CHRISTIANITY is a pure, perfect, rational, consistent system; it is a revelation worthy of the God of Truth and Wisdom to dispense; its doctrines have a direct tendency to moralize the powers and faculties, and to ennoble and dignify the human nature; it sets its true professors free from ridiculous absurdities and enthusiastic delusions; for its divine Author taught no doctrines, enjoined no precepts, but such as will bear the strictest scrutiny, and must be owned, by every truly wise and judicious person, to be well adapted and nicely calculated, at once to display the power and mercy of God, as well as to enrich, consolate and make happy the mind of every true Christian.

But how an institution, thus wisely designed, order­ed and established, should be so greatly mistaken, so unhappily perverted, and so grossly misrepresented at this day, is no less surprising than true; and therefore how much to be deplored and lamented! But why is this? How must we account for the many delusive te­nets and destructive errors, which are industriously propagated by a set of modern teachers, and readily em­braced by so many professors of Christianity? How! why, as the Papists mistakingly assert ignorance to be the mother of devotion, we may truly say, ignorance is the parent of error, folly and delusion. But to what [Page 6] kind of ignorance may we ascribe the mistakes of the teachers, and the folly of the people in being thus de­ceived? Doubtless to an ignorance of the word of God, the Holy Scriptures, which are the only sure guide, the best standard, and the most certain criterion, whereby to discern truth from falsehood, right from wrong; but through neglect of searching those sacred pages, the poor people easily become a prey to every ignorant en­thusiastic preacher who comes in their way. Hence we see such a plentiful production of novel doctrines, and such an abundant fruitfulness of extravagant follies and destructive errors, which are so prevalent among us.

Men, bretheren and fathers, see ye not what an inun­dation of error and delusion hath broken in upon us? Observe ye not the overflowings of immorality and vice, which, like a torrent, is overspreading our land? Can ye be unconcerned, when the dreadful effects, and baneful consequences are so visible and evident? Alas! Virtue reclines her fainting head; Christianity has lost its powerful influence upon its professors; and therefore the practice of morality and good works is so much neglected, so little attended to. Surely it is too plain to be denied, the true principles of the Gospel are forsaken. O ye ministers! ye professed teachers and instructors of mankind! will ye not attempt to stem the rapid torrent, which threatens to carry all before it? There is no way left, but to retreat to the primitive doctrines of the Gospel, the established principles of the Reformation. These, constantly insisted on and powerfully inculcated, will, nay, these only can be at­tended with the happy effects of reclaiming the people from error, rectifying their principles, and effectually producing christian practices. As for you, my bretheren, professors of the same Gospel, let me entreat and con­jure you, if you would be true protestants, against the fallacy and deceit of the Church of Rome, as you would desire to be proof against all doctrines of novelty, all [Page 7] erroneous principles, all dangerous and delusive tenets; would you perceive and detect, so as to beware of de­ceiving teachers, false prophets, hypocritical and pre­tended ministers: in one word, are ye solicitous to come to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, that ye may be saved? SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES; make this your constant practice; for be assured, ye are in the ut­most danger of being misled and deceived, never more so than at present. On the one hand, by the proud, self-presuming, God-resisting infidel; on the other, by the credulous, unscriptural, unmeaning enthusiast. While the former is an open enemy to the doctrines of the Gospel, totally rejects every article of the christian faith, acts as far wide from the moralizing precepts of the Gospel, as from humility; the latter, the enthusiast, deceives himself and others by his mere pretences to inspiration; professes to have received the gift of the Spirit, but gives no evidences to ascertain the truth of it; makes solemn declarations of being inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to preach to you, and only pretends to pray to God for spiritual operations, influences, and impressions; when after all, it is plain to the eye of dis­cerning reason, he means nothing but to make gain of his pretensions to Godliness; for, contrary to his most solemn pretensions and professions, he utterly denies any true, real, inward motive, operation, and influence of the Spirit: and hence do such ministers bewilder, perplex, and delude the ignorant and unwary, by teaching un­sound, unscriptural doctrine.

Take heed to yourselves. Beware of such pretend­ed teachers, for you are liable to be led by such into a maze of anti-christian errors, and a wilderness of un­scriptural perplexities; so that your danger, through their means, may not easily be escaped, nor ever rec­tified. It is not a trifling affair I am now addressing you about, but it is of the utmost concern, and of the greatest importance: no less than your immortal souls [Page 8] are at stake—nothing less than an eternity depends upon your being wise unto salvation. For your sakes, and from a regard to your safety, suffer me here to lay be­fore you the truly scriptural orthodox articles of the established Church of England, which, as they are a kind of epitome, or abridgement of the Gospel, I shall select such of them as may best serve our present pur­pose; namely, to try and examine doctrines and teachers by, to detect error and discover truth. By these let us determine our assent to, or dissent from such doc­trines as are proposed to us, and I am verily persuad­ed we shall escape error, avoid delusion, and be freed from mistakes.

Perhaps a fond attachment to our excellent articles of the Church of England, may influence me rather to fix on this form of sound words than any other of human composition. Be it so; I am (I think) herein justified, forasmuch as these articles are supported by, and built upon the Holy Scriptures: therefore I am unconcerned what our modern teachers, and new-pre­tended divines think or say of me; if they dislike, and are ashamed of our articles, I am not: for all our Christian Bishops, (God bless them!) and all our Church Parsons, (Lord have mercy on them!) they all own, or have owned them, and subscribed to them; yes, and sworn to them also; and they are printed in our Common-Prayer Books too;^* and for what use think ye but that we should read them, know them, be instructed in them, and always abide by them? God grant, bretheren, that we may! for if we have any knowledge and experience of the great truths they contain, vain will be all the artful attempts, subtle de­signs, and nefarious stratagems of men destitute of the truth, to mislead, pervert, or delude us.

I shall now lay the articles before you—make some [Page 9] strictures upon them, and draw some applications from them as I go along. God give us a right judgment. We begin with the doctrine of Original or Birth Sin, Art. IX.

‘Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk) but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that is gendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil.’

