debated. The fear of compromising the cause of religious liberty and progress, led to a decision in the negative. There is the less need of an official organ, because the German-Catholics have alrea dy four periodicals. Many of our readers will recognize in these statements traces of a state of opinion and feeling on religious matters similar to those through which the Unitarians of England have been led. The love of liberty, regard for the rights of conscience, dislike and fear of clerical influence and ascendancy, are points in which this new Church agrees with our predecessors and ourselves. In these matters, the true spirit of Christianity seems to prevail among the Christian Catholics of Germany. It is equally obvious that their leaders are men of religious sympathies, who have carefully and systematically studied the Scriptures, are possessed of the results of theological science, as well as of a wide and liberal culture in general, and are resolved, in a sober, earnest and philanthropic spirit, to exert their powers for the furtherance of a purer form of Christianity. May they reap ample success ! Some points of doctrine which we hold, they may question or disown. What then? They love truth and pursue it; they acknowledge Christ and would promote his cause.-They aim to benefit man, and they employ as their instrument the religion of Jesus interpreted in accordance with rea son, Here we find claims to our approval which we cannot disallow. The progress of the new Church has been most rapid. It aims at nothing less than universal prevalence. If it remain Catholic and Christian (we see no need for both epithets) in spirit and working, it will have coadjutors in every land, and powerfully advance the kingdom of Christ. Of special importance at the present moment is the existence in Germany of the Christian Catholic Church. Religious liberty is, if not in danger, yet in debate throughout the land. Orthodoxy, subsidized by England, has for some time been very active in its efforts to bring the clergy under the yoke of antiquated creeds. The Prussian Government, unhappily fascinated by the grandeur of the English Establishment, has shown itself somewhat disposed to yield to the demands of Hengstenberg and other creed-religionists. On the other side, the learned professors and pastors who, in the exercise of Christian liberty and the employment of vast stores of knowledge, have formed convictions adverse to the doctrines of the established formularies of faith, are very earnest in their defence of entire freedom of conscience; and, for that end, of complete immunity from doctrinal obligations and fetters. The reader may see the entire question well discussed in an admirable pamphlet just put out by that Nestor of liberal theology, Dr. Bretschneider, in his Ueber die unbedingte Verpflichtung der Evangelischen Geistlichen auf die Kirchenbekenntnisse. Jena, 1847; Nutt, 158, Fleet-street, London.-Christian Reformer. AMERICA. Protests against Slavery. We select from the Boston Christian Register of July 17, some remarkable passages on the subject of Slavery. "Among the members of the principal denominations of Christians in this country, earnest discussions have been held within a few years past in regard to the great question of Slavery. In several of the leading sects, the Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists, the discussions have been exceedingly earnest, we may even say heated, and the parties being nearly balanced, the contest has resulted in schisms in these different bodies.Southern and Northern have separated according to their respective sympathies. But, in other sects, the differing parties have agreed to differ, and to act harmoniously in their business intercourse.But there are some of the sects whose members can scarcely be said to have differed. We refer now to the Unitarians, the Universalists and the Free-will Baptists, and we think the same may be said of the Christian connection. Some are, indeed, for more decided action than others, but mainly they are agreed in the duty of opposing with steady and unflinching firmness the extension of Slavery, and of promoting as speedily as possible its extinction by every legitimate and Christian means in their power. The protests or declarations of the clergy of two of these sects, the Unitarians and the Universalists, have been some time before the public. The protest of the Free-will Baptists has been only recently published." This important document is signed by 396 ministers of the Free-will Baptist denomination. The document is printed in the Register. It pledges the subscribers to withhold their suffrages and religious influence from the support of Slavery, and declares their purpose to withhold" Christian and church fellowship from all guilty of the sin of Slavery," and to "remember those in bonds as bound with them." The proceedings at the recent meeting of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association on the subject of Slavery have naturally excited deep feeling amongst some of our American brethren. The Register contains an eloquent and finetoned letter from Dr. Montgomery to Dr. Parkman, in acknowledgment of the same letter of paternal invitation on which the discussion at Hackney was based. The Editor introduces it with these remarks: "We published in our last Register a letter from the Rev. Dr. Hutton, of London, in reply to an invitation addressed to him and others of our