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authority of Christ, but who for the most part approves his doctrine, claim to be a Christian in the same sense, in which one, who agrees in his philosophical notions with Plato, yet without recognising his authority, calls himself a Platonist? The difference, we reply, lies here. The man, who acquiesces in general in what Plato taught, receives Plato in the aspect in which he presented himself to his fellow-men,- receives him in the only sense in which he claimed or expected to be received. But Christ presented himself in an entirely different aspect, he claimed belief and obedience "for his works' sake." His authority, his infallibility, the literal divinity of his teachings is a prominent, inseparable article of his doctrine. He presents himself not merely as a faithful seeker after truth, but as a divinely sealed incarnation and manifestation of eternal truth. His declarations are, "The words that I speak unto I speak not of myself." "The Father which sent me, he gave me commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." "He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me."-"I am the way, the truth, and the life." "The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.". "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me. The four Gospels are full of the most explicit declarations of the same purport. If Christ said what the Gospels represent him to have said, human language cannot express more plainly than his words did, the distinctive divinity of his mission. We say the distinctive divinity of his mission, for we are told, as if it were a discovery of these latter days, that every man has a mission from God, nor do we doubt it. But is there now living upon earth the man, who could express the fact of his mission from God in such words as we have quoted above, without being guilty either of the most arrant folly, or the most impious blasphemy? The Jews most truly said to Jesus, "Thou blasphemest," and represented him as mad, if he employed phraseology so lofty and unqualified, to express only that kind of authority which attaches itself to the words of every wise and good man.

It has indeed been suggested in some quarters, that Christ might not have arrogated to himself this peculiar authority, but that his disciples, deluded by an excess of veneration and affection, claimed it for him after his death, and have transmitted to us his sayings in an exaggerated form; and some, who deny our Saviour's plenary authority, have maintained that they re

ceive him in the sense in which he undoubtedly presented himself to mankind, though not in the sense in which the evangelists present him. But the word Christ denotes the Christ of history, not the Christ of every separate individual's imagination. The only being, whom we can rightfully call Christ, is the very being, real or imaginary, whose biography is given us by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And the only assignable meaning of the term Christian, is a disciple or follower of that very being. It is an unwarrantable perversion of language, to take a name which has a fixed place in history, and appropriate to a conception of one's own brain. We might give the name of Christ to Confucius or Zoroaster just as fairly as we can give it to what, aside from the authority of his biographers, we imagine that Jesus of Nazareth must probably have been. Moreover, by setting aside in important particulars the narrative of the Evangelists, and substituting a Christ of our own device, we must palpably profess ourselves our own disciples, and drop all claim to be called by another's name.

One thing at least is certain, that the apostles and primitive disciples received Christ as an authoritative teacher in the highest and strictest sense of the words. They did not measure his spirit with their own, but submitted their own to his. Their relation to him was that of implicit, child-like faith and confidence. This is sufficiently evident from the coloring, whether authentic or not, which runs through the whole New Testament, and from the declarations which its writers put into the mouths of both Jesus and his followers. It was these primitive disciples that were first called Christians at Antioch ; nor can it be, that any who deny the authority of Christ, are Christians in the sense in which that name was then used. Imagine Peter and Paul, James and John, expressing themselves with regard to Jesus and his doctrines in those tones of patronizing, half-hesitating approval, which have of late grown so common, and you have men as utterly as possible unlike those, under whose charge the infant church grew up, and thousands were added to it in a day.

On the whole then, we know not how to give a more comprehensive definition of the term Christian, than to say that a Christian is one who receives the Christ of our canonical gospels in the aspect, in which those gospels present him, that is, as a divinely commissioned and authoritative teacher. Are we accused of want of charity in thus limiting our definition? We VOL. XXXI. 3D S. VOL. XIII. NO. II.

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reply, that charity has nothing to do with the definition of terms. Charity has no more right than bigotry, to pervert the received signification of words, and to detach them from the ideas, which they rightfully represent. Charity no more compels us to call an honest and worthy unbeliever a Christian, than it does to call a generous and noble-hearted friend of monarchal institutions a republican. Charity, kind as it is, " rejoiceth in the truth,” and is above flattery. But what charity is it to confer a name, which we render utterly void of meaning, and incapable of designating a distinction? For if he, who approves a part of what Jesus taught, is thereby made a Christian, what man living is not a Christian? You cannot find any one, however wrong-headed or depraved, who will not cordially assent to some portion of the teachings of Christ. There were many of his sayings, which his most bitter adversaries could not gainsay or resist; and, if the true Christian creed be, "I believe what of Christ's teachings I cannot gainsay or resist, what I am constrained to believe on independent grounds, but no more, nothing on his testimony," then were those who crucified him as truly Christians, as were John and Mary of Magdala. Thus, by endeavoring to extend too far the signification of the term Christian, we make it an unmeaning and nugatory title.