This the Pelagians of old denied, and this the mo­dern Pelagians, who pretend to great knowledge, while ignorant of themselves, and strangers to the corruption and depravity of their own hearts, disown. Though, at the same time, they are standing monuments of the truth of this doctrine, and whether they believe and confess it, or not, their outward actions plainly evince the inhering power of original sin; their not seeing, not knowing, and not feeling it, is one of the strongest proofs of their being under original blindness and insen­sibility. And yet, many such as these truly set up for guides and teachers of others. Know them, bretheren; discern them you may, you ought; and such, for your soul's sake avoid. Attend not to their sweet siren songs, lest you are thereby lulled asleep upon the waves of destruction. Take these marks with you. Judge of their doctrines by them: for our articles plainly declare the miserable state and condition of every man that is born into the world; first, in the loss of original righte­ousness, or the image of God; and secondly, as possessed with a contrary image; therefore is he of his own na­ture inclined to evil. Here behold the true picture of the so much boasted dignity of human nature! Thus is man pointed out by the article; thus is man described by the oracles of truth; and to this melancholy account doth every Christian subscribe, and every natural, un­regenerate man's actions fully demonstrate. Aye, but, [Page 10] say our new doctors and modern teachers, this is too dark a shade, too sable a dress, too degrading to human na­ture; and therefore they tickle the ears, please the pride, and flatter the vanity of men, with their unedifying, unscriptural harangues, and false encomiums on the moral rectitude, virtue, and dignity of man. But, bre­theren, would ye not avoid an unskilful quack in sur­gery, who, instead of searching and probing a wound in order to procure the soundness and health of the body, should slightly heal and skin over the parts aggrieved, while putrefaction and rottenness are at the bottom, whereby the life of the patient is destroyed? Quacks in divinity are much more to be dreaded, inasmuch as the life of the soul is of infinitely more value than that of the body. I have heard our true, staunch church mini­sters distinguish these flatterers of human nature by the appellations of merit-mongers, velvet-mouthed preachers, &c. Significant indeed! St. Paul describes such, as those who serve not the Lord Jesus, but their own bellies, and with fine words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple: for as they don't preach agreeable to the articles, so neither do they use scripture language, nor apostolic diction, in their compositions.—Our article next declares—

‘Therefore in every person born into the world, it deserves God's wrath and damnation.’

What a terrible harsh phrase is here? God's wrath and damnation! ‘Ah, say our new-fangled teachers, our modern divines, we are not so uncharitable as to suppose any person in the world deserving of God's wrath and damnation.—What a strange, unpolite, uncouth set of men were the compilers of these arti­cles!’

Say you so! pray let me observe, that however fa­shionable this doctrine may be thought by some, how­ever obsolete and harsh the expressions may seem to others of our airy, fashionable preachers, truth it is; it is [Page 11] the doctrine of scripture, and those venerable compilers spake as the oracles of God. And is it not better, far better, for sinners to hear and be made sensible of their danger, and deserving of God's wrath and damnation, so as to escape it now by flying to Jesus, the only refuge for sinners, than to be blinded by flattering deceivers, till they fall a sacrifice to God's wrath and damnation in a dreadful eternity hereafter? This you must assent to—this you will not deny.

But our article further declares, "this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated." Regenerated! how? By infant baptism only? No— The regenerate do not rest on the outward and visible sign, but are made partakers of the inward and spiri­tual grace also. By the quickening and purifying ope­rations of the Holy Spirit, a principle of spiritual life is implanted in them; (and take this by the way, without experiencing this, infant baptism will not, cannot profit any person to salvation:^*) so that such, and such only, are sensible of the different lustings of the flesh and of the Spirit; and though there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, united to him by a faith of divine operation, and are sanctified by his Holy Spirit, "yet concupiscence and lust, saith the article, (that is, the inward desires and inclinations of the flesh) hath the nature of sin." Therefore all true believers are said to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Phil. iii. 3.

But alas! in these days too many think, if the out­ward actions are somewhat decent, moral and regular, [Page 12] there needeth no thought or concern about inward depra­vity and heart-wickedness. But what amazing horror and dread will seize on such, when a heart-searching God shall discover before angels and men, the hypo­crisy, deceitfulness, and desperate wickedness of the heart, and to the speechless condemnation of all miserable daubers and soul-deceivers! they will then find the filthy rags of their own righteousness insufficient to screen them from the wrath of the Lord, and they shall be forced to own (when too late) that their inward parts were very wickedness, and therefore that they stood in need of the righteousness of Christ to justify them, and the power of his spirit to renew them in the spirit of their minds.

As the former article shews the wretchedness and sin­fulness of our estate by nature, the next (10) asserts the helplessness and insufficiency of our condition.

‘The condition of man since the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, with­out the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.’

Deceivers will come, saith the scripture; we believe it, saith our Church, and therefore we establish articles at once to settle the judgment of our members, and to guard them from erroneous novelty. And are not these de­ceivers already come? Is not their name Legion? Do not ARMINIAN teachers swarm among us, who tell us, that man has free-will and power to turn and prepare himself, and to do good works, as a condition to entitle himself to the merits of Christ, and to recommend himself to the favour of God? Are not these the fa­vourite doctrines of this day? Don't we constantly hear such unscriptural, antichristian tenets daily advanc­ed, both from the pulpit, and the press?

[Page 13]Ask that reverend gentleman in BLACK, Sir, What must I do to be saved? And you will find his answer as novel and as modish as the fashion of his clothes. He is too polite to dictate the old scriptural answer, believe on the Lord Jesus, but ‘practise morality, and do good works, and you are safe.’—And, was you to reply in the words of the article of our Church, Sir, I have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ—‘Don't teaze me, (would very probably be the reply) don't tire me with your methodistical rant, and enthusias­tical nonsense.’—Man's power, natural ability, and free-will, are his favourite themes, instead of free-grace, supernatural power, divine and spiritual assistance. Lord have mercy on the sheep that are under the care of such a shepherd! Now, whatever honour and respect is due to the ministers of Christ, how much soever we are to esteem such highly in love for their works sake; yet our Saviour points out to us, and cautions us against blind guides and false teachers. To the law and to the testimony then—And if ministers speak not ac­cording to the sacred oracles of truth, we may fairly con­clude they have no light in them. Therefore it is our greatest wisdom, to reject their doctrines as unscriptural and erroneous.

