be left undone to engage his continued favour and protection.

The Dissenters and Methodists are moving heaven and earth to promote the interests of religion in their several ways, and to oppose the torrent of vice and infidelity, which is overspreading these lands. An association has been formed among some of the clergy at Manchester, to preach a weekly lecture in each others churches; which will be attended with good effect. This is a laudable effort, and shews a proper attention to the circumstances of the times, and should be followed in all populous towns. We ought every one to step out of the routine of our accustomed methods of doing good, and strive with peculiar energy to save our people's souls from death, and our country from ruin. An association of Protestant Dissenters, of different denominations, has also been formed at Bedford. About thirty ministers in that neighbourhood are already engaged to co-operate in spreading the knowledge of the gospel through all the towns and villages, in that vicinity, upon the most liberal plan. The same kind of associations pervade the whole of the three kingdoms. This is good news to all that wish well to the cause of religion, without regard to sects, parties, and opinions; and convinces us, that the gospel of Jesus wants nothing but fair play; and that human establishments, and great worldly emolu

living he has got, of 600 pounds a year, besides two rectories, one of 500, the other of 350 pounds a year. He has obtained a prebendary of considerable value in one of our cathedrals. Will any man undertake to say, that a clergyman of this description believes the gospel of Christ? All such characters are infidels in dis. guise, they do an infinite deal of harm to the interests of religion in the world, and, in a well ordered state of things, would be degraded from their pretended sacred office. Such men may cry out as loudly as they please against Thomas Paine and his deistical brethren-their craft is in danger!-but they themselves are much more to blame, and shall be condemned with ten-fold confusion. Paine is a saint, compared with such fellows.

ments, are not essentially necessary to its support and propagation. The Puritans were frowned upon by the government from the time of the reformation to the days of Charles I. and yet they increased to such a height as to overturn both church and state. The Dissenters have been frowned on again from the revolution to the present time, and yet they, and the Methodists, are much more upon the increase,(4) than we of the establishment, who are fostered by the government, attended by the nobles and gentry of the land, and supported by the state, at the expense of nearly two millions a year. When shall it once be, that the great ones of the world will be capable of seeing, that oppression, of every kind and degree, for conscience' sake, always produces an effect directly contrary to the wishes and intentions of the oppressor?

The villages in England alone, besides cities and market towns, are about 30,000. All these call upon us for every exertion to evangelize them, and to save the people's souls alive.-A branch from the Methodists is spreading itself far and wide, under the direction of Alexander Kilham. At present they have about seventeen circuits, twenty preachers, and upwards of 5000 persons in society, and are increasing

(4) This brings to my mind an anecdote of George Whitefield, in the reign of George II. When a certain bishop was complaining to the king of Whitefield's great and eccentric labours, and advising with him what steps were best to be taken to put a stop to his preaching, his majesty replied, My lord, I can see no other way but for us to make a bishop of him. This will stand a good chance of stopping his wild career." If this is the recipe for curing a clergyman of an excess of public preaching, the following prescription, given by a valuable author about thirty years ago, would have no little effect in preventing the growth and increase of Methodism.-"Let the clergy live more holily, pray more fervently, preach more heavenly, and labour more diligently, than the Methodist ministers: then will Christians flock to the churches to hear us, as they now flock to the meetings to hear them."

considerably each year. Shall we then, we, the eighteen thousand clergymen of the establishment, who are under such superior obligations, many of whom are paid by the state, at the rate of some hundreds, and others at the rate of some thousands a year; shall we be all asleep, sit still, and pursue no vigorous measures, each one in our own sphere, or various of us in concert, till destruction come upon us to the uttermost? (5) Is not the time nearly arrived for the subversion of the nations? And can any thing under heaven prevent our sharing in the common fate of Christendom, but a speedy and effectual return to evangelical principles and practices? Does not the murderous sword draw nearer and nearer every year? And shall we clergymen, who above all men in the kingdom are devoted to the assured destruction, be indifferent to circumstances? Let the very laudable conduct of the several zealous bodies of Christians in this nation, not excite our rage and envy, but rather let it provoke us to jealousy and emulation. If ever there were a time when it was necessary to awake out of sleep, and to be alive to the interests of the gospel, surely it is now. If our archbishops and bishops are indisposed towards a meliorated state of the ecclesiastical part of the constitution, let them at least lay aside their affectation of pomp and shew, come among their clergy and people, and set us an example of a warm and judicious zeal in preaching-not merely a refined morality-but the great and glorious truths of the everlasting gospel,(6) in such a way as we can all

