Whether he fed his people best, or they him, is uncertain; but whether they starved one another, is not.  Disgust, which ever waits upon disappointment, appeared among them.

Though the preacher was certainly warmed in the shop, with a live coal from the altar; yet unfortunately, Sunday was the only day in which his fire was extinguished; then the priest and the people hit the taste of the day, and slumbered together; a priviledge never granted by a reader to an author.  Thus the boasted liberty of the press submits to that of the pulpit.

This exalted shepherd dwelt upon the words of Paul, He that preaches the gospel, ought to subsist by the gospel; and they did not forget a portion in John, Feed my sheep.  The word, he well knew, promised both wine and oil, but he was obliged to be satisfied with the latter.

Although the teacher might possess some shining qualities at the combe-pot, he did not possess that of protecting his flock, who in 1752, silently retreated to their original fold in Cannon-street; and the place was soon after converted into a dwelling, No. 16, when for the first time it produced profit.

The growing numbers of this prosperous society induced them, in 1780, to enlarge the place of worship, at the expence of about 800_l_. in which is observable some beauty, but more conveniency.

QUAKER’s MEETING

In Bull-street.  A large convenient place, and notwithstanding the plainness of the profession rather elegant.  The congregation is very flourishing, rich, and peaceable.  Chandler tells us, to the everlasting honour of the Quakers, that they are the only christian sect who have never exercised the cruel weapon of persecution.

METHODIST’s MEETING.

We learn from ecclesiastical history, that the people in high life are always followers in religion.  Though they are the best leaders in political and social concerns, yet all religions seem to originate from the lowest class.  Every religion is first obstructed by violence, passes through the insults of an age, then rests in peace, and often takes up the rod against another.

The first preachers of the christian faith, the short-sighted apostles, were men of the meanest occupations, and their church, a wretched room in a miserable tenement.  The superb buildings of St. Peter’s in Rome, and St. Paul’s in London, used by their followers, were not within the reach of their penetration.  They were also totally ignorant of tripple crowns, red hats, mitres, crosiers, robes, and rochets, well known to their successors.

The religion of a private room, soon became the religion of a country:  the church acquired affluence, for all churches hate poverty; and this humble church, disturbed for ages, became the church of Rome, the disturber of Europe.