But, bretheren, let me plainly and briefly apply my­self to you on the two foregoing articles. Do ye know yourselves? Are ye sensible of your real estate? Are ye made acquainted with your true condition? Do ye know and feel your misery and want as sinners? Are ye made sensible of your own weakness and insufficiency to turn and prepare yourselves? Do you see your in­clination and proneness to all evil and sin, and your aversion and disaffection to all holiness and godliness, and consequent need of a better righteousness than your own to justify you in the sight of God? If you do not, have not thus seen yourselves stript of all good, and [Page 14] full of all evil, deserving God's wrath and damnation, it is plain you are blind even unto this day; and further, have never prayed in all your life. Nay, don't start; it is plain truth; you cannot, you dare not deny it be­fore God, and your own conscience; for prayer is a breathing out the desires of the soul before God, under a sense of distress, and the want of mercy, and an hum­ble dependence on God for relief and redress. But how could you pray to be delivered from sin, evil, and danger, when you never saw it, never felt it, and was never sensible of it, and consequently could have no desires to be delivered from it?

But you say you have gone to church, and prayed. That you have gone to church, and repeated the solemn words of our excellent liturgy, is not denied; but even then and there you offered the sacrifice of fools, and solemnly mocked God, while you pretended to address and worship him; else how could you dare to tell God you was a miserable sinner, desire him to have mercy upon you, tell him there is no health in you, that you are tied and bound with the chain of your sins, and that the remembrance of your sins is grievous unto you, and the burden is intolerable, while you neither feel nor expe­rience such a state? Surely the most dreadful hypocrisy is this! the most fatal and dangerous delusion possible!

But, if not only your heads are enlightened, and your judgments informed, but your hearts also truly con­victed and humbled before the Lord, with a view of yourselves as described by our scripture articles; blessed knowledge! happy sensibility! for this you are in­debted to the divine grace and heavenly teachings of the Holy Spirit, of whom you learn to ‘cast away all human confidence, all dependence on the arm of flesh only, and to fly to Christ for help and succour— with a Lord save, or we perish; for the heart of man, by nature estranged and alienated from God and Christ, would try every other means, and seek [Page 15] for salvation in any way, rather than accept it as a free gift from Christ. To cast away all self-righte­ousness, is grievous to the heart in its natural state of pride, and affection of independency; man would still be as God, still work out, and merit for himself his own salvation; and he must be driven to the last extremity, see the insufficiency of law and self, of morality and works, before he can cast away all other confidence, and apply to Jesus with a Lord save, or I perish. It is faith alone which can avail the soul, and thus we must apply, if we would obtain the gift of God in Christ, utterly renouncing all self-depen­dence, and perfectly assured, that he is able and willing to save to the uttermost.’ ^* Yea, God, for Christ's sake, will enrich your souls, and comfort your spirits, with the abundant consolations administered in the XIth Article; which runs thus:—

‘We (all true believers) are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Sa­viour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings; wherefore, that we are justi­fied by FAITH ONLY, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as is more largely expres­sed in the Homily of justification.’

Here is true protestant, anti-romish doctrine. Bles­sed are the Ministers of our Church that know and preach thus! Happy every soul that can set his seal to [Page 16] the truth of these words! God will suffer no flesh to glory in his presence; therefore, in the justification, pardon, and acceptance of a sinner, he will magnify the riches of his free-grace; for, to be justified freely, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, and to be accounted righteous through the righteousness of Jesus Christ only, is the only doctrine that can yield comfort and consolation to penitent humble sinners, and glory and praise to the God of Mercy and Grace. But ‘no, say our modern theologists, it is by our own good works and faith; Christ's blood, righteousness and merits, are not sufficient of themselves to avert the wrath, procure the power, and recommend our per­sons to the acceptance of God.’ Be astonished, O heavens! be amazed, O ye sons of God! be confound­ed, O ye enemies of true righteousness! at the blind­ness, vanity, and pride of relying on, or joining the imperfect works, and sullied obedience of fallen man, with the perfect righteousness, all-atoning merits, and all-sufficient sacrifice of the infinitely divine and holy Jesus! O how long will ye thus pervert the ways of the Lord! How long will ye trample on the precious blood, depreciate the only availing righteousness, and set at nought the all-prevailing merits of the sinner's friend, the dear and loving Jesus! Be filled, O my soul! be warmed, O my friends! with a holy indignation at the daring insult, and impious affronts that are offered to Jesus, your Saviour, and your God, whose blood and righteousness is your only plea!

We don't preach justification by faith only, say the Papists. We are agreed with you, say their confe­derates in error, our pretended protestant, but seducing preachers. But why? because it tends to destroy good works; say both. It is false, says our Church; we ex­perience the contrary, say all its true Christian members. But truly the Papists teachers are honest, upright men, when compared with these modern deceivers: for it is [Page 17] the avowed tenet of their Church, to deny and ex­plode the doctrine of justification, by the imputed righte­ousness of Jesus Christ through faith only—but our only pretended protestant teachers assent to it, in the articles of our Church, as a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of godly comfort, and yet afterwards publicly preach and inveigh against it, and brand and stigma­tize the CONTENDERS for this scripture-truth, as a set of madmen, enthusiasts, and deceivers. Surprising indeed is such a share of assurance! Amazing such want of modesty! Is this a specimen of good works, reverend sirs? Alas! alas! where is common honesty, candid judgment, and impartial determination fled? O how can such ministers look on this article without being filled with shame and confusion of face! The Scrip­tures are clear and express, that sinners are justified by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, imputed to them through faith, and by no other means; therefore this is a most WHOLESOME DOCTRINE. And the glorious company of the Apostles, the noble army of Martyrs, and all true believers, in all ages, have found, by hap­py experience, that this doctrine is also VERY FULL OF GODLY COMFORT.

