the following manner:-"Five of them were wise, and five foolish: the wise are said to have taken oil in their lamps, the oil of grace, as well as the lamp of profession; and when the bridegroom came they were ready; they went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. The foolish virgins had also a lamp of profession, but alas! none of the oil of grace; they professed to believe, but they believed not to the saving of the soul," &c.*

The purpose for which the parable is thus interpreted will soon appear. Mr. Eyre had recommended "less vehemence, and more candour on which the writer observes, "the candour of a blinded world is to hope the best of all, let their sentiments in theology be ever so heterodox. This is not the candour of those who have been convinced of sin, and have found that in Christ there is salvation, and in none other." †

This censorious remark being closed, according to usage, with a scriptural text, might lead an

* Willat's Apology, p. 116.

The following opinion is of a very different cast; it proceeded from that sound judgment and christian temper which distinguished the great and unanswerable advocate of evangelical truth:-"Though we wish heartily that all controversies were ended, as we do, that all sin were abolished, yet we have little hope of the one or the other, till the world be ended. And in the mean while think it best to content ourselves with, and to persuade others unto an unity of charity and mutual toleration.-Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants, &c. p. 84. ed. 1638.

unwary reader to suppose that there is some connection between that undeniable truth, "there is no salvation but in Christ," and the illiberal sneer which it is intended to support; and that St. Paul's declaration, "6 Charity hopeth all things," is irreconcileable with the doctrine of St. Peter, which is thus wrested and opposed to it.

"The candour of the blinded world" may be understood in an irreligious sense; but a vague term is not sufficient for an argument. Let us look to the candour of a Christian, and that will give us a more definite idea. "Judge not, says our Lord, that ye be not judged:--and why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye." *

"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another;-by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples." And more immediately to our present purpose, is this salutary counsel of St. James:-" My brethren be not many masters, (i. e. teachers, t) knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation; for in many things we offend all. Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good understanding, his words with meekness of wisdom, &c." The characters of which are thus beautifully expres sed:-"The wisdom that is from above, is first

* Matt. vii. 1, 3. John xiii. 34, 35.

Η Διδασκαλοι.

pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated; full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace, of them that make peace."

From these declarations of Christ and his apostles, it should seem, that rashly to arrogate the teacher's office; † to pass an unqualified judgment on the heterodox, and condemn those who differ from us; to mark with severity the errors of our brethren, whilst we overlook our own: in a word, to decide the worst, rather than

** Chap. iii. 1. 13. 17, 18.

+ Stanhope, in discoursing on St. Paul's 1 Cor. chap. xiii. observes on that quality, by which charity is distinguished, as "vaunting not itself." That" the word in the original* is obscure and ambiguous, but seems here chiefly to denote (with. the negative) sedateness and prudence, meekness, and modesty; not being rash, and forward, and assuming; "not exercising ourselves in matters too high for us;" not thrusting into business beyond our capacity and sphere. By this we preserve order and public peace, and contentedly keep within the bounds of that station which the providence of God hath called us to. Private men are satisfied with obeying, and those who have no lawful authority, with learning. The one does not aspire to government in the state, nor the other usurp the office of teachers in the church; for where these things are inordinately arrogated, the persons guilty of it, betray a spirit manifestly defective in this divine virtue, by aiming at posts which they are by no means qualified for, and so introducing mischief and confusion."-Comment on the Ep. for Quinquagesima Sunday, sect. 4.

Περπερεύεται.

to hope the best of all, is utterly repugnant to that candour recommended by our divine master and his apostles.

But as there certainly are some "damnable heresies, brought in by false teachers,”* it might be thought, that those to which the term heterodox is here applied, are of that number. It is proper, therefore, to inquire who are particularly pointed at, under that denomination; and this will appear from page 116.

Mr. Eyre had said, "You differ a little in some few points from us." To which his adversary replies: "It will not be difficult to prove that you differ from us, in many great points; yet with that kind of charity, I wish ever to reprobate, you hope at last to meet together at the same end of the journey. It is my wish, as much as it can be yours, that we may meet at last, in the same world of endless joy and peace; yet it must never be allowed, that characters holding sentiments so opposite, ever can arrive at the end of the same journey, † as you term it, unless their sentiments as to the essentials of their creed correspond. To be sure, in one ‡

* 2 Pet. ii. 1.

+ Mr. Eyre had said the same end of the journey.

On this principle, what will be the fate of the Methodists themselves? They differ, it is well known, in the most important points; and while the disciples of Whitfield assert the doctrines of irresistible grace, the perseverance of the saints, imputed righteousness, unconditional election and reprobation, and consequently absolute predestination.

sense, we may meet at the end of the same journey; and this may be illustrated by the parable of the ten virgins."

Thus is scripture perverted to cover a censorious zeal; and the kind of hope of one Christian minister, rebutted by the intolerant deprecation. of another. He reprobates such charity, and damns with faint wish, for he adds, "it must never be allowed;" and pronounces with the most calm indifference, that awful judgment which belongs to God alone, as the certain doom of those whose sentiments, as to the essentials of their creed, do not correspond with his own. So that the amount of all is, that the author and his Calvinistical brethren will be saved, and such men as Mr. Eyre will be lost! Thus is that merciful dispensation abrogated, by which God

The strict followers of Wesley deny these articles of faith, not to mention several other points of difference which subsist between them. "Can characters holding sentiments so opposite, ever arrive at the same end of the journey?" Either the one party or the other, must, by their own acknowledgment, go away into everlasting punishment.

But their dissensions suggest a more safe and reasonable conclusion, viz.-That their pretensions to the special guidance of the spirit, are manifestly false. The Holy Ghost is expressly called," one and the self-same spirit;" and there can be no doubt, that he leads those who are illuminated by his unchangeable light, into one and the self-same truth. Yet, if the Methodists are all directed by his motions, truth, divine immutable eternal truth, must be diverse, and " God the author of confusion." To such impious profanation does the unwarranted presumption of enthusiasm lead.