we think that they would be doing essential service to the cause of religion. To the Editor of the Christian Observer PERMIT me to take the liberty of requesting some of your pious and judicious correspondents to communicate a few hints, through the medium of your excellent Miscellany, respecting the means that have been found most successful, in impressing the minds of children with the important truths of our holy religion, and bringing them to an early acquaintance with its sanctifying influence. Trusting that no arguments can be necessary to impress the pious mind with the importance of this inquiry, I shall hope that an early attention will be paid to the anxious solicitude of A CHRISTIAN PARENT. truly blessed." A striking instance to prove how desirable it is that public teachers should be able not only to read and WRITE, but also to SPELL. P. H. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I HAVE sent you the copy of an inscription on the monument erected to the memory of the late Bishop of Down and Connor, in the newburying-ground, belonging to St. James's church, in Tottenham Court Road. The inscription was written by Mr. Fox, and it certainly does credit to the classical taste of that distinguished senator. My reason, however, for transmitting it to you, is not to call the attention of your readers to the purity of its style, but to exemplify the ideas which such men as Mr. Fox are apt to entertain respecting the perfection of the episcopal character. The words of the inscription are as follows: "Under this stone lie interred the mortal remains of the Right Rev. WILLIAM DICKSON, late Bishop of Down and Connor, whose memory will ever be dear to all who were connected with him in any To the Editor of the Christian Observer. Ir is not the least useful part of your work to expose false and whimsical interpretations of scripture. A very common one which I have seen adopted by a writer quoted in a former number, is that turn given to the words of our Lord, of the various reiations of life. John vii. 38. He that believeth on me, Of his public character, the love of as the Scripture hath said-which is liberty, and especially of religious introduced as if the meaning were, liberty, was the prominent feature; "He that exercises such a kind of sincere in his own faith, he abhorfaith as the scripture warrants: red the thought of holding out tempwhereas it is evident, the term, as tations to prevarication or insince the Scripture hath said, refers not to rity in others, and was a decided the nature of faith, but to the pro- enemy, both as a Bishop and a Le mise made to it, which is specified gislator, to laws whose tendency is in the following words, "out of his to seduce or to deter men from the belly shall flow rivers of living open and undisguised profession of water." Vid. Doddridge in loc.- their religious opinions by reward The above interpretation reminds and punishment, by political adme of another, somewhat similar, by vantages, or political disabilities. a certain illiterate preacher, who in In private life-singular modesty, discoursing on that text, "WRITE, correct taste, a most engaging simblessed are the dead that die in plicity of manners, unshaken conthe Lord," made this observation, stancy in friendship, a warm heart "That there is a RIGHT blessedness, alive to all the charities of our naand a WRONG blessedness; and that ture, did not fail to conciliate to departed saints are RIGHT, that is this excellent Man the affections of all who knew him. But, though the exercise of the gentler virtues which endear and attract, was more habitual to him, as most congenial to his nature, he was by no means deficient in those more energetic qualities of the mind which command respect and admiration. When roused by unjust aggression, or whatever the occasion might be that called for exertion, his mildness did not prevent him from displaying the most manly and determined spirit; and notwithstanding his exquisite sensibility, he bore the severest of all human calamities, the loss of several deserving and beloved children, with exemplary fortitude and resignation. He was born in February 1745, was married in June 1773, to HENRIETTA SYMES, daughter of the Rev. JEREMIAH SYMES, was preferred to the Bishopric of Down and CONNOR, in December 1783, and died on the 19th of September, 1804, deeply regretted, by all the different religious sects that composed the population of his extensive diocese; by acquaintances, neighbours, and dependents of every condition and description; by his children, his friends, and his country; and most of all by his disconsolate Widow, who has erected this stone to the memory of the kindest husband and the best of men. C. J. FOX." I sincerely hope that the character of this departed prelate was marked by some traits of a still more appropriate description, than any which the pen of Mr. Fox has attributed to him, although that great orator may have been but little accustomed to appreciate their value and importance. The deficiencies of the episcopal character, as it is here drawn by Mr. Fox, will be best seen by contrasting his delineation of it, with the view given us in the New Testament and in the consecration service