of them, when those kingdoms were not really in sight. "Again, it is evident, from what has been observed and proved, that the immediate suggesting of the words of scripture to the mind has nothing in it which is spiritual and divine, in that sense which gracious experiences are. "As the suggesting words of scripture to the mind is only exciting ideas of certain sounds or letters, so it is only one way of exciting ideas in the imagination; for sounds and letters are external things, that are the objects of the external senses of seeing and hearing." "It may be so, that persons may have gracious affections going along with scriptures which come to their minds; and the spirit of God may make use of those scriptures to excite them: as when it is some spiritual sense, taste, or relish they have of the divine and excellent things contained in those scriptures which excites their affections, and not the extraordinary and sudden manner of words being brought to their minds. They are affected with the instruction they receive from the words, and the view of the glorious things they contain; and not because they come suddenly, as though some person had spoken the words to them, thence concluding that God did, as it were, immediately speak to them.' "The first comfort of many persons, and what they call their conversion, is after this manner. After awakening and terrors, some comfortable promise comes wonderfully to their minds, and the manner of its coming makes them conclude it comes from God to them and this is the very thing that is the foundation of their faith, hope, and comfort. Hence they take their first encouragement to trust in God and Christ, because they think that God has thus already revealed to them that he loves them, and has already promised them eternal life, which is very absurd: for it is God's manner to reveal his love to men and their interest in the promises after they have believed, and not before; because, they must first believe before they have any interest in the promises to be revealed. The Spirit of God is a spirit of truth, and not of lies: he don't bring scriptures to men's minds to reveal to them that they have an interest in God's favour and promises when they have none, having never yet believed. God's manner is not to bring comfortable texts of scripture to give men assurance of his love, and that they shall be happy, before they have had a faith of dependance. And if the scripture, which comes to a person's mind, be not so properly a promise as an invitation; yet, if he makes the sudden or unusual manner of the invitation coming to his mind, the ground on which he believes he is invited, it is not true faith. True faith is built on no precarious foundation; and the only certain foundation which any person has to believe that he is invited to partake of the blessings of the gospel, is, that the word of God declares that such and such persons are invited, and that God who declares it is true and cannot lie. If a sinner be once convinced of the veracity of God, and that the scriptures are his word, he will need no more to convince and satisfy him that he is invited: he will not want any new speaking of God to him: what he hath spoken already will be enough.” To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I INCLOSE the copy of a letter which I lately discovered in turning over the pages of a volume of the Gentleman's Magazine for 1756. It struck me forcibly as a melancholy proof of the diminished sense of the importance of religion and religious institutions which prevails among us: and I cannot help wishing that it may appear in the Christian Observer, were it only in the hope of exciting the clergy to "jealousy;" and convincing the public in general, that a due regard to the sabbath is not necessarily the characteristic of an Enthusiast or Methodist. I would also remark, that if, in 1756, there was any force in the arguments which are here employed to prove the expediency of not profaning the sabbath by military exercises, (to say nothing of moral obligation, which is, at least, as strong now as it was then,) their force has been increased in a tenfold proportion by the peculiar circumstances of the present times. It must give serious concern to every reflecting mind to observe, how readily many of the warmest opponents of the jacobinical sect are brought to coalesce with these enemies of every sacred institution, and to promote their TO THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN. WHEREAS, in a draught of a bill for raising and new-modelling the mili tia, it is proposed, that the men should be trained and disciplined on Sundays in the afternoon, during the greatest part of the year-the archdeacon and clergy of the archdeaconry of Stowe beg, with all humility and duty, to lay before your lordship our sentiments and apprehensions of the irreligion, mischiefs, and inconveniences of it, and to desire your advice and direction, if the clause should be offered in any future bill. Supposing the sabbath to be a divine institution and of perpetual moral obligation, we conceive that the designation of any part of it to the purpose aforesaid will be a diversion of it from its original proper intention, as a day set apart by God for rest from labour, and all ordinary ci vil actions and employments, and devoted only to religious uses. In which case we need not represent to your Lordship, that it will be enacting the breach of the sabbath by law in this country, and, in effect, a daring and most outrageous insult upon the authority and majesty of the supreme legislator; that, as a national act, it will involve us in national guilt, and provoke the Almighty to blast our councils, and withdraw his assistance from us, without which no contrivances can prosper, nor armaments protect us. But supposing the sabbath not to be of divine but only human appointment, and that, for the better per formance of religious duties, for the more solemn worship of God, for the drawing off our attention from the world and fixing it upon spiritual fu ture concerns, and to improve man kind in religious knowledge and religious habits; still we presume that the mustering and training of the militia upon that day will have a ten dency to defeat all these purposes, to abate the reverence of it in the minds of the people, and set them at liberty to disregard it in other respects. To the grief of all serious christians it is already too generally disregarded, even with the authority of law on its side to countenance it: and what the effect will be of discharging any part of it, by an act of state, from its sacred use, without a more evident necessity than can be alleged in the present case, may easily be foreseen. Whatever arguments, arising from convenience