Volume 7. Number 5. December 7, 1829, pp. 604-614.

• Sermons to Young Preachers.--No. II. by Alexander Campbell, pp. 604-605.
• To Dr. A. Straith by A Lover of the Whole Divine Truth, pp. 605-606.
• To A. Straith, M. D., of Virginia by Bengelius, pp. 606-607.
• Letter II. to Bishop J., by Discipulus (Robert Richardsin), pp. 607-608.
• [Note on "Letter II. to Bishop J."] by Alexander Campbell, p. 608 (footnote).
• To the Editor of the Christian Baptist by T. W. (Thomas Campbell), pp. 608-611.
• To the Editor of the Christian Baptist by T. W. (Thomas Campbell), pp. 611-613.
• Extracts from Haldane's "Evidence and Authority of Divine Revelation," by Robert Haldane, p. 614.
  • The Land of Canaan by Robert Haldane, p. 614.
  • Nation of Israel by Robert Haldane, p. 614.
  • The Tribe of Judah by Robert Haldane, p. 614.

      SOME men speak merely for the sake of speaking. It is their object to speak. Others speak for the sake of some point to be gained. Their object is to gain that point. Now the difference between this class of speakers and the other is immense, and distinguishes every period which is uttered. The orator who speaks for the sake of speaking, has himself continually placed before his mind. Like a person looking into a mirror, he sees only his own image reflected. This he admires, and his every effort is to appear to advantage. The admiration of men is courted; and every sentence which is uttered, is spoken with a reference to this end. Hence such orators weigh and estimate all their sentences as happy, or the reverse, as they may tend to advance their own reputation as speakers. Every fine comparison, parable, or allusion--every fine trope or figure which they employ, is valued because of its tendency to exalt the speaker in the esteem of his hearers. Such speakers are easily distinguished by the discriminating part of their audience. There is a stiffness, a formality, a squinting in their public addresses, which no veil can conceal from those of sound vision. I do not allude only to those coarse or fine apologies which we so often hear from public speakers with regard to their unpreparedness, indisposition, and all the unpropitious circumstances under which they appear. These too much resemble the lady in the play--

The meaning of all such apologies is, or appears to be--'If I have done so well under all these disadvantages, how well do you think I could have done, if I had enjoyed all the benefits from which I have been excluded?'

      But he who speaks for some great, or good, or interesting object, loses himself in the subject; forgets almost his own identity, and sees or feels nothing but that for which he speaks. His object is in his heart and before his eyes continually. From it he derives his inspiration, his zeal, his eloquence. When a speaker has an object to gain, which his understanding, his conscience, his heart approves--'tis then, and then only he can be truly eloquent.

      The fear of man is destroyed by the love of man. That fear of man which brings a snare, which restrains equally the powers of reason and the wings of imagination, can only be effectually overcome by having some object at heart suggested by the love of man. When a man feels his subject, he forgets himself. 'Tis then, and then only, he speaks to the heart, and speaks with effect. The understanding is, and must be addressed, that the heart may be taken. For unless the heart or the affections of men are elevated to the admiration and love of God, and fixed upon him, all religion is a name, a pretence, vain, and useless.

      The great end and object of all who teach or preach Jesus to men, should be to gain the hearts of men to him. Not to gain popularity for themselves, but to woo men to Christ. This effort can be most successfully made when we are hearty in the cause, and sincerely, from the heart, speak to the understandings and hearts of men. All, then, who love the praise of men more than the favor of God, are defective, radically defective in those qualifications requisite to the service of the Great King. But I am now attending to the manner, rather than to the matter, of the addresses of young prophets. In my last sermon to young preachers, I directed their thoughts to the influence of bad habits, and the danger of beginning wrong. Nothing is more disgusting to persons of good judgment than affectation. But to affect an awkward and disgusting original or model, makes affectation doubly disgusting. There is nothing more pleasing than the artless simplicity which sincerity produces. We love nature more than art. While we sometimes admire the skill of the artist, we, nevertheless, more admire and are pleased with the work of nature. So the unaffected orator never fails to reach our hearts or to touch our sensibilities sooner, and with more effect, than the imitator.

      In the art of speaking, the great secret is first to form clear conceptions of the subject to be spoken; and then to select such terms as exactly express our conceptions. To do this naturally, is the consummation of the art of speaking. All men can speak intelligibly, and many men fluently, upon the subjects with which they are every day conversant. And if we would make others feel, we must feel ourselves. It has been said by them of old time, He that would make his audience weep, must himself weep. But the man who strives to make others weep, will fail in producing the effect desired by it, unless he is more than an ordinary mimic. But when a speaker is compelled to drop a tear without intending it, then he may expect a corresponding feeling in the bosoms of his audience. These are the lessons which experience and meditation teach.

      But in all this we speak after the manner of [604] men. The man who would gain the skies, must stretch his wings thitherward; and he that would effectually preach Christ, must do it sincerely. There is more meaning in this word sincerely, than is apparent in its common usage. By it I here mean without any thing foreign to the simplicity, humility, zeal, and love which he himself taught.

      I heard here, in Richmond, the other evening, a sermon of the good old John Calvin stamp. I saw old John sparkling in the eyes of my erudite textuary, while he was making Paul and the amiable John the Apostle say what they never meant. But I have respect here to the manner. There was a zeal or a warmth depicted in the countenance of our preacher which seemed unnatural, because it came from a system and not from Christ. He seemed angry when he rose--angry, I presume, because any one could be so impertinent as to think differently from him. He proved nothing to me, save that he had never been initiated into the Temple of Solomon, or had tasted of the waters of Siloam. He only wanted the surplice, the cravat, and the manuscript of our chaplain, who furnished us with the Lord's prayer in writing every morning, to give him a prelatic appearance. There is something very venerable in the English aspect of the Right Reverend Bishop Moore, who was our first chaplain to the Convention. The old gentleman looked like he had got his full share of the good things of this life;--but really when I saw him pull his prayer out of his pocket every morning, and put on his spectacles, and finish his manuscript by reading the Lord's prayer, I could not but sigh for the stubbornness of forms and ceremonies, which are the only things that can pass from one age to another without acquiring or imparting a single ray of the light accumulated either by reading, reflection or conversation. I would offer no indignity to the Bishop of Virginia, for he deserves well for his fine appearance and devout reading of the confessions and petitions prescribed by Queen Elizabeth; save that the spirit of innovation has substituted the word President of these United States in lieu of His Majesty the King of Great Britain. For this courteous change in our favor, we republicans are ever grateful to the Bishop. These prayers have another merit which I ought not to pass unnoticed, because it is a rare virtue in a Right Reverend Bishop's prayers. They are "without money and without price." This is peculiarly acceptable to us republicans; for we have not much faith in mercenary prayers, nor much disposition to make the people pay for prayers for our benefit. For we argue that if any political assembly have a right to make the people pay for a chaplain to minister for them, they have a right to make the people pay for prayers in every pulpit in the state made in their behalf.

      But to return to our young prophets. We would exhort them to choose such a subject as will make them forget themselves when they rise to address a public assembly, and then they cannot fail to be interesting, especially if they speak naturally, without that violence to reason and common sense, of which we complained in our former address to them.

