Missing Page 
 
SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 J 
 
 (DwsmissamB 
 
 * 
 
 * OF THE 
 
 REV. JARED SPARKS, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 PASTORAL CARE OF THE 
 
 FIRST INDEPENDENT CHURCH IN BALTIMORE, 
 
 MAV 5, 1819. 
 
 B¥ WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, 
 
 MJNISTtlt u» iac CHURCH OF CHRIST, IN FEDERAL STREET, BOSTON. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 RE-PRINTED BY HEWS <J" GOSS. 
 
 1819. 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924104035930 
 
SERMON* 
 
 1 THESS. Vi 21* 
 
 Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good. 
 
 THE peculiar circumstances of this occasion not only justify^ 
 tut seem to demand a departure from the course generally follow- 
 ed by preachers at the introduction of a brother into the sacred 
 office. It is usual to speak of the nature,' design, duties and ad- 
 vantages of the Christian ministry ; and on these topicks I sliould 
 now be 1 happy to insist, did I not remember that a minister is to be 
 given this day to a religious society, whose peculiarities of opinion 
 have drawn upon them much remark, and may I not add, much 
 reproach. Many good minds, many sincere Christians,- I am 
 aware, are apprehensive that the solemnities of this ddy are to 
 give a degree of influence to principle's which they deem false and 
 injurious. The fears and anxities of such men I respect; and, 
 believing that they are grounded in part on mistake, I have 
 thought it my duty to lay before you as clearly as 1 can, some of 
 the distinguishing opinions of that class of Christians in our coun- 
 try, who are known to sympathize with this religious society. I 
 must ask your patience, for such a subject is not to be despatched 
 in a narrow compass. I must also ask you to remember, that it fe 
 impossible to exhibit in a single discourse, our view of every doc- 
 trine of revelation, much less the differences" of opinion Which 
 are known to subsist among ourselves; I shall confine myself to 
 topicks on which our sentiments hare been misrepresented, or 
 which distinguish us most widely from others. May I not hope 
 to be heard with candour ? God deliver u3 all from prejudice, and 
 unkindness, and fill us with the love of truth and virtue. 
 
 There are two natural divisions under which my thoughts will 
 be arranged. I shall endeavour to unfold,' 1st,- the principles 
 which we adopt in interpreting the Scriptures. And 2dly, some 
 of the doctrines which the Scriptures, so interpreted, seem to us 
 clearly to express. 
 
 L We regard the Scriptures as the record of God's successive 
 revelation to mankind, and particularly of the last and most per*- 
 feet revelation of his will by Jesus Christ. Whatever doctrine's 
 seem to us to be clearly taught in the Scriptures^ we receive with- 
 out reserve or exception. We do not, however^ attach equal 
 importance to all the books in this collection. Our religion, we 
 believe, lies chiefly in the New Testament. The dispensation of 
 Moses, compared with that of Jesus, we consider as imperfect, 
 earthly, obscure, adapted to the childhood of the human race, a 
 preparation for a nobler system, and chiefly useful now as serving 
 to confirm and illustrate the Christian Scriptures. Jesus Christ is 
 
4 
 
 the only master of Christians, and whatever he taught, either 
 daring his personal ministry, or by his inspired apostles, we regard 
 as of divine authority, and profess to make the rule of our lives. 
 This authorit v, which we give to the Scriptures, is a reason, we 
 conceive, for studying them with peculiar care, and for inquiring 
 anxiously into the principles of interpretation, by which their 
 true meaning may be ascertained. The principles- adopted by the 
 class of Christians, in whose name I speak, need to be explained, 
 because they are often misunderstood. We are particularly ac- 
 cused of making an unwarrantable use of reason in the interpre- 
 tation of Scripture. We are s iid to exalt reason above revela- 
 tion, to prefer our own wisdom to God's. Loose and undefined 
 charges of this kind, are circulated so freely, and with such inju- 
 rious intentions, that we think it due to ourselves, and to the cause 
 of truth, to express our views with some particularity, 
 
 Our leading principle in interpreting Scripture is this, that the 
 Bible is a bock written for men, in the language of men, and that 
 its meaning is to be sought in the same manner, as that of other 
 books. We believe that God, when he condescends to speak and 
 write, submits, if we may so say, to the established rules of speak- 
 ing and writing How else would the Scriptures avail us more, 
 than if communicated in an unknown tongue? 
 
 Now all books, and all conversation, require in the reader or 
 hearer, the constant exercise of reason ; for their true import is 
 only to be obtained by continual comparison and inference. Hu- 
 man language, you well know, admits various interpretations, and 
 every word and every sentence must be modified and explained 
 according to the subject which is discussed, according to the pur- 
 poses, feelings, circumstances and principles of the writer, and 
 according to the genius and idioms of the language which ha uses. 
 These are acknowledged principles in the interpretation of human 
 writings ; and a man, whose words we should explain without ref- 
 erence to these principles, would reproach us justly with a crim- 
 inal want of candour, and an intention of obscurig or distorting 
 his meaning. , 
 
 W ere the Bible written in a language and style of its own, did 
 it consist of words, which admit but a single sense, and of senten- 
 ces wholly detached from each other, there would be no place 
 for the principles now laid down. We could not reason about it, as 
 about other writings. But such a book would be of little worth ; 
 and, perhaps, of all books, the Scriptures correspond least to this 
 description. The word of God bears the stamp of the same hand, 
 which we see in his works. It has infinite connexions and depen- 
 dencies. Every proposition is linked with others, and is to be 
 compared with others, that its full and precise import may be un- 
 derstood. Nothing stands alone. The New Testament is built 
 on the Old. The Christian dispensation is a continuation of the 
 Jewish, the completion of a vast scheme of providence, requiring 
 great extent of view in the reader. Still more, the Bible treats 
 of subjects on which we receive ideas from other sources, besides 
 itself; such subjects as the nature, passions, relations, and duties of 
 
man ; and it expects us to restrain and modify its language by the 
 known truths which observation and experience furnish on these 
 topicks. 
 
 We profess not to know a book, which demands a more frequent 
 exercise of reason than the Bible. In addition to the remarks now 
 made on its infinite connexions, we may observe, that its style no 
 where affects the precision of science, or the accuracy of defini- 
 tion. Its language is singularly glowing, bold and figurative, de* 
 manding more frequent departures from the literal sense, than 
 that of our own age and country, and consequently demands more 
 continual exercise of judgment. We find, too, that the different 
 portions of this book, instead of being confined to general truths, 
 refer perpetually to the times when they were written, to states 
 of society, to modes of thinking, to controversies in the church, 
 to feelings and usages which have passed away, and without the 
 knowledge of which we are constantly in danger of extending to 
 all times, and places, what was of temporary and local application. 
 We find, too, that some of these books are strongly marked by 
 the genius and character of their respective writers, that the Ho- 
 ly Spirit did not so guide the apostles as to suspend the peculiari- 
 ties of their minds, and that a knowledge of their feelings, and of 
 the influences under which they were placed, is one of the pre- 
 parations for understanding their writings. With these views of 
 the Bible, we feel it our bounden duty to exercise our reason 
 upon it perpetually, to compare, to infer^ to look beyond the let- 
 ter to the spirit, too seek in the nature of the subject, and the aim 
 of the writer, his true meaning ; and, in general, to make use of 
 what is known, for explaining what is difficult, and for discovering 
 new truths. 
 
 Need I descend to particulars to prove that the Scriptures de- 
 mand the exercise of reason ? Take, for example, the style in 
 which they generally speak of God, and observe how habitually 
 they apply to him human passions and organs. Recollect the 
 declarations of Christ, that he came not to send peace, but a 
 sword; that unless we eat his flesh, and drink his 'blood, we have 
 no life in us ; that we must hate father and mother, pluck out the 
 right eye ; and a vast number of passages equally bold and un- 
 limited. Recollect the unqualified manner in which it is said of 
 Christians, that they possess all things, know all things, and can 
 do all things. Recollect the verbal contradiction between Paul 
 and James, and the apparent clashing of some parts of Paul's wri- 
 ting, with the general doctrines and end of Christianity. I might 
 extend the enumeration indefinitely ; and who does not see, that 
 we must limit all these passages by the known attributes of God, 
 of Jesus Christ, and of human nature, and by the circumstances 
 under which they were written, so as to give the language a quite 
 different import from what it would require, had it been applied to 
 different beings, or used in different connexions ? 
 
 Enough has been said to show in what sense we make use of 
 reason in interpreting Scripture. From a variety of possible in- 
 terpretations, we select that which accords with the nature of the 
 
6 
 
 subject, and the state of the writer* with the connexion of the 
 passage, with the general 9train of Scripture, with the known 
 character and will of God, and with the obvious and acknowledg- 
 ed laws of nature. In other words', we believe that God never 
 contradicts in one part of Scripture, what he teaches in another ; 
 and never contradicts, in revelation^ what he teaches in his 
 works and providence. And we, therefore, distrust every inter- 
 pretation, which, after deliberate attention, seems repugnant to 
 any established truth. We reason about the Bible precisely as 
 civilians do about the constitution under which we live ; who, 
 you know, are accustomed to limit one provision of that venera- 
 ble instrument by others, and to fix the precise import of its parts 
 by enquiring into its general spirit, into the intentions of its au- 
 thors, and into the prevalent feelings, impressions, and circum- 
 stances of the time when it was framed. Without these princi- 
 ples of interpretation, we frankly acknowledge, that we cannot 
 defend the di\ ine autbrity of the Scriptures. Deny us this lati- 
 tude, and me must abandon this book to its enemies. 
 
 We do not announce these principles as original, or peculiar 
 to ourselves j all Christians occasionally adopt them, not except- 
 ing those, who most vehemently decry them, when they happen 
 to menace some favorite article of their creed. All Christians 
 are compelled to u« them in their controversies with infidels.— 
 All sects employ tbem in their warfare with one another. All 
 willingly avail themselves of reason, when it can be pressed into 
 the service of their own party, and only complain of it, when its 
 weapons wound themselves. None reason more frequently than 
 our adversaries. It is astonishing what a fabrick they rear from a 
 few slight hints abont the fall of our first parents ; and how ingen- 
 iously they extract from detached passages, mysterious doctrine! 
 about the divine nature. We do not blame them for reasoning 88 
 abunefently, but for violating the fundamental rules of reasoning, 
 for sacrificing the plain to the obscure, and the general strain of 
 Scripture, to a scanty number of insulated texts. 
 
 We object strongly to the contemptuous manner in which 
 human reason i9 often spoken of by our adversaries, because it 
 lends, we believe, to universal scepticism. If reason be so dread- 
 fully darkened by the fall, that its most decisive judgments on 
 religion are unworthy of trust, then Christianity, and even natu- 
 ral theology, must be abandoned ; for the existence and veracity 
 of God, and the divine original of Christianity, are conclusions 
 of reason, and must stand or fall with it. If revelation be at war 
 with this faculty, it subverts itself, for the great question of its 
 truth is left by God to be decided at the bar of reason. It is wor- 
 thy of remark, how nearly the bigot and the sceptick approach.— 
 Both would annihilate our confidence in our faculties, and both 
 throw doubt and confusion over every truth. We honour reve- 
 lation too highly to make it the antagonist of reason, or to believe 
 that it calls us to renounce our highest powers. 
 