We have discussed this subject with the plainness and earnestness, which its importance demands. We have not felt authorized to disguise our sentiments; for we believe that this is to be for the present the great question in our portion of the Christian world; and while we would cherish only kind and respectful feelings for the gifted and worthy men, who are opposed to us, we deem it our duty to them, to ourselves, and to the public to state with distinctness the ground on which we stand. If we can read aright the signs of the times, the various elements of our religious public are in the process of disintegration, to be reorganized by the law of elective affinity. Causes of dismemberment are everywhere at work, while new grounds of sympathy and bonds of union are bringing together those, who used to stand as far aloof from each other as the worshippers on Zion and on Gerizim. The three great principles, that are fast developing themselves, as the grounds of separation and of union, are faith, formalism, and self-worship. The questions that have heretofore agitated us are growing obsolete.

A. P. P.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

1. A Sermon delivered at the Funeral of the Rev. Ezra Ripley, D. D. By BARZILLAI FROST, Surviving Pastor of the First Parish in Concord.

2. The death of the Aged: A Discourse preached to the First Church and Society in Concord, Mass., on the morning of Sunday, September 26, 1841; the Sabbath after the funeral of their late senior Pastor, Rev. Ezra Ripley, D. D. By CONVERS FRANCIS, D. D., Pastor of the Congregational Church in Watertown.

THE notices which have already been taken of these excellent discourses, and the interval that has elapsed since the event which occasioned them, render unnecessary any extended remarks or eulogy of our own. Yet we are unwilling to allow the earliest opportunity afforded, by the publication of this Journal, to pass without some brief record of the departure of one, who filled so long an honored place in the churches of the commonwealth, and in the respect and affections of a Christian flock; who, through all the changes and vicissitudes of more than threescore years, including some of the most eventful periods of our political and ecclesiastical history, and times "that tried men's souls," partook of his faithful and assiduous cares. It was the felicity of Dr. Ripley, in a peculiar sense, to "bring forth fruit in old age." His intellectual, scarcely less than his moral qualities, seemed to brighten as he advanced in years. And we read with great respect a sentence, which Mr. Frost quotes from a manuscript journal written by his venerable 'colleague twenty years ago, and which presents, in a very instructive light, the prevailing feeling of his soul. "I esteem it an important, if not an essential evidence of vital religion, that the decline of life be the increase of heavenlymindedness, and that as the body descends to the grave, the mind and heart ascend towards heaven."

Dr. Francis, in his. discourse, exhibits a fine picture of a virtuous old age, and repeats the recipe, which a wise and bold Mandarin once gave to an emperor of China, who was proposing, after the example of three of his predecessors, to swallow an elixir, which they thought would bestow immortality: "The best way of prolonging life, and making it happy, O, Emperor, is to control your appetites, to subdue your passions, and practise virtue." Dr. Ripley, under the higher influences of a Christian faith, seems to have adopted this recipe; and he had his reward.

"His old age," says Mr. Frost, "was the most remarkable part of his life, and perhaps of any individual's in the community. There was a progress in his knowledge and opinions. He continued to hear read all the new views that came out; and although decidedly opposed to some, yet he was not alarmed. He confided in the power of truth, and believed that something might be learnt from all classes of minds. His deep and lively interest in all that was going on in society, and particularly in his own parish, continued unabated. The freshness and warmth of his sympathies retained almost a youthful glow. It was by this means that he attracted the young to him, and caused them to enjoy his society, and love him like a father. And like the sainted Bulkley, by a sort of winning, yet prudent familiarity, he drew persons of all ages to come and sit with him, when he could not go and sit with them.""

Dr. Ripley's whole ministry and character are valuable for the example and encouragement they afford to his professional brethren; and particularly to those who have passed the meridian of their days. Like his cotemporaries and friends, Drs. Bancroft and Thayer, they show, that there are improvements as well as services for old age, and high personal enjoyments, connected with the good influences that venerable years can exert. They teach, that much work and honorable may still be reserved for him, who having served one generation is willing to serve another. Dr. Ripley, as has been remarked once and again by his warmest eulogists, had no pretensions to learning nor to any of those intellectual qualities, which, while they naturally command admiration, remove the individual from the multitude of mankind. But he had that which was better; without which genius, and learning, and even eloquence in a minister may prove but a snare. He had reverence for God's truth, which kept him from fables; he had sound judgment, which made him a companion with the wise; he was faithful to his conscience, that so his heart should not reproach him; he was faithful to his gifts, never ceasing to improve them for his Master's use; he loved his profession, and all them that belong to it; and he was a lover of souls, and therefore was wise to win them. Nor may we doubt for a moment, that of the thousands who have been instructed by his lips, who have been the subjects of his monitions, consolations, and prayers, he has found multitudes for the seals of his ministry, and his exceeding great reward.

The Christian Psalter: A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Social and Private Worship. Boston. 1841. Little & Brown.

THE preface to the Christian Psalter informs us that the