Fear no more the heat o' the sun; Thou hast finish'd joy and moan." Earthly moan, that is, but the joy of his Lord, which awaited his faithful servant, shall never end. The leading article of your last month's Obituary_recorded the death of just such a man as my poor friend. When I think of the fate of the stipendiary parochial Clergy, I survey my shop with sentiments of supreme comfort, and handle my clothyard with as much satisfaction as if it were a sceptre. Not but I have now and then a taste of disquiets, as well as the Clergy, my betters; sometimes those disquiets are occasioned by the Clergy themselves. I love the Establishment, dearly; and I love the Rules of the Church. I cannot endure to live in a parish where I cannot observe those Rules. You may remember that the first Letter I ever presumed to send you, was dated from Shadwell. I have now left that parish. I could not endure to frequent a Church which resounded with the rant of enthusiastic teachers; with the ravings of Rowland Hill, and balderdash of Mr. Isaac Nicholson, late President of a College of Methodists (a College!) at Cheshunt. At the same time I was uneasy at absenting mysef from my Parish Church. An opportunity offered; a shop with a good trade became vacant in another quarter and I removed stock and block, bag and baggage. Adieu, Shadwell! thou retainest but the name, and hast no longer the doctrine of St. Paul. The Calvinistic Wolves prowl in thy sanctuary, the Methodistical Foxes "stink and litter" in thy pulpit. Adieu, Shadwell! Having mentioned the College at Cheshunt, I have a word to say on one of our Universities. I observe with astonishment, the proposed subjects for the Prize Essays of the University of Cambridge for the present year. The Senior Bachelors are to write on the possible advantages or or evils, which may result from a Republic of Negroes or Mulattoes in the West Indies; and the Middle Bachelors are to describe how, and by what degrees, flourishing states, by little and little, decline and fall. I shall be curious to see how the beardless Politicians shall treat these subjects. Whence, I wonder, are they to derive information about them? Are politics understood by intuition, now-a-days? Is it wise to send young minds, yet unbal lasted, upon voyages of discovery? What but shipwreck can be expected? Suppose I were to ask of the Senior Bachelors of Cambridge a Dissertation on Broadcloths, and to request the Middle Bachelors to furnish me with an Essay on Fustians? Would they not quiz me?-And take my word for it, they know just as much of the benefits or detriments derivable from black or yellow republics, or of the causes of the upsetting of states. Are there no literary questions to be learnt from books, adapted to the discussion of youthful minds? Questions like those proposed by the University, cannot be determined by turning over books, merely. Of all Politicians, defend me Heaven, from the Sciolist, the Theoretical, the Bookish, the inexperienced Politician. "Three Cambridge Sophs, and three spruce Templars;" may I never assist at a political discussion with such as these! Let an old man (who has mixed a little with the world, and though he stands a good deal behind it, has not been nailed to a counter all his life,)-talk to old men, to the Heads of Houses at Cambridge. "My good brethren, pester not the world with crude Essays on Politics: crude they must be, written by Senior and Middle Bachelors; neither put young people upon the premature discussion of such questions, as will make them either coxcombs or quid-nuncs as long as they live;-alter your plan I conjure you;-else, mark my words, you will never want a supply of Jebbs, Wakefields, Tweddells, &c. who born to excel in Letters, were maddened by Politics. "And to party gave up, what was meant for mankind.” April 9, 1804. Your faithful friend, JONATHAN DRAPIER Vol. VI. Churchm. Mag. April, 1804: Ii. QUES QUESTIONS ON LITURGICAL SUBJECTS. TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S GENTLEMEN, MAGAZINE. MARCH 29, 1804. I HAVE taken the liberty of addressing you on a cir any cumstance which occurred last Sunday. The festivals of Palm Sunday and the Annunciation both happened on that day. I should, therefore, be much obliged to one of your numerous correspondents to inform me, through the medium of your truly useful and valuable magazine, which of those two holy days should have had the preference, and whether any one is justified in blending the two services together? Wheatly is silent on the subject. I am acquainted with four neighbouring clergymen, who on that day, adopted each of them different methods. One of them read the service appointed for Palm Sunday entire; the second, that for the Annunciation entire; the third blended them together; and the fourth read the service for the Annunciation, with the exception of making use of the second lesson appointed for Palm Sunday, because there is no second lesson appointed in the Rubric for the Annunciation. These observations may perhaps excite attention on the subject (particuJarly in your learned correspondents Mr. Pearson and