regard to public worship and instruction; that many are grown prejudiced against religion; nay, more, indifferent about it, and unacquainted with it. And the emissaries of the Romish Church, taking the members of ours at this unhappy disadvantage, have begun to reap great harvests in the field, which hath been thus prepared for them by the labours of those who would be thought their most irreconcilable enemies." *

"The necessity of a moral life most men will own in general terms; only what they are pleased to call so is often a very immoral one, both with respect to their fellow-creatures, and the government of themselves. But regard to piety is strangely lost, even amongst persons that are otherwise tolerably serious. Many have laid aside all appearances of it; and others who would seem to keep them up, do it with evident marks of indifference and contempt." +

To the sad testimonies given by these eminent Prelates may be added the following, selected from the writings of devout and orthodox Dissenters.

DR. JOHN GUYSE, 1729.

"THE greatest number of Preachers and hearers scem contented to lay him (Christ) aside; and too many there are among us that set themselves against him. His name is seldom heard of in conversation, unless in a way of strife and debate; or, which is infinitely worse, in a way of contempt, reproach, and blasphemy and I am persuaded it never entered less than at this day into our practical godli↑ Ibid. p. 21.

Eight Charges, p. 4. Edit. 1790.

ness, into our solemn assemblies, into our dealings with God, into our dependencies on him, expectations from him, and devotedness to him.

"How many sermons may one hear that leave out Christ, both name and thing, and that pay no more regard to him than if we had nothing to do with him! What a melancholy symptom, what a threatening omen is this! Do we not already feel its dismal effects in the growth of infidelity, in the rare instances of conversion-work, and in the cold, low, and withering state of religion among the professors of it, beyond what has been known in some former days? May not these things be chargeable in great measure on a prevailing disuse of preaching Christ? And where will they end, if the disuse goes on, and little or nothing concerning him is to be heard among us? How should all the Ministers of Christ, that heartily love him, that are concerned for his honour, and for the honour of his religion as Christian, be affected at these thoughts!"*

THE REV. JOHN HURRION, 1729.

"THE malignant opposition made to him (the Holy Spirit) by some, and the vile contempt cast upon him by others, are things which have quenched and grieved him, and caused him to depart to that degree, as hereby almost all vital religion is lost out of the world. Hence it is that the glory of God in Christ, the faith, joy, and zeal of Christians, are under such a cloud at this day. Is it not then high time to speak?" +

Twelve Sermons delivered at Coward's Lecture, p. 261. Edit. 1729.

Sermons on the Holy Spirit, p. 21. Edit. 1734.

DR. ISAAC WATTS, 1731.

"AMONG the papers published last year, there hath been some inquiry made, whether there be any decay of the Dissenting interest;' and what may be supposed to have been the occasion of it. So far as I have searched into that matter, I have been informed, that whatsoever decrease may have appeared in some places, there have been sensible advances in others. And without entering into any debate about the particular reasons of its declension in any town whatsoever, I am well satisfied that the great and general reason is, the decay of vital religion in the hearts and lives of men; and the little success which the ministrations of the Gospel have had of late for the conversion of sinners to holiness, and the recovery of them from the state of corrupt nature, and the course of this world, to the life of God by Jesus Christ.

"Nor is the complaint of the declension of virtue and piety made only by the Protestant Dissenters. It is a general matter of mournful observation amongst all that lay the cause of God to heart; and therefore it cannot be thought amiss for every one to use all just and proper efforts for the recovery of dying religion in the world." *

THE REV. ABRAHAM TAYLOR, 1734.

"WHEN any man of a thoughtful, serious temper considers the great decay of practical religion in this nation, and, at the same time, calls to mind the contempt which has been for many years cast on the

Preface to An Humble Attempt towards the Revival of Practical Religion. Edit. 1735.

Holy Spirit and his operations, he must readily conclude that this is the grand cause of the corruptions and abominations which abound among us.

The

Spirit has been grieved and offended, and he, in a great measure, is withdrawn and gone. It is, therefore, no wonder that the religion of the closet and the family is so much neglected, and that public ordinances are of so little benefit to such as, in a formal way, engage in them.

"His motions as a quickener, a convincer, an instructer, and a comforter, are frequently bantered by such as would not be thought to throw off all regard to the Christian institution. His sealing up believers to the day of redemption, or his witnessing with their spirits that they are the children of God, is treated with grimace by some who pretend the Bible is their religion. All that profess to depend on his aid and conduct are ridiculed as enthusiasts by such as do not in words deny the authority of Scripture. It must with sorrow be said,—for, though it is a sad truth, it is a real fact,-that it has been too common for the Holy Spirit to be left out in preaching upon duty; and it has been too general a thing to neglect putting such as are pressed to regard their salvation, on keeping up in their minds a continual sense of their being able to do nothing aright without his aid and assistance." *

Testimonies of a similar kind might be multiplied to an almost unlimited extent; but these may at present suffice. They furnish melancholy proof of the fearful prevalence of infidelity, and of profli

1734.

Preface to Hurrion's Sermons on the Holy Spirit, p. 5. Edit.

gacy of manners, among the irreligious part of the community; of the spread and withering influence of antichristian error among professing Christians; while the existing ministry, in the length and breadth of the land, with some honourable exceptions, was comparatively powerless. Churchmen carried on, from year to year, the Boyle Lecture, in opposition to infidelity and scepticism; and the Lady Moyer Lecture, in defence of Christian orthodoxy. The Dissenters also established their Lectures at Salters' Hall, Berry-street, and Lime-street, against Popery, and other forms of heterodox opinion which were rapidly gaining ground among them and many of the Lecturers discharged their duty with very superior zeal and ability. Yet, amidst all this effort, accompanied by the regrets of good men on account of the declension of spiritual and practical religion, it is undeniable that "iniquity abounded, and the love of many waxed cold." The enemy triumphed, and Israel was fainthearted. The alleged irregularities of Methodism have often been a subject of loud complaint; so that when Mr. Wesley, accompanied by his fellow-helpers to the truth, appeared in the field of conflict, many an Eliab, both in the ranks of Churchmanship and Dissent, said to him, in angry tone, "Why camest thou down hither? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart." The appeal is now made to those who love Christ and his religion better than the interests of party, whether the answer of the stripling of Bethlehem is not justly applicable in this case: "And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?"

Mr. Wesley was not the only man who thought that, at the period in question, the English nation