Haman) to signifie the time of your coming to us, and in the Iland (whose forwardnes doth greatly incorage) we comit boath you and yours into the hands of God, for life, health and protection, subscribing ourselves your

brethren in the bonds of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ :

LUKE TROWARD.
WILLIAM COWELL.
HENRY BROWNE.
WIL. LAMBIN.

Christian Equality. A Discourse delivered before the First Society of Unitarian Christians in the City of Philadelphia, November 10th, 1816. By R. Eddowes, a Minister pro tem. of the said Society; occasioned by (among other things) the following Passages in the Pastoral Letter of the Synod of Philadelphia, dated September 20th, 1816.

"We know but of one Anti-Trinitarian synagogue in all our borders, and that there never may be another, we pray you brethren to declare the truth, that the only true God in existence is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, the God who is in Christ Jesus, reconciling the world to bimself."

"The synod would exhort particularly all the elders of the churches to beware of those who have made such pretended discoveries in Christian theology, as require an abandonment of the form of sound words' contained in our excellent confession and the holy Scripture."

"We rejoice that the shafts of Satan should fall ineffectually from the shield of Jesus; and we desire all persons under our care to present this shield, by maintaining and diffusing assiduously the sentiments of the Word of God, in opposition to every damning error."

that he would still be present with them in those miraculous powers, with which, for the attestation of the truth of the gospel, they should be furnished themselves, and which they should be enabled to communicate to those who believed. The Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles throughout,afford abundant evidence of the accomplishment of this promise; and we gather from the lastmentioned writings, several additional particulars as to the nature of those qualifications, so far beyond the ordinary scope of the human faculties. They not only differed in kind, and in the degrees of their intrinsic excellence (although all of the same divine origin), but on some of their possessors they had so little moral influence, that they were not sufficient to extinguish or prevent in their minds many of the most reprehensible dispositions, nor to purify their conduct of much that was irregular and unchristian.

It strikes one with astonishment that among such as had been partakers of the heavenly gift, there should have been occasion for those earnest remonstrances, those sharp rebukes and those solemn warnings which we find in the Epistles of Paul-that he should have to charge them with divisions, disorder, immorality and apostacy; and that there should have been such a proabove their brethren on account of the pensity in some, so to exalt themselves higher comparative value of their own spiritual endowments, as to render it necessary that the graces of love and shrould be represented as more excellent charity, condescension and humility, than them all.

forms and aspects, is odious and unPride, under all its creaturely; but religious, or spiritual pride, is a compound of things in their nature so utterly incompatible and contradictory, as to excite emotions of

contar dirgas and elle errentie. A vain-glorious Christian! Is it possible to conceive of a greater solecism?

How truly may it be said of every qualification, however distinguished

Who maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that thou hast not received? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" Not only has every virtue, whether more or less eminent, one common derivation, but the disparity itself is a beauty in the economy of Providence to which no reflecting mind can be insensible. And the Apostle strikingly illustrates this in the two last verses of my text, and more at large in the 12th chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, by an allegory taken from the different members of the human body, each of which, however diverse in form and dignity, contributes its part to the convenience, utility and harmony of the whole. Thus, whatever be the dissimilitude, or the higher or lower estimation of spiritual gifts, Christianity amalgamates them all into a systein of perfect equalization; so that by the church of Christ we ought to understand the whole community of believers in him, just as by the body we understand all its component parts: nor does any distinctive name or office imply in one member a right to assume superiority over the rest, or to say to any of its fellows, "I have no need of thee," and thus to create a schism in the body. Whatever is the right of one should be the right of all, and whatever is the interest of one, the interest of all.

