uncommitted community, and an immediate access to the ears of the Baptist churches within the sphere of their influence, we took the parting hand. They went on their way rejoicing, and in the course of a single year prepared their whole Association to hear us with earnestness and candor.

Ministers' meetings once a year in different parts of that section of Ohio, for the purpose of making public discourses before the people, and then for criticising them in concione clerum, and for propounding and answering questions on the sacred scriptures, were about this time instituted and conducted with great harmony and much advantage. I became a regular attendant, and found in them much pleasure and profit.

They were conducted in the following manner:-A, B, C, and D, were appointed to address the public assembled on the occasion. A, at a given time, delivered a discourse; B succeeded him. In the evening all the speakers and other ministers met in an appointed room, and in the presence of the more elderly and interested brethren, and those looking forward to public stations in the church, the discourses of A and B were taken up and examined by all the speakers present, and sometimes strictly reviewed as to the matter of them, the form of them, and the mode of delivering them. Doctrinal questions and expositions of scripture occasionally were introduced and debated. The next day C and D addressed the assembled audience, and so on till all were heard and all had passed through the same ordeal. These meetings were not appreciated too highly, as the sequel developed, inasmuch as they disabused the minds of the Baptist ministry in the Mahoning Association of much prejudice and prepared the way for a very great change of views and practice all over those 3,000,000 acres of nine counties, which constitute the Western Reserve. A. C.

MRS. JUDSON.

"Memoir of Mrs. Sarah B. Judson, member of the American Mission to Burmah-by Fanny Forrester-New York: L. Colby & Company, 122 Nassau Street: 1818."

I HAVE just risen from the perusal of this spirited and well written memoir, put into my hand by Mrs. Campbell, with very high encomiums upon its merits; and concur with my wife in commending it to the perusal of our sisters who may have the means of acquiring it and the time to read it. It cost me but six hours to give it a

thoughtful perusal. And, as I seldom read, "from end to end," volumes of this character, the best argument I can offer those whom I desire to read it, is, that I not only read it through, but that I read it with much pleasure and interest, and rose from the reading of it better pleased with the Burmah mission, with Adoniram Judson, and with myself, than before. Of these three I have long entertained a good opinion, and am pleased to say, that, from the perusal of this small volume it has not at all diminished, but rather increased. I would not, however, have any one to conclude that we are severally and individually without fault. Very far from it. We all yet need some reformation-some more, some less; but we all need reformation. And especially in zeal and effort to diffuse the gospel through the world, and to engage and interest the world in hearing and understanding it. Oh! that many of our sisters and brethren were as much alive to the conversion of the world, and as self-sacrificing in the promotion of that object, as these excellent Christian women!

Still I am not so much in admiration of them or of myself as to be blind to our respective infirmities and imperfections. These, indeed, are not so pleasing themes of contemplation as some others; nevertheless, they are more useful to ourselves, and sometimes to others; and ought, therefore, to be as frankly and as fully promulged. While, then, expressing my views of these excellent sisters, both of whom, I have no doubt, are now present with the Lord, I must, in faithfulness to the cause of our common Master, advert to one indication found in this little volume, that their views of the proper method of preaching Christ to the Pagans were not altogether free from a tincture of that false philosophy of Christianity which has in some degree hindered the progress of the gospel and occasionally alienated the ears of a certain class from its claims upon their immediate consideration and regard, and their obligation to obey it when God commands them to repent and believe it.

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The passage which most clearly indicates this, is one of Mrs. Ann Judson's, addressed to a heathen man, as written by herself. "I happened to look up," says she, "and saw a man leaning over the ballustrade, looking at me very attentively. The thought occurred to me he may be one of the dear chosen ones, and may have been guided to this place to hear the blessed gospel. So I asked him what he wanted. He replied he was looking to see me write. I immediately laid down my pen and invited him in, and he sat a long time listening to the truth. He promised to pray to the eternal God to give him a new heart that he might believe in the Saviour,

the Lord Jesus Christ-of whom, he says, he never heard till today."*

This is the case of a pure Pagan-one that never heard the Saviour's name till from the lips of Mrs. Ann Judson. He promises to act agreeably to his instructions-to the gospel which she announced to him—which, from her own statement, was to pray to the eternal God for a new heart that he might believe in the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. This address, too, was uttered on the presumption only that he might be one of the elect—“the dear chosen ones." His promise to pray, it is reasonable to infer, was the legitimate result of her advice or directions.

Here, then, is a full statement of the case, indicating most perspicuously and definitely the method or theory of conversion and preaching the gospel, as entertained and taught by the very best and most enlightened of our Baptist missionaries. Mrs. Judson's inference from his earnest look was the probability that he was "one elected to eternal life;" and on this presumption, or under this probability, she teaches him first to pray for a new heart to God himself, that then he might believe the gospel and be saved. Now the question is, Was it John Calvin, St. Augustine, or Paul, or Peter, that directed the pure Gentiles or Pagans to pray to God for a new heart in order to faith in Jesus Christ!!

