the management of his brother, who is a farmer. By judicious plans, and diligence in their execution, Paul has gradually increased his property; and by his integrity and consistency of com duct has gained the esteem and regard of his fellow-citizens. In the year 1800 he was concerned in one half of the expenses of building and equipping a brig of 162 tons burthen, which portion he still holds.-One fourth belongs to his brother, and the other fourth is owned by persons not related to his family. This vessel is now commanded by Thomas Wainer, Paul Cuffee's nephew, whose talents and character are perfectly adequate to such a situation. The ship Alpha, of 268 tons, carpenter's measure, of which Paul owns three fourths, was built in 1806. Of this vessel he was the commander; the rest of the crew consisting of seven men of colour. The ship has performed a voyage under his command from Wilmington to Savannah, from thence to Gottenburgh, and thence to Philadelphia. After Paul's return, in 1806, the brig Traveller, of 109 tons burthen, was built at Westport, of one half of which he is the owner. After this period, Paul, being extensively engaged in his mercantile and agricultural pursuits, resided at Westport. For several years previous to this, Paul had turned his attention to the colony of Sierra Leone, and was in duced to believe, from his communinications from Europe and other sources, that he might be able to contribute to its welfare, and to that of his fellow-men. Under these impressions he sailed for Sierra Leone in the commencement of 1811, in the brig Traveller; his nephew, Thomas Wainer, being the captain. He arrived there after a two months' passage, and resided there about the same length of time. The African Institution, apprised of his benevolent designs, applied for and obtained a license, which being forwarded to Paul Cuffee, induced him to come to this country, with a cargo of African produce. For the more effectul promotion of his pri mary intention, be left his nephew, Thomas Wainer, in the colony, and brought with him to England Aaron Richards, a native of Sierra Leone, with a view of instructing him in the art of navigation. From the exertions of one individual, however ardently engaged, we ought not to form too high expectations; but from the little information we have obtained of his endeavours amongst the colonists at Sierra Le one, and the open reception which he met with amongst them, there are grounds of hope that he may have done good there. He arrived here a few weeks since in the brig Traveller (consigned to W. and R. Rathbone), navigated by eight men of colour and an appren tice boy; and it is but justice to the crew to observe, that during their stay they have been remarkable for their good conduct and proper behaviour, and that the greatest cordiality appears to prevail among them. Since Paul Cuffee's arrival he has been twice in London, the second time at the request of the Board of the African Institution, who were desirous of learning what were his impressions as to the best means of carrying their benevolent views respecting Africa into effect. From the preceding memoir, the reader must have become acquainted with the prominent features of Paul Cuffee's character. A sound understanding, united with energy and perseverance, seems to have rendered him capable of surmounting difficulties which would have discouraged an ordinary mind. Born under peculiar disadvantages, deprived of the benefit of early education, and the prime of his life spent in toil and vicissitudes, he has had to struggle with peculiar difficulties. Yet under the pressure of these difficulties, he seems to have been characterised by dispositions of mind which entitle him to the highest respect. His person is tall and athletic; his deportment conciliating, yet serious, One of the most striking traits in his character is a wakeful solicitude to maintain strict accuracy in all his communications, and to give a fair impression to others of the matter on which he converses. He appears to live under the influence of vital Christianity; and though a member of the society of Quakers, he has no difficulty in joining in the worship of other Christians, who love their common Lord in sincerity. On religious subjects he expresses himself with freedom and force, and he seems to have formed just views of the ele vation of Christian principles, and the purity of Christian practice. Added to this, the whole of his deportment manifests a modesty and bumility which are particularly pleasing, and which adorn his other valuable qualities. PAROCHIAL REGISTERS. THE following" Cursory and brief Remarks on the Bill for better regulating Parish Registers" (by the Bishop of Gloucester), have been printed and circulated. much too serious, and much too severe, for the neglect specified. "Clause 21st, is very exceptionable. There is not a town in this king. dom, where, on various occasions, certificates of age are not necessarily required from the lower orders of the people. Now, if for such certificates they must apply to the of fice in London, and must, moreover, pay stamp-duties, they will incur not only much trouble, but also the expense, first of agency, and then of duties. This will be a just ground of public complaint, because it will most materially affect and injure the common ranks thoughout the whole nation. Frequently, too, inconveniences will arise with regard to the settlement of paupers, where certificates of marriage must be produced. "Clause 22d, proposes an inhibition, which will be extremely unfair, and in many cases injurious to the clergy of the Establishment. In populous parishes, the ministers incur much trouble by making accurate entries of baptisms, marriages, and burials. For that trouble they are now in some measure compensated by the fees to which they are entitled, when they give copies of "Clause the 5th, is objectionable on two accounts. For it will sub-registers on application from various ject ministers, who may happen to live at a considerable