EVANGELICAL REFORMER,.

AND YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE.

BY JOSEPH

BARKER.

Published every Saturday.-Price One Penny, or in Monthly Parts, price Five-pence.

No. 22.

SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1838. VOL. I..

HOW RELIGIOUS PEOPLE OF ONE NAME OUGHT ΤΟ BEHAVE TO RELIGIOUS PEOPLE, OF ANOTHER NAME.

1. RELIGIOUS people are commanded to behave kindly towards all men. They are to love their enemies, to pray for them that despitefully use and persecute them. If, therefore, professors of religion belonging to other sects should treat us cruelly, we are not to use them unkindly in return. They can be but enemies, and if we are to love our enemies, and to do good to those that do evil to us, then ought we to treat with kindness all professors of religion, however ill-disposed they may be to us.

2. Should any one say, that as more is to be expected from professors of the same religion than from others, we may therefore treat them, when they act unkindly towards us, more severely than we treat common enemies; we would ask, where is the Scripture for this? The Scriptures make no difference between one enemy and another; they require us in every case to treat our enemies with kindness. This was the practice of Jesus Christ. His enemies were professors of religion; they were the teachers of the Jewish law; yet he treated them always in the spirit of benevolence. He met their fury with gentleness; their rage with meekness; their slander with reason and expostulation; and their cruelties with prayers. He wept for the city that had rejected him, and when he hung upon the cross he prayed for his mur

do."

derers-Father, forgive them, they know not what they Nothing unkind, nothing harsh, nothing in the way of revenge or retaliation is allowed in us to the worst and cruellest man on earth; and of course nothing unkind or resentful is allowed in us towards any professors of religion.

3. Again, no evil speaking is allowed towards any one, and therefore no evil speaking is allowed towards any professors of religion. We may mention the faults of another sect, in order to prevent mischief, but for no other end. But here we must be careful to confine ourselves to that which is true, as well as to act from a worthy motive. To indulge in careless censures is a sin in every case; and he who is guilty of such a praetice, whether in reference to religious sects or individuals, may expect to be punished in the end, as a false and cruel man.

4. We may examine the doctrines and customs of other sects, and discuss their merits. We may state what they believe, and express our opinions of their sentiments; we may speak of what they do, and we may express our views of the character of their discipline. But here also we must keep to truth, and in all we say, aim at what is good. Truth must measure our words, and charity must utter them. We may say that some Baptists believe that a man cannot be accepted of God I unless he be put over head in water when he is baptized, because some Baptists so teach; but we must not say the same of all Baptists; because some Baptists teach a very different doctrine. We may state their notions, and you may refute those of their notions that are false; but all this must be done with gentleness and in love.

5. We may speak to them of what we believe to be wrong in their doctrine or behaviour, and lay before them the grounds of our belief. Nay, we are bound to do this, as we are bound to reprove and exhort one another; but this we are also directed to do with meekness and humility; with great prudence, and much charity.

6. If they should attack our doctrines or our ways of proceeding, we may answer again, but in no case with

wrath and bitterness. If they should forget their duty to us, we must not forget our duty to them. We may tell them where we think they have done wrong, and advise them better, provided we do it in the spirit of love; but we must especially take care to give them that best of all reproofs aad lessons,-a good example.

7. We ought not to be watchful to discover their faults or failings, nor quick to mention them. We should not represent any thing as more evil or dangerous than it is, but always keep within the bounds of truth. We should

especially be careful not to expose them wantonly to irreligious people, as if our object were rather to injure their reputation than to improve their characters and correct their creeds.

8. We should be ready to acknowledge any excellency they may have, either in doctrine or practice, and we should be forward to adopt their excellencies into our own system. We should take pleasure in noticing the points in which they agree with us, and we should take more delight in dwelling on these, if we are assured that in those points we are right, than in dwelling upon points in which we differ from them. As far as we can with advantage to the cause of God, we should approach each other in our sentiments, in our language, and in our

customs.

