they would convince us of the truth of it! Does any man tall

to me

ass."

-like a waiting gentlewoman

Of guns and drums and wounds, (God save the mark!),

And tell me that the sovereign'st thing on earth

Is parmaceti for an inward bruise,

And that it is great pity, so it is,

That villainous saltpetre should be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly; and, but for these vile guns,
He would himself have been a soldier,"

(First of King Henry the Fourth, the first and third), I say to myself, poor fool, you are only saying, “remember that I am an Does any fop agree with me, in the same breath, that the weather is both indifferent cold" and "exceedingly sultry," (Hamlet, the fifth and second)," though it be not written down, I do not forget that he is an ass."

II. Let us improve this subject by reflecting, secondly, how many people would express themselves truly by adopting the stultification, which another has put upon them, as a preparatory step to its refutation, and by saying, with Dogberry, "I am an How many more libelled men would come into court with truth on their side, if they entered it, repeating the very words which they are pleased to call libellous! "I am a knave; I am a liar; I am an incendiary."

ass."

III. Dogberry is a constable, or petty magistrate; and in him Shakspeare doubtless meant to represent the character of that class of men in general, who were at once ignorant and conceited. Oh, that they all had the self-knowledge to confess with Dogberry, "I am an ass." In many, nothing has been seen but the lion's skin: "robes and furr'd gowns hide all," (King Lear, the fourth and sixth). Dogberry "has two gowns and every thing handsome about him." Well might the poet make Touchstone disclaim, the appellation of ass, till he was rich enough to support the character with credit: "call me not fool," says he, "till heav'n hath sent me fortune." (As you like it, the second and seventh).

66

To conclude, the subject ought to teach us diffidence. Let us not, by talking upon topics which we do not understand, or by talking without deliberation upon those which we do, give op. portunity to any one to say of us, you are an ass; though it be not written down, I will not forget it." The subject ought to to teach us candour and self-knowledge. Should our tongues thus outstrip our judgments, let us confess at once with Dog"I am an ass;" berry, 66 so shall our anticipation prevent in others' discovery," (Hamlet, the second and second); and let us

beg

beg that it

may be "remembered in our punishment." Thus shall each of us, like Proteus, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, (the second and fourth, towards the beginning)

"Make use and fair advantage of his days;
His years but young, but his experience old,
His head unmellow'd, but his judgment ripe,
With all good grace to grace a gentleman."

ART. IV. On the Pernicious Effects of Methodism in our Fo reign Possessions.

SIR,

The church of England, and all sober Christians, are under obligations to you, for having exposed the Folly and Danger of Methodism, in the series of Essays which you first printed in the Examiner. But as your remarks are confined to the danger re. sulting from the increase of Methodism at home, allow me to point out to you, the extreme hazards to which our foreign possessions are exposed by the attempts of the Methodists to spread fanaticism in the East and West Indies.

In a late debate in the House of Commons, Mr. Whitbread is stated to have said, "I wish to get rid of an intolerance which would set in flames our most distant colonics."

When the recent transactions are stated, to which I presnme Mr. Whitbread alluded, your readers will determine whether his apprehensions are well or ill founded.

A number of fanatics, in the pay of a Methodist society in England, have resorted to the island of Jamaica, in order to con. vert to Methodism, or, as they call it, to pure and genuine Christianity, the Mulattoes and the unfortunate Negroes.

The legislative assembly, informed of the mischief caused by these enthusiasts, passed a law, restricting them from publicly preaching and praying in certain places and at certain hours. The preamble to the Bill expresses the wish of the assembly for the dissemination of Christianity, but contains also a description of the persons who were endeavouring to spread Methodism. adds, that the effects of their preaching were to throw some of their auditors into convulsions, others into fits, and in some, to cause mental derangement ;-all these effects, we know, have been produced by the prayers and sermons of Calvinistic and Arminian Methodists in England.

It

It cannot surely be supposed that a legislative assembly would introduce

D 2

introduce such assertions into the preamble of a public act, if the truth of them was not a matter of notoriety, nor can we believe that the Duke of Manchester would have given his sanction to a law, which was to have immediate effect, had he not been convinced of the truth of the facts contained in the preamble to the act.

The clamour raised by the Methodists in England, when they heard of this law, was unbounded. The bill came under the consideration of a Committee of the Privy Council, who advised his Majesty to disallow it, and on its being returned to Jamaica, the tub preachers resumed their operations. But the legislative assembly, still forcibly impressed with an opinion, that the peace and tranquillity of the island required them to silence these men, tacked a clause to a Regulation Bill, which prohibited all persons, the clergy excepted, from attempting to convert the black inha bitants. This clause received the sanction of the Duke of Manchester, and the Methodists were again silenced.

The Privy Council advised his Majesty to reject this Bill also, and to command his West Indian Governors, on no pretence what ever, to consent to any law concerning religion, unless it contained a clause to suspend its execution until the King's pleasure was signified upon it.

Here, Sir, we have, indeed, a strong proof of the influence of the Methodists with Government. These fanatical tub preachers in Jamaica, may keep the whole colony in a flame for three months, since the local government has no power to restrain them concerning religion. On hearing of this regulation, the legisla tive assembly determined to stop the supplies. The Governor dissolved them, and a new assembly was to be elected. The British inhabitants warmly supported their old representatives, and this, Sir, was the disturbed state of Jamaica, when the latest advices left that island.

