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whom this good father of the protestant church, seemed to think were leagued together for establishing not Christ's but the kingdom of his Satanic Majesty? Are protestants, remembering this, wanting in charity and good will towards this branch of the church, seeing they will not bid it God speed. If the former why not examine and establish the consistency of the doctrines and views of their church with scripture, and let the same christian and brotherly relations exist between catholics and protestants, as between the different branches of protestantism. Were this done, were their consistency established, none more cordially than the writer would take them by the hand and bid them go on in doing good. Were this the result, none would more cheerfully join in changing the torrent of opposition formed against them. Daily am I more and more asured the truth of our holy religion and the Bible must stand or fall upon its own foundation. If true, it will stand and progress as it has done, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it--if false and a cunningly devised fable, it must be exposed, and if it were such, would have shared this just fate centuries ago. So with any branch of the church, if fundamentally wrong and ruinous, it will in due time be exposed and given up. If found to be fundamentally correct, it will stand and go hand in hand in the great work of christianizing the world. If then this branch of the christian church teaches the doctrines of the bible and the way of salvation through Christ Jesus fundamentally correct, let it be made manifest. If not, let her have honesty enough to confess the same, and learn from her neighbours.

It is known to you and your readers that a chapel and small society of papists* holding regular service, exist in your place.Notice was recently given by their priest said to be a somewhat shrewd and artful logician-perhaps the informant meant, shrewd and artful jesuit-that, in a series of lectures upon the protestant catechism, he would shew his people the errors of protestantism, and explain and establish the truth of romanism, or the principles of their own church.

Gladly for one, was the opportunity embraced to hear a roman priest, thus for once coming up to the point of duty and resolved publickly to shew the evidence in favour of the so much complained of doctrines of his church, and remove and silence objections My seat was taken with the congregation. My determination was

*The roman church the writer hopes will not take offence, at the term papist, it being the proper term to designate this branch of the church, whether you take its etymology from its greek root, papa, or french papiste, originally meaning Father, and in that sense applied to all christian ministers, until the bishop of Rome acquired so much importance as to have himself styled the Father, Pope, or Head of the whole Christian church, and the name appropriated exclusively to himself. The term Catholic, in our view, does not apply to them, as it embraces, in meaning, not only the Roman, but the whole Christian church.

to hear and judge impartially, ex animo convinci volens; and all the attention I could command was given, that this result might be produced, and that no new important ideas or discoveries, coming from this reputed oracle of romanism might be lost, carefully* noted down the substance, the medulla of his remarks. The result

of this Rev. priest's defence, together with a candid and unr served examination of popery, if I may presume so much upon the liberality of the Intelligencer, will now be given in a series of communications to the community that both protestants and romans may judge for themselves.

We would candidly ask, is it not time, high time for this church to come forward with a more candid and open explanation and defence of her doctrines than she has yet done. We as protestants, as already stated, are complained of by them as wanting in charrity and every proper feeling, simply because viewing their principles of religion as we do, we are constrained to condemn them as fundamentally wrong, dangerous and destructive to the soul. If they are different, and we have misconceived them, why not let the fact be known, and a proper and convincing comment upon them be given. Thousands of protestants would rejoice, and extend to them, as well as to each other, the right hand of christian fellowship and love.

Our opposition is not against papists, or the romish church, as a separate branch of the church, or because of her name, but against her creed and the articles of her faith as ruinous to her worshippers. The papal or romish church, by any other name would be as horrible, as repugnant to our feelings as the name which designates her. Her principles we wish satisfactorily proven as founded upon the bible, or else given up and changed; the name we care nothing about. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." This step then we hold to be the duty of her ministry. This our fear of her doctrines and opposition call for, and upon hearing this determination on the part of the priest in Frederick, I not only felt it my duty to hear the defence and explanation he promised to give, but on this very account, whatever was the result, felt a regard for the Rev. lecturer such as no other circumstance, but his thus coming up to our conviction of his duty, could have excited.

How many papists are in our land? With what rapidity are they increasing? What efforts are they making, to extend the doctrines and influence of their church, would be questions of no moment such as they now are; would be queries searched into with pleasure by the friends of all denominations, if in the view of charity, the kingdom of heaven was thereby extended, if thus these wanderers were brought into the fold of Jesus, and fed with the bread

*This plan of noting down sermons is becoming pretty general among hearers, especially in our cities. We can refer to congregations in which perhaps two thirds of the hearers are thus engaged. We wish it was more so. It evidences at least attention to the speaker.

of life. If thus they escaped from the dominion of Satan's kingdom, and were so instructed as to enter that of the Lord of Glory.

This however, protestants question. They doubt it and continue to do so for reasons convincing to their minds, and the fallacy of which have never yet been exposed. Truth and a conviction that thousands are perishing, in consequence of delusion and error in this church, and a sense of duty founded upon this conviction, these urge to the candid fears we express, and examination of her principles now proposed. To remove these fears, to put down opposition, to remove the cause why all other churches are wanting in christian charity and love, let her priests convince our understanding, let them give us evidence to prove, not that we must all become papists to be saved, and this would we do if it was indisputably proven; but that her dogmas are not fundamentally wrong, that they are not as dangerous and as destructive to the soul, as the far famed Indian Upas to the body, imparting death to man and beast coming within the atmosphere poisoned by its influence. In a word let them show that instead of salvation being impossible out of their church, it is possible in it, and that their views and doctrines are such as set forth and urge the conditions of salvation and our fears shall be laid aside, our opposition shall cease; though a separate branch of catholic zion, they will be brethren with us, living and acting together in the unity of faith and the bonds of peace, all being coworkers with the Saviour in the salvation of our world, in which work be assured, if this proof is given,

We'll wish you, in Christ's name

The most divine success;

And pray that God for whom you toil

May all your labours bless."