(5) It is related of John Carlyon, that when his health would not permit him to reside upon the valuable living of Bradwell in Essex, he resolutely gave it up, and would not serve it by a curate, though intreated by the bishop so to do. There was not, however, in this case, that close trial of conscientious integrity, that we have known in some others; because Mr. Carlyon was a person of considerable private fortune.

(6)Newton on the Prophecies, in three volumes, which were published forty or fifty years ago, hath spoken in terms nearly as strong.

understand and feel. This would have a strong tendency to animate and encourage the pious part of the clergy in their ministerial labours for the good of mankind, and to discountenance and overawe the licentious and profane, those dreadful pests of every neighbourhood, which has the misfortune to be cursed with their example.(7) Such a reformation as this, is within the power of every bishop upon the bench, whose age and health will admit of exertion; and no one need wait for the concurrence of his brethren. As matters, however, are now managed, a large proportion both of our bishops and clergy are, in a very considerable degree, an useless burden upon the public. We not only do little or no good, but we do a great deal of harm. While we continue dead to the interests of religion; subscribe what we do not believe; read what we do not approve; and set the pulpit and reading desk at loggerheads one with the other; while our doctrines are unevangelical; our spirit lukewarm; our minds secular, worldly; our studies merely literary, or philosophical; and our conduct immoral; far better would it be the nation were without us, and all our preferments sequestered to the purposes of the state, as they respectively become vacant, and the people left to provide at their own expense for ministers, as is the case among all denominations of dissenters. In this case, ministers in general would be better provided for, the people would.

concerning the danger the country is in because of our national iniquities.

"I say

Horne also hath expressed his fears to the same purpose. (7) Burnet speaks on this subject with great concern. it with great regret, I have observed the clergy in all places through which I have travelled, Papists, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Dissenters; but of them all, our clergy are the most remiss in their labours in private, and the least severe in their lives. Unless a better spirit possesses the clergy, arguments and what is more, laws and authority, will not prove enough to preserve the church."

be better served, the government would obtain considerable sums of money, and all the dumb dogs, the useless and immoral part of the clergy, would be sent one to his farm, and another to his merchandize.(8) Can any rational man say, that this would be a misfortune to the nation? Were I in the prime minister's place, and wanted to raise money, I should certainly turn my attention to the property of the church. What need is there that a bishop should enjoy public money to the amount of-from two to twenty thousands a year? Where is the necessity, too, that a private clergyman should hold a living, or livings, to the amount of one, two, or three thousand pounds a year r? I protest my sagacity cannot descern either the necessity or propriety of these things. (9) I can truly say I never took more pains in the ministry, than when I had only sixty pounds a year. Since I have been married and had a family, my income from the church has never amounted to an hundred and twenty pounds a year. Notwithstanding this, I have been not only content, but happy. I have laboured hard, studied hard, and, probably, have been as useful, and well satisfied with my condition, as the fattest rec

(8) South says, that "many a man has run his head against a pulpit, who would have cut an excellent figure at a plough tail."

(9) Montesquieu tells us, that "the prosperity of religion is different from that of civil government." Religion may be well in an afflicted state, because affliction is the true state of a christian. The humiliations and dispersion of the church, the destruction of her temples, and the persecutions of her martyrs, are the distinguished times of her glory. On the contrary, when she appears triumphant in the eye of the world, she is generally sinking in adversity."

Agreeably to this, Newton, speaking of Constantine's open profession of christianity says, Though it added much to the temporal prosperity, yet it contributed little to the spiritual graces and virtues of christians. It enlarged their revenues, and increased their endowments; but proved the fatal means of corrupting the doctrine, and relaxing the discipline of the church."