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    must conclude that the persons whom he so periphrastically designates do not embrace the religion of Jesus Christ , under any form ; and to professed Christians the representation can neither in equity nor in decency be judged app licable . There are no Christians who think they need neither redemp- * tion nor sanctification ; there are no Christians who count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing . Many there doubtless are who do not explain

    every text or phrase of Scripture in the same manner with the " Resident Member ; " but he knows the distinction between God ' s infallible word and man ' s fallible comments : he knows that it is neither pious nor reasonable to accuse men of rejecting God * s own testimony , when perhaps they are only rejecting human interpretations , —at best uncertain , and , probably , even false . Let us confess that , as soon as we read the sentence which we last copied from his pamphlet , we turned , involuntarily , to the effusions of a deceased

    writer of another spirit and order : we recollected a circular letter from Dr . Horsley , then Bishop of St . David ' s , to the clergy of his diocese , recommending contributions for the French clergy , of whom he declares that they are " more endeared to us [ to English Episcopalians ] by the example they exhibit of patient suffering for conscience' sake , than estranged by what we deem their errors and corruptions : more near and dear to us , in truth , by

    far , than some who , affecting to be called our Protestant brethren , have no other title to the name of Protestant , than a Jew or a Pagan , who not being a Christian , is for that reason only not a Papist . " * Who can fail to perceive what class of individuals the Prelate had in view ? It would have given us unfeigned pleasure not to have been thus reminded of him by a single passage in the " Letter to a Country Clergyman . "

    On the worthy author of that letter , and on his readers and ours , we urge our appeal to the writings of the New Testament . Without hesitation and reserve , we ask , What scriptural , what legitimate test have we of a man's being a Christian believer , if not his acknowledgment , from the heart , and with the mouth , that Jesus is the Christ ? + No other creed is required :

    no other is admissible . When Locke published his " Reasonableness of Christianity , " he rendered two grand services to that last and fullest Revelation of the Divine Will : he placed a main division of its evidences in a new and striking light ; and , as far as argument could go , he laid the axe at the root of bigotry , intolerance , unkindness , arrogance , and spiritual usurpation , among those who bear the Christian name .

    There is a shocking want of consistency in all who , denying infallibility to the Bishop of Rome , and even protesting against the exercise of any human authority in matters of religion , do , nevertheless , in their own persons lay a virtual claim to infallibility . No papal decision or denunciation can well surpass Bp . Horsley ' s decision and denunciation in respect of the class of men to whom he refuses the title of Christians—a class , let it never be

    forgotten , to which Lardner belonged . We have lately met with some most unbecoming and offensive language directed against the same body . J These things are extremely trying to the feelings of persons who receive , not perhaps individually , but collectively 3 such wrongs and insults . Let them be borne with fortitude , with patience , with an earnest , affectionate endeavour to promote the study of the Scriptures , as one of the most likely and effectual

    * See Garnham's Sermon , Trinity College , Cambridge , Dec . 19 , 1793-t Rom . x . 9 ; the only creed ( we speak it deliberately , advisedly , and therefore confidently ) which the New Testament presents . I Christian Reformer for April 1829 , p . 190 , and Christian Pioneer , May 1829 , 307 .

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    Church-of-England Men and Catholic Claim * . 46 S >

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 469, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/21/