God is merciful to him, a sinner, that he is reconciled through the Son of his love. He clearly perceives both the pardoning love of God and all his exceeding great and precious promises. God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined, and doth shine in his heart, to enlighten him with the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. All the darkness is now passed away, and he abides in the light of God's countenance.

"His ears are now opened, and the voice of God no longer calls in vain. He hears, and obeys the heavenly calling: he knows the voice of his Shepherd. All his spiritual senses being now awakened, he has a clear intercourse with the invisible world. And hence he knows more and more of the things which before it could not enter into his heart to conceive.' He now knows what the peace of God is: what is joy in the Holy Ghost, what the love of God which is shed abroad in the hearts of them that believe in him through Christ Jesus. Thus the veil being removed, which before intercepted the light and voice, the knowledge and love of God, he who is born of the Spirit, dwelling in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him."-Wesley's Works, vol. vii. p. 268.

NOTE VII. Page 79.

He entangled himself in Contradictions.

"The expression being born again, was not first used by our Lord in his conversation with Nicodemus. It was in common use among the Jews when our Saviour appeared among them. When an adult heathen was convinced that the Jewish religion was of God, and desired to join therein, it was the custom to baptize him first, before he was admitted to circumcision. And when he was baptized, he was said to be born again; by which they meant, that he who was before a child of the devil, was now adopted into the family of God, and accounted one of his children.”—Vol. vii. p. 296. Yet in the same sermon, Wesley affirms, "that Baptism is not the New Birth, that they are not one, and the same thing. Many indeed seem to imagine that they are just the same; at least they speak as if they thought so; but I do not know that this opinion is publicly avowed, by any deno mination of Christians whatever. Certainly it is not by any within these kingdoms, whether of the Established Church or dissenting from it. The judgment of the latter is clearly declared in their large catechism: "Q. What are the parts of a Sacrament? A. The parts of a Sacrament are two; the one an outward and sensible sign, the other an inward and spiritual grace signified Q. What is Baptism? A. Baptism is a sacrament, wherein Christ hath ordained the washing with water to be a sign and seal of regeneration by his Spirit." Here it is manifest, baptism, the sign, is spoken of as distinct from regeneration, the thing signified."

Where was Wesley's logic? or where his fairness? Can any thing be more evident, than that this catechism describes regeneration as the inward and spiritual grace, and the act of baptism (sprinkling or immersion) as the outward and visible sign. What follows is as bad.

"In the Church Catechism likewise, the judgment of our Church is declared with the utmost clearness. Q. What meanest thou by this word Sacrament? A. I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. Q. What is the outward part or form in baptism? A. Water, wherein the person is baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Q. What is the inward parts, or thing signified? A. A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness. Nothing therefore is plainer, than that, according to the church of England, baptism is not the New Birth."

I do not believe that an instance of equal blindness or disingenuity (whichever it may be thought) can be found in all the other parts of Wesley's works. So plain is it that the words of the catechism mean precisely what Wesley affirms they do not mean, that in the very next page, he contradicts himself in the clearest manner, and says, "it is certain our church supposes, that all who are baptized in their infancy, are at the same time born again. And it is allowed, that the whole office for the baptism of infants, proceeds upon this supposition. Nor is it an objection of any weight against this, that we cannot comprehend how this work can be wrought in infants." Vol. vii. p. 302.

NOTE VIII. Page 80.

Instantaneous Conversion.

"An observation," says Toplady, "which I met with in reading Downmane's Christian Warfare, struck me much: speaking of the Holy Spirit as the sealer of the Elect, he asks, how is it possible to receive the seal without feeling the impression."

"Lord," says Fuller in one of his Scripture observations, “I read of my Saviour, that when he was in the wilderness, then the devil leaveth him, and behold angels came and ministered unto him. A great change in a little time. No twilight betwixt night and day. No purgatory condition betwixt hell and heaven, but instantly, when out devil, in angel. Such is the case of every solitary soul. It will make company for itself. A musing mind will not stand neuter a minute, but presently side with legions of good or bad thoughts. Grant, therefore, that my soul, which ever will have some, may never have bad company."