But does our Church depreciate good works, or deny their usefulness? No; neither do any of its true mini­sters or members; they all assent to the doctrines of the XIIth Article, that

‘Good works are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification (not go before in order to procure justifica­tion) they cannot put away our sins, nor endure the severity of God's judgment, yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out neces­sarily of a true faith, inasmuch as by them a lively faith may be as evidently known, as a tree by its fruit.’

It is the device of the devil to urge, and it ariseth from ignorance of the nature of true christian faith to object, that the doctrine of justification by faith de­stroys [Page 18] the practice of morality and good works. Quite the contrary, for it is the peculiar property of true christian faith to dispose us to holiness of heart, and to the practice of morality and good works.

What a consistency of doctrine! What a harmony of divine truth! What a chain of scripture-tenets do our excellent articles afford us! Thank God for ancient, orthodox, christian compilers! From modern, hetero­dox, unchristian teachers, good Lord deliver us! and let all our Church members say, Amen!

You see, bretheren, that good works are the fruits of faith. Have you received of God the gift of faith; faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby you are jus­tified? Are your consciences cleansed from the guilt, and delivered from the condemnation of sin? And do you possess pardon and peace from God? Then I am sure you must love God; and love is the most powerful and availing principle to produce good works, ‘pleasant and acceptable to God in Christ;’ for only in Christ Jesus is it our works are accepted. The best works we can perform cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment: ‘But good works spring out necessarily of a true faith:’ they are true marks and evidences of a lively faith, as the fruitful­ness of a tree is an unanswerable proof of the life and soundness of the root. Hence we see by the plain sense of the articles, that without faith in our Lord Jesus no good works can be produced; and yet truly we find many, who pretend to be the only true orthodox teach­ers of our Church, constantly exploding and vehe­mently denying the doctrine of justification by faith only. Therefore it is a plain consequence and natural deduc­tion, that the only marks such give of their orthodoxy is, that they have neither faith nor good works, not­withstanding all the noise they make about good works. And this is more fully proved by Article XIII. which assures us,

[Page 19]All ‘works done before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ; neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or (as the school-authors say) deserve grace of congru­ity; rather for that they are not done as God hath wil­led and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin.’

Here we see what works are not good, not pleasant in the sight of God, even all such as do not flow from right principles, namely, the grace of Christ, the in­spiration of his Spirit, and faith. Ye pretended advo­cates for good works, what say ye to this? Deceive not yourselves with specious pretences; look to your prin­ciples. As soon might we gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles, as to find christian holiness and good works flowing from unchristian principles.

The grace of Christ and the inspiration of the Spirit!— Why, this is the very mark and characteristic of an en­thusiast, to talk of being inspired, say our modern teachers. But be assured, it is the only principle of true christian knowledge and christian practice: for the things of God knoweth no man, but by the Spirit of God, and if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of [...]. Rom. viii. 9. These are scriptural determinations. He is not a christian who is not inspired by the Spirit of God; neither are any works pleasant and acceptable to God, but what spring from INSPIRATION, says our Church. INSPI­RATION signifies a breathing inward: What! Why, the vitality, power and graces of the Holy Spirit; and from this inward principle only, outward actions, good and pleasant to God, and profitable to man, flow.

But, to avoid prolixity, I shall not enlarge, as I find I have much exceeded my first intentions; but really our excellent articles afford such a field of argument to support truth, and detect error, that they are pleasing and delightful themes to dwell on; though I do not [Page 20] doubt but what I have advanced is sufficient, in the judgment of ignorant and mere nominal Christians, to determine me a Methodist and an Enthusiast. Reader, let me appeal to thee: Have I strained one sentence of our articles from its natural sense and plain meaning? Well, if for a steady adherence and firm attachment to the doctrines of the Church of England, I am account­ed Methodist, I am content; may I live and die A CHURCH OF ENGLAND METHODIST.—It is the scrip­ture doctrines of our Church I am contending for; which, whoever does, will most assuredly have the ap­pellation of Methodist.

But let me expostulate a little on this head with our pretended Churchmen. You say, you profess the re­ligion of the Church of England. I do the same: so far we agree. I believe the doctrines of her articles, which are essential to salvation, to be truly scriptural; therefore I own them, abide by them, and contend for them. Do you do the same? I fear not. Herein do we differ. Let us see; we will bring the matter to a short issue: a few words will determine the point. I believe that man is very far gone from original righteous­ness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil—That original sin, in every person born into this world, deserves GOD'S WRATH AND DAMNATION—That every man by nature is in this state, without power to turn and prepare himself, to do good works acceptable to God. I believe, that it is only through the righteousness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that any are accounted righteous before God—That our own works and deservings have no hand at all in pro­curing God's favour, no causal influence upon a sinner's justification in the sight of God; but that we are justified, pardoned and accounted righteous through faith only, as apprehending and applying the merits and righteousness of Jesus [...] Saviour. I believe good works to be the fruits of faith, and they are the effects (not the cause) of justifi­cation; that our persons are justified before our works can [Page 21] be accepted: and that till a person is justified by faith, ac­tually possessed of the grace of Christ, and really inspired by the Holy Spirit, he doth not, he cannot please God. I believe the inspiration of the Holy Ghost as necessary to spi­ritual life, as breath is to natural life; for as the body without breath is dead, so, whoever is not INSPIRED by the Spirit of Christ, is dead to God, and the things of God.

Now, this is my religion, this is the religion of the Bi­ble, the christian religion, the protestant faith, the religion of the Church of England: Is it yours? No; you say this is all madness, ENTHUSIASM! Very well; now you are at liberty to chuse your system of religion; but pretend no longer to be a minister or member of the CHURCH; you have no right; for remember, you give up, you deny, you explode her essential doctrines; and the very quintessence of Christianity, the plain truths of the Bible you are pleased to treat with con­tempt. The happy privileges which Christ hath pur­chased for, and doth enrich all true Christians with, you are pleased to look on only as religious madness and delusion. And yet, how amazingly inconsistent your principles! What a scene of absurdity and con­tradiction is your practice! At church, in the words of our Church prayers, you ask and beseech God to bestow those very blessings upon you, which you only esteem as the flights of phrenzy, and term inexplicable feelings, and the disorders of a distempered brain. Alas, Sir, where is that sober reason and cool argument you pretend to? Where that candour of judgment and just determination you talk of? Let who will be deceived, you are wrong: your public profession and practice give full evidence against you; and by them you are condemned.

