LETTER XXIII.

(TO ANOTHER PERSON.)

MY DEAR SIR,

Your request that I would explain to you the real points of difficulty and disagreement that now agitate the Presbyterian church, I could not comply with at the time, for I found it would demand more thought and discrimination, to make the matter clear to a mind not familiar with these discussions, than I could command, except in my chamber, and with a pen in my hand. I will now attempt to comply with your wishes.

I must first state some things as preliminaries. You will find all Christians divided into two great classes, on the fundamental question, "what must we do to be saved?" One class consists of those who claim that true piety, which consists in giving to God the first place iu our affections, and his service the first place in our interests and efforts, is the only and indispensable condition of eternal life; so that all who die, without this character, will be sinful and miserable forever. All who hold

this sentiment are classed under the term, Evangelical Christians, and it includes in this country the Baptists, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Congregationalists, the Episcopalians, the Orthodox Quakers, the Dutch, Associate and German Reformed, and most of the Protestant foreigners.

The sects who are included in the other class, are the Universalists, who do not believe that men are in any danger of being lost forever, and therefore do not suppose that they need to do any thing to be saved; the Unitarians, who do not know whether men are in such danger, and of course do not know whether they need to do any thing to be saved from it; and the Catholics, who hold that membership in the Catholic church is indispensable to salvation, so that none can be saved out of it. Their clergy may often teach the duty of piety; but a round of ceremonies, confession and penance, the prayers of saints, good works, and a period of suffering in purgatory, are what are generally relied on in that church, as the means of securing eternal life. These include the most of those who are not deemed Evangelical in this country. I suppose the Hicksite Quakers and the Campbelite Baptists come into the same class as the Unitarians, though I am not well acquainted with their peculiar views. There are some few other sects, such as the Swedenborginans many of whose peculiarities I cannot comprehend, and the Mormons and Shakers, whose views I have not learned.

The Evangelical Christians, are not divided into sects, on matters of doctrinal belief, but merely on

matters of organization, church government, and external rites.

The peculiarity that distinguishes Congregationalism, is the mode of church government. Each individual church is an independant body, responsible to no other body, and settling all its concerns by the majority of voters.

An independent Presbyterian church is exactly the same thing, except that the church manages its concerns by permanent officers, who are called elders of the church.

But Presbyterianism in this country generally, has this, as one peculiarity. Each church is governed by its own officers, and is connected with a Presbytery, composed of the neighboring ministers and elders, who receive appeals and have a right to reverse the decisions of each individual church connected with it, and the care and supervision of each clergyman, also, connected with it. Each Presbytery is connected with a Synod, composed of delegates from several Presbyteries, that receives appeals, and has a right to reverse the decisions of each of its Presbyteries. Then there is the Gen. eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, composed of delegates from all the Presbyteries, which is the ultimate court of appeal, and has authority to settle finally, all questions that are appealed, either from Synods or Presbyteries.

The peculiarities of the Episcopal church, consist in its mode of worship, and in the three orders of clergy, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons; and

certain views in regard to the rite of ordination.

The Baptists are just like the Congregationalists, except that they differ as to the time and mode of administering the rite of baptism.

The Methodists are more like the Episcopalians in their notions of church government, and differ in their mode of worship, and the general arrangement and discipline of their church.

The remaining sects differ from Presbyterians, chiefly as to the forms of church government and external rites.

All these Evangelical sects are united in believing and teaching the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the efficacy of his atoning sacrifice, to save from future punishment, all who devote to Him the love of the heart, and the service of the life. They unite in believing that the sanction of the law and gospel, is eternal ruin, to all who die without this indispensable preparation for a future state. They all acknowledge their entire dependence on the Holy Spirit for all holy desires, right purposes, and acceptable service, and they all believe that it is by the Word of Truth, or the motives and sanctions of the gospel, that the Spirit acts to regenerate and purify. They all acknowledge it to be their duty, to aid in spreading the knowledge of the gospel through all lands, and are united in efforts to promote this great object. The distinctive peculiarities that divide them into sects, do not relate to the truths or doctrines of religion, but only to external rites and forms.

Still there are some diversities of opinion among them, on certain matters of faith, though it does not serve to divide them into different denominations, but exist among individuals of all these sects. This diversity of opinion will again be found to relate to the grand question "what must we do to be saved?" Here there are two extremes to which individuals in each denomination are suspected of diverging. One extreme is, a belief that piety or true religion consists in some sudden mysterious change in the human mind, which cannot be explained to an unrenewed person, and which such a person cannot understand; that this change is wrought by the Spirit of God, and the evidence of it exists only in the consciousness of the individual. Good works, and a blameless life, are not demanded as evidence, and are deemed of little consequence. This is called the extreme of Antinomianism.

The other extreme is this. It consists in the belief, that man has a germ of true religion in his heart by nature, and that by education and various external influences, it can be perfected and matured, without any supernatural aid from the Holy Spirit, so that children can be made Christians by education and by the performance of certain external rites of the church, which God blesses to that end, while a good moral life is considered as piety. This is called the extreme of Arminianism.

The Presbyterian, Congregational, and Baptist churches are often charged with verging to the Antinomian extreme, and the Episcopal of tending