evil, and the regulations concerted by experience should be respected as bulwarks against their operation. Reafon and reflection enrol their maxims with difficulty..... Till propitious occafions confpire to favour, their exhortations, they may repine in filence, or utter their unheeded counfels. To undervalue their decrees, once confirmed, befpeaks infatuation, or a malignant purpose.

T

In commendation of the most important meafures which perhaps ever were adopted in conformity to the defign of religion, it is purpofed, in the Difcourfes which will be delivered under the prefent appointment, to defcribe the leading principles which were established by the Reformation in this country; calculated as they were to fecure the effential integrity of Chriftianity, by fhielding it from the baneful influence of those paffions, which ever will continue to breathe rebellious hoftility to its precepts,

A difcuffion which will exhibit, in a connected view, the chief particulars depofed by Chrift as to the nature of his kingdom; the authority delegated to his Minifters; and the promises imparted with regard to the fuperintendance of his Church, may contribute to demonftrate the fidelity with which his reC vealed

vealed laws were refpected, on the providential restoration of their written inftruction to this country.

If, in order to illuftrate the importance of the principles by which the regularity and beauty of true religion were renewed at this aufpicious period, we are compelled with unfatisfactory reflection, to advert to those more exorbitant and portentous wanderings of human error, which in the contemplation of a re-established fyftem we lament, it may tend to confirm our admiration of those efforts, which are best appreciated by the evils which they removed. In directing our attention to. fuch deflections from the appointed courses of obedience, we are not to forget that they were attained often by infenfible decline and. fucceffive gradations. The imagination, hurried on by the force of religious ardour, first mifled the judgment, drawing it to devious flights * and eccentric emulation †. The enthufiafm excited by religious objects was calculated to inflame the fancy; and in the exceffes of virtue we find fomewhat to pardon

* See the account of the rife of the Nicolaitans in Eufebius's Hift. Ecclef. 1. iii. c. 29.

C. 17.

See the defcription of the Therapeute in Eufeb. lib. ii.

at

.

at leaft, if not to admire. In the zeal which ambitioufly courted martyrdom, and in the barren toil and aufterities of devotion, we discover only an extravagance refulting from fincere impreffions.

The error, in many inftances of perverted piety, grew out of the becoming practice. It was the convention of charity, and the holy oblation, that led to the perversion of the folemnities of the Eucharift*. It was at the fepulchre of those who had laid down, their lives in Chrift's caufe, that fervent veneration hallowed the rescued relic †, and presented the benevolent offerings in honour of the dead, which fuperftition continued with conceit of propitiatory atonement for fin‡. The taper, confecrated by folly, was first lighted to illumine the gloomy retreats, in which the facred vigils were fhrouded from

infult

*The gratulatory offerings of the early Christians at the communion of the feats of charity, feem to have first occafioned the Eucharift to be confidered as a facrifice. The Gentile converts contributed to increase misconceptions, by retaining their accustomed terms of facrifice and altar, and applying them to the elements and the table. Vide Irenæ. 1. iv. c. 32. Cyprian. de Oper. & Eleemof. &c.

+ Bafil in 40 Martyr.

In the fecond century offerings for the dead, in refemblance of a Pagan cuftom, were prefented to the Church and the poor at the expiration of the year, with commemoration of

C 2

the

infult and perfecution *. Penance was fet up as a facramental ordinance †, upon the abufe. of penitential difcipline; and the elevation and the proceffion of the Hoft originated-the one in harmless expreffion of Chrift's exaltation on the crofs-the other in the charitable conveyance of the facred elements to the fick.

Thefe and fimilar vanities may be ultimately traced to a just principle, striking its deep root, and entwining its fibres with the beft affections of the human heart. It is the redundancy of the branch which spreadeth the fhade, cafting on the deluded votaries of an obstructed faith the difcredit only of unconscious error, which still excites, wherever it exifts, a commiferation, mingled with refentment against the evil counsellors; who withhold the friendly hand of reform.

the virtues of the defunct, and as expreffive of their charitable character. Cyprian. 1. iii. Epift. 15, 16. Auguft. Epift. 64. Origen, 1. iii. in Job. & Tertull. de Monogamia. So alfo interceffions made by confeffors, fuffering in prifon for their adherence to the faith, in favour of penitents anxious for reconciliation with the Church, laid the foundation of the errors which afterwards prevailed concerning interceffions of Saints, and the imaginary efficacy of their prayers after death; not very dif ferent from that attributed to the influence of the dæmons of antiquity. See Plutarch. de Defect. Oracul,

Eufeb. de Vit. Conftant. 1. iv. Epiphan. 1. iii.

+ The Council of Trent attributes the facramental efficacy of penance to abfolution. §. 14. c. 3.

It

It were foreign to our design to mark out the varied productions and progreffive shootings of human error, grafted on a strong and vigorous ftock, fincé, unhappily for mankind, that final corruption, which, at the revival of fcience, excited an irrefiftible neceffity of change, had totally choaked up and deftroyed the righteous principle. Confining our attention to the evils as they then exifted, we fhall endeavour only to reprefent, by a statement of the laws of Chrift, as first establifhed, how grofsly they were violated, how faithfully they were reftored; to point out with what admirable prudence fuperftition was difcarded, without prejudice to religion; and at a time that indignation was roused by every sense of injury, the difcipline, doctrine, and inftitutions of a true Church were refcued with cautious and reverential piety from the accumulated mafs of corruption which had nearly overwhelmed them.

In inviting attention to fubjects often produced under every form, it would be confiftent with apprehenfions which must arise, to deprecate the diftaste of learned minds, aecustomed to disquifitions of remote and difficult difcuffion; but at a time when the