now no ministry, which is authorized to preach to the heathen, or to exercise pastoral functions. 2. There ought to be a perfect liberty to all men to maintain such worship and ministry as they please. 3. Ministers ought be supported, by voluntary donations, and not by legal provision.

"The

1. On the first point, he partially stated his views, in his preceding works on the Bloody Tenet; but in this pamphlet, he expounds them more fully. His opinions appear to have rested entirely on a misconception of passages in the Revelations. He believed, that the "white troopers" mentioned in the 6th and 19th chapters of Revelations, were the true ministers, and that they were utterly routed, till after the slaying of the witnesses and their resurrection. apostolical commission and ministry is long since interrupted and discontinued, yet ever since the beast Antichrist rose, the Lord Jesus hath stirred up the ministry of prophecy, who must continue their witness and prophecy, until their witness be finished, and slaughters, probably near approaching, be accomplished." "In the poor small span of my life, I desired to have been a diligent and constant observer, and have been myself many ways engaged, in city, in country, in court, in schools, in universities, in churches, in Old and New-England; and yet cannot, in the holy presence of God, bring in the result of a satisfying discovery, that either the begetting ministry of the apostles or messengers to the churches, or the feeding and nourishing ministry of pastors and teachers, according to the first institution of the Lord Jesus, are yet restored and extant."-p. 4.

In his "Bloody Tenet made more Bloody," he says, that "Christ Jesus sends out preachers three ways: 1st. In his own person, as the twelve and seventy. 2dly. By his visible, kingly power, left in the hands of his true churches, and the officers and governors thereof. 3dly. Christ Jesus, as King of the Church and Head of his body, during the distractions of his house and kingdom, under Antichrist's apostacy, immediately by his own Holy Spirit, stirs up and sends out those fiery witnesses to testify against Antichrist and his several abominations.""—p. 99.

He says, in the work before us: "All (of what rank soever) that have knowledge and utterance of heavenly mysteries, and therein are the Lord's prophets and witnesses

against Antichrist, must prophesy against false Christs, false faith, false love, false joy, false worship and ministrations, false hope and false Heaven, which poor souls in a golden dream expect and look for.

"This prophecy ought to be (chiefly) exercised among the saints, in the companies, meetings and assemblies of the fellow-mourners, and witnesses against the falsehoods of Antichrist. If any come in (as 1 Cor: 14,) yea, if they come to catch, God will graciously more or less vouchsafe to catch them, if he intends to save them.

"But for the going out to the nations, cities, towns, as to the nations, cities, and towns of the world, unconverted, until the downfal of the Papacy, (Rev. 18,) and so the mounting of the Lord Jesus and his white troopers again (Rev. 19, &c.) for the going out to preach upon hire; for the going out to convert sinners, and yet to hold communion with them as saints in prayer; for the going out without such a powerful call from Christ, as the twelve and the seventy had, or without such suitable gifts as the first ministry was furnished with, and this especially without a due knowledge of the prophecies to be fulfilled, I have no faith to act, nor in the actings and ministries of others." ―pp. 21, 22.

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He avers, nevertheless, that he had strong desires to labor for the good of all men : By the merciful assistance of the Most High, I have desired to labor in Europe, in America, with English, with Barbarians, yea, and also, I have longed after some trading with the Jews themselves, for whose hard measure, I fear the nations and England hath yet a score to pay."—p. 13. He states his opinion, however, that no remarkable conversion of the nations is yet to be expected, because smoke filled the temple till Antichrist was overthrown. Rev. 15: 8.

In the "Bloody Tenet made more Bloody," he says, on this subject, that though he approved endeavors to teach the Indians, yet, "that any of the ministers spoken of are furnished with true apostolical commission (Matt. 28,) I see not, for these reasons: 1st. The ordinary ministry, is not the apostolical, Eph. 4. 1 Cor. 12. 2dly. The churches of New-England are not pure churches. 3dly. Men cannot preach to the Indians in any propriety of their speech or language."-p. 219. It is re

These extracts sufficiently explain his views.

