five, to their apologift, Mr. Gleig: the bolts he fulminated against the Eftablishment of his country, firft in your Mifcellany, and afterwards in a pamphlet of no less than one hundred and threefcore pages, infcribed to the English Bench of bifbops, might furely have fufficed; but, in troth, no fuch thing: a writer, whom it would be uncandid in me to fuppofe initiated ieto the high Catholic School of your correspondent Mr. Berington, as he comes forward without even the femblance of a fignature, now enters the lifts, and combats valiantly, not merely for that gewgaw, a mitre, bot for thofe more folid objects of a Churchman's idolatry, "the lands of the Crown." After the indulgence you have given to my former ftri&tures on this fpecies of Diffenters, whofe bold, and at the fame time futile, pretenfions cannot be read by any orthodox member of the religion of Great Britain, as by law established, without the utmoft difguft, I will not fuffer the letter in p. 319-321 of your last Magazine to pafs unnoticed. The writer begins with speaking of the Scotifh Epifcopalians as having been under a state of compulfion, in 1688, to give up their Religion together with their King. The remainder of his letter is, in great meafure, filled with compliments to them on having retained the former, but reprefents them as ready to abandon the latter, provided Govern ment will make it worth their while. Thefe gentlemen have, by their own account, been one hundred years in prevailing on themselves to take the Oaths of Allegiance; they do not yet take them, but give us to understand, in the broadeft terms, that, when they do, they fhall require to be made equal, if Dor fuperior, to the Prefbyterian eftab lithment, who have borne the heat and burthen of the day, approving their loy alty to the illuftrious Naffau, and his fucceffors. Had the labourers in Scripture, who came in at the eleventh hour of the day, clamouroufly demanded, from the Lord of the vineyard, the wages due to thofe who obeyed his fumunons at the first hour, it is highly probable they would have received from him a fevere reprimand inftead of a gratuity. As to the character of King William, the great deliverer of thefe realms from popery and defpotifm, I trust that, at a tine when this united ifland is preparing to celebrate the jubilee of the glori 5 ous Revolution, it would be wholly fr perfluous for me to enter on its defence against fo fhameless a calumniator. On the allegation, that the Epifcopalians of Scotland are favourable to kingly power, I beg leave to obferve, that, however partial they may have been to the arbitrary proceedings of the Stuart line, no man, who reafons from facts to confequences, will admit that the limited monarchy established in these realms, or the interefts of the House of Brunfwick, can gain any additional ftability by purchafing the leaders of that feet at the high terms. on which they are thus expofing themfelves to public fale. If a grateful fenfe of the benefits which have been continued down to them from the period of King James's daftardly abdication, be included by any rational Divine in his Chapter of Accidents, then will I allow it to be afferted, that the Prefbyterians of Scotland, whose minifters are in the fame breath acknowledg ed to be men of learning and fober man ners, are loyal by accident only. But if it appears that they have, as a body, food faithful to their King and Conftitution, both in 1715 and 1745, the fuppofition, that if they had not had an establishment to fecure, they would have raifed "not two, but two and twenty rebellions," has no fpecies of induction to fupport it, but ftands amply confuted by the beha viour of the English Prefbyterians, who remained loyal in thole evil times, though labouring under various and heavy difabilities. The diftinction stated between the Nonjuring Epifcopalians and thofe called Qualified Clergy makes greatly in favour of the latter: ordained by English Bishops, and not by a fet of men whofe very pretenfions to that rank, equally unfubftantiated by the Law or the Gofpel, are a grofs infult on the understandings of mankind, they are only in the neceflary fituation of all diffenters from national establishments, dependent principally on the approba tion of their auditors. Nor is there any thing in this circumftance which need fo much to gall the high spirit of your correfpondent; you, Mr. Urban, could have informed him that, in moft great towns of England, especially in the cities of London and Westminster, there are many valuable benefices, occupied by gentlemen of the Etablished Church, which derive their chief, if not their whole, fupport from voluntary fubfcriptions. Thefe alone, unaccompanied by grants "of crown or wafte lands," have frequently, Strictures on the Conduct of the Epifcopalians in Scotland. frequently, at an earlier period of life, been the fole fupport of those who have afterwards obtained rich bishopricks, made still more ponderous by their ufual accompaniments of commendams; and who, like "Jefhurun, waxed fat and kicking," have fhewn, by their fubfequent conduct, a total forgetfulness of the people, their original feeders. That fects have their ufe in keeping any establishment from deviating into grofs errors, is an affertion I readily fubfcribe to; but that purpofe alfo would, I apprehend, be fully answered by the qualified preachers already mentioned, even though the event he fo folemnly deprecates, but which is, in my opinion, devoutly to be withed, a total extinction of this pretended feries of bishops should take place in Scotland: fo