"And, further, if you consult the Eleventh Article of our church you will find that I advanced no new doctrine:--'We are counted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not by our own works or deservings: wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the _Homily of Justification_.' "When these doctrines are preached with simplicity and earnestness among a people who have not been accustomed to hear them, it is no unusual thing for some to imagine that they will be followed by the most dangerous results; but if you will only wait to see their practical influence, you will be convinced that they will _incline_, as well as teach men, to 'deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.' Assuring you that I am not offended by your free communication, and that I shall be happy to avail myself of your very friendly invitation--I am, yours truly, "J. I." The church, which in former times had been almost "as drear as the mansions of the dead," was now crowded to excess; the people flocked to it from all the adjacent parishes, and many, who came to scoff, returned to pray. A visible change soon took place in their habits; the drunkard became sober, the Sabbath-breaker visited the house of prayer, the village games were exchanged for the hallowed exercises of devotion, and the moral desert displayed the beauties of holiness. When it was found that these effects were the result of his ministry, though the spirit of scepticism, which often lurks under a profession of religion, could not be conciliated, yet its open hostility ceased, and the amiable and zealous rector was allowed to pursue the even tenor of his way, beloved by the pious, and respected by the profane. But he was not more attentive to the duties of his office than to the virtues of his private character. What he enforced on others, he himself practised; what he inculcated from the pulpit, he exemplified in his family. There religion unfolded her sweetest charms, and sent forth an influence which operated with resistless force on every inmate in his house; and as his wife was endowed with an unusual share of prudence, she became indeed an help meet for him. She involved him in no pecuniary embarrassments by the extravagance of her habits; occasioned no discord by the officiousness or bitterness of her temper; but by managing his temporal affairs with discretion, left him more at liberty to devote himself to the duties of his sacred avocation.