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no more fruitful source of error and confusion than the Bible alone, if every portion of it be regarded as equally binding upon the Christian, and equally important to Christianity. Who does not know that the chief errors of Protestant sects consist in thus confounding things that are different, and in corrupting the New Testament by the Old? And, certainly, there can be no fact more humiliating to the pride of intellect than this, that knowledge itself may be thus converted into ignorance, and that truth may be made the means of perverting truth, just as the rays from two luminous points may, by interference, destroy each other, and result in darkness.

To take the Bible alone, then, in religion, is well; but it will not suffice, if at the same moment we take leave of common sense and common reason. To disregard the distinctions which it makes, based upon the essential differences of things; to lose sight of subjects while poring over words; to form such crude notions of the sacred volume as to suppose it a compilation of texts and proverbs; or to imagine that Christianity, like light from a luminous centre, shines forth equally from every part of it, is to abandon all just principles of judgment, and involve ourselves in inextricable confusion. The Bible is an illuminated circumference, rather than a luminous centre; it is an effect, rather than a cause; it is an expansion, rather than a condensation of divine truth. It is a detailed, and not a general view that it presents; it does not confine itself to one, but embraces several religions; and contains such immense and varied stores of divine knowledge as may for ever occupy the loftiest intellect. It was quite natural, then, that Protestants, in mistaking the Bible for a creed, should find it necessary to add their own expositions of its meaning, and their confessions of faith, to let the public know, and to ascertain for themselves,

whether they were Patriarchs, Jews, or Christians, or a medley of them all; and what particular set of opinions they were pleased to adopt by way of distinction, or for the sake of theory. The Bible then ceased to be their only rule of faith and practice, when human dogmas and opinions were engrafted upon its teachings; and it became an empty boast that "the Bible was their religion;" when, in consequence of the paramount importance given to these opinions, it contained only the smallest and least essential part of their religion.

It was not proposed, in this reformation, to take the Bible alone in the general and indefinite sense of Protestantism. It was not to be regarded as a great creed, requiring commentaries and expositions; nor as a storehouse of proof-texts to sustain any and every doctrine which might be broached by men. It was to be taken as an instructor, a guide-book, a revealer of the secrets of heaven. It was to be approached with reverence as containing the infallible oracles of God, and as being the only authoritative expression of his will. It was to be viewed as divine light from the Father of lights; as wisdom from above; as a book around which all men might assemble to hear and learn the way of salvation. It was to become a common centre of attraction, and consequently of union, as the fountain in the desert to thirsty travellers from every quarter. was to be a book to be studied, and not merely erected as a standard of party. And all men were to gather around it, and unite as learners, as disciples, to aid and assist each other in acquiring a knowledge of divine things. No one was to dogmatize, to theorize, to speculate, to intrude into things unseen, to introduce questions untaught. Nothing, in short, was to be regarded as a matter of faith or duty unless there could be produced for it, from the scriptures themselves, a "Thus saith the Lord,"

It

either in express terms, or by approved precedent.

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This, then, was not to adopt indefinitely the Bible as our religion," but to look for our religion in the Bible. It was to "search the scriptures," in order to be made "wise to salvation," "perfect and thoroughly furnished to every good work.” It was with this object and in this spirit that all were invited to abandon creeds and human theories of religion, as the causes of dissension, and unite in a diligent search for divine truths, worthy of universal acceptation. And it was this method which led to that sublime and comprehensive view of Christianity, and to those simple and just views of the gospel, which constitute the glory of the Reformation, and its power in the subversion of sectarianism and in the conversion of the world.

promises.* And it would be a still greater achievement, after having thus extricated Christianity from amidst the confusion in which modern theology had involved it, to lay hold of its own grand and comprehensive truth, upon which not only the institution itself is based, but which can constitute the only legitimate creed of Christendom, and the only true foundation of Christian union.

There is nothing whatever that will admit of the most rigid scrutiny, and the most exact analysis, better than Christianity. Whether regarded as a unit or in its details; whether considered in its principles or its deductions; its simplicity or its complexity; its internal structure, or its external adaptations; it is found to be every where perfect, wonderful, and divine. As fitted to man in his varying circumstances and manifold

As we have before remarked, when-relations, it must be necessarily comever a community thus discards creeds, and thus receives the Bible alone to direct their way, it may be regarded as fairly engaged in the reformation for which we plead, of which this abandonment to the divine guidance is the primordial element. And under this guidance, it would not fail gradually to attain those comprehensive, yet definite, views of Christianity, which may be well proposed as the only just and proper basis of union for Christendom. It would soon be discovered that the sacred volume, amidst its records of the past, contains the history of various institutions, which, as they fulfilled the purposes of their creation, were superseded by fuller developments of the divine character and purposes, and the attention would be at length fixed upon Christianity as the perfection and final end of all. It would be a great matter thus to distinguish clearly from each other the Primitive, the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian institutions, and to assign to each its peculiar principles and laws its facts, observances, and

plex in its associations; yet, as the last of the Divine Institutions, and designed for the whole race of man, Jew and Gentile, bond and free, learned and ignorant, it must be most simple in its elements, and most intelligible in the propositions which it offers for such universal reception. This we find, upon examination, to be the case; and we perceive that the divisions of Christendom arise from overlooking this characteristic of Christianity, and from presenting, as bonds of union, in place of its grand, comprehensive, and all-important principles which might be received by all, those minor details and humanized expositions of special doctrines, which, in the very nature of things, can be adopted but by few.

