Volume, which they cannot understand! But in the last place, and above all, how is the world filled with evil, with selfishness and wickedness, the consequence, in great part, of the wide-spread and destructive errors prevalent in the Church. When it is taught, far and wide, as a strict doctrine of evangelical Christianity, and believed to be derived from the Scriptures, that a man's salvation does not depend on his actions, on his life and conduct, but on his faith, merely—that he is to be saved, if saved at all, merely by his belief—by an idea in his mind or feeling in his heart, quite separate and distinct from his life,—what can the consequence be, but that men become comparatively indifferent to the character of their life and actions, indulge their evil inclinations, give way to temptations, and so at length become sunk in selfishness, sin, and crime, and that thus love to God and man are nearly banished from the earth.
Well, indeed, may we pray that light may be spread abroad; earnestly and fervently may we pour out the prayer that the knowledge of truth may increase among men—especially in what is termed the Christian world; that the darkness may be dispersed, that these falsities may be removed, and that the light of truth clear and full may shine down into men's minds! With feeling and reason may we utter the petition that the Lord's "kingdom may come."
But here an interesting question presents itself—the question in regard to the utility of a prayer of this kind. The Lord, we know, is ever ready to confer blessings on all, and does continually pour forth
