king," words of the same living truth which said to Peter "thou shalt deny me thrice." It was part of Pilate's high destiny to be our Saviour's witness, before whom he made his good confession, paprunte kaλny óμoλoyiav. (1 Tim.) That good confession, because the only one he made before Pilate, was, that he was King of the Jews; and of that confession, which he was placed by God to attest, Pilate was the faithful and trumpet-tongued witness, proclaiming it to Roman, Greek, and Jew. And, as it was asked of old, is Saul too among the prophets? we may exclaim, is Pilate also among the noble army of witnesses? Whoever confesses Christ before men, him will Christ confess before God and the saints; therein is the force and value of the word martyr; and therein may be one cause why the earliest of the faithful never confessed their Redeemer without confessing Pilate. That does not only appear in the wonderful clausule of the Apostles' creed, but in the miracles of the primitive church. The gifts which the first disciples of the Lord received from him in his life, and at the Pentecost, continued to exist in the church of Gaul when St. Irenæus presided over it. And that good prelate informs us, that when they healed the sick or wrought other works of power, they did so in the name of Christ crucified. But not of Christ crucified, and there an end; but in the name of Christ crucified under Pontius Pilate!" That name was from the earliest ages inseparable from the faith of a Christian. H.

DISSENTERS.

REV. SIR, Charity is an excellent virtue; and, if it consist in a determination, under all circumstances, to think no evil of one's neighbour, the merit of exercising it cannot surely be denied to the great body of churchmen. For example, the professions of respect and good will to the establishment, which have been made within the last few weeks by several dissenting communities, have called forth very high and general encomiums; and people have discovered that the dissenting body, instead of being hostile to the great institutions of their country, comprise their most faithful and attached supporters. I should be unwilling to be thought less charitable than my neighbours. But surely the proceedings of the dissenters warrant a suspicion of the sincerity of their professions. It is true, many of them have of late avowed their great respect for the established church. But, had they been sincere, they would surely have made this avowal of their sentiments at the time of the church's weakness, not of its, we trust, approaching triumph. In our hour of peril, where were the dissenters? Where, then, was their disapproval of the machinations of our enemies? Mr. James, for instance, has generally stood in the foremost ranks of the church's adversaries; and, at a meeting at which the Earl of Durham presided, he had the audacity, (I hope, sir, you and Mr. J. will pardon the expression,) at a time when radicals, dissenters, atheists, and infidels, were leagued together in an unhallowed combination for the overthrow of the church, to compare it

to a cook skinning live eels, and exhorting them to be patient under the operation. The half-flayed eels, it is needless to say, were the dissenters those sufferers for conscience' sake. But now that the people have roused themselves, and shewn that they will not stand by, and witness the downfal of the church of their fathers, he takes the opportunity of an address, certainly not more virulent than sundry of his own, by the Rev. T. East, to disclaim any participation in the proceedings of that Christian minister and his party. This conduct has been highly applauded by several leading journals. "This," say they, "is as it should be." But what is the occasion of this change in the ideas of Mr. James? The church-yard is not yet open to the eloquence of the dissenting minister; that functionary is not yet exempt from church-rates; Oxford has not yet removed the obnoxious sign-board-" Off, off, ye profane!" How are we to account for this cessation of hostilities on the part of Mr. J. and his dissenting brethren? I should be sorry to attribute to them any evil designs. At the same time, there can be no harm in a little circumspection on our part. If the tiger has made a spring, and overshot the mark, shall I go and compose myself to slumber in its vicinity? or shall I keep in hand my weapons of defence, and walk warily? I prefer the latter expedient. The dissenters have surely afforded to churchmen some little cause for distrust, and, for my own part, however fair or honest may be their present professions, "timeo Danaos et dona ferentes."

W. -n, 5th Feb., 1835.

I am, Rev. Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant, B. M.

"LETTERS OF L. S. E."

