the same plan, the Methodist preachers, he said, are now generally received, and societies are formed in those villages; so that I do not see the same necessity now as before.

The prime curacy of the church, at this critical juncture, became vacant, the nomination to which resides with the mayor, Pro tempore. The mayor, Mr. Gould, at that time was Mr. Simpson's friend, and immediately made him the offer of it, and his offer was readily accepted; but, to prevent his induction, every effort was exerted which could be devised. A petition was preferred against him to the bishop, in which the malicious ingenuity of his adversaries magnified his offence into seventeen distinct heads; though the candour of the then Bishop of Chester, who was happily of a different character from his immediate predecessor, by whom Mr. Simpson was removed, reduced them all into one; this was, that he was a Methodist, or that his preaching greatly tended to increase the number of Methodists. Under this charge, he acted with Christian heroism. In a letter he wrote to the bishop, in his own vindication, he thus expressed himself,"This" (alluding to the latter part of the charge of Methodism) "is true. My method is to preach the great truths, and doctrines, and precepts of the gospel, in as plain, and earnest, and affectionate a manner as I am able. Persons of different ranks, persuasions, and characters come to hear. Some hereby have been convinced of the error of their ways, they see their guilt, and the danger they are in, and become seriously concerned about their salvation. The change is soon discovered; they meet with one or another who invites them to attend the preachings and meetings among the Methodists, and hence their number is increased to a considerable degree. This is the truth. I own the fact; I have often thought of it; but I confess myself unequal to the difficulty. What would your lordship advise?" Nothing could exceed the dignified firmness and propriety of his conduct during this trying conflict. On the part of his opponents, all was slander and reproach; treachery, violence, and rage; on his part all was forbearance, ingenuousness, kindness, and meekness. Before this contest came to an issue, his kind friend, Mr. Roe, voluntarily offered to build him a church in another part of the town; to this he was induced in compliance with a vow he had made in his youth, that if he should be successful in business (which he had then been to a considerable degree) he would build a church, as a token of his gratitude to God. Mr. Simpson accepted the offer, not wishing, as he himself expressed it, to preach to a people who hated him, and immediately made a proposal, which his opponents themselves admitted to be generous; namely, that if terms, agreeable to the respective parties could be adjusted in regard to the consecration of the new church and

he could be legally secured in it as incumbent, he would resign the prime curacy of the old church. The proposal was agreed to; the new church, an elegant and beautiful structure, was erected and consecrated; Mr. Simpson was inducted to it; he resigned the curacy, and was afterwards permitted to continue his ministrations without interruption. Thus this excellent man at last found rest from an infuriate cabal, who endeavoured to justify their shameful conduct towards him by their pretended zeal for the safety and interests of the church! These circumstances, so dishonourable and dangerous to the church, appear to have made impressions upon his mind, that terminated in a resolution to dissent. He saw the spirit of error, impiety, and persecution in many of her clergy, preying upon her vitals, and hastening her dissolution; and was convinced, that some of those among her advocates were her worst adversaries, who were most voluble in boasting of her excellencies, while wilfully blind to all her defects and blemishes; and who, while lamenting the increase of Dissenters and Methodists, would banish and stigmatize the only men qualified to defend her outworks, and promote her internal welfare. But his own words will best convey the truths which every faithful clergyman, and every good man in the Established Church, must seriously lament, and long to reverse.

"We, of the English establishment too, says Mr. Simpson, have so long boasted of the excellence of our church; congratulated ourselves so frequently upon our happy condition; paid ourselves so many fine compliments upon the unparalleled purity of our hierarchy; that a stranger would be led to conclude, to be sure, we must be the holiest, happiest, and most flourishing church upon the face of the earth: Whereas, when you go into our most stately and magnificent cathedrals, and other sacred edifices, you find them almost empty and forsaken, At best all is deadness and lukewarmness, both with priest and people. In various instances, there is little more appearance of devotion, than in a Jews' synagogue. Go where you will through the kingdom, one or the other of these is very generally the case, except where the officiating clergyman is strictly moral in his conduct, serious, earnest, and lively in his manner, and evangelical in his doctrines. Where this, however, happens to be so, the stigma of Methodism is almost universally affixed to his character, and his name is had for a proverb of reproach, in proportion to his zeal and usefulness, by the sceptics and infidels all around, in which they are frequently joined by the rich, the fashionable, and the gay, with the Bishop and the Clergy at

their head."

(To be concluded in the next.)

DIVINITY.

SOBER-MINDEDNESS PRESSED UPON YOUNG PEOPLE.

BY MR. MATTHEW HENRY.

SERMON ON TITUS ii. 6.

Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded.

PAUL, the aged, is here directing Titus, a young minister, whom he calls "his own son in the common faith," what subjects to preach upon; in the choice of which, ministers have need of wisdom, should pray for wisdom, and take direction from this, and other Scripture directories.

In general, he must "speak the things which become sound doctrine," ver. 1. He must preach the doctrine of Christ, the truth as it is in Jesus, the great mystery of godliness, that is, sound, or wholesome doctrine, which is good for food, spiritual food, with which souls are nourished up, 1 Tim. iv. 6. And good for medicine too, it is healing doctrine, as it speaks pardon of sin to those that complain of the terror of guilt, and promiseth power against sin, to those that complain of the strength of corruption; and, blessed be God, this sound, this healing doctrine is preached to you, in its purity, and, I hope, in its power, in season and out of season.

