tion; and we will allow they both do it by the light of nature. Till then, let us hear no more of natural religion, but give the glory were it is due, by owning ingenuously and gratefully, as we ought to do, that, as all light comes from the sun, though we receive it often by communication from other bodies; so, that all instruction has come from the beginning, at sundry times and in divers manners, from the Sun of righteousness; and has been only reflected, more or less, pure or tinged, from one man to another. And let us entreat him, whose " countenance "is as the sun shineth in his strength, to anoint our "" eyes with eye-salve, that we may see;" which, otherwise, we shall not do even when we have the light; because by sin not only the light was darkened, but the organ disordered. And the physician of souls is the Sun of righteousness. Upon the subjects of these two last articles, let me recommend to the reader's careful and attentive perusal, two books. The first shall be, the inimitable Mr. Leslie's Short and easy Method with the Deists; where the debate between the Christians and them, upon the evidence of revelation, is brought to one single point, and their cause overthrown for ever. This most excellent piece, with the other tracts of the same admirable author usually bound with it, have, I thank God, entirely removed every doubt from my mind; and, in my poor opinion, they render the metaphysical performances upon the subject entirely useless: since, if the Scriptures are once proved to be the word of God (as I think they are infallibly in that book), we have nothing farther That we name Hutchinsonian, an appellation frequently bestowed upon me by this author, who, p. 15, supposes, "Mr. Wetherell would take it ill, if he was "not complimented as one of Mr. Hutchinson's disciples." What reason he had for supposing so I cannot tell, since neither Mr. Wetherell, nor myself, nor any of our acquaintance, desire to be complimented as the disciples of any man. Not that we are nullius addicti jurare in verba magistri; for one is our master, even Christ. We are members of THE CHURCH, which from the first has always gloried in the name of Christian, as expressing her unity with Christ, and in that of Catholic, as distinguishing her from all classes and clans of heretics. have read Mr. Hutchinson's books is certain; and, if his adversaries had done the same, many of their objections had never been made. That we think ourselves obliged to him for some excellent interpretations of Scripture is likewise certain. If the gentleman will confute any of them, we will give them up: if he will confute the whole, the whole shall be given up. But is it not hard measure, that, when a clergyman only preaches the doctrines, and enforces the duties of Christianity from the Scriptures, his character shall be blasted, and himself rendered odious, by the force of a name, which, in such cases, always signifies what the imposers please to mean, and the people to hate? There are many names of this kind now in vogue. If a man preaches Christ, that he is the end of the law, and the fulness of the Gospel-" You need not mind him, he is a "Hutchinsonian!" If he mentions the assistance and direction of the Holy Spirit, with the necessity of prayer, mortification, and taking up the cross"O, he is a Methodist!" If he talks of the divine right of episcopacy, and the power of the keys, with a word concerning the danger of schism— Just going over to Popery!" And, if he teaches passive obedience to King George-" You may depend upon it, he is a Pretender's man!" The truth of the matter is, many things may be ridiculed under false titles, which it would not be quite so decent to laugh at under their true ones; as an affront may be safely put upon a person in masquerade, which would produce a duel, if offered to him in propriá personá. But through evil report and good report lies the road of a Christian. For a DECEIVER he must be content to pass, till a résurrection to immortality shall demonstrate him to be none, and wisdom be justified of all her children. As to our being a sect, or schismatical combination of separatists from other Christians of the church of England, we do most sincerely disavow the name and the thing; being fully persuaded of the necessity of being in the unity of the church, to obtain salvation. In the communion of the church of England, therefore we intend to die. To every zealous friend and promoter of the interest of Christ, the Scriptures, and the church, we are ready, cheerfully and joyfully, to give the right hand of fellowship, whether he reads Mr. Hutchinson or not; though we cannot but esteem it our duty humbly and meekly to recom mend to others what has been of service to us in our searches after divine knowledge. If we are found fault with for not mixing so much with the world as some choose to do, and not spending our time as the world does, we can only say, that it is written" Be not conformed to this world;”—that life is short, and time precious; and that the hours which we kill here, will rise with us from the dead, and attend us, as our accusers, to the judgementseat. But there is an end to be served likewise by representing us as a sect; for then the imprudence of some (and where among the sons of men shall we find an exemption from imprudence?) are charged upon the party. As therefore we disclaim the notion of any sect but that of the Nazarenes, and detest the idea of any party but the church of England, I beg leave to protest against that method of proceeding, and to desire that every man may bear his own burden; since, if one who has read Hutchinson should think proper to talk nonsense at the Land's End or Berwick-upon-Tweed, I see no reason why it should be any thing to me, because I have read Hutchinson, when I do not talk nonsense at Oxford. Nor can it surely be agreeable to the rules of candour and benevolence, that, because a whimsical interpretation is given by one writer, therefore a sound interpretation should not be taken from another. By his own words let every man be justified, and by his own words let him be condemned. ; The author says, p. 6, "our behaviour is become "matter of general complaint."-From whence comes the complaint? Not from our superiors in this place; for the gentleman who so worthily fills the chair at present, thought proper to put one of us into the university pulpit; who, though this author and his friends "came in full expectation of "the marvellous," p. 16, out-did every thing they could have dreamed of, by having the assurance to preach the doctrine of the homilies on the 30th of January. And what makes this beyond any thing we meet with in history is, that he did it, when he was probably only in deacon's orders!-But who, then, are these complainants? Why, some of the warmest friends of the university, p. 6, who, it seems, are out of countenance at such monstrous things as these, and are prevented from standing forth effectually in its vindication. Whether this writer thought it would be a disgrace to him to appear in our company, I do not know; otherwise, it had been but acting the part of an ingenuous adversary to have favoured the world with his name in his title page, together with those of his adversaries, especially, as at p. 40, he talks something about a protest that he has entered; and an anonymous protest is what one seldom hears of. Had he given us his name, we might have known who these effectual vindicators of the university are: as matters now stand, we may suppose them to be persons of many extraordinary endowments; but, from the fear they express of being out of countenance for the university, we must conclude, that what they are par |