that Jerusalem was the place where God had recorded his name, and that thither should all his true worshippers come, "said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David; if this people go up to sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto this Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold thy gods, O Israel! which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan." (Mark it, reader.) "And this thing became a sin for the people, and they went to worship before the one, even to Dan." See chapter xii. first book of Kings. Now let any man show, if he can, a better reason than that assigned by Jeroboam, why Israel should not have gone up to Jerusalem. The same reason Jeroboam assigned will now apply to every sect in the professing Christian world, so called. Let any of the sects show, if they can, that God has ever approved of the conduct of the ten tribes from that day to this, and see the conclusion of the 13th chapter of the same book of Kings. But, my beloved brother, my object is to call the attention of the disciples to God's dealings with the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. There was war always between these two tribes and the ten tribes. When these two tribes faithfully adhered to the law of Moses, they were always conquerors. But, alas! what is man in his best estate? "And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord; and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins they had committed, above all that their fathers had done." Let our quondam brethren remember this. "FOR THEY ALSO BUILT THEM HIGH PLACES, AND IMAGES AND GROVES, (their traditions,) on every high hill, and under every green tree." What followed? An army took possession of all the treasures of the house of God. Beshac, king of Israel, had to build fortifications to keep the Israelites from going out or coming in to king Asa of Judah * Let us here learn a lesson, brethren. Asa, as his heart was perfect with the Lord his God all his days, took away the altar of the strange gods, the high places, and broke down the images, and cut down the groves, and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to Do the LAW and the COMMANDMENTS, dismissed his mother from being queen, and destroyed her idol. What follows? He goes out with two hun dred and fourscore thousand men against Zerah, the Ethiopian, with a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots. Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether Are not the councils and decrees of the sects tantamount to the conduct of Beshac, king of the rebellious tribes? with many, or with few that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art God; let not man prevail against thee." Their enemies were subdued. Mark, brother, what follows. "The Spirit of God came upon Azariah: he came out and met Asa, and said unto him, Hear ine, ye Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; the Lord is with you WHILE YE BE WITH HIM, and if ye seek him he will be found of you; BUT IF YOU FORSAKE HIM, HE WILL FORSAKE YOU." See the 15th chapter, 2d book of Chronicles, Here is a lesson for us. Did Asa attend the word of God spoken by the Spirit of God? Read the 16th chapter, 2d book of Chronicles, and see the weakness, or, as it is said, the foolishness of Asa. After he forsook God he could not bear a reproof from the Prophet Hanani, and cast him into prison, and oppressed some of the people. Has nothing similar been of late performed by our quondam brethren-that is, as far as they could go? See the close of the life of king Asa. But more of this, and "Christians among the sects," hereafter. THOMAS M. HENLEY. HINTS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. PRIDE. Y As there is no Christian attainment more difficult than humility, so there is nothing by which young converts are more easily overcome than Pride. This is natural. It is long before the neck can pleasantly bear the yoke of Christian self-abandonment, or the heart yield an unreserved submission to the Divine pleasure. When self esteem, itself misguided, has in turn long misgoverned the empire of human thought and human action, it is apt, even when dethroned, to set up a new tyranny amidst the immature and weaker principles of a youthful Christianity; like Dionysius who, when expelled from Syracuse, became the keeper of a school, that he might, as one of the ancients has observed, still continue to be a tyrant. It is indeed hard to renounce the world with all its lusts and pleasures, but it is still a harder task for a man to become a new character and renounce himself. Hence the young convert who has as yet but imperfectly learned this lesson, is often the subject of scripture admonition, and is regarded by Paul as ineligi ble to the bishop's office. "Not a new convert," says he, "lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil." Although a dogmatic confidence, and a self-sufficient arrogance are not unusual characteristics of those who have just zealously adopted any system of religion, we have reason to expect these demonstrations of pride to be still more conspicuous when that system is, or is supposed to be, the only true one.