of its own nature. Thus the talented and assiduous artist exercise those powers in the construction of their models, which they wish to bring into action in the minds of their pupils.

Christianity is, therefore, fully adapted to our mental nature. The Divine powers which work through it are so homogeneous with those of man, that they, as their centre, attract and supply them with life, vigour, and happiness. What, then, are those Godhead powers? The reply to this question unfolds the knowledge for which we are in search. The Divine Mind is developed through this religion in two intellectual powers, Knowledge and Wisdom; and in two moral sentiments, Love and Justice. The first attribute has manifested itself by unfolding the being, character, and attributes of God, and those of man. This course of action was according to its nature. lf, then, there be a power of the same nature in man, it will find inspiring and cloyless pleasure in comprehending, and meditating upon the properties and relations of the beings revealed in this development. Such a perception assuredly dwells in his spirit. All the noble and purified of mankind know it from joyful experience. This power in them has asserted and claimed its Divinity, for it has brought every faculty of their minds under its influence and authority. The wisdom of God is developed in deducing practical truths from this knowledge; and this attribute inherits the breast of man, for he possesses a power which, when permitted, luxuriates upon these truths, and causes him to receive and obey them as his principles of action. Hence knowledge can be defined, the perception of the causes, properties, and relations of objects; and wisdom, the perception of the truths which are deducible from them. These, then, are the two intellectual powers which man inherits from his Divine Parent. It will be objected, that neither of them is a natural constituent of the mind. We grant it; but this does not prove that they are not mental powers. Now, no truly intellectual and beneficial power of the spirit thus exists inherent in its nature, but is produced by the union of several constituent faculties. The powers of the mind are distinct, and to certain limits can act independently of each other; but the Creator did not design that they should, and if any one be permitted thus to act without the aid and guidance of the rest, it will produce error and misery. Jehovah intended that the faculty which was aroused into action, should unite with others, and thus produce another power. This, possessing all their strength and virtue, has as rightful claim to be called a mental faculty, as any of its

constituents, and is in every respect more perfect, noble, and happifying. When the faculties, thus uniting their forces, are the most sublime constituents of the mind, the power produced is by consequence the most spiritual and beneficial of all those originated by the combination of faculties. So knowledge and wisdom are not inherent attributes of the spirit, but are produced by the union and exercise of the observing and reflective faculties. These being the noblest in human nature, those are, as a consequence, the most exalted of the spirit's powers. Hence, all the truly intellectual efforts of man, are the exertion of one of these powers: in other words, he is either toiling to grasp an understanding of the natures of things, or of the truths deducible from them.

Jehovah has not then implanted his attributes in the human mind as original faculties, but has caused them to result from the union and exercise of those above-mentioned. The observing and reflective powers are not themselves divine. Their operations, independent of each other, are futile, unworthy of being termed actions of mind, and void of real benefit to man. The first powers, unaided by the others, are only capable of taking cognizance of the external properties and relations of objects; they cannot enter into the arcana of their natures, nor discern the hidden causes of their visible modes. These faculties, therefore, do not constitute one of man's celestial attributes, for it is the perception of those secret causes which is rightly termed knowledge. The reflective powers are also as imbecile and fruitless in their acts, unless assisted by those first-named. They must be aided in their researches, and furnished with materials in their productions by the observing faculties, ere their actions are truly mental.

We need not attempt to prove that no such feeble, dependent, and constricted attributes exist in the Divine nature. Its powers are in themselves perceptions of the properties and relations of things, and of the truths deducible from them. Man must, therefore, possess powers of the same order, ere he can be allied in intellect with Deity. And these he cannot obtain in any other way, than by uniting and exercising his faculties above-named. This view, however startling it may appear, will be found to accord with man's whole mental and physical nature. He is a being of capabilities, not of innate perfections. Not one of his excellencies is natural or inherent in his constitution. They are all produced by the same method as his powers of knowledge and wisdom. Thus the dexterity of the helmsman, the skill of the artist, and the ingenuity of the mechanic, are originated by the combination and full action of certain faculties.

We shall, if the Lord will, resume the subject next moon.

EDITOR.