were in any other sense deficient in affectionate simplicity, and in forcible appeals to the conscience.

"Though they supported the doctrines of the Trinity, the atonement, and original sin, they were not always clear in representing the Christian covenant, and taught the self-justiciary, that a three-fold merit attached to his person, on repenting, believing, and obeying." Not so. They only did not separate believing and obeying, they taught that faith was nothing independent of this adjunct. They disclaimed MERIT, as much as their accusers did.

Lastly. Forming their style after the manner of Tillotson, they regarded a plainer and more scriptural diction as a remnant of Puritanism." They did so; and they were in the right. What good style can be plainer or more scriptural than Tillotson's?

V. Having thus dexterously disposed of his shades, this cunning artist now brings forth, as a fourth class, his Evangelicals, in strong relief: opposed to the secular class, by their devotedness to the duties of their function (but were not the orthodox so opposed likewise?); to the latitudinarians, by adherence to the letter and spirit of revelation (and were not the orthodox so opposed likewise?); and "to the orthodox, by their faithfulness in proclaiming the doctrines of grace, and declaring the whole counsel of God; while they

equalled them in theological correctness, and in moral consistency." But if the orthodox equalled THEM in theological correctness (for if A be equal to B, B must be equal to A :), what becomes of the superior faithfulness of these Evangelicals in proclaiming the doctrines of grace?

VI. It will in this place be proper, though occasionally reverting to our second Middleton's Biographia Evangelica, to take an enlarged view of this half-severed limb, this all but sect, in its rise, progress, character, principles, and proceedings. The apostolic zeal and grave piety which distinguished the æra of the Reformation, having considerably subsided, the puritans professed to oppose this defection, and to preserve inviolate the sacred flame; but mingling their devotion with wild politics, and not being guided by prudence, sobriety, or decency, they overshot the mark of true religion, and overspread the land with hypocrisy, bigotry, and cant. This occasioned a revulsion of sentiment; and men were actually frightened out of true piety, by the fallacious. strictness, and the gross excesses, they had witnessed. An easy, nominal, heartless, lukewarm religion, was now associated with loyalty and any appearance of zeal, seriousness, and devotion, was scouted as a sign, not only of hypocrisy but of disaffection. To this languishing state of piety, the pulpit accommodated its instructions; and preaching, for a long time, was cold, Epictetic,

argumentative, and essay-form. It grazed or passed over the peculiar doctrines of Christianity: "it played round the head, but came not near the heart."

Whitfield and Wesley shot, like two blazing comets on their return from the sun, to pour new warmth into this mass of refrigeration: but, starting from their orbits, they struck out into the regions of irregularity, and endangered that church which they professed to regenerate. The contagion of their zeal kindled a flame within the breasts of many among the established pastors, who, shunning, either wholly or in part, the excesses of these eccentric enthusiasts, prosecuted the same labour within the pale of the church, which their exemplars were carrying beyond it. From this stock sprang that body of ministers, who, in the present day, assume to themselves the title of EVANGELICAL CLERGY.

VII. It may here be observed, that evangelism in the mouth of the orthodox, and orthodoxy in the acceptation of the evangelical, are terms signifying something widely different from what meets the ear, or accords with the literal sense. They are, in fact, reciprocal sneers, and taunting provocations to battle. There is no one of the orthodox, who would not deem himself insulted, if an adversary should deny his being truly evangelical: nor would any among the evangelicals sit down contentedly, under a serious imputation of

his want of orthodoxy. Evangelism, like Methodism, was, at first, a term of reproach; and was afterwards gloried in as a badge of persecution.

VIII. The evangelical divines are divided into Calvinists and Arminians:-but these diverging squadrons can regularly take close order, whenever the point in view is to combat the more regular clergy. An Arminian evangelical will sedulously abjure Calvinism, in the hope of carrying some temporary advantage among the orthodox: but this is only one of the various sly quibbles against which a word of caution may be dropped; for he may not be the less distant from orthodoxy, or akin to methodism, in proclaiming such a disavowal.

When the two evangelical bodies are not confederate for a common purpose, religious zeal and warm temperament inflame their quinquarticular disputes. And here, in the midst of such controversial animosities, as supported the chairs of Amsterdam and Geneva, or mingled in the quarrels of the Jansenists and Jesuits, the main thing, the spirit of the Gospel, is compromised. Nor has doctrine been the only ground of contention among the evangelical divines: they have differed in their notions concerning pulpit phraseology; some deeming simplicity to be consistent with terseness; while others would address themselves to peasants and mechanics in colloquial vulgarities and low allusions, "liking the jagged arrow

better than the polished shaft." Some, respecting their vows of canonical obedience, and the regulated and orderly ministration of a national priesthood, prescribed to their zeal the limits of their several parishes. "Others were fain, in their love of souls, to become itinerant heralds of the tidings of salvation, and to exhort sinners to flee unto Jesus, in a barn, a conventicle, or even in the open air." Of this latter extravagance, there is now hardly a vestige among the party within the church. Some, again, continued to use written discourses, as the most correct and evenlysustained form of instruction, and the best suited to preachers of timid dispositions and weak nerves. Others, of iron souls and bolder assurance, disdained the slavish toil of preparation, and poured forth the delectable chaos of extemporaneous advice. A middle way is now pursued, either by mandating, that is, committing a discourse to memory; or by enlarging upon an ample prepared outline, upon the plan of Simeon's skeletons.

IX. After the long interval of ethical and metaphysical theology, one of the earliest divines, who caught "the crosslet quenched in blood,"and "handed it from man to man,"-was William Romaine; born at Hartlepool in 1714; and modestly termed an humble representative of the Apostle Paul. Educated in Oxford, he preached frequently in the University pulpit; till, becoming obnoxious by the developement of Calvinistic