s taking the first steps backward toward the spiritual tyranny
of Rome. Thus the good promise they gave of a free religion and an
unfettered conscience is already broken. For, if the right of private
judgment is allowed by the Protestant church, why are men condemned and
expelled from that church for ncwother crime than honestly attempting to
obey the word of God, in some particulars not in accordance with her
creed? This is the beginning of apostasy. Read Chas. Beecher's work,
"The Bible a Sufficient Creed." "Is not the Protestant church," he asks,
"apostate?" Is not the apostasy which we have reason to fear, "already
formed?" But apostasy in principle always leads to corruption in
practice. And so Paul, in 2 Tim. 3:1-5, sets forth the condition of the
professed church of Christ in the last days. A rank growth of twenty
heinous sins, with no redeeming virtues, shows that the fruits of the
Spirit will be choked and rooted out by the works of the flesh. We can
look nowhere else for this picture of Paul's to be fulfilled except to
the Protestant church; for the class of which he speaks maintain a form
of godliness, or the outward services of a true Christian worship.

And is not the church of our day beginning to manifest to an alarming
degree the very characteristics which the apostle has specified? Fifteen
clergymen of the city of Rochester, N.Y., on Sunday, Feb. 5, 1871,
distributed a circular, entitled "A Testimony," to fifteen congregations
of that city. To this circular the Rochester _Democrat_ of Feb. 7 made
reference as follows:--

"The 'Testimony' sets out by stating that the foregoing pastors are
constrained to bear witness to what they 'conceive to be a fact of
our time; viz., That the prevailing standard of piety, among the
professed people of God, is alarmingly low; that a tide of
worldliness is setting in upon us, indicating the rapid approach of
an era, such as is foretold by Paul in his second letter to
Timothy, in the words, "In the last days perilous times shall
come."' These conclusions are reached, not by comparisons with
former times, but by applying the tests found in the Scriptures.
They instance as proof, 'the spirit of lawlessness which prevails.'
The circular then explains how this lawlessness (religious) is
shown. Men have the name of religion, but they obey none of its
injunctions. There is also a growing disposition to practice,