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points, which ought to be earnestly contended for (in a spirit of meeknefs) as for the faith once delivered to the faints; and certain fecondary pofitions, concerning which, good men may safely differ, and wherein, perhaps, we cannot reasonably expect them to be unanimous, during the present state of imperfection. But if the exact boundary cannot be marked with certainty, he thinks it both defirable and possible, to avoid the extremes, into which, men of warm tempers have often been led.

Not that the Author can be an advocate for that indifference to truth, which, under the fpecious semblance of moderation and candour, offers a comprehenfion, from which none are excluded, but those who profess, and aim, to worship God in the Spirit, to rejoice in Christ Jefus, and to renounce all confidence in the flesh. Moderation, is a Chriftian grace. It differs much from that tame, unfeeling neutrality between truth and error, which is fo prevalent in the present day. As the different rays of light, which, when feparated by a prism exhibit the various colours of the rainbow, form, in their combination, a perfect and refplendent white, in which every colour

is

is incorporated; fo, if the graces of the Holy Spirit were complete in us, the refult of their combined effect, would be a truly candid, moderate, and liberal spirit towards our brethren. The Chriftian, especially he who is advanced and established in the life of faith, has a fervent zeal for God, for the honour of his name, his law, and his gofpel. The honeft warmth which he feels, when fuch a law is broken, fuch a gospel is despised, and when the great and glorious name of the Lord his God is profaned, would, by the occafion of his infirmities, often degenerate into anger or contempt, towards those who oppofe themselves, if he was under the influence of zeal only. But his zeal is blended with benevolence and humility; it is foftened by a consciousness of his own frailty and fallability. He is aware that his knowledge is very limited in itself, and very faint in its efficacy; that his attainments are weak and few, compared with his deficiencies; that his gratitude is very difproportionate to his obligations, and his obedience unfpeakably fhort of conformity to his prescribed rule; that he has nothing but what he has received, and has received nothing, but what, in a greater or lefs

degree,

degree, he has mifapplied and misimproved. He is, therefore, a debtor to the mercy of God, and lives upon his multiplied forgiveness. And he makes the gracious conduct of the Lord towards himself, a pattern for his own conduct towards his fellow-creatures. He cannot boaft, nor is he forward to cenfure. He confiders himfelf, left he also be tempted *; and thus he learns tenderness and compaffion to others, and to bear patiently with those mistakes, prejudices, and prepoffeffions in them, which once belonged to his own character; and from which, as yet, he is but imperfectly freed. But then, the fame confiderations, which inspire him with meekness and gentleness, towards those, who, oppose the truth, ftrengthen his regard for the truth itself, and his conviction of its importance. For the fake of peace, which he loves and cultivates, he accommodates himself, as far as he lawfully can, to the weakness and misapprehenfions of those who mean well; though he is thereby expofed to the cenfure of bigots of all parties, who deem him flexible and wavering, like a reed shaken with the wind. But there are other points,

* Gal. vi. I.

nearly

nearly connected with the honour of God, and effential to the life of faith, which are the foundations of his hope, and the fources of his joy. For his firm attachment to these, he is content to be treated as a bigot himself. For here, he is immoveable as an iron pillar, nor can either the fear, or the favour of man, prevail on him to give place, no not for an hour*. Here his judgment is fixed; and he expreffes it, in fimple and unequivocal language, fo as not to leave, either friends or enemies, in fufpence, concerning the fide which he has chofen, or the cause which is neareft to his heart.

The minister who poffeffes a candour, thus enlightened, and thus qualified, will neither degrade himself to be the inftrument, nor aspire to be the head, of a party. He will not fervilely tread in the paths prescribed him by men, however refpectable. He will not multiply contentions, in defence, either of the fhibboleths of others, or of any noftrum of his own, under a pretence that he is pleading for the caufe of God, and truth. His attention will not be reftrained to the credit, or intereft, of any detached denomination of

* Gal. ii. 5.

Christians, but extended to all who love the Lord Jefus Chrift, in fincerity. On the other hand, knowing that the gospel is the wisdom and power of God, and the only poffible mean, by which, fallen man can obtain either peace or rectitude, he most cordially embraces and avows it. Far from being ashamed of it, he esteems it his glory. He preaches Christ Jefus the Lord, and him crucified. He dares not fophifticate*, disguise, or soften the great doctrines of the grace of God, to render them more palatable to the depraved taste of the times. He difdains the thought. And he will no more encounter the prejudices, and corrupt maxims and practices of the world, with any weapon, but the truth as it is in Jesus †, than he would venture to fight an enraged enemy, with a wooden fword.

Such is the difpofition which the Author wishes for himself, and which, he would endeavour to cultivate in others. He hopes that nothing, of a contrary tendency, will be found in the volumes now prefented to the Public. MESSIAH, the great fubject of the Oratorio, is the leading and principal fubject of every fermon. His perfon, grace, and + Eph. iv. 21.

* 2 Cor. iv. 2.

4

glory;

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