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the oriental languages, beyond his years, "fummæ fpei Juvenis, qui in linguis orientalibus fupra atatem magnos progreffus fecerat," as Dr. Walton characterizes him, affifted in correcting the Syriac and Perfian, and in writing the Pentateuch in Perfian characters, which before was only in the Hebrew letters; and making a Latin tranflation. Dudley Loftus, I. U. D. of Dublin, tranflated the Ethiopic verfion of the New Teftament, in Latin. Claude Hardy communicated, from Paris, a more complete copy of the Ethiopic verfion, which helped to fupply fome imperfections that were in the others. Dr. David Stokes, once fellow of Eton College, was also an affiftant in the work.

This great and important work, Dr. Walton began in the year 1653, and though he fuffered much for his loyalty, and met with many difficulties and difcouragements in his progrefs in it; fo little fenfe had those, who then prevailed, of any thing that was noble, or for the common good of learning, or rather of religion and Christianity itself; yet, with diligence and application almoft incredible, he furmounted them all, and completed and published that moft incomparable edition of the Bible, in 1657. Soon after the restoration, his majefty, King Charles II. rewarded his great virtues, learning, loyalty, fufferings, and indefatigable industry for the benefit of the world, by nominating him bishop of Chefter. He was confecrated in Westminster Abbey, Dec. 2, 1660.

METHODISTICAL MISSIONARIES.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN,

I OBSERVE in the account of "a Miffionary Voyage in the Ship Duff," that fome of the adventurers are denominated "ordained minifters;" viz. James Fleet Cover, John Eyre, John Jefferfon, and Thomas Lewis. Can any of your readers tell me what fpecies of ordination they received? I wish to know whether these gentlemen received holy orders, or, what our acts of parliament ftyle, pretended holy orders? If they were regularly ordained; I must take the liberty of faying that they have treated both the doctrine and difcipline of our church with unwarrantable freedom. If, on the other hand, they have been fent forth by those who had no power of fending forth minifters beyond their own affumption; the editors of the "Account" ought not to have called them "ordained minifters" in a work dedicated to the King, unlefs, 1. they meant to give HIS MAJESTY a hint, that the orders of their own schifmatical congregation are as valid as thofe of the Church of which he is the head, under GoD; or, 2. to mislead the unwary, by denominating thofe perfons "Ordained minifiers," whom they knew were not intitled to that name.

The Sectaries are not fond of fetting forth their actual creed, in the form of articles. The Methodists ufually profefs to receive the articles of religion published by the Church of England. Thefe miffionaries, however, in the abundance of their zeal, have drawn up a fet of articles of their own, twenty one in number. I know not whether the Methodifts will authoritatively acknowledge them to be founded in truth ;but I am fure of this, that the doctrine taught by the Methodists, and the laxity of difcipline which they obferve in ecclefiaftical matters, wonderfully tally with these articles; and I think muft, fooner or later, fettle in them, or in articles of a fimilar caft. All are not of our Ifrael,

that

that oftenfibly are of our Ifrael. I fee in the generality of the Metho. difts, however they pretend to belong to our church, a ftrange indiffe. rence about the prescribed forms of the church. My eyes have been upon them for years; I have had abundant opportunity of observing their practices, and divining their intentions; and the refult of all I have feen, read and heard is this-that THE METHODISTS ARE TREADING

THE SAME PATH WHICH THE PURITANS TROD BEFORE THEM.

Surely never was fo important a work as the drawing up a body. of articles of religion, fet about by fuch a motley crew, or under fuch circumftances, as the Ship Duff afforded. Undergoing the fatigues of a long Voyage, without books of authority to confult, without men of information to advise with; the Captain of the fhip, a fhopkeeper, two taylors, a carpenter, a cabinet-maker, and three of the "Ordained minifters," (Meffrs. Cover, Jefferfon and Lewis,) were conftituted a committee "To draw up a code of church government, together with certain religious principles."

The Old and New Teftament are recognized in their articles. No notice whatever is taken of the books called Apocrypha.

Art. 14. Afferts (would any one believe that this book could be dedicated to the KING!) that "There is no other.head of the church but the Lord Jefus Chrift, neither hath any temporal prince, fecular power, or civil magiftrate, any right to exercife any authority over her, neither needeth fhe any establishments from them." If thefe men be Sectaries; this is no more than might be expected; this is the genuine doctrine of the original Anabaptifts;—but if they be Methodifis; as I think they purport to be, it is incumbent on the Methodists either to difavow this flaming article, or no longer to profefs themselves members of the Church of England.

Art. 15. Acknowledges only two orders of men in the miniftry;-1. Paftors or Bishops; 2. Deacons. Now this is undisguised Prefbyterianifm. But, it feems, thefe "Paftors or Bishops are to be folemnly fet apart to their important office by fafting, prayer, and laying on of hands, by one or more perfons who have been regularly called and ordained to the minifterial office." I fhould be glad to know what these worthy Articlemakers deem regular calling and ordination?