NOTE IX. Page 81.

Salvation not to be sought by Works.

This doctrine is stated with perilous indiscretion in one of the Moravian hymns.

When any, through a beam of light,

Can see and own they are not right,
But enter on a legal strife,

Amend their former course of life,

And work, and toil, and sweat from day to day,

Such, to their Saviour, quite mistake the way.

NOTE X. Page 81.
Faith.

In Methodistical and mystical biography, the reader will sometimes be reminded of these lines in Ovid.

VOL. II.

In prece totus eram, cælestia numina sensi,
Lataque purpurea luce refulsit humus.
Non equidem vidi (valeant mendacia vatum!)
T Dea; nec fueras adspicienda viro,
Sed qua nescieram, quorumque errore tenebar,
Cognita sunt nullo præcipiente mihi.

33

Ovid, Fast. vi. 251-254

D

NOTE XI. Page 84.
Assurance.

There is a good story of assurance in Belknap's History of New-Hampshire. "A certain captain John Underhill, in the days of Puritanism, affirmed, that having long lain under a spirit of bondage, he could get no assurance; till at length, as he was taking a pipe of tobacco, the Spirit set home apon him an absolute promise of free grace, with such assurance and joy, that he had never since doubted of his good estate, neither should he, whatever sins he might fall into. And he endea voured to prove, that as the Lord was pleased to convert Saul while he was persecuting, so he might manifest himself to him, while making a moderate use of the good creature tobacco" This was one of the things for which he was questioned and censured by the elders at Boston." Vol. i. p. 42.

"Another," says South, "flatters himself, that he has lived in full assurance of his salvation for teu, or twenty, or perhaps, thirty years; that is, in other words, the man has been ignorant and confident very long."

NOTE XIL Page 84.
Perfection.

The Gospel Magazine contains a likely anecdote concerning this curious doctrine. "A lady of my acquaintance," says the writer," had, in the early stage of her religious profession, very closely attached herself to a society of avowed Arminians, she had imbibed all their notions, and among the rest, that of sinless perfection. What she had been taught to believe attainable, she at last concluded she had herself attained as perfectly as any of the perfect class in Mr. Wesley's societies; and she accordingly went so far as to profess she had obtained what they call the "second blessing," that is, an eradication of all sin and a heart filled with nothing but pure and perfect love. A circumstance, however, not long after occurred, which gave a complete shock to her self-righteous presumption, as well as to the principles from whence it sprung. Her husband having one day contradicted her opinion and controlled her will, in a matter where he thought himself authorized to do both one and the other, the perfect lady felt herself so extremely angry, that, as she declared to me, she could have bosed his ears, and had great difficulty to refrain from some act declarative of the emotions of rising passion and resentment. Alarmed at what she felt, and not knowing how to account for such unhallowed sensations in a heart in which, as she thought, all sin had been done away, she ran for explanation to the leader of the perfect band. To her she related ingenuously, all that passed in the interview with her husband. The band leader, instructed in the usual art of administering consolation, though at the expense of truth and rectitude, replied, What you felt on that occasion, my dear, was nothing but a little animal nature! My friend being a lady of too much sense, and too much honesty to be imposed upon by such a delusory explanation, exclaimed, 'Animal nature! No; it was animal devil! From that moment she bid adieu to perfection, and its concomitant delusions, as well as to those who are led by them."

"Guat-strainers," says Toplady in one of his sermons, "are too often camel-swallowers; and the Pharisaical mantle of superstitious austerity is, very frequently, a cover for a cloven foot. Beware, then, of driving too furiously at first setting out. Take the cool of the day. Begin as you can hold on. I knew a lady, who, to prove herself perfect. ripped off her flounces, and would not wear an ear-ring, a necklace, a ring, or an inch of lace. Ruffles were Babylonish. Powder was Antichristian. A riband was carnal. A snuff-box smelt of the bottomless pit. And yet, under all this parade of outside humily, the fair ascetic was-but I forbear entering into particulars: suffice it to say, that she was a concealed Antinomian. And I have known too many similar instances."

