attention to the subject; not so much to describe the fair proportions and beautiful harmony of the system, as to induce those who have hitherto been careless and unconcerned spectators, (although professed admirers,) to examine its firm foundations, and to mark its strong and impregnable bulwarks; and if, in any instance, this effect should be produced, the object of the writer will be gained. Kingsland Road, Oct. 1826.

.

on the chancel end of All Saints Church, opposite to the High Street, bearing a long but defaced inscription. Having with some difficulty deciphered it, I thought it worthy of transcription, as affording a very salutary hint to many in the present day; and for its greater usefulness permit me to solicit its insertion in your miscellany.

This Monument is erected

A MONUMENTAL HINT TO

BANKRUPTS.

(To the Editors.)

of

GENTLEMEN,-It is much to be deplored, that in our great commercial bodies there is found a large class of individuals who have not learned to distinguish between legal obligation and moral duty, and who, when absolved from the obligations of law, by a decision in the Insolvent Debtors' Court, or by the process a commission of bankruptcy, engage again in trade, and acquire wealth, not for the benefit of their injured creditors, but for their own personal indulgence or family aggrandizement. I will not occupy your columns by exposing the turpitude of such conduct, but beg to introduce an instance of a more honourable and righteous procedure.

Spending a few hours in the town of Huntingdon, I was attracted by a monumental tablet

Maltster and Corn Merchant, who died the 22d of June, 1774. He was an example of piety during his life, and of honesty at his death, for though a bankruptcy brought his character for a while under a cloud, his religion inspired him with sentiments at last to dissipate it, by bequeathing all his after-acquisitions, which were considerable, to his creditors, to whom alone his conscience could determine them due, that if he had scandalized the world by some miscarriages, he hath instructed it by repairing them to the uttermost of his power. Who chose rather to leave his relations in want, than to transmit to them a patrimony of male. diction, and to give them an example of equity rather than the fruit of injustice.

"Go thou, and do likewise."

I was happy to learn that some of the inhabitants of this neat little town propose to raise a subscription to repair a tablet,

which celebrates the influence tified to add, have preserved of principles that, I am grathis place from those commercial failures which have involved so many towns of the empire in alarm and ruin. I am, Gentlemen,

VIATOR.

XXV.-The Rev. John and Mrs. Mary Fletcher, of Madeley, to John Thornton, Esq.

Madeley, July 24-82. DEAR SIR-Your kindness to John, Mary, and Nathaniel, has filled us with joy and thankfulness. The rich present, by a strange attraction, drew the hearts

of John and Mary to the footstool of the Author of every good gift, and we asked, with tears of admiration, that your seed sown, might produce a spiritual and temporal harvest for you and yours. Nathaniel was wanting to our little eucharist; the golden shower reached him the next day; a serious

sister of his was just come to see him, and she bore my Mary's part in his joy. I waited two or three days to enclose his thanks with mine in this sheet, but he is gone to communicate his joy to Mr. Halton, and to take his directions about going to Wales; whence (if not from here) he will date his thankful acknowledgments. The cloud which hangs over London, is a picture of that which hangs over the nation. Blessed be God, some of Abraham's children plead yet with the Lord to turn away wrath from this island, and a few righteous, mourning Lots, keep yet off the judgments which threaten Sodom the great. Were it not for them, and for such, all the plagues which have befallen Babylon and Ninevah, would soon befal Rome, London, and Paris; for those great cities are only squares of mystic Babylon, where lives the scarlet whore, where corrupt and bastard Christianity sitteth as a queen. My wife and I are much led to look for what St. Paul calls, the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ; who will come with his triumphant church, to set at liberty the militant, to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe. We sometimes anticipate our resurrection bodies; and it was well we had them not in reality the other day, for we would have rushed into your apartment, and you might have been frighted by the apparition of John and Mary, expressing their thanks at your feet, and praying that you might have the lot of rich Abraham in the renewed earth. John and Mary thank you, Sir, for your good epigram upon their union. Had John relished Martha's doctrine, Mary would soon have converted him to that of St. Paul, for if she had rivals, she would eclipse them all in his eyes; and next to the two Comforters (Christ and the Spirit) the other best gift of God to his unworthy self, as she helps him both in spirituals and in temporals. He cannot sufficiently admire the goodness of Providence in reserving such an help-meet for his old

age.

Your moral counsels in verse contain much in a few lines; when John was abroad he wrote a little French Poem, since published; give him leave to transcribe some lines of it; the article where he addresses the rich, he wrote for the French, not to the Thorntons. The evangelical part of the poem is on the address to philosophers, and to the clergy, and he thinks, with pleasure, that you have given him the hint of the

directions he gives to the rich among the French. But if you make a good use of the blessings of Providence, you ought to remember that you have nothing but what you have first received. That we may all, to the Redeemer's glory, make a better use of all our talents, is the prayer of, Dear Sir,

Your obliged, devoted Servants,

JOHN and MARY FLETCHEer.

XXVI.-Rev. John Newton to John Thornton, Esq. London.