EDITOR.      

      DEAR SIR--YOUR letters in the "Christian Baptist" have attracted my attention, and have excited a deep interest in the subject treated on. They appear to me to be the result of deep investigation into the oracles of God, and manifest a spirit of freedom that every devout disciple of the Saviour ought to possess. A time serving spirit to a few of the popular leaders of the various sects, is the greatest barrier to the admission of divine light from the word of God that exists at this day.

      There can be no doubt upon the mind of any man, who is not under the influence of a sectarian spirit, that the metaphysical jargon handed down from the pulpits once in four weeks, and impiously called "the gospel of Jesus Christ," has a vicious tendency in keeping back the salvation of the world.

      The word of God is wrested to serve the purpose of every sect in Christendom. Hence the members of these sects imbibe a sectarian spirit; and when this spirit is raised, and they get their hearers to fall in love with their systems of religion, they call it "the pouring out the Spirit of God."

      It is a question with me, whether those who impiously ascribe to the Holy Spirit what are the effect of their own spirits, know what the "out pouring of the spirit" properly means.

      I heard a teacher, a good man, take a text--"You are saved by grace." His whole sermon was upon the word grace. Some of his hearers had been taught that it meant nothing more nor less than favor. This good man professes to be specially called and sent by God to preach the gospel of Christ--and he gave it eighteen different meanings. If he really was called and sent by God to preach the gospel, he certainly had the right, if speaking by the Spirit, to give it five hundred meanings, and we dare not dispute one of them, or complain. But this rebellious heart of mine disbelieves what he says; for he cannot produce one particle of evidence to support his pretensions to his call. I therefore conclude that all such are deceived, and are impostors, either intentionally or unintentionally. There appears but a shade's difference between a man who says he is specially called by God, and sent to preach the gospel, and his "Holiness," who professes to be the successor of Peter. One makes any thing and every thing of the word of God, so that his hearers cannot understand what is its meaning. The other keeps the word from his hearers, save that which falls from his lips. And neither of them can speak infallibly, and say they heard the audible voice of God calling them by name, and work a miracle to prove it to be true. Thus they stand upon an equal footing.

      It is a lamentable fact, that there are many professors of the Christian religion who cannot tell the reason why this or that epistle was written to the congregations, as they have read them. I heard an old teacher advise his hearers to read the scriptures; and to prove the necessity of it, related the following story;--He said, an individual who had attended preaching, was asked where was the text? He replied it was in the New Testament, in the book of Job. Another was asked, on another occasion, where was the preacher's text? He said it was in the New Testament, in the book of Nicodemus. If I rightly understood him, they were professors of religion that could read!!!

      I am sorry to say, that there are many families whose whole religion appears to consist in going to a meeting house once in four weeks, to hear a text divided and subdivided, and return home as well contented as if they were "standing perfect and complete in all the will of God." If they can only get their passions wrought up to a certain pitch, and led to believe by this they are [605] christians, that is all and all with them. Hence a warm declamation, whether it contains one syllable of revelation or not, is more admired than reading the scriptures. The inspired penmen, in their epistles, commanded that the communications of the Holy Spirit should be read in their congregations, (not preach from them.) Eph. iii. 4. Colossians iv. 16. 1 Thess. v. 27. Rev. 1.3. But this would be too easy a way of making men wise to salvation, therefore it cannot be done by the populars. They must sermonize it, and make the word of God speak like a barbarian. Alas! alas! when will men cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord, and teach their hearers the word of God by reading for them and with them!

      If their hearers are never allowed to inquire of them what they are to understand by this or that part of the word of God, how can they ever get out of the Babylonish orthography? If they mount the rostrum to display their talents like a play-actor, and will not teach the people, but continue to sermonize it from a scrap of revelation, the people will find it difficult indeed to know the word of God, so long as they are led to believe this is all God requires.

      In reading over your letters, it appears you are not as explicit upon the foregoing subject as I could wish to see you. Your opposition to the preaching priesthood may have led you to neglect teaching and exhortation. It appears to me these duties are clearly revealed, and they are an important part of the office of a Bishop. "He must be apt to teach." Exhortation is enjoined on all that have this gift, and are necessary to the edification of the congregations at this day. Your having renounced sectarianism, every word you write will be closely scrutinized to render your arguments fallacious. I wish to see you throw around you such bulwarks as shall prove imperishable to all who know and love the truth, and impregnable to all who are disposed to pervert it; and as you appear to have drank so deep into the mind of the communicating Spirit, I do hope you will not cease to communicate to us your views of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, until men shall be contented with God's way of saving the world.

	Yours in hope of immortality,
	A LOVER OF THE WHOLE OF DIVINE TRUTH.

      DEAR SIR,--Having a few leisure moments, I have concluded to address you by letter, through the medium of the "Christian Baptist," edited by Bishop Alexander Campbell of your state. The subject of this address is your communication to brother Campbell, commencing at page 581 of the Christian Baptist, vol. 7th, issued on Monday the 7th inst. In this communication you have boldly and fearlessly entered the dominions of the kingdom of the clergy; and from reason, analogy, and good sense, shown that it is not only inconsistent with the spirit and genius of the christian religion, as established by Jesus Christ, the great head of the church, and the stay and support of christians in all ages of the world; but that it is "impious" to resort to any other means of religious instruction "than those with which God himself furnished us in his own word." That "God has declared expressly that the writings which he has himself furnished us, and just as he has furnished them, unaltered by the tongue or pen of man, unmixed, undiluted with a single human conception, do contain all the information which our salvation needs." And after exhibiting all the means provided by God for the extrication from his present ruined state, concerning which the Bible treats, and shown him how God designs that he may be elevate to complete happiness, you ask, "Is it not mere waste of time, then? Is it not worse? Is it not contempt of God, to resort to tracts, (silly stories,) to pamphlets, sermons, lectures, commentaries, expositions, to the neglect of God's own information on these infinitely important subjects?" This is now to inform you, sir, that your sentiments, as contained in the last Christian Baptist, and just referred to, have created considerable excitement in these regions, and objections and answers thereto have already found their way into the sacred desk. Since these objections and answers to your views have been thus publicly promulged, they have, like your sentiments, become public property, and equall to yours, subject to animadversion, by yourself; or any who may choose to wield the pen upon the subject. It is argued with great zeal and ingenuity by one, whom I believe to be as pious and useful as any man that this state produces, that your views are directly calculated not only to overturn and subvert the kingdom of the clergy in its popular sense, but to destroy every thing like teaching, preaching, lecturing, exhortation, reading pamphlets, sermons, commentaries, or expositions of the oracles of God. That although we have been commanded to raise our offspring in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; that when we surround the family altar, we are only authorized to read to our children and servants the words of holy writ, without being permitted to make one single comment, by the way of explanation or illustration, no matter how illiterate or ignorant our hearers may be. That your views are rightly calculated to keep miserable and wretched all those millions of the human race, both in civil and pagan nations, that have not the power of reading within themselves. That, destroy the gospel ministry, carry your views to their legitimate issue, and in less than one hundred years this mighty globe will become paganized. Under the prevalence of your views, it is asked, Where would be the utility of the disciples ever meeting, except alone, for the commemoration of the supper, as instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ himself? A further meeting in the house of God, by the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, even to read, would be unnecessary and unscriptural; yes, "impious," as this act of reading could be performed at home by all able to read? Here I beg to remark that I, as well as many others who read the Christian Baptist, understand your views very differently from your highly respectable opponent. From your arguments I draw the conclusion emphatically, that you are not opposed to suitable religious instruction, when due and faithful regard is paid to the word of God by the instructed; and that your arguments are plainly and clearly designed to guard men from receiving religious instruction alone from tracts, silly stories, pamphlets, sermons, lectures, commentaries, and expositions, to the entire exclusion and neglect of God's word. This I understand and agree with you to be "impious." And this seems to afford a reason to your opponents to believe that you are wholly opposed to all and every means of religious instruction in christendom, except the simple reading of the Bible. For my views of an apostolic church, permit me, my good sir, to refer you to an extract from the "Scripture Magazine," printed at Edinburgh in 1809, and republished in the "Christian Baptist," vol. iii. page 244.

