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that a disaffection is spreading itself through the community, which may ultimately have a very unhappy influence on our religious institutions.

My attention has been called to this subject by an application, which I lately received from a friend, whose moral and religious character I highly respect. He expressed to me, what indeed I well knew, his conviction of the truth and importance of christianity, and his desire to unite himself with the christian church, that he might at once bear his testimony to this divine religion, `and avail himself of the instituted means of giving it an influence over his own heart. "But," said he, "the privilege is denied me. I live in a town where there is but one place of worship, one church, one minister; and this church and minister are narrow and exclusive in their sentiments. I am by no means inelined to excessive liberality, but the creed, to which my assent is required, contains articles, which shock at once my reason and my moral feelings. What must I do? The church is barred against me, and yet I am condemned for neglecting to enter it."

My sympathy with my friend induced me to speak at first with some warmth. I told him that I did not consider him bound to contribute to the support of institutions, from the benefit of which he was excluded; and that he would be justified in joining with men who were laboring under the same oppression in the formation of a new church on the broad principles of christianity. He answered, that the place of

his residence was not sufficiently large for two societies, that it would be painful to him to be in any measure the cause of dissentions in the community, that he wished a mere peaceful remedy. for the evil to which he was exposed.

To this case of my friend, I desire your attention, and that of your correspondents. It is not singular. In other parishes, some of the best men, I fear, are excluded from christian privileges by the operation of creeds, drawn up with little care, in "words which man's wisdom. teacheth." The mass of the people, unaccustomed to inquire, and taking their opinions upon trust, receive without complaint the articles, which they find established' in the church. But reflecting men, habituated to weigh the import of words, are shocked by some of the principles, which are offered to them as the substance of christianity, and from tenderness of conscience decline subscription. Thus, the most intelligent and conscientious part of the community are sometimes found in the crowd who turn their back on the table of the Lord.

If we could bring together the various creeds which are imposed in our country, we should be struck with the extent of the evil here lamented; and some would be ready to ask how it is, that the christian church has continued to receive accessions, when the entrance to it has been so unwarrantably obstructed.

In one parish a man is required to believe, that there are three persons in one God. Unable to

explain this language, and unwilling, in a solemn act of religion, to employ words which he does not understand, he desires to be told what the word person means. He is informed that the doctrine is too mysterious to be explained, that it surpasses all comprehension, that his duty is to believe and not to pry into the deep things of God. He answers, that he does not ask for reasonings to support the doctrine; he only wishes to know what the doctrine is, what is the import of the language to which he is expected to subscribe. Perhaps some attempt is made to satisfy this most reasonable request; but tenfold darkness gathers over the subject. The word person, however defined, always suggests to him the idea of a distinct individual or being. He asks, whether he must believe that three distinct beings make the one God. He is told no; that this is a damnable heresy; that this is to make three Gods. He answers, that after all his efforts, he can attach no other ideas to the article which is imposed on him. He does not deny, that to others of sharper vision this article may be sufficiently plain, but he begs that he may be released from assenting to a distinction too subtle for his feeble capacity, and that he may be received into the church of the saviour, whom he loves, on the ground of that good confession, which satisfied the apostles, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. In support of this request, he asks whether the plain fish ermen of Galilee, when they surrounded the table of their

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master, and received from his hands the bread and the wine, had heard any thing about three persons in one being, and whether any church can be injured by receiving members on the ground of the same faith which these old fashioned christians possess ed. But he pleads in vain. He is told, that in different ages the church needs different fences and securities, that all christians, whose hearts God has touched, assent without hesitation to these inexplicable words, and that the article to which he objects is one of the necessary methods of preventing the taint of heresy from spreading through the christian' flock.

In another parish a man is called to give his assent to articles, which, in his view of them, offend not only his reason, but the best feelings of his heart. He is called to believe, that God' brings men into existence wholly corrupt, and wholly unable to relieve themselves, that from this mass of corruption he has been pleased to select a number, whom, by his irresistible power, he rescues from sin, that he leaves the rest to the hopeless corruption in which they were born, and then plunges them into eternal flames, because they have not made themselves pure. All this appears to him to be fairly implied in the creed, to which his assent is required. His blood grows cold as he reads it. He offers his objections, and receives perhaps some ingenious replies; but still he cannot reconcile these doctrines with God's paternal goodness or with human responsibility. He is far from dény

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ing the sincerity or christian character of those, who profess to discover in these articles the marks of God's infinite benignity, and the most powerful motives to obedience, but he asks that these articles may not be applied as a test to his own character, He is told however, that the creed of the church expresses the views in which regenerated minds agree, and that he must come with these views to the table of Christ, or not come at all.*

I have mentioned only a few peculiarities of opinion which are insisted on as essential to admission into the church. I have known a person prevented from joining a church, chiefly because he doubted whether the persever ance of saints was taught in the scriptures, as the doctrine is commonly understood at this day.t I lately heard of a woman of

It is believed that few, who assent to the articles referred to in this paragraph, view them in the light the candidate is here supposed to do; but if they are capable of being thus understood, it is a sufficient reason for confining church creeds or terms of admission, to the language of the scriptures. And it is a weighty ob jection against foisting into articles of faith the words of man's wisdom in preference to such as the holy spirit teacheth. ED.

