Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/376

 the shafts of ridicule, and attack their doctrines with all the severity of censure; but they forget that all enthusiasts glory in persecution. It is in the storm that men most firmly grasp the cloak that wraps them, whatever be its shape. Would we induce them to let go their hold, we must take other methods; we must shew them we can approve as well as censure; and that it is not because we envy the eclat of their superior zeal, or are jealous of their success in making converts, but because we honestly think they have taken an erroneous view of the subjects in question, that we venture to oppose them. Difficult, I confess, it is to gain access to minds that are embued with a high opinion of their own superior sanctity, and wrapped in the panoply of self-conceit; but I am convinced, that much might have been done to stop the progress of methodism, by setting forth, in strong and lively terms, the sin and danger of exalting any one point of the Christian