SIR,-I perceive that the "Letters of L. S. E" are making no small stir both within and without the pale of the church of Christ in this realm. I lament sincerely that the writer has used expressions which have subjected him to the unmeasured animadversions of his opponents, or rather the opponents of the church. The acerbity, or the uncourtesy so much complained of, the author of the letters ascribes, perhaps not unjustly, to the habits and feelings which he had contracted by former associations-i. e., during his connexion with the dissenters. I cannot, however, conceive that the force of his arguments, and the truth of the alleged facts are materially, if at all, affected by his style; and it is with the arguments and facts contained in the "Letters" that the reader is concerned. Of this the adversaries appear to be fully aware; and this probably accounts for their not attempting to invalidate the arguments and statements of facts; but they attack the style, the author, and those who may have advocated or recommended the book. The writer of the "Letters" openly professes his readiness to defend and prove the correctness of the statements which he has VOL. VII.-April, 1835. 3 н

"

made. Why do not his opponents, then, grapple fairly with these statements? They know they dare not. "L. S. E." would do well, in any future edition, to support his statements by quotations from James's "Church Member's Guide," and Binney's "Life of Morell." These two publications will supply him with abundant confirmations of his positions.

Of the style or the spirit of the "Letters" dissenters, I presume, have, after all, no right to complain. I have not been able to discover, in the whole productions of "L. S. E.," anything equal to either the bitterness of spirit, or the coarseness of language, which are so conspicuous in the writings of the dissenters when the church is the object of their attack. "The Library of Ecclesiastical Knowledge," the accredited organ of dissent, has, for instance, exhibited a spirit and adopted language not paralleled in the fiercest sectarian controversies of heathen philosophers.* The Christian Advocate," "The Patriot," et omne id genus, have not been a whit behind the chief of "The Library."

Not only to have written and published the "Letters" constituted an unpardonable offence, but the recommending of them has provoked the dissenting anathema. But have the dissenters forgotten their zeal and activity in circulating the publications of R. M. Beverley? The writer of this letter has not forgotten the fact that the

"Whenever the parties cannot agree upon the composition, they resort to the original institution of payment in kind. Then what a scene is exhibited! The field of harvest displays the banners of war; for the boughs stuck in the tithe-sheaves are anything but the olive branch of peace. The sullen farmer sends to the parson notice of an intention to pull turnips, that he may come and take his tenth. In the quiet village it is an article of intelligence that a neighbour's bees have swarmed, and, as he had been previously the master of nine hives, the news flies to the parsonage that this swarm should fly thither. The good wife resolves to make her gooseberry wine; but she must send notice to the vicar that he may take his tenth basket of fruit. The mysterious hoard of the cunning hen is discovered, and a large deposit of eggs is laid open; send, then, to the minister that he may come and take his share. When the cows are milked, the tenth dish is set apart for him, who says, That is mine.' Amidst all these vexatious proceedings, who shall describe the black looks indicative of passions blacker still? Who can bear to think of, much less to hear, the curses now muttered in a suppressed tone, and now poured forth with all the force of stentorian lungs?

"The minister, vexed and harassed, looks out for some one to take this trouble and his tithes off his hands. But in the general dissatisfaction of a village warfare, no one wishes or dares to set the whole parish against him by assisting the parson to carry on his war of tithes in kind. What a Noah's ark, then, the parsonage exhibits! Where study and devotion should indulge in calm retreat, amidst Hebrew Bibles and Greek Testaments, shelves of divines and commentators, and rows of polyglots and lexicons, the tithe-calf is heard lowing after its mother, the pig's discordant sounds disturb the meditations of its new owner, the fowls, ducks, and geese join their voices to add to the confusion; while the eye shares in the torments of the ear, by the ludicrous profusion everywhere exhibited of baskets of fruit and eggs, dishes of milk, and hives of bees, tithe-sheaves, piles of turnips, and heaps of potatoes, presenting themselves in wild disorder on every hand." (Library of Ecclesiastical Knowledge,--Tithes, p. 284.) The least that can be said of the author of the extract is, that he well knew that he was describing as facts, what he, at the same time, knew to be contrary to fact.

dissenters, in his own neighbourhood, carried those vile pamphlets from house to house, not of dissenters, but of church people. Have the dissenters forgotten also, that this same Beverley was exhibited as a champion of "the cause" at the public meeting of the society, in which meeting the clamour was in the true spirit, and nearly the words, of the Edomites of old-" Down, down, down with the old hag"? (the church of England.)