      Should this communication meet your eye, and you feel disposed (as I hope you will) to give us [606] another essay explanatory of the subjects herein alluded to, you will certainly confer a lasting favor on an unknown friend and brother in Christ, as well as on many admirers among us of your writings.

BENGELIUS.      

      SIR--IT is some time since I received a letter from you respecting the change in my religious sentiments, in which you charged me with having committed a fault because I did not follow my feelings, or the feelings of others, in preference to my faith. In my reply, I showed that such a course of conduct, even if it were not contrary to the precepts of christianity, would, in the circumstances in which I was placed, have been neither necessary nor expedient. The free exposition of my motives which I thought proper to give you, might, I feared, give occasion to offence; but I am very happy to find it otherwise, and that, in this matter, you yourself have acted upon your faith rather than your feelings.

      To that communication I did not expect, nor have I received, an answer. And now you may think it strange that I should reply to your silence. But even although you should consider it an intrusion, I cannot forbear addressing you for two reasons--that I may express to you, as I now do, my approbation of the manner in which I understand you have acted since you received my letter, together with my sincere acknowledgements for the kindness and prudence which marked your conduct; and that I may set before you a general view of the foundation on which we build, the materials used, and a sketch of the manner in which we think the house of God should be constructed.

      Unwilling to put a piece of new cloth upon an old garment, or new wine into old bottles, we do not seek to reform sectarianism, but to restore christianity. Turning away from Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, we also pass by "her popes, monks, and friars, with all their trumpery," the piles of hay, straw, and stubble, that have been so industriously built up by the various sects which have sprung from her, of whom the Church of England is the eldest born, and to whose polluted fountain she is indebted for the purity of her hierarchy, and come at once to the true foundation, the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Considering the scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice, and believing that they mean what they say, just as we do; taking literal expressions literally, and figurative ones figuratively, we reject every human system; treating with contempt the verbose attempts at explanation, and the unlawful inferences of those theologians, "who darken counsel by words without knowledge." Indeed, we are very good Episcopalians in this respect, if we may believe the witness which one of your own prelates has borne in our behalf. This I will now take the liberty to lay before you, as it may not probably be so unacceptable as the observations of one so unaccustomed to write as I am:--

      [For the testimony here alluded to, see Christian Baptist, page 578.]

      Such are our views; and thus must the Saviour and the apostles live and reign when that happy period arrives in which the nations shall cease to be deceived. But now, while sectarians have been indulging in all the intolerance of party zeal, and amusing themselves with the boasted purity of certain articles of religion, they have often trusted their salvation to a mere assent to the correctness of particular forms and doctrines. While seeking to defend their standards, they have forgotten to defend themselves; and clothed with their own garments of ----------, immorality and irreligion have mingled with their ranks, piercing them through their armor (for it is not divine) and binding them in chains of slavery, until the whole land is polluted, and it is hard to distinguish friend from foe.

      We, however, who, by the blessing of God, live in peace under the reign of heaven, do not erect any standard but the Bible, nor do we receive those who merely assent to its truth, but those only who are willing to do what it commands. If any wish to enter the kingdom of God upon earth, we tell them to apply to "Peter, who will tell them words whereby they may effect their object." For to Peter the keys were given, and on the day of Pentecost the door was opened by him. "What shall we do?" said the people who believed his words and were pricked in their hearts. "Repent and be immersed every one of you for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," was the reply of Peter. The Apostles arrange the gospel thus:--1st. Faith. 2d. Repentance. 3d. Immersion. 4th. Remission of Sins. 5th. The Holy Spirit. And 6th. Eternal Life. But sectarians have broken up the regular arrangement; and some put the Holy Spirit first; others Immersion; many change this into sprinkling, and others throw it away altogether. And in this very way you will find most of the sects have started up, and hewn out to themselves "broken cisterns that can hold no water."

      Those who enter the kingdom of heaven are born of water and spirit. After faith and repentance, they are immersed into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and receive through the blood of Christ (of which the water is the symbol) remission of past sins, and also a spirit of holiness, which teaches them to love God, his word, and his people; and having their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and their bodies washed with pure water, they trust in God that sin shall no longer have dominion over them, and rejoice in the liberty of his children. Taught of God to love one another, they know that they have passed from death to life, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps their hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Being perfect in the Captain of their Salvation, and having the breast-plate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation, they are devoted to the service of him who has loved them, and given himself for them. Knowing their own weakness and the temptations of the enemy, they watch, and endeavor to avoid sin; and if, trusting to their own strength, they are overtaken in a fault, upon confessing they are assured of forgiveness, knowing that they have an advocate with the Father--Jesus Christ the Just One.

      It is of lively stones we think the church of God should be composed, and not of dull and lifeless ones, which cannot be animated by sprinkling, consecration, or confirmation, any more than they can be sanctified by the crafty hands of a Master in Free Masonry. Nor do we believe they are to be called the laity, a name with which they have been insulted by those who wish to raise themselves by lowering their fellows. God does not call his people the laity but saints, children of God, kings and priests, a holy nation, redeemed and precious.

      The proper order of God's house we believe is [607] be plainly showed in the New Testament. Considering that there is no distinction among us, except that which diversity of gifts occasions, we think that he that is the greatest among us should be our servant, and that we are "all brethren." We meet every first day of the week to break bread, as was the practice of the first churches for three hundred years. Not being gagged by human law, we know that we are permitted and commanded to speak one by one in the congregation, to exhort, comfort, and edify one another. We meet without pastors, as did the church of Corinth and those of Crete before Titus was sent thither to ordain such; and whenever persons are found among us having the specified qualifications, we appoint them to the offices of bishops and deacons. We know that the churches in the time of the apostles were independent of each other. So are they now. Each had its own bishop, who had no authority in any other than his own congregation. So it is with us; and in all things we endeavor to follow the pattern showed us in the New Testament, having the apostles restored to us as universal bishops; for though dead, they yet speak.

