of all our fellow-creatures and countrymen, in the very lowest ranks, to read the scriptures for themselves. And no capital error, of heathen or christian growth, can long stand before the Bible.

SYNESIUS.-Well, gentlemen, here pleasantly interposed Synesius, I have sat more patiently than I thought I ever could have done, to hear this charge made out against us all, of being idolaters; and not only us of the church of England, but against all the great churches in the world, and of course the bulk of professing Christians in them. We are obliged to Photinus, however, for the sweet which he has mixed with his bitter potion, by telling us, that our idolatry, so long as it is a mere error, and we have not the opportunity of knowing better, will not of itself unfit us for heaven's bliss.

But what is next to be done? for I am apprehensive Volusian will not rest here.

VOLUSIAN. You rightly judge of me, replies Volusian; I cannot remain as I am. But I should be sorry to trouble you or the rest of my friends, on the subject any longer at present. It has been growing too serious and interesting for some time, not to call for a little respite and relief to you, my friends, at least. One thing, however, I think myself bound in all fairness to own, before we part.

I begin to be afraid, that my reluctance to allow the worship of Jesus Christ to be called idolatrous, after I was convinced from scripture, that he was merely a creature of God, had too much of worldly prudence

and

and caution in it; though not distinctly perceived by myself.

I seem to have been withheld by a secret thought and appréhension of not being able to join any longer in the public established worship, with my relations and friends, as I had been accustomed all my life, but being obliged entirely to withdraw from it. This certainly now appears to be the unavoidable consequence of looking upon the service of the church as idolatrous; and opens to me a prospect full of difficulties and embarrassments.

But let us walk out, and enjoy the sun's reviving beams, which will tend to dispel uneasy thoughts, and inspire us with pleasant and chearing ideas.

POSTSCRIPT

THE foregoing day's conversation had left not only Volusian, but others of the company, in solicitude and sus pense, about a matter, in which the present peace of their minds was much concerned. After the interval of a few days, when they were all collected together as usual, and amusing themselves in the library, according to their different tastes, Volusian, after some little preface, proceeded in the manner as is related in the next conversation.

THE

THE FOURTH DAY.

Volusian perceives that he cannot, by any plea, reconcile himself to frequent the worship of the church of England, now that he looks upon it to be idolatrous.

VOLUSIAN. I HOPE I shall be excused in being importunate with you, my friends, so soon to resume the very grave subject, which has lately engaged your attention. But really, it has lain upon my mind so much, that I have not been able to turn myself to any thing else; nor shall I be at rest till I come to a satisfactory decision upon it. You will easily recollect, that the inquiry was, how a person should act, as in my case, upon discovering, that the established worship of the country, in which he was bred, and to which he had been accustomed, was, in his apprehension, idolatrous? Whether he should refrain entirely from such worship, or what other method he should adopt?

Upon this, Synesius immediately rose up, and told them, that the subject had occupied much of his thoughts, since they last discoursed upon it, and he hoped that he had fallen upon an expedient that would satisfy them all.

SYNESIUS. Indeed, my good friends, continues he, I would not have you perplex yourselves any more about the public worship of the Almighty Being; which it would be better to abandon intirely.

All right worship is in the heart within. There the

Great

Great God can alone be properly reverenced and adored. True piety is a personal thing, with which others have nothing to do. It loses its value entirely, when exercised with a view to others: it is diminished by being known to them. It takes its rise in the heart, from a deep-felt sense of the Divine Being, of his constant presence with, and goodness to us; prompting us to offer him our unceasing thanks, and humbly to desire of him help and direction to avoid the paths of evil, and follow virtue, that we may secure his protection and favour all which is private, and concerns the individual only.

The moment you mix together with others in the worship of God, you are in danger of being misled by a thousand fancies, and idle superstitious forms and practices, and the meritorious repetition of certain words, like so many charms, which have been made a substitute for real holiness and virtue. Whereas no such corruptions can take place, if a man has to do only with God and his own heart, in private.

PHOTINUS.-Whilst the company were pausing, and quite surprized at this unexpected censure and condemnation of the public worship of the Creator, Photinus, addressing himself to Synesius: Your observations, says he, Synesius, on the seat of true piety, and its nature, shew that you entertain a very just sense of it; but surely your view of the subject must have been very contracted, not to see, that the worship of God in public is so far from being detrimental to genuine devotion, that it tends to excite and promote it, in

various ways; particularly from the affecting situation of ourselves and fellow-creatures, before our common creator and heavenly parent, in which it places us.

But it is very strange, that a most weighty and powerful consideration and argument should have escaped you, which overturns all your conclusions; namely, that the public worship of God is in itself a duty of rational, social beings, independent of all external command. For wherever a God is recognized, a first cause, and author of all things, a common universal parent, preserver, and benefactor, on whose bounty all equally depend, every moment, for life and every thing, there it is natural for creatures to unite sometimes in praises and thanksgivings to their common protector, to keep up a sense of his constant goodness, and of their obligations and common relation to him. And this has been, more or less, the sentiment and uniform practice of all mankind, who have been in degree cultivated, in all ages.

any

Were all men of themselves disposed to piety and virtue, there might be more to say, Synesius, for the solitary, inward devotion of the heart, which you alone recommend. But this is very far from being the fact. Not only those countless multitudes of our spe cies, who are engaged from morning to night in urgent labours for the support of life; and those others, not few in number, who, being exempt from the necessity of bodily toil, and have their minds far more dissipated and vacant of all good, have great need of being reminded of, and put upon, acknowledging the Being that

made