The very abundance of the religious information furnished by the Bible, the multiplicity of its details,

It was quite a novelty in the religious community when brother Campbell first clearly drew and it will not soon be forgotten how great an uproar these distinctions in 1828, vol. 6 of Christian Baptist, was occasioned amongst the "divines" of that day by his Sermon on the Law, in which he denied their right to combine the Law with the Gospel.

the sublime developments of its divine mysteries, seem to have led religious teachers to encumber the gospel with unnecessary aid, to complicate it with remote and refined deductions, and to conceal, at length, its beautiful simplicity beneath the appendages by which they sought to protect or to adorn it. Men seem to have lost sight of the obvious distinction which is to be made between the Bible and the Gospel. As the Bible contains the gospel, and its ancient records are important in elucidating and confirming it, they have become so intimately associated in the mind of the religious public, that they have lost sight of the just distinction between them. The Bible is distributed every where at home, and in foreign lands, as a means of spreading the gospel; and we have reason to bless God for this distribution, and for its blissful results. Yet it might be a very proper inquiry whether the conversion of the world might not be more rapidly and effectually accomplished by presenting, in the first instance, the gospel itself, in its own simple and distinct narration, just as prepared by its Divine Author, for universal acceptance. It should never be forgotten that the Apostles and first preachers of the gospel had no Bibles, and not even a New Testament, to distribute; and that there was no such thing among the early Christians as a formal union upon the "Bible alone." Nay, rather it was a union upon the Gospel alone; for in those days the gospel possessed identity, and enjoyed a distinct and determinate character. It was then recognized as the substititute for all previous institutions, as complete in itself, and as being the very "power of God to salvation" to every one who believed it.

There can be no doubt that the gospel should now be regarded in the same light, and be suffered to occupy the same position. The same simplicity which fits it to the under

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standing of the illiterate, may well secure the admiration of the erudite; and the same comprehensiveness of annunciation which involves every thing necessary to Christian faith, fits it to be the basis of Christian union. That alone which saves men can unite them. That faith which the gospel requires of sinners is the faith which should unite saints. That confession upon which the believing penitent may be admitted to the blessings which Christianity confers, should be the only authorized test of orthodoxy, and the only rallying cry amongst the hosts of the redeemed. Now the gospel, as defined by Paul, consists of the following facts: "That Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures." And it is by receiving and retaining in heart and life these simple facts, so universally accredited by the variant parties, that, as he affirms, men are saved." And the great confession of faith required of the penitent believer is that of the treasurer of Queen Candace: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." This is the comprehensive saying which involves within it, as it were, the whole of Christianity. This is the Rock on which our Lord declared he would build his church. And why should not all agree as co-workers to build upon this Rock? This is the tried, the sure corner-stone of congregational and Christian union, and all may rest assured that no other foundation can be laid than that which is already laid-Christ Jesus the Lord. the "Bible alone," then, be our exhaustless treasury of religious knowledge, and to its sacred pages let us continually resort, that we may be enriched from its accumulated stores of divine truth. Let the Bible be our spiritual library; but let the gospel be our standard of orthodoxy. Let the Bible be our test of Christian character and perfection; but let the

Let

Christian confession be our formula of Christian adoption and of Christian union. In a word, let the Bible be to us every thing designed by its Author; but let "Christ crucified" be not only our peace with God, but our peace with one another.

R. R.

LETTERS FROM EUROPE,
No. XI.

EDINBURGH, August 9, 1847. MY DEAR CLARINDA-Being much fatigued with my labors in London, and having a desire to visit Paris, and to see the French Metropolis at home, I resolved on a flying trip across the channel, via Boulogne, Amiens, and Abbeville, to the great continental metropolis. Leaving brother Henshall in London, who preferred to occupy himself in the field of labor, being by no means as yet exhausted, I set out alone on Monday morning from London bridge, in the cars, for Folkestone, showing myself another hundred miles of England. From Folkestone to Boulogne, across the channel, is only twenty-one miles. After reposing a few hours at this beautiful spot, I crossed in a steamer in two hours and a half, and found myself amongst the French.

