Character of the Epistles. troversies of faith arise? These, these are the vantage ground of heresy and schism, which it becomes expedient to appropriate and inclose with the circumvallations of ecclesiastical authority. 66 But what is the genuine character of the sacred Epistles? They were letters addressed to collective bodies of believers, designed to be publicly read in the assembly " to all the holy brethren;" letters which treated of social duties common to all the members of the Christian society, referring, often in terms of familiar and affectionate regard, to many individuals by name. It was given by our Lord, as a characteristic of his own ministry-“ The poor have "the Gospel preached unto them;" and it is expressly recorded concerning those, to whom his instructions were addressed, that "The common "people heard him gladly." The ministry of the Apostles was conducted on the same principles as that of their Divine Master, nor did the general results differ. "Not many wise "men after the flesh, not many mighty, not 66 many noble," obeyed the call of the Gospel : the primitive churches were composed of what the world deemed baser materials. All intellectual differences among those who had embraced the Christian discipleship, were merged in a perfect religious equality; and to the members at large of these associations, without dis crimination, were addressed those exhortations which pre-suppose a competency individually to choose, to judge, to distinguish between things that differ, to understand what the will of the Lord is, to prove all things, to try the spirits whether they were of God. A restricted right of interpretation with regard to the letters conveying these very instructions, would have annulled their force and meaning. Such a restriction could not exist in a society in which the means of interpretation were common to all, and the religious rights of all were equal. With more shew of reason might it be maintained, that the discourses of our Saviour to the multitude, required an authorized interpreter, since it is evident that even the disciples themselves were sometimes unable to apprehend the design of his parables. As to the qualifications requisite for understanding aright the doctrine of the Apostles, St. Paul, in his emphatic style, thus expresses himself: "If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him "become a fool, that he may be wise." In this consisted the only danger of misinterpretation, the pride of wisdom, the want of simplicity of mind. At what period in ecclesiastical history, then, was the common right of Christians forfeited by their supposed incompetence to understand the Scriptures, so as to necessitate the erection of a tribunal of interpretation? That incompetency cannot be charged on the obscurity of the Scriptures, for they have undergone no change, and all the difficulties connected with a learned language have been long vanquished by translators. Would it not be just rather to argue, that the incompetence of the people at any period, must be charged upon their instructers? But, in fact, no such occasion for an authorized interpreter, has ever arisen out of the ignorance of the people, and if it had, it could not have been the ground of depriving them of the free use of their moral faculties. The supposed necessity of an interpreter, has originated in those controversies, of which the great mass of the people have always been innocent; and claims of this nature have been maintained with a pertinacity exactly proportioned to the degree of neglect in which the Scriptures themselves have been suffered to remain. In the hands of the people, the Bible would have been safe from perversion, and free from obscurity; their obligations to obey its sacred precepts, are not greater than their interest in arriving at its general import. They "have no temptation to abuse it, by forcing 66 66 upon it a language foreign from its original "intention: their concern in religion is of the purest and most unsuspicious nature, since "the only advantage which it is conceivable they can derive from it, is assistance towards "holy living and dying. If it fails to put them "in possession of a share in the common 66 salvation, there is no subordinate end to be “answered, no private emolument attainable by its means to compensate for their loss. If "it is ineffectual to enlighten and to save them, "there is no other benefit which they can flat"ter themselves with the hope of deriving from " it."* "it." HALL. What was predicated of the religion of Mr.ROBT. Jesus Christ, is not less true in reference to the inspired medium of Revelation: it was originally calculated, and it is still calculated for the plainer part of mankind.† God has in this res +Bishop HORSLEY, in one of his Sermons, has the following admirable remarks: "I will not scruple to assert, that "the most illiterate Christian, if he can but read his English "Bible, and will take the pains to read it in this manner, ❝(viz. comparing parallel passages) will not only attain all "that practical knowledge which is necessary to his salvation, "but, by God's blessing, he will become learned in every "thing relating to his religion in such degree, that he will "not be liable to be misled, either by the refined arguments 66 or by the false assertions of those who endeavour to ingraft "their own opinion upon the oracles of God. He may safely "be ignorant of all philosophy except what is to be learned "from the sacred books; which indeed contain the highest 66 philosophy adapted to the lowest apprehensions. He may safely remain ignorant of all history, except so much of the history of the first ages of the Jewish and of the Christian "Church as is to be gathered from the canonical books of "the Old and New Testament. Let him study these in the "manner I recommend, and let him never cease to pray for on the best means of re viving the Interest." pect also, "chosen the foolish things of the "world to confound the wise." A neglect and contempt of the common people, as Dr. Dod"Thoughts dridge has well remarked,* "is far from being "the spirit of the Gospel." This anti-christian Dissenting spirit is, however, unequivocally manifested in the sentiment now combated. In the common people, it seems to be imagined, that belief is something quite different from what takes place in the minds of those who are born to the privilege of exercising their faculties;-that it is, with regard to them, a mechanical process, by which their opinions are made to take the shape and impress of the artificial mould prepared by those who have the authority. What are human creeds, into the making and enforcing of which this arrogated right of interpretation mainly resolves itself, but expedients for giving to the religious sentiments of the vulgar, a passive uniformity, which the Scripture-rule is not suf "the illumination of that Spirit by which these books were |