Liberty is an inestimable blessing when we are governed in its enjoyment by proper principles; but such is the depravity of human nature, and such its tendency to extremes, that liberty will degenerate into licentiousness, if the passions are not kept in sub-jection to the government of a well-informed understanding.. Therefore, whenever the friends of civil and religious liberty take the church or the state on board, cut the cables of revelation, reason and experience, commit the helm to a fervid imagination, and launch into the trackless ocean of eccentrick speculation, in search of an ideal state of happiness, which the imperfection of our nature forbids to be realized in this world, they will inevitably be wrecked on the rocks of disappointment, or ingulfed in the vortex of frenetic enthusiasm. But the well-meaning promoters of that modern catholicism, which charitably embraces men as good christians, who hate and oppose some of the most important doctrines of Christ, have determined to make the experiment. Impatient under the slow process of reason, argument, and divine grace, in bringing christians to uniformity, and inattentive to the insuperable obstacles which the existing state of human nature places in their way, they have passed the lines which

divide truth from error, and piety from enthusiasm; and expect to be able to carry the church into those elysian fields created by their own romantick imaginations. This scheme they intend to accomplish, by an amalgamation of all parties into one common mass, which they hope to facilitate, by bringing Calvinists, Arminians, Antinomians, Pelagians, Arians, and Socinians, each party retaining their distinguishing tenets, to join together in commu nion in sealing ordinances, as often as it may be convenient. If a catholic church could be composed of such materials, it would not be without a scripture emblem, as it would be analogous to Noah's ark, the terms of admission being similar, and the members of the one as heterogeneous, as the inhabitants of the other. But we will venture to predict, that when the friends of the catholic scheme have done their utmost to bring it to perfection, they will find, that instead of advancing to the object of their destination, they have been steering their course for the regions of Utopia; and that while they imagined themselves to have been employed in erecting the temple of Concord, they were really engaged in endeavouring to build a modern Babel. We grant, that the practice of uniting in communion in sealing ordinances, by christians who hold different opinions on some subjects, while they maintain unity of faith relative to the fundamental doctrines of the christian religion, is consistent with scripture and reason;

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and to this practice, under proper regulations, we have no objection. But to the scheme in question, we are decidedly opposed, and are avowedly hostile to the principles from which it derives its support and influence. The ground upon which our opposition is founded will be disclosed in the following propositions.

That union is essentially necessary to real communion, and will precede it, until the order of nature is changed, and effects precede their causes; but as this will never take place, communion without union, and harmony without concord, will remain unintelligible terms, incapable of conveying any idea to the rational mind, except that of profound nonsense.

That the only terms of communion in the christian church, of divine appointment, are repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; that the faith required, includes a firm persuasion of the truth of the following doctrines, together with their governing influence on the heart and life. That mankind by nature are in a state of condemnation and slavery, from which they are neither able nor willing to extricate themselves; that justification before God, is obtained by faith in the obedience and atonement of the divine Mediator, as the only ground of pardon and acceptance; that regeneration and sanctification are the works of the divine spirit on the human soul, by which it is brought to the active, cheerful, and pertinent exercise of all its powers in the service of God; that christians are under the strongest obligations to render obedience to the moral law as a rule of life, and to abound in good works, as the proper fruits and evidences of saving faith; and that it is the duty of all men, to use the means which God has appointed for the obtaining of salvation, with diligence, urgency, and perseverance. That the repentance required, includes unfeigned sorrow of heart for sin, an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, and reformation of heart and life. Now, as these doctrines are plainly taught in the scriptures, we believe that those persons, and those only, who give credible evidence, that they are the subjects of the faith and repentance required, the leading features of which we have described, are entitled to christian communion in sealing ordinances. But, the distinguishing sentiments of Calvinists, Arminians, and Antinomians, relative to the above-mentioned doctrines of the gospel, are so diametrically opposite, that they cannot give satisfactory evidence to each other, that they are the subjects of the faith and repentance, which Christ has appointed to be the terms of communion in his church; therefore they cannot join together in communion in sealing ordinances, on any scriptural or rational ground. "Can two walk together except they be agreed?"

That errors fatal to the souls of men have always existed in the christian church, but in whatever shape they may have appeared, they may all be traced to the ignorance, the pride, and the sloth of depraved human nature, of which Arminianism and Antinomianism are the genuine offsping, whose pernicious influence is not confined to any one denomination, the one being the Charybdis, and the other the Sylla, between which all must pass, who enter the haven of eternal rest. Therefore we ought not to join in communion in sealing ordinances, with known Arminians, or Antinomians, of any denomination. And it may be proper to observe, that Pelagians and Arians, are also Arminians of a higher or lower grade; but as to the Socinians, the lines between them and infidelity are so hard to be traced, that it is not necessary to consider them as christians of any description.

