reads. But it is required of all, that, as far as they know, they should be humbly confident that their creed is in all respects in harmony with Scripture; and there is reserved to every man the inalienable right of applying for himself this criterion of truth to all professing interpretations, whensoever inclination or circumstances shall lead him to do so, or he shall be induced to doubt the correctness of his previous belief.

For the manner in which we exercise the privilege of judging for ourselves, we are all, as before said, answerable in the sight of God. And when our Judge shall review the deeds of our mortal lives, we shall be called upon to render in a reason for every one of our aberrations from the pure faith of Christ, as it is revealed in his faultless Word. Error and heresy, inasmuch as they frequently spring from corruption of heart, are in such cases regarded as criminal by the God of all truth; and when at the last day there shall be poured upon the great scheme of the Gospel an intense flood of piercing light, that shall lay bare all falsehood and delusion and perversion of pure doctrine, at the same time that it reveals in tenfold beauty and majesty the real truth as it is in Jesus, then shall we find that every mistake and every folly, into which we have fallen through any

other cause than unavoidable ignorance, will be laid to our charge as sin.

It is impossible, indeed, for sight so dull as ours, to trace up to their source in the heart, all those errors which in ourselves and in others are justly to be regarded as originating in some moral defect or evil. It is the eye of God alone which can track the heresy through all its winding mazes, and pursue the seeming blameless mistake from step to step, until it is at last discovered to have its birth in the guilty wish, the unsubdued passion, the feeling of selfishness or prejudice. Neither in ourselves or in our fellows can we detect the real cause of many a delusion which appears to be free from all stain of moral guilt. Our opinions and our creeds work their way into our minds by such an imperceptible gliding, and we are so ceaselessly prone to overlook all sin and guilt in our own motives, that in our blindness and infatuation we often glory in views and principles, as infallible marks of our pure candour of spirit, which are in truth the shameful results of prejudice and passion.

Not that we should be justified in regarding all those notions which in our own view are erroneous, as necessarily symptomatic of a depraved state of heart; it is for God, and God alone, to

condemn and punish the deluded soul on the score of its criminality. We must fight for what we believe to be the truth with unflinching firmness; neither the scowl nor the favour of man must tempt us from upholding that which we believe to be the cause of God. But to charge the guilt of sin upon every religious error, is to arrogate to ourselves the privilege of Jehovah, and to forget that in our hearts there dwells an inborn corruption, which tends to lead us into foolishness, as truly as do the sinful passions of our brethren in infirmity. There are cases, indeed, in which the connexion between the worldly, unhumbled heart, and the heretical perversion, is so manifestly clear, that we may be fully justified in laying the charge of wilful iniquity to the errors in question. But it is only in fear and cautious self-distrust that we dare to prefer the accusation; the Christian heart must be filled with the love that "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." "To his own master" the deceived one "standeth or falleth."

At the same time, we cannot overlook the unity of soul and feeling which is characteristic of all those who have any pretensions to humbleness and sincerity of soul in their search after the

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doctrines of Christ. There is, indeed, among the vast majority, if not in the entire number, of those who can be supposed to seek the truth with real honesty of purpose, a fundamental unity of faith, as well as of feeling, on many the grand revelations of the Gospel. Where the doctrine especially affects the state of the soul towards its God and its fellows, there is to be found an agreement in the essential elements (so to speak) of the truth, amidst all that vast variety of opposing theories, which are at once the shame and the curse of the world that calls itself by the name of Christ. And much more in the dispositions and affections of the heart towards its Lord, is there to be seen one great pervading character in all those minds which can be looked upon as "right with God." It has pleased the Almighty so to reveal Himself in his word, that his declarations naturally adapt themselves to the wants, the wishes, the feelings, the hopes, the fears, of every heart that is blest with genuine humility, and awakened to a sincere desire to know his will. Notwithstanding the fearful injury which is done to the faith of the most lowly minded among us, through the influence of ignorance, of evil education, and mental weakness, there is ever to be found in the soul, that honestly longs

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for the truth, a certain secret homage to many of the grand elements of Christian doctrine, with an habitual tendency to those states of feeling and action, which the pure faith of Christ alone can bring to full perfection. There is as it were a voice proceeding from the declarations of the Most High, which strikes upon a chord attuned in faultless unison, and bids it vibrate in glad acknowledgment of the eternal truth and celestial origin of the words of inspiration. And it matters not whether the reverent heart be linked to one of those soaring and well-furnished intellects which seem to approach the greatness of an angelic intelligence, or to the weakness and ignorance of the humblest minds. The voice of God finds its response in every sincere and obedient breast. The deep and learned thinker, who comes to the study of the sacred pages with every help that the skill, the piety, and the knowledge of ages can give, by the aid of all his manifold assistants draws forth from the living word truths, solemn and blessed, which enter into his inmost soul with a piercing sharpness that is all of God. He is like the man who listens to the gorgeous harmonies of many singers and many harpers, while his ear drinks in the glorious tones that rise, and are hushed, and