prayers—4o show ns that high moral rec
titude and that pure love, which is tim.ee
ry uature of God, and which the Son of
God came to impart to man; and then
transfer yourself to the region of the creed
r, and creed
makife and creed-i: D.
defending polemic, and tell me, which of
die two is in his view most nearly allied
to infidelity,” p. 90. But to what pur
pose do Tipiote Dr. Wylie? He is of
course a heretic, because he says the Bi
ble ought -tit take, the place of human
creeds; the sectarian devotees can
flirt Ms arguments from them, or can hide
them In a corner, as easily as infidels can
dispose of the arguments of Paley, Wat
son, Addison or Chalmers. Blessed be
God, that he is raising up his witnesses^
both east and west, and “ compelling them
to remodel their views of his character
and government
ner to stand alone,
sneered at as objec
but let them co]
have in a ihan
t perhaps to be
' pity or contempt;
______ lselves with these
two reflections:—1st. That so were the
prophets persecuted that were before them;
and 2d. That there is no other #ay for
popular delusion to be removed from 4he
community, in any age or nation, than for
a few men |o step forward, almost alone
in the first instance, and to be valiant for
the. troth upon the <?arth. If we lose the
M laurels” of human glory, by this course,
let us rejoice in the sacrifice; and let
consider it our highest honor to be follow
ers of them, who through faith and pa
tience inherit the promises.
A sixth evil of the sectarian spirit is,
its tendency to produce rash and uryust
suspicions, in regard to the motives and
character of our fellow-christians of anoth
er pfirty, and to influence us to treat them
as pelicans and sinners. The Lord for
bids oar judging one another, as explicit- *
ly as he forbids murder ; but alas! the
commandments of God are made of none
effect, by sectarian partiality. It is thought
no crime to indulge evil surmisings against
those of another denomination, and even
to adjudgefiierntfo perdition, because they
dissent (Sim the articles of our creed.
And, indeed, if it be right to expel our
own members from the church for this
want of assent, it must be because a be?
lief in those articles is essential to salva
tion? for surely we have no right to expel
them for any but that which would ox
elude them from the kingdom of grace and
glory: of cq^pe all churches who expel
memben for a dissent from iheir creed,
must beneve, if they would be consistent
with themselves, that all persons of an
other creed are in a state of danftation.
Thus the claim stands on the from of ev
ery sect, out of our church there ii no sal
vation. The several sects have a mani
fest eagerness to get hold of this clainf^
and the ground of it is the same as in the
Mother Church:—namely, to use it as an
instrument of intimidation, with which to
multiply numbers,* and thus to increase
sectarian power. The Mormons, we are
told, openly avow it, as one of their pro
minent doctrines, that there is no way for
any soul of man to avoid the flames of hell,
but by becoming a Mormon $ and others
have manifested a ^trong desire, though
not so openly, to pogsesatheipselveis of the
same potent engine. I* wBis is the very
og|u?e that has been at work of late years,
to*make immersion a saving ordinance;
but it is no matter what the particular may
be, whether a doctejae or a ceremony, if
it be a peculi arity^eCone sects and can be
impressed on popular credulity as a mat
ter that is essential to salvation, it opens a
door for that^ect ultimately to “ take the
worldorSSt least to divide dje. conquer
ed world with the holy Mother Church,
who first craftily Ok up this favorite and
most efficient claim. All Who resort to
such JSwesiastical stratagems, aremani
festly the harldjjdaughters of the great
Mother of Harlots; for if she he s^ch a
mother, she must of course have daugh
ters; and where are. they to be found, if
we overlook such m have tip precise fea
tures of the mother? w
Let any organized body, of men be in
quil^possession of these two doctrines—
out of our church there is no salvation,
and in our church there is* no damnation
| -—and such a body is at once prepared to
Jiercise^as extensive an imposition over
mankind, as was ever exeruji^fby Pa-,
gans, Jews, Mahomgteps or Papists. And
is it possible that any of the sects of the
nineteenth century can hope that they
will be successful in attempting to p»y
this game over again, which has so long
insulted heaven, and degraded the popu
lation of the world ? They may be as
sured that Up feign of the Man of Sin is
coming to an end, whom the Lord shall