BY JOHN M. DUNCAN, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Tammany street, Baltimore. Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: Baltimore: PUBLISHED BY CUSHING & JEWETT. 1826. gift 6-14-45 REPLY, &c. "A gentleman of Baltimore," whose name does not appear, feeling, no doubt, a very deep interest in their general subjects, has supposed himself warranted to solicit from Dr. Miller's pen, some notice of my "Remarks on the Rise, Use, and Unlawfulness of Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the church of God." The "uncommonly clear and powerful review," which "the venerable editor of the Christian Advocate" had furnished, it was understood, had not been generally read by those, who felt some regard, both for the parties concerned, and the subject under discussion. There seemed, therefore, to be a necessity that Dr. M. should again appear as the defendant of the creed-cause. His correspon dent had suggested the alternative of addressing him privately, or answering his communication through the medium of the press: and Dr. M. preferring the latter course, has issued a long letter, ostensibly designed to elucidate my ecclesiastical circumstances, and to counteract the effects of my heretical aberrations. This correspondence has devolved upon me the unwelcome task of preparing the following sheets for the press. I am disearded, however, by the letter-writer, as "a controvertist by no means to his taste. And had he consulted his own inclinations, or addressed his correspondent privately, instead of canvassing my writings with so much freedom, and criticising them with so much tartness, I might have been spared the troublesome, and almost unnecessary, work which he has now obtruded upon my feelings and my leisure. Dr. M. could not have supposed, that my cause had been so entirely crushed, and the citadel of refuge for a vanquished foe had been so nearly demolished, that nothing more was wanted save the finishing stroke of desolation from his generous hand. I conclude then, that in rejecting the respondent as a champion not at all worthy of his superior tactics, he has fancied the public mind to be his antagonist: and, as I do by no means covet the high honour he refuses, I augur that there is some hope that the present controversy will soon be stripped of all offensive personalities.-So be it. But the letter before me must be taken as it is; and the worthy professor may, in any future publication, discuss the subject in the form which he may consider best suited to general edification. In arranging the present remarks, they shall be thrown into sections, according as the nature of the subjects may admit, or as their importance may require. My intention is to take up the most important particulars which the letter has suggested, and on which its author reposes with most confidence and complacency. Some observations, however, on the character of the "Remarks," with which the Doctor has prefaced his more serious discussions, must first be noticed: and to these I shall devote the first division of my reply. SECTION 1. 1 Dr. M. has been pleased to say, that the "conclusive reason," why he has "forborne to make any answer" to my book, "is that it really requires no answer."-"He, (Mr. D.) is so far from having invalidated, or even weakened, any of the arguments in favour of creeds, urged in my Introductory Leeture, that he has hardly so much as touched them. I have conversed repeatedly with some of the most acute and enlightened men in our country, and solicited their candid judgment as to the real force of Mr. D's book. And they have ALL, with a single exception, united strongly in the opinion, that he has written nothing which impairs, in the least degree, the strength of my reasoning; nothing which possesses such a degree, even of plausibility, as to demand a reply. Why then should I write again, when all my original positions remain, not only unshaken, but really unassailed." These are good, round, assertions: almost enough to make any man lay down his pen in despair. But then there is one "most acute and enlightened" man, who does not think so meanly of the "Remarks:" and a suspicion darts across my brain, that the remainder might have been the advocates of the creed-system. I |