at the Magazine, unless you make the amende honorable, by inserting a reply to Hornbookius, which he is preparing, and which will contain a learned exposure of his plagiarisms, and a proposal for his expulsion from the literary republic, with a decree prohibiting him henceforth for ever, upon pain of death, the use of books, pen, ink, and paper. He assures me, that after great diligence and secresy, he has discovered the author; who is, he says, a little, fat, dirty, grub of a book-worm, who is very well known in the Row, and was detected the other day at Baynes's old book ship, asking for a Robinson Crusoe of the first edition, and "Peter Pindar's Hornbook for Princes." From this fact he has no doubt he has discovered your correspondent, and he intends to devote the next three weeks to the detection of his usual haunts in pursuit of old books. But I must pass over some amusing tales which I have heard related in another quarter, about one of your well known writers on old books, to communicate to you an opinion which I heard expressed at a tea-party last week. The young ladies all agreed that your Essays were dry, and required too much thought. I said, I had not observed the latter fault at least. But I confessed you might adapt your work more to the spirit and taste of the age, if you would sprinkle it with short religious stories and novels. One lady said, to be sure, you had had some pretty papers, entitled Pastors' Retrospects, but that they were all mere facts, and not quite romantic enough for her. She had lately seen a new work that was full of articles of this description, in the most delightful variety. I give you this hint, that you may, if you think proper, engage some religious novelist in your service. By the way, you formerly had a facetious correspondent who inhabited Puritan Farm. I should NEW SERIES, No. 17.

be glad to know whether he is dead, or has let his farm to an Episcopalian, or whether the good old race which he represented is become extinct? There was also another of your correspondents, who used to sign himself Miles, and who has often amused us with his Battle of Books, and other light wares of the same sort. I was told that he was really a soldier, and that his signature, though warlike, was not a nom de guerre. Pray has he been wounded in any late literary affray? Let us know, for we shall be all anxious till we hear of his recovery. And as I am inquiring after the welfare of several of your old correspondents, permit to say, at the same time, I shall be glad to find that Young Mortality is still above ground, and does not sleep with those fathers whose memory he once so fondly cherished.

But, Mr. Editor, I have written you a much longer letter than I intended, and have yet several more things to whisper in your ear. I shall, however, be brief now, and reserve part for another opportunity. Your answers to correspondents are generally rather spicy, and we all read them the first thing. We pity the poor writers whom you treat so cavalierly, but we cannot help laughing at their expense. We hope you will not suffer this page of your Magazine to lack its Attic. I heard the other day, that several of the late failures in the bookselling trade are attributed to you. It is reported that a poetical work, for which a bookseller had paid a large price, was absolutely ruined in its sale by your review, though, at the same time, it had been praised by not less than three or four other respectable publications. Two theological works, which it was expected would have reached a third edition within six months after their publication, are both said to have withered under the touch of your reviewer's pen. I

2 K

am told

you have very consider able influence with the public, and that your recommendation goes a great way. However, you will permit me to say, that I cannot always agree with you, and that some of us who are your constant readers, are proposing a scheme for compelling you, and all other critics, to prove every thing you allege concerning books. So I would have you be on your guard, and set down nought in malice. We have not yet been able to agree upon any plan, or else you would have heard from us. But, I dare say, you have heard, for the present, quite enough from Your Friend, WILL. REPORTER.

་་་་་་་་་

PLAN FOR ESTABLISHING A SUPERANNUATED MINISTERS' FUND.

(To the Editors.)

GENTLEMEN.-I have not been able to learn that there exists amongst our dissenting churches, any plan for making an adequate provision for the support of superannuated ministers, and which I humbly conceive to be a great desideratum. I have, indeed, recently seen some suggestions for providing an asylum, in which they may take refuge when their work is done, dependent upon the charity of the benevolent; but this is by no means the way, which to my mind, appears desirable that they should end their days. The provision made should be removed as far as possible from any thing eleemosynary, which could not be the case in an asylum supported by voluntary contributions, and which, in fact, would be little else than an alms-house.

The minister whose strength has been worn out, and the vigour of whose life has been spent in his labours for any particular church, has become the property of that church, and so identified with it, that nothing but death ought to sever their communion; he may be no longer able, through infirmities

and old age, to discharge those duties in which he has heretofore been engaged, and in the discharge of which he has been instrumental in comforting and edifying the church; nay, perhaps of gathering them together, and forming them into communion. Is he on this account no longer to be one with them? Or should he not be continued among them so long as it shall please God to prolong his days? The union between them ought to be considered indissoluble, and if he has grown old and decrepid in their service, his claim upon them, rather than being abated, is the more imperative. It may be urged, in reply to this, that the circumstances of many Christian Societies are such, as hardly to afford a salary to the active pastor adequate to his own necessities, especially if he has a family to support; this unfortunately is, in many instances, undoubtedly the case; and yet, I imagine, there scarcely exists any church so poor, which might not, by the adoption of a judicious plan, ensure a provision for their pastor when he shall no longer be able to bear the burden and heat of the day. The plan then I would suggest is briefly this. Let every church contribute something to a general fund, out of the monies collected at the celebration of the Lord's Supper (and which being contributed for the relief of the poor Saints, would be very suitably appropriated for this purpose), cach church so contributing, to have a claim in the superannuation of its minister, in proportion to the annual amount contributed. Few Christian Societies, it is fairly presumed, would be found unable to subscribe some small amount, perhaps Two Guineas or upwards per annum, or the minimum might be fixed even lower than this, (the rate of allowance to the aged minister for each guinea subscribed, would be a matter for future arrangement.)