 We indeed grant, that the use of reason in religion, is accom- 
 panied with danger. But we ask any honest man to look back ok 
 
the history of the church, and say, whether the renunciation of it 
 be not still more dangerous. Besides, it is a plain fact, that men 
 reason as erroneously on all subjects as on religion. Who doe» 
 not know the wild and groundless theories, which have been fra- 
 med in physical and political science ? But who ever supposed, 
 that we must cease to exercise reason on nature and society, be- 
 cause men have erred for ages in explaining them ? We grant, 
 that the passions continually, and sometimes fatally, disturb the 
 rational faculty in its inquiries into revelation. The ambitious 
 contrive to find doctrines in the Bible, which favour their love of 
 dominion. The timid and dejected discover there a gloomy sys- 
 tem, and the mystical and fanatical, a visionary theology. The 
 vicious can find examples or assertions on which to build the hope 
 of a late repentance, or of acceptance on easy terms ; the falsely 
 refined contrive to light on doctrines which have not been soiled 
 by vulgar handling. But the passions do not distract the reason 
 in religious, any more than in other inquiries, which excite strong 
 and general interest ; and this faculty, of consequence, is not to 
 be renounced in religion, unless we are prepared to discard it uni- 
 versally. The true inference from the almost endless errours, 
 which have darkened theology, is not that we are to neglect and 
 disparage our powers, but to exert them more patiently, circum- 
 spectly, uprightly. The worst errours, after all, have sprung up 
 in that church, which proscribes reason, and demands from its 
 members implicit faith. The most - pernicious- doctrines have 
 been the growth of the darkest times, when the general credulity 
 encouraged bad men and enthusiasts to broach their dreams and 
 inventions, and to stifle the faint remonstrances of reason, by the 
 menaces of everlasting perdition. Say what we may, God has 
 given us a rational nature, and will call us to account for it. We 
 may let it sleep, but we do so at our peril. Revelation is address- 
 ed to us as rational beings. We may wish, in our sloth, that God 
 had given us a system, demanding no labour of comparing, limit- 
 ing and inferring. But such a system would be at variance with 
 the whole character of our present existence ; and it is the part of 
 wisdom to take revelation, as it is given to us, and to interpret it 
 by the help of the faculties, which it every where supposes, and 
 en which it is founded. 
 
 To the views now given, an objection is commonly urged from 
 the character of God. We are told, that God being infinitely 
 wiser than men, his discoveries will surpass human reason. In a 
 revelation from such a teacher, we ought to expect propositions, 
 which we cannot reconcile with one another, and which may seem 
 to contradict established truths ; and it becomes us not to question 
 or explain them away, but to believe, and adore, and to submit 
 our weak and carnal reason, to the divine word. To this objec- 
 tion, we have two short answers. We say, first, that it is impos- 
 sible, that a teacher of infinite wisdom, should expose those, 
 whom he would teach, to infinite errour. But if Once we admit, 
 that propositions, which in their literal sense appear plainly re- 
 pugnant to one another, or to any known truth, are still to be lit- 
 
8 
 
 erally understood and received, what possible limit can we set to 
 the belief of contradictions ?. What shelter have we from the wild- 
 est fanaticism, which can always quote passages, that in their lit- 
 era) and obvious sense, give support to its extravagancies ? How 
 can the Protestant escape from transubstantiation, a doctrine most 
 clearly taught us, if the submission of reason, now contended for, 
 be a duty ? How can we ever hold fast the truth of revelation, 
 for if one apparent contradiction may be true, so may another, and 
 the proposition, that Christianity is false, though involving incon- 
 sistency, may still be a verity. 
 
 We answer again, that, if God be infinitely wise, he cannot 
 sport with the understandings of his creatures. A wise teacher 
 discovers his wisdom in adapting himself to the capacities of his 
 pupils, not in perplexing them with what is unintelligible, not in 
 distressing them with apparent contradiction, not in filling them 
 with a sceptical distrust of their powers. An infinitely wise teach- 
 er, who knows the precise extent of our minds, and the best 
 method of enlightening them, will surpass all other instructors in 
 bringing down truth to our apprehension, and in showing its love- 
 liness and harmony. We ought, indeed, to expect occasional 
 obscurity in such a book as the Bible, which was written for past 
 and future ages, as well as for the present. But God's wisdom is 
 a pledge, that whatever is necessary for a*, and necessary for sal- 
 vation, is revealed too plainly to be mistaken, and too consistently 
 to be questioned by a sound and upright mind. It is not the mark 
 of wisdom, to use an unintelligible phraseology, to communicate 
 what is above our capacities, to confuse and unsettle the intellect^ 
 by appearances of contradiction. ' We honour our heavei»y 
 Teacher too much to ascribe to him such a revelation. A reve- 
 lation is a gift of light. It cannot thicken and multiply our per- 
 plexities. 
 
 II. Having thus stated the principles according to which we in- 
 terpret the Scriptures, I now proceed to the second great head of 
 this discourse, which is, to state some of the views, which we de- 
 rive from that sacred book, particularly those which distinguish 
 us from other Christians. 
 
 First. We believe in the doctrine of God's ukity, or that there 
 is one God, and one only. To this truth we give infinite impor- 
 tance, and we feel ourselves bound to take heed, lest any man 
 spoil us of it by vain philosophy. The proposition, tliat there it one 
 God, seems to us exceedingly plain. We understand by it, that 
 there is one being, one mind, one person, one intelligent agent, 
 and one only, to whom underived and infinite perfection and 
 dominion belong. We conceive, that these words could have con- 
 veyed no other meaning to the simple and uncultivated people, 
 who were set apart to be the depositaries of this great truth, and 
 who were utterly incapable of understanding those hair-breadth 
 distinctions between being and person, which the sagacity of latter 
 ages has discovered. We find no intimation, that this language 
 was to be taken in an unusual sense, or that God's unity was a 
 quite different thing from the oneness of other intelligent beings. 
 
9 
 
 We object to the doctrine of the Trinity, that it subverts the 
 unity *of God. According to this doctrine, there are three infi- 
 nite and equal persons,possessing supreme divinity, called the Fa- 
 ther, Son, and Holy Ghost. Each of these persons, as described 
 by theologians, has his own particular consciousness, will and per- 
 ceptions. They love each other, converse with each other, and 
 delight in each other's society. They perform different parts in 
 man's redemption, each having his appropriate office, and neither 
 doing the work of the other. The Son is mediator, and not the 
 Father. The Father sends the Son, and is not himself sent ; nor 
 is he conscious, like the Son, of taking flesh. Here then, we have 
 three intelligent agents, possesed of different consciousnesses, 
 different wills, and different perceptions.perfonning different acts, 
 and sustaining different relations ; and if these things do not im- 
 ply and constitute three minds or beings, we are utterly at a loss 
 to know how three minds or beings are to be formed. It is differ- 
 ence of properties, am} acts, and consciousness, which leads us to 
 the belief of different intelligent beings, and if this mark fail us, 
 our whole knowledge falls ; we have no proof, that all the agents 
 and persons in the universe are not one and the same mind. 
 When we attempt to conceive of three Gods, we can do nothing 
 more, than represent to ourselves three ag-nts, distinguished 
 from each other by similar marks and peculiarities to those, which 
 separate the persons of the Trinity ; and when common Chris- 
 tians hear these persons spoken of as conversing with each other, 
 loving each other, and performing different acts, how can they 
 help regarding them as different beings, different minds ? 
 
 We do then, with all earnestness, though without reproaching 
 our brethren, protest against the unnatural and unscriptural doc- 
 trine of the Trinity. " To us," as to the apostle and the primitive 
 Chistians, " there is one God, even the Father." With Jesus, 
 we worship the Father, as the only living and true God.* We are 
 astonished, that any man can read the New Testament, and avoid 
 the conviction, that the Father alone is God. We hear our Sa- 
 viour continually appropriating this character to the Father. We 
 find the Father continually distinguished from Jesus by this title. 
 " God sent his Son." " God anointed Jesus." Now, how singu- 
 lar and inexplicable is this phraseology, which fills the New Tes- 
 tament, if this title belong equally to Jesus, and if a principal 
 object of this book is to reveal him as God, as partaking equally 
 with the Father in supreme divinity ? VVe challenge our oppo- 
 nents to adduce one passage in the New Testament, where the 
 word God means three persons, where it is not limited to one per- 
 son, and where, unless turned from its usual sense by the con- 
 nexion, it does not mean the Father. Can stronger proof b* 
 given, that the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead is not a 
 fundamental doctrine of Christianity ? 
 
 , This doctrine, were it true, must, from its difficulty, singularity 
 and importance, have been laid down with great clearness, guard - 
 
 •John, 17 
 
10 
 
 ed with great care, and stated with all possible precision. But 
 where dues this statement appear ? From the many passages) 
 which treat of God, we ask for one, one only, in which we ar« 
 told, that he is a threefold being, or, that he is three persons, or, 
 that he is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. On the contrary in the 
 New Testament, where, at least, we might expect many express 
 assertions of this nature, God is declared to be one, without the 
 least attempt to prevent the acceptation of the words in their 
 Common sense ; and he is always spoken of and addressed in the 
 singular number, that is, in language which was universally under- 
 stood to intend a single person, and to which no other idea could 
 have been attached, without an express admonition. So entirely 
 do the Scriptures abstain from stating the Trinity, th$t when our 
 opponents would insert it into their creeds and doxologies, they 
 are compelled to leave the Bible, and to invent forms of words al- 
 together unsanctioned by scriptural phraseology. That a doctrine 
 so strange, so liable to misapprehension, so fundamental as this is 
 said to be, and requiring such careful exposition, should he left so 
 undefined and uprotected, to be made out bv inference, and to be 
 hunted through distant and detached parts of Scripture, this is a 
 difficulty, which, we think, no ingenuity can explain. 
 
 We have another difficulty. Chistianity, it must be remem- 
 bered, was planted and grew up amidst sharp-sighted enemies, 
 who overlooked no objectionable part of the system, and who must 
 have fastened with great earnestness on a doctrine,invplving such 
 apparent contradictions as the Trinity. We cannot conceive an 
 opinion against which the Jews, who prided themselves on their 
 adherence to God's unity, would have raised an equal clamour. 
 Now, how happens it, that in the apostolick writings, which re- 
 late so much to objections against Christianity, and to the contro- 
 versies, which grew out of this religion, not ont word is said, im- 
 plying that objections were brought against the gospel from the 
 doctrine ot the Trinity, not one word is utttred in its defence and 
 explanation, not a word to rescue it from reproach and mistake ? 
 This argument has almost the force of demonstration. We are 
 persuaded, that had three divine persons been announced by the 
 first preachers of Christianity, all equal, and all infinite, one of 
 whom was the very Jesus, who had lately died on a cross, this pe- 
 culiarity of Christianity would have almost absorbed every other, 
 and the great labor of the apostles would have been to repel the 
 continual assaults, which it would have awakened. But the fact 
 lS.that not a whisper of objection to Christianity, on that account, 
 reaches our ears from the apostolick age. In the epistles we see 
 not a trace of controversy called forth by the Trinity. 
 