or frugality, may be urged for encroaching upon the sacredness of the day, will be improved into a handle for encroaching farther on it, and laying it still more open to common use. And if the sabbath may be abrogated in part, and dispensed with in one instance, for no better reason than national saving and worldly utility, it will be difficult to persuade men that it may not be dispensed with in others, as their convenience, interests, or inclination lead them. But, besides that the action itself of training and exercising the militia upon the Lord's Day will be unsuitable to the design of it, and having the sanction of authority be very pernicious in its example;-it will also be attended with other mischiefs, and, almost necessarily, give occasion to the farther scandalous abuse and profanation of it. The place of mustering will be a general rendezvous of the country, and the parish churches deserted. Sports will be followed at such times; and tippling prevail more than ever. The minds of the people will be unhinged and drawn off from all serious exercises; and the day more immediately set apart for religion, and the honour of God, be distinguished above all others as a day of riot and licentiousness. For which reasons, and because we perceive the christian sabbath to have its ground in scripture, in the example and practice, if not com mand, of the apostles of our Lord; (the change of the day by them, from the seventh to the first, without any alteration that we know of as to the main purpose and design of it, virtually implying, if not proving, a command for its continuance, as it has accordingly been continued and observed from the primitive times through all succeeding ages of the church, be cause the chief ends of its institution are always the same ;) and that the enacting of the clause in question will be a grief of heart to many of the most serious members of the Church of England, and give great offence to our dissenting brethren in general: we think ourselves bound to declare these our sentiments to your Lordship as our diocesan, in confidence that you will vigorously and heartily oppose the said clause, if you should judge it to be injurious to religion and the honour of the sabbath; and praying to be instructed how we are to remonstrate against it in the most dutiful and respectful manner; or, if our fears and suspicions of its ill tendency are without foundation, that you will be pleased to acquaint us with the reasons which may dispose us to a cheerfu! acquiescence. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. THERE is one important inquiry of practical use which I have not yet seen discussed in your pages; I mean the proper marks by which the struggle between natural conscience and corrupt inclination may be distinguished from the conflict between the flesh and the spirit. There is, even in natural men, a sense of right and wrong which compels them secretly to revere and commend what is good, and to condemn what is wrong both in themselves and others; and this principle they cannot violate without remorse and self-reproach. The real christian is also the subject of an internal conflict between the two contrary principles of flesh and spirit, or sin and holiness; and this is considered as evidence of a renewed state of mind. The question, therefore, to which I would solicit the attention of your correspondents is, "When there is a struggle in the mind between right and wrong, how may it be known whether this struggle arises from the checks of natural conscience in an unrenewed mind, or from a principle of grace in the soul?" A serious consideration of this topic cannot fail to be acceptable to most of your readers, may relieve some pious minds, and will much oblige your oc casional correspondent, G. B. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. What is the precise nature of the functions exercised by the Lutheran superintendants? Do they exclusively ordain to the ministry? Do they exclusively confirm? Are they a distinct order, receiving a special con secration to their offices? And how are they appointed to the office, by election of the clergy, or merely by the authority of the Supreme Power of the several states that compose the Germanic Empire? Do the superintendants of Germany differ from the Bishops of Denmark and Sweden in any thing but the name? I read of cathedrals in all these countries. Does the service performed in these larger churches differ from the ordinary and parochial worship as with us? And what is that ordinary worship? Is it liturgical? And, if so, is any deviation from, or addition to, the appointed and usual forms, permitted to the discretion of the ministers: Do they generally use extemporary prayer in their pulpits or not? And are their sermons extemporaneous or written? Have they distinct offices, like the Church of England, for marriages, funerals, and baptisms? And do those offices agree throughout all the countries, which profess Lutheranism, or has each country a different liturgy and services? What is the mode of administering the Lord's Supper? Have they two ordinations, first of deacon and then of priest? And with what interval between them, and what previous probation? Of the state of the other reformed churches abroad I know no more than of the Lutheran, except that To the Editor of the Christian Observer. FROM the general tenor of your work I cannot doubt your disposition to publish any hints that may be useful to the community. I am a country clergyman, and have the happiness of residing in the same parish with a lady who is ever ready to contribute to the welfare of her fellow-creatures. We have two Sunday-schools which are supported partly by the parish, and partly by the good lady I have just mentioned. But as we are somewhat at a loss for persons wholly competent to undertake the very important office of school-master and school-mistress, she herself condescends to visit and catechize them every Sunday. The children are encouraged by an occasional gift of some useful book; and, at a certain age, if they are found deserving, are presented with a Common Prayer Book and Bible. Among other useful institutions which this lady promotes, there is a school where about twenty poor girls are taught to sew and read three hours every Saturday afternoon. Upon this occasion the lady herself presides as the school-mistress, and is assisted by one or two more ladies of the same benevolent mind. Your humble servant officiates as the schoolmaster. By this means the children of the poor are taught two very useful things without any expence to their parents; and not only the parents and children are essentially benefited by such an institution, but it produces many happy collateral effects upon the