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of members who are unenlightened in regard to Christian doctrine and duty, may be referred to the following heads:

1. Apostacy is one of the fatal consequences of this mistaken policy. Persons who have been received into the church, while ignorant of the first principles of gospel truth, and who become eventually enlightened, are often so startled, by their hitherto unsuspected obligations, that they "go back unto perdition." How many instances of this kind does the history of the church afford, especially "in these latter days!" How many are there, who refuse to walk with Christ, as soon as they become aware of the sacrifices which his service demands, and are made acquainted with the duties, which the moral precepts of the gospel impose !

2. Every act of apostacy lowers the profession of the gospel, in the esteem of many who are yet on the side of the world. It frequently determines the wavering in favor of sin, and confirms in the infidel, a spirit of unbelief.

3. The individual who professes Christianity, while ignorant of its principles, may be driven into the lowest depths of scepticism. Let him but hear or read the arguments of the unbeliever, and if no kind friend is near to expose their sophistry, he may, first, begin to waver, until, driven to desperation, by mistaking his own ignorance for the weakness of his cause, he becomes an infidel himself. The wide and rapid spread of infidelity, in the present day, is to be attributed in part, without a question, to this simple, but mischievous and extensively operating cause.

4. Ignorance of Christian doctrine and duty, tends

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directly to form the character of the Enthusiast. Individuals destitute of the knowledge of the doctrines and moral precepts of the gospel, and admitted into the church while their minds are comparatively unenlightened, may have a species of zeal; but it will be directed in all its efforts by their limited and distorted views. Hence the church is often brought to lament the imprudent measures of its well-meaning, but mistaken friends. And in most cases it will be found impossible to check this zeal, or give it a new and more useful direction. Self-conceit, the offspring of ignorance, will generally resist every effort of truth, to curb, in the unenlightened mind of the enthusiast, those wild and turbulent feelings, to whose impulse he implicitly yields. And in such a character there is a spirit of censoriousness, which condemns all the efforts of an enlightened zeal, as the fruits of lukewarmness and indifference. These are the persons who believe the end justifies the means, and make utility the ground of their proceedings, instead of the plain directions of revealed truth. The tendency of all this is, to create disorder and schism in the church.

5. Ignorance also begets self-righteousness.

6. The last consequence of ignorance to which I shall allude, is that gross and glaring inconsistency, which has done more injury to the church than all other causes united. Many who enter the church with wrong impressions of truth and duty, desire to maintain their good standing, though, at the same time, they are worldly-minded, and neglect almost every obligation. Consequently, their professions of piety are loud and frequent, but while they call upon God with their lips, their hearts are far from him. Nothing can be more hurtful

THE PRACTICE DEFENDED.

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to the interests of religion, than the dissimulation of its professed friends.

In regard to the important benefits, which flow to the church from every accession of those who have a zeal according to knowledge, they are so obvious, we need scarcely offer a single remark.

1. The knowledge of gospel doctrine and duty, tends to promote harmony of feeling and unity of action among all the members of the household of faith. The more expansive and evangelical the Christian's views, the less will he feel the influence of a Sectarian spirit. The ages of persecution have always been, emphatically, ages of ignorance. Ever since the protestant Reformation, the light of truth, shining from the sacred page, has been struggling to penetrate the systems of human invention that have obscured it; and now, in this age of candid investigation and enlightened inquiry, Christians begin to see that they stand on common ground, and are fast uniting to promote those mighty schemes of benevolence, which are intended to benefit all mankind. The Bible Society is a monument of enlightened Christian zeal. It serves to illustrate, that a true knowledge of the doctrines and moral precepts of the gospel, tends to unite believers of every name -to create and cherish that harmony of feeling, which leads to unity of action as its natural result. The same may be said of the connection lately formed, between the Home Missionary Society and the Parent Missionary Society of the Lutheran church. It becomes necessary then, in a day like this, to foster this spirit of union, by affording to all applicants for admission into the church, the most enlarged views of duty, so that they may be prepared to take a right stand

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in the great enterprises of the age. These views may of course be acquired, and ought to be expanded by reading. But it is a notorious fact, that many of the members of our church have not been accustomed to read the religious intelligence of the day; and every minister should therefore specify, in his lectures to catechumens, the most prominent benevolent operations of the age, explain their design, and earnestly enforce their claims to the co-operation of every follower of Christ. At the same time, he should recommend to their patronage, some religious periodical, as a vehicle of intelligence concerning the spiritual condition and wants of mankind, and as suggesting methods, to extend to the whole human race, the blessings of the gospel.

2. The undeviating consistency of the enlightened Christian takes from the infidel his most powerful weapon of attack. The truly enlightened Christian is equally averse from the misguided zeal of the enthusiast, and the cold, selfish policy of the mere nominal professor. He advances in the middle path of steady perseverance and noble enterprise, unerringly pointed out in divine revelation.

When the principles of the gospel fail to regulate the moral character of those who profess them, the infidel gains an important advantage in his contest with truth. He holds up the inconsistency of nominal believers, to the ridicule of those whom he wishes to persuade; and the censorious, uncharitable spirit of the unenlightened enthusiast, as well as the carelessness and inactivity of the mere formalist, are employed as arguments against Christianity itself-and too often with the most startling success. Such persons, most gene

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rally, and perhaps invariably, assume the responsibilities of the Christian profession, before they are acquainted with the theory of gospel truth, and hence their inconsistency arises, in the first instance at least, rather from ignorance of duty, than from a wilful inattention to its known suggestions. Now were these individuals properly enlightened before entering the church, they would either be prepared for the discharge of Christian duty, otherwise, they would be careful not to undertake its performance. It is therefore in the power of ministers to prevent this evil in a great degree, if not entirely, by opposing hasty admissions, and by requiring candidates for confirmation, to have a distinct and clear knowledge of the doctrines and precepts of Christ, before they embrace his religion, by a public profession of faith.

The Christian, who has acquired a sanctified knowledge of the truth, is neither censorious, uncharitable, nor inactive. He aims unceasingly, to advance the interests of the righteous cause in which he is enlisted, by means, sanctioned in the precepts and example of his divine Redeemer. In his contest with the enemies of truth, he wields the weapons of persuasion. Long-suffering, forbearance, and gentleness, are the inseparable attributes of his character. His piety is without ostentation. He walks humbly before God. And though the unbeliever may have no desire to imitate his actions, or to be controlled by the principles in which they originate, he, nevertheless, finds it impossible to withhold his admiration and respect. It is easy to determine, what would be the consequences, were every member of the church thus equipped for his spiritual warfare-consistent, gentle and forbearing in all his efforts, and yet