the London Curate), and prove of essential service in establishing an uniformity of observing the Festivals, for which reason alone I have taken the liberty of troubling you on the subject. At the same time permit me to ask a few more questions. Is a minister legally justified in not registering an infant. until it is brought to the Church for Public Baptism?For, it is a custom too prevalent among the Dissenters to have their children privately baptized, under the pretence of illness, get them registered, and then never bring them to church to be received into the congregation. If a Minister be legally authorized in not registering them until brought to the Church, this circumstance would, in a great measure, check this growing evil, and compel them, if they wish their children to be registered, to bring them to church. Another Another question I wish to ask is, Whether a Clergyman, not a Chaplain to a Nobleman, nor a Doctor in Divinity, can claim the privilege of wearing a scarf? No mention is made of a scarf in the Canons. I would thank likewise any one of your correspondents to inform me, Which is the best and most correct edition of the Bible, without notes or annotations, but with marginal references; and likewise the best and most cor- : rect edition of the Common Prayer? I have been a subscriber to your excellent Publication from its commencement, and am happy to perceive the improvements which it has received since its first establishment. Permit me, therefore, to offer a hint, which I think would tend to its further improvement, which is, to print the Literary Intelligence, the List of Books in Theology, the Ecclesiastical and Academical Promotions, the Obituary, and Notices to Correspondents, in a much smaller type than at present, similar to that of the Gentleman's Magazine; as this would be the means of allowing more room for your miscellaneous matter, which, since the alteration in your type is considerably abridged, I think it would be better likewise to confine the Obituary solely to Clergymen. I am extremely gratified by your insertion of Heber's incomparable Poem, " Palestine;" and I think that your Readers will be pleased with the insertion of Mitford's on the same subject, which sharply contended for superiority with the former. It is printed in the Poetical Register, with He ber's. Pardon me for making these observations; but, believe me, it is with the sole wish to benefit your excellent publication. A KENTISH CURATE. ON THE CHURCHING OF WOMEN. TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S SIR, MAGAZINE. S every thing, which relates to the orderly performance of our public religious service, is of importance, I make no apology for communicating to you the follow ing ing suggestions, however trivial they may appear in themselves. I have repeatedly heard it remarked, that, in the course of our service, the office for the churching of women is introduced so abruptly, as to be productive of an unpleas ing effect. This seems to arise principally, if not entirely, from the circumstance, that, generally speaking, the congregation have no previous notice, that such a ceremony is to be performed, and receive the first intimation of it from the opening of the office itself. This might easily be avoided, if, on such occasions, the minister were to say, at the end of the General Thanksgiving, which I take to be the proper place for introducing this office, "A person desires to return thanks to Almighty God for her safe deliverance." Among the lower orders of people, an error seems to prevail, respecting this ceremony, of supposing, that the woman must be churched within a limited time, or at least before she returns at all to her ordinary occupations, on pain of incurring some ecclesiastical censure: by which means it sometimes happens, that women come to be churched before they are sufficiently recovered, and run an unnecessary hazard of injuring their health. Though it is very proper, and what a grateful mind would naturally desire, to come as soon as a regard to safety will per mit; yet it should be explicitly made known, that there is no obligation to come at any particular time, or before the resumption of any particular employment. Mr. Wheatly, in his illustration of this office, very sensibly says, "God does not require thanks for a mercy, before he has vouchsafed it: if, therefore, the woman comes as soon as her strength permits, she discharges her obligations both to Him and the Church." There are many domestic affairs, to which she may attend with safety, before she could with safety, especially at some seasons of thẹ year, attend the service of the Church. In country places, we often see women come to be churched, who, having entered the church perhaps just before the office of churching begins, leave it as soon as that office is finished. This may happen accidentally, or because they do not find themselves so much recovered as they had previously supposed. It happens, however, so often, as to give reason to suspect, that the generality of women either attend this ceremony sooner than they ought to do, or at tend |