who are greater sticklers for the differences-the pe culiarities than they are for the saving truths upon which all are agreed? If men will only take care of the great outer boundaries of their lands, they may remove their division fences without any injury to the fertility or productiveness of the soil; indeed, the land of any district might be worked with greater advantage without the usual lines of separation, if the owners could only agree. In matters of property this divisional selfishness may be excusable, but should the same spirit pervade the churches? Is the grace of God and the word of God to be hedged in by such lines? Should we be unwilling to save souls, unless they are first made Baptists or Presbyterians? After the great denominations have done all they can, in their separate churches, can they not unite to occupy that vast region which lies outside of all? If they refuse or neglect, on the ground of their differences, then they exalt their differences above that simple faith in Christ which enures to eternal life.

The Sunday School Union might, by a generous support from the principal Churches of the country, be placed in a position of vast power to do good. We have seen, however, within a few years, many proofs of a disposition to withhold from it all help and all countenance. The tendency recently has been visibly and unduly to separate action.

We are, however, not the advocate of any particular institution or any particular plan; our position is, that the Christianity which is common to the Evangelical denominations, is immeasurably more important than that which is in dispute between them. It is,

therefore, the duty of Christians in the United States, to teach this common Christianity to the youth of the country and to all those whom the ordinary range of denominational effort cannot reach. And should not all Churches unite in this effort, by sustaining amply every institution and enterprise having this object in view? Christianity is of so liberal and expansive a nature, that judged by its true spirit, intense denominationalism, to which there is so strong an inclination and of which so many examples are multiplying before our eyes, is little less sinful than intense selfishness. They spring from a common source and may possibly incur a common condemnation. We doubt not, however, that the motive is often better than the deed.

If Christianity in a certain sense is the law of the land, and if in that sense it must be sustained and taught as a part of our civil polity, it becomes an imperative Christian, as well as civil duty, to define in what sense it is the law of the land and how it is to be inculcated. This duty cannot be ascertained nor fulfilled through any denominational agency. It is a duty which belongs to the community of Christian citizens and not to any family or denomination. No intelligent Christian need be asked whether our present civil polity would be safe if Christianity were banished from the land; and we may add, if human nature remains the same, it would scarcely be safer under the domination of any single sect. Power and wealth are too corrupting not to exhibit their effects rapidly in any community where they are exercised without sufficient restraint. The purity of our national character and of our profession of Christianity,

is secured mainly under Providence by our manifold divisions-territorial, legislative, administrative, civil and religious. All these form so many mutual barriers and restraints, so many limitations of power, so many safe-guards of our liberties and of our national virtue.

SECTION X.

Special questions for the consideration of Christians in the United States.

THERE are great public duties then incumbent on the Christians of the United States and upon such citizens as acknowledge Christian obligations. They cannot, without a grave dereliction of Christian duty, confine all their love of country, all their zeal for humanity, all their efforts for the extension of the Redeemer's Kingdom, to the narrow sphere of denominational action; they must turn their eyes to the whole country and to its whole population, to ascertain what additional obligations lie upon them in reference to the entire social domain, in its civil as well as in its religious aspects. We have already intimated, that one duty of this kind met our fathers in their first steps under our present institutions - that of ascertaining and defining the legal and social position of Christianity. This subject has received so little attention, compared with its importance, that it may be regarded as yet to be performed. It is true,

great light has occasionally been shed upon it and well defined opinions upon it have from time to time emanated from our judiciary, the purest of our civil institutions; but this light has not been concentrated, and these opinions have not yet been arranged and examined, with a view to determine their bearing and to ascertain how much of the field is explored, and how much and what portions remain to be surveyed. The work has been long delayed, and whilst the field has been unoccupied the unfriendly and the thoughtless have entered and sown broadcast the seeds of error. The delay has, however, furnished some valuable material and a large fund of observation and experience. If our fathers had, at the first, engaged earnestly in the adjustment of this question, they would have saved much mischief and forestalled many wrong conclusions, though they had lacked many materials for safe and wise determination. It has been regarded as a delicate subject; politicians were afraid of it, sectarians felt no concern in it, and the judges alone have brought to it any degree of courage and intelligence.

Without pretending to point out even the main duties which press most strongly on the Christian citizens of the United States, we indicate three as of urgent importance.

First: To discuss, define and settle the true position of Christianity in the United States, thereby showing what Christians may and should do here for the benefit of men, without departing from the principles of toleration which pervade all our institutions.

Second: To determine, prescribe and carry into operation that system of public education, including

ample religious instruction, which is best fitted to prepare the rising generation for the discharge of all the social duties which are to devolve upon them, for the wisest and most efficient administration of our free institutions, for human advantage, and for that perpetuation and improvement of them which is so important to the future destinies of the human family.

Third: To consider, understand and establish the claims of labor. The masses of men here, as elsewhere, are laborers, working out the sentence which dooms man to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow. Vast multitudes are poor, and are often in danger of not finding the labor which will enable them to earn any bread. These men and their families, and their cause, should be one of the chief objects of consideration for the Christian citizens of the United States.

The first of these topics has been the chief subject of the foregoing pages: the last we reserve for a future paper. Our remaining remarks will be upon the subject of Public Education.

SECTION XI.

Public Education in the United States considered in its civil and religious aspects. Religious instruction in the Public Schools.

It would be strange indeed if special responsibilities were not entailed upon the Christian citizens of the United States on the subject of public education. Christian parents are always and every where under heavy obligations to train their children properly.