for a vigorous and consentaneous movement; while session after session has been lost in waiting for " a more convenient season." The Protestant Society is avowedly a popular association, formed for similar purposes, and has unquestionably rendered important services to the cause of religious liberty; but while its eloquent Secretary has been, year by year, amusing large audiences with graphic descriptions of petty acts of intolerance and oppression, both he and the Committee of that Society have neglected to aim an effectual blow at the hydra of persecution, by calling upon the friends of religious liberty to strive for the repeal of those unjust and intolerant laws, which are the fruitful source of all these vexations and hardships.

There are established in most of the counties and provincial districts of this kingdom, associations of Protestant Dissenting Ministers, and Churches, which are accustomed, at their stated meetings, to consider all questions affecting their religious interests, and devise means best calculated to promote the good of the whole; but the writer has yet to learn, that at any of those meetings, at least of late years, the attempt has been made to impress on the minds of the associated members, the iniquity and injustice of these penal statutes, or excite them to constitutional efforts for their repeal.

From the preceding facts, (for such they appear to your present correspondent to be, and if they are not such, he will be most happy to be undeceived and corrected,) but one conclusion can be drawn, namely, that the Protestant Dissenters of the present day are comparatively, if not completely, apathetic on the subject of the repeal of the Test Laws. To what is this torpor to be attributed? Is it that those statutes are a dead letter, and that, by the increasing

liberality of the age, they have become obsolete? or is it, that the object itself is no longer deemed desirable, and that the descendants of men, who once made a noble stand for the rights of conscience, consider those rights as no longer worth contending for? or, is it that they, like some of their brethren in the slave colonies, have been so long accustomed to bear the yoke, as scarcely to feel its pressure? or, is it that, despairing of success, they are content to forego the claim, and tamely surrender, in perpetuo, their rights as men and Britons?

This article, Gentlemen, would be too extended, if the real causes of the apathy now complained of were to be investigated; I shall, therefore, reserve the statement and refutation of those as the subject of my next letter, and remain, Yours, &c.

ANDREW MARVELL.

A NEW BALANCE, ALLEGORICALLY FITTED FOR THE COMMERCIAL WORLD.

IN conversing, not long since, with a friend, the all-commanding and all-absorbing topic was that which touched on the late distressing embarrassments and bankruptcies. "Legislature," said he, " has introduced new weights and measures, of which I do not complain; but we want some apparatus that has the power of ascertaining both capital and character, with facility and precision. As things now stand, if a man had the hundred eyes of the fabled Argus, it were impossible to do business with safety. While a house in trade goes on, its movements are too vast, various, and complicated to be easily understood; and when it stops, a series of years is necessary, with all the accomptants and legal advisers that can be summoned to the task, before a definite settlement can be

made. If, in this age of inventions, a balance could be contrived (and it is surely within the limits of possibility and hope) which would promptly discover every merchant's and tradesman's real and relative weight, what a saving of anxiety and labour would there be ! The suspended and poised chair of the celebrated Sanctorius, constructed for the purposes of health, was of little value compared with it. Oh, the very thought overpowers the mind with delight! I see a thousand, yea, ten thousand benefits to the nation, to Europe, to the whole world, from this single contrivance !"

My sanguine and somewhat romantic friend seemed so warmed with the subject, that, after we had parted, I fell into a deep reverie, and found myself in a large hall of the metropolis, where piles of ledgers, iron chests, bags, and bills, and desks were scattered around, and clerks, notaries, solicitors, agents, and principals were pouring in at every door. I could see, from the strong expression in each countenance, that all this stir and ferment could not have been produced by an ordinary cause. While I was musing, my friend came up to me, and, with as much rapture as Archimedes ever felt, exclaimed, "The balance, the wished for balance is found, is actually found, and will be forthwith tried!" We hastened to a part of the hall where the curious apparatus had been fixed. Waving at present any minute description, I shall just observe that the beam, in rising and falling, touched a long graduated plate of brass, called the Indicator, on which significant characters were engraven.

The first person who came forward to the trial, was a banker, highly applauded by the friends who accompanied him; for I could hear them confidently affirming that there was enough to pay

every one, and a very large surplus. The books were put into one scale, and the weights into the other; and the balance instantly discovered insolvency, and the assets could not be made, with the muster of every available paper and document, to rise above ten shillings in the pound. The man himself was now to be weighed ; and as the brazen Indicator had three conspicuous departments, marked Negligence, Extravagance, and Villany, all were impatient to learn which of these would be pointed out as the cause of the failure. He stepped into the scale, and the beam passed through all the degrees of Negligence, just touching, and now and then surmounting, the line of Extravagance. "Ah!" said one of the forementioned applauding friends, "this slight deficiency must be attributed to an undue and mistaken confidence reposed in agents;

For oft, though wisdom wakes, suspicion sleeps

At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity Resigns her charge; while goodness thinks no ill

Where no ill seems.'"

