from its true sense, and a false issue has been set before the non-Catholic community. It has been represented that the design was to eliminate and practically annihilate the Bible. This has never been true; and yet this has always been believed." And in view of the entire history of the Romish treatment of the scriptures, as a book for the people, it is exceedingly difficult to believe otherwise. Very likely "the design," in each movement of this kind, has not been, to accomplish, at that time, and by that movement, all that the bishop cautiously denies; but only some particular and, perhaps, small part of it. The agents of the papacy, in labors to suppress the scriptures, may not, in every case, be possessed of the ulterior and broad purpose of that church. It is as a deduction from the aggregation of facts in the Romish management of the scriptures, when we say that the design of that church seems to be to "eliminate and practically annihilate the Bible." The present issue, that the papists have seen fit to raise with our school system, devolves on us the necessity of closing or continuing a struggle of centuries. This historical outline will enable us to do the one or the other understandingly. It is not necessary to delay its conclusion by showing what we have to gain or lose in the result. Our origin as a nation, our prosperity and perpetuity, have evidently had the Bible, in our vernacular, as a basis. Because of this, our way has been prosperous, and we have had good success. It was not our purpose to make an argument on so grave a question; but simply to develop a policy. Our whole aim has been to show, from authentic sources, what the policy of the Roman Catholic church has been, on this question. The unfolding of such a system must be its best refutation. It is presumed to be safe to show their aim among us, by their actions and avowals elsewhere; and so leave the whole matter with an intelligent community. We have been standing on a good foundation. We should be very slow and very reluctant to leave it. We have stood strong and safe only on the Bible. We stand only while on it. The Greeks fabled a giant, called Antaeus, and born of Earth. He was famed for strength and victories in wrestling. He always triumphed; because, standing on his mother Earth while he struggled, she constantly renewed his strength. He finally engaged with Hercules in a wrestling match. Hercules had learned the secret of Antaeus's strength; and so, lifting him high in air, and above the strengthening touch of his mother Earth, he crushed him to death in his arms. We should not suffer ourselves to be lifted from our sure footing and source of national strength by this papal wrestler among the nations. Let it suffice that we look at Italy, and Tuscany, and Spain. And let us plant the feet of our little ones in a sure place, remembering that it is a foundation of God, for us and for our children, forever. ARTICLE VI. DR. NATHANIEL W. TAYLOR ON MORAL GOVERNMENT IN THE ABSTRACT.' BY REV. JOHN P. GULLIVER, NORWICH, CONN. A SYSTEM of theology, if constructed upon the ideal of Dr. Taylor, would take, as its central truth, the fact that God is administering a perfect moral government over men. Around this central fact would be grouped all the teachings of nature and of revelation. The existence, character, and providence of God, would be studied with reference to his position as governor. The constitution and history of man would be investigated with reference to his position as a subject. The special teachings of the inspired word respecting 1 Lectures on the Moral Government of God, by Nathaniel W. Taylor, D. D., late Dwight Professor of Didactic Theology in Yale College. New York: Published by Clark, Austin and Smith, 3 Park Row and 3 Anu Street. 1859. Vol. I. pp. 417. Vol. II. pp. 423. the fall and recovery of the race, would be considered as an exceptional and extraordinary application of the principles of moral government to the work of forgiveness and redemption. Indeed, according to this ideal, it is easy to see that all human knowledge, whether of principles or of facts, whether in the form of science or of history, may be arranged and studied in its relations to the same great central fact, the whole being comprised among the means employed, or the results secured, under God's government of the intelligent universe. It was Dr. Taylor's constant regret, not only that our systems of divinity are made up of partial examinations of subordinate and insulated topics, called forth by the exigencies of controversy, instead of being complete and symmetrical exhibitions of God's moral government; but that they contain absolutely no full or formal discussion whatever of this vital theme. Vid. Mor. Gov. II. p. 2. In this conception, therefore, of God's moral government as centralizing and including all truth, we have the key to Dr. Taylor's system of theology. To the direct elucidation of God's moral government, in respect both to its abstract nature and its practical working, he devoted a large portion of his theological lectures. In the department of natural theology his plan was fully executed. And although he did not, in form, arrange the doctrines of revelation about this central idea; yet so fully are all his most elaborate discussions of these doctrines modelled upon the mould of thought brought out in his essays on moral government, that they may be considered as, in fact, a continuation of those essays, being the application of their principles in specific departments of theology. The volumes before us contain a discussion of this subject under three different forms: 1. Moral government in its abstract principles, as cognizable by the intuitive and deductive powers of man, disconnected from any particular form of moral government, divine or human. This section is designed to answer the question: What is a perfect moral government? 2. Moral government in its practical working, as seen in nature and in the experience and history of man. The object of this section is to prove that God's moral government, as seen in nature, is a perfect moral government, according to the exposition of the first section. 3. God's moral government as made known in revelation, especially as unfolded in the Jewish theocracy; that being a representative system, in which the general principles of God's administration are made known through their exhibition in the temporal government of the Hebrew commonwealth. It is proposed in the present Article, to give, in a condensed form, the course of thought followed in discussing the first of these points, viz. Moral government in the abstract. The object of the Article is to present an outline of this great argument, such as shall be accepted by Dr. Taylor's friends as a fair representation of his views, and such as shall be adapted to the wants of those who may have occasion to become acquainted simply with its prominent features and general scope. This design, of course, excludes any attempt either to advocate or to oppose his views. If these are misstated, in any quarter, the best reply will be a correct statement. If they are in any respect erroneous, such a statement will be the best antidote to the error. It is, perhaps, desirable to remind the reader that the word "action," as constantly used in these lectures, refers, unless otherwise designated, to the action of the mind in the exercise of its supreme purpose or affection, all subordinate choices and all external actions being included only as they are dictated by the governing principle. The precise language of Dr. Taylor is given in the definitions and in other important forms of phraseology. In such cases, quotation marks are employed. Elsewhere, the language is not that of Dr. Taylor; and, of course, should not be made the basis of objection to his views, without a careful comparison with the treatise itself. WHAT IS A PERFECT MORAL GOVERNMENT? "Moral government is the government of moral beings by the influence of authority." Its chief forms are, the government of God, of the state, and of the family. Of these, the government of God, alone, is perfect in its administration and tendencies; while those of the state and family are most imperfect in these respects. None of them, however, is perfect in its results, sin and misery being in existence under them all. Still we know what a perfect moral government is. Its nature, necessity, and design begin to be comprehended by the child, upon the first demand of the mother that its will yield to her will; they are more and more fully comprehended in connection with the relations of civil society, of friendship, and of personal intercourse among men. Though none of these forms furnish an example of perfect moral government, still the human mind is capable of perceiving their imperfections, and so of forming a conception of such a government. We can fully understand its nature and its design, and we can know also what measures are adapted to accomplish its design, as far as we comprehend the circumstances of the case. In God's moral government, while we can fully understand its nature and design, there must be much in its practical administration, of the fitness of which to the design, we are incompetent to judge. On the other hand, there are essential respects in which we can decide what a perfect moral governor will do, and what he will not do. We are not, therefore, doomed to look upon God's administration as an impenetrable mystery. We can know," in all essential respects, what a perfect moral government must be, when administered by a perfect God." The definition of a perfect moral government, as it is thus known by the human mind, is as follows: "THE INFLUENCE OF THE AUTHORITY OR OF THE RIGHTFUL AUTHORITY OF A MORAL GOVERNOR ON MORAL BEINGS, DESIGNED SO TO CONTROL THEIR ACTION AS TO SECURE THE THE ME |