The Christian Pioneer

reason and think for itself.

Untrammelled by the traditions of frail and fallible humanity, undismayed by the censures of the bigot and the fanatic, retarded not by the obstacles with which interest, and prejudice, and error, would stay its progress to a conviction and open profession of the Truth as it is in Jesus, the mind of every serious and conscientious believer in Christianity, will exercise that liberty with which Christ has made his disciples free will prefer the pure Oracles of Heaven to the creeds and confessions of earth-and, leaving the rudiments of the world, will strive to bring all its belief, and all its practice, into obedience to the commandments of Christ.

To aid in this holy and benevolent work, will be the object of "THE CHRISTIAN PIONEER." It will zealously labour to promote the glorious principles of the Reformation, the sufficiency of Scripture, the right of individual judgment, and of fearless free inquiry. It will assist in the removal of that unsightly mass of corruption which the Reformation left untouched. It will strive to disinter the religion of Jesus from that grave of priestly authority and creed idolatry, in which it has for ages been almost hidden from the view of man; and it will thus accelerate its pure and perfect resurrection, that the Sun of Righteousness may again arise with healing under his wings.

"The Christian Pioneer" will, it is hoped, become a bond of union to the scattered believers in the strict Unity and essential, unpurchased benevolence of the Supreme Being; they will, by its means, learn the progress of their principles in various quarters of the world-explain and vindicate the views they really entertain on Christian doctrines-expose the misrepresentations of the ignorant-silence the alarms of the timid-remove the existing prejudices entertained against their faith-excite to inquiry-and become the heralds of that knowledge of the One true God the Father, and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent, which the Saviour declared to be life eternal.

"The Christian Pioneer" will not care for sectarian distinctions. In every party, its Editor can see good and virtuous men. The progress of Truth, and not the mère triumph of a sect, will be his governing motive. But in the purer and nobler views of God and his Religion, which he believes it is his happiness to possess, he has received a treasure he is afraid to hoard, and in the power and opportunity which the present period offers for disseminating them-" talents" he dare not wrap up in a napkin and bury in the earth. He feels it his bounden duty, by the best means he can command, to introduce these views to other minds, and to recommend them to other hearts. Whilst, therefore, the Editor of "The Christian Pioneer" will ever strive that this publication shall evince respect and esteem for the virtuous and the good of every sect and party, he will, at the same time, hold no compromise with what he deems to be error. "The Christian Pioneer" will be the determined opponent of intolerance and bigotry, whether exhibited by Catholic against Prostestant, Protestant against Catholic, Protestants among themselves, or all of them united against the Unbeliever. These it will strive to uproot, together with the ignorance and error which produced them, and to prepare the way for the cultivation and reception of the pure doctrines and morality of the Saviour of the world. only weapons that will be used, however, will be reason, argument, persuasion, and Scripture; and with these, "The Christian Pioneer" will strive to fight, with earnestness and perseverance, the good fight of faith.

The

The Editor was enabled to follow up the Prospectus, by com. mencing the publication much sooner than he had anticipated, in consequence of the support he was promised; and he now sincerely thanks his numerous friends, contributors, and subscribers, for the manner in which they have redeemed their pledge of assistance. No effort will be spared, on the part of the Editor, to render the Magazine worthy their continued countenance, and instrumental in promoting the progress of pure and undefiled Chris

tianity. Its circulation must depend mainly upon their combined
exertions; and the good it has already, he trusts, effected, will, he
is persuaded, be a sufficient inducement to them, to aid its still
further improvement and extension.

The contest in which "The Christian Pioneer" is engaged is pe-
culiarly difficult, in consequence of the nature of the situation in
which its efforts are put forth. Calvinism has, in this country,
taken such deep root-it is so closely associated with the memory
of revered ancestors, and the most glorious of patriotic struggles,
so entwined with the recollections of infancy, and confirmed by the
power of education and habit-that every attempt to uproot from
the mind, what the nurse, and what the priest has taught, must
necessarily be an arduous task. It is a task, however, to which,
as it seems to the Editor, his duty to God and man impels him,
and difficult though it be, the approbation of the wise and good will
cheer his labours, and will nerve him on to the removal of error,
and prejudice, and worldly mindedness, and indifference, until
the way shall be cleared for the healing rays of the Sun of right-
eousness, to light up the cheerful and glowing piety of Christianity
in place of the morose and depressing gloom of Calvinism, and to
pour the glories of God's benevolence over the minds and hearts
of his creatures, that no longer dreading Him as their foe, and
cowering from his wrath, they may bless him as their Friend, and
love him as their Father.

GLASGOW, August, 1827.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGES

Apocrypha, The Question respecting the, saran? 70-80-128-166

Alnwick, Unitarian Controversy in,

wwwwww

American Unitarian Publications, Articles selected from,

188-286-344

The Christian Examiner, Boston, U. S...9-52-92-148-193

Baltimore Unitarian Miscellany,

Tract by Unitarian Association,namani nanananana

267-341-376-445

Continent, Remarks on Mr. Haldane's view of the religious state

of the,

19-37

www.173-208

Christ, Deity of, Philo-Veritas on the, and Reply to, by Philo-Veritas
Alter,
Country Congregation, Plain Thoughts addressed to a 241
Catholic Emancipation,

wwwwwwww138-290-321

Corn Laws, Remarks on the petition from the Clergy of the Church