[VIRGINIA.

INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON THE SOUL.

this

No. 3.

In our last number a practical example was given showing, where erroneous notion of the spirit's influence prevailed, how the work of such extraordinary regeneration is conducted; we shall now briefly show the injury resulting to religion from this impression, and correct the error.

The conversion of such a person, as was mentioned, being now set down as the standard by which all are to be regulated and brought to a knowledge of the truth, it is presently followed by another, and a third, till repeated cases establish this notion of extraordinary regeneration beyond question; and the piety of any professor of religion, no matter how great his experience, or how grey he has grown in the service of his Saviour, is at once not only

questioned, but unhesitatingly condemned, which refuses to admit the above as the genuine operations of the spirit, and cannot boast of his having been regenerated in the same mysterious way.

In relation to this subject we shall now ask the following plain questions, which will at once show what the scriptures teach, and what we are required to believe. The first inquiry we make is : Whether the extraordinary influence of the spirit, accompanying the preaching of the apostles, did not cease with the apostles?

This question must at once be answered in the affirmative; unless we believe that the power to work miracles, such as healing the sick, curing all manner of infirmities, restoring the dead to life, and the power of imparting extraordinary gifts of the spirit, such as by the spirit, prophesying as did God's servants of old and speaking and teaching in unknown tongues as was witnessed on the day of pentecost, Acts ii 4 and 17, 18 verses; we say unless we are prepared to contend that ministers of the gospel still posses all this power, the above notion of extra-influences of the spirit must be given up. But this idea is of course not held; and if now and then some wild and fanatic person should lay claim to any thing of the kind, his presumption will only go to show his ignorance of scripture and his total want of piety.

With the power of working miracles, such influences of the spirit then have also gone by: and as these were given and in the apostle's day, employed for special purposes, which did not afterwards exist, nothing like the miraculous work following the apostle Peter's preaching, since his day, has been witnessed, nor will we witness any thing more than the ordinary effect of the preached gospel, which has been appointed as "the power of God and the wisdom of God to the salvation of all who believe it." To hold therefore the one idea of the spirit's irresistible influence, and reject the other is an inconsistency which the advocates of this notion, will not find it easy to reconcile. But again we ask :

Whether, whilst the spirit operates differently with different individuals, to effect their conversion, it is not still in his ordinary way.

That in God's providence different means are employed with different individuals to bring them to a knowledge of the truth, none we hope will deny. But it by no means necessarily follows that these different and often powerful efforts of the spirit are beyond the ordinary way of God's operating with the sinner, or argue that any extraordinary influence of the spirit was given for the special conversion of an incorrigible sinner. But on the contrary it clearly proves, that as God's spirit and grace are always given and at work with the sinner, if he continues obstinate, and refuses to receive and obey the truth, in the ordinary way in which it is brought home to his mind and pressed upon him by the spirit, he will be left in darkness, and in the end be a fit subject for everlasting burnings.

But if God must depart from his ordinary and appointed means of operating in order to accomplish the conversion of a sinner, this would at once prove that infinite wisdom has appointed means of grace insufficient for the work they are to accomplish, thus making

Jehovah a changeable, short-sighted and imperfect being; and if he resorts to extraordinary means for the sake of one impenitent and rebellious sinner, why would he not do so for all, and why are all Lot thus arrested in sin by the omnipotence of God, and irresistibly converted to the truth. The whole mistake lies in supposing, that because, one means of grace proves successful with one sinner, which was not the case with others, God has here departed from his ordinary way of working, instead of considering that this effect was owing to the peculiar circumstances of that individual's case, and that this truth, was the one suited particularly to his case; thus shewing us the true meaning of the Apostle, when he says he became all things to all men, that thereby he might win some. Not mearing that he joined them in sin, but that he adapted his preaching and reasoning to the circumstances of those among whom he laboured, nor is any rule of greater importance, to the minister who wishes to be highly useful in his preaching. But again we ask Whether the present is not as much as any other period, the day of the Lord's 's power in which the sinner's conversion may be effected.

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Not to admit this would be to suppose that the Almighty has set apart for himself peculiar seasons, when he manifests his grace and his great power in a way which cannot be resisted. To say the least of this, we should truly pity those who unhappily lived and died during one of those periods when God refused to be gracious, and because his ear was deaf that it could not, or would not hear, were compelled to die in their sins and perish without the hope of mercy.

This is however a favorite idea and expression with many, and without seeking its true meaning, they settle down in the absurd idea, that when once the day of God's power comes, the dry bones will be revived, and obstinate sinners will be made to bow and humble themselves, whether they will or not. But again :

Are not John iii 8 and the different events of St. Paul's conversion given in the 9th and 26th chapters of Acts, extraordinary cases, and such as were not to be looked for after the Apostles day?

Surely nothing is more plain than this; and hence no such conversions and miraculous gifts of the spirit are recorded as occuring since that period. But the above passages, as instances of the irresistible work of the spirit are constantly referred to as proof on this subject; and because they are found within the lids of the bible, many good but less informed christians say, "here is proof enough, and that all conversions must be of the same order." As well might we say that as the apostles possessed the extraordinary gifts of healing &c. the same powers ministers must now possess; and that if we are without them, this is proof sufficient we are not called to the work,

But if weak minded christians should thus judge, where is the apology for their spiritual guides who should know better, and teach a proper understanding of such, and other scriptures which are thus mistaken, and made the foundation of notions and practices in rigion, which nothing but ignorance and error sanction, and which

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