To read French and speak French, especially with a Frenchman, are

two

very different employments. They speak so fast, and, in general, so indistinctly, that it is not quite so easy as one might suppose, to understand them. I had, therefore, to ask the favor of a little more time in answering my questions.

I took the stage to Abbeville, and the day being fine, I had very pleasant ride at some eight miles an hour. The country through which we passed exhibits a good deal of the chalky apppearance, which on both sides of the channel, attracts the attention of all strangers.

In a clear day one can see the chalk banks across the channel on either

side. Coming into England from France, where the Romans first crossed, you will see at once, a good reason why they called it in their language, Albion, or the white land; for, really, the coasts below Folkestone appear like snow in the distance. True, the French coast from Boulogne to Calais has much the same appearance; still there is not so much of it, nor is it quite so brilliant as on the English side. There is, as you advance into France, occasionally on the side of a hill, and sometimes in the plough lands, a pale whiteness of the soil, indicative of the prevalence of chalk. This, however, diminishes as you recede from the coast.

Neither the soil nor the cultivation here are equal to that of England. France wants the blooming hedges, the deep green fields, the luxuriant gardens, and the beautiful country seats so common in England. Indeed, it wants hedges and fences of all sorts, so far as my horizon extended on both sides of the public highways. I sometimes did not see a single enclosure, except occasionally around a dwelling house, in the sweep of ten thousand acres. After entering the rail cars, you see a very slight fence along the railway to protect it from the intrusion of animals; but with this exception of a single palisado along the railroads, you see for miles and miles but one extended field, composed of an incalculable number of strips and patches of wheat, rye, oats, barley, peas, beans, turnips, potatoes, carrots, poppies, flax, hemp, meadows, pastures, nurseries, &c.

In passing over one hundred and fifty miles of France, I saw but very little stock, and that not of very improved character. The flocks of sheep were but few and far between, and always attended by shepherds and their dogs. In some instances I saw a few hundred sheep on very slim pastures, narrow strips of meagre grass, with their shepherds lying asleep under a shrub, while the more

faithful dogs were vigilantly walking and Paris the admiration of the world. round the green carrot, and turnip, The bronze column, in height 144 and oat patches on either side, ready English feet, erected in 1810, made to seize by the nose the first sheep up in part of twelve hundred cannon that presumed to approach, with a taken by Napoleon in his wars, yet wishful eye, the green crops so tempt- stands a proud monument of his miliing on every side. tary greatness and of his love of human worship.

The cattle, horses, swine, and even the donkeys themselves, are inferior to the English. Gardens, orchards, dwelling houses seem to participate in the same general inferiority. The farming utensils, indeed all implements of husbandry-whether it be owing to the want of Anglo-Saxon blood, the brittle nature of the soil, the climate, the French language, or the Roman Catholic religion, I know not, and will not hastily decide are all visibly, sensibly, and demonstrably inferior to the English. The stagedrivers, stage-horses, as well as the stages themselves, participate in the marked inferiority. Even the railroads and rail-cars are not wholly exempt from it. As you approach Paris, however, matters somewhat improve.

On entering the city, surrounded as it is with some fifty miles of a defensive wall, the city itself being eighteen miles in circumference, as we approach the centre the streets very much improve. Its new streets, indeed its old ones, with its modern public improvements, are in most respects equal, in some respects superior to those in London. Some of its palaces, towers, triumphal arches, gardens, parks, promenades, and churches are decidedly superior to things of the same sort in London. The genius of Napoleon is every where manifest in Paris. His new streets, his entrances to the Tuileries, his splendid arches and columns, together with the Place de la Concorde, the Place du Carrousel, the Place Vendome, the Louvre, with its rich displays of statuary, paintings, curiosities, &c. &c. all attest the boldness of his genius and the colossal dimensions of his ambition to make himself

The obelisk of Luxor, sometimes called Cleopatra's Needle, covered with hieroglyphics, of the age of Sesostris, now three thousand years old, brought by Napoleon from Thebes, measuring ninety-five feet in one piece, was placed upon a pedestal twenty-five feet high in the year 1836, not far from the palace of the Tuileries. It was raised in the presence of all the foreign ambassadors and Louis Philippe, and placed, in great pomp, on the identical spot where stood the guillotine on which Louis XVI. and his queen were beheaded in the Reign of Terror. The revolutionary guillotine occupied this place for eighteen months, during which period there were guillotined by the sentences pronounced by the revolutionary tribunals, not less than 18,603 persons. I could not express the varied emotions and reflections that crowded upon me while I stood for a few minutes gazing upon this awfully memorable spot where so many victims were immolated to the Molech of heartless Atheism.*

Since my return from Paris, I have found an approved report of the total number sacrificed by the guillotine, with the specifications of castes annexed, According to Priedhomme, a staunch republican, they are as follows2028 persons.

Of the Nobility of France,

Of the wives of laborers and artizans 1467 66 Priests, 1135

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