Volume 1. Number 1. August 3, 1823, pp. 5-10.

• The Christian Religion by Alexander Campbell, pp. 5-8.
• The Origin of the "Christian Clergy," Splendid Meeting Houses, and Fixed Salaries, Exhibited from Ecclesiastical History by Alexander Campbell, pp. 8-10.
• Dr. Beattie's Opinion of the Christian Religion, p. 10.

      Christianity is the perfection of that divine philanthropy which was gradually developing itself for four thousand years. It is the bright effulgence of every divine attribute, mingling and harmonizing, as the different colors in the rainbow, in the bright shining after rain, into one complete system of perfections--the perfection of GLORY to God in the highest heaven, the perfection of PEACE on earth, and the perfection of GOODWILL among men.

      The eyes of patriarchs and prophets, of saints and martyrs, from Adam to John the Baptist, with longing expectation, were looking forward to some glorious age indistinctly apprehended, but ardently desired. Every messenger sent from heaven, fraught with the communications of the Divine Spirit, to illuminate, to reprove, and to correct the patriarchs and the house of Israel, was brightening the prospect and chastening the views of the people, concerning the glory of the COMING AGE. The "FOUNDER OF THE FUTURE AGE," as one of Israel's prophets calls the Messiah, was exhibited, in the emblems of the prophetic style, as rising, expanding and brightening to view; from the glistening "Star of Jacob," to the radiating "Sun of Righteousness," with salutiferous and vivifying rays.

      The person, character and reign of Messiah the Prince, exhausted all the beauties of language, all the grandeur and resplendencies of creation, to give some faint resemblances of them. In adumbrating Emmanuel and his realm, "Nature mingles colors not her own." She mingles the brighter splendors of things celestial, with things terrestrial, and kindly suits the picture to our impaired faculties. She brings the rose of Sharon and the lily of the vales--the mild lustre of the richest gems, and the brightest radiance of the choicest metals. She makes the stars of heaven sparkle in his hand, and the brightness of the sun shine in his face. She causes the mountains to flow down at his presence; his advent to gladden the solitary place; before him the deserts to rejoice and blossom as the rose. To the desert, at his approach she gives the glory of Lebanon, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon.

      Under his peaceful banner and gracious sceptre, the wolf dwells with the lamb; the leopard lies down with the kid; the calf, the young lion, and the fatling in harmony follow the mandates of a child; the cow and bear feed together; their young ones lie down in concord; and the lion eats straw like the ox. The sucking child plays on the hole of the asp; and the weaned child puts its hand on the cockatrices den. Under his munificent government the wilderness becomes a fruitful field; and the field once esteemed fruitful is counted for a forest. He makes the eyes of the blind to see; the ears of the deaf to hear; and the tongue of the dumb to speak. The stammerer becomes eloquent, and the wise men of other times become as babes. He brings the captive from the prison, and those that sit in darkness out of the prison house. His people march forth with joy; they are led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field clap their hands.

      "He shall judge the poor of the people; he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear him as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace as long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him, For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and the needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence; and precious shall their blood be in his sight. There shall be, in his day, a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure forever; his name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall ever be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed." Psalm lxxii. 4-17. Such were the glorious things spoken of Zion and her King, by holy kings and ancient seers, fired with prophetic impulse. These are but a taste of the sweetness which flows in the stream of prophecy, which revived, cheered and animated the drooping, disconsolate and afflicted hearts of the righteous ancients. Such things they uttered who saw his glory and spake of him. These prospective views of Messiah and his institution, prepare us to expect the brightest exhibition of glory in himself, and the highest degree of moral excellence and felicity in the subjects of his reign.

