cities and towns, but also in the country, and particularly by the banks of rivers, that water might be accessible for the frequent washings and purifications required by the Ceremonial Law. According to Bishop Lightfoot, not less than ten persons of respectability composed a synagogue; as the Rabbis supposed that this number of persons of independent property, and well skilled in the law, were necessary to conduct the affairs of the place; consequently, where this number could not be found, no synagogue would be erected. On the other hand, there might be many synagogues in one city, if it were sufficiently populous. Jerusalem is said to have contained five hundred.

CONVERSATIONS UPON CHRISTIAN UNITARIANISM, BETWEEN A FATHER AND HIS FAMILY.-No. V.

"COME, Papa," exclaimed Sophia Mornton, as her father seated himself upon the rustic bench; "I have no patience with Charles to-night; he has been asserting things that are nowhere to be found in the Bible, and he will not allow any person to be in the right but himself."

"You asked me, Sophia," answered her cousin mildly, "to state my opinions concerning the doctrine of Original Sin. I did so; but without forcing them upon you." "You told me," she said, "that mine were decidedly wrong, and quite contrary to Scripture; but there is no pleasure in conversing with you this evening at all." Even the calm and governed nature of Charles could not prevent a momentary feeling of resentment; and it was with some asperity he replied, that it would be she who would mar their pleasure, not himself.

Mr. Mornton (Gravely). "If this is the spirit in which you are to engage in a subject of such solemn and lasting importance as religion, we had better drop our discussions altogether; at least, I do not see how we can go on with them at present."

Minna. Oh, don't say that, Papa; I am sure Charles and Sophia won't quarrel any more.

Sophia. "I never meant to quarrel, and I was wrong in speaking so hastily; but Charles will forgive me;"-and she extended a hand to her cousin.

Charles. "We were both wrong, Sophia; but it is all forgotten now.

Mr. M. "Far better, my dear children, that you never conversed about religion, if you cannot argue upon it with temper and calnmess; it should always be spoken of in the spirit of love and good-will; if otherwise, it is insulting a Being of infinite goodness, and mocking that Saviour whose mission it was to proclaim peace upon earth. This is the first time that either of you has manifested a disposition so contrary to his example, I trust it will be the last; and now, Charles, what question do you wish to propose?"

Charles. "Do not you believe, sir, that every one sins in Adam; that he has entailed guilt upon his posterity; that human nature is universally depraved; that it is sunk in ignorance and bloated with vice; in short, that we are incapable even of thinking a good thought?"

Mr. M. "God forbid that I should entertain such thoughts as these; oh, my dear boy, what a world would you make this fair and beautiful creation!"

Charles. "But you cannot surely imagine, that Adam's fall, and its dreadful consequences, terminated in him?” Sophia. "Does not man come from the hands of his Maker pure and sinless? We read, that he was formed in the image of God."

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Mr. M. "A good and merciful God could not have made his creatures originally evil: God made man upright, but he sought out many inventions.' The Scriptures tell us, that He made him good-in his own image, adorned with knowledge, and righteousness, and holiness;' but Adam became disobedient, that is, he disobeyed an express command of the Almighty; he lost his innocence and uprightness, and incurred all that is included in that awful penalty, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.' By that event, man became universally exposed to its wiles in the world, sin therein extending its baneful influences, in the same manner as physical disorders may be said to extend theirs; but sin being a thing altogether personal, cannot be transferable, and Adam's individual guilt can no more be transferred or charged upon us, than the righteousness of Christ can be made over or imputed to frail and erring man."

Charles shook his head," Excuse me, Uncle, but surely all that you have just now advanced is inconsistent with the whole tenor of Scripture. Paul tells the Ephesians, that they were by nature children of wrath." Sophia. "Will you allow me to explain to Charles that passage, Papa? I think I can do it."

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Mr. M. "By all means, my love."

Sophia. "We ought not to take these words literally; for they mean, that the perversion and corruption of our natural powers brought upon us the displeasure of a Being who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity."

Mr. M. "You are right, Sophia."

