the diluting waters of the Baptistery. Mr Haldane writes in a spirit of conscious discipleship, and feels himself warranted to rebuke such as dare to differ from him, in a style of arrogance that excites pity for his years, and regrets for his profession. Nay more, in the same production, so replete with mixed absurdities, he brought a charge against the United Secession Church, the most awful that could be fabricated against any religious body, that of lax and impure communion. The charge was met and refuted in the calm and powerful dignity of innocence by Dr Brown, in a published answer, thus entituled:

"The United Secession Church vindicated from the Charge, made by James A. Haldane, Esq., of sanctioning Indiscriminate Admission to Communion." And now, after so many years, Mr Haldane (or his publisher) re-issues these calumnies, and, without one word of explanation or apology, steps forward again as the 66 accuser of the brethren."

There is little doubt that some recent circumstances have brought on a crisis which has been deemed propitious to the republication of Mr Haldane's miscellany. "The sun has gone back ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz ;" and, at the instance of the Edinburgh clergy of the establishment, a civic dignitary has been incarcerated. Christ's professed servants have laid fetters on one of Cesar's officers, and put him into Cesar's stronghold. Not long ago they ordered out Cesar's soldiery to protect their extortions, and this experiment not being satisfactory, and the sword being somewhat odious, they have turned in distress to a less romantic refuge in the bolts and locks of the Calton Jail. The screw and the wheel of their predecessors are wisely not now entrusted to them. Happily the "Boot" is only an antiquarian relic. They are contented with possessing the "key," and they will not permit it to rust, for them

selves are at once the judges and the executioners. Their doom is stern. It proposes no trial, and makes no compromise. It has but one tone, and that is-pay; but one limit, and that is "the uttermost farthing." Because a citizen will not pay them what they never earned, will not own the equity of a tax exacted by men from whom he receives no service, and to whom he owes no obligation, these ministers of the gospel at once tear him from his business and family, and immure him like a felon. They keep him from the enjoyment of Sabbath and sanctuary. While they are preaching a gospel which proclaims "liberty to the captive," their victim is stretched in his cell. While "the opening of the prison to them that are bound" is a joyous portion of their message, they have reversed the spirit as well as the letter of the text, and have" delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that I was due unto them." This instance of ecclesiastical despotism has made some noise, and created some agitation.

The public mind is turned afresh to the subject,—to the anomaly of a church exercising such a power over the liberty and fortunes of freeborn men. While thousands are wondering at the anomalous spectacle, three centuries too late in its existence, Mr Haldane spontaneously takes upon him the office of their instructor, and his lessons are those of servility and conservatism. His politics overmaster his religion, and he is in the awkward and helpless attitude of admitting that church establishments are among the worst of institutions, but that they are nevertheless so sacred that he will rather uphold than destroy them. They are sinful, but he venerates them; they destroy the purity of the Redeemer's kingdom, but he would not harm them. The Master condemns them, Mr Haldane echoes the condemnation; but he would not seek their overthrow. Things that are, be they ever so un

scriptural, he admires; things that have been, be they ever so pernicious, he venerates. His language is as follows:- "Let the believer make use of all the weapons of the Christian armoury, and, by manifestation of the truth, commend himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God, but let him not corrupt the religion of Jesus by blending it with politics. Let him demonstrate from the word of God that the union of Church and State must necessarily corrupt the doctrine of Christ-that the Apostles had no such custom, and that, as the gospel came out from them, we ought to be guided by their example, as recorded in the New Testament.

"Let him show that the union of Church and State confounds that distinction between believers and the men of the world, which the great Author of Christianity so expressly enjoined. He did not command his followers to go out of the world; he taught them to live in society, to engage in all the lawful pursuits of this life; but he required them to meet for the observance of his ordinances in a state of separation from the world. Any system which precludes obedience to this commandment must be antichristian; and as the establishment of a National Church must of necessity make it void, it is unscriptural and unlawful." Yet he adds, with wondrous self-complacence:- -"The sentiment which many years ago I expressed to a friend, is still unchanged,—that if I could subvert the National Church by holding up my finger, I would not do it. I know my duty, as an individual, to be separate from it; but the responsibility of producing the change which is implied in its overthrow, is too great. I am neither wise enough to foresee, nor rash enough to risk, the consequences."

