THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



praise ?&quot; The language and descriptions to 

 which we have now adverted, seem to have had 

 a prospective reference to later and more en 

 lightened times, when more extensive prospects 

 of God s dominions would be opened up by the 

 exertions of human intellect. And were we to 

 search the records of literature, in ancient or 

 modern times, we should find no descriptions nor 

 language of such dignified nature as to express 

 tile views and feelings of an enlightened Christian 

 philosopher, when he contemplates the sublimity 

 and extent of divine operations except those 

 which are to be found in the inspired volume 

 the strength, and majesty, and comprehension of 

 which no human language can ever exceed. 



Again, by familiarizing our minds to such ex 

 tended prospects of God s universal kingdom, we 

 shall be qualified and disposed to comply with 

 the injunctions of Scripture, which represent it 

 as an imperious duty, to communicate to the minds 

 of others such elevated conceptions. This duty is 

 enjoined in numerous passages of Sacred Scrip 

 ture, particularly in the book of Psalms : &quot; De 

 clare his glory among the heathen, and his 

 wonders among all people. I will extol thee, 

 my God, O King. One generation shall praise 

 thy works to another, and shall declare thy 

 mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour 

 of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And 

 men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts ; 

 and shall declare thy greatness. All thy works 

 shall praise thee, O Lord ; and thy saints shall 

 bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy 

 kingdom, and talk of thy power ; to make known 

 to the sons of men thy mighty acts, and the glo 

 rious majesty of thy kingdom.&quot;* When we look 

 around us in the world, and in the visible church, 

 and mark the conceptions and the conversation 

 of the members of religious societies, we need 

 scarcely say how little this ennobling duty is at 

 tended to by by the mass of those who bear the 

 Christian name. We hear abundance of idle 

 chat about the fashions and the politics of the 

 day how Miss A. danced so gracefully at the 

 ball, and how Miss B. sung so sweetly at the 

 concert ; how Mr. C. acted his part so well in 

 the character of Rob Roy, and how Mr. D. made 

 such a flaming speech at the corporation dinner. 

 We listen to slanderous conversation, and hear 

 abundance of mean, and base, and uncharitable 

 insinuations against our neighbours ; which in 

 dicate the operation of malice, hatred, envy, and 

 other malevolent tempers. We spend whole 

 hours in boisterous disputations about metaphy 

 sical subtleties in religion, and questions &quot; which 

 gender strife rather than godly edifying;&quot; but 

 &quot; to speak of the glory of God s kingdom, and 

 to talk of his power,&quot; with the view of&quot; making 

 Known to the sons of men his mighty works,&quot; is 

 a duty which remains yet to be learned by a ma- 



Psalm cxlv. and xcvi. 3, 4 



jority of those who profess the religion of Jesus. 

 And how can they be supposed to be qualified to 

 enter into the spirit of this duty, and to proclaim 

 to others &quot; the glorious majesty of God s king 

 dom,&quot; unless such subjects be illustrated in rm- 

 nutedetail, and proclaimed with becoming energy, 

 both from the pulpit and from the press ? These 

 powerful engines, when conducted with judgment 

 and discrimination, are capable of producing OR 

 the mass of mankind a tone of thinking, and an 

 enlargement of conception, on such subjects, 

 which no other means can easily effect ; and it 

 is to be hoped, that more precise and luminous 

 details, and more vigour and animation, will soon 

 be displayed, in this respect, than in the ages 

 that are past. 



There is a certain principle of selfishrtess which 

 pervades the minds of many professed religion 

 ists, which leads them to conclude, that, if they 

 can but secure their own personal salvation, they 

 need give themselves no trouble about the glory 

 and extent of the kingdom of the Most High. 

 &quot; What ned we care,&quot; say they, &quot; about nations 

 in the far-distant parts of the world, and about 

 the planets and the stars ; our business is to at 

 tend to the spiritual interests of our souls.&quot; Such 

 persons seem neither to understand in what sal 

 vation really consists, and what is conducive to 

 their spiritual interests, nor to appreciate those 

 tempers and habits which will qualify them for 

 the enjoyment of eternal life. It forms but a 

 very slender evidence of their possessing any 

 spark of Christianity at all, if they wish to rest 

 satisfied with the most vague and grovelling con 

 ceptions, and if they do not ardently aspire after 

 a more enlarged view of the attributes of God, of 

 the glory of his empire, and of whatever may 

 tend to expand their conceptions of&quot; the inherit 

 ance of the saints in light.&quot; We have often 

 been astonished at the opinions of some of those 

 who move in a higher sphere of intelligence, 

 who seem to consider it as a matter of pure in 

 difference, whether or not Christians should attain 

 to the highest conception in their power of the 

 God whom they worship, and of his boundless 

 dominions ; because they conceive that such 

 views are not essentially connected with salva 

 tion ? Though they may not have been essen 

 tial to the salvation of men in the dark ages that 

 are past, or to obscure tribes of people at present, 

 who have no access to the proper sources of in 

 formation, yet, since God, in the course of his 

 providence, which guides all human inventions 

 and discoveries, has disclosed to us a far more 

 expansive view of the &quot; glory of his kingdom, 1 

 than former ages could obtain, for the purpose of 

 illustrating the revelations of his word who will 

 dare to assert, that the man who has access, by 

 his studious efforts, to contemplate this wondrous 

 scene, and to display its grandeur to others, and 

 yet wilfully shuts his eyes on the divine glory 

 therein displayed, does not thereby hazard the 



