many a weeping heart has leaped for joy; the fting of Death has been withdrawn; the grave has loft its victory. Even now while I am writing this, there are fome whom I could mention, praifing, God and triumphing in hope, whofe feeble tongues can fcarcely articulate their Redeemer's name, whofe abode here will be very fhort; probably in a few days their worn out bodies will be configned to the dark and dreary chambers of the grave, and their enraptured fouls wing their flight to the regions of blifs and glory. SECTION IV. Of the influence of Methodifm, on Human Happiness and Conduct. By the term Methodifm, I would not be understood to fignify a fyftem of opinions confined altogether to a particular fect of Chriftians. There are no doubt in the Church, and in every religious fociety, men, who are ornaments to their profeffion, whofe life and conduct are in exact conformity to the doctrines they preach, and whofe highest ambition it is, to render themselves useful to their fellow creatures. When therefore I speak of Me thodism, I use the word not from prepoffeffion or from choice, but because it has been applied by way of diftinction to that class of people, with whom I have lately entered into connection. So that in confidering the prefent part of my fubject, I must be fuppofed to refer equally to all thofe Chriftians wherever they are, who hold opinions fimilar to thofe of the Methodists, and whose life and converfation are correfponding thereunto. Opinions or principles of belief, are only valuable fo far as they influence our happiness, and regulate our conduct. To be a Chriftian by name or profeffion is a very easy thing; but to be acquainted experimentally with the grand truths of Chriflianity, is not always fo readily attainable. We cannot serve two masters; we cannot be the fervants of the world and the Children of God at the fame time; and as long as we halt between two opinions, we ought not to be disappointed if we find happiness in neither. My friend will pardon me, if I call to his recollection a sentiment he has more than once expreffed in my hearing, viz. “That there was nothing in this world worth living for, that Human exiftence was a complicated feries of calamity and distress, and that even its highest enjoyments never failed to leave a fting behind." From whence, give me leave to enquire, do thefe gloomy ideas originate? Are they founded in reality? Does the experience of others confirm them? Do they not rather arise from fome misapprehenfion and mifconduct of your own, which have led you to feek for happiness where it is not to be found? To go in queft of pleasures, which from the very nature of things, are fure to end in disappointment and remorfe ? In short, a man without Religion, is like a ship without pilot. He is caft to and fro, toft upon the waves of uncertainty, agitated by contending paffions, and if he experience now and then a temporary calm, it only ferves to render the fucceeding ftorm fo much the more terrible., But But Religion, real and experimental Religion, affords very dif ferent profpects. It fweetens the bitter cup, it pours balm into the bleeding heart; it smooths the rugged paths of life; in afflic tion it infpires hope, patience in adverfity, and confolation in every time of trouble. It reconciles us to the lofs of fortune, of fame, of friends. It enables us to forgive our enemies, to pray for our perfecutors, and to love those who defpitefully ufe us. It renders us content with our fituation in life whatever it be; it effectually fecures to us the approbation of our own confcience, and in fhort affords us fuch a peace and ferenity of mind, as the world can neither give nor take away. And this is not mere theory. Experience has abundantly proved it; my own recent obfervation hath confirmed it; and if we reafon upon the fubject, we fhall find it cannot be otherwise. The true believer is prepared to encounter every difficulty. Oppofition only ferves to redouble his zeal, and every trial he meets with in his chriftian race, he regards as a means afforded him of exercifing the virtues of patience, forbearance, and refig nation to the will of God, and of proving his unfhaken fidelity to his Lord and Mafter. He looks upon the Chriftian life as a state of warfare; and he fees himself encompaffed by enemies from without, and from within; and if he experience the hatred, the ridicule, or contempt of the world, it is no more than he expected; it is what he was fufficiently forewarned of. "If the world hate you, faith our Saviour, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chofen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I faid unto you, that the fervant is not greater than his Lord, if they have perfecuted me, they will also perfecute you; if they have kept my faying, they will keep your's alfo. