them, and make them peculiar people, zealous of good works; and thus to bring people to happiness and to God. In the se cond place, the Scriptures teach that there were many disciples of Christ before it was discovered that Christ would die at all, or that he would rise again from the dead. Peter, and James, and John, and their companions, were disciples, and had been so for a length of time; and yet in the 16th chapter of Matthew, we have the following account respecting this matter, beginning at the 21st verse:-" From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and Chief Priests and Scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, adversary, thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Peter, therefore, though in many respects he savoured the things that he of God and was ready both to preach and to suffer for Christ's sake, could not entertain the idea of Christ's death; and of course could not be a believer in that death being a satisfaction to divine justice. And yet he was a disciple: and in the preceding verses of the same chapter he is pronounced blessed, because he had believed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God; proving that believing this is the faith which makes men disciples: and that the faith which receives the death of Christ as true may not come till afterwards. These individuals were disciples before they learned that important doctrine, especially before they got clear views on the subjects connected with Christ's death. In the 9th chapter of Mark, at the 9th and 10th verses, you may find that they knew as little in reference to Christ's resurrection, as they did in reference to his death :-" And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another, what the rising of the dead should mean."

I wish to observe, that I am not at present entering into the question at large as to whether the doctrine of the Trinity be scriptural or not, or as to whether the doctrine of Satisfaction to Divine Justice be scriptural or not. These are points which will be considered at length hereafter. What I am now wishing to show is principally, that a. belief and understanding of these doctrines, even supposing them to be true, is not essential to make a man a Christian; and that a man may be a true Christian, or disciple, or learner of Christ, before they are known. Again, it is stated that a man cannot be a Christian unless he believes in natural, hereditary depravity. I answer, the Scriptures never say so. Christ says not one single word about any such subject. What he does say, on the contrary, is," Suffer

little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And we know that heaven is not made up of people who are totally depraved.

It is further said that a man must be born again—born of God, before he can be a Christian. I answer, every one is born of God who believes in Jesus as the Christ, and who gives himself up to Christ's instruction and government. In proof of this I refer you to the 5th chapter of the 1st epistle of John, and first verse,-" Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."

It is said that a man cannot be a Christian unless he trusts for acceptance with God in the merits of Christ, and in the merits of Christ alone. The Scriptures, however, do not say that. You have heard from my opponent something about parties being wise above what is written. Now whatever wisdom a man may have, teaching him that a man cannot be a Christian who does not believe in the Trinity; who does not exclusively trust in Christ's merits to secure acceptance with God; who does not believe in natural, total, hereditary depravity; who does not believe in satisfaction to divine justice ;-1 say, whatever wisdom he may have, leading him to believe these doctrines, and to tell a man that he cannot be a Christian unless he believes in them, is all wisdom that is got somewhere else than from the Bible; and he that is wise in this way, is wise either above what is written, or very far wide of what is written. With respect to the last statement, that no one can be a Christian unless he trusts in the merits of Christ for acceptance with God, there is not a single word in favour of any such doctrine in the whole Bible. There is nothing about the merits of Christ mentioned in the Scriptures. There are no words that amount to the same meaning as the phrase "the merits of Christ." Some tell us, that though the words are not there, the thing is there. But if the thing is there, why are not the words put in. They were persons who believed in the merits of Christ that translated the Scriptures; and if they had found the thing, do you think they would have kept out the words? If those who translated the Scriptures had found the thing, would they not have put the words there also? Yet neither in the old government translation, nor in those of John Wesley, Dr. Conquest, nor any other translation, Trinitarian, or Anti-Trinitarian, Orthodox, or Heterodox, can any one find such a phrase as the "merits of Christ." And as there is no mention of the merits of Christ, there cannot be any mention of any such thing as trusting in the merits of Christ for acceptance and salvation. Men, therefore, are Christians from the moment they choose Christ as their teacher, however little they may know of his doctrine; just as a child is a learner or scholar, the moment he chooses a teacher, and places himself under his instruction and government.

With respect to Christ's first disciples, we have noticed one or two of their errors. I may notice a few other of their

mistakes. They frequently misunderstood Christ's doctrine. When he said to them,-" Beware of the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees," they did not understand him. It was after he had given them an explanation only that they understood one of the simplest matters, namely, that it was of the doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees that they were to be aware, and not of their bread. They did not understand the nature of Christ's kingdom. They fancied he was to be an earthly_monarch, who would subdue the nations of the earth to the Jews. Two of them contended as to which should sit at his right and left hand in his kingdom. The mother of two of them asked as a favour, on behalf of them, that they might sit at his right hand and on his left. Others of them contended which should be the greatest in his kingdom. And even at the time of his ascension, they seemed to entertain the idea that Jesus would restore the kingdom-the dominion to Israel; that the result of Christ's mission would be to free the Jewish people from subjection to foreign dominion, and make them the governors or heads of the lower world. They did not understand the simple doctrine that Christ came for the salvation of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews; that the Gospel was to be preached to every creature; and that every creature who received the doctrine, and yielded obedience to it, was to be saved,→saved without regard to the law of Moses, or to circumcision-saved by faith in Jesus as the Christ-faith working by love. It was ten years after the day of Pentecost that Peter learned the important duty of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. And then he had to be taught it by a vision; to be thrust out, as it were, by miraculous interference, and taught to understand the plain command, to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. And when Peter was thus directed, he said,--" Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time. hath cleansed, that call not thou common." The early disciples, too, had differences of opinion-were of various opinions; and of course the opinions of some of the parties must be wrong. See the 14th chapter of St. Paul's epistle to the Romans, where he gives you instances of their differences of opinion. believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs." "One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike." Paul, however, does not say that those who esteem every day alike are not Christians; nor that those who esteem one day above another are not Christians. He regarded both as Christians; and says," Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind ;" and let every mam act according to his persuasion, in the fear of God, in love to his brethren; no one judging his brother in reference to these matters. Similar differences of opinion may exist among Christians still. A man may be a Christian, and yet a Roman Catholic. He may be a Christian, and yet a Protestant. He

