health, and present and future happiness in the pursuit, is too evident to be denied. But should any of them have been initiated in these vanities by your example, and countenanced and emboldened in them by seeing you the patrons and constant visitors at the card table, the assembly, or the theatre, it may not be so easy to exculpate yourself from heinous guilt at the awful tribunal of God, as you now imagine.

"That persons, who make any pretensions to eminence in piety, keep at the greatest distance from these scenes, and consider them as altogether unsuitable to their condition, you must allow. Nay, you must be sensible that to be seen there does not accord with your ideas of sanctity of character. What would be your sensations, if, on taking up a morning newspaper, you were to read the following paragraph. 'Last night the apostle Paul, and the evangelist Timothy were at the assembly. St. Paul played all the evening with two old matrons and a middle aged gentleman at cards. Timothy danced with the young ladies, and charmed them all with his elegance, his wit, and his mirth.' Would you not be shocked at the intelligence as containing something abhorrent to the ideas which you had formed of those holy men ? But is there more than one rule for the disciples of Christ? Is there a strict formulary and a lax one designed for different classes of mankind? No, there is but one, and all should observe it in all its precepts, and you, and I, and every person professing Christianity, should be as good and holy as the apostles and evangelists, as Paul and Timothy were.

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Not to be tedious, can you bear the idea of death finding you occupied in these amusements. To die while engaged in your business, or in conversing with

your family and friends; or in walking abroad in the fields; or in lying down on your couch to rest, has nothing unsuitable to the Christian character: it awakens no painful sensations as if the person had been surprized by death in an improper place. To die at church, or in family devotion, or in the closet at secret prayer, would be considered by you as according well with a Christian's profession, and you would covet it as an honour, and say, "let my last end be like his." But would you like to die at the card table, in the midst of a dance, or in a box at the theatre? You would not: the idea shocks you. But why? There must be something wrong, that excites such emotions in your breast. If you shudder at the thoughts of dying in your beloved amusements, it must be more than improper to live in them.

"Consider these hints. I will not press the subject farther. I only say, can you pray for the blessing of God upon them? You can do it for the exercises of religion; you can do it for your worldly business; but can you do it for these amusements? You cannot. Indulge no longer, my friends, in practices on which you cannot pray for the divine blessing.

"You may think the life of a person, who abstains from your favourite pleasures, dull and gloomy beyond enduring. This judgment, I know, is frequently passed on it by those who know no higher principles than the spirit of the world can infuse. "How' say

they, can you, and those who think and act as you do, bear existence? Melancholy and misery must reside continually in your habitations.' No this is an egregious mistake. It is a poor miserable life that depends for its happiness on cards, and dancing, and plays. After bidding adieu to them all, we have

enough behind for comfort and happiness; the banishing your amusements heightens that felicity. There remain with us the pursuits of literature, the charms of agreeable conversation, the satisfaction and quiet peace arising out of the performance of our every day's duties, the delights of relative affection in domestic intercourse, which are to be reckoned among the sweetest joys of life; delights, which your amusements tend to lessen and destroy; and above all, the still superior pleasures of religious worship and devotion. From these sources derive our happiness, and these ingredients thrown into the cup of life render it sweet and pleasing to our taste."

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To return from this digression. There is one thing more which particularly marks the character of truly religious persons, and that is, the exercise of Christian benevolence. Among the heathens it was almost unknown in every age: but no sooner was the Gospel preached with power than it changed the human heart. Selfish pagans were converted into generous disciples of Christ. They considered both themselves and their substance as the property of God, and their benevolence flowed in copious streams: and it will ever continue to flow in an abundance proportioned to the measure of religion which reigns within the heart.

The benevolence of the dissenters during this period may be inferred from premises satisfactory enough to the candid mind. They had displayed a willingness to part with their substance for the sake of their religious profession in the persecuting reigns of Charles and of James. The persons who had not

hesitated to part with their worldly goods in this way would certainly not afterwards be backward to contribute liberally to the cause of Christ. To become a member of a voluntary religious society is like giving a pledge of benevolence; and it requires and accustoms the members to give with a liberal hand. In this period there were peculiar calls for its existence. Meeting-houses were almost every where to be built ministers were to be supported, and the wants of the poor to be supplied; besides those occasional applications to liberality, which so frequently occur. So that, in proportion to their substance, there is reason to conclude they will, in the exercise of Christian benevolence, bear a comparison with those of any other denomination.

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For the justness of this description of the dissenters the reader is referred to the authority of the venerable Dr. Watts, who was arrived at the years of maturity by the commencement of this period, and who, from what he had himself observed, delineates the character of the nonformists'. In the lives of Philip and of Matthew Henry, of George Trosse, of Mrs, Bury, and some others, the reader will find additional confirmation of what has been mentioned above.

As the final result of our investigation of the subject, it may with confidence be asserted, that, in the Christian world during this period, there was not to be found in any sect a body of people who, in proportion to their numbers, excelled the dissenters in England, presbyterians, independents, and baptists, in the knowledge of the principles of the Gospel, in the uniform and persevering practice of its precepts, i Watts's Humble Attempt, page 186-239.

and in the diligent and faithful observance of its ordinances.

For the state of religion among the quakers, during this period, the reader is referred to the following extracts from the pages of their own historian, Gough.

Gough, speaking of them, says, "Now a second generation being risen, and arising, amongst this society (i. e. quakers) who held the profession as the religion of their education, and not the purchase of giving up all for its sake as their predecessors had done too many of these appeared in the danger of being carried away with the stream, and being drawn aside by the tempting prospect, into an inordinate pursuit of wealth beyond the limits of a truly religious disposition. Many admonitions and exhortations were sent forth from their meetings of discipline for exhorting their folds to vigilance, and to keep within the limits of pure religion in their temporal engagements, and under the guidance of divine grace, which would teach them to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts. Their zealous endeavours were attended with a good effect."

In the postscript of an epistle addressed to the society, the writer speaks thus:" As our number increased, it happened that such a spirit came in among us as was amongst the Jews when they came out of Egypt, and thus began to look back into the world and traded with the credit which was not of its own purchasing, and striving to be great in the riches and possessions of this world; and their great fair buildings in city and country, fine and fashionable furniture, and apparel equivalent, with dainty and voluptuous provision, with rich matches in marGough's History, vol. III. book vi. chap. 12.

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