which used to be found in our pul pits, and by which a divine, who had preached for an hour upon the sin of drunkenness, was enabled to indulge his wearied hearers with the pleasantry of "giving them another glass?" Long sermons certainly used not to be confined exclusively to Calvinists or Puritans, for many very gentle and "moderate" divines of former times will be found sufficiently prolix. I am inclined, for various reasons, to think, that the general introduction of written, for "free," sermons was one great cause of the curtailment; for if the difficulty of compression, or the "love of hearing oneself talk," might operate a little in the one case, an aversion to the labour and study necessary for writing a long discourse, might operate at least as powerfully in the other. In our own day, matters are generally managed by a sort of equitable compromise between the preacher and his congregation, so as to attain a golden mediocrity; few respectable divines being now either so self-indulgent as greatly to defraud us as to quantity in our weekly portion of spiritual aliment, or so unconscious of the frailties of their hearers as to detain them beyond those reasonable limits which the circumstances of the case impose. The following anecdote, from Bishop Newton's auto-biographical detail, may perhaps cast a ray of light on the subject of my query: it will at least shew what by many is considered as one ingredient in a "good" sermon. "When Dr. Newton waited upon the Archbishop at Kew, his grace informed him, that, among other things, the king [George II.] had said, that though he had no reason to find fault with the length of Dr. Newton's sermons, yet, as he would now preach oftener before him, he must desire that he would be particularly short, especially on the great festivals; for he was an old man, and, if the sermon was long, he was in danger of falling asleep and catching cold; and it would also fatigue Our late revered monarch was more tolerant than his grandfather on the subject of sermons; at least I never heard that goodness and shortness were with him inseparables in a pulpit discourse. With our long liturgy, and the addition, perhaps, of chaunting, singing, or occasional services, I certainly will not undertake to defend sermons of an hour long; nor am I sure that a congregation will in every instance listen with interest to a discourse even of three-fourths of that length; but I would humbly ask, whether the scanty measure of fifteen or twenty minutes is at all worthy of the importance of the occasion, or sufficient to satisfy the necessities or wishes of a congregation hungering for "the bread of life." If a sermon is really "good," it will bear to be a little "long ;" but bad and long together are singularly unpleasing and unprofitable characteristics either in a sermon or any other composition; and I therefore hasten to avoid one of them, if I cannot the other, by abruptly concluding the present paper. QUÆRENS. To the Editorofthe Christian Observer. I TAKE up my pen in the hope that I may call your attention strongly and pointedly to a series of articles which have lately appeared in the Edinburgh Review, and of which the tendency is obviously to inflame the painful discussions which unhappily prevail within the pale of the Church of England, by pretending to advocate the cause of one or other of the parties concerned against the rest. Permit me to add, as my reason for conveying my sentiments through the medium of the Christian Observer, that I know of no publication so likely to counteract effectually the tendency of these incendiary schemes, and to allay the irritation they are calculated to excite, as one which has been uniformly distinguished by its Christian spirit of moderation. Whatever unfortunate differences of opinion may divide the followers of the same Divine Master, and the members of the same church, let us unite in opposing the uncalled-for interference of those who wish for our general destruction, and would gladly cheer us on to "bite and devour each other," with an intention directly contrary to that which dictated the apostolic warning, and in the confident hope of the natural issue, "that we may be consumed one of the other." It is surely no less a folly and a scandal now than it was in the primitive ages for brother to go to law with brother, and "that before unbelievers;" for I presume such writers as these in question will not very warmly maintain their title to orthodox Christianity. Let those whose cause seems for the moment favoured by such treacherous auxiliaries reject the "dona ferentes," and utterly disclaim se dangerous an alliance. The consistent friends of Christian moderation can have no sympathy with writers who raise the cry of liberality, for the purpose of converting it into the war-whoop of party and personal railing, with the intolerant advocates of toleration, or the dogmatical disputants for free inquiry. I am particularly anxious to see a proper stigma of reprobation attached to the attack on the present Bishop of London, in the last Number of the journal in question. What ever differences of opinion may exist on particular interests, or points of ecclesiastical polity and discipline (and surely in these wise and good men may differ, as we find was the case even in the primitive and apoCHRIST. OBSERV. No. 253. stolic age), I know that I only echo the general voice of every intelligent and well-disposed member of the community in asserting, that but ore common sentiment of high respect for the personal and intellectual character of this learned and amiable prelate is entertained, as well by those who may be far from coinciding in all his opinions, as by his own immediate friends; and that the former, no less than the latter, must have witnessed with extreme pain the attack upon him to which I allude. When, however, such aspersions are made, and in the apparent hope that they may be gratefully received by any members of our common church, neutrality might seem too much like assent. Let, then, all who are truly concerned for the interests, I will not say of the Church of England, but of Christianity, check this system in its commencement, by shewing that