REVIEW.

ART. I.

A CONTINUATION OF LETTERS Concerning the CONSTITUTION AND ORDER of the CHRISTIAN MINISTRY; addressed to the Members of the Presbyterian Churches in the City of New-York. Being an examination of the strictures of the Rev. Drs. Bowden and Kemp, and the Rev. Mr. How, on the former series. By Samuel Miller, D. D. one of the Pastors of the First Presbyterian Church, in the said City. New-York, published by Williams & Whiting. pp. 434,

12mo. 1809.

RELIGIOUS

IGIOUS controversy, properly conducted, has often proved highly beneficial to the interests of truth. It usually excites a greater attention to the subject, procures for it a more close and extensive investigation, and thereby produces a more intelligent profession of the truth. Prove all things: Hold fast that which is good. We have seen more cause of alarm than of congratulation in the growing aversion to every thing like controversy, about the order of the Christian church, in this country; because we are persuaded that it proceeds more from indifference to the ordinances of God, than from the superior intelligence or liberality of the age. While the first talents of the country have, with great zeal, been directed to the consideration of political questions, there was danger that the present generation should become totally ignorant of those important principles, which had received ample discussion from the great and pious divines of preceding ages, relative to the constitution of the

church of God on earth. Professing Christians began, already, too generally, to connect themselves with some one of the existing churches, rather from motives of convenience, or of personal attachments, than from a preference which is the result of a previous impartial inquiry. We shall never, indeed, place the forms of church-government upon a footing with its evangelical purity, or its practical holiness; but we shall not cease, notwithstanding, to recommend the divinely appointed order of the church, to the pious attention of the disciples of our Lord. It is an ordinance of Christ; it is one of the means of grace; and it tends greatly to the preservation of sound doctrine, and to the promotion of true godliness. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: Tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks; consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

Whatever may have been the ultimate design of those Episcopal writers, who first sounded the alarm, by denouncing all Christians who are not within the pale of the Prelacy, as "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel," and beyond the reach of "covenanted mercy," they deserve to be considered, so far, as ministers of good to the church, as they have been the means of awakening its ministers and members from their slumbers, and of constraining them to a more diligent and thorough examination of the first principles of evangelical order. Upon this event, we accordingly congratulate the public. Already has a mass of information been laid before them, on the subject of the Christian ministry, which will be found useful many days hence.

We cheerfully recommend to the attentive perusal of all Christians, the volume now under review.

In the year 1807, Dr. Miller published LETTERS on the CONSTITUTION AND ORDER of the CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, addressed to the Members of the Presbyterian Churches in the City of New-York, in one volume, 12mo. pages 355. The work before us is a Continuation and Defence of those Letters. The author himself, explains in his introductory letter, the motives which induced him to this publi

cation.

"With all the mildness and inoffensiveness of their character, my Letters no sooner made their appearance, than murmurs of resentment, and threats of overwhelming refutation were heard from various quarters. These threats had not been long proclaimed, before attempts were made to fulfil them. The first who presented himself before the public, as an assailant, was Mr. Thomas Y. How, (since the Rev. Mr. How, of New-York,) who, in about six months after the publication of my volume, produced an angry and vehement pamphlet, which he announced as introductory to a more full discussion of the subject. Mr. How, after an interval of six months more, was followed by the Rev. Dr. Bowden, Professor of Moral Philosophy, Logic, and Belles Lettres in Columbia College. This gentleman, who had been long versed in the Episcopal controversy, and who, more than twenty years ago, stepped forth as a champion of the hierarchy, did me the honour again to take the field against me, and undertook in a work, at least formidable in size, to give a complete refutation of all my arguments, and to prostrate the Presbyterian cause. About the same time with Dr. Bowden's two volumes, there appeared, on the same side, and with the same object, the first of a series of Letters addressed to me by the Rev. Dr. Kemp, Rector of Great Choptank, in Maryland. And finally, with this number, the Rev. Dr. Hobart has united himself, as an occasional remarker on my Letters, in the Churchman's Magazine, published in the city of New-York, for the contents of which he acknowledges himself, both as Editor and Proprietor, to be responsible.

"To be fallen upon by so many assailants, and with so much vehemence, is a compliment as great as it was unexpected. My thanks are due to these gentlemen for conferring on my work a degree of importance, and unwittingly disclosing that it has made a degree of impression, which I had never ventured to anticipate or to claim. I have also to thank them for another favour. Their violent attacks, and their numerous

cavils, have induced me to examine the subject with more care, and to pursue my inquiries respecting it to a greater extent than I should probably otherwise have done. The result is a deeper conviction than ever of the weakness of their cause, and of the Apostolic character of our Church.

"With respect to Mr. How's pamphlet, it is written with so much heat and impetuosity; discovers such a singular want of acquaintance with radical parts of the subject; and breathes a spirit so evidently calculated, with all sober and impartial readers, to discredit the author himself, more than the object of his attack; that my first resolution, as well as the general advice of my friends, was to let it pass unnoticed. I could scarcely; indeed, form a more selfish wish than that all my opponents might write thus. And it is certain that Mr. How would never have received a syllable of public reply from me, had there been any reason to suppose that his work would fall into the hands of none but the discerning and well-informed. Recollecting, however, that all readers are not qualified to distinguish between assertion and proof, between lofty assumption and solid argument, I felt doubtful whether some remarks might not be usefully made, especially on some of the more extraordinary and exceptionable parts of his book. The appearance of Dr. Bowden's work terminated my doubts. This work, written in a style of more calmness, and rather more decorum than Mr. How's; more respectable on the score of sober and grave reasoning; and discovering more acquaintance with the subject, appeared to me entitled to some reply. In making this reply, I determined to bring into one view, the most material allegations and reasonings of all the gentlemen who have honoured me with their notice; and, as they have taken care to praise and quote each other, they cannot be displeased at being associated together in my remarks."

The Continuation and Defence consists of Ten Letters. Letter I. Introductory Remarks.-Letter II. Comparative stress laid on Ecclesiastical order by Presbyterians and High-Churchmen-The Doctrine of the Jure-divino Presbyterians briefly stated.-Letter III. Testimony of Scripture in favour of Presbyterian order.-Letter IV. Testimony in favour of the office of Ruling Elder.-Letter V. Testimony of the Fathers.-Letter VI. Testi• Page 19-22.

mony of the Reformers.-Letter VII. Testimony of Calvin-Detence of the character and ordination of that Reformer.-Letter VIII. Testimony of the early successors of the Reformers.-Letter IX. Rise and Progress of Prelacy.-Letter X. Remarks -Conclusion.

Each of these Letters abounds with various and useful information, selected from the best authorities, judiciously arranged, and happily applied to the subject under discussion. The author, every where, discovers a very extensive acquaintance with the best writers, and especially with the principal Episcopalians, who have at any time taken a part in this controversy. This does honour no less to his candour, than to his diligence and patience in collecting testimony on the subjects which he has discussed. Episcopalians generally quote from one another, and very few have been at the pains of examining for themselves the original Presbyterian writers. Dr. Miller, on the contrary, usually prefers taking those quotations, which, in this country, scantily supplied as it is with the writings of antiquity, must be taken at second hand, from the works of his ecclesiastical opponents. We observe also, that he pursues the same candid method in respect to those passages which require translation from foreign languages. As a disputant, he grants to his antagonists every advantage which they could possibly claim; and if this multiplies his own difficulties, it exhibits to every impartial reader, that truth, not victory, is his object in the combat. The management of every argument, throughout, leaves the reader impressed with a belief that the writer was more anxious to give evidence of the justness of his cause, than of his own power in its defence.

The style of these Letters is plain and perspicu