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Christianity out of sight-and talk long and enthusiastically before ignorant people, of the mysteries of our religion, and you will not fail to attract a crowd of followers :-verily the Tabernacle loveth not that which is simple, intelligible, and leadeth to good sound practice.

Having endeavoured to point out the spirit which pervades these people, we shall say a few words upon the causes, the effects, and the cure of this calamity. The fanaticism so prevalent in the present day, is one of those evils from which society is never wholly exempt; but which bursts out at different periods, with peculiar violence, and sometimes overwhelms every thing in its course. The last eruption took place about a century and a half ago, and destroyed both Church and Throne with its tremendous force. Though irresistible, it was short; enthusiasm spent its force-the usual recreation took place; and England was deluged with ribaldry and indecency, because it had been worried with fanatical restrictions. By degrees, however, it was found out that orthodoxy and loyalty might be secured by other methods than licentious conduct and immodest conversation. The public morals improved; and there appeared as much good sense and moderation upon the subject of religion as ever can be expected from mankind in large masses. Still, however, the mischief which the Puritans had done was not forgotten; a general suspicion prevailed of the dangers of religious enthusiasm; and the fanatical preacher wanted his accustomed power among a people recently recovered from a religious war, and guarded by songs, proverbs, popular stories, and the general tide of humour and opinion, against all excesses of that nature. About the middle of the last century, however, the character of the genuine fanatic was a good deal forgotten, and the memory of the civil wars worn away; the field was clear for extravagance in piety; and causes, which must always produce an immense influence upon the mind of man, were left to their own unimpeded operations. Religion is so noble and powerful a consideration-it is so buoyant and so insubmergiblethat it may be made, by fanatics, to carry with it any degree of error and of perilous absurdity. In this instance Messrs. Whitfield and Wesley happened to begin. They were men of considerable talents; they observed the common decorums of life; they did not run naked into the streets, or pretend to the prophetical character;-and therefore they were not com

mitted to Newgate. They preached with great energy to weak people; who first stared-then listened-then believed-then felt the inward feeling of grace, and became as foolish as their teachers could possibly wish them to be;-in short, folly ran its ancient course,-and human nature evinced itself to be what it always has been under similar circumstances. The great and permanent cause, therefore, of the increase of Methodism, is the cause which has given birth to fanaticism in all ages,the facility of mingling human errors with the fundamental truths of religion. The formerly imperfect residence of the clergy may, perhaps, in some trifling degree, have aided this source of Methodism. But unless a man of education, and a gentleman, could stoop to such disingenuous arts as the Methodist preachers, unless he hears heavenly music all of a sudden, and enjoys sweet experiences,-it is quite impossible that he can contend against such artists as these. More active than they are at present the clergy might perhaps be: but the calmness and moderation of an Establishment can never possibly be a match for sectarian activity.-If the common people are ennui'd with the fine acting of Mrs. Siddons, they go to Sadler's Wells. The subject is too serious for ludicrous comparisons: -but the Tabernacle really is to the Church, what Sadler's Wells is to the Drama. There, popularity is gained by vaulting and tumbling,-by low arts, which the regular clergy are not too idle to have recourse to, but too dignified: their institutions are chaste and severe, they endeavour to do that which, upon the whole, and for a great number of years, will be found to be the most admirable and the most useful: it is no part of their plan to descend to small artifices for the sake of present popularity and effect. The religion of the common people under the government of the Church may remain as it is for ever;-enthusiasm must be progressive, or it will expire.

It is probable that the dreadful scenes which have lately been acted in the world, and the dangers to which we are exposed, have increased the numbers of the Methodists. To what degree will Methodism extend in this country?-This question is not easy to answer. That it has rapidly increased within these few years, we have no manner of doubt; and we confess we cannot see what is likely to impede its progress. The party which it has formed in the Legislature; and the artful neutrality with which they give respectability to their small number, the talents of some of this party, and the unimpeached

