ARCHBISHOP WAKE ON FAITH. TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S SIR, TH MAGAZINE. HE following excellent observations on Christian Faith, were written by the learned Archbishop WAKE to a young lady, and are I think highly deserving a place in your sound and valuable publication. I am, &c. MINIMUS, ON FAITH. THERE is scarce any duty which has been so obscured in the writings of learned men as this. I will not enter here into any of their disputes, but briefly say what I think fit for your practice and performance of it. You are infallibly to believe what God has promised; especially that he will give pardon of sin, and everlasting salvation to all humble and repenting sinners: and for what refers to your own particular, you are confidently to rely upon his word, that if you perform your part, Christ will never fail in his: and therefore you ought to fulfil those duties which he commands, and to which alone this promise of reward is given. It is a question which my little experience lets me know, does oftentimes trouble very good men, that certainly their faith in this last instance is not right, because they still find it accompanied with fears and doubts of their own salvation. But, Madam, you must consider that the faith which God requires in this manner, is only this, that he will certainly reward all those that believe in him, and obey his commandments: this we are undoubtedly to assent to. But now for the particular application of this faith to ourselves, that deserves no more of our assent, nor can indeed warrantably have it, than what is founded on the serious consideration of our own performances. Now, though our consciences bearing witness to our sincerity, may give us great cause to hope we we are in a state of salvation, yet it is no part of any man's faith undoubtedly to believe it. Nay rather some degree of fear and trembling mixt with it, may be a good means to secure us in our duty; whilst a consistent dependance is very often ill-grounded, and may create such a negligence as will certainly ruin us. Let your endeavour therefore be to fulfil God's commands, to repent as often as you fail in it, and to hope for pardon and acceptance of him. Infinite reason you have for all this; and this will be sufficient for your present comfort, and for your future acceptance. But if still, either the greatness of the danger, or glory of the reward; either your desires of becoming better, or true and humble sense of your own unworthiness (which is almost the perpetual case of the best persons) keep your soul under awe, and a concern, and will not suffer you to rise up to that confidence which some men, I fear unwarrantably, themselves pretend to; I am sure unwarrantably require of others; assure yourself, that whilst you firmly acquiesce in the general belief that God will reward all them that love him; and doubt of yourself only, because you fear whether you do this so well as you ought; this doubting shall prepare you to receive the reward of your humility; but never bring you in danger of any punishment for your infidelity. ON MODERN MANNERS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S SIR, I MAGAZINE. Tis not vanity that prompts the wish I entertain of being admitted into the number of your correspondents; no, sir, it is the hope that, through the medium of your publication, I may be enabled to draw the attention of the public to the danger with which we are now threatened; a danger of a nature so novel, and yet so serious, that it demands the attention of every thinking mind. The The wonderful revolution effected by the writings of Cervantes on the manners of Europe, might have convinced me of what great things it was in the power of a single book to accomplish; but notwithstanding this striking example, I confess I was weak enough to regard the alarm that was taken by many wise people, lest the publication of a certain female author should have too great an effect upon her sex, and make them all at once too good, too strictly pious, too purely virtuous, to be without foundation. I made light of the apprehensions of these judicious critics, and, well knowing the influence of female manners on society, I regarded the effort made for their improvement as deserving not only of general approbation, but of public gratitude. Alas! sir, I did not advert to the danger of suddenly introducing a degree of purity, perhaps inconsistent with this imperfect state! I was not aware of the consequences of one sex leaving the other at such a mighty distance in the road to perfection! How I have been convinced of all this, it is proper I should now inform you. I am a clergyman, whose sole amusement has been the pursuit of literature, whose only care has been the strict performance of the duties of my profession, and whose only wish has been the happiness of mankind. After living for above thirty years in a state of almost total seclusion from what is called the world, I have lately, ou account of my health, been induced to visit the salubrious springs of