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whose eloquence has advanced him from the Islington Charity School to the Dissenting Chair of Divinity, by a singular felicity of selection had the part of Mar-prelate assigned to him, which it must be admitted he performed to admiration; for, having, in a happy flight of his imagination, caught the conceit that discountenancing the Bible Society is a species of derangement, he sketches out most facetiously, in the true mountebank strain, a course of treatment as simple," he says, as efficacious" by which he engages to effect the Bishop's conversion, and then most humorously pledges himself to the " Ladies and Gentlemen" present, that if this far-famed individual would submit for one twelve month to his treatment, he should have the honour of presenting him to them a Vice-President of the Parent Society, and the Patron of the Association in his Episcopal City." The com placency with which as far as appears, Mr. Wilberforce, who was present, listened to this drollery, which he facetiously terms

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the beginning of heaven upon earth," and his condescension in proposing the Rev. Dr. Styles as an additional Secretary to the Institution, adds an interest to the whole tragi-comic performance, which in common justice to our readers it is impossible to withhold. (Brighton Herald, October 21.)

But the palmary exploit in this bellum Episcopale is that atchieved by the Rev. Thomas Cotterill at the Stafford Auxiliary Meeting. His whole speech, from its commencement to its conclusion, being a scornful tirade against the Bishop. He first describes the Extract from the Charge, as " a paragraph studiously circulated in every newspaper in town and country, bearing upon it the impress of a mitre." He then (two months after it was deliyered, and when its authenticity was unquestionable) affects to doubt" whether it was really an Episcopal Arm that was uplifted against the Society, or merely an artificial one, decorated with sleeves of lawn for the purpose of striking a more effectual blow." And with this subterfuge searing his conscience, and warding off the obloquy which he feels to be due to him for " publicly noticing," and in such terms, the "genuine production" of a Bishop charging his own Clergy, he proceeds at great length to present it piecemeal to the mixed multitude brought together, and to excite repeated bursts of laughter by a burlesque upon each sentence. At the conclusion of which he insinuates against his Lordship a charge of "contempt of God's word," and of being a disgrace to the University, maintaining in so many words that the passage "cannot possibly be the production of any man brought up in that seat of learning, at the feet of Newton, and who bore away from his compeers the prize for mathematical research."

We have at length brought together into one point of view before our readers the two cases to which the pamphlets, forming

the

the series at the head of this article, relate;-the case of Mr. Forby animadverting upon Missionary and Bible Society Speeches, delivered to promiscuous assemblies, and attributed to the Lord Bishop of Norwich, and the case of the anonymous letter writers and their confederate orators, animadverting upon a Charge delivered to his Clergy by the Lord Bishop of Lincoln.

If the circumstances of the former case are examined, it will appear that there was great cause given for remonstrance, and that all restraining considerations were taken away; for the alledged items of forgetfulness involved many of the Norfolk Clergy especially, as the most prominent of the persons pointed at in their severe imputations, and not only are we told by the Bishop of Norwich's anonymous advocate *, as already stated, that "he is to be considered as the mere popular orator" on this occasion, but the author of the last pamphlet in the series lays down generally, in the name of the Society, this levelling principle, "we look upon all Members of the Bible Society as private Christians," P. 29. and thus designates it an Institution which suspends all distinctions within its own assemblies. If the cir cumstances of the latter case are surveyed with equal impartiality, they will be found in both instances diametrically the reverse of the former; for the having been "unsuspicious" is the severest censure which the Bishop of Lincoln passes upon those of his Clergy to whom his wholesome counsels are offered, and what he says is spoken from the Seat of Judgment, in the exercise of the most exalted and solemn of the Episcopal prerogatives, and therefore at least imposes forbearance in deference to its authority, however it may fail to produce conviction in those who differ from his Lordship, or to persuade them to a dutiful submission to what he recommends. And yet whilst in the one case the greatest solicitude is manifested so to guard the animadversions, that the respect due to the Right Reverend object of them both personally and in his official character shall be effectually maintained, in the other the Man and the Prelate are principally assaulted, and no sneer, inuendo or affectation of argument is deemed complete till by an infusion of venom it is prepared for poisoning the public mind in its judgment both of the Church governor, and of his pastoral admonitions.

We are informed that this pamphlet has been acknowledged by its author, accompanied with some concessions upon the subject of its asperities, highly creditable to him. Our judgment, or rather summary of his production, must remain, but we think him entitled to all the allowances he requires, and we cannot but honour both his motives for engaging in the controversy and the ingeni ousness displayed in his retractions; though we lament that his valipai goides were not sooner taken.

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Our approval of Mr. Forby's Strictures is already recorded: the other party await our sentence, and their penalty from us shall be the sentence which they have pronounced on themselves. We recal therefore Mr. Glover once more to our readers' notice, and restate his emphatic decision, that "a public remonstrance from a Clergyman to his Diocesan," unsupported by demonstration of "its paramount necessity," is an act of arrogance, irreverence, and indecorum; it tends to a subversion of that discipline which forms so fair a feature of our Church Establishment, it contributes to throw down the walls of our Sion, and to let in the beast from the forest, and the wild boar from the woods, to revel in her vineyards." We are aware that in the strictness of the letter, two at most of the authors before us are involved in this denunciation; only two of the productions, either specified or adverted to, having been avowedly written by Clergy of the Diocese; but by unavoidable inference it pronounces more pointedly, and with greater force of application upon all the rest, for the question, into which they have intruded, is one in which they are not concerned; and so far from being able to shew "the pa ramount necessity," which Mr. Glover requires, they cannot produce even a pretext for their remonstrance. It is an aggres

sion unprovoked and wanton in the highest degree; and so aggravated by its insulting and scornful accompaniments that it is evidently the offence not of those lesser criminals the "contributors to throw down the wall of our Sion," but of that more desperate faction "the beasts from the forest and wild boar from the woods," who were once permitted to make root and branch work of it after her sacred enclosure was dismantled and thrown open, and who by connivance and encouragement now feel a second time sufficiently in force to proclaim without disguise, their nearly ripened purpose of " revelling in her vineyards" again.

