John Robinson, "I am very confident, that the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of his holy word.”*

These words seem to have been almost the language of prophecy. It appears to me that this truth is now fast breaking forth from the volume of revelation; that just and rational views of religion are spreading far and wide with a resistless, and almost omnipotent energy. And as well might the frail net-work of the humble fisherman stop the current of a mighty river; as well might the straw-built barrier oppose the incoming of the tides of ocean; or the thin mists of morning delay the course of the advancing sun in the heavens; as that any mortal power should stop the progress of religious truth, of pure and uncorrupted Christianity.

From a Sermon of John Robinson, first minister of the Pilgrims, preached to them in 1620, about the time of their leaving Holland.

BY REV. EDWARD RICHMOND, D. D., DORCHESTER,

HERESY; ITS NATURE AND EFFECTS.

ROMANS, XVI. 17, 18.

MASS.

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them: for they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ.

FROM ecclesiastical history we learn that, from the first introduction of Christianity into the world, its professors have been divided into numerous sects and parties. To whatever cause these divisions may be ascribed, whether to difference of opinion relative to the doctrines of the gospel, or to the ambition and jealousy of aspiring heresiarchs, or to that restlessness and turbulence of spirit for which many men are distinguished, they are found to have existed at an early period of the christian era. Even St. Paul, in his day, found occasion to condemn, and endeavor to heal, divisions which had already taken place among the followers of Christ. Evils which arose at the very commencement of the christian dispensation, and which originate in the nature and condition of man, stil! unhappily prevail in the world, and, to all human appearance, seem likely to continue. It was in those ages only, when papal supremacy was extended over all the nations of Christendom, and when men either chose not, or durst not, or could not think for themselves, that uniformity of

opinion and of worship prevailed among professing Christians. Then all were unanimous in receiving the dogmas, in adopting the modes, and in stooping under the load of superstitions, imposed on them by their ghostly rulers. To this state of darkness and stupidity who would not prefer all the evils which result from freedom of inquiry, and with which we, of the present day, are so greatly afflicted? The former was a state of idiocy for which no remedy existed: the latter a delirium, which may, in time, be removed.

Mere difference of opinion, however, is not the evil which we chiefly deprecate; nor is it the evil which St. Paul, in the text, had, especially, in his view. It was the animosities, and the alienation of affection, and the divisions of the churches, resulting from this difference of opinion, or from some other causes, which the apostle deplored, and endeavored to heal. It is the same evil which we, at the present day, have so much reason to lament; and which every friend of religion must fervently pray the God of order and peace to remove.

The text will lead me to consider the character of those, of whom the apostle here speaks; and the pernicious ef fects upon Christianity which their conduct was adapted to produce.

'Mark them which cause divisions and offences.' The persons against whom the apostle here puts the Roman Christians on their guard,and points out as characters with whom it would be dangerous to associate, were disorderly teachers who, under a pretence of correcting prevailing errors of doctrine, interrupted the peace, and destroyed the harmony of the churches. These factious teachers embraced, indeed, the christian religion, but, at the same time, were dissatisfied with the simplicity in which it was taught by our Saviour and his apostles; and were desirous of incorporating with it some of the doctrines, and some of the ceremonies of the Mosaic dispensation. They represented St. Paul, and the other apostles, as erroneous in their opinions, and as too liberal in their sen

timents; and on that account refused to hold christian fellowship with them. A learned and very able commentator,* in a note on this passage, remarks, that the apostle had in his eye the Jewish teachers who, in many churches, set up separate assemblies for the worship of God, on pretence of greater orthodoxy and sanctity than others, and who would admit none into their communion, but such as joined them in their peculiarities, and who represented all others as erroneous and impious.' In the writings of the apostles, these troublesome teachers are frequently mentioned and alluded to; especially in the epistle of Jude, where they are characterized as those who, opposing the apostles, separate themselves from the true disciples of Christ, having neither the spirit of God, nor the spirit of right reason. Though they made high pretensions to orthodoxy, and a pure worship, they were the heretics of that day; sometimes corrupting the doctrines, and always disturbing the peace and harmony of the churches. Their disorderly conduct constituted the heresy of the early Christians, mentioned and condemned in the apostolic epistles. Their conduct, I say, constituted heresy, not their opinions; for to opinions the term heresy, in the New Testament, is no where applied. This application of the term has been introduced in modern times, through one of those changes in language which not unfrequently take place. In the days of the apostles, and for several centuries after their days, no one was denominated a heretic, on account of the doctrines believed by him, however novel, or however erroneous, they may have been. The most palpable and the most pernicious errors may have been entertained and propagated, and yet the advocates of them, while demeaning themselves as quiet and peaceable members of the christian community, were never branded with the reproachful appellation of heretic. They who were so denominated may indeed have adopted, and, perhaps, really did, in most instances,

* Macknight.

adopt erroneous opinions; but it was not for that reason, that they were denominated, or denounced as heretics. Heresy, in the apostolic sense of the word, is well defined by St. Paul, in the text: it is causing divisions and offences' among the followers of Christ,-sowing the seeds of discord among brethren,—dissolving the unity of the spirit, and severing the bond of peace in a word, it is not only disturbing the tranquillity of the churches, but actually dividing them, and forming new societies of seceders from the old. Such was the heresy of which the apostles speak, and which they severely censure. It did not consist in what, in modern times, it has been made to consist, in adopting religious opinions, different from those which are entertained by the multitude. No person,' says the learned and catholic Dr. Campbell, No person who, in the spirit of candor and charity, adheres to that which, to the best of his judgment, is right, though in his opinion he should be mistaken, is, in the scriptural sense, either schismatic or heretic. He, on the contrary, whatever sect he belongs to, is more entitled to these odious appellations, who is most apt to throw the imputation on others.'

If the preceding account of heresy is correct, and confident I am that it admits of no reasonable controversy, we can be at no loss to determine to whom this crime may be imputed, at the present day.-And here, I am apprehensive, is a charge to which Christians, of all denominations, must, in a greater or less degree, plead guilty; for what denomination of Christians has not been a partaker of this sin?-has not been guilty of causing divisions and offences in the religious community? Certain it is, that divisions exist to an unprecedented extent. There are heresies innumerable, in the midst of us, and all around us. How many of our old societies, which had long enjoyed harmony and peace, have, recently, been divided!— not because they were too large to meet, and to worship, in one assembly; but because there were those among them, or near them, who caused divisions and offences. Travelling in any direction, through the country, we can,