funds can extend to extinguish; that I fraint; and then, ten to one, these Miffes talk abundantly, although to very little purpose. In my opinion, the talk of a filly girl, whofe chief topics are drefs, fine equipages, balls, public walks, reviews of this and t'other regiment; but above all, those warm and exceffive encomiums upon the players, and what gentlemen vifited their box while in the playhouse, and a number of fuch matters, treated as of the most important kind, argues either great defect in the underftanding, or in the ftyle of education. Indeed, when Miffes get an affectation of fentiment, and faying fine things with a dictatorial air, it is equally, if not more difagreeable To fay truth, education is avery arduous undertaking at prefent. Hove to indulge, rather than check, the firit that prevails in my girls; but I obferve in many of their companions, fuch liberty allowed as amazes me; walking cftantly about; ftarting in upon us forenoon and afternoon; fettling appointmeats of themfelves; dreffing two or three times a-day; in fhort, under no controul; feldom composed one hour to afat, except when under the barber's hands, where by far too great a proporfion of time is facrificed. But it is impoible to make a detail of one half of my objections to the prefent mode of educating girls but fo much for the canfe of my alarm and change of meafures. I forefaw that my daughters portions, were they allowed to imbibe thefe notions, would, instead of affluence, fcarce afford them neceffaries; for they had no time to execute their own cloaths. Is it not very ftrange, that many a girl that has not the half of their portion, is bred totally idle, or at beft only capable of making up a few trifling ornaments? I think it very extraordinary, that parents do not require their children to make their fhifts, and plain linen, and their millinery articles that are for com- "We got into the mouth of the river mon ufe. Were that the cafe, the mil- on Sunday night; when it blew fo hard liners would be much better off than in from the north-weft, that the veffel was the prefent method, as there would be forcibly driven towards the Kentifh fhore. be fewer extravagant accounts run up of a About fix o'clock the ftorm became more fadden, and left for years unpaid. My violent than ever, with heavy flying defire to preferve my children independ- fhowers, and I think the greateft fiafhes tt, is my reafon of retiring fome time; of lightning I have ever seen. The ship that I may regulate and confirm their heeled fo much, that there was no ftandminds in what is truly eftimable, oppo- ing upon deck, and we expected every d to what is otherwife; and that I may, moment to be put on fhore. About feterpoffible, give them that elevation of ven we run aground upon a fand-bank; fentiment, as to dread nothing more than and as it was long paft high water, had aking on fine cloathis fafter than their the uncomfortable profpect of lying there, IT is a common and juft obfervation, that our pleasures and pains are much heightened by reflecting upon past scenes. The man who has never been fick, can fcarce fet a juft value upon health; nor can he who was never in danger, have an adequate idea of the pleasure and fatisfaction which one feels on an escape from fome impending misfortune. was led into this train of thinking, by reading a letter which I received feveral years ago from a friend who had taken a paffage to London. I have tranfcribed a few paragraphs from it; which, with what I now write, you may publish, if you think proper. I if the veffel kept together, till next tide. Figure to yourself a little of the horror of this fcene:-Cafks, and tables, and chefts, rolling from fide to fide below decks, and the passengers tumbling over one another; the wind making a dreadful howling noife in the rigging above; the failors fwearing, and calling to one another, - now running, then falling, and the fea breaking over the veffel! - When we had been in this fituation for about half an hour, we happily got clear of the bank; and the ftorm abating, and the wind fhifting to the north-north-eaft, we got up within a few miles of Gravefend, where we came to anchor. This morning we got up to the wharf. You may believe I was glad to have my foot once more upon terra firma; and could not, without aftonishment, obferve, how little the fhip's crew thought of all this danger and diftrefs, an hour after the ftorm abated. As I lodge near St Paul's, I ftept into the choir at evening-prayer.— The grandeur and folemnity of the place, ftrikes one exceedingly, and difpofes the mind for devotion.I believe I was not the lefs devout, from the recollection of the fcene above defcribed. The prayers were read by a middle-aged gentleman, in a very decent and becoming manner; and I know not that ever I was fo fenfible of the importance and propriety of the collect in the evening-fervice, which begins, Lighten our darkness, we befeech thee, O Lord!" &c.-The real perils and dangers of the last night were fresh enough in my mind, to convince me of the wifdom of praying to be protected from the poffible dangers of this. How thall I defcribe the mufic! - how fhall I give you any tolerable idea of the effect it had upon my mind! - Instead of the horrid difcordant noife of fat night, inftead of hearing rational beings affronting their maker in the very hour of danger, all here was peace, and harmony, and delight. - A number of fine voices in perfect unifon, accompanied with a noble organ, praised the Moft High in the fublime language of holy writ. I had often and often been prefent at the fame folemn fervice, but never found myself so much affected, fo much tranfported.