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in another place, been crucified unto the world, and the world unto him. In order, therefore, to conceive the full effect of religion on the mind of the Apostle, we may imagine the case of a person nailed to the cross, who has long been struggling amidst the agonies of death, and at length has nearly sunk under them. Carry to that man the pomps and vanities of life, pour into his ear the sounds which most delighted him, present to him the scenes and images which he most eagerly chose before-do they delight him now? He is dead to them all. And such is the change which, to a certain extent, has taken place in every real Christian. He is, comparatively at least, dead to the world and all which it possesses. Things which once charmed him most, charm him no longer. Things which the world pursue most eagerly have neither beauty nor value in his eye. Such is his love for Jesus Christ, who redeemed him with his own blood, that he cannot love the sins for which that Saviour died. He wishes therefore to renounce self and the world; to resist the temp tations of Satan and his own evil heart, and to take up his cross and follow his Redeemer. In a word, he is crucified with Christ.

II. But what, in the second place, is meant by the life of which the Apostle speaks? "Nevertheless I live." Crucifixion alone would be a very imperfect image of the state of the Christian. His death unto sin is closely connected with a new birth unto righteousness. His state is represented by images such as the following:-"You hath he quickened," or made alive," who were dead in trespasses and sins." "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.""If ye then be risen withChrist, seek those things which are above." And thus, in the text, the Apostle adds, though "crucified with Christ, ne

vertheless I live;" that is, though dead to the world, though dead to every scheme of religion, and every hope of salvation which is not derived from and dependant upon Christ, nevertheless I exist in him; I am, in all that regards him, deeply and anxiously affected. I have, as to every point connected with his religion, new powers, feelings, dispositions, desires; in short, a new life communicated to me by his Holy Spirit.

We should thus learn, that if, on the one hand, evidences of the death unto sin which has been described are to be discovered in every true Christian, so also are the signs of this new and spiritual life. There was a time when the unconverted sinner felt little or nothing in religion; now he feels quickly, and deeply, and permanently. Once his conscience was almost seared; now it is alive to his smallest transgressions. Once his heart was cold and worldly; now he loves God with sincerity and filial affeetion. Once the promises and rewards of the Gospel were to him but as pietures to the dead; now his soul rests upon them as upon the sources of all his hopes and joys. In the language of Scripture," old things are passed away, and all things are become new.” The blind sees, the dumb speaks, the deaf hears, the lame walks, the dead is raised; in a single individual the various miracles of grace are accomplished.

Surely then we ought to examine with anxious care into our ownstate, in order to determine whether any portion of this life is communicated to ourselves. It is not meant to be said, that the young Christian will at first exhibit all these features of the renewed character in their full growth and dimensions. He will not perhaps be dead to the world and alive to God in the same degree with St. Paul. But at least the outline of the same features will be visible in him. If he is

really honest in religion-if the Spirit of God is divinely influencing his soul-if the work of conversion has commenced, this death and this life will each in their turns exhibit their blessed effects; and the work thus begun will continue to go forward, till, as the Apostle elsewhere remarks, the individual" comes in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

But to obtain clearer notions upon this point let us inquire,

III.What is the source of this life of which the Apostle speaks-" yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." He had in the former part of the chapter (as was before observed) been stating the foundation of his own hopes of everlasting happiness. He had grounded them not upon the imperfect works of man, but upon the merits of a Saviour; " for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, Jesus Christ." This truth he again asserts in the clause of the verse which we are now considering; as though he said, Christ is not only the foundation of my hopes, but he is altogether the source of my spiritual life. My desires, my powers to act or to suffer, my deadness to the world, my very spiritual existence depend altogether upon him; nay, I may say of myself, such is the intimacy of my union with him, in so peculiar a sense is he the source of my life, that it is not I who live, but Christ that liveth in me. He considers himself, by a bold figure, as a mere body, and Christ Jesus, if we may so speak, as the soul and living principle by which it is animated, This strong sense of the dependance of man upon his Saviour-this persuasion of an intimate union, we might almost say, of a perfect incorporation with Him-is a sentiment peculiar to the Christian; and is in perfect consistency with the declaration of our Lord, “I am the vine, ye are the branches,"

as well as with his commandment, "Abide in me, and I in you;" and/ with his promise, "We will come unto him, and make our abode with him." The body of the Christian is the temple of God; he who dwelt in heaven and took upon him the nature of man, dwells' in the heart of the humble and contrite. "He is our life," and it is because "He lives" that we may hope to live also. God has remembered that we are dust, and has not left us to perish in our weakness and corruption, but has shed the holy lustre of his presence upon the perishing walls of our earthly tabernacle, and has taught us, that although we have destroyed ourselves, yet in him is our help and our salvation. "I live, yet

