es,
generally admitted by bodies of men, are acted upon by individuals who
have been ever taught them, as a matter of course, without questioning
them; for instance, if a member of the English Church, who had always
been taught that preaching is the great ordinance of the Gospel, to the
disparagement of the Sacraments, thereupon placed himself under the
ministry of a powerful Wesleyan preacher; or if, from the common belief
that nothing is essential but what is on the surface of Scripture, he
forthwith attached himself to the Baptists, Independents, or Unitarians.
Such men indeed often take their line in consequence of some inward
liking for the religious system they adopt; but we are speaking of their
proceeding as far as it professes to be an act of judgment.

A third class of private judgments recorded in Scripture are those which
are exercised at one and the same time by a great number; if it be not a
contradiction to call such judgments private. Yet here again we suppose
staunch Protestants would maintain that the three thousand at Pentecost,
and the five thousand after the miracle on the lame man, and the "great
company of the priests," which shortly followed, did avail themselves,
and do afford specimens, of the sacred right in question; therefore let
it be ruled so. Such, then, is the case of national conversions to which
we have already alluded. Again, if the Lutheran Church of Germany with
its many theologians, or our neighbor the Kirk,--General Assembly, Men
of Strathbogie, Dr. Chalmers, and all,--came to a unanimous or
quasi-unanimous resolve to submit to the Archbishop of Canterbury as
their patriarch, this doubtless would be an exercise of private judgment
perfectly defensible on Scripture precedents.

Now, before proceeding, let us observe, that as yet nothing has been
found in Scripture to justify the cases of private judgment which are
exemplified in the popular religious biographies of the day. These
generally contain instances of conversions made on the judgment,
definite, deliberate, independent, isolated, of the parties converted.
The converts in these stories had not seen miracles, nor had they
developed their own existing principles or beliefs, nor had they changed
their religion in company with others, nor had they received new truths,
they knew not how. Let us then turn to Scripture a second time, to see
whether we can gain thence any clearer sanction of Private Judgment as
now exercised among