not; for religion is a personal concern, the obligations of which are in our case, in no degree dependant on the manner in which they are acknowledged by others. The more it is forgotten by others, the more we should feel excited to practise its duties ourselves. Your obedience is not to be withheld because your friends or relatives neglect theirs. It may be, that your decision will have a favourable influence on their minds; if not, and even on the contrary, you should by such an act incur their displeasure, you are not to let this operate on your heart. Your duty to Christ is paramount to all other considerations, and you must obey him though it be by taking up your cross.

ex

I do not like the mode of admission to our churches. "I do not like to be examined as to my religious views or experience, nor to submit the state of my mind, to the consideration of the church." If you mean to say you refuse all e amination, this savours of pride or ignorance, and plainly manifests either that you do not understand the nature of a Christian church, or understanding it, refuse to submit to its discipline; in the latter case, I do not see how you can be a Christian; in the former, you must be better instructed before you associate yourself with the faithful. If you mean only, that you would rather not either write, or deliver verbally before the church, your views and feelings on religion, I reply, that no church ought to insist upon it; all they ought to do, is to state what is their usual custom; but if you have scruples of a tender conscience, they ought to be satisfied with the report of the pastor and brethren who have conversed with you.

I tremble at the denunciation, where it is declared by the apostle," He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself." This word had better have been rendered "judgement," as it refers to those visitations of temporal punishments, with which the members of the Corinthian Church were punished for their profanation of the Lord's Supper. It certainly was not the Apostle's intention, as some weak and timid minds seem to think to teach that sins committed after this act of Christian communion, are unpardonable. Transgressions committed after a participation of the eucharist, are it is confessed, additionally heinous, because committed against increased privileges and obligations, but they are still pardonable through "the blood of Christ which cleanseth from all sin."

I may be a Christian, and get to heaven without being united with the Church. That there are some in this case, I have no doubt; but it becomes a question whether any one can really be a Christian, who knows it to be a duty, and yet wilfully neglects it under the pretext just stated.

I do not like the Church which is formed in the place where I live. I am neither pleased with the pastor nor the people. If the minister is unholy and erroneous, or the people divided into parties, and destitute of both peace and purity, this excuse may be admitted; but if the objection apply to the talents of the minister, or the worldly circumstances of the Church, we are discovering a spirit of pride and worldly-mindedness, in thus refusing to obey the command of VOL. II.

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Christ, which renders our faith very questionable, or proves it to be very weak.

Having thus explained the nature, and stated the advantages of church fellowship, and replied to some of the excuses by which a neglect of it is attempted to be justified, I must leave the subject to your serious consideration. It is perfectly obvious to every thinking and observant mind, that the obligations to this act of duty, are not felt, at least as they ought to be, by many who have "tasted that the Lord is gracious." To such persons I recommend the consideration of those passages in which a profession of our faith before men, is most awfully demanded. "Whosoever," said our Lord, "shall confess my name before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven: and whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." These words occur also, with little variation, in the Gospel of Luke. The same sentiment is conveyed by the apostle Paul: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." In these passages, and others of a similar meaning, a confession, or profession, for the words are nearly the same in signification,* bears a very close connexion

*Perhaps the English words professsion and confession have this difference of signification, the former means the unasked avowal of our faith; the latter, the acknowledgement of our sentiments when required to declare them: answerable to which professors means Christians in general; confessors, those who in times of persecution acknowledge their sentiments at the demand of their persecutors.

with the hope of salvation: and how any one can be said to make a confession of Christ, who does not connect himself with a Christian church, I am certainly at a loss to understand.

On this subject I refer, for a more enlarged view, to my treatise on "Christian Fellowship, or the Church Members' Guide."

CHAPTER XXIII.

On the choice of a companion for life.

"THE first blessing," says Bishop Taylor, "God gave to man, was society; and that society was a marriage; and that marriage was confederate by God himself, and hallowed by a blessing. The first miracle that Jesus Christ ever performed, was to do honour to a wedding, which he graced with his presence, and supplied with a part of its provision. Celibacy, like the fly in the heart of an apple, dwells in a perpetual sweetness, but sits alone, and is confined, and dies in singularity; but marriage, like the useful bee, builds a house, and gathers sweetness from every flower and unites into societies and republics, and sends out colonies, and feeds the world with delicacies, and keeps order, and exercises many virtues, and promotes the interest of mankind, and is that state of good things to which God hath designed the present constitution of the world."

"But then with how much caution, and extreme care, and sound discretion, and fervent prayer, ought this union to be formed; for they who enter into the state of marriage, cast a die of the greatest contingency, and yet of the greatest interest in the world, next to the last throw for eternity. Life or death, felicity or a lasting sorrow, are in the power of marriage. A woman indeed ventures most, for she hath no sanctuary to retire to from an evil husband; she must dwell upon her sorrow which her own folly hath produced, and she is more under it, because her tormentor hath a warrant of prerogative, and the woman may complain to God as subjects do of tyrant princes, but otherwise she hath no appeal in the causes of unkindness. And though the man can run from many hours of his sadness, yet he must return to it again; and when he sits among his neighbours he remembers the objection that lies in his bosom, and he sighs deeply."

Who then that is wise, would not be slow to decide, where so much depends upon the decision; and grow up in a habit of putting the affections and the imagination under the control of the judgement? If it be important to exercise deliberation in reference to those connexions which may be dissolved at pleasure, how much more in the case of those which nothing can terminate but the stroke of death!

The first piece of advice I offer is, not to think of this important affair too soon, nor suppose it necessary that α young person of eighteen or nineteen should begin to pay and receive particular attentions. Do not court the subject, nor permit your imagination to be for ever dwelling