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mountains, the shepherds on these mountains shewed them many things and finally took them to the top of the high hill called Clear, and gave them the perspective glass to look at the gates of the Celestial City. But before this, they had seen the men whose eyes had been put out by Giant Despair, stumbling among the tombs; and the last thing they had looked at was the door on the side of a hill which they were told was a by-way to Hell, and this having excited their fears, the remembrance of it caused their hands to shake so that "they could not look steadily through the glass, yet they thought they saw something like the gate and also some of the glory of the place." But when these same pilgrims reached the land of Beulah, they were "out of the reach of Giant Despair, neither could they from this place so much as see Doubting Castle. Here also they were within sight of the City they were going to," and "here they heard voices from out of the City, loud voices, saying, 'Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh! Behold, his reward is with him!' . . and drawing near to the City, they had yet a more perfect view of it." In these circumstances, whatever difficulties may present themselves to the Christian, he can say, "The Lord God will help me ; therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me?" (Isa. 50: 7, 8.) Such a Christian has grown "strong in the Lord and in the power of his might."

But if, as we assert, it is both reasonable and scriptural to expect this progressive and continued development, it may be asked how we account for the prevalence of the opposite opinion, and for the fact that so large a number of professors of religion make very little progress, and continue comparatively feeble. We think that there are many things which will prevent spiritual growth and development, and that wherever these are hindered, the opinion will be encouraged that they are not to be expected. We will name some of them. Prominent is the neglect to make a public profession of faith in Christ. This is one of the first temptations that assail young Christians, and it is pressed on them by specious reasoning. They have seen many, after making a public profession, grow cold, or live inconsistent

sometimes been asked the question, " Cannot one be a without joining the church?" To this there is only swer. As we believe that no one should be admitted church unless he is a Christian, it follows that we beliey are Christians out of the church. But can they grow w maining outside, as they can by entering it? Let ex and observation answer. We admit that there are many

church who are not as consistent, earnest, and active, ought to be. But look among all those who profess been converted, and who from any of the causes we have deliberately and persistently neglect to make a public co of faith in Christ, and see if you can find one earnest, growing Christian among them.

Next comes the neglect of other religious duties. W referred to the fact that the powers of body and mind be used in order to physical and mental development. equally necessary that the Christian use means in order spiritual development. God has appointed such means they are neglected, it follows, as a matter of course, th Christian character will not be fully developed. If the is an unfrequented place, if the word of God is not rea studied, if trifles serve as excuses for absence from publ ship and from the social meeting, and if constant attenda the Lord's supper is thought unnecessary, then it is no that the neglecter does not grow, and that he persuades self that growth is not to be expected.

We are aware that there are differences as to the talents

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reactive influence. The study of the Bible will crease our knowledge of spiritual things, but this knowledge will lead to prayer, thankfulness, and and to Christian activity. Prayer and its attendant not only increase our piety, but this increase of pie to a desire to know more and to do more. And tivity will not only develop spiritual strength and 1 fulness, but the possession of this strength will in study of the Bible, and to prayer.

Thus our spiritual development may continue a We shall not come into a condition from which we velop more fully. We shall not reach a bound be we cannot pass. We shall not attain a height from cannot ascend higher. But we shall be " rooted an in love;" "we shall become strong in the Lord;" v strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner we shall be able to comprehend with all saints breadth and length, and depth and height, and to k of Christ which passeth knowledge." And with all ments, however large and extended they may be, w be disposed to say:

"O for a closer walk with God,

A higher, holier frame,
A brighter light upon the road

That leads me to the Lamb.

Calm and serene my frame;
And heavenly glory gild the road
I journey with the Lamb."

ART. VIII. DOCTRINE AND POLITY OF THE WILL BAPTISTS.*

The division of the Protestant Churches into a cons number of different denominations is often complained scandal and accepted as an element of weakness. The Church boasts of its long continued unity as a proof holds all essential truth, that it shares the constant gu ship of God, and that it must be an instrument of con power. It points at the schisms and feuds of Protestant tendom as an evidence that a fatal fall must be awaitin ecclesiastical house which is so split into factions and against itself.

* The following article was originally prepared by request an before an Association of Ministers, in reply to the question, What views and peculiarities of the Freewill Baptists? Though pre nothing specially new or striking, it was thought by the writ such a plain and connected statement might not be without profit readers of the Quarterly, and it is therefore offered for insertion sympathize with that view and cordially give it a place.—ED.

But the changeless unity of a fossil is not the highest kind of unity. It may preserve its form, but it does so at the expense of its life. It is fixed because it has changed to stone. And the outward unity of a Church which is secured and maintained, not by an intelligent inward sympathy, but by external pressure,by forbidding independent thought,—by prescribing a creed and forcing it down reluctant throats,-by frowning upon inquiry and giving all conscientious dissent a martyrdom,—thus strikes at all genuine life, and defeats the very object for which the Church was built. When a Church becomes a sepulchre to bury souls, instead of a school to quicken and consecrate them, it is to be adjudged a nuisance and abated as soon as possible.

A new denomination often springs up as the fruit of a reaction against ecclesiastical tyranny, or appears as an embodied protest against errors that refuse to yield to milder treatment, or is called into life and action by some neglected truth which can get no adequate expression from the lips of existing teachers, and so it summons forward a new speaker that shall send it ringing through the air, and compel attention to its claims. To one or the other of these causes may be referred every new denomination of history that has made any moral mark in the world, and undertaken the accomplishment of any distinct and needed mission. And until there is moral breadth enough in the life of a single denomination to allow all truly religious thinkers room for study, and all truly religious workers fields for effort; and till there is an appreciative charity that shall both tolerate and welcome all the minor diversities of belief and form that can coëxist with a true Christian spirit, separate religious denominations may be expected to remain and perhaps to multiply; and they may also be looked upon as something better than unmixed evils. When Lot and Abraham cannot work together without contention, it is better that each settle in his own sphere and spend his strength in agriculture, than that they dwell together and wear out their lives even in honest quarrels. If one cannot triumph through believing with Calvin, let him win his victory by working with Arminius. If the liturgy proves a strait-jacket to an aspiring soul, let him journey calmly upward in meditation with George Fox, or mount the chariot of sponta

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