Henry. "Besides, moral guilt implies the personal acts of a free agent, and therefore cannot be ascribed to an infant; for how can a babe be a sinner, who never yet has had time to sin ?"

Charles. "Still, it is born with corrupt and evil tendencies; even in the cradle, how often do you hear its doleful moans, and witness its impatience and passion? Yes, in them we may see that we go astray as soon as we are born."

Mr. M. "And are its infantile struggles, its piteous cries, its baby murmurings, to be attributed to inherent depravity? Is nothing to be ascribed to bodily pains and disorders, often the mismanagement of nurses? Are its sweet smiles, its innocent tenderness, all to be overlooked? Oh, Charles!"

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Henry. "And how differently does our Saviour speak of these interesting beings: Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' And, suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of God.' And he laid his hands on them, and blessed them.""

Minna. "I wish I had remained a baby, Papa; for then Jesus Christ would always have blessed me."

Mr. M. "You are old enough, Minna, to know right from wrong; therefore, it will be your own fault if he do not bless you now. Continue a good girl, without trusting to your own goodness for salvation, though deeming that a necessary preliminary to God's favour, and you will ever remain the object of his peculiar regard."

Charles. "Surely, Uncle, if there were not something radically wrong in the human heart, why is it invariably inclined to follow that which is evil, and seldom that which is good? why does it enchain itself to the mean and grovelling joys of earth, when it might aspire after the glories of eternity? That alone would prove our inbred depravity."

Mr. M. "Yours, my poor Charles, is indeed a gloomy picture; but do you never look at the fair side of human nature? Are all our good and generous impulses, our high aspirations, our devotion in the cause of truth and virtue, the sacrifices we make to religion and duty, to be swallowed up or lost in that dismal supposition? Oh, no! The heart is capable of expanding with the sublimest emotions; it continually pants after something stronger and nobler than anything which this world can offer; nothing here can satisfy the desires of its immortal cravings; these desires are illimitable, and can only be satisfied in fruition. Is not this also confirmed by the language of God's servants of old: O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth. Make my heart to fear thy name.' Are these the breathings of a corrupt nature?"

Charles remained for some time wrapt in thought; at length he replied, "I do not mean to say, sir, that human nature, generally, is a combination of malignant principles, and that there is nothing morally good in the heart; I would only aver, that vice and wickedness are more natural than grace and goodness. If we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves; for no man liveth and sinneth not. By one man came death; for in Adam all die.""

Sophia. "The punishment of sin inflicted in the person of the first transgressor, accounts for expressions such as these you have quoted."

Charles. "Then that is surely acknowledging that we suffer punishment on Adam's account?"

Mr. M. "Not at all; for had it been possible that we could have remained pure, suffering would not have been

ours merely because Adam sinned. for instance, asked the Saviour,

When the disciples, Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' what was Christ's reply? Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.""

Charles. "And do you really not believe, that in consequence of our first parents' transgression, we should not have suffered, even though we had never sinned in our own persons?"

Mr. M. "Endeavour, Charles, to comprehend the difference. We suffer by the sin of Adam, as any child may suffer in consequence of the wickedness of his ancestor; but it is not possible that we should have sinned in him. Wherever there is sin, there is guilt; that is, something that may be the foundation of remorse of conscience, something that a man may be sorry for and repent of; all which clearly implies, that sin is something that a man has given his consent to, and therefore must be convinced of the reasonableness of his being punished for. But how can any man repent of the sin of Adam, when he never gave his consent to it, and could not possibly have been in the least degree accessary to it? He may receive harm by means of one person, and benefit by means of another; but no sin of the former, or righteousness of the latter, can be considered as ours in the eye of an equitable and just God."

Charles. "You argue well, Uncle; but can you reconcile this text with what you have advanced?—‹ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth; and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.'

Mr. M. Yes, for even this passage is immediately contracted as to its universality, by the character which is given of Noah-that he was a just man, and perfect in his generation, and that he walked with God.' But it is obvious that this wickedness of mankind was not owing to any natural depravity, which their derivation from Adam rendered necessary; but that it was a voluntary corruption, and had its rise from themselves only; for it is said, that God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.""