rendered, is the best teacher of knowledge and trainer of virtue. Working for me, need certainly cause no injury to thee. Heaven intended it to serve thee. It might be at once the means of knowledge and 'the means of grace.'

In relation to thy second charge, O Soul, namely, 'The perverting of thy powers, and the tainting of thy character;' I have many things to say. I might deny the charge in toto. I cannot taint thee, it is not in my power to do so ;there is no sin in me. Moral evil does not dwell in matter, sin does not float in the blood. I am aware that in saying this, I go against thy Pythagoras, thy Plato, and other Grecian Philosophers, of whom thou often speakest so largely and learnedly; also against many of thy theologians, towards whom thou cherishest a too superstitious reverence. I denounce the Manichæans-gnostic doctrine, that matter is the seat of sin, as at once unphilosophical, unscriptural, and a foul libel on me as the work of God. My appetites, impulses, and desires, are in themselves innocent, nor have I apart from thee, the power to make them vicious. If my desires and passions get an undue influence over me, it is thy fault. By the power of thought, with which thou art endowed, thou canst, and often dost, make them burn and blaze with a force undue and unnatural,—a force as injurious to me as to thyself. The artificial provisions which thine imagination has invented to gratify my appetites, have given them that terrible sovereignty over thee, of which thou art complaining. That 'flesh' which the gospel denounces, and under which thou art groaning, is not I; it is only that degree of undue power which thou thyself hast given to my appetites and passions. This is the 'cáp,' and it curses me as well as thee. What Paul calls 'flesh' is no more I than the disease is the patient, or the crime the criminal. No! I have not perverted thee, but thou hast in truth sadly perverted my nature and faculties. Thou hast made my hands work deeds of violence, directed my feet into paths and haunts of wickedness, used my tongue to utter the false, the unchaste, and even the blasphemous and profane.

As to thy third charge, namely, 'Separating thee from the Spiritual; it is not I that do this. It is thou that drawest the thick, sensuous veil over thee to conceal from thee the spirit-world. It is thy thoughts that so unduly fire my lusts and passions, that their very smoke darkens thy heavens, and puts out thy moral stars and suns. In the case of Enoch the soul 'in me' 'walked with God;' in that of the Psalmist the soul 'in me' set the Lord always before it; in that of John the soul 'in me' had 'fellowship indeed with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ;' and in that of Christ Himself the soul 'in me' ever lived with and in the Father. No, no, I am no necessary obstruction to thy communion with the Spiritual. Use me rightly, and I shall facilitate, not hinder, thy intercourse with God and His great world of spirits.

All the charges thou hast brought against me are groundless, O Soul; the whole indictment is false, and having this opportunity, I feel bound to change my position, leave the posture of the defendant for that of an accuser. I have serious and well grounded charges to allege against thee."

stances I

THE BODY'S CHARGES AGAINST THE SOUL.

"I charge thee with entailing on me sore and innumerable evils. Poverty, under whose terrible curse in millions of ingroan on from age to age, I ascribe to thy indolence and stupidity, thine extravagance and intemperance, as well as to the injustice of the laws which thou makest for the government of the race. Slavery, beneath whose torturing lash I wail and bleed on from century to century, I refer to thee, to thy ever grasping cupidity, thy heartless selfishness, thy utter disregard of the rights of man as man. War, which from time immemorial has filled the air with my groans, covered continents with my slaughtered remains, and colored many a river and stained many a sea with my blood, I must refer to thy reckless ambition, thy insatiable revenge, thy infernal rage. All the diseases too, that afflict me I owe to thee. How often in fresh youthhood am I worn out, emaciated and brought to an untimely grave, by thine

intemperate habits and inordinate indulgence! Nay, in infancy and childhood I often wither and die in consequence of the corrupt habits of thy parents. Ere half my days are gone thy indulgences burn up my vital energies. The laws of my health thou never studiest, still less dost thou obey. I am the miserable victim of thy folly and thy guilt. In sooth all the diseases that prey on my vitals from generation to generation, and bring me to the grave spring from thee. Moral evil is the fountain of my afflictions. I suffer, aye, I die, because thou hast sinned. From my revulsions from death, which quiver through every part of my nature, I feel that I was organized for immortality. was thy sin that expelled me from 'the tree of life,' brought death into the world, and all my woe. Withdraw, then, thy charges against me, O Soul; confess that thou art the guilty party, not I; and repent of the countless injuries of which thou hast made me so miserable a victim.