-In one word, I no longer regretted the storm, which had fo much improved my relish for harmony and devotion."-Thus far my friend. Were one in the humour of it, many useful reflections might be drawn fro this propenfity of our nature, to enjc pleasure with a higher relish, after v have been in diftrefs. Hence it is ev dent, that phyfical evils are not alway what they at first fight appear to be, bi may be counterbalanced by the go and happiness which they produce. Hen the objection against Providence, for t unequal diftribution of worldly happ nefs, appears to be ill-founded: Whi the favourites of Fortune are basking the war fun of Profperity, they oft naufeate their pleafures; they becon dull and liftlefs; and in fpight of the contempt for thofe in the lower spher of life, muft often envy their enjoyment fatiated with a fuperabundance of pr fent good things, they figh for pleafur which they can never tafte; the und turbed tranquillity of mind, the healt!. ful countenance, and the unbroken re of the happy peafant. And hence a co clufion may be drawn extremely cor fortable to the bulk of mankind : ́as di treffes and difappointments in this work naturally lead us to turn our eyes to tl next; fo they will probably give a reli to our enjoyments in a future ftat There we thall recollect with pleasu every circumftance which had a tendenc to keep us humble and innocent; wha ever tended to keep up a fenfe of ou dependence upon God. Nor can w there, when we fhall fee things as the really are, poffibly regret our having fa len thort in the acquisition of riches, honours, or civil diftinctions, which wi then appear to have been by no mear worth the attention now paid to them I am, &c. F. D. Extract of a letter from Halle, Nov. 22. A Chymift at our academy has latel made an experiment of convertin folid copper into a fluid ftate, which i the strongest poifon ever known before If this poifon only comes into the lips, e ven though the teeth are clofed together the perfon muft die, its effect being in curable. Many experiments have bee made on several animals, and they wer found twenty-four hours after their death to be in a full fermentation, and thei bodies covered with foam. He furthe demonftrates, that the ufe of copper vef fels have been the cause of the death o feveral perfons taken off fuddenly, which was attributed to an apoplexy, but the poifon proceeded from the copper. M Mr URBAN, December 1772. Send you the following letter, written by a gentleman who is perfectly well acquainted with the conftitution of New England; though the latter part of it, about tithes, is no way practicable, or even to be thought of, under ours. "I understand from the public papers, that in the debates on the bill for relieving the diffenters in the point of fubfcription to the church-articles [xxxiv. 355.], fundry reflections were thrown out againft that people, importing, "That they themfelves are of a perfecuting, intolerant fpirit; for that when they had here the fuperiority, they perfecuted the church; and fill perfecute it in America, where they compel its members to pay taxes for main aining the Prefbyterian or Independent worship, and at the fame time refuse them a toleration in the full exercise of their religion by the adminiftration of a Bishop." was done by our ancestors, but judge of the prefent character of fects or churches by their prefent conduct only. Now to determine on the justice of this charge against the prefent Diffenters, particularly thofe in America, let us confider the following facts. They went from England to establish a new country for themfelves, at their own expence, where they might enjoy the free exercise of religion in their own way. When they had purchased the territory of the natives, they granted the lands out in townships, requiring for it neither purchafe-money nor quitrent; but this condition only to be complied with, That the freeholders fhould for ever support a gofpel-minifter, (meaning probably one of the then governing fects), and a freefchool, within the township. Thus, what is commonly called Prebyterianifm became the established religion of that country. All went on well in this way while the fame religious opinions were general, the support of minier and school being raised by a proportionate tax on the lands. But, in procefs of time, fome becoming Quakers, fome Baptifts, and, of late years, fome returning to the church of England, (through the laudable endeavours of, and a proper application of their funds by, the fociety for propagating the gofpel), objections were made to the payment of a tax appropriated to the fupport of a church they difapproved and had forfaken. The civil magiftrates, however, continued for a time to collect and apply the tax according to the original laws, which remained in force; and they did it the more freely, as thinking it juft and equitable, that the holders of lands fhould pay what was contracted to be paid when they were granted, as the only confideration for the grant, and what had been confidered by all fubfequent purchafers as a perpetual incumbrance on the eftate, bought therefore at a proportionably cheaper rate; a payment which it was thought no honeft man ought to avoid under the pretence of his having changed his religious