of the day, and a natural hatred to hypocrisy and disingenuousness inclined her openly to favor them. Virtue only appeared essential, and this was attainable without the aid of revelation.

Thus believing to have discovered truth, her mind was led into error, and believing virtue to be the basis of happiness, many doubts arose in regard to what is virtue, and what are the best means of promoting it. This uncertainty threw a cloud over the scene of beauty and gladness. A mist arose before her, and life was no longer all happiness. Struggle, disappointment, and contending passions presented themselves, and human virtue was too weak to overcome them.

The west becomes the great scene of action, the theatre of human progress. Elvira's enthusiastic mind pictures scenes of happiness and virtue in the west. There the mind is unfettered, man is unsophisticated by old established customs and prejudices. The vices and foibles of luxury and of effeminacy have not yet fixed there, and man may be educated to be moral and happy.

Mistaken idea! She saw not that freedom too is dangerous; that the onward impulse, if not directed and restrained, must lead to licentiousness and crime; and what restraining influence has power to check its progress? It was left for observation and the love of truth to point it out.

She visits the west. She participates in the enterprise and activity which characterize its inhabitants. There the luxuriance of nature, the facilities of wealth, and the free institutions have induced a corresponding development of charactera noble daring self dependence. This very nobleness, this self-dependence becomes a means of error. Unrestrained by principle, or by past experience; urged on by external wants, the growth of the very facilities to gratification by which they are surrounded; the sons of the West are impelled to use every means to attain wealth, and to rush headlong into indulgence.

What can control this powerful impulse-what restrain the growth of passion and self-indulgence? thought Elvira. Even reason and judgment are weak and powerless unless directed by an unerring purpose. Where is the standard of right—

where that immutable truth which shall lead the mind to virtue and happiness? This was the first perception of the necessity of a religious principle of a standard of excellence higher than human wisdom.

The Christian system again presents itself as a subject of investigation.

How can I believe in the truth of a system founded on miracles, incomprehensible to my understanding, and for which my reason cannot perceive the necessity, said she to a reasoning and philosophic friend, who was convinced of their truth. You can only do so by reading and thinking upon the subject, was the reply; and if you really desire to know the truth, and if, as I believe, this is truth, you will certainly be able to perceive it. To this she readily assented, for her mind was trustful and confided in the power of truth.

Hitherto she had not prayed to God; not because she had ever doubted of his existence, but because prayer is only consistent with the idea of personal communion. Now she approached him with a petition, that she might be made acquainted with the truth; and this became her daily prayer, with increasing earnestness and confidence-not, however, idly supposing that truth would enter her mind without being sought for. She was aware of the condition; that we must search diligently.

Historic evidence of the life of Jesus was necessary to her. She obtained from her friend a work in which the facts are collated, the circumstances under which they were written, the historical connection and the discrepancies clearly laid before us, and rationally accounted for. She could no longer doubt the historical evidence. The miracles yet remained to her a stumbling-block. How could they take place without violating the order of nature, and is this consistent with the unchangeableness of God's laws?

How do we know so clearly the order of nature, said her friend to her one day after a conversation upon the subject of her doubts and difficulties. Do we think because we are able to see a succession of sequences within the little sphere of our vision, that we can comprehend the whole plan, and judge of the spiritual laws, which no doubt are fixed as unchangeably as the material; but which we, surrounded as we are by objects of sense, do not perceive, or even attempt to study. Miracles are undoubtedly subject to laws. Christ has taught us that they are. He has in several instances told the condition, faith, prayer, and in some instances fasting.

A new light burst upon her mind! It broke through the material bars, which had hitherto excluded all spiritual perception, and she could now see the beauties of the system. She went on studying and enquiring until her mind was perfectly satisfied, and she received the whole truth as it is in Jesus.

ART. 7.-RELIGIOUS AND MORAL INDEPENDENCE.

If you ask any one whether he is a religious or good man, he will probably answer you that he is not strictly so, but, compared with other men, he has nothing to be ashamed of. If you see him doing something which you thing to be wrong, and ask him concerning it, he will answer you that he supposes that it is hardly right, and if proved by the scripture standard or even the customs of the more enlightened parts of Christendom, it must be condemned: but yet it is no more than others around him do, and he does not see why more should be required of him, than of them.

Expostulate with him for the omission of some acknowledged duty, and he will answer, that if he lived in a different state of society, he would certainly perform it; but that where he is, nobody attends to it, and therefore he does dot feel it incumbent upon him.

This sort of reasoning is plausible enough, and there are probably few who are not often deceived by it. But it is utterly false, very dangerous, and betrays many a man to his own undoing. It is moreover destructive of public moraliiy, and a high barrier set up against the progress of Christian principles.

