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sue with such an intensity of eagerness, and which vanishes when grasped, while the bread of heaven, of which if a man eat he shall never hunger, offered freely by a divine hand, without money and without price, is rejected as loathsome and nauseous? Well might Burke pathetically exclaim, "what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!" If all this may be true, as it certainly is, it need excite no great additional wonder, that others of the same race, temperament, and character, should pass their lives within the precincts of the catholic or protestant church, all unconscious of their alienation from God, their subjection to Satan, and of the necessity of a mighty influence from on high to be sought in a divinely appointed way, to create them anew in Christ Jesus.

A profession adopted at first, perhaps, to please friends, perhaps for what may be thought its learned leisure, or for its acknowledged respectability, with but little thought of the immense, unspeakable responsibility of having the care, the direction, and, in a great degree, the formation. of immortal souls for an endless destiny beyond the grave; a profession, thus adopted, becomes ere long a business. merely, not unfrequently, a drudgery. The scriptures are studied, either to support a system, or to find materials for a sermon, an essay, or a dispute. It is to be feared that this is the fact with numbers of every religious denomination. Biblical critics have too often been any thing but Bible Christians. The man of God, thoroughly furnished, should combine both characters. Can there be any wonder that teachers of an intelligent and naturally amiable character, but ignorant of their own alienation from God, and of the necessity of regeneration by the Spirit of God, should also be ignorant of that enemy by whose devices as an angel of light," it is greatly to be feared, they are ensnared? Well did a heathen say the precept, "know thyself," descended from heaven. True

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self-knowledge is of heavenly origin. Let Orthodox clergymen, whether Baptist or Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian or Congregational, take heed to themselves, that they love the Saviour, while they preach the truth as it is in Jesus. While other reputed teachers deny the empire and the agency of Satan, the prince of this world, let them never shun to declare the whole counsel of God on this, as on every other subject. Is there not among the Orthodox clergy and societies at the present moment, a false delicacy on this subject? This ancient and active enemy of man smiles in his wrath, when, in compliance with a sickliness of taste, or through fear of offence, those that should be bold for the truth shrink from declaring it. If the bosom of Satan is ever the seat of one happy emotion, it is, when those, set to warn men of his devices, deny his existence; his joy is complete, when his agency is ridiculed.

Another remark is, That this doctrine does not stand alone, but is indissolubly connected with the other great truths of the Orthodox system.

If this world is under the usurped dominion of a great fallen spirit, the enemy alike of God and man, the doctrine of man's original entire depravity will cease to be an incredible enigma. And if Satan "rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience," deceiving and "leading astray the whole world," the necessity of the interposition of the Son of God "to destroy the works of the devil," will become apparent. Hence also the necessity of the Divine Spirit, "to create men anew in Christ Jesus." Man's alienation from God, and aversion to his sovereign character and holy government, will no longer be denied as a doctrine of revelation. "The carnal mind" will be seen "to be enmity against God." Now, without a stock of Rabbinical learning, the Saviour's declaration will be very plain, except a man be born again, he cannot see the king

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dom of God." And the impenitent, it will also be seen, must go away into everlasting punishment." These and other associated doctrines stand or fall together. On the simple fact, then, whether Christ, speaking to the Jews of Satan, the devil, the prince of this world, &c., meant what these words plainly express, and what the Jews understood them to mean, may be considered as depending the truth of the great cardinal doctrines of Orthodoxy, viz. man's original apostacy, continued and entire depravity, redemption by the Son of God, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, a heaven of blessedness for penitent, obedient believers, and an eternal hell for the finally impenitent.

Here I willingly state, that this remark is one which has been borne in mind from the commencement of this discussion. I have wished Unitarians and Universalists, (who, with different names, are essentially one,*) who solemnly profess to receive the Bible, as the only, the sufficient, and the obligatory rule of their faith and practice, to`shift the position from which they have been accustomed to look at Orthodoxy, and to view the subject in another light and from another quarter. The passages of scripture, which the Orthodox quote to prove the divinity of Christ, original sin, atonement, &c., have been so often produced, and so often considered by those now grown old in this controversy, that it were idle to expect, by them, to awaken a new train of thought in minds thus barricaded by prejudice. These passages are now classed as spurious, of doubtful authority, ambiguous, mistranslated, not to the point, &c. &c., so that the critic and the pretender to a critical acquaintance with the scriptures, is armed, or imagines himself armed cap-a-pie, ready to ward off any blow, or parry any thrust, from that quarter. Perhaps by varying the point of attack, an assailable spot may be

* See Note I.

found that will lead at once to the enemy's fortress. Spurious, doubtful, ambiguous, mistranslated, pointless texts, have given place, English Unitarians being judges, to those which are genuine, of indisputable authority, "found in the oldest manuscripts," of univocal meaning, correctly translated, and perfectly to the point.

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Even now, it will be perceived by a subsequent note, the most prominent leaders of the Unitarian party are openly and fearlessly publishing opinions in regard to parts of the Bible, which have heretofore been kept back, or only let out drop by drop, with a cautious (shall I add, time-serving ?) timidity, that proves these leaders to have been heretofore fearful, that the people were not quite prepared for a naked plunge into the stream of pure, rational truth. These leaders would now seem nearly, if not quite, ready to quit the inspired authority of the sacred volume for what? Who of themselves can tell? could point them to a land where learning has had its most illustrious votaries; where inquiry on religious topics has been free as air; where "rational" Christianity has "had full sweep," experiencing but slight opposition from gloomy, calvinistic, puritanical, pharisaical strictness; where every received truth has been subjected to the most rigid test, to the most fearless scrutiny; where all possible disjunctions and alliances, permutations and combinations of opinion have had their day, been tried, condemned, and passed off to forgetfulness. But the sun of truth, which rose upon the world at Luther's bidding, obscured for a time, has again burst forth, promising to shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Are Unitarians here, prepared for German experiments and German neology?

"I would that I could pierce the ears, as with a trumpet-call, of those who stand" in the pulpits, and preside over the first and the cherished Institution, of our Pilgrim

Fathers. "I would awaken them from their slumber to the fearful responsibility they incur" by withholding, disguising, or misrepresenting that system of divine truth, which their fathers would have poured out their life's-blood to its last drop, rather than have renounced or concealed. "I would implore them to look to it, lest, when poor and wretched man, with the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint, asks them for medicine, they give him a poilest they should administer a cup of tremblin g for the waters of salvation; and, as the children cry for bread, they should give them a stone."

son;

Guardians of our youth, instructers of our manhood, guides of our immortal spirits, remember in whose places you stand, and whose children cry to you for the bread of life. Our Fathers, whatever faults or foibles may have clung to them, were distinct, full, and fearless in the avowal of their religious opinions. Those opinions they fondly cherished, distinctly expressed, and boldly defended, yes, with the faggot and the sword before them. Hither they came, not to conceal, but that, unmolested, they might enjoy those opinions, and teach their children the fear of the Lord, and the distinct truths of his revealed will. They taught their children something more than Mahomet, or Lord Herbert, or even Moses taught; they taught some doctrines besides the facts (questioned by none called Christian, or even Mahometan) that there is one God and a future life, and that Jesus is a divinely appointed instructer. They openly and fully taught what they understood and believed Christ revealed in regard to his own person, character, offices and object; in regard to the spirituality, perpetuity, and sanctions of the divine law; in regard to a future judgment and the final destiny of man; in regard to the ground of man's justification, and the conditions he must fulfil in order to divine acceptance and final approbation. On these subjects of mo

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