of ministers have now got acquainted with them, who will recommend them to others, and also the laity.

Books of practical religion published with you have little run here, till they are reprinted in our own country. All of yours which I have yet seen is the Authentic Narrative; the first vol. of the Ecclesiastical Review; Omicron's Letters, and one volume of Sermons.

The Authentic Narrative is indeed a very surprising narrative! You would have been much to blame had you put such a candle under a bushel. I am the more delighted with the modest air in it, that it so seldom is to be found in books of this kind. We are often ready to cry, Is the Lord's hand shortened that it cannot save? is his mercy clean gone? But God has added in you one to the many instances of the sovereignty and greatness of his grace, in saving from the very lowest deeps of misery. One thing I beg leave to hint is, that I am afraid your very great modesty has deprived us of some more valuable letters on that subject. Might you not have added, may you not yet add, a few letters on the period intervening between your remarkable change and your entry upon the ministry? They might, perhaps, not be so surprising as those we have, but on that account not the less edifying. It would be very agreeable to me and others to learn how and by what means you arrived at such clear views of the Gospel doctrine, and such an extensive acquaintance with the sentiments of both enemies and friends. Ambition often obtrudes unworthy performances upon the public : humility sometimes hides precious and rich treasures in the earth.

Might not Omicron produce another volume of his sweet instructive letters. That book, next to the Greek New Testament, shall be my Vade Mecum. Every time I read it (and if you knew how often you would pronounce me whimsical) I cannot help thinking, and saying, 'Tis pity Mr. Newton should do any thing but write letters; I wish to know his mind on every subject; and there are many subjects of equal importance still remaining. I would be happier than I can well express to hear that you were proceeding in your Ecclesiastical Review. The work to be sure is arduous, but the effects, I dare say, will be proportionally great and happy. The church histories which we have, are generally rather learned than pious; fuller of bones than meat. But why compare your Review with these dry histories. Your intention is quite different;

so is your plan and execution. Some have huddled together materials for a work of this kind: but it would require one who could discern the operations of the Lord's hand to put them together in such a manner as God might be glorified and the church edified. The writer of church history should, of all men, be the most careful and diligent observer of Providence. This I am sure you have been. I desire to bless God for what he has already enabled you to do. The period you have got over is doubtless the most important. The succeeding ages, however, will afford abundant matter for useful reflections, and particularly the era of the Reformation. The history of this glorious period is wickedly aspersed by some; misrepresented by many, and rightly understood by few.

It gives me much pleasure to find that God is still raising up and maintaining some witnesses for the purity of the Gospel in the corrupt Church of England. I am afraid too many of your ministers have sided for some time past with the Arminians. The Thirtynine Articles have been abused and insulted. The writings of the worthy Reformers in the reigns of Elizabeth and James have been neglected, while the heterodoxies of Burnet and Whitby, or the still more loose and incoherent stuff of some modern writers, have been admired and copied.

Mr. Toplady's History of the Calvinism of the Church of England is a standing witness against her present clergy! But, alas! our own church in this land is little better. She is torn to pieces by dissentions. She is overrun with heresy. Her hedge of discipline is pulled down. Wild beasts make her their prey. Some pulpits whisper Arminianism. From others proceed loud Socinian blasphemies. Very few are free from the Neonomian scheme. Still indeed there are a number of ministers in her who are servants of Jesus. Of these some are more, some less, faithful. But they are constantly on the decrease. If an orthodox, religious minister dies, generally the patron thrusts in one whom none but a few, and those the worst in the parish, will hear. The General Assembly is exceeding tame. A few dissenting voices are despised. The majority are not only inclined to bear, but seem to take pleasure in carrying whatever burdens the civil power thinks fit to impose; they even add new ones.

The parties which have left her communion are chiefly these three: the Burgher and Antiburgher Synods, and the Presbytery of

Relief. The last can hardly be said to have gone so far; only they have erected meeting-houses distinct from the parish church, and they are more orthodox than the generality of the established church. The other two are strictly distinct bodies, and both hold by. the Westminster Confession. You will certainly have heard of the Secession (for so are they called) in Scotland. Perhaps your information may have been only by the roar of malevolence. We are accused of ignorance and bigotry. That we know too little, is too true; that some may be too narrow-minded and bigoted may be equally true. But we little deserve these accusations from those who are most liberal of them. But if you should condescend to answer this with a few lines, and if you desire it, in my next I would endeavour, as far as I could, to give you the true state of the secession, and religion, and the cause of truth among their hands. Then I will show how far these charges are just.

