orthodoxy. In view of all such documents, of whose unscriptural character and immoral tendency those celebrated men seem to have been fully apprised, they proclaimed the great protestant maxim-THE BIBLE IS THE ONLY RULE OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. The different sects have professedly held fast to the maxim; but having found, as they suppose, that the church cannot live without ANOTHER RULE, they have stated the bible to be the only INFALLIBLE rule, and then have brought in others, which, though admitted to be fallible, they are pleased to denominate STANDARDS. I shall then view these technical terms-CREED and CONFESSION OF FAITH as synonymous:-in general, for the sake of its brevity, employing the first, but taking either as may be most convenient. A CREED, using the term in its literal sense, every man must have. It may be longer or shorter, broader or narrower, according to the number or the nature of the things he may believe, or according to the apprehension he may have of those things. Both reason and the scriptures require that he should have such a creed, and make confession of it too. FAITH is the distinguishing attribute of mankind, in their present lapsed state. They cannot SEE God and live. VISION has been lost, and FAITH is the natural substitute.* "Without faith it is impossible to please God." It is "the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." But then every believer should be careful that his faith, or his creed, should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the *See my lectures on the first three chapters of Genesis. power of God. He must have a "Thus saith the Lord," or in modern phrase," the testimony of God," speaking in his word or his works, whereon to rely. To explain. Jehovah has revealed certain truths in the bible, which he calls upon men to believe, and which they are explicitly required personally to examine and apprehend, to the whole extent of their "several ability," in order that they may believe them. Every man who has obeyed the divine commandment, and who has received the things revealed as true, has formed a creed-in other words, he believes what the Holy Spirit has revealed. Without this he cannot be a christian; but plunges, as an obstinate rebel, into everlasting perdition. The sentence of the great Prince of life, in such a case, is "He that believeth not shall be damned.". "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." To save men from an issue so awful, and to bring home to their hearts the truths, which, in the scriptures, are addressed with so much plainness and point to the human mind, the Comforter is sent. "He shall reprove the world of sin," said the great prophet, "because they believe not in me." Most indubitably, then, every Christian has a CREED, or he confesses certain things which he has learned and believes. In making the above declaration have I conceded the point in controversy? Has one single assertion been made, which is, in any form, or to any extent, inconsistent with individual liberty? or which encroaches, in the least degree, upon the personal responsibili ties of a human being? or which admits, in any way, that there is another lord of conscience besides Jehovah himself? The advocates of the ecclesiastical documents which this argument condemns charge upon it this inconsistency. This charge is heard every where in conversation, and has been most positively averred, and pertinaciously urged by Dr. Miller, under whose professional notice my "remarks" have fallen. Let the reader judge for himself. Again. As the word of God is intended for the human family, and as they may all have the Holy Spirit for their common teacher, there will be found much coincidence of sentiment among them. The first principles of Christianity will be readily perceived, and promptly admitted by all, as first principles are generally received in other departments of life. The secondary agencies which society itself affords, the institutions which the Lord of society has seen proper to establish, parental example and tuition, ministerial instructions, the interchange of sentiment, and the ever varying circumstances which belong to living intercourse, these and such like things, which are independent of human statutes, and whose influence is never greater nor more salutary than when human legislators let them alone, necessarily produce a similarity of views and habits. Society has such an inherent power to regulate itself. The spirit of the community, so to speak, moulds all the members of that community into a common likeness. Enlightened public opinion, if such phraseology should be more agreeable, will eventually conform every thing to it self; will overturn whatever opposes it, and will establish its own liberal and enlarged principles. The coincidence of views and feelings, which has just been stated, may be admitted to exhibit something like a social creed. Or-the bible being a plain bookthere are certain elemental truths, which men will embrace in common, from the very nature of the case.. These are truths which no test of orthodoxy can make more plain; which may be brought into dispute by the manner in which those tests may express them; and which the different sects may embrace, notwithstanding their tests may be exceedingly varied. Such a social creed was found in the primitive church, when, as Irenæus reports, Christians throughout the world believed the cardinal points of evangelic doctrine, as though they inhabited a single house; when, as Dupin says, "It was not necessary to assemble councils in order to own the truth and condemn error;" and when, as we shall hereafter see, there were no ecclesiastical creeds. - In this living intercourse of society, to which reference has been made, each man, under some form, nay under a variety of forms, confesses what he believes. He does this when he speaks, when, as a minister, he preaches, or when he appears as an author. "I believed," said the psalmist, "therefore have I spoken." Paul adopts the same rule, and describes the minister of Christ as uniformly acting upon it "We also believe, and therefore speak." No honest man ever acted in any other way. In like manner any one, who feels himself called upon so to do, and who can gain public attention and confidence, may appeal to his fellow-men through the press. Provided he publishes that, which, after careful examination, he believes to be true, no one can deny his right to proclaim his creed from the rising to the setting sun. "As good almost kill a man," said Milton, "as kill a good book. Who kills a man, kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit; embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." Many such theological and literary efforts are made now-a-days. The manner in which such efforts are made, and the matter which is thus presented to the human mind, are things to be settled between the author and the public, or between both and Jehovah, to whom they are all accountable. The abstract right involved in this intellectual intercourse no one will question. The freedom of the press no one will undertake to curtail; and its licentiousness must be controlled and repressed by enlight ened public opinion. The There is no doubt a most potent influence exerted by the agencies which have been enumerated. spirit of the community is felt, acknowledged, and obeyed by all. In the broken fragments of society, or in the political and ecclesiastical parties which divide and distract the public mind, each one recognizes what is called the esprit du corps of his sect. Every denomination seems to have its own vocabulary, its own |