they will not lend themselves to become its dupes. The wisdom and simplicity of the Christian character alike disclaim the dangerous and secular policy of intrusting the shafts of religious controversy to the hands of sceptical or party writers, whose natural vocation is to seek not the interests of any, but the destruction of all. I would, however, indulge the hope, that some good may be permitted to arise from this meditated evil; and that all of us may feel duly humbled for the asperity with which our own internal discussions may too often have been conducted, when we witness the eager interest with which our common opponents enter the arena of our conflicts. May their intended policy teach us our true interest, which in this, as in all things else, coincides with our religious duties! and above all, may the One Lord and Master of our spiritual Zion overrule all attempts at destruction from without, to the repairing of the breaches within, converting that into the consolidation of our strength which is designed to undermine it! E Ω. To the Editorofthe Christian Observer, LEADHILLS and Wanlockhead are considerable mining villages, situated about forty-six miles south-west from Edinburgh. Their distance from each other is scarcely an English mile. Leadhills is situated at the south-western extremity of Lanark shire; Wanlockhead at the northeast of Dumfrieshire. The population of Leadhills is from 1100 to 1200 persons; that of Wanlockhead 1000, including those workmen who live at a little distance from the village. The Earl of Hopeton is proprietor of the mines of Leadhills; the Duke of Buccleugh and Queensberry, of those of Wanlockhead. A lease of seventy years is generally granted to a mining company, and every sixth bar of lead weighing eight stone is paid as rent. No less than 50,000 bars have been raised at Wanlockhead in one year; but on an average for the last thirty years the quantity has seldom exceeded 20,000. The mines at Leadhills are more considerable, and are managed by two companies; the Scotch and the Leadhill mining companies. The former has raised in some years 30,000 bars; but the latter company has not been so successful. The mines were made free from: all government taxes by King James the Sixth, on his tour through Scotland. The mines of Wanlockhead were first discovered about 250 years since by some adventurers from England and Wales, who were in search of gold; considerable quantities of which were found in the cavities of rocks and in the rivulets, which descend in great numbers from the hills. Of 40,000 guineas which were once coined at Edinburgh, the largest proportion of the gold came from these mines. This tract of country is the highest in the south of Scotland, and nothing can be more bleak and barren than its appearance; nor would it ever, in all probability, have been enlivened by one human habitation, but for the leaden ore contained in its high and heathy mountains. The northern side of Wanlock is terminated at each extremity by a mountain torrent; and the deep casts made by the searchers for gold along the face of this ridge, reaching from Whitecleugh Burn in parallel lines to Limping Burn, give it the appearance of an ancient Roman encampment. The miners belonging to this district of Scotland are a singularly moral and intelligent race of men; and as there are facts which prove them not to have been always so, they form additional evidence of the good effects resulting from a religious education. As lately as the year 1741, the Sheriff of Dumfrieshire (the late John Goldie, Esq. of Craigmuire) went, 'escorted by a detachment of military, to quiet the turbulence of the miners; and in 1755, when Messrs. Ronald Crawford and Co., the new lessees of the Wanlockhead mines, took possession, they were resisted by a lawless mob of women, and of men dressed in women's clothes, who dismantled the pits of their rollers, and endeavoured by every species of annoyance to compel the new company to give up their charge. In consequence of these proceedings, the Ccompany procured from the Court of Session a sentence to remove some of the old miners: they then introduced new and more tractable ones in their places, built them houses, and began to conduct the mines upon an improved plan. A Mr. Mason, clerk and agent to the new company, purchased a share of 1500l. and entered into their liberal views. He was anxious that the men should never earn less than from twenty to twenty-four pounds a year, which at that time was fully equal to a tradesman's wages. But the great moral change at present visible amongst the miners appears to have been effected by the introduction of a minister, a schoolmaster, and a village library. It does not exactly appear whether these measures originated with the proprietors or the company; but they were judiciously and liberally encouraged by both; and their effects I shall give nearly in the words of a gentleman, now a clergyman of the Established Church, a son of one of the miners. In 1741 a library was founded at Leadhills, and one at Wanlock in 1756. The books purchased by the miners shew, in general the purity of their taste; for excepting those which have been given in presents by the proprietors or companies, and 130 volumes left to the library of Wanlockhead by their late minister, Mr. Henderson, the books have been entirely chosen by themselves: indeed, they have a rule to this effect, that honorary members are not to interfere in the choice of books. The library at Leadhills contains at present about 1200 volumes; that of Wanlockhead 900. As the miners work only six in the twenty-four hours in the mines, and as the barrenness of the soil affords little scope for agricultural pursuits, they have of course abundance of time for reading: and I believe they generally employ it to good purpose; for many of them can converse upon historical, scientific, and theological points so as to astonish a stranger; and even on political questions, they express their opinions with great acuteness and accuracy. In the present times this last may not by many persons be considered a very desirable direction for the eagerness of the poor after knowledge to take: but I have