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the way in which the Reply was written, some persons in England might suppose that all Scottish Institutions had been hitherto coldly treated by the friends of religion in the south. This is not the feeling in Scotland. The complaint is confined to one Society.

Lastly. It seems to be taken for granted by the writer, that the English Societies can only pay their debt to Scotland in pounds, shillings, and pence; that no moral remuneration has ever been given; and that the whole matter, notwithstanding the disclaimer of your correspondent, must be viewed as a mere secular, commercial affair.

Now, I am bold to say that, though England has, in the estimation of the writer, contributed so little of her worldly substance to Scottish Institutions, yet the intercourse that she has had with the north, through her religious Institutions, has been productive of the best effects to Scotland. I might go back to the earlier days of the London and Baptist Missionary Societies; to those seasons when, among others, FULLER visited Scotland, to impart some of his ardour and devotedness in the cause of Missions to the sons of the north; when his visits, and those of other friends from the south, were hailed as occasions of the truest joy; when all that was liberally contributed, was considered as a small return for that moral excitement, that drawing forth of the best affections of the heart, produced by their labours and their communications.

These were days, however, the close of which I only saw; but I may confidently appeal to those in Scotland who, for a series of years, have supported the two Institutions just named, if they ever grudged the assistance they rendered, or sought any other return, than the success of the Institu

tions, and renewed visits from their friends. Let one of the most eloquent members of the Deputation to London in 1819 speak for his country:

"We acknowledge that our hearts, in our northern clime, have been often warmed, and animated, and refreshed, by the visits of our friends from the south, when they have done us the honour to appeal to our sympathy, and solicit the co-operation of our hearts and hands, in a common cause. We would express our thankfulness to those members of the London Missionary Society, of the British and Foreign Bible Society, of the Baptist Missionary Society, and others, who this day honour us with their presence, for the impulse which these inspiring communications have often given us at home. We do not complain that you have impoverished or exhausted rather you have increased our resources, by giving new vigour to that perennial spring of Christian affection and generosity, which is the treasury from which our Sovereign Leader would have all his supplies drawn."*

us;

I do not, however, say that this is all the south should impart. No; let England give help to the religious Institutions of the north according to their claims. Far be it from me to check the spirit of liberality which should exist in this country; but neither let an array of figures, a cold financial statement of accounts, dry up the streams of liberality in Scotland. Let Christians there exercise their discrimination, respecting the Societies they should assist, and the proportion they should impart to each; but let no friend of the Scottish Missionary Society suppose for a moment, that a with

* Speech of the Rev. H. Grey, in London, March 16, 1819.

holding from English religious Institutions will materially benefit its funds. It may, for a time, increase them; but a very small proportion of what is withheld will continue to flow into its coffers, or, indeed, into the treasury of other Scottish Institutions.

I wish the intercourse between the two countries to be kept upnay, to increase. The union that should cement the Christians of both kingdoms is stronger than the bonds of human law, and we should act on higher principles than those of barter. Love to Christ should unite our zeal, and property, and prayers, in seeking to promote his cause. This will be better than for one nation to assume the attitude and language of the servant in the parable, and say, Pay me what thou owest!”

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I know that many of the friends of the Scottish Missionary Society are the friends of the London Missionary Society; that some of the best men in the Church of Scotland, that the respectable ministers of the Secession, have long been its warm supporters; and that the Independents, according to their ability, have done well. That this will continue to be the case, I have no doubt, as long as that Institution keeps its great principles and object in view, and that there will appear no sufficient reason for withdrawing from any one of the English religious Institutions more than is meet; for we are assured, by the highest authority, that

it tendeth to poverty." I take my leave of your correspondent, expressing a hope that neither of our communications may injure, in any degree, that cause which, I trust, (notwithstanding some difference of opinion,) we both love; that they will not stop, or turn aside into a wrong channel, one stream of supply to the Institutions of Christian benevolence; and that, when a

Scottish Deputation again visits the south, no complaint of its reception will be considered necessary by its members, when they return to the land of their fathers.

A COUNTRY MINISTER.

་་་་་་་་་་་་

EXPLANATORY REMARKS ON THE VISIT OF THE SCOTTISH DEPUTATION.

(To the Editors.)