The facraments are to be "Adminiftered by perfons lawfully ana properly called and ordained thereto !!!

The marriage ceremony is very fhort, "a prayer and an exhortation are to be delivered;" both I fuppofe extemporaneoufly; the man and woman mutually take each other by the hand, and interchangeably plight their troth, and then (concludes the 20th article) without further ceremony, the minifter fhall in the face of the congregation pronounce them to be husband and wife, according to God's ordinance, and fo conclude with prayer."

Art. 21. and laft; prescribes the form of burial; and enjoins the body of the deceased to be fimply committed to the earth: adding, that "it is the duty of every Chriftian friend to endeavour to improve the bereaving difpenfation, by meditation and conferences fuitable thereto. And it is likewife incumbent upon the pastor of the congregation to endeavour to fpeak a word in feafon to the furvivors, fuitable to the occafion."

The miffionaries depart from the tenets of the Established Church in fome of their articles; and in others, particularly in the two laft, make a change, seemingly, for changing's fake; or perhaps for the purpose of indulging

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indulging the fondness of their affociates and themselves for extemporary effufions. I think whatever the profeffions of the Methodifts may be; we may easily fee how flight that attachment is which connects them with the church; and how eafily it gives way whenfoever those prudential or politic profeffions are no longer counted neceffary.

Jan. 2, 1802.

I am, Gentlemen, very refpectfully, yours, &c.

A LONDON CURATE.

P. S. I beg leave with great deference to refer the confideration of Theodofius's letter, p. 479, to the INSPECTOR; fully perfuaded that there is not one individual in this united kingdom more equal to the difcuffion of the question which it involves; or more willing to communicate the vaft fund of information he poffeffes.

DEFENCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN,

THE perufal of Dr. Vincent's moft ably written pamphlet, must give confolation, nay fatisfaction, to every man who has the good of his country, and the ftability and profperity of his country's church at heart. The fyftem of public education, in what relates to the inculcation of religious principles, is as praife-worthy and exemplary in our great schools, and in the three univerfities, as the mode of teaching the claffics is correct and efficacious. For my own part, from the first agitation of this question, two years ago, I had not a doubt how it would terminate. I look upon it as terminated. Dr. Rennell, and the Bishop of Meath can make no effectual reply to the worthy fucceffor of BUSBY, and MARKHAM. I expect, with no fear of diappointment, very foon to read a liberal retractation of an unfounded charge from both of thofe eloquent preachers. Ardour in a good caufe has certainly led them too far in the prefent inftance. At the fame time that I can give Dr. Vincent full credit for an unanfwerable refutation of his two antagonists' hafty affertions, I am forry to differ from him refpecting the conduct of the SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, in the matter of refusing the request which he made to inclofe a juftificatory note of his, in the Society's annual packet. The Society acted with dignified difcretion, furely, in refufing to become, even by implication, a party in the controverfy. The Society knew nothing of the fermons beyond what was delivered from the pulpit. If either of the preachers whofe names are now before the public, had uttered "heterodoxy, or any thing worfe" from the pulpit, no doubt the Society would have demurred as to the propriety of requesting them to print their difcourfes. However, this is a fuppofition which it is hardly allowable to form. The Society is always fully perfuaded of the ORTHODOXY of its preachers before any application is made to them to afcend the temporary pulpit at St. Paul's. The Society hears the fermon; which is " publifhed," as the title-page informs us, at the Society's requeft, and that of the truftees of the charity fchools." Now who is refponfible for the fermon, and fuch notes as it is too much the fashion to print with it? As Dr. Vincent himself fays, in the cafe of the Bishop of Meath, (P. 8.) "not the board, for the board never does fee the fermon; not the fecretary, for he never looked at it; not the printer, or the binder; for they will print or

bind

bind any thing that comes into their fhop*"-but, notwithstanding this, it cannot be faid that " nobody is refponfible or accountable;"-moft affuredly the author of the fermon and notes is the refponfible perfon. The Society is refponfible for the appendices which are attached to the fermon, but the author for the fermon and notes. Dr. Vincent himfelf acts upon, and therefore admits, this principle, for he addreffes his most admirable letter to the Bishop of Meath.

