public ftreets, on an unjuft accufation, and not lofe his countenance, would be the happiest man alive. For if fuch a thing. were done, we muft fuppofe the higher powers to be fet againft him; and the faction fo ftrong, that none dared to pity him, or appear for him: but though he were faultlefs, yet all fhould look upon him as ⚫ criminal enough, in being the object of the government's displeasure. A prophet among the Jews was as venerable as a bishop can be among us; efpecially fuch a prophet as • our bleffed Saviour, who went about doing 6 good: of whom the people cried out, • Never man fpake as he did; and who, by the fulness of his grace and truth, fhined with the glory of the Son of God. Can "we figure a greater ignominy, than for him to be scourged? We know how reproachful that is among us now: but we know not how much more fo it was among them, fince it was the punishment of flaves, of which we have none. He bore fcourgings and reproaches without murmurs and complaints; and his grace can produce the fame effects in me..

As to enemies; he is a great man who can speak to them with indifference, with• out disturbance or change of countenance:

Not from a court diffimulation, but from " a confideration that these are more imme. diate inftruments (perhaps than our friends) L 5 • of.

of good to us; and that God is nearer behind these, when we converse with them, than behind many of our friends.

God's

prefence is faid to be, where he most manifefts himself: now he manifefts himself more "certainly in his corrections, than in his fa• vours.'

The other meditation is as follows:

How eafy is it for a child of God, that has his portion and inheritance in heaven, to pray for his enemies? For he faith, this perfon injures me in thofe things that are in no esteem with me: he injures me in trifles, and things of no value: but even of thefe trifles, he endangers the eternal ruin • of his foul. And fhall I not pity him for this; and befeech my God to pity his folly; and fave him from thofe things which are nothing to me, but may prove infinitely prejudicial to him?"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," fays our • Saviour. They knew that they took away • the life of an innocent man: they took away his reputation, his comfort, and his cafe: but befides that, they crucified the Lord of Glory; they knew not that they ruined: themselves in thofe things that were little valued by him. "They think to be revenged on me, and to do me a great injury: But Father forgive them, for they know not that they do no injury to me, but all injuries to themselves."

I fhall

I fhall add only one inftance His chamore of Mr. Bonnell's Charity, rity to which falls in naturally after what thofe who went before; and that is, his cha differed rity to thofe of different perfua- in relifions in religion. He thoroughly gion. confidered the educations and ca

from him

pacities of men, their various ways of think ing and expreffing their thoughts, and judged it unreafonable that all mankind fhould be obliged to think and fpeak juft as we do. Though no man was firmer to the Proteftant religion established among us, and more truly zealous to fupport and enlarge it; yet force and violence he esteemed the unfitteft means in the world to attain that end. And he utterly condemned all perfecutions for religion,. and violence to men's confciences. Thus in one place, after confidering the many wars. and revolutions, which almoft every forty. years have happened in Ireland; he affigns this as one reafon of thefe fatal confufions; that we are a mixed peopie, of different nations and religions, and have very little love or regard for one another; and thus concludes..

There is no way poffible to prevent the forty years periodical revolution of commotions in this country, but by making all in it one people, and of one religion.. How fhall this be? By force? God forbid ! This is a fieve that winnows out the good, .. and faves only the bad; because the good L:6 will:

will be destroyed by it, and the bad only brought over. It is a pretty device for lazy Chriftians to make use of, to convert the world: fuch as care not to be at the pains of good-living, or pious preaching, fet the temporal power, and rude foldiers on work, to bring over people to their folds, that they may enjoy the glory of ⚫ having greater numbers: or being men altogether worldly-minded, and of fecular defigns, they defire greater numbers on their fide, to ftrengthen their worldly intereft, and fecure their cause and party.'

His charity was fo generous and noble, that it effectually fecured him from all narrownefs of temper, and moroseness of behaviour, towards thofe who differed from him in opinion. He ufed frequently to fay, that moft differences among Chriftians were chiefly in words; and that their fentiments were much nearer than their expreffions: and he had always inftances at hand to prove this: and compared the quarrels of parties among Chriftians, to engagements that happen in armies; when they fall foul on their friends, thinking that they are enemies: but the animofity ceafes when the difcovery is made; which fhall be the happiness of good men in heaven, whatever heats and mistakes may be among them here. And what charitable thoughts he had of good men, though of different perfuafions, will appear from what follows.

• Were

Were the circulation of the blood as • much difputable in phyfic, as purgatory, tranfubftantiation, and many other things are in divinity; and did fome doctors build their practice upon the ftagnation of the • blood, and others upon the circulating of it would not each fide of these cry down the practice of the other, as founded upon a mortal error: (fince both fides of a con<tradiction can never be true) and by confequence, that they who take the wrong fide muft needs murder the bodies of men? On the contrary, we fhould find them both upon the matter equally fuccefsful in their practice; becaufe the force of phyfic depends not fo much upon fpeculation, and hypothefis, as obfervation and practice. In like manner, in divinity, it is easy for men. to give plaufible arguments for any thing,. ⚫ and which they themselves will call demonftration; and to affert that the erring fide, < or the fide that differs from them, muft • needs ruin the fouls of men. Whereas we

find that error has not fo great an influence <. upon peoples lives, as they would make us 6. believe; but that upon the matter, thefe differing parties are equally fuccefsful in the practice of piety (that is to fay, there are good men of all parties in the Chriftian. church, except fuch as deny the very fun'damentals of religion) Churchmen and diffenters, Arminians and Calvinifts, have all produced very pious men; and that be

'cause