of life, are now almost universally and completely recognized in every Protestant state. That your Petitioners are farther desirous of acknowledging, with grateful satisfaction, the great improvement of their legal situation in this country during the reign of his late Majesty-in which more was done than under any preceding monarch since William the Third, to emancipate religion from the civil thraldrom in which it was held by unjust and persecuting laws. other character than as the appropriate penalty upon heinous and disgraceful crimes. They trust that eligibility to office will no longer be refused to them, when asked as a common right, from the mere mistake of confounding it with the actual possession of office-to which your Petitioners were never so absurd as to set up a claim; while on the other hand it was notoriously the wish of his Majesty King William, that a "DOOR should be opened, for the admission into his service, of That, nevertheless, this free- all Protestants who were able dom cannot be complete, as far and willing to serve him ;" and as respects your Petitioners, while while the principle of the arbitrathey remain subject to disabili-ry exclusion of some from al! ties, and consequent degradation, offices of power, trust, and emoon account of their non-conform-lument, for the imagined security ity to the national church-estab- of others, may be used to justify lishment. That while such nonconformity was held legally criminal, (however unjustly,) it might, consistently at least, be visited with punishment; but since the religious rights of your Petitioners have been acknowledged, and their profession and worship legalized, the continuance of punishment on these accounts, in whatever shape, or under whatever pretext, is not only unjust in itself, but inconsistent with all those relaxations in their favour, which, from a just respect to conscience, the Legislature has been induced to grant. That your Petitioners are not ignorant of the pleas on which their requests have been resisted; but they flatter themselves that the justice and liberality of the present times will no longer urge against them, that to be debarred from the common advantages enjoyed by other innocent citizens is not punishment - especially when such degradation is indeed well known to the law, but in no every other species and degree of severity, extending even to imprisonment and death, if a prejudiced or misjudging majority should deem such extremities necessary for their own comfort, or the safety of their religion-a case which experience has proved to be more than imaginarythe infliction of any of which inconveniences, in their higher or lower degrees, on account of religious persuasion or profession, your Petitioners conceive to be, according to the most acknówledged definitions, persecution, and that for conscience' sake. That with respect to the relief afforded them by the Annual Indemnity Act, said to amount to a virtual repeal of all the disqualifying statutes, your Petitioners decline entering into discussions of its extent or efficiency; nor will they inquire whether it be not more wise, (as it certainly would be more magnanimous,) at once to repeal laws whose operation is thus kept in continua! abeyance. It is enough for them to observe, that a partial and discretional indemnity against penalties left to be incurred, is neither constitutional security, nor equal justice. They well know, that though these acts do in fact afford incidental protection to them, as well as to those in whose favour they were meant to operate, yet that for their ease or relief they never were intended—and the injury which your Petitioners most deeply and universally feel is of a different nature. They complain, not merely that a very small proportion of their body participate less than they perhaps might do under other circumstances, in the positive advantages which Society has to bestow; but they all, indiscriminately, are held up to public odium, as persons unworthy to be admitted to such participation; and they ask, from what portion of this dishonour can the Indemnity Act relieve them? or how does it restore them to their just station in society, from which, for no crime, either proved or imputed, they have been so harshly thrust away. That the specific Test actually imposed, is in itself particularly objectionable, as liable to the imputation of profaning a solemn rite of Christian worship, to the great disgust of many religious persons, and to the scandal of religion itself-and that it is worse than useless, because it can only deter the conscientious, while it is no bar to the unprincipled and ambitious: that nevertheless to this argument, as affecting themselves, your Petitioners do not attach any great importance; as by any other impediment, equally efficient, they would be equally injured; and as, for the impropriety of the Test, those who ordain it, and not those who suffer under it, are responsible. On the whole, your Petitioners humbly pray this Honourable House to take the premises into their serious consideration, and to grant them relief; persuading themselves that the former successive relaxations of harsh and oppressive enactments against religious liberty, so far from being considered as a reason for their being expected to conThat your Petitioners humbly tinue to suffer, in silence the conceive, that even allowing the grievances to which they still reright of defending an establish- main exposed, ought rather to be ment by such restrictive