CLAIMS OF THE GOSPEL ON UNITARIAN CHRISTIANS. WE are to consider what claims the gospel makes to our exertions for the benefit of our fellow-creatures. And when we speak of the gospel, we understand it to consist both of doctrines to be believed and duties to be done. A distinguishing feature of the Christian religion is to be found in the extension of its benevolent regards from the few to the many. Heathen philosophers may have limited their influence to the academy or the porch, but Christ broke down all barriers; he spoke to the people; he went about doing good and preaching the word; he appealed to the fact of the poor having the gospel preached to them, as a satisfactory proof of his being sent of God. There never was a system which was so general in its regards, which bore so invasive a character, as Christianity in its earliest days. What is the commission which Christ gave to the twelve, to the seventy, to his disciples at large prior to his ascension, but a commission to go and preach the gospel to their neighborhoods, to every creature? And how was this command obeyed? What city or shore was there which the feet of the apostles did not tread, to make known the unsearchable riches of Christ? Unlike their degenerate successors, they did not wait till men inquired; they did not station themselves in one spot, and leave all beyond their little circle in ignorance and sin; they did not lie inertly down, and look for the workings of Providence, and the gradual diffusion of their cherished principles. No; they went forth into near and distant lands, disregarding perils, persecution, and death, to bear their testimony to the truth of the gospel, and to overthrow the strong holds of heathen abominations. They were missionaries. Like Jesus, they breathed the missionary spirit and did the missionary's work. Every preacher was a missionary, going about doing good, sent, and glorying in his office, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. We are sure, therefore, that the spirit of missions is the spirit of Christ and of Christianity. We are sure that, till the kingdom of heaven is come in every heart, it is the duty of every Christian to be a missionary, to go and carry the gospel to his neighbor, to go as far as circumstances permit preaching peace by Jesus Christ. That Christian is, to say the least, deficient in an essential element of the Christian character, who is not a missionary; and pre-eminently that minister serves badly his Master's cause who is hostile to the cause of missions. We are not now speaking of exertions in foreign lands. Home missions are abundantly wanted in every part of our country men who, feeling the value of truth and the power of godliness, should be instant in season and out of season, instructing the young, warning the prodigal, visiting the orphan aud the widow, stimulating inquiry, awakening attention to the claims of truth, going to the homes of the poor and with tenderheartedness and sincerity telling them of the great salvation, and inviting them to accept the gracions offers of their Father. Thus on one Another leading feature of Christianity is seen in the earnest concern which it manifests for the immortal welfare of man. This concern is manifest in every page of the New Testament. How strongly, how fervently, did it burn in the soul of Jesus! occasion he expressed his emotions: hadst known, even now, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! But now they are hid from thy eyes.' The great object, in fact, of his mission was to seek and to save that which was lost; the great inducement which led him to all his privations and sufferings, was the tender interest which he felt for the welfare of man. For us he lived, for us he suffered, for us he died. He became the Saviour of the world, because he pitied its lost condition. He died that we might live, because he knew that it profiteth a man nothing though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul. Should we not strive to feel as he felt - to have the same concern, the same pity, the same estimate of the worth of the soul, as he had, and to make at least some efforts to save it from sin and suffering? Let us put a case fairly before us of a human being left to the misery of a wicked heart, rising up to corrupt a whole family his own offspring. Let us think how all the emotions of the inmates of that family, which in their natural condition would have been each replete with happiness, are perverted and made the sources of constant trouble and torment; how that their home, which ought to be the nursery of virtue and the resting-place of affection, is converted into a scene of strife, agitation, and sin; how husband rises up against wife, and child against parent, and a man's worst foes are those of his own house; and then, following up the consequences of this pitiable state, reflect on the wrath, tribulation, and anguish, which assuredly await each of these unhappy creatures -viewing the constant succession of sin and suffering through each period of their existence; and how can we, if there breathes aught of the spirit of Christ in our heart, if mere humanity e'er touched our breast, hesitate a moment that it is our duty to exert a remedial influence, or fail to experience inexpressible delight in rescuing a fellow-creature, a father, a family, from present and from future misery? No; he that follows Christ will pity sinners, and labor for their reformation. He will not be content to do justly, but he will love mercy also ; he will not be content to wait for, he will seek, occasions of leading men to God. Freely of the gospel he has received; freely he will give. The true Christian has a constant sympathy with the spirit of the gospel. The objects which it pursues are his objects; his desires, his affections, his aversions, are the same as those of his Lord. He is one with Christ and one with God by a unity of will and of effort. To save sinners is represented in word and in deed as the great work of God, of Christ, and of apostles. The highest and the most holy energies are engaged in the -- enterprise engaged with an earnestness and a tenderness, with an ardor of devotement and a constancy of endeavor, that are truly sublime. What condescension in the Deity, what benignity in his Son, what sacrifices in his messengers, do we there read of! Religion as beheld in the New Testament is no light thing-it is your life.' However low may be our estimate of the value of the soul, the whole world is no measure of it in the judgment of our Lord. For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?' Nor less is its value in the sight of the Creator. To form the human soul, to make it a free, active agent, choosing and pursuing good, desirous and capable of everlasting happiness-to form and save the soul, he made the world, the retinue of the heavens, the furniture of the earth, the frame of the body; he appointed the relations and discipline of life, he sent his well beloved Son, and yielded him up even unto death. All things, says the apostle to his converts all things are yours; because all things, the whole furniture and discipline of the school in which man is placed, works together for our good, and contributes to build up the noblest work of God, the soul of man. Must not that, then, be inexpressibly valuable which God himself so estimates as to create the world for its nursery, and the infinitude of objects therein for its instructors ? What, therefore, ought to be our estimate of the soul's value? What God hath cleansed, shall we call that common or unclean? What he hath esteemed, shall we disesteem? What he created the world and gave his Son to form and bless, shall we neglect? Let us not so far lose the spirit of the Gospel. All other things |