not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

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Is there then among us any one who, although in name Christian, has thought little of Christ, and of the privileges of his religion; who has been satisfied to live without him in the world; who has been accustomed to soften down Christianity to a few cold lessons or obligations, which heathens themselves might almost have inculcated; who has lived so as to disgrace the doctrine which he ought to adorn, to degrade the hallowed Name which he bears, to break the pledge which he gave in baptism, and, by his unkind and unholy tempers and worldly habits, to crucify the Son of God afresh? Let such a one learn, that "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His;"-that He whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, dwells in the bosom of the true Christian; and that where he does not dwell, no divine hope, no well-founded expectation of eternal happiness can possibly exist.

IV. But, fourthly, let us examine the principle upon which this union with Christ depends. "The life," says the Apostle, in the text, "that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God."

Faith, then, is the instrument by which we are united to Christ, the principle by which we rely upon him as the source of our hopes, and holiness, and joy; and which fills us with love for all which he approves, and with hatred to all which he condemns. Faith," says the venerable Hooker, "is the hand by which we put on Christ." And there is something remarkably expressive in the image. It represents the Christian in the spirit of filial trust and confidence,as stretching out his hand to lay hold of the blessed hopes of the Gospel-to appropriate to himself the gifts and promises of his Lord-and eagerly endeavouring to touch the hemofthat garment by which he is to be healed. The Apostle, in the Hebrews, calls up in succession the most eminent men of all ages; and having recorded their holy deeds, points to this one principle as the fountainhead of them all. "By faith" Abel sacrificed, Abraham journeyed, Samson fought, and multitudes, of whom "the world was not worthy," laboured, suffered, and conquered. By the same faith alone can we overcome and sit down at the right hand of God.

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The faith mentioned by the Apostle was founded upon the sacrifice of Christ. "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Of all the subjects which are calculated to touch the mind of a sinner, none can endure a comparison with that so simply stated in these words; namely, that the Son of God-the Son in whom the Father was well pleased, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image. of his person-came down to die upon the cross for man. That cross the Christian desires never, to lose sight of. In the business of, the day, it goes before him as a pil lar of light to direct him. In the darkness of the night, it sheds a holy radiance around him. Under

the banner of the Cross, he goes forth to the battle of life. In peril or in safety, in prosperity or adversity, in life or in death, he casts himself at the foot of his Redeemer's cross, and desires to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Ask him why he lives in peace, and dies in hope; and his answer is, "He loved me, and gave himself for me.'

We may learn then, from this subject, how widely different is the religion of the Bible from the religion of the world. What a cold, heartless, fruitless system is the latter! What a lively, vigorous, influential system is the former! Both cannot be right, for there is but one standard of truth, and one way to eternal happiness. If an angel from heaven should proclaim to us a religion distinct from that in the text, he would be accursed. Is then our religion such as this? Are we crucified with Christ? Can we scripturally hope that Christ dwells in us? Have we an unfeigned faith in his mercy and merits? Are our hearts touched and penetrated by the sense of what he has done and suffered for us? Are we dying to the world, and living to God; receding from sin, and advancingin righteousness; casting off our corruptions, and springing up in newness of life, and the beauty of holiness? Are we cru cifying every evil temper and feeling? Are we copying in our lives all the graces of the Saviour's character? Such, at least, is our duty, and our privilege; and such is the evidence of that life of faith of which the Apostle speaks. The time cannot be far distant when the inquiry, whether we have been thus alive to God, and crucified to the world, will appear to us in all its real importance. Then it will be too late to quiet our hearts with an outward profession of religion. Death will prove what we are, and eternal happiness or everlasting woe be the award of our all-righteous Judge.

MISCELLANEOUS.

For the Christian Observer.

ON PARTY-SPIRIT.

AMONGST the number of words in the English language which are frequently used without any distinct and accurate perception of their meaning, there is one upon which I intend to make a few observations in the present paper, This word is Party-spirit. I may, perhaps, be wrong in stating that the import of so common a word is not generally known: 1 would therefore restrict my former ob, servation by saying, that this term of reproach is often applied by declaimers with so loose an aim, and in so careless a manner, as to fail of communicating a precise notion of its true meaning to others. The contentions of party, whether religious or political, may be said to raise a dust which too often blinds the eyes of the combatants; makes them discharge their blows in the wrong quarter, or perhaps even do little more than beat the air.

