REFINEMENT OF THE PRESENT AGE. 435 his own conscience, that opposition or ministry lean to the public good. He will boldly speak his mind, neither courting smiles on the one hand, nor fearing frowns on the other." It was upon this principle that he always acted, and his sterling integrity must secure to his memory the respect it merits. The increased refinement of the present age has ejected from the higher circles of society the fondness for "copious libations," of which Sir Richard Hill has just been quoted as complaining in his time. Drunkenness is banished from fashionable company, and aged men of rank are now reaping the moral and constitutional benefits of the abandonment of the practice, as is visible in the superior vigour of many a sexagenarian in the present century, over the decrepitude manifested by those who had in bygone days scarcely run through fifty years of the bottle and the bowl. The age of wigs, ruffles, gold lace, cocked-hats, formal bows, and hard drinking is gone, to return, it is imagined, no more. Hospitality is no longer measured by the quantity of wine consumed; nor does the refined and educated gentleman, whose bearing bespeaks birth and information, need those grotesque appendages to his person which are now no longer visible except in the portraits of his ancestors. An invitation like that sometimes sent in the olden time, would be an insult now :-" Mr. A. presents his compliments to Mr. B. and requests the honour of his company to dinner, and to get drunk." The social habits of man uncontrolled by religion, will not stand the test even of that reason which is his boast and pride. Fancy a party meeting in past times of powder and pomatum, and commencing with the utmost forma 1 1A gentleman of family lately found amongst the old papers of an ancestor, an invitation in these very terms. 436 CHANGES IN SOCIETY. CHRISTIAN INTERcourse. lity of bows and dignified reserve, and ending in the master's getting up and locking the door, and vowing that the company should not stir till some immense quantity of wine had been consumed, to the utter destruction of all sensible conversation, and of all the politeness with which the convives assembled! Yet we are told that this practice was not uncommon, less than a hundred years ago! Such, however, is the present change of our habits, that the description of such scenes appears scarcely credible. In truth, the whole mass of society has been more influenced than is supposed, by the progress of that religious light, the first rays of which were so unwelcome, as they broke through the Icloud which cast its shadow over that shameless immorality, at which people did not blush because they did not see its deformity in darkness. But before religion can perform its great work upon the social system, it must not only send forth its brightness, but diffuse its fervour; and then, as the former chased away the gloomy excesses of a past age, so will the latter expel the frigid, selfish nonchalance, which is too commonly thought fashionable now. There is nothing more lovely in this world, than cordial Christian intercourse adorned by the graces of refinement; and the extent to which it prevails at the present moment, is one of the happiest symptoms of the day. It is no doubt much increased by the many religious meetings which take place throughout the kingdom, which bring pious men together with a common zeal to do good; and the effect of their reunions in producing reciprocations of true kindness, is one great proof of the reflex blessings that will always result from efforts of Christian philanthropy. CHAPTER XVIII. THE GUIDE TO THE CHURCH." CLERGY AND NONCONFORMISTS. SIR R. HILL'S " APOLOGY FOR BROTHERLY LOVE." HIS ATTACH MENT TO EPISCOPACY AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. HIS CHARITY, AND RESPECT FOR THE CONSCIENTIOUS VIEWS OF OTHERS. HIS HOPE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY FROM THE ASPECT OF THE TIMES. THE CHURCH. BISHOP HALL. THE LITURGY. BISHOP REYNOLDS SIR RICHARD HILL'S REMARKS DISSIPATION OF THE TIMES. THE ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. CONCLUSION OF THE APOLOGY. HIS GUIDE." REFORMATION MR. DAUBENY'S " APPENDIX ΤΟ THE GUIDE TO THE CHURCH." SIR Richard Hill considered it a duty he owed to the Christian world, to endeavour to controvert the opinions contained in Daubeny's Guide to the Church, a production which was sent forth towards the end of the last century, with the view of arresting the progress of evangelical opinions. He conceived that the doctrines contained in this work, were calculated to lower the establishment in the estimation of the people, if it were supposed that all its members acquiesced in them. He felt it also due to his friends Mr. Wilberforce and Mrs. Hannah More, whose sentiments were objected to by 438 CLERGY AND NONCONFORMISTS. Mr. Daubeny,' to avow his own entire concurrence in their views, and to defend them. At the time when The Guide to the Church appeared, evangelical religion was beginning to take firm root in the establishment. The pious nonconformists hailed its increase with delight, and were desirous to cultivate with the zealous clergy a friendship based on true charity, without the least compromise on either side. Though differing in notions of church government, they all agreed as to the essentials of spiritual piety. Hence arose many creditable reciprocations of kindness between churchmen and nonconformists; nor is it the fault of the former, that they have not been augmented in proportion to the diffusion of their common principles. Recent demonstrations against that establishment, in devotedness to which the evangelical clergy are second to none of its members, have naturally engendered a well-founded distrust of persons, who have lost no opportunity of casting off the mask of compliment, and exhibiting the frowns of opposition. Yet most careful should we be to put no impediment in the way of the progress of vital truth, being assured that it will in time restore a happy equilibrium to Christian society, and bring back the blessedness of peace and love.2 But to return to Mr. Daubeny. After describing his views of episcopacy, and maintaining that in no case whatever any alteration in the external polity of the 1 See his Letter to Mrs. Hannah More. * For example; surely those good clergymen have been mistaken. who have on these accounts withdrawn from the Bible Society. That institution issues a stream of truth at the rate of three Bibles a minute! Can we, then, be justified in suffering any feelings of ours, to become a hindrance to this glorious flow of the Word of God? APOLOGY FOR BROTHERLY LOVE. 439 Church was allowable, he came to this conclusion"That all who are out of the pale of the Church thus established, have no promise of salvation, but must be left to the uncovenanted mercies of God." Such sentiments, coupled with the most unequivocal censure of those leading doctrines of the Reformation, to which attention was extensively aroused, and of which Sir Richard Hill had all his life been the defender, excited his strong disapprobation. He had therefore every excuse for replying to Mr. Daubeny, and for calling his own production An Apology for Brotherly Love. To prevent all misapprehension, he declared himself in the preface, "a steady member of the Church of England," and assured his readers, that as far as Mr. Daubeny's profession of love for the doctrines of that Church went, he "met him with open arms;" but he confessed that "a mighty difference" existed between them in the mode of interpreting those doctrines. He was also desirous to assert his right as a layman, to form and announce his own opinions on questions of theology, agreeing with Dr. Knox, that it is "every man's concern and his duty, to study it according to his abilities and opportunity." And well indeed would it be for the truth, if a similar spirit animated the laity in general; since one of the great trials of zealous ministers, is the melancholy want of interest in religious knowledge manifested by numbers of well-educated men, whose information, accurate and refined upon things relating to time, is often far below that of many of their inferiors, on the all-important matters which refer to eternity. There are noble examples to the contrary, thanks be to God, in this our day of wide-spread inquiry; but while we deplore the multitudes of poor who are ignorant of the way of life, we may justly extend our lamentations to a similar defect in a |