of our church, of the qualities which are required in a Christian Bishop. "Simon, lovest thou me more than these?" "Feed my lambs and my sheep." John xxi. 15. Serving the Lord with all humility of mind." "I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have shewed you and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." "I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men." Acts xx. 19-21, and 26. "Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his Own blood." Acts xx. 28. "Be thou an example to the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." "Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine?" Meditate on these things, give thyself wholly to them that thy profiting may appear unto all men. Take heed unto thyself and to thy doctrine: continue in them: for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." 1 Tim. iv. 12—16. "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." "And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men; apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God, peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." 2 Tim. ii. 1, 15, 24, 25. "Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine." 2 Tim. iv. 2. "In all things shew thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot bo condemned." Tit. ii. 7, 8. Almost all the texts which I have cited, are incorporated into the consecration service for Bishops, by way of pointing out to them the nature and obligations of their holy office. Besides which, they engage in the most solemn manner, "out of the Holy Scriptures to instruct the people committed to their charge," "faithfully to exercise themselves in the same Holy Scriptures, and to call upon God by prayer for the true understanding of the same, so as they may be able by them to teach and exhort with wholesome doctrine, and to withstand and convince the gainsayers;" "with all faithful diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine, contrary to God's word;" and "to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, shewing themselves an example of good works unto others." Now on the manner in which his friend fulfilled these scriptural injunctions, and performed these solemn engagements, Mr. Fox is wholly silent, although it must be obvious, that on that depends in a very essential degree, the intrinsic worth of any individual, who is invested with the episcopal character. Compare the meagre, though elaborate enumeration of the virtues of the deceased prelate, contained in the above inscription, with the following hasty sketch of Bishop Burnet, who in speaking of Archbishop Leighton, represents him as "a Bishop, that had the greatest elevation of soul, the largest compass of knowledge, the most mortified and most heavenly disposition that I ever yet saw in mortal. He had the greatest parts at well as virtues, with the perfectest humility that I ever saw in man; and had a sublime strain in preaching, with so grave a gesture, and such a majesty both of thought, of language, and of pronunciation, that I never once saw a wandering eye where he preached, and have seen whole assemblies often melt in tears before him. I can say of him with great truth, that in a free and frequent conversation with him, for above two and twenty years, I never knew him say an idle word, that had not a direct tendency to edification: and I never once saw him in any other temper, but that which I wished to be in, in the last minutes of my life." When Mr. Fox pronounced a panegyric on the late Duke of Bedford, you deemed it incumbent on you to prevent, by some s asonable remarks, the ill effect to be apprehended from an attempt to hold up to admiration a character, from which the eulogist had contrived to exclude every reference to Christian principle. It seems still more nec ssary, when a similar attempt is made in the case of an appointed Overseer of the Church of God, to guard against the defective views of the appropriate excellencies of that sacred character, which such a delineation of them as Mr. Fox has given, is directly calculated to cherish. Should you agree with me in this sentiment, you will, I doubt not, find room for this paper. I am, &c. S. MISCELLANEOUS. 1o the Editor of the Christian Observer. I HAVE been frequently struck with the difference of the manner, in which different persons receive the public news from the Continent, CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 49. Some there are, who enquire after it with eagerness, as if anxious to possess a priority of intelligence, and particularly delight in any little anecdote or secret, which may be D supposed to imply familiarity with persons at the fountain head of information. You would imagine the individuals of whom I now speak, to be deeply concerned for the interests of Europe, if you were to judge by the important air which they assume, by the joy which they express at each victory of the allies, and the seriousness with which they prognosticate the evils which must follow every defeat. Many of these patriots, nevertheless, exhibit so little public spirit in their general course of conduct, that it is difficult to account for the interest which they seem to take in the proper