The theory in the mind of this eminently pious and intelligent Baptist missionary most unquestionably was-that a new heart necessarily precedes faith, and that, to obtain this, the Gentile must, without faith in Jesus as the Messiah, pray to God for his Spirit to create this new heart. And is not this teaching the Pagan that he may, or can, without this faith in Jesus, without this new heart, and, consequently, in his own proper person, without a Mediator, pray acceptably to the eternal God?—! Who, that understands the meaning of words, can otherwise interpret this theory or method of preaching the gospel to the heathen people! And need I ask, was this the apostolic gospel! Where is the apostolic precept or precedent? Can any one produce a precept or an example from holy writ authorizing such an address?

It is always difficult metaphysically to examine and disprove any theory of special influence. But this is not a case of this sort. It is a mere comparison of primitive and modern preaching. It is the mere analysis of a mode of operating, which, indeed, implies, as it exhibits, a peculiar conception or theory in the mind of the preacher

* Memoirs of Mrs. Sarah B. Judson, pp. 184, 185.

or teacher. It is, indeed, in literal conformity to Andrew, not the brother of Peter, but Andrew the son of Fuller. The only address or exhortation in that theory to the sinner, just as he is, is to pray. "Pray to God for faith in his Son! or, Pray to God for a new heart, that you may believe."

This theory, when developed, sets the gospel, if gospel it can be called, before the discerning mind in this order:

1. That sinners must come by the Father to the Son.

2. That before they can believe in the Son, their hearts must be renewed by the Holy Spirit.

3. Therefore, they must pray for a new heart as the first duty. I confess my inability to reconcile this theory to the plain declarations of the holy scriptures, such as

1. "Without faith it is impossible to please God;" for he that cometh to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

2. That Jesus is "the Way," the only way of coming to God; or that he is "the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE;" and that "no man can come to the Father but by him."

3. That the Spirit of God "convinces the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment"-because they believed not in his Son; because his Son was taken up to heaven when cast out of earth; because the prince of this world was condemned and put down by him.

4. Hence "God purifies the heart by faith," and not before faith; faith is the cause and not the effect of purification. "God formerly," says Peter, "PURIFIED THEIR HEARTS"-the Gentiles-"BY FAITH;"

NOT BEFORE IT.

Without debating the doctrine of election, of special grace, of the work of the Holy Spirit,all of which I evangelically believe and teach, I regret to be constrained to say that this modern missionary plan of preaching Christ to the heathen very materially differs from the original apostolic way; and I say it with great respect for those truly excellent men and women who have gone to Asia to preach Christ to the heathen. With the highest respect for their piety, their self-sacrificing zeal, their labors of love, I ask those who concur with them, for an example in all the Acts of Apostles for a warrant or an example for such an address to a Pagan, as that given by this distinguished sister Ann Judson to this heathen who first heard from her lips the name of Jesus.

I know that they cannot give one such example. They are straitened not by the Lord, but by their own theory. "God commands

all men," not the elect, "the dear chosen ones" of the Pagan world, but "ALL MEN, EVERY WHERE, TO REPENT." And did God command any man to repent without promising the grace of forgiveness upon repentance? The Apostles assured all to whom they proclaimed Christ, that, "by this person, Jesus the Christ, was preached to them the forgiveness of sins;" and that "by him all that believe are justified from all things." They had no squeamishness of mind about whether the individuals and communities which they addressed were "the dear chosen ones." To Jew and Greek, Barbarian and Scythian, Bond and Free, they announced Christ and pressed his claims and his salvation upon all. They were not straitened nor corsetted by a secret, unknown, definite number. They announced pardon to all whom they addressed on the terms of the gospel; not one of which was, 'Provided you are elect or predestined.' Apart from all theory, Calvinistic or Arminian, so methinks we ought to preach, and so men ought to believe.

While, then, I greatly admire the moral heroism and Christian excellencies of these illustrious sisters, whose bright example of devotion to the Saviour is worthy of all praise and imitation, I cannot but regret that their minds should have been so warped by a false theory and an imperfect Christian education, as greatly to prevent their usefulness in that field of labor to which they devoted their lives, and in which, no doubt, despite of all their theoretical mistakes and aberrations, they have done much good-more good, no doubt, than many other Christians of clearer views and more scriptural knowledge, but with much less zeal and less devotion than they.

A. C.

NOTE TO MESSRS. COLBY & CO.

MESSRS. COLBY & Co., No. 122, Nassau Street, New York:

Gentlemen-I occasionally receive a volume from you, and it gives me pleasure to notice such of them as I think of public utility. In glancing over your advertisements affixed to the Memoirs of Mrs. Judson, to which you will perceive I have invited the attention of my readers, I discover, with no little amazement, the following notice of a work which you have not sent me-for some good reason, no doubt-but which I presume you have published and sell, called, "A Scriptural Defence of the Doctrine of the Trinity; or, a Check to Modern Arianism, as taught by Unitarians, Campbellites, Hicksites, New Lights, Universalists, and Mormons, and especially by a sect calling themselves Christians-by the Rev. H. Mattison."

To the value, importance, utility, and excellency of this offering of yours and that of the Rev. Mr. Mattison, you affix the testimonials of seven orthodox publications-The Presbyterian, New York Recorder, Zion's Herald and Wesleyan Journal, Olive Branch, North Christian Advocate, Christian Chronicle, and The True Wesleyan. Do you know, sirs, that, so far as I am implicated, or those who unite with me in Christian commu