temper like this may be denounced as bigotry, but we regard it as the only true, apostolic charity.

We mean not to be answerable for every expression used in this sermon, and yet, we hesitate not to say that we think it one of distinguished excellence. In order to feel the force of it, the reader must throw himself back, in imagination, to the time when it was delivered. All the churches in this region then stood in a profession of Orthodoxy; and yet appearances of a defection began to be observed. The wily heretic had cloaked himself under a fair exterior, but there were watchful eyes about him, whose search he could not entirely elude. He urged the importance of mutual charity; but was answered that charity rejoiceth only in the truth. He insisted on the right of private judgement; but was told that this conferred no right to sin against God, or to corrupt his people. Under these circumstances, a preacher comes from beyond the mountains, from the then back settlements of Massachusetts, and lifts a note of solemn warning, of affectionate, earnest expostulation. Without doubt, he was regarded by many as an ignorant intruder-a stranger to the courtesies of polished life-who had better go back and feed the few sheep he had left in the wilderness. But O that he had been duly listened to! O that his words of truth and soberness had been believed and regarded! What an amount of evil might thus have been avoided! The foulest blot, which has ever stained the religious character of New England, might then have passed from us.

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE FAITH OF PROTESTANTS ON THE SUBJECT OF INSPIRATION.

"By the inspiration of the Scriptures," says Professor Norton, "is meant, either that they were miraculously suggested by God, or that they were written under his miraculous superintendence."* According to this definition, the justness of which we shall not dispute, the inspiration of the Scriptures is now publicly denied by leading Unitarians in this country. "The composition of the Bible is looked upon as a human work-a work produced by the natural operation of human thought and feeling." "These writings (the Scriptures) so far as their composition is concerned, are to be regarded as possessing a properly and purely human character. "They, (the Scriptures) are not in the common sense inspired; they were not produced under the miraculous supervision of the Deity." "A denial of the immediate inspiration of the Scriptures does not, in the slightest degree, affect their authority." And not only do these gentlemen deny the inspiration of our sacred books, they would make the impression that this is a very small matter, in which they do not disagree with

* Locke and LeClerc, p. 125.

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the majority of Christians of other times and the present; and we are represented as unreasonable, captious, superstitious, in complaining of them for so very common and trifling a thing as denying the inspiration of the Bible. We have thought it might be useful, therefore, to confront them with the sentiment of the whole Protestant world on the subject, so far as this could be conveniently gathered; and we have been at the trouble to consult a variety of Confessions of faith, the language of which, so far as relates to the inspiration of the Scriptures, is given in the following extracts:

FIRST HELVETIC CONFESSION, published in 1532.

"The canonical Scripture, the word of God, being delivered by the Holy Spirit, and proposed to the world by prophets and apostles, is altogether the most ancient and perfect philosophy, and itself alone contains the whole of piety, and the whole reason of life."

SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION, published in 1566.

"We believe and profess that the canonical Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles of both Testaments are the true word of God itself, and have sufficient authority of themselves, and not from men. For God himself spake to the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, and still speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures." "So that when, at this day, this word of God is proclaimed in the church by those who are lawfully called to be preachers, we believe that the word of God itself is proclaimed and received by the faithful ; neither is there any other word of God to be pretended to or expected from heaven."

BOHEMIAN OR WALDENSIAN CONFESSION.

"First of all, the ministers of our churches teach with one consent concerning the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which they are accustomed to call the Bible, and which have been legitimately received and approved by Orthodox fathers, that they are true, certain, and worthy of a confidence with which no other human writings, whatever they may be, are able to compare." And for this reason, because they were inspired and suggested by the Holy Spirit, and published from the mouth of holy men, and confirmed by heavenly and divine attestations." CONFESSION OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANT CHURCHES, published in 1559.

"The one God hath so revealed himself to men, in his works, but much more clearly in his word, which at first he made known by infallible signs, and by (oraculis) oracular responses. These, he directed should be written in those books which we call the sacred Scriptures." "We believe that the word contained in these books, proceeded from God alone, from whom alone, and not from men, it derives its authority."

*This Confession, as Dr. Jamieson informs us, ("save the allowance of the remembrance of some holidays) was all approved and subscribed" by the General Assembly of Scotland, Dec. 25, 1566.'

on Inspiration.

OLD ENGLISH CONFESSION.

"We receive and embrace all the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament; and we render thanks to our God who hath brought this light to us which we may have always in our eyes, lest, by the arts of men, or the wiles of the devil, we may be drawn aside to errors and fables. We receive and embrace these Scriptures as voices from heaven, (cælestes voces) by which God hath reIn these alone the minds of men are able to vealed his will to us. rest."

BELGIC CONFESSION, published in 1566.

"We confess that this word of God was not reported or delivered by any human will, but holy men of God uttered it, being moved by the divine Spirit." Afterwards, God himself commanded his servants, the apostles and prophets, that they should commit his revelations (sua illa oracula) to writing."

WIRTEMBURG CONFESSION, published in 1552.

"Those canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, concerning whose authority in the church there never has been any doubt, we call the sacred Scriptures. This Scripture we believe and profess to be the response (oraculum) of the Holy Spirit, and so confirmed by divine testimonies, that if an angel from heaven should preach anything different, he would be accursed."

