The very names of high-priest, priest, and Levite, | which the inspired writers had never once applied to any class of ministers, ordinary or extraordinary, in the christian commonwealth, appeared to have a wonderful fascination in them, that rendered them incomparably superior to any appellations which Jesus Christ or his apostles had thought fit to bestow. Beside the fancied dignity, the sacerdotal titles had been always understood to convey the notion of certain rights which conduced both to the honor and to the emolument of those to whom these titles belonged. Now having availed themselves of the supposed analogy, they thought they had the best right in the world to extend their claims much further; arguing, that because the bishops, presbyters, and deacons, were the high-priests, priests, and Levites, of a superior, a more heavenly and spiritual dispensation, they ought to possess more of the unrighteous mammon, that is, more earthly treasure and greater temporal power. And, what is still more extraordinary, by such wretched reasoning the bulk of mankind were

convinced.

terms of the one kind, and this uniform avoidance of those of the other; and when at the same time we consider how much the sacred writers were inured to all the names relating to the sacerdotal functions, and how obvious the application must have been, if it had been proper; it is impossible to conceive this conduct as arising from any accidental circumstance. We are compelled to say with Grotius, "Non de nihilo est, quod ab eo loquendi genere, et Christus ipse, et apostoli semper abstinuerunt." It is indeed most natural to conclude, that it must have sprung from a sense of the unsuitableness of such a use to this divine economy, which, like its author, "is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." I may add, it must have sprung from a conviction that such an application might mislead the unwary into misapprehensions of the nature of the evangelical law.

In it Jesus Christ is represented as our only priest; and as he ever lives to make intercession for us, his priesthood is unchangeable, untransmissive, and eternal. A priest is a mediator between God and man. Now we are taught, in this divine economy, that as there is one God, so there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. The union of the mediatorship, and consequently of the priesthood, in the strictest sense of the word, is as really an article of our religion as the unity of the godhead. I do not deny, that in a looser sense every minister of religion may be called a mediator, or, if you please, a priest; inasmuch as he is the mouth of the congregation, in presenting their prayers to God, and is, as it were, also the mouth of God, on whose part he admonishes the people. The great reason against innovating by the introduction of these names is, not because the names are in no sense applicable, (that is not pretended,) but because, first, they are unne cessary; secondly, their former application mus unavoidably create misapprehensions concerning the nature of the evangelical ministry; and thirdly, because the inspired penmen of the New Testament, who best understood the nature of that ministry, never did apply to it those names.

It is worth while to remark the great difference between the style adopted by the apostles, in relation to all sacred matters, and that which, in the course of a few ages, crept into the church and even became universal in it. Under the Mosaic economy, which exacted the rigid observance of a burdensome ritual, the only place devoted to the ceremonial and temporary service, consisting in sacrifices and oblations, ablutions, aspersions and perfumes, was the temple of Jerusalem, for no where else could the public ceremonies be lawfully performed. The places that were dedicated to what may be called comparatively the moral and unchangeable part of the service, consisting in prayers and thanksgivings, and instructive lessons from the law and the prophets, were the synagogues, which, as they were under no limitation in point of number, time, or place, might be built in any city or village where a suitable congregation of worshippers could be found; not only in Judea, but wherever the Jewish nation was dispersed, and that even though their temple and their polity should subsist no longer. The ceremonies of the law being represented in the gospel as but the sha- But to return. The only proper sacrifice, undows of the spiritual good things disclosed by der the new covenant, to which all the sacrifices the latter, and its corporal purifications, and other of the old pointed, and in which they were conrites, as the weak and beggarly elements, in- summated, is the death of Christ. This, as it tended to serve but for a time, and to be instru- cannot, like the legal sacrifices, be repeated, mental in ushering a more divine and rational neither requires nor admits any supplement.dispensation, it was no wonder that they bor-"For by one offering he has perfected for ever rowed no names from the priesthood to denote them that are sanctified." Sometimes, indeed, the christian ministry, or from the parade of the in regard to the Mosaic institution, an allegoritemple service, much calculated to dazzle the cal style is adopted, wherein all christians are senses, to express the simple but spiritual devo-represented as priests, being, as it were, in baptions and moral instructions, for which the dis- tism, consecrated to the service of God, the ciples of Jesus assembled under the humble community as a holy priesthood, to offer up spirroof of one of their brethren. On the contrary, itual sacrifices to him, the bodies of christians in the name they gave to the sacred offices, as as temples destined for the habitation of God well as to other things, regarding their religious through the Spirit. The oblations are thanksobservances, they showed more attention to the givings, prayer, and praise. The same name is service of the synagogue, as in every respect also given to acts of beneficence and mercy. more analogous to the reasonable service re-To do good and to communicate forget not, quired by the gospel. The place where they met is once, James ii. 2. called a synagogue, but never a temple. "If there come into your assembly," eis ten synagogen 'umon. And it is well known that the names teacher, elder, overseer, attendant, or minister, and even angel, or messenger, of the congregation, were, in relation to the ministry of the Jewish synagogue, in current

