62 PLAN OF FUTURE LETTERS. each man, which the party that calls itself Evangelical, is asserting, you must manfully cast away your prejudices, and inquire calmly, rationally, and under the teaching of the Spirit of God, into the foundations of the catholic church. In this inquiry I am anxious to assist you. I propose, with God's permission, in my next Letter, to address you on the subject of Baptism; in the third, on the Lord's Supper; in the fourth, on the Written Word; in the fifth, on the Ministry; in the sixth, on Creeds and Forms of Prayer; in the seventh, on the Universal Church, and its Preservation, by means of these, through every generation since our Lord ascended; its Present State, its Future Hopes. In the eighth, I propose to consider the relation between this Church and Kingdoms of the Earth; how National and Church Life are connected together in the purposes of God; what relation the one bears to the other. In the ninth, I propose to inquire into the Effects of this Relationship, as to the conduct of the State towards the Ministers of the Church, towards its Ordinances, &c. In the tenth, I propose to apply these considerations to the position of Existing Sects, and especially to the position of the Friends. In the eleventh, I mean to enter upon those particular Testimonies which Friends have been supposed to bear against the Evils of the World, and to show that if they would bear these Testimonies usefully, and not mischievously, they must be content to unite themselves with the rest of the church catholic, and with that portion of it which upholds the idea of the church catholic in its own country. I must entreat your pardon for this unreasonably long letter, and subscribe myself Yours very faithfully. |