fhould know them: but they are not principal articles. (6) Poets and preachers can do nothing without plenty of drink, and with it what can they not do!-But, you will object, Chrift fays, Be not overcharged with drunkenness. Luke xxi. 34. Obferve, he does not fay, Be not drunk, but Be not overcharged with drunkenness. Can't you get drunk without getting dead drunk!-But St. Paul fays, Be not drunk with wine where in is excefs! Eph. v. 18. True. But observe, St. Paul does not fay, Do not get drunk, he only fays, Don't get exceffively drunk!"&c. I truft I fhall be forgiven for this tranfcript, when it is remembered, that I infert this inftead of the grave reveries of fome modern divines, whofe fermons and fyftems actually fuppofe articles as illogical, unfcriptural, and unnatural as thefe. Amphitheat. Sapient. Socratice Joco-feria. Cafp. Dornavii. tom. ii. Hegendorphini Declam. (6) Do not enlarge on implied truths. That is to say, whether you fpeak briefly or diffufively on implied articles, do not lay any great ftrefs on them, they fhould rather adorn than fupport your reafoning. A fingle epithet properly placed may contain weighty argument; and, on the contrary, no wordy coverings of a fuppofition can turn probable im plication into clear demonftration. "Epithets, fays one, must be varied according to a fubject. In folliciting a king for an office, or in thanking him for a nomination, it would be abfurd to begin an addrefs to him with, moft powerful and invincible prince; it should run moft bountiful and munificent. Ignofces primo errori dux mitiffime-Patere te exorari clementiffime Cæfar-Turca rum vim a chriftianorum humeris depelle Rex invicte. Reftitue per calumniam oppreffum quiffime Judex-În bonam partem accipias vir bumaniffime-Non meum eft tibi confilium impertiri vir prudentiffime. In hujufmodi orationis genere non funt fpeciofa epitheta: fed argumenti pondus obtinent. Joban. Defpauterii Com. Gram. De Epithet. 1537. The transforming of Epithets into fubftantives, which the laft-quoted writer recommends, was very fashionable, when he wrote: but, except in a very few inftances, it is out of vogue now-Moft dread, that is dreadful fovereign-an address fit for Pluto, and an affront to a British prince. I commit myself to your fatherhood-I congratulate your fortitude-I beseech your reverence-My folly fubmits to the wisdom of your grace. These are nei ther And thirdly, take care also that these supposed things be important, either for inftruction in general, or for cafting light particularly on the text, or for confolation, or for the correction of vice, or practice of piety, or fome ufeful purpose, otherwife ther rhyme nor reafon now. If no great ftrefs fhould be laid on probable fuppofitions, what fenfible man would lay any ftrefs on improbable ones? It is curious to trace the doctrine of improbability, and to obferve, all fand as it is, what ponderous edifices have been erected on it. The papal infallibility-the doctrine of tranfubftantiationthe divine right of anglican epifcopacy-and the divine right of kings over the religion of their fubjects-were never proved, nor ever can be made to appear again even probable but what wondrous things have been faid, and what wondrous actions have been done on fuppofition that they were true? The two following anecdotes will exemplify this article. When the bible was last tranflated into English, James I. as head of the church, appointed tranflators, and gave them certain rules of tranflation. One of these was, "you fhall retain the old ECCLESIASTICAL words, not changing the word church for congregation," and fo on. Something is here fuppofed, either that an unbiaffed tranflation would endanger the hierarchy, or that the oracles of God were given to ferve the views of a party. Regal influence is too plain to be denied. Were it poffible to fuppofe that the dedication of this tranflation to his majefty was written. by the tranflators, we should foon find out how they underftood the rule; for the fpirit of the dedication was imbibed far from feats of learning, and fomewhere near the throne! In 1538, Henry VIII. wrote a letter to his bishops directing them how to inftruct the people. "Firft, we strictly charge and command you, that plainly and diftinctly, without any additions, ye fhall every holyday, wherefoever ye shall be within your diocefe, when ye may fo do with your health and convenient commodity, openly in your cathedral church, or the parish church of the place where ye fhall for time be, read and declare OUR ARTICLES; and in no wife, in the rest of your words which ye fhall then speak of yourfelf, if you speak any thing, utter any word that fhall make the fame, or any word in the fame doubtful to the people." Bp. Burnt's Hift. Ref. vol. i. Addenda. p. 361. 2dEd. wife you would deliver trifling impertinencies under the name of implied truths. (7) VI. REFLECT ON THE PERSON SPEAKING OR ACTING. (8) For an example, let us take the last mentioned text of St. Paul, recompenfe to no man evil for evil. (7) Impertinencies for implications. Tertullian begins his book on baptifm thus. "Felix facramentum aquæ noftræ quia ablutis delictis priftinæ cæcitatis in vitam æternam liberamur. Non erit otiofum digeftum iftud, inftruens tam eos qui cum maxime formantur, quam et illos qui fimpliciter credidiffe contenti, non exploratis rationibus traditionum intentatam probabilem fidem per imperitiam portant: atque adeo nuper converfata iftic quædam de Caiana hærefi vipera venenatiffima doctrina fua plerofque rapuit, imprimis baptifinum deftruens plane fecundum na. turam: nam fere viperæ, et afpides, ipfique reguli ferpentis arida et inaquofa fectantur. Sed nos pifciculi fecundum ur noftrum Iefum Chriftum in aqua nafcimur, nec aliter quam in aqua permanendo falvi fumus." Upon this paffage his learned editor gives us this explanatory note, "Sed nos pifciculi fecundum iuv noftrum, facit Here ad intellectum hujus loci B. Optatus Afer. lib. 3. adv. Parmenian (uti etiam ante me adnotarunt Latinius et Francifcus Baldvinus) Hic (de Chrifto loquens inquit) eft pifcis, qui in baptifmate per invocationem fontalibus undis inferitur, ut quæ aqua fuerat, a pifce etiam piscina vocitetur. Cujus pifcis nomen fecundum appellationem Græcam, in uno nomine per fingulas literas turbam fanctorum nominum continet. us enim (fic lego) Latine eft Iefus, Chriftus, Dei filius, falvator. Quod ipfum repetit B. Auguft. 