9. We ought not to judge them,—that is, we ought not to pronounce them dishonest men or haters of truth, because they do not believe as we believe; nor ought we to pronounce them rebels against God, because they have ways and customs different from ours. "Judge not, that ye be not judged," said Christ. "Judge not one another," saith the Apostle; "but serve one another in love." We cannot see their hearts, and we ought not therefore to say that they have not the love of God in them. The same desire to please God may cause different men to act in very different ways. One man may keep holydays, another man esteem every day alike. One may think it his duty to abstain from flesh, and another may think it his duty to abstain from wine and ale, and another may think it right to use all these things. man may think proper to preach in a gown, another may

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think proper to have an organ in his place of worship, and a third may think both gowns and organs out of place in religious assemblies. So one sect may hold one theory of divine truth, another may hold another. All sects must take the liberty to judge for themselves, acknowledging no authority but that of God; and they should all allow the same liberty to others, remembering that to God alone they stand or fall. If we say to the Quaker, You cannot love God, because you use no sacraments; or if we say to the Calvinist, You are wicked, because you limit the goodness of God; or if we say to the Arminian, You are impious, because you limit the power of God; we judge each other, and we sin against God. We are at liberty to judge for ourselves what is right, and what is wrong; but we are not at liberty to pronounce a man wicked in his heart, because he does not think and act as we do. He may be as honest in searching after truth as you, and yet come to different conclusions. He may be as sincere as you, and as much approved of God; and we should therefore treat him as a brother.

10. We should help each other in all things that we consider truly good, as far as our ability will enable us; especially in promoting the spread of civil and religious liberty, helping the slave to freedom, the poor to bread, and the ignorant to the advantages of education.

11. We should allow all the liberty to discuss all religious questions, and not denounce them as enemies to God and to his truth, and speak of them as in a state of condemnation, either because they adopt not the same rules of interpreting the Scriptures as we do, or because they come to conclusions opposite to us, even in matters that we have been accustomed to consider fundamental,

12. We must help each other to a fuller and better understanding of all those doctrines in which we are agreed, and to a more diligent and thorough practice of those principles in which we are of one mind. If we do this, we shall soon be brought to agree in more points of doctrine; and we shall soon find that there are but few differences of any importance in matters of practice.

13. All those rules which I consider binding on all

professors of religion, are nothing more than so many manifestations or expressions of that Christian charity which is so often and so forcibly urged upon all Christians in the Word of God.

14. Such conduct of sects to one another as is here recommended, would do much towards the conversion of the world. The opposite kind of conduct has a bad effect upon the world. The world generally know the points in which religious people agree, and they can perceive also that those points are of great importance; but they seldom understand the points on which we differ; and when they do, they cannot see their importance. When we act unkindly, therefore, towards each other, they cannot but regard us as very inconsistent, and no wonder if they think us very wicked. We are sure to be the less respected and approved by the world, for every appearance of bitterness in our behaviour towards our fellow Christians, and we shall be the less useful. We shall never suffer in public estimation because others injure us, nor will our usefulness be lessened. It will be the contrary. But for every particle of uncharitableness, we must sacrifice so much both of our reputation and our usefulness.

15. These acts of charity will be the likeliest means to bring them over to our side, in those matters in which we are right; and they will be the likeliest means to bring us to discover in ourselves what is amiss, and of leading us to unity with them.

16. This way will be the most comfortable. The more we love, and the more we are beloved, the happier we shall be. The better we understand each other, and the more shall we confide in one another. All jealousies are vexatious, and all forms of charity are soothing and consoling.

17. To be free from bitterness and bigotry towards others, will tend to our own improvement in knowledge and piety. Bitterness and bigotry are mists and mountains that come between us and the truth; we can neither see through the mists, nor climb over the monntains. Let them be removed, and truth will show herself to our minds, in all her perfection and in all her beauty.