What then, bretheren, avails all your contending for the Church, and calling yourselves members thereof? Do you value yourselves because you have not left your parish church, changed your religion, and turned metho­dists? [Page 22] Poor deluded professors! not changed your reli­gion you say? Alas, you have your religion still to seek: you only profess—you know not what: you have only a name to live, while you are dead, dead to God and to the things that make for eternal peace. I wish you calmly to consider these things. May the Lord, in mercy to your precious souls, open your eyes to see that hitherto you have assumed a name, which in no wise belongs to you, and rested in the mere shadow and pro­fession of Christianity only; while you to this day remain utterly ignorant of the truths of the Gospel in your un­derstanding, and destitute of the experience of any saving influences of them on your hearts and lives. Miserable state! unhappy delusion! And yet, to treat with con­tempt persons who act a far wiser and more consistent part than yourselves, is surely strange and absurd indeed!

Would to God my friends, yea the worst enemies I have, would for their own sakes lay these things to heart now. Then would they no longer fight against and op­pose the precious truths of the Gospel, which the glo­rious company of the Apostles taught, and the noble army of Martyrs sealed with their blood; which the Church still maintains, and every true Christian is happy in the experience of. But whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, animated by these considera­tions, I am in nothing terrified by adversaries; I am content, yea I rejoice, that I am counted worthy to be a despised servant, and follower of a despised Lord and Saviour. To be owned and confessed by the King of Saints, the Lord of Life and Glory, the Judge of quick and dead, and at a time too when the eternal state of every soul is suspended upon the breath of his determi­nation; when those who have been ashamed of Christ denied him and his words—are calling for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them to cover them from eternal and insupportable wrath; I say, then to be owned with approbation by God, before angels, men, and de­vils; [Page 23] surely this thought is enough, and it makes me ready to welcome reproach, and triumph in disgrace for Christ and his Gospel's sake.

The being branded with the so much dreaded name of a METHODIST, is to me but little. A Methodist! why, really, 'tis a simple, inoffensive name, and I don't see any reason to be ashamed of it; for I have often thought, (and it is well worth notice) that the world don't usually fix this appellation upon persons of an openly wicked and scandalously sinful life. Hence a gaming, pleasure-taking, playhouse-frequenting person, one who lives in debauchery and excess of drinking, is sure to escape the name.

Nor has a minister that name given him, who (not­withstanding his solemn declarations, subscriptions, and oaths to assent to and abide by the articles of our Church) preaches contrary to them, contends for justification by works instead of faith, is an enemy to the doctrine of imputed righteousness, and from whose sermons you too seldom hear the name of Jesus, or the agency and in­fluence of the Holy Spirit, unless utterly to deny, in­veigh against and explode all spiritual inspiration and in­ward feelings: these, and such sort of preachers escape the imputation of methodism.

Now, reader, what dost thou think of such? I ap­peal to thee, to every honest mind, to every unpreju­diced judgment to determine whether a worse name doth not properly belong to them?

Well, since it is plain that to be in principle and prac­tice contrary to the ignorant, formal, sinful, antichristian ministers and professors of the age, and to abide by and contend for the orthodox articles of our Church, are thought sufficient to constitute a person a methodist; per­mit me, reader, here to present thee with the just and plain description of what the world mean by a methodist.

‘He is one whom God hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, to deliver from curse and damnation, and [Page 24] to bring, by Christ, to everlasting salvation: he is called according to God's purpose, by his Spirit working in due season; he, through grace, obeys the calling; he is justified freely; he is made a son of God by adop­tion; he FEELS in himself the workings of the Spirit of Christ ^* mortifying the works of the flesh, and his earthly members, and drawing up his mind on high and heavenly things; he is made like the image of Christ, walks religiously in good works, and at length by God's mercy attains everlasting felicity.’

O happy methodist! Blessed description! Those who chuse to give a better are at their liberty; for my part, I am tenaciously fond of our Church language, and there­fore have transcribed a part of the XVIIth Article.

Why, this is predestination indeed! Yes, my brethe­ren; and with this and the foregoing articles, the Litany and Public Offices of our Church do perfectly harmo­nize, as I here instance:

"And make thy chosen people joyful." (Suffrages.)

‘O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed.’ (2d Collect at Evening Prayer.)

‘That it may please thee to illuminate all bishops, priests and deacons, with true knowledge and under­standing of thy word"—"That it may please thee to give us an heart to love and dread thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments"—"That it may please thee to give to all thy people increase of grace, to hear meekly thy word, and to receive it with pure [Page 25] affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit"— That it may please thee to give us true repentance.’ (Litany.)

[Page 26]We now perceive that the doctrine of Election is fairly deducible from the Liturgy; let us see what the fathers say about it.

Archbishop Cranmer (who certainly had a principal hand in the reformation) in the preface to his book against Bishop Gardiner, writes thus: ‘Our Saviour Christ, according to the will of his eternal Father, when the time thereof was fully accomplished, tak­ing our nature upon him, came into the world from the high throne of his Father, to give light to them that were in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to preach and give pardon and full remission of sins to all his elected.’

Bishop Latimer, another of the reformers, is more express on this point. His words will help to illustrate those of Cranmer. ‘If thou art desirous to know whether thou art chosen to everlasting life, begin with Christ, and learn to know Christ; and try thyself whether thou art in the book of life or not.’ (Ser­mon on Septuagesima.

In the same discourse he says, ‘What need I to mortify my body with abstaining from all sin and wickedness? I perceive God hath chosen some, and some are rejected: Now, if I be in the number of the chosen, I cannot be damned; but if I be accounted among the condemned number, then I cannot be saved; for God's judgments are immutable. Such foolish and wicked reasons some have, which bring them either to carnal liberty, or to desperation.’— And in another discourse he says, ‘We read in the Acts of the Apostles, that when St. Paul had made a long sermon at Antioch, there believed (saith the Evangelist) as many as were ordained to eternal life. With the which saying a great number of people have been offended, and have said, We perceive that those only shall come to believe, and so to everlasting life, which are chosen of God unto it; and therefore [Page 27] it is no matter whatsoever we do; for if we be chosen to everlasting life, we shall have it.—And so they have opened a door to themselves of all wickedness and car­nal liberty, against the true meaning of the scripture.’

