REFORMATION.-No. VI. In the view of the present overture for reformation, the great errors of Protestant parties have been, first, that in their zeal for doctrinal truth they have, in their confessions, gone too much into detail; and, secondly, that they have insensibly engrafted mere matters of opinion into these formularies of belief. The first error is a violation of the just liberty of private judgment, being an unauthorized prescription and dictation in matters not essential to a saving faith. The second error is directly incompatible with the other great truth, that there should be one evangelical or gospel faith. It is to these departures from the two great truths of Protestantism, which, in their just relations with each other, can alone secure unity, by reconciling law with liberty and faith with opinion, that we may refer the discord and dissension that have prevailed. No just distinction whatever would seem to have been drawn by the religious world between fact and theory, faith and opinion, doctrine and spe VOL. I. culation, law and expediency. And they would appear to have been, until recently, ignorant of the truth, that men never will agree except in generals. Each party has been constantly seeking to induce an exact conformity to the minute peculiarities of its own creed, and no one has been willing to regard these as secondary to the great truths of Christianity. But it is a vain attempt, as experience has fully shown, to endeavor to effect a perfect agreement among men in matters of opinion, or even in those minutia of Christian doctrine with which reason has often as much to do as faith. There may be unity in regard to the simple gospel facts-to the grand fundamental truth of Christianityto the divinely appointed means of salvation-to the one great object of worship-to the one source of spiritual light and truth-to the one cementing principle of mutual love which pervades and animates the body of Christ. But how preposterous it is to expect uniformity of opinion in a world like this, where the minds of men are as diverse as the leaves of the forest !— a world in which no two states can D D have the same political government; of human nature in all its varied no two families the same regulations; relations. no two individuals the same tastes and habits! And how undesirable such an uniformity if it could be even effected! How evident it is, that the infinite diversity of nature every where around us is the very source of beauty and delight! It is by the opposition of things which have yet some common points of agreement, by those charming contrasts constantly held in subjection to one pervading principle, that variety is reconciled with order, and diversity with unity. There could, indeed, be no beauty in nature without these endless diversities; and nature, in this respect, is but a type of human society, whether political or religious. Both have proceeded from God, and both possess the same characteristics. As well might we desire to have but a single note in music as one opinion in religion. As well might we desire to see the whole earth and the heavens clothed in drab as to have every one to conform to the sentiments of any single party in Christendom. Where would be, then, the free comparison of sentiment, and the delightful interchange of thought? Where the charm of new discovery, and the progressive enlargement of mind? Where the doubt that, betraying the weakness of human judgment, represses intellectual pride? and where the mutual forbearance which strengthens mutual love? He who has ordained that no two human faces shall be perfectly alike, and that their features shall yet agree in general character, has also instituted that diversity of mind which admits, in the same manner, of an essential unity. These differences must in both cases be permitted, for we might as well try to make all faces alike as all minds alike. They are also, in both cases, equally desirable, as the source of pleasing contrasts and varied harmonies, and as both the means and the occasion of the development But while we thus dwell upon the importance of the great truth that there must be allowed in religion a just liberty of opinion, let no one suppose that we use the word opinion in the confused or improper sense in which it is so often employed in religious discussions, or that we would, in any respect, compromise or undervalue the true faith of the gospel. It is just as necessary that we should have an immovable basis of thought as that we should have liberty to think. It is as essential to unity that there should be a universal faith as it is to diversity that there should be an individual opinion. The other great truth is, therefore, that the Christian community should be united together by a common belief, which shall fully embrace the gospel, and secure a just conformity to the divine will. To adopt this truth alone, and prescribe a formula of faith to men, while interdicting at the same time all liberty of thought, would be regarded as arbitrary dictation. To admit, on the other hand, an unlimited freedom in matters of religion, would be latitudinarianism. It is a nice matter to adjust the relations of these two opposite principles, so that liberty shall be consistent with law, and a just latitude of opinion compatible with an unwavering faith. Yet it is by this means alone we can secure that unity in diversity from which harmony and happiness result. The difficulty, however, of the task appears much less when we consider that, although man delights in freedom of thought, its unrestricted wanderings become to him a torment and a curse; and that, under such circumstances, the very necessities of his nature speedily demand