It was the infraction of this original and fundamental canon of equality that bred all the evils with which the church of Christ has been afflicted. The desire of vain glory was the fruitful parent of envy and mutual provocation. From hence sprang those contentions among the Corinthians, and that setting up the name of one teacher in opposition to another, against which Paul in the very beginning of his first Epistle so warmly protests:-"Whereas there are among you envying, and strife, and divisions, and one saith I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?" He thus forewarns the elders of Ephesus" Also of your ownselves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." It plainly appears from his writings, and

those of Peter and John, that even in their early days there were false teachers, perverters of the truth, and. bring. ers-in of heresies, and that there were many followers of their pernicious ways:-what wonder then, if when their personal presence and influence were withdrawn, these " profane and vain babblings" should increase unto more ungodliness? And even that grievous wolves should enter in, not sparing the flock?" We know from the authentic records of history, that when "the unity of the spirit in the hond of peace" was once broken through, it was succeeded by the enlisting of partizans under the banners of a multitude of different leaders; and that the ancient and truly catholic names of Christian, and disciple, were laid aside for that of any one who could gain the most proselytes to his opinions by bold assertion, by sophistry, rhetoric or declamation. Such were those

It is

oppositions of science, falsely so called," against which Paul cautions his son Timothy-that war of words between those who had equally erred concerning the faith, which led to the most disastrous consequences. easy to conceive that when a proud and bigoted polemic found himself pressed by argument, he would endeavour to intrench himself within the strong holds of inspiration and infallibility:goaded by continued opposition, he would stigmatize his antagonist with opprobrious epithets; anathematize, excommunicate and devote him to everlasting perdition; and at length assail him with the more deadly weapons of carnal warfare. Blessed Jesus!Was it for such as these thou didst offer up that affectionate prayer→→→

That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thon hast sent me?" Rather might it not have been supposed, that instead of the gospel of peace proclaimed, the demon of discord had been let loose, with a woe! woe! woe! to the inhabitants of the earth!

Nor was it long before they, who if they had possessed the spirit of him they called Master, and of his apostles, would have been examples of humility and moderation, began to lift up them selves over those to whom in effect they owed all their importance. Then arose an host of innovations upon the

pure and simple institutions of the gospel-the distinction between clergy and laity-the orders of the hierarchy -high-sounding titles-splendid garments costly crowns-and a greedy appetite after large temporalities and princely establishments. In proportion as power became more extended and pre-eminence more secure, pride was the less disposed to brook that imputation of error which difference of opinion seemed to cast upon it; and hence the hopeful project of framing articles of faith to which all the world should subscribe. The assent of the weak was to be obtained by the fear of eternal torments, and the obstinacy of heretics to be overcome by the cogent arguments of racks and flames. Thus Nebuchadnezzar commanded all people and nations and languages to fall down and worship the golden image he had set up, under pain of the fiery furnace; and thus Louis the XIVth revoked the edict of Nantz, because it was his pleasure that there should be but one religion in his dominions, and that religion his own. But if ever there was a case in which it might be safely pronounced that the Almighty had interposed with his reto upon the projects of human pride and folly, it is this. When men began to build a tower whose top might reach unto heaven, he confounded their language and their speech. And so when the plain path of scriptural truth was forsaken, the very attempt to make them all pursue the same track by forcible methods, only made them the more ready, by a principle of re-action inherent in the human mind, to start off in numberless different directions. Truth is of that pure and unchangeable nature, that by its own operation it will ultimately obtain universal assent; but to make mankind generally and permanently unanimous in error, the God of truth has forbidden ;-its very efforts to sustain itself do but accelerate its downfall.

Such was the state of things when the Reformation shook to its very base that colossal domination which exalted itself "above all that is called God or is worshipped," and which prohibited the reading of the Scriptures to the people, lest the rottenness of its foundation should be discovered. But let it be once admitted, and well understood, that with respect to freedom of

inquiry every individual is upon a perfectly equal footing (and this is the very vital principle of the Reformation), and vain is the attempt to circumscribe it within this or that particular pale. Like the confluent waters, it will burst through every mound which the anx ious but fruitless labour of bigotry and superstition raises before it; nor will any effort avail to resist its progress till it has found its natural level. And will you not, my friends, indulge with me the pleasing persuasion that our beloved country is marked out in the divine counsels as the favoured region where this blessed, evangelical equality shall first be seen in all its peace-giving and love-inspiring influences? Immortal be that constitution, immoveable our adherence to it, which, occupied only in its proper sphere with the se carity of our civil rights on the basis of common liberty, leaves religion to the impulse of its own unbiassed, its inalienable independence-which, virtually disclaiming every idea of toleration as from itself, opens the way for the exercise of it, in its just and genuine acceptation, between one sect and another-which, regarding their various distinctions with a disinterested and indifferent eye, interferes no farther. than to protect every individual in the peaceable exercise of his natural and indefeasible privilege. Can it be a doubt whether in such a genial soil, all the rich fruits of religious as well as of civil liberty will attain, in due season, their highest degree of perfection?

