letters, is alone, permitted to give them fanction and currency. This ought not however to difcourage him; for fome will receive them, and profit by them, so far as what he has written may convey the mind of the Spirit, and borrow a living influence from the revealed teftimonies of his will. And the objection of their being chiefly patronized by the poor and illiterate, is, he conceives, no real diminution of their value, and no admiffible plea for rejecting them, fo long as they live in the Bible, and are recommended by their happy influence on thousands; fome of whom, we may add, are perfons of diftinguifhed eminence in the literary world. It is fome fatisfaction too, to reflect, that what has the authority of this book can never be rendered contemptible in the eyes of true wifdom, however infignificant the writer, and wants not the commendation of other wisdom to give it approbation with God, or credit with his Saints: But,, he will venture further to add, that fo far as this is the cafe with the following: Sections, however they may be repugnant to the pre-vailing fpirit and maxims of the world, by whose. opinion multitudes find it convenient and beneficial to be ruled, to reject them is to deny them, and to deny them to defpife Him whofe truths they are, and who is bound to fee them fulfilled for the prefervation of his own honour and dignity, whether the finner will believe and refpect them or not. Let the fcorner take care then, not how he flight the writer, but how he treat with indifference and contempt what is written, which has the countenance of the lively Oracles of God; for if this conduct be not chargeable with a fatal criminality, the Bible is a vague, indeterminate book, and the infidel juftifiable in difcarding it. The notes which occur it was hoped might help to relieve the mind under the tedious famenefs of question and anfwer, and at the fame time illuftrate and enforce the feveral fubjects they contain; and the notice now and then of texts in the original language of the Scriptures, the author hopes will not be deemed unneceffary pedantry and useless affectation, as they may now and then elucidate fome Scriptures to the common reader without perplexing him.-The remarks on Infant Baptism at the close, as they were defigned to fuit perfons of this defcription, are attempted in a brief, intelligible form; and he flatters himself will be found to contain fome of the leading arguments in favour of this practice, without giving the fmalleft offence to his brethren of the contrary perfuafion: an infelicity he would be unwilling and forry to occafion, and as glad to avoid. : As to the free ufe of the Book of Common Prayer, and other detached parts of the Established Church, it occurs by way of support and vindication of the author's principles to fome of this Communion and it may perhaps fuffice for an apology, to those who may expect one, that the Providence of God had called him to labour among perfons of this defcription, and to fuch it is that his labours have been chiefly ufeful. He is free to acknowledge alfo, that the line of feparation between us, does not, at prefent, appear to him to be of so much importance, as to require an irreconcileable diftance from that Church, much lefs an illiberal abuse of it. Tho' he be known under the denomination of a Diffenter, he does not think himself called to be a fierce one and to be able to make that distinction fubferve the intereft of Chrift, from the principles on which an afpired Apostle acted (1 Cor. ix. 20.) is, in his opinion, an acquifition worth coveting. The form of found words, contained in the Liturgy, &c. have the author's perfect approbation, and his readers, who may constantly use them in their worship, will be able to obferve this in his frequent references to them, and quotations from them; how much alfo, his leading fentiments are juftified upon the footing of their own profeffion, and how little caufe he has to fear an examination of them by the book of their own faith. A blind, bigoted attachment, however, to the forms and ceremonies of this Church, which has no fupport, fanction or plea but cuftom and ufe, and which will not fuffer us to profit equally without them, he has obferved, he thinks, with much concern. Such an attachment he conceives to be as oppofite to the fpirit of a Chriftian, and inimical to the increase of real religion, as it is repugnant to reafon and good fenfe: and a wish to fupprefs its pernicious influence, fuggefted the expedient of making quotations from them, and fubjoining fome remarks upon them. He is fenfible, if this were effected, one great and fuccessful en gine of Satan to preserve the mind in a state of fatal ignorance, would be deftroyed; the first principles of grace, which pervade the whole Liturgy, be valued and fought every where, where they could be found; and none of them be fo fhamefully concealed or perverted, fo obviously misunderstood, fo flatly denied, and fo bitterly oppofed by many, who profefs a tenacious regard for the book which contains them; the prayers themselves be repeated with much more truth and fincerity, and the main doctrines of the Homilies and Articles, the very fupporters of the Church, be subfcribed with much lefs diffimulation, and with much more integrity and uprightnefs, by not a few, who owe all their diftinction, and authority in that Communion, to their having folemnly engaged to defend them."* Heu! Tantamne rem, tam impie, agere! He might The Articles and Homilies are our grand bulwarks against Popery: They contain all the fundamental truths of the reformation; having been compiled by the Archbishops and Bishops in the reigns of King Edward the Sixth, and of Queen Elizabeth; and no Minister can be ordained in the Church of England, without making the most folemn declaration and subscription, That he believes them from his heart (ex animo) to be perfectly agreeable to the Word of God; and that he will never preach any other doctrine than that which is contained in them; and every Clergyman who does preach any other doctrine, is liable to be excommunicated and fufpended by the Bishop, until he repent of his wicked error. See Canon 5th." Yet is it the zealous preaching of these very doctrines (whether in or out of the Church) and their happy effect might then naturally expect to fee the flavish fetters of religious custom drop; and a spirit of bigotry, and party-zeal, confined to a comparatively narrow compass of existence, give place to a more expanded, catholic, and fcriptural one; and the trite, filly reafon for attending a place of worship, to wit, of keeping to what we were brought up, exchanged for one abundantly lefs futile, and infinitely more important, namely, the benefit and edification of the mind; if not in all, at leaft in enew to afford him the pleafing fatisfaction of his not having appealed to the volume of their belief in vain. The more intelligent reader will readily perceive the author makes no pretenfions to fine thoughts or elegant diction: he has indeed had little temptation, in the following pages, to attempt them. He wished to have fomething more interefting in view. To render his meaning intelligible to an ordinary capacity, was, in his account (fo far as language is concerned) an object worth aiming at, but which he dare not say he has perfectly, or even with full fatisfaction to himself, acquired. effect on the minds and conduct of fome, which is reviled and defamed as Methodism, Enthusiasm, &c. But by whom?" Highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power"-"Thefe also refift the truth; men of corrupt minds-For the time will come when they will not endure found doctrine."-2 Tim. iii. 4, 5. iv. 3. |