derings, she declares to the principalities and powers of earth, "The nation that will not serve the Lord shall perish." She has beheld the fall of states, kingdoms and commonwealths, but her eye beams keen with hope as she glances towards the future, in full expectation that the Most High "will turn and overturn, till he shall reign whose right it is." She sees that He who, while in bonds at Pilate's bar, said, “ I am king," is now enthroned in heaven, and knows that he will subdue his enemies by a moral sway, and behold a world in prostrate adoration at his feet.

And what, practically considered, is the amount of all her teachings to us as a people? It is that we bow beneath her sceptre; that it be our supreme care to mould the laws and doings of our government into conformity, with the eternal principles of the kingdom. of Messiah; lest, if it jar against their harmony, we be at first broken, at last ruined. While she declares the Messiah to be the Prince of peace, and that the consummation of his reign shall be a state in which men shall learn war no more, and in which the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, she yet points to the oracle of prophecy which said that nations should unite in the resolve, "let us break his bands asunder, and cast away his cords from us," and that all such he would rule with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel, and scatter the fragments like the chaff of the summer's threshing-floor. Therefore she puts forth the voice of warning—“ Be wise, ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth! Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling ! Submit to the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.

35

THE relation we sustain to our country, imposes upon us peculiar obligations to labor for its welfare. There was a period when this statement would have been universally received as a truism, but we have fallen upon other times. In our days, men have arisen who, claiming to be citizens of the world, have cut themselves loose from the ties of country, and by pen and speech have branded patriotism as a crime, and love of one's native land as a base-born passion. Regarding, upon this subject, neither the teachings nor the example of Christ or his apostles, they recognize no special obligations to the country in the midst of whose institutions they live, and by whose government they are protected. We admit, as freely as these men, the existence of a common relationship which binds us to our race, and imposes upon us obligations to do good unto all men.' We would burn the brand of infamy as deep as they upon the worse than heathenish sentiment, "Our country, right or wrong." But while we hold common ground with them here, we cannot burn out the impression which our hearts have long since received, that He who instituted families, also instituted nations, and that the love of the latter may be a virtue and a duty, as well as the love of the former. Both have propriety, utility, and we believe divine authority, to commend them to our regard. As the parent owes duty to his children, which he does not owe to others; as the child owes affection and service to its parents, which it does not owe, to the same extent, to others-so, on the same principle, the citizen owes service and love to his country which he does not owe, in the same degree, to other countries; and for him to withhold these seems well nigh as unnatural as if the child should

break away from parental restraint and filial obligations, and give to the mother who bore it, and the father who provided for it, no service, love, or respect, except such as it lavished with equal profusion upon all men.

The error and absurdity of the views to which we now object, become evident the moment they are tried by the following principles, which are prominently developed in the moral government of God; FirstThe measure of our ability and opportunity, is invariably the measure of our obligation. Now, as God has committed the interests and destinies of our nation into our hands as he has not committed them into the hands of any other nation, we owe to it duties which no other people can owe it; and as its destinies are entrusted to us, as those of other nations are not, we owe to it duties which we do not owe elsewhere, to the same extent. We can all of us remember some sheet of water, by which we played in childhood, whose smooth surface was ruffled by the falling pebbłe, which in childhood's glee we cast upon it. We gazed with eager interest upon the increasing and widening circular waves, and noticed how each receding circle became more faint than its predecessor, till the tracery became so indistinct that we could no longer detect it. Some of us, too, can recollect how we were startled by the announcement of what was given as a philosophical fact, that not a particle of air could be set in motion without agitating the whole atmospheric mass-so that the swearer's oath, the infant's merry laugh, and the wood-bird's song, each had power to move the whole mass of atmosphere that surrounds our globe. But if we admitted the statement to be accordant with sound philosophy, we saw at once that the agitation would diminish as the particles increased their distance from the point where the impetus was given. Here we have illustrations of human influence. Other things being equal, it

So

:

acts with greater distinctness and power upon those near to us, than upon those more remote. Because of this, in part, we owe special service to our families, our kindred, our neighborhood, and our nation. that while our benevolence, like the atmosphere, should encircle the globe, yet, as our influence cannot act with equal power in all places, and upon all nations, we are under greater obligations to some than we are to others. The second principle is this:While our obligation is proportioned to our ability and opportunity, our accountability is proportioned to our obligation. Now on the principle stated above, as well as from other considerations, it is evident that the civil and religious interests of our country are entrusted to us, as they are not entrusted to the citizens of Europe, Asia, or Africa; and that, consequently, God holds us responsible here as he does not hold them. Neither argument nor illustration can be needed to explain or enforce this.

3.-INFLUENCE OF RELIGION ON SOCIETY.

N. W. WILLIAMS.

LET no one think that a thorough reformation from sin can be produced merely by human agency, nor that even an extensive change of public sentiment in favor of pure morals can be effected without the concurrent influence of religion. The depravity of the human mind is too deep to be eradicated by any power that cannot reach the heart. If, then, you would see vice eradicated, and virtue take root throughout the land; if you would see the prevalence of an efficient morality throughout the mass of society, pray --ardently, constantly pray, and employ every appointed means, that revivals of religion may be multiplied, that the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit

may give effect to the word of God, and conversions be daily multiplied-and by the influence of religion in the community, that stern integrity, chastity, and fidelity to the Divine law, may distinguish our citizens; and by the same influence, intemperance, that moral plague of the land, profane cursing and swearing, gambling, and sabbath-breaking, may cease from among

us.

4.

-THE SOCIAL UNION OF ALL MANKIND WITH
ONE BIBLE.

ORRIN B. JUDD.

THAT all nations of men, dwelling upon the face of the whole earth, are destined to be united in one society by the religion of the Bible, is evident from the catholicism, the exclusiveness, and the assimilative power of the Divine word.

1. The catholicism of the Bible appears from the universality of its address, its adaptation, and its design. The Bible is adressed to all men. It speaks to man as the creature of God; and this itself involves the idea of a revelation that is universal, the knowledge of which is as important to one as it is to another, to all as it is to any. That God should reveal himself to me as my Maker, in order to give me a knowledge of my relation to him as his creature, naturally and necessarily induces the belief, that he will reveal himself in like manner to all, and that the Book which contains that revelation was addressed to all. It speaks to man as a sinner in the sight of God; and this involves the conception of a character which belongs to the whole race of Adam, the knowledge of which is equally important to all. It speaks to man as salvable, and proffers a ray of hope to relieve the darkness of despair. Who that considers the darkness which,