 Wc have further objections to this doctrine, drawn from its 
 practical influence. We regard it as unfavourable to devotion, 
 by dividing and distracting the mind in its communion with God. 
 It is a great excellence of the doctrine of God's unity, that it offers 
 to us one object of supreme homage, adoration and love, one in- 
 finite Father, one Being of Beings, one original and fountain, to 
 whom we may refer all good, on whom all our powers and affec- 
 
11 
 
 tions may be concentrated, and whose lovely and venerable nature 
 may pervade all our thoughts. True piety, when directed to an 
 undivided Deity, has a chasteness, a singleness, most favourable 
 to religious awe, and love. Now the Trinity sets before us three 
 distinct objects of supreme adoration ; three infinite persons, hav- 
 ing equal claims on our hearts ; three divine agents, performing 
 different offices, and to be acknowledged and worshipped in differ-' 
 ent relations. And is it. possible, we ask, that the weak and limit- 
 ed mind of man can attach itself to thest with the same power and 
 joy, as to one infinite Father, the only First Cause, in whom all 
 the blessings of nature and redemption meet, as their centre and 
 source ? Must not devotion be distracted by 'he equal and rival 
 claims of three equal persons, and must not the worship of the 
 conscientious, consistent Christian be disturbed by apprehension, 
 lest he withhold from one or another of these, his due proportion 
 of homage ? 
 
 We also think, that the doctrine of the Trinity injures devotion* 
 not onjy by joining to the Father other objects of worship, but 
 by taking from the Father the supreme affection, which is his due* 
 and transferring it to the Son. This is a most important view. 
 That Jesus Christ, if exalted fnto the infinite Divinity, should be 
 more interesting than the Father, is precisely what might be ex- 
 pected 'from history, and from the principles of human nature. 
 Men want an object of worship like themselves, and the great 
 secret of idolatry lies in this propensity. A God, clothed in our" 
 f arm, and feeling our wants and sorrows,speaks to our weak na- 
 ture more strongly, than a Father in heaven, a pure spirit, invisi- 
 ble and unapproachable, save by the reflecting and purified mind. 
 We think, too, that the peculiar offices ascribed to Jesus by the 
 popular theology, make him the most attractive person in the 
 Godhead. The Father is the depositary of the Justice, the vin- 
 dicator of the rights^ the avenger of the laws of the Divinity! 
 On the other hand, the Son, the brightness of the divine mercy j 
 stands between the incensed Deity and guilty humanity, exposes 
 his meek head to the storms, and his compassionate breast to the 
 sword of the divine justice, bears our whole load of punishment, 
 and purchases,with his blood, every blessing which descends from 
 heaven. Need we state the effect of these reprsentations. espe- 
 cially on common minds,for whom Christianity was chiefly design- 
 ed, and whom it seeks to bring to the Father, as the loveliest be- 
 ing : We do believe, that the worship of a bleeding, suffering 
 God, tends strongly to absorb the mind, and to draw it from other 
 objectsjust as the human tenderness of the Virgin Mary has giv- 
 en her so conspicuous a place in the devotions of the church of' 
 Rome. We believe, too, that this worship, though attractive, is 
 not most fitted to spiritualize the mind, that it awakens human 
 transport, rather than that deep veneration of the moral perefect- 
 tions of God, which is the essence of piety. 
 
 Secondly. Having thus given our views of the unity of God, I 
 proceed to observe, that we believe in the unity of Jesus Christ. 
 We believe that Jesus is one mind, one soul, one being, as truly 
 
12 
 
 one as we are, and equally distinct from the one God. We com- 
 plain of the doctrine of the Trinity, that not satisfied with making 
 God three beings, it makes Jesus Christ two beings, and thus in- 
 troduces infinite confusion into our conceptions of his character. 
 This corruption of Christianity, alike repugnant to common sense, 
 and to the general strain of Scripture, is a remarkable proof of 
 the power of a false philosophy in disfiguring the simple truth of 
 Jesus. 
 
 According to this dectrine, Jesus Christ, instead of being one 
 mind.one conscious intelligent principle,whotn wt can understand, 
 consists of two souls, two minds, the one divine, the other human; 
 the one weak, the other almighty ; the one ignorant, the other 
 omniscient. Now we maintain, that this is to make Christ two 
 beings. '1 o denominate him one person, one being, and yet to 
 suppose him made up of two minds, infinitely different from each 
 other, is to abuse and confound language, and to throw darkness 
 over all our conceptions of intelligent natures. According to the 
 common doctrines, each of these two minds in Christ has its own 
 consciousness, its own will, its own perceptions. They have in 
 fact no common properties. The divine mind feels none of the 
 wants and sorrows of the human, and the human is infinitely re- 
 moved from the perfection and happiness of the divine. Can yon 
 conceive of two being in the universe more distinct? We have 
 always thought, that one person was constituted and distinguished 
 by one consciousness. The doctrine, that one and the same per- 
 son should have two consciousnesses, two wills, two souls, in- 
 finitely different from each other, this we think an enormous tax 
 on human credulity. 
 
 We say. that if a doctrine, so strange, so difficult, so remote 
 from all the previous conceptions of men, be indeed a part, and 
 an essential part of revelation, it must be taught with great dis- 
 tinctness; and we ask our brethren to point to some plain, direct 
 passage, where Christ is said to be composed of two minds infi- 
 nitely different, yet constituting one person. We find none. Our 
 opponents, indeed, tell us, that this doctrine is necessary to the 
 harmony of the Scriptures, that some texts ascribe to Jesus Christ 
 human, and others divine properties, and that to reconcile these, 
 we must suppose two minds, to which these properties may be 
 referred. In other words, for the purpose of reconciling certain 
 difficult passages, which a just criticism can in a great degree, if 
 not wholly explain, we must invent an hypothesis vastly more dif- 
 ficult, and involving gross absurdity. We are to find our way out 
 of a labvrinth by a clue, which conducts us into mazes infinitely 
 more inextricable. 
 
 Surely, if Jesus Christ felt that be consisted of two minds, and 
 that this was a leading feature of his religion, his phraseology 
 respecting himself would have been coloured by this peculiarity. 
 The universal language of men is framed upon the idea, that one 
 person is one mipd, and one soul; and when the multititude heard 
 this language from the lips of Jesus, they must have taken it in 
 its usual sense, and must have referred to a single soul, all which 
 
13 
 
 he spoke, unless expressly instructed to interpret it differently. 
 But where do we find this instruction ? Where do you meet in 
 the New Testament, the phraseology which abounds in Trinita- 
 rian books, and which necessarily grew from the doctrine of two 
 natures in Jesus ? Where does this divine teacher say, This I 
 speak as God, and this as man ; this is true only of my human 
 mind, this only of my divine ? Where do we find in the epistles 
 a trace of this strange phraseology ? No where. It was not 
 needed in that day. It was demanded by the errors of a later age. 
 
 We believe, then, that Christ is one mind, one being, and I add, 
 a being distinct from the one God. That Christ is not the one 
 God, not the same being with the Father, is a necessary inference 
 from our former head, in which we saw, that the doctrine of three 
 persons inGod is a fiction. But on so important a subject, I would 
 add a few remarks. We wish, that our opponents would weigh 
 one striking fact. Jesus, in his preaching, continually spoke of 
 God. The word was always in his mouth. We ask, does he, by 
 this word, ever mean himself ? We say, never. On the contrary 
 he most plainly distinguishes between God and himself, and so do 
 his disciples. How this is to be reconciled with the idea, that the 
 manifestation of Christ, as God, was a primary object of Chris- 
 tianity, our adversaries must determine. 
 
 If we examine the passages in which Jesus is distinguished from 
 God, we shall see, that they not only speak of him as another 
 being, but seem to labour to express his inferiority. He is con- 
 tinually spoken of as the Son of God, sent of God, receiving alt 
 his powers from God, working miracles because God was with 
 him, judging justly because God taught him,havi;ng claims on our 
 belief, because he was anointed and sealed by God,and as able of 
 himself to do nothing. The New Testanient is filled with this 
 language. Now we ask, what impression this languagew as fit- 
 ted and intended to make ? Could any who heard it, have imag- 
 ined, that Jesus was the very God,to whom he was so industrious- 
 ly declared to be inferior, the very being, by whom he was sent, 
 and from whom he professed to have received his message and 
 power ? Let it here be remembered, "that the human birtn, and 
 bodily form, and humble circumstances, and mortal sufferings of 
 Jesus, must all have prepared men to interpret, in the most un- 
 qualified manner, the language in which his inferiority to God was 
 declared. Why then was this language used so continually, and 
 without limitation, if Jesus were the Supreme Deity, and if this 
 truth were art essential part of his religion ? I repeat it, the hu- 
 man condition and sufferings of Christ tended strongly to exclude 
 from men's minds the idea of his proper Godhead ; and of course, 
 we should expect to find in the New Testament perpetual care 
 and effort to counteract this tendency, to hold him forth as the 
 same being with his Father,if this doctrine were, as is pretended, 
 the soul and centre of his religion. We should expect to find the 
 phraseology of Scripture cast in the mould of this doctrine, to 
 near familiarly of God the Son, of our Lord God Jesus, and to be 
 told, that to us there is one God, even Jesus. But instead ef 
 
14 
 
 this the inferiority of Christ pervades the New Testament. It it 
 not only implied in the general phraseology, but repeatedly and 
 decidedly expressed, and unaccompanied with any admonition to 
 prevent its application to his whole nature. Could it then have 
 been the great design of the sacred writers to exhibit Jesus as 
 the Supreme God ? 
 
 I am aware, that these remarks will be met by two or three 
 texts, in which Christ is called God, and by a class of passages, 
 not very numerous, in which divine properties are said to be as- 
 cribed to him. To these we offer one plain answer. We say, 
 that it is one of the most established and obvious principles of 
 criticism, that language is to be explained according to the known 
 properties of the suhject to which it is applied. Every man 
 knows, that the same words convey very different ideas, when 
 used in relation to different beings. Thus. Solomon built the tem« 
 pie in a different manner from the architect, whom he employed ; 
 and God repents differently from wan. Now, we maintain, th&t 
 the known properties and circumstances of Christ, his birth, suf- 
 ferings, and death, his constant habit of speaking of God, as a 
 distinct being from himself, his praying to God, his ascribing to 
 God all his power and offices, these acknowledged properties 
 of Christ, we say. oblige us to interpret the comparative^ few 
 passages, which are thought to make him the supreme God, in a 
 manner consistent with his distinct and inferior nature. It is our 
 duty to explain such texts, by the rule which we apply to other 
 texts, in which human beings are calledUods,and are said to be par- 
 takers of the divine nature, to know and possess all things, and 
 to be filled with all God's fulness. These latter passages wc do 
 not hesitate to modify and restrain, and turn from the most obvi- 
 ous sense, because this sunse is opposed to the known properties 
 of the beings to whom they relate ; and we maintain that we ad' 
 here to the same principle, and use no greater latitude in ex- 
 plaining, as we do, the passages which are thought to support the 
 Godhead of Christ. 
 
