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For the Millennial Harbinger.

COUNTERFEITS.

NO. II.

THE gospel of our Lord, as proclaimed originally by his Apostles, was, indeed, invaluable. Paul, in writing to Timothy, styled it "the glorious gospel of the blessed God." It is emphatically called "the glad tidings," "the truth," "the gospel of salvation." To those who were dead it made life and immortality plain. It proposed salvation to the lost, pardon to the guilty, light to those who were in darkness, the opening of the prison doors to those who were bound, and predi cated the enjoyment of its blessings upon a principle which every one could possess who was able to receive testimony.

Mankind might well have expected much from an institution, for the reception of which it required four thousand years to prepare the world; and no unprejudiced person can read the history of its effects when it was first promulged, without becoming sensible that the highest expectations were fully realized, and without being forced to admire that gospel which was the wisdom and power of God to all who submitted to its requirements What sudden and surprising changes it produced in those who believed and obeyed it! It had power to transform a raven to a dove-a lion to a lamb. The most bigoted and prejudiced of its enemies it could at once convert into the most zealous and devoted advocates. The cruel murderers of the Redeemer could, as it were, in a moment, by its influence be changed into the meek and lowly disciples, who, we are informed, "rejoiced continually with gladness and singleness of heart."* The fierce Saul, breathing out threatening and revenge, is suddenly interrupted in his career, and being rendered capable of promoting the cause he persecuted, bears upon the wings of love and zeal an immediate salvation to the remotest quarters of the ancient world. Love and Joy, Peace and Righteousness, descending from Heaven, took up their abode among men. The strongest passions, the deepest prejudices were subdued. The rich man rejoicing in his abasement, the poor man happy in his exaltation, were no longer unequal. Of the Jew and the Gentile one new man was formed-the Christian; and while antipathy and hatred were supplanted by harmony and affection, two worlds were blended into one. People of every tribe and tongue, of the most discordant feelings, habits, laws, manners, and customs, were introduced into the same kingdom, the same family; were filled with the same joy, the same hope, the same spirit: were placed under the same laws, and induced to meet upon a footing of equality and salute each other with a holy kiss of love. In short, in the course of a few years the long established religions and usages of various nations were broken up; city after city, nation after nation, were subdued; and the gospel, in defiance of all opposition, waved at length its victorious standard over the ruins of Pagan Rome.

*Acts ii. 23, 37, 33, 41, 45,

↑ Rom. xvi. 16. 1 Cor. xvi. 20, 2 Con. Thess. v. 26, 1 Pet. v. 15.

That it was most glorious when first proclaimed, we infer not only from its having produced these great and happy consequences, but also from the many evils which have since accrued to man from its perversion. It is well known that since "the Apostacy," no longer the blessing, it has been made the curse of mankind. Ceasing to produce unity, love, peace, and holiness among those who had professed to be under its influence, it has been made to give its sanction to the most deliberate slander, the most vindictive malice, the most atrocious murders, and the most destructive wars. No human tongue can tell the vast amount of evil which has been thus occasioned: the deadly feuds, the bloody persecutions, and the misery and distress of nations. No eye but that "which looks on me-on all," has penetrated the secret depths of individual sorrow thus produced: the fears, the doubts, the gloom, the awful, suspense, the extravagant frenzy of the fanatic, and the sad despondency of the religious suicide! Now since it is well known that the greatest blessings when perverted or misapplied, become the greatest evils, the misfortunes which have thus resulted to man from the corruption of the gospel, only prove how precious it must have been when pure. The food which supports our life and gives strength to the limbs and comeliness to the countenance, will, if adulterated, become the most certain and immediate source of injury, will spread the pallid hues of disease over every feature, and poison the very springs of existence. The winding stream which flows peaceably through the valley and gives fertility to the soil and beauty to its borders, if turned from its proper channel, will sweep away at once the glory of the lains, and spread ruin and dismay wherever its toaming waters roll. Let the sceptic, then, strive to support himself in unbelief by dwelling upon the unhappiness which a corrupted christianity has produced; let him speak of the wheel and the faggot, the divisions and animosities, the strifes and envyings of the religious world:-while thus engagea he is unconsciously sounding forth the praises of primitive christianity, and while he occupies himself in showing the magnitude of the evils which counterfeits have occasioned, he exhibits the inestimable value of the true gospel.

