strengthened, and the horrors and difficulties of the impending struggle proportionably aggravated, by numberless concessions of important principles into which the soldiers of Christ, who as such are not professors only, but defenders also, of the faith, have been betrayed by an unwary love of peace. Crafty indeed, and worthy of the arch-enemy's subtilty has been in this respect the conduct of the antagonists of the Church, and of the truth of which she is the depositary; and too much, alas! has her conduct been that of "a silly dove without heart." Every principle upon which her pillars are based, every position by which, as by a fence, she is surrounded and shielded, has been made the subject of a separate and isolated attack, and the question has been asked again and again, "Is it for this one alleged prerogative, for this one disputed doctrine, for this one antiquated notion, for this one point of odious distinction, that the bond of charity is to be violated among Christians, the professors of one and the same religion of peace?" And again and again did the popular cry prevail, "Concede the point, for the sake of peace, concede it :" or, if the point were such as to render an open concession of it glaringly inconsistent, expediency stepped in to smooth the difficulty, "If you cannot concede the point, do not at least press it unseasonably; do not, by making

it prominent, interrupt the existing harmony, which is a practical good too paramount to be endangered for the sake of theoretical differences." Under the cover of this and other like plausible pleas, the members of the church, and among them many even of her ministers, have been beguiled into an abandonment of one point after another; and in consequence, not only have the discipline of the church and her external ministrations been impaired in their efficiency, and in many respects been rendered inconsistent, but many essential points of sound doctrine have in this way been half-surrendered, on the ground, that whatever might be their intrinsic merits, it is not at this time of day possible or advisable to maintain and enforce them. Thus it has come to pass that the present position of the church resembles that of a fortress, into the different outworks of which the hostile forces have been admitted under flags of truce, through a protracted course of negotiations, carried on by the besieged party with a sincere, and by the besieging party with a simulated desire for peace; until at last the enemy, confiding in the strength of the positions gained, and elated by the facility with which these advantages have been obtained, takes off the mask, and demands an unconditional surrender, shouting, "Down with her, down with her." Too late for

her continuance in peaceful possession of the ground hitherto occupied by her, yet not too late, let us hope, for her safety, and even her restoration to former efficiency, she has by sad experience been made sensible, that compromise between the advocates of truth and its opponents on any point, however collateral or subordinate it might appear to be, is ever fraught with danger. She has verified, and strikingly illustrated by her own case, the declaration of her Divine Head, "He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad."

But painful as is the conviction that the sword of the Spirit, which she had prematurely beaten into a ploughshare for the peaceful tillage of the world, must once more resume its former shape and occupation, and deeply mortifying as is the sight of not her enemies' artillery alone, but of that which was once her own, directed against her from what were once her own ramparts, this is far from constituting the extent of her misfortune. As is generally the case in any unexpected public calamity, there is a melancholy absence of concentration of power and unity of action among her members. As in a city set on fire at different points at once, every one rushes to that part of it to which his own particular interests and affections bid him bend

his steps, and there takes such measures as the trepidation of present danger suggests to his mind, often increasing by ill-advised acts the very mischief he means to check, while in the mean time the flames spread far and wide, and the daring incendiary stalks unimpeded from quarter to quarter, securing his own impunity in the same measure as he increases the general consternation; even so has the uneasiness and alarm which the aspect of the times produces in every reflecting mind, caused the members of the church to rush to the rescue of different portions of her fabric, according to the predilections which they entertained, and the estimate they formed of their relative importance, and each has, in defence of what he considers of paramount value, taken the line which, under the excitement of so critical a juncture, appeared to his judgment best calculated to arrest the progress of evil and of error. To this cause, not to any deliberate design, such as has been uncharitably imputed in some quarters, of re-importing superstition, or on the other hand of fostering schism, we would ascribe the discordant, and in some instances passing strange doctrines and practices which have sprung up of late amongst ourselves, and which, however sincerely they may on the part of their originators be intended to advance the glory of God and the prosperity of his church, have only

rendered the position of that church more painful and perplexing, both in reality and to the apprehension of her equally zealous but more discerning lovers. This, then, is the point to which, above all others, our attention and our energies ought to be directed; to restore unity in the camp, to prevent the adoption of false measures, the occupation of untenable positions, the employment of inefficient or even treacherous weapons, by those who press forward into the foremost ranks of her defenders. But how is this to be effected? It is not by the mere interposition of authority, (even if that authority were at every point ready to interpose itself, which it neither is, nor indeed can be,) that the various forms of mischief can be arrested in a church, whose members not only, but even her ministers, her sworn servants, have long accustomed themselves, under the tainting influence of a spurious liberality, to speak and to do every man that which is right in his own eyes. The convictions of individuals must be appealed to and wrought upon in the day in which we live, before the uniform action of masses can be obtained; and an extensive and lasting effect upon the convictions of individuals can only be produced by an accurate and dispassionate examination of the grounds upon which they are or ought to be founded, and by the reiterated and concurrent