were to receive any truth by my ministry; for I am verily persuaded, the Lord has more truth, yet to break forth out of his holy word. For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who are come to a PERIOD in relígion, and will go at present no farther than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; whatever part of his will God has revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it; and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. "This is a misery much to be lamented; for though they were burning and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God; but were they now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as that which they first received. I beseech you remember, it is an article of your church covenant, that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be made known to you from the written word of God. Remember that, and every other article of your sacred covenant. But I must herewithal exhort you to take heed what you receive as truth; examine it, consider it, and compare it with other scriptures of truth, before you receive it; for it is not possible the christian world should come so lately out of such thick anti-Christian darkness, and that perfection of knowledge should break forth at once."* Well, I say, had it been for the American church, had her sons listened to the noble strains of Robinson. Ere now the reflection of moral liberty, like that of *Neal's His, Pur. vol. II. pp. 146—’7, political freedom, might have spread all its mildness and benevolence over the old world. Their doctrine of ecclesiastical establishments might, long since, have been exhibited in its own weakness; and such men as Dr. Chalmers would not, as he does, appeal to the United States in proof of the necessity of establishments. But instead of this we are told that no farther truth is to be discovered from the word of the Lord; we are hearing incessant eulogies on the wisdom and piety of the fathers; no man can touch human inventions without being "in danger of the council;" and old dogmas are still the matter of angry strife, and the fondlings of ecclesiastical courts. How long these things shall continue, no one can foresee. But the rains are descending, the floods are coming, the winds are blowing, and the waves are beatingand the house that is founded on THE ROCK alone shall stand. I have now traced these creeds as instruments of ecclesiastical power to their origin. They commenced as an imitation of pagan ceremonies-they were countenanced by ecclesiastics as they rose to papal eminence—they were brought in under the signature of a civil ruler- they have been called for by the strifes of scholastic theologians and they are handed down to our days as the relics of great and good men ; whose works and actions will not bear inspection, and who have received the homage which is due only to their Master's word. If the whole argument be not true, then let the reader reject it. But let him first examine it, candidly, and for himself. CHAPTER IX. Candidates for the Ministry-How are they to be estimated. NOTHING can be of more vital importance to the church, than the character and qualifications of her ministry. The short historic abstract, which has been given, abundantly evinces that fact. The very nature of the thing shows it, inasmuch as every community will be estimated by the exhibitions of her official men. They are the personifications of the spirit of the community. In them that spirit resides for official purposes. By them the public will is manifested, and through them public influence is felt. In civil institutions this object of official commission is fully understood. In the church the principle is the same, though the influence exerted should be simply moral. Jehovah has intended that ministerial men should be IMAGES of himself, --as Paul calls them "the GLORY of Christ" or examples to the flock, over whom they are made overseers. It is manifestly important that these should be faithful and honourable men. For, according to the old adage, in which there is much truth, "like priest, like people" if they are men of "wisdom and power, and full of the Holy Ghost," the moral influence they shall exert, will be of the happiest kind. But if they are base, immoral, ambitious, and intriguing, the church will grow corrupt in their hands. The advocates of CREEDS profess themselves to be exceedingly concerned about this matter. They state asks it to be their great desire to preserve the purity of the church, and to prevent the inroads of error. Giving them all due credit for good intentions, yet they must suppose that others, who may differ with them about the worth of creeds, can cherish as much concern, in relation to the great object in view, as themselves. They might also concede, that their Master, who, though he has not furnished any other creed than the bible, nor allowed his ministers to make any other, and yet hath "fenced his vineyard," and "what more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it?" has more concern for "the travail of his soul," than any of his servants. Instead of prohibiting his servants from exercising a lordship over one another, he might have entrusted them with legislative powers, and the means of executing their own laws. Besides, the brethren should recollect, that councils have been in vogue ever since the second, and creeds ever since the fourth, centuries; and that the experiment has been long and ample, and varied enough. It has been sustained under an oecumenical patronage, and backed by all the pow er of the state. It has been reformed, and tried again. The means of information have been taken awaythe very idea of liberty, or of the right to think and act for oneself, has been extinguished the human mind has been reduced to the lowest state of weakness, and all will not do! The priests became corrupt and wicked as the people had been supposed to be-popery grew up-protestants appeared and divided into sects not one single principle is settled to this hour-what more can the church want with councils and creeds? Could things have possibly - been worse? Could the ministry have been more wretchedly furnished for the high enterprise, to which their office called them? The purity and peace of the church have been sacrificed by the very means intended to promote them. On the other hand, it should be recollected, that candidates for the ministry have their own rights, which no consideration whatever should induce them to surrender. If the kingdom of God is to be set up in the world, it is also to be set up in the individual heart. In both positions, it is uniform in principle and influence; and one must not be abandoned for the sake of the other. No social institution, no public office, is worth a good conscience. The young man, who sullies his conscience to get into the ministry, receives no recompense by "the imposition of the hands," either of the bishop or the presbytery; nor does the church gain a benefit by her stretch of power. A fearful reaction occurs in both cases, and the whole association hastens to ruin. Immortal spirits shall live in glory, when the heavens and the earth shall pass away- of what worth then can the sectarian institutions of men boast? Suppose that a candidate for the ministry should differ from his brethren who made their opinions a rule to his conscience? or an agreement with them, the sine qua non of his introduction into the ministry? Suppose that a coincidence of opinion be necessary for mutual edification,—yet with whom must the individual in question coincide in opinion? With a PRESBYTERY that carries nothing more of a scriptural institution than the name?—with a SYNOD, that can go no farther back for its commission than the end of |