We are also enabled to estimate the value of the ancient gospel by the number of its counterfeits. That which is lightly esteemed and of little value is never counterfeited. The pebble that glitters in the bed of the rivulet is treated with neglect, while the skill of the artist is put into requisition to imitate the lustre of the diamond and the beauty of the pearl. An institution, then, which has been so often counterfeited as christianity, and which has given rise to so many false systems of religion, must be, indeed, important and invaluable.

Upon these false institutions and their evil consequences, we design now to offer a few general remarks; but we would wish to pre

mise

1st. That in proceeding to examine what is supposed to be false, i is necessary that we should provide ourselves with a standard with which to compare it. Here, then, before we attempt to decide upon

the real character of the innumerable religi ns which assume the name of Christian, a very important query presents itself- Wi h what shall we compare them? Shall we compare Arminianism with Calvinism, Quakerism with Mormonism, or the Independent system with the Baptist system? In other words, shall we, in order to the detection of suspected counterfeits, compare them with each other? By no means. It is evident that this mode would never enable us to succeed. And yet how often do we observe men who wish to make, as the phrase is, "a profession of religion," vascillating for a while between the merits of the different religious esta: lishments, and ignorant of true christianity, finally pitching upon some one of them through the force of early prejudice, the influence of caprice, or the power of vain show and imposing ceremonies! Were we presented with a number of base coins, we could never detect them by comparing them with each other. We might be allured by the imagined excellence of one, and reject the rest as spurious, while the one we chose would, when rightly tested, be found to be as base as any. To the mint we must apply for the standard. To the fountain we must apply for that pure and limpid water, which, by comparison, will enable us to detect the impurity and turbidness of the stream below. Primitive christianity, then, it is manifest, is the only correct standard, and it is scarcely necessary to add that the only certain and authentic account we have of primitive christianity is contained in the writings. of the New Testament.

2d. We do no injustice when we consider all those institutions Counterfeit which do not bear an exact comparison with the standard. We, therefore, reject them all. The stream of christianity has become polluted, and it is useless to temporize and try experiments. All the reformations that have occurred and all the religious chymistry of the schools have failed to purify it. We turn from the stream, therefore, and seek the fountain. And as it is more easy to obtain good water from the spring than to change that which is impure, so we find it more easy to restore christianity than to reform sectarianism. But some one will be ready to say that many, perhaps all these modern religions have something good about them. They exhibit some grand truths, they contain some true and valuable doctrines, and therefore, notwithstanding a few errors, they are to be regarded not as counterfeit systems of christianity, and consequently of no value, but rather as christianity itself perhaps a little corrupted. We would reply, however, that all these systems are base in their origin. None of them have issued from the proper source. All of them can date their nativity long after the birth of Christianity, and all of them have derived their existence from human leaders. It is true they have borrowed from christianity, and resemble it in some particulars; but it is necessary that they should resemble in order to be counterfeits. Some of them may even approach it very closely in appearance; but surely a counterfeit is not the less a counterfeit for being a good one. On the contrary, it is the more dangerous and the more likely to succeed. They may also have connected with

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them something of true christianity, but this will not constitute them true and genuine. The gilding of a halfpenny will not make it.gold. The ass did not become a lion when he clothed himself with a lion's hide, nor the daw a peacock when he decked himself with some of his borrowed feathers. ALUMNUS.

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SLAVERY IN VIRGINIA.

