In the same year he circulated a Letter throughout his Diocese, on the subject of Confirmation, which reflects on him the highest honour *. tion, when the act of administering the Communion came on, The same Dignitary told me this also from his own certain knowledge. And, probably, many similar observations might be added.This great Author upon the Sacrament, when he himself administers it, is said to be very precise and particular, drawing on a clean pair of white kid-skin gloves, &c. I almost wonder why his Reverend Lordship should not rather have his gloves for this office made of lawn. J. JONES." "To the Rev. the Clergy of the Diocese of Gloucester. "MY REV. BRETHREN, "As I purpose this summer, by the divine assistance, to confirm at the several places where I shall visit, as well as at others; and am desirous of administering this sacred and very important rite, in the best manner I am able; I call upon you all, with great earnestness, to lend me your assistance in the execution of so charitable a design; and conjure you, in the name of our common Master, to employ your utmost care and pains (each in his own parish or district) to fit the Candidates for the due reception of so solemn a rite; and that in so effectual a manner, as not only to have them instructed in the essential and fundamental principles of that religion into which they were received by Baptism in their infancy; but likewise zealously disposed to make a free and public profession of the faith, which, in that lustral sacrament, had, in their name, been made by their Sponsors; and to declare, under the Bishop's hand in confirmation, their determined purpose of continuing sincere members of Christ's mystical body, the Church, unto their lives end. To facilitate this desirable end, and to follow, to the best of my understanding, the general direction of the Rubrick, which bids, that the aspirant to Confirmation be of a competent age, I shall expect that the female candidate hath completed her fourteenth year, and the male candidate his sixteenth. And that this my purpose may not be defeated, nor you, my Brethren, exposed to improper importunities, I must require that you give to each aspirant so qualified as above, by age, knowledge, and disposition, a certificate of the same, dated and signed by each of you, the Pastor or Minister (the form whereof is hereto annexed), without which certificate, so executed, and by the candidate, on his or her approach to the rails, delivered to my Chaplain, no one will be admitted to Confirmation. By the observance of these directions, I trust in God that this holy rite will be administered, not only with that order, decency, and solemnity, which its awful nature requires, but that the serious participants will find it productive of all those spiritual blessings which the Church is encouraged to promise, and which its confirmed members are authorized to expect from it. I have only to add my hopes and expectations, that you, my Reverend Brethren, will not consider what is here recom In 1762, he published "The Doctrine of Grace: or, the Office and Operation of the Holy Spirit vindicated from the Insults of Infidelity and the Abuses of Fanaticism," 2 vols. 12mo; a work containing many shrewd and pertinent observations, and original and lucky turns of thought, and a considerable portion of critical sagacity. recommended to your care and attention, as matter of form only, or words of course, but an affair in which your duty as well as mine is intimately concerned, and for the effectual performance of which our best endeavours should be jointly exerted. From my success in this application to you I shall augurate happily of your dispositions to pay that regard to my friendly counsels, which my constant attention to your interests and service shall entitle me to expect from you. I remain, April 23, 1761. Your loving brother and faithful servant, "The Form of the Certificate mentioned above: "I do hereby certify to my Diocesan, William Lord Bishop of Gloucester, that of the age of years, having been examined and instructed by me, appears to me to be well fitted for, and worthy to receive Confirmation. Witness my hand, this day of in the year 1761." Which produced, 1. "A Letter to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, occasioned by his Tract on the Office and Operation of the Holy Spirit. By John Wesley, M.A. 1762." 2. "Dr. Chandler's Answer to J. Wesley's Letter to the Bishop, 1762." 3. "Observations on some fatal Mistakes in a Book lately published, and entitled, The Doctrine of Grace, &c. in a Letter to a Friend. By George Whitefield, A. M. 1762." 