32 MICAIAH TOWGOOD. with the Apostle,-I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my friends and brethren, whom I love in the bowels of Jesus Christ. "But various passages of Scripture urge me, on the most momentous considerations, to renounce a situation which I cannot any longer retain with peace of mind. I bewail it exceedingly; I have received no affront; conceived no disgust; formed no plans; made no connexions; consulted no friends; experience no weariness of the ministerial office; the ways of religion are still pleasant; I have been glad when duty called me to the house of God. His word hath been delightful; the pulpit has been awfully pleasing; the table of the Lord hath been the joy of my heart; and now, that Providence calleth me away, with some degree of reluctance, I say,-Lord, here I am ;-do with me what seemeth Thee good. Let me stay where I am-I gladly stay. Send me where Thou wilt. I will endeavour to submit. Only go with me, and Thy pleasure shall be mine. "I argue not Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot Of heart or hope; but still bear up, and steer In the biographical notice prefixed to Mr. Parsons's edition of the "Plea for the deity of Jesus," is contained a very interesting account of Mr. Simpson's truly evangelical labours in the pulpit and in his parish; as an able and eloquent preacher, a learned and orthodox expounder of the Scriptures, and a faithful, zealous, efficient pastor. Seldom, in the history of the Christian church, has occurred an instance of a minister more truly devoted to his people; of a people more tenderly attached to their minister. Perhaps one of the most hostile publications, on the part of the dissenters in England, vindicating their dissent from the national church, is Mr. Micaiah Towgood's book, entitled "A dissent from the Church of England fully justified, and proved to be the genuine and just consequence of the allegiance which is due to MESSRS. BOGUE AND BENNET. 33 Jesus Christ, the only lawgiver in the church." This book has run through several editions, and is a favourite with non-episcopalians; but the author's own Arianism materially dilutes the venom, and abates the force of his objections to the evangelical doctrines of the Anglican Church. The first volume of Messrs. Bogue and Bennet's • History of Dissenters," contains some elaborate arguments for general dissent; or dissent from all churches, whether popish or protestant; whether episcopalian, or presbyterian, or congregational. The concluding chapter in this volume offers reasons for particular dissent from the church of England; the church and dissent being personified as two old women; of whom one is made to talk like a fool, and the other like a bigot. This chapter is neither conceived nor executed in the best possible taste, as to sentiment or manner; and is calculated rather to retard, than to accelerate its professed object. It is, however, due to these gentlemen to state, that whatever may be their opinions respecting church order, discipline and government, they are, invariably, staunch and able advocates for the evangelical doctrines of grace; the scriptural doctrines, promulgated by the protestant reformers. In the house of lords, during a debate upon the propriety of slackening the legal cords, by which the dissenting sects are tied and bound in England, lord Chatham said, in his own strong way, and emphatic manner-"we have a popish liturgy, a Calvinistic creed, and an Arminian clergy." These expressions of the elder Pitt savour a little of oratorical license; and pass somewhat beyond the limits of plain matter of fact. For the present, let it suffice to observe, that the American-Anglo-Church is, in no way, connected with the state or government; labours under. no lay-patronage; has no system of tithes; but stands on the same level of political toleration and right, with every other religious denomination throughout the Union; and, as a church, professes to be founded and built upon the primitive ground, marked out and fenced in by the great English reformers; that is to say, upon the liturgy, articles and homilies of the Anglican church. How far the American-Anglo-Church pulpit services generally coincide with the evangelical doctrines promulgated from the reading-desk, and contained and expounded in the articles and homilies, may be the subject of future consideration. In my eighteenth year, I applied myself to the study of medicine; first in the country, then in London, then in Edinburgh, with the characteristic ardour of a sanguine temperament. In the Scottish metropolis, for its size, far the most intellectual place I ever knew, my mind was abundantly gratified. In the intervals of attendance on the medical lectures, and visiting the Infirmary, I listened to the prelections of professor Dalzell, the well known compiler of the "Collectanea," on Greek poetry; and began an acquaintance with metaphysics and political eco nomy. It would be worse than idle, to attempt even a