his enemies some reformation both of doctrines and manners; but, as he could not imagine that Luther would succeed, he chose to adhere outwardly to the strong er party. "I follow," says he, "the decisions of the pope and the emperor, when they are right, which is acting religiously; I submit to them when they are wrong, which is acting prudently; and I think that it is lawful for good men to behave themselves thus, when there is no hope of obtaining any more."

"Le Clerc often censures Erasmus for his lukewarmness, timidity and unfairness, in the matter of the reformation, and I, as a translator, have adopted these censures, only softening them a little here and there: for I am, in the main, of the same opinion with Le Clerc as to this point. As Protestants, we are certainly much obliged to Erasmus; yet we are more obliged to the authors of the Reformation; to Luther, Melanchthon, ZuingliOecolampadius, Cranmer, Bucer, &c.

"Erasmus shews at large, that whatsoever pains he had taken to keep upon good terms with the divines of Louvain, it had been impossible to gain their friendship; and that some of them had cruelly deceived him, particularly Joannes Atensis, who was one of the most able and considerable persons amongst them. Then he makes a transition to Luther, and censures his violent proceedings; as if Luther could have brought the Christian world to measures of reformation, in spite of the Romish court, without plain dealing and animated expressions! He declares his hatred of discord to be such, that

he disliked even truth itself, if it was seditious. But Luther, who was of another humour, would have replied, such was his hatred for falsehood and oppression of conscience, that he thought it better to suffer persecution, if it arose, and to break loose from such a tyranny at all adventures, than to stoop down, and live and die under it, and hear a thousand lies vented and obtruded under the venerable name of Christian doctrines. They who are bold and resolute will approve these maxims of Luther, and they who are cautious and dispirited will close in with those of Erasmus. It must be acknowledged, that in this Luther acted rather more like an apostle, or a primitive Christian, than Erasmus. If the first Christians had been afraid of raising disturbances, they would have chosen to comply with the Sanhedrim, and to live at peace with their countrymen, rather than to draw upon themselves so much hatred. Some of the great, says Erasmus, meaning the king of Denmark, are of an opinion, to which I cannot assent, that the malady is too inveterate to be cured by gentle methods, and that the whole body must be violently shaken, before it can recover its health. If it be true, I had rather others should administer this strong physic than myself. Very well: but then we ought to respect and commend, and not to censure those, who have the courage and the constancy to do what we dare not practise."

(To be continued.)

With pleasure we extend the knowledge of the following very seasonable and just sentiments, which are clothed in a style of energy and elo

uncommon

quence.

ON LIBERALITY IN RELIGION.

(From the Christian's Magazine.*)

A WRITER of celebrity has said, that where "men are without some fundamental and scientific principles to resort to, they are liable to have their understandings played upon by cant phrases and unmeaning terms, of which every party in every country possess a vocabulary. We appear astonished when we see the multitude led away by sounds; but we should remember, that if sounds work miracles, it is always upon ignorance. The influence of names is in exact proportion to the want of knowledge."

invader. Whoever shall dare to condemn the opinions of one, is the enemy of all the rest: he must be shunned as an intruder into the sanctuary of conscience; as a stranger to religious civility and liberal refinement, and unworthy of any rank but that which philosophical Christianity has assigned to the bigot.

All this looks grand and magnanimous; and, no doubt, has its effect; especially upon youthful, undisciplined, and timid minds. But if it have more of show than of reality; if it be as intolerant in its own way as any thing which it calls bigotry; and if, under the pretext of oblations to charity, it sacrifice the truth of God and the eternal interests of men upon the altar of practical infidelity; we cannot turn away from it with too open disgust, nor hold it in too deep abhorrence.

SO

One of the things which first strike a critical observer, is the indefiniteness of the ideas attached to the terms “liberal" and "bigoted." It is easy to couple them with a man or a principle; and to extol or decry accordingly and few are loud in their panegyric or abuse, as those who do both by signal. But still, what is your liberality? Is it measured by any standard, or confined within any limits? If not, for aught I can see, it is an attempt to abolish all intellectual and moral distinctions. If it is measured and limited-by what rule? By the word of God? Then you are bound to ascertain its sense, and to oppose every opinion which contradicts it; or else you must contradict yourself: for a rule which you do not apply, is no rule at all.-By your own good pleasure, or your

The pendulum of fashion vibrating in morals, as in dress, from an extreme point to its opposite; we are now required to open the bosom of charity to every class of religious tenets, if we hope to be enrolled among liberal Christians, or to escape the pains and penalties decreed against bigots. As revolutions seldom happen in but one thing at a time, this exchange of feeling appears to have been accompanied with an exchange of principle; and to have included a large portion of the creed of our fathers in the same proscription with their sternness of temper. So that what bishop Butler said of Christianity, may truly be said of orthodoxy :" It is come-to be taken for granted, by many persons, that orthodoxy is not so much as a subject of inquiry; but that it is now, at length, discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it as if, in the present age, this were an agreed point among all people of discernment; and nothing remained but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures of the world." Or if dislike to principles once held sacred by the most enlightened and excellent of mankind, has not gone all this length, it has, at least, thrown them into the rubbish of obsolete prejudices. Zeal for their purity and propagation is supplanted by a sort of community of persuasions; in which every one is not only privileged to assert his own right, while he lives in peace with his neighbours, but to demand their aid in repulsing an * Butler's Analogy, Advertisement.