And in the first place, this mode of reasoning is very prejudicial to public morality. The great interests of society are carried forward by those who are ready to go in advance of public opinion and public customs; who are ready to do that which is uncommon, and refrain from that which is fashionable, provided that their own private convictions of right and wrong impel them to such a course; who have a standard of virtue and religion higher and better than that which the world sets up, to which they continually advance with an independent conscience, let the world think what it may: They who take the standard of the world for their own, and are satisfied with being about as good as other people, are in many respects a weight upon society, and retard rather than advance. its progress. They are like the beasts of burden which carry the provisions of an army; useful in their way, but moving so slowly that the whole host are compelled to linger along and make frequent halts, that they may not be left entirely out of sight. If all men were of this character, there would obviously be no improvement in society at all. If none take the lead, there will be none to follow, and the multitude will remain stationary, or insensibly slide backwards. There mus

be some to say "We are not satisfied with remaining just here all the time; we have rested long enough; let us go another day's march;" or we shall remain in the same camp forever.

Christianity is calculated to carry society forward, for this reason, because it offers a standard of morality and religion altogether above what the world has ever attained; it commands us to strive after perfection, without any regard to the customs of the community in which we live; if these customs are good and right, we mav follow them because they are so, not because they are customs. If they are wrong and hurtful, that is reason enough why we should forsake them, however common. Those who act thus will carry the community along with them; they will elevate and purify public opinion; they will be instrumental in opening the eyes of men to the folly and vice of practices which they have been taught to regard as harmless or pardonable. But how is Christianity to produce this good result: if those who perceive the truth, will not act up to it, and instead thereof conform themselves to the very customs and sins which it was and is designed to correct?

It cannot work its own way. The preachers of Christ may be ever so faithful; the truth may be ever so clearly displayed; but where is the use? What good comes? None whatever, until there are some found who dare to "come out and be separate," and refuse to touch whatever unclean thing is boldly handled by those among whom they live. It is to the "seven thousand" who never go with the crowd to bow the knee to Baal, that society must always owe its progress, and not to the crowd who throng his temple for no better reason, than because they see each other there. One man who boldly acts up to what he believes right, and thereby, of course takes a long step in advance of those about him, does more to help forward the progress of religion and morality, than ten thousand, who consider the sanction of public opinion good authority for a bad custom and the omission of duty. Indeed all important improvement in public sentiment, are brought about by the independent conduct of some one, two or three men. They plant the standard, and say aloud, "Christians, here is the line within which the Gospel commands you to stand;"-there are always some to obey-always some, whose consciences have long been busy, but who have lacked courage to act up to their convictions; and thus gradually a new public opinion is formed, and very soon they who do right only because others do so, and will do wrong at any time for the sake of being in company, find that it is necessary for them, if they would keep

in the fashion, to mend their morality and religious demeanor. It is no kind of excuse therefore for a man to say, "I should be glad to do this or that, or to relinquish this or that custom, but I should stand alone in doing so, and it therefore would do no good; it is better to wait till other men come to the same conclusions, and not to be trying to go into advance of society." This is false and lavish reasoning; nay, it is no reasoning at all, but a mere cloak for the want of sound principles. He who waits till society reforms before he reforms himself, is as foolish as he who waited for the river to flow by. All are waiting for each other. Go forward alone! Dare to be a consistent Christian in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. This is the only means by which society can ever be carried forward.

Let this principle be applied to the west. Is there any one who is satisfied with its condition in a moral and religious point of view? Not to assume the character of ascetic moralists, and granting that, taking in view all the circumstances of the case, the picture is not nearly so dark as might naturally have been anticipated, are not irreligion and immorality and many evil practices openly countenanced to a degree which almost offers a bounty upon some kinds of vice? It is said, "But all this will improve-better days are coming-we are young yet-As the community becomes older the things will mend." God grant it. But how shall it be?-by whose agency? Will the mere growth in age bring it to pass? Communities oftener grow corrupt than virtuous, as they grow old. No-it must be by the agency of those who are sensible of the wrong to be corrected; either who have come from communities where a higher standard of morality prevails, or who, by their own reflections, have learnt the need of improvement. We lament public immorality, and conform to the custom that we wish removed!-absurd. "What a pity it is, one says, that there is so much dissipation!" But he frequents the drinkinghouse. I hope to see the Sabbath observed better, before long," says another; but how does he spend the day? Just as those do for whose improvement he makes so devout a wish. It is absurd! it is wicked! We do believe and rejoice to witness, that public opinion is every day more elevated, and public morality is improving; but when we see so many who, we know, have been taught better things, and who, in conversation are ready to lament that so many evils continue, when we see them quietly fall in with what they condemn, and swell the torrent whose overflowing they affect to mourn, we cannot but grieve, that the progress in improvement, which might be so rapid, is