distance from a magistrate, to trouble and expense. And by requiring an affidavit, it implies such doub of the minister's fidelity and veracity, as ought not to be entertained. "By clause 9th and four following, so much responsibility, and so much employment, are thrown on ministers of the Establishment, that, in populous parishes, no time will be left for the clergy to prosecute the higher pursuits of their profession. "Sectarist ministers should be the depositaries of sectarist certificates. "Clause 14th, assumes for the civil power the exercise of an authority which belongs to the ecclesiastical, viz. authority to suspend ministers. "The punishment of suspension is persons. The clause under consideration leaves with the parochial ministers all the responsibility and all the trouble of making the en tries, but takes from them, and gives to the officers resident in Lon◄ don, and who in the first instance will have none of that responsibility and trouble, the fees which should be the compensation to the parochial ministers. If fees for extracts from registers be taken away from ministers officiating in large towns, a very considerable diminution of their income will in many places be occasioned, Nor are they the only persons who will be injured by this clause: registrars of bishops at present derive some emolument from giving copies of entries; but by this clause such emolument will be 'transferred from them to officers in in consideration of a certain sum to London. "Indeed, the delivery of duplicate registers to the bishops, as required by Canon Ixx. and mentioned in clause 7th of this bill, will be nugatory if copies from them are not to be received in evidence. "Clause 27th, contains a requisition burthensome and odious.Burthensome, as it will occupy too much of the minister's time in making inquiry among persons of his own communion, and among Dissenters also. Odious, as it will turn the minister into an informer, and expose him to the hatred of his parishjoners. The punishment to be inflicted on those who have not goods and chattles adequate in worth to the five pound penalty, is much too severe on the party refusing; and in its operation will be heavy on the poor rates, which must support the family of the party imprisoned. "Clause 30th, will deprive many parishes of curious and valuable records, entered in their registers, connected with the history and concerns of such parishes. The measure, therefore, will occasion much disgust. "It is confessedly a matter of great moment, that entries in registers should be made with accuracy; and that, when made, they should be guarded from possibility of alteration. It is also of equal importance that such entries should not be lost, both in their original registers, and in duplicate copies. "Perhaps accuracy, identity, fidelity, preservation, might be attained by this plan: "Let the mode of entry, as to particularising the time of birth, baptism, &c. be uniform throughout the nation, and in books printed by public authority. "Let the duplicate registers be annually sent to the registrars of the bishops, signed in every page by the ministers and churchwardens, as Canon Ixx. directs. "Let the registrars of the bishops, be paid them from the parish-rates for every entry made by them on account of each parish respectively, be required to copy the returns into folio books; and at the end of every year to make affidavit that their copies are true, before two magistrates who should sign such books. "This plan is, indeed, more immediately calculated for the use of the Establishment; but, by an obvious change of names, characters, and circumstances, it might be adapted to the use of those who are not of the Establishment." To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I SHOULD have taken no notice of the communication of B. A. in your number for September (as the subject is not of prime importance), but for the sake of rectifying a mistake or two, in the Extracts from Sir John Nicholls.-As this respectable gentleman has committed mistakes on other subjects, I suppose some of the clergy will not be inclined to deem him infallible in pronouncing what is valid and legal baptism. Sir J. N. says, "Bishops Fleetwood, Hooker, Watson, Burnett, Warburton, are decidedly of opinion that lay baptism is legal according to the law of the church."Here is, first, a mistake in making Hooker a bishop. How any one can decide that lay baptism is legal according to the law of the church, when that law (viz. a rubric established by Act of Parliament) so decidedly requires even private baptism to be performed by a lawful minister, is a most wonderful and unaccountable paradox, in my judg ment. Sir J. N. says, " King James's children were baptized by Presbyterian ministers," &c. But in Archbishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland, I read the following sentence; "The service did then begin; and upon the end thereof the English ambassador arose, and presented the prince (viz. Henry) to the BISHOP, who was appointed to administer the sacrament. This was Mr.David Cunningham,bishop of Aberdeen."-I find no particular account of the baptism of King James's other children: but from the above it appears how groundless is Sir J. N.'s positive assertion, which has Jikewise been as positively made by others. The fact is, that episcopacy was never abolished in the Church of Scotland, except during the usurpation, till the period of the Revolution. I cannot bring myself to believe that all private baptism was by a layman, antecedent to the time of King James." Midwives were commissioned to baptize privately in cases of necessity, viz. when a clergyman could not be procured. This practice was a relic of Popery, and grounded on the popish doctrine of the absolute necessity of baptism to salvation; and it was abolished in consequence of the Hampton-Court conference; since which time a lawful minister has been positively required, and all lay baptism rendered illegal. I believe the convocation which agreed upon the canons