 Trinitarians profess to derive some important advantages from 
 their mode of viewing Christ. It furnishes them, they tell us, 
 with an infinite atonement, for it shows them an infinite being, 
 suffering for their sins. The confidence with which this fallacy 
 is repeated astonishes us. When pressed with the question, 
 whether they really believe, that the infinite and unchangeable 
 tiod suffered and died on the cross, they acknowledge that this is 
 not true, but that Christ's humau mind alone sustained the pains 
 of death. How have we then an infinite sufferer ? This language 
 seems to us an imposition on common minds, and very deroga- 
 tory to God's justice, as if this attribute could be satisfied by a 
 sophism and a fiction. 
 
 We are also Jfold, that Christ is a more interesting object, that 
 Lis love and mercy are more felt, when he is received as the Su- 
 preme God, who left his glory to take humanity and to suffer for 
 men. That Trinitarians are strongly moved by this representa- 
 tion, we do not mean to deny, but we think their emotions alto- 
 
15 
 
 gether founded on a misapprehension of their own doctrines. 
 They talk of the second person «of the Trinity leaving his glory, 
 and his Father's bosom, to visit and save the world. But this se- 
 cond person,beingthe unchangeable and infinite God, was evident- 
 ly incapable of parting with the least degree of his perfection and 
 felicity. At the moment of his taking flesh, he was as intimately 
 present with his Father as before, and equally with his Father fill- 
 ed heaven, and earth, and immensity. This Trinitarians ac- 
 knowledge', and still they profess to be touched and overwhelm- 
 ed by the amazing humiliation of this immutable being!! — But 
 not only does their doctine, when fully explained, reduce Christ'9 
 humiliation to a fiction, it almost wholly destroys the impressions 
 with which his cross ought to be received. According to their 
 doctrine, Christ was, comparatively, no sufferer at all. It is true, 
 his human mind suffered ; but this, they tell us, was an infinitely 
 small part of Jesus, bearing no more proportion to his whole na- 
 ture, than a single hair of our heads to the whole body ; or, than 
 a drop to the ocean. The divine mind of Christ, that which was 
 most properly himself, was infinitely happy, at the very moment 
 of the suffering of.his humanity. Whilst hanging on the cross, he 
 was the happiest being in the universe, as happy as the infinite 
 Father ; so that his pains, compared with his feiicity, were 
 nothing. This Trinitarians do, and must acknowlege. It fol- 
 lows, necessarily, from the immutabjeness of the divine nature, 
 which they ascribe to Christ ; so that their system, justly viewed, 
 robs Ijis death of interest, weakens our sympathy with his suffer- 
 ings, and is, of all others, most unfavourable to a love of Christ, 
 founded on a sense of his sacrifices for mankind. We esteem 
 our own views to be vastly more affecting, especially those of us, 
 who believe in Christ's pre-existence. It is our belief, that 
 Christ's humiliation, was real and entire, that the whole Saviour 
 and not a part of him, suffered, that his crucifixion was a scene 
 of deep and unmixed agony. As we stand round his cross, our 
 minds are not distracted, or our sensibility weakened, by contem- 
 plating him as composed of incongruous and infinitely differing 
 minds, and as having a balance of infinite felicity. We recognise 
 in the dying Jesus, but one mind. This, we think, renders his 
 sufferings, and his patience and love in.bearing them, incompara- 
 bly more impressive and affecting, than the system we oppose. 
 
 Thirdly. Having thus given our belief on two great points, 
 namely, that there is one God, and that Jesus Christ is a being 
 distinct from, and inferior to God, I now proceed to another 
 point on which we lay still greater stress. We believe in the 
 moral perfection of God We consider no part of theology so 
 important as that which treats of God's moral character; and 
 we value our views of Christianity chiefly, as they assert his a- 
 miable, and venerable attributes. 
 
 It may be said, that in regard to this subject, all Christians 
 agree, that all ascribe to the Supreme Being, infininite justicce, 
 goodness and holiness. We reply, that it is very possible to 
 speak of God magnificently, and to think of him meanly ; to apply 
 
16 
 
 to his person high-sounding epithets, and to his government prin- 
 ciples which make him odious. The heathens called Jupiter the 
 greatest and the"1>est; but his history was black with cruelty and 
 lust. We cannot judge of men's real ideas of God, by their gene- 
 ral language, for in all ages, they have hoped to sooth the Deity 
 by adulation. We must inquire into their particular views of hu 
 purposes, of the principles of his administration, and of his dis- 
 position towards his creatures. 
 
 We conceive that Christians have generally leaned towards a 
 very injurious view of the Supreme Being. They have too of- 
 ten felt, as if he were raised, by his greatness and sovereignty, 
 above the principles of morality, above those eternal laws of 
 equity and rectitude, to which all other beings are subjected. We 
 believe, that in nu being, is the sense of right so strong, so omnip- 
 otent, as in God. We believe that his almighty power is entirely 
 submitted to his perception of rectitude ; and this is the ground 
 of our piety. It is not because h« is our Creator merely, but be- 
 cause he created us for good and holy purposes ; it is not because 
 his will is irresistible, but because his will is the perfection of vir- 
 tue, that we pay him allegiance. We cannot bow before a being, 
 however great and powerful, who governs tyrannically. We re- 
 spect nothing, but excellence, whether on earth, or in heaven. 
 We venerate not the loftiness of God's throne, but the equity and 
 goodness in which it is established. 
 
 We believe that God Is infinitely good, kind,benevolent, in the 
 proper sense of these words ; good in dispotion, as well as in act ; 
 good not to a few, but to all ; good to every individual, as well as 
 to the general system- 
 
 We believe too, that Gad is just ; but we never forget, that hia 
 justice is the justice of a good being, dwelling in the same mind, 
 and acting iu harmony with perfect benevolence. By this attribute 
 we understand God's infinite regard to virtue, or moral worth, 
 expressed in a moral government; that is, in giving excellent and 
 equitable laws, and in conferring such rewards and inflicting such 
 punishments, as are most fitted to secure their observance. God's 
 justice has for its end the liigl.est virtue of the creation, and it 
 punishes for this end alone, and thus it coincides with benev- 
 olence; for virtue and happiness, though not the same, are in- 
 separably conjoined. 
 
 God's justice thus viewed, appears to us to be in perfect har- 
 mony with his mercy. According to the prevalent system of 
 theology, these attributes are so discordant and jarring, that to 
 reconcile them is the hardest task, and the most wonderful 
 achievement of infinite wisdom. To us they seem to be inti- 
 mate friends, always at peace, breathing the same spirit, and 
 seeking the 6ame end. By God's mercy, we understand net a 
 blind instinctive compassion, which forgives without reflection, 
 and without regard to the interests of virtue. This, we acknowl- 
 edge, would be incompatible with justice, and also with enlight- 
 ened benevolence. God's mercy, as we understand it, desires 
 strongly the happiness of the guilty, but only through their peni- 
 
17 
 
 tence. ft has a regard to character as truly as his justice. It de- 
 fers punishment, and suffers long, that the sinner may return to his 
 tluty, but leaves the impenitent and unyielding, to the fearful re- 
 tribution threatened in God's word. 
 
 To give our views of God, in one word, we believe in his par- 
 ental character. We ascribe to him, not only the name, but the 
 dispositions and principles of a father. We believe that he has 
 a father's concern for his creatures, a father's desire for their im-^ 
 provenient, a father's equity in proportioning his commands to., 
 their powers, a father's joy in their progress, a father's, readiness 
 to receive the penitent, and a father's justice for the incorrigible. 
 We look upon this world as a place of education, in which he is 
 training men by mercies and sufferings, by aids and temptations, 
 by means and opportunites of various virtues,; by trials of princi- 
 ple, by the conflicts of reason and passion, by a discipline suited 
 to free and moral beings, for union with himself, and for a sublime 
 and ever growing virtue in heaven. 
 
 Now we object to the systems of religion, which prevail 
 among us, that they are adverse, in a greater- or less degree, to 
 these purifying, comforting, and honorable views of God ; that 
 they take from us our Father in heaven, and substitute for him a 
 being, whom we cannot love if we would, and whom we ought 
 not to love if we could. We object, particularly on this ground, 
 to that system, which arrogates to itself the name of ortho- 
 doxy, and which is now most industriously propagated through 
 our country. This system teaches, that God brings us into exist- 
 tence wholly depraved, so that under the innocent features of 
 our childhood, is hidden a nature adverse to all good,and propense 
 to all evil; and it teaches thatGod regards us with displeasure before 
 we have acquired power to understand our duties, or reflect upon 
 our actions. Now if there be one plain principle of morality, it 
 is this, that we are accountable beings, only because we have 
 consciences, a power of knowing and performing our duty, and 
 that in as far as we want this power, we are incapable of sin, 
 guilt, or blame. We should call a parent a monster, who should 
 judge and treat his children in opposition to this principle ; and 
 yet this enormous immorality is charged on our Father in heaven. 
 
 This system, also, teaches, that God selects from the corrupt 
 mass of men a number to be saved, and that they are plucked, by 
 an irresisible agency, from the common ruin, whilst the rest are 
 commanded, under penalty of aggravated woe, to make a change 
 in their characters, which their natural corruption places beydnd 
 their power, and are also promised pardon on conditions, which 
 necessarily avail them nothing, unless they, are favoured with a 
 special operation of God's grace, which he is predetermined to 
 withhold. This mockery of mercy, this insult offered to the 
 misery of the non-elect, by hollow proffers of forgiveness, com- 
 pletes the dreadful system which is continually obtruded upon us 
 as the gospel, and which strives to monopolize the reputation of 
 sane tity. 
 
 ? 
 
18 
 
 That this religious sjstem does not produce all the effects on 
 character, which might be anticipated, we most joyfully admit. It 
 is often, very often, counteracted by nature, conscience, common 
 tense, by the general strain of Scripture, by the mild example 
 and precepts of Christ, and by the many positive declarations of 
 God's universal kindness,, and perfect equity. But still we think 
 that we see occasionally its unhappy influence. It discourages 
 the timid, gives excuses to the bad, feeds the vanity of the fanati- 
 cal, and offers shelter to the bad feelings of the malignant. By 
 shocking, as it does the fundamental principles of morality, and by 
 e^ initio? a severe and partial Deity, it tends strongly to pervert 
 the moral faculty, to form a gloomy, forbidding, and servile reli- 
 gion, and to lead men to substitute censoriousness, bitterness, and 
 persecution, for a tender and impartial charity. We think too, 
 th;it this system, which begins with degrading human nature, may 
 be expected to end in pride ; for pride grows out of a conscious- 
 ness of high distinctions, however obtained, and no distinction is so 
 great as that, which is made between the elected and abandoned 
 of God. 
 
