is very important, and I wish to examine it very carefully before I draw my conclusions. But I have one question more to ask; what dependance can I place on the Bible, if it have been altered in the manner you say ?

Min. The authority of the Bible is not weakened in the least in consequence of the corruptions which have been introduced into it. What is shown to be corrupt has no authority, and ought to have none. But this does not affect what remains, which rests on the most solid foundation. What I have said does not in the least affect the question, Whether the Bible be the word of God? but relates solely to this: What properly belongs to the Bible? If it can be shown, as I think it has been shown in the most convincing manner, that certain texts are spurious or corrupt, then it follows, most certainly, that those texts have no authority, and ought not to be quoted or used as parts of the Bible. But the Bible itself we may still regard with veneration and confidence, as a perfect rule of faith and practice.

Mr W. But how do I know that it has not been altered in many other places besides those you have mentioned? You said, if I remember right, that more than one hundred thousand various readings had been found in examining the different manuscripts of the New Testament only.

Min. Yes; but at the same time we are assured that not one in a hundred of these affects the sense; and that the number is very small indeed of those which affect the doctrines of Christianity. It may be satisfactory to you to know that the five I have noticed are nearly all which have a bearing on important doctrines. And I

believe there is not one which seriously affects the moral precepts of the gospel.

It relieves

- Mr W. I am glad to have this assurance. me from much anxiety. I shall still be permitted to venerate my Bible, and to follow its heavenly guidance.

Min. Yes my friend, it would be sad indeed to make shipwreck of faith in the pursuit of knowledge.-But if our faith is a reasonable principle it will bear the closest examination. And we shall hold it with a firmer grasp and derive from it more important aids, when it has been proved and we know from examination that it rests on a broad and immoveable foundation. I should think that every Christian would wish to know what does, and what does not belong to the Bible; and by that means, to obtain the scriptures in as perfect a state as possible. It is ungenerous and unjust to charge a man with the guilt of altering the Bible or of undermining its authority, because he is anxious to remove from it any errors that have crept into it since the time it was written, and to bring it, as nearly as possible, to the state in which it was left by the sacred writers.

Mr W. I feel the force of your remark. You have taught me a useful lesson, which I trust I shall not soon forget-not to be hasty in passing judgment on the conduct of others, especially in regard to subjects which I do not understand. I sincerely thank you for your kindness and hope you will forgive the rashness and injustice of my censure.

Min. With all my heart. A sense of our common frailty should teach us both humility, and lead us to extend to others that charity which we must wish them to exer cise towards us.

ON

TESTS

OF

TRUE RELIGION.

PRINTED FOR THE

American Unitarian Association.

BOSTON,

BOWLES & DEARBORN, 72, WASHINGTON STREET

1828.

Price 4 Cents.

THE greater part of this tract has appeared in "The Unitarian," a valuable publication issued at New York. An article in the third number of that work has been revised by the author, and with considerable retrenchment, and some additions, is published in the present form for wider circulation.

BOSTON,

Press of Isaac R. Butts & Co.

1

ON

TESTS OF TRUE RELIGION.

In the excited spirit of religious inquiry, which distinguishes the present age; at a time when many communities are shaken with the dying struggles of almost spent and exhausted errors, and the contest of parties is as violent as if, indeed, the mortal crisis were approaching : at a time, when the mingled cries of exultation, and anathema, and warning have risen up and filled the whole atmosphere of the church; I doubt not there are many, who, in the silence of their own hearts, and with the prayer of the agitated Saul, are devoutly saying, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" "What wilt thou have me to believe? Shall I embrace this or that opinion? Shall I join myself with this or that class of Christians?" In short, what is true? What is right? What is agreeable to the divine will?--are questions, not only of deep import, but of pervading interest.

These questions, or this question rather, I propose to consider. And there is a reason for so doing, not only in the state of the general mind, but in the state of a few individual minds. It is a matter of great exultation, with the adherents of the popular religion, that here and there a man, of reputed liberal views, has become Orthodox. It would seem, indeed, as if there was something like re