use.

When we consider this frequent recourse to

for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."— This is also the manner of the earliest fathers. Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, after mentioning Christ as our all-sufficient high priest, insists, that in consequence of our christian vocation, we, his disciples, not the pastors exclusively, are God's true sacerdotal family. Emeis archieratikon, to alethinon genos esmen tou Theou. In this allusive way, also, the terms circumcision, passover, unleavened bread, altar,

sabbath, and the like, are sometimes allegorical- | charged the guilt of his blood on the chief priests ly applied by the sacred penmen. But no where are the terms high priest, priest, or Levite, applied particularly to the ministers of Christ.

and rulers, as those rulers themselves but too plainly perceived? But why do I say by implication? They often most explicitly charged them with this atrocious guilt. It was in the midst of the sanhedrim that Stephen boldly said, "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them who shewed before of the coming of the Just One, of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers." Might they thus with safety to the cause, at least, though not with impunity to their persons, exhibit those priests as homicides, parricides, regicides, and, if I may be allowed a bold expression, even deicides; and yet durst not, without involving the whole in one general ruin, so much as insinuate that they also had their priests? Credat Judæus Apella!

Doctor Hickes, a zealous asserter of what he calls the christian priesthood, has a wonderful method of solving this difficulty. He supposes that Christ and his apostles acted the politicians in this particular. According to him, they were afraid, that with all the miracles and supernatural gifts they could boast, it was an undertaking too bold to be hazarded, to appear as rivals to the Jewish priests. Here he inadvertently ascribes a conduct to Jesus Christ, which, in my apprehension, reflects not a little on the sincerity of that spotless character. "As a Jew," says he, (let. I. chap. iii. sec. 1.) "he was to observe the law and the temple worship, and live in communion with the Jews; which, though he could do In short, the whole pretext of this learned as a king and a prophet, yet he could not do it Doctor is precisely as if one should say, that if with congruity, had he declared himself to be in a country like this, for instance, one were to their sovereign pontiff, that very high priest, of raise a rebellion in favor of a pretender to the which Aaron himself was but a type and shad- crown, the partisans might, with comparatively ow." But allow me to ask, Why could he not? little danger or offence, style the sovereign in Was it because there was a real incongruity be- possession a tyrant and usurper, and proclaim twixt his conforming to the Jewish worship, and the man they would set up, king of Great Brithis character of high-priest? If there was, he ain, France, and Ireland, and even add, defendacted incongruously, for he did conform; and all er of the faith. But it would be imminently he attained by not declaring himself a priest, hazardous, and would probably ruin the cause, was not to avoid, but to dissemble, this incongru- to insinuate that he had the patronage of any ity. And if there was none in conforming, ecclesiastic benefices. They may with safety where was the incongruity in avowing a con-denominate him the head of the church, and of duct which was in itself congruous and defensi- the law, the source of all honors and authority ble? We are therefore forced to conclude, from in the state, and even give him higher titles than this passage, either that our Lord acted incon- ever monarch had enjoyed before; they may asgruously, and was forced to recur to dissimula-sume to themselves the names of all sorts of oftion to conceal it, or that Doctor Hickes argues very inconsequentially. The true christian can be at no loss to determine which side of the alternative he ought to adopt.

fices, civil or military, under him; but if they would avoid inevitable perdition, let them not style any of themselves his chaplains. In fact, the absurdity here is not equal to the former.

To Mr. D.-A Sceptic.-Replication.—No. VI.

IN my last I promised you a brief statement of the gospel with a reference to your difficulties. In attempting this I must, owing to circumstances, be governed by the circumscribed limits of a sheet.

