Christ and Religion heinously dishonoured! The contensions between the Greek church and the Roman, the Papists and the Protestants, the Lutherans and the Calvinists, have woefully hindered the kingdom of Christ!"*

ANTINOMIANS.

THE Antinomian derives his name from two Greek works, A7, against, and Nouos, a law, his favourite tenet being, that the law is not a rule of life to believers. It is not easy to ascertain what he means by this position. But he seems to carry the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ, and of salvation by faith without works, to such lengths as to

*For the detail given of the Calvinistic and Arminian sentiments, see a brief history of the Christian Church, in 2 vols. by Dr. Gregory. The best ecclesiastical history is Mosheim's, in 6 vols. translated from the Latin into English by the late Dr. Maclaine, who has enriched it with valuable notes. The last edition of this interesting work has a continuation to the end of the 18th century, by Dr. Charles Coote, and an additional Appendix to the first book, by the right Rev. Dr. George Gleig of Stirling. Dr. Priestley also published, in six octavo volumes, a History of the Christian Church, from the birth of the Messiah down to the present time. For an account of religion during the reign of the Stuarts, the reader is referred to Baxter's own Life and Times (above mentioned), a work replete with good sense and piety.

injure, if not wholly destroy, the obligation to moral obedience. In controversial tracts they are sometimes denominated Solifidians, a term composed of two Latin words, solus alone, and fides faith; contending for faith alone without the necessity of good works. Antinomianism may be traced to the period of the Reformation, and its promulgator was John Agricola, originally a disciple of Luther. The Catholics, in their disputes with the Protestants of that day, carried the merit of good works to an extravagant length; and this induced some of their opponents to run into the opposite extreme. Justification by faith, not necessarily productive of good works, and righteousness imputed to such a faith, are the doctrines by which Antinomians are chiefly distinguished. This sect sprung up in England during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, and extended their system of libertinism much farther than Agricola, the disciple of Luther. Some of their teachers expressly maintained, that as the elect cannot fall from grace, nor forfeit the divine favour, the wicked actions they commit are not really sinful, nor are they to be considered as instances of their violation of the divine law; consequently they have no occasion either to confess their sins, or to break them off by repentance. According to them, it is one of the essential and distinctive characters of the elect, that they cannot do any thing displeasing to God, or prohibited by the law. Luther, Rutherford, Sedgwick, Gataker, Wit

sius, Eull, &c. have written refutations, whilst Crisp, Richardson, and Saltmarsh, put forth defences of Antinomianism. The late Rev. Mr. Fletcher, vicar of Madely, in Shropshire, published Four Checks to Antinomianism, which have been much admired. But, Dr. Tobias Crisp, a clergyman of the established church, and who flourished during the reign of the Stuarts, was the champion of Antinomianism; but his doctrines were confuted in the amplest manner by Dr. Daniel Williams, founder of the Dissenter's Library in Redcross-street. His defence of Gospel Truth, against Crisp, was received by those of his brethren who laid any claina to good sense and moderation with high satisfaction.

The term Antinomian has been frequently fixed on persons by way of reproach; and therefore many who have been branded with this name have repelled the charge. There are many Antinomians, indeed, of a singular cast in Germany, and other parts of the continent; they condemn the moral law as a rule of life, and yet profess a strict regard for the interests of practical religion. Some persons, however, pronounce Antinomianism to be nothing more than Calvinism abused; or, as Mosheim declares, that the Antinomians are a more rigid kind of Calvinists, who pervert Calvin's doctrine of absolute decrees to the worst purposes, by drawing from it conclusions highly detrimental to the interests of true religion and virtue. The late very singular and eccentric

William Huntington was generally deemed an Antinomian of this description, but he himself disclaimed it. And it is curious that when the Rev. R. Adam made an application to him for an account of the Antinomian sect in England, he never replied to him on the subject. But speculative sentiments of any kind ought not to be carried to a degree which might endanger even in appearance the sacred cause of morality.

III.

OPINIONS RESPECTING CHURCH GOVERNMENT, AND

THE ADMINISTRATION OF CEREMONIES.

THE Christian world, usually denominated CHRIS TENDOM, consists of religious societies, which are called churches. A Christian church is a society called out from the vicious world by the preaching of the gospel, and regulated in all parts by the plain rules of the New Testament: The ministers of the Christian Church, in its primitive state, were extraordinary or ordinary. The Extraordinary were chiefly three: 1. Apostles, who were delegated by Christ with a commission to preach the gospel, and a power to work miracles in its confirmation, among all nations. 2. Prophets, who were not such as simply foretold things, but those to whom God was

pleased to reveal his more secret counsels and designs. 3. Evangelists, such as were assistants to the apostles in preaching the gospel, and were endued with many extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, as of languages and interpretations, &c. But these extraordinary offices have now ceased. The ordinary ministers of the Christian church are principally three: 1. A Bishop, who had the oversight of the flock of Christ; to him pertained the preaching of the word, and regulation of the church; and this precedence of the bishop is called Episcopacy. 2. Presbyters or Elders, or Priests; these were such as preached the word, and administered the sacraments, under the inspection of the bishop. But it is a controversy, whether the scripture doth not intend the same person by the appellations Bishop and Presbyter. The power of the Presbyter is called Presbytery. 3. Deacons; whose business was to take the collections of money made in the church, and to distribute it to the poor; and their office, properly speaking, is called the Ministry, or Deaconship.

After this introductory explanation of THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, I proceed to the Opinions respecting Church government and the administration of Cere

monies.