in 1603, never dreamt that in process of time it would be usual for lay mechanics to administer baptism, not merely in private, but in the most public manner; much less did they dream of the absurdity of alleging their canons to sanction such baptism. It is very probable that few clergymen, besides Mr. Wicks, would ever have thought of refusing to bury those children that have been baptized by regular dissenting ministers, who have received ordination in their own way. The grand objection seems to lie against children baptized by unordained methodist preachers; who can be considered only as laymen, and were so considered by their own patriarch, Mr. J. Wesley, who denounced them, as imitating Korah, Dathan, and Abi ram, when they first began to aspire after the honour of administering either of the sacraments. There are clergymen, I believe, who will, still refuse to bury, at least, the children that have been baptized by these. But I am not one of this number; for it hath been my invariable rule, whenever a child has been brought for interment, never to inquire, and to order the sexton not to inquire, who baptized it. A considerable number of my present communicants are (and it hath been the same in time past) pious persons who have left the Dissenters, amongst whom they were baptized and educated: it would be superlatively absurd to refuse Christian burial to these. For several years I buried all the Dissenters, adults and children, who died in the neighbourhood, they having no burial ground at their own place. Thus I proceed on the principle of conciliation, which Sir J. N. says, is that of the Established Church. But, notwithstanding this conciliation, both Dissenters and Methodists have now got burial-grounds of their own, proceed also upon this further principle, viz. that if I should afterwards learn that I had inadvertently buried a child which had received no baptism whatever, it would give me no disturbance, nor make my conscience at all uneasy. I A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. PERMIT me, through the medium of your miscellany, to make a few inquiries relative to Christian Biography, as connected with the work on that subject by the late Erasmus Middleton, B. Ď. now intended to be republished in this country. The last volume of the copy, in the possession of a clergyman in this city, was published at the close of the year 1785. It is contemplated, by the American Editor, to con tinue the work down to the close of the present year. His determination is strictly to adhere to the plan of the author. Like him, the editor will not so much inquire whether the subjects of his biographical sketch were Calvinists or Arminians, churchmen or dissenters; but whether they have "preached Christ crucified," as the only Redeemer for fallen man. This being ascertained, the shades of difference in other respects will not be regarded. The present inquiry relates principally to biographical materials from Great Britain. At such a distance, these are always with difficulty obtained. Such as have distinguished themselves by their writings, and whose lives have been prefixed to their works, we can easily procure. Yet it is probable, that even of these much more remains to be said, which, if called for, would no doubt be forthcoming. There are many, however, of whom the printed materials, so far as they have reached this country, are very scanty; and many others, of whom we have seen simply the records of their deaths, but whose public labours will be had in everlasting remembrance. Will any of your correspondents be pleased to point out the sources whence materials may be obtained? And if they would furnish any new lives on the plan proposed, the editor and the public would be lastingly obliged. be pleased to learn, that many lives I remain, very respectfully, New York, 4th October, 1811. To the Editor of the Christian Observer WHEN a publication so respectable as the Christian Observer, holds out an insinuation against the fairness or honesty of a religious society, on account of any of its peculiar principles, it will not, I presume, be thought an improper degree of anxiety for the character of that society, if any of its members should feel disposed to explain their conduct, with a view to remove that impression which such an insinuation is calculated to produce on the public mind. These observations will be readily supposed to allude to the remarks of the Editor of the Christian Observer (No. for Sept. p. 600), on that part of the Yearly Epistle of the Quakers which contains an account of their sufferings, as they think they justly call them, for the non-payment of ecclesiastical demands. It is not, however, my design to enter at large into this sub ject; but to confine myself princi pally to the arguments on which the charge of unfairness is founded; and in doing this I shall principally make use of former writers on the subject.. Such gentlemen as feel a wish to promote the objects above noticed, will be pleased to leave any materials with the Rev. Adam Clarke, LL. D., at the Surrey Institution; with Apsley Pellatt, Esq. St. Paul's Churchyard; or Joseph Butterworth, Esq. Fleet Street, London; either of whom will duly forward them. Reference to materials, you will oblige the Editor of the Biographica Evangelica, by permitting to appear in the Christian Observer. This work having been republished here, and its circulation through the United States being very extensive, makes it the best vehicle for such "I have already proved that all communications. land is tithe-free, and the charge of The religious public will no doubt tithe is upon the stock and personal The argument drawn from the supposed contract betwixt the seller and purchaser of land, has been often advanced, and often answered. So long ago as the year 1654, was pub. lished a pamphlet, entitled "The great Case of Tithes truly stated," &c., by Anthony Pearson, who had been a justice of peace in Westmorland; in which he replies to this objection in the following manner. |