That infants, idiots, and the invincibly ignorant, may be the subjects of divine grace, though we are strangers to the mode of its operation, but that with respect to all other persons, a competent knowledge of the scriptural doctrines of depravity and grace, and a firm persuasion of their truth, are among those things which are essential to genuine christianity. Therefore, the opinion, that ignorance and error are such innocent and harmless things, that a man's head may be filled with them, and his heart filled with grace at the same time; or in other words, that the understanding of a christian may be under the government of Satan, and his affections under the government of Christ, and consequently, that we ought to join in communion with christians of this fantastical description, is an unscriptural, irrational, and pernicious sentiment, calculated to injure the souls of men, and expose religion to contempt.

That the doctrines, experience, and practice of true religion, are so connected in the nature of things, and by divine appointment, that under the operation of divine grace, genuine religious experience and practice, owe their existence and growth, to the influence of the doctrines of the gospel on the human heart. But the catholic scheme in question, is calculated to strike at the root of this connexion, and to weaken our attachment to the doctrines of the gospel, by placing some of the most important of them on the back ground, as objects of so little importance, that men may reject and abhor them, and yet be good experimental christians; therefore, whatever the pretensions of this scheme may be, it must be considered as hostile in its tendency to the existence of genuine christianity.

That truth and error are derived from very different sources, and are so hostile in their nature to each other, that it would be

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as impossible to amalgamate them, as to bring fire and water into friendly contact. And as they have been engaged almost six thousand years, in a war which can only be terminated by the destruction of one of the parties, the friends of truth ought to rally round her standard, with firmness and precision. But if they expect to check the progress of error, disarm it of its rage, and render it harmless, by treating it in that gentle, charitable, effeminate mode, which is the order of the day, they will find in the issue, that their prudence and sagacity were not superior to those of the barber who at the battle of Wexford thrust his hat and wig into a loaded cannon, and then cried to his comrades, Come on boys, I have stopped her mouth. The gunner applied his match, and the barber and his comrades found, that the hat and wig were unable to prevent the usual consequences.* The truth is, that error is so well fortified with brass, that they might as reasonably expect to injure the fortress of Gibraltar, by a Lilliputian bombardment, as to make any serious impression on error, by a train of popgun artillery.

That such is the profundity and extent of truth, and such the imperfection of human nature, that the best christians on earth, see but in part, and know but in part; therefore they ought to exercise mutual charity and forbearance, relative to those things about which real christians may entertain different sentiments while in this imperfect state. And we belive, that it is our duty to treat professing christians of all denominations, with that friendship to which their moral conduct may entitle them, always respecting the rights of conscience, and never permitting difference in opinion to violate the laws of politeness and personal benevolence. But we also belieye, that an avowed and temperate, firm and decided opposition to those errors, which affect the vitals of true religion, is more consistent with the spirit of genuine christianity, and indicates more friendship to the souls of men, than that fashionable benevolence and lawless charity, which propose to banish controversy and bring about universal peace, by marking the lines which divide truth from error in such a manner, that the difference between them may appear to be an object of so little importance, that men may be as good christians on the one side as the other.

If the sentiments expressed in the above propositions are scriptural and reasonable, then we may conclude, that our principles and practice relative to communion in sealing ordinances,

† See the account of the insurrection in Ireland, A D. 1798, by Stephens

ought to be governed by the lines, which God has plainly drawn in his word, between truth and error, and between his friends and his enemies; and that we ought not to cast the mantle of mistaken charity over soul-ruining errors, nor sacrifice the doctrines of the gospel on the altar of unscriptural and chimerical catholicism.

These observations are respectfully submitted to the consideration of the friends of modern catholicism, as an apology for those persons, who cannot join with them in giving the right hand of fellowship to men, as experimental christians, who hate, oppose, and vilify some of the most important doctrines of christianity. But we hope they will do us the justice to believe, that our conduct is dictated by a conscientious regard to what we believe to be our duty, and not by bigotry, moroseness, or pride. We lament the causes which divide and disgrace the christian church, and are willing to do every thing in our power to promote christian union and communion, on christian principles. And we possess the most sincere friendship for those christians of all denominations, who are attached to the doctrines of the gospel, and governed by their influence, and we are cheerfully willing to take them by the hand as our brethren in Christ. Nor is there one of the human family on earth for whom we do not pray, and whose welfare we would not promote were it in our power. But we will not conceal, that the doctrines relative to salvation, by sovereign, free, unmerited, and divine grace, are dearer to our hearts than life and all its temporal enjoyments. Under their sweet experimental influence, we have found a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest, and have often enjoyed their soothing consolation in the hour of distress; and we hope that our souls will cling to them, with ardour and pleasure, when our hearts shall be convulsed in the agonies of death; therefore we cannot, and will not, consider hostility to them as an object of indifference, nor join in communion in sealing ordinances,. with their avowed enemies. Communion between persons, whose sentiments, relative to the vitals of real religion, are so opposite, would indeed be an hypocritical contemptible farce, calculated to degrade the christian character. 1 Timothy vi. 3. 5. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; from such withdraw thyself. 2 Timothy 1. 13. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

A Scriptural Catholic Christian.