seized my horse's bridle, and almost forced him backward over the cliff by the grip he held of the powerful Mameluke bit." If such is the maniac of that country, what must the demoniac have been? What would this world be if all were possessed of the devil? Yet such it would be were religion banished from among men. Like the Gadarenes, who besought Christ to leave their coast, we madly cry out against the power that shields us from the tyranny of Satan. Having seen Satan in the flesh, let us now contemplate "God manifest in the flesh," destroying the works of the devil, by casting out the evil spirits and making the heart in which they dwelt the "temple of the Holy Ghost." In the beginning God, in the heavens, looked upon the chaos of our world, and said, "Let there be light." "And there was light." Order, beauty, and life, sprang forth from out that undefinable, unutterable confusion. When Christ came was the "hour and the power of darkness." The world was in ruins. Then God, in the flesh, looked upon the chaos, rebuked the devil, and restored order. "Torment us not before the time," cried the evil spirits; "let us enter the swine." Jesus suffered them. The devil can only go the length of his chain. He cannot possess the brute creation, much less man, without the permission of God. No man could tame this man, but Christ has tamed him; his friends find him "sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind." What a contrast! Just now the slave of Satan, now the child of God. Just now the most miserable, now the most happy; now trampled under the foot of Satan, and now sitting at the feet of Jesus, gazing calmly up into that beautiful and divine face that had looked upon him in his ruin and restored him to liberty. And, as he gazed upon that face, the first spot that in calm complacency he had looked on for many years, he loved Christ, and asked permission to accompany him. Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and show how great things GOD hath done unto thee." Thus his request, though seemingly denied, was in reality granted; for to labor for Christ is to be with Christ.

"But

Thus Christ restored the possessed. And may we not take his restoration as a pledge of the deliverance of all things from Satanic influence? Man is cursed by being subject to Satan's power. But the earth and all animals are cursed. May not the lower creation be subject to the same power? "The whole creation groaneth:" Rom. viii. 22. But why does it groan? Because bestrid by the devil, and under him as little capable of putting forth its real virtues and capacities for production as the body and mind of man are capable of using their original powers while subject to Satan. And may we not look upon this miracle as the foreshadowing of that time when the earth, in every department, shall be delivered from Satan's restraining and malignant power? May it not be the foreshadowing of a time of which our apprehensions are, it is true, indistinct, but not on that account the less animating? May

it not point us to a time when the incubus of hell shall be lifted from off this groaning creation, when the long-promised deliverance shall dawn, and when the stupendous unveiling of the resources and secrets of nature promised in prophecy shall take place,-a time when the whole material system shall be splendidly renovated, when all things, animate and inanimate, shall reach one common deliverance-one common, glorious, and eternal jubilee? For the year of their redemption shall come. This earth and all things in it shall be disentangled, disinfected of the malignant presence of Satan. There shall be a new earth and a new heaven. Every thing shattered by sin shall be magnificently rebuilt, every pollution cleansed; and this creation, tenanted by a holy priesthood, a peculiar people, shall be "hung with new majesty and enamelled with fresh beauty." For thus saith the Lord by the mouth of his apostle:"The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God;" and thus by the mouth of his prophet:-"O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified HIMSELF in Israel." H.

CONTROVERTED TOPICS OF DIVINITY IN THE PULPIT.

SET controversies, whether upon the platform or through the press, are not always productive of good; and never ought the controversial spirit to be known in the sacred desk. But, when candour and conciliation accompany it, we see no objection, but rather advantage, in having the "controverted topics of Divinity" discussed in the pulpit.

Excluding these, we should be shut up to a narrow round of subjects, which would forbid that variety that is always important.

Certain it is that the provision in our theological seminaries contemplates this; for there we have the departments of both didactic and polemic theology:-didactic, in which the students are taught what doctrines to preach; and polemic, in which they are instructed how to defend their doctrines.

Every part of the system of divine truth is important. What the Holy Spirit has seen fit to reveal we ought to regard worth our while to proclaim. Some points are, indeed, more strictly vital than others, and therefore should have greater prominence. But nothing in the Bible should be wholly excluded from the pulpit.

The masses are not readers; they depend chiefly upon the teachings of the sacred desk for their stock of theological knowledge. The consequence, therefore, of altogether shutting out from the

pulpit "controverted topics of Divinity" would be a large measure of popular ignorance in those particular subjects.

Discussion elicits truth, just as the collision of flint and steel brings out the spark. Let the representative of each religious communion, in his time and place, fairly present the peculiar views of his sect, and the people at large will be better prepared to determine what is orthodoxy.

Nothing is lost to the cause of charity by having each denomination of Christians distinctly define its position. On the contrary, they would better harmonize with one another if their respective views were better understood. Let the sects see plainly where they differ, and then let them agree to differ. And, if clearly-marked views in theology be so desirable with private members of the church, how much more are they so to the public functionary-the minister! But nothing can be more conducive towards fixing the clerical mind in the faith than thorough investigation for the purpose of preaching on "the controverted topics of Divinity."

Nor should it be overlooked that many of the fundamentals of religion come within that category:-for example, the indispensable necessity of regeneration, the true Messiahship of Jesus Christ, the endless duration of hell's torments, and the all-sufficient advocacy of our arisen and exalted Saviour. And, in the same connection, it is proper to remark that the subterfuges where sinners seek to hide, and the supports upon which Christians depend for life and salvation-that both of these are, to a considerable extent, involved in what are known as "controverted doctrines." The preacher must therefore in turn present these several doctrines, alike to disarm the wicked and to feed the saints.