Because familiar

But to consider a little the hypothesis itself, the apostles might boldly, it seems, and without such offence as could endanger the cause, call their master the Messiah, the King, (a name with the Jews above every other human title.) They might, in this respect, say safely, that though their chief priests and rulers had killed the Lord of Life, God had raised him from the dead; nay, had done more, had exalted him to his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentence to the people, and remission of sins. They might thus openly, if not put him in the place of the priest, put him in the place of the Almighty, to whom the priests are bound to minister, and from whom ultimately all the blessings must be obtained; nay, and represent his power as more extensive in procuring divine forgiveness and favor, (the great object of all their sacrifices,) than any that had ever been experienced through the observance of the Mosaic rites; inasmuch as "by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses." Yet, says the Doctor, they durst not call him priest. Now we know that the usurping of this title was not, by the Jewish institute, either treason or blasphemy; whereas, the titles and attributes, which the apostles gave their master, were accounted both treasonable and blasphemous by the unbelieving Jews, and with too much appearance of truth, if Jesus had been WHEREAS all mankind have corrupted and dethe impostor they imagined him; for the disci-based themselves, have sinned against me and ples set him in their representations above every come short of my glory, in consequence of which thing that is named, either in the heaven, or upon the earth. might say further, Did the first they are estranged in heart from me, irreconcilpreachers hesitate to maintain the cause of their ed to my government and will, and filled with master, notwithstanding that by implication it enmity against my moral character: And where

Through habit it frequently happens that the most sublime and interesting truths are heard with apathy and indifference. with the terms, gospel, salvation, eternal life, love of God to sinners, &c. we often pronounce and hear them with as much indifference as the most common incidents of the day. But this is not all; ideas are often attached to the terms above mentioned, which contribute to the insensibility with which they are so often heard and expressed, and which divest the terms of that which most of all could interest the hearts of sinners. I will, therefore, present the gospel in the form of a proclamation, that the novelty of the form may awaken, if possible, attention, to the thing. It is not the definition of a name, but the exhibition of facts the most significant, at which I aim. I include in the proclamation that which makes it glad tidings of great joy to all people to whom it is promulged. It is in the name of him who has a right indisputable so to speak:

as there is no possibility of their restoration to my favor, nor of their true enjoyment of themselves, in consequence of their ignorance, guilt, indisposition, and subjection to their passions and appetites by any means within their reachI DO HEREBY PROCLAIM TO ALL MANKIND INDISCRIMINATELY, That, moved by my own pity and compassion towards them as my own creatures, though fallen and degraded, I have sent my only begotten Son into the world to reveal to them my true character; to acquaint them with their true condition and circumstances; to expiate sin by the sacrifice of himself, to honor and exalt my name in all the earth, and to render it every way compatible with my righteousness, to whomsoever I will. Be it known, therefore, to all mankind, irrespective of family, sectional or national distinction, That it is my wILL to pardon, and accept into my favor and friendship, every one who believes and obeys him as my Son and the only Saviour of men, and who is thereby reconciled to my character and will: And I do hereby declare upon my own veracity, that I will raise to life again all who die in the faith of my Son, and glorify them at the consummation of this state; that I will introduce them into my own presence in heaven, and bestow upon them all the happiness of life eternal in my kingdom of glory for ever. But whosoever hears and rejects this my proclamation, shall be condemned, and shall share only in the resurrection of damnation. In attestation whereof, I have sent my prophets and apostles, accredited with all the powers and gifts of my Holy Spirit, to promulge this my proclamation, and to demonstrate the truth and certainty thereof by all the signs and pledges which rational beings can demand, and to commit the same to writing, stamped with such evidences as are requisite to gain it universal acceptance. And I do give it in charge to every saved sinner under heaven, to take all necessary pains, and to use every possible means of giving publicity

to the same until I call him home; and I do most solemnly declare, that eternal vengeance awaits all them who do not obey this my proclamation, and who shall corrupt, add to, or diminish aught

therefrom.