      The fulness of time is come. Messiah appears. But lo! he has no form nor comeliness. He comes forth as a languishing shoot from a [5] dry and sterile soil. He comes to his own, and his own receive him not. He comes to the people who had the visions of the Almighty, and who heard the prophecies of the Spirit concerning him; yet they reject him as an impostor. They recognize no charms in his person--no glory in his purposed reign. Their hearts are infatuated with worldly notions, and they view him with a prejudiced eye. They see no diadem upon his head--no sceptre in his hand. They see no gorgeous apparel upon his person--no nobles nor princes to his train. They hear no sound of the trumpet--no confused sound of mighty warriors preparing for battle. They see no garments rolled in blood, nor captives led in chains. They are offended at the meanness of his parentage; at the humble birth and character of his attendants, and at his own insignificant appearance. His glories, and their views of glory, correspond in no one instance. His glory was that of unparalleled condescension, incomparable humility, meekness and love. The most resplendent gems in his crown were his abject poverty, his patient endurance of the grossest indignities, and the unreserved devotion of his whole soul, as the righteous servant of Jehovah. His victories were not those of a mighty chieftain at the head of many thousands, marching through opposing ranks, demolishing citadels, devastating countries, causing iron gates to open at his approach, and leading bound to his triumphal chariot his captive enemies. No! his victories were the conquest of all temptations, of death, and of him that had the power of death. He triumphed over all principalities and powers of darkness, error and death. In his death and resurrection he gained the greatest conquest ever won: he vanquished death and the grave; he obtained eternal redemption; he opened the gates of Paradise, and procured an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and unfading, for all them that look for deliverance. Such were the personal achievements of the Captain of our Salvation.

      The precepts of his institution correspond with his appearance and deportment among men. He inculcates a morality pure as himself, and such as must render his disciples superior to all the world besides.He gives no scope to any malignant passions, and checks every principle that would lead to war, oppression or cruelty. His precepts respect not merely the overt act, but the principles from which all overt acts of wickedness proceed. Ambition, pride, avarice, lust, malevolence, are denounced as really criminal, as the actions to which they give rise. His precepts are no dry, lifeless system of morality, to be forced upon his disciples, or to be worn as an outside garment; but they are inculcated by arguments and considerations which when apprehended, engrave them upon the heart, and render them of easy practice. The reason, the nature, and the import of his death, afford, to those who understand it, an argument that gives life and vigor to all his precepts, and that makes his yoke easy and his burthen light. When we turn our attention to the character and exploits of his first disciples, his ambassadors to the world, what an illustrious exhibition of the excellency of his doctrine, and of the purity of his morals do they afford! In them how conspicuous faith, hope, and love! What zeal, what patience, what self-denial, what deadness to the world! How gladly they spend and are spent in the good work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope! They glory in reproaches, to privations, in stripes, imprisonments, in all manner of sufferings; yea, in death itself, for the Son of Man's sake. How freely, how cheerfully, how laboriously they performed the ministry which they had received! They look for no applause, for no stipend, no fixed salary, no lucrative office, no honorable title among men.

      They have continually in their eye the example of their Chief, "looking off from the ancients to JESUS the Captain and Finisher of the Faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down on the right hand of God." Amidst their enemies and false friends, how calm, how meek, how prudent, how resolute, how persevering! They exhibit virtues, in comparison of which, the virtues of all other religionists appear either as splendid sins, or as meagre empty names. Such was the character of the ambassadors and subordinate ministers of the New Institution.

      The societies called churches, constituted and set in order by those ministers of the New Testament, were of such as received and acknowledged JESUS as Lord Messiah, the Saviour of the World, and had put themselves under his guidance. The ONLY BOND OF UNION among them was faith in him and submission to his will. No subscription to abstract propositions framed by synods; no decrees of councils sanctioned by kings; no rules of practice commanded by ecclesiastical courts were imposed on them as terms of admission into, or of continuance in this holy brotherhood. In the "apostles' doctrine" and in the "apostles' commandments" they steadfastly continued. Their fraternity was a fraternity of love, peace, gratitude, cheerfulness, joy, charity, and universal benevolence. Their religion did not manifest itself in public fasts nor carnivals. They had no festivals--no great and solemn meetings. Their meeting on the first day of the week was at all times alike solemn, joyful and interesting. Their religion was not of that elastic and porous kind, which at one time is compressed into some cold formalities, and at another expanded into prodigious zeal and warmth. No--their piety did not at one time rise to paroxysms, and their zeal to effervescence, and, by and by, languish into frigid ceremony and lifeless form. It was the pure, clear, and swelling current of love to God, of love to man, expressed in all the variety of doing good.

