lowed hand for fifteen centuries dared to touch; which has been the sacred channel through which the ministerial commission has flowed from him who is "the Head and Saviour of the body," to whom "all power is given in heaven and in earth." I shall respect, I have always respected, the conscientious opinions of others. I shall resist the arm of violence, whether lifted up against their religious rights or my own. I shall not denounce, I have never denounced, the honest inquirers after truth, by whatever name distinguished. No difference of opinion, no ire of controversy shall lead me to cut asunder the sacred ties of friendship; shall ever prevent me from regarding, with sincere affection, every one who bears the holy impress of Jesus as the subject of his mercy and grace. But while mindful of my own infirmity and liability to error, I presume not to wield the thunders of that tribunal where I must myself, through my Saviour's intercession, plead for mercy, I shall discharge the sacred duty of maintaining and enforcing that order of the Church which, it is my conscientious conviction, bears the seal of divine authority. As "a messenger, a watchman, and steward of the Lord," bearing on my soul the solemn obligation" to teach and to premonish, to feed and to provide for the Lord's family," I shall not " cease my labour, my care and diligence," in warning the members of Christ's fold of the guilt and danger of schism, of separating from that priesthood who derive their authority by regular transmission from Christ, the divine Head of the Church, and the source of all power in it." This exercise of a common right, even in the most unexceptionable mode, in addresses to persons of the Episcopal communion (and this is the mode in which I originally exercised it), this discharge of a sacred duty may subject me to odium and denunciation. The destiny still more to be deprecated may * Ordination service. Preface to the Companion for the Altar. await me, of being "wounded" (where I ought to find encouragement and support)" in the house of my friends." I shall still have the consolation of having faithfully borne my testimony to the principles of the Apostolic and primitive Church; to principles which "the noble army of martyrs" confessed in their writings, in their lives, in the agonies of those cruel deaths to which their persecutors hunted them; to principles which in every age have ranked among their advocates some of the brightest ornaments of science, and intrepid champions of divine truth. I shall still have the consolation of having defended the cause of Episcopacy, with inferior strength indeed, but with equal zeal, in the same ranks with the "incomparable HOOKER," the eminent and revered Bishops HALL, ANDREWS, SanDERSON, TAYLOR, BEVERIDGE, POTTER, WAKE, WILSON, HORNE, HORSELEY; the learned and pious Divines CHILLINGWORTH, HAMMOND, LESLIE, JONES; and "a legion "illustrious for talents, for learning and piety. I shall still have the consolation of having "studied to approve myself" unto my divine Master as "a workman rightly dividing the word of truth." These are consolations with which "no stranger intermeddleth," which even the rude hand of violence cannot disturb. The system of denunciation which you pursue is calculated to awaken a persecution more poignant to the feeling mind than even the flame and sword that torture the body. I have no hesitation to say that I deprecate it; and I must pray, therefore, that neither my faith be shaken, my resolution weakened, nor my charity extinguished. I must pray that, amidst the denunciation of foes and the desertion of friends, my soul may be raised in holy hope above this misjudging world; may soar on vigorous wing to that celestial scene where the mists of error shall be dissipated by the radiant beams of truth, and its faithful and honest advocates find a refuge from the scorn of the world in the eternal plaudits of their Redeemer and Judge. LETTER III. SIR, THE Christian's Magazine comes forth in a proud and imposing attitude, demanding instant submission to its authoritative decrees; and, in the spirit which inflames every sentence, denouncing immolation on the altar of its wrath, against all who shall refuse to bend the knee to its dogmas. Little disposed to yield my understanding or my conscience to the keeping of any man, whatever may be his talents, his learning, or his worth, you must excuse me if I refuse to pay divine honours to this idol of party, or to submit without resistance to its unjust denunciations. Marked indeed it is with all that bitterness of controversy, and justifying to the full extent that high spirit of polemic warfare, to chastise which, I have supposed, was to constitute one of its proudest triumphs. The sin which marked my conscience with a stain black