LUKE XXII. 61. The Lord turned and looked on Peter.' WHAT language in that look! Swifter than thought The Apostle's eye it caught, And sank into his very soul! Through ev'ry vein a thrilling tremor crept : And wept; Bitterly he wept! 6 And thus it seemed to say: Was that thy voice- And is thy vaunted courage fled? Was it for this. I stretched my hand to save- The wave, The treach'rous wave? And thou, my warmest friend, hast thou forgot His former love-thy hope-thy fear?- Thy vow Thy broken vow?' Such was that piercing look! Swifter than thought The Apostle's eye it caught, And sunk into his very soul !— Through ev'ry vein a thrilling tremor crept : Away he stole, And wept; Bitterly he wept ! Monthly Repository. THE SLEEPING CHILD. How beautiful an Infant's sleep! Yet come it will, and that fair boy's Soon will Reality's rough touch Efface the sketch which Hope had made- All the bright hues of fancy fade. And then come wild excitement's joys, To the dark gulf of guilt and pain, But still one spark of light remains, And not like it to sink for ever. No, that bright flame immortal is, Still pointing to the pe iceful skies, And through the clouds and storms of life, Monthly Repository. THAT the early education exerts a vast influence on our character is allowed by all; though there are few that comprehend the extent of this influence. And it cannot have escaped the least reflection, that we originally receive all our notions and opinions on trustthat we receive them without examination; nor can it have escaped the least observation, either that these very unexamined opinions-these prejudices are the most difficult to be reasoned with, and to be removed. Now let it be remembered, that every generation is educated by that which preceded it and we shall at once, perceive of what importance it is that, in forming our views of religion, we consider the great course and history of religion in the ages that have gone by; and for this plain reason (I repeat) is it important; viz. because, our religious notions are deeply affected by those of the generations before us: not by one age only, but by every age; for every age has transmitted more or less of its character to the next. Here, then, is a danger which it behoves us to consider. To what purpose do we investigate, and read books and study our Bibles, if we do not consider under what a bias we do all this? We may reason and read and study (as in fact men commonly do) only to confirm the opinions which we pretend to examine: only to confirm opinions which we never did examine. And thus we take the faith of our fathers for authority, and the moral improvement of the world is at a stand. There is nothing so subtle, and at the same time so powerful as prejudice. And I add, as another danger which I propose to notice, there is nothing more specious and plausible than a disposition to go to the opposite extreme in opinion. And in order to guard against both these dangers we need to consider the great progress of religious opinions. Let me then invite a moment's attention to the history of religious opinions-in other words, to the history of those views which have been entertained of religion itself, in order to unfold the danger of a strong predilection for old opinions on the one hand, and of an overweening fondness for new ones on the other. No one will be disposed to maintain that any opinion is correct merely because it is old; for this argument would bring back upon us, all the vagaries and absurdities of a popish faith. In fact the history of religious opinions seems as if it were intended to show that all human authority in matters of faith is vain, and that the only safe rule is the Bible. As the history of the pagan world before the Christian era, seems to have been designed by God to show the need of a revelation, so it would seem, has the history of the christian world been suffered, if not intended to show the necessity of keeping close to the revelation which we have. If this history cannot cure us of a sinful reliance on human systems, we must indeed, be incorrigible. One would think that the experiment has proceeded far enough. The sceptre of authority, we might hope, is broken forever. The sanction of ages has become of little more worth than the breath of private opinion. It matters as little now, what the Holy Catholic church believed, as what the wildest sectary of the Fifth Century fancied. But let us not deceive ourselves. We may, in theory, very stoutly deny the authority of past ages, and still, in fact, be very deeply influenced by the opinions of past ages; not by directly espousing them, but by imperceptibly imbibing them, or by an undue anxiety to escape from them. Christianity has come to us through the channel of human creeds, systems and speculations; and it must have been affected by the medium of communication. It is a settled-it is a solemn-and it is a very material fact, that none of us have received our first notions of religion from a simple and unbiassed reading of the word of God, but entirely from human sources. It much behoves us, then, to look to these sources. Before I refer more particularly to them, let me offer When one or two remarks to prevent misconstruction. |