laws, it regarded as an encouragement would be difficult to prove that from the Legislature, respectfully, they confer any security what- but frankly, to submit to its wisever-and far more so, such a de- dom the expedience of abolishing gree of it, as to justify the means; every remnant of that system of but that, on the contrary, justice coercion and restraint on religi and liberality are the natural ous profession, which had its orisources of strength and safety, gin in times of darkness and inwhile danger is the far more com tolerance, and by which your mon result of suspicious policy Petitioners are, to this day, seand oppressive conduct; it hav-verely, and, as they presume to ing also been the opinion of King think, most injuriously affected. William, (as on record in your Journals,) that" granting ease to Dissenters would contribute very much to the establishment of the church." And your Petitioners shall ever pray, Sc. HISTORICAL ESSAYS. No. XV. On the Corruption of Christianity in ward I. A. D. 1372-1307. A GREATER Contrast of talent and character can scarcely be found than that presented in the lives and reigns of Henry III. and his son Edward 1. The weakness of the former encouraged clerical avarice and oppression; the energy of the latter bad happily the contrary effect; and one cannot but be surprised at the tranquillity of this reign, as it respects contests with the Court of Rome, succeeding, as it immediately did, the encroachments and abominations which disgraced the father's reign. of their profession, that, as it re spects this world, neglect, con tempt, and even persecution, will be their lot, in proportion as they follow the example of its divine Author. It is influential on all its disciples, whatever may be their temporal distinctions. It opens the hearts of the rich, and gives confidence to the poor. It humbles the pride of the powerful, and dignifies the lowliest of its believers. It fills the heart of the peasant with contentment, and clothes even the royal disciple with humility. In fact, as it completely changes the bias of the will, and the object of the affections, presenting to the mind a rule of obedience, the very transcript of the divine perfec tions,-it countenances no vice, and acknowledges its followers only so far as they become confirmed to its holy regulations. It has no worldly How forcible a proof of the anti-end to answer, but aspires alone to christian nature of Popery is dedu- prepare its friends for heaven. cible from these glaring facts! Genuine Christianity appears the same in every age, and under all the varying circumstances of human life. Instead of bending to the peculiarities and foibles of the human character, it never fails to correct them, wherever it is sincerely received; and, instead of stooping to effect its glorious designs by the low policy of interested mortals, it adopts a line of conduct the most simple and ingenuous; distinctly stating, and by its uniform practice proving, that the kingdom which it aims to pro-reign; but the severity of their senmote is not of this world, being enthroned in the regenerate heart; but is spiritual in its nature, and will be eternal in its duration. It therefore seeks no secular establishment; offers no splendid offices-no lucrative employments. It puts the sin-ed the kingdom, to the number of cerity of its converts to the test, as fifteen thousand. A scanty pittance suring them at the commencement was allowed them, to defray their VOL. XII. It is not, therefore, too much to say, that this was a very antichristian age; and that the superstition which it professed, was any thing rather than Christianity. It is very remarkable that, in proportion as the system adopted diverges from the genuine religion we have already described, its professors are unwilling to tolerate differences of opinion and practice. The persecution of the Jews, therefore, on pretence of punishing them for adulteration of the coin, very early disgraced this tence leaves no doubt that that was but a part of their crime. Two hundred and eighty of their number were executed; and subsequently the property of the remainder was confiscated, and themselves banish 3 c taken. The Pope's interference in the disputes with Scotland, which country Edward was determined to subdue, was alike unsuccessful, and his claim to be considered liege lord of that country utterly disreEdward," says a cele travelling expenses; but of this the inhabitants of the Cinque Ports despoiled them, as they were leaving the country. What an incontrovertible proof of the veracity of scriptural prophecy does the general treatment of this once highly favour-garded. ed people afford; yet how inexcusa- brated historian, "seems to have ble is the irreligious conduct of pro-been the first Christian prince that fessed Christians towards them! passed a statute of mortmain, and May the youthful reader cultivate a prevented by law the clergy from benevolent, rather than a hostile, making new acquisitions of lands, disposition towards this distinguish-which, by the ecclesiastical canons, ed people; and may the efforts made for their conversion to Christianity be attended with the blessing of its Author! they were for ever prohibited from alienating." In short, various were the abuses which he corrected, and various were the clerical encroachments which he at once abolished. Yet this high-spirited prince would even court papal interference, when it suited his purpose. Having been compelled to agree to the observance