      The order of their assemblies was uniformly the same. It did not vary with moons and sea sons. It did not change as dress nor fluctuate as the manners of the times. Their devotion did not diversify itself into the endless forms of modern times. They had no monthly concerts for prayer; no solemn convocations, no great fasts, nor preparation, nor thanksgiving days. Their churches were not fractured into missionary societies, bible societies, education societies; nor did they dream of organizing such in the world. The head of a believing household was not in those days a president or manager of a board of foreign missions; his wife, the president of some female education society; his eldest son, the recording secretary of some domestic bible society; his eldest daughter, the corresponding secretary of a mite Society; his servant maid, the vice-president of a rag society; and his little daughter, a tutoress of a Sunday school. They knew nothing of the hobbies of modern times. In their church capacity alone they moved. They neither transformed themselves into any other kind of association, nor did they fracture and sever themselves into divers societies. They viewed the church of Jesus Christ as the scheme of Heaven to ameliorate the world; as members of it, they considered themselves bound to do all [6] they could for the glory of God and the good of men. They dare not transfer to a missionary society, or bible society, or education society, a cent or a prayer, lest in so doing they should rob the church of its glory, and exalt the inventions of men above the wisdom of God. In their church capacity alone they moved. The church they considered "the pillar and ground of the truth;" they viewed it as the temple of the Holy Spirit; as the house of the living God. They considered if they did all they could in this capacity, they had nothing left for any other object of a religious nature. In this capacity, wide as its sphere extended, they exhibited the truth in word and deed. Their good works, which accompanied salvation, were the labors of love, in ministering to the necessities of saints, to the poor of the brotherhood. They did good to all men, but especially to the household of faith. They practiced that pure and undefiled religion, which, in overt acts, consists in "taking care of orphans and widows in their affliction, and in keeping one's self unspotted by (the vices of) the world."

      In their church capacity they attended upon every thing that was of a social character, that did not belong to the closet or fireside. In the church, in all their meetings, they offered up their joint petitions for all things lawful, commanded or promised. They left nothing for a missionary prayer meeting, for seasons of unusual solemnity or interest. They did not at one time abate their zeal, their devotion, their gratitude or their liberality, that they, might have an opportunity of showing forth to advantage or of doing something of great consequence at another. Such things they condemned in Jews and Pagans. No, gentle reader, in the primitive church they had no Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Monday, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, nor Preparation Saturday. All days were alike good--alike preparation--alike thanksgiving. As soon as some Pharisees that believed began to observe days and months, and times, and years; so soon did the apostle begin to stand in doubt of them.

      Having taken a cursory view of some of the leading features of the Christian religion, exhibited in prospective, and in actual existence at its first institution, we shall in the last place advert to its present appearance. But alas! "how is the fine gold become dim!" Instead of the apostles' doctrine, simply and plainly exhibited in the New Testament, we have got the sublime science of theology, subdivided into scholastic, polemic, dogmatic and practical divinity. Instead of the form of sound words given by the Spirit to be held fast, we have countless creeds, composed of terms and phrases, dogmas and speculations, invented by whimsical metaphysicians, Christian philosophers, rabbinical doctors, and enthusiastic preachers. Instead of the divinely established order of bishops and deacons, or as they are sometimes called, elders and deacons, which remained when the age of "spiritual gifts" and "spiritual men" passed away, we have popes, cardinals, archbishops, metropolitan bishops, diocesan bishops, rectors, prebendaries, deans, priests, arch deacons, presiding elders, ruling elders, circuit preachers, local preachers, licentiates, class leaders, abbots, monks, friars, &c. &c.

