to thee, on certain conditions to be complied with on thy part. * * * The first condition to be complied with on the part of sinners is to believe in God, and in the sufferings and death of his son Jesus Christ * * * and in the Holy Ghost. * * * That the second condition is to repent. * * * That the third condition is to be baptized for the remission of sins. * * * And that the fourth condition is to receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. * * * They are then required to be humble, to be meek and lowly in heart, to watch and pray and deal justly. * * * And, in short, to continue faithful to the end in all the duties enjoined upon them by the word and Spirit of Christ.--"Remarkable Visions"--Orson Pratt. 5. Four Opinions on Church Government.--How far even wise men and Christian scholars have gone astray in relation to church government may be judged from the following opinions on the subject: {100} Those who imagine that Christ himself or the apostles by his direction or authority appointed a certain fixed form of church government are not agreed what that form was. The principal opinions that have been adopted upon this head may be reduced to the four following: _First_, is that of the Roman Catholics maintain that Christ's intention and appointment was that his followers should be collected into one sacred empire, subject to the government of St. Peter and his successors, and divided like the kingdoms of this world into several provinces; that in consequence thereof Peter fixed the seat of ecclesiastical dominion at Rome, but afterwards to alleviate the burden of his office divided the church into three greater provinces according to the division of the world at that time, and appointed a person to preside in each who was dignified with the title of Patriarch; that the European Patriarch resided at Rome, the Asiatic at Antioch, and the African at Alexandria; that the bishops of each province among whom there were various ranks, were to reverence the authority of their respective patriarchs, and that both bishops and patriarchs were to be passively subject to the supreme dominion of the Roman Pontiff. This romantic account scarcely deserves a serious refutation. The _second_ opinion concerning the government of the church makes no mention of a supreme head or of patriarchs constituted by a divine authority; but it supposes that the apostles divided the Roman empire into as many ecclesiastical provinces as there were secular or civil ones; that the metropolitan bishops, that is, the prelate who resides in the capital city of each province, presides over the clergy of that province, and that the other bishops were subject to his authority. This opinion has been adopted by some of the most learned of the Romish church; and has also been favored by some of the most eminent British divines. Some Protestant writers of note have endeavored to prove that it is not supported by sufficient evidence.