How can Christian duty reconcile such statements? Does not Mr Haldane resemble the undecided and half-hearted Jewish kings, who, while

they served Jehovah, had neither the courage nor consistency to remove the "high places" where homage was done to Baal. By what subtle dialectics he can persuade his mind, by what specious casuistry he can satisfy his conscience, that a dull and passive condemnation and endurance of evil is the "whole duty of man," we know not. The arguments in this portion of the pamphlet are vague and pointless, and are clearly the result of a political creed that hates every change as an evil, or brands it as a revolution, and nauseates all reforms as useless and mischievous intermeddling. But to remove evil is to do good. Now, says the apostle, "to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

Mr Haldane glories in his loyalty, and pays all tribute cheerfully. His notions on paying church tribute are very confused. "The supreme power, in this country, is vested in the three branches of the Legislature. It is by their joint authority that the coin bears the Queen's image, not as an absolute sovereign, but as the representative of that government of which she is the head. No tribute can be legally required without the concurrence of Queen, Lords, and Commons; and what is thus required, Christians are commanded to pay, whatever may be their opinion of the wisdom or propriety of its application. The duty is founded on their being members of society, governed by a supreme power, administering the joint interests of all, for the good of the body politic. In such a situation, individuals must submit to restraints and sacrifices which would be unnecessary if they were living alone; but these inconveniences are far outweighed by the security of life and property which civil government affords. There may be opression by government; no worldly advantage is free from drawbacks, every thing is mixed; but the blessing of civil government is incalculably great, and

Christians are commanded to submit to the powers under which they are placed as being the ordinance of God; they are taught to consider their ruler as the minister of God to them for good. In regard to religion, they have one Master, under whatever form of government or in whatever clime their lot is cast. Resistance in civil matters, such as the payment of tribute, is prohibited. It will not do for Christians to disclaim active resistance, and to profess to confine themselves to that which is passive. The word of God knows no such distinction; it warns believers against resisting civil government, and descends to no special pleading on the subject. It gives no countenance to the principle which you, Sir, defend, that we are at liberty to choose the alternative of enduring the penalty of disobedience."-Pp.31-32. Never was slavery more cordially inculcated. The Annuity Tax in Edinburgh is a specific tax levied under an act of Parliament by the clergy themselves. It is not a tax levied along with others for municipal purposes; for, had it been so, distinction being impossible, resistance would be in vain. Mr Haldane leaves man no conscience, degrades him into a civic machine, and robs him of all responsibility. Mr Haldane's ethics are very plainly, that every citizen is bound to obey man rather than God; that he has no right to ask whether any law he obeys be a Christian statute. If man ordains it, he cannot refuse submission. This is not according to man's nature or God's revelation. God claims the conscience as his own, and no man dare violate its dictates without grievously offending Him. If any man unjustly support a system which his conscience affirms to be unscriptural, no matter at whose bidding or command he does it, he sins against himself and against the one Lawgiver. But Mr Haldane scruples not; he is a follower of the infidel Hobbes, who made the supreme power of the state man's only rule, guide, and

authority. Let the magistrate ordain it, Mr Haldane cheerfully pays it. Had Pilate assessed Jerusalem for the expense of the cross, and had Mr Haldane dwelt at that period in the "holy city," he would have cheerfully paid it, even with all his present Christian convictions. When Saul travelled far and near devastating the churches, Mr Haldane would willingly have given his quota of contribution to defray the persecutor's expenses, had the "powers that be" demanded it as an assessment. Had the Senate or Emperor ordered taxes for a new golden Jupiter, and had Mr Haldane lived as a Christian citizen in Rome, he would have opened his purse to help the fabrication of a false god, and cheerfully assisted others in breaking the second command of the Decalogue. The state commanded it, and Mr Haldane's conscience would have gone to slumber, though, as a Christian pastor, he had been assessed to pay for the very pitch in which poor fel

low believers were tortured and burns to death, or to defray the maintenance of the lions which devoured in the arena the members of his own sacred community. Sad doctrine for a Christian citizen to maintain or advocate! And are Daniel and the "three children" to be branded as rebels, because forsooth, in Mr Haldane's estimation, "the word of God warns believers against resisting civil government?" We seriously advise him to take a lesson from an old incident and from a humble example. We commend to his special attention the midwives Shiphrah and Puah, whose Egyptian conscience was far more enlightened than that of some modern Baptist oracles. Supreme and royal authority bade them do certain deeds; "but the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them." "Therefore God dealt well with the midwives." Let not Mr Haldane despise the lesson, even though it be in the Old Testament.

Mr Haldane, as already intimated,

calumniates the Secession, and of course the practice, too, of the present United Presbyterian Church. Nay, he repeats the falsehood. The Secession Church, he affirms, has all the worst features of the establishment. Dr Brown says," Mr Haldane states, that the principles of Seceders, 'open their communion as wide as that of the Established Church,'—that all that is required to fellowship by them, is 'a profession of the true religion,'that a profession is implied in desiring fellowship,'-and remarks, that while 6 men frequently come short of their principles, seldom or never does our practice rise higher than its source,' leaving it to be inferred, that all who seek admission into the United Secession Church are sure to find it. If Mr Haldane had read carefully the document which he quotes, he would have found that 'the profession of faith,' which the United Secession Church considers as necessary to admission to church fellowship, is an intelligent and credible profession of the faith of Christ,-and had he inquired into the practice of her ministers, he would have found, that an investigation of the knowledge, faith, temper, and conduct of the candidate for communion, precedes admission.” Dr Brown adds," To prevent all misapprehension, I shall state in a few words the charge Mr Haldane has made, and which I undertake to disprove. It is, 'that the United Secession Church, in her avowed principles, sanctions indiscriminate admission to communion.' His proof is this-the United Seceders in their Testimony teach, that 'the visible church consists of all that make a profession of true religion.' Mr Haldane says, 'A profession is implied in desiring fellowship;' and men frequently come short of their principles, but seldom or never does our practice rise higher than its source.' The legitimate conclusion obviously is-The United Seceders may admit men without a

profession, but they cannot be expected in any case to require more than a profession,-which is 'implied in desiring fellowship.'

