And if such should fortunately be the case, as we may undoubtedly presume it to be, "Though an host of men be risen up against us, yet will we not fear what they can do unto us!" I pass, Mr. Editor, among my neighbours and acquaintance, for an old man; and perhaps you may have an inclination to think that I merit the epithet, when I tell you that I have been acquainted with Papists, Presbyterians, and Methothodists, for full seventy-five years; and with Independents, Sandemonians, Arians, and Unitarians, for nearly seventy years; consequently, have had many opportunities of becoming acquainted with their principles, and observing many peculiarities of their practice. I shall confine myself, in this letter, wholly to the Methodists; who, at that time, were denominated Culumites, from a Latin word implying a practice which had been detected amongst them. I am thus particular, because they are very anxious to fix the date of this appellation to the defection of a Mr. Kilham, who struck out a particular branch of Methodism, between fifty and sixty years ago. But I shall have occasion to refer to this subject again. You solicit facts to authenticate assertions; permit me to call your attention to the imposture of one George Lukins, of Bath, or Bristol, or both; who, in the years 1786, 1787, filled the length and breadth of the land with the almost deafening sound of his lying wonders. Undoubtedly, some of your orthodox friends from that neighbourhood will furnish you with a more full and circumstantial account of his vagaries than my memory is capable of recollecting. Again, I would point out the imposture of the Maid of Tutbury, a border town of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, who pretended to be supported miraculously, without bodily sustenance (if my memory be correct), for several years; but having no written document of the transaction to refer to, it would be acceptable service to genuine Christianity, if some gentlemen of that district would furnish you with all the particulars of this insidious proceeding. I will now relate a circumstance that occurred in this neighbourhood some thirty years ago, or perhaps rather more. A merchant, a Mr. a gentleman, as far as I know and believe, of sincere Christian principles, and certainly of pious Christian habits, had a Methodistical servant-girl in his family, who, somehow or other, had acquired the wonderful act of suspending her natural faculties for an hour and a-half, or two hours together, during which time she would lie apparently in a state of complete stupefaction, her eyes glazed as in death, and her breath everything but imperceptible. In this state, the drawing of a feather across her eyeballs, and the burning of feathers near the aperture of her nostrils, produced no sensible effect. Whilst lying under these impressions, she pretended to see visions, and receive revelations; for what purpose, the circumstances of the case will sufficiently explain. This practice she continued at intervals for several weeks, till the physicians from Lynn and Wisbich detected and exposed the imposture, which, like the affairs of George Lukins, and the maid of Tutbury, was hushed up as speedily as possible, and consigned to the "Tomb of the Capulets." These facts, Mr. Editor, may serve for the present necessity; and, as I presume, they are of the description which you solicit, if my opinion be correct, and they meet with your approbation, I may be induced, at a future opportunity, to furnish you with others equally glaring and obnoxious with the above, in the hopes of being in some degree instrumental in opening the eyes of mankind to the absurdities and blasphemies which are practised under the name of religion. Z. [We recollect having, two or three years ago, received at least one communication from our venerable correspondent; and had we not forgotten his address, should have written to him. But he has been attracted by a fellowship of principle; and we hope to have further communication from a servant of Christ of such age and experience. Transactions similar to those which he relates are at the present day constantly being performed by the disciples of Wesley; and we shall, in the course of time, bring some of them forward, with the conviction that they will astonish the majority of our readers. It is not without manifold and strong reasons that we caution the members of the Church in reference to the Wesleyans, some of whom are excellent men, as far as they know; but the prin ciples and general proceedings of the body will ultimately be developed as of the greatest injurious consequence to the Church of Christ established here in England.