That the dissenters should forget, or affect to forget, their exploits, is not very marvellous. But we have another class of writers, who, while they profess to be friends of the persecuted church, appear to be gladly embracing any opportunity of uniting with dissenters in condemning any person who may, in these days of rebuke and blasphemy, have the honesty and the courage to expose the artifices, the hostility, and the rage of the church's enemies. This class has not the candour to avow openly its attachment to dissent, or its latent hostility to that church which affords to some members of the class temporal support and comfort. The persons composing the said class affect not to believe the charges against dissent, though those charges are made and confirmed by such persons as have long been in the dissenting penetralia-e. g., " L. S. E," the author of the "Autobiography of a Dissenting Minister,"* &c.

The identifying of the "principles of dissent" in religion, and "liberal" principles in politics, appears to this class, not only impossible, but the attempt to do so highly offensive. But a little cool reflection and observation on the working of the principles of dissent, may, perhaps, convince them that such an identification is not altogether destitute of possibility or correctness. There is certainly in the following quotation an incontrovertible truth, as the result of close observation, afforded to the author by a long and close connexion with the dissenters. The extract is made from a letter to a high personage, written last spring by a venerable individual:-" The whole subject, my Lord, is most deeply interesting. I cannot divest myself of apprehension that his Majesty's ministers are not sufficiently aware of the nature of dissent as it is now opposed to the established church of England. This apprehension is strengthened by what is reported to have passed in Parliament about the Universities. If I were not afraid of being impertinent, I should very respectfully ask my Lords Grey and Brougham, whether they have duly considered how far the question between the church of England and dissent, now before them, is political, and how far religious?—a question which involves the distinction between the system of man's fearful and wonderful Maker, and the principle (whatever it be, and whencesoever proceeding) which introduced disorder into God's world. As far as it is simply political, it may regard the countenance to be given by the legislature to each of two classes of subjects. To a British legislature

The highly respectable publishers advertised in the "British Magazine," in January last, that this volume is the production of a dissenting minister, as it purports to be, whose name they have in their possession.

a further inquiry may be expected to suggest itself-whether the church of England be not a system for extending and keeping up in the land the knowledge and fear of man's Maker, as his dread character is to be read in the books of nature and Revelation-and whether DISSENT be not the operation and influence of principles which go to counteract those regulations and restraints which nature requires and revelation enjoins? The church of England falls in with nature and revelation, which provide a gradation of authority through the whole mass; and while authority is regulated, submission is required. Dissent sets abstract right and individual opinion against authority.

"If I have any right notion of dissent, it is not possible to raise the dissenter by admitting him into any society. His principles (of dissent) keep him down. When he finds himself uneasy in any situation by the thwarting of his interest or of his passions, his wrong principles operate. He talks of thinking and judging for himself, whether well informed or not. He pleads his tenderness of conscience-his equality with the highest. Who,' he cries, is the master, or the provostwho is the Parliament-who is the King? I AM A MAN.' This tone operates upon the inexperienced and the young, soothes the proud, and introduces all the train of feeling which engenders confusion, disobedience, and strife.

His

"The Universities may be degraded; the leaven of dissent may be introduced, and it may spread through the land; and Englishman' may become a term of reproach, as it has been of honour. But the dissenter, under whatever name, is still the same character. principles fall in with the wrong bias of man's nature. Inexperienced. and unsuspecting churchmen have imagined that churchmen and dissenters might be brought to co-operate to advantage in the same benevolent institutions. Experience does not seem to confirm this idea. And the reason seems to be abundantly evident to a sober and thinking mind. The principles of the church of England are consistent with nature and revelation; those of dissent are opposed to both. If this be the proper distinction, the government that does not keep it in view is in danger of being misled."

To the writer of this communication to the "British Magazine" the above quotation seems to convey a just description of the operation of dissenting principles, for the writer also, as well as the judicious author of the foregoing extract, is closely connected with dissenters, not indeed in the humble circle of life in which dissenters are generally found, but in that sphere in which dissent has the advantage of superior education and association. Still, however, the leaven ferments in and affects the whole mass from the highest to the lowest grade. General principles and external characters undergo different modifications through the force of education or social intercourse. Still there is a characteristic feaure that stands prominent, and indicates a latent consciousness of inheriting the flattering and deceptive promise-" Ye shall be as gods." Nor has the pen of poet Milton, who was experimentally and perhaps thoroughly acquainted with dissenting principles, both reli