fear of contradiction, that Calvinism had no existence before the fourth century. Previous to this, the whole Christian world were Arminians in sentiment." p. 386.

Again, p. 390, after making Arminians of the German Reformers, and fraternizing over the grave of Servetus, he continues his view along down the line of the Reformation, and sees nothing among the worthies, but Arminianism. Is this then good reason for thinking that a general remark on the system of Arminianism, must mean the Methodist Church? I think it is not. He has certainly failed in making out a case of discourtesy to a neighbouring denomination of professing Christians against the Editor of the Magazine of the Reformed Dutch Church, and he has totally mistaken the history of the times, in charging the Fathers of the Reformation with Arminianism. He might indeed have well spared those men. True history would have supplied him with many, very many potent and terrible names, whose opposition to Calvinism is never doubted. The Council of Trent

was Anticalvinistic to his heart's content. Archbishop Land, and his master, King Charles Stuart, laboured effectually to spread Arminianism over England. The Jesuits, with all their great literature, industry, and profound policy, have been on the side of Arminianism; and the Holy Roman Inquisition, with every imaginable instrument of torture at command, has ever been hostile to the doctrines of free and sovereign grace, and as firm on the five Arminian points, as ever was Episcopus, or Dr. Whitby The followers of that faith should cease from the puny calumny, which would connect with the Calvinistic doctrines, as exhibited by the churches of the Reformation, the sufferings of Servetus; for thousands, and hundreds of thousands of better men than he, have been put to more cruel torture in the cities of the nations, by men altogether of Anticalvinistic doctrines,

and of positive Arminian propensities.

Let us not, however, admit, either the smoke of Servetus, or the flames of Smithfield, as the test of truth in matters of religion. "We have a nore sure word, to which we do well to take heed." The Bible is the standard of faith, and the rule of moral obligation.

You will now allow me, my dear sir, to say, that there is no evidence whatever, that either insult or injury was intended to the Methodists by the insertion, in the Magazine of the Reformed Dutch Church, of the quotation from The Pulpit.

The singular self-application made so furiously, by these persons, reminds us forcibly of a similar appropriation by a certain high personage, whose guilty conscience wrung from his lips these words

Thou canst not say I did it-never Shake thy gory locks at me!!!"

And sure we are, Christian candour might have suggested a better motive for the quotation. The system of Arminianism, as pourtrayed in the quotation, is very extensively diffused over Christendom. There are very ecclesiastical communities in which its leaven does not exist. The Calvinistic Churches are all aware of the fact; and they have often to oppose, within their own communion, doctrinal opinions, which they deem unsound.

few

It is to be hoped that there are men in all the other churches, who are evangelical in their faith; and it is to be feared that there are some legalists in the purest communion. Call the insubordination of the heart to the sovreignty of God by what name you will, it is to be reproved from the pulpit and from the press; and it is reproved generally under the name of Arminianism, by the orthodox.

The system is now well known irrespective of the history of the professor of Leyden. Dr. James Arminius was not, himself, thorough stitch.!

Insubordination to the divine sovereignty, displayed in the selection of sinners to be redeemed by Christ, and through that redemption sanctified and saved, is the essential heresy of fallen men.

It is the warp of every false religion, however diversified the filling, and elegant the embroidery This

Catholic error of the natural mind is early in action; it often recurs in spite of instruction; and it remains in the impenitent for ever, unconsumed by the flames of Tophet; invincible by every thing but the free grace of God.

The system, as such, is congenial to the enmity of the heart, against God and his attributes; against the law and the justice of the Sovereign; against the decrees and the counsels of the Almighty; against the covenant of grace itself, and against the safety of souls. On this basis, superstition, and tyranny have often erected their thrones; and probably on the basis of Arminianism, Antichrist himself will fight his last battles. "I believed, therefore have I spoken."-M.

[To be continued.]

Miscellaneous.

MR. EDITOR.-Our churches are generally engaged in observing the monthly concert for prayer; and it is trusted many love the duty. But, sir, do you not find that the attention of many flags on this subject? Are not these meetings sometimes with some of us very dull? It is so in my church; and feeling that this ought not to be, I beg you will permit me, to solicit through your paper from your correspondents their thoughts on this question. "What is the best method of giving interest to the monthly concert, so that our people may not only be induced to come out, but to take pleasure in attending?" For any instruction received on this important subject, I shall feel deeply obliged.

Yours &c. NEOPOIMEEN.

**

*To this subject of vital importance to the cause of religiou in all our churches, we beg leave to draw the attention of the ministers of Christ, whose hearts are in their Master's work. Something ought to be done. This is what every one of our hearts says, often as we enter the house of of God, of a monthly concert evening; and look round with a chill of sorrow and distress, in our hearts, over the empty pews of our Churches; and over the few solitary children of God, here and there, composing themselves for devotion. Something ought to be done, to stir us up in our concert of prayer. Is the cause of this to be found in the dulness, and heaviness, and sameness of the pas tor? Or is it to be found, in the decreased devotion, and growing indifference of Christians to the interests of their own souls, and the blessed Redeemer's cause and glory? We think it owing to the effects of both these fatally operating causes. appeal to every pastor, and to every Christian who has been in the habit of attending the monthly concerts. We go thither often without a motive, and with scarcely an idea in our heads. We go thither not only with our hearts chilled with the cares of time and sense; without warm hearts, and without having used the means of reading God's word and of prayer, to warm our own hearts, and prepare us for the duty We often go thither with out one feeling of interest for our Christian brethren at home or abroad; without looking up to Him who is in the middle of the throne, and of the four living ones, and of the four and twenty elders; without feeling the necessity of the presence and energy the Holy Ghost to carry on his own work in the hearts of the children of

men.

