and serve as a guide and direction to those over whom I am placed; I addressed letters on the subject to several friends, of more knowledge and experience than myself. To those letters I have received replies, which have conveyed to me much satisfaction and information; and I indulge the hope, that this embodied testimony of men who are, from principle, ininisters of the established church, and who wish this explicit and unqualified avowal to be publickly known, will, through the divine blessing, increase the attachment of her members, afford them solid reasons why they should continue within her pale, and induce them to contrast all the evils and advantages of the one system, with those of the other. The advocates of both ought to be instant in prayer, for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, whose influence alone, can keep them from uncharitable judging, from harsh censures upon individuals, and from evil surmisings. Controversy has a spirit peculiarly its own; and those who engage in it should never forget that "the wrath of man work"eth not the righteousness of God." (James, i. 20.) I am well aware, how forcibly this passage applies to myself; and therefore I hesitate not to say, that my observations, and those of my friends, refer solely and entirely, to the principles and effects of separation, and not to the separatists themselves,

amongst whom, I know persons whose whole life adorns the gospel, who walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called, (Ephes. iv. 1,) and for whom I have a sincere and cordial regard. The following communications were made, at different. periods, and under various circumstances, without any previous intercourse between the writers, which will satisfactorily account for the similarity of arguments made use of in some of them. Should any reader desire farther information upon the subject of the following Letters, I would refer him to Milner's Church History; Bishop Hall's Works; Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity; Newton's Apologia; Custance's Popular Survey of the Reformation; and the Christian Observer, passim. In addition to those works, I avail myself of the opportunity which is here presented, of strongly recommending to his notice and perusal,' Fuller's Strictures on Sandemanianism,' particularly the last four letters. This work takes a view of the subject in all its bearings; proves to a demonstration, that the system is unscriptural, and that the evils resulting from it are of no common magnitude*.

* See the character of this work in the Eclectic Review for September 1810.

Kilkenny,

March 20th, 1815.

No. I.

A LETTER

From the Rev. Thomas Scott, Author of the "Com

mentary on the Bible,"

"Force of Truth," &c.

to the Editor.

Aston Sandford, Feb. 10, 1815.

Rev. and Dear Sir,

I lose no time in remitting to you my revised thoughts on the subject of our communication;* though I feel, that Horace's caution to his friend is very applicable to the case; which I would also earnestly recommend to the attention of your friends.

you and

Did the whole rest, indeed, with the sentiments of Mr. Haldane and his associates, who are bold innovators on all ancient systems, I should feel less difficulty; because my remarks would involve comparatively a small company; and those not entitled to peculiar delicacy of opposition, of which they by no means exhibit the example. But in stating what

The communication to which the writer refers was made in the year 1813.

B

I have to urge, in favour of continuing in the established church, against their objections, I cannot well avoid giving my sentiments on far larger, and more ancient, and highly respectable bodies of men; among whom in former times, many of the most "burning and shining lights" of the Christian church were found, and indeed some are at this day.

I am far from a disposition to join the modern outcry against the puritans-the progenitors of many of our present dissenters. Had my lot been cast in those persecuting days, I can only doubt, whether I should have been found among them or not; by questioning, whether I should have had sufficient courage of faith and hope to join the persecuted party. Many, no doubt, who obtained an undue ascendency among them, in the turbulent days of Charles the first, and even before that time, were factious ambitious hypocrites: but I must think, that the tree of liberty, sober and legitimate liberty, civil and religious, under the shadow of which we, in the establishment as well as others, repose in peace, and the fruit of which we gather, was planted by the puritans, and watered, if not by their blood, at least by their tears, and sorrows. Yet, it is the modern fashion to feed delightfully on the fruit, and then revile, if not curse, those who planted and watered the tree!

I do not indeed think that any, in our favoured days, have so strong reasons for dissenting, as the puritans had, even in the preceding times; much less, as they had, who were ejected on the restoration of Charles the second. I am not disposed to vindicate, much less to panegyrize the whole body,