upon it) from gross ignorance; they knew not what Popery was; they knew not what doctrines those are which the Papists teach or they wilfully spoke what they knew to be false, probably thinking thereby to do God service. Now, take this to yourselves, whosoever ye are, high or low, dissenters or churchmen, clergy or laity, who have advanced this shameless charge, and digest it how you can.

But how have ye not been afraid, if ye believe there is a God, and that He knoweth the secrets of your hearts, (I speak now to you preachers, more especially, of whatever denomination), to declare so gross, palpable a lie, in the name of the God of Truth? I cite you all, before the Judge of all the Earth, either publicly to prove your charge; or by publicly retracting it, to make the best amends you can, to God, to me, and to the world.

For the full satisfaction of those who have been abused by these shameless men, and almost brought to believe a lie, I will here add my serious judgment concerning the Church of Rome, written some time since to a priest of that communion:

"SIR,

"I Return you thanks both for the favour of your letter, and for your recommending my father's proposals to the Sorbonne.

I

"I have neither time nor inclination for controversy with any; but least of all with the Romanists. And that both because I cannot trust any of their quotations, without consulting every sentence they quote in the originals; and because the originals themselves can very hardly be trusted, in any of the points controverted between them and us. am no stranger to their skill in mending those authors, who did not at first speak home to their purpose; as also in purging them from those passages which contradicted their emendations. And as they have not wanted opportunity to do this, so doubtless they have carefully used it, with regard to a point that so nearly concerned them, as the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome. I am not therefore surprised, if the works of St. Cypiran, as they are called,

do strenuously maintain it: but I am, that they have not been better corrected; for they still contain passages that absolutely overthrow it. What gross negligence was it, to leave his seventy-fourth epistle (to Pompeianus) out of the Index Expurgatorious? wherein Pope Cyprian so flatly charges Pope Stephen, with pride and obstinacy, and with being a defender of the cause of heretics, and that against Christians and the very church of God? He that can reconcile this with his believing Stephen to be the infallible head of the church, may reconcile the Gospel with the Coran.

"Yet I can by no means approve the scurrility and contempt with which the Romanists have often been treated. I dare not rail at, or despise any man; much less those who profess to believe in the same master. But I pity them much; having the same assurance, that Jesus is the Christ, and that no Romanist can expect to be saved, according to the terms of his covenant. For thus saith our Lord, Whosoever shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven. And if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. But all Romanists, as such, do both. Ergo

"The minor I prove, not from Protestant authors, or even from particular writers of their own communion, but from the public, authentic records of the church of Rome. Such are The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent.' And the edition I use was printed at Colen, and approved by authority.

"And first, All Romanists, as such, do break and teach men to break, one, and not the least, of those commandments: the words of which, concerning images, are these:

לא תשתחוה להם

Now nn, as every smattercr in Hebrew knows, is incurvare se, Procumbere, honoris exhibendi causa, and is

* To bow down before any one, in token of honouring him.

accordingly rendered by the Seventy in this very place, by a Greek word of the very same import, gosxUVEV. But the Council of Trent, (and consequently all Romanists, as such, all who allow the authority of that council), teaches, sect. 25, parag. 2, That it is * Legitimus Imaginum Usus —eis honorem exhibere, procumbendo coram eis.

"Secondly, All Romanists, as such, do add to those things which are written in the Book of Life. For in the bull of Pius IV., subjoined to those Canons and Decrees, I find all the additions following:

"1. Seven Sacraments; 2. Transubstantiaiion; 3. Communion in one kind only; 4. Purgatory, and praying for the dead therein; 5. Praying to saints; 6. Veneration of Reliques; 7. Worship of images; 8. Indulgences; 9. The priority and universality of the Roman church; 10. The supremacy of the Bishop of Rome. All these things, therefore, do the Romanists add to those which are written in the Book of Life.

"I am, &c."

