knowing it to be such." Mr. Foster was answered by Dr. Stebbing and Mr. Brine. Dr. George Campbell also objects to Mr. Foster's position, that it makes the precept of the apostle, to "reject an heretic," of little or no use, seeing it is impossible for us to judge whether he who professes an opinion be sincere or not. Dr. Campbell considers the term as having no relation to doctrine, but merely to denote a sect or faction. There is no doubt but the term heresy (aipeous) is used in the New Testament for a sect, without any reference to doctrine, and sometimes without implying any thing evil. It does not appear to me, however, that Dr. Campbell has proved it is thus used in 2 Pet. ii. 1, where false teachers are described as bringing in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and as bringing upon themselves swift destruction; or that his criticism on that passage is well founded. But if it be, while he allows false doctrine to be "destructive," it is of small account whether we call it heresy or not. It is certain that this term is now generally used in reference to false doctrine, and in that view is by many lightly treated.

Let us candidly enquire, Christian reader, whether, notwithstanding the diversity of sentiments in the religious world, Truth may not be clearly ascertained?-Whether it be not of the utmost importance?— Whether the prevalence of Error may not be accounted for?-And, lastly, Whether the wisdom, as well as the justice of God, may not be seen in permitting it?

WHAT IS TRUTH?

The

In attempting to answer this question, I desire to take nothing for granted, but that Christianity is of God, and that the Scriptures are a revelation of his will. If Christianity be of God, and he have revealed his will in the Holy Scriptures, light is come into the world, though the dark minds of sinful creatures comprehend it not. It does not follow, because many wander in mazes of fruitless speculation, that there is not a way so plain as that a way-faring man, or one who "walketh in the truth," though a fool, shall not err. numerous sects among the Greeks and Romans, and even among the Jews, at the time of our Saviour's appearing, did not prove that there was no certain knowledge to be obtained of what was Truth. Our Lord considered himself as speaking plainly, or he would not have asked the Jews, as he did, "Why do ye not understand my speech?" The apostles and primitive believers saw their way plainly; and though we cannot pretend to the extraordinary inspiration which was possessed by many of them; yet, if we humbly follow their light, depending on the ordinary teachings of God's holy Spirit, we shall see ours. Truth, we may be certain, is the same thing as what in the Scriptures is denominated "the gospel," the common salvation," " the

"It is a part of the office of the Holy Spirit to lead believers into truth; and our excellent translators, through a slight inadvertence, by overlooking the article in the original, have rendered the text, He shall lead you into ALL truth;' that is, as many have understood it, into every branch of religious truth; whereas (as the learned Bishop Lowth long since

common faith," "the faith once delivered to the saints,"" the truth as it is in Jesus," &c.; and what this is, may be clearly understood by the brief summaries of the gospel, and of the faith of the primitive Christians, which abound in the New Testament. Of the former, the following are a few of many examples:-"God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life;"-" The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost;" "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me;" "To him gave all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall have remission of sins.' "We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them that believe, the wisdom of God, and the power of God."-" I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."-" Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast what I preached to you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures."-" This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."- "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."-" Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."

If language have any determinate meaning, it is here plainly taught that mankind are not only sinners, but in a lost and perishing condition, without help or hope, but what arises from the free grace of God, through the atonement of his Son; that he died as our substitute; that we are forgiven and accepted only for the sake of what he hath done and suffered; that, in his person and work, all evangelical truth concentrates; that the doctrine of salvation for the chief of sinners, through his death, was so familiar in the primitive times, as to become a kind of Christian proverb, or " saying;" and that on our receiving and retaining this depends our present" standing," and final "salvation." If this doctrine be received, Christianity is received; if not," the record which God hath given of his Son" is rejected, and he himself treated as 66 a liar."

When this doctrine is received in the true spirit of it (which it never is, but by a sinner ready to perish), all those fruitless speculations, which tend only to bewilder the mind, will be laid aside; just as malice, and guile, and envies, and evil-speakings, are laid aside by him who is born of God. They will fall off from the mind, like the

observed) the passage should be rendered, into all THE truth;' that is, into a knowledge of the gospel method of salvation. This is commonly called the truth' (See Gal. iii. 1), and so far, sooner or later, all Christians are brought into a unity of faith.”—Duty and Importance of Free Communion, p. 6.

coat of the chrysalis, of their own accord. Many instances of this are constantly occurring. Persons who, after having read and studied controversies, and leaned first to one opinion and then to another, till their minds have been lost in uncertainty, have at length been brought to think of the gospel, not as a matter of speculation, but as that which seriously and immediately concerned them: and, embracing it as good news to them who are ready to perish, have not only found rest to their souls,, but all their former notions have departed from them, "as a dream when one awaketh."

Corresponding with the above brief summaries of the gospel, are the concise accounts given of the faith of the primitive Christians. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God.". "Who

is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"-" If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." The sacred writers did not mean by this language to magnify the belief of one or two divine truths at the expense of others, but to exhibit them as bearing an inseparable connexion; so that if these were truly embraced, the other would be certain to accompany them. They considered the doctrine of the person and work of Christ as a golden link, that would draw along with it the whole chain of evangelical truth. Hence we perceive the propriety of such language as the following: "He that hath the Son, hath life: and he that hath not the Son, hath not life.". "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father."

