NOTTINGHAM. consider you have done good service to the We had the pleasure, in January last, of im-churches by its publication. I do think, as a mersing an individual into the name of Jesus, who, for twenty-four years lived as an avowed indfidel. Prior to his residing in Nottingham, he went to hear a Baptist minister lecture on the Evidences of Christianity, when he was convinced of his error. We hope that now, in the decline of life, his conduct will ever be in harmony with the teachings of divine truth. Two others have also been immersed, and added to the church. NEWARK. The church at Newark is now progressing, notwithstanding the many impediments it has had to contend against. Five have been baptized into the name of Jesus, for the remission of sins, and one restored. Two of the above were Methodist preachers, one of them of 14, the other of 3 years' standing. Our meetings are crowded, and if we increase a few more, we shall be under the necessity of erecting a small meeting-house. J. H, THE NEW HYMN BOOK. We are gratified in receiving honorable testimonials in favor of the New Hymn Book, recently published, and adapted to worship in the dispensation under which it is our privilege to live. It was not to be expected that every Hymnshould be equally applicable to public worship. Some will be read with profit in seasons of affliction, and at other times, which perhaps may never be sung, unless it be in the social circle. Other Hymns are intended for hours of private meditation, in presence of the Heavenly Father. We think no congregation, however small the number of disciples, will long delay adopting this book of Christian Psalmody. The following are a few of the expressions of approval received during the month : "Please accept my thanks for the New Hymn Book. I am, indeed, well pleased with it, and whole, it is the best book of the kind I have seen. I find some errors, which, however, may be easily corrected with the pen.” E. J. "I have read, with edification and delight, nearly every psalm, hymu, and song which Your new book contains, and in my humble judgment it is the best, indeed the very best, selection I have yet seen. The arrangement is admirable, the variety numerous, the sentiment excellent, the themes scriptural, devotional, and joyous, full of praise to him who has loved us and has washed us from our sins in his own blood; and the poetry, with but slight exceptions, good. I purpose proposing to the brethren here that it be at once adopted, and that every poor member be gratuitously supplied from the funds of the church. case of unanimous assent, we shall require about forty copies for distribution, and about as many more for sale. It will be matter of surprise if the different churches in England, Scotland, and Ireland, do not, after due examination, hail it as a boon, and as the thing that has been long wanting. The time and labor of perusing, selecting, and rejecting must have been a trial of great patience, and the brethren, individually and collectively, will be indebted your liberal and disinterested exertions. "Yours, &c. for In J. H." These testimonials might be considerably four penny stamps direct to the Editor, can be multiplied; but any person sending twentysupplied with a copy, free by post.—J. W. OBITUARY. ELDER THOMAS CAMPBELL, father of Alexander Campbell, made a triumphant exit from this world of sin and death on Wednesday evening, the 4th of January, in the 93rd year of his age. He retained his selfpossession to the last. POETRY. A PRETTY THOUGHT. THE Night is mother of the Day, The Winter of the Spring, And ever upon old decay The greenest mosses cling. Behind the cloud the starlight lurks- TO MY HEART. I FEAR the company you keep And makes me often sadly weep Come now, APRIL, 1854. CHRISTIAN MORALITY. AMID the strifes and contentions of the apostate religious world, there is danger of forgetting or neglecting the great principles of a sound morality. That moral purity and excellence are the only distinctions worth possessing; that they are the sublime end of the gospel of Christ, cannot be doubted. To educate and unfold the moral power of man-to re-impress him with the image of his Creator, and to make it shine in him as the noblest treasure-the grandest development -is the simple design of the Christian religion. To this great purpose every thing in revelation is subordinate. The ordinances, the public and private worship of God; in a word, every means of grace, has for its object the moral perfections of the human soul-its transformation into the likeness of the character or mind of Christ. Hence, to be united to Christ—not formally only, but by moral accordance of sentiment is the most precious gift that can be bestowed on man. It is the most glorious enjoyment of which he is capable. Having this moral or spiritual fellowship and communion with God, man is rich, though destitute of any worldly comfort. And without it, he is poor indeed, though he may possess princely treasures, and wear the titled grandeur of a world-wide fame. Moral goodness is the only thing in the universe which an intelligent spirit can truly love. The mere attachments of the flesh are not love, in the true and noble sense of that word. The beasts possess them as well as men. But the perception of goodness, whether in the Creator or his creatures, and that instant delight in it and attachment for it which every heart feels, except those whose noblest feelings have been destroyed by sinful indulgence, is love. We love God because he first loved us. In the Supreme Being there is more of goodness than in any creature. All his attributes are perfect. And hence it is that those who can best appreciate the Divine Being, love him more than any earthly or heavenly object. But still it is truth, mercy, justice, benevolence, and eternal righteousness, &c. which render him so transcendent and worthy of the soul's full adoration. A bad being, however seraphic in mental vigor, is not an object of moral delight. To us, a throne occupied by malignity, is a gloomy object of dread. But moral goodness attracts to itself and fills with the purest bliss, with the highest raptures, every well regulated mind. To perceive it in its simple glory and truth, is