 The false and dishonorable views of God, which have now been 
 state<!, we feel ourselves bound to resist unceasingly. Other er- 
 rors we can pass over with comparative indifference. But we 
 ask our opponents to leave to us a God, worthy of our love and 
 trust, in whom our moral sentiments may delight, in whom our 
 weaknesses and sorrows may find refuge. We cling to the divine 
 perfections. We meet them every where in creation, we read 
 them in the Scriptures, we see a lovely image of them in Jesus 
 Christ; and gratitude, love and and veneration call on us to as- 
 sert them. Reproached as we often are, by men, it is our conso- 
 lation and happiness, that one of our chief offences is the zeal with 
 which wp vindicate the dishonored goodness and rectitude of God. 
 
 Fourthly. Having thus spoken of the unity of God ; of the 
 unity of Jesus, and his inferiority to God ; and of the perfections of 
 the divine character; I now proceed to give our views of the 
 mediation of Christ and of the purposes ofhs mission. With regard 
 to the great object, which Jesus came to accomplish, there seems 
 to be no possibility of mistake. We believe, that he was sent by 
 the Father to effect a moral, or spiritual deliverance of mankind; 
 that is, to rescue men from sin and its consequences, and to bring 
 them to a state of everlasting purity and happiness. We believe, 
 too, that he accomplishes this sublime purpose by a variety of 
 methods ; by his instructions respecting God's unity, parental 
 character, and moral government, which are admirably fitted to 
 reclaim the world from idolatry, and impiety, to the knowledge, 
 love, and obedience of the Creator ; by his promises of pardon 
 to the penitent, and of divine as-istance to those, who labour for 
 progress in moral excellence ; by the light which he has thrown 
 on the pa.th of duty ; by his own spotless example, in which the 
 loveliness and sublimity of virtue shine forth to warm and quick- 
 en, as well as guide us to perfection ; by his threatenings against 
 incorrigible guilt ; by his glorious discoveries of immortality ; by 
 
19 
 
 his sufferings and death ; by that signal event, the resurrectionj 
 which powerfully bore witness to his divine mission, and brought 
 down to men's senses a future life ; by his Continual intercession} 
 which obtains fop us spiritual aid and blessings ; and by the power 
 With which he is invested of raising the dead, judging the world^ 
 and conferring the everlasting rewards promised to the faithful. 
 
 We have no desire to conceal the fact, that a difference of opin* 
 Jon exists among us, in regard to an interesting part of Christ's 
 mediation ; I mean, in regard to the precise influence of his death 
 on our forgiveness. Some suppose, that this event contributes to 
 our pardon, as it was a principal means of confirming his religion, 
 and of giving it a power over the mind j in other Words, that 
 it procures forgiveness by leading to that repentance and virtue, 
 which is the great and only condition on which forgiveness is be- 
 stowed- Many of us are dissatisfied with this 'explanation, and 
 think that the Scriptures ascribe the remission of sins to Christ's 
 death, with an emphasis so peculiar, that we ought to consider 
 this event as having a special influence in removing punishment, 
 asa condition or method of pardon, without which, repentance 
 Would not avail us, at least to that extent, which is now promised 
 by the gospel. 
 
 Whilst, however, we differ in explaining the connexion between 
 Christ's death and human forgiveness, a connexion, which we all 
 gratefully acknowledge, we agree in rejecting many sentiments, 
 which prevail in regard to his meditation. The idea, which is 
 feonveyed to common minds by the popular system, that Christ's 
 death has an influence in making God placable or merciful, in 
 quenching his wrath, in awakening his kindness towards men, we 
 reject with horror. We believe, that Jesus, instead of making 
 the Father merciful, is sent by the Father's mercy to be our Sav- 
 iour; that he is nothing to the human race, but what he is by 
 God's appointment ; that he communicates nothing but what God 
 empowers him to bestow ; that our Father in heaven is originally, 
 essentially, and eternally placable, and disp'osed to forgive ; and 
 that his unborrowed, underived, and unchangeable love, is the only 
 fountain of what flows to us through his Son. We Conceive, that 
 Jesub is dishonoured, not glorified, by ascribing to him an influ- 
 ence, which clouds the splendour of divine benevolence. 
 
 We farther agree in rejecting, as unsCript'iral and absurd, the 
 explanation given by the popular system, of the manner in which 
 Christ's death procures forgiveness for men. This system teach- 
 es, that man having sinned against an infinite being, is infinitely 
 guilty, and some even say, that a single transgression^ though 
 committed in our early and inconsiderate years, merits the eternal 
 pains of hell. Thus, an infinite penalty is due from ever'y human 
 being; and God's justice insists, that it shall be borne either by 
 the offender, or a substitute. Now, from the nature of the case, 
 no substitute is adequate to the work of sustaining the full punish- 
 ment of a guilty world, save the infinite God himself; and accord* 
 ingly, God took on him human nature, that he might pay to his 
 own justice the debt of punishment incurred by meo, and might 
 
20 
 
 enable himself to exercise mercy. Such is the present system. 
 Now, to us, this doctrine seems to carry on its front, strong marks 
 of absurdity; and we maintain, that Christianity ought not to be 
 encumbered with it, unless it be laid down in the New Testament 
 fully and expressly. We ask our adversaries, then, to point to 
 some plain passages where it is taught. We ask for one text, in 
 which we are told, that God took human nature, that he might ap- 
 pease his own anger towards men, or make an infinite satisfaction 
 to his own justice : for one text, which tells us, that human guilt 
 is infinite, and requires a correspondent substitute ; that Christ's 
 sufferings owe th' ir efficacy to (heir being borne by an infinite 
 l>eing ; or that bis divir.e nature gives infinite value to the sufferings 
 of the human. No', one ivord of this description can we find in the 
 Scriptures ; not a text, which even hints at these strange doctrines. 
 They are altogether, we believe, the fictions of theologians. 
 Christianity is in no decree responsible for them. We are aston- 
 ished at their prevalence What can be plainer, than that God 
 cannot, in any sense, be a sufferer, or bear a penalty in the room 
 of his creatures? How dishonourable to him is the supposition, 
 that his justice is now so severe as to exact infinite punishment for 
 the sins of frail and feeble men, and now so easy and yielding as to 
 accept the limited pains of Christ's human soul, as a full equivalent 
 for the infinite and endless woes due from the world? How plain 
 is it also, according to this doctrine, that God, instead of being 
 plenteous in forgiveness, never forgives ; for it is absurd to apeak 
 of men as forgiven, when their whole punishment is borne by a 
 substitute. A scheme more fitted to bring Christianity into con- 
 tempt, and less suited to give comfort to a guilty aud troubled 
 mind, could not, we think, he easily invented. 
 
 We believe, too, lint this swem is unfavourable to the charac- 
 ter. It naturally leads men to think, that Christ came to change 
 God*s mind, rather than their own, that the highest object of his 
 mi«i"ti, was to avert punishment, rather than to communicate 
 holi:ies=. and that a. large pait of religion consists in disparaging 
 good works and human virtue, for the purpose of magnifying the 
 value of Christ's vicarious sufferings. In this way, a sense of the 
 infinite importance, and indispensible necessity of personal im- 
 provement is weakened, and high sounding praises of Christ's 
 cross seem often to be substituted for obedience to his precepts. 
 For ourselves, we have not so learned Jesus. Whilst we grate- 
 fully acknowledge, that he came to rescue us from punishment, 
 we believe, that he was sent on a still nobler errand, namely, to 
 deliver us from sin itself, and to form us to a sublime and heavenly 
 virtue. We regard him as a Saviour, chiefly as he is the light, 
 physician, and guide of the dark, diseased, and wandering mind. 
 No influence in the universe seems to us so glorious, as that over 
 the character ; and no redemption so worthy of thankfulness, as 
 the restoration of the soul to purity. Without this, pardon, were 
 it possible, would be of little value. Why pluck the sinner from 
 hell, if a hell be left to burn in his own breast ? Why raise him 
 to heaven, if he remain a stranger to its sanctity and love 1 With 
 
21 
 
 these impressions, we are accustomed to value the gospel, chiefly, 
 as it abounds in effectual aid$,motives,and excitements to a generous 
 and divine virtue. In this virtue, as in a common centre, we see 
 all its doctrines, precepts, promises meet, and we believe, that 
 feith in this religion, is of no worth, and contributes nothing to 
 salvation, any farther than as it uses these doctrines, precepts, 
 promises, and the whole life, character, sufferings, and triumphs of 
 Jesus, as the means of purifying the mind, of changing it into the 
 likeness of bis celestial excellence. 
 
 Fifthly. Having thus stated our views of the highest object of 
 Christ's mission, that it is the recovery of men to virtue, or holi- 
 ness, I shall -now, in the last place, give our views of the nature of 
 Christian virtue, or true holiness. We believe that all virtue has 
 its foundation in the moral nature of man, that is, in conscience, 
 or his sense of duty, and in the power of forming his temper and 
 life according to conscience. We believe that these moral facul- 
 ties are the grounds of responsibility, and the highest distinctions 
 of human nature, and that no act is praiseworthy, any farther 
 than it springs from their exertion. We believe, that no dispensa- 
 tions infused into us without our own moral activity, are of the 
 nature of virtue, and therefore, we reject the doctrine of irresisti- 
 ble divine influence on the human mind, moulding it into goodness, 
 as marble is hewn into a statue. Such goodness", if this word may 
 be used, would not be the object of moral approbation, any more 
 than the instinctive affections of inferior animals, or the constitu- 
 tional amiableness of human beings. 
 
 By these remarks, we do not mean to deny the importance of 
 God's aid or Spirit ; but by his Spirit, we mean a moral, illumina- 
 ting, and persuasive influence, not physical, not compulsory, not 
 involving a necessity of virtue. We object, strongly, to the idea 
 of many Christians respecting man's impotence and God's irresis- 
 tible agency on the heart, believing that they subvert our respon- 
 sibility and the laws of our moral nature, that they make men ma- 
 chines, that they cast on God the blame of all evil deeds, that they 
 discourage good minds, and inflate the fanatical with wild conceits 
 of immediate and sensible inspiration. 
 
 Among the virtues, we give the first place to the love of God. 
 We believe, that this principle is the true end and happiness of our 
 being, that we were made for union with our Creator, 'that his in- 
 finite perfection is the only sufficient object and true resting place 
 for the insatiable desires and unlimited capacities of the human 
 mind, and that without him, our noblest sentiments, admiration, 
 veneration, hope and love, would wither and decay. We believe 
 too, that the love of God is not only essential to happiness, but to 
 the strength and perfection of all the virtues ; that conscience, 
 without the sanction of God's authority and retributive justice, 
 would be a weak director ; that benevolence, unless nourished by 
 communion with his goodness, and encouraged by his smile, could 
 not thrive amidst the selfishness and thanklessness of the world ; 
 and that self government, without a sense of the divine inspection, 
 would hardly extend bey ond an outward and partial purity. God, 
 
22 
 
 a* he is essentially goodness, holiness, justice, ""d virtu*,"*© he ■ 
 the life, motive, and-SBstainer of virtue in the human so»l. 
 
