verence they are sure to breed in many persons towards religion in general.

We now proceed to a few remarks on the latter part of the rule here laid down; namely, That the church should forbear to assert her pretensions, however just and wellfounded they may be, with a disproportionate or an unhallowed zeal.

1. It often happens to the church, as to other societies, that her pretensions are not so much resisted because they are absolutely unjust, as because more stress is laid upon them than they deserve. Where this undue estimation is perceived, it creates a prejudice against the pretensions themselves, or strengthens that which previously existed. Suppose a church to give a decided preference to episcopal government, not considering it as absolutely essential to her being, but as conducive to her well-being; not as indispensably necessary, but expedient; and this chiefly in respect to her own edification, without any positive determination as to other churches; it is almost impossible, that a preference thus qualified should occasion any contest or animosity. But if she

assert such a government to be of divine right, and set up a claim which nullifies the sacraments and administrations of other churches, she must expect to encounter the most violent opposition. On the other hand, should a church, on account of the parity of her ministers, exalt herself above other churches, and look down on the episcopal order, in its most primitive state, as something popish and anti-christian; she could hardly fail, by such an extravagance, to diminish her credit with all impartial bystanders. Again: For a church to prefer her own form of prayer, to the forms or extempore prayer of other churches, is natural and allowable; and provided she have the prudence not to extol it as the only acceptable, or the most perfect mode of worship, it may pass without obloquy or discord. And, lastly, to specify one instance more: When a church, to the due observation of the Lord's day, adds other days in commemoration of the first propagators of christianity, or of its principal events, and considers this as an advantage which gives her a superiority over those churches that

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neglect to use it, she will probably be exposed to no censure on this account from her worst enemies, or, at least, she will have no cause to fear it; provided she is careful to improve such observances to their proper ends, and not to over-rate them.

2. In the second place, the church must be careful to avoid an unhallowed, no less than a disproportionate zeal. She must learn to speak the truth in love, and to recommend her pretensions by the temperate and candid manner in which they are proposed. The best cause, when an angry vehemence, or the infusion of any other ill temper, mingles in its defence, suffers an odium, which the most powerful arguments are not always able to remove; and when the cause, thus defended involves superior claims, which, in the first instance, as we have seen, naturally raise opposition, the prejudice excited against it may then become absolutely invincible. It therefore highly concerns every church that has pretensions, be they ever so solid and important, if she wish to draw strangers within her own pale, and to live peaceably with the rest, to be mild and

conciliating in her manner; she must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth *.

III. The last rule we have stated as necessary, in the present case, to be observed by the church, is, To prescribe reasonable terms both of clerical and lay communion.

Under this head we shall first offer a few remarks on clerical subscription.

1. A perfect coincidence of opinion between only two persons, upon any one topic, should it be a little out of the common road, is rare; but in respect of those various articles which compose the creed of any particular church, is morally impossible. All that can be expected, in this case, is an approximation; so as to be substantially agreed in things necessary; to exercise forbearance in the rest, and charity in all; or to make such approaches to each other as may afford a sufficient ground for mutual

* 2 Tim. ii. 24-5.

peace and edification; since, after all that can be done, shades of difference will still remain, which can only be fully dissipated in that world of light, where we shall know even as we are known.

To require therefore a complete unity of sentiment in all the members of a church, is nugatory; and to pretend it is fallacious. To draw up a number of articles, some of them upon the most abstruse points in divinity, with a declared design to prevent diversity of opinion, and to establish consent touching true religion, is the most Utopian of all projects; if such a declaration be meant so rigorously as to exclude the least variety of apprehension. Far less extravagant was the fancy of the emperor Charles the Fifth, when he proposed to bring a multitude of clocks and watches to keep exact time with one another. To have brought these machines so near to perfection as to answer all the useful purposes of life, would have been laudable; an attempt to bring them nearer was a point of vain and fruitless curiosity. In like manner to establish such a degree of consent touching