This little publication, my dear Sir, may prove serviceable to young men who are educating for the CHRISTIAN MINISTRY; it will bring them acquainted with theological writers of enlarged sentiments and genuine liberality, preventing them from entertaining those contracted notions of the most amiable religion in the world, into which young ministers, from their want of better information, are known to have been precipitated. Too frequently, alas! initiated into the dogmas of a party, and driven by a zeal not according to knowledge, they have impeded their own usefulness, and injured the interests of the Christian church. Uncharitableness is the germ of persecution! It is of high importance that those who, in the public services of the sanctuary, are destined to lead the devotion, and to form the temper of multitudes, should themselves drink deep into the expansive spirit of the New Testament, and cherish that disposition which advances and adorns the truth as it is in Jesus.

Nor can I avoid expressing a hope that my own Congregation, and, indeed, that ALL serious and candid professors of CHRISTIANITY, Will derive some benefit from the perusal of the following pages. In these times of instability and of lukewarmness, this Selection may serve to confirm their faith, to enliven their hopes, and to.

invigorate their religious affections. Here they will contemplate One Hundred servants of CHRIST, men of talents, erudition, and piety, (the MITRED PRELATE, the PLAIN PRESBYTER, and the STILL PLAINER QUAKER,) appearing before the tribunal of the public, and giving in their respective testimonies in behalf of that religion to which they owe their dearest hopes and their choicest consolations. Though on earth they may have stood aloof from each other, distinguished by their little peculiarities, yet, in that portion of their writings here introduced, they maintain, that to acknowledge Christ to be the Son of God, and to love one another, are the two primary articles of our Religion. Meeting each other on these truly evangelical principles, how gratifying is it to the best feelings of the heart, to realize their junction around the throne of God! THEY, and ALL the true followers of Jesus Christ, of every sentiment, and of every denomination, a multitude which no man can number, shall come from the north and from the south, from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with those illustrious patriarchs, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

Indeed-"The person who habitually contemplates ALL mankind as children of one common Father, and appointed to one common

b

destiny, cannot be a persecutor or a bigot; he may see much error which he may lament, and much misconduct which he may pity, but a generous affection towards the whole human race will dilate his heart. To the utmost of his ability he will enlighten the ignorant, correct the erring, sustain the weak, bear with the prejudiced, and reclaim the vicious. Firm to his own principles, he will not trench on the liberty of others. He will not harshly censure, nor suspect an evil motive, where integrity and conscience obviously direct the conduct: mildness will be upon his lips, forbearance will mark his actions, and universal charity will connect him with the wise and good of all climes, and of all religions! He that believes that a Being of Almighty power, unerring wisdom, and unbounded love, is seated at the helm of affairs, and is making every event promote, in its appointed measure, the highest happiness of all intelligent creatures, must possess perpetual serenity and peace. The storm of adversity may gather above him and burst upon his head, but he is prepared against it, and it cannot dismay him. He knows that the evils which accompany him are only blessings in disguise! The fair face of Nature smiles upon him with a brighter radiance. The boundless expanse of heaven above him-the painted plain beneath

him-the glorious sun which diffuses light and life over the ample and beautiful creation, are magnificent gifts of his Father, on which his enlightened eye beholds engraven the promise of his higher destiny. The narrow precincts of the tomb can neither bound nor obstruct his enlarged view; it extends beyond the circle of the earth, and reaches to that celestial world, where progression in excellence is infinite, and happiness is unchanging and immortal! Nothing can disturb his steady confidence. In the most awful moment of his earthly existence his feeling is sublime as his destiny is glorious. Even while he is partially subdued by death, and dragged to the confines of the tomb, while he is sinking into it, and it closes over him, he can exclaim in triumph, O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory? Thanks be unto God who giveth me the victory through Jesus Christ my Lord!"*

Were I, my dear Sir, allowed to characterise THE SKETCH and THE SEQUEL, it should be done in these words:-The Sketch furnishes a knowledge of the speculative opinions of the professors of Christianity, and, thus addressing the curiosity of man, has had an unparalleled circulation. The Sequel, though it has a still bet

* Illustrations of the Divine Government, by T. South wood Smith, M. D., third edition.

ter end in view, has had a more circumscribed diffusion, for its province is to direct the disciples of Jesus to the cultivation of practical wisdom, arising from the observance of the New Commandment. As a Christian poet says,

Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass,

The mere materials with which WISDOM builds
Till smooth'd, and squar'd, and fitted to its place,
Does but encumber whom it seems t' enrich.
Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much,
WISDOM is humble that he knows no more!

COWPER.

The joint perusal of Sketch and Sequel, will, it is hoped, conduce to the improvement of mankind. Indeed their object is to facilitate the spread of Scriptural Knowledge by means of her divine handmaid CHARITY. Both volumes are designed" for the service of TRUTH, by one who would be glad to attend and grace her triumphs-as her soldier, if he has had the honour to serve successfully under her banner, or as her captive, tied to her chariot-wheels, if he (though undesignedly) hath committed any offence against her."

I must not, my dear Sir, conclude, without gratefully acknowledging your kind patronage of my SEMINARY, which I have conducted for five-and-twenty years, the purport of which hath