GENTLEMEN. Having observed in the last two numbers of your valuable and interesting publication, a pretty extended reference to the dissatisfaction of our good friends in the North, with the reception which the last Deputation from the Scottish Missionary Society met in London, I am induced to offer to the consideration of your readers a very brief statement of facts, which I am ready to think will remove from their minds any unfavourable impression which they may unhappily have received. Prior to the visit which the Deputation from Scotland paid to our metropolis, the Secretary to the Society forwarded to a large number of ministers in and near London, a circular letter, announcing the proposed visit, and requesting information whether it would be suitable, at the time mentioned, to allow the worthy ministers to plead in our respective pulpits, the cause of the Scottish Missionary Society. To this circular the Secretary received more than twenty negative replies, stating a variety of reasons of a local and temporary nature, which rendered the time proposed particularly inconvenient. Some places of worship had undergone large and expensive repairs and alterations. In others, collections had been made within a few weeks for other important institutions. Most of the churches of our own denomination had received, but a very little before, the application of the Rev. G. Ewing, of Glas

I will not prolong this letter further than to say, that if at any future time which shall be found mutually eligible, a Deputation from the Scottish Missionary Society shall visit London, I shall be most happy, as I doubt not but my brethren will be also, to offer them our pulpits, and to do all in our power to facilitate that great object, in relation to which we are all one; the extension of the kingdom of our adorable Redeemer.

gow, in favour of the Congrega- rendered the application incontional Union of Scotland. Such venient. as these were the motives which induced, which, indeed, obliged very many ministers to object to the time of the projected visit. And great was our surprise, when, notwithstanding these multiplied negatives, the Deputation, either preceded by, or accompanied with, the worthy Secretary, made their appearance; and the surprise, allow me to say, was as much felt by the Scottish Ministers in London, whether of the Established Church, or of the Secession, as by the Congregationalists. That, in these circumstances, their applications were as successful as they appear to have been, is really more wonderful than that they were not more so. There was no feeling of coolness to the great object which they were desirous of pleading. On the contrary, in wishing the visit to be postponed, we anticipated some more favourable season, when we might be able to receive them into our pulpits, and send them away loaded with success.

By the simple statement of these facts, with which I happened to be better acquainted than my companions, I was instrumental, in the course of a long journey in Scotland, during the last summer, when I was deputed to plead the cause of the London Missionary Society, in removing from the minds of ministers of various denominations in Edinburgh, Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose, Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow, and many other places, the very mistaken impressions which had been widely circulated. And although there were places and congregations to which we had no access, from similar causes to those before mentioned, we never presumed to insinuate or to suppose that the negative arose from any cause but that which was assigned, some local or temporary reason, which

I am, Gentlemen,

Your Friend and Brother,
A LONDON CONGREGATIONAL
MINISTER, and one of the late
Deputation to Scotland, from
the London Missionary Society.

་་་་་་་་་་

WHISPERS.

"Hi narrata ferunt alio."

OVID.

They tell what they have heard. IT has been, time immemorial, the lot of writers to know very little of the world; and as I suspect, Mr. Editor, that you, along with most of the scribbling tribe, have little leisure to hear the conversation of our religious parties, either in town or country, I have presumed to think, that at least it may amuse you to hear a few of the whisperings and remarks to which your monthly budget gives rise. It was suggested to me the other day, that as I visited, in the course of my business, various places and companies, I might inform you of the opinions of at least a respectable number of your readers, and render you some service, by putting you on your guard against the designs which are forming, in several quarters, against you. Without further introduction, therefore, I shall proceed to advertise to you, that you are generally esteemed, among the liberals of the day, too stiff a dissenter;

and that a design has been for some time on foot among the Evangelical Episcopalians, for supplying regular replies to all your argumentative pieces upon dissent. Indeed I was told, a short time since, by an Episcopalian, that you had done more to propagate and strengthen the principles of dissent, than any publication since the time of the bitter old Towgood. I told my worthy friend, that at least the church party had shown quite as much zeal of late in attacking dissenters, and, to my thinking, less sobriety and candour. I reminded him of the Quarterly on Dissent, and of a long series of replies in defence of the Church against your Magazine, published lately in an Epis copalian periodical, but I found he was rather sore upon that subject, and so I dropped it. He seemed anxious, however, to assure me that those "letters" were not considered able and satisfactory answers, and that it was intended soon to take up the subject again, and that the new "series of letters against Dissent" was to be written by the reviewer of "Palmer's Catechism," in the "