could save a man without being believed, I am
sure the benevolence which gave birth to it
would not have restricted its benefits to believ-
ers. But the benevolence and philanthropy of
God cannot affect our hearts unless it be known,
and it cannot be known unless it be believed,
because it is the subject of testimony. And
although faith may be said in some sense to be
where the gospel is promulged, is perfectly a
involuntary, yet it so happens that unbelief,
voluntary thing, and that is the reason they
who reject the testimony which God has given
of his Son, have no excuse for their sin. Also,
in rejecting this testimony, they prove their per-
versity by divesting themselves of all those
principles of reasoning which govern them
in the affairs of this life, and in admitting to be
true a thousand things which govern their con-
duct in this world, which are neither so im-
portant in themselves, nor supported by a thou-
sandth part of the evidence which supports the
christian faith. In a word, in rejecting the gos-
pei they reject their own reason, sin against
their own principles, degrade their own faculties,
and, what is still worse, they make God a liar, and
appropriate his attributes to their own conceits.
I am constrained to break off. If what I have
said in reply to yours is not satisfactory, I should
like to hear from you again. In the mean time
I should recommend you most humbly and pray-
erfully to take up the blessed volume, and (if
you can get a copy of the new translation I have
lately published, it will facilitate your inquiries
a hundred fold,) give it a regular and close in-
vestigation from beginning to end, about a dozen
of times, and then tell me what you think of it.
Your Friend,
THE EDITOR.

Kentucky, Nov. 29th, 1826.

GOOD men of all sects have nearly the same views of Creeds, Ecclesiastical Courts, of "Christian Experience," and of Pure Religion. The following sentiments are extracted from one volume of the works of JOHN NEWTON, of excellent memory.-ED.

"I dare not say what the Lord may or may not do; but I have no present conception of love without faith, or of faith without some communication of gospel truth and light to the mind." consistories, synods, councils, benches, or boards. "I am not very fond either of assemblies, Ministers as individuals in their respective places, are like flowers, which will preserve their color and scent much longer, if kept singly, than when packed together in a nosegay or posey, for then they quickly fade and corrupt."

"It is possible to preach a very good sermon from an English or Scotch proverb. Modes and fashions alter in religious matters, as well as in dress. Our first reformers usually preached from common places; they did not take a text, but discussed a subject-such as faith, repentance, holiness, &c. yet surely they were preachers of the gospel. The two volumes of Homilies, to which our clergy are obliged by law to subscribe their assent, are a valuable collection of sermons in this way."

Such is the gospel in the form of a proclamation from the invisible God. Now the question is, To what in this can any man reasonably object? I confess I know not. I admit, indeed, that some objections are made to it, but they are most unreasonable. For instance, it is objected that faith or belief is made a condition or a sine qua non to the enjoyment of this salvation, and that this faith is an involuntary thing. This objection is perfectly unreasonable, and built upon a mistaken view of faith. It is impossible that "On our side of the river, many think as highany medicine can cure a diseased body, unlessly of Episcopal or Congregational order. Perit be received into that body. In the same way, it is impossible that the gospel can save any soul unless it be received into that soul. And whatever answer you would give to him who objects to a medicine simply because it will not cure without being taken, I would give to him who objects to the gospel because it will not save without being believed. If the gospel

haps much of our differences of opinion on this head, may be ascribed to the air we breathed, and the milk which we drank in our infancy. If I had lived in Scotland, and known the Lord, my ministry, I suppose, would have been in the Kirk, or the Relief, or the Secession: and if Doctor Erskine had been born and bred amongst us, and regarded according to his merit, he might

whatsoever he shall say to you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul that will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people."

In this part the author first illustrates the similarity between Moses the type, and Christ the antitype, in a variety of striking coincidences, both personal and official, in order to illustrate and establish the truth of the prophecy.