adjustment of the affairs of Europe, except by supposing that the public news furnish a supply of conversation, on which they principally depend for being deemed agreeable at the dinner table, or at the even ing party. It is one, Mr. Editor, of the many evils of Bonaparte's usurpation, that it has served to elevate into politicians a certain class of triflers, who, but for the fruitful subject of his enormities, might have learnt to feel the vacuity of their minds, and might have been led to some improvement by the consciousness of their deficiency. There is another order of individuals who form a perfect contrast to the preceding. I allude to those persons, both men and women, "who make it a rule not to trouble their heads (as they call it) about politics." Occupied with Occupied with their own little domestic concerns, eager to a fault in many of the most trifling matters, narrow in their views, and insensible to all the larger interests of their fellow creatures, they hear of a tremendous battle on the Continent, almost without inquiring which side obtained the victory. Inform a man of this class of the capitulation of Uim, or of the bloody conflict at Austerlitz, his thoughts are so full of his own professional pursuits, or of his pecuniary interests, or of some little domestic topic, that he scarcely lends an ear to your intelligence. Mention the same events to the wife; she fails to listen because she is so busy with her needle-or perhaps, because she is deep in thought, respecting the dishes which shall constitute the second course for tomorrow's company. Turn to the group of daughters; one postpones her attention till she has perfected the last leaf of the flower which she is drawing; another, till she has concluded her air upon the harpsichord; a third, till she has ended her intelligence from the last ball, or has corroborated what every one else had already said respecting the state of yesterday's weather. Little do persons of this description reflect, that if Bonaparte be not beaten on the plains of Austerlitz, it may, perhaps, remain, for us to beat him on the plains of England; and that the manner in which he surprised the Austrian capital, is an illustration of the mode in which, ere long, he may aim a coup de main at London. Some of these persons assume themselves to be extremely wise, because the invasion which others have so long foretold, and about which they never troubled themselves, has not come to pass. ought to be replied to them, that if the unconcern which they have manifested had been general, the invasion unquestionably, would have taken place: Britain at this hour would have been a province of France. These very persons constitute a chief source of our danger. Opulent and luxurious, selfish and devoid of spirit; occupied like the Romans, before their city was attacked by Alaric, only with that multitude of little cares, which a redundancy of wealth brings with it; It any of them diligent, it is true, but diligent in their preparation for their amusements and festivities; oppressed by the labour of governing their servants, of adorning their houses, of improving their gardens, and completing their equipages; fatigued and overpowered in making provision for the multitude of their enjoyments:-they present to the French soldier the idea of a rich own) was the principle which urged him. Our kindness may be so limited to those around us, as to deprive us of all feeling for those who are at fifty yards distance. I shall name a third class, who although they take a lively and real interest in every important piece of public intelligence, are as little entitled to our admiration, as those who have been already mentioned. I now allude to those, who merely calculate whether they shall buy or sell by the last news from the Čontinent, and in particular to the race of stock-jobbers. A battle is contemplated by such persons, in reference only to its influence on the price of the funds. If it be a drawn battle; if merely a few thousand men have perished on each side; this is a subject of just as cold contemplation, as the plus and minus of the mathematician; even a slight victory is of no consequence, for it does not produce a shade of difference in the price of the funds. But if they can hear of thirty thousand men killed or taken, this they tell you has a serious influence on the consols; and the capture of Vienna is estimated at nearly one per cent. There is another class who feel, in some measure, as they ought, on these subjects; who perceive that great sacrifices and extraordinary efforts, are at this time necessary, to the maintenance of the laws, liberties, and religion of their country, and to the general independence of Europe; and who, at the same time, look to the hand of God as the great instrument of our deliverance. These enquire respecting the news from the Continent, not in order merely to strike a bargain, nor in order to be able to attract the attention of the next company, and to supply the want of other topics of conversation; but because they deeply feel whatever deeply interests the happiness either of their native land, or of any large portion of their fellow creatures. While I am writing, Mr. Editor, I |