That Dr. Ridley, another reformer, supposed re­demption to be limited to a certain number, the follow­ing passage clearly evinces: ‘The death and passion of Christ our Saviour was, and is, the one, only, suffi­cient, and everlasting availing Sacrifice, SATISFAC­TORY FOR ALL THE ELECT OF GOD, from Adam the first, to the last that shall be born in the end of the world.’ See Fox, vol. iii. p. 440.

It may perhaps be unnecessary to inform the reader, that these, with Philpot, Hooper, Bradford, Rogers, Saunders, and Taylor, among the ancients, were mar­tyrs—were the same in opinion, and severally sealed the truths they professed with their blood. Among the greatest of our modern ministers who professed this doctrine, may be numbered Hervey, Romaine, New­ton, Berridge, Foster, Scott, Whitefield, Coetlogan, and Jones. ^*

The doctrine of absolute predestination to life is at present little understood—‘It has been so grossly mis­represented, and loaded with such horrid consequences, that by far the greater part of professing Christians will not give it a patient hearing. The very mention of it will fill their hearts with indignation, and their mouths with harsh expressions; which have been re­ceived without consideration, and being repeated often, are supposed to be true, and so pass for solid, conclusive arguments. What! would you make God the author of sin? Can you suppose an infinitely merciful Being made so many creatures to be damned? What does it signify then how we live? for if we are to be damned we shall be damned, let us live ever so well; and if we [Page 28] are to be saved we shall be saved, let us live ever so vilely. These, and the like absurdities, are ever ready to be poured out against it. On the other hand, the article says, They which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, viz. of being predestinated to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour; they be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ; they walk religiously in good works: So that they who are pre­destinated to salvation, are likewise predestinated to holiness. The Apostle says, 'God hath chosen us in him (Christ), that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.' Ephes. i. 4. 'God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit.' 2 Thess. ii. 13. They therefore who do not walk religiously in good works, deceive themselves, and wrest the scriptures to their own destruction, if they suppose they are predes­tinated to everlasting life, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And they who, through faith in Christ, do walk religiously in good works, have not the least reason to imagine they are not predestinated, or shall be damned; because they are walking in the way which God hath appointed that all shall walk in, whom he hath chosen to everlasting salvation.’

‘That there is an absolute, unconditional predes­tination of certain persons to eternal life, is abun­dantly evident from the scriptures, and sufficiently proved by the passages lately mentioned. It may not, however, be improper to add a few more. 'To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them of whom it is pre­pared of my father.' Matt. xx. 23. 'Fear not, lit­tle flock; for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' Luke xii. 32. 'I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish; nei­ther shall any pluck them out of my hand.' John [Page 29] x. 28. 'Having predestinated us unto the adop­tion of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace.' Ephes. i. 5, 6. 'Who hath saved us, and called us by an holy calling not accord­ing to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.' 2 Tim. i. 9. 'God hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy.' Ephes. i. 4. 'As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.'’ Acts xiii. 48.

Indeed, if a proper attention be paid to the doctrines contained in the articles, we shall find that these things must be so.—‘For if we bring into the world such a corrupt nature, as deserveth God's wrath and dam­nation (Art. IX.)—if the condition of man after the fall is such that he cannot, in his own strength, turn unto faith and calling upon God (Art. X.)—if be­fore we are justified and made partakers of that grace, which will assuredly end in eternal glory; all that we are apt to call good works, are not pleasant and acceptable to God, do not make us meet to receive his grace, but have the nature of sin." (Art. XIII.)— How is it possible that any man should be saved, un­less God had ordained him to eternal life? But if God hath predestinated some to eternal life and not others, is there not injustice with him? By no means; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The depravity of our nature deserveth God's wrath and damnation: so that if he had left the whole human race to perish, there would have been no injustice in him, for all deserved to perish. An instance of which vindictive, unrelenting justice, we have in the case of the fallen angels—Not one of those many myriads of once glorious beings will be saved—Not one of them ever had, or will have the discovery of mercy made to him. Instead, there­fore, [Page 30] of arraigning the Almighty of severity or in­justice in suffering perhaps the greater part of man­kind to perish in their sins; we should extol that mercy by which he hath predestinated so many mil­lions to eternal life, to the adoption of children, to the praise of the glory of his grace; when he might justly have left them to perish as well as others, since they had as justly deserved it.’

‘This frightful doctrine then of predestination a­mounts to this: All mankind are by nature children of wrath—without strength—enmity against God. The Almighty, who foresaw this would be the con­sequence of the fall, decreed from everlasting to de­liver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ to everlasting salvation, and to leave the rest to perish in their sins. When a king has sub­dued his rebellious subjects, he grants a free pardon to some, and orders others for execution. Can you conceive he is guilty of injustice in ordering some for death when they have deserved it? Are you not rather inclined to commend his clemency in sparing some who have deserved to die? Consider mankind as fallen in Adam, and the case is exactly parallel. Unless you choose to look upon this as an exception, that of all who have heard the Gospel of Christ, none will be found in the number of those who were not predestinated to eternal life, but such as have wil­fully rejected the counsel of God against themselves.’

