PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIANITY, AS PROFESSED AND TAUGHT BY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND; AND An Attempt to reconcile the Doctrines of the Angels' By a LAYMAN of the Church of ENGLAND, Printed for J. DEBRETT, oppofite BURLINGTON OBSERVATIONS UPON THE LITURGY. To be a native of the finest country, and to live under the best constituted government upon earth, are fubjects of congratulation which every Englifhman born since the Revolution might, with the greatest truth, appropriate to himfelf: but it is the peculiar felicity of the prefent generation to flourish under the reign of the most virtuous Prince that ever fwayed the fceptre, who confiders himself as exalted by station only above the meanest of his subjects, and equally accountable with the lowest magistrate B ftrate to the Supreme Governor of the Univerfe for the ufe he makes of the authority he is vested with; and when that authority is exercised by a First Minister, raised, like the phoenix, from the brilliant embers of his great forefather, by the fole influence of that affemblage of virtues which warms and enlivens the whole empire; who, embracing in his comprehenfive mind the whole fyftem of administration, and difdaining the flow gradations of office, towered at once over the numerous fences raised by cautious dullness against tranfcendent genius, and refolutely feized the helm of the foundering State Veffel, re-animated her defponding crew, foddered her worm-eaten hull, repaired her shattered rigging, and steered her in fafety to the moorings of dignity and honour. Nor is our age Nor is our age lefs diftinguished by the fplendid talents and exalted characters of the Rulers of our Church; for at what period could we reckon more able defenders of the doctrines of Christianity, or more more worthy examples of their efficacy, than the Prelates who now fill the Bishops' Bench? - Might Might it not then be expected that an age fo distinguished for felicities would be equally renowned for its virtues; that refpect for government, good manners, and a strict attachment to religious duties, would have been its characteristics?-Such, however, is the unhappy complection of the times, that I fhall run no hazard of incurring the imputation of fastidiousness, by declaring that at no period fince the Reformation were any of thofe characters lefs merited. For, to leave the two first out of the prefent confideration, am I not justified in afferting that things facred were never more profaned; the holy ordinances more flighted; nor the fundamental doctrines of Christianity more generally queftioned ? That Revelation which has fo enlarged the faculties of man, opened to him a profpect into futurity, made him acquainted with the intellectual world, and given him knowB 2 ledge |