      This imperfect outline I have given, that one whose talents and acquirements I have always regarded with surprise and admiration, may be undeceived with regard to us; and not without the faint hope that the simplicity of the gospel, as it is in Jesus, may even make an impression upon one whose gifts and energies, if properly directed, might break down the strongest holds of Satan, and be instrumental in bringing peace and righteousness to a deluded and blinded people. Be not deceived: think not that a more frequent administration of the Lord's supper will plant spiritual life in those who have not their sins forgiven. ¹ Think not that preaching will save those who will not believe and obey the gospel. Not one of your hearers would say before God that his sins were forgiven, or that he had received the spirit of adoption into his family. Death has not lost its sting to them, nor the grave its victory over them. Those that have been for a number of years in the church, do not know the names even of the books of the New Testament, much less what is inculcated in them. And can you continue to waste your life, your time, and your gifts upon those who are unmoved by entreaty, not governed by the scriptures, uninfluenced by eloquence, without humility, without love for each other, lovers of the world? It is better to serve in the kingdom of heaven than to reign over such a people. But I forbear. May God grant that the simplicity of the gospel may not be foolishness to you, and that you may at least give these things an unprejudiced consideration.

      Of one thing we are assured, that we have a lamp to our path which gives both heat and light. You may call it wild fire; but--not like the ignis fatuus which flits through the swamp of sectarianism and leads men into pools and ditches--it will consume the rank weeds and shapeless and unseemly reptiles: it will lick up the stagnant pools, and the beams of the Sun of Righteousness will enter, that the purified soil may bring forth fruit to the comfort of man and the glory of God.

	Yours, &c.
	DISCIPULUS.

      RESPECTED SIR,--AS the grand object of your periodical, titled the "Christian Baptist," is, as I understand it, the restoration of the ancient gospel and discipline, or order of things (as you term it) as the same was published and inculcated by the apostles, those divinely qualified and authorized teachers and founders of the Christian religion, I take the liberty of suggesting to you, and, with your permission, to your numerous readers, the imperious, and indispensable necessity of a strict and undeviating practical use of the holy scriptures in the inculcation of every item of faith and obedience. It may, perhaps, be thought strange, that, at such an advanced period in the progress of this work, and after all that has been urged in behalf of the all sufficiency and alone sufficiency, perfection, and excellence of the holy scriptures, for every purpose of religion and morality, a constant and attentive reader should think it expedient to suggest or add any thing to excite the friends and advocates of the desired restoration to a strict practical use of the holy scriptures in preaching and teaching. However this may be, the writer of this, who is also a constant reader of your valuable paper, and a zealous advocate for the proposed restoration, feels deeply impressed with the urgent necessity of a much more strict and universal compliance with the above proposition. And, indeed, till this strict and appropriate use of the holy scriptures become the established and universal practice of the advocates of the proposed restoration, it. appears impossible to conceive how it ever can be effected. What is it, that at first, and hitherto, has corrupted the purity, and broken the unity, of the Christian profession? Was it not, and is it not, the teaching of human opinions in human propositions, that is, in words suggested by human wisdom, instead of divine declarations in divine terms, chosen and suggested by the revealing Spirit? So did not the apostles. See I Cor. ii. 9-13. &c.

      Now if this departure from the apostolic doctrine at first corrupted the Christian religion, produced divisions, and continues them; how shall they ever be remedied, but by ceasing from the noxious cause that produced and continues them? Is it possible? Surely no. It is asked if this be the case, what shall be done? Must preaching and teaching cease in order to restore and rectify the church, that it may resume and enjoy its original constitutional unity and purity? By no means. The Christian religion was introduced, promoted, and maintained by preaching and teaching. Human agency was employed in propagating as well as in corrupting the Christian religion, and will be again employed in its restoration. All that is necessary, in the mean time, is to make the proper distinction respecting the subject matter of preaching and teaching. The primitive preachers and teachers were duly qualified, instructed, and authorized to preach the gospel and teach the law of Christ. Compare Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. Mark xvi. 15, 16 with Luke xxiv. 44-49. and Acts i. 1-9. &c. The propagation and establishment of the Christian religion in the world was the immediate, direct, and proper effect of the above commission and instructions, by the personal ministry of the apostles:--the production of the New Testament--the complete and permanent record of their preaching and teaching, that is, of what they preached and taught--was the next and permanent effect of said commission, &c. Wherefore, being thus furnished with a faithful and authentic record of what they preached and [608] taught by divine authority, for the conversion and salvation of the world, let us go and preach and teach the same things--the same identical propositions. We are not left to our own wisdom or discretion as to what we should declare in the name of the Lord, more than they;--though we don't receive it in the same manner, that is, immediately from the Holy Spirit, as they did; but, at second hand, from them that first received it; nevertheless if we really receive it as they have delivered it to us, and so declare it to others, it will do us and them the same good as it did to those who received it immediately, at first hand. See 1 John i. 1,2, 3. ii. 24, 25. &c.

      Now this only limits us in our preaching and teaching as were the apostles. Their preaching was limited to the gospel, which, as we learn from their practice--from the records of their sermons, was Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and their teaching was limited to all the things whatsoever Christ commanded them; so that, in this respect, we have no more reason to complain of restriction than they had. They were limited to what was given them by the Holy Spirit, and just so are we, according to our profession, to what the Spirit has given us by their ministry; for we profess to be followers of them, as they also were of Christ--to preach and teach the very self-same things that they preached and taught; that is, the ancient gospel and order of things established by the apostles; and these, not in the words that man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches us by their ministry; and surely he knows best what words and phrases will best convey his meaning. But upon the sacred importance of holding fast the form of sound words, selected by the Holy Spirit, for revealing to us spiritual things, Dr. Straith's Essays in the previous Nos. of this volume, may suffice. What we here insist upon, is, the moral necessity of the constant, strict, and undeviating use of the language of the holy scriptures upon every item of divine truth, that whether we preach or teach, it may be in the words of the Holy Spirit; that by so doing we may neither corrupt the truth nor cause divisions. Compare 1 Cor. i. 10. and ii. 12, 13. with 2 Cor. ii. 17. and iv. l, 2, &c. We say, "the moral necessity," for we are bound both by our profession, and by the divine authority, to a strict and undeviating adherence to the letter of the divine testimony; professing, as we do, to preach and teach neither more nor less than the apostles' doctrine, originally delivered to the churches; and acting under the high responsibility of the divine injunction of "Holding fast the faithful word as we have been taught,"--"the form of sound words" used by the apostles,--"that we all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions amongst us; but that we may be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment." Now, therefore, as professed restorers, as healers of the breaches, as faithful disciples, and followers of the apostles, we must, upon principles of fidelity and self-consistency, feel ourselves morally bound, by those high considerations to a strict and undeviating adherence to the letter of the divine testimony upon every article of faith and duty.