 Bat whilst we earnestly inculcate the love of God, we believe 
 that great care is nece*sary to distinguish it from counterfeits. We 
 think that much, which is called piety, is worthless. Many have 
 fallen into the error, that there can be no excess in feelings, which 
 have God for their object ; and, distrusting as coldness, that self- 
 possession, without which, virtue and devotion lose all their digni- 
 ty, they have abandoned themselves to extravagancies, which have 
 brought contempt on piety. Most certainly, if the love of God be 
 that, which often bears its name, the less we have of it, the bet- 
 ter. If religion be the shipwreck of understanding, we cannot 
 keep too far from it. On this subject, we;ilw*ys speak plainly. 
 We cannot sacrifice our reason to the reputation of zeal. We 
 owe it to truth and religion, to maintain, that fanaticism, partial 
 insanity, sudden impressions, and ungovernable transports, are any 
 thing, rather than piety. 
 
 We conceive, (hat the true love of God is a moral sentiment, 
 founded on a clear perception, and consisting in a high esteem 
 and veneration of his moral perfections. Thus, it perfectly coin- 
 cides, and is in fact the same thing with the love of virtue, recti- 
 tude, and goodness. You will easily judge, then, what we 
 esteem the surest and only decisive signs of piety. We lay no 
 stress on strong excitements. We esteem him, and him only a pious 
 man, who practically conforms to God's moral perfections,and gov- 
 ernment, who shows his delight in God's benevolence, by loving 
 and serving his neighbour ; his delight in God's justice, by being 
 resolutely upright; bis sense of God's purity, by regulating his 
 thoughts, imagination, and desires ; and whose conversation, busi- 
 ness, and domestick life are swayed by a regard to God's presence 
 and authority. In all things else, men may deceive themselves. 
 Disordered nerves may give them strange sights, and sounds, and 
 impressions. Texts of scripture may come to them as from 
 heaven. Their whole souls may be moved, and their confidence 
 in God's favour be undoubting. - But in all this there is no religion. 
 The question is, do they love God's commands, in which his char- 
 acter is fully displayed, and give up to these their habits and pas- 
 sions? Without this, extacy is a mockery. One surrender of 
 desire to God's will, is worth a thousand transports. We do not 
 judge of the bent of men's minds by their raptures, any more than 
 we judge of the direction of a tree during a storm. We rather 
 suspect loud professions, for we have observed, that deep feeling 
 is generally noisele>s, and least seeks display. 
 
 We would not, by these remarks, be understood as wishing to 
 exclude from religion warmth, and even transport. We honour, 
 and highly value true religious sensibility. We believe, that 
 Chri-tianity is intended to act powerfully on our whole nature, on 
 the heart, as well as the understanding and the conscience. > We 
 conceive of heaven as a state, where the love of God will be ex- 
 alted into au iMoouaded fervour and joy ; and we desire, in our 
 pilgrimage here, to drink in the spirit of that better world. But 
 
23 
 
 Wft think, that religious warmth is onl/ to be valued, when it 
 wirings naturally from an improved character, when it comes un- 
 forced, when it is the recompense of obedience, when it is the 
 warmth of a mind, which understands God by being like him, aud 
 when, instead of disordering, it exalts the understanding, invigo- 
 rates conscience, gives a pleasure to common duties, and is seen 
 to exist in connexion with cheerfulness, judiciousness, and a rea- 
 sonable frame of mind., When we observe a fervour, called reli- 
 gious, in men whose general character expresses little refinement 
 and elevation, and whose piety seems at war with reason, we 
 pay it little respect. We honour religion too much to give itft 
 sacred name to a feverish, forced, fluctuating zeal, which has lit- 
 tle power over the life. 
 
 Another important branch of religion, we believe to be love to 
 Christ. The greatness of the work of Jesus, the spirit with 
 Which he executed it, and the sufferings which he bore for our 
 salvation, we feel to be strong claims on our gratitude and vene-r 
 ration. We see in nature no beauty to be compared with the 
 loveliness of his character, nor do we find on earth a benefactor, 
 to whom we owe an equal debt. We read his history with delight, 
 and learn from it the perfection of our nature. We are particu- 
 larly touched by bis death, which was endured for our redemp- 
 tion, and by that strength of charity, which triumphed over his 
 pains. His resurrection is the foundation of our hope of immor- 
 tality. His intercession gives us boldness to draw nigh to the 
 throne of grace, and we look up to heaven with new desire, when' 
 we think, that if we follow him here, we shall there see his be* 
 nignant countenance, and enjoy his friendship for ever. 
 
 I need not express to you our views on the subject of the benev- 
 olent virtues. We attach such importance to these, that we are 
 sometimes reproached with exalting them above piety. We re- 
 gard the spirit of love, charity, meekness, forgivenesg, liberality, 
 and beneficence, as the badge and distinction of Christians, as the 
 brightest image we can bear of God, as the best proof of piety. 
 On this subject, I need not, and cannot enlarge ; but there is one 
 branch of benevolence, which I ought not to pass over in silence, 
 because we think that we conceive of it more highly and justly, 
 than many of our brethren, i refer to the duty of candour, char- 
 itable judgment, especially towards those who differ in religious 
 opinion. We think, that in nothing have Christians so widely de* 
 parted from their religion, as in this particular. We read with 
 astonishment and horror, the history of the church, and sometimes 
 ■when we look back on the fires of persecution, and the zeal of 
 Christians, building up walls of separation, and in giving up one 
 another to perdition, we feel as if we were reading the records 
 of an infernal, rather than a heavenly kingdom. An enemy to 
 every religion, if asked to describe a Christian, would, with some 
 show of reason, depict him as an idolater of his own distinguishing 
 opinion?, covered with badges of party, shutting his eyes on the 
 virtues, and his ears on the arguments of his opponents, arrogating 
 all excellence to his own sect, and all saving power to his own 
 
24 
 
 creed, sheltering under the name of pious zeal, the lore of domi- 
 nation, the conceit of infallibility, and the spirit of intolerance, 
 and trampling on men's rights under the pretence of saving their 
 souls. 
 
 We can hardly conceive of a plainer obligation on beings of our 
 frail and fallible nature, who are instructed in the duty of candid 
 judgment, than to abstain from condemning men of apparent con- 
 scientiousness and sincerity, who are chargeable with no crime 
 but that of differing from us in the interpretation of the Scriptures, 
 and differing, too, on topicks of great and acknowledged obscurity. 
 We are astonished at the hardihood of those, who, with Christ's 
 warnings sounding in their ears, take on them the responsibility 
 of making creeds for his church, and cast out professors of virtu- 
 ous lives fur imagined errors, for the guilt of thinking for them- 
 selves. We know that zeal for truth, is the cover for this usur- 
 pation of Christ's prerogative ; but we think that zeal for truth, 
 as it is called, is very suspicious, except in men, whose capacities 
 and advantages, whose patient deliberations, and whose improve- 
 ments in humility, mildness, and candour, give them a right to 
 hope that their views are more just, than those of their neighbors. 
 Much of what passes for a zeal for truth, we look upon with lit- 
 tle respect, for it often appears to thrive most luxuriantly where 
 other virtues shoot up thinly and feebly ; and we have no grati- 
 tude for those reformers, who would force upon us a doctrine, 
 which Ins not sweetened their own tempers, or made them better 
 men than their neighbours. 
 
 We are accustomed to think much of the difficulties attending 
 religious inquiries, springing from the *low developement of our 
 minds, from the power of early impressions, from the state of so- 
 ciety, from human authority, from the general neglect of the rea- 
 soning powers, from the want of j'jst principles of criticism, and 
 of important helps in interpreting scripture, and from various oth- 
 er causes. We find, that on no subject have men, and even good 
 men, engrafted so many strange conceits, wild theories, and fic- 
 tions of fancy, as on religion, and remembering, as we do, that we 
 ourselves are sharers of the common frailty, we dare not assume 
 infallibility in the treatment of our fellow Christians, or encour- 
 age in common Christians, who have little time for investigation, 
 the habit of denouncing and contemning other denominations, 
 perhaps more enlightened and virtuous than their own. Charity, 
 forbearance, a delight in the virtues of different sects, a back- 
 wardness to censure and condemn, these are virtues, which, how- 
 ever poorly practised by us, we admire and recommend, and we 
 Would rather join ourselves to the church in which they abound, 
 than to any other communion, however elated with the belief of 
 its own orthodoxy, however strict in guarding its creed, however 
 burning with zeal against imagined error. 
 
 I have thus given the distinguishing views of those Christians 
 in whose names I have spoken. We have embraced this system, 
 not hastily or lightly, but after much deliberation, and we hold it 
 fast, not merely because we believe it to be true, but because we 
 
25 
 
 regard it as purifying truth, as a doctrine according to godliness^ 
 as able to " work mightily" and " to bring forth fruit" in them 
 who believe. That we wish to spread it, we have no desire to 
 conceal ; but we think, that we wish its diffusion, becauss we re- 
 gard it as more friendly to practical piety and pure morals, than 
 the opposite doctrines, because it gives clearer and nobler views 
 of duty, and stronger motives to its performance, because it rec- 
 ommends religion at once to the understanding and the heart, 
 because it asserts the loyely and venerable attributes of God, 
 because it tends to restore the benevolent spirit of Jesus to his 
 divided and afflicted church, and because it cuts off every hope 
 of God's favour, except that which springs from practical con- 
 fortuity to the life and precepts of Christ. We see nothing in our 
 views to give offence, save their purity, and it is their purity, 
 which makes us seek and hope their extension through the world, 
 
 I now turn to the usual addresses of the day. 
 
 My friend and brother ; — You are this day to take upon you 
 important duties ; to be clothed with an office, which the Son of 
 God did not disdain ; to devote yourself to that religion, which the 
 most hallowed lips have preached, and the most precious blood 
 sealed. We trust, that you will bring to this work a willing mind, 
 a firm purpose, a martyr's spirit, a readiness to toil and suffer for 
 the truth, a devotion of your best powers to the interests of piety 
 and virtue. I have spoken of the doctrines, which you will prob- 
 ably preach ; but I do not mean, that you are to give yourself to 
 controversy. You will remember, that good practice is the end 
 of preaching, and will labor to make your people holy livers, rath- 
 er than skilful disputants. Be careful, lest the desire of defend- 
 ing what you deem truth, and of repelling reproach and misrep- 
 resentation, turn you aside from your great business, which is to 
 fix in men's minds a living conviction of the obligation, sublimity 
 and happiness of Christian virtue. The best way to vindicate 
 your sentiments, is to show in your preaching and life, their inti- 
 mate connexion with Christian morals, with a high and delicate 
 sense of duty, with candour towards your opposers, with inflexible 
 integrity, and with an habitual reverence for God. If any light 
 can pierce and scatter the clouds of prejudice, it is that of a pure 
 example. You are to preach a system which has nothing to rec- 
 ommend it, but its fitness to make men better ; which has no unin- 
 telligible doctrine for the mystical, no extravagancies for the fa- 
 natical, no dreams for the visionary, no .contradictions for the 
 credulous, which asks no sacrifice of men's understanding, but 
 only of the passions and vices ; and the best and only way to rec- 
 ommend such a system is, to show forth its power in purifying and 
 exalting the character. My brother, may your life preach more 
 loudly than your lips. Be to the people a pattern of all good 
 works , and may your instructions derive authority from a well 
 grounded belief in your hearers, that you speak from the heart, 
 that you preach from experience, that the truth which you 
 dispense has wrought powerfully in your own heart, that God, and 
 Jesug, and heaven are not merely words on your lips, but most af- 
 4 
 
26 
 
 O-uuap realties to your mind, and springs of hope and consola- 
 tion, and strength, in nil your trials. Thus labouring, may you 
 reap abundantly, and ha.ve a testimony of your faithfulness, not 
 only in your own conscience, but in the esteem, love, virtues, and 
 improvements of your people. 
 