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's fake, because they know not him that fent me," John xv. 18, 21. In the fame chapter, we read, " In the world ye fhall have tribulation but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” The fincere Chriftian therefore is content to fuffer, as well as to do the will of God. He is content to deny himself, to take up his crofs and follow his Mafter. He reckons the fufferings of this prefent time, not worthy to be compared with the glory which fhall be revealed hereafter; afflictions he esteems as bleffings in difguife, and though troubled on every fide, yet he is not diftreffed; though perplexed, yet not in defpair; perfecuted, but not forfa ken, caft down, yet not destroyed, 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9. As for rowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet poffeffing all things," 2 Cor. vi. 10. But again, not only the poor and the afflicted, but the rich and profperous are benefited by Chriftian experience. The Scripture represents riches as a great obftacle to the kingdom of God, and the reafon appears to be, that they are apt to create in us too ftrong an attachment to the things of time and fenfe, and on this account render us less anxious about our fpiritual and eternal welfare. Riches are either a blessing or a curfe, according to the ufe made. of them. They afford us means of doing good in a variety of ways, and for this purpose they seem to have been given us; and when fo employed, they redound to the glory of God, and the good of our own fouls. Now a good Methodist cannot be an un.charitable man. He experiences in his own mind, that it is truly "more blessed to give than to receive," "that he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord," and that it fhall be paid him again, if not in this world, in that which is to come. The love of God, abiding in him, constrains him to love all mankind; and he endeavours as far as he can, to tread in the fteps of his Mafter, going about feeking to do good. In his profperity, he forgets not that God from whom he hath derived every thing he poffeffes; he fets a juft value upon every temporal bleffing, eats the bread of thankfulness, and ftudies to glorify his Maker in every thought, word, and action. He finds that the yoke of Chrift is eafy, and his burden light; the fervice he is engaged in is perfect freedom, and that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ་ He lofes all relish for the pleasures of fin and vanity; his views are too lofty, his defires too elevated, to reft satisfied with any thing fhort of the Divine presence; and his happiest hours are fpent in his own clofet, in the company and converfation of his religious friends, and in acts of piety to God, and benevolence to his fellow creatures. In youth he can look forward with pleafing expectation; in old age he looks back with fatisfaction. In fhort, the man who has once received affurance of the forgiveness of his fins, and views his God as a reconciled Father in Chrift Jefus, regards every event that befalls him, as the immediate appointment of the Divine Being, and holds fast that bleffed profpect of immortality, which the gospel affords to every true believer; fuch a one, I say, must be happy; and whatsoever temptations he may be expofed to, whatfoever croffes he may meet with, he will still be enabled by Divine grace to come off more than conqueror through him that hath loved him. The principles of Methodifm have been grofsly misunderstood. We have been charged with pride and uncharitablenefs; and because we do not partake in the common amusements of life, and enter into scenes of gaiety and diffipation, we are fuppofed to be inimical to friendly and chearful intercourfe. But let me afk, In what does our pride confift? Do we fhew it in our persons, in our drefs, in our converfation, in our dealings with mankind? Are we ambitious of fame, or of the good opinion and applaufe of the world? Do we boat of our own ftrength, of our own abili ties and acquirements? Do we difdain to vifit the afflicted? Do we look with contempt upon those who differ from us in prin. VOL. XIX. Auguft 1796. ciples? ciples? Do we not rather debafe and humble ourselves in our own eyes, denying ourselves the merit of every thing that we do acceptable in the fight of God? and if we glory, we glory in the Name and Power of the Lord Jefus Chrift. Can we be faid to be uncharitable, when we employ a confiderable portion of our vacant time in offices of humanity and kindnefs to our fellow creatures, in endeavouring to inftruct the ignorant, and to reclaim the wicked? when we can fympathize freely with a brother or. fifter in distress, and rejoice fincerely in the conversion of every penitent foul? It is our conftant prayer that ALL may come to the knowledge of the truth, and be faved; and it is no breach of charity to