Excerpt from The Spirit of the Pilgrims, for the Year 1828, Vol. 1 These doctrines, and all others necessarily connected with them and forming a part of the same system, have been received in all churches and by all individuals, who have been understandingly called orthodox. These doctrines we believe, and in them we rejoice. We believe them, because we think them to be clearly revealed in the word of God, and not because they have been held and defended by such men as Luther and Calvin, Hooker and Owen, Baxter and Edwards, however pious and eminent these individuals may have been. We call no man master. We submit to no man's authority. We hold ourselves bound by the law and the testimony; and if any man's arguments or theories will not abide this ordeal, they are to be rejected. Our motto is, Let God be true, but every man a liar. It is common for the projectors of a new periodical publication to give a general outline of the several classes of subjects, which they intend to embody in their work. T 0 this practice there seems to be no reasonable objection. We therefore proceed to specify some of the larger divisions of subjects, which will solicit the attention of our readers: premising, however, that we are not scrupulous to present these divisions, in the order of their relative importance; and that all are not to be expected in every number. From what we have already said it is apparent, that a principal object in the establishment of a new magazine is the promotion of truth; which is to be done not only by explaining what the truth is, and proving it when explained, but also by exposing error, even though we should be obliged to speak boldly and plainly, of artifice and sophistry. Discussions of this kind are what is usually called controversy; and against religious controversy some serious and re ecting persons have formed a prejudice, which, however ill founded, should be regarded with tenderness. Some of the reasons, why we think religious controversy may be, and often is, lawful, expedient, and an imperious duty, are the following. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."