It

What sayest thou, O Soul, to this? Speak! let us hear thy judgment. Art thou answered? art thou satisfied? nay, art thou convicted? Speak, let me hear.”

THE SOUL'S CONFESSION AND RESOLVE.

"I have only a word or two, O Body, to utter. My heart is too full for language. My deepest thoughts lie ever beyond the reach of words. I am more than satisfied with thy defence; I am convinced of the unrighteousness of my accusations. And thy charge, too, has humbled me with its truth. Till now, I confess I never questioned the correctness of my complaints against thee; I never dreamt that thou hadst anything to offer in thy defence; I took the whole for granted. It is no excuse to plead my education as a reason for this,-I ought to have looked at the matter and examined both sides for myself. That moral evil dwelt in matter, that the body was the seat of all moral corruption, was an idea that came to me in the earliest stages of my thinking life. It was ever assumed in the conversation

at childhood's magic hearth, where tales were told that must live ever fresh in me. I found it in the first of the religious books I read. In entering the domain of speculative philosophy, I also found it there; it pervaded the theories of Persia and of Greece. Oriental poetries and philosophies rang with it. I found it too in all religions. Popery with its animal tortures, and Protestantism with its fast days, implied it. Still I feel the idea is wrong, and I forthwith eradicate it ; and my treatment of thee, O Body, hence on, shall evidence and embody this new conviction. I will treat thee gratefully. I will practically evince my obligation to thee; I will treat thy impulses as summons to healthful action; I will use thy senses to convey impressions that shall act as fructifying showers on the germs of moral truth, which Heaven has embedded in my nature. I will thank thee for all the pleasurable sensations that thou bringest to play on the chords of my heart. I will treat thee wisely. I will study the conditions of thy well-being, knowing that our interests are identical; thy strength is mine and mine shall be thine; we 'twain shall be one.' I will treat thee righteously. Heaven intended thee to serve, not to sway; yet so to serve, that thy service should be thine elysium and mine also. I will endeavor hence on to direct thee rightly; thy members shall be no longer 'instruments of unrighteousness.' I will render thee with my

self a living sacrifice to God, which is our reasonable service.' Forgive the past towards me, and let us both amend our ways, and be one in the path of duty. We must soon part for awhile;-thou must return to thy dust' again, and I unto my God: but we shall meet again. May we so agree in tendency and action now, that when we again meet I shall be as one of the seraphs of light, and thou fashioned and made like unto the glorious body of the Son of God."

"Thrice happy meeting!

Nor time nor death shall ever part us more."

The Genius of the Gospel.

ABLE expositions of the Gospel, describing the manners, customs, and localities alluded to by the inspired writers; also interpreting their words, and harmonizing their formal discrepancies, are, happily, not wanting amongst us. But the eduction of its WIDEST truths and highest suggestions is still a felt desideratum. To some attempt at the work we devote these pages. We gratefully avail ourselves of all exegetical helps within our reach; but to occupy our limited space with any lengthened archæological, geographic, or philological remarks, would be to miss our aim; which is not to make bare the mechanical process of scriptural study, but to reveal its spiritual results.

SECTION SEVENTY-EIGHTH :-Matt. xxiii. 1—12.

"Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works; for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

SUBJECT

"Moses' Seat,"-Christ's Judgment of the Men who occupied it.

WE have already examined several of the discourses which Christ addressed to the Scribes and Pharisees. The paragraph before us is part of an address which He delivered concerning them. He speaks now, He speaks now, to "His disciples and the multitude," words to expose the hypocrisy and wickedness of the religious authorities of their age and country. He