These things are not said with pleasure but with grief. I love the Church; and I know, that all good clergymen, of whom there are undoubtedly many, lament over the failings of these unworthy brethren, as tending to sap the foundation of that excellent fabric, whose form or architecture cannot be too much admired, nor the lax manner of cleansing or keeping it clean too much deplored.

In many cases also, it must be owned, that the clergy are hardly dealt by. Their general subsistence is less, in proportion to the value of other property, than it ought to be; and this is, in a great measure, owing to the substitution of a modus for tithe, which was God's ordinance for his ministers, and which therefore can never be altered for the better by the wisdom, and certainly not by the contrary disposition, of man. Whenever the clergy of this land receive, in

stead

stead of tithe, their support from the general purse of the public; they will find themselves presently in the situation of needy and dependent pensioners; and our ecclesiastical constitution will pine away, and its property become the ravage of greedy and powerful laymen. It may then vanish by one hostile vote, or be swept off by the single stroke of a pen.

And when the ecclesiastical establishment is once dissolved, other detestable changes may be expected to occur, not less fatal to the peace and interest of the state, than to the general profession of the Christian religion. It is almost unnecessary to quote the awful example of a neighbouring country. Among other effects of such a catastrophe, lay impropriations and the other property, originally plundered from the church, and now devoted to secular advantage only, cannot be expected to escape from the

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general wreck; having originally no foundation in right, but what was instituted for the support of the national ministry, and therefore will either' stand or fall with it.

When one considers all these circumstances, and adds to them the growing dissipation, licentiousness, spiritual ignorance, and irreligion, of the laity; one cannot but tremble for the welfare and safety of the country.

§ 82. In addition to these important reflections, it may not be useless to consider, what effects heterodox principles commonly have with the people, upon whom they are inculcated.

§ 83. With sincere persons, whose consciences are awakened, and who are really in earnest for the things of salvation, every departure from the purity of truth is, in proportion to the degree of departure, attended with darkness and confusion, with multiplied and intricate doubts, with dis

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tressing thoughts, if not concerning the Gospel itself, yet respecting their own privileges and interest in it; and hence their walk is naturally uneven, because their faith is weak and unsteady. It will probably be found, that they either do not apprehend, or are taught to be afraid of, God's covenanted mercy in Christ; though they can rightly rejoice only in the clear prospect and hope of such a blessing. They tremble perhaps at that bugbear of the world, God's sovereign and electing grace, and can take hold of no comfort from his everlasting love, though they would be most happy to believe, that with his own loving-kindness he hath drawn them. They look sometimes at the blood of the Lamb, but cannot fully accept it as their only remedy, and as their sure and irrevocable consecration to holiness and to God. Something of their own must, they think, or perhaps

they

they have been told, be constantly added to render the work of Christ and his Spirit efficacious; and therefore, not relying simply and entirely upon the worth and bounty of the Redeemer, they are involved in unholy distrusts of his promises, and too, often proceed to dispute against what they do not clearly understand; so that, if let alone, they sometimes go on from doubting and disputing against the great fundamentals of Christianity, till they plunge into such gross errors and disorders, as disgrace its very name. Those of them, who

"No light, no hope, no strength, for duties spring, "Where Jesus is not prophet, priest, and king." Thus sings the Rev. R. ERSKINE, in his Gospel-sonnets; — a little volume of poems, which, however deficient in versification, display a rịch fund of gracious attainment and experimental knowledge in the things of God.

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