4. "A Letter occasioned by the Lord Bishop of Gloucester's Doctrine of Grace. By John Payne [Accomptant-general to the Bank]. 1763." 5. "The Scripture Doctrine of Grace, in Answer to a Treatise on the Doctrine of Grace by William Lord Bishop of Gloucester, so far only as that important Doctrine is considered. By John Andrews, LL. B. of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, and Minister of Stinchcombe in Gloucestershire, 1763;" (see Monthly Review, vol. XXIX. pp. 426, 428.) 6. Mr. Hurd's "Letter to Dr. Leland;" (Ibid. vol. XXXI. p. 305.) 7. Dr. Leland's Answer (Ibid. vol. XXXII. p. 191.) Mr. Andrews had, not long before, received the following Letter: "MR. ANDREWS, March 25, 1763. “I have received several complaints of you: those which concern your own curacy are, on account of your frequent absence, and for not giving your parish service both morning and afternoon on a Sunday. Unless I have satisfaction in these two particulars, more especially the former, I shall revoke your licence, by process in my Court. I shall insist upon your constant resi dence In January 1763 the Bishop had the misfortune to break his left arm, by a fall in the garden of Prior Park, the ill effects of which he felt for several months * In the same year he drew upon himself much illiberal abuse from some Writers of the popular dence in your parish, not so much from the good you are likely to do there, as to prevent the mischief you may do by rambling about in other places. Your Bishop, and (though your fanatic conduct has almost made me ashamed to own it) your Patron, W. GLOUCESTER." Mr. Andrews acquainted the Bishop by letter, in answer to the first charge, "that he had resided at least two years and nine months, out of three years that he had been in possession of the living;" and, in answer to the second, "that the Bishop had at Bath, in consideration of the smallness of the income, and Mr. Andrews' want of health, recommended it to him to officiate at Stinchcombe only once on a Sunday; but that, notwithstanding, he had several times done double duty; that many other members in the Bishop's diocese, on much better livings, do not reside at all; and that he had refused a living of 80l. a year, and taken this of 361. merely on account of its requiring less duty." To which the Bishop replied: "If I indulged you in giving your parish only one service on a Sunday, I hereby revoke that indulgence, and insist on your giving them full service. W. GLOUCESter. April 9, 1763." The "Mr. Andrews had formerly lived in America; which he was obliged to leave on account of his bad state of health. Archbishop of Canterbury offered him, on his coming over, a living of Sol. a year; but, frightened at the great duty thereof, he requested the Archbishop to get him this of Stinchcombe, of 361. a year, in Gloucester diocese, and in the Bishop's patronage; but, the see being then vacant, his Grace asked it of the Lord Chancellor, and got it, for Mr. Andrews. -Being a strict and serious man, and carrying his notions of Grace pretty high in the above-noticed publication, he was called a Methodist. Abp. Secker had ever a good opinion of him, and afterwards preferred him in Kent. Though Bishop Warburton did not give him the living in Gloucestershire, yet he calls himself his Patron." Dr. LORT, MS. * May 25, 1763, he says, "I have used the pump this fortnight or three weeks, and think I have received some benefit, though it comes slowly. The complaint is, a great debility in the wrist, after the most successful cure of the fracture of the arın;" and pleasantly adds, "Be not under too much concern for my hand. I, whose life is a warfare upon earth (that is to say with bigots and libertines, against whom I have denounced eternal war, like Hannibal against Rome at the Altar), have reason to be thankful that the debility is not in my sword-hand." † See Churchill's Duellist, the Dedication of his Sermons, and other pieces. In making his complaint, the Bishop, after solemnly party, on occasion of his complaint in the House of Lords, on the 15th of November 1763, against Mr. Wilkes, for affixing his name to certain notes on a silly and indecent production called "An Essay on Woman." In the summer of 1764, Bishop Warburton obtained a considerable addition to his property, by the bequest of his steady friend Mr. Allen*; and soon after was much gratified by the publication of "A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Thomas Leland," the production of his friend Mr. Hurd; which has been elsewhere duly noticed. His satisfaction, however, began to be allayed by the warnings attendant on advancing years; and he notices, Oct. 15, being "troubled