      It may be still objected, however, that if thus restricted, there is an end to all preaching and teaching. All that can be morally and consistently done henceforth, is to read the apostolic writings, for the edification of saints, for the conversion of sinners, for the restoration of the ancient gospel and order of things, &c. The writer of this thinks otherwise. He thinks, however, that the present views and forms of preaching and teaching are derived from unscriptural models--that they are generally founded in ignorance and error--in ignorance of the very nature and design of the christian religion, which is love--love to God, love to Christ, love to one another, love to all mankind--the love of all moral excellence, the abhorrence of all moral evil. In ignorance also of the provision which the Heavenly Father has made by his Son Jesus Christ, and by his holy apostles and prophets in the holy scriptures, for all those divine and blissful purposes. Let this threefold ignorance, the ignorance of the nature, and of the design, of the christian religion; and of the provision made in the holy scriptures for carrying it into effect and supporting it:--I say, let the ignorance of these three things be once fairly removed, and the erroneous specimens of public teaching, so universally prevalent, will soon disappear. Fairly understanding the divine character and intention, in connexion with the actual condition and character of mankind, as delineated on the sacred page, we will clearly perceive, that the Divine Author has made adequate provision for carrying into effect his benign and gracious intention; that he has adapted the means to the end; so that all that now remains to be done is a judicious exhibition of the provision he has already made;--is, to give every one his portion of meat in due season. This discovery, I say, will go very far, indeed, to correct the present erroneous and unscriptural manner of preaching and teaching.

      It will be clearly perceived that the exhibition of the ancient gospel and law of Christ, in the very terms in which we find them recorded in the sacred volume, presents every necessary instruction, calculated to produce the above effects; as also to maintain and increase them. Let us take, for example, Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, Acts ii. He first gives us a scriptural account of the wonderful phenomena of that ever-memorable day; he next introduces the grand subject of the gospel; viz. Christ, and him crucified, and now highly exalted by the right hand of God, made both Lord and Messiah. His propositions and proofs had the desired effect to convince three thousand of the audience of their sin and danger; and having answered their anxious and important inquiry, he proceeded "with many other words to testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Now, in this specimen of apostolic preaching, after an appropriate introduction originating in the peculiarity of his circumstances, having clearly stated the gospel with the proofs, and distinctly informed his audience how they might become partakers of the benefit--viz. of remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, the apostle continues to testify and exhort, with many other words not recorded, that his hearers might be excited to save themselves, by a prompt compliance with his gracious and saving proposal, from the judgments about to come upon that unbelieving and impenitent generation. Thus, like Paul upon a certain occasion, he might have continued his speech till midnight, for the excitement of his hearers, without adding a new proposition to his premises, or so much as attempting to explain one of those he had advanced. Moreover, it is equally certain, that his audience believing the propositions recorded, and yielding the obedience of faith, as directed, were instantly made partakers of the promised [609] salvation, as appears from what immediately follows, being all filled with righteousness, peace, and joy, by the Holy Spirit, as we see to the close of the chapter. Now, it is just as certain, that the belief of the same propositions, connected with the obedience required, will introduce the believing and obedient subjects into the actual enjoyment of the same blissful privileges that they enjoyed who first believed and obeyed.

      These things being so, what then should hinder us from taking the same course, from following the recorded examples both of the primitive preachers and hearers of the ancient gospel, first delivered to the apostles, to be by them published to the nations, without a single exception of man or woman, with a special certification by the Divine Author, that whosoever believed it, and was baptized, should be saved. Are we not in possession of the whole doctrine of Christ,--of all that the apostles and prophets have left recorded concerning him! yea, of every proposition? Are we not also aware of the circumstances in which we are placed?--of the character of the generation with which we have to do? if not, we are but illy prepared to assume the office of teachers. But if we are, let us act rationally and faithfully, as did the apostles--Rationally, by introducing ourselves to the attention of our hearers, with an appropriate introduction adapted to their character and circumstances, as did the apostle Peter both in the courts of the temple, and in the house of Cornelius. Compare Acts iii. 11. 12. with ch. x. 25-35. Both rationally and faithfully, as did the apostles upon every occasion, by holding forth such particular statements concerning Christ, as the immediate condition of their hearers seemed to demand, (see 1. Cor. iii. 1. 2. 3. &c.) and in the very terms in which they received them from the Holy Spirit, (see 1. Cor. ii. 9-13;) and lastly, by every pertinent and impressive argument testifying and exhorting to a prompt obedience of the truth. Compare Acts ii. 40. with chapter xiii. 40. 41. Thus uniting faithfulness with zeal and intelligence, we shall have the goodly assurance that our labor shall not be in vain in the Lord. We shall neither corrupt the word nor offend the brethren;--produce new divisions, nor keep up old ones, by substituting our guesses and glosses, our comments and paraphrases, for the diction of the Holy Spirit; while we faithfully, with the apostles, teach the things of God in the very terms in which they received them, and in which they have delivered them to us.

      Let it not be supposed, while we thus speak, that we are altogether unacquainted with the apparent difficulties that have originated upon the subject of translation, some alleging that if we will thus strictly confine ourselves to the diction of the Holy Spirit, we must speak the very words of the Hebrew and Greek originals, for these only are the very words of the Holy Spirit. Formidable as this objection or difficulty may appear, there is nothing in it; it is a mere bugbear. In the beginning, on the day of Pentecost, in the very first instance, the revealing Spirit spoke in almost all the languages of the then known world; so that the strangers then dwelling at Jerusalem out of every nation under heaven, heard the apostles speak, in their proper languages, the wonderful works of God. Also, the commission was, "Go you into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature," &c. Therefore, the gospel, and the New Testament that contains it, was to be the common property of all nations. And although the autographs of the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew only excepted, were all found in the Greek, this can afford no relevant objection against the just and pure exhibition of the communications or dictates of the Divine Spirit in the languages of the nations, seeing that from the beginning they were actually published in all nations and were to be their common property,--the vehicle of the common salvation. Besides, the current translations, or copies of the holy scriptures in the various living languages, may be compared with, and corrected by, the most perfect copies of the Hebrew and Greek originals; they may also be compared with each other. So that upon the whole, while we allow the possibility of a fair translation in connection with the truth of the above allegations, which cannot be denied, we feel ourselves perfectly at ease upon this subject. It has never been supposed that a fair translation of any author, ever destroyed its authority; or that such a translation of the bible into any language, was not the word of God. Neither have the different sects originated in the mere difference of translations; but in the different expositions, theological comments, and forced interpretations of certain passages of holy scripture.

