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divine laws declared in the holy Scripture. Will-worship, without unshaken confidence in the declarations of God, and uniform obedience to his laws, cannot constitute true religion, as appears from the language of the prophet-Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken, than the fat of rams: for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. (1 Sam. xv. 22, 23.) I am, therefore, at a loss to conjecture, what we are to understand by the conscience of that man who professes himself a Christian, and yet refuses to receive the truth, and to acknowledge the laws of God as they are set forth in the holy Scripture. In this particular, I would thank of our some Christian philosophers to define their own meaning þ If a man is determined to be a Christian in reality, to receive and to obey the laws of Christ, he will go to the Gospel to learn and to study those laws. There he will d, that civil and ecclesiastical authority are equally established and ratified that in

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the quality of a Christian he is as much under government as in the quality of a citizen; and that man, by the express appointment of Christ, is authorised and commanded to exercise a superintending power over man, in his relative situation towards his Maker. Christ has not only enacted laws for the government and regulation of his subjects, but has also provided for the administration of those laws. To this end he has constituted and appointed spiritual magistrates in his church, whom he has invested with powers, adequate to the due discharge of their episcopal office. This is the constitution of the Gospel. Who. will dare to appeal to the Gospel for proof of the negative? or, what Christian will remove his cause from the tribunal of the Gospel, to the jarring courts of philosophy? And, whatever philosophers may say or imagine, the evangelical rule is founded no less in the nature of man than in the laws of God. For, as the truths and the duties of religion arise not from the vague cogitations of the human mind, but are fixed, determined, and declared, by a superior mind; as no doctrine of religion is

sacred, no act of devotion obligatory, merely because a man may fancy that they are so, but because they are taught and enjoined by the laws of God; it must be essentially requisite to the very attainment of religion, that those laws should be known, acknow-ledged, and obeyed. This cannot uniformlytake place, without an appointment of proper persons to teach, to inculcate, to administer, and to censure. And each of these acts implies authority.

For man is not that perfect being which must necessarily perceive what is true, what he ought to do, and what to avoid, by the immediate and spontaneous intuition of his own mind: nor is his will so determined by the laws of rectitude, that he must necessarily follow the right path as soon as he perceives it: his ignorance requires instruction, and definite direction; his infirinity demands authoritative and vigilant superintendance.

If this be not the case, let the contrary be proved, by an example in civil life. Suspend the laws of the state, and the authority of magistrates, that men, having an unrestrained liberty of judgment and of

conscience, may, by following their pure and unbiassed dictates, become more loyal and orderly subjects, more liberal contributors to the support of government, more honest dealers, better neighbours. Every man perceives the hazard and absurdity of such an experiment.

But if good order in society is not to be attained and secured without laws both definite and of general obligation, and without active magistrates to put them in force; and if we also find in the Gospel spiritual laws equally definite, and as strongly sanctioned with a provision made for their authoritative administration-and such things there are; we must receive it as a demonstrative argument, that the same rule, as founded in the nature of man, applies equally to civil society, and to the affairs of the church of Christ.

Should the philosopher still deny my proposition, let him try the experiment upon the regiment which he commands. Let him suspend the authority of his officers, and withdraw his own. Let him say to the men-"Your own minds suggest the duties of your profession. I therefore leave

your judgment, your conscience, and your will, at perfect liberty; that, under their unbiassed influence and direction, ye may form yourselves into an orderly, well-disciplined body of soldiers, the ornament of the service, and the able defenders of your country."

Should he be restrained from this trial by a regard to personal safety, let him have recourse to his own children. Let him conduct them into his library, and tell them

"Here are books. Your own minds must lead you to the pursuit of useful knowledge. I appoint no master to superintend your studies, that the guidance of reason and conscience may be liberal and free; that you may be at liberty to make a choice, and form an opinion of your own.

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These self-tutored babes may, perhaps, attain an eminence in philosophy not inferior to that of their liberal parent. They may even acquire some notions of religion, They may learn to combine a flighty devo tion with infidelity, a determined zeal with general doubt, and a scrupulous conscience with a spirit of disobedience. As they grow up in years and absurdity, they may

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