long as they continue to keep up their religious mummery, every fiream iffuing from fo diftempered a fountain muft neceffarily partake of its unw hole. fomeness. The Union, in 1707, has established the national Church of Scotland on a bafis too firm, I truft, ever to be fhaken by that most baleful of all fanaticifms which reprefents the proud claims of the Hierarchy as founded on divine right. It has often enough been explained, and is now fufficiently understood, that the Apoftles vifted fome churches where a fingle perfon, and others in which an aflembly of their most respectable elders, prefided; as is apparent from a multitude of paffages in their Epiftles; that they did not, with the rage of modern zeal, disturb either, but gave their approbation to whatever modes of difcipline were well adminiftered. Thus far the rational advocates for epifcopacy and prefbytery are easily reconciled; they begin from the fame date, concurring in this one point, though divided as to many others, the difcuffion of which would be totally foreign to my purpose. Your correfpondent fays, the "tender beart is compelled to fympathife with the fufferings of his Old Family of Kings." He afterwards pours forth a chapter of lamentations on the diminished import ance of the Church of England prevent ed from launching forth its cenfures on those whofe doctrines are unconform able. I cannot play the hypocrite fo far as to attend him to either of these houfes of mourning. The ingenious and acute Voltaire, who, amidst all his fcepticism, appears, in fome few in 399 He ftances, to have caught a tincture of fu- The feat of Government, whence this writer feems to think it neceffary that the whole empire fhould receive the watch-word of its faith, has derived no mean fupport from the valour and integrity of thofe Calvinists whofe principle, their railing accufer afferts, is, "to oppose themselves to authority." They, in return, look up to that Government for maintenance of their Religion and Laws. Choral mufic, the pomp of cathedrals, and voluminous rent-roll of wide-extended church poffeffions, is not theirs: the pall, the crofier, the long trains of vergers, and coaches decorated with mitres, are not to be feen in their places of worship: but their bleak mountains have furnished the state with a multitude of hardy, loyal, and pious citizens; and I truft the day is far, very far diftant, when a Proteftant Legiflatue will again fubject them to the infaciable rapaciouinefs of thote whole mercilefs yoke neither they nor their fathers could endure. Unambitious of vying with our modera Scribes and Pharifes, in that zeal for for peculiar modes of worship, which they are pleafed to term Orthodoxy, I am not over-folicitous for their approbation; but should be forry to fail in fo obvious a point of orthodoxy, as adnitting that the Eftablished Prefbyterian Church of Scotland challenges equal refpect with the Epifcopal Church of England, whether we confider its claims, or the merits on which thofe claims are founded; a pofition which cannot confiftently be denied by any British fubject who is a found Proteftant. I could have filently heard its opponents expound the terms on which they are difpofed to vend that Nonjuring fyftem which, to enhance its value, they boaft of having preferved inviolate through a whole century. But, when they dare to fpeak of the National Church as more factious than their own, on which the temperate administration of Mr. Pelham has juftly affixed the two-fold brand of Herefy and Rebellion, it is high time for loyal citizens, and real friends of the Reformed Religion, to enter their proteft against fuch grofs exceffes of virulence and indecency, by whomfoever patronised or fomented. Yours, &c. L. L. P. S. Tuesday, May 6. Three days are now elapfed fince the above was conveyed to your printer. Some daily papers have this morning, with great parade, announced the determination of the Scotish Epifcopalians to pray, hereafter, for King George and the prefent Royal Family. I have read their Manifefto with the fcorn it deferves, when compared with the abovemention ed prelude; and feel not the fmalleft inclination to retract a single comma of what I have written. Mr. URBAN, Edinburgh, April 30. ΤΗ HE expectations of many, that this year 1788, like the former revolutions of 88, would be diftinguished by fomething of more than ordinary importance to Church or State, feem, in fome measure, realifed. The Epifcopal Church of Scotland was, at the Revolution of 1688, the national or established Church of this kingdom; and as fuch, its worship and jurifdiction was countenanced by the favour, and fupported at the expence, of the State. Shortly after King Wil liam and Queen Mary were recognised as fovereigns of this realm, Prefbytery was established, and the former Church was reduced to that ftate in which Chriftianity fo long fubfifted and flou rifhed in the primitive ages. For the last hundred years he has been, to use the words of one of her prefent dignitaries*, "under a fort of exile; banished from the countenance of the great, and expofed to the malice of the mean and uncharitable men of this world. She hath been stripped of all her ornaments, and external advantages. Yet mourn.. ing in her ruins, the hath ftill retained her integrity; and, by the wife and good providence of God, what she hath Loft in her outward appearance is fully compenfated by what the hath gained in the purity of her doctrine, and the decency of her worship," &c. He must be very ignorant of the Hiftory of his country, who does not know the many fevere