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It is really matter of deep regret, that subjects, of known and universal concern, should be systematically lifted above the reach of common minds. That those very things, which every man should endeavour distinctly and fully to apprehend for himself,-and particularly, when the means by which he may make them fairly his own, are really provided, and freely proffered,—must yet be encumbered by perplexing arrangements, which his fathers have thought proper to transmit. It is a deplorable state of intellectual existence-an inanity which all ought most earnestly to deprecate for themselves and their children. Religion is just such a subject; and, of that class of subjects, the most inestimable. In relation to it, the Scriptural injunction is, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. No man may neglect a pearl of such great price. His soul is at stake: his decisions are for eternity; the operations of his mind, the affections of his heart, the habits of his life, after all the eulogy he may receive, and all the censure he may incur, on earth, are all reserved for divine inspection, at a divine tribunal. The righteousness of those who have gone before him cannot save him; their iniquities cannot condemn him; and, that "the fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge," cannot excuse him. He must answer for himself, and for himself alone.Then surely not to think, not to feel, not to act, as personally accountable, is a spiritual delirium, which makes him the object of the profoundest

pity; or a spiritual aberration, for which theologians shall in vain attempt to apologize.Tamely to surrender his personal independence; voluntarily to take refuge in the opinions of his fathers; or to permit others to impose on him such terms of communion in spiritual things; and offer him oral or written tradition, in room of the word of God, which melts and transforms the human heart;-who would not call forth all his strength, and expend all his charity, in a determined effort to disenthral society from such an ill-fated system of mental and spiritual mismanagement?

These reflections do not proceed from a sickly fancy, insulated by its own feverish impulses from the actual circumstances of real life; ranging among dark forms of human sorrow, which have no existence; or dwelling upon fantastic visions which itself rapidly creates. The attributes of social life, whether religious or political, are not always the most delightful subjects a moral writer is called to canvass. We apprehend, we have been partially describing the situation in which Creeds and Confessions place the members of the church. Else, why should the denial of the authority of those ecclesiastical instruments, be considered as almost infallible proof of gross and soul-destroying heterodoxy? Why should an argument, made up of a detailed report of the opinions and practices of the fathers, be thought so conclusive? Why should an hon est and conscientious effort, to give truth a scrip

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tural, rather than a scholastic, form, excite so many suspicions against him who makes it, and create so many heart-burnings in christian assemblies?

Suffer us to declare what we have been made to feel on this subject. Our own experience, to go no further than the Discourse delivered at Princeton, is our voucher. We feel, that we cannot disown the supreme authority of our fathers, and determine to think for ourselves, without provoking the displeasure of professing christians. We feel, that we cannot furnish illustrations of evangelical truth, framed according to our own best conceptions; and modified to meet the peculiarities of the day in which we live, as far as we apprehend those peculiarities; without incurring the heaviest censure, under a gratuitous assumption that we are not "walking in the footsteps of the flock." We feel, that we cannot whisper a doubt as to the theological views of divines of "the olden time," or review the crude notions of our youth by the severer thought of maturer years, without finding our change to be our reproach, in the estimation of thousands whose good opinion we value. We feel, that to abandon that mode of scriptural exposition, which makes every text to utter some Calvinistic or Arminian dogma; and to exchange it for that which brings up every conscience to the bar of divine revelation, to answer for itself; or which pours the full radiance of the Bible over the individual and social habits of men; is to subject ourselves to be reviled for a breach of

ordination vows. These things we have been made to feel: and we cannot reject the testimony of our senses. The doctrines of our forefathers have been constituted, in practical life, the rules of our faith. We must have their ideas, their terms, their intellectual associations; every thing must be consecrated by antiquity, or we are not orthodox. Once more we ask, who would not labour to redeem society from such mental servitude? Who can suppose that he has too much to sacrifice, to bring men back to God, and to induce them to think for themselves, as if they had a mind and conscience of their own? We propose a question, if it will not startle the reader as daring and presumptuous:-Are we not, or may we not become, as good judges of the Scriptures, as any of the fathers? For example; when it is declared, that "God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but might have everlasting life;" can we not understand this gracious overture, as well as any apostolical father? And after all that men, both ancient and modern, may say about it, must we not be personally taught its meaning by the Holy Ghost dwelling in us? Let us go a step farther, and ask another question:-As to the application of scriptural principles to present circumstances, do we not understand them better than our fathers? They did not live in our day: they knew nothing of the peculiarities of our age: they could not foresee the

operations of the public mind, under the full development of political liberty, the large advances of science, the changes in language, or that enthusiastic spirit which now animates the Bible cause. We award to them, as we ought,

closer and more accurate views of the circumstances of their own age; for we know comparatively little about them: but, as we value our responsibility, we must judge for ourselves in this age, which God has committed to our thought and management. Then why must we be compelled to speak as they spoke, to write as they wrote, or to sing as they sung? If they thought it necessary to write Creeds, does it follow that we must write them too? If they thought they had a right to frame a Creed for themselves, does it follow that we have not a right to make a Creed for ourselves? If they were good and holy men, does it follow that we may not be good and holy men too? Yet we cannot move a single step in this argument, without being reminded of the superior excellencies of our fathers, and hearing whole generations reviled by a charge of their dwarfish stature and diminutive powers. their authority foreclosed all discussion? Have their Synodical decrees irrevocably predestinated whatever may come to pass in these days, and sealed up all our ecclesiastical operations under an unchanging fate? We beg leave to examine this matter for ourselves; and ask our brethren to suffer us to discuss it in a candid, manly and christian manner. Our petition does not transcend the rights which are secured to us by

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