"Secondly, a professed subjection to all the necessary rules of Christian duty, includes in it not only those duties that are necessary to salvation, but those duties also that are necessary to practise Christian communion. "The first sort of Christian duties are those that are necessary to salvation, such as the fear, love, and worship of God; faith, love, and obedience towards our Lord Jesus Christ; repentance of sin, and an humble trust or hope in the promises of the Gospel, as shall be shewn at large under the seventh question. Now this profession does not signify a mere engagement or promise hereafter to fulfil these duties, but also a profession that we have begun to practise them already; for we are not received into a church in order to receive Jesus Christ the Lord, but upon a credible profession that we have received Jesus Christ already, Rom. xv, 7. Receive ye one another as Christ has received us. We must have therefore some evidence and hope that we have received Christ in all his necessary offices, as our Lord and Savior, and consequently that he has received us, before we should propose ourselves to be received by any visible church.

"Now if a man professes repent ance, it implies that he has been made sensible of sin, that he has been taught the evil of it, that he mourns for what is past, and is daily watching against it. If a man profess faith in Christ as a propitiation and atonement, it implies that he is acquainted with his guilt in the sight of God, that he is in danger of Divine wrath, and that he is not able to make atonement for his own sins, and therefore he flies for refuge to Jesus Christ, that he may obtain peace with God. If he professes a hope of heaven, it implies in it that he is endeavoring to prepare for this heaven, for every man that hath this hope purifieth himself. If he professes to take Christ for his example, it implies a desire and attempt to imitate our blessed Lord in self-denial, patience, zeal, &c.

In order to make this profession of our faith, and hope credible, it is the custom of some churches to re

quire no more than the person's own general profession that he does believe and repent and hope, as in Acts viii, 37, I believe, &c. It is the custom of other churches to desire also some further evidences of the truth of his faith, hope, and repentance, by a more particular account of some of those things which are implied in the exercise of those graces; and this has been usually called, though not properly, the rendering a reason of the hope that is in him, 1 Pet. iii, 15." pp. 27, 28.

"Every church must judge for itself how large, or how narrow, how general or how particular, a profession of Christianity must be, in order to render it credible to themselves; yet let each church take heed that they make not the door of admission larger or straiter than Christ has made it.

"The second sort of Christian duties are those that are necessary to practise Christian communion, (es pecially if constant communion be desired) such as, to meet at the same time, and in the same place with some church of Christ to perform Christian worship with them there, to agree to the general methods of worship, the customs, order, and discipline that are practised in that church, so far as they can find them agreeable to the will of Christ in his word, or so far as they are necessary to maintain the being, order, and peace of all religious societies. This is so much, and so plainly implied in the very nature of communion or fellowship, that it is always supposed to be consented to, even where it is not expressly mentioned." p. 29.

"The third thing that goes to make up the credibility of our profession, is such a blameless and holy practice in life, as may make the profession of the lips appear, in the common judg ment of men, to be the sincere sense of the heart." P. 30.

"Objection. But why must there be so many things required to make a profession of Christianity credible in our day, beyond what was requir. ed in the primitive times? Then they. only confessed Christ to be the Messiah, the Son of God, or that he was raised from the dead, in order to bap.

tism and admission into the church." p. 34.

"Answer 1. The account that the Scripture gives of these transactions is very short, yet sufficient to inform us that there was more discourse on both sides, in order to the baptizing their converts, than is expressly written down; for even the confessions that Lydia and the Jailor made are not written, but it is said in gen. eral, they believed; therefore we are not to take it for granted there was nothing else required, because the Scripture in those places mentions no more than a word or two of short confession.

"Answ. 2. In several places where such transactions are recorded in Scripture, there is no mention of their works or conversation at all; and surely no minister or church in our day would imagine, that a mere confession, that Jesus is the Christ, without any further inquiry either after knowledge, faith, or works, is sufficient ground for ad. mission into sacred ordinances; for then we must take in almost whole nations. Besides, if a man did make such a profession, that Christ was the Son of God, and his conversation were blameless to outward appear ance; yet who of our ministers or which of our churches would receive him without some further inquiry into his knowledge of God, and Christ, and the Gospel? Therefore it is sufficiently plain, by the acknowledg. ment and practice of those who make this objection, that they themselves do not think it necessary to confine their inquiries only to such a single sentence of profession as the scripture history expresses, and seek no further.