IRISH CONFESSION.†

"The ground of our religion, and the rule of faith and all saving truth is the word of God contained in the Holy Scripture. By the name of Holy Scripture we understand all the canonical books of the Old and New Testament;"-" all which we acknowledge to be given by the inspiration of God, and in that regard to be of the most certain credit, and the highest authority. The other books, commonly called apocryphal, did not proceed from such inspiration, and therefore are not of sufficient authority to establish any point of doctrine."

WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.

"Under the name of Holy Scripture, or word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments ;"

Published in the name of the English Church in Bishop Jewell's Apology, 1562.The following is from the Homily of the English Church," on the Reverent Estimation of God's word." "The whole Scriptures, saith St. Paul, were given by the inspiration of God. And shall we, Christian men, think to learn the knowledge of God and ourselves in any earthly man's work or writing, sooner or better than in the Holy Scriptures, WRITTEN BY THE INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY GHOST? The Scriptures were not brought unto us by the will of man, but holy men of God, as witnesseth St. Peter, spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God."-The sentiment of the English Church on this subject is understood to be fully adopted by the Methodist Episcopal Church in England and America.

Agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops and the rest of the clergy of Ireland in the Convocation at Dublin, A. D. 1615.

Published and adopted by the Presbyterians of England and Scotland, in 1647. Adopted by the planters of New England in 1618;-afterwards, so far as relates to the subject of inspiration, by the Independents of England in 1658, by the Congregationalists of this country in 1630, and by the Baptist churches in England in 1686. This is also the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterians in the United States.

"all which are given by the inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life. The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of, than other human writings. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the word of God." "The Old Testament in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek, being immediately inspired by God, and by his singular care and providence kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical, so as in all controversies of religion, the church is finally to appeal unto them." -"The Holy Scripture was delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture, so delivered, our faith is finally resolved."

WESTMINSTER CATECHISM.

"The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience."

DR. EMMONS' SERMONS.

THE first sermon, in the sixth and last volume published by Dr. Emmons, is from Acts xxiv. 14, and is entitled 'Faithful Ministers avow their Religious Sentiments. After establishing this point, and showing the reason for it, the first general Reflection is as follows:

"If the true ministers of the Gospel preach their sentiments openly and boldly; then it is natural to suppose, that false teachers will use every artifice to conceal their sentiments. Accordingly, we find that the inspired writers represent them, as seducers, deceivers, evil workers, who lie in wait to deceive, and employ every artifice to captivate the hearts rather than to enlighten the understanding, and convince the consciences of their hearers."

All false teachers imbibe the spirit of the first and great deceiver, and never fail to discover a peculiar skill in the arts of deception. They learn to conceal their sentiments, by good words, fair speeches and ambiguous expressions. They learn how to improve the most favorable seasons for pouring their false instructions into the minds of the ignorant, unlearned, and unsuspecting, by familiar conversation and more public discourses. They act upon the principle, that the end sanctifies the means: so that they allow themselves to employ any means of deception and seduction, which they think will be the most successful. This is exactly the representation of false teachers, which is given in the text I have cited. And this representation is fully confirmed by stubborn and well known facts. Dr. Chauncy concealed his false doctrine of Universal Salvation,

from everybody but his intimate friends, for more than forty years; and he never published it in America, but only in England, just before he left the world. Dr. Huntington concealed his scheme of Universal Salvation a long time, and never suffered it be published till after his death. When Mr. Murray, the Universalist, first came to America, he preached occasionally in some of the largest and best congregations in New England before he avowed his corrupt sentiments. There have been Unitarians, in this State, of differest forms, degrees, or shades of difference, above fifty years; but they generally concealed their sentiments, till very lately, they have been reluctantly compelled to avow them. Though sectarians may boast of the success they gain by their arts of concealment and deception; yet they have no right to boast of their integrity. Those and those only, who avow their religious sentiments, as the primitive preachers of the Gospel did, have the claim of integrity, which none can justly deny them. Transparency is a beautiful trait in any human character. False teachers themselves would appear to much better advantage, if they would renounce all their arts of deception, and unfair, not to say unchristian modes of dividing and corrupting religious societies."

The second sermon in this volume is on "The Right of Private Judgement." The plan of the author is to show, first, "what it is to exercise the right of private judgement ;" and secondly, “that men ought to exercise it, in forming their religious sentiments."

The right of private judgement" is the right which every man has, of seeing with his own eyes, hearing with his own ears, and of exercising his own reason, in forming his religious opinions. When any man, without any compulsion or restraint, freely exercises his own natural abilities, in forming his sentiments, he exercises all the right of private judgement, that he can have, or enjoy."

This implies, 1. “A right to hear what may be said upon the subject to be decided;" 2. " to examine every subject for ourselves, and employ all our rational powers in investigating the truth ;" and 3. to " form our opinions according to the best light we can obtain,"

"After a man knows what others have said, or written; and after he has thought, and searched the Scriptures, upon any religious subject, he has a right to form his own judgement exactly according to evidence. He has no right to exercise prejudice, or partiality; but he has a right to exercise impartiality, in spite of all the world. After all the evidence is collected from every quarter, then it is the proper business of the understanding, or judgement, to compare and balance evidence, and to form a decisive opinion, or belief, according to apparent truth. We have no more right to judge without evidence, than we have to judge contrary to evidence; and we have no more right to doubt without, or contrary to evidence, than we have to believe without, or contrary to evidence. We have no right to keep ourselves in a state of doubt, or uncertainty, when we have sufficient evidence to come to a decision. The command is, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." The meaning is, examine all things; and after examination, decide what is right."