A CRISIS has arrived in Virginia under the government of the Ruler and the Arbiter of the Universe, which has made all men think upon a question from which the philanthropist and the christian often turn away in portentous indecision and trembling anticipation. More than a hundred human beings, and almost half of them mothers and children, have been precipitated from time into the eternal world by the horrors of the Southampton Insurrection. None, having in his bosom a heart of flesh, but feels aroused from the agonies inflicted on society by this unexpected and appalling visitation. As yet we have mused in silence upon the tragic tales which are now told from North to South, from East to West, through this great confederation of Republics. When our passions or our fears are excited it is not the time to reason, and especially to reason upon such heartrending scenes.

We live too far from the theatre of this indiscriminate massacre of mother and infant to fear any thing for ourselves or our children; but not too far off to sympathize with our fellow-citizens of Virginia, and to condole with them in this agonizing stroke, which, in an eventful moment, pierced so many hearts with anguish. What a mysterious providence is this! It was not the unfeeling task-master, nor the heartless trader in human flesh, who felt the stroke. No! the tender matron and the unoffending babe are those on which this tower of Siloam fell. But will the knell of woe which proclaimed the mournful obsequies of youth and age, of innocence and virtue, untimely interred in one common grave, be instantly forgotten, and be neither lamented nor feared again? "No!" both the politician and the christian respond,

Often is good educed from evil, and better still in infinite progression. Perhaps these unfortunates may be the means of averting a severer stroke, and of saving many from still more cruel fates. We are glad to see the following pieces in the two most popular papers in the state of Virginia, and to learn that the legislature will be now called to consider the matter. It is devoutly to be wished that that body, nor those they represent, will be deluded by the idea that the removal or exiling from the state the free people of color, will remedy the evils existing, or to be feared hereafter.

We have regretted the clamors against Virginia for her slavery, especially by her less republican sister states, who happened to be born without an estate in such goods and chattels. We say, we have regretted all such uncivil interference, dictation, and clamor, because

the present state of Virginia and the present state of Pennsylvania are neither to be praised nor blamed for the acts of William Penn, King Charles, nor their fathers; and because all such interference has made it worse for master and for slave.

We, too, in the extreme north-west of Virginia, are not supposed. to be so perfectly identified with our eastern brethren, in this their all-absorbing interest, as to have a common feeling with them, and therefore any remonstrance, hint, or interference on our part, is regarded as but little less uncourteous than the dictation of those who are without the Old Dominion.

But now Old Virginia begins to reason, to anticipate, and cast about her fruitful and speculative mind on the past, the present, and the future.

The christian is governed by one class of principles and the politician by another; yet sometimes, like solar and lunar attraction, these principles act in conjunction, and sometimes in opposition. At present they will act in conjunction. The politician begins to calculate that slave labor has, in its most productive years, wasted the real estate and destroyed the lands of Eastern Virginia; and that now it is dearer and less productive than any other sort of labor. Every one will, before ten years, be convinced of this. Virginia sees from the present census, and will see more clearly from the next, that, unless an end be put to this all-prostrating evil, she will become a wilderness, with a few scattering inhabitants. Nothing in the eye of political prophecy is more certain than that the Old Dominion must again be hunting grounds, unless she can now, in the eleventh hour, go to work in her vineyard, and dispose of her loungers and drones, that, like her weavil, eat the heart out of her good things. These are the arguments which will speak powerfully to the conscience of the rich, and the christians have not to reason, but to feel upon this subject; so that, may be, the Lord meant it for good to save much people alive, that he suffers this little cloud to burst on so many comparatively innocent heads.

It is in the power of Virginia, AS WE WELL KNOW, and, were it our business, COULD EASILY DEMONSTRATE, to free herself from this evil without loss of property, and much to her interest, honor, and happiness now to seize the opportunity, and to hear the voice of the first sign. I say, it is in her power; but, perhaps, this is like saying it is in the power of the drunkard to become sober, or of the prodigal to reform. But it is in her power, and the East may, doubtless, without waiting for petitions from the West, rely that whatever the legislature can do to deliver us and our brethren in the East from all the curses, direct and indirect, which are found hanging upon that vine brought from Africa, they will have the countenance, support, prayers, and thanks of every Virginian in all the hills and vallies of the West.

EDITOR M. II.

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