I must beg, my much esteemed Sir, your excuse for my extreme prolixity. It was after very long hesitation that I ventured to write you at all. However, after once beginning, with the greatest pleasure, and insensibly I run out this length; and should gladly do the same at another time, were any thing I can say in the least agreeable to you. I am not impudent enough to beg a place among your correspondents. That honour would be too great for me; and perhaps your circle will already be enlarged enough. But if your other more important avocations would for once permit you to return a few lines, they would be esteemed a very high favour. You are the first I ever wrote to with whom I have not a personal acquaintance; only real regard and the highest esteem would have prevailed on me. I would be glad to hear if you are publishing any thing, and on what subjects. Does the number of Calvinists increase in the Church of England? Are the doctrines of grace attended with any remarkable effects where they are preached? Is there a friendly correspondence and harmony among such as are reputed Calvinists? Is Mr. Haweis still alive, and where? Is Mrs. Newton still living, and well? A few hints relative to these, or any thing else remarkable with you, and also to hear of your own personal welfare, would exceedingly oblige me. I sincerely wish you much Divine assistance in your great work.

MR. WM. BARLASS TO THE REV. JOHN NEWTON.

Rev. and very dear Sir,

:

YOUR letter, with which I was duly favoured, gave me the greatest pleasure. I know not how much I am obliged to you for cheerfully accepting a correspondence with me. Self-conceit never once would have whispered that I deserved it. As to your condition, I beg leave once for all to assure you, that I did not say, and never can say, the half of what I thought but rather than lose such a valuable correspondent, I shall endeavour strictly to observe this condition, though it will be hard enough, for in every thing it will hold true, that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak, and the pen will write. I hope, however, any thing said did not offend delicacy. Mrs. Newton's welfare makes me exceedingly happy. I sincerely wish she and you may be long spared for mutual blessings and comforts to one another, and to the country about. If I had known she had had a sister so near, I certainly would have been acquainted with her, though good breeding should have suffered a little. I was in the East Country not long before I wrote you last. I then hinted my design of leaving Paisley, which my heart was much set on, but through the importunity of friends I condescended to stay some time longer. How long I cannot say. This way I cannot get near Anstruther till harvest, when I shall, with the greatest pleasure wait on Mrs. Cunningham. Would like to hear of Mr. Haweis getting the better of his complaint. I esteem Mr. Haweis. Every town where Christ has a friend, will get a visit on his account-then happy Olney, where so many real Christians live and pray, and where Mr. Newton is! Am very sorry that you have no views of proceeding in the history-if they might be told, would like to know the reasons. Would like the rest of the letters published as soon as possible. When I wrote you last 1 had not seen any hymns. I have since seen a specimen in the third edition of Omicron's Letters. They please me much. I am happy to tell you that your works are very much sought for and read since I wrote last.

I am very glad that you are disposed to inquire into the principles of Seceders, and if it were in my power I would be particularly glad to offer you some hints, which might be of use to give you some notion of the difference between the Burghers and Anti

burghers. It will be necessary in the first place to say something of the Secession testimony. It is a testimony against the manner of settling religion in Scotland at the Revolution. Then the Lord wrought a wonderful deliverance for us, but we sadly misimproved it. It is a branch of Presbyterian principles, that the government of the church by Presbytery is the only form of government that Christ has appointed in his house; being equally removed from lordly domination, and from popular disorder. But by the act of settlement, Presbytery was established in Scotland upon this principle, that there is no fixed form of church government appointed in the word of God; that several forms of it may be agreeable to the Scripture, and that Presbytery was preferable in Scotland only for a political reason, because the most agreeable to the genius and inclinations of the people. This is one reason why Seceders disapprove of the manner of settling religion at the Revolution. Presbyterians look upon the intrinsic power of the church as an invaluable trust committed to her, which she is never to give up to the greatest prince, or the greatest prelate, under heaven. It is a power of preaching the word, of exercising discipline and government without being accountable to the civil magistrate. The church, according to the principles of Presbyterians, knows no head besides Christ. But at the Revolution the intrinsic power of the church was in part given up to the king, in regard that he, or his commissioner, were allowed by that settlement to specify the time and place for the meeting of her assemblies. It is obvious, that this renders it easy for the magistrate to impede or interrupt the proceedings of her judicatures. Seceders think it necessary to testify against this, in order to hold fast the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free. Besides, Seceders hold it to be a duty, enjoined by the word of God, for a people in their social capacity, whether many or few, to enter into a public oath and covenant, avouching the Lord to be their God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments. This was a moral duty under the Old Testament, enjoined upon moral grounds, and therefore is of perpetual obligation. This duty was quite neglected by the Church of Scotland after the Revolution, though it was a piece of reformation she had attained to in former times. Seceders complain of this in their testimony-complain that the church rather went back, than set forward in reformation.