The next brought to the test was a merchant, of lofty port and plump ruddy countenance. The concern was soon found to be very bad, for his effects did not quite amount to a fourth part of the lawful demands upon him! Yet he appeared little cast down, and boldly declared that, if his property was gone, it would speedily be seen by every one that his honour remained. He seated himself in the scale, and the beam rose to the higher degrees of Extravagance, and vacillated over the line marked Speculation.

A plain country tradesman, with modest, but rather pensive aspect, was now hurried on by a bustling, morose-looking creditor, who uttered some most harsh and bitter censurés against him, which

several persons declared to be unmerited and unjust. The clamour of malignity did not, however, continue long, for a clap of exultation rent the air, when the scales proved that he was more than solvent.

The balance now began to gain some favour, and two persons, one a city shop-keeper, and the other a merchant, rushed forth at the same time, eagerly demanding the next turn. The dispute about priority being at length settled, these hectoring spirits successively leaped into the scale, and both rose nearly to the summit of Villany.

A full detail of the disclosures I witnessed, and the conflict of passions caused by them, would be tedious; I must therefore confine myself to some general re'marks.

Though a very great number of persons were weighed, only four were found solvent, and none of these had been deeply engaged in business; and in two cases the balance was so nearly even, that some difference of opinion prevailed. In a vast majority of instances, the insolvents were marked by the clear indications of moral delinquency. The trembling beam played over the surface of that department of the brass plate designated Extravagance; and, after hovering for some time about the obscure line termed Speculation, frequently sprung, by a sudden motion, to the ultimate point of Villany: yet such as were proved to be finished bravoes, had still effrontery enough to ridicule those whom they had before wronged.

Some commercial failures appeared, from the brass Indicator, to be occasioned by disaster, defect of judgment, want of method, or precipitancy. The cause of such persons excited sympathy in the bosoms of all who had any regard to the claims of honour and

humanity, and had freed their minds from prejudice and partyfeeling.

But the new-invented balance was far from pleasing the great majority of the people. Politicians said it might endanger the state; speculators declared it would be hostile to a spirit of enterprize, and ruinous to trade; but no class of men spoke so vehėmently against it as the lawyers, who called it the Pandora's box of the present age. It was execrated as a dangerous innovation, as a false standard, by most men; and by those who were touched with superstition it was regarded as a magical machine, which could only be constructed by the occult principles of the black art. The more persons were unmasked and detected in their knaveries, the greater was the clamour; so that, at last, creditors could hardly get any one to submit either his accounts or his character to the dreaded test. It was easy to see that the ferment of indignant passion was rapidly rising to a crisis. A ring of learned lawyers, after laying their heads together, having given some significant hints to certain resolute fellows, who had great interest in the money-market and the mercantile line, they rushed forward in a furious onset, attacked the balance with huge cudgels and iron bars, suddenly reducing it to fragments, and raising a shout of triumph. Never did starving, irritated artists demolish spinning-jennies or powerlooms with half the avidity and frantic rage that now broke out, and defied all remonstrance and opposition. My sanguine friend stood aghast and pale at the scene of violence before him; but, stepping up to me, said, "Be not dismayed; there is a model of this admirable invention safely preserved, and I have no doubt the utility of the machine will eventually gain a place for it in

every trading city and town of the empire."

İt were endless to expatiate on the benefits to be derived from the balance above-described; but, should it not come into use, some advantage might arise from studying the principles on which it is constructed, and the results already stated. Those who failed through negligence, as appeared from credible and numerous testimonies, were remarkable for late rising, lingering dilatory habits, fits of haste and impatience, succeeding seasons of lethargy and inaction. What properly belonged to the principal had been often entrusted to subordinate agents.

When failure sprung from extravagance, oral evidence, in ample plenitude, came in to ratify the decision of the balance. One had possessed two or three expensive houses at the same time; another had figured away in the splendid walks of fashion and amusement; a third had affected to be a connoisseur in the fine arts, lavishing out money on the choice productions of the finest masters; a fourth had herded with pugilists, projectors, and gamesters.

The tricks and dark contriv ances of villany were so numerous, and so dextrously managed, that if a narrative of them were faithfully given, it would spread out to a great length, and wear the air of fiction.

In a word, by a careful study of the world, as it is, not as it appears to the careless eye, every man in business may acquire an experience which will approximate, though never perhaps quite equal, the wonderful balance above-described. Where he sees slothful and self-indulgent habits, or finds falsehood, or fraud, he may well imagine he beholds the beam traversing the various degrees of moral delinquency, and should be on his guard. Nor will he be often imposed upon by soft smiling complaisance, or lofty daring pretensions, or subtle crafty artifices. His judgment, formed, guided, and established by knowledge and experience, is the halance in which actions and characters are weighed; and though these results are not uniformly correct, they will seldom be far from the truth. J. T. B.

