name of Vetusta. persuaded that most of the congregations among whom it resided would have derived benefit by converting the preacher into the cu shion, and the cushion into the preacher. . But it is time that our readers. should become more directly acquainted with the manner and sentiments of the work. We shall therefore pursue the narrative, as it bears upon the principal characters and religious parties which are here introduced. The death of this lady transferred it to her niece Selina; an amiable and accomplished young person, of quick sensibility, but of melancholy and erroneous views. Its next mistress was an Antinomian house-keeper, who seems to have divided her affections between the high doctrines of the conventicle and the delights of her brandy-bottle. Through what channels of migration it afterwards passed, we are not informed; but in the middle of the eighteenth century it appeared in a Methodist pulpit. On the institution of a new vicar, the Methodists all repaired to the church; the chapel was closed, and the cushion once more committed to the pawnbroker. The churchwardens of a parish in Westmoreland discovered it in its degradation; and esteeming it worthy of a place in their church, torn and tarnished as it was, they bore it off into the North, and planted it on that last stage of its elevation, where our vicar, when presented to the living, had the pleasure to find it. Such is the outline of its adventures; and so wide and varied is the field over which this velvet traveller claims the privilege of remark, and the right of recording its opinions. The part which it sustained in the several stages of its progress, although silent, was not inattentive; and if the vicar and his wife were sometimes startled at the freedom of its observations, and sometimes doubted the accuracy of its intelligence, the interest which they felt in the narrative proves their high conviction of its integrity. To them, it was a sufficient recommendation that its views were loyal and orthodox; that it was liberal with out indifference; and that its devoted attachment to the Church of England was unmixed with intolerance. To us it comes also recommended, by a cheerful air and lively observation: and had it possessed the power of speech in any degree equal to its power of composition, we are The subject of the story appears first as the cushion of a Roman Catholic church: and what was the impression? "When I looked around on the edifice into which I was introduced, I was at once awed and delighted. The vast Gothic arches, the solemn light, the general air of majesty-all inspired the most lofty ideas of the Being to whom the temple was dedicated. And here, sir, as I am likely to say a few hard things of Popery presently, L wish, by way of set-off, to remind you good. Protestants, that you owe to Popery almost every thing that deserves to be called by the name of a church, Popery is the religion of cathedrals Protestantism of houses-Dissenterism of barns. I have heard you, sir, who ought, I am sure, to read nothing in vain, read very emphatically a brief for the repair of a church originally built by Papists-which even with the odd sixpence slipped in by yourself for the re putation of the parish, did not collect above if Protestantism had been the first faith of nine-peuce. I have sometimes thought that the country, and the present niggardly spi rit as to public edifices had prevailed, you must all have been field preachers for want of a church to preach in. But to return, sir. I soon discovered, that, after admiring the magnificence of Popery, my topics of admiration were soon exhausted. I no sooner heard parts of the Bible, than I be gan to compare them with what I saw and heard around me. And I need not tell you, sir, that the Bible and Popery do not very strictly harmonize. 1 saw an endless to cleanse from sin-unction that at once prepared the sinner for heaven-relics of the cross, which, put together, were twice as big as the cross itself could have been→→→ figures of saints to which prayers were of fered, said to have fallen from heaven, but round of childish ceremonies-water said carved, as I heard the clerk say, about fifty years since, out of the remnants of an old pew-images said to open their eyes, to cure diseases, to send victory, and so on all of which I, who was in the secret, knew to have been created by a neighbouring joiner. But all this, though bad enough, was not the worst. I saw the Priest hold up a piece of bread which he affirmed to be Christ, and all the people fell down and worshipped it. As to much that I heard, I have thought it an implicit duty to forget it as soon as possible. Exceptions indeed, there were. But, in general, I heard little but certain maxims and histories, of no authority or use, which they called traditions. Sometimes these were exchanged for fabulous histories of the very saints I have mentioned as manufactured by a neighbouring joiner. Sometimes also I heard of the duty of penance, of worshipping the Virgin, of burning and pinching men into ortho doxy, of confession to the Priest. As to this last duty, I observed, that one half of it was most rigidly performed, namely, that in which the confessionist was to give an account of his own excellencies. I heard much also of absolution; and especially remember the man who bought at a high price from the Pope's nuncio absolution for three months in advance, from whatever sin he might commit; and, in virtue of this license, before the expiration of the patent, robbed this very nuncio of all he had pilfered by the sale of this and many other absolutions. I heard occasionally also from a neighbouring court, what was still more terrible the crackling of faggots, and the groans of heretical victims."" pp. 17-20. The character of Mary is treated with tenderness: she was a woman and a queen; her advisers were bigoted, and the times were violent. Of Elizabeth our author has little to record: the personal character of that queen ought always to be distinguished from the public blessings of her government: however high, and even despotic, were her notions of authority, the work of Reformation was on the whole moderate and judicious. "The holy water, and tapers, and oil, all vanished; and, never hearing any thing of them in the Bible, I was glad they were gone. I was pleased, however, to see that there was no impatience to get rid of old things, if either good in themselves, or if a good reason could be found for keeping them. Some of the finery, indeed, was removed from the church, and I myself was even stripped of some mock jewellery origi nally worked into my corners, but, I de clare, that I think we both looked the better for it. I observed, also, that the little confession boxes were nailed up, which, by the bye, deprived me of a source of daily amusement, and of much information given by confessionists about the faults of their neighbours.In the Liturgy, though many alterations were made, the same dislike of unnecessary change was observable. They prayed no longer, indeed, either to the Vir gin or to the saints. But they seemed re juiced to continue the worship of God himself in the language of their fathers. Prayers, you know, sir, many of them inherited from almost the first Christians, could not spoil merely by passing through the hands of the Pope.