charity, modefty, and obedience to lawful fuperiors; by a study to be quiet, and an attention to their own business.

From fuch practices, and fuch perfons as I have alluded to, has arisen much of the disgrace which has fallen on true and laudable enthufiafm, or that wisdom which is infused into the pure, gentle, and charitable heart from above. Falfe enthusiasm * fhould be difcouraged, that true religion may grow and flourish; as the weed fhould be plucked up, to give room for the wholesome plant to strike root, expand itself in foliage and blossoms, and produce good fruit in abundance.

"There is," fays Bishop Horne," in the prefent times, a << temptation which lies very hard on fome, and either does fo much "mischief, or hinders so much good, that it is a dreadful fnare, and

I wish I could guard my younger brethren against it; I mean, the "FEAR OF BEING SUSPECTED OF FALSE PIETY. It can never "be fufficiently lamented, that the practice of devotion and the Doc"TRINE OF GRACE, fo effential to the Gospel, fhould have fallen

into DISREPUTE, from the example of any perfons, who have "been discovered to have acted a Godly part for mercenary purposes. "But God forbid that the bypocrify of others fhould lead us into luke"warmness and indifference, which are equally bad. Never let it ❝ be supposed, THAT CHRISTIANS CAN SERVE GOD, WITHOUT "THE GRACE OF GOD, because fome have been fo weak as to "furfeit the wife with the prefumption and folly of their fpiritual "pretenfions. THE LIFE OF DEVOTION IS STILL THE GIFT "OF GOD; and it must be infifted upon, with our church, that "there is not in man one good thought, one holy defire, but from

the continual infpiration of the divine Spirit, in all things directing and ruling our hearts. WITHOUT THIS DOCTRINE we may be "SCHOLARS and CRITICS, and men of TASTE; we may be monitors and moralifts of civil fociety; but we are no longer to be ❝ confidered as CHRISTIAN divines, neither will our labours be "attended with any faving effect."

Bishop HORNE's Charge to the Clergy of Norwich.

IT

SECTION XXXIX.

Of being RIGHTEOUS overmuch.

T feems to be very doubtful, whether the fcriptural phrase of being righteous overmuch, fignifies that fort of excess which methodists and fanatics are apt to indulge. I am rather induced to believe, that it means an extreme rigour in exacting from others an unerring rectitude. "Be not "righteous overmuch; why shouldst thou destroy "thyfelf?" That is, " Establish not, by thy "severity, a rule so strict as muft, if put in force "against thyself, involve thee, imperfect as thou "art, in destruction." The prohibition feems to me to quadrate with the old obfervation, that juf tice in the extreme is extreme injustice +.

There are other interpretations of the words at leaft as probable as that which confines it to the over-fanctity of the methodist or bigot.

The ingenious and pious Dr. Trapp has taken the words in the latter fenfe, and written, with great force of argument, against the extravagances of methodifm. Perhaps the words of his text did not properly authorize him in deriving the doctrine from them which he has laid down; but, whether they did or not, he doubtless had reason on his fide, when he endeavoured to explode all fuperftitious exceffes which are fubverfive of true religion, injurious to fociety, and painful, without advantage, to the deluded individual ‡.

Philo

*Ecclef. vii. 16. † Summum jus, fumma injuria. "But let it be remembered, that no virtue has any blameable

"EXTREME in it, till it contradicts the general end of religion, till it

"hinders

Philofophers, by the light of nature, discovered, in the earliest ages, the wisdom of avoiding extremes; and no precepts are more common than those which recommend the golden mediocrity. These were undoubtedly fuggefted by actual experience, and a careful study of the human conftitution. If they are juft and proper, when applied to philosophy, there is every reafon to think them equally fo when applied to religion, which is the perfection of philofophy. Excefs, in the very name, implies culpability, even when the things, in which it appears, are of a virtuous and laudable nature.