We are told by Mr. Hook, that Mr. Larpent looks upon Me. thodists as very harmless people, that there is no difference be tween these tub preachers and our clergy, and that Government does not wish to see the Methodists ridiculed.

I fear Mr. Larpent speaks as to the sentiments of Government from good authority, for the unhappy dispute with the legislative assembly has no connection with the religion established by law.

You may probably recollect the celebrated Blagdon controversy. A very respectable old clergyman was dismissed from his curacy, by an order from a late bishop of Exeter, for having presumed to censure the conduct of a Methodist shoemaker, who was the master of one of Mrs. Hannah More's Sunday schools.. The western counties were kept in a flame for six months. the Methodists in the kingdom took the part of the shoemaker,

All

but

२

but in the end they were defeated, for the bishop became fully sensible of his error, and restored Mr. Bere, the clergyman, to his cure.

The conductors of the Christian Observer have condemned the conduct of the legislative assembly in the most intemperate and inflammatory language. On true Methodistical principles, they assign the motives by which the Members were actuated, resentment, caused by the abolition of the slave trade. They are accused of tyranny, of persecution, and their proceedings are called wicked and shameful. The conductors say that the resident clergy cannot extend their cares beyond the white inhabitants of Jamaica, and that, consequently, nine-tenths of the community must be left destitute of all instruction of religious worship. An admirable reason to assign, most undoubtedly, in support of a proposition to the legislative assembly, and to parliament, for doubling or trebling the number of the clergy now resident in Ja maica. But how does it apply to the objections urged against Jumpers and Methodists, who are laymen? The Christian Observer has not ventured to assert that the facts stated in the preamble of the act are false. If he can prove they were false, he will indeed render the legislative assembly thoroughly contemptible, but that the facts are true, every candid man must believe until the reverse is proved. First, because the members of the legislative assem bly are gentlemen; next, because none but fools would hazard such assertions if they were not true, and where it was so easy to detect the imposition: thirdly, because the Duke of Manches. ter would not, I am sure, approve a bill founded on false grounds: and lastly, because we all know that similar effects have been produced by the enthusiastic rantings of tub preachers in England,

The conductors of the Christian Observer call themselves mem. bers of the Established Church. Mr. Romaine, Mr. Cadogan, Mr. Newton, Mr. Whitfield, and Mr. Wesley, were members of it also-so are Doctors Haweis, Hawker, and Draper ;-so I believe is Mr. Rowland Hill,-but of the new school in the church, -in other words, Calvinistic Methodists, and of this new school are the conductors of the Christian Observer.

Another monthly publication, the Anti-Jacobin Review, is conducted by members of the old school, and they are supposed to speak the sentiments of our prelates, and of a great majority of the clergy and laity. The Anti-Jacobin Review early predicted the mischiefs which would be produced by Sectarian Missionary Societies, and the Christian Observer has very warmly defended the proceedings of these societies.

In one of the last numbers of the Anti-Jacobin Review, there is a passage which applies with the same degree of force to Ja. maica as to the East Indies :

Admitting it to be impossible to propagate Christianity in the East, without the aid of sectarian missionaries, still we contend that it is not justifiable in any members of the church of England to. resort to such agency, even for such a purpose. It is, indeed, most desirable to spread the light of Christianity over the face of the habitable globe. But unless the doctrine is admitted, that the end justifies the means, we are not authorised to employ such agency, even for such an object." That these sound and rational opinions. are the opinions of the dignitaries of the church, and of the great body of the clergy, is certain, because they have neither afforded countenance nor pecuniary assistance to the Sectarian Missionary Societies, consequently they must approve of the law passed by the legislative assembly of Jamaica concerning sectaries.

The committee of the Privy Council, however, were more favourably disposed towards Methodists.

Permit me now, Sir, shortly to state to you the proceedings of the Methodists, as applied to British India. From that empire they are excluded by a positive law, which applies equally to the peer and the peasant, to the prelate and to the tub preacher.

In

The law declares, that no British subject shall proceed to India, unless he has a license from the company to go there. breach of this law, two sectarian societies have sent a number of English missionaries to India, in foreign ships, conceiving, I suppose, in opposition to the sound opinion of the Anti-Jacobin Re view, that the end does justify the means, where the object is to propagate Methodism..

The two sectarian societies who have sent missionaries to India, are composed of Calvinists. They are supported by contributions from some of the evangelical clergy, from Methodists, and other Calvinistic dissenters.

Among the directors of the Methodist Missionary Society are Doctors Hawker, Haweis, and Draper, and Mr. Rowland Hill. The second society is called the Baptist Missionary Society, and its Managers are also rigid Calvinists. The members of both societies profess the doctrine of Calvin, that the election or the condemnation of all men that have lived, are now living, or that will live upon this globe in future, was determined by the Almighty before the creation of the world. Nothing, therefore, can be more absurd, as you justly observe, than for men holding this Calvinistic doctrine, to send missionaries among the heathen nations.

Much has been written on the subject of missions to British India. The total failure of success through the agency of these bigotted Calvinists, has been clearly proved. The danger to which our oriental empire must be exposed, if this missionary mania is not suppressed, or the work transferred to agents responsible to

Parliament