But the holy religion of Jesus will ever be perverted and deformed while man is man, that is, a creature who naturally, like the wild-ass' colt, scorns the rein of his master, and will seek one way or other to shake it off. Pride will lead the Pharisee to object to the humbling tendency of Gospel doctrines; and corruption will lead the Antinomian to resist the obligation of Gospel precepts: and, so deep and dissembled sometimes is this mystery of iniquity, not only from the multitude, but also from the Antinomian himself, that, while he is ranting about the doctrines of grace, and dealing out vulgar and abusive epithets against every true minister, who adds the practical part to the doctrinal, he supposes that he is making a stand for the truth. He is, forsooth, the reformer, the apostle, the contender for the pure and unmixed faith once delivered to the saints-he is mistaken by his simple followers for another Paul, and, no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

But to return to the preacher who came to Reading: I ought, from the account I have received, to clear him from any attempt at dissembling his principles, as many others have done: he spoke out, and thereby became less dangerous. Nothing, however, obligation to obey his Maker's commands." And, besides the usual and more generally acknowledged course of this error, as described above, he adds, "Verily, I look on modern moral preaching as a refined species of Antinomianism: for it does not refer to the Law of God as the standard, but to some vague notions of right and wrong, which vary according to men's fashions, educations, connections, or even inclinations. It operates to render men Antinomians sui generis. Whatever their notions of mercy and salvation are, they use them as a palliation for sin; and to persuade themselves that God will make allowances, and, as it were, sell or give indulgences and dispensations." Certainly, such a persuasion, whether it proceeds under a moral or evangelical form, is the very spirit of Antinomianism.

that he could say or do diverted Mr. C. from the straight line and scriptural course he had been pursuing and my design, in dwelling on this period of his life, is, to call the attention of my brethren in the ministry to the wise and successful method which he took in subverting error by establishing truth.

I could name more than one honest and zealous minister, who, when he has seen his flock in dangers of this kind, has, indeed, been anxious to secure them from the mischiefs, but has erred greatly as to the right way. For, while the fanatic has been setting aside all practical godliness by his way of establishing two or three doctrinal points, the regular pastor has endeavoured to counteract the error, by insisting so much on practical topics and obligations, as seemingly to abandon the foundation upon which alone they can be successfully built. But this is attempting to remove errors of one kind, by errors of another. The meanest peasant might perceive, that, however firm a hold his minister had taken of the end, or practical part of St. Paul's Epistles, he had delivered up the full possession of the beginning, or doctrinal part, to be mangled by the fanatic. Nothing can establish error, more than such a practice as this yet this is a mistake into which even men of eminence have fallen.

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But HE, from whom "all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed," preserved our brother from turning out of the narrow path he had to keep, either to the right hand or to the left. Whatever separate part of God's counsel an erroneous teacher was exclusively adopting, Mr. C. wisely determined to preach the whole counsel of God. He would not quit the foundation because another was building wood, hay, stubble, upon it. He was too well instructed to blindly advance the Arminian error as the only specific to cure the Antinomian. Heresy is not to be cured by heresy, but

by truth. He maintained firmly the doctrines of grace, though, another was perverting them; and ceased not to preach as fully and freely as before, redemption through the blood of Christ, as many hundreds now living can testify. And they can.testify too, that he did not stop there: he preached also sanctification by the Spirit of Christ, and the peculiar obligations which the doctrines of grace lay Christians under to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to walk soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.

Does any sincere preacher of God's word, now labouring under such difficulties as our brother had to struggle with, wish to know what success is to be expected from such a steady perseverance in the doctrine which is according to godliness— a course which will no more countenance carnal gospellers and mad evangelists, than dead formalists or hardened profligates?-I will endeavour to strengthen his hands, by informing him that it was attended with the following good effects.

1st. The appeal, which his consistent conduct lodged in the consciences of his people, kept the greater part of them from wandering, and recovered others who had wandered. His congregation increased: God set his seal to his word; and afforded his power and presence to the genuine administration of it. Many were awakened; others established in the whole truth. Such, indeed, was the effect felt by many who were brought under the minister of St. Giles' that it reminds us of such assemblies as are described, 1 Cor. xiv, 25, where if "there should come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth."

2. The effect was felt by the false Apostle. His

congregation declined: serious inquirers perceived that this teacher could urge no evangelical doctrine or privilege, which their own pastor did not as firmly maintain. Mr. C. was none of those, who fear to give the children bread lest the dogs should catch. at it; or, if they give it, give it so sparingly and with so much caution, that the children are afraid lest it should poison them. But, like a true parent, he gave his children not only their food, but their work also, and their medicines too when they needed them. (Oh that every preacher would consider this!) The children knew the father and crowded round him, till at length the Antinomian not being able (as Mr. M. of Reading informs me) to raise a subsistence, left them in 1796, and the place was afterward shut up.

3. The good effect of our brother's conduct was visible throughout Reading. If all did not love him. as a faithful witness (and where, and when, did the world love a faithful witness?) yet all had marked the steady and devoted minister. In walking with him at different times through the town, I could not but observe the kind of respect paid to him; and, though part of this may be placed to the account of his family having resided so long on the spot, yet how many high-born clerks have droned away their lives in sight of their family mansion, and at length ceased to cumber the ground, without producing a single sigh of, Alas, my brother!-On the contrary, how many, whose births could scarcely be traced, have, on taking their flight, wrung, like our brother, the cry from a thousand hearts of, My Father, my Father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!

Among other instances which might be given of his general influence in Reading is, that of the exclusion of those ministers of impiety and licentiousness, strolling players. The devil, it seems, has his ordinances. and ministers as well as God; by which he plants, waters, and matures evil habits: and these two 19*

VOL. I.

sorts of ordinances are contrary the one to the other, as are the ends to which they tend. The players, I am informed, could not find a support for some years before Mr. C.'s death, but came in again very soon after he departed. Who, when he hears this, can help applying that passage, And Elisha died, and they buried him; and the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year?

I proceed to give what I can further collect of this valuable man: and since the above was written, I have received the following particulars from Mrs. Cadogan; which I shall insert as they stand together in her letter, though evidently intended by her as disjointed hints of his habits and character, to be interwoven where I thought proper.

"My dear husband had so tender a conscience, that it was with difficulty he could bring his mind to the discharging of his servants, till compelled by the greatest insolence; and, even then, he would overpay them both in money and clothes. When also some of the farmers or gardeners were distressed, he remitted half their tythes :-I have known him excuse considerable sums at a time to one person; and, instead of resenting injuries, return some act of kindness. 'Faith,' he used to say, 'turns every thing to gold ;' and, that we have nothing to fear but sin."

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"He disliked visiting, except a few select friends, and the sick, the afflicted, and the poor. He used, on a Saturday, to go among them with his pocket full of silver for their relief; and, before the Sunday schools were set up, he annually expended from twenty to thirty pounds in putting their children to school. Latterly, the Sunday schools were his great concern, which cost him at least thirty pounds a year: he used to visit them almost every Sunday, heard the scholars read, catechised them and the other children of the parish in the church, and gave them a dinner on Christmas-day.