SERMON XVII.

ROMANS X. VERSE II.

I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

THERE is a sect which, of late years, has been growing into some importance in this country, and which, from the unwearied activity of those who guide it, has been too. well received, and too hastily embraced; I mean that sect commonly called Methodists, and who (though less numerous, perhaps, than the friends of our church establishment commonly suppose) are still numerous enough, and sufficiently active in making proselytes, and sufficiently successful to justify that watchful attention which they now begin to experience from the established clergy.

Such attention is still more necessary at this period, when enthusiasm, formerly confined to the lowest ranks of the community, has sprang up among the rich, and the great; and when it derives an influence as considerable from the wealth, and consequence of those who profess it, as it does from the seductive nature of its doctrinės.

Nothing can be more clear, than that any sect has a perfect right to interpret the gospel after its own manner, or to infuse, into its followers, any spirit, not incompatible with the public peace. Such are the rights of sects, as against the civil power; but against reason, and enquiry, no sect is, or ought to be, protected; and above all, that sect ought not which proclaims itself to be better, and wiser than all other sects, which says, we only worship the true God, salvation is for us alone,

In applying the term sect, to persons of this religious persuasion, and in distinguishing them from the church of England, I do not found that distinction upon the speculative tenets they profess, but upon the general spirit they display; it is in vain to

say you belong to our antient, and venerable communion, if you lose sight of that moderation for which we have always been distinguished, and, instead of sameness of spirit, give us only sameness of belief. You are not of us, (whatever your belief may be) if you are not sober as we are; you are not of us, if you have our zeal without our knowledge; you are not of us, if those tenets, which we have always rendered compatible with sound discretion, make you drunk, and staggering with the new wine of enthusiasm.

Far be it from me, in pointing out those pernicious consequences, which I believe to result from this sect of Christians, to join with their enemies in the very unjust calumnies which have been propagated against them; I most firmly believe that, for the greater part, they are enthusiasts, not hypocrites; that they are doing what they believe to be right, and though they are not acting up to their very exalted professions, yet that, upon the whole, they are fairly entitled to be called sincere Christians: What may truely be objected to them

is, that, meaning to be the friends of religion, they are its greatest enemies; that, wishing to extend the dominion of the gospel over all hearts, they are alienating from it the best understandings; that, preparing for sacred things, new triumph, and wider glory, they expose sacred things to the derision, and scorn of the wicked: I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

It is true that methodism, and enthusiasm, are terms often used by the unrighteous, to ridicule piety under whatever aspect of manliness it may be presented; and by whatever soundness of discretion it may be controlled; but, in spite of this, there is a real excess, there is a righteousness over-i nuch; a zeal not according to knowledge, which is a perpetual injury to true religion, the very name* used to denote it, however unjustly it may be, sometime, applied, suficiently demonstrates among what description of Christians those abuses exist.

* Vital Christianity.

When any man, whose curiosity may be roused by their high pretensions, or whose feelings may be wounded by their unjust reproaches, first turns his attention upon these members of the Christian church, there is nothing which so much attracts his notice, or so much offends his notions of real piety, as their astonishing arrogance, and presumption; they speak as if, in their æra, and at their time, God had again vouchsafed to shew himself to his people; as if a new dispensation had been accorded to the world, and as if the time was at last arrived, when they were permitted to shew to mankind the true knowledge of the true God: they speak of men of all other persuasions, as the children of darkness, and error, pitying the whole world besides themselves, and thanking God, with a very needless, and impious gratitude, that he has made them so much wiser, and better, than other human beings. The gratification of this spiritual pride is become, in fact, almost one of their religious exercises, it is mingled in all their religious meditations, and become the darling, and consolation of their souls; God

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