-ED.] CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP. DEAR SIR,-In this age, which is more marked by false liberality than true religion, there is a disposition amongst many well-meaning but mistaken persons to regard all, however strange their opinion (except indeed Socinians), who profess Christ as living members of His Church. This error Leslie, in his "Rehearsal," has refuted, and I do not think I can do our Apostolic Church better service than by sending you the extract. Observator. We are of all Churches, and of all religions. Countryman. That's what I said, of no Church, and of no religion. It is the self-same thing, Master. Verily the same! for all cannot be true; and one is opposite to another. Therefore there's no way of being of all but by being of none. That is, to be indifferent to all, and so opposite to none. To carry occasional conformity about us to all, where either law, or civility, or any interest does oblige us. And there is no way so effectual to destroy ALL, as being of all, to show, that there is no truth or importance in any of them. But I was going to say, are men so qualified fit arbitrators in matters of religion, and of Church disputes, as thou makest thyself, Master? Observator. Yes, the most fit, because most impartial, as being concerned on none of their sides! neither gainers nor losers, whoever gets the cause, whether Christ or Mahomet; the sincerity or insincerity of the Gospel; true or false Apostles or Ministry; whether Aaron or Korah, or the Priesthood of Micah, all is Priestcraft! to which I have declared myself an utter enemy. And you know, put any Clergyman on the coach-box-it is our maxim, out of Dryden (which I have quoted in an honourable assembly)— PRIESTS OF ALL RELIGIONS ARE THE SAME. And I'll tell the Countryman our no Church is perhaps a greater Church than any of their Churches. OURS are all the Whigs to a man! the Deists, the beaus and debauchers, and the occasional-conformists.-Vol. i. p. 83.-I remain very faithfully yours, H. T.-T. RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF LONDON SOCIETY. SIR,-A stranger, who shall visit London at intervals, is better able, perhaps, than a constant resident, to pronounce upon the improvement in the religious aspect of the people. The very great number of communicants which I have observed on two Sundays in two churches at the West-end of the town (in one, at least, of which that Sacrament is administered weekly), is a most gratifying sign to me of the increasing attention with which that Holy Sacrament is regarded by the members of the Church. A person living in the country, if he did not see among his own acquaintances increasing instances of the observance of family worship in his own neighbourhood, would still imagine that there must be, throughout the kingdom, a great improvement in this respect; or, that there would not be the demand there is for various new compilations of family prayers, nor so very large a variety to supply the existing demand as the covers of the quarterly and monthly religious periodicals so fully attest by their advertisements. But one who shall be an inmate in the houses of friends in London and its neighbourhood, will be much gratified at finding, on each successive visit, that the family altar, at the solicitations of different faithful pastors, has been set up in many houses since he last visited the metropolis. I am from a part of the country, moreover, where the Clergy-though zealous and pains-taking labourers in their Master's vineyard-have justified, what has seemed to me and to many besides, a somewhat slovenly performance of the services of the sanctuary, by appealing to what is the alleged practice in the metropolis. Now, I am not aware, that metropolitan practice could at any time be pleaded for reading the ante-communion service from the reading-desk, and I hope itwill become more and more unfrequent in the country. But I was highly gratified at hearing, on Sunday last, at a church where the prayers were read from the desk by a deacon, the absolution, at the beginning of the service, pronounced by an officiating priest, from within the rails of the altar; whereas, I have been grievously shocked, on former visits to London, and in my own neighbourhood, at hearing a deacon substitute (which, by-the-bye, there is no kind of warrant for his doing) a collect for this solemn and comfortable absolution, even when a priest or two, nay, on one occasion at least, when a Bishop has been present. Why," I have sometimes been asked, " does not the priest; when one is present, invariably pronounce the blessing also, after a deacon shall have preached? In reply, I can only refer to the rubrick: "Then the priest (or bishop, if he be present) shall let them depart with this blessing." I can only refer to this, and express the hope that the time is approaching, when the observance of the rubrick in all its minutia may be uniform and universal. 