The Christian who depends for salvation and acceptance, in a future life, is never at rest in this. He has no correct standard whereby to judge whether he has saving faith. His hopes and his fears are regulated by his feelings, not by his conduct. If, for instance, his animal spirits are depressed, he desponds, and considers that the Lord has withdrawn from him the light of his countenance. He trembles, and in the agony of his mind, cries out, “_I believe, O Lord, help thou mine unbelief._” Let him become cheerful, and his mind become buoyant, he then considers himself sure that he has, what is called, an interest in Christ. Moral rectitude is out of the question. All the moral virtues combined, and brought into action, are as nothing, in the sight of the Christian’s God. The sinner’s debt is paid, by the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. So that, according to the plan of human redemption, if Jesus had been acquitted on his trial, the whole human race would die (as the Scripture phrase is) in their sins. It then follows, that, as man’s acceptance with God, and the salvation of his soul, is in consequence of the sacrifice made by Christ on the cross, his moral rectitude is of little consequence. The all-important state of the believer is, not the soundness of his morals, but the relying by faith on Jesus for what he has done by his suffering on the “accursed tree.” This doctrine is the consolation of the murderer at the gallows; and the same reliance on what Jesus has suffered for the human race, was what consoled and supported Andrew Jackson in his last moments, as reported by the newspapers. The Christian religion, by teaching believers to trust in a Saviour for the pardon of crimes of the worst description, has been an obstacle in the way of attaining to that moral excellence which is calculated to dignify human nature.. Faith, the “_pearl of great price,_” has, ever since the introduction of Christian theology, obscured the path of virtue, and invested its haughty possessor with an intolerant disposition, accountable only to the tribunal of faith; and, having broken loose from the restraints of moral obligation, has, as it were, laughed to scorn the principles of justice, of chastity and humanity. And yet, one and all, who profess Christianity, charge those who consider moral worth superior to faith, with demoralizing youth, and corrupting the manners of the age in which they live.