Tuesday §8, My mouth was opened, and my heart enlarged, strongly to declare to above two thousand people at Bradford, That the kingdom of God (within us) is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost. At Bath, I once more offered Christ to justify the ungodly. In the evening, I met my brother, just come from London. The Lord hath indeed done great things for us already. Not unto us, but unto thy name be

the praise.

Wednesday 29, I rode with my brother to Wells, and preached on, What must I do to be saved? In the evening I summed up at the New-room, what I had said at many times, from the beginning of faith, holiness, and good works, as the root, the tree, and the fruit, which God had joined, and man ought not to put asunder.

Friday, August 31, I left Bristol, and reached London

* i. e. The proper use of images is, To honour them, by bowing down before them.

about eight on Sunday morning. In the afternoon I heard a sermon wherein it was asserted, That our repentance was not sincere, but feigned and hypocritical, 1. If we relapsed into sin, soon after repenting: especially if, 2. We did not avoid all occasions of sin, or if, s. We relapsed frequently; and most of all, if, 4. Our hearts were hardened thereby. O what a hypocrite have I been (if this be so) for near twice ten years! But I know it is not so. I know every one under the law, is even as I was. Every one when he begins to see his fallen state, and to feel the wrath of God abiding on him, relapses into the sin that most easily besets him, soon after repenting of it. Sometimes he avoids, and at many other times cannot persuade himself to avoid the occasions of it. Hence his relapses are frequent, and of consequence his heart is hardened more and more. And yet all this time, he is sincerely striving against sin. He can say, unfeignedly without hypocrisy, The thing which I do, I approve not; the evil which I would not, that I do. To will is even then present with him; but how to perform that which is good he finds not. Nor can he, with all his sincerity avoid any one of these four marks of hypocrisy, till, being justified by faith, he hath peace with God, thro' Jesus Christ our Lord.

This helpless state I took occasion to describe at Kennington, to eight or ten thousand people, from those words of the psalmist, Innumerable troubles are come about me; my sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up; yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me.

Monday, Sept. 3, I talked largely with my mother, who told me, that till a short time since she had scarce heard such a thing mentioned as the having forgiveness of sins, or God's Spirit bearing witness with our spirit: much less did she imagine that this was the common privilege of all true believers. "Therefore (said she) I never durst ask for it myself. But two or three weeks ago, while my son Hall was pronouncing those words, in delivering the cup to me, The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for

thee; The words struck through my heart, and I knew God for Christ's sake had forgiven me all my sins.

- I asked whether her father, Dr. Annesley, had not the same faith? and whether she had not heard him preach it explicitly to others? She answered, "He had it himself, and declared a little before his death, that for more than forty years he had no darkness, no fear, no doubt at all, of his being accepted in the Beloved. But that, nevertheless, she did not remember to have heard him preach, no not once, explicitly upon it: whence she supposed he also looked upon it as the peculiar blessing of a few, not as promised to all the people of God."

Both at Mr. B's at six, and at Dowgate-hill at eight, were many more than the houses could contain. Several persons who were then convinced of sin, came to me the next morning. One came also, who had been mourning long, and earnestly desired us, to pray with her. We had scarce begun, when the enemy began to tear her, so that she screamed out as in the pangs of death. But his time was short; for within a quarter of an hour, she was full of the peace that passeth all understanding.

I afterwards called on Mrs. Er, with whom was one lately come from Bristol, in deep anguish of spirit. We cried to God, and he soon declared his salvation, so that both their mouths were filled with his praise.

Thence I went to a poor woman, who had been long in despair. I was glad to meet with Mrs. R there; the person mentioned in Mr. Whitefield's Journal, who, after three years' madness (so called) was so deeply convinced of sin at Beach-lane, and soon after rejoiced in God her Saviour.

Thursday 6, I was sent for by one who began to feel herself a sinner. But a fine lady unexpectedly coming in, there was scarce room for me to speak. The fourth person in the company was a poor unbred girl; who beginning to tell what God had done for her soul, the others looked one at another, as in amaze, but did not open their mouths. I then exhorted them not, to cease from crying to God till they