with his usual dizziness." In 1765, a fourth edition of the Second Part of "The Divine Legation," with considerable addi solemnly disavowing both the Poem and the Notes, averred, "that the former was worthy of the Devil;" then, after a short pause, added, "No, I beg the Devil's pardon, for he is incapable of writing it." * Mr. Allen died June 29, 1764; and, by his last will, bequeathed Prior Park with the lands adjoining, and Claverton estate, about 3000l. a year, to his widow for life; at her decease to Mrs. Warburton and her issue; which failing, to Capt. Tucker, brother to Mrs. Warburton, and his issue; which failing, to his niece, Miss Mary Allen, and her issue; which failing, to go to the heir-at-law. The estates at Hampton and Tiverton, about 600l. a year, with 2000l. in money, to his brother Philip, PostMaster of Bath (who died in October 1765). To the Bishop of Gloucester 5000l. To Mrs. Warburton 5000l. (besides 10,000l. she had on her marriage). To Captain Tucker 10,000l. and 5000l. more on the decease of Mrs. Allen. To his niece, Miss Mary Allen, 10,000l. and 5000l. more on the decease of Mrs. Allen. To his nephew, Mr. Philip Allen, 1000l. besides 6000l. he had on his marriage. To his nephew Mr. Ralph Allen 5000l. To the Right Hon. Mr. Pitt 1000l. To the Bath Hospital 1000l. To Mr. Hurd 100l. To be distributed in charity, at the direction of Mrs. Allen, 1000l. To each of the Trustees 2001. and to one of their sons 300l. Besides other small legacies to most of his servants and clerks.-Mrs. Allen died in 1766; see p. 637. † See vol. II. p. 432. "I am preparing the Second Volume of the Divine Legation, that is, the third and fourth parts, for a new edition. I had not read over the Preface against Taylor since the publication, and it pleased me to find I could make it no better: which is rarely my case. I have oft told you how amusing this work of cor tions*, was published, as volumes III. IV. and V.; the two parts which had been re-printed in 1755 being reckoned as volumes I. and II. The Dedication to Lord Mansfield was revised, and very considerably enlarged +. It was this edition which produced from Dr. Lowth the publication of which a brief character shall be transcribed below §; and which was answered by correction is to me in comparison of composition, where I stretch my weak faculties too violently to give me pleasure." Letter to Mr. Hurd, May 30, 1763. And soon after, "Dr. Balguy once told me there was one thing in the argument of the Divine Legation, that stuck more with candid men than all the rest-How a Religion without a future state could be worthy of God. I promised him to consider it fully. I have done so in an Appendix to the Second Volume now in the press-no improper place, just on the entrance on the Jewish dispensation. And a long passage of Voltaire in his Dictionaire Portative is my text." * See these satisfactorily pointed out in the Monthly Review, vol. XXXIII. pp. 127-143; 169-179. ↑ "I did mention to you, I think, the insult committed on the head of the supreme Court of Justice. The abuse was extreme, and much felt; generally resented, but I believe by nobody more than by me, as you will see by the inclosed. I have made what I had to say on that head, the conclusion of my Dedication. It will please neither party. I was born to please no party. But what of that? In matters of moral conduct it is every honest man's chief concern to please himself.” Letter to Mr. Hurd, March 1765. This was followed by "A Dissertation on the antient Pagan Mysteries, wherein the Opinions of Bp. Warburton and Leland on the Subject are particularly considered." (Monthly Review, vol. XXXVI. p. 246.) § "When a person of gentle and amiable manners, of unblemished character, and eminent abilities, is calumniated, and treated in the most injurious manner by a haughty and overbearing Colossus, it must give pleasure to every generous mind, to see such a person vindicating himself with manly freedom, resenting the insult with proper spirit, attacking the imperious aggressor in his turn, and taking ample vengeance for the injury done him. Such is the pleasure which every impartial reader, every true republican in literature, will receive from the perusal of the Letter now before us. --It can be no secret to any of our readers, that the Author of The Divine Legation of Moses' has, for many years, treated men of the most respectable character, in the most illiberal and contemptuous manner; nay, often, with the most wanton insolence; that he has (to borrow the language of the elegant and spirited Author of this Letter) assumed the high office of Inquisitor General and Supreme Judge |