party to which they respectively belong. In those systems the principles of religion stand invested with all the authority of ecclesiastical statutes, and enforced by ecclesiastical sanctions, but the authority of Christ attends them not. There they are exhibited in all the nakedness of systematic stiffness, stripped and leafless as the sturdy oak in winter, couched in the technical and logical phraseology of the schools; He next proceeds to develope and enforce the but they stand divested of those heavenly charms duty of unlimited obedience in all things. This which engage our affections; of that sympathy he does with great apparent solemnity and elab- and love which subdue the heart, and captivate orate pathos; and finds much to blame and la- the soul. There they are set forth contaminated ment, and justly too, on account of the manifest with the foul breath of fallible and dying mor neglect of, and opposition to, the exclusive and tals, addressed only to the intellects of men; anuniversal authority of this great prophet amongst nounced in words of human wisdom, and comprofessors of every name and description.-pounded of the most heterogeneous materials; "There is not," says he, "that entire subjection and, consequently, cannot reach the conscience, of mind to the instructions of Christ, discovera- nor carry conviction to the inquiring mind: ble among professing christians, that there they possess no attractions to catch the soul, no ought to be. There is not that total and unqual- loveliness to engage the heart to the admiration ified surrender of the soul to all the doctrines, of virtue. And every step we take in pursuit and to all the duties which he inculcates. They of truth, as exhibited in these formularies, is atnot only listen to his word with a partial ear and tended with uncertainty and doubt. We may straitened understanding, but with a prejudiced talk, then, of the wisdom of our ancestors, and mind and a steeled heart. Determined at all their claims upon our high regards; but their hazards to maintain their ground, they cannot, wisdom was certainly human wisdom, and the they will not be persuaded to resign themselves regard we owe them ought never to be placed to the entire control of the Lord Jesus. We in competition with that which we owe the Lord complain not now of any particular description of life. How very differently do the scriptures of professing christians. The evil is general teach us! They take every avenue to the huand deep-rooted in them all, and demands im- man heart. They enlighten us with their inmediate remedies. It is an eating gangrene structions, and sanctify us by the purity of their that will soon corrode the vitals of religion, and truth, and the unction of the Good Spirit from eat out the very marrow of the gospel. And on high; they command us into subjection by how can it be otherwise if the authority of Jesus their authoritative voice; and deter us from the is superseded by the authority of other princi- paths of folly by the thunders of heaven. They ples? if pride, and party zeal, and selfishness, engage our sympathetic feelings by the sympaand love of systems, with all their close attend- thy and love of Jesus; and excite our imitative ants in the train, march up, in rank and file, to dispositions by the exhibition of all that is amiadispossess the Son of God from his high seat as ble and of good report in the conduct of those Lord of conscience?" Page 42. whom they set before us for our examples. Instead of an abstruse and metaphysical phraseology, we have the plain and obvious language, which his righteous servants spake, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Instead of the productions of fallible men, we have the pure and infallible testimony of the Lord Jesus. And in place of the dry systematic formularies of human wisdom, we have all the excellency, and beauty, and harmony, of the doctrines and duties of God's word, represented in their close connexion and dependency. And with all the charms with which virtue can adorn the human character, we see the Son of God invested, and in him morality and holiness assume a living form to attract and draw us from the fatal paths of folly, sin, and shame. That orthodoxy, therefore, which changes not the heart, but leads to ruin and despair, is the genuine offspring of human creeds: from the pure fountain of eternal truth it has not sprung. Surely the doctrine of Christ must be sadly compounded with false principles, or associated with most erroneous sentiments, when it ceases to produce those natural effects ascribed to it in the scriptures.Were it received pure and unmixed from the fountain of truth now, as it was in apostolic days, it would still bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, which are by Christ to the glory of God."

Again, page 48—“Not_that_any professing christian will openly or avowedly deny the authority of Jesus. But whether his authority is set aside avowedly or otherwise, it matters not. It amounts to the same thing. You call me Master and Lord, and do not the things which I say. Many will say to me in that day, Lord! Lord! to whom I will say I know you not; depart from me, you workers of iniquity.' What we complain of, then, is that attachment to selfformed and conjectural principles, by which the authority of revelation is superseded;-that love of system which grinds down and newmodels every opposing passage of these holy records, until it is supposed to tally with our acknowledged creed; that blind and unconquerable love of party, which forces the Oracles of Heaven out of their natural and obvious meaning to support its unhallowed pretensions." Page 54. "Yet, singular to tell, that some of our most zealous advocates for systems talk of persons going to hell with an orthodox creed, as if religious truth had changed its nature, and become the soul's eternal enemy. Perhaps, however, there is some cause for thinking so; some real operative principle that works the effect; but surely in the word it is not, nor can it be. The doctrines which the Saviour taught tend not to lead men in the path to hell; but upward lead to glory and immortal joy. Whence is it, then, that such reflections rest on orthodoxy? We suspect the cause is near at hand, and quite within our reach. The general source from which men learn religious sentiments is not the word of God,

e formal systems of the day; or from the

Page 59. "The doctrines and commandments of men, on whatever pretence introduced, ought to meet with that severity of rebuke, which they most justly deserve. They have ever been the source of discord and corruption in the church of God. If Christ is sole governor in his kingdom;