The reproach of party-spirit is sometimes levelled at the natural alliances of friendship and intimacy formed between persons of similar taste and disposition. Nothing, however, can be more loose or incorrect than such an application of the term. In a certain sense, good men must have their party, as well as evil men; the moderate must have their party, as well as the violent and bigoted: that is to say, they must have certain acquaintances and associates to whom they give a decided preferenceto whom they are united by resemblance of character, and by sympathy of opinion. The man who is moderate, not from timidity or insincerity, but from principle and conscience, is frequently of all men the most persecuted. He takes his stand between two fires. He finds himself assailed from opposite CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 189.

directions. He cannot, therefore, be justly blamed, if he seek a refuge where alone he can expect to find one-in the alliance of those comparatively few whose sentiments and practice are congenial with his own. Hence, to confound friendships, raised upon the basis of principle and resem blance of character, with party (that is, faction), is incorrect and absurd in the extreme.

But the reproach of party-spirit is applied more frequently, and with greater plausibility, to a number of individuals united together for the promotion of some public design, which their principles and feelings have inclined them to uns dertake. Whenever this is the case, not only the active opposers of such design, but even many of those who dislike it merely because they are indifferent to all commendable exertion, will stig matize the union with the opprobrious name of party. The appli cation of the term, however, may here also be very improper and unjust. No one, I suppose, will deny that there are some designs and institutions-those of general charity, for example-which may be carried on without the least mix ture of party-spirit: for party-spirit always supposes contest and op position, to which many such as sociations are happily not exposed. In promoting designs respecting which much difference of opinion exists, I must in candour allow that the case is somewhat different. Here, I confess, the infirmity of human nature sometimes lays open even good men to the temptation of mingling ill-humour and violence with their proceedings; though even here I can well believe that intelligent and conscientious individuals may concur, and concur zealously, without any thing like

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rancour towards their adversaries, or, at most, with so slight a tinge of party-spirit as to deserve no harsh condemnation, and to produce no mischievous effects. A fellow-feeling there may, and indeed must be, in order to communicate a vigorous impulse to their undertakings; but this spirit may be the bond of union amongst themselves, and of active beneficence to others, without becoming the narrow jealousy of little minds, or the close confederacy of party-rage. In what, then, does party-spirit properly consist? It consists, I imagine, in a love of party rather than a love of truth; in such an attachment and adherence to one system of opinions, and to one set of associates, as will lead men to sacrifice conscience, truth, and charity to their connexions, of whatsoever description those connexions may be. Party-spirit, in short, is the love of power, exerting itself to maintain a stand, or to compass an object of ambition, too often regardless of every thing but the end to be accomplished..

Party-spirit, however, does not always present these more disgusting features. It is a Proteus which can change its countenance, and operate in a more concealed manner, "Utque latens imâ vipera serpit humo." There are many persons, considered respectable by the world at large, who will attempt to justify their close adherence to party by a very specious argument. They will urge, and perhaps truly, that their general object and design are good, found ed in principle and conscience, and directed to what they consider the welfare of those interests which they are concerned to promote. They will urge further, that these interests cannot be promoted without a zealous combination of numbers, and that, like soldiers, they must act in a phalanx, in order to makeanyimpression upon the enemy. From the necessity of the case, therefore, they consider it fair to act

sometimes in opposition to their real opinion with respect to smaller matters, because it is only by such means they can secure the grand objects of the confederacy; objects (they will assert) of such difficulty and importance, that something must be sacrificed to the attain ment of them: This, if I mistake not, is the substance of the defence adopted by many respectable members of both our houses of Parliament; and the reasoning, I apprehend, is not confined to the precincts of St. Stephen's chapel.

I can well conceive, indeed, that' even good men, in their eagerness to forward some beneficial enterprize which is near their hearts, may be frequently tempted to act under the influence of this reasoning; though they will not perhaps dare to scrutinize their own conduct too closely, and are not altogether conscious of the bias that directs it. The reasoning itself proceeds upon the pernicious doctrine of expediency; though there may remain a doubt whether, even upon grounds of present expediency, this encouragement of party spirit will stand the test of an enlightened discretion, and whether, with respect to this particular as well as to most others, honesty will not still be found the best policy. Party-spirit, like other evils, engenders and propagates itself. An obstinate stand is made on one side, because an obstinate stand either has been made or is expected to be made on the other. Fresh animosities are continually raised between the contending bodies, as fire is produced from flints by collision. Amidst the tumult, Truth too often disappears, and Error becomes enthroned in her stead. Let, then, a contentious spirit be dropped on all sides,-let mutual good-will prevail,-let rational beings apply themselves to the object of inquiry, whatever it may be, with temper, patience, and perseverance; and I am much mistaken, if more useful discoveries

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