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of civil society,) certainly stand on equal or superior ground in respect to general utility. When it is further considered, what are the qualifications which the New Testament requires its teachers to possess, the argument will acquire additional weight. "A bishop, i. e. the teacher of religion in a society of christians, must be blameless, sober, of good behavior, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, just, holy, temperate; he must not strive but be gentle unto all men; apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves." 1 Tim. iii. Tit. i. 2 Tim. ii. Against this office what can be said with reason?

"But have not the most extravagant claims both to wealth and power been set up by men calling themselves ministers of the gospel of Christ?" I do not deny the fact: but I say, 7, let not christianity bear the blame, because none is due. The question is, on what footing does the New Testament establish the support of the ministers of religion? and it will be found that it establishes it in such a way, as every reasonable man must approve. It is thought equitable that men who apply their younger years to the acquisition of languages and of philosophy, and who spend their days and strength in teaching them to others, should receive from those whom they teach, such a recompense for

their labor as to enable them to support themselves and their families, in a decent and respectable manner. Who will complain of this as improper and unjust ?-The gospel sets the maintenance of its ministers on the same footing. "The workman is worthy of his hire. They that serve at the altar should live by the altar. When they dispense to others of their spiritual things, they should in return receive of their worldly things." This is all that christianity demands; and she is answerable for no other claim. Is it not reasonable that men of talents, education, and benevolence, who devote their lives to the spiritual instruction of their fellow creatures, with a view to make them good and happy both in this life and that which is to come, should receive such a remuneration as to enable them to live, not in affluence and splendor, far less in luxury and extravagance, but in the respectability of a decent competence. The application of the same education and abilities to another employment would have secured wealth. Do they make exorbitant claims, when they ask from those whom they are laboring to instruct, a decent support?

Nor does the New Testament countenance in the ministers of religion a claim of power, more than of wealth. Humility is pointed out by Jesus as the road to exaltation: and the way to be the greatest of all, is to be the servant of

all. Arguments, entreaties, prayers, all derived from the scriptures, are the only arms which the New Testament warrants them to use. If the wicked will not turn from the evil of their ways, there remains nothing but to leave them to the judgment of a righteous God. With respect to such as have joined the society of believers, and afterwards conduct themselves amiss, Christ himself prescribes the following mode of proceeding: "If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother: but if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three And

witnesses every word may be established.

if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." Matt. xviii. 15, 16, 17. No civil privilege is taken away, no injury sustained as to worldly affairs all that Christ enjoins is a separation from the communion of his disciples. In a society of artists or philosophers, if a person will not conform to their rules, they exclude him and where is the hardship or injustice? for these rules are the bonds of the society. This is all that christianity does and who will say that it is wrong for a society of pious and moral men, who are united by the principles of piety and morality, to exclude such as are im

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pious and immoral? The wisdom as well as the equity of the gospel in this respect must be justified, not only by its children, but by strangers.

The extravagant claims of some to the power of forgiving sins, and opening to men the gates of heaven, have laid a foundation for the establishment of the worst, because a spiritual, despotism. But christianity is entirely free from the charge. The sacred scripture contains the whole of the christian religion: that, and that alone, the ministers of the gospel are to teach : and that, and that alone, the people are to receive. The book is to be in the hands of all, that all may understand it and be wise. Whatever a minister asserts to be a christian doctrine, he is to prove from the New Testament and his assertion that it is contained there, is not to be received by the people as proof; but they are to examine carefully the writings of the evangelists and apostles for themselves. If it be found in the New Testament they are to receive it, not on the word of the minister, but on the authority of the apostles of Christ if it be not the doctrine of scripture, they are commanded not to receive it, whoever may enjoin the contrary. The dispensation of the two simple ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's supper has no mystery attached to it. No virtue is derived from the power of the minister: all the benefit arises from the blessing of Christ,

which is not at the disposal of any of his ser vants. Where, my friend, is the priestcraft of which you complain? Point it out in any one instance. But you cannot. Let the objection then be erased from your mind, and acknowledge that in this respect the gospel is perfectly reasonable, and infinitely distant from priestly domination and influence.

SECTION V.

OBJ. The Blood which Christianity has shed, the Massacres which it has planned and executed, and the Miseries which it has brought upon the Earth, must seal its Condemnation.

THAT men calling themselves christians, have persecuted others with unrelenting cruelty, and have shed rivers of innocent blood, is but too true. Did christianity countenance this conduct, it would merit unqualified reprobation. But far from such a disposition, it forbids all violence and injury to be employed in its defence, Christianity never shed a drop of its enemies' blood, since the day that Christ died on the cross; but it has been lavish of its own. It never forged a chain to bind a heretic or an adversary; nor erected a prison to immure him. Christianity never dipped her pen

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