66 I was gratified also, in the afternoon of Sunday last, at seeing the curate of a church where the rector was reading prayers from the desk, leave the altar where he was sitting, after the second lesson, and go to the font, which was properly placed in a conspicuous place near the entrance of the church, for the purpose of administering " publie baptism," to an infant. The attention with which the solemn sacrament was witnessed, nay the apparent devotion with which the beautiful prayers in that affecting service were responded to by a large London congregation, might have convinced many of my clerical friends in the country, if they had been present, that the church-people would not generally object to a return to ancient practice in this respect; that the constant celebration of this sacrament in the face of the congregation, as the canons and commonprayer rubrick direct, would be attended with the most pleasing, nay edifying results. A VISITOR. JOHN WESLEY AND THE GREEK BISHOP. SIR,-It may not be uninteresting to the generality of your readers to learn the importance which the Rev. John Wesley (the founder of the Wesleyan religion) attached to Episcopal Ordination. I presume that his opinions on this subject are fully treated on in Southey's Life of him; but, not having that work at hand, I cannot refer you to volume and page. If you will refer to the 24th volume of the Quarterly Review, p. 47, where the work is reviewed, you will find the following passage: "Notwithstanding the many concessions he (Wesley) made to the Lay Preachers, he neither entirely satisfied them, nor does he appear altogether pleased with his own conduct, inasmuch as while he professed to be convinced by the arguments of Lord King, and in opposition to the tenets of the Church of England, that a Bishop and Presbyter were originally the same office, he displayed considerable anxiety to get himself ordained a Bishop by a Greek, who was then in London, and who assumed the name of Bishop of Arcadia. The Greek, however, knew better than Wesley the canons of the ancient Church, and how necessary it was that more than one Bishop should be present at such a ceremony." In a note at the bottom of this page is the following notice, respecting this Bishop: "This poor man, whose name was Erasmus, was unjustly accused of imposture by some of the enemies of Wesley. The reason they assigned for their suspicions, only showed their own excessive ignorance of the Eastern Church. The certificates of orders which he issued were not in modern but in ancient Greek. If Erasmus had been really an impostor, he would not have acted with so much honesty as he did in refusing to consecrate Wesley. But there are some men who find the same difficulty in conceiving of a Bishop without temporalities, as Martin Scriblerus did to conceive the abstract idea of a Lord Mayor. The Maronite Archbishop of Jerusalem was suspected by many people, who ought to have known better, in spite of sundry credentials, for no other reason, that we know of, but his want of a coach and four." From the foregoing passages, it is obvious that Wesley anxiously desired the "Office of a Bishop," no doubt in order that the Preachers in his connexion might not want that “ Essential Element of Goodness," the loss of which is so feelingly deplored by the Editor of The Congregational Magazine for September last, viz., Episcopal Ordination. (See The Church Magazine for March, p. 82.) If you think the above worthy of a place in your excellent publication, you will of course insert it; at any rate, the knowledge of the fact may be useful, if it has not already met your eye.-I am, Sir, Birmingham, May 16th, 1839. G. M. [We were perfectly aware of the fact given by our correspondent, as we are also of the fact of Wesley's ordaining Dr. Coke in his bedchamber, and shipping him off to America; where he founded what is there called the "Methodist Episcopal Church," which is just as much "Episcopal" as John Wesley was a Bishop. "The Religious World" are not aware of these facts, and must be put in possession of them, that they may see what tricks have been played upon them. We have done our part in the good cause, by providing a widely-extended medium for the spread of such facts and sound arguments; and it is as little as our friends can do, to search out and send us those communications, which may serve the glorious cause which we have at heart.