NOTE XIII. Page 86.
Ministry of Angels.

Upon this subject Charles Wesley has thus expressed himself, in a sermon upon Psalm xci. 11. "He shall give his Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."

"By these perfections, strength, and wisdom, they are well able to preserve us either from the approach (if that be more profitable for us) or in the attack of any evil. By their wisdom they discern whatever either obstructs or promotes our real advantage; by their strength they effectually repel the one and secure a free course to the other: by the first, they choose means conducive to these ends; by the second, they put them in execution. One particular method of preserving good men, which we may reasonably suppose these wise beings sometimes choose, and by their strength put in execution, is the altering some material cause that would have a pernicious effect; the purifying (for instance) tainted air, which would otherwise produce a contagious distemper. And this they may easily do, either by increasing the current of it, so as naturally to cleanse its putridity; or, by mixing with it some other substance, so to correct its hurtful qualities, and render it salubrious to human bodies. Another method they may be supposed to adopt when their commission is not so general; when they are authorized to preserve some few persons from a common calamity. It then is probable that they do not alter the cause, but the subject on which it is to work; that they do not lessen the strength of the one, but increase that of the other. Thus, too, where they are not allowed to prevent, they may remove pain or sickness; thus the angel restored Daniel in a moment, when neither strength nor breath remained in him.

"By these means, by changing either our bodies or the material causes that use to affect them, they may easily defend us from all bodily evils, so far as is expedient for us. A third method they may be conceived to employ to defend us from spiritual dangers, by applying themselves immediately to the soul to raise or allay our passions; and indeed, this province seems more natural te them than either of the former. How a spiritual being can act upon matter, seems more unaccountable than how it can act on spirit; that one immaterial being, by touching another, should increase or lessen its motion; that an angel should retard or quicken the channel wherein the passions of angelic substance flow, no more excites our astonishment than that one piece of matter should have the same effect on its kindred substance; or that a flood-gate, or other material instrument, should affect the course of a river: rather, considering how contagious the nature of the pas sions is, the wonder is on the other side; not how they can avoid to affect him at all, but how they › can avoid affecting them more: how they can continue so near us, who are so subject to catch them, without spreading the flames which burn in themselves. And a plain instance of their power to allay human passions is afforded us in the case of Daniel, when he beheld that gloriously terrible minister, whose face was as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire; his arms and feet like polished brass, and his voice as the voice of a multitude,' x. 6.; when the tears and sorrows of the prophet were turned so strong upon him, that he was in a deep sleep, void of sense and motion. Yet this fear, these turbulent passions, the angel allayed in a moment; when they were

hurrying on with the utmost impetuosity, he checked them in their course; so that immediately after we find Daniel desiring the continuance of that converse which before he was utterly unable to sustain.

"The same effect was doubtless wrought on all those to whom these superior beings, on their first appearance, used this salutation-' Fear not;' which would have been a mere insult and cruel mockery upon human weakness, had they not, with that advice, given the power to follow it. Nearly allied to this method of influencing the passions, is the last I intend to mention, by which the angels (it is probable) preserve good men, especially in or from spiritual dangers. And this is by applying themselves to their reason, by instilling good thoughts into their hearts; either such as are good in their own nature, as tend to our improvement in virtue, or such as are contrary to the suggestions of flesh and blood, by which we are tempted to vice. It is not unlikely that we are indebted to them, not only for most of those reflections which suddenly dart into our minds, we know not how, having no connexion with any thing that went before them; but for many of those also, which seem entirely our own, and naturally consequent from the preceding."

NOTE XIV. Page 86.

Agency of evil Spirits.