"To many of my readers it will be inconceivable, how a man, taking an interest in the state of religious society, could have lived in Scotland, for the last forty years, and yet be so ill informed as to be able to make the above statement bona fide, as I doubt not Mr Haldane has done."

"It is plain," he subjoins, "Mr Haldane's studies have not lain among our symbolical books. It would have been better for us, and no worse for himself, if they had.

A

But surely it would not have been too much to expect, that he should have consulted all the passages in the document which he has quoted, before he ventured to pronounce so unhesitatingly, and, as it turns out, at once so rashly and so harshly, on the principles of a religious body. He would have found in it the following passages:-A profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a conversation becoming the gospel, rendering that profession credible, are required of all, in order to communion, in the privileges of the Church.'*. scriptural profession having been adopted, it is not less incumbent on Christians to continue stedfastly in it, to hold it fast without wavering, and so to conduct themselves, in all the relations they bear, as at once to evince their own sincerity, and to secure, under the divine blessing, the objects for which they have associated. They must be attentive to all the duties of personal and family religion, regularly observe the public ordinances of the gospel, not forsaking the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is; submit in the spirit of humility and meekness to the government and discipline, which Christ has insti

Synod of the Secession Church, Part i. *Testimony of the United Associate Ch. iv. § 4. p. 74.

tuted, for their edification, esteeming them who watch for their souls highly in love for their works' sake, and giving them all due subjection, subsistence, and encouragement in the Lord; and, above all, 'put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.*-' We condemn the profanation of the Lord's Supper, by admitting the ignorant and scandalous to a participation of it.'†

"But if it was too operose a business for Mr Haldane to peruse a pamphlet of less than 200 pages, in order to get a just view of the principles of a body he was about publicly to characterise, and which he has in fact stigmatized, surely he might have read to the close of the short paragraph under the title "Of the Church,' in the Summary of Principles (which, by the way, is separately printed, and in the hands of a large proportion of our people), —and, if he had, he would have met with these words, which we trust are new to him: Those who are admitted into the communion of a particular church, should have a competent measure of knowledge; should make a credible profession of their faith, and are bound to a conversation becoming the Gospel, and to submit to the discipline of the Church.""

We do not know whether Mr Haldane be near-sighted; but the words he quotes as proof of our laxity, are distant only by three lines from a full explanation of our principles. Dr Brown hopes that our accuser did not see them. If he did, he should have quoted them; he must have seen them now, and yet he repeats the charge. Charity cannot keep us now from regarding him as a slanderer.

Our principles are those of Scripture, and our usage that of apostolical practice. We are not afraid to vindicate our procedure. We make, indeed, no pretension of seeing into the hearts of

*Testimony of the United Associate Synod of the Secession Church, Part. i. Ch. xiv. Sect. iv. pp. 77, 78.

† Ibid. Part ii. Ch. ii. Sect. viii. § 4. p. 151. Ibid. p. 105.

The

Exert himself as

men, but leave the task to that empirical vanity, whose superior clearness of spiritual vision is usually the result or accompaniment of spiritual pride. Mr Haldane's slanders will not injure us; for not only are they baseless in their nature and feeble in their malignity, but few, very few, are induced to read them. pamphlet on which we have been remarking, has slumbered unsold for a long series of years. It has lain among the publisher's lumber as long as Horace commends an author to keep his manuscript by him ere he give it to the world, nonum prematur in annum. Mr Haldane would injure us, but he cannot. he will, it is beyond his power. He cannot induce the public to buy his tedious and incoherent tirades. His false charges against us will not sell; his cheap denunciations are not a bargain.* The pride so proverbial among authors may be wounded, by this miserable failure; but we hope that the graces of the Christian pastor will yet be moved to an ingenuous confession of his error, and a candid and spontaneous retractation of his charges against us. "One is our Master." Some minds imagine that they are paragons of fidelity, while they are indulging only in censorious invective. The harshness of their vituperation is to them the measure and reward of their success. Charity is a weakness which never overcomes them, while "all that is within them is gratified by "a railing accusation." Their genius lies in fault-finding. Their diction is rich in epithets of scornful depreciation. They are brilliant in fulmination, and eloquent in anathema. They confound their temper with their conscience, and are deluded into sin by the fatal mistake. The unhappy man, who is the victim of this selfcreated fascination, too often betrays

*This re-issue is not a new edition. It is only an effort at pushing off unsold copies of the first and only edition.