can the advantages of knowledge chiefly or solely in proportion as it may forward these ends, the preacher observes, that this state of things is the more prevalent from the want of any strong counteracting principle; such as was afforded in former times from the spirit of chivalry, or elevated philosophy, or religious enthusiasm, using that term in a good sense the last of these he considers equally wanting in the present age, with the two former. "Thus much at least," he says, hardly be denied, that although there is undoubtedly a bustling external activity prevalent in the world with respect to religious objects, there is not the same degree of spiritual and meditative religion which other ages have possessed:"-and will not allow that the state of public morals affords a fair criterion, since it is so liable to be influenced by prudential considerations. Now this is an opinion which seems to me unfounded. Is it possible to judge of the prevalence of religious principles in any other way than by their visible effects? If the general tone of public opinion and public feeling,--if the appearance presented by our churches, as well as the assemblies of other sects and communities,—if the exertions of innumerable societies for diffusing in one way or another the blessings of religious instruction,-if the general regard paid to the furtherance of religious objects,-if the observances of domestic religion, and, so far as any man can presume to judge of them, the manifestations of religious principles in the conduct of individuals :-if all these are to be regarded as affording any indication of the real prevalence of religion among us, I maintain that the notion of its decay and decline-of anything like a general falling off or negligence in respect to it, in the present age as compared with others-is altogether unfounded. I am, on the contrary, persuaded, from every circumstance which can be regarded as capable of illustrating the question, that its supremacy is at least as powerfully upheld, and its influence as general and as efficient, as at any former period in its history. Among the consequences which result from the pursuit of wealth, the most immediate is the propensity to measure every thing by the standard of present utility and gain. Hence, Mr. Rose is led to lament the decline of those species of intellectual pursuits, which have no immediate reference or application to the purposes of such utility, and which cannot be calculated upon as likely to answer in the way of speculation. He considers the facts as so positive, as to admit of no contradiction. "The country," he observes, "which once within a few years produced and gloried in a More, a Norris, a Cudworth, and a Stillingfleet, must blush to confess, that she can hardly name among all her sons, more than a single metaphysical or ethical student: that scholarship of the higher class possesses only a bare and dubious existence, that pure literature shares the same neglect, and that every department of intellectual research, which requires time and thought and patience, without offering a prospect of immediate advantage, is rejected with a vehemence of anger, and branded as visionary." P. 5. In lamenting such a state of things, I most cordially agree with our author. It is, doubtless, a reproach to the boasted enlightenment of the age, that such should be the neglect in which the more pure and abstract parts of literature and philosophy are held; but at the same time, though I cannot deny that such complaints may be made with a considerable share of truth, yet the very sweeping terms in which Mr. Rose has expressed himself as to the facts, appear to be more than the real state of the case can warrant. However, while he considers literature and metaphysics as thus neglected, he represents the physical sciences as universally cultivated and allowed to usurp an undue pre-eminence: and this, because, as he says, "the knowledge of the material universe tends most directly to add to the convenience and comforts of life, and to bestow immediate reward on those whose sagacity leads them to discovery themselves, or to profit by the discoveries of others." Now, as the branches of study here spoken of are obviously intended to embrace the whole range of physical science, I must beg leave to deny that the representation is a fair one; by far the larger part of these sciences, which are unquestionably cultivated with the greatest assiduity, have no reference whatever to the arts of life, and are as purely abstract, and cultivated with as little view to profit or mechanical utility, as any branches of ethics or classical literature could be. The main point, however, on which I differ from Mr. Rose, is the question as to what particular studies and pursuits are or are not to be classed among those which