been the more particular in copying this part of Mr.'s statement, as it may perhaps help to shew that political knowledge does not necessarily imply political disaffection; since, even in the worst years of Radicalism, the miners of Leadhills and Wanlockhead did not incur the slightest imputation of disloyalty. The newspapers are devoured as eagerly in these smithies as in any coffee-room in Britain. Every miner who chooses may read them in the smithy; but no one is allowed to carry them home. The expense individually is trifling; not above 6d. or at most ls. per annum. Each, village has its own schoolmaster and minister; and every miner can read, and most of them can write tolerably well. The emoluments of the schoolmaster at Wanlockhead are a house and small garden, with 251. a-year of salary allowed by the Duke of Buccleugh and the Mining Company, besides what he receives from the scholars. Those who merely learn to read, pay ls. 6d. per quarter; those who both read and write, 2s.; and those who learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, 2s. 6d. ; and where Latin is added, the quarterly payment is 3s.-The income of the schoolmaster at Leadhills is made up nearly in the same manner. The number of scholars in each village is seldom less than 100. Every miner, without exception, seems anxious to have his children educated; and they are in general sent to school at five years of age, and kept there till fit for employment at the mines or elsewhere. There is likewise a sewing-school in each village, where the girls are taught the common branches of needlework. The clergyman of Wanlockhead receives a house and fuel from the Mining Company, 30%. from the Duke of Buccleugh, and 4s. from every workman annually; which at present amounts to about 90%. a-year. The minister of Leadhills is paid by the Earl of Hopeton and the Mining Companies. There are few dissenters from the Established Church of Scotland in either village; of course the clergymen belong to the Established Church, though they have neither a voice in the Pres bytery where they reside, nor in the General Assembly of the church, till they happen to be presented to a parish church. Each village has also its own surgeon,who receives a house and salary from the Proprietors and Mining Company, besides the gains of his practice. It will thus be seen that these miners possess many advantages, but especially the inestimable one of an early religious education. From this source arises their future exemplary conduct, which strongly appears in whatever situation they may happen to be placed. It is a question among politicians, whether or not the poorer classes of society should be educated: but whoever will take the trouble candidly to inquire into the effects of education in Scotland in general, and among these miners in particular, cannot but become an advocate for the diffusion of learning. The opinion that ignorance is most easily governed would be disproved, were it only by contrasting Scotland and Ireland with each other. . Many of the sons of the miners, from their early education, acquire a desire for more honourable professions, and by their own industry and application raise themselves to eminence. Many are surgeons in the army and navy. I can particularize two-Messrs. Snipe and Dalzell-who rose to the rank of first surgeons in the squadron or fleet to which they severally belonged; and in the same profession many are settled at home. In the clerical profession, likewise, there are a considerable number; some actually placed as ministers, and others ordained preachers. Many are writers, merchants, or clerks, and several are mechanics of eminence: I may name one in particular, who is the inventor of the steam-boats on the canal from Glasgow to Falkirk. Allan Ramsay, the Scottish poet, was, when a boy, it is generally believed, a washer of lead ore at Leadhills it is certain that his father was a workman there; and I have often seen the house, or rather hut, where the poet was born. But the blessed effects of an early good education are no less visible upon the miners in their own spheres at home, than upon those of their sons who have been by its means prompted to aspire to some of the higher professions: indeed, were the conduct and character of the miners themselves indifferent, they would soon cease to be so anxious as they now are for the advancement of their children in every thing that is praiseworthy; and did they not feel the benefits of a good education themselves, they would not be so desirous to bestow it upon their children. They are not merely an intelligent, but in every respect an exemplary, race of persons, surpassing every other labouring class in Scotland in the correctness of their conduct, as well as in the cultivation of their minds. They are remarkable for honesty and industry. Intoxication is a vice scarcely known among them; even individual instances of it occurring rarely, not perhaps oftener than once or twice in the year, upon some particular occasion: such as when they enter upon a new bargain, when there is a general settlement, which occurs generally only once, sometimes twice, in the year: but even on these occasions intoxication is confined to a few individuals, the generality of the men keeping strictly within the bounds of moderation. Indeed, there cannot be a stronger proof of the sobriety of the people, than the small number of inns or shops where strong liquors or spirits are sold. There are only two houses of this description at Leadhills, and one at Wanlockhead; and the innkeepers in all three of them are themselves miners, a clear evidence that the profits arising from the sale of spirituous liquors are insufficient to enable them to support their families. I shall add another fact, which perhaps even more decidedly proves both their sobriety and their fore sight and provident habits. late Duke of Queensberry having occasion to pass through Wanlockhead about twenty years since, gave the miners five pounds, that they might "drink his health;" but, instead of doing so, they considered that they should equally testify their respect and gratitude to his Grace, and act far more wisely for themselves The |