"Let us consider," says Wesley, "what may be the employment of unholy spirits from death to the resurrection. We cannot doubt but the moment they leave the body, they find themselves surrounded by spirits of their own kind, probably human as well as diabolical. What power God may permit these to exercise over them, we do not distinctly know. But it is not improbable, he may suffer Satan to employ them, as he does his own angels, in inflicting death, or evils of various kinds, on the men that know not God. For this end, they may raise storms by sea or by land; they may shoot meteors through the air; they may occasion earthquakes; and, in numberless ways, afflict those whom they are not suffered to destroy. Where they are not permitted to take away life they may inflict various diseases: and many of these, which we may judge to be natural, are undoubtedly diabolical. I believe this is frequently the case with lunatics. It is observable, that many of these mentioned in Scripture, who are called lunatics by one of the Evangelists, are termed demoniacs by another. One of the most eminent physicians I ever knew, particularly in cases of insanity, the late Dr. Deacon, was clearly of opinion, that this was the case with many, if not with most lunatics. And it is no valid objection to this, that these diseases are so often cured by natural means; for a wound inflicted by an evil spirit, might be cured as any other; unless that spirit were permitted to repeat the blow.

"May not some of these evil spirits be likewise employed, in conjunction with evil angels, in tempting wicked men to sin, and in procuring occasions for them? Yea, and in tempting good men o sin, even after they have escaped the corruption that is in the world. Herein, doubtless, they put forth all their strength, and greatly glory if they conquer." Vol. xi. p. 31.

"The ingenious Dr. Cheyne," says one of Mr. Wesley's correspondents, "reckons all gloomy wrong-headedness and spurious free-thinking, so many symptoms of bodily diseases: and, I think, says, the human organs, in some nervous distempers, may, perhaps, be rendered fit for the actuation of demons: and advises religion as an excellent remedy. Nor is this unlikely to be my own case; for a nervous disease of some years' standing, rose to its height in 1748, and I was attacked in proportion, by irreligious opinions. The medicinal part of his advice, a vegetable diet, at last cured my dreadful distemper. It is natural to think the spiritual part of his advice equally good; and shall I neglect it, because I am now in health? God forbid!"-John Walsh, Arminian Magazine, vol. ii. p. 433.

NOTE XV. Page 88.
Immortality of Animals.

On this point Wesley's bitterest opponent agreed with him. "I will honestly confess," says Toplady, "that I never yet heard one single argument urged against the immortality of brutes, which, if admitted, would not, mutatis mutandis, be equally conclusive against the immortality of man."

NOTE XVI. Page 95.
Itinerancy.

There are some things in the system of the Methodists which very much resemble certain arrangements proposed by John Knox and his colleagues in the First Book of Discipline. "It was found necessary, says Dr. M'Crie, to employ some persons in extraordinary and temporary charges. As there was not a sufficient number of ministers to supply the different parts of the country, that the people might not be left altogether destitute of public worship and instruction, certain pious persons who had received a common education, were appointed to read the Scriptures and the Common Prayers. These were called Readers. In large parishes persons of this description were also employed to relieve the ministers from a part of the public service. If they advanced in knowledge they were encouraged to add a few plain exhortations to the reading of the Scriptures. In that case they were called Exhorters; but they were examined and admitted, before entering upon this employment.

"The same cause gave rise to another temporary expedient. Instead of fixing all the ministers in particular charges, it was judged proper, after supplying the principal towns, to assign to the rest the superintendence of a large district, over which they were appointed regularly to travel for the purpose of preaching, of planting churches, and inspecting the conduct of ministers, exborters, and readers. These were called Superintendents. The number originally proposed was ten; but owing to the scarcity of proper persons, or rather to the want of necessary funds, there were never more than six appointed. The deficiency was supplied by Commissioners or Visiters, appointed from time to time by the General Assembly."-Life of Knox, vol. ii. pp. 6, 7.

"We were not the first itinerant preachers in England," says Wesley, "twelve were appointed by Queen Elizabeth to travel.continually, in order to spread true religion through the kingdom. And the office and salary still continues, though their work is little attended to. Mr. Milner, late Vicar of Chipping, in Lancashire, was one of them."

Itinerant preaching (without referring to the obvious fact, that the first preachers of Christianity in any country must necessarily have been itinerant) is of a much earlier origin than Wesley has here supposed. It was the especial business of the Dominicans, and was practised by the other mendicant orders, and by the Jesuits. And it was practised long before the institution of these orders.

St. Cuthbert used to itinerate when he was abbot of Melrose, as his predecessor St. Boisil had done before him; and Bede tells us, that all persons eagerly flocked to listen to these preachers.

