in heaven.

It was a Priesthood not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchisedeck: a Priesthood "made not after the Law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another Tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar." Heb. vii. 13.

Having thus stated the case, and I trust fairly, between these two learned men, the decision shall be left with the reader.

To follow the Professor, step by step, through the Course of his Lectures, were I either disposed, or at leisure for the undertaking, would lead too far astray from the work immediately before me. My object has been to make those occasional remarks on the performance in question, which might operate, by way of caution, on the minds of those who might otherwise be led to pay too implicit a deference to the acknowledged abilities of its author.

It is not to be supposed, that a person in Dr. Campbell's station could really mean to lessen the respect due to established institutions;

institutions; or give countenance to those prevailing opinions which are subversive of all order and government in the Church whatever. Passages however, and not a few, are to be found in his Lectures, which may operate in such a way. I will detain the reader only, while I point out one to his attention. In page 90, we are told, in unqualified language and of universal application, "that the terms of the Gospel are not in the Sacred Pages connected with, or made to depend on either the Minister, or the form of Ministry."-The question is not, whether the above words may not admit of a certain qualified sense, in which we are ready to receive them; but whether, in the heads of indiscriminating persons, they do not obviously lead to the following dangerous conclusion; that those, to whom our Saviour delivered the evangelical commission, did not thereby acquire any particular authority; and that the form of Baptism instituted by our Saviour, was not more valid than any other form that might be adopted for the purpose. The government of the Church was therefore left as it were ad arbitrium vulgi. Every man

might take on himself the office of a Minister, and any form of Ministry be adopted with equal prospect of securing the terms of the Christian Covenant. This is indeed an extensive principle; for it justifies all sects, and supersedes all institutions and sacraments whatever *.

But

* An ingenious and very eminent Dignitary of our own Church, has not hesitated to carry this dangerous notion to a still more dangerous extreme; by maintaining, that the Doctrines of the Church, " in consequence of the changes which are wont to take place in the judgement of mankind," are not less subservient to the varying opinions and circumstances of the world, than the Constitution of it: thereby furnishing a proof of what we fear will be found too true; namely, that a laxity of opinion relative to the Constitution of the Church, is often accompanied with an equal degree of laxity with respect to its Doctrines. For, on the hasty assumption that many Injunctions were addressed to, and imposed on the Apostles and first Disciples, which are not obligatory on Christians in after-times, Dr. Paley has classed one of the fundamental Articles of our Faith, among the Doctrines of temporary duration. In a Sermon preached at a Visitation of the late Lord Bishop of Carlisle, on July 15, 1777, Dr. Paley writes thus; and we do not perceive from any subsequent publication, that he has altered his opinion: "If any one asks, what the expressions in Scripture, Regenerate,-Born of the Spirit,-New Creatures, mean?--We answer; that,

they

But on this principle it may be asked, with what propriety does St. Paul call on the members of the Church" to obey them that had the rule over them, and to submit themselves?" Or with what propriety does Dr. Campbell find fault with the founders of new sects, by which he probably means the modern Seceders from the Scotch Establishment? For if no authority in Church matters is lodged any where, and all forms of Ministry are equally effectual and equally acceptable; sects of every denomination have an equal right to plead private opinion, as a full justification for their practice, however eccentric: and consequently it remains to be proved,

they mean nothing! nothing to us!-nothing to be found, or sought for, in the present circumstances of Christianity."-Such an opinion, however confidently delivered, no authority of Genius, Learning, or Station can possibly establish. For, as we understand it, it is the heretical opinion of an individual, against the decision of the Church, and the language of the Bible. We have only to hope therefore, for the sake of the rising Generation, that where Dr. Paley's Writings shall be considered as a Study proper to form the mind of the young Academician; they will not fail to be accompanied with a Comment necessary to counteract the apparently unscritural, as well as unconstitutional notions of their Author.

in what sense those unchristian separations, of which the Doctor himself complains, (Page 108,) can be said to exist.

These are some few of the remarks which presented themselves on a general view of the Professor's publication. But as a considerable part of that publication is pointedly directed against the Episcopal Establishment of the Church in this country, it may be expected from a Minister of that Establishment, that he should bring forward something decided on that head.

Considering however that this subject has, been so frequently and completely handled, as to render a particular analysis of it unnecessary; it will be my object, to bring what I may have to say upon it within the shortest possible compass; by laying hold of what Lesley significantly calls the jugulum causa; with the view of strangling the subject as it were in its birth. A multiplicity of words and arguments, by confounding and amusing the understanding, ofttimes tends more to obscure the truth, than to illustrate it. The heart of a cause lies (generally speaking) in one point: by a judicious exposition of