 Brethren of this church and society. — VV'e rejoice with you in 
 the prospects of this day. We Yejoice in the zeal, unanimity and 
 liberality, with which you have secured to yourselves the admin- 
 istration of God's word and ordinances, according to your own 
 understanding of the Scriptures. We thank God, thnt he has dis- 
 posed you to form an association, on the true principles of Chris- 
 tianity and of protestantism, that you have solemnly resolved to 
 call no man master in religion* to take your faith from no human 
 creed, to submit your consciences to no human authority, but to 
 repair to the gospel, to read it with your own eyes, to exercise 
 upon it your own understanding, to search it, as if not a sect ex- 
 isted around you, and to follow it wherever it may lead you. 
 Brethren, hold fast your Christian and protestant liberty. We 
 wish you continued peace, and growing prosperity. We pray 
 God, that your good works may glorify your Christian profession, 
 that your candour, and serious attention may encourage our young 
 brother in the arduous work to which you have called him, and 
 that your union with him, beginning in hope, may continue in 
 joy, and may issue in the friendship and union of heaven. 
 
 To all who hear me, I would say, with the apostle ; " Prove all 
 things, holdfast that ■srhich in good." Do not, brethren, shrink 
 from the duty of searching God's word for yourselves.through fear 
 of human censure and denunciation. Do not think that you may 
 innocently follow the opinions, which prevail around you, without 
 investigation, on the ground, that Christianity is now so purified 
 from errors, as to need no laborious research. There is much rea- 
 son to believe, that Christianity is at this moment dishonoured by 
 gross and cherished corruptions. If you remember the darkness, 
 which hung over the gospel for ages; if you consider the impure 
 union, which still subsists in almost every Christian country,between 
 the church and the stale, and which enlists men's selfishness, and 
 ambition on the side of established error ; if you recollect in 
 what degree the spirit of intolerance has checked free inquiry, 
 not only before, but after the reformation; you will see that 
 Christianity cannot have freed itself from all the human inven- 
 tions which disfigured it under the papal tyranny. No. Much 
 stubble is yet to be burnt ; much rubbish to be removed ; many 
 gaudy decorations, which a false taste has hung around Christian- 
 ity, must be swept away ; and the earth-born fogs which have 
 long shrouded it, must be scattered, before this divine fabric will 
 rise before us in its native, and awful majesty, in its harmonious 
 proportions, in its mild and celestial splendours. This glorious 
 reformation in the church, we hope, under God's blessing, from 
 the demolition of human authority in matters of religion, from 
 the fall of those hierarchies, huge establishments, general convo- 
 cations or assemblies, and other human institutions, by which the 
 
27 
 
 minds of individuals are oppressed under the weight of numbers, 
 and a papal dominion is perpetuated in the protestant church. — 
 Our earnest prayer to God is, that he will overturn, and overturn, 
 and overturn the strong holds of spiritual usurpation, until he shall 
 come, whose right it is to rule the minds of men ; that the con- 
 spiracy of ages against the liberty of christians may be brought 
 to an end ; that the servile assent, so long yielded to human 
 creeds, may give place to honest and fearless inquiry into the 
 Scriptures ; and that Christianity, thus purified from error, may 
 put forth its almighty energy, and prove itself, by its enobling 
 influence on the mind, to be indeed, " the power of God unto sal- 
 vatio»." 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 THE author intended to add some notes to this discourse, but they would ne- 
 cessarily be more extended than the occasion would justify. He wished to offer 
 some remarks on the word Mystery, but can only refer his readers to the diserta- 
 tion on that subject, in the inestimable work of Dr. Campbell on the Gospels . 
 He was prevented, by the limits of the discourse from enlarging on that very in- 
 teresting topick, the great end of our Saviour's mission ; and he would refer those,, 
 who wish to obtain definite views on this point, to an admirable treatise on the 
 design of Christianity, by Bishop Fowler, which may be found in Bishop Wat- 
 son's tracts. Had I time, I should be happy to notice the principal texts adduced 
 in the Trinitarian controversy, particularly those which are either interpolations, 
 or false or doubtful readings, or false or doubtful translations, such as 1 John v. 
 7. Acts xx. 28. ITim. iii. 16. Philip, ii. 6. &c. These last texts should be dis r 
 missed from the controversy, and they cannot be needed, if the doctrine, which 
 they are adduced to support, be a fundamental truth of Christianity. A funda- 
 mental truth cannot, certainly, want the aid of four or five doubtful passages ; 
 and Trinitarians betray Jhe weakness of their cause in the eagerness with which 
 they struggle for those I haye named. But I cannot enlarge. The candour of 
 the reader will excuse many omissions in a sermon, which is necessarily too X\m- 
 ited to do more, than give the most prominent views of a subject. 
 
THE CHARGE, 
 
 BY ELIPHALET PORTER, D. D. 
 
 OF ROXBURY, MASS. 
 
 Mt Drab Brother ! — Conscious, as I trust you are, of the purity of your 
 motives in enteriog into the Christian ministry, and of the sincerity of your de- 
 tires to fulfil the duties of the sacred office, and the important station into which 
 you have now been publickly and solemnly inducted ; you will receive, I doubt 
 net, with all readiness and seriousness of mind, the charge, which, in conformity 
 with ancient usage, and the duty assigned me, I am now to pronounce. This 
 charge will be solemn, impressive, and worthy of your regard, in proportion as 
 it shall be immediately drawn from the lively oracles of God. 
 
 Permit me, therefore, to charge thee, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who will judge the quick and the dead at his appearing ; Take heed to thyself, 
 to the flock over which divine providence hath made thee an overseer, and to 
 the ministry, which thou bast received of the Lord, to fulfil it. 
 
 Our gracious master, you will recollect, spake a parable to this end, that men 
 ought always (o pray. This duty is, in a pecuiiar manner, incumbent on those 
 who minister in holy things. Habitual prayer will have an important inflwence 
 on your character and ministry. It will fortify you against the power of temp- 
 tation, elevate your views, and sanctify your affections ; cherish good principles, 
 desires and purposes ; strengthen and animate you in the discharge of duty ; and 
 have a powerful tendency to draw down the choicest blessings on yourself, and 
 on the people of your charge. To you it will belong to lead in the devotions of 
 the sanctuary, and of various occasions of a more private, though not less [inte- 
 resting nature. Let this part of your ministerial duty engage a due portion of 
 your attention and meditation, that it may ever be performed in a manner ap- 
 propriate, impressive, edifying and availing. 
 
 Preach the word ; preach the truth as ft is in Jesus, holding fast the form of 
 sound words, as contained in the holy Scriptures, and calling no man on earth 
 master. Be instant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with 
 all long-suffering and doctrine. Keep back nothing, which may be profitable to 
 your hearer«. But let not an indiscreet, though honest zeal, to declare the 
 whole counsel of God, betray you into the error of striving about words to no 
 profit, or of seeming to be wise above what is written. Still less suffer yourself, 
 through a mere affectation of superior fidelity, to indulge in uncharitable denun- 
 ciations, and in announcing opinions with an air of confidence exceeding your 
 inward conviction of their truth. Imitate that teacher, who came from God, 
 and in whose mouth guile was never found. In his example you will see a 
 wonderful prudence, united with perfect integrity; and occasional reserve, with 
 unequalled faithfulness to him whose messages he was sent to declare. Study to 
 shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, 
 rightly dividing the word of truth. 
 
 Give th; self to reading, meditation, and doctrine. Intermeddle with all di- 
 vine and useful knowledge ; not forgetting however, that much study is a weari- 
 ness to the flesh, and that there is an application too intense to be long endured, 
 without endangering health, and life, and usefulness. 
 
29 
 
 Administer the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper to such sub- 
 jects, and in such a manner, as shall be best adapted to rescue, and preserve 
 those institutions from superstitious abuse and profane contempt, and have a 
 tendency to render them extensive, and effectual means of exciting and binding 
 men to a religious life ; of promoting their growth in gra<._e and in the knowledge 
 of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; and of securing the perseverance of the 
 saints. 
 
 Maintain Christian order and discipline, and behave thyself impartially and 
 wisely in the house of God. If any man, through inadvertence and surprise 
 be overtaken with a fault, restore such an one, in the spirit of meekness, con- 
 sidering thyself lest thou also be tempted. Them who sin habitually and open- 
 ly, rebuke before all, that others also may fear. A man that is an heretic, one 
 that is aspiring and contentious, causing divisions and offences, after a first, 
 and second admonition, reject, in order that peace and unity may be maintained. 
 
 When called, in providence, to separate others to the work of the gospel 
 ministry, you will not forget the apostolic injunction, lay hands suddenly 
 on no man ; but will have satisfactory evidence of the religious character, 
 blameless life, theological attainment, and aptness to teach, of those whom. you 
 shall ordain elders in the churches. 
 
 Remember, that as minister of Jesus Christ, vou are set for the defence of 
 the gospel; and are required to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered 
 to the saints, in opposition to those who deny the only Lord God, and the. 
 Lord Jesus Christ, his messenger of light and love to the world. 
 
 Know the state of thy nock, and give to every one his portion in due season. 
 Visit the sick, console the afflicted, support the weak, be patient toward all 
 men. Surrounded by Christians, whose religious opinions and modes of eccle- 
 siastical government, may not entirely accord with your own, you will cher- 
 ish towards them sentiments of affection and respect, and treat them as breth- 
 ren. Should any feel, and conduct towards you in a different manner, you will 
 still remember, that the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto 
 all, pafieht, in, meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God, per- 
 adventure, will give them repentance to the ackno»:legment of the truth. 
 
 Let no man despise thee, or have just occasion to speak of thee with reproach, 
 that the ministry be not blamed, and the truth hindered. But by propriety, 
 and dignity of deportment, and usefulness of life, commend yourselfto the es- 
 teem, and consciences of all in the sight of God. Be an example of believers 
 in word, in covcrsation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. In all things 
 show thyself a pattern of good works. A city that is set on an hill cannot be 
 hid. Situated as you are, the application and use of this saying of our Lord 
 will be readily perceived. 
 