"Answ. 3. It is sufficiently evident to me, that the fundamental or necessary articles of religion are not the same in all ages and places; but more or less knowledge is necessary, in order to salvation, according to the degrees of Divine Revelation in sev eral nations or ages.

The belief of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ was not a fundamental in Christ's own life time."

36.

pp. 34

"So in the very first promulgation of the Gospel, before Judaism was quite destroyed, the apostles them. selves had not so full a knowledge of Christianity as they afterwards, by degrees, received from the instruc tions of the blessed Spirit Many passages of Scripture discover this, as Acts x, and xv; and Gal. ii, &c. At this time there was scarce any thing of the New Testament written; and though the evidences of the Christian religion were great, yet the opportunities of a large and ex tensive knowledge were exceeding few and small among the common converts if compared with our age." p. 36.

"Answ. 4. If the essentials of any doctrine were perfectly the same in all ages, yet the credibility of its profession is exceeding different, ac cording to different circumstances of time, place, and persons. Where hardships and sufferings attend the professors of any religion, a very slight profession of it will persuade me that a man understands it, and is very sincere in it; because he exposes himself to suffering by this means: But where there is full liberty given, or especially if external advantages attend it, there every one will be ready to profess, though he has little knowledge or sincerity.

"Those first times of the Gospel, were times of reproach and persecution: the sect of Christians was every where spoken against, and death and dangers attended it on all sides. Now to confess the name of Christ amidst the reproaches of the world, against the opposition of the wise and the foolish, the Jews and the Greeks, the threatening of kings, and violence of the people, was a more powerful and evident proof of the truth of their faith, than if they had made long speeches, and had the testimony of a continued blameless con versation in a land and age of Christians. Surely that confession, which was sufficient for martyrdom, if their enemies knew it; must be sufficient for communion, when made known to the church. But in our age and nation where Christianity is the profession of the time and the country,

a mere acknowledgment of the name, or death and resurrection of Christ, is not sufficient to prove us knowing or sincere Christians; and there ought to be so much larger a confes sion, and so many more credible circumstances attending it, before we can reasonably, or upon just grounds, believe a man to be a true Christian. All these requirements which I have before mentioned being put together, do not amount to so credible a profession, as for a man to say boldly this one sentence, I am a Christian, in the face of death and martyrdom.

Answ. 5. I might add also in the last place, that a great number of the conversions of the primitive Christians were so sudden and surprising by the extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, that the very miracle of their conversion did sufficiently an swer the end of a large and particular confession. The work of God on the souls of men was sometimes in an instant, and they were made believers out of unbelievers, at once; the Spirit fell on them while they heard the word; and when they who just before professed Judaism or Heathenism, and neither knew nor loved Jesus Christ, confessed is name and his religion at once; the wonderful change was evident to all, and they had no long accounts to give either of their faith or conver

sion, their knowledge or conversation; nor was it required, because the miracle itself made their profession sufficiently credible. Besides, spiritual gifts were conferred on multitudes in that day as soon as they were converted, and gave sufficient evidence for acceptance unto baptism, as Acts x, 44, 46, 47: While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?

"He that well considers all these things, and sets the affairs of the primitive times in a due light, and thus compares them with our own, will see plainly that something more is necessary to make a profession of Christianity credible in our day, than was needful in the first age of the Church. And yet still we may be said to follow the rules and examples of Scripture, while we require nothing more in order to communion than what is necessary to make our profession credible; for so much as this has been always required even in scripture times, and the word of God and the very nature of things seem to demand it." pp. 37-39. (To be continued.)

THE distribution of the Scriptures is the next subject for report, in the order of arrangement. Under this head your Committee include, as usual, not only donations, but sup. plies of the Bible and New Testament, by the British and Foreign Bible Society, to other associations and individuals at the cost, or reduced prices, and principally for the ac commodation of the poorer classes and individuals.

Copies of the Scriptures, either in

whole or in part, and in various languages, exclusively of those mentioned in the former part of the Report, have been sent abroad as follows:

In America.

To St. Mary's Fall, Upper Canada. To New York, for distribution by the Bible and Common Prayer Book Society, under the patronage of Bish. op Moore.

To a Welsh Colony at Grantham Lincoln, in Upper Canada.

To sundry Workhouses and Gaols. To various Military an. Naval Stations, for sale at reduced prices, to the Soldiers and Sailors.