The doctrine and the faith of the primitive Christians were summarily avowed every time they celebrated the Lord's supper. The leading truth exhibited by that ordinance is the same which John calls "the record;" namely, "God hath given unto us eternal life, and [that] this life is in his Son." Under the form of a feast, of which we are invited to "take, to eat, and to drink," are set forth the blessings of the New Testament, or Covenant, and the medium through which they were obtained, (namely, "the blood of Jesus, shed for many, for the remission of sins,") and the way in which they must be received; that is to say, as a free gift, bestowed on the unworthy, for his sake. If this simple doctrine were believed with the spirit of a little child, and lived upon as our meat and drink, we might take an everlasting leave of speculations on things beyond our reach; and that without sustaining the loss of any thing, but what were better lost than retained.

IMPORTANCE OF TRUTH.

If the above remarks may be thought sufficient to ascertain what is Truth, its importance follows as a necessary consequence. If, as transgressors, we be exposed to the eternal displeasure of our Maker; if a door of hope be opened to us; if it be at no less an expense than the death of God's only-begotten Son, in our nature; if, through this great propitiation, God can be just, and the justifier of believers:

finally, if this be the only way of escape, and the present the only state in which it is possible to flee to it for refuge,-who, that is not infatuated by the delusions of this world, can make light of it? There is an importance in truth, as it relates to philosophy, history, politics, or any other branch of science, inasmuch as it affects the present happiness of mankind; but what is this when compared with that which involves their everlasting salvation? To be furnished with an answer to the question, "What shall I do to be saved?" is of infinitely greater account than to be able to decide whether the Ptolemaic or Copernican system be that of nature. The temporal salvation of a nation, great as it is, and greatly as it interests the minds of men, is nothing when compared with the eternal salvation of a single individual.

But many, who would not deny the superior value of eternal salvation to all other things, have yet gone about to depreciate the importance of divine Truth, and to represent it as having no necessary connexion with either present holiness or future happiness. Such appears to have been the design of those well-known lines of POPE

"For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight:

His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right."

And to the same purpose we have often been told in prose, that we shall not be judged at the last day by our opinions, but by our works. If truth and error existed in the mind merely as opinions, or objects of speculation, they might possibly have but little influence upon us; but if they be principles of action, they enter into the essence of all we do. Such is the influence of living faith, otherwise it could not be shewn by our works: and such is that of the belief of falsehood, else we had not read of the word of false teachers eating as doth (yayypaiva) a gangrene*. The works by which we shall be judged cannot mean actions in distinction from their principles, for as such they would contain neither good nor evil; but as connected with them. All pretences, therefore, to separate the one from the other, are as contrary to reason as they are to Scripture.

To render this subject more evident, let the following particulars be duly considered.

First: It is by the belief of Truth that sinners are brought into a state of salvation.-Great things are ascribed in the Scriptures to faith: but faith could have no existence, without revealed truth as its foundation. Whatever importance, therefore, attaches to the one, attaches to the other. The great blessing of justification is constantly ascribed to faith; not as the reward of a virtue, but as that by which we become one with Christ, and so partakers of his benefits. While unbelievers, we have no revealed interest in the divine favour; but are declared to be under condemnation: but, believing in him, we are no longer "under the law," as a term of life and death; but " under grace. Hence it is, that in the gospel, as "heard and received,"

we are said to "stand." Take away evangelical truth, and you take away the standing of a Christian. Bereaved of this, the best man upon earth must despair of salvation.

Secondly: Truth is the model and standard of true religion in the mind. That doctrines, whether true or false, if really believed, become principles of action; that they are a mould into which the mind is cast, and from which it receives its impression, is evident both from Scripture and experience. An observant eye will easily perceive a spirit which attaches to different species of religion; and which, over and above the diversities arising from natural temper, will manifest itself in their respective followers. Paganism, Mahometanism, Deism, Apostate-Judaism, and various systems which have appeared under the name of Christianity, have each discovered a spirit of their own. Thus, also, it was from the beginning. Those who received "another doctrine," received with it "another spirit:" and hence we read of "the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.' He that had the one is said to be" of God," and he that had the other "not of God."*

Revealed Truth is represented as "a form of doctrine into which believers are delivered+." As a melted substance, cast into a mould, receives its form from it, and every line in the one corresponds with that of the other; so true religion in the soul accords with true religion in the Scriptures. Without this standard, we shall either model our faith by our own pre-conceived notions of what is fit and reasonable, or be carried away by our feelings, and lose ourselves among the extravagant vagaries of enthusiasm. Our views may seem to us very rational, or our feelings may be singularly ardent; and yet we may be far from being in the right. The question is, Whether they agree line to line with the divine model? God saith in his word, "Seek ye my face." If our hearts say unto him, "Thy face, Lord, will we seek; then does line answer to line: and this is true religion. Is it a leading feature of evangelical truth, that it honours the Divine character and government? It is the same with true religion in the mind.-Does that manifest love even to enemies? So does this.-Is it the object of the former to abase the pride of man? It is no less the nature of the latter to rejoice in lying low.-Finally: Is the one averse to all iniquity, and friendly to universal holiness? The other, dissatisfied with present attainments, presseth "towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Thirdly Truth is that which furnishes the motive for every exercise of true holiness.-If once we are enabled to behold its glory, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, it changes us into the same image; begets and excites holy affections, and every kind of gracious exercise. Hence we are said to "know the truth, and the truth to make us free;" to be "sanctified through" it, and “ "begotten by" it.‡

It is not denied, that there is much of what is called morality in

* 2 Cor. xi. 4. 1 John iv. 6. + Rom. vi. 17.

John viii. 32. xvii. 17. James i. 18.