into unconsecrated places, rigid churchmen consider as a degradation of that solemn ritual; while by strict dissenters this mixture of services, and the preaching of their ministers in chapels where the liturgy of the establishment is read, has the appearance of symbolizing with the church. But if the system be impartially examined, perhaps it may be found that there will not be the evil consequences resulting from it of which some are afraid.

The mass of the members of such congregations consists of people from the establishment; and they have the partiality for its forms, which persons naturally contract for that mode to which they have been accustomed from their earliest years. If the liturgy were not used, they would not attend: it is the loadstone which attracts them. By their attendance they have an opportunity of hearing the Gospel preached in its purity, which they would not otherwise have enjoyed. To the dissenting ministers who occasionally officiate there, a field is presented of more extensive usefulness, by preaching to a multitude of people, very few of whom would ever have entered a dissenting place of worship. Two of the noblest objects are thus attained; people are brought to hear the word of God, who would not otherwise have heard it; and ministers are brought to preach the Gospel in places where it otherwise would not have been preached. By some it has been urged, that ministers who officiate in such places, give up the principles of dissent. But the objection is considered by others as destitute of force; because hearing the liturgy read, and occasionally joining in it, can by no means be construed into an approbation of the system of government of the church of England. So

plainly do the readers in such chapels declare this, that they omit or alter passages in the common prayer, which appear not to accord with the general ideas of Christians. The fears which have been expressed by some, that the practice will prove injurious to the dissenting cause, are conceived by those who are friendly to the system to be without foundation. Strict dissenters, like strenuous churchmen, they say, will seldom attend statedly in such places, because the repetition of forms of prayer is unsuitable to their taste, so that it will not affect that class at all; and for one person who begins to dislike extemporary prayer and grows fond of a form, there are ten who grow weary of the liturgy, and give the preference to extemporary prayer. They further argue, that the influence of this system tends to break the shackles of inordinate attachment to party, to produce conciliation to dissenting ministers and their worship, and to increase the body of liberal professors of religion who are forward to every good work.

The presbyterians who had adopted forms of prayer under the preceding period, continued to use them: and when any congregation drank of the cup of socinianism, a liturgy became a desirable help to the people, or at least to their minister; for by a certain operation of sentiment, socinianism and extemporary prayer do not well accord. Among the rest the mode of worship remains the same as in the former period.

For their temporal support the dissenting ministers still depended on the contributions of the congregation, furnished according to their ability under the

influence of the equity of the maxim, "that those who impart to them spiritual good things, should receive of their temporal good things." To flesh and blood this method of provision does not appear so desirable as the salary of the state, or the tithe of the flock, and of the herd, and of the produce of the field: but with all its disadvantages nothing has yet appeared to alter the opinion, that as it was the first, it is the best, best for the minister, best for the people, and best for the cause of religion. Endowments on some particular congregations, made by opulent Christians, have an inviting appearance, and perhaps there are few ministers who would not wish to enjoy them; but experience has proved, that where they are large, in nine instances out of ten they are injurious to the minister, to the congregation, to the dissenting interest, and to true piety. Independence begets pride, and pride generates indifference or error, and sometimes both. Considerable sums of money left to train up young men for the ministry in the principles of the Assembly's Catechism, have been employed to give an academical education to the disciples of the racovian school. Valuable bequests for the benefit of ministers who were preaching the word of life to the poor who crowded the place, now support teachers of very different sentiments, who deliver their cold lectures to the pews and to the walls. An important lesson is thus taught by the voice of God in his providence, which may be said to establish it as a general principle, " that to make provision by stable funds for the advancement of religion in future ages is beyond our capacity: it is but to scatter on the ground pearls which may be trodden under foot of swine: that what can be done by men during their

life they should do; and that what is left by will should be expended for the cause of religion before the ordinary time of the decease of those into whose hands it is entrusted by the donor. If there be exceptions from this general rule, they by no means destroy the propriety of its adoption.

The funds established in the former period by the dissenters of the three denominations in London, still continue to exist, and they have furnished very seasonable relief to many poor congregations in the country. Their contributions were gradually aided by legacies, which created a durable capital. The independents and baptists give only to those of their own denomination. The presbyterians, more liberal, have dispensed of their bounty in numerous instances to both the others.

In the course of this period many benefactors, though not of considerable note for the amount of their gifts, communicated of their substance for the assistance of the ministers of poor congregations, and the relief of their widows. The most eminent of these was William Fuller, a banker in London. Frugality was necessary to him in youth, and the habit followed him when affluence had poured upon him her most abundant streams, and seemed to demand a more liberal mode of living. His peculiarities were not honourable to himself, for they brought reproaches on his character, but they were beneficial to others. He would take such pains to save a sixpence as to appear narrow in the extreme; but he had always his guineas ready for every application in behalf of the interests of religion. He would haggle for a

shilling, but he would cheerfully give away a hundred pounds for an object of Christian benevolence. With all his oddities, he was a pious and sensible man, well informed on religious subjects, and zealous for the doctrines of the Gospel. His patronage of the Heckmondwicke academy was an inestimable blessing to Yorkshire, which enjoys extensively the salutary fruits to the present time. His benefactions to the orthodox dissenters in various forms, were far beyond those of any other person since the commencement of the second period. He will deserve also the praise of liberality to other denominations besides his own, when it is mentioned, that he left a handsome sum to a fund for the benefit of the poor clergy. We have been informed, that an independent minister, who was intimately acquainted with him, declared, that in the course of Mr. Fuller's life, and at his death, he gave to the support of the cause of religion in different ways, to the amount of sixty thousand pounds. With the exception of lady Hewley, of York, who died in the end of queen Anne's reign, the dissenters have not had a greater benefactor to their cause than William Fuller.

With all these aids to the contributions of the people, the salaries of the dissenting ministers are exceedingly moderate. The immense rise in the price of every article of living, has been felt by none more painfully than by them. Though the salaries of many of them have been increased, they have in general by no means kept pace with the augmented rate of every thing necessary to subsistence. When the relative Whether blame be due to any on this account it may be proper inquire. The labouring class deserves no censure; they in