The testimony of facts is in conformity to and corroboration of the foregoing. Turn your eyes any direction in Christendom where the citadel of truth has been most seriously assailed, and you will find that a bold and uncompromising opposition to error has been most fruitful of good. Silence or shrinking would, in every such instance, have been regarded a surrender of the ground, and the enemy, accordingly, been emboldened in his attacks. To adduce a case: what had become of orthodoxy in Boston, many years ago, if Doctors Griffin and Beecher had declined to preach up "the controverted doctrine of our Saviour's Divinity"? Of Mr. Nettleton we have this record:-"He brought forth from his treasure the doctrines of total depravity, personal election, reprobation, the sovereignty of Divine grace, and the universal government of God in working all things after the counsel of his own will. And these great doctrines did not paralyze, but powerfully promoted, the good work. At no time were converts multiplied so rapidly, and convictions and repentance so deep, as when these doctrines were pressed home to the conscience."

W.

A BRIEF PLEA WITH THE INFIDEL.*

Some, possibly, tinctured with skeptical doubts, repel any attempt to press the claims of religion upon them as a personal matter, with a feeling bordering upon contempt.

We shall not err if we assume that this latter feeling, or something akin to it, is widely prevalent among the young men of our day, particularly those belonging to the educated classes. Their studies have made them familiar with the names of Voltaire, Gibbon, Hume, and other champions of infidelity, or they have listened to the specious objections against the Bible forged in the laboratories of modern science; and henceforth Christianity is to be with them a myth and a fable- a scheme of faith fit only for women and children. It might be worth while to ask the young men who espouse these opinions with so rare a facility, how far they have examined the system on which they venture to pronounce this grave condemnation. Of course, in dealing with a volume. which claims to be the only written revelation of the Divine will, and as such challenges the confidence of every human being, you have refused it your homage only after the most careful and patient investigation. You have read every page of it. You have weighed the arguments in support of its authenticity derived from its style, its originality, the harmony of its several parts, its lofty morality, the matchless character of the personage it presents to us as the Redeemer of the world, its prophecies, its miracles, its triumphs, its consolations, its beneficent effects upon society, and the salutary changes it is still producing before our eyes in the moral condition of individuals and of nations. All these arguments you have examined with the frankness and the thoroughness of men intent only upon ascertaining the truth; and, having exhausted this ground, you have, in the same spirit, dissected the schemes with which it is proposed to replace the "exploded" system of Revelation. You have gone to the astronomer, the geologist, the anatomist, the ethnologist, and the oracles of infidelity, and asked them in succession, with a profound conviction of the solemnity of the inquiry, "If I discard Christianity, what substitute can you furnish me? What positive information can you give me concerning the Supreme Being, my own relations and responsibilities as an accountable creature, the destiny which awaits me after death, and the possibility of a reconciliation with that God whom I am conscious of having offended?" Of course you have taken all these precautions before severing yourselves from the common faith of Christendom, and enrolling your names on the long and cheerless catalogue of unbelievers ?

Alas for the integrity and fair dealing of this school of philosophic skepticism! There is, probably, not one in a thousand of

An extract from Dr. BOARDMAN's Sermon on the Death of GEORge Ramsaur.

them who has ever read the Bible through, or who has explored the wide range of its evidences with an ingenuous, truth-loving spirit. For the most part, they are far more conversant with the attacks upon Christianity than with its "apologies;" credulous in listening to objections, while the refutations of them are unnoticed; eager in embracing the anti-Scriptural deductions of some embryo science, and impatient of the barriers which genuine science and true learning have reared around the ark of the covenant;—in a word, anxious at heart to have Christianity proved a fraud, and as disdainful of its requisitions as a man of chivalric principles would be if asked to stoop to some dishonourable action.

That inquiries prosecuted in this spirit should lead to infidelity is unavoidable. A similar spirit would defeat its own end in any other science. Medicine, jurisprudence, political economy, all have their sciolists and pretenders, who deal with principles and facts very much in the style which has been described; but they soon find their level. It is only in theology, the noblest of all sciences, that this rank injustice is tolerated. The BIBLE is the only book which the world will permit to be condemned without a hearing.

Not to attempt a vindication of its Divine origin here, (which would divert me from the main design of this discourse,) it might be well to consider, before you discard the Bible, what you are to get in place of it. Unless you are prepared for the absurdities of pantheism or of annihilation, you must be looking to a conscious personal existence in another world. Shut up your Bible, and what do you know of that world? What do you know of God, of yourself, of retribution, of the possibility of forgiveness? You have a witness within your bosom which tells you that you are a sinner; but what does conscience, or reason, or the light of nature, reveal concerning the pardon of sin and future happiness? Nothing-literally nothing. The insatiate craving of the soul for information on this vital question is met only by guesses and conjectures, baseless, illusive, without authority, and, therefore, without consolation.

I was once sojourning at a watering-place, when there came there an aged man, who had retired from the bench and was now a leading politician in a distant State. A mortal disease had laid its inexorable hand upon him, and his friends saw that his days were numbered. They pressed him to see some minister of the gospel; but he steadfastly refused, refused, I presume, with cursing and oaths, for he was a bitter infidel, and horribly profane. One morning, about four or five o'clock, a servant knocked at my cabin-door, and called to me that Judge desired to see me. I hastened across the lawn to his room, and the scene which ensued was so appalling that I shall not venture to describe it.