—ED.] POETRY. JESUS WENT UNTO THEM WALKING ON THE SEA. Matt. xiv. 25. WHAT gleaming light across the placid deep, What magic shell binds thus the raging In fetters irresistible? What form, Of wild affright bursts suddenly, and scares Aloft, an easy prey? Lo! from its side Which lulled the waves in silence now has And the rude wind with boisterous force uplifts The billows from on high! Rash, hapless Hushed is the gale, the strife of waters The timid crew with pealing shouts of joy Its onward path, and makes the shore in APPLICATION. Thus midst the stormy sea of human life Guide us in safety thro' its hidden shoals, o'er, And his frail bark is moored on Zion's TO A YOUNG FRIEND. WITH joy I hail my happy friend, O may you feel that peace alone Through grace divine may you escape And cast on him your care. And when you close your mortal days, And quit this scene of pain; 182 NOTICES OF BOOKS. Hora Successive; or, Spare Hours of Meditation upon our Duty to God, to others, and to ourselves. By JOSEPH HENSHAW, D.D., Lord Bishop of Peterborough. Reprinted from the Fifth Edition of 1640; and Edited by WILLIAM TURNBULL, Esq., Advocate, F.S.A., Edinburgh. London: Darling, Little Queen-street. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Printing Company. THE Editor of this little volume is a learned member of the Faculty of Advocates-in other words, a Barrister-in Edinburgh; and we think the Laity, as well as the Clergy of the Church, owe him a debt of gratitude for reprinting it. It is full of excellent remarks, and breathes a spirit of piety and devotion well calculated to render it a favourite companion for the leisure hours of every reflecting Christian. Part Second is dedicated to Bishop Juxon, who attended Charles the First on the scaffold; and the language in which its sentiments are clothed certainly surpasses, in point and beauty, the generality of the religious publications of the seventeenth century. To the work itself Mr. Turnbull has prefixed some judicious and well-written prefatory observations. Nature Displayed: being an easy introduction to Natural Theology, setting forth, in familiar conversations, the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, as manifested in the works of creation. Adapted for the use of Schools, and private tuition. By W. PINNOCK. London: Cornish and Co., Newgatestreet. 1839. 12mo.. P. 142. A VERY useful work for children, adapted as an introduction to larger works on Natuval Theology. It is written in the dialogue form, and rendered interesting for children. Observations on the several Sunday Services prescribed by the Liturgy throughout the Year; being an humble attempt to illustrate the Doctrinal as well as Devotional Tendency of each; furnishing matter of devout reflection to the sincere Christian. By the Right Reverend ALEXANDER JOLLY, D.D., one of the Bishops of the Church of Scotland. To which is prefixed, a brief Memoir. By the Right Reverend JAMES WALKER, D.D., Bishop of Edinburgh, and Primus. Edinburgh: Grant. THE venerable Apostle who wrote this invaluable work entered into his rest in the middle of last year, after having sojourned in this wilderness above fourscore years. He was one of the most learned and pious Prelates of our times, and with him the Church of Christ has lost a shining light; but we have reason to be thankful that in this work we may still rejoice in his light. We should not envy the state of mind of that Christian who would not be highly benefited by a meditative perusal of this pious and charming volume. We strongly recommend it to the heads of families, and others, for Sunday reading, and as an excellent accompaniment to family prayer. The Memoir of the good Bishop, by the Primate of the Scotch Church, is a valuable prefixture, aud will remain as a just tribute to departed worth. May God grant that each one who reads these lines may die the death of this righteous Bishop, and that his last end may be like his. Eucharistica. Meditations and Prayers on the Most Holy Eucharist, from old English Divines; with an Introduction. By the Rev. S. WILBERFORCE, M. A., Rector of Brighstone. London: Burns. 1839. 24mo. P. 160. It THIS is a delightful "Companion to the Altar," and will be used by the pious Christian with great pleasure and profit. forms a neat pocket volume, and is well calculated to become a universal favourite with devotional Christians. Solomon and the Shulamite. Sermons on the THE ideas and style of Krummacher are peculiar; and while some will not very well relish either, others will think them particularly fascinating. Some of the figures employed by this very metaphorical writer are displeasing to the more sober-minded Christian; and if he were less imaginative and flowery, he would be more generally acceptable to the Church. With a few exceptions, however, we have been much pleased with this little bouquet of Sermons. |