perfuafion. And this, I fuppofe, is one of the best grounds of demanding tithes of Diffenters now in England. But the practice being clamoured against by the Epifcopalians as perfecution, the legislature of the province of the Maffachufets-bay, near thirty years fince, pafled an act for their relief; requiring indeed the tax to be paid as ufual, but directing that the feveral fums If we look back into history for the character of present fects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns heen perfecutors, and complainers of perfecution. The primitive Chriftians thought perfecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practifed it on one another. The firft Proteftants of the church of England blamed persecution in the Roman church, but practifed it against the Puritans. Thefe found it wrong in the Bishops, but fell into the fame practice themselves both here and in New England. To account for this, we fhould remember, that the doctrine of toleration was not then known, or had not prevailed in the world. Perfecution was therefore not fo much the fault of the fect as of the times. It was n t in thofe days deemed wrong in itself. The general opinion was only, that those who are in error ought not to perfecute the truth: but the poffeffors of truth were in the right to perfecute error, in order to de froy it. Thus every sect believing itself poffeffed of all truth, and that every tenet differing from theirs was error, conceived, that when the power was in their hands, perfecution was a duty required of them by that God whom they fuppofe to be offended with herefy.- By degrees, more moderate and more modeft fentiments have taken place in the Chriftian world; and among Proteftants particularly all difclaim perfecution, none vindicate it, and few practife it. We fhould, then, ceafe to reproach each other with what VOL. XXXV, В levied levied from members of the church of England, fhould be paid over to the minifter of that church with whom fuch members ufually attended divine worship; which minifter had power given him to receive, and on occafion to recover the fame by law. It feems that legislature corfidered the end of the tax was, to fecure and improve the morals of the people, and promote their happinefs, by fupporting a mong them the public worship of God, and the preaching of the gospel; that where particular people fancied a particular mode, that mode might probably therefore be of moft ufe to those people; and that, if the good was done, it was not fo material in what mode, or by whom, it was done. The confideration, that their brethren the Diffenters in England were ftill compelled to pay tithes to the clergy of the church, had not weight enough with the legislature to prevent this moderate act; which still continues in full force, and I hope no uncharitable conduct of the church towards the Diffenters will ever provoke them to repeal it. With regard to a bishop, I know not upon what ground the Diffenters either here or in America, are charged with refufing the benefit of fuch an officer to the church in that country. Here they feem to have naturally no concern in the affair: There they have no power to prevent it, if government fhould think fit to fend one. They would probably diflike, indeed, to fee an order of men established among them, from whofe perfecutions their fathers fled into that wilderness, and whofe future domination they may poffibly fear, not knowing that their natures are changed. But the nonappointment of bishops for America feems to arife from another quarter. The fame wifdom of government, probably, that prevents the fitting of convocations, and forbids, by nol pro equi's, the profecution of Diffenters for non-fubfcription, avoids establishing bishops where the minds of people are not yet prepared to receive them cordially, left the public peace fhould be endangered, And now let us fee how this perfecution-account ftands between the parties. In New England, where the legiflative bodies are almost to a man diffenters from the church of England 1. There is no telt to prevent churchmen holding offices. 2. The fons of churchmen have the full benefit of the universities. 3. The taxes for fupport of public worship, when paid by churchmen, are given to the Episcopal minister. In Old England, 1. Diffenters are excluded from all offices of profit and honour. 2. The benefits of education in the univerfities are appropriated to the fons of churchmen. 3. The clergy of the Diffenters receive none of the tithes paid by their people, who must be at the additional charge of maintaining their own feparate worship. But it is faid, The diffenters of America oppofe the introduction of a bishop. In fact, it is not alone the Diffenters that give the oppofition, (if not encouraging must be termed oppofing), but the laity in general diflike the project, and fome even of the clergy. The inhabitants of Virginia are almost all Episcopalians. The church is fully eftablished there, and the council and general affembly are perhaps to a man its members; yet when lately, at a meeting of the clergy, a refolution was taken to apply for a bishop, againft which several however protefted, the affembly of the province, at their next meeting, expreffed their difapprobation of the thing in the strongest manner, by unanimoufly ordering the thanks of the houfe to the proteftors [xxxiii. 