-But I was chiefly struck with tire change in the doctrine of the preachers.'" pp. 30-32. "The divines of those days,' continued the manuscript, 'differed considerably from some good men new. think me tedious, I will state the nature of And, if you will not this difference. Your ancestors then, sir, dwelt more on those important doctrines in which all agreed, and less on those minuter points on which some of them differed. They preached less controversially. They took for granted that the principles of the Bible would be the principles of their hear ers. They rather asserted the doctrines than defended them; and employed themselves chiefly in showing what sort of men these doctrines ought to make. Those Ho milies, sir, of which I have heard you read some to your flock, are an excellent sample of the divinity of the day of their birth. When I hear them I almost fancy some of my first friends risen from their graves again. There may be less head in them than in the mere systematic divinity of your day; but there is more heart, more of the careless beauty of Scripture, more of ❝ brave neglect" which characterises the noble enthusiasm of saints and martyrs.” ” pp. 33, 34.' The gradual rise of puritanical principles lead to certain observa tions upon the character of Charles the First, which would hardly be to lerated by the unqualified admirers of that prince, and which the vicar himself, with all his love for the narrator, is not very willing to admit. It is, however, but too probable, that the King and some of his Pree lates (especially Laud) leaned with undue partiality to the ceremonies, if not to the principles, of Popery; and the new lights were not unskilled how to turn that circumstance to their own advantage. We have evidence in their writings, that some of the men who distinguished themselves as ecclesiastics in the days of Cromwell, were giants in theological learning. There is an unction in their devotional compositions, and a force and weight in their illustrations of Scripture, of which no man will speak with disrespect, but those who are without any knowledge of the subject: but all were not of this class. "The first of the race were considerably the best. They were men who had little, perhaps, to condemn in them, except a superstitious alarm at Popery. Their doc trines were in general pure,-their practice correct; and some of them were not merely among the best Christians, but the finest gentlemen of the day. Afterwards, when religion became a step to court favour,→→ when the motto of the day was the "praise -- of God in our mouth, and a two-edged sword in our hand," when insurrection against established authority was placed among the virtues,-when learning was considered as a dead weight round the neck of religion, and no man was deemed fit to mount a pulpit who could not first make one, when the fine arts, and all other sources of harmless refreshment were proscribed, then, indeed, those apostles of this new system, who gained the name of Puritans, deserved it, to say the least, as little as any of their contemporaries. The Royal. ists, though many of them without religion, generally retained the form. Many of the Puritans had neither form nor religion.' PP. 43, 44. "I made one constant remark-that a fast day was generally succeeded by some new crime against Church or King. If I heard a fast sermon on Wednesday, I expected to hear the pew-openers talk of an execution on Thursday.'" p. 45. ⚫Cromwell is no favourite with the writer of these memoirs; and our loyal cushion is delighted with the return of Charles the Second: but it gives a lamentable account of the condition of the Church in that disgraceful and profligate reign. "At length, however, the Restoration, with some other good things, brought back written sermons. The character of the new sermons, however, I confess, did not please me. The resolution apparently taken by the Royalists was, first, to do all that the to leave undone all they had done. Now, Republicans had left undone; and, secondly, if no particle of truth had mixed with the Puritan errors, this rule would have been wise. But as their system included a res markable mixture of truth and error, nothing could be more mischievous."" p. 57. "Henceforward, sir, we heard little more of Christ, and faith, and conversion; for which words were substituted Socrates, reation were opposed to good sense and soson, and moderation; as if truth and devobriety. I am persuaded, a good Heathen coming to church, might, except indeed on i the festivals, have often concluded himself in his own temple. True doctrine was out · of fashion with the nation, and good morals unpalatable to the king.'" p. 58, 59. or of set Having had occasion to observe, in more than one instance, the disposition of congregations to tyrannize over their ministers, where the power is vested in the people, we were not much surprised at the meeting of the elders, when our cushion entered within the walls of a dissenting chapel. Their object was the removal of their pastor; and that not because he had delivered false doctrine, or for irregular manners, was notorious purpose violated any principle of Scripture or common sense: "he was charged with preaching a written sermon-with wishing for a service on Christmas-day-with prefacing a sermon with the Lord's Prayer-with suggesting the propriety of kneeling in prayer." His offences, in fact, arose from his ser vile condition: the congregation assembled, not so much to receive instruction, as to exercise authority; not to hear with meekness