tend to the general intellectual and moral improvement of man. He certainly allows some credit to mathematical studies in this respect; but, as to the whole range of enquiries concerning physical truth, he seems to condemn them altogether as wholly of a low mechanical nature, applying only to temporal utility and profit, and absolutely useless and worthless in reference to the improvement of an intellectual nature. Thus, in a passage of great beauty and excellence in other respects, in which he is holding up, as eminent examples of meditative philosophy and religious contemplation, those two singularly retired and laborious students, Henry More and Joseph Mede; he adds, "the man of science may scoff at their names and at their gross ignorance of all he knows; and doubtless, they are as much below his contempt as they are above it; they could not arrange all the products of the material world in their scientific order,--they could not use the tools of the laboratory, nor the engines of the mechanist;-but who would lessen the dignity of man and of his intellect, by comparing their elevated views, their thoughtful hearts, their exquisite conceptions, their gentle desires, their christian peace, with the million facts, the hurry, the fever, and the impatience of the experimentalist and the discoverer ?" P. 10. I must say, I regret that a writer of Mr. Rose's ability and discrimination should adopt such a train of reflection; for I am persuaded, no man of real science, thoroughly imbued with that liberality which is its genuine fruit, would ever "scoff" at such excellent and amiable names as those mentioned. Again, it is surely incorrect to represent physical studies as if they consisted in nothing more than an expertness in handling the implements of the experimenter, and giving systematic names to natural objects: and as if they produced no other effect on the mind, than that of furnishing it with a catalogue of facts, and hurrying it on from one mechanical invention to another, impelled only by the prospect of gain. Nothing can be a more mistaken estimate of their tendency. If any thing were wanting further to convince us of the erroneous view which the Preacher has taken of the tendency of physical studies, we need only refer to the next page (11), where he expressly represents them as exercising no other faculty than the memory! He does, indeed, profess to put it as a question, and to put it with some degree of hesitation. But even waving it altogether, he asks, "whether the habits superinduced by this study, by the anxious search after novelty, by the feverish restlessness of discovery, by the constant rejection of present belief in favour of new views, and, above all, by the entire externality of the study, are desirable? Whether they are likely to lead to the patient meditation, and the calm undisturbed thought which alone can do justice to the faculties bestowed on man, and alone can lead to truth, and to that patient acquiescence in imperfect knowledge which in a state of faith, and of trial, must be required of an imperfect being?" &c. This question is evidently put as if it must be answered in the negative, and as giving the author's view of what must be the effects of physical study. I would, however, unhesitatingly reply in the affirmative, and say, that if what is here insinuated against science were exactly reversed, it would present a far more correct picture of its real tendency. With the exception of the few points to which I have adverted, I have read Mr. Rose's sermon with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction. I remain, yours faithfully, P. GRACE AND NATURE. GRACE should be ever quick and operative, make us conformable to our Head, walk worthy of our high calling, and as becometh godliness, as men that have learned and received Christ. How much unprofitableness and unspiritualness, distractions, formality, want of relish, failings, intermissions, deadness, uncomfortableness, do shew themselves! How much flesh with spirit!-How much wantonness with grace!-How much of the world with the word!-How much of the week in the sabbath!-How much of the bag or barn in the temple!— How much superstition with the worship!--How much security with the fear!-How much vain-glory in the honour of God!-In one word, How much of myself, and therefore, how much of my sin, in all my services and duties which I perform! BISHOP REYNOLDS. " PRAYERS FOR FAST DAYS, &c. MR. EDITOR.