that lawless license shall give place to lawful liberty. When we reflect, indeed, upon the springs of human action, it will be found that voluntary subjection to than the gospel of Christ; nothing less transitory than the word of God, "which lives and abides for ever;" nothing less unstable than the Christian confession-the great central truth of Christianity—that rock on which Jesus declared he would build his church, and against which he promised that the gates of Hades should not prevail! The solemn sanctions even, which are thrown around the gospel, indicate its character and its importance. It becomes the savor of death, as well as that of life. "He that believeth not shall be condemned." Shall guilt fixed principles is by far the most powerful of them all. The mind of man is oppressed by the burden of an unlimited and indefinite freedom, and exults even in the most submissive obedience, if allowed to think that its subjection has been voluntary. It is when it has submitted to the mastery of Truth, that it realizes and enjoys the precious freedom which Truth alone can give. Liberty can find no resting-place upon a shoreless ocean, but must return, like Noah's dove, to the hand that sent it forth, until it shall be able to discover the terra firma of truth. Settled and fixed principles are the true home of Free-attach to the disbelief of anything dom. It is License alone that spurns the just restraints of law, and becomes a criminal and a vagabond in the earth. The very first annunciation, indeed, of freedom to mortals was by the law of Eden: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat," for it is by law alone that liberty can be granted. And in proportion to the excellency of the law will be that of the liberty it confers. Hence it is that, under the law of Love, devoted service is perfect freedom; and that, in the belief and voluntary obedience of the gospel alone, man can receive that emancipation of soul, that enlargement of thought, that make him free indeed. He who formed the human mind knew well its character, and that it must have some haven of rest—some sure and stedfast anchorage, so as not to be for ever tossed upon the billows of uncertainty. In giving to man the gospel, he has given to him, therefore, the very security he requires. We can imagine nothing more unshaken or enduring. Immovable as the throne of Deity, and indestructible as his love, it can resist the fury of its adversaries, and the ravages of time. God has laid in Sion a "tried stone," a sure foundation stone;" and he who believes in Him "shall never be confounded." Surely, there can be nothing less indeterminate 66 that is doubtful? "Vengeance" shall be taken upon those who "obey not the gospel." Shall the Judge of all the earth condemn for disobedience if the import of the command may be lawfully disputed? Most assuredly, the divine truth upon which God has made to rest not merely the hopes of life, but the fears of everlasting death, is unchangeably certain, unmistakably evident, and indubitably credible. The Protestant reformers, with all their zeal for the right of private judgment, were not unaware, as we have already intimated, that man requires fixed principles of action. While denying the infallibility of the Pope, they proclaimed that of the word of God, and labored to unfold its teachings so as to present them, as they supposed, in a clear and definite form. In some respects, however, they unfortunately confounded the infallibility of the scriptures with the fallibility of their own understandings; and dogmatically affirmed doctrines to be true, because they appeared to them to be so. And, still more unfortunately, they were led by zeal for purity of doctrine, to transcend the just limits of the Christian faith, and not only to give to various minute particulars in divine revelation itself an unnecessary conspicuity, but to add, as of equal authority, the deductions of their own minds. Granting, in theory, the right of private judgment, and insisting upon it as the very ground of their revolt against the Pope, they, at the same time, delivered to their followers systems of religious belief, in which they have gone so much into detail, as to touch upon almost every subject of religious knowledge; embrace almost every speculative opinion; and decide ex cathedra almost every possible question. Hence it is, that, under these creeds and confessions, a man cannot think for himself at all without becoming a heretic, and the right of individual judgment exists in name alone. Instead of the simple facts, and general truths propounded as the subject matter of faith in the word of God, they have delivered philosophic theories, and special tenets. For actions, they have substituted doctrines and for faith, opinion. The gospel, which was designed as a haven of rest, yet ever open towards the ocean of divine truth and love, they have changed into a creed—a | dry-dock in which the vessel is immovably fixed to undergo repairs for ever. That which was intended by the Divine Architect as a free and happy home for the Christian, they have converted into the close and joyless prison of the sectary. But by what right do men presume to add to the conditions of salvation, or restrict the privileges of Christian liberty? Since He who created and redeemed man, has give to him a basis union. But is this the foundation on which the "Evangelical Alliance" proposes to unite the discordant parties of Christendom? If it has acknowledged that there is a common faith, and, to some extent, omitted in its proposed basis peculiar denominational opinions, has it embraced therein the gospel as defined by Paul, (1 Cor. xv.) or the good confession made by Peter, (Math. xvi. 16.)