In most counties there exists a County Association, at the anual meeting of which the pay ments might be made to some minister who should act as Treasurer for the county, and remit the amount to the Treasurer of the Society in London, with an account, containing some particulars of the churches, and the amount contributed by each. Our London churches would not, probably, be so likely to draw upon the funds of the Society for relief, and would, I doubt not, be found liberal contributors for the benefit of others, not so favourably circumstanced as themselves.

I take the liberty of offering these suggestions, in the hope that a subject of such importance will attract the notice of those who are able to give efficiency to such a plan, and thus make a provision for those who, being worn out in the service, have a right to expect that they shall not be forsaken when their strength faileth them.

J. P.

ON THE REPEAL OF THE TEST

AND CORPORATION ACTS.

(To the Editors.) GENTLEMEN,-Allow me to say, that I most fully concur in the regret expressed at the conclusion of an article on Negro Slavery, in your last month's Magazine, by a Lover of Liberty, that "year after year should pass away, without an effort, on our part, to perfect the religious liberties of England, by the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts." It appears to me, that when liberal principles guide the ministry and leading men in the government, the present time is particularly auspicious for the renewal of a spirited appeal to the Legislature, to make restitution to the Protestant Dissenters, for the long continued disabilities under which they have laboured since the reign of William and Mary, by consigning to merited oblivion, the persecuting Acts above alluded

to, which tend to degrade one of the most sacred of institutions, and exclude from office and honourable duties in the state, not only Protestant Dissenters, but numerous conscientious members of the Established Church of England, who alike view with holy indignation, the profanation of the Eucharist, to purposes of civil policy. The Corporation and Test Acts seem, in these enlightened days, so manifestly unjust and absurd, that they might have been expected gradually to have fallen into disuse; this, I believe, has been the case in reference to the Corporation of Norwich, and possibly other corporate towns and cities; but in the City of London, which ought to have been the rallying point of liberality, the Acts are still annually complied with, by a considerable number of the members of the corporation, who, in their respective wards, are summoned by their Ward Clerk, to attend in a particular church, on a particular day, usually on the Sunday after St. Thomas's Day, to qualify. It is true, many refuse to degrade the holy ordinance, by making the Lord's Supper a stepstone to office, subjecting themselves to a penalty of £500, (the injustice of which is tacitly admitted, by the passing the annual Indemnity Bill;) thus, conscientious Dissenters, if called upon by their fellow-citizens to perform corporate duties, as many there are, cheerfully incur the risk of the penalty, and the portion of odium that may attach to their dissenting principles; it is feared, however, that some who call themselves Dissenters, conform, to avoid the appearance of singularity, and thus have joined to support a system which they ought to have condemned.

Of these facts, the Board of Deputies, who are annually chosen by the Dissenting Churches, ought not to be ignorant; but if

Owyhee; with remarks on the History, Traditions, Manners, Customs, and Language of the Inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands. By William Ellis, Missionary. 8vo. pp. 442. Fisher and Co. Price 12s.

THE operation of prejudice against the cause of Missions, is one of the most affecting proofs of human depravity. We do not refer to the prejudices of infidelity and scepticism. The man who rejects the authority of revelation, acts in fatal consistency with his principles, when he manifests his hostility to the operations of Christian zeal. It is the indifference or the opposition of the nominal believer, who would deem himself insulted if his religion were questioned, which presents so melancholy an illustration of the depravity of our nature. In numerous cases, prejudice arises from ignorance and inconsideration. Many who call themselves Christians, may perhaps, now and then, have heard of missionary enterprises; but they have never examined the principles on which they are founded, or the results by which they are distinguished. The plans in question, are probably adopted by religious communities with which they were never connected; they may never have been heard of, but in the detracting report of slander and malevolence; or have been looked at, but through the distorting medium of sectarian feelings and educational antipathies. And who does not know that sectarianism is as likely to be associated with the cathedral as with the conventicle, and is found to be quite as narrow and illiberal, when clothed in fine linen and purple," as when in the russet garb of humble itinerancy, it stimulates to the office of

of barns!"

Strange, indeed, as the assertion may appear to some of our readers, it has sometimes fallen to our lot, to meet with most expansive and Catholic liberality in the one case, leading the unendowed aspirant to rejoice with holy sympathy in all the triumphs of the Christian cause, whatever may be the visible and external denomination; while, on the other hand, under the influence of most mysterious fears and jealousies, the "preaching of Christ," out of the consecrated pale, has called forth the most powerful and active opposition. Some there are who would be unwilling to have even "devils cast out," unless the exorcist performed his functions in the manner and form "by law established!" Is it surprising that prejudices exist against the cause of Missions, when such feelings are cherished in "the high places of the earth?" Hence repulsive associations are formed in the minds of thousands, and the sublimest achievements of Christian benevolence are treated as if they were the offspring of fanaticism and folly. Let the business of missions be supported by political authority; let an Act of Parliament sanction the plan; let it assume the dignity and splendour of a. scheme devised by the "noble and the mighty;" let it bear "the image and superscription of Cæsar" upon it; let the philosophers of the day give it their condescending attention, and speculate sagely upon the subject; and let the heroism of the Missionary be sung by poets and lauded by historians

and then, perhaps, the despised and calumniated cause of missions may be invested with attraction, and be numbered amongst the "good things," which it is not.