sentire est melius, quam prava sentire. We may say the same of belief. It is better to have no faith at all, than to believe what is false. Additions to truth are errors, and from these have chiefly arisen divisions and discords; not from any want of faith in the essential truths of the Gospel, but from a belief, or a pretended belief, in many things not contained there. The only remedy is to go back to the Scriptures, and start with the conviction, that the true christian faith consists in believing just enough and no more.

But one of the worst effects of this system of prescribing faith, and dictating to conscience, has been to encourage pride and a malignant temper. Slight divisions have grown up into a most violent rancour, which has increased in bitterness, till it has ended in a consummation of all that is wicked in the human heart, the spirit of intolerance; that spirit, whose breath is a pestilence, whose touch is death, and whose delights are scenes of darkness and iniquity; that spirit, which Christ censured in the haughty, persecuting Jews, and which incited these same Jews to demand his death, to mock at his sufferings, and revile him in his dying moments; that spirit, which led suffering martyrs to the stake and consigned them to the flames; which darkened, deluded, and tortured the world for ages, kindled the ferocious zeal of bigotry, forged the chains, and lighted up the faggots of persecution. Shall we say, that this spirit still lives? Does it not live in the hearts of those, who would reproach and disturb others for their opinions, and who are more zealous to show their regard for the faith, than for the essential virtues of the christian religion? Does it not live where misrepresentation and abuse usurp the place of christian love and

charity, and where hatred and malevolence blot out the kind affections? In some degree it dwells in the breast of every man, who would encroach on the religious liberty of another, and fix a stigma of reproach where he cannot fasten the chains of his creed.

How is it, that the emotions of pity, humanity, and tenderness, voluntarily rise up when we behold our fellow r men in trouble, or distress, or under any temporal calamity; but if they are suspected of being so unfortunate as to entertain a false opinion, or to swerve from what we are pleased to call the true faith, they are at once denounced and shunned as dangerous to society; the passions are inflamed; they are treated rudely; they are assaulted with the voice of menace and irritation; the milk of human kindness seems to be dried up from its source; the currents of benevolence and sympathy are frozen in their channels? Not a trace can be detected of that mild, and forbearing, and gentle, and affectionate spirit, which pervades the Gospel, and ought to reside in the breast of every christian.

Why should any persons desire to persecute others, or clamour against them, because they cannot in conscience subscribe to the same articles, nor bring their minds to receive the same opinions as themselves? Is any one injured by what others think? Certainly not. Why then be disturbed? Because, some have said, although we are not injured, God is dishonoured, and it is our duty to vindicate his honour, and support the cause of true religion.

Let such imitate God. Does he show resentment; does he inflict the punishment of his neglect and displeasure; does he pour out the vials of his wrath on those especially, who do not agree with them in opin

ion? Are they scorched by his lightnings, or do his thunders burst on their heads alone? On the contrary, are not all equally the objects of his bounty and blessings, his paternal care and protecting providence? Shall we have the vanity and presumption to think, that we are vindicating the honour of God, by pursuing a course of action directly opposed to all his dealings with men, by violating his commands, and doing injury, where he confers unmeasured favours? If we would promote his glory, let it be our highest concern to obey and imitate him. In regard to our differences with our brethren, in which we all believe ourselves right, let us humbly ask, in the language of Paul, "Who maketh us to differ? What have we, that we did not receive?" God is the author of all; him alone are we to serve; him alone are we to please.

Thus have we briefly developed the principal causes of the evils, which the protestant church at large has suffered. The influence of the same causes may be followed into narrower circles, and be found no less destructive of religious truth, harmony, and practice. Churches there are, which profess to unite under one name, and which come together at stated times in the form of a Convocation, Convention, Association, or General Assembly. Each of these has a creed to regulate the faith of the whole body, and every member proffers a solemn declaration, that he will adhere to all its articles. But where is the Convention, or the Assembly, in which there is any thing like a unanimity of belief?

Take the English Church for an example. Have not every shade and gradation of sentiments, many of which are as opposite to each other as light to darkness,

been zealously and pertinaciously taught in that church, in defiance of the three Creeds and the thirty-nine Articles? Take the Presbyterian Church for another example. Is it not a notorious fact, that many in this enclosure are Hopkinsians and Arminians, and that a very small portion believe literally in all the dogmas of the Westminster Divines? No one will deny these facts. And is not the inference just, that imposing a formulary, which thus ensnares men's souls, is a source of incalculable injury to pure religion? It leads either to hypocrisy, to violations of a sacred agreement, or to downright excommunication, either of which justly brings a scandal on the christian profession.

The Congregationalists, and perhaps other sects, have another practice. Not content with the confessions, creeds, and platforms, bequeathed to them by their fathers, as pillars of support to the fabric of their faith, separate congregations have taken care doubly to fortify themselves by minor formularies, or covenants, to the fashion of which every member must be conformed. Into these choice symbols you will often find wrought all the mysteries of school divinity, ontology, pneumatology, and metaphysics, to which the most untutored mind in the parish must acknowledge his undoubting assent and consent, before he can be admitted to the privileges of a christian. Here you have the poison of this system extending to the minutest ramifications of society. You may behold its effects in the divisions of churches, lawsuits about church property, quarrels among neighbours, altercations among friends, and irreconcilable alienations supplanting good fellowship and kind feelings.

Let it be observed, however, that the mischief of creed-making does not arise simply from bringing together a set of articles, to which any one is ready to subscribe Every man's faith is in some sense a creed, and in itself considered there is no more crime in writing it out, than there is in thinking it over in his mind. It is not writing it, nor arranging it into articles, nor endeavouring by fair argument to convince others of its truth, that clothes it with danger, and converts it into an instrument of disorganization and oppression. It would certainly be much better to be guided by Scripture language, and be satisfied with the words of divine wisdom, yet there can be no essential harm in telling the world what we believe in our own way, provided we are disposed to go no farther. But, unfortunately, no one is contented to stop here; nor have creeds ever been made for the purpose alone of expressing what their makers believed. They have invariably been designed to operate on the minds of others; they have been thrust forward as tests of a true faith; they have been imposed as conditions of christian fellowship. In this consists their mischief, in their usurpation, their encroachment on right, their assault on conscience, their exclusive, intolerant tendency.

Christ the Master of his Disciples.

OUR Saviour often warned his disciples against the pride and vanity of the Scribes and Pharisees. They loved the homage of the multitude, set up pretences to superior sanctity, assumed titles of distinction and reverence, and claimed the privilege of controlling the