of faith, and ordained certain forms and ceremonies of worship, which, by sundry means and penalties, more or less severe, they have attempted to enforce on their subjects. As a real uniformity of opinion, however, is impossible, and will be so as long as man is constituted as he is; and as a real or pretended zeal for freedom, condemning all restraint upon religious opinions, will always of itself create an opposition to what may be dictated by others; and when it is recollected that the interests of religion have too often been made use of as a pretext to cover the designs of ambition, and the grasp of a lawless power, it may be doubted, whether these attempts have not been frequently more productive of discontent and dissensions, than of peace and unanimity.

How far the restraints of the civil power upon the faith and mode of worship of the people, may be prudent or just, is a question of a very different nature. All that is meant to be advanced is, that the manner in which these restraints have too often been exercised, has frequently been the means of causing that variety of opinions it was intended to suppress.

11. Whenever an opposition to the doctrines established by law has been successful, it has brought in its train an unsettled state of opinion, and the dissemination of theories till then new and unheard of. Old and established principles are rejected before those by which they have been transplanted are well understood, and in this state of mind the people are open to every impression, and liable to be swayed by the artful, the ambitious, or the fanatical. Notions and theories, however absurd, extravagant, or pernicious, will now be listened to by the vulgar, and may become the foundation of new controversies, sects, and factions. When rebellion under Cromwell had succeeded in overturning both the altar and the throne the wildest notions pervaded every civil and ecclesiastical department of the state. The first principles of society were violated, and extravagance of opinion was considered as the criterion of sanctity. Hence new sects were daily springing up, and in the course of four years only from this time,

it has been said that no less than one hundred and seventy-six heretical and blasphemous doctrines were advanced and maintained. "It

66

was now," says Nichol, a great signal-mark of a saint to be the author of some monstrous opinion."- p. 59.

12. Vanity has been another source of the difference of opinion and controversy upon matters of religion. Every man naturally loves distinction and pre-eminence, and particularly when this is yielded to him as due to the superiority of his understanding; nor is this passion ever so much gratified as when it can appear divested of common prejudices, and averse from established opinions. The professors of religion have been as open to this weakness as the rest of mankind. Hence we have seen opinions, frequently the most crude and unfounded, assume the importance of doctrines; doctrines swell into distinctions, and distinctions increase into sects; extending and multiplying themselves into endless circles and divisions, equally destructive of the pure doctrines of the Gospel, and the peace and harmony of society. From this motive indeed alone, many, perhaps unconscious of it themselves, have been induced to reject a received opinion, or to oppose the doctrines of an established church, while others, actuated by the like motive, have defended and supported them. Many also, under the influence of this passion, have been led to propound the most singular doctrines, that they might hence become the founders of new sects, and have the gratification of calling them after their own names.

13. Another cause of this variety of opinions and tenets in religion has been the effect of enthusiasm. The illusions of a heated imagination have frequently been mistaken by those suffering under them for the irradiations of the Spirit of God. Rejecting all investigation or inquiry after truth, because it is to be felt rather than sought after; and despising all human learning, in the expectation of illumination from Heaven, the enthusiast has always found followers among the weak and illiterate, and has frequently been the means of giving rise to numerous sects and heresies.

Such appear to be the principal causes of the variety of opinions that have always existed among the professors of Christianity, and of the endless disputes and controversies it has produced. And we see that this variety of opinion has sprung from the very nature of a divine revelation, when taken into consideration with the nature of man himself. Let it not be imputed to Christianity, therefore, that it has neither violated the intellectual constitution of man, nor effected what was impossible as long as such a constitution remained. Since the variety of religious tenets and the different sects of Christians to which these have given birth, have arisen from the natural weaknesses and passions of men, they cannot be urged as an objection to revelation itself. If a conviction of the truths of Christianity could not have been irresistibly impressed on our minds, without interfering with the freedom of our will, it can be no argument against it that some have abused that freedom, and rejected its doctrines.-(See Barrow's Bampton Lectures, Serm. I.) The obscurities of particular passages in the sacred writings, and the difficulties of some of the doctrines of the Gospel, it has been well observed by Beattie, when fairly stated, will be found rather to add to its evidence. At least they prove it to be in conformity with the other works of the same great and good Being, who, by the constitution of every thing here below, plainly shows that our present state is a state of trial. To him who has in anywise attended to the analogies of nature; who has observed that in all the other works of God, man is continually making new discoveries, without foreseeing any end to his investigation, or period to the gratification of his curiosity, it can be no matter of surprise that the religion of Christ should still stand in need of interpretation, or afford a task for the critic and the scholar. Much benefit, indeed, to the cause of religion may have arisen from this apparent evil of diversity of opinion. As long as men are liable to mistake, the labours of one will be found useful in correcting the errors of another. The various sects of Christians have proved a check upon each other, and false teachers have contributed to preserve the faithful in the knowledge and exer

