priests; the second, the degradation and ills that awaited those wicked men by the destruction of the Jewish hierarchy, which our Lord foresaw, and of which he spoke as if it had already taken place. When the steward found that he was to be called to an account, and to be stripped of his office, "he called every one of his lord's debtors, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto thy master? And he said, Au hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then he said to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the master commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely."

Two questions here present themselves, the solution of which is attended with serious difficulties: In what respect could the conduct of the unjust steward in ordering the debt to be diminished, correspond with that of the Jewish priest? And how could his master commend him for his wisdom at the very moment when he was degrading him for injustice and faithJessness? The answer to the first of these questions is furnished by the charge which our Lord elsewhere brings against these men, namely, "They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders." These heavy burdens were certain rites and observances which they enjoined on the authority of Moses or of God. The pretended object for these was zeal for religion; but the true end was, under the mask of religion, to gratify their avarice and ambition. Here they acted precisely like the rapacious steward of a beneficent master, who wished to let his estate to people on reasonable terms and consistent with their good. But the steward in his perfidy frustrates this benevolent intention of his master. He raises the rents to an exorbitant demand, and puts the extra charge in his own pocket. In the end, however, his unjust dealings are brought to light, and he goes to the several tenants and requires them to reduce their respect ive debts to the standard which might correspond with the just claims of his master, wishing, however, it to be

understood that he did this from his own good-will to the debtors, whereas in reality it was to meet the scrutiny or penury that awaited him. Though his motive, like the rest of his conduct, was crafty and unjust, the reduction of the rent to each tenant was in itself perfectly just, and in this view deserved the commendation bestowed upon him by his benevolent master. But how was this reduction likely to serve him in his degraded state? How likely to provide for his wants? Here the calamities which awaited the Jewish priests emerge before the eyes of Jesus. He sees their hierarchy and their rich endowments destroyed-he sees them, precisely like the French emigrants at the late Revolution, scattered in foreign countries, begging their bread, and claiming subsistence from the pittance of their own people, and that under the pretence that, as they no longer contributed to the religious establishment of their country, they owed the ministers who still survived among them, whatever small portion they had it in their power to pay. Thus the old steward, not willing to allow that he was steward no longer, founded his claims for maintenance on the removal of a burden which was effected sorely against his will, and imposed by his covetousness.

:

But how does the sequel accord with the parable?" And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous maminon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" These words are not only difficult but incomprehensible, as they are totally inapplicable to the case of the steward whom Jesus was addressing. The difficulty arises from a circumstance peculiar to the situation of the speaker, which we should not have felt, had we been present. From the beginning of the chapter to the eighth verse, Christ addressed himself to the old steward, who stood on one hand. Having finished his case, he

turns, as was natural, to him who was to be the new steward, that is, the disciples who were on the other hand. He knew the errors to which they were then liable, and he reads them a lesson as to the conduct they should pursue in their new office, that is, in the propagation of his religion. He had already directed them to part with all they had, and follow him: they saw moreover the sad effects of avarice in the old steward, and they were in danger of running into the opposite extreme of total carelessness of, or contempt for, worldly things. This propensity our Lord observes, and he guards them against it. His words are to this effect: Though called upon as my apostles to be above the love of the world, you are not to despise worldly goods or to neglect that prudence and industry by which you may turn the temporal blessings of Providence to the best advantage. When you travel from one place to another in preaching my gospel, do not despise, either as publicans and sinners, or as heathens, those whom you address, nor withhold from them that tribute of respect which they may claim as men of rank and wealth. Copy not the pride and avarice, but the industry and sagacity of the Pharisees in the prosecution of your cause. Use every innocent means to conciliate men to you, and avail yourselves of their good-will and a sense of the obligations you confer upon them, to procure subsistence and hospitality when you stand in need of them on your journeys. Endeavour to make those who are now friends to mammon, friends to you and your cause. With those who thus may become friendly, use your influence, and claim for your personal use, when in want or without a settled house, a part of that debt which is due to the stewards of Christ. They will then supply your deficiencies, and accommodate you with habitations on earth, as permanently as the nature of your service will allow you to stay with them; and when they quit the world, as many of them may before you, they will hail you, as the honoured instruments of saving them, into their eternal habitations in heaven. Cultivate, therefore, the principles of prudence and justice, and render them habitual to you by practice. Avoid, indeed,

the unjust conduct of the old steward; but avoid also the opposite extreme of carelessness and contempt of temporal blessings, which will not fail of bringing down upon you and your cause the charge of folly, enthusiasm, or insincerity. Your conduct will then be dignified and uniform; and the effects of your virtue and wisdom will display themselves in the most inconsiderable, as well as the most impor tant concerns committed to your inspection and care. Remember that if you be deficient in worldly policy, in domestic economy, or in the regulation of your temporal concerns you will be deemed little qualified for the management of religious affairs. These indeed are the concerns, which most belong to you as immortal beings, and therefore may be called your own. And who will trust them in your hands, if you are not to be trusted with the inferior concerns of this world, which, as being uncertain and transient, are foreign to your profession and hopes, and belong rather to those who come after you than to yourselves ?"