"Nec solum ipsi monasterio regularis vitæ monita, simul et exempla præbebat; sed et vulgus ciroumpositum longe lateque a vita stulta consuetudinis ad cœlestium gaudiorum convertere curabat amorem. Nam et multi fid i quam habebant, iniquis profanabant operibus; et aliqui etiam tempore mortalitatis neglectis fidei sacramentis (quibus erant imbuti) ad erratica idolatria medicamina concurrebant, quasi missam a Deo conditore plagam, per incantationes, vel philacteria, vel alia quælibet dæmoniaca artis arcana, cohibere valerent. Ad utrorumque ergo corrigendum errorem, crebro ipse de monasterio egressus, aliquotiens equo sedens, sed sæpius pedibus incedens, circumpositas veniebat ad villas, et viam veritatis prædicabat errantibus; quod ipsum etiam Boisil suo tempore facere consueverat. Erat quippe moris eo tempore populis Anglorum, ut veniente in villam clerico vel presbytero, cuncti ad ejus imperium, verbum audituri confluerent, libenter ea quæ dicerentur audirent, libentius ea quæ audire et intelligere poterant operando sequerentur.-Solebat autem ea maxime loca peragrare, et illis prædicare in viculis, qui in arduis asperisque montibus procul positi, aliis horrori erant ad visendum, et paupertate pariter ac rusticitate sua doctorum prohibebant accessum: quos tamen ille, pio libenter mancipatus labori, tanta doctrina excolebat industria, ut de monasterio egrediens, sæpe hebdomada integra, aliquando duabus vel tribus, nonnunquam etiam mense pleno domum non rediret : sed demoratus in montanis, plebem rusticam verbo prædicationis simul et exemplo virtutis ad cœlestia vocaret."-Beda, l. 4. c. 27.

St. Chad used to itinerate on foot. "Consecratus ergo in episcopatum Ceadda, maximam mox capit Ecclesiastica veritati et castitati curam impendere; humilitati, continentia, lectioni operam dare; oppida, rara, casas, vicos, castella, propter evangelizandum non equitando, sed Apostolorum in re pedibus incedendo peragrare." (Beda, l. 3. c. 28.) In this he followed the example of his master Aidan, till the primate compelled him to ride: Et quia moris erat eidem reverendissimo antistiti opus Evangelii magis ambulando per loca, quam equitando perficere, jussit eum Theodorus, ubicumque longius iter instaret, equitare; multumque renitentem studio et amore pii laboris, ipse eum manu sua levavit in equum; quia nimirum sanctum virum esse comperit, atque equo vehi quo esset necesse, compulit.—Beda, 1. 4. c. S. NOTE XVII. Page 98.

The Select Bands.

"The utility of these meetings appears from the following considerations. St. John divides the followers of God into three classes, (1 St. John, ii. 12.) St. Paul exhorts ministers to give to every one his portion of meat in due season. And there were some things which our Lord did not make known to his disciples till after his ascension, when they were prepared for them by the descent of the Holy Ghost. These meetings give the preachers an opportunity of speaking of the deep things of God, and of exhorting the members to press after the full image of God. They also form a bulwark to the doctrine of Christian perfection. It is a pity that so few of the people embrace this privilege, and that every preacher does not warmly espouse such profitable meetings.”—Myles's Chronological History of the Methodists, p. 34.

The following letter upon this subject (transcribed from the original, which was written by Mr. Wesley a few weeks only before his death) shows how easily a select society was disturbed by puzzling questions concerning the perfection which the members professed.

"My Dear Brother,

"To Mr. Edward Lewly, Birmingham.

"I do not believe a single person in your select society scruples saying,

Every moment Lord I need
The merit of thy death.

London, Jan. 12, 1791.

This is clearly determined in the 'Thoughts upon Perfection.' But who expects common people to speak accurately? And how easy is it to entangle them in their talk! I am afraid some have done this already. A man that is not a thorough friend to Christian Perfection, will easily puzzle others, and thereby weaken, if not destroy any select society. I doubt this has been the case with you. That society was in a lively state and well united together, when I was last at Birmingham. My health has been better for a few days than it has been for several months. Peace be with all your spirits. I am your affectionate Brother, "J. Wesley."

