No 30.

"These priests are zealous, and they pretend that they have a zeal of God; but it is the fire and the smoke, whose effect is to darken and to desolate; rather than that clear and radiant light, which warms while it illumines, and gives a verdant bloom to every springing blade and opening bud; while it directs the passenger onwards in his journey." See Page 7.

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PRINTED FOR FRANCIS WESTLEY, 10, STATIONERS'COURT, AND AVE-MARIA-LANE.

ADVERTISEMENT.

WHEN the Author commenced publishing this Series of Tracts, it was his intention to have published only one a month; but he has now consented, at the request of his Readers, to give them a Paper weekly. The extensive circulation which they have obtained, and the numerous proofs which he has received of their useful tendency, induce him to acknowledge his obligations to the candour and liberality of the Public; and to assure them, that it will be his constant endeavour to preserve the same spirit as he has already displayed; and to give prominency to those evangelical principles which he has uniformly advocated and recommended in the most undisguised and decided manner. When his Readers choose, he will throw down his pen, and betake himself to the tranquillity of contemplative life, or the more active duties of his profession; but, if they continue to approve of his labours, the EVANGELICAL RAMBLER may be extended to three or four volumes, each containing about thirty-six numbers. At the close of the last volume a General Index, with Titles, &c. will be added; so that the whole may be uniformly bound for more permanent use. January 1, 1824.

INTEMPERATE ZEAL DEFEATS ITS OWN PURPOSE.

"It requires but a very cursory perusal of the Articles of the Established Church, to perceive, that the deity of Christ, the doctrine of atonement for sin, the guilt and apostacy of man, and the necessity of the agency of the Spirit to restore the divine image, are asserted by them in terms the most clear and unequivocal. Are the Clergy, styled Evangelical, to be blamed for preaching these doctrines? Before this can be allowed, the Articles must be cancelled by the same authority by which they were established; or it must be shewn how it consists with integrity, to gain an introduction to the Church, by signifying an unfeigned assent and consent to certain Árticles of Religion, with the intention of immediately banishing them out of notice." ANON.

THE REV. Mr. Roscoe and his lady, who had not been at the mansion for several years, now came to spend a few weeks with their brother. He was the youngest son of the family. When he began life, he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits; but as he had not energy enough in his character to rise in his profession, he decided for the church, as a more easy, if not a more lucrative one. Having finished his

career at Oxford, where he was distinguished more for his love of pleasure than his academical honours, or the solidity of his personal religion, he obtained ordination, and took upon himself the cure of souls in the parish of Win the county of S

For nearly fifteen years, he lived in a state of celibacy; and had he employed his time and his talents in the discharge of his pastoral labours, he might have promoted the moral improvement of his parishioners; but, alas! he devoted himself to a life of pleasure; till the church was forsaken for the village chapel, and the dignity of the priest was obscured by the imperfections of the man. At length he was roused by the remonstrances of his friends, to a full and deep conviction of the impropriety of his conduct; and he resolved on pursuing a course more becoming the sanctity of his office. He withdrew from his former companions; abandoned the sports of the field and of the gaming table; condemned from the pulpit the customs which he had either originated or sanctioned; and turned the torrent of his displeasure against those who had separated themselves from the church on 'account of his former irregularities.

This renovation of character, which all hailed with pleasure, except the few who were too far gone in depravity to admire virtue under any form, introduced him to the society of the more respectable part of his parishioners; who were no less delighted with this change of his habits, and his associations, than they were with his hostility towards the worshippers at the chapel. Had this change been produced by the Spirit of the living God, he would have wept over his former conduct, as the cause of their alienation from the church, rather than have attempted to stir up the slumbering demon of persecution against them; but, being the result of a mere prudential policy, which coveted the praise of man rather than the honour of God, he considered their assumption of their native rights as an infringement on his authority; and endeavoured, by every expedient which he could employ, to compel them to return; but, failing in his efforts, he began to impeach their motives, and then to censure their conduct. All

this they bore with meekness, imitating the example of Him, "who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." 1 Peterii. 23.

He had reached the age of forty, when he married the eldest daughter of a neighbouring magistrate, a lady of eccentric manners, but of a most catholic spirit. They had two children born unto them, but both died in their infancy; and now they were too far advanced in life, to anticipate the pleasures or the incumbrances of a family. But so deep was the wound which was inflicted in the breast of the mother, when her first-born (who outlived her younger son) left her, that she abandoned herself, for several months, to the agonies of maternal grief; and, though time had nearly closed it, yet she often alluded to her babes, and their premature decay, in a tone, and with a countenance, which indicated that they still lived in her remembrance.

Their arrival at the mansion had been expected for several days, and every preparation was made to render their visit pleasant and profitable. At length they came, and, though Mr. John Roscoe appeared a reformed man, yet he discovered no signs of being a spiritual one. He was become more moral in his habits, but less tolerant in his spirit: and soon convinced his brother, and his niece, that "the things which are seen and temporal," had a more powerful I ascendancy over his mind than those "which are unseen and eternal." He declined accepting the invitation of the Rev. Mr. C to preach on the following Sabbath: as he was too much fatigued by his journey to do duty, but consented to accompany the family to church. It was a fine and beautiful morning. The air was temperate and serene; no noise was heard except the melody of the birds, or the more sacred sound of the

"Church-going bell." The Liturgy was read in Mr. C's usual style of reading, which, owing to a heavy monotonous tone, was no less offensive to the ear, than a certain air of carelessness, which hung over his manner, was revolting to the devotional feelings. He announced

his text in an elevated pitch of voice, which immediately arrested the attention of his congregation. "The subject," he remarked," which I shall submit to you this morning, is taken from the 10th chapter of St. Paul the Apostle's Epistle to the Romans, and the second verse :- For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.""

He began by declaiming against the spirit and the conduct of the ancient Pharisees, who were, he asserted, the troublers of the church in a former age : and then expressed his deep regret, that the sect was not yet become extinct; but was even at this moment augmenting its numbers, and threatening, by its untempered zeal, and its invincible ignorance, to tarnish the lustre, and destroy the foundation of that church, which is fostering them in her bosom. "If," Asaid he, (6 we run a comparison between the modern Calvinists, which unhappily stand connected with our 'venerable establishment,-the admiration and envy of the world, and the ancient Pharisees, we shall find that they bear a close resemblance to each other; and though a good man will pause before he gathers on his lips the denunciations of inspired writ; yet, a high sense of duty compels me to say, that the woes which our Saviour uttered against the latter, stand directly pointed against the former. The ancient Pharisees set aside the weightier matters of the law, to attend to the ceremonials of religion; they prescribed no bounds to their proselyting system, for they would encompass sea and land, to gain even one proselyte; and when they had gained him, our Saviour says, that they made him two-fold more a child of hell than themselves; they made bolder and higher pretensions to religion than any others; and carried their hostile spirit so far against those who differed from them, that they had them thrust into prison. And who, when looking at this picture of the ancient Pharisees, does not recognize the portrait of our modern Calvinists?" For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.' Romans x. 2. « But the modern Calvinists conduct themselves with less, reverence for the authority of our church, than the Pharisees discovered for the