† It may be doubted whether any doctrine has been less understood, or more abused, than this, "That true saints will certainly persevere to the end of life." If it mean any thing worthy of our belief, it means that true saints will habitually continue in a course of sincere obedience to the commands of God. But how many, who profess to believe this doctrine, prove it to be false, by their own example, if we must admit that they were ever sincere christians! We are not

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plain education, who was quired to express her belief in the perfect consistency of predestination with man's free-ageney. Thus, the doubtful questions of metaphysics and theology, by which the most powerful minds have been perplexed and confounded, are to be settled by the common people, before they can be received into the family of Christ. Blessed Saviour, thou friend of the ignorant, who didst preach and adapt thy gospel to the poor, are these the conditions which thou requirest or approvest for admission into the number of thy people?

The probability is, that if all the church covenants of New England were collected, every christian among us would find several, to which he could not subscribe, and of course the most however to be understood as denying the doctrine; but we mean to deny, that a man may be said to persevere in obedience, while he lives in rebellion; and we mean to affirm, that for a man to be consistent with himself in professing to believe the doctrine, his walk must be in the "path of the just," which is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." ED.

As we understand the terms, we see not the least inconsistency be tween predestination and free-agency; but as they are understood by many, there doubtless may be an inconsistency. But whatever may be supposed of the consistency or the inconsistency of these terms, we do not find that Christ or his apostles ever requir ed an assent to an article of this nature, as a term of admission to chris tian privileges. What if God predestinated that every accountable being should act as a free-agent, and be rewarded according to his own works; would such predestination be inconsiste ent with free agency? ED.

eminent saints would be excluded from several of our churches. There is reason to believe, that in some of our towns, men of the fairest characters, to whose uprightness the most important interests are entrusted, whose lives are most useful, whose charities are most extensive, whose conduct in their social relations is most blameless, and whose contributions for the ministry are most liberal, are denied the benefit of the very institutions which they support, and are virtually treated as heathens.

Were this a slight evil, I would not so earnestly urge it on the attention of christians. But is it nothing to shut a disciple of Jesus from the church and table of his Master? Is it nothing to expel those, whom Jesus invites? Is it nothing to limit the benefits of religious institutions? Do I not receive a serious injury when I am excluded from some of the most efficacious methods which my Saviour has appointed for improving my character, and preparing me for heaven? Shall I resist every invasion of my civil rights, and shall I suffer the dearer privileges of religion to be wrested from me? To exclude from the church those who profess to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and whose conduct is consistent with their professions, because they cannot assent to articles which are expressed in phrases of man's invention, and which are where declared in scripture to be essential to the christian character, to do this is to assume a power, offensive to Christ, and injurious to man. How solomn

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ly did our Lord warn his disciples, against despising the least of his friends? How fearful was the woe pronounced on those who should throw a stumbling block in the way of his feeblest followers? Can we guard too solicitously against the guilt of obstructing the progress of any, who discover a sincere regard to the authority of our common Lord?

The question now offers, what is the duty of those, who are excluded from the church by the operation of unscriptural creeds and confessions? This question is beginning to be agitated by laymen, and deserves the consideration of the judicious and experienced. What shall these persons do? Shall they leave the societies, where religious privileges are denied them, and form new churches on a scriptur al foundation? or shall they seek admission into churches of other towns, which maintain catholic principles of communion? These are obvious methods of relief; but they are not without dangers. Will they not divide our churches, and give birth to many unchristain feelings? Can no milder method be devised? Cannot christian ministers be persuaded to review their creeds, and to ask themselves seriously, whether they contain no articles which a man may doubt and yet be considered, in the view of charity, a follower of Jesus? Cannot ministers be persuaded to employ their influence in substituting simple and intelligible declarations of scripture for ambiguous phrases and long contested doctrines?

This is most devoutly to be wished, and this would at once remove the evil.

We hope that we shall not be considered as impeaching the christian sincerity of churches and ministers, whose creeds are open to objection. The injury they commit, though great, is unintentional. Their error belongs to the judgment, and not to the heart. Far from reproaching with bitterness, we would tenderly beseech them, as they revere the authority of our com

mon Lord, as they regard the charitable spirit of his gospel, as they desire the peace and improvement of his church, that they will generally consider the evil which has now been exposed, and will most cautiously abstain from every act or requisition which may exclude from the fellowship and privileges of the church, those whom Jesus accepts, and who are equally entitled with themselves to the name of christians.

JONES' ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS.

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In the introduction to JONES' Illustrations of the Four Gospels, a work of great learning and merit, lately published in England, I find the following state"A Sweedish professor has given an account of a Jewish sect still in existence, which was founded by John the Baptist, and which ascribed to him an authority superior to Jesus. This account is translated by Michaelis, who supposes that John the Evangelist wrote his gospel to confute the errors of the Gnostics, and of the Sabians, the name of which distinguishes the disciples of the Baptist. And so important does the German critic think the discovery to be, that the obscurity, in which St. John's gospel had been involved, was at once dissipated by it. Michaelis has applied the discovery to the elucidation of this gospel; but he does not, by what he calls a totally new light, appear to have been successful in removing its obscurities. If, however,

he had perused the works of Irenæus, and the recognitions of Clement, with proper attention, he would have come at the truth in a direct road, and probably have met with complete success. Irenæus says, that John published his gospel to exterminate the errors of the Gnostics. This writer was a disciple of Polycarp, who had been personally acquainted with St. John. He had, therefore, the best means of information; and it appears probable, that the assurance of the object, which the evangelist had in view, thus impressed on his mind, first suggested the idea of writing an account of the Gnostic heretics." "The book, comprehending the recognitions and homilies, ascribed to Clement of Rome, is not deemed genuine by Lardner and some others, but the composition of an Ebionite towards the close of the second century. When duly examined, however, it appears to have been published much earlier. The

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