What God

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may be a Christian, and yet be a Quaker, a Baptist, a Methodist, a Calvinist, a Trinitarian, an Anti-Trinitarian, and so forth. And he may be a Christian, and be none of all these. It is not necessary, in order to a man being a Christian, a learner, a scholar of Christ, that he should belong to any sect, to any denomination, or to any religious society. All that is essential to a man's being a Christian is the reception of Jesus as a teacher, and subjection to Christ's direction and authority. A man may be a Roman Catholic, and yet regard Jesus as a great teacher come from God, and the divinely-appointed Saviour of mankind. He may be a Protestant, and have the same faith and practice. He may be a Calvinist, a Methodist, a Baptist, or a Quaker, a Trinitarian, or an Anti-Trinitarian, and have faith in Jesus as the Messiah; and be sincere in heart, and sound in faith; and his single, undivided, constant object shall be to understand and do the will of his heavenly Father, as revealed and exemplified by Jesus Christ.

It was intimated by my opponent that there is a difference between ignorance and unbelief; between error and infidelity; between mistake and disobedience. This is a very important principle. It would be well if it were better understood. It would be well if all Christians understood it; and if all Christians, and all professed preachers of the religion of Christ, would act consistently and constantly upon it. It is, however, a fact, that vast numbers seem to make no distinction between ignorance and unbelief, between error and infidelity, between mistake and disobedience. If it be a man's sincere conviction that every day is alike, he is still denounced as unchristian. If it be a man's conviction that one day is more excellent than another, that is a recommendation to a great portion of professing Christians to receive him into the fold of Christ's disciples at once. So in reference to other particular interpretations of the sacred writings. If a man differ from the principal parties of the day, in reference to certain matters, speculations, or opinions, he is at once denounced as unchristian. It may be that he is in the wrong: but it may also be that his error is not his fault, but his misfortune;-that the reason is, that he has not yet heard such things; and how can a man believe any thing of which he has not yet heard? If he mistake the meaning of Christ's sayings, it may be, probably, because he has not had a better opportunity of understanding their nature. And if he happen to go contrary to some parties, in regard to meats, drinks, days, baptism, washings, and the like, he is not to be degraded on that account. Even if, in these points, he is in the wrong, it may be simply through mistake, and not through disobedience. A man is not necessarily to be taken as going contrary to God's authority, because he differs from another man as to what God's authority requires; nor to be regarded as rejecting God's truth, and calling God a liar, because he differs from others as to what God has said, or as to what God's

sayings really mean. Two men may have equal respect for God's authority, equal faith in his veracity, and be at an equal distance from the habit and practice of calling God a liar, and yet differ widely as to what God has said to man; and if they shall agree as to what he has said, they may differ very widely as to what God meant. These two parties, thus widely differing both as to what God says and means, may still be equally believers in God-may equally say that God is true-may equally revere his authority-may have an equal regard for the honour of God, and be equally desirous of carrying out his truth in their lives.

Men may be divided into five great classes :

1. Atheists; who do not believe in God.

2. Deists; who do believe in God, but who do not believe in Moses and the prophets, or in Christ and his apostles. 3. Jews; who believe in God and who believe in Moses and the prophets; but do not believe in Jesus as the Christ. 4. Persons who believe in Jesus as the Christ, but do not

obey his teachings, and are not wishful to understand his doctrine. And

5. Christians; persons who both believe in God and in Moses and the prophets, and in Jesus as the Messiah; and who add to faith, virtue; who give their hearts to God, and make it their study to understand and obey God's precepts.

The individual, who believes in Jesus as the Christ-who receives his doctrines as the oracles of God-and who surrenders his life to virtue, as inculcated in the gospel, is the true Christian. A Christian is distinguished from an Atheist in thisthat he believes there is a God, and that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He differs from a Deist in this that he believes that God has revealed himself, and made known his will by prophets. He differs from a Jew in thisthat he believes in Jesus as the Christ, the person appointed by God to be the teacher, the Saviour, and the judge of men. He differs from the profligate, and nominal, and unfaithful professor of Christianity in this-that he respects Christ's authority, and habitually surrenders himself to Christ's instructions. But he is not to be distinguished from others who believe in Jesus as the Christ, and place themselves in subjection to him, as if he were no Christian, because he does not hold their distinctions of days, or their peculiar views, or opinions, or act in exactly the same manner as they act. All men, whether Catholics or Protestants, Baptists or Quakers, Trinitarians, or Anti-Trinitarians, Methodists or Calvinists, who believe in Jesus as the Christ who receive him as a teacher sent from God, and as the appointed Saviour of the world-and who place themselves under his instruction and government, that he may lead them to all truth and righteousness, and bring them to present and everlasting blessedness-are all Christians, however widely