PUBLICATIONS OF H. S. Bosworth, Arabesque No. 103 Main street, Cincinnati, Ohio. THE CHRISTIAN HYMN-BOOK. $ 65 Arabesque, gilt back, burnished edge 75 .90 This important work can not be superseded by any subsequent publications. Seven volumes in one, containing 670 double-columned pages. Price, in cloth, $3; arabesque, $3.50. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, In reference to the union of Christians and the restoration of Primitive Christianity. By A. Campbell. Price, $1.10. CHRISTIAN BAPTISM, With its Antecedents and Consequents. By Alex. Campbell. Price, $1.40. CAMPBELL AND PURCELL'S DEBATE On Roman Catholicism. A new edition of this very able discussion is ready. Price, $1.40. CAMPBELL AND OWEN'S DEBATE, On all the Systems of Skepticism, Ancient and Modern. Complete in one volume. This will always remain a leading work on the Evidences of Christianity. Price, $1.50. Net cash, $1.10. FAMILIAR LECTURES ON THE PENTATEUCH. Delivered before the Morning Class of Bethany College, during the Session of 1859-60, by Alexander Campbell; also, short extracts from his sermons during the same session; to which is prefixed a sketch of the life of President Campbell, with a fine steel portrait. Edited by W. T. Moore. Price, $1.75. Net cash, $1.20. MATHES AND BROOKS' DEBATE, On Baptism and Kindred Subjects. Price.... .$1.25 QUINTER AND MCCONNELL'S DEBATE, On Trine Immersion, Feet-Washing, etc. Price..... .$1.25 THE INDEPENDENT MONTHLY. NO. II. FEBRUARY 1, 1869.-VOL. I. "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."-Phil. iv: 8. MEMOIRS OF A. CAMPBELL. It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of the disclosures, made by Dr. Richardson, in these memoirs, touching the springs and purposes of the reformation proposed by Thomas Campbell, and prosecuted, for more than half a century, by his son, with an earnestness rarely equaled. If I could so commend this work as to secure for it, on the part of young preachers especially—not, indeed, a simple reading only, but a most careful study, I should feel that I had achieved a good work. More than twenty years ago, I made an effort, through a monthly publication, the Christian Mirror, to restate and to illustrate, as I best could, the main points in the "Declaration and Address," a document prepared and published by Thomas Campbell in 1809. I had discovered that many thousands of our then young Kentucky Christians, including many ministers, were without any just conception of the true nature of our plea for Christian union, and that we were fast becoming a dogmatical, censorious "party"-this, and nothing more. This "Declaration and Address," Dr. Richardson very justly remarks, "laid the foundation for the most important and extended religious reformation of modern times. It is as remarkable for the affectionate and Christian spirit which it manifests, in an age of bitter religious controversy, as for the clearness with which the true basis of Christian union is defined, and the conclusiveness of the arguments by which it is sustained. It takes a complete survey of the whole subject, and anticipates, in its exhaustive details, every phase which the subject afterward assumed during the years of discussion that ensued." This Declaration and Ad dress" is, truly, a most remarkable production, and yet there is at least one thing in it that is greatly logically-inferred, then they condark. It is, so to say, the dead- stitute "the doctrine of God's holy, point in the reformation machine. Word," and are not to be classed Here it is: with opinions; but, according to this theory of the matter, every one must draw his own inferences and determine their legitimacy. Nothing is gained, therefore, by the distinction between faith and opinion, as thus taken. The whole subject needs thorough elucidation. I have entertained the opinion, for a long time, that our formula for faith and opinion is, practically, useless. If any one can dissipate the fogs that hang thick, and low, and close about the subject, he will deserve the gratitude of the human race. "PROP. 6. Although inferences and deductions from scripture premises, when fairly inferred, may be truly called the doctrine of God's holy Word, yet are they not formally binding upon the consciences of Christians further than they perceive the connection, and evidently see that they are so, for their faith must not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power and veracity of God. Therefore, no such deductions can be made terms of communion, but do properly belong to the after and progressive edification of the church. Hence it is evident that no such deductions or inferential truths ought to have any place in the church's confession." Now, if "deductions fairly inferred from scripture premises," are not formally binding, are they binding at all? And if such "deductions may be truly called the doctrine of God's holy Word," why are they not binding absolutely, on the consciences of Christians? Dr. Richardson comments thus: "Not controverting at all the fact that human reason must be exercised in com It may be proper to refer, in passing, to a few incidents that will serve to illustrate the practical difficulty above referred to. Thus, the church in Lexington, Ken tucky, will not receive to her fellowship, one, otherwise unexceptionable, who infers, from scripture premises, that all men will be finally rescued from suffering and gathered home to God. Many will not tolerate the opinion that men's souls are unconscious from death till the resurrection; and the fate of Dr. Thomas, W. S. Russell, and others, is well remembered. Nor have we forgotten President Errett's exnecessarily involved in the scripture prem- periment with the "creed" problem. prehending the scriptures, the effort is made to draw a distinction between faith and opinion, between an express scriptural declaration and inferences which may be deduced from it. By the latter were meant such conclusions as were not ises."-Memoirs, p. 265. This would be quite plain, and all difficulties would vanish, had we some one divinely commissioned to determine for us just what conclusions are "necessarily involved in the scripture premises." If the deductions are fairly-that is, He inferred, from scripture premises, no doubt, and the church in Detroit concurred in the justness of the inference, that it might be expedient for a people to publish a compend of their faith in order to prevent misrepresentation, and for purposes of general enlightenment, |