      In dismissing this subject, let it not be thought that the writer means to detract any thing from the authenticity or authority of the gospel by Matthew, by the above exception. The genuineness and purity of that gospel being as satisfactorily established by the proper authorities, as that of any of the others. If, then, upon the whole, the professed advocates for the restoration of the ancient gospel and order of things, would act consistently with their profession, they would studiously and conscientiously avoid inculcating their own opinions upon divine subjects; and also the use of a factitious, systematic, technical phraseology, in their religious communications; confining themselves to a scriptural purity of speech, and to the inculcation of scripture doctrine in the terms in which it is recorded; avoiding the dangerous and unauthorized practice of theological explanation, that fertile source of corruption and error. In short, if the advocates of a genuine, radical, scriptural reformation would justify their profession, and prove successful, they must labor to evince the abundant and complete sufficiency of the holy scriptures for the formation and perfection of Christian character, independent of the learned labors of the paraphrast or commentator. It must be fully understood and evinced that the belief and obedience of the gospel perfects the conscience, gives peace and joy, gratitude and gladness to the heart, (see Acts ii. 41-47;) and that the obedience of the law of Christ perfects the character,--secures the practice of every virtue, and prohibits the indulgence of any vice. In a word, that the simple exhibition, reception, and obedience of the gospel and law of Christ, in the very terms of the record, without explanation, comment, or paraphrase, are abundantly sufficient to make the Christian disciple perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works. This being clearly demonstrated, as a thing most clearly demonstrable, what remains to the faithful and intelligent friend and advocate of the ancient gospel and order of things, but that he zealously and constantly call the attention of his hearers to that which is written for their instruction in righteousness; always bearing in mind, and clearly evincing, that Christianity is a practical doctrine, the design of which is to stamp or form a character, that shall be happy in itself, pleasing to God, and acceptable to men;--Rom. xiv. 16-19;-- [610] that shall, at least, be such, as men may have no just reason to except against. That the formative principles of this character being knowledge, faith, and love; namely, the knowledge of the only true God, and of Jesus Christ, whom he has sent, and of the actual condition of mankind to whom, and for whose sake, he sent him;--together with the end and design of his coming, what he has done, is doing, and will do for his people, and the means he has ordained for their coming to the complete enjoyment of all this; every item of which is most expressly and explicitly declared upon the sacred page; so that he that runs may read it: as are likewise the items of that faith and love, which reconciles us to God and man, and renders us acceptable to both; see Titus iii. 1-8. Wherefore, the genuine advocate of the desired restoration will thus find himself sufficiently occupied without dealing in human opinions, either his own or any one's else, whether of ancient or modern date. He will find his materials made ready to his hand by the holy apostles and prophets; so that his sole and sufficient business will be to hand them out, to hold them forth as occasion requires, to give everyone his portion of meat in due season; earnestly laboring with all persuasion, like Peter on Pentecost, (Acts xxi. 10.) and Paul with the Corinthians, (2d Epis. v. 10. 11. 20,) to prevail upon men to receive it. Thus will every scribe well instructed for the kingdom of heaven, in bringing forth out of his treasures, of the Old and New Testaments, things new and old, find himself sufficiently employed, without racking his invention, or pillaging the labors of the learned, to procure and prepare materials for the entertainment, not the edification, of his hearers.

      To conclude, respected sir, this much too lengthy address, for which, I hope, the importance of the subject will apologize--I would beg leave to assure you, that all your labors, and those of your most zealous co-operants, will be measurably lost, nay, must eventually fail, unless those who professedly labor in the good cause, confine themselves to the inculcation of scripture doctrine in scripture terms; abstaining from all sectarian controversies, ancient or modern, and from inculcating any thing as matter of Christian faith or duty, not expressly contained on the sacred page, and enjoined by the authority of the Saviour and his Apostles upon the Christian community.

	Yours very respectfully,
	T. W.

      RESPECTED SIR,--IN your number of October last, we have the third and fourth, and we suppose the last, of Philip's Essays on Election, the first of which appeared in the March number, wherein you inform your readers, "that in some of the previous volumes of this work, you promised them a disquisition upon Election." This promise the writer does not remember to have met with, though a constant reader of your monthly publication; if he had, he thinks, from the deep felt interest he takes in the grand object of the work, he would have challenged it. But why promise your numerous readers a disquisition on Election only? Many of them, no doubt, would be equally gratified with a disquisition on Reprobation, on Eternal Justification, on Original Sin, on Imputed Righteousness, on the Extent of the Atonement, on Consubstantiation, on the Spirits in Prison, &c. &c. and on many other such interesting topics; for, it may well be presumed, that a goodly number of your numerous readers feel much interested in the above, and such like subjects. But what then? Shall we, &c. &c. We acknowledge, however, the force of the old adage: "It is hard to live in Rome, and strive with the Pope." Perhaps not much easier to leave Rome, and bring nothing of the Pope along with us. Indeed, it appears rather wonderful, that in so many volumes of a living work, a work of an almost universal controversy, expositive of the various and manifold corruptions of the anti-Christian world, there should be so little notice taken of those distinguishing sectarian topics, that have inflamed and distracted the professing people for the last three hundred years. Yet, considering the scope and intention of the work, we regret to see any notice taken of those topics, at all, except to denounce them as antiscriptural, antichristian, unprofitable, and vain, having no other tendency than to gender strifes. The restoration of pure primitive Christianity in principle and practice, can never be accomplished by disquisitions, however learned and scriptural, upon those controversial subjects.

      The Christian religion, properly so called, is holy and divine, pure and heavenly, altogether of God, nothing human in it. It was introduced and established by a ministry that spoke and acted under the immediate influence and direction of the Holy Spirit. The belief and obedience required on the part of the teachers, and yielded on the part of the disciples, were to the dictates of the Holy Spirit; not to the dictates or decisions of men. Consequently it is of no importance to the christian how men decide upon any scriptural topic, or to what conclusion they may come; except it be so declared, and can be so read, upon the sacred page, it cannot enter into the Christian religion;--can constitute no article of the Christian faith or obedience, for the Lord not having taught or enjoined it by the ministry of his attested servants, it, therefore, cannot be inculcated with a "Thus saith the Lord."