NOTE XVIII. Page 101.
Psalmody.

"About this time, David's Psalms were translated into English metre, and (if not publicly commanded) generally permitted to be sung in all the churches. The work was performed by Thomas Sternhold, (a Hampshire man, esquire, and of the privy chamber to King Edward the Sixth, who for his part translated thirty-seven selected psalms.) John Hopkins, Robert Wisedome, &c., men, whose piety was better than their poetry; and they had drank more of Jordan than of Helicon. These Psalms were therefore translated, to make them more portable in people's memories, (verses being twice as light as the self-same bulk in prose,) as also to raise men's affections, the better to enable them to practise the Apostle's precept, 'Is any merry? let him sing psalms.' Yet this work met afterwards with some frowns in the faces of great clergymen, who were rather contented, than well pleased, with the singing of them in churches. I will not say because they misliked so much liberty should be allowed the laity (Rome only can be guilty of so great envy) as to sing in churches: rather, because they conceived these singing-psalms erected in conviviality and opposition to the reading-spalms, which were formerly sung in cathedral churches: or else the child was disliked for the mother's sake; because, such translators, though branched hither, had their root in Geneva. "Since later men have vented their just exceptions against the baldness of the translation, so that sometimes they make the Maker of the tongue to speak little better than barbarism; and have in many verses such poor rhyme, that two hammers on a smith's anvil would make better music. Whilst others (rather to excuse it, than defend it) do plead, that English poetry was then in the nonage, not to say infancy thereof; and that match these verses for their age, they shall go abreast with the best poems of those times. Some, in favour of the translators, allege, that to be curious therein, and over-descanting with wit, had not become the plain song and simplicity of an holy style. But these must know, there is great difference between painting a face, and not washing it. Many since have far refined these translations, but yet their labours therein never generally received in the church; principally because un-book-learned people have conned by heart, many psalms of the old translation, which would be wholly disinherited of their patrimony, if a new edition were set forth. However, it is desired and expected by moderate men, that though the fabric stand unremoved for the main, yet some bad contrivance therein may be mended, and the bald rhymes in some places get a new nap, which would not much discompose the memory of the people."-Fuller's Church History, Cent. XVI. book vii. p. 406.

In a letter of Jewell's, written in 1560, he says, "that a change appeared now more visible among

the people. Nothing promoted it more than the inviting the people to sing psalms. That was begun in one church in London, and did quickly spread itself, not only through the city, but in the neighbouring places. Sometimes at Paul's Cross there will be six thousand people singing together. This was very grievous to the Papists."-Burnet's Reformation, part iii. p. 290.

"There are two things," says Wesley, "in all modern pieces of music, which I could never reconcile to common sense. One is, singing the same words ten times over; the other, singing different words by different persons, at one and the same time; and this in the most solemn addresses to God, whether by way of prayer or of thanksgiving. This can never be defended by all the musicians in Europe, till reason is quite out of date."-Journal, xiii. p. 56.

And again, officiating in the church of Neath, he says: "I was greatly disgusted at the manner of singing. First, Twelve or fourteen persons kept it to themselves, and quite shut out the congregation. Secondly, These repeated the same words, contrary to all sense and reason, six, eight, or ten times over. Thirdly, According to the shocking custom of modern music, different persons sung different words at one and the same moment-an intolerable insult on common sense, and utterly incompatible with any devotion."-Journal, xv. p. 24.

"From the first and apostolical age, singing was always a part of divine service, in which the whole body of the church joined together; which is a thing so evident, that though Cabassutius de, nies it, and in his spite to the reformed churches, where it is generally practised, calls it only a protestant whim; yet Cardinal Bona has more than once not only confessed, but solidly proved it to have been the primitive practice. The decay of this first brought the order of psalmista or singers into the church. For when it was found by experience, that the negligence and unskilfulness of the people, rendered them unfit to perform this service, without some more curious and skilful to guide and assist them, then a peculiar order of men were appointed and set over this business, with a design to retrieve and improve the ancient psalmody, and not to abolish or destroy it."-Bingham, b. iii. c. 7. § 2.