as midnight darkness, and for which I have been pursued with indignant invective, is, that I scattered the firebrands of discord through the peaceful seats of Zion. The sin for which the charge of " illiberal bigot" has flashed on my devoted head from a thousand tongues, is, that I arrogantly denounced all denominations but my own. To crush this baneful fiend of controversy, the parent of "endless strife and every evil work;" to cover with confusion the arrogant upstarts who hurled the bolts of denunciation through the Lord's heritage, the Christian's Magazine was to rear its arm, formidable with the concentered genius, talents, and learning of a constellation of Divines. When, lo! we are assailed not by a firm, yet tem perate, a decided, yet decent defence of divine truth and exposure of error, but by a system of intemperate denunciation. Come, Sir, I put this matter " upon the trial before the bar of public criticism." I must insist on your accompanying me through the pages of your magazine. A tour through the majestic forest which owes its vigorous foliage, its towering strength to your nervous cultivation, must surely raise in your bosom the emotions of exultation, whatever may be the effect of the survey on my feelings or those of the public. I assert, Sir, that your magazine presents not a firm, yet temperate, a decided, yet decent defence of divine truth and exposure of error, but an unrelenting system of intemperate DENUNCIATION. Let us open your introduction. The different sects and parties of Christians present themselves before you. "Some," you say, "excluding the light of understanding, place their religion in favour of feeling." Here your battery first opens on the sect of enthusiasts. We are accustomed to consider the Methodists as distinguished for placing their religion in fervour of feeling. "Some clamour incessantly for doctrine, as if the heart had nothing to do in the service of God, or as if practical holiness were a necessary fruit of speculative orthodoxy." Here I must acquit you of all design of denouncing Episcopalians; for you know they are charged with undervaluing doctrinal preaching. But if they escape here, it is evidently your intention in the next sentence to make them smart under the lash; for you observe" Some, like the self-justifiers of old, tithe mint and anise and cummin'-little concerned about either receiving the Lord Jesus, or walking in him,' provided they be exact in their routine of ceremonies." From the Episcopalians you turn your wrathful frown to a sect in this city, I believe, of Baptists, who contend that they are consistent Calvinists. They maintain that as, according to the Calvinistic system, Christ is the Redeemer of the elect only, as he shed his blood for them alone, and will in due time convert them by his irresistible grace, they who are not thus converted, and are therefore not of the number of the elect, have no concern in the offers of salvation. And as, according to the Calvinistic system, the elect are justified by the unconditional imputation of Christ's righteousness, it is absurd, they contend, to maintain that the elect are subject to any law of works; since this would be making their salvation conditional, would be derogating from the all-sufficiency of the righteousness of Christ, and from the glory of God's free and sovereign grace. These persons, who maintain that they are consistent Calvinists, you accuse of “ poisoning the Gospel at the fountain head”—of “ annihilating the authority of God with the same blow which fells the hope of the sinner." High Churchmen, nearly crushed by your first blow, are now laid prostrate. For you accuse them of laying "as much stress upon their external order, as if the key which opens the door of their communion opened, at the same moment, the doors of Paradise; although,' you continue to remark, "upon that supposition, it is evident that the 'gate' and 'way' which lead unto life' are no longer straight and narrow." Tremendous denunciation! for if the "gate" and "way" of high Churchmen be not that "straight gate and narrow way" which "lead unto life," they must be the "wide gate and broad way" which "lead to destruction!" Low Churchmen next sink beneath your ire. Because they "account the external order of the house of God a matter of no importance," you charge them with "countenancing, at least indirectly, violation of their Lord's commandment, invasion of his prerogative, and assault upon his truth." "And as although all this were not enough," as if the triumphs gained over these prostrate sects could not satisfy you, you scorn not to erect another trophy on the neck of the humble Methodist and harmless Quaker. As they endeavour "to set aside the distinctive character, and the authentic call of the gospel ministry," |