489, 90.): for many of the American laity of the church think it fome advantage, whether their own young men come to England for ordination, and improve themselves at the fame time by converfation with the learned here, or the congregations are fupplied by Englishmen, who have had the benefit of education in English univerfities, and are ordained before they come abroad. They do not, therefore, fee the neceffity of a bishop merely for ordination. And confirmation is among them deemed a ceremony of no very great importance; fince few feek it in England, where bishops are in plenty. These fentiments prevail with many churchmen there, not to promote a defign which they think must fooner or la er faddle them with great expences to fupport it. As to the Dif fenters, their minds might probably be more conciliated to the measure, if the bishops here thould, in their wisdom and goodness, think fit to fet their facred character in a more friendly light, by dropping their oppofition to the Diffent ers ers application for relief in fubfcription, and declaring their willingness that Diffenters should be capable of offices, enjoy the benefit of education in the univerfities, and the privilege of appropriating their tithes to the fupport of their own clergy. In all these points of toleration, they appear far behind the prefent Diffenters of New England; and it may feem to fome a step below the dignity of bishops, to follow the example of fuch inferiors. I do not, however, despair of their doing it some time or other, fince nothing of the kind is too hard for true Chriftian humility. I am, &c. Mr URBAN, A New-England Man. Fanuary 1773. AS the propriety of fubfcription to articles of religion is at prefent a matter of debate in this nation, permit me to lay before the public, through the channel of your magazine, a few reflections on this fubject. It appears from the hiftory of the Chriftian church, given us in the Acts of the Apoftles, that no adult perfon was received into her communion without a declaration of his hearty confent to the leading doctrines delivered by the apoftles, and first teachers of Chriftianity." If thou believeft with all thine heart," said Philip to the Eunuch, "thou mayft be baptized," Acts viii. 37. Much lefs was any one admitted to the office of Chriftian paftor, without fuch a proof, at least, of his truly embracing the doctrines he was to deliver to others. Thus the apoftolic injunction runs refpecting ordination: "The things that thou haft heard of me among many witneffes, the fame commit thou to faithful men, who fhall be able to teach others also,” 2 Tim. ii. 2. And particular care was taken, that none fhould be admitted into the miniftry, but those who " held faft the faithful word, as they had been taught, that they might be able by found doctrine to convince the gainfayers," Titus i. 9. When the books of the New Teftament were all collected, and joined to the fcriptures of the Old Teftament, this facred code contained the articles to which every candidate for the miniftry was to fubfcribe, (that is, to teftify his affent unto, in the ftrongest manner), before he could be admitted to teach others. So far is plain, and, I apprehend, agreeable to the fentiments of all the pro feffors of Christianity. But here it may be afked, Why is not this fimple apoftolic method ftill adhered to? Why are candidates for the miniftry now required to fubfcribe to human formularies, and. that by thofe who acknowledge the Bible to contain a perfect rule of faith and prac tice? The reafon of such conduct appears to me clearly deducible from the very principles upon which the objection is founded. To make good my deduction, I shall only defire this plain pofition to be granted: That words, being only the figns of our ideas, are nothing independent of their meaning. This being allowed, it will follow, that when affent is required to any form of words, it is to the meaning which thofe words convey, and not to the words confidered in themselves. And, therefore, when we speak o fubfcribing to the holy fcriptures, we mean (if we mean any thing) that fuch subscription fhould be made, or affent teftified, to the doctrines contained in the fcriptures, or the meaning which the words of fcripture were defigned to convey. While the fenfe of fcripture was fixed by the interpretation of those inspired perfons who were employed in writing it, the words of fcripture conveyed the fame ideas to all the fincere members of the Chriftian church: When any person, under thefe circumstances, teftified his affent to the words of fcripture, it is plain, that he affented to their true meaning; and, in this cafe, any other confeffion of faith than the sacred text was unneceffary. But let us fuppofe, that while the doctrine of the Chriftian church was uniform, and the whole body of minifters held the words of scripture in their true sense, that one fhould have offered himself as a candidate for the miniftry, to whom the words of fcripture conveyed ideas different from those they conveyed to the church; what mult have been done in fuch a cafe? The Chriftian paftors were bound to require fubfcription to the feriptures; for this, we have feen, was injoined as abfolutely neceffary; but in the cafe now stated, a fubfcription to the words of fcripture would not have been a fubfcription to the fcriptures themselves; because the words did not convey to this candidate their true meaning: fuch a perfon, in fubfcribing, it is evident, muft either have teftified his affent to fomething which was not fcripture, or to B 2 words |