Several circumstances, however, concur to render it probable that a consummation so much to be desired, is not very nigh at hand, upon a few of which I shall now briefly touch.

It would seem as if the perfect independence of every religious denomination on our civil institutions, had the effect of setting at work a spirit of rivalship among themselves" a strife among them which shall be accounted the greatest." Hence the custom of making a periodical display of the nuinber of their churches and the increase of their members; too little, it might be thought, in accordance with the principles of that kingdom which "cometh not with observation," and which, as it "is not of this world," does not seem sufficiently to harmonize with those expedients, too nearly akin

to the machinery of secular policy, which are necessary to keep together, under one form of government, many distinct and distant congregations. Is all this in reality the effect of a disinterested concern for the welfare of Zion, and the extension of the Redeemer's reign? Or is it something of a less catholic nature? If it should prove to be the same spirit of proselytism which has run to such excess in times past, who can say to what lengths it might not even yet, in similar circumstances, and under similar patronage, proceed? That the majority of those who now indulge it, are not aware of its mischievous and antichristian tendency, I am most willing to believe; but certain it is that its prototype is to be sought for only under the papal government, or in the propaganda of the prophet of Mecca. It is not here then that we are to look for an exemplification of the doctrines contained in my text; they refer to transactions of a much more humble and retired nature. It is in moderately numerous societies, perfectly independent within themselves, and whose affairs are managed by persons freely chosen among their own body, that the abuses which Paul so earnestly cautions against and labours to correct, may be most effectually avoided, and the virtues he so strongly recommends and inculcates, most advantageously cultivated and displayed. If this society should increase so as to render it inconvenient for all any longer to assemble in one place, I should think myself happy if I lived to see another branching from it, but governed by a constitution and laws of their own framing, and bound to us by no tie, whether federal or representative, associate or consociate, but that of brethren of the same family,

Although I willingly render every due tribute of approbation to that liberality which prompts to the general diffusion of the Scriptures" without note or comment," yet I would wish every member of a Bible society to ask himself impartially, whether it be consistent with the avowed motive, to give the same unnoticed publication, and the same implied authenticity to certain passages which are now well known not to be part of the genuine word of God, and even to perpetuate the fraud and place it almost beyond the possibility of correction, by suffering it to stand in stereotype editions?

actuated by the same ardour in the pursuit of truth, "standing fast in one spirit, striving together for the faith of the gospel."

Another circumstance, highly unfavourable to the prevalence of that humble, charitable and equalizing spirit which characterizes genuine Christianity, is the imprisonment of the truth in creeds and confessions, articles and catechisms. This is, in reality, but another feature of the same arbitrary, but absurd and impracticable plan, for procuring a perfect unifor mity of opinion throughout the whole Christian world. This expedient, as

have already intimated, was very early put in practice; and the compassing of this end has been, whether avowedly or not, the real aim and purpose of every ecclesiastical council, from that of Nice in the reign of Constantine, down to the episcopal convocations and presbyterian assemblies of the seventeenth century. And be it remembered, that whenever any of these could obtain the aid of the civil power for enforcing conformity, to their decrees, it was eagerly resorted to and rigorously applied. Without this, the threats of eternal perdition to recusants, however awfully fulminated, would have been found ineffectual. But it does so happen, thanks to the good providence of God, and the happy times and places we live in, that the latter are now the only weapons which the church-militant can wield; and if we disapprove of the intolerance, we can no less wonder at the impolicy and want of prudence of those who have recourse to them, rendered, as they frequently are, altogether disgusting by the coarse and indecorous language in which they are conveyed. When we see these elaborate compositions held up, with all the self-complacence of imagined infallibility, as a rule of faith which ought to take precedence of the Scriptures themselves, what difference can we discern between such a pretension, and that of the church which asserts, that without its interpretation as dictated by the Holy Ghost, those Scriptures are an insufficient guide, and cannot be trusted to point out the way of salvation? For promoting an adherence to these venerated products of ancient wisdom, advantage is sometimes taken of Paul's exhortation to Timothy (ed Ep. i, 13) to "hold fast the form