Whitefield was censured once for having some of his hymns set to profane music, and he is said to have replied, "Would you have the devil keep all the good tunes to himself."

NOTE XIX. Page 102.

Service of the Methodists.

Mr. Wesley prided himself upon the decency of worship in his chapels. He says: "The longer I am absent from London, and the more I attend the service of the church in other places, the more I am convinced of the unspeakable advantage which the people called Methodists enjoy. I mean, even with regard to public worship, particularly on the Lord's Day. The church where they assemble is not gay or splendid; which might be an hindrance on the one hand: nor sordid or dirty, which might give distaste on the other; but plain as well as clean. The persons who assemble there are not a gay, giddy crowd, who come chiefly to see and be seen; nor a company of goodly, #formal, outside Christians, whose religion lies in a dull round of duties; but a people, most of whom know, and the rest earnestly seek to worship God in spirit and in truth. Accordingly, they do not spend their time there in bowing and curtseying, or in staring about them: but in looking upward and looking inward, in hearkening to the voice of God, and pouring out their hearts before him. "It is also no small advantage that the person who reads prayers, (though not always the same,) yet is always one, who may be supposed to speak from his heart; one whose life is no reproach to his profession; and one who performs that solemn part of divine service, not in a careless, hurrying, slovenly manner, but seriously and slowly, as becomes him who is transacting so high an affair between God and man.

"Nor are their solemn addresses to God interrupted either by the formal drawl of a parish clerk, the screaming of boys, who bawl out what they neither feel nor understand, or the unreasonable and unmeaning impertinence of a voluntary on the organ. When it is seasonable to sing praise to God, they do it with the spirit and with the understanding also: not in the miserable, scandalous, doggerel of Hopkins and Sternhold, but in psalms and hymns which are both sense and poetry; such as would sooner provoke a critic to turn Christian, than a Christian to turn critic. What they sing is therefore a proper continuation of the spiritual and reasonable service; being selected for that end, (not by a poor hum-drum wretch, who can scarce read what he drones out with such an air of importance, but,) by one who knows what he is about, and how to connect the preceding with the following part of the service: nor does he take just two staves,' but more or less, as may best raise the soul to God, especially when sung in well-composed and well-adapted tunes; not by a handful of wild unawakened striplings, but by a whole serious congregation; and then not lolling at ease, or in the indecent posture of sitting, drawling out one word after another, but all standing before God, and praising him lustily, and with a good courage."

NOTE XX. Page 108.

Strong feelings expressed with levity.

Fuller relates a remarkable example of this:-"When worthy master Samuel Hern, famous for his living, preaching, and writing, lay on his death bed, (rich only in goodness and children,) his wife made much womanish lamentation what should hereafter become of her little ones. 'Peace, sweetheart,' said he; that God who feedeth the ravens will not starve the Herns.' A speech, censured as light by some, observed by others as prophetical, as indeed it came to pass that they were well disposed of."-Fuller's Good Thoughts.

NOTE XXI. Page 116.

Methodism in Scotland.

The Methodists thus explain the cause of their failure in that country:-"There certainly is a very wide difference between the people of Scotland, and the inhabitants of England. The former have, from their earliest years, been accustomed to hear the leading truths of the Gospel, mixed with Calvinism, constantly preached, so that the truths are become quite familiar to them: but, in general, they know little or nothing of Christian expérience; and genuine religion, or the life and power of godliness, is in a very low state in that country. I am fully satisfied that it requires a far higher degree of the Divine influence, generally speaking, to awaken a Scotchman out of the dead sleep of sin, than an Englishman. So greatly are they bigoted to their own opinions, their mode of church government, and way of worship, that it does not appear probable, that our preachers will ever be of much use to that people: and, in my opinion, except those who are sent to Scotland exceed their own ministers in heart-searching, experimental preaching, closely applying the truth to the cons sciences of the hearers, they may as well never go thither."-Pawson.