markable, that a man, whose mind was so strong and clear, on most subjects, should become perplexed with such difficulties, in relation to the ministry and the church. That the passages in the Apocalypse, to which he refers, do not authorize his conclusions, we need not attempt to prove. He might well deny, that most of the communities which then claimed to be Christian churches, were entitled to the name; and might, with truth, maintain, that a large proportion of those who professed, at that time, to be ministers of Christ, were not sanctioned by his commission. But it did not follow, that no church, formed according to the models furnished in the New Testament, then existed, and that no true ministers could be found.. A company of true believers, united in one society, for worship, for mutual watchfulness, for the maintenance of discipline, and for the celebration of the ordinances, is a church. A pious man, who can teach others, and who is moved, by a proper conviction of duty, and is authorized by a church, to preach the Gospel, is a duly appointed minister. It is manifest, from the tenor of the New Testament, that an order of ministers was intended to be continued. The same ends for which the first ministers were appointed,—the conversion of the impenitent, and the edification of believers,— still require, that ministers be employed in the work of spreading and upholding Christianity. The same means are to be employed, the declaration of divine truth. The supernatural gifts of the first ministers were necessary, as an attestation of the truth of Christianity; but it was not by the miracles, but by the truth, accompanied by the influences of the Holy Spirit, that men were converted. The experience of modern missions demonstrates, that men can learn to speak "with propriety" the languages of the heathen, and that the Gospel, when preached now, in Burmah, or in Hindostan, or in Greenland, or in our western forests, is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. 1: 16.

Mr.

But it is needless to argue a point, so clear as this. Williams' erroneous views on the subject before us, did not affect his feelings on the great question of religious liberty. He was willing, that others should establish churches and maintain ministers, if they chose. This is the second point which we mentioned.

2. He says, "I desire not that liberty to myself, which I would not freely and impartially weigh out to all the consciences of the world beside. And, therefore, I do humbly conceive, that it is the will of the Most High, and the express and absolute duty of the civil powers, to proclaim an absolute freedom in all the three nations, yea, in all the world, (were their power so large) that each town and division of people, yea, and each person, may freely enjoy what worship, what ministry, what maintenance to afford them, their soul desireth."-p. 19. In a subsequent page, he adds: "All these consciences (yea, the very consciences of the Papists, Jews, &c. as I have proved at large in my answer to Master Cotton's washings) ought freely and impartially to be permitted their several respective worships, their ministers of worships, and what way of maintaining them, they freely choose."

to a

3. On the subject of maintenance, he strongly objects "stated salary," by which he evidently means a stipend, fixed and raised by law. He contends, that ministers ought to be supported, like the first preachers, by voluntary donations. He does not fully explain his views, but it does not appear, that he had any objection to a fixed sum, or to any particular mode of collecting it, provided that it was voluntarily paid. The compulsory maintenance of the clergy, by tithes, and other modes of taxation, without any concurrence of the persons taxed, was the system against which he argued. He insisted, nevertheless, that ministers are entitled to a maintenance, and that the members of a church may be compelled, by the proper use of spiritual power, to perform their duty, in contributing to the support of a minister. In the " Bloody Tenet," (p. 168) he says: "To that Scripture, Gal. 6: 6. 'Let him that is taught in the word make him that teacheth partake of all his goods,' I answer, that teaching was of persons converted, believers entered into the school and family of Christ, the Church, which Church, being rightly gathered, is also rightly invested with the power of the Lord Jesus, to force every soul therein by spiritual weapons and penalties to do its duty."

The doctrines of Roger Williams, on this subject, as well as on the general principle of liberty of conscience, are rapidly gaining the victory over the old system. A legal provision for the clergy, by which all the citizens are compelled

to pay for the support of religious teachers, whether they choose to hear them or not, is unjust in principle, and pernicious in practice; producing discontent and odium among the people, and tending to introduce mere worldly and mercenary men into the ministry. Its effects, even in Massachusetts, have convinced men, of all parties, of its inexpediency. It is a coincidence, which the author views with pleasure, that, while this book has been passing through the press, the citizens of Massachusetts have adopted an amendment of the Constitution, which, in its results, will sweep away the last relic of the old system. The principles of Roger Williams will soon be triumphantly established in Massachusetts, and there will not be, even in theory, any dominant and favored sect, in this venerable commonwealth. In every other State in our Union, entire religious freedom is enjoyed. In England, the march is onward. In a few years, her establishment must fall, and religion be placed, where it should be, under the protection of the Saviour, drawing her revenues from the willing hands of his followers, and renewing her strength and beauty, by taking her appropriate station, like the angel in the sun, high above the contaminations of the earth.

The book before us ends, with what the author calls the 66 summa totalis:"

"1st. The civil state is bound, before God, to take off that bond and yoke of soul oppression [the national establishment] and to proclaim free and impartial liberty to all the people of the three nations, to choose and maintain what worship and ministry their souls and consciences are persuaded of.

2dly. The civil state is humbly to be implored to provide, in their high wisdom, for the security of all these respective consciences, in their respective meetings, assemblings, worshippings, preachings, disputings, &c. and that civil peace, and the beauty of civility and humanity, be maintained among the chief opposers and dissenters.

"3dly. It is the duty of all that are in authority, and of all that are able, to countenance, and encourage and supply all such true volunteers, as give and devote themselves to the service and ministry of Christ Jesus in any kind; although it be also the duty, and will be the practice, of all such, whom the Spirit of God sends upon any work of