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established forms of belief and worship were erroneous, I would endeavour, by every means in my power, to obtain the correction of them; but assured, as any one may be, on the most indubitable evidence, that schism is a sin, I would not incur the guilt of that sin, nor run the hazard of incurring it, for the sake of promoting speculative truth.

If it be said, that the doctrine of the Trinity, supposing it to be an error, is not a harmless one, inasmuch, as it is calculated to hinder men of enlightened minds from embracing Christianity, I answer, that I do not see how this can be said with much decency, when the characters of thousands are considered, who, in all ages since Christianity has been known, have heartily embraced it. With respect to Jews and Mahometans, to whose entrance into the Christian fold the doctrine of the Trinity may be supposed a hindrance, it will hardly be alledged, that they are enlightened above the rest of mankind. The true reason indeed of their not embracing Christianity is rather to be sought for in their ignorance, than in their knowledge, and is, in any case, to be referred to causes, with which the doctrine of the Trinity has no connection. There are much more powerful hindrances to the reception of Christianity, than any, which arise from speculative opinions. What these are, an apostle has informed us. See 2 Cor, iv. 3, &c. 2 Thess. ii. 10, &c.

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A

SIR,

MAGAZINE.

S a sort of answer to the suggestions of R. I. under which signature I recognise a friend, for whom I entertain sentiments of great respect and esteem, I wish him to be informed, that, before I had the pleasure of

seeing his letter, inserted in your last number, the difficulty, which he states, had occurred to me; and I feel some confidence in finding, that my ideas, respecting the proper remedy for it, so entirely agree with his. I have lately been employed in preparing for the press, four sixpenny tracts, which are intended for distribution among intelligent persons of the inferior ranks of life. The titles of these are:

1. Three Plain Reasons against separating from the established Church.

2. Three Plain Reasons for the Practice of InfantBaptism

3. An Admonition against Lay-Preaching.

4. An Exhortation to the Duty of catechising; with Observations on the Excellency of the Church-Catechism.

The first two of these, I perceive, my friend has seen. In the third, which was published in May, I have adverted to the difficulty above referred to; and, in the fourth, which is now in the press, and will soon be published, I have proposed, though briefly, the remedy which R. I. recommends. As it is possible that the insertion of my proposal in your miscellany may, by extending its circulation, improve the chance of its exciting the attention of others to the subject, and prepare the way for a more detailed plan, I will transcribe it for that purpose.

"I would not recommend a Lacedemonian method of education, by placing the direction of it entirely in the hands of the public; but I cannot help thinking, that, till we approach somewhat nearer to it than we do at present, we shall be very far from attaining the end, which, in a Christian country, ought to be aimed at in education. The only practicable remedy I can think of is, that, in imitation of our fellow-countrymen in Scotland, we institute schools in every parish, or every district of two or three parishes, and permit the attendance of the children of the poor, for the purpose of their being instructed in the art of reading, and in the first principles of religion, either gratuitously, or for a very small pecuniary payment, according as their circumstances, in the judgment of appointed persons, shall seem to require; and further, that such attendance be enforced by all motives, which are likely to have influence either on parents or their children, and which it may be thought proper to employ. In many cases, an attendance for an

hour

hour or two in the day would be sufficient to answer the desired purpose, and preferable to that long and irksome confinement, which is generally imposed on children, and which often excites in them an incurable dislike both to the school and to the knowledge intended to be acquired in it. As I would have no instructors employed who were not well qualified for so important an office, such a plan would be expensive to the public; but the expence, I am persuaded, would be abundantly compensated by the increased happiness of the people. Bishop Burnet, speaking of the learned and primitively pious Archbishop Leighton, after his retiring into Sussex, says, “ He lamented oft to me the stupidity that he observed among the common people of England, who seemed to be much more insensible, in matters of religion, than the common people of Scotland were." Hist. of his own Times, 1684. According to the best information I can obtain, the same difference in this respect between the lower orders of the people in England and those in Scotland continues to this day, notwithstanding the advantage which the former possess, in the establishment of a purer and more apostolical form of public worship; and this difference, I conceive, is principally owing to the circumstance, that parochial schools are so general, if not universal, in Scotland, and so rare, or so ill managed in England."