We

of

We often go thither without having our minds fixed on one of the divine promises, touching the work of His hands on our own hearts, or in the Church of Christ at large. We often go thither without contributing

fire to consume, but the objects and the slaves of concupiscence; while every thing which grace has prepared and beautified, shall be gathered and selected from the ruins of the world, to adorn that eternal city, 'which hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God doth enlighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.""

REFLECTIONS.

"I have seen thewicked in great power, spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found."

I know of no subject that has more perplexed the reasonings of the sage, and confounded the penetration of the wise, than that of the unequal distribution of the benefits of this life. The gifts of heaven seem not to be meted out, but lavished;-not dealt with provident care over this, and that spot of the earth, more favoured than the rest, but scattered, with an indiscriminate profusion, over the face of the whole.

Hence erring reason suggested the image, and poetry caught the idea, that fortune was a blind and beautiful female, ever wily and capricious, that often turned from the prayer of merit, and poured her treasures in profusion, at the feet of the undeserving.

Every day presents to our observation some instance of integrity, and worth, pursuing their humble walks; while the high places of the earth are occupied by insolence, oppression, fraud, and wickedness. Nay, such is the existing state of things; that the very order of right seems inverted, and we see ignorant, and supercilious wealth investing itself with an importance before which even the high-hearted, and the noble minded bring themselves to bow. This, to a mind of reflection, is a very great evil under the sun; and the moralist will always decry it, and the feeling

always lament it. For, Oh! It grieves the heart to see worth looking like a suppliant at the feet of the vile; and to see poverty folding her tattered mantle to screen the sadness of her heaving bosom; while she begs her bitter pittance from the proud!

But Christianity, in her views, rises above human distinctions, and levels, in her glance, every official dignity and intrenchment, and pronounces that man only blest who walks before heaven with an humble heart. Hence the good man is a stranger to covetous and avaricious want. He would not take the seat of the scorner, though worlds were tributary to his nod; nor mingle in the revels of the profane, though his heart might be filled with their mirth, and though his spirit should for ever forget its heaviness! We have seen, and still do see, the wicked rising in prosperity and influence. We behold the covetous man pruning his vineyards, and cultivating with success his fair spread fields; and we see the man of cruelty, and injustice, gathering into his graneries the wealth of a wrested and illgained heritage. But what Christian's heart could envy the possession?The curse of a father came transmitted with it. The orphan's soul was spent upon it. And Oh! could the violence and fraud of the occupant impress the soil, no spire of grass would grow, no flower of sweet vitality would bloom, from such unholy earth! I have no romantic idea of poverty, that lends to pining destitution a name and a grace; but

Give me the seat beneath the elm
That rustles at my cottage door,
With bosom light, and eye of love,
To range the fair creation o'er.
Give me the bread by labour glean'd,
To break among the circle dear,
That meet me with affection blend,
And smile away to-morrow's care.

And then, O my God! my cup will, indeed, overflow with blessings, "though the fig tree should produce no fruit, and the labour of the olive should fail."

"Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not; I sought him but he could not be found." Here, then, is the end of human greatness! Once applanded, caressed, exalted, and admired. "Now none so poor as to do it reverence. The idol of the populace, the hero of the story, passed away from his place, and forgotten! When I think of it, I am ashamed of the emotions that ever awakened in my soul one emulative, idle wish. Oh! Eit brushes from the mind the pride of distinction. It beggars the reveries of ambition. And we have no more heart to talk of deathless, and laurelled honours. For, to a being born to die, the promise of immortal earthly glory resolves itself into a mere mockery of words!

But, there is one memorial that is ever dear to us. It is the sober recollection of the just We will ever enbalm the memory of the Patriot hero, who, neither trusting to horsemen, nor chariots, led on a people to conquest, beneath the banner of the God of battles. And we cannot forget, while the life blood flows in our veins, the first disseminators of our holy religion: the holy and gallant soldiers of the cross, who signalized themselves in conspicuous periods of the Church of Christ. These are recollections which, I think it is not visionsary to suppose, will be perpetuated in the holy society of the blessed. And, were it not for introducing too much of materialism into the region of spirits, I should often picture to myself interesting groups that should, here and there, collect in the world above

us.

The Christian patriot surrounded by his compatriots; the martyr by his holy associates; the pastor by his flock; the mother leading her children; the stranger, and the orphan, blessing the hand of their pious benefactor. But I desist. For well I know that the imagination is apt to mingle its earthly conceptions in its pictures of these pure and holy things; And well I know that it cannot enter

into the human heart to conceive aright of the blessings reserved for the good! AMANDA.

For the Magazine of the Reformed Dutch Church.

A BRIEF VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF SABBATH SCHOOLS.

MR. EDITOR-If you suppose that it will, in any degree, afford interest to your readers, and advance the common cause, I will furnish you with a succession of papers, in which it will be my object to give a brief