Olney, ye 27 April, 1776. MY DEAREST SIR-Your obliging favour of the 25th, coming about the usual term of my writing, I return you immediate thanks for it, and for the inclosed note. I should not have much leisure for writing next week, as I preach at Collingtree on Wednesday, expect Mr. Venn on Thursday, and on Friday or Saturday go to Bedford and Yelling. The following week, that is on the 13th of May, I expect Sir Harry Trelawney here, with Mr. Rose.

I think the names of Paul Bass, Capt. Bales, and John Davison, which you mention, are new to me. I thank you for the trouble you took in transcribing the letter, which is indeed a very good one. It is confirming and comforting to see how the same Lord teaches the same leading truths to all his children, however differently situated in life. A seafaring life affords a very instructive and easy allusion to the spiritual voyage. When the wind and weather are fair, it is pleasant sailing; and the storms and changes after arise, yet the Lord, in his good providence, preserves many a vessel in the midst of a thousand dangers and hindrances, and guides them safe to the desired haven. În spirituals, not one of whom he undertakes the charge shall be cast away. Though many are, for a season, sorely tempest tossed, but a word from him in the time of need, can make the storm a calm.

I quite agree with you in thinking that they who admire the Lord's goodness and grace in Luke Hayward, in the station in which the Lord has called and maintained him, should be very cautious how they attempt to move him out of it. Faithful witnesses are much needed, and may be greatly blessed in the army. The poor soldiers have but few helps or opportunities-they corrupt one another, and are hardened in sin by the example of their officers. Here and there the Lord places a servant of his amongst them, and though flesh and blood might

desire a more quiet way of life, and to be freed from the command of others, yet I shall be glad to hear Mr. Hayward perseveres in preferring usefulness to his brethren, to any pleasing prospects that may be made him. And if you continue to think that, upon the whole, he is best where he is, it is probable your advice would help to keep him steady. When things are done, I endeavour to see the Lord's will in them, and to hope the event will be right; but I was rather sorry when Mr. Scot left the army; I questioned whether he was not mistaken, though he meant well, in thinking himself indispensably called to preach publicly. I thought he might, by treading in the steps of Col. Gardiner, have been very useful in a course of time, both to officers and soldiers; I trust the Lord has blessed him, and made him a blessing, since he has worn a black coat, for he is gracious to his people, though they may sometimes mistake their path. But his permission does not justify the propriety of every measure they adopt. And I think none ought to move from their callings, without being well satisfied that the pillar and cloud goes before them.

After Lord D.'s disappointment about Halifax, I think he can hardly be refused any thing (especially a small thing) he may think proper to ask, and I hope he will not hesitate to use his interest in favor of Mr. Rowlands. I find many professors affect to speak with indifference, or rather contempt, of his Lordship, which I am sorry for. If they knew him, and knew themselves better, they would not talk so. They have neither knowledge of his situation, nor candor of spirit sufficient to make due allowances. I believe, indeed, that he does not do all he might in espousing and forwarding the Gospel cause, but surely they who think him able to do every thing they wish are mistaken.

I am much obliged to you for accepting my petition in behalf of the poor man. If I can give him notice in time, and he can go up directly, he will probably be waiting for you on Tuesday. I shall give him a line to Mr. Crawford. The case of the late Duchess of Kingston, and many others, shows that they who live without God in the world and make light of his commandments, though they may have a smooth interval, do but prepare sorrow for themselves. If the papers may be credited, she is within a possibility of being un-ladied, after having been un-duchessed. If this should be the event, and the will of the

Duke likewise be set aside, she would exhibit a remarkable instance of the vanity and instability of worldly grandeur. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and his grace is exceedingly valuable, even in a temporal view, as the only prevention from those innumerable evils into which the indulgence of unsanctified passions is liable to plunge us continually.

I am glad to hear that the journey prov'd favorable to Mr. Wilberforce, and pleasant to all the party. If he should be willing some time to take a journey to Olney, we should rejoice to receive him, and the same company that went with him this time. We would have the house clear of other guests if possible, when we have expectations of such a visit. I wish my bishop's acquaintance with you may prove for his good. If your dozen visitants were rather a cross and interruption to you, I imagine they would be pleasing enough to him. He has behaved with kindness. to me, and I feel a love for him, and therefore pity him. He likes a decent clergy, but I am afraid has no idea of any thing further. Alas, they who get no more by the Gospel, than jurisdiction, profit, and worldly honor, have a poor all; may the Lord give them to see the things belonging to their peace. I shall be glad if my letter to Richard may have any good effect. Have been interrupted several times in writing, but have somehow reached the bottom of the paper. I preach a funeral sermon to-morrow for a young woman, the third of my people who have been removed within these few weeks. I ought not to be sorry that they are safe out of the reach of storms, yet I feel as if bereaved. But I trust now and then one is called to supply their places. It is all in the Lord's hands, with whom I desire to leave it. Blessed be his name, unworthy as I am, he has not suffered me to labor altogether in vain. O for a good day to-morrow. You and yours are much upon my thoughts, particularly at the close, and on the beginning of every work. Though the world lies in the wicked one, and is drowned in dissipation, he knows them that are his, and is near to answer their prayers. I beg my best respects, with Mrs. Newton's, to Mrs. Thornton. Mrs. Unwin desires me always to mention her. I am, with the most affectionate respect and gratitude,

My dear Sir, Your most obedient and obliged Servant, JOHN NEWTON.