bles them to judge for themselves, in the great and serious concerns of religion, as well as in the common affairs of life. As they are capable of judging for themselves and forming their own religious sentiments, so it is their duty to do it. Their capacity creates their obligation, which they cannot dissolve so long as their capacity remains. As they are rational creatures, they are bound to act rationally. This, indeed, is the only power which they have no right ever to resign. They may, when necessary, give up their property, or civil liberty; but they may never give up their right of forming their own religious sentiments, and of serving God according to the dictates of their conscience. This is a right in its own nature inalienable ; and since they cannot give it away, they cannot neglect to use it, without injuring both God and themselves. When the great and essential doctrines of the gospel are preached to them, they are obliged to judge of them according to the best evidence they are able to obtain, both from others, and from their own serious and impartial examination. They have no right to let their own depraved hearts, or the false reasonings of others, warp their understanding, and obscure the real evidence of divine truth which is to be seen in the Bible. But they are bound to exercise their own rational powers impartially, in searching the scriptures and other sources of information, in forming their religious sentiments, which may have a powerful influence upon their religious conduct and future state.

2. God has given men not only the proper powers, but the proper means of forming their own religious sentiments. The Bible, which he has put into their hands, contains sufficient information in regard to all the principal doctrines and duties of religion. God has revealed all the great truths which are necessary to be known and believed in order to salvation, with great plainness. The scriptures of truth are level to every one's capacity, so that way-faring men though fools cannot err therein, unless by prejudice, partiality, or blindness of heart. By seriously and attentively searching the scriptures, men of all ages, of all characters, of all professions, and of all capacities, may discover the truth respecting all sentiments or doctrines which are delivered to them by their teachers, or suggested and propagated by others. When the apostles went forth among Jews and Gentiles, they carried the scriptures with them, from which they professed to derive their sentiments, and to which they appealed for the truth of them. Just so it is now in the christian protestant world; all who claim the character of christian instructers, profess to preach the doctrines which are contained in that sacred volume, which is in every one's hands. They profess to reason out of the scriptures; and appeal to them for

the support of all the doctrines and duties which they inculcate. Those, therefore, who have the Bible in their hands, have ample means of information upon all religious subjects. They may, as the apostle directs, "try the spirits," or examine the doctrines which any religious teachers bring to them as divinely revealed truths. And since they have this ample source of information in their hands, they cannot, without great impropriety and danger, neglect to search the scriptures, and to employ their own noble, rational powers, in forming their own religious sentiments. Had they no such means as God has given, to come to the knowledge of the truth, they might almost despair of finding it, amidst the great variety and contrariety of religious opinions which are advanced and propagated in the world. But so long as they hold the Bible in their hands and in their own language, they have an infallible standard, by which they may try and determine the truth or falsehood of all the doctrines which are delivered by their teachers, or propagated by others. And this source of information renders them inexcusable, in neglecting to exercise their own private judgment in determining what is truth and what is error. Neither the confidence nor authority which any may display in propagating their sentiments, nor the specious reasons they may offer to support them, ought to lead men to neglect their own right to judge for themselves. They have the power and the means which God has given them, to know the truth; and these they are bound to improve for the great purposes for which they are given. It is not only their privilege, but their duty, to exercise their private judgment in matters of religion, and to believe and disbelieve according to real evidence.

3. This is the duty of every man, because God has appointed none to judge for him in respect to his religious opinions. It is true, God has appointed teachers, but not judges. The preachers of the gospel are to explain and inculcate the doctrines of it, and place them in as clear, plain and convincing a light as they can. But after all they have done to exhibit and support the truth, the hearers are to judge for themselves whether those things they have heard be the truth. They have the same sure word of inspiration to assist them in determining what is truth, that their teachers have; and they are obliged to consult it. Teachers, indeed, have often been disposed to assume the power and authority of dictating. And the christian church has suffered great injury, for ages, from the bigotry and usurpation of those who have sustained the office of sacred guides. But it was not so from the beginning. The apostles and primitive preachers of the gospel disclaimed all dominion over men's faith, and professed to be only helpers in promoting

their knowledge and holiness. And none who sustain the office of the ministry have any right to impose their own opinions upon their hearers by virtue of their sacred office. The Pope and all his hierarchy are usurpers, whose pretensions to supreme power and infallibility in the church are to be treated with disdain, as vile impositions. The people are their own proper judges of religious truth and error, and of ecclesiastical power. Christian churches have a right to form their own creeds and exercise their own discipline, independently of any superior ecclesiastical power on earth. As God has appointed none to judge and dictate for them in these serious concerns, so they are under indispensable obligations to exercise their own private judgment.