We commenced our survey of this series of Pamphlets with an intimation that we had undertaken it in the hope that the additional light, which would be thrown by it upon the designs of the confederacy, would carry those convictions to all whom it may concern, which, though in our judgment too long resisted, may yet perhaps be received for some better purpose than unavailing self-reproach and vexation, and we solemnly protest that no motive less powerful would have carried us through the labour of our investigation.

We beg most respectfully to state to that larger portion of our Venerable Bench, who have withstood all the open as well as insidious attempts to induce them to lend their names to the Bible Society, that a decided avowal of their sentiments respecting that Institution is now imperiously required, as advantage is taken of their silence to propagate the calumny, that "several of them are known not to be unfriendly to it ;" whilst the Bishops of Lincoln ૨૧

VOL. IV. DECEMBER, 1815.

and

and Chester are held up to popular odium, by this additional falsehood cast in the teeth of the former," only one I believe be sides your Lordship has committed himself in an attack upon it *."

Nor is it with less deference and respect that we address ourselves to those Prelates whose confidence the Society has so abused, and whose dignities have been so cheapened in vulgar estimation, by the unceremonious production of them in all shapest and on all occasions. We intreat them to call to mind Baxter's taunting recrimination against the Prelates and Episcopal Clergy of his day, which we subjoin that it may press itself upon their attention, and act as a Caveat against the recurrence of so fatal a inistake. This curious passage, which is extracted from the correspondence between Baxter and Dr. Hinkley, commences with a classification of the Bishops under the several parties into which that apple of discord Calvinism had split them. It then sketches at some length the progress of their dissensions, and it thus concludes, " You say, would Episcopal men con• spire to root out Episcopacy?" Ans. At first they conspired but to restrain and regulate those that they thought innovators and Arminians, &c. (I speak only of Church matters) but after they were too weak to defend themselves without the Scots and Sectaries, and were content to take down Episcopacy, to please their helpers, rather than to be overcome themselves." Hinkley's Fasciculus Literarum. P. 97, 98. We entreat them to remember 'that though the undaunted Primate, who placed himself in the to stem the torrent of puritanical frenzy was the first victim to this madness of the people, yet that the conciliating Bishop Hall did not escape, but has left behind him such a recital of his " Hard Measure," as makes it very questionable whose treatment was the worst; and with these particulars before them, we persuade ourselves we shall not be deemed importunate in continuing to urge, with an increased solicitude, their renunciation of a Society, which for a series of years has been insidiously sapping the foundation of their authority, and has at length set them openly at nought. In conclusion we make a general appeal to all the seduced Members of our own Communion, and affectionately press it upon their attention, that it is now unblushingly avows, that "Jews, Turks, Infidels and Heretics," are admissible to fellow-membership with them in the Bible Society: and we conjure them to consider, how far, continuing the connection under such circumstances, they may be pursuing a line of conduct which St. John,

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Letter to the Bishop of Lincoln, by a Clerical Member of the Society, p. 42.

+ We particularly refer to the Episcopal testimonies which have been recently circulated in hand bills, with great industry in the neighbourhood of Epsom.

in his second Epistle, decidedly prohibits, and may become implicated in the fearful consequence notified by the apostle; that of being "partakers of the evil deeds" of all those enemies of the Gospel. We cannot entertain the remotest wish to abate their zeal in the cause of Christianity; the three CHURCH Societies for the EDUCATION OF THE POOR, for PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, and for the PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL, will thankfully profit by their liberality and their exertions, and there is, they may be assured, no spiritual want either British or Foreign, for which, with proper support, these are not fully competent to provide.

ART. II. Journal of a Tour and Residence in Great Britain, during the Years 1810 and 1811. By a French Traveller, &c. 2 vols. 8vo. 21. 2s. plates. Constable, Edinburgh; Longman, London. 1815.

THE genuine remarks of an intelligent foreigner upon the man. ners and customs of the country, cannot fail to be a source of entertainment, if not of improvement, to the sturdy and inde. pendent Englishman. He will be curious to witness the impression made upon a foreigner by those habits and appearances to which he feels so natural an attachment; the mirror may not indeed reflect an image more just and true than that which is within his own breast; the difference however between then will lead him to consider the cause of the variation, and from thence to examine into the real beauty or deformity of the object.

The volumes before us are written by a native of France, who has resided, as he informs us, twenty years in the United States. He visited Great Britain for the first time in the December of 1809, not for the purpose of transacting any business either of a private or of a public nature, but of acquainting himself with the face of the country, and with the manners and customs of its inhabitants. In the annals of book-making, many attempts have been made to impose upon the public divers tours, journals, remarks, &c. by "foreigners of distinction," whose authors were probably never out of the smoke of Lon'don, who, not content with describing regions which they never traversed, and recording sights which they never saw, must render the picture complete by borrowing a foreign name, and aping most awkwardly a foreigner's sensations. The volumes before us, however, are by no means liable to an imputation of such a sort of literary forgery. Tracing he author through every stage of his long and extended route, we are certain from what we have seen ourselves, that the object which he describes he has also seen. His observations are keen and intelligent, but they 999

are

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