there in spite of him. It is not in his power to unlearn what he understands; nor can he choose to believe that false, which he knows to be true. If he refuses to act according to his convictions, conscience arraigns him, and he seems to be tried for his life. He becomes unhappy as a condemned criminal, and his conscience will admit of no calm, till his conduct corresponds with his convictions. What can he do? The answer is easy. Let him act uprightly, and be happy: "One is his master, even Christ." When men thus follow their own convictions into a Christian church, there they ought to be at peace but even they cannot be at peace, if any one man presumes to require others to think and act as he does; for this would be to exclude Christian liberty, and in effect to say, One is your master, even the imposer of a creed. They "do virtuously," who claim Christian liberty for themselves; but they, who along with that claim, allow it in its full exercise to all their brethren, in their community as well as out of it, they "excel them all."

66

A doctrine so free from venom, so placid in itself, so conducive to the virtue and happiness of mankind, so full of "mercy and good fruits," so much like the sun that "riseth on the evil and the good;" can such a doctrine come from him, who "was a murderer from the beginning?" Shall we say of a teacher of this doctrine, "How sayest thou, ye shall be made free?" Say we not well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” My God! what charms do thy children find in bondage? Whence this unnatural shuddering at the sound of freedom? Can it be difficult to inspire the souls of mankind with a love of liberty; their own liberty, the liberty of loving and adoring thee according to the dictates of their own conscience, conscience, that vice-God upon earth! Well, let us try, let us examine whether the sole government of every man's conscience by Jesus Christ, in the manner we have been explaining it, hath any reasons to support it.

First then, we affirm, there is no need of any other dominion over conscience, than what Jesus Christ exercises, the dominion of argument to support the fact of

his mission. If the Gospel were a hard and difficult science, it might be beyond the capacities of some of our fellow-creatures; but it is not so. We contend, that there is nothing in the Gospel, written by the Evangelists, necessary to be known in order to salvation, which is too hard for any plain man to understand. Let any man take the Gospel according to any head of a party, for example, according to St. Augustin, which is contained in ten great folio volumes, and which is expounded by a set of learned men in the church of Rome, and let him give every man his own opinion, till there remain only the pure texts quoted by them, and written by the Evangelists, and he would find himself just where I would place him; that is, in possession of the pure Gospel, with as much right, and as much ability to judge of its meaning, as all these gentlemen expositors had. Should it be said, these scholars inform us that the name Jesus comes from the word Joshua; and Joshua from another word; and should they inform us of a thousand such things; we should reply, all these are true, but the knowledge of these is not necessary to salvation, and therefore is not that Gospel, without the belief of which we cannot be saved. In a word, we consider every order to believe what other men affirm to be true, exactly like an act of Parliament, requiring all the inhabitants of Great Britain to wear spectacles, though the far greater part of them have good eyes, and no need of glasses. When the apostle Peter lay "sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, the angel of the Lord smote him on the side, and his chains fell off." The angel accompanied him through the wards, and caused the iron gate to open without Peter's moving a finger; but the same angel ordered him to "gird himself," to "bind on his sandals," and to "cast his garment about him." It would have been needless for the angel to have required Peter to open the gate, and to knock off his chains, for he had not power to do so and it would have been needless for the angel to buckle his girdle, or to bind on his sandals, because he had power to dress himself. Thus we affirm concerning the Gospel. If any parts of it be beyond our capacities; it is

needless to require us to believe them, for we can never believe what we cannot understand. If other parts of the Gospel be within our reach, it is needless to require others to do that for us, which we are able to do for ourselves. The Gospel of some Christians is very hard; it is not fair to require us to believe it; they say they do not understand it themselves; but the Gospel, according to the four evangelists is not of this kind. Christian, know the Gospel of your master, and the dig-nity of yourself, and say to every pretender to dominion over you, "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these? And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself."