to love it with the honest energy of a pure spirit. To see it, is to be gathered to it, to live in it and upon it, and to place it in the future as the most precious image that can dawn upon us. It is not strange, then, to hear a good man talk of the love he bears to God. It is not wonderful that the Scriptures should so often speak of it as embracing every principle of virtue-as the grand key-stone of morality, and the sublime proof of purity in man. To love God, is to love the moral qualities that make him good. It is the foundation, and the only foundation, for the exhibition of the principles of morality, since morality is only a name for qualities of which God is the true fountain. Every virtue is an emanation from him who filleth all in all. The great elements of Christianity exist in the human mind. There is nothing in the Christian religion with which we do not feel an instant sympathy, when viewed with candor and sincerity. Its voice is not strange to our ears, Its great leading ideas come home with a spontaneous welcome. When it speaks of purity, of fidelity, of righteousness, of love to God and man, of equity and un J flinching moral perseverance, there is so rapid a comprehension of them all by our minds, that they appear like objects of long and familiar acquaintanceship. The human mind everywhere bears within itself the great signatures of the hand of God. Its divinity, its immortal lineaments, are but the germs of the great principles of piety and humanity, which constitute the spirit and life of the Christian religion. God has not only manifested himself to us in a book—he was manifested in the flesh. In the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God is to be seen and apprehended more clearly than through any symbol. Jesus Christ lived, and spoke, and acted among men. In him is the fulness of the Godhead. But it is not a Godhead with which man can feel no sympathy. His glorious perfection, the brightest glory of God, is not a solitary and unapproachable exhibition. In reading the simple narratives of the evangelists, who is there that does not feel that Christ is just such a person as he had long sought for among men, but had sought in vain? With him we can feel instant sympathy. We can approach him with a freedom and confidence that may be felt, but not described. We can venture to confide to him our most secret sins and sorrows. We feel that he will not spurn us because we are sinners-that he will not despise human tears - - that he will not rudely thrust from him the heart broken with a thousand storms. But we believe that he will hear the throbs of wounded hearts, and listen to the trembling notes which are breathed from broken spirits, and pour upon us the generous comforts of his love. And why is this the case? Because we possess the germs of his moral grandeur. We are the children of his Father; and though fallen and degraded, yet in us slumbers the likeness of God; capacities which, when developed and perfected under his own great hand, re-unites us to heaven, and to him who fills it. He came into the world to quicken our fallen powers-to attract us to himself— to educate us for a nobler world, by developing our moral sentiments. He came to establish an accordancy of feeling between himself and the mind of man; to breathe into it a knowledge of its great powers, of their value, and of their destiny. He came to quicken us by his teaching-to impart to us his own thoughts and feelings, and enable us, amid the conflicts of life, to speak and act as he would speak and act, were he passing through the same circumstances. The Christian is the image of his Master. Spiritually they are one-1st, There is an identity of feeling subsisting between them. I say identity, for such is the fact. The mind of the saint, his feelings of justice, rectitude, fidelity, and love, are identical with those of Christ in kind. It is not contended that the humble disciple is as perfect as his Lord. No; but yet in kind, the mind of the disciple is identical with that of his Teacher, in the great thoughts of truth and virtue which compose it. Jesus Christ proposes to impart his own mind to his followers. He shares with them no glittering honors of a worldly kingdom. He promises no fleshly triumphs-no fading, perishing, treasures. But he offers that which is far better —the imperishable virtues and honors of his own transcendent and peerless mind. Those grand and glorious moral distinctions which separated him from all who overcame before him, which pointed him out as the bright image of God, unstained by a single blot, and which have endeared his great name to his followers through centuries of persecution and blood, he proposes to make common property with every believing son of man. In this way he writes his name upon the intellectual and moral countenance of his brethren, which is their passport to immortality and eternal life. Let no man deceive himself. Every one that doeth righteousness, is righteous. And he who lacks the moral qualities of Christ, is none of his. To confess the name of Jesus is one thing-to be baptized in his name is one thing—to belong to a society of professed Christians is one thing; but to bear in the soul the commanding attributes of the great Lord of all, is another. As obedience ministers to the growth, and expansion, and perfection of the heart in the love of God, it is valuable. But where a profession fails to do this; where it rests in attendance upon outward forms alone, it is of no worth. The Spirit of the mighty God must animate a profession of religion, to make it what it ought to be. Otherwise it is a dry, and withered, and lifeless form. Christian morality is, then, not a set of speculative rules, deduced by the reasoning of men from a theory of the mental constitution. Christian morality is the righteousness of Christ- his unspotted moral purity. It is of the Spirit, not of the flesh-of God, not of man. It is what God approves concerning us in the present life. Jesus is the Exemplar of the Christian morality. In his life, his words, and actions, are contained the principles wherewith man should regulate his conduct. No other standard is of any authority. The world has its standard of honor. And