brethren in England, inviting their attendance upon our anniversaries in May last. In this letter, Dr. Hutton expressed at once his gratification at the invitation, and his deep regrets at the very extraordinary discussion of which it was made the occasion by a few earnest individuals at the anniversary of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. Had the singular misconceptions of those individuals, and the language in which they were uttered, been those of the whole Society, it would assuredly have left us to some reasonable hesitation as to the repetition of any similar invitations. But, as has been stated before, it is due to that body to say, that the course of debate in relation to our letter was not approved; and the proposal to withhold a courteous acknowledgment of it was rejected by a very large majority. "We now present some extracts from a letter addressed to us by the Rev. Dr. Henry Montgomery, of Belfast, in reply to the same invitation. The name of this eminent divine is already known to many of our readers by his eloquent writings, by his reputation as a preacher, and particularly by his able and successful efforts, before a Committee of the House of Commons in 1843, in defence of the rights and property of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland. Dr. Montgomery is gratefully remembered also, by some of us personally, for his hearty hospitalities, and the affectionate interest he has never ceased to cherish for those among us whom he has seen, and especially for the name and family of our lamented Henry Ware. We omit some expressions contained in the letter, of this nature, in deference to individual feeling and our only objection to the publishing of any part of it, is the glowing and too flattering terms in which, with the characteristic fervour of his countrymen, he is pleased to express his estimation of the gifts and services of his American friends, the living as well as the dead. It is difficult not to remark the contrast which his reception of our invitation presents to the language and spirit of those few of our English brethren who saw fit to make it the occasion of their very irrelevant remarks.-Ibid. OBITUARY. DIED, at Lisbon, State of New-York, on the 5th of July, 1847, aged 74, Jane, relict of the late Mr. Robert Dollars, of Ballynure, county of Antrim. Although she lived in humble life, she possessed a refined taste and a cultivated understanding; her cheerful disposition made her a favourite with all who enjoyed the privilege of her acquaintance, and her sincerity and integrity procured for her universal respect. In the month of May last she left her native land to spend the remnant of her days with her sons in that land which is the Emigrant's home; but she did not long survive the fatigues of the voyage. Although in a foreign country, she was not a stranger, but closed her eyes surrounded by many kind and affectionate friends, who had known her in Ireland. Died, on Sunday, 29th August, at Strabane, Mr. Charles Sproule, aged 39,he indeed was one who delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless and him that had none to help him :" for the poor man never went from his door unrelieved; the orphan never lifted the eye to him in vain; and the criminal whom society spurned from its presence and its sympathies, ever found in him a friend. Died, on the 31st August last, in the 23d year of his age, Mr. Samuel Crawford only son of Mr. Hugh Crawford, of Ballygilbert, parish of Cairncastle.He was a young man of retiring manners, of a serious and pious disposition, and of unblemished character. The recollection of his virtues and of his worth, though for the moment wounding more deeply the heart of his afflicted parent, will doubtless prove the source of his abiding consolation; as he cannot fail to remember the words of him who uniformly taught, that childlike innocence of disposition and purity of life from the best preparation of his Father's kingom-" Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." We now approach the termination of the work assigned to us by the confidence of a large body of our brethren; and in compli ance with their request have given, in as succinct a manner as possible, a statement of the principles of Modern Orthodoxy as held by the Protestant Church of France. We have discharged the duty not without distrust in our ability, but certainly without fear of human censure; not without charity to the opinion of others, but certainly with every freedom of expression, because our convictions are profound. Sincerity in another will always meet with that respect from us, which we claim for our own honesty of conviction. We know that men are often better than their creed, and that even the most earnest predestinarian acts as if he were a believer in free-will. We are convinced that Salvation may be attained in every church, and that the Christian faith requires not to be intolerant and exclusive in order to be zealous of good works. The last point in our Confession of Faith which remains to be explained and defended concerns our views respecting compulsory Creeds and articles of belief, those sandy foundations upon which the Protestant church has attempted to rest the fabric of her faith, and which have ever sunk beneath the weight of the edifice erected upon them. We shall merely direct attention to a few considerations which are connected with the religious view of the subject, and which