So that whoever advances his virtues beyond the line of rectitude, errs no less than he who ftops, at an equal interval, on this fide of it. Yet, at the fame time, I must observe, that there is fomething far more noble and generous in errors of excess than of defect; and the virulence which has been fhewn in reviling the poor methodist, who has been tormenting himself with fuperfluous aufterities, seems to me to arife from a want of good-nature and charity, far more criminal than the mistaken difcipline of a zealous devotee.

*

"hinders the RESTORATION of the divine Image in us, or makes ❝us lefs fit to appear among the inhabitants of heaven. Abftinence, "temperance, mortification of the fenfes and paffions, can have NO EXCESS ❝till they hinder the purification of the foul, and make the body lefs "ufeful and fubfervient to it. Charity can have no EXCESS till it " contradicts that love which we are to have in heaven, till it goes "beyond the command of loving our neighbour as we love ourselves, ❝and till it forgets that our own life is to be preferved."

Answer to Dr. TRAPP's Discourse.

*The poor Heautontimorumenos, with his pale emaciated figure, is certainly not an object of ridicule, and ought, at least, to be forgiven, by the plump pluralift and dignitary gorging the tithe pig, and washing it down with the choiceft wines of Portugal and France.

Thofe among the methodists who are fincere in their rigid felf-denial, and in all the active and paffive virtues of their perfuafion, are certainly objects of kindness and compassion, rather than of fevere animadverfion.

The church, and the proteftant diffenters, it appears, teach the doctrine of grace; a doctrine which, I believe, the methodists confider as of the first moment; and for the fake of attending to which with more earneftnefs, they feceded from the church and meeting-houfe to the tabernacle. Their preachers, they found, were used to dwell upon that fubject, more than on any others; and with a degree of vehemence not usual or approved by men of more learning, moderation, and humility. They were caught by the found, and taught to hate both the church and all regular ministers with a hatred truly unchriftian. The church and the minifters, it feems, were not fufficiently holy for their purpose. The church, and the minifters did not preach the gospel in its purity; and neither its doctrine nor its difcipline were, in their opinions, fufficiently strict and fevere.

The diffemination of fuch ideas may anfwer the ends of felf-appointed leaders, who wish to increase their importance, by drawing a multitude after them. Accufation will generally be heard with attention. Pretenfions to fuperior holiness is one of the most successful means of deceit. The multitude are attracted by thefe, and a thousand other arts, co-operating with the natural tendency which they feel to fuperftition and fanaticism. They thus become felf-tormentors; lofe most of the comforts, and neglect many of the duties of life.

* When these become the mere tools of ftatefmen, all religious people are offended, and one of the pillars of the ftate is fhaken.

In

In the church of England, their favourite doctrine of grace ought to be preached in the manner which both reason, fcripture, and experience beft approve; for the doctrine of grace is moft fully declared to be the doctrine of the church of England; and if the minifters are reluctant to preach it in all its force, it is from a fear of falling into the fin and difgrace of over-much righteousness. It is the humble endeavour of my treatife on this fubject, to ftimulate preachers to enlarge on the doctrine of grace; and by those means to bring back the numerous fheep who have ftrayed from their flock. There is the fort of food in which the fheep will fhew that they delight, if the fhepherds will but bring it forth; and indeed there is little doubt but that most of them do, on some occafions: but if the sheep hunger and thirst after more than they ufually receive, the good fhepherd will not in future fail to open all the stores with which the scriptures abundantly fupply him.

With refpect to doctrine, the over-righteous Christian, as he is now called, will thus have no cause to complain of defect in the church; and with refpect to moral difcipline, it is very certain that felf-denial, mortification, fafting, active beneficence, and all Christian perfection, are, for the most part, taught by the church and her ministers, with great force of argument and authority. Every Christian may carry the moral discipline of his religion to whatever lengths his confcience or inclination may urge him.

It must be confeffed, that fuch is the moderation of the church and her paftors in the PRESENT AGE, that the duties which they teach are not urged with that unnatural rigour which precludes the rational enjoyment of life. It is a cheerful church, and for that reason the more estimable.

16

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