The Society muft furely feel itself obliged to thofe diftinguished characters who undertake to prcach at the yearly meeting of the charity-children educated in and about the cities of London and Westminster. If the Society take a part in any controverfy, which may eventually arife, concerning any fermon which may be preached, or published AT THIER REQUEST; (for, though the Society diftributes the annual fermon to its members, it does not affume the technical title of publishers.) I am fully perfuaded that the Society will very foon find it a difficult matter to procure a preacher, who will undertake to preach before it, if his fermon is to be laid before a publishing committee of the Society, and canvaffed, fentence by sentence? And, indeed, who will take upon him to affift at the invidious deliberations of a word-catching committee? The Society, at prefent, has no fhare in printing the fermon, beyond handing it to the printer; Dr. Vincent admits this likewife, for he fays to the Bishop of Meath, "it paffed from your lordship's hand into the fecretary's, and from the fecretary to the printer; it returned from the printer, by theets, to your lordihip, for correction; and when finished, it was committed to the binder, with whom it continued till it was laid unread upon the table." The proper fuperintendant of the prefs was the bishop, who was likewife the author; all the refponfibility, I think, refts with his lordship; and I fhould be forry to fee the venerable Society made a party in the difpute; efpecially a difpute fo eafily and completely fettled by him who thought himfelf aggrieved; fettled, after all, without the intervention of the Society.

As to the fecretary of the Society, he ftands in no need of any exculpation from me; but this I can fafely fay,—if he had complied with Dr. Vincent's requeft, and had ftopped, on his own authority, the delivery of the packets then in courfe; he would have done an unwarranted thing, and would have merited a cenfure from the Society, which no partiality for an individual, refpectable as Dr. Vincent himself, could have excused.And, after all, fuppose the Society's permiflion to inclose the note in their packet had been granted; what benefit could Dr. Vincent have derived from it, adequate to the terms in which he expreffes his regret at the refufal? Above a thoufand packets had then, when the request was made, been fent out; and now, when even a fecond edition of the doctor's defence has been published, I understand they are not all delivered. So that at most his note had obtained but a partial diftribution; and even that rendered of little or no value by the appearance of his pamphlet itself.

Long may the Society flourish; long may it merit the appropriate praise which Dr. Vincent confers upon it, of " doing the moft extenfive good with the leaft poflible parade!"-Long may Dr. Vincent live, honoured by

*I would ask Dr. Vincent whether this be not an unfounded charge brought against moft refpectable tradesmen. I will only fay that the printer is a RIVINGTON. There is not a purer printing-office in the world than that in St. John's Square, nor a bookfeller's fhop lefs contaminated than that at the Bible and Crown. Dr. V. has here afferted what he cannot prove.

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the great, the good, the pious, and the learned, in the full discharge of all the duties of the great office which he so admirably fills!

Jan. 9, 1802.

I am, Gentlemen, your's, &c.

A COUNTRY VICAR,

and a Member of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge.

THE REVEREND DOCTOR MAYO.

In Memoriá æterna erit Juftus.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN,

THE

HE venerable Herbert Mayo, D. D. rector of St. George's, Middlesex, died on the 5th inftant, aged 82 years. Will you permit one who loved him while living, to embalm his memory in your pages, now that he is dead.

Dr. Mayo was a native of Hereford, and was educated at Brazen-nofe Coll. Oxford, which prefented him to the living of St. George's. Dr. Mayo was a divine of that clafs, which, though it enjoy not all the fplendid celebrity that adorns fome others; perhaps excels all in real utility;-that is to fay, he was a good parish priest. He was a man of great experience in that particular branch of his profeffion; having been for fome time curate of Bow le Stratford, then ten years curate of Whitechapel, then ten years curate of Spitalfields; before he entered upon the living of St. George in the Eaft, where I think he refided thirty-eight years. There is no church in London where divine fervice is performed with more rubrical correctnefs than in St. George's. The affiduity of a paftor, attentive to all the minutiæ of propriety in the ufe of the Liturgy, produced a correfpondent regularity in his congregation. Every thing at St. George's is done ɛvoxnuovws nai nara Takı.-Dr. Mayo had a peculiar, but by no means an unimpreffive, mode of preaching, in his earlier years; but his labours were not confined to the pulpit merely. He was the inftructor of the young, in the catechetical way; the reclaimer of the diffolute; the grave rebuker of the blafphemer; the admonisher of those who had reached the gradation of unthinking levity, in the fcale of offence, and were tottering on the brink of vice. He was the comforter of the fick, and cherisher of thofe who languithed under the depreflions of poverty. He adminiftered the aids of religion to those who were paffing from time to eternity; and often, by the fide of the grave, exerted a vigour beyond the routine of duty, whilft he taught those who attended on the interment of their friends to prepare for their latter end. He was particularly kind to the negroes and uninftructed men of colour; who, employed generally on board of thip, occafionally refided in his parish, which is full of fea-faring people. I fuppofe no clergyman in England ever baptized fo many black men and Mulattoes; nor did he at any time baptize them without much previous preparation; that the inward and fpiritual grace might accompany the outward and visible form of baptifm. The attachment of these poor people to him was very great. Several of them never came into the port of London, without waiting upon him, by way of testifying the refpe& in which they held him.

Dr. Mayo was a magistrate for the county of Middlesex, and performed

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