go to show the futility of the charge, "that the interests of peace and truth will be compromised, unless a prescribed list of dogmas forms a sanitory cordon around the church." In fact, the interests of truth and peace are always put forward as the two leading arguments in favour of such Confessions. Without such formulas without a pledge on the part of her members to adhere to such, the church," say such logicians, "would be at the mercy of every wind of doctrine, and the faith of her adherents, as well as the teachings of her pastors, would be ever in a state of anarchy. There would be every where alarm, every where confusion, and the sounds of division and dispute be heard on every hand. Faith would be uncertain, peace still more precarious, there would be no rallying point for believers, and the people would be scattered abroad like sheep not having a shepherd." Now this seems to us, to amount to saying that the great shepherd of souls has prepared an ill-fenced fold for his flock, and, notwithstanding his promises, has left them wandering and dispersed because it is certain that in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we receive as complete and sufficient, there is no Confession of faith prescribed, nor any thing resembling one. If a Confession of Faith be indispensable to secure agreement of heart and mind, if the "unity of the Spirit," cannot be preserved "in the bond of peace" unless this "bond" be a compulsory creed, it remains to be explained how it happens, that the gospel contains no such creed. Those who advocate an authoritative controul over the consciences of believers can never meet this difficulty. What are we to believe that Jesus came to bring peace upon the earth and that he neglected the only means of securing it in his church! Are we to believe that the Prince of Peace has reascended to Heaven and neglected to establish peace in the religious world upon safe and solid foundations! Are we to believe that the Saviour left his work to be completed by the theologians of Augsburgh or Rochelle, of Westminter or Dort! No! - we have more respect for the Word of God than to believe these things. We have more humble trust in the gospel of Christ. We receive and cherish it as he gave it to the world, and we will not consent to substitute another gospel for the gift of our Lord. Our Master has said, " By this sign shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." And if love is the badge of the Christian, and no means exist of recognizing this badge but by referring to the note book of some creed, would not the Master himself have supplied the reference? A Confession of Faith is a supplement added to the gospel. We do not believe that the peace of the Christian world requires human genius to add an appendix to the work of the Holy Spirit! The entire history of the church from the Council of Nice to the Synod of Dort, pleads in favour of our views of religious liberty. When the editors of the Montpellier "Recueil" affirm in their preface, that Confessions of Faith are "bonds of peace," they forget that the most violent and savage controversies which have distracted the Christian world both before and since the Reformation, have owed their origin to these very "bonds of peace," which have been really declarations of war, edicts of proscription, and charters of sectarianism. They forget too, that in every case the immediate result of an exercise of arbitrary power, in decreeing a particular faith, is to create a Remonstrant church side by side with the established one. The Reformation was but a remonstrance against the faith decreed by Rome, and the flourishing, enlightened and pious Congregations of Remonstrants in Holland are protests against the decrees of Dort. Whether the theatre of action be large or small, erected on the banks of the Tiber or the borders of the Meuse, whether the performers be clothed in the scarlet robes of the sacred college, or the black gown of the Protestant synod, the catastrophe is the same. There is the same assumption of ecclesiastical authority on one side, and the same resistance in defence of Christian liberty on the other; the same questions have again and again to be resolved, "Shall another believe for me, or shall I believe for myself? Is the Bible to be freely interpreted, or its meaning determined by a synodical decree ?" Look at England! Whence comes it that since Henry VIII. until the present day, religious liberty (a strange fact in a Protestant country) has never been secure but when she has been allied to political freedom? And whence have arisen the divisions of parties and the strifes of sects, the echoes of whose disputes are still heard across the channel? From this certainty, that in England there is a dominant church, that in England there is a privileged clergy,this domination and these privileges resting upon an exclusive creed. Cancel the 39 Articles, and what would remain to the church of England all would admit to be excellent and admirable. The interests of the Christian faith also, far from being served, are, like those of Christian peace, gravely compromised by compulsory confessions. The editors of the Montpellier "Recueil" complaisantly specify five species of confusions which prevail in a church not protected by such confessions ;-those which distract the Preachers, the Divines, the lay Members of the church, those which divide the church and the state, and those which prevail on |