-I am induced to hope that you will be willing to lend your aid, in assisting to rescue from unmerited obscurity a hitherto neglected mass of valuable sound doctrine which is to be found in the Forms of Prayer, issued by authority, from the Reformation to the present period, on various occasions, such as Days of Fasting and Thanksgiving, appointed to be kept in times of peace and war, dearth and plenty, plague and pestilence, &c. &c. &c., two copies of which are sent by the bishops, through their registrars and apparitors, to every parish in the kingdom, and many thousands of which are now lying in mouldering and moth-eaten heaps, in church chests, episcopal libraries, and in the possession of ecclesiastical officers, such as deputy registrars, apparitors, &c. in every corner of the land, unknown and unnoticed by many, and too little thought of by all, although they have an authority second only to our Common Prayer-book, and were the pious and orthodox compositions of the Cranmers, the Parkers, the Whitgifts, the Sancrofts, the Tillotsons, and the Seckers of our Church; and have been the channels of a nation's prayers and praises. For now about twelve years I have been employed, at intervals, in collecting, with a view to their publication, these precious relics, at some expense, and at no small share of labour and anxiety. To the liberality of several individuals I am indebted for access to libraries, transcripts of forms, lists of dates, the loan of volumes, and the gift of almost all that I possess; but, above all, to my clerical brethren, with whose permission I have "robbed" their "churches," to fill up the various deficiencies in my list. But notwithstanding all the facilities afforded me, and contributions made, my series is yet incomplete; and in the hope that this appeal will meet the eye, and gain the approbation of many of your readers, both clerical and lay, who may have any of such forms in their possession; and to the end that such persons may be enabled, if disposed, to patronize and further my design, I subjoin a list of the years in which those forms which I have not yet obtained were composed and used, omitting, for obvious reasons, those forms now in my possession. It matters not how mutilated or obliterated they be some experience in decyphering will render them valuable, whatever be their condition. I presume I need not add, that where they are not valued, or where the possessors have duplicates, the gift of the originals, or literal copies, will be much more acceptable than the loan, inasmuch as it obviates the errors attending transcription; while, at the same time, I pledge myself, in all cases where desired, to return them to the same places* whence they may be sent to me, as soon as they shall have been transcribed, provided the forms be marked, or the name and address of the lender be given. * Parcels containing few or many of such Forms of Prayers, directed to the Rev. Dr. Niblock, Hitchen, Herts, may be left at, or sent to, and will once a month be forwarded by Rivingtons, St. Paul's Church Yard; Simpkin, Stationers' Court; Seeleys, Fleet Street; Hatchards, Piccadilly; and Baldwin, Paternoster Row. To save expense, a friend going to London may leave them at, or send them to, any of these places. The Forms which I have ascertained to have been issued, and which I am in want of, are as follow: 1685. Feb. 4, Feb. 6, Apr. 23, May 29. 1686. May 29, Sep. 12. 1688. Jan. 31, Feb. 14, Apr. 11, Oct. 23, Nov. 5. 1689. Invasion. For the Prince of Orange, translated from the French. 1690. May 6, Sep. 12. For King James. For the Jacobites. For averting God's Judgments. 1691. Mar. 28, Apr. 29, May 27, Oct. 17. till General Thanksgiving. 1692. Mar. 9, May 19, May 26, Oct. 7. 1693. June 3, June 6, Aug. 6. 1696. Sep. 2, Sep. 28. Till King's Re turn. 1697. Oct. 9. For King Absent. 1699. Mar. 12. 1700. Feb. 28. Convocation. 1701. Nov. 12. THE PROTESTANT WALDENSIAN CHURCHES. MR. EDITOR.-At a time when the Catholic question is agitated with so much violence, it will not be thought unseasonable to compare the mild tone of expostulation, in which Protestant subjects of Roman Catholic sovereigns have asserted their claims to toleration, with the arrogant and menacing language which the Romanists of this kingdom hold, when they urge their pretensions to power. The comparison, if thoroughly pursued, might enable an indifferent observer to judge whether the Roman Catholic or the Protestant Churches are most productive of those fruits of the spirit, " love, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, and meekness." To assist the inquiry, I beg you will have the kindness to give insertion to the following literal translation of a pastoral Charge, addressed to his little community by the late Moderator of the Waldensian Church, Rodolphe Peyrani, in the year 1818—a crisis when the Vaudois of Piedmont had reason to be under alarming apprehensions, lest persecution should be renewed against them. I am further induced to send you an English copy of this pastoral letter, under the hope that the powerful reasoning which it contains, and the true spirit of the gospel of peace which it breathes, may |