penal laws and statutes made after the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, which were chiefly levelled at them, and rigorously enforced. Their attachment to the unfortunate houfe of Stuart was preferved inviolated: they confidered themfelves as in confcience bound to regard the right of the heirs of James 11. to the crowns of thefe realms as facred and indefeasible. After the conclufion of the rebellion in 1745, (in which, however, compara tively few of their members were en gaged, for there were many zealous Prefbyterians who embarked in the fame caufe,) the penal laws were enforced with much rigour for fome time. On the acceffion of his prefent Majefty, their Church began to emerge from the cloud of darknefs and obloquy under which it had long lain. was made, privately, and affurances given of their peaceable and quiet demeanour and intentions: and, it being understood, from high authority, that a continuance of dutiful behaviour would infure lenity and indulgence to them, they began to build meeting-houses all over the kingdom; which, fince that time, have been as openly frequented as thofe of any other religious profeffion. Application Another circumftance has lately oc curred, that has thrown no fmall luftre on this Church: I mean, the Confecration of the first Proteftant Bishop of America, Dr. Seabury. This has been fo fully handled in your Magazine, that I forbear to recount any particulars. But the great event has now come to Skinner [now Bishop of Aberdeen], Sermon on the Duty of a Suffering Church, preached Feb. 9, 1779, being the King's faft, from Jerem. xxix. 7. pals, The Epifcopal Church of Scotland no longer Nonjurant. pafs, which will shew them in a ftill more advantageous light. "We have Been too long," fays the Sermon above quoted, "confidered as a difcontented party. .kept together by foolifh vain hopes of political changes. and deceitful expectations, if we were capable of being blinded by them!"The death of the laft heir male of the Stuart family (for Cardinal York is out of the question) has releafed them from every tie, real or fuppofed, that could refult from their political principles. They confider his prefent Majefty George III. as the rightful and undoubted fovereign of thefe kingdoms. And, laying afide every chimerical notion as to the next in fucceffion to the Stuarts, by the Savoy branch, which. I fincerely believe, none of the moft bigoted among them ever entertained, they are henceforth to pray for their Sovereign by NAME. I have procured the inclofed, which was published at Aberdeen, and is to be publicly read in all their congregations: "INTIMATION to the Clergy and Laity of the Epifcopal Church in Scotland. "THE Proteftant Bishops in Scotland having met at Aberdeen, on the 24th of April, 1788, to take into their ferious confideration the State of the Church under their infpection, did, upon mature deliberation with their Clergy, unanimously agree to comply with and fubmit to the prefent Government of this kingdom, as vefted in the perfon of his Majefty King George the Third. They alfo refolved to testify this compliance by uniformly praying for him by name in their public worship, in hopes of removing all fufpicion of difaflection, and of obtaining relief from thofe penal laws under which this Church has fo long fuffered. the fame time they think it their duty to declare, that this refolution proceeds from principles purely ecclefiaftical; and that they are moved to it by the jufteft and most fatisfying reafons, in difcharge of that high truft devolved upon them in their epifcopal character; and to promote, as far as they can, the peace and profperity of that portion of the Chriftian Church committed to their charge. At "For obtaining of this defirable end, they THEREFORE appoint their Clergy to make public notification to their congregations, upon the eighteenth day of May next, that, upon the following Lord's Day, nominal prayers for the King are to be authoritatively introduced, and afterwards to continue in the religious affemblies of this Epifcopal Church: and they beg leave to recommend, as to their Clergy whofe obedience they expect, fo likeGENT. MAG. May, 1788. 401 wife to all good Chriftian people under their epifcopal care, and do earnestly intreat and exhort them in the bowels of Jefus Chrift, that they will all cordially receive this deterAination of their fpiritual fathers. "If any of them with for farther information on this fubject, the Bishops hereby direct them to apply to their refpe&ive pastors; and conclude this addrefs with their hearty prayers to, and stedfaft dependence upon, their gracious HEAD and MAST in heaven, that he would be pleafed to blefs, fanctify, and profper the pious refolutions and endeavours of his fei vants upon earth, to the advancement of his glory, the edification of his Church, and the quiet and welfare of the State in all godliness and honesty. Robert Kilgour, Bifhop and Primus. Thus the name of Nonjurant, or Nonjuror, can no longer belong to the Epifcopal Church of Scotland. May not, therefore, every friend to liberty fondly hope, that the wisdom of the Legiflature will think it proper to repeal thefe penal laws, which have now to thoroughly loft their fting; and which, could we fuppofe any one fo depraved as to attempt it, have no force against thofe who take the Oath of Allegiance C. P. to his Majefty? P. S. May 2. A friend at Aberdeen has juft fent me "The Aberdeen Journal," in which is a fhort narrative of this affair, published, I should think, by the Bithops, and which you may fubjoin to