      Our devotion exhibits itself in prayers, in the set phrase of pompous oratory; to singing choirs; in long sermons, modelled after Grecian and Roman orations, logical themes and metaphysical essays; in revivals, camp-meetings, praying societies, theological schools, education societies, missionary societies, Sunday schools, and in raising large sums of money by every way that ingenuity can devise, for propagating the gospel.

      Our zeal burns brightest in contending for orthodox tenets, and a sort of technical language rendered sacred, and of imposing influence by long prescription. Such as the covenant of works, the covenant of grace; the active and passive obedience of Christ; legal repentance; the terms and conditions of the gospel; the gospel offer; the holy sacraments; ministerial, sacramental and catholic communion; the mediatorial kingdom of Christ; the millennium; historic faith, temporary faith, the faith of miracles, justifying faith, the faith of devils, the faith of assurance, and the assurance of faith; the direct act of faith, the reflex act of faith; baptismal vows; kirk sessions; fencing the tables; metallic tokens; &c. &c. Thus to speak in clerical dignity, analogically, more than half the language of Ashdod is mingled with less than half the language of Canaan; and the people are generally zealous about such confounding, misleading and arrogant distinctions, which all result in divesting Christianity of its glorious simplicity, which adapts it to boys and girls, as well as to philosophers, and which distort it into a mystery fit to employ linguists, philosophers, doctors of divinity, all their leisure hours, at a handsome per annum, in studying and then in giving publicity to their own discoveries, or in retailing those of others.

      But into how diverse and opposite extremes and absurdities have many run, in their wild, superstitious, and chimerical views of the christian religion. Inquisitive reader, turn your eyes to yonder monastery, built in that solitary desert, filled with a religious order of monks, and an abbot at their head. Why have they shut themselves out from the world in that solitary recluse? It is for the purpose of becoming more abstemious, more devout, more devoted to the study of mystic theology. Hear them contending whether the Solitaires, the C&oeLIG;nabites or the Sarabaites have chosen the course most congenial to the gospel. See these poor, gloomy, lazy set of mortals, habited in their awful back, their innocent white, or their spiritual grey, according to their order, forsaking all the business and enjoyments of society, spending their days in penury and affliction for the sake of sublimer contemplations of God and of the heavenly world; and say have they ever seen a bible! Again, see this sacred gloom, this holy melancholy, this pious indolence, becoming so popular as to affect all the seminaries of Christendom for a time! See it command the respect of the highest dignitaries of the church; and hear them call those haunts of gloom and superstition, as some of the reformed orders of modern times call our colleges, "fountains and streams that make glad the city of God" by, qualifying pious divines! Yes, these monasteries became so famous for piety and solemnity, that the church looked to them for her most useful ministers. And, indeed, much of the gloomy aspect, dejected appearance, and holy sighing of modern times, and especially of the leaders of devotion, sprang from those monasteries.

      Next consider for a moment, you sobbing anchorite, with his amulet around his neck, his beads solemnly moving through his fingers, fingers, bent upon his naked knees in yon miserable cell, muttering his "Ave Maria," and invoking St. Andrew to intercede in his behalf; and say [7] has he a bible? O yes! It lies mouldering and moth eaten on his shelves. From this scene of infatuation turn your eyes to yonder dismal edifice, with iron gates and massy bars. Within its merciless compartments view the "minister of religion," the "ambassador of Christ," attired in his sacred robes, with holy aspect and flaming zeal for "divine honor?' and that of his church, exhorting the vile heretic on pain of the most excruciating torments here, and eternal damnation hereafter, to abjure his heresy. As an argument to enforce his pious exhortations, observe the red hot pincers in hand, pointing to the boiling lead, the piles of fagots, the torturing wheels, and all the various engines of horrid vengeance. Do you ask who is he? I answer, It is the Reverend Inquisitor. On the most solemn AUTO DA FE, see this incorrigible heretic brought forward, arrayed in his santo benito, or sleeveless yellow coat, flowered to the border with the resemblance of flames, of red serge, decorated with his own picture, surrounded with devils, as doomed to destruction for the good of his soul. Then declare of what use is reason or revelation to many called christians!

