Interests of the Church of Englanch 
sa'f*y. The clamors of prejudice and 
suggestions of temporising inactivity are 
equally to be disregarded. 
1 he suggestion of the internal im¬ 
provements, which might promote the 
cons(didation ofourecclesiasticalstrength, 
by clieckijig religious dissention and 
drawing sectaries into the bosom of the 
church of England, is a delicate sub- 
Bnt firmness and sincerity will 
disdain to imitate the conduct of those 
teinporisers, who would gladly see errors 
rectified and abuses removed, but are 
afraid of injuring their private interest 
by proposing a correction. If they 
ever venture to make an inquiry into 
the trutl), they come, like INicodemus, 
the night ; they do not' speak openly, 
for fear of the Jews. In this thing 
they desire to be pardoned, if they bow 
dovMi themselves when they go into the 
liouse of Rimmon. A zealous supporter 
of the church of England will not be 
fr'vayed fiy pusillanimous views of inte¬ 
rest; he will eagerly sacrifice all party 
views and selfish expectations to the 
hope of being instrunienial in promoting 
the prosperity of that establishment, on 
which lie is convinced that the preser¬ 
vation of this country depends. 
Behold, 1 send you forth as sheep in 
the midst of wolves; be you therefore 
wise as serpents, acd harmless as doves. 
This advice ot tlie great founder of the 
Christian church to its first ministers 
is strictly applicable to the clergy of 
the church of England, surroundeil not 
only by the dangers of external hostility, 
but by perils by their own countrymen, 
by perils among false brethren. 
b-—It is a subject of lamentation that 
•ai imperfect understanding, or a partial 
acceptation, of the articles of our church 
should have induced some of the clergy 
to adopt the most intolerant and pro- 
scrijitive tenets of high Calvinism. They 
arrogate to themselves the exclusive 
title of Gospel Preachers; but in reality 
they preach not the doctrines of the 
Gospel, but lay a ilisprojiortioned stress 
on the doctrinal parts of St. Paul’s 
Epistles, without a sufficient regard to 
bis practical deductions. An exami- 
' nation of the progress of the refor¬ 
mation in this country, and of the ge¬ 
nuine scriptural interpretations of the 
articles, would direct their faith and 
practice in the knowledge and promul¬ 
gation of the purest tenets and precepts 
of Christianity. 
But this disapprobation of a dange¬ 
rous doctrine must not be coRStfu§d 
I^ioKTxii.Y No, 5232, 
into a recommendation of an opposits 
extreme. Tiiis cold, formal, inanimatey 
mode of inculcating mere morality has 
driven many members of the church, 
particularly in the lower ranks of life, 
to the conventicles of Calvinists and 
Methodists, w’iiere their attention is 
roused, their imagination struck, and 
their passions are excited, by wanu 
familiar appeals, not to their reason, 
but to their feelings. It is this cap^ 
tivating mode of preaching, 
Which, without passing thro’ the judg¬ 
ment, gains 
The heart, and all its end at oru:e attains.'* 
But the true end of preaching is to 
convince the judgment, as well as to 
touch the heart; to appeal to the un¬ 
derstanding as well as to the feelings; 
to inculcate the most beneficent duties 
of Christian morality, as well as the 
most lively principles of Christian faith. 
If the history of the opinions and of 
the modes ot preaching in this country 
be examined, an undulation will be ob¬ 
served, sometimes rising to the giddy 
flights of enthusiasm, and sometimes 
sinking to the mere enforcement of moral 
obligations. At some periods tlie Sori 
of God is represented as the only objecC 
of faith and adoration ; in the sermons 
of other times, the name of Jesus is 
scarcely mentioned. It seems that at 
present we are rising from the latter 
extreme; many of the clergy, particu¬ 
larly of the younger part, have adopted 
a more scriptural illustration of the sub¬ 
jects of their discourses, and a nearer 
approximation to the unsophisticated 
doctrine of Salvation by Faith. Al¬ 
though tliey.fail not in general to erect 
on this foundation the edifice of Christian 
works, without which the principle iS 
lifeless, and the system miserably de¬ 
fective, they have been stigmatised by 
the adlierents of morality ; and the title 
of Gospel or Evangelical Preacher, which 
was originally assumed as a badge of 
Christian excellence, is in danger of 
being adopted to denote fanaticism and 
wild enthusiasm. Of this perversion 
of the sense of words we have instances 
in politics. Thus the terms of loyalty 
and patriotism have been used by the 
calumnies of party in an injurious sense; 
the former has been applied to the friends 
of Gorruption and abuses; the latter has 
been attributed to the factious and the 
discontentea. Thus Gospel preaching 
has been by some appropriated to the 
extremes of Calvinism and to Metho¬ 
dism, We may indulge the hope that 
4 A. 