? If it has stated some great truths, has it not, at the same time, employed expressions ambiguous and unscriptural? And how greatly does it seem to have fallen short of those simple yet sublime conceptions of unity and diversity; of law and liberty; of principle and practice, exhibited by Christ and his Apostles! It is nevertheless a movement which indicates a change in the spirit of partyism; and it is a concession to the true principles not only of Protestantism but of Christianity itself, in so far as it is an acknowledgment of a common ground of union, and a common liberty of thought. In throwing aside the details of creeds and confessions, and the opinious engrafted upon them, an approximation, at least, is made to the proper basis; but this will never be reached, until the passion for pure doctrine shall be moderated by a regard for true facts; and until the love of theory shall give place to the love of Christ. R. R. of Christian faith and Christin union, THE QUESTIONS OF THE adapted by infinite wisdom to the requirements of his nature, by what authority do men presume to modify or change it? Surely the simple gospel which saves men has power to unite them in Christian love. Certainly no other foundation can be laid for Christian union, than the great fundamental truth for which Jesus and all his martyrs suffered. "On this rock," he declares, “I will build my church." It is then a basis not merely of individual salvation, but of church union, and this is Christian PRESENT AGE, CONSIDERED IN THEIR RELATION TO DIVINE TRUTH. NO. III. THE STATE CHURCH. (Continued from page 410.) III.-Christianity contains the true principles of civilization. We have already stated that Christianity has an influence: it is now the character of that influence that must be delineated. The nature of its influence over the mind and morals of mankind, is to be found in the history of the Christian ages--for the history of any nation is the external evidence of the morals and intellectual habits of that nation. We shall, in the first place, select Slavery as the institution over which Christianity has exerted an influence. At the time of the institution of Christianity, the number of slaves was treble that of the freemen: the master had the power of inflicting capital punishment on his slave, and that, too, in the most inhuman manner. The mere caprice of a master could condemn his slave to crucifixion, no cause being assigned for the act: in fact, the law regarded them only as animals. They were also burnt alive. Tertullian records that the punishment by fire was first used for slaves alone, who were visited with all other imaginable cruelties. The satires of Juvenal and Martial abound in allusions to the infamous treatment of slaves. They mention such punishments as these : scourging with chains of solid bronze, thumb-screws, and all those other amiable inventions by which slaveholders, inquisitors, and despots, have shown the evil of irresponsible power. But we have not yet completed the catalogue. There were other punishments-cutting off the nose, plucking out the eyes, striking out the teeth. And there was another cruelty inflicted on the slave, whether he had offended his master or not. The rich Romans were in the habit of keeping ponds full of large conger eels, which they were at great expense in feeding, because they often threw a live slave into the pond, under the impression that the fish grew fatter and more lively by tearing to pieces a living man. We shall draw a veil over the other atrocities of which slaves, especially females, were the subjects; and we only disclose them now from the necessity of showing the state of feelingor rather, want of feeling-in regard to slavery, and the power of Christianity in extinguishing that state of feeling. The propagators of the Christian system declared that every man had an immortal soul, whether bond or free (a slave had been accounted soul-less): moreover, they declared that in Christ, barbarian, Scythian, bondman and free, were all equalthey declared that "man-stealers," or slave-merchants, (for the occupations were always combined) were the most infamous among mankind. And now mark the power of the civilizing principle of Christianity. The Scriptures had declared that mankind were "sold under sin," "the bond-slave of sin"-pepramenos upo amartian, referring to the custom of selling prisoners of war as slaves. As a natural consequence we find the Christian Fathers addressing the churches to the following effect :-Christ, by his sufferings, redeemed your souls from slavery; are you not, therefore, bound in gratitude to redeem the bodies of your fellow-creatures from slavery? you are not required to sacrifice your lives to effect it, you can easily effect it out of the abundance of your wealth. This was an analogy obvious to every mind, and it produced the intended effect: many, in their enthusiasm, sold themselves to obtain money to ransom others. Passing over a few generations, we arrive at the reign of Constantine, Christianity has had time to work, and now survey its effects on both morals and legislation. Constantine enacts several laws, as follow:-1. Any master murdering his slave, shall be punished the same as if he had murdered a freeman.-2. Any master having punished his slave to such an extent as to cause ultimate death, shall be accounted guilty of murder, and punished accordingly. -3. No heathen master shall in any way interfere with the spiritual matters of a Christian slave.-4. No member of the family of a slave shall be sold away separately from the rest; parents and children shall no longer be separated; if sold at all, the whole family shall be sold.-5. Any |