fay, that there is but one Road to Heaven, one Name only, by which we can be faved; and that if any one reject the plan of redemption laid down in the Gofpel, or in the words of St. John, "entereth not by the door into the fheep-fold, but climbeth up fome other way, the fame is a thief and a robber. I am the door, (faith our Lord,) by me if any man enter in, he fhall be faved, and fhall go in and out, and shall find pasture," John x. 9. As therefore we are affured from Scripture, that we can never merit heaven by our works, and as there is but one way of falvation, fo far is the preaching of this doctrine from being uncharitable, that it appears to me the greatest act of kindness, the highest office of humanity, to promulgate it by every means in our power; and this we must do if we have any real regard to the eternal and spiritual concerns of mankind. "For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own foul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his foul ? " " And why fhould we be deemed unfociable or averse to friendly intercourfe? Is it because we can employ ourselves agreeably without the aid of cards, dancing, plays, and other amusements of a fimilar nature? Because we deal not in unmeaning compli ments, and our discourse is not embellished with ftrokes of fatire, or lively fallies of wit and humour? We enjoy the pleasures of religious converfation too much to ftand in need of any of thefe entertainments. We delight to tell and to hear of the goodness of our heavenly Father; and our fellowship with God is often ftrengthened by the free and unrestrained manner in which we communicate our fentiments. But further. The influence of Methodifm is chiefly obfervable among the lower orders of fociety. It is to the poor, to the ignorant, to the fimple, that the preaching of the Methodists is rendered more particularly useful. Many are the inflances in which men of the most abandoned characters have been reclaimed; drunkards have become fober, fabbath-breakers have been brought to esteem it their higheft privilege and greatest delight to keep that day holy; and fwearers have ceafed to take the name of the Lord in vain. Discontent, idleness, and proflicacy of every kind, have been banished; and men men have learnt to be fatisfied with what God and the labour of their own hands have provided for them, and to be diligent in their refpective callings, and active in the discharge of the relative and focial duties of life. "The poor, (our Saviour tells us,) have the Gospel preached unto them;" and St. James fays, "Has not God chofen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom ?" . In humble and obfcure ftations, men having lefs to attach them to this world, have more ample opportunities of living near to God, and of growing in grace; and in this way, diftrefs and affliction fome times operate by constraining us to apply to God for fuccour and for confolation, when we find that vain is the help of man, and there is nothing on earth which can give us that affistance our fouls ftand in need of. It is in the hour of fickness and upon the bed of death, when the cheering influence of true Religion fhines upon the heart in its full luftre; it is when we are forfaken and rejected by men, that God is ever prefent and dear unto us; and it is this alone which will enable us like the Apoftles of old, to rejoice in tribulation, knowing that though" many be the afflic tions of the righteous, the Lord delivereth him out of them all," Pfal. xxxiv. 19. [To be concluded in the next. ] A DISCOURSE ON LUKE X. 27. II. LET us now confider the Love of our Neighbour, with its happy confequences. The Love of our Neighbour can only fpring from the Love of God, and is a love of Equity, Charity, Succour, and Benevolence. We owe to our neighbour what we have a right to expect from him. This our bleffed Saviour pofitively commands, "Do unto all men as ye would they fhould do unto you." By this rule, therefore, we fhould think, fpeak, and write, concerning every one. And if fo, we fhall on all occafions put the most favourable conftruction upon all his words and actions that they will poffibly bear. For, as "Love worketh no ill to its neigh bour," fo it" Thinketh no evil;" yea, "It will hide a multitude of fins." Therefore we shall not try, much less fhall we rejoice to find a fault, but rather where a real blemish appears, endeavour to hide, or to excuse it, in the best manner we can, and as far as truth will go. We fhall bear with him, love and forgive him, rejoice in his felicity, mourn on account of his adverfity, defire and delight in his profperity, and procure it when in our power. Inftruct him if he be ignorant, help him in his weaknefs, and even risk our life for his fake, for the falvation of his Soul, or for the public good. In a word: We must do every thing in our E 2 power, |