the temple and place of manifestation of the living God.  They disclaim the doctrine of atonement, and believe that the mission of Christ had for its object the reform of the world, and the restoration of man to a sense of his true relation towards God, and even here Scripture and the early church speak a language which differs not very greatly from theirs.  For the language in which our redemption is spoken of, is that of a master purchasing a slave, as will be seen on a reference to Rom. vi. in the original.  The ransom by which man was purchased to be the servant of holiness instead of that of sin, was paid to his former master, sin; by the purchaser; and the purchaser is God.  “I speak after the manner of men,” says St. Paul, “because of the infirmity of your flesh.” i.e. I adopt the phraseology of a common transaction because your minds are not sufficiently accustomed to the contemplation of higher things to understand them without a metaphor; but the Unitarian forgets, when asserting that the ransom was not paid to God, that it was paid by God: and that man, the slave, was bought from sin, the master, at no less a price than the condescension of the Deity himself to the infirmity of our flesh, by making himself visibly and tangibly known to his creatures, through the medium of a human form.

I have now endeavoured to give a dispassionate view of the doctrines of these sects, hitherto so much misunderstood, and having marked the points wherein they appear to me to recede from Christian truth, I have the pleasanter task before me, of showing by extracts from their writings, how large a portion of the religion which we all profess, they still retain, and I may say from experience, on most occasions conscientiously act upon.

“If with the Apostle we glory in the cross of Christ, or in that religion which could not have been confirmed without his death, let us not only be careful to govern our lives by the precepts of it in general, but more particularly be prepared to suffer what the strictest profession of it may call us to.  Let us remember that our Saviour hath said, if any man will be his disciple he must “take up his cross, and follow him.”  That is, he must be ready to do it rather than abandon the profession of the Gospel, or whatever the strictest purity of it may require.  A true Christian is no more of this world than his Lord and Master was of it.  With him every thing here below is but of secondary consideration, &c.—but this we must remember for our consolation, that if, in time of persecution “He that keepeth his life shall lose it,” “He that loseth his life” for the profession of the Gospel “shall keep it to life eternal.”  “If we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with him and be glorified together.” [47]

“The truths which relate to Jesus himself are among the most important which the Gospel reveals.  ‘We preach Christ,’ says the Apostle, ‘warning every man and teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.’  From this passage we derive a most important sentiment, confirmed by the whole New Testament—that the great design of all the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel, is, to exalt the character,—to promote eminent purity of heart and life, to make men ‘perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect.’  We must preach not to make fiery partizans, and to swell the number of a sect; not to overwhelm the mind with fear, or to heat it with feverish rapture; not to form men to the decencies of life, to a superficial goodness, which will secure the admiration of mankind.  All these effects fall infinitely short of the great end of the Christian ministry.  We should preach that we may make men perfect Christians: perfect, not according to the standard of the world, but according to the law of Christ; perfect in heart and in life, in solitude and in society, in the great and in the common concerns of life.  Here is the purpose of Christian preaching.  In this, as in a common centre, all the truths of the Gospel meet; to this they all conspire; and no doctrine has an influence on salvation, any farther than it is an aid to the perfecting of our nature.” [48]

“Christ is a great Saviour, as he redeems or sets free the mind, cleansing it from evil, breathing into it the love of virtue, calling forth its noblest faculties and affections, enduing it with moral power, restoring it to order, health and liberty.” * * * * “Christ has revealed to us God as the Father, and as a Father in the noblest sense of that word.  He hath revealed Him as the author and lover of all souls, desiring to redeem all from sin, and to impress his likeness more and more resplendently on all; as proffering to all that best gift in the universe, his ‘holy Spirit;’ as having sent his beloved Son to train us up and to introduce us to an ‘inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading in the heavens.’” [49]

“I confess when I can escape the deadening power of habit, and can receive the full import of such passages as the following, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’  ‘I am come to seek and to save that which was lost.’  ‘He that confesseth me before men, him will I confess before my Father in heaven.’  ‘Whosoever shall be ashamed of me before men, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of the Father with the holy angels.’  ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you;’ I say, when I can succeed in realizing the import of such passages, I feel myself listening to a being, such as never before and never since spoke in human language.  I am awed by the consciousness of greatness which these simple words express; and when I connect this greatness with the proofs of Christ’s miracles which I gave you in a former discourse, I am compelled to speak with the Centurion, ‘Truly this was the Son of God.’ [50a]

“In reading the Gospels I feel myself in the presence of one who speaks as man never spake; whose voice is not of the earth; who speaks with a tone of reality and authority altogether his own; who speaks of God, as conscious of his immediate presence, as enjoying with him the intimacy of an only Son; and who speaks of heaven, as most familiar with the higher states of being.” [50b]

“Go to Jesus Christ for guidance, inspiration, and strength in your office.” * * * “The privilege of communing with such a spirit is so great, and the duty of going from man to Christ is so solemn, that you must spare no effort to place yourself nearer and nearer to the Divine