excellence of their characters, all make it probable that fanaticism will increase rather than diminish. The Methodists have made an alarming inroad into the Church, and they are attacking the army and navy. The principality of Wales, and the East India Company, they have already acquired. All mines and subterraneous places belong to them; they creep into hospitals and small schools, and so work their way upwards. It is the custom of the religious neutrals to beg all the little livings, particularly in the north of England, from the minister for the time being; and from these fixed points they make incursions upon the happiness and common sense of the vicinage. We most sincerely deprecate such an event; but it will excite in us no manner of surprise, if a period arrives when the churches of the sober and orthodox part of the English clergy are completely deserted by the middling and lower classes of the community. We do not prophesy any such event; but we contend that it is not impossible,-hardly improbable. If such, in future, should be the situation of this country, it is impossible, to say what political animosities may not be ingrafted upon this marked and dangerous division of mankind into the godly and the ungodly. At all events, we are quite sure that happiness will be destroyed, reason degraded, sound religion banished from the world; and that when fanaticism becomes too foolish and too prurient to be endured (as is at last sure to be the case,) it will be succeeded by a long period of the grossest immorality, atheism and debauchery.

We are not sure that this evil admits of any cure,-or of any considerable palliation. We most sincerely hope that the government of this country will never be guilty of such indiscretion as to tamper with the Toleration Act, or to attempt to put down these follies by the intervention of the law. If experience has taught us any thing, it is the absurdity of controlling men's notions of eternity by acts of Parliament. Something may perpaps be done, in the way of ridicule, towards turning the popular opinion. It may be as well to extend the privileges of the dissenters to the members of the Church of England; for, as the law now stands, any man who dissents from the established church may open a place of worship where he pleases. No orthodox clergyman can do so, without the consent of the parson of the parish,-who always refuses, because he does not choose to have his monopoly disturbed; and refuses in parishes where there are not accommodations

for one half of the persons who wish to frequent the Church of England, and in instances where he knows that the chapels from which he excludes the established worship, will be immediately occupied by sectaries. It may be as well to encourage in the early education of the clergy, as Mr. Ingram recommends, a better and more animated method of preaching; and it may be necessary, hereafter, if the evil gets to a great height, to relax the articles of the English church, and to admit a greater variety of Christians within the pale. The greatest and best of all remedies is perhaps the education of the poor; -we are astonished, that the Established Church of England is not awake to this mean of arresting the progress of Methodism. Of course, none of these things will be done; nor is it clear, if they were done, they would do much good. Whatever happens, we are for common sense and orthodoxy. Insolence, servile politics, and the spirit of persecution, we condemn and attack, whenever we observe them;-but to the learning, the moderation, and the rational piety of the Establishment, we most earnestly wish a decided victory over the nonsense, the melancholy, and the madness of the Tabernacle.* God send that our wishes be not in vain.

* There is one circumstance to which we have neglected to advert in the proper place, the dreadful pillage of the earnings of the poor which is made by the Methodists. A case is mentioned in one of the Numbers of these two magazines for 1807, of a poor man with a family, earning only twenty-eight shillings a week, who has made two donations of ten guineas each to the missionary fund!

INDIAN MISSIONS. (EDINBURGH REVIEW, 1808.)

Considerations on the Policy of communicating the Knowledge of Christianity to the Natives in India. By a late Resident in Bengal. London. Hatchard, 1807.

An Address to the Chairman of the East India Company, occasioned by Mr. Twining's Letter to that Gentleman. By the Rev. John Owen. London. Hatchard.

A Letter to the Chairman of the East India Company, on the Danger of interfering in the religious Opinions of the Natives of India. By Thomas Twining. London. Ridgeway.

Vindication of the Hindoos. By a Bengal Officer. London. Rodwell. Letter to John Scott Waring. London. Hatchard.

Cunningham's Christianity in India. London. Hatchard.

Answer to Major Scott Waring. Extracted from the Christian Ob

server.

Observations on the Present State of the East India Company. By Major Scott Waring. Ridgeway. London.

Ar two o'clock in the morning, July the 10th, 1806, the European barracks, at Vellore, containing then four complete companies of the 69th regiment, were surrounded by two battalions of Sepoys in the Company's service, who poured in an heavy fire of musketry, at every door and window, upon the soldiers: at the same time the European sentries, the soldiers at the main-guard, and the sick in the hospital, were put to death; the officers' houses were ransacked, and every body found in them murdered. Upon the arrival of the 19th Light Dragoons under Colonel Gillespie, the Sepoys were immediately attacked; 600 cut down upon the spot; and 200 taken from their hiding places, and shot. There perished, of the four European companies, about 164, besides officers; and many British officers of the native troops were murdered by the insurgents.

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