1. 18, de civit. dei, cap. 23. voces autem græcæ, quæ fingulis vocis u literis indicantur, hæ funt, nous pisos JEDU VIOS WIup." Who would have thought that baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the holy ghost implied all this? Tertull. tom. iii. de baptifmo. cap. 1. (8) Reflect on the perfon feaking. Erafmus enlarges on this article, which includes-fa Here you may very pertinently remark, that this precept is more beautiful in the mouth of St. Paul, than mily-country-fex-age--- midst of a crooked and perverse education-body, as beauti ful or deformed, ftrong or nation. AGE. Titus ii. 2. Aged men must be fober, grave, temperate, found in faith, in charity, in patience.-3. Aged women must be teachers of good things-5. Young women must be difcreet, chajte, keepers at home-6. Young men must be Sober-minded-1 Pet. v. 5. Ye younger, fubmit your felves unto the elder-1 Tim. iv. 12. Let no man defpife thy youth. SEX. Gal. iii. 27, 28. As weak-fortune-condition- many of you as have been bapmental abilities-particular tized into Chrift, bave put on ftudies--connections--con- Chrift, there is neither male nor duct-name-&c. "Profue- female; for ye are all one in rit igitur quid cuique perfonæ Chrift Jefus. proprium fit, et quid quæquæ res efficiat in primis habere cognitum. ad utrumque conducet comicorum et hiftoricorum lectio, philofophiæ cognitio, et rerum plurimarum experientia. Et hi loci vocantur rhetoribus, &c." De ratione concionandi, lib. 11. FAMILY. John viii. 37. I know that ye are Abraham's feed: but ye feek to kill me39. If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham-40. Ye Jeek to kill a man, that hath told you the truth, this did not Abraham42. If God were your father, ye would love me-44. Ye are of your father the devil. 7. COUNTRY. Deut. iv. What nation is there fo great, who bath God fo nigh unto them?-8. What nation is there fo great, that hath ftatutes and judgments fo righteous ?-Col. iii. 11. In the new man, there is neither Greek nor Few, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Chrift is all and in all-Phil. ii. 15. Be blamelfs and harmless, the Sons of God, without rebuke, in the It would be cafy to enlarge this lift by afforting texts with topicks: but it may be more useful to obferve that each article is fubject to USE and ABUSE, that is to say, arguments drawn from perfon are fometimes proper, and in fome cafes abfurd. For example of use. Monfieur Saurin takes this topick in a Sermon on our Lord's prayer on the cross for his executioners. Luke xxiii. 34. Father forgive them; for they know not what they do. "The firft pretext, with which you colour your hatred and vengeance, is the Dignity of the offended, and the littlenefs of the offender. I am the than it could have been in that of any other man. The reason is this, he of all the men in the world the offended perfon! I who am a perfon of diftinction! I who have fuch an equipage! I who poffefs a very large eftate! I who have fuch an extenfive influence! I who have fo many pompous titles! I am the offended perfon! but, when we come to examine this SUPERB I, we frequently find, it is nothing at all; it is a man, who is only duft and afhes hoifting his haughty head in the world on account of the good fortune of a few days, and who by a lucky chance (or rather by an adorable providence, which often puts even fcepters into hands the moft unworthy to hold them, to fhew us how little we ought to account of all the earth calls glorious.) this creature by caprice lives in a great house, though a few years ago his ancestors begged their bread. Well! You are offended! You GRAND! You SUPERB! You ILLUSTRIOUS! You are offended! One of thefe inferior men, or rather in your account one of these contemptible infects, on which you have the condefcenfion to tread, has rafhly prefumed to look in your face, yea even to oppose an infolent obftacle against your fupreme will! this is the first pretext of infenfible pride big with revenge. But this must not had men only be proposed before this pulpit, it must be stated on Calvary, in the presence of that Jefus, whom we just now heard faying, Father forgive them, they know not what they do. Who is this pardoning Jesus? who are the whom he pardons, and whom he prays his father to pardon? This Jefus is the firft-born of every creature, it is he, whom God hath made both Lord and Chrift, it is he, in whose prefence every knee must bow. And who are these whom he pardons, and for whom he prays? they are men, it is needlefs to employ any other words or images to exprefs all that is little and mean; yet all this real dignity on one part, and all imaginable meanness on the other did not appear to Jefus Chrift fufficient reafons for with-holding his love, his ideas of magnanimity were altogether different from yours." &c. Sermon tom. i. fur la priere de Jefus Chrift pour ses bourreaux. Example of abuse. There was a book published in the reign of Charles II. by a Mr. Fowler, entitled The Defign of Chriflianity. This book was thought by many divines to confound the doctrine of juftification with that of fanctification, and fo to render the attonement of Chrift ufelefs. John Bunyan wrote |