— When men content themselves with false or corrupted religions, and, conscious of either the mutual weakness or the equal strength of their respective fortifications, make with each other the child's bargain, 'Let me alone and I'll let you alone,' there is little room for either boasting or applause. It is when men suppose their defences impregnable, and their forces invincible, that they hoist the flag of proud defiance, or enter upon a war of extermination. Infallibility indeed is the very element in which pride 'lives, moves, and has its being.' Hence the fierce fanaticism of the Mahometan, and the intolerant bigotry of the Roman Catholic. And hence it is that they who have embraced primitive Christianity, are peculiarly liable to the influence of a dogma. tic and censorious spirit: for, resting, as they do, upon the express declarations of the scriptures alone for their faith and practice, they cannot but regard their religion as the only one possessing divine authority, and all other systems, as such, imperfect or corrupt, whatever they may concede to the sincerity, morality, or piety of those individuals who, for want of better information, have adopted them. Nor would we oppugn the propriety of these convictions. There is no stronger proof of the degeneracy and seriously diseased condition of modern Christianity, than that insensibility to the sectarian malady which preys upon its vital energies that tame acquiescence in existing error, so grossly misnamed charity, and so popular at the present day. And the very fact that the Mahometan and Roman Catholic religions retain the striking feature of infallibility, and the unyielding firmness of an uncompromising spirit, is an evidence that they are the early, though imperfect imitations of that primitive Christianity which, conscious of its heavenly origin, admitted no rival claims, and made no alliances with earth-born usurpation. Our only object, however, in adverting to the peculiar position which the young converts to the ancient gospel thus occupy, is, that perceiving how it subjects them to the workings and influences of spiritual pride, they may be more especially upon their guard against them. This pride displays itself in a complacent admiration of our own superior sagacity in making choice of so perfect a system; and our self-gratulations upon the attainment of the exalted privileges it confers. Regarding all other systems as false or corrupt, we treat them and their supporters with supercilious arrogance; and should they not admit the exclusive merit of our views, we first wonder at their stupidity, then suspect their motives, and at length insult them with offensive epithets or invidious comparisons. We make no distinction between the system, and its originators and abettors; nor between these and the multitude who are innocently misled; but involve the whole within the scope of our sweeping conclusions, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations. Yet in the meantime, whatever our arguments may prove as to the strength of our understanding, or the correctness of the form of religion which we have adopted; our angry, contentious, and overbearing manner betrays that the heart is uninfluenced, and the temper unchastened by its spirit. Nor is this evil passion unlikely to lead the person who is under its influence away from even the true doctrines of religion. He longs to distinguish himself, but the simplicity of the gospel being such that it is readily understood by all, and fails to furnish novelty as a stimulus to curiosity, or deep and sublime discoveries to gratify the love of the marvellous, he finds it unsuited to his purpose. He feels disappointed that the revelations of God contain nothing that is not more or less useful or necessary to men in their present condition in this world. Like Archimedes, he would move the world; but like him, in order to do this, he discovers that he must get out of the world. Hence if a cloud will not afford him a footing sufficiently substantial, he will endeavor to find a fulcrum for his lever somewhere in the new heavens, or perchance within the purlieus of the New Jeru. salem From the lofty position which he thinks he has attained, ne imagines that he can discern new worlds and grand and magnificent scenes before unknown; and while he amuses the vain and frivolous with his far-fetched speculations, he is apt under the influence of pride, to spurn in the midst of his reveries, like Alnaschar in his vision, that which night have been the foundation ef a better fortune-the simplicity of truth. Pride is truly a dangerous and insidious passion. Through it, Satan himself fell from his high estate. It is the master-spirit of all opposition to the divine will, and the concentration of human and angelic guilt. Under its influence a man loses all sense of relative duties and moral obligations. He thinks so highly of himself, that he can find nothing sufficiently worthy of his merits. He demands the highest respect from others, but disregards the duties which he owes to them. Their rights, their understandings, their feelings are despised and trampled upon, while his own are invested with supremacy. In short, he conceives that he does honor to others in condescending to receive their hospitality, their property, or their homage. Hence a man may become too proud even to be honest; and the extortioner, the highwayman, and the robber may appropriate to their own use the goods of others, only because they think too highly of themselves. Humility, on the other hand, is a lovely attribute of character. It is the brightest charm of human excellence, and the perfection of Christian beauty. It teaches men to place a becoming estimate upon their own merits, and those of others. It quickens their sense of duty, and enhances the power of moral, relative, and social responsibilities. It furnishes the antidote to human misery. It inspires gentleness, affection, and respect towards others, and receives in turn the kindness it bestows. And like the tender ivy, which, though it seem lowly and insignificant, can attain to the loftiest elevation; humility, encircling the majestic pillar of the divine faithfulness, can reach the highest pinnacle of the temple of honor and fame. In a word, it is this noble characteristic which elevated the Man Christ Jesus to the throne of the universe; so that we may say of Pride and of Humility in the language, though not in the sense, of the Poet "This rais'd a mortal to the skies- |