These four last sections are from a publication en­titled, ‘A Review of the Doctrines of the Reforma­tion, &c. by Thomas Bowman, M. A.’ The man­ner in which he enumerates the several subjects treated of in the work, is remarkable, and full to the present purpose in his own words: ‘We may now perceive that the reformers were Calvinists (as Bishop Burnet observed) in the sublapsarian hypothesis—That the Ar­ticles, Homilies, and Liturgy, are Calvinistical— [Page 31] That the divines who succeeded the reformers, and their successors, were [...]—That for fifty years after the articles had received the parliamentary sanc­tion, (and almost ten years before they had been agreed upon in convocation by the archbishops, bishops, and the clergy) the two universities, the archbishops and bishops, and an ecclesiastical representative, unani­mously declared on all occasions, that Calvinism was the doctrine of the Church of England—That, for a long time after that period, whenever Arminianism shewed its head, it was publicly opposed and con­demned by those in power, as being contrary to the established religion—and that, when some of our bi­shops publicly countenanced it, they were resolutely opposed by parliament on that account, and declared to be enemies to their country—and moreover, an archbishop was brought to the bar, condemned and executed, among other things, for introducing Armi­nianism. We have seen likewise, that the plea that the Church drew up the articles with such latitude, that persons of different persuasions might subscribe them, is impossible to be true, and is even contradicted by their title, which says, that they were agreed upon to avoid diversities of opinion, and to establish con­sent touching true religion.’

There is perhaps no occasion to proceed farther on this subject. By looking back to what has been said, we may see the consistency of this doctrine—how agree­able it is to scripture, our articles, ^* and Liturgy!— that the contrary may be said of the ARMINIAN tenets, which are now held out for our belief, and so strenu­ously advocated by most of our present ministers!—and lastly, what pains were taken by government and en­thusiastic ministers to hinder the introduction of the latter into the Church.

[Page 32]Here is enthusiasm indeed! Tell me, ye blinded by prejudice, ye heated by resentment, ye pretended mini­sters and members of our Church, tell, prove to the world, if you can, wherein such ministers in the Church, as you are pleased to term methodistical and enthusiastic, have departed from, or advanced any one tenet, con­trary to the articles of our Church! If they have, look them in the face, and by the judgment and determina­tion of the scripture and articles, correct and refute them, and her true friends will applaud you.

But if not, how mean and despicable is it to attempt to load them with odium and contempt behind their backs? Is it their crime to be so unpolite as to make conscience of their oaths and subscriptions, and to preach and abide by the excellent apostolic doctrines of our Church? Is it for their love to, and zeal for the salva­tion of precious and immortal souls? Is it because the sheep know their voice, and follow them as true shep­herds, therefore do the hirelings hate, contemn, and despise them? Weep, O my soul, in secret before the Lord, on account of that opposition to the Gospel of Jesus, and unkindness to his ministers!—Rejoice, O my soul! Be thankful, O my fellow-sinners, to the great shepherd and bishop of souls, in thus caring for, and sending forth these best friends, truest sons, and most faithful ministers of our Church!

And blessed be the name of the Lord, for enduing them with that spirit of boldness and constancy, where­by they declare the whole counsel of God, no man making them afraid. I know, and am persuaded, all that love our Lord Jesus in sincerity, will feel the warmth of zeal and fervent affection to all true faithful ministers of Christ, and will, (as I do from my heart) honour, reve­rence, and esteem them highly in love for their work's sake.

It matters very little to hear many crying out enthu­siasm! Reader, notice that man, he is parson of — Church; and lest the people should be seduced and de­ceived [Page 33] by hearing the doctrines of the Church of Eng­land preached, he appears unwilling and indifferent to the true ministers of Christ, when they want to make use of his pulpit;^* but on the contrary, permits those whose public and private carriage are deemed indecent and unbecoming, repeatedly to ascend the sacred place, and to preach doctrines which their practices deny, or to discuss subjects which are altogether unscriptural, and of course unsuitable.

An Enthusiast! What is it? It is the cant-word of the day for the many-headed monster, the bugbear of the times, thrown out in order to deter and affright weak and inconsiderate people from arriving at a know­ledge of the truths of Christianity. Most of the true ministers of our Church are now called enthusiasts. By this name they stand distinguished from lazy drones and unedifying dry-vines. But, reader, when thou hearest of a minister whom others call an enthusiast, don't suf­fer this to prejudice thee against him; assure thyself he is worth attending to; take my advice, if possible, hear him for thyself▪ adve [...] to thy Bible, and attend to the articles of our Church, and if thou hast any relish for the truths of the [...], and the doctrines of the other, I warrant thee thou wilt not be disappointed.

Ah! says a constant church-goer, ‘I heard one of these preachers at our Church lately, where he preach­ed such a sermon about conversion, the new-birth, justification by faith in Jesus Christ, inspiration, and sanctification of the Spirit, and a heap of such—I know not what!—aye, and he said downright, that all unconverted people were in a state of damnation, and that nothing could save them from hell, but be­lieving on the Lord Jesus; he really turned the pa­rish [Page 34] upside down, for we are never used to such sort of doctrine; no, not we. But in the afternoon, our parson preached a sermon against all such doctrines, for he is an enemy to all such preachers and their principles; and though he was but little more than a quarter of an hour in his sermon, yet he paid them off about their inspiration and faith, &c. and made us all easy again too: O, he's a pleasing man! He told us, We were in no danger of going to hell, and that there was no fear of our being damned, for we are all very good christians, if we but pay every one their own, and do as we would be done by.’

Surely at this day, is that word fulfilled, THE PRO­PHETS PROPHESY FALSELY, AND THE PEOPLE LOVE TO HAVE IT SO. For truly, reader, the preaching of too many who call themselves ministers of our Church, is more like heathenish morality than scriptural christia­nity.

If by an enthusiast is meant a deceiver, one that fan­cies himself and pretends to be what in reality he is not; I declare to you, reader, I do not know a worse sort of enthusiasm, nor a more dangerous set of enthusiasts and deceivers (deceivers both of themselves and others; let common sense and right reason determine the point) than those ministers, who solemnly profess to be inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost; pretend to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at their ordination; assent, subscribe, and swear to the articles of our Church, in which the necessity of inspirarion is so strongly insisted on; use the most excellent form of our Church Liturgy; con­stantly pray to God for the inspiration, guidance, and operations of the Holy Spirit: and yet after all this, (O dreadful hypocrisy before God! O amazing soul de­lusion!) can jest, jeer at, and ridicule all spiritual influ­ences, and inward operations; and contemn the honest, faithful ministers of our Church; for what? Why, only because they preach consistent with the avowed [Page 35] tenets of that Church they profess themselves ministers of, and plainly declare such doctrines as their Articles, Homilies and Liturgy fully set forth. Surely an honest heathen would blush at such behaviour. No wonder such are so much despised and set at nought, who make themselves by their absurdity so contemptible in the sight of men.