 Stir up the gifts that are in thee, and let thy profiting appear unto all. Ob- 
 serve with due attention the burning and shining lights, which may be placed 
 in the golden candlestick around you. This may afford useful excitement to 
 trim your own lamp, and thus cause it to burn with a purer and brighter flame. 
 
 Having been allowed of God to be put in trust with this ministry, so speak, 
 so live, so fulfil its various duties, not as pleasing men, but God who trieth the 
 heart. 
 
 To make men wise, and good, and happy, is the great end of your sacred vo- 
 cation. Keep this end constantly in sight. Let all inferior, and comparatively 
 unworthy aims and motives, which are so apt to insinuate and wind themselves 
 into the human heart, be eaten up by a holy zeal for doing good, as the decep- 
 tive magic serpents of Egypt were once swallowed up by the holy rod of Aaron. 
 
 Be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, foras- 
 much as you know your labour is not in vain in the Lord. And now unto him 
 who is able, not only to keep you from falling, but to make you eminently use- 
 ful in his service, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory 
 with exceeding joy ; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, 
 dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE SOCIETY, 
 
 BY NATHANIEL THAYER, D. D. 
 OF LANCASTER, MASS. 
 
 Christian Frtends ; — From the monitory lessons of my elder brother, you 
 will be led to appreciate the labours and responsibility of your minister In 
 view of his situation, and the eventful consequences of this day, " his soul 
 would be cuit down, and disquieted within him," had he not the pledge you 
 have given of respect, confidence, and affection, and the animating promise of 
 the great head of the church. 
 
 The union, which has been consummated, is a source of obligation to a peo- 
 ple. Attending circumstances give it, in your case, a vast solemnity and 
 weight. 
 
 In executing the appointment of this ecclesiastical council, you will permit 
 me, with plainness of speech, and a solicitude for the welfare of my brother 
 and yourselves, to "stir up your mind by way of remembrance." 
 
 Ye need not, that I address you on the importance of saving your minister 
 "from entangling himself with the affairs of this life.*' " Be not weary in well 
 doing;" fur the good things, which you shall minister to the convenience and 
 comfort of this servant of (he Lord, you may expect to reap an hundred fold 
 in (he spiritual things, which he will be enabled to dispense. He will have no 
 worldly perplexity to prevent his giving himself wholly to the ministry. He 
 may intermeddle with all wisdom. He may "seek for the truth as for silver, 
 and search for it as for hid treasures." You have the promise, that in thus do- 
 ing, " he shall find the knowledge of God." When you deal kindly with the 
 teacher ef religion, you may be animated by the belief, that you are acting in 
 obedience to a solemn ordinance of your master. " Even so hath the Lord or- 
 dained, that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel." 
 
 To the accomplishment of your raised hope of his usefulness, who is " set 
 over you in the Lord." cherish towards him a disposition to candour. In in- 
 dividuals in the Christian community, there appears, and it is no new thing 
 undtr the sun, a propensity to judge hardly of ministers. It gave rise to that 
 reproof of the great founder of the religion which they preach. " We have 
 piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have mourned unto you, and 
 ye have not lamented." We are not to consider this propensity the fruit of a god- 
 ly jealousy. In its operation it provokes the captious, and such as are disinclin- 
 ed to a charitable judgment, to many railing accusations. Exemplary and 
 faithful ministers are accused of being worldly minded, proud, seeker- of pop- 
 ularity, friendly to the rich, negligent of the poor, wanting in compassion to 
 the sick and afflicted, deficient in charity or zeal. From your advantages for 
 refinement, and a cendid interpretation of motives and actions, we hope better 
 things. Let your fellow Christians behold you as a society, each member of 
 which considers himself appointed by providence, as the depository of the 
 character of his minister, and resolved to guard it with the vigilance of true 
 friendship. We do not urge yeu to have a mantle of charity broad enough to 
 cover defects, which shall bring disgrace upon the ministry, or " give occas- 
 ion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." But we do represent it to you 
 as a solemn duty, to repress a capricious, uncandid, censorious spirit. Be al- 
 ways ready with an apology for the omistions and errors, which can fairly be 
 
31 
 
 ascribed to human frailty, or to circumstances and causes beyond human con- 
 trol. Be particularly cautious in your remarks on the indiscretions and faults 
 of your .minister, in presence of your children. You will be in danger of pro- 
 ducing an impression, which will grow into a strong prejudice, lessen his use- 
 fulness, and obstruct their edification. 
 
 Be reasonable in your expectation of pastoral visits. A religious society 
 should never forget, that "the strength of their minister is not the strength of 
 stones, neither is his flesh brass." If solicited to mingle in the pleasures or dis- 
 sipations of life, at the expense of what he believes to be professional duty, the 
 reply should be received as magnanimous, and coming from a just sense of ob- 
 ligation to his master, if he says, " I am doing a great work, so that I cannot 
 come down ; why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to 
 you ?" Since inspiration has ceased, the man, who brings an intellectual and 
 spiritual repast into the temple, must have time to prepare. If the sick and 
 afflicted receive due attention, and a reasonable anxiety appears for the tem- 
 poral and spiritual welfare of his people, it will he only a suitable expression 
 of their confidence, to leave with their minister the appropriation of seasons for 
 ordinary and social intercourse. 
 
 You will not be unmindful of a great purpose of an established ministry, and 
 which has professedly influenced you in the erection of this temple, and in the 
 preparatory measures for this solemnity. It is that you may enjoy the stated 
 adminstration of the word and ordinances. You will be singularly privileged, 
 if there are none of your number, who, by reason of a corrupt education, licen- 
 tious examples, a confirmed habit of negligence, an addictedness to dissipa- 
 tion, distorted views of religion, or a general unconcern about their souls and 
 eternity, have contracted a disrelish for Christian institutions. " Exhort them 
 daily while it is called to-day." In the exercise of a Christian spirit, give them 
 rational and interesting representations of the gospel and its ordinances. You 
 may hope to correct their moral taste. Address their love of order, their patri- 
 otism, their desire for present and future happiness. A divine blessing attend- 
 ing your labours, you may convert these sinners from the errour of their ways, 
 and save their souls from death. You will fill them with joy and gladness, when 
 it is said unto them, let us go into the house of God. You may excite in them 
 " the preparation of heart," which shall make them welcome guests at the ta- 
 ble of the Lord. You will be " helpers of your minister in Christ Jesus." 
 
 Ministers are commanded to " preach the word," Were there no positive 
 precept for an enforcement of the duty, we might infer the indispensable obli- 
 gation of all Christians to be hearers of it. A people cannot more surely abate 
 the ardour, destroy the courage, and check the improvement, of a conscien- 
 tious teacher of piety, than to "forsake the assembling of themselves together,as 
 the manner of some is." Let parents, and men of wealth and elevated rank, 
 give the aid of their influence and example for the encouragement and support 
 of publick worship. 
 
 When you approach this temple, come not to indulge a critical and fastidi- 
 ous taste; to feast upon strains of eloquence; to hear this or the other theory of 
 Christians denounped,or those who embrace or preach them stigmatized as big- 
 ots and subverters of Christian truth. The admonition to beware of such de- 
 nunciation is too pointed and solemn to be slighted, by the enlightened and 
 humble servants of the Redeemer; " why dost thou judge thy brother, or why 
 . dost thou set at naught thy brother ? for we must all stand before the judgment 
 seat of Christ." 
 
 Come not with the expectation of hearing in every sermon a body of divini- 
 ty. • Your minister is called to address a mixed assembly, formed of the learn- 
 ed and unlearned ; the rich and poor ; the afflicted and prosperous ; the unho- 
 ly and the good ; adults and youth. Believe that he is faithful to him, who 
 hath placed him in the vineyard, if be shall " give to each his portion in due 
 
 seaon 
 
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 Come not with a disposition to indulge an unprofitable curiosity, by listening 
 to abstruse speculations upon subjects, which " minister to strife rather than to 
 godly edifying." Bear upon your mind, when you come hither, the solemn 
 
32 
 
 counsel of the son of Siracli. '' Seek not out the things that are too hard tot 
 thee, neither search the things that are above thy strength. But what is com- 
 manded thee, think thereupon with reverence ; for it is not needful for thee to 
 see with thine eyes the things that are in secret. Be not curious in unnecessa- 
 sy matters, for more things are shewed unto thee than men understand, for ma- 
 ny are deceived by their own vain opinion, and an evil suspicion hath over- 
 thrown their judgment." If the discourses you shall hear be plain and 
 practical, and there 'be no attempt of their author to reach the unfathomable 
 depths of the divine. counsels, consider him as justified in this course by the in- 
 spired lesson : " Secret things belong unto the Lord our God ; but the things 
 which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do 
 all the words of this law." 
 
 Rest not your faith on any minister of Christ. You are to take the Son of 
 God only for your master and Lord. By his gospel you are to test the truth or 
 errors of men, who profess to address you in his name. May you be added to 
 the catalogue of Christians, who " search the Scriptures daily, whether the things 
 which they hear are so." 
 
 Pray for your minister. He needs your sympathy, your friendship, your 
 counsel, but especially your prayers. Pray that he may have grace to execute 
 his purpose of this day, that " he will know nothing amongst you save Jesus 
 Christ and him crucified."' May he " save himself and those who hear him." 
 
 We assure you of our joy and our thanksgiving to the author of all good in- 
 fluences, when we heard of " your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in 
 Christ." We recognise you as a branch of the Christian church. We applaud 
 you for your openness to declare your belief in " one God, and in one mediator 
 between God and men, the man Chrisi Jesus." While you are hostile to a 
 spirit of proselytism, while you resolve and encourage your fellow Christians to 
 " call no man master upon the earth," your duty does not wholly consist in this. 
 Tou are to prove yourselves the true disciples of Jesus, by " contending ear- 
 nestly for the faith, which was once delivered to the saints." Use all means 
 consistent with " charity out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith 
 unfeigned" to understand, defend, and diffuse important truth. Bring your un- 
 derstanding with you to the interpretation of Christian truths. Let your " zeal 
 be according to knowledge.'' Act under the conviction, that " it is good to be 
 zealously affected always in a good thing." Justify the confidence which we, 
 and the churches we represent, have reposed in you, by remaining " steadfast, 
 immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." 
 
 Now, Christian Friends, our hearts' desire and earnest prayer for you and 
 your minister is, that you may long " know how good* and how pleasant it is for 
 brethren to dwell together in unity ;'' that this church may be " built upon the 
 
 is Christ himself being the chief 
 preached gospel is the power of 
 i ;" that " whether we come and 
 
 „__, ...... ..™ ... juu auairs, we may hear that you stand 
 
 fast in the faith, striving together for the furtherance of the gospel j" and that 
 hereafter you may join "the redeemed of the Lord, who shall com e to Zion 
 with songs, and with everlasting joy." 
 
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