Bath. Resolved to go to no place till I had been at public worship, I, the first Sunday after my arrival, went to one of the chapels of this city, which I found crowded to the very doors by such an assemblage of well-dressed people as my eyes had never before beheld. After service, I could not help expressing my satisfaction to a gentleman who sat by me at the appearance of the congregation, remarking, at the same time, that it was a striking negative to what one every day heard of the folly and frivolity of the times. "Why, sir," replied my neighbour, "do you not know that it is now the fashion to go to church?"" I am heartily glad to hear it," rejoined I; " the people of fashion have, I find, been greatly misrepresented to us in the country. -"O! sir," returned he, were it not the fashion, Doctor, notwithstanding the excellence of his sermons, might preach to empty benches."-Blessed effects, said I to myself, of the care that has lately been bestowed bestowed on female education! How happy it is that the eyes of mankind have, at length, been opened to a subject of such importance! Had our grandmothers the same advantages in this respect that females now enjoy, who knows what might have been the consequences? Fashion has ever owed its influence, nay its very being, to the fair sex.-Happy times, in which fashion is by them made the servant of wisdom and virtue! In the midst of these reflections, I received notice that a lady of high rank, to whom I had been favoured with a letter of introduction, would be at home the following evening: to her house I went, full of the most delightful expectations; for there I hoped to have the pleasure of contemplating the effects of that astonishing improvement that has been made in the female mind, since 1 last had an opportunity of mixing with such society. My expectations were high, but very short of the reality. Judge of my astonishment, sir, on perceiving the consequences of that angel purity, which belongs to a state of immaculate perfection, exhibited in a dereliction of that covering which was the contrivance of sin and shame. Where ever I turned my eyes, I beheld beautiful forms, who, like our first parents in a state of innocence, were naked and not ashamed. The ideas of the divine Plato were here realized. Like the heroines of his republic, clothed only with modesty, these ladies met the public gaze without a blush: I confess I felt, in this respect, my own inferiority, and was made sensible, that those wise people, who had taken the alarm at the rapid improvement of female virtue, had more reason on their side than I was at first willing to allow; nor was it in this instance alone that I found myself obliged to retract opinions, to which I, till now, had steadily adhered. The effects of the improvement of mind, as held forth in the doctrines of some modern philosophers, I scoffed as ridiculous, but here I saw it realized in its fullest extent: I here saw that it had the power to arrest the hand of time, and stop the progress of decay; that it could give the roses of fifteen to cheeks of fifty, make the hair preserve its pristine gloss and colour to the latest period of human life, and even give a sameness to the shape and form, that was to me astonishing. The younger part of the company were all, evidently (from their appearance), wives and mothers. The short time they gave to this visit appeared to have been snatched from their important domestic duties, to which they all Vol. XI. Charchm. Mag. Oct. seemed seemed eager to return. Their minds apparently engrossed by the cares they had left behind them, seemed to have no relish for the present scene, all regarded it as stupid in the extreme; and their being at the trouble of coming to pay their respects to the mistress of the house upon this occasion, I was led to consider, from the expressions I accidentally overheard, as the highest proof of their philanthropy. From what I observed in the course of this evening, I cannot but entertain the most serious apprehensions of the consequences that may result from the further subblimization of the minds of our fair countrywomen. It is, surely, time, that a stop should be put to that improvement which has already been productive of such a change of manners, as, should it go on a little further, would overturn every established idea of modesty and decorum. I am, Sir, With much respect, Your obedient servant, SAMUEL SIMPLE. ON THE NECESSITY OF ZEALOUS EXERTIONS I TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S SIR, MAGAZINE. HAVE taken up, almost from its first publication, your most excellent Magazine, and have been highly pleased, and, as I hope and trust, much instructed and edified by it. Such a zealous and able champion of Orthodoxy deserves the warmest applause and patronage of his country, and the hearty thanks of every lover of our justly admired constitution in Church and State. Assaulted as it is by bitter and rancorous enemies, how much indebted should we feel ourselves to the spirited person, who erects a standard, as |