to it let those bow who know not God. But what disciple of Christ proposes such standard to himself? Be not conformed to this world, is the monitory voice of man's best friend. But be you transformed, by the renewing of your mind, that you may approve the will of God. Thus we are commanded. The Christian standard is as much above that of men in the flesh, as heaven is lifted up above the earth. And Christians are called to emulate each other in conforming to this high standard. Among them there is no ambition, except the ennobling ambition of excelling in the glorious distinctions of goodness-in approaching nearest to him who is chief and Lord of all worlds. The Christian standard is as much above that of the world, as the character of Christ is superior to that of men. I say again, the Christian morality is the righteousness of Christ and of God. It is but a transcript of their views and feelings touching the duties of this life. To conform to it, to approve it, and consequently, to delight in it, is to receive, Christ into our hearts to be united to him, to dwell in him, to bear in our own persons his honor and happiness, and to confide in him with the love that casteth out fear. We must If these views be correct, it is quite a task to master this great subject, so as to apply its principles to the busy scenes of life. To read the Bible in the ordinary way in which it is read, is not enough. It must be studied so profoundly as to reveal Jesus to us, warm and living, as he was amongst men. be enabled to apprehend and appreciate his feelings in the scenes recorded of him. It is not enough to read so as to remember his words. We must enter into his sympathies and objects, and feel the motives that influenced him under the circumstances in which he was an actor. In this way we must catch his spirit and comprehend his sentiments. We must know him. The generous and sublime principles of his glorious life must be made a part and parcel of our own being, that in any set of circumstances the suggesting principle of our minds may furnish us with a righteous rule of action. This is to know Jesus, and this is to understand the Christian morality. The laws of the Jewish religion were written on tables of stone. But under the Christian economy, God's laws are written in the hearts of his children. I do not believe that a mere committing Christ's commandments to memory, is what is meant by the phrase, "written in the heart." The heart is not the memory; and though doubtless the memory is concerned, yet it is not the only recipient of the divine laws. There is within man a moral feeling that instantly approves what is right, and as instantly disapproves of what is wrong. And to this moral emotion the laws of God are addressed in an important sense. Upon this, then, it seems to me, the Christian morality is written. Doubtless the memory serves an important office in the processes whereby the suggestions of the mind become charged with moral principle, which, like some outward and commanding divinity, directs through sunshine and storm, the feet of the weary pilgrim. It is the conscience, or the moral emotion of approbation, that claims the high prerogative of ruling authoritatively the conduct of man. And it is this principle, or capacity, on which the laws of God are written, through that docile and patient process of being turned to God by the gospel. An enlightened conseience seems to be all that is meant by the declaration, that under Christ the law of God is written on the heart. That the term heart is at least once used in the same sense as the term conscience, is plain from the following words of John: "And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God." The idea of condemnation or approbation by our heart, is simply what we express by the phrase, "voice of conscience." Of every action which we perform, it is the province of our heart or conscience to decide whether it is right or evil. Unenlightened, this voice within our breasts often leads us in vicious paths. But when truly instructed and developed by the Christian religion, it contains the will of God to be applied at any time to the scenes in which we are called to act. But surely, the man who merely remembers the words of Scripture, without drinking them in, to be appropriated as a part of the inner man, cannot be said to have the laws of God written on his heart. The man whose memory alone is exercised, is the cold formalist, repeating daily what he neither feels nor comprehends; while he whose conscience is illuminated by the teaching of God's Spirit, and is subjected to the authority of his conscience, is the sincere Christian, acting from a warm and living consciousness of duty, and voluntarily, as though his mind were fed by native instincts. scorn. The great design of Christianity is to lead men to a knowledge of themselves. It directs the mind to itself, to its moral condition, to its vast powers, and its habits of action. It touches the great springs of action within, and inspires peace and purity of mind. It gives to man the largest freedom, in that it instructs him in the untrammelled use of the best and noblest powers. The great lessons it teaches are fortitude, piety, humanity, uncorruptness. Its great concern is to make a man superior to the world, to trial, to affliction, to pain, and It elevates the intellect and heart over all outward things, and inspires serene composure in the face of peril and suffering. It gives happiness, even the purest raptures. But it is the happiness which springs from a mind reconciled to God, and inseparably attached to right doing; a happiness that depends on no outward condition or worldly circumstance, but on the harmonious action of the soul in its moral progress and fellowship with its Divine Parent. Growth is its fundamental law. Hence its high standard. The great and unmeasurable heights above, stimulate to exertion by the very difficulty of reaching them. Its solemn mysteries, its great promises, act upon the mind more powerfully than familiar truths, and produce that yearning and energy of spirit after religious good, that issues in spiritual enlargement. But is this the common view of the Christian religion? Of its morality-of |