this. "On Thursday laft, the 24th current, was held, at Aberdeen, a meeting of the Protestant Bifhops in Scotland, with reprefentatives from the Clergy of their feveral diftricts; when, after taking into their ferious confideration the ftate of the Church under their infpection, they unanimously refolved to give an open and public proof of their fubmiftion to the prefent Government, by praying, in exprefs words,for his Majefty King George and the Royal Family, which is to take place in all their chapels on Sunday the 25th of May next; to which day it is deferred, that the Bishops may have time to give proper directions to their Clergy throughout the kingdom for that purpose. Thus an end is put to thofe unhappy divifions which long diftracted this kingdom; and we have the fatisfaction to think that many thousands of our countrymen, who have been fufpected of difaffection to the prefent Government, will now be confidered as loyal and obedient subjects.'* Aberdeen Journal, April 29, 1788. Report of Lieutenant Colonel Stamfort to the Prince of Orange, dated Nimeguen, July 1, 1787, which he is ready to atteft on Oath. (From the original French, in the Appendix to Mr. Bowdler's Letters, No. III. p. 4—11) [See our Review, p. 427.] SIR, YOUR Serene Highness having com manded me to give you a faithful account of what happened to your Augutt Confort, relative to the impediment The fuffered in her journey to the Hague, near Schoonhoven, I proceed to give a minute and circumftantial detail of this event, as fingular as unexpected. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when her Royal Highnefs arrived at the banks of the Leck near Schoonhoven. Upon entering the boat to pass this river, we faw the oppofite bank lined with a crowd of inhabitants from the town, who waited for our croffing; and Mr. Bentinck informed me, that he obferved, at a distance, fome foldiers of the Fry Corps fhutting a bar, through which he fuppofed we were to pass to Schoonhoven. We agreed that, as it was probable they would ask us who we were, we would tell the truth, flattering ourselves that at her Highness's name they would immediately open the bar. We were not mistaken. When we reached the bar, we faw an Anfpeffade with three volunteers coming to meet us, to ask us, with an cmbarraffed air, our names, where we came from, and whither we were going. At the refolute manner in which Mr. Bentinck anfwered them, and in which I defired them not to make her Highnefs wait, they returned to make a report to the guard, and fhortly after opened the bar to us. We faw, as we entered, the guard under arms, who faluted her Highnets in their best manner, and Mr. B. and myself thought ourfelves well through this difagreeable way, and drew from it a good omnen for the ref of our journey; but we foon found ourselves miftaken. We had proceeded a full league be yond Schoonhoven, when we perceived ourfelves fuddenly stopped by a new troop of the Vry Corps, whofe commander afked us the fame questions as at Schoonhoven. We gave the fame aniwers, but met with a very different reception. The officer detached one of his men to inform the commander of the principal troop, who flopped a little way belund, but now came forward, and told us, that he had ordere to let no perfon pafs without an exprefs permiffion from the commander of the line. "This order (replied Mr. B.) cannot apply to the Princefs of Orange, who is here with a very fmall fuite, and you will easily be convinced of it, if you will be fo good as to inform your commander of her Royal Highness's arrival.” As I thought I perceived that he was at a lofs how to act, and I was going to tell him to make hafte, we saw a detachment coming up of about 30 horfe of the regiment of Heffe Philipftal, which flopped when it had joined the troop of volunteers. The officer we had been talking with left us, and fell into converfation with the Marechal du Logis, but they were at too great a dif tance for us to hear what paffed. Their converfation was long; and, growing impatient, I defired Mr. B. to alight, and enquire if there were no officers in this detachment, and, in cafe there was onc, to bring him forward, that we might come to an explanation with him. Mr. B. concurred with me in opinion, and joined the troop. At the fame time I got out of our carriage, to inform her Royal Highness of what was doing, when I faw myfelf fuddenly stopped by one of the volunteers, who, prefenting his piece to me, ordered me to stay where I was. "Friend (faid 1) you know not what you are doing, you do not understand your profefiion; I mean only to tell the Princcfs, who is in this coach, the reafon of our waiting here fo long." I was going forward, but he ftopped me a fecond time, crying, that he thould pofitively oppofe me obliged to fubmit, and got into the chaife again, provoked at the fellow's be haviour, and was putting in their places a pair of piftols: "What have you there?" faid the man. "Have you never seen a pair of piftols? (faid I); I affure you they are charged." He asked no more queftions; and, a moment after, I faw Mr. B. arrive with the officer who commanded the detachment, who was, I know not why, behind his troop. I de fired the officer to go with us to the Princefs's coach, and he himself repeated the order which, he said, had been given him by General Van Ryffel, commander of the Ime. Her Highness defired him to fend a meflenger express to that General, to inform him of her arrival, adding, that the was perfuaded he would give no obstruction to our route. He confented with fome diffi I was cuity, |