sketch of the intelligent, vivacious, sceptical state of society in Edinburgh, after the full-length portrait given in "Peter's letters to his kinsfolk;" a work, so far as two years of residence in that distinguished school of instruction gave me an opportunity of judging, as accurate in its details as it is able and interesting, though occasionally quaint and obsolete, in its execution and manner. Beyond all peradventure, my own religious impressions and opinions were considerably diminished and shaken, during my noviciate in the Scottish university, where I encountered, either avowed infidelity, or formal indifference, all around me, in either sex, and in every age; and perused the pages of Voltaire, Rousseau, Helvetius, and other worthies of the French school of impiety and radicalism, together with the works of some of the English infidels, from lord Herbert, of Cherbury, who holds the bad emi ALISON-HALYBURTON. 35 nence of being the reputed father of deism in England, down to Thomas Paine, who is about the most illiterate and scurrilous reviler of Revelation, which the incubation of heated politics upon blasphemous insanity ever engendered. The preaching of Mr. Alison, the author of a justly celebrated "Essay on Taste," and of some sweet little Sabbatical effusions, or dulcet discourses, by a singular misnomer called sermons, was not, at least so long as I heard him, peculiarly calculated either to dispel the darkness of infidelity, or to direct the vision of the heart to the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, with healing underneath his wings. .The most efficient refutation of the infidel writers that I ever read, is Halyburton's "Inquiry into the necessity of Revelation;" a book at once able, learned and evangelical. The ingenuous youth, who is really seeking to find out the truth, will be well repaid by a diligent study of this little volume; after which he may consult the larger and more laborious tomes of Leland, on the Christian Revelation and against the deistical writers. To those, who think religion something more than a mere form of words, and are yearning after the power of godliness in their own hearts, the conversion of Halyburton, as related in his Memoirs, will afford an abundant harvest of instruction and delight. In the course of ecclesiastical studies, established by the American house of bishops, in the convention of 1804, in pursuance of a resolution of the preceding general convention, it is said, "that it would be best for the student to read what the deists themselves have written." The benefit of studying infidel productions is questionable; the peril certain. A correspondent in the Christian Observer, for April, 1819, shows the direct tendency of studying sceptical writers to bewilder the understanding, and corrupt the heart. The concluding sentences of this admirable paper are replete with sound sense and truc piety. 36 STUDY OF SCEPTICAL WRITERS. "If an inquiry should be made for a safer and more certain course, (than the study of sceptical writers,) the Christian might well be exhorted to furnish himself with a rational conviction of his faith; and to that end he might be urged to study, with a simple, serious, and impartial mind, some of those worthies of our cause, who have summed up, with unanswerable precision, the evidences which establish the divinity of our religion; not forgetting, however, that the Scripture is its own best evidence; and that, where devoutly studied with humble and earnest prayer to God, irresistible marks of divinity will appear in its hallowed pages. For prayer is the key, as well to a correct faith, as to a holy life.” "When once true religion is planted within us, prayer must fence it round, and protect it from the storm. From that period, the foundation once laid, the Christian will find his time more profitably occupied in learning to love and glorify his Saviour, than in labouring to protest, with historical accuracy, against the fallacy of errors, which are sometimes kept alive and in repute, like popular criminals, by the very intemperance with which they are attacked. The Bible, that common centre, round which all disputants affect to move, and to which they all refer, will teach us the insignificance of many minute discrepancies, which would be perfectly undeserving of notice, if they did not frequently cause an alienation of the heart, far wider than the petty difference of the mind: and as to the more important and vital principles of our faith, let us provide ourselves with the consoling reflection, dwelt upon by the learned and pious bishop of St. David's, (Dr. Burgess,) that having once convinced ourselves of the truth of Christianity, it is childish to discuss its falsity; having once satisfied ourselves as to the positive, it is downright absurdity to try the plausibility of the negative."" Indeed, there is no medium between receiving the Holy Scriptures as the entire Word of God, believing their declarations, obeying their precepts; and |