quence, inculcate that very Christian morality, which these men, improperly called Calvinists, censure the Clergy of the Established Church for inculcating? Before these men presume to dictate to the regular Clergy, they should reflect, that the lower classes of the people have no opportunity or means of studying moral philosophy, or of reading such moral books as the Spectator, Guardian, &c. and that if the welfare of themselves, their families, and society, require that their passions should be under discipline and subjection, this discipline and subjection can be accomplished only by instruction received from the pulpit. And they should know likewise, that if their own style of preaching was to be generally adopted throughout the nation, it would be disgracefully filled with hypocrites, fanatics, and enthusiasts, as it formerly was during the usurp ation of that great hypocrite, Oliver Cromwell, who, to favour his secular views, adopted himself, and encouraged in others, this very species of fanaticism and enthusiasm, infallibly destructive of the very vital essence of that real religion, which is so well and effectively inculcated by the present mode of preaching adopted by the regular

Clergy of this country, and which it is most devoutly to be wished they will neither alter or relinquish; especially as there is every reason to believe there are as many, or more, sincere and devout Christians in this kingdom, as in an equal number of persons of the same rank in any other whatsoever or if in this estimate I should be considered as assuming too much, (which I believe those who have passed any time on the continent will not imagine,) let any person reflect on the present state of morality and piety in England, and compare it with the state in which it prevailed during the Protectorship of Oliver Cromwell, or during the reign of Charles the Second. By reference to the history and very different characters of these two potentates, we find a confirmation of the adage, “Qualis "rex talis grex;" and how much the state of morality and piety, and the manners of a nation, depend on the reigning monarch. It is therefore only just to ascribe much of this present superior degree of morality and piety to the personal example of his present Majesty, and to the great attention he has invariably paid, during his whole reign, to the promotion of both. At the same time it is equally just and reasonable to impute an

equal degree of national effect, in the promotion of virtue and piety, to the personal examples of both, usually set by the regular Clergy, and to such men as Doddridge, Watts, Mason, Chandler, Grove, and many of the present existing Dissenters: and whilst this blessed effect so visibly prevails in the nation, all reasonable people, who judge of the tree by its fruit, will allow, that, generally speaking, the Clergy of this country do their duty properly and conscientiously, if their conduct is judged only with that charity and candour which the natural frailty of man requires, and which men of all ranks, classes, and descriptions, have a fair claim to. It is not indeed to be expected that the Pseudo-Calvinists before mentioned* will

* These itinerant preachers are so extremely illiterate, that a Wiltshire magistrate assured me, out of four who appeared at the quarter-sessions to have a licence to preach, three of them could not write their name! The magistrates and gentlemèn in court were exceedingly shocked that such ignorant men, who so much wanted to be instructed themselves, should possess the power of misleading the minds of the lower classes of the people: but as the act now stands, this power cannot be withheld from them, on their taking the usual oaths, and paying sixpence. The religion of these pests of society is founded not in reason, but in passion and enthusiasm; and they inflame the minds of their auditors with their fanatic and unintelligible jargon of election and predestination, and "once in grace, and always in

observe this charity and candour, because, however strong their judgment or reason

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grace," &c. and so derange their understandings, that, in consequence of the preaching of these people, within a few miles of my residence, there is at this time a person in the most melancholy state of mind imaginable, who attempted very lately to destroy himself. A family, with whom I am personally acquainted, who lately travelled in Wales, told me, they were extremely surprised at seeing a large concourse of people, all jumping as high as they could, in an endeavour, as they said, to "catch the "foot of the Lamb," in pursuance of the injunctions of their preacher to do so: some of the women, exhausted by their efforts, fell into fits; and the landlord of the inn assured this family, that his daughter, who had unhappily imbibed this superstitious heresy, was in a deep consumption, owing, as he believed, to her exertions in this way. Can it be right that the health both of the body and mind of the lower classes of the people should be thus liable to be abused, and that with impunity, by these ignorant or designing men? I am very far from presuming to be able to point out an effective remedy for this pestilent superstition; but probably, if, instead of paying the few pence they now do for a liberty to preach, they were required to pay fifty pounds, and in their licence a clause was to be inserted, which confined their preaching to a definite district, the existing evil would be much lessened: and as to their paying fifty pounds for the privilege of preaching, they would have very little reason to complain, as there are few Clergymen of the Established Church whose education does not amount to more than twelve times that sum, before they obtain the same privilege. Ireland exhibits at this moment a striking example how fatal to the welfare and repose of a nation it is, when the minds of the lower classes of the people are under the entire influence of a bigotted illiterate clergy; which is the case with the lower order of Roman Catholic Priests in Ireland, in a degree scarcely to be imagined by those who have never been in that country. It is by

may be on other matters, till their minds are divested of that religious frenzy which at present possesses them, in points of theology they are not to be considered as reasonable men, and accordingly their judgment, censure, or applause, are all of equal consequence; that is, of no value or consequence.

Requesting the reader to pardon this digression, I shall observe, that Calvin asserts another erroneous position, one diametrically contrary equally to the letter and spirit of Scripture. He asserts, in the 23d chap. sect. 7. of the 3d book of his Christian Institution, "that God not only foresaw or "suffered, but also by his own will disposed "the fall of the first man." What blasphemy, what absurdity, does not Calvin dare to impute to his Creator! and how justly does he incur Dr. Clarke's censure, in his Sermon on the omnipresence of God, that "vain men, by clogging religion with inexplicable absurdities, have made its doc

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no means impossible but that at some future time the same melancholy consequence may happen in England, if some legal stop is not put to the encroaching strides of these itinerant illiterate enthusiasts; of whom it may most truly be said, that their doctrine, by invalidating the necessity of good works, and inculcating an unscriptural predestination, is contrary both to Law and Gospel.