4. God has forbidden men to take their religious sentiments from others upon trust. His direction to his ancient people was to appeal to the law, and not to the teachers of it, in order to distinguish truth from error. “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." And Christ forbade his followers to call any man Father. He charged his disciples to "take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." We are commanded to prove, that is, examine all things; and to hold fast that which is good; and to buy the truth and sell it not. The apostle charges christians not to be carried about with divers and strange doctrines. John tells believers, "If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine," meaning the true gospel, "receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed." And Paul tells the Galatians to reject any false doctrines, though brought to them by men or angels. Such divine prohibitions against receiving false teachers and false doctrines necessarily imply that it is the duty of every man to judge for himself in matters of religion, and to adopt no religious sentiment without examination and satisfactory evidence of its being a real truth. God knows that the preachers of the gospel, as well as others, are liable to err in their religious opinions; and therefore forbids their hearers to place an implicit faith in what they deliver as divine truth. And since God has forbidden them to place an implicit faith in the opinions of those whom he has appointed to instruct them, he lays them under an imperious necessity to judge for themselves in forming their religious sentiments. Besides,

5. Every man must feel the effects of his own religious opinions, and consequently ought to exercise his own judgment in forming them. This is a matter of too much consequence to put out of his own hands. Religion itself depends upon just views of the cardinal doctrines of the gospel. Religious affec

tions must be exercised in the view of religious objects; and the nature of religious affections is always similar to the objects upon which they terminate. If men have false opinions of God, of Christ and of themselves, their religious affections, if they have any, will be correspondent to their false sentiments. Men's religious exercises of heart are always agreeable to their views of the nature and character of the Supreme Being, whom they love and adore. Hence says the prophet Micah, "All people will walk every one in the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever." The religious sentiments of the heathen govern their religious affections. The religious sentiments of the Mohammedans govern their religious affections. The religious sentiments of the Jews govern their religious affections. The religious sentiments of deists, govern their religious affections. The religious sentiments of those who call themselves Christians, govern their religious affections. And the religious sentiments of each sect or denomination of Christians, govern their religious affections. True religious sentiments, therefore, are essential to true religion. Men cannot have true religion, without having the true knowledge of God and of the essential doctrines of the gospel. Accordingly, every man's religion will be affected by the religious sentiments which he cordially embraces. It is therefore of as much importance to form our own religious sentiments, and to form them according to truth, as to have true religion; and it is of as much importance to have true religion, as it is to secure the salvation of our souls. If we suffer others to form our religious sentiments for us, yet God will not suffer us to escape the effects of our folly and guilt. We must feel the effects of our own principles, as well as of our own practice. We must give an account of our faith, as well as of our conduct. Not only our temporal, but our eternal interests are concerned in forming our religious sentiments. Let us remember that we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, who has told us, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."

IMPROVEMENT.

1. If it be the duty of men to exercise their private judgment in the manner that has been mentioned, then they may always know what they ought to believe and practice. If they collect all the evidence in their power, and judge according to it, they will certainly know what it is they ought to believe and to do. If they exercise their right in seeking for evidence, and exercise their right in judging according to it, they will form a judg

ment which they have a right to follow; and which neither God nor their own conscience will condemn. The Bereans could know their duty with respect to believing the doctrines which Paul preached. They could hear him attentively and impartially; and after they had heard him they could search the scriptures attentively and impartially; and after they had done these things, they could form their judgment according to the evidence they had discovered, which was the best evidence they could obtain. And to judge according to the best evidence they could get, was doing their duty in the case, both in the sight of God, and in the sight of their own conscience. This is a proper mode of judging what it is right to believe, and equally a proper mode of judging what it is right to do. We are all very apt to complain that we know not what to believe, nor what to do; but our complaint is always groundless. God never places mankind in a situation in which they cannot know and do their duty. If it were possible to place them in such a situation, they would not for the time be moral agents, nor proper subjects of moral government. But we have not been, nor can we be placed in such a situation. It never was true, when we complained that we could not know our duty, that we could not know it. There never was any insurmountable difficulty in knowing our duty but what arose from our unwillingness to know it. Our unwillingness to know it, might have arisen from our unwillingness to seek for information; or our unwillingness to seek to those for information who we knew were able to inform us; or our unwillingness to examine the subject of doubt; or our unwillingness to do our duty, though we knew it. All that God requires of us is, to search for the best evidence as to what our duty is, and then to act according to that evidence. Though God does not require a heathen to search the scriptures to know his duty, yet he is morally obliged to consult his reason and conscience to learn his duty, and to act agreeably to the dictates of these intellectual powers, which he knows he ought to obey. There is no man in this world, who is in his right mind, that cannot know what he ought to believe, and what he ought to do, in any given instance. It is absurd for christians, who have the Bible in their hands, to plead in excuse for believing and doing wrong, that they could not know what to believe, or what to do; for they always may have evidence which makes it their duty to believe or not to believe, and to act or not to act.

2. If men ought to exercise their right of private judgment in the manner which has been mentioned, then they may not only know that they have acted right in forming their religious sentiments, but know that they have formed them according to