J. JONES.

tianity itself. For Judaism and Chris tianity are inseparably connected. They are merely parts of one and the same system. Every page of the New Testament bears testimony to the connexion, and contains some acknowledgment, direct or indirect, of the divine origin of Judaism. Jesus himself declares, that he came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfil them. (Matt. v. 17.) Continual appeals are made to Moses and the prophets as his forerunners, and their predictions are repeatedly alluded to or cited as having received their accomplishment in him. The fulfilment of prophecy, the completion of that series of divine communications, the commencement and progress of which are recorded in the Old Testament, is uniformly represented as the great purpose of his mission. For he is not brought forward to our notice simply as a divinely-commissioned teacher, but as the Messiah, who had been long foretold and expected: and this title, which designates his office and character, and his claim to which it appears to have been the main object of his miracles and resurrection to establish; this title, be it observed, has a retrospective meaning, and implies a previous revelation. By destroying, therefore, the evidence of that previous revelation, we strike at the very root of Christianity itself, which, is no other, in fact, than Judaism under an improved form. To admit the divine authority of Jesus, and, at the same time, to deny that of Moses and the prophets, to whom he so frequently appeals, appears to me a strangely inconsistent scepticism, which requires from your correspondent some further explanation.

I

SIR,

I.

July 3, 1825.

the press, substituting "solar"" for "sober," which, though pointed out for correction with my next article, dated July 30, 1824, inserted p. 544, has not, I believe, been noticed in your journal. It would have been utterly inconsistent with the whole tenor and object of the letter, to compare

reason," though one of the best gifts of God of man, "to the solar light," and "revelation to a lamp enlightening reason's path." My aim was to preserve in your pages the proposed inaccurate, inconsistent and unscriptural creed," as a useful warning against any similar departure from the sober path of reason, enlightened by the lamp of genuine revelation."

That is, to hold up the Scriptures as containing "a true record of special revelations from God," which the authors of this Creed did not appear to me to treat with proper respect and veneration, under the groundless notion of their own equal, if not superior, claim to inspiration.

Your correspondent also observes, "The change of "him" into "himself," in the 5th article of the Quakers' Creed, seems, at first sight," atrocious." And how does he attempt to remove the character of this first impression, so much more severe than mine? By shewing that they were well warranted in taking such a liberty with the language of the text, Matt. xi. 27; Luke x. 22? No such thing. But, says he, "when we remember for a moment their sincere and undoubting belief in the identity of the Father and the Son, it can scarcely be called the literary or even pious fraud it seems to be."

Whether your correspondent be "satirical" or serious in this apology I am unable to decide; but in my strictures I confined myself to plain matters of fact, and to pointing out the dangerous consequences of making so very free with the text, apparently to make it comport better with the notions of these Creed-makers, who were preparing a yoke for their brethren, which the Society, in its collective capacity, wisely, and with great unanimity, rejected. I ought, perhaps, to mention, that in both editions of the "Cabinet, or Works of Darkness brought to Light," printed in Philadelphia, the above texts are given cors rectly, and máy, therefore, have been

General Body of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers of the Three Denominations (pp. 377, 378), I cannot avoid fearing that they have been passed without due deliberation. Religious intolerance is under every form justly to be detested, but the party preferring a charge of this nature against any people or government, ought not to mix any thing with it that is doubtful or unnecessarily irritating, and the accusers should "come into court with clean hands." The three first resolutions are what every liberal Christian must approve; but the fourth, which contains the accusation against the government of the Canton de Vaud, is confused and indefinite, and is presented to the public without any accompanying evidence. "This Body has received, from different and credible sources, the information, that in Switzerland, which used to be regarded as an asylum for those who fled from persecution, and particularly in the Canton de Vaud, under a Protestant Government and a Presbyterian Church, a severe perse. cution has been for more than a year exercised upon peaceable citizens,' &c. Here the charge is first made against Switzerland generally, and secondly against the Canton de Vaud. Now a general charge of this serious nature ought not to have been advanced, unless the resolutionists were prepared to prove that all the cantons had been guilty of persecution. If they were not, each of the guilty cantons should have been named, for the Swiss cantons are as independent of each other, with respect to religion, as Great Britain and France. Several of the cantons have ever been Catholic of the most bigoted description, and it were surely beating the air to pass resolutions now against them. Though the Protestant cantons might formerly

persecution are brought against the government and people, by so respectable a Body as the Protestant Dissenting Ministers of the Three Denominations, or any individuals acting in their name, all the facts and circumstances ought to have been well considered and both sides of the case examined.

I fear it will be found that much of the irritation existing in the Canton de Vaud, which has led to the acts complained of in the resolutions, has been excited by the indiscreet and intemperate zeal of a few English ladies and other strangers, whose interference, in defiance of the public autho rity, has goaded and exasperated the government of the canton. Nor can it be forgotten that this irritation has been increased by the conduct of the very gentleman who has been chosen by the Body to sign their resolutions. The last year he most unwarrantably and presumptuously passed sentence of condemnation on the people and pastors of the canton, as Semipelagians, and published to the world that they were formalists in religion and held the truth in unrighteousness" (Mon. Rep. XIX. pp. 321, 404, 464, 520, 544, 668, 735); a sentence which they must think evinces as much of an exclusive, illiberal and persecuting spirit as any act of their own government.

If the object of the meeting were really to recommend to the government of the canton peace and conciliation, and a repeal of their edicts against Dissenters, prudence might have suggested the propriety of selecting some one to sign the resolulutions who had not rendered himself obnoxious to the canton by such an unchristian-like aggression. The resolutions, from the signature affixed, will be read with particular distrast, and regarded as the ebullitions of in