Re

view," (known in the trade by the name of " My Grandmother's Review.") I thanked my good friend for his candour, and took my leave. You will be astonished, perhaps, to find that you are talked of in coffee-houses; but having to meet a friend a short time since, who is inclined to the Unitarian Theology, I was somewhat surprised to find he was very much out of temper with all the orthodox; so much so, that I could hardly get him to settle the business for which we met, through asking me a variety of questions about the violent attacks which had been made lately in your magazine upon the Socinians. Indeed, he said, it was shameful to see so respectable a body of men, dragged before the public, and

impeached of what was represented as little better than dishonesty. Then he inquired if I knew who the Editor of your work was, or if I could tell him who wrote the review of "Robberds" and "the Manchester Controversy;" to both of which questions I was able to give a negative answer, so that you need not yet fear either a duel or a horsewhipping. However, I may just whisper to you, that after he had spent his anger, he concluded by saying, "Well, I can tell you that our friends have got a rod in pickle for your party, that will make them repent of interfering with our endowments." I took leave of my companion without being convinced that you had in this particular done wrong. I wish, Mr. Editor, I could always defend you as satisfactorily as in this instance. For though I do not see any great prospect of success against these gentlemen, yet, you may possibly make some of them feel the force of the old adage, Conscientia grave pondus est.

My next rencontre was of a different description. Having taken a. short ride one leisure day to a friend's villa in the country, I met, in the evening, an intelligent party, who, among other topics of discussion, connected with the religious world, brought upon the tapis your late paper on Ministers' Sons. The opinions of all the party were freely expressed, and, with the exception of one rather precise old maiden lady, were decidedly opposed to your correspondent. One gentleman marked, that he thought the fact assumed was false and invidious; that there were certainly not more sons of ministers profligate, than sons of other men; but that from the prominency of the fathers' characters, and the contrast of the sons', when such cases occurred, we took more notice of them; upon the same principle as specks

re

and blemishes are more noticeable when they stand nearer to the lines of beauty. A lady present, who was renowned for her good taste, and who had been the daughter, and was now the sister of an eminent minister, said, she thought Imus had much overdrawn the whole domestic scene, and that he had descended to a sort of description that was too low and trifling. This led a third individual to say, that since he had read that paper, he had taken a survey of all the ministers he knew, and of their families; and that he thought, instead of the fact being as your correspondent had represented, there was quite an equal proportion of pious sons in the families of ministers, as among pious persons of other ranks that he could number up many ministers' families, distinguished for the piety and talents of the sons-that he believed a very large proportion of the young ministers were sons of ministersand that, upon the whole, the children of ministers, and pre-eminently that the daughters of ministers, were distinguished by quite as large a proportion of piety as the children of other Christian families.

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A few days after this visit, I heard a gentleman of great respectability, who is said to be an extensive reader, speak in high praise of the reviewing department of your magazine. At the same time he said, there was so much secresy in your movements, that he never could ferret out the names of your most distinguished reviewers. An article which appeared above seven years ago, and which had attracted universal attention, remained, he said, yet unappropriated, and to this day, was ascribed to at least four different persons. Upon the whole, he was highly satisfied with your labours in this way. But to prevent your being too much elated with this, I will now tell you of

another fact, as a set off. Last summer I visited an eminent dissenting minister, in the west of England, who told me he was enraged at your reviewer, for treating with such faint praise the admirable work of Mr. Douglas on Society. I think it right, moreover, that you should know, that in your review of this work, you have greatly differed from several other periodicals.—But now, Mr. Editor, let me tell you how you stand with the ladies. A friend of mine, near London, informed me lately, that your poetry had gained you many friends among this class of readers; and that, as an individual, he must say, you had inserted many very choice little morsels. Being no great admirer of the muses, I replied, I hoped you would be informed of the interest the ladies took in this department of your work, that you might exercise proper diligence in providing them with a due supply; and not be again put to your shifts, as you evidently were in March last, for that I could not help thinking, that at least one of your poems in that number, would have been much better "Past" over; but that since it was 66 past," I hoped it would never be succeeded by any more of the same sort, and be treated like most past things— soon forgotten. I can assure you, Mr. Editor, that since your farfamed Baptismal Controversy, you have had few articles that have created a stronger sensation than that entitled " Embryo Literature," signed Simon Hornbookius. Both praise and blame, as you might expect, have been in excess. Some of us laughed heartily, and thought we could trace out some palpable hits. One gentleman I met with near Birmingham, thought it needed a key; and another I saw in London, supposed himself satirized, and assured me he intended to resent the insult, and that he would never again look

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