      But leaving the dungeon and the quarter of the globe, visit the group of reformed christians, and see another order of "teachers of the christian faith," "ministers of religion," having prepared themselves by the study of Grecian and Roman languages, laws, history, fables, gods, goddesses, debaucheries, wars, and suicides; having studied triangles, squares, circles, and ellipses, algebra and fluxions, the mechanical powers, chemistry, natural philosophy, &c. &c. for the purpose of becoming teachers of the christian religion; and then going forth with their saddlebags full of scholastic divinity in quest of a call to some eligible living; then ask again, Where is the bible?

      And, stranger still see that christian general, with his ten thousand soldiers, and his chaplain at his elbow, preaching, as he says, the gospel of goodwill among men; and hear him exhort his general and his christian warriors to go forth with the bible in one hand and the sword in the other, to fight the battles of God and their country; praying that the Lord would cause them to fight valiantly, and render their efforts successful in making as many widows and orphans as will afford sufficient opportunity for others to manifest the purity of their religion by taking care of them!!! If any thing is wanting to finish a picture of the most glaring inconsistencies, add to this those christians who are daily extolling the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and at the same time, by a system of the most cruel oppression, separating the wife from the embraces of her husband, and the mother from her tender offspring; violating every principle, and rending every tie that endears life and reconciles man to his lot; and that, forsooth, because "might gives right," and a man is held guilty because his skin is a shade darker than the standard color of the times: Adverting to these signs of the times, and many others to which these reflections necessarily lead, will you not say that this prophecy is now fulfilled--2 Tim. iv. 3, 4--"There will be a time when they will not endure wholesome teaching; but having itching ears, they will, according to their own lusts, heap up to themselves teachers. And from the truth, indeed, they will turn away their ears and be turned aside to fables." Chap. iii. 1-5. "This also know, that in latter days perilous times will come. For men will be self-lovers, money-lovers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. ungrateful, unholy, without natural affection, covenant-breakers, slanderers, having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it. NOW FROM THESE TURN AWAY." Christian reader, remember this command--and "from such turn away."

      Nota Bene.--In our remarks upon the "Christian Clergy," we never include the Elders or Deacons of a Christian Assembly, or those in the New Testament called the overseers and servants of the Christian Church. These we consider as very different offices, and shall distinguish them in some future number.

      Mosheim, vol. i. p. 73, Charlestown edition. "Another circumstance that irritated the Romans against the christians, was the simplicity of their worship, which resembled in nothing the sacred rites of any other people. The Christians had neither sacrifices, nor temples, nor images, nor oracles, nor sacerdotal robes; and this was sufficient to bring upon them the reproaches of an ignorant multitude, who imagined that there could be no religion without these. Thus they were looked upon as a sort of Atheists; and by the Roman laws, those who were chargeable with Atheism, were declared the pest of human society. But this was not all. The sordid interests of a multitude of lazy and selfish priests were immediately connected with the ruin and oppression of the christian cause. The public worship of such an immense number of deities was a source of subsistence, and even of riches, to the whole rabble of priests and augurs, and also to a multitude of merchants and artists. And the progress of the gospel threatened the ruin of this religious traffic and the profits it produced. This raised up new enemies to the christians, and armed the rage of mercenary superstition against their lives and their cause."

      "The places in which the first christians assembled to celebrate divine worship, were, no doubt, the houses of private persons." p. 124.

      "In these assemblies the holy scriptures were publicly read, and for that purpose were divided into certain portions or lessons. This part of divine service was followed by a brief exhortation to the people, in which eloquence and art gave place to the natural and fervent expressions of zeal and charity." p. 124, 125.

