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wise if any Dean, Prebendary, Master, Fellow, Chaplain, or Tutor of any College, Hall, House of learning, or Hospital; any public Professor, or other person in holy orders; any Schoolmaster, or Teacher, or Tutor in any private family, do not subscribe thereto, he shall ipso facto be deprived of all his places, and shall be utterly disabled from continuing therein !"

By this Act, thousands of men, guilty of no crime, were stripped of all they had, and with their families turned out of house and home, and reduced to little less than beggary, for no other fault, real or pretended, but because they did not dare to render to Cæsar, or to man, the things which were God's; to worship him according to other men's consciences! But it did not rest here. It was further declared, that "if any of them acted in the before-mentioned capacities, without having subscribed thereto, he should suffer three months' imprisonment without bail or mainprize!"

By the Act against Conventicles, if any person should assemble to worship God, except in the churches of the establishment, they were first robbed of all their substance, and, if they persisted, of their liberty also; often of their lives. Such was the liberty of conscience that Englishmen enjoyed during the reign of the Stuarts! Can we we wonder therefore that the Lord permitted their total overthrow by the Revolution of 1688?

But does any man in this nation now suffer any thing like this? Does our present King (or did any of that family) persecute any man for his religion? Has not every man in this nation a legal, as well as a natural right, to worship God according to his own conscience? Look round you, and see how religious communities of every description "sit under their own vine and fig-tree, none making them afraid!" Compare the former days with those that are now, and you will say, "The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage."

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Let us then be grateful for the blessings we enjoy. Let us " fear God, and honour the King." Let us be steadfast and unmovable herein. Let us render to all their due; but to our God, "who loved us, and has bought us with his blood," let us render our heart and our life. Let us pray that our peace, and ability to receive and do good, be continued to us. But should the heavens again grow black with the clouds of persecution; should infidelity, in its zeal against superstition, "blaspheme the holy name whereby ye are called," and vilify that religion which is of God, and which breathes peace and good will to men; or should Papal tyranny again rear its head, and strive to prop its worldly system by the old weapons of force or fraud:-Call to mind the former days. "Suffer not as evil-doers;" but "if you suffer for

well-doing," for "rendering to God the things which are God's, wonder not as though some strange thing happened unto you. Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Take unto you his whole armour, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand before Him with joy," who

Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.

Remember, "the government is upon his shoulder," and that "the fierceness of man shall turn to his praise." Men who fear not God, may think they do mankind service when they tear the outward Church to pieces. But the CHURCH OF CHRIST "is built upon a rock, against which the gates of hell shall never prevail." If indeed ye are members of it, "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Let it be seen, amidst the crash of worldly systems, that there are those in the world, who, "fearing the Lord, and rendering to all their due, are as Mount Sion, which cannot be moved, but standeth fast for ever."

THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH.

A SERMON,

PREACHED AT THE METHODIST CHAPEL, IN THORNER, NEAR LEEDS, ON SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 1806.

On Occasion of the Death

OF

THE REV. JOHN PAWSON.

Preached and Published according to the request of Mr. Pawson, on his death-bed.

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