The necessity of adopting some such expedient is but too obvious. It has, I think, sufficiently appeared from experience, that, though some good may have resulted from Sunday Schools, they are, on the whole, inadequate to the intended purpose. Not to mention what I observed in 1787, soon after the first institution, that "one day of order and application will not countervail the ill consequences of six days spent in irregularity and idleness," it may justly he feared, that the application of that one day will be attended with many inconveniences. Perhaps it is not possible, that the elements of learning can be taught without painful exertions on the part of both teacher and learner. Certain it is, that, according to the methods usually pursued, they are not so taught; and it is greatly to be feared, that these exertions may be the occasion of associating with the idea of Sunday, such sensations as are incompatible with its being considered, what Sunday ought to be considered, a day of holy rest and religious joy. I conceive that part of the Sunday may very properly be employed in teaching the elements

of

of religious knowledge; but it appears to me doubtful whether any part of it, or at least any considerable part, can properly be employed in preparing the way for this, however necessary such a preparation may be in itself, by teaching the art of reading. Of this I feel assured, that more care ought to be taken, than frequently is taken, not to employ so great a portion of the Sunday inthis manner, as to produce sensations of fatigue or disgust in any of the parties concerned. The most, then, that can be said for the plan of Sunday schools, is, that it is better that nothing; that, as a step towards the accomplishment of a desirable purpose, it may be tolerated till a more effectual method be discovered and reduced to practice. Such a method, I believe, parochial schools would be found to be, if they were established by public authority, and put under proper regulations. The member of the legislature, who should form a plan to this purpose, and be the occasion of its becoming effectual, would deserve to have a statue erected to his memory. What is more, he would, by securing so just a claim to the "blessings of those (and they are thousands) who are ready to perish," to perish in the most essential sense, "for lack of knowledge," provide for himself a neverfailing fund of conscious satisfaction.

It is but too true, as R. I. complains, that the sermons of the clergy of the Church of England, excellent as they are acknowledged to be, are in a great degree rendered ineffectual by the ignorance of the people; and it is natural to inquire, when the instructions are so much above the level of the capacities of those who are to be instructed, whether it be more expedient to depress the former, or to raise the latter. For my own part, I am Father for a compromising plan, and would advise, that something should be done on both sides. Accordingly, I have expressed my wish, that preachers would make it their particular study to deliver the doctrines of the Gos pel, and the duties resulting from them, in the plainest language possible. Language, when written, may easily be too plain for the reader, but can hardly, when spoken, be too plain for the hearer. Something too, as R. I'. justly observes, independently of language, is to be attended to, in order to render a subject intelligible to uncultivated minds. For want of a proper choice and arrangement of ideas, or a happy mode of illustration, a discourse, which is delivered in very plain language, may Eol. VIII. Churchm. Mag. June 1805. 3K entirely

entirely fail of its intended effect. But, whatever care in these particulars is taken by the clergy, something must also be done on the side of the people; for it is scarcely possible, that those, who have not been previously instructed in the principles of religion, can receive much benefit from any sermon. Where there is a perpetual occasion of recurring to ideas, which have never been communicated, as well as to words (the signs of them) which have never been explained, the speaker must necessarily appear a "barbarian" to the hearer, and the hearer to the speaker*. I am, SIR,

Rempstone, June 6, 1805.

Your's, &c.

E. PEARSON.

A Hint to BISHOPS and BISHOPS CHAPLAINS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S

A

SIR,

MAGAZINE.

S Mr. Overton and his partizans continue to assert, or at least have not retracted the assertion, that they only are the true Churchmen, and that the great body of the Church of England, because they do not preach the doctrines of Calvin, are virtually dissenters from that Church, I submit it to the consideration of their lordships the bishops, and their chaplains, whether, in order to put a stop to such a dangerous schism, it may not be adviseable to examine, with more than usual strictness, into the opinions of those, who offer themselves as candidates for holy orders. Subscription to the articles has generally been considered as sufficient for this purpose; but, when an interpretation of the articles is arrogantly set up, which manifestly goes to render ineffec

1 Corin. xiv. 11:

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