law of the Lord. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners." And Christ says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for theirs is the kingdom of God."

Still further, we remark, that the works of the Saints will be brought into judgment, and these will be the measure of their happiness. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. See also, the parable of the talents.

Once more we add, so numerous and so strong are the passages which show the connection between our conduct here and our happiness hereafter, that if they were taken by themselves they would teach that there is a procuring merit in works, especially in works of benevolence. Blessed is the man that hath mercy on the poor. He that giveth to a disciple a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, shall not lose a disciple's reward. Go sell all that thou hast and give unto the poor and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was a hungered and ye gave me meat; I was athirst and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me, for "inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye did it

unto me."

These passages are the counterparts of that on which we are commenting, and when we consider it in connexion with them, and remember that it is spoken to the "Disciples," those who acknowledge Christ as the Saviour, we conclude that to "make friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness" is, first, to "evidence our discipleship by our present faithfulness; and second, to honour Christ in the person of his saints, so that we may be welcomed to Heaven by both him and them, saying, come ye blessed of my Father.

3. The sense which we have aimed to establish may be objected to, on the ground that it seems to encourage selfishness. The doctrine is, that we use our present ad

vantages to secure our highest everlasting welfare. Our
answer is, that this is the selfishness everywhere incul-
cated in the sacred Scriptures. Man's chief end is to
glorify God, and to enjoy him forever, and this is se-
cured by one and the same course of conduct. The con-
fusion of ideas here, arises out of the nature of a stew-
ardship. In earthly affairs, the steward is bound to con-
sider the interest of his lord. In the parable the guilt
of the steward was, in violating his lord's rights,-his
prudence in providing for his own. Their interests were
not identical, and though "wise," he was unjust. But,
in our case, there is no such division of interests. Our
stewardship is of such a nature, that our Lord is most
honoured when our own interests are best secured, and
we do not incur his guilt when we emulate his prudence.
The wisdom of the Divine economy is still further illus-
trated when we consider that our own ultimate happi-
ness is intimately connected with our seeking the friend-
ship of others. The highest policy is the most extended
benevolence. The liberal soul is made fat, and they that
water others, are themselves watered.

"This above all, to thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day;
Thou canst not then be false to any man."

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Religion thus comes in to bind mankind together in one universal brotherhood.

We have gone too far now, to enter upon a discussion of the metaphysical question here involved, i. e., whether the essence of virtue is that we lose sight of our own happiness. The Bible teaches otherwise, and while it condemns all those acts of selfishness into which men are led by the deceitfulness of riches, and the love of unrighteous mammon, it teaches that uprightness, benevolence, love, will not only be remembered in the present high enjoyment of those who cultivate these feelings, but that we shall reap in eternity the benefits of a faithful use of our Lord's money.

The fatherhood of God; the brotherhood of men, is the great idea of the Gospel.

4. The last point on which we shall remark is, the

T

question who are the friends that are to receive us into their eternal habitations. We have made them the persons for whose benefit we have used our possessions. Some have said God, and Christ, and the Angels, who look with favor upon our benevolent deeds, and who alone, have habitations into which to receive us.

This destroys the unity of the parable. It was to the persons for whose benefit he conferred his lord's goods, that the unjust steward looked for a reception into their houses, and it seems to us, that the friends whom we are to make by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, are our brethren in tribulation. Many of the saints whom we have it in our power to bless, will go before us. They will enter into the everlasting habitations. These will be "their own." And it is a pleasing thought that they will receive, not by authority, but by permission, and with joyful welcome, those that follow after. In my Father's house are many mansions. There is room in Heaven for all that shall come, and we believe that the friendships of earth shall not be forgotten there.

When the Christian pilgrim comes to the end of his journey he stands on the confines of two worlds, in each of which, he has friends. The friends of earth stand round him, they minister to the suffering body, they weep around the dying bed, they wrap the cold and stiffened body in its shroud of white, and deposit it in the grave. Meanwhile the spirit has launched away. In an instant it finds itself in new society. The loved and the lost are there. Happy spirits beckon him upward, and as the returning brother is welcomed and greeted at home, so the stranger from earth finds himself at home in Heaven. The Pastor there meets the lambs of his flock; the Missionary those whom he has gathered from among the heathen, and every one who has used in faithfulness his earthly stewardship, will find he has there, some friends to welcome him to their everlasting habitations.

ARTICLE III.

RELIGION AND MATHEMATICS.

Tis a popular error that Scientific studies tend to scepticism; that the mathematician, accustomed to receive only demonstrated truths, cannot readily exercise simple faith in matters of religion. There would be some sense in the objection, so often and so confidently put forth against mathematics, if faith and credulity were synonymous terms, and if the Romish dogma were true that "Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion." But how foolish is the clamor against Science, if enlightened faith must be based upon the conviction of the understanding, and if the evidences of Christianity are supported by precisely the same sort of reasoning that Euclid employs in demonstrating geometrical propositions.

We trust to be able to show that the study of mathematics is an important auxiliary to a sound faith and manly piety. This is our position, and to establish it we will lay down several independent propositions.

1st. The reasoning employed by writers on the Evidences of Christianity, is essentially mathematical, and can be best understood and best appreciated by the mathematician.

Paley reasons in precisely the same way to prove the existence of a God, that Euclid does to show that two rectangles having the same base or equal bases are to each other as their altitudes. Paley does not attempt to prove directly the truth of his proposition; but he shows the innumerable absurdities and inconsistencies which surround the contrary hypothesis. Euclid, in like manner, attempts no direct proof, but demonstrates that the supposition of the rectangles not being to each other as their altitudes, leads to a gross absurdity. The argument of Paley was used long before the Christian era, and is as old as the Science of Geometry itself. We once heard a gentleman, who had occupied some of the most prominent positions in our Republic, say that the argument of Paley was not convincing to his mind. But he was as ignorant of the elementary principles of Geometry as

any rejected applicant for the honors and dignity of the Freshman Class in College. We do not believe that there is a mathematician living, who will not admit that the reasoning of Paley is perfect.

Leslie's "Short Method with the Deists" is as fine a specimen of mathematical demonstration as is to be found in any language. The veriest Tyro in Geometry knows that the reasoning is identical with that employed on the banks of the Nile, hundreds of years before the Star of the East rested over the manger in Bethlehem. The most thorough man of science, with whom the writer has any acquaintance, was converted from scepticism by reading "Keith on the Prophecies"; and he assigned as a reason for being convinced by this book of the truth of Christianity, that the arguments were purely mathematical in their character, and that, as a mathematician, he could neither gainsay nor deny them. One of the most successful writers on the Evidences of Christianity that Europe has produced, is Olinthus Gregory, L. L. D., F. R. S., &c. Robert Hall said of him that "he united the highest attainments of science with the humility of the Christian." The argumentation of such a man is of course terse and mathematical, and is not the clearness and admirable method of his book due in great measure to the habit of close and accurate thinking, induced by his scientific studies? A cadet at West Point was led to read Gregory's Evidences because the writer was also the author of a Treatise of Mechanics, which was then a text book in the Academy. The student of mathematics was convinced by the reasoning of a mathematician, and his troubled conscience gave him no rest until he found pardon and peace in the blood of the Cross. That cadet is now an Evangelical Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Facts are stubborn things; they will not bend to adapt themselves to silly speculations. The two instances just given, of the conviction wrought in the understanding of two mathematicians by close mathematical arguments, are in themselves sufficient to outweigh all the empty theories in the world upon the baneful effects of scientific studies. The Horæ Paulinæ of Paley is a mathematical gem; a fine specimen of the kind of logic which geometricians call the reductio ad