prehensible majesty, and the infinite supremacy of the great Lord and Father of all; as uniformly asserted in the Jewish Scriptures, as constantlytaught by Christ himself, and as strenuously maintained by the apostles, in the account transmitted to us of their preaching at Jerusalem, after the death, resurrection, and ascension of their divine Master, approved itself to my mind, by its sublimity, simplicity, and grandeur, long before I had heard any thing of abstract, metaphysical distinctions about essences, modes, and substances, of which so much has been said, and so little understood, by the most profound scholars; and an incidental conversation of my father's, already mentioned in this Memoir,* gave to the conviction such additional force, as no argument in favour of the notion of a Trinity could ever afterwards efface.

I had no conception, however, for many years, that this departure from a doctrine, which the Established Church deems fundamental, involved in it any obligations on the part of an obscure individual, to separate from her communion. Attached to it by long habit, by respect to the memory of my father as a church minister, and by many a pleasing, early association; having often anticipated with delight, the return of that sacred day, when I should repair with those most highly honoured and beloved, to the ancient, venerable edifice, consecrated by the piety of successive generations;-having often attended the village

* See p. 31.
Dd

funeral, and connected together the firm belief in a glorious resurrection, with the mouldering relics revealed to sight, by the affecting developement of a new-made grave;-having listened with awe, not unmixed with pleasure, to the simple stanzas of Sternhold, in the full chorus of village harmony; a strong predilection in favour of the whole was unavoidably generated; and it is highly probable that I should always have continued to act under its influence, had I not been impelled to a more thorough examination of the subject, by the train of reasoning I was led into by my venerable friend at Catterick; and which was afterwards still more emphatically enforced by his own powerful example, and by the noble conduct of his exemplary companion, on that occasion. It was true, that as a mere passive hearer, I could not have all the motives to a separation, by which he had been influenced. Far from rehearsing, I was not even obliged to repeat, the Athanasian and Nicene Creeds; I had no heterogeneous articles to sign; no contradictions to reconcile between private opinion, and the lead necessarily taken by the minister in his public profession. The questions with me were simply these:-Are principles and sentiments as unequivocally expressed by actions as by words? Does not a regular attendance on the worship of the Established Church, amount to an implied approbation of the principles on which it is founded? Is her Liturgy, however pious, simple, and excellent, in other respects, formed upon erroneous principles? How then can I continue

habitually to be one of her members?-Should I dread to practise so much mental reservation in respect of an earthly potentate, who has nothing beyond the extinction of this mortal life in his power, and who might not discover the deception; and should I have nothing to fear from His displeasure, in whose hands are all hearts and all powers; at whose footstool, Angels, the host of heaven, thrones, principalities, and powers, do homage; without whose favour, we are every moment in jeopardy; who alone can prolong our days in joy or in sorrow, and make us capable, if he pleaseth, of immortal happiness, or liable, if he commands it, to everlasting destruction ?" Could I forget whose solemn declaration it is, that "the Lord our God is ONE Lord:" and that, to love him with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mind, and with all the strength, is the first and great commandment?" Could I remember these things, and continue to sanction a creed, by habitual attendance on its solemn rehearsal, which peremptorily declares that "the Trinity in Unity ought to be worshipped;" that "in this Trinity none is afore or after other, but the whole three Persons are co-eternal together, and co-equal." and that whoever believes not every iota of what it contains, "keeping the whole faith undefiled, shall, without doubt, perish everlastingly ?"

I know there are many who satisfy themselves in their continued adherence to the Established Church, on the score of objections real or imaginary, to the modes of worship adopted by the

various denominations of dissenters; and who fail not to inquire why they should leave the profession of their fathers, in which they have been educated, because it is imperfect, for the sake of another to which they have no such tie, and which must necessarily be imperfect also; imperfection being the very nature of every thing human? To this it may be sufficient to reply, that admitting, what no one will question, that a stream from the clearest fountain, in its various, distant meanderings, must contract some pollution from the impure channels through which it may be compelled to pass, still it does not therefore follow that his wisdom is to be praised, who prefers to drink of one which he deems to have been contaminated at its very source.

Again; the man who habitually attends a church, some of whose fundamental principles he deems erroneous, and by that means, virtually sanctions what he wholly disapproves, putting the awful consideration of future responsibility wholly out of account, is surely, to say the least of it, in a far less advantageous situation for mental, moral, and religious improvement, than he who attends a worship, the principles of which he sincerely does approve, and which he firmly believes to be founded upon genuine Christian and Protestant principles; although it may, and probably must unavoidably happen, that the minister who conducts that worship, may sometimes explain particular passages of Scripture in a manner very different from what he conceives to be their just interpretation. This important difference

will ever remain,-that the opinions of the man who is a member of the Establishment, are identified, and his conduct is expected to be strictly in union with the religious system he openly professes; whilst the other, not being bound by any particular confession of faith, is at perfect liberty to follow the dictates of his own conscience, and to embrace whatever he believes to be really Scriptural truth, although it may, in some instances, have been explained by the officiating minister, in a manner somewhat different from his own previous conceptions of its genuine import.

CHAPTER 50.

General acknowledgement to friends....Old age not necessarily cheerless and unhappy....To the Christian, how soothing and tranquil....Favourable to the acquisition of just views and sentiments....Safety and happiness of departed Christian friends....Conclusion.

I OUGHT not to conclude this already, perhaps, too long-protracted Memoir, without expressing my grateful acknowledgements to many friends, from whose kind attentions, at one period or other of my progress through life, I have received great pleasure, although our walk may not always have been precisely in the same path; and among