other right where they think they are wrong, but never attempting to force from others a fubmiffion to their fentiments without inward conviction; not judging or cenfuring; not hurting or molesting one another upon account of mere differences of opinion, which at the worft can be only errors in judgment, from which no man is entirely exempted-could we fee this temper and Spirit prevailing among Chriftians, we might yet hope that the gospel of Chrift would have free course, and be glorified in the world; the truth would get fair play; the name of Chrift would be no longer blafphemed among infidels, on account of the fcandalous immoral behaviour of his profeffed followers; all prejudices against our religion, arifing from that quarter, would be happily removed; the light of genuine Christianity, fhining before men in the lives of its profeffors, would almost irresistibly invite and engage them to glorify our heavenly Father; the bleffing of God would attend their endeavours to propagate it; and this divine religion, seen in its native unfullied luftre, and in its most falutary and beneficial effects, would gradually prevail over the whole, earth. Then, in the emphatic language of the prophet, ten men out of all the nations would take hold of the fkirt of him that is a Chriftian, faying, we go with you, for we have heard that GOD IS will WITH YOU. Sermon on Unity among Chrift's Difciples. DUNCAN SHAW, D. D. ONE OF THE MINISTERS OF ABERDEEN. HAT WHAT can afford a better opportunity of fhewing how oppofite an intemperate zeal and perfecuting pirit are to the genius of the religion of Jefus, than the severe rebuke he gave his difciples, for fo much as propofing to call down fire from heaven upon the Samaritans, for an inftance of churlish inhospitality to them and their Mafter? To correct a fpirit of cenforioufnefs and uncharitable judgment, what excellent hints are suggested by our Lord, in the ftory of those who were destroyed by the fall of the tower of Siloam? Yet religion has always had its enemies. Thefe will not take the trouble to examine into the nature of it from the character given of it in the facred oracles, or the picture exhibited of it in the life of the divine Jefus. Such examination would be attended with fome trouble. They commonly take that courfe in judging of it that is attended with the leaft; and though nothing can be more unfair than fuch manner of judging, they form their fentiments of it from the lives of those who have no other argument to fupport their claim to the character of its votaries, but their profeffion of it. Knowing this, fl.ould you not carefully ftudy, if you would approve yourselves the fincere friends of religion, to add to the other evidences of its excellenc that which may be derived from the happy influence it has upon your heart and practice? Few are proper judges of the nature of evidence, or of good reasoning; but all feel the force of good example. It has fomething admirably eloquent in it, and should be always exerted by the votaries of religion as a most powerful recommendation of it. By these means you would adorn the gospel of Chrift; add to its laurels by making it triumph over the paffions, prejudices, and vices of mankind; filence the cavils of its adverfaries, and comfort the hearts of its friends. Comparative View. ALEXANDER GERARD, D. D. ABERDEEN. T is by fuch friction as feems at first fight IT likely to break it, that the diamond is polished and receives its luftre. In like manner it is by being fretted as it were, with every difficulty and objection, that truth is made to fhow the full brightnefs of its evidence. The trial diftinguishes the true gem from the fuppofed one, which in the lump promised, perhaps, as fair as it; and plaufible falfehoods are often as well received as real truths, till both have been fubjected to an exact and fevere examination; but the oppofition of argument overturns the former, and renders the certainty of the latter more undeniable. No fpecies of truth has been fubjected to a ftricter fcrutiny, or tried by ruder oppofition, than the evidences of our holy religion. As foon as this heavenly gem was presented to the world, both Jews and Heathens fell upon it with fo great violence, that if it had the smallest flaw it must have been shattered into pieces. It has been in the poffeffion of the world for many centuries, and numberless attempts have been fucceffively made to prove that it is a worthlefs counterfeit; but all these attempts have only contributed to evince with stronger evidence, that it is genuine. Every person who is at all acquainted with the subject knows, that infidels have derived their most plaufible objections against the excellence and utility of the gofpel, from the corruptions with which Christianity is blended in the Popish religion, and from the remains of the tenets and spirit thence arifing, which ftill adhere to many Proteftants. Thefe have given them an occafion to reprefent the gofpel as a difputatious fyftem of dry, fpeculative, intricate, abftrufe opinions; as promoting a fpirit of fuperftition, as irrational and abject as any that was ever cherished by any fpecies of Paganifm; as giving countenance to prieftcraft and ufurpation over the confciences of men-in a word, have given them an occafion to affirm that the gospel has been productive of no advantages to mankind, that, on the contrary, it has been, on the whole, pernicious. When infidels lay hold of thefe advantages in their oppofition to the gofpel, this has a strong tendency to pufh Chriftians forwards in reforming their religion from all corruptions. When we find plaufible or ftrong objections raised against what has been at any time reckoned a part of Christianity; when we can scarce give a rational and fatisfying defence of it, it is natural to examine carefully, whether this be truly a part of the original gospel, or only an addition to it. Many of thofe articles against which infidels have erected their ftrongeft batteries, and which they have attacked with the fairest profpect of fuccefs, have appeared on examination to be of the latter kind, and have been very generally abandoned. Pure notions of Christianity, once introduced, will naturally diffufe themfelves. They will by degrees recommend themselves fo generally, that all Chriftians muft, in time, imbibe fomewhat of the spirit which they raise. Even Popery has become confiderably different from what it once was; and it would have been still more reformed, if artificial and political reftraints had not oppofed the tendency of examination and enquiry. Since Christianity began to be depraved by adventitious mixtures, there never was an age in |