cise of the true doctrines of the Gospel. It has sometimes been contended, indeed, that it is unworthy of a divine revelation that any of its doctrines should be looked upon as admitting of dispute, or any latitude of interpretation. But such a notion, to use the forcible language of a learned prelate, "proceeds upon a wrong estimate of the disposition and nature of man, which requires to be excited by curiosity, and stimulated by difficulty. It is probable that if the points to be believed were so distinctly enumerated as to leave no room for question or discussion, they would remain a dead letter on the records, without any practical effect on the heart. On the other hand, difficulties provoke inquiry, inquiry demands attention; in the midst of which, faith, as a governing principle, is exercised and strengthened, and the importance of religion takes firm hold of the mind during the examination of its truth; the troubling of the waters renders them salutary. Controversy, indeed, is unfavourable to piety and to every Christian feeling; it is commonly the food of malevolence, rancour, and obstinacy; but the examination and comparison of the different parts of Scripture, and the attention to the revealed counsels of God, which religious inquiry induces, are favourable to the growth of vital religion, and the impression of faith upon the heart; far more favourable, if we judge from experience, than a settled calm."-Sumner's Apostolical Preaching, &c. p. 291.

Neither can the corruptions nor the schisms of the church be any real cause of triumph to the unbeliever. The various persecutions, apostacies, and heresies, which from the beginning distracted the peace of the church, and frequently brought disgrace upon the name of Christianity itself, had been distinctly foretold. Our Saviour, who was well acquainted with the passions, prejudices, and infirmities of man, and knew how repugnant their tempers and dispositions would often be found to the righteousness and love of peace taught by the precepts of the Gospel, forewarned his disciples that his religion, although intended to encourage the amiable charities of life, would frequently produce unnatural discords and the fiercest animosities.

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, but a sword. Henceforth a man's foes shall be they of his own household.” Matt. x. 34, 36, and Luke, xii. 51. "It is no argument, indeed," as remarked by a recent author of a very acute and luminous dissertation upon the internal evidences of Christianity, "against the scheme of revelation, to allege, as the infidels are in the habit of doing, the miseries produced by the malignant passions of mankind, under the assumed sanction of its name. None but those who are already predisposed from other causes to calumniate revelation, would venture to attach any weight to such uncandid allegations. The time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service,' was the prophetic remark of our Saviour upon the abuses which he foresaw would one day be perpetrated under the pretext of religion."-The Consistency of the Whole System of Revelation with itself, and with Human Reason, by P. N. Shuttleworth, D.D.

The divisions that have taken place among Protestants, not only during the time of the Reformation, but since Protestantism may be considered as having been fully established, are also frequently brought forward by the Roman Catholics as an argument against the supporters of any reformed religion, and their own acquiescence in the tenets of the Apostles and first Fathers of the church, and their consequent freedom from dissensions among themselves, is insisted upon as a proof that they continue to compose the true church of Christ. "If this," says one of our most learned divines, "is a valid argument against Protestantism, the long catalogue of heresies (which they have given us) must furnish an equally valid argument against Christianity itself. But the divisions which arose both among the early proselytes to the Gospel and the early Reformers, were the natural consequences of the change effected in the condition of mankind by the new light, which had burst upon their minds. Their former trains of thinking were interrupted their former principles to a certain extent unsettled-they were to enter upon a new and enlarged field of speculation and of action.