      Haweis' Church History, volume i. p. 150. "Nothing could be more unadorned than the primitive worship. A plain man, chosen from among his fellows, in his common garb, stood up to speak, or sat down to read the Scriptures to as many as chose to assemble in the house appointed. A back room, and that probably often a mean one, or a garret, to be out of the way of observation, was their temple?"

      "As pride and worldly mindedness must go hand in hand, assumed pomp and dignity require a sort of maintenance very different from the state when the pastor wrought with his own hands to minister to his necessities, and labored by day that he might serve the church by night. The idea of priesthood had yet scarcely entered into the christian sanctuary, as there remained no more sacrifice for sin, and but one high-priest of our profession, Jesus Christ. But, on the dissolution of the whole Jewish economy under Adrian, when the power of the associated clergy began to put forth its bud, the ambitious and [8] designing suggested, what many of the rest received in their simplicity, that the succession to these honors now devolved upon them, and that the bishop stood in the place of the high-priest; the presbyters were priests; and the deacons Levites: and so a train of consequences follower Thus a new tribe arose, completely separated from their brethren, of clergy distinct from laity--men sacred by office, exclusive of a divine call and real worth. The altar, indeed, was not yet erected, nor the unbloody sacrifice of the eucharist perfected; but it approached by hasty strides to add greater sanctity to the priesthood, and the not unpleasant adjunct of the divine right of tithes, attached to the divine right of episcopacy." p. 181, 182.

      "The simplicity of the primitive worship, contrasted with the pomp of paganism, was striking. It was concluded by the heathen, that they who had neither altar, victim, priest, or sacrifice, must be Atheists, and without God in the world. Those who were now rising into self-created eminence, had therefore little difficulty to persuade that it would be for the interest and honor of christianity to remove these objections of the Gentiles, by very harmless but useful alterations. Though magnificent temples had not yet risen, the names of things began to change. There were already priests; and oblation, were easily rendered sacrifices. The separation of the clergy, as a body, became more discriminated by their habits. High-Priests must have more splendid robes than the simple tunic of linen. A variety of new ceremonies were invented to add dignity to the mysteries of christianity and obviate the objections to its meanness and simplicity. And the populace were particularly attached to their idolatry by the festivals in honor of their heroes and their gods, and delighted with the games and pastimes on these occasions, the great Gregory Thaumaturgus shortly afterward contrived to bilk the devil, by granting the people the indulgence of all the same pleasures of feasting, sporting, and dancing at the tombs, and on the anniversary of the martyrs, as they had been accustomed to in the temples of their gods; very wisely and christianly supposing that thus, sua sponte ad honestiorem et accuratiorem vitæ rationem transirent--of their own accord they would quit their idolatry, and return to a more virtuous and regular course of life. I must be exceedingly hard drove for a christian, before I can put such men as Gregory Thaumaturgus into the number." p. 182, 183.

      "Constantine having become the conqueror of Maxentius, and, as it seems, chiefly by the support of christians, his favor to them increased in great munificence to build them churches, and in abounding liberality to their poor. Their bishops were honored by him and caressed, and their synods held and supported by his authority." p. 246, 247.

      "Having now no longer a competitor, Constantine resolved to take the most decided part with the christians. He prohibited the heathen sacrifices and shut up the temples, or converted them to the purposes of christian worship. He universally established christianity, and tolerated no other religion openly throughout the bounds of the empire; the justice of which I doubt, and even the policy. I see no right to compel even an idolater, contrary to his conscience." p. 247.

      "The bounties he bestowed, the zeal he displayed, his liberal patronage of episcopal men, the pomp he introduced into worship, and the power invested with general councils, made the church appear great and splendid, but I discern not a trace in Constantine of the religion of the Son of God?" p. 248.

      "I am persuaded that his establishment of christianity, and of those bishops whom particularly at last he most espoused and favored, contributed beyond any thing to the awful debasement and declension of true religion, and from him and his son Constantius evangelical truth suffered in the spirit of christian professors, as much as their persons had undergone from Dioclesian or Galerius?" p. 249.