of the Great Charter, and that of Forests, while on the Continent, to secure domestic tranquillity in his absence, he obtained absolution from his engagements from the Pope, of whose assistance be availed himself as opportunity offered; and, subsequently, with the King of France, was induced to appeal to his Holiness, as an arbitrator of their differences. He also continued to pay the tribute to which King John had so basely subjected the kingdom, now less offensively designated a census, and even acquiesced in the levying of first fruits; a new scheme of the mighty pontiff, invented dur ing this reign for filling his coffers. It has been remarked, that superstition is peculiarly the vice of weak minds. A glance at the elements of the mind and character of Edward prepares us to expect, that his efforts would rather tend to the recovery of liberty, than to new concessions to the tyranny of Rome. Excepting bis love of crusades, which might, perhaps, be traced to his passion for military glory, he seems to have been but little under the influence of popish enthusiasm. Accordingly, his triumphs over the waning power of his Holiness were repeated. Edward being a warlike prince, was frequently engaged in expensive contests with his neighbours. On this account it became desirable that the burden of taxation should be as far as possible equalized. The clergy, therefore, who had long gloried in their assumed privileges and pre-eminence, were progressively Nothing can be more evident than taxed; nor was the King to be that the excellent principles, emalarmed by their remonstrances, phatically called Christian, which nor even by the bull of Boniface we attempted to describe at the VIII. a man of lofty spirit. They commencement of this essay, neihad obtained this bull, and proceed- ther influenced princes nor priests ed to publish its anathemas. Ed-in this dark and degenerate age: ward, on the other hand, pursued a nor indeed will their benevolent series of punishments, till he placed effects be ever realized, whatever these refractory subjects ont of the may be the degree of general knowprotection of the laws. The dis- ledge diffused, while the tyranny of spirited clergy, in every direction so infernal a system as Popery can insulted, robbed, "and abused, at bold in subjection the human mind. length yielded, and made a compo- May the youthful reader feel truly sition with the King; but, to pre- thankful for the distinguished priviserve appearances, and, if possible, leges Protestantism has since happily avoid the charge of violating their introduced! ... master's injunctions, they deposited their tribute in a certain church, from which their sovereign had it | H. S. A. "WHITEHALL, August 7, 1820.-Yesterday morning, about nine o'clock, departed this life, at Oatlands, after a painful illness, her Royal Highness Frederica Charlotte Ulrica Catherine, Consort of his Royal Highness Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, to the great grief of his Majesty and all the Royal Family."-London Gazette. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York was eldest daughter of the late King of Prussia, by his first consort, Elizabeth Ulrica Christiana, of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttle. She was born May 7, 1767, and was married to the Duke of York in September, 1791. Her Royal Highness, partly from the state of her health, and in part, it is said, from other causes, lived in much retirement during her latter years. She was of an amiable and kind disposition. Her charities, though unostentations, were extensive and judicious. She was regarded with gratitude by the poor of her neighbourhood, and was beloved and esteemed by all whom she honoured with her acquaintance. MARTHA GOODLIFFE, sincerity of character; and although not able to say much, she could say she did love Christ, and his people. She was to all appearance recovering fast, after a lying-in; but was taken worse on the 19th, and died at six the next morning. Happily she had not neglected the concerns of her soul till then. She had no opportunity of leaving a dying testimony; but what is better, she left a testimony in her life and conduct to her being born from above. Her death was improved on Sabbath evening, July 25, at Pertenhall Church, in a discourse on Psalm lviii. 11; in which the character of the righteous, the nature of the reward, and the ground on which it will be bestowed, were discussed before a numerous If ye and sympathizing audience. DIED, July 20, 1819, Martha, the wife of John Goodliffe, who is a mem→ ber of the Baptist Church at Keysoe, in Bedfordshire, but who resides at Pertenhall. She was reconciled to her husband's removal to the latter place, by hearing that the Lord had a people there, and that he was with them, Zech. viii. 23. A deep sense of her own unworthiness, for some time kept her back from joining any church; but after a time, the impressions she had first received under the ministry of that dear man of God, Mr. Brown, were increased under the word at Pertenhall. A sermon on John xiii. 17, " know these things, bappy are ye if yo do them," decided her to follow her conscience, and to join the company of the faithful, by partaking of the Lord's-supper, and also by uniting herself to a society, most of whose members are in communion with the Established Church. She was remarkable for simplicity and J. G. MRS. SARAH HODDY. DIED, at Clare, October 7, 1819, Mrs. Sarah Hoddy, aged 30. She was called by grace in very early |