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AND SUGGESTS NEW TOPICS.

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bited world. By this torch, he will begin to see the compromise now subsisting between the spirit of this world and the professed disciples of Christ, of which the ministers of Christ are, of every name, the most determined supporters. His mind will gradually open to the consideration of topics and questions now utterly eschewed by nearly all the clergy of every church. Looking with indignation beyond that political economy which regards men as machines to create and distribute wealth; which upholds a competition which grinds the labourer into a condition far below that of the slave; which looks upon the poor as having come "unbidden to the banquet of life," he will inquire anxiously and boldly what can be done to ameliorate the condition of the millions upon millions of his brethren of the same family and children of the same Heavenly Father. Whilst he will bow to every ordinance of man for conscience' sake, and will neither meditate nor counsel violence, nor any uncharitable or evil proceed

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FEAR NOT THE TRUTH.

ing, to attain a good end, he will permit no false principles of honour, or trade, or property, however consecrated by time, or upheld by rank, wealth, or legislation, to restrain him from looking at the naked truth, and from pursuing what he shall deem the path that leads to human well-being in that way which may be consonant with the teachings of Christ.

FURTHER MISTAKES OF THE CLERGY.

THE clergy fell into another grievous error in the first ages of the church of Christ, which clings in greater or less degree to all churches down to the present time. This error is equally due to human weakness, and is therefore as likely to prevail in time to come as in time past. It is the more 'necessary, then, to be fully aware of the mischief, that some effort be exerted towards counteraction. We refer to the con

DISTRUST OF THE SCRIPTURES.

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stant disposition to enlarge or restrict the bounds of revelation. It was early displayed in the exertions of the Jewish converts to impose on the disciples of Christ the yoke of Judaism: this was followed by a system of tradition, and this, by the erection of a hierarchy, at the head of which was the bishop of Rome as pope claiming equal authority in matters of truth with Christ himself. This tendency is displayed in later times, in the adoption of creeds, articles and confessions of faith, prayer-books, catechisms, and such formularies. Whatever the advantage a proper use of such helps may be, the constant abuse of them has been their substitution for the plain and simple teachings of Christ and his apostles. There seems to be a constant apprehension that the latter are insufficient, and that men must inevitably go astray if left to interpret the word of God for themselves. It must, therefore, be taken away from them, and an entire system of man's devising substituted in its stead, as is done by

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ABUSE OF CREEDS.

the Romanists; or strict forms of faith and practice must be submitted for the adoption of believers, who are required to believe, not in the New Testament, but that the system submitted is drawn from it, or is in accordance with it. None of these are so easily understood as Christ's own words, but are yet put forward as standards of faith, as summaries of knowledge, as compends of instruction. for the old and the young. We do not venture to depreciate these productions nor to estimate their true value. It is their abuse of which we complain; it is the constant tendency to rest upon the paraphrase instead of the text, to rely upon long-drawn conclusions instead of direct revelation; it is the disposition, not merely to insist upon our taking the Scriptures as our guide, but to prescribe how we must take them; it is the limiting the right of individual judgment, and narrowing the ground of private opinion, until nothing is left for the exercise of the believer's mind. He is required to believe, not to think;

DANGER OF DESERTING THE SCRIPTURES. 231

to receive the conclusions of others, and not to draw any for himself. It may appear best to the trained mind of the theologian to bring the minds of believers at one step to the conclusions of that science, but they forget that the assent which is thus given is of no advantage to him who gives it—his mind has not derived it from the word of God. It may appear safest and most expedient and a saving of labour thus to tax men's credence, but it clearly involves the danger of a desertion of the Scriptures, which contain the very truths upon which the minds of believers are to be employed, and stated in the way which the same inspiration dictated. Who can teach higher things than Christ himself taught, and illustrated by his life, and who can make them plainer to common minds than they now are? Even Protestant clergy have failed to hold up the Scriptures as the only word of life, upon the revelations of which every man must pass his own judgment, enlightened as much as may be by clerical

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