      "The church now in esteem of some, was exalted to the highest pinnacle of prosperity, invested with vast authority, and the episcopal order collected in synods and councils, with almost sovereign dominion. The churches vied in magnificence with palaces; and the robes and pomp of service, imitating imperial splendor, eclipsed paganism itself, with mitres, tiaras, tapers, crosiers, and processions. If outward appearances could form a glorious church, here she would present herself; but these meretricious ornaments concealed beneath them all the spirit of the world--pride, luxury, covetousness, contention, malignity, and every evil word and work. Heresy and schism abounded, and wickedness of every kind, like a flood, deluged the christian world; whilst the heads of the church more engaged in controversy, and a thousand times more jealous about securing and increasing their own wealth and pre-eminence, than presenting examples of humility, patience, deadness to the world and heavenly mindedness, were like gladiators, armed in all their councils, and affected imperial power and pomp in the greater dioceses." p. 261.

      The statements made by these two historians, we are able to confirm from a great variety of documents. If there be a fact, more clear than any other established upon the page of ecclesiastical history, it is the following, viz: that the confounding of the Jews' religion with the christian religion, or the viewing of the latter as an improvement of the former, has been the fountain of error which has, since the apostolic age, corrupted the doctrine, changed the order, and adulterated the worship of the christian church. This, together with the influence of pagan priests and pagan philosophers, proselyted to the christian religion, has been the Pandora's box to the professing christian community. We happened upon the truth, when we published as our opinion, about seven years ago, that "the present popular exhibition of the christian religion is a compound of judaism, heathen philosophy and christianity." From this unhallowed commixture sprang all political ecclesiastical establishments, a distinct order of men called clergy or priests, magnificent edifices as places of worship, tithes or fixed salaries, religious festivals, holy places and times, the christian circumcision, the christian passover, the christian Sabbaths, &c. &c. These things we hope to exhibit at full length in due time.

      From the extracts already adduced from these eminent historians, it appears clear as the morning that the distinction betwixt clergy and laity, originated by degrees, and widened into all the extreme points of dissimilarity in the lapse of a few generations. But behold the mighty difference! and in it see the arrogance of the clergy and the abject servility of the laity--when the high-priest, the head of the clergy mounts his horse, the king (as layman) holds his stirrup, and in obeisance, kisses his toe. [9] A respectable portion of this high-priest's spirit has fallen upon all the clergy, and a becoming share of servility even yet exists amongst those who admire them most. Happy they who know the truth! for it makes them free! How blissful the words of the Saviour of the world! and how true! "If the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed!"

EDITOR.      

      "THE Christian Religion, according to my creed, is a very simple thing, intelligent to the meanest capacity; and what, if we are at pains to join practice to knowledge, we may make ourselves acquainted with without turning over many books. It is the distinguished excellence of this religion that it is entirely popular and fitted, both in its doctrines and its evidences, to all conditions and capacities of reasonable creatures--a character which does not belong to any other religious or philosophical system that ever appeared to the world. I wonder to see so many men eminent both for their piety and for their capacity, laboring to make a mystery of this divine institution. If God vouchsafe to reveal himself to mankind, can we suppose that he chooses to do it in such a manner that none but the learned and contemplative can understand him? The generality of mankind can never, in any possible circumstances, have leisure or capacity for learning or profound contemplation. If, therefore, we make christianity a mystery, we exclude the greater part of mankind from the knowledge of it; which is directly contrary to the intention of its author, as is plain from his explicit and reiterated declarations. In a word, I am perfectly convinced that an intimate acquaintance with the SCRIPTURE, particularly the Gospels, is all that is necessary to our accomplishment in true christian knowledge. I have looked into some systems of theology, but I never read one of them to an end, because I found I could never reap any instruction from them. To darken what is clear, by wrapping it up in a veil of system and science, was all the purpose that the best of them seems to me to answer."

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