But it is urged against our truly reverend and Gospel-ministers, ‘That they are not content with the com­mon and ordinary operations of the Spirit, but they talk of and contend for the extraordinary and mira­culous gifts of the Holy Ghost; therefore they are enthusiasts.’ This is false; they neither expect, nor see any necessity for the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost: But they contend (agreeable to scripture) for the promised inward gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, to enlighten, convince, convert, and make happy the true Christian, by his indwelling witness and comfortable presence to the soul.

Neither are their pretensions to inspiration ‘un­grounded and unwarranted, (as some object) and there­fore say they are enthusiasts.’ This kind of pre­tension may be reduced to two sorts, for matter and for manner. For matter, when persons pretend to inspira­tion of God for things contrary to scripture, which God hath given us as a standing rule to the world's end. But our ministers pretend to no such inspiration; seeing they constantly inculcate the doctrines of our Church which are agreeable to scripture: yea they preach such inspiration only which the word of God promises to every true Christian. Therefore they are not enthusiasts.— For manner, when inspirations are expected to exclude and supercede the use of reason, scripture, and all divine ordinances. Such as pretend to these are proper enthusiasts. But other, our faithful and orthodox mi­nisters preach the rational scripture doctrines of the Gospel only. They don't set up heathen morality instead [Page 36] of christian practices, nor do they teach man's natural ability, to the exclusion of God's divine grace, nor ex­alt the works and righteousness of sinful man, in order to supercede and set at nought the meritorious sacrifice and righteousness of Jesus Christ. No: but they in­sist on the reasonableness of being endued with spiritual life, and spiritual power, in order to produce spiritual actions; they scripturally teach, that faith, and every other good gift and grace is of the Spirit's inspiration; and they therefore direct souls to diligent attendance, and constant waiting on the ordinances, and to esteem them as channels whereby God is usually pleased to inspire the soul with fresh supplies of divine grace and spiritual influences. Therefore they are not enthusiasts.

By men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, all these ancient doctrines of the Bible and our Church, are now deemed new doctrines; the preachers of them are railed against as innovators, and some are bold to as­sert, ‘that they draw the people away from the Church and cause schism.’ ^*—If it be schism to attend the preaching of our avowed doctrines (contained in the thirty-nine Articles) in another Church, I fear that to turn schismatic is now the only way left of ever hear­ing them preached.

It is a common observation, that our churches are worse attended than most others in the city; while, on the contrary, it [...] obvious (even to an offence to some) that at whatever place of worship the faithful Gospel-ministers preach, numerous and crowded congregations attend: And to what may it justly be imputed? Truth is really a very desirable thing, and never more so than when religion is concerned. The case is plainly this: When a person is not content to take up his religion upon trust, but reads with attention and discernment [Page 37] the word of God, compares the doctrines of our Church with the Bible, and observes the great and fundamental truths therein contained, either very seldom preached, not preached at all, or, what is worse, openly inveighed against, denied, and exploded;^* such as the insufficiency of works to justify the sinner; the merits and righteous­ness of the Lord Jesus, and justification through the same by faith; the necessity of inward holiness and sanctification by the Holy Spirit, &c.—I say, when a person sees the weight and importance of these sacred truths, it is the very delight of his soul to hear them preached; he abides by the doctrines of the Church of England, not by profession merely, but through princi­ple chiefly. And it is easy to be accounted for that he takes some pains to follow the voice of the Church, and to attend the sound of her doctrines at other churches; and that he thinks it an unhappiness he can't hear them preached at his own.

Now, Doctor, you say 'tis wrong, and you blame people for going away from their own parish churches; but is it not worse for you to forsake your own Church doctrines? 'Tis true, there are many who forsake the stone walls and buildings of their old churches: But why? For this good reason; because their late ministers have departed from the truths of the Gospel, and the constituent principles and established doctrines of our Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy; and pray now who is in fault? Not those ministers who preach the doc­trines of the Church of England, those who have been the means more particularly of their ability to distinguish between the pure and impure doctrines offered them, nor those who are so attached to the same as to follow them; but those who drive them away from their own parish churches by preaching contrary to the venerable scripture truths, and cannot be content with the religion [Page 38] of their forefathers, the doctrines of the reformation, but must broach some new-fangled tenets; who cry out peace! peace! when there is no peace, and preach only the poor, dry, unavailing system of heathenish morali­ty, instead of the lively, animating, powerful, truly moralizing truths of the Gospel.

Therefore let Clericus, and his bretheren, who are so often haranguing against schism and separation, know, that the schism reverberates, and the charge of separa­tion recoils back upon themselves, while they are guilty of schism in doctrine, and cause divisions in the Church by separating from the precious truths, the avowed tenets of our excellent establishment. Say, are these friends to the Church? rather, are they not its greatest enemies? Yes, notwithstanding their pretended zeal for the Church, 'tis from such as these that she is in danger.^*

But, there is one expedient, which, from my hearty zeal for our Church, and warm affection to the Clergy, I would humbly recommend to them—(O that they may be influenced to put it in practice!)—It is this, to preach constantly, maintain steadily, and inculcate fer­vently the established doctrines of our Church, the glo­rious truths of the reformation. Now, who would think there could be any objection to this method? Nay, there can be none; and I am sure it will be prac­tised by those who really believe their bibles, and have [Page 39] so much conscience as to think solemn promises, oaths, and subscriptions are binding and obligatory upon them.

O, may the Lord of the harvest increase the number of such faithful, conscientious labourers! for from such a practice, what blessed effects would follow! Ignorant professors would be instructed in the saving doctrines of the Gospel; the true members of our Church would be established in the truth as it is in Jesus, and preserved from being misled by error and perverted by delusion; a glorious spirit of reformation would soon overspread our land, and true religion, and the practice of morality and good works, would much more abound.

O happy period! a time, how much to be desired! May the God of Truth and Power hasten it for his mercy's sake!