the word of God, but to criticise the conduct of their humble teacher. The evils of such a system are multifarious; and without, by any means, intending to insinuate that this is a just picture of every dissenting congregation, we incline to believe that they are frequently felt. The fear of man ་ bringeth a snare ;" and in no case is that fear so much to be deprecated, as in the instance of him who stands forth to proclaim the message of Jehovah : it is of infinite importance that he, at least, shall be influenced by no other fear than the fear of God. A principal security for sound doctrine and faithful admonition, pos sessed by the Church of England, arises from the independence of her priesthood. A clergyman, who is inducted into a living, has little temptation to prophesy smooth things, or to consult the vitiated taste of men that love not the truth: he is at liberty to think and reason; to enforce the plain doctrines of revelation, without any undue reve rence for human systems; to adopt every mode of illustration, which his reading or reflection can supply; and to call no man master, however dogmatical his claims, and however mighty his influence. We are aware, that the paramount authority possessed by the elders in dissenting congregations is meant to operate favourably upon the character of the minister; and we acknowledge it to be impossible for any national establishment to guard effectually against the admission of improper persons within her pale: but this is an incidental evil; the fault of the system to which we have just adverted is not incidental. It is true, that the privilege of maltreating a pious minister will not often be exercised by a pious congregation; but the general manners and principles of the world are not formed by the pure and simple precepts of the Gospel, and piety itself will sometimes take counsel from prejudice and misconception. The chapel, it seems, had been built, when the duties of the parish were neglected by the clergyman. The people who, however wanting in religion themselves, quickly perceive any deficiency in their clergy, soon quitted the Church. And as the dissenting minister preached orthodox doctrines in a spiritual and zealous manner-as moreover for a time, the service was gilded and rendered palat able, by the introduction of a large propors The value of the Articles and Li turgy of the Church of England, in The attachment of the Velvet Cushion to our national Church, is evinced on every occasion which seems to call for the avowal. But this attachment, as we have already hinted, is neither blind nor bigoted: it is founded on reasons not easily to be overthrown, and is associated with a disposition ready to commend what is good among Christians of all denominations. In the description of the Methodists, p.124, &c. there is a candid admission of the general purity of their doctrines, as taught by their founder, aud of the mighty effects produced by their exertions. The commendation, however, is not unmixed; and we are inclined to suspect that the friends of Methodism will conceive themselves entitled to complain. Is it a fact, that "one of the most common topics of pulpit raillery and amusement was," after a period, "the universal profligacy of the clergy?" (p. 126.) We hope and trust that this charge is expressed in terms too general. That some of the preachers may have disgraced themselves by flippant and frivolous remarks, tending to degrade the character of the clergy, is far from improbable; but it is difficult to conceive that these ministers, as a body, could have indulged in a spirit so obviously unchristian. With respect to the introduction of uneducated men into their pulpits, whether this practice be right or wrong, it was in a measure coeval with the date of the Respect for the Church" did not generally cease with this invasion of her prerogative; neither did "a desire to excite, to inflame, to harrow up, to revolutionize" (p. 126), "combine itself" in any great degree "with the desire to convince." Our objection to these and similar observations lies not against their justice in particular cases, but against the manner in which they are introduced as descriptive of the Methodist system. Let them be qualified and guarded, and we shall have little to object. sect. "6 The good Vicar expresses himself much dissatisfied, and not without cause, at the excitement, and noise, and agitations, which have so often : attracted attention in the meetings of the Methodists; but is he quite correct in supposing that the frequent change of their ministers teaches the people to suspect and undervalue their own resident cler gyman? Is it not the fact, that in most of our country villages, where the doctrines of the Church are heard within her walls, the pious old Methodists are among the most constant and decorous attendants? The venerable man thinks that there was a time, "When a good clergyman was regarded their wants, wishes, fears, hopes, doubts and as the general father of his flock-when all plans were laid before him--when the sheep followed his voice, and the voice of a stran. ger would they not follow-when, if he kept to his Bible, they would cleave to him." pp. 129, 130. In what degree that feeling has been weakened, we presume not to decide, but we could point out many clergymen to whom, even in the midst of conflicting opinions, their people still look up with filial and affectionate regard; and if the Methodist teachers be so impolitic as to disseminate slander instead of Christian truth, we have no question that the mischief intended against others will rebound upon themselves. Among the characters which occupy a prominent place in this volume, are Vetusta and Selina, whose names have already been mentioned, and two predecessors of our Vicar in his Westmoreland living. They are drawn with the hand of a master, and may justly be considered, although not entirely free from exception, as comprising the most interesting and instructive lessons of the work. Vetusta was a woman of strong passions, who, as life advanced, passed from dissipation to books, and from books to religion. Her spirits were to be stimulated. "She read, talked, and prayed, all that she might feel; and so that she felt, cared little for the effect of her devotions upon her life and temper.' p. 90. Her death-bed was clouded with despondency, and she trembied in her last moments at the prospect of a future state. To the |