whole parish. I should not have troubled you, Mr. Editor, with this communication, was I not firmly persuaded that, if such charities were generally adopted, they would speedily become a great national benefit. Many parishes have resident clergymen, some of whom are married, and, I should hope, to women able to second such a design: and if they have the misfortune to be unmarried there can be no great diffi culty in bespeaking the assistance of some well-disposed matron to aid them in so laudable an undertaking. I question whether three or four hours can be spent once a week with more profit and less expence than in such an employment as I recommend. The following hints are intended to be printed and pasted upon every Bible that is given way, viz. "The BIBLE is one of the richest treasures which you can possess; and, if seriously perused, will make you wise to salvation. It describes the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the greatest blessing that God ever bestowed upon mankind. It informs you how guilt may be cancelled, God reconciled, and immortality obtained. The fallen state of man by nature, and his recovery by grace, are the two grand truths to which every other truth of the Bible points. Pray, then, that your understandings may be enlightened to perceive and your hearts opened to embrace them. The more you read your Bible, on these principles, the more you will love it; and the more you love it, the holier and happier you will be come. Read it, therefore, daily and make its doctrines the constant rule of your faith, and its precepts the constant rule of your practice. It will be a sovereign remedy for all the evils of life: it will deprive death of its terrors, and give you a well-founded hope of happiness beyond the grave. Pray to God every morning and evening. Never do any thing which you cannot ask him to bless. Avoid as much as possible bad thoughts, bad words, bad actions, and bad company. Never tell a lic; nor make light of the smallest sin. Be humble. Be modest in your general behaviour, respectful to your superiors, kind to your equals, and condescending to your inferiors. Always do to others what you would have others do to you. Learn to rest contented with the situation in which Providence has placed you. By a life. formed on the preceding principles you will obtain the affection of the good, the esteem even of the bad, and the blessing of Almighty God." F ESSAY ON THE PROPER MODE OF CON DUCTING CHARITY SCHOOLS. (Continued from p. 544.) 1. THE enlargement of the mind may be resolved into two distinct branches; the improvement of the capacity, and the increase of knowledge. In the former, the understanding is principally concerned; in the latter, the memory. The improvement of the capacity ought to be made an object of prime importance, because it is through the medium of reason that any good can be communicated, by the labours of a minister, either in the school or from the pulpit. The mind, therefore, should be trained to understand the nature, and to feel the influence, of reason. To this end it must be first taught the art of thinking: I call it an art, because, though a natural faculty, it is almost entirely dependent on art and exercise for any degree of perfection. Those whose minds have been improved by assiduous cultivation; and who, from long habit, can with a rapid glance take in the whole of a subject, view it in all its bearings and relations, survey, its consequences, compare it with other subjects, and mark its difference or similitude; can scarcely form a conception of the scantiness of the human understanding, the feebleness of its powers, and the narrowness of its views, when in an uncultivated state. In this state it can scarcely be termed an active power, and is hardly capable of remarking, comparing, or combining, except in mere matters of sense. By being taught and accustomed to observe with attention its own ideas, it acquires, at length, that readiness and facility of comparison and arrangement which mark the improved mind. Your correspondent must here permit me again to caution him against an undue value of the mere art of reading. On this subject I am the more earnest, because the stress which has been commonly laid upon this mechanical acquirement has contributed, perhaps more than any other cause, to retard the progress of real improvement amongst the lower orders of society. Accustomed to consider reading as learning, they expect to obtain from the schoolmaster no other advantage; nor does he pre tend to communicate any other. Yet what have their children obtained, at an expence often of the hardly earned wages of industrious poverty? Not any real knowledge or enlarge. ment of mind: they are no more capable of thinking than they were before. Their attention has been taken up with words and letters, rather than with things and subjects: and though they may, it is true, hereafter obtain knowledge from books, yet, besides that they will have little leisure for study, the habit of reading is seldom continued where the understanding has not been improved, and the mind interested, by what has been already read. The plan of education, therefore, ought to be so directed, that every lesson taught in the school may be a real exercise of the understanding, and directly tend to open the mind. This may be effected by the masters breaking each lesson, after it is read, into questions, and thus turning it into a catechetical lecture concerning its sense. The Abbe Fleury, upwards of one hundred years ago, published a catechism upon this plan. It contained a short lesson on the most interesting points of scripture history, and the principal subjects of christian belief; and to each lesson was subjoined a list of questions relating to it, calculated to try the attention, and exercise the understanding, of the pupils. The church catechism, broken into short questions, is a specimen of the same mode of instruction adapted to a still lower class. Mrs. Trimmer's Teacher's Assistant is a valuable work on the same plan, which should be in the hands of every teacher and visitor of a charity school. These works may serve as an example of the manner in which an account should be required of every thing the pupils read; and where children are not sufficiently ad vanced to be able to read themselves, easy lessons should be read to them, or interesting stories recited, of which an account should be required, and this should be considered as the valu able part of the lesson. As another excellent exercise of the understanding, the scholars may be employed in finding scriptural proofs of doctrines proposed to them, or scriptural declarations on any given subject. Let it be required, for in stance, that they illustrate or prove |