The preceding enumeration, which might be more detailed, will suffi ciently demonstrate the attention of your Committee to the accommoda. tion of individuals with the Holy Scriptures. The total distribution under the stated heads, may be esti mated at not less than 4,000 Bibles and 20,000 Testaments; and, further, an order has been sent to Stockholm for the purchase of 1,000 Swedish and Finnish Testaments for the use of the Swedish Seamen employed in the British service.

The Members of the Society will

lence has been gratefully acknowledged, nor are instances wanting of the most pleasing effects produced by it.

Among others, Prisoners of War have expressed the liveliest gratitude for the Bibles and Testaments distributed to them.

The warmest acknowledgments have been received from various Ministers among the Hottentots, for a seasonable supply of the Dutch Scriptures, which could not otherwise have been procured; accompanied by information, that several of the Hottentots can read very well, and are sensible of the obligations thus conferred upon them. For the attention paid by the Committee to the wants of the settlers at Van Dieman's Land, they have received the thanks of the late Governor Collins.

The Portuguese Testaments, sent to Lisbon, have been circulated with great rapidity there, and are represented as held in high estimation by persons of all ranks.

The same success has attended the distribution of Italian Testaments at Malta and Messina, and different other places in the Mediterranean.

At Messina it was at first opposed, on the ground of some objections to the translation. These objections were referred to a meeting, at which the Bishop presided, to the examination of several of the most learned among the Clergy; and the result

Of the disposition of the Roman Catholics to receive the Scriptures, other instances might be quoted. They have been gratefully accepted by the Priests of that persuasion in South America, and by many Roman Catholics in Germany, Switzerland, and France. Your Committee have anxiously availed themselves of any indication of such disposition to af ford the Members of that communion the benefit of the Institution, and have even, in many cases, anticipated it.

The Gospel of St. John, published in the Esquimaux language for the inhabitants of Labrador, has reached its destination, and has proved a most acceptable present. Their thanks for this precious gift, have been conveyed to the Society, by the Rev. Benjamin Kohlmeister, and other Ministers of the United Brethren associated with him, who have also translated the Gospel of St. Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistle to the Romans.

Your Committee have also receiv ed the most gratifying testimonies of the beneficial effects among the Ne. groes in the West Indian islands of Barbadoes, Antigua, and St. Kitts, from the copies of the Scriptures furnished by the Society.

Their Correspondent states, that many of the Negroes steal time from their rest to learn to read, that they may be able to read the Scriptures; while others, who have acquired this talent spend many an hour in the night, in exercising themselves in reading (to use the simple language of the relator) "the most blessed of all books " Such testimonies afford the most gratifying proof of the utility of the Brush and Foreign Bible Society.

VOL IV. New Series.

Your Committee have again to re. peat their acknowledgments to the Correspondent mentioned in the last Report, for a continuance of that ac. tive zeal which has so largely contri buted to extend the benefits of the Institution to the Army and Navy, and Prisoners of War, at one of the principal naval stations; to whom with the assistance of the commanding fficer, who has the superintendance of the Cartels, they are indebted for the introduction of no less than 2,000 French Testaments into the various families of the prisoners who have returned to France. This Correspondent alone has circulated through these several channels, during the last year, no less than 8,396 Bibles and Testaments, either by sale or gratuitous distribution,

It only remains to add, under this head, that the grants made to Ireland have been gratefully acknowledged. By the Annual Reports received from the Hiberrian and the Cork Bible Societies, it appears, that each of these Institutions is advancing in patronage, influence, and operation; and that the demand for the Scriptures throughout that part of the United Kingdom keeps an almost equal pace with the increasing circulation of them.

(To be continued.)

ORDINATION.

ORDAINED, on Thursday the 6th instant, at the Tabernacle in Salem, the Rev. Messrs. SAMUEL NEWELL, ADONIRAM JUDSON, SAMUEL NOTT, GORDON HALL, and LUTHER RICE, to the work of the Gospel Ministry, as Missionaries to the heathen in Asia. The ordaining Council was composed of the pastors of the north Congregational church in Newbury. port, the Congregational church in Charlestown, and the Tabernacle church in Salem, and delegates from the same churches; and of the Rev. Dr. Griffin, pastor of Park Street church. Boston, late professor at Andover, and the Rev. Dr. Woods, Professor at Andover. The Rev. Professor Stuart was invited to attend; but was necessarily prevented.

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