tion in disappointment. That charity alone endures, which flows from a sense of duty, and a hope in God: This is the charity that treads in secret those paths of misery, from which all but the lowest of human wretches have fled; this is that charity which no labour can weary, no ingratitude detach, no horror disgust, that toils, that pardons, that suffers, that is seen by no man, and honoured by no man, but, like the great laws of nature, does the work of God in silence, and looks to future, and better worlds for its reward. 1 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 doctrines. 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 ténets they profess, but upon the general spirit they display; it is in vain to |