      We know it is urged, and will be readily granted, that there may be, and really are, many logical deductions, or inferential truths, upon moral and religious subjects, not expressly declared in the sacred volume. But what then? they cannot be binding upon disciples as such; first, because the Lord has not expressly declared and enjoined them; therefore, has not rendered the belief or obedience of these truths necessary to constitute an accepted disciple; second, because he has expressly declared and enjoined other propositions or truths, the belief and obedience of which render the person an approved and accepted disciple; see Rom. xiv. 16-19. Such is the facility, the simplicity, and excellence of the Christian religion, blessed be the gracious Author! that the belief of a few fundamental propositions, virtually includes, and practically infers, a pious, virtuous, Christian "character, acceptable to God, and approved of men;" Rom. xiv. 17, 18. Nay, so clear, so full and explicit is the exhibition of the Christian religion in the New Testament, that the belief and obedience of certain distinct propositions, precisely specified, perfects the conscience and character, or justifies and sanctifies the believing and obedient, independent of every thing that may be thenceforth acquired. So complete is this exhibition, in clear, distinct, formal propositions, that a religious property or privilege, or a moral virtue cannot be named, that the believing and obedient do not possess. This is demonstrable. Only let all the attributes, absolute and relative, be ascribed to God, to Christ, to the Spirit, that are distinctly ascribed to each in the holy scriptures, and all that love, worship, and [611] obedience duty rendered, which we find therein expressly required and ascribed: and then say, what will be wanting to complete the character;--to render it, in this life, more happy in itself, more pleasing to God, or more acceptable to men? We are sure you cannot. That item or attribute of piety or virtue, not expressly contained in the holy scriptures, is yet without name. Take, for instance, only the brief account of the church of Jerusalem, which we have in the first six chapters of the Acts; from the day of Pentecost till the martyrdom of Stephen;--a space, we may reasonably suppose, not exceeding two years--the first two years of the christian dispensation or economy. Paul was not yet converted, the gospel was not yet preached to the Gentiles--no dispute yet about election--the term is not so much as to be found in the portion alluded to; nor any thing yet occurring that should rend to introduce it; yet, most assuredly, the gospel was fully preached and enjoyed, and its blissful effects abundantly manifested. Can the fondest partisan, the most zealous stickler, either for the Calvinistic or Arminian hypothesis, point to a society of his connexion, even the best instructed, the most privileged, that can compare with the primitive church above mentioned,--that can equal it in the fruits of righteousness. Its creed was Christ the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of all; Christ and him crucified, and highly exalted, a Prince and Saviour, to give forth repentance to Israel, and remission of sins through faith in his blood, by baptism, with the promised gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal life. Its law was gratitude, piety, and love, the law of the New Covenant in the heart; and its fruits were fruits of beneficence, liberal and abundant. Say, what were the deficiencies of this church in piety, temperance, justice, charity, benevolence, or beneficence? Yet neither the Epistle to the Romans, nor the disputes that occasioned it, were in existence; nor indeed any other part of the New Testament. The church of Jerusalem, during this period of its history, was only in possession of that exhibition of the gospel, with the concomitant events recorded in the portion referred to: yet even this, duly considered, will be found to contain doctrine sufficient to produce all the effects above specified; and if so, how much more abundantly are we provided for, who have not only their portion, but the respective portions of all the churches under heaven, addressed by the apostles in their epistles, and in their other subsequent writings. Thus superabundantly furnished with all the documents of faith and obedience, divinely provided for the whole christian community under heaven, we cannot surely be deficient, in any respect, either for our present or future happiness; and, if not fully satisfied, as well provided for, we must, indeed be hard to satisfy. These things being so, and having as reformers, nay, more, as restorers, assumed these premises, what have we to do with the results of theological controversies? Have we yet to wait for the discoveries of the 29th year of the 19th century, to perfect our creed? Or have we to go farther than the record itself, to know what we should believe concerning the divine election, more than any other item of revealed truth? Surely no. And if we have nothing to do with the results of such controversies, what can we have to do with the controversies themselves? The ground that we have assumed, the stand that we have taken, blessed be God! puts us beyond the reach of all such controversies. The principles or propositions of our faith and obedience were established beyond contradiction, 1800 years ago. The christian community, then existing was put to complete possession of every item of faith and obedience that the Lord required; the authentic documents of which have come down to us. The whole of our duty, then, as christians, now is, to hold fast in profession, and reduce to practice, what is therein declared and enjoined, after the goodly example of the primitive churches. Thus contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, and conforming to the apostolic injunctions, after their approved example, we also shall stand approved. But for the achievement of all this, we have only to look into the New Testament, and not to any later production; no, not even though it bore date in the first year of the second century.

      Some however may allege, as we know they do, that, although all things necessary to faith and holiness are fully recorded, yet we are liable to mistake the meaning, to differ about the sense of some things in the sacred writings. Grant this, and what follows--that the scriptures are not a certain, sufficient, and infallible guide in matters of faith and holiness? What then shall we do? Who is authorized to supply the deficiency? Where is the infallible expositor? None, none. Our concession, then, must be limited to things not affecting faith and holiness; we mean, the belief and obedience of the gospel and law of Christ; or if it respect any item of the revealed salvation, or the knowledge of any thing intimately connected with it, it must be further limited to mere verbal ignorance, to matters of grammatical exposition; but what has this to do with theological exposition, or with the well known subjects of sectarian controversy? Certainly nothing definitive; though such controversialists sometimes seek to avail themselves of verbal criticism. Nevertheless, doing common justice to the sacred diction, according to the established rules of grammatic exposition, no undue advantage can be taken unfavorable to truth, otherwise the language of the holy scripture has no certain meaning; consequently, we have no revelation at all. Upon the whole, this indefinite allegation is a mere cavil, a mere scarecrow, one of the last shifts of a desperate and dying cause. The faith and obedience of the christians of the second century, were not paralyzed with it, who willingly and joyfully suffered all things for the truth's sake.

      We, then, as advocates for a genuine radical reform, even for the restoration of the ancient gospel, and order of things established by the apostles, insist upon it, that we have nothing to do with sectarian controversies; with the theological contentions of the present or former ages; with any thing of the kind that happened since the apostles' days. They have settled all the theological, not, indeed, all the verbal controversies, that we are concerned with: and have assured us, that, if what they heard, and saw, and handled, and contemplated, and from the beginning delivered to the churches concerning the eternal life, which from the Father was manifested to them; yea, that if that which we have heard from them from the beginning, shall remain in us, we also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father, and have the promise of eternal life. So John the apostle, in his first epistle general, informs all the christians under heaven; and surely this should satisfy us. It is, then, no-wise incumbent upon us to intermeddle with the contending brethren, neither for their sakes not ours for it can neither do them nor us any good [612] It can be of no service to them, for they will not allow us a decisive umpirage to bring their tedious, unprofitable, perplexing disputes to a final issue: nor can it be of any service to us to investigate their matters, in order to ascertain who is in the right; for if their conclusions, whether right or wrong, be not found in our premises, be not contained in that which was heard from the beginning, "even as they delivered them to us, who were eye witnesses and ministers of the word;" we say, if their conclusions be not found in these our premises, we know nothing about them. They enter not into our christianity; they affect not our faith nor obedience. All that we have to do with the multiplied and multiplying contentions of a sectarian age, is, for our own part, to avoid them, as subversive of the benign and blissful intention of the gospel, which is godly edification in faith, love, and peace; whereas the end of these controversies is contention, strife, envy, evil surmisings, backbitings, persecutions, end every evil work, as the scriptures and woful experience amply testify. In addition to this cautious and conscientious avoidance of those hurtful and divisive controversies, our incumbent duty is to bear a faithful scriptural testimony against them; not, indeed, distinctively, or as belonging to this or the other sect, but in cumulo, as constituting sectarianism, without any respect to their intrinsic or comparative merit or demerit. Thus proceeds the Apostle in his epistles to Timothy and Titus. In brief, then, and in simplicity, let us testify against sectarianism itself, without condescending to notice in particular any of the isms that compose it. The very moment we depart from this rule, we become a sect. I might also add, the very moment we preach or teach our own opinions, as matters of christian faith or duty, that moment we become sectarians; for this is the very essence, the sine qua non of sectarianism, without which there could be no sect. The writer of this most seriously declares, for his own part, that were not the all-sufficiency of the holy scriptures, without comment or paraphrase, clearly demonstrable; so that the inculcation of their express and explicit declarations were alone sufficient to make the christian wise to salvation, thoroughly furnished to all good works; he would have either continued with his quondam brethren, of the Westminster school, or joined with some of the modern creed-reforming parties: for, by no means would he have committed himself to the capricious and whimsical extemporaneous effusions of every one, who might have confidence enough to open his mouth in public. If we are to be entertained and edified with human opinions of divine truth, let us, by all means, have the opinions of the learned, of the deep thinking, and judicious; among these also let us have our choice. All have certainly a right to choose where there is a variety, and that we may always expect to find in the religious world, while the fashionable opinion is indulged, that every man has a right to entertain the public with his own opinions upon religious subjects. I dont mean a civil, but a religious right; for civil society, as such can take no cognizance of religious matters. However, while this assumed right is conceded by the religious world, we shall never want a variety of religions; for what is it, but granting to every one that pleases, the right of making a religion out of the Bible to suit his own fancy, and of teaching it to as many as will receive it, and thus becoming the head of a new party? While, then, the religious world justify this mode of proceeding, sects cannot fail to increase: for, as before observed, this is the productive principle of sectarianism. But I perceive I have exceeded all due bounds. My apology is the prodigious extent, and ruinous tendency of the sectarian evil here opposed; and especially as affecting the desired reformation in the hands of many, who, while they profess to advocate the all-sufficiency and alone-sufficiency of the holy scriptures, to the rejection of every thing of human invention or authority, are but making a new start, to run the old race over again,. by preaching every man his own opinions, reviving the old controversies, or producing new ones; thus sowing the seeds of new parties, and hardening the old, they prevent the success of those that are honestly and consistently contending for the truth, and zealously laboring to promote it. Let such remember, that, in thus really building again, the things they have professedly destroyed, they make themselves transgressors; and, like the people in the days of Nehemiah, who would be thought to be builders in the Lord's house, they are enemies in disguise, and will be considered as such by the true builders. Farewell.

