of the synagogues, while the rulers and scribes defended their sire, and stuck to his counsel: "Have any of the rulers believed on him?" John vii. 48. No, they adhered to their own progenitor; and it was not without cause that the Saviour said unto them, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do," John viii. 44.

Ahimaaz. You are got quite into irony, my brother; there was no call for such a tart reply. I only meant that Christians should judge charitably, and not entertain too contracted an opinion of a very few being saved; and by an open and catholic spirit, I mean, that we should love all ranks of professing people, though they differ from us in doctrines and worship; we should spread a mantle of love over their errors, where we have reason to believe that the root of the matter is in them.

Cushi. I desire to love all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth. This is the love that Paul possessed; he loved all that loved our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth; and if they love Christ sincerely, the root of the matter is in them; and if they love him in truth, then they will not differ from us in doctrine. That soul that loves Christ in truth, will not stand in need of thy mantle to cover his errors, for love is the root of all real evangelical obedience; while, on the other hand, enmity is the root of all rebellion: and although a young believer cannot see eye to eye with an old one, yet he will not fight against

any truth that is brought from the word of God; love will produce the obedience of faith; "Charity believeth all things." The soul that opposes any plain truth does not love Christ in truth, nor does he love him in sincerity, because he is not obedient. The new creation is full as uniform as the old; God did not send man into the world to walk about without a head, nor does, he create a soul anew without giving him an understanding: "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding," 1 John v. 20. God has not only promised the spirit of love, but he has promised the spirit of a sound mind also. I have heard people talk of persons being evangelists in heart, though legal in judgment; but Christ tells us that we are to know the heart by that which proceeds from it; if so, an erroneous judgment proves a rotten heart.

My reason for answering thee so sharply is, because I have heard so much of late about an open catholic spirit, that it seems to be a cant word, that stands for any thing or nothing. We have many in our days who seem to be very open in their sermons, crying out, Come all, Jesus stands with open arms to receive you, roll selves upon him: my soul for yours if he casts you out.' And yet these men, that preach this universal gospel, are so incensed at the cordial reception of a returning prodigal, that they would rob him of his kid, and stop his mouth from declaring what God has done for his soul. I am a living

your

witness of this truth, and so are thousands more. Their resentment has run so high, that the intreaties of the Father of all Mercies is not sufficient to bring them into an acquiescence with his sovereign display of discriminating grace. It appears as if they would have been better pleased if he had perished in his own deceivings, than they are at the Father's receiving him safe and sound.

Now Moses was of a different spirit from these; for although his doctrine was nothing like theirs in latitude, yet his heart was as wide as their sermons. When a young man ran and told Moses, saying, "Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp, and Joshua said, My lord Moses, forbid them;" his open reply is, "Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them," Numb. xi. 27-29. If this be an open spirit in reality, how little of it have they got who will load a sound testimony with scandal, and use their utmost endeavour to hinder the usefulness of those that God is pleased to send into the church.

The bible will hardly furnish us with a minister, who pretends to preach Christ, of such a spirit as this, except it be Diotrephes; and God says nothing in his favour. "I wrote unto the church," said John, "but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember

his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words; and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church," 3 John 9, 10. This man is one of a catholic spirit; he kept John himself out of the pulpit; he forbad his epistles being read to the congregation; he would admit no labourer that John sent into his pulpit, and those that would have let them preach in their houses, he forbad also; and if they disputed his usurped authority, he excommunicated them; or, as the text saith, he cast them out of the church. This man was a lord over God's heritage; and this wretched spirit is cherished too much in our days.

For my part I wish never to hear the word catholic again. It is a word that, I believe, was coined in Egypt at the time of the dispute between that dreadful monster Arius, the grandfather of our present Arians, and Athanasius, whom God raised up to oppose him. The cause of Satan against Christ, carried on by Arius, was called the Arian cause, or the Arian faith; while, on the other hand, the cause of truth, pleaded by Athanasius, by way of distinction, was called the Catholic cause, or Catholic faith; so that those souls that enjoyed the Father's love, the Saviour's atonement, and the Holy Ghost's testimony in their souls, were styled people of the catholic faith; while those that ridiculed and abused the Lord Jesus Christ, declaring him a mere creature, were called

Arians, being the recipients of his damnable heresy, as the Holy Ghost styles it, 2 Pet. ii. 1.

While the true faith flourished at Rome, those believers that were of that city were styled Roman Catholics; but as they have now exalted a Pope, in opposition to Christ, and have cast out his word, and introduced their own superstitious vanities instead of it, and yet appropriate the name catholic to themselves, it is now big with nothing but mischief; for he is deemed the best catholic that opposes truth, kills the saints, and burns the bible; therefore it is high time to drop the word, and bring in those that are better understood, and that are of a more antient date; saints, believers, children of God, disciples of Christ, partakers of the Spirit, the household of faith, &c. are terms that have a better meaning than a catholic man, catholic spirit, and catholic church. Let us be no longer plunderers of the whore of Babylon; let her names go with her relics, merit, and all the rest of her trumpery, and let us say, good rid of bad rubbish.

Ahimaaz. I find you are no friend to the Roman Catholics, and yet you are beholden to them; for your Common Prayer Book was entirely of their composing, only our reformers purged out some few popish dregs, such as praying to saints and angels, &c. &c. And And you know we have many good and able ministers of Jesus Christ, who exalt its excellency publicly above all extempore prayer; and others, who were not in the establishment when