June 9, 1828.

Ireland, Bristol.

Madeley, Sept. 21, 1773. MY VERY DEAR FRIEND. I thank you for your last. I do not hear from my brother. My views of a journey abroad continue the same. I have considered what you say about the translation of my Appeal; and, I think, I might from it take the hint, and do it some day; Lay I tried to turn a paragraph or two the day after I received your letter, but found it would be a difficult, if not impossible work for me. I am sure I could not do it abroad. On a journey I am just like a cask of wine, I am good for nothing till I have had some time to NEW SERIES, No. 20.

adds weight to your kind arguments; but supposing he or the people did not alter his mind, this would not sufficiently turn the scale in point of conscience, though it is already turned in point of affection. My spiritual circumstances are what I must first look at. I am brought to a point; I must have a deliverance, into the liberty of a higher dispensation; I tremble lest outward things should hurt me. The multiplicity of objects, circumstances, and avocations, which attends travelling, is little suited to my case. I think that, all things considered, I should sin against my conscience in going abroad, unless I had a call from necessity or from clearer provi3 H

dences. Should Mr. W. find a desire of accompanying you, I think you may set out with a single eye according to your light and your faith; and I trust the journey would be of service and comfort to both; and in that case my heart shall go along with you. But you must haste, for the roads of Burgundy will soon be broken. My request is that you may see your way plain, be fully persuaded in your own mind, and be led and covered by the cloud of divine protection. If you go, pray pad out and converse with the Convulsionaires. I wrote a letter to dear L. H., but have not sent it for fear of my meaning being mistaken. So long as I am engaged in the controversy, I believe she thinks I am fighting against our dear Lord. I wrote to Mr. Hill that I would send him my manuscript answer to his Finishing Stroke; but he has refused to see it. I have given it to Mr. Fawcett (who called here last week,) for his inspection. I had rather the spot of M. Chester than Kingswood, both for air and situation, but the objection of building is to me capital; there is no end of the trouble and expense it will involve you in. I hope you and your dear spouse drop a tear of mournful joy over a little cherub in glory, without one repining thought. O my friend, how near are we to eternity, how near the Lord; may our eyes and hearts open, that we may see the glory that shall be revealed without a veil of unbelief. Give my kindest love and thanks to Mrs. Piercy, and tell her, my best prayers attend her, that she may have a full gale to make the heavenly harbour. You need patience and hope with your son; he may by and by return with the prodigal son. My kindest love and christian respects wait upon Mrs. Ireland, Mrs. Norman, and Miss Brain. I hear that your sister is settled at Aston, in Staffordshire, twelve miles off a place where I preach sometimes; she keeps a boarding or day school, and has many scholars. I remain with brotherly and friendly affection and gratitude, your's in Jesus.

J. FLETCHER.

writing to one whom I never had the satisfaction of seeing, and the pleasure of hearing from the pulpit, I have no better apology to make for the giving you this trouble.

I have not only heard much of you, but have seen some of your writings, and can't but adore that providence who hath raised you up in the church, I hope to be signally useful in your day, and particularly to give a revival to doctrines almost laughed out of countenance by a vain and loose world, and to drooping vital religion, which has so sadly and apparently sunk into formality and luke

warmness.

I doubt not, but while God raises you up many friends and admirers, and gives you abundant encouragement, by favouring you with no small success, you meet with some that do all they can by gainsayings to check you in your sacred ambition, and oppose your pious intentions. But I hope, dear Sir, none of these things move you; you have, I doubt not, sat down, and counted the cost, before you engaged; you know very well that the cause of God hath, in all ages, met with but sorry quarter from a vain and evilminded world; yet Satan owes them a spight that appear vigorously for God;. and sure if they called the master of the house Belzebub, much more must they expect such treatment that are of his household.

Your sermon upon regeneration gave me a pleasing surprise; I thought it wonderful (rara avis in terra), that a young clergyman just come from Oxford, should see the necessity of preaching that doctrine, and should have the courage to tell the world, that he believed so stale and obsolete a point, what has been for so many years banished the pulpits of the generality of the clergy of the Church of England. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of lights, and the God of all grace, that hath thus signalized and honoured you; that a spirit of wisdom and revelation, the spirit of knowledge and a sound mind have been imparted to you; that he hath revealed his Son in your soul, while so many of the aged, the

G. Whitefield.

Warminster, Feb. 18, 1738-9. REV. SIR,-If my real and intimate respect for you will not excuse my

Probably Lady Huntingdon,

the world, are such babes in knowledge, and so purblind in their conceptions of the great mysteries of the gospel; and that hath touched your heart with a live coal from his own altar, and thereby warmed and animated you with a lively zeal, to spread the savour of Christ's