But this is not all, he must speak other "things which become this sound doctrine," opposed to those Jewish fables and commandments of men, with which they of the circumcision corrupted the doctrine of Christ, chap. i. 10, 14. The best way to guard against them will be, to preach the duties of Christianity with the doctrines of it; the "truth which is after godliness," chap. i. 1. Practical religion, which regulates and governs the heart and life, is that which becomes the doctrine of Christianity; which it becomes the teachers of that doctrine to preach, and both them and the professors of that doctrine to make conscience of. The "grace of God that brings salvation teacheth us," and therefore the ministers of the word of that grace, must teach you; and all that hope for that salvation, must learn to "deny ungodliness, and worldly, fleshly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly." Right notions will not serve without good morals. Young people's saying their catechism, if it were the best catechism in the world, saying it never so well, and saying nothing against it, will not save them, if the temper of their minds, and the tenor of their conversation be not agreeable to the sound doctrine they converse with, of a piece with it, and such as becomes it.

Titus is here particularly directed to preach upon the duties required from christians of each sex, and each age of life. He must teach aged men how they ought to carry themselves, so as

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that their hoary head, being "found in the way of righteousness," might be a crown of glory to them," ver. 2. And the aged women likewise, ver. 3. that they may teach the young women, ver. 4. And here in my text, he is directed what application to make to young men. Thus particular should ministers be in their preaching, that they may, as far as may be, reach every one's case, which is the likeliest way to reach every one's conscience. Thus ministers must endeavour "rightly to divide the word of truth," and as wise and faithful stewards in God's house, to give every one his portion of meat in due season:" And, O that every one would take his portion, and feed upon it, and digest it; and, instead of saying, this was for such a one, would learn to say, This is for me.

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In dealing with young men ;

1. He is here directed to exhort them; пapaxaλe. He must instruct them what to do, that they might know their duty; he must put them in mind of it, that they might know it then when they had occasion to do it; he must excite and stir them up to it, and urge it upon them with motives and arguments; and he must encourage them in the doing of it, and comfort them, that they might go on in it cheerfully; all this is included in the word here used for exhorting them; and there is need of all this, and all little enough; for some are ignorant and need to be taught, others are careless and need to be quickened; some think their duty an indifferent thing, and on such we must press the command which makes it necessary; others think it an impracticable thing, and to such we must preach the grace that makes it easy.

In pressing practical godliness, it is hard to say which is more needful, persuasion or direction; and which will be most serviceable to our end, good rules, to shew us what we should do, or good reasons, to convince us that it is our duty and interest to do it; perhaps some stand more in need of the one, others of the other, and the Scripture furnisheth us with abundant matter for both, enough to furnish the man of God for every good word of this kind.

The original word παρακαλεω, being a compound of καλέω, voco, might properly be rendered, to call to, or call upon; and that is the work of ministers, to be your monitors. We call to you, we call upon you, frequently, and with importunity, and as we see occasion, to mind your duty, and not to trifle in it, to take heed of sin, and not expose yourselves to it. This is the word behind you, which is promised, Isa. xxx. 10, which shall say, "This is the way, walk in it," and "turn not aside to the right hand or to the left."

Titus must exhort them in his public preaching, and in that must choose out words to reason with them. The rulers of the Jewish synagogue, after the reading of the Law and the Pro

phets in the assembly, on the Sabbath, desired of Paul, a word of exhortation for the people, Acts xiii. 15. And public exhortations to those of one age, relation, or condition, may be of use to others, who are not to sit by as unconcerned, but some way or other to accommodate it to themselves; for what we say unto some, we say unto all.

Yet this was not enough, he must exhort them in his personal converse with them, must visit them at their houses, and there give them this admonition; must give it in a particular manner to those that he saw needed it; give it with application, such as, “in this and the other instance, you must be of a better spirit, and carry it better." When he was in company with young men he must be giving them good advice, and instead of allowing himself to be vain as they were, endeavour to make them grave as he was. Ministers must preach, not only in the pulpit, but out of it, their converse must be a constant sermon; and in that they may be more particular in the application, and descend to persons and cases better than they can in their public ministry. Those ministers who complain they would do this statedly and solemnly, but cannot bring it to bear, yet can have no excuse for not doing it occasionally, when it comes in their way, nor would seek an excuse, if they had but a heart to it.

2. That which he must exhort them to is, to be sober-minded; all the law that concerneth them in particular is summed up in this one word; exhort them owpovsiv, to be sober-minded. It is a very significant, comprehensive word; and has in it a check to all the ill habits and ill courses that are so mischievous and ruining to young people. The word speaks the duty of young men, but it is likewise twice used in the directory for young women, ver. 4, "that they may teach" the "young women to be sober," να σωφρονίζωσι τας νέας, that they may sober the young women, may give them such instructions and examples, as may help to make them sober; and again, ver. 5, that they may teach them to be swopovas, discreet; so that it is the duty of young women as well as young men to be sober-minded; it is an exhortation proper for both the sexes of that age; and it is my exhortation to all of that age, that are within hearing to-day; "I beseech you suffer this word of exhortation," receive it at your peril, for if it come from God, it is at your utmost peril to refuse it.

DOCT. It is the great duty of all young people to be sober-minded.

I shall endeavour to shew you, 1. What this sober-mindedness is, which young people must be exhorted to. And, 2. What considerations should engage you that are young to be soberminded; and, then, 3. Make application.

For the first. Let us see what it is that we press upon you, when we exhort you to be sober-minded. And I shall keep to