	Yours very respectfully,
	T. W.
November 14.

      P. S.--It appears, sir, by your number of September last, that you intend a series of sermons to young preachers, of which, in said number, you have favored us with the first. According to custom you begin at the outside, which, for humanity's sake, appears to need the dressing you have given it. We hope your labor may not be in vain; and that, as you proceed, at least before you finish, you will pay a justly apportionate attention to the inside; for it would appear lost labor, if not ridiculous, to be at much pains and cost to fit out vessels for sea which were to carry nothing but sails and ballast. Perhaps a solid and judicious answer to the following queries might be of some service to the good cause in which you labor, as well as to those whom you professedly intend to serve by the proposed sermons:--

      Quere 1. When should a young person think himself qualified to become a preacher? At what age? With what attainments? 2. Should he be able to read his Bible grammatically--that is, distinctly and intelligibly, with proper emphasis, and without miscalling? 3. Should he know the names and order of the books in the Old and New Testaments, and to which volume they respectively belong? 4. Should he have carefully and devoutly read both volumes of the holy scriptures, so as to apprehend the precise design of each, and their respective bearings upon the christian community? 5. How many weeks or months should pass, after his having publicly made a scriptural profession of christianity, before he begins to prophesy? And is such a profession previously necessary? 6. Should he be an approved member of a christian church, and have its approbation, both as to his age and talents; as a person of considerable standing, of established character, of sound comprehensive scriptural knowledge, duly acquainted with the actual condition and character of the religious world? &c. 7. Or may every person whose zeal, or self-conceit may prompt him, become a prophet, without any respect to the qualifications above specified, or any at all; and say what he pleases in the name of the Lord, without respect to any authority, divine or human? And have the churches of the saints no cognizance of such characters--no defence against them? [613]

      "THE land of Canaan was a type of the heavenly country. It was the inheritance given to Abraham by promise to himself and his posterity. As his descendants after the flesh inherited the one; so his spiritual seed shall inherit the other. Canaan was the land of rest, after the toils and dangers of the wilderness. To make it a fit inheritance, and an emblem of that inheritance "which is incorruptible and undefiled, and which fades not away," it was cleared of the ungodly inhabitants. No spot could have been selected as so fit a representation of that better country. It is called in scripture "the pleasant land," "the glory of all lands," "a land flowing with milk and honey" "A sight of this territory," says a late traveller, "can alone convey any adequate idea of its surprising produce. It is truly the Eden of the East, rejoicing in the abundance of its wealth. Under a wise and beneficent government, the produce of the Holy Land would exceed all calculation. Its perennial harvest; the salubrity of its air; its limpid springs, its rivers, lakes, and matchless plains; its hills and vales; all these, added to the serenity of its climate, prove this land to be indeed "a field which the Lord has blessed." God has given it of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine."

      "THE nation of Israel, after the flesh, chosen by God, and separated from all the rest of the world, shadowed forth in its many institutions and privileges, the person, offices, and sacrifice of the Redeemer. And it represented that nation of Israel after the Spirit, with its ultimate inheritance in a future state--that nation which was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, consisting of believers who are the subjects of Messiah's kingdom, which he has set up, while all the rest of the world, whether called Christians, Mahometans, Pagans, or by whatever other name, belong to the kingdom of Satan, the god of this world, and are his bond slaves. Jesus brings forth his people as he brought forth Israel of old out of this house of bondage. They are baptized unto his name, as that typical nation was baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They are called to commemorate their spiritual deliverance from bondage as Israel was commanded to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt, and to believe in the promises of God respecting the heavenly Canaan, of which the earthly Canaan was a type. He makes with them a new covenant, of which he himself is the surety and mediator. He gives them a law by which they are to conduct themselves, and institutions of worship. He guides them through this wilderness by his word and spirit, as he directed Israel after the flesh by the pillar of fire and cloud. He supplies them with food during their pilgrimage, giving them spiritually to eat his flesh and drink his blood, of which the manna and the rock that was smitten were types. He heals their wounds which they receive from sin and Satan, whom he will bruise under their feet shortly. He makes them more than conquerors over their spiritual enemies. And when their wanderings in this wilderness world are finished, conducts them, like Israel at Jordan, safely through death, and puts them in possession of the promised land and the New Jerusalem."

      "THE tribe of Judah was first in offering its gifts at the Tabernacle, as well as in the order of encampment of the tribes. In the journies of Israel, it was appointed to march foremost. Moses denominated it the lawgiver. David declared that God had chosen Judah to be the ruler. The royalty was granted to Judah in the person of David, and his descendants; and this tribe communicated its name to the remains of all the other tribes. Jerusalem, the chief city of Judah, was the capital of the whole nation, and there the temple was built, to which all the other tribes resorted to worship; where alone the sacrifices were offered, and all the services which prefigured the Messiah were performed. Even during the captivity in Babylon, the tribe of Judah continued a distinct people, and had with it one of its own princes, who lived in a degree of royal splendor. Afterwards, when under the dominion of the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, it continued to have senators, magistrates, and princes of its own, who governed according to its own laws. But above all, the theocracy or government of God, under which Judah was placed, continued without interruption till Shiloh came, allowed by Jews and Christians to be a name for the Messiah, to whom the gathering of the nations was to be. Soon after his coming, the government of Judah was finally subverted, and their temple and capital destroyed. The Jews were expelled from Judea, and it became utterly impossible for them to attend to the observances of the law which was then abrogated. Here then we have a most remarkable prediction of the coming of the Messiah. Jacob, uttering by the spirit of God, particular and minute predictions, respecting each of his twelve sons, which were all afterwards verified, singles out one of them, declares his pre-eminence over his brethren, and that he should be invested with power, and continue to enjoy it, till one should descend from him, to whom the gathering of the nations was to be. And all this verified through the whole intervening period, was fully accomplished at the distance of about 1690 years."

[TCB 604-614]