Consider in the next place, that the exercise of this Christian liberty cannot possibly be an injury to other Christians. Which of the ten commandments does a man break, by following his own convictions in religion? Suppose the worst, that he is in an error; yet "his error remaineth with himself." Is any one of us less wise, less just, or less safe, because another does that for himself, which we every day do for ourselves? Our safety is not endangered by his taking the liberty to think for himself: it is we who endanger his safety by taking the liberty to think for him. In such a case we should be less wise and less just than we ought to be; as he would be, if he allowed us to run our liberty into such licentiousness. How is it that men, Christian men too, can see one another's sicknesses, and hear of one another's misfortunes, without any emotions of anger, and with all the feelings of humanity and pity that Christians ought to have for one another; and that they cannot bear to hear a conscientious man avow sentiments different from their own, without a red resentment, that like a hot thunderbolt hisses, and wounds, and kills where it falls? No, it is not justice, it is not prudence, it is not humanity, it is not benevolence, it is not zeal for these dispositions: it seems as if it were the explosion of an infected heart, where the milk of human kindness never flowed. If such emotions can proceed from Christians.

we must suppose, what we are loath to think, that is, that some Christians are in some unhappy moments divested of all the principles of their holy religion, and actuated by the dispositions of the most ignorant and cruel of mankind. But, say they, though we receive no injury, yet God is dishonoured. Ah! is God dishonoured? Imitate his conduct then. Does he thunder, does he lighten, does he afflict this poor man? Behold his sun enlightens his habitation, his rain refreshes his fields, his gentle breeze fans and animates him every day; his revelation lies always open before him; his throne of mercy is ever accessible to him; and will you, rash Christian, will you mark him out for vengeance? I repeat it again, imitate your heavenly Father, and at least suspend your anger till that day, when "the Lord will make manifest the counsels of men's hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God." Then will you perfectly understand the justice, as well as the kindness of these interrogations. "Who maketh.

thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" As therefore dominion over conscience is needless, so the utmost exercise of Christian liberty is innocent, and there is no restraining it without incurring guilt.

Remark, further, that free inquiry in religion is essential to the virtue of a character. The virtue of man consists in his making use of all his own faculties; not in believing that other men have made a virtuous use of theirs. Now it is possible, a man may make use of all his faculties, and yet not be able to perceive the evidence of some opinions, which are called articles of faith; and consequently he may doubt the truth of those articles, yea, it is necessary to the virtue of his character that he should doubt them; for it is not in his power to believe without proof, and it would be unjust to profess to believe what he does not believe. Let us not be so weak as to imagine, that a man cannot think justly unless he thinks as we do. Let us allow that his justice consists in thinking, and reasoning, and acting as well as he can; and that he is accountable for all this, only

to "one master, even Christ.” As freedom of thought is the parent and guardian of all virtue, so the want of it is the nurse of vice, and particularly of that general disposition to all sin; I mean servility. A low, servile soul, habituated not to think for itself, but to be led by a guide, is prepared for the commission of any crime, or the belief of any absurdity, that a mercenary guide may find convenient to enjoin. No men teach the depravity, the extreme and excessive depravity of human nature, with a better grace than these men. Were I disposed to sink a soul into the lowest degree of wretchedness, either as a citizen of the world, or as a member of a church, I would inculcate, with all my might, a spirit of servility, and that would answer my end better than any other method in the world. I would not shock a man with the sounds of perjury and blasphemy, impiety to God and injustice to men; but I would gently inform him, that he was a poor, depraved, foolish creature, not able to judge between good and evil, truth and error, and that he would discover great arrogance if he thought otherwise but that I was a wise and sacred man, wishing well to his soul, and that by believing what I said to be true, and by doing what I directed to be done, he would be pious, and safe, and happy. There is therefore no virtue, but a great fund of iniquity in implicit faith.

Observe further, that a Christian, who takes Christ for his only and sufficient governor in religion, is supported by the examples of all genuine Christians, from the days of Christ to this moment. The apostles had no master but Jesus Christ. The primitive Christians had no other master than he; for the apostles exercised no "dominion over their faith," though they were "helpers of their joy." The church of Rome, when they shook off the imperial yoke, acted under the same authority. All other churches, when they cast off the do minion of the Bishop of Rome, went on the same principles, and were justified in doing so. If you imitate these examples, you incorporate into your conduct what was excellent in theirs; and if you allow others the same freedom, which you yourselves enjoy, you excel