and therefore they are supported by all the veneration which Christians feel towards the men, who at the hazard of every enjoyment of life, and of life itself, freed them from the tyranny and bondage of the Papal Church. But we have clearly seen that the formularies now to be found amongst most denominations of Christians, are not the peculiar doctrines of the reformers. These were common to papists and to protestants. This fact furnishes no argument to prove them true or false. Papists and protestants hold many important and essential truths of revelation in common; but the fact shows, that these doctrines are entitled to no peculiar favour because they were holden by the reformers. The doctrines of the reformation must be those which distinguished protestants from papists, and which formed the line of separation between them--not those in which they were united. Shall I then be asked, What are the distinguishing marks between the reformers and those whom they opposed? I answer, they relate rather to practical abuses than to speculative errours. I answer in the words of a good writer." The great points on which the reformation turned, relate chiefly to the power of the clergy, the rights of Christians, and the rule and standard of Christian faith. The great errours against which the reformers directed their attacks, were the supremacy of the Pope-the derivation of his dignity from St. Peter-his power of forgiving sins the infallibility of the Church-the authority of traditions, and of decrees of councilthe efficacy of indulgences-the miracles and merits of saints the veneration due to the fathers-the pro

priety and obligation of monastick vows-the necessity of confession to the priest, and of receiving from him absolution-the power of prayer and alms over the souls in purgatory-the number and efficacy of the sacraments, which it was the province of the clergy to administer; and, above all, the propriety of withholding the scriptures from the common people."

That men labouring under all the prejudices of a Popish education, and in an age of darkness and ignorance, should have had strength of mind to perceive the odious nature, and pernicious effects of the above stated abuses and impositions, and courage in their attempt to correct them-to oppose the most formidable power of the Roman pontiff-must excite our admiration; but it cannot be imagined, that men, who had grown even to the full vigour of manhood, amidst the grossest corruptions, and had deeply imbibed the false principles of the established religion, should at once perceive every false doctrine, and every pernicious abuse which it contained, and be immediately prepared to make a thorough reformation. Unless we admit that these men were inspired, which is not pretended, it cannot be presumed that they at once understood the whole counsel of God, as this is revealed in the scriptures, and immediately purified Christianity from all the corruptions introduced by the Papal Church. "It would be strange indeed,” to adopt the language of the venerable Robinson, the pastor of the Leyden flock, "if the earliest reformers should have passed from such entire darkness into perfect light, after such darkness had en

Having but

dured for twelve hundred years.' imperfectly liberated themselves from monkish superstition and moral servitude, it is not possible that Luther and his fellow-labourers should have conformed their institutions to the letter and spirit of the gospel. Theologians, who have been educated under more favourable circumstances, and possess higher means of obtaining a correct knowledge of scripture, and acquiring the requisite knowledge of publick teachers, must be in a situation to make improvement on the first reformers, as it respects articles of Christian faith, modes of publick worship, and the forms of Church government and diseipline. In fact, the doctrines and principles, which in this age are the subject of controversy and division, had slight, if any, connexion with the corruptions and abuses from which the first reformers relieved protestants.

The agitated, the heated spirit of the sixteenth century, was unfavourable to impartial investigation, to candid inquiry, and to the possession of opinions on speculative subjects, founded on deliberate and sound judgment.

While, then, Christians of the present day venerate the memories of those great and daring men, who began the reformation from Popery-while they cherish devout gratitude for the religious liberty and the religious blessings of which these men were the primary instruments-let not Christians of this period of greater light and knowledge take them as infallible guides, nor adopt their speculative systems as the body of revealed religion, from which there is no appeal. The systems of Luther, Cal

vin, and their coadjutors are entitled to honourable notice as the opinions of great, honest, and pious men, who sought the truth in the love of it; but they have not the authority of revelation, and are to be received only as, on due examination, they are found conformable to the sacred oracles. While we avail ourselves of every advantage which the noble exertions of the reformers have secured to us, let us not view them as the standard of perfection, and suppose that we must cease from further inquiry after the truths pertaining to eternal life, and rest our Christian faith and hope on their attainments. All the light with which they were favoured, shines around us; and many and great advantages are afforded us, which were denied to them. We must account for all the talents committed to our management. Our progress, then, in Christian knowledge, and Christian life, should correspond to the means of general improvement with which we are favoured. The authority for the doctrines we believe should be drawn from the sacred scriptures, not from the creed of Luther, Zuinglius, or Calvin. Christ is the only lawgiver in his kingdom. The scriptures are the only infallible rule of faith. Every intelligent Christian forms his opinions of revealed truths from an impartial and diligent study of them.

Should the inquiry be urged-On what points is it the duty of Christians of the present day particularly to make improvements?

I answer,

1. They are bound to display the practical effects of protestant principles in a higher degree than

these have as yet been manifested in the Christian world.

The reformers, in their dispute with the Romish Church, took the most tenable ground, which they maintained with all the force of argument, and all the power of truth, viz.-"The sufficiency of scripture as a rule of faith and practice, and the right of private judgment." But no sooner had they separated a large portion of the Christian community from the Catholick communion, than they, in direct violation of their own principles, assumed the spiritual domination over their protestant brethren from which they themselves revolted, under the Roman pontiff. By their own authority they established formularies as the test of orthodoxy, and they denied the Christianity of all who dissented from them. Luther was strenuous to deprive the individual of every Christian privilege, and every worldly blessing, who denied the real presence of Christ in the eucharist; and Calvin burnt Servetus for denying the doctrine of the trinity, that there were three persons in the godhead. The spirit of Popery is not yet banished from the Christian Church. How many, in the present day, judge of the Christianity of their brethren, not by their profession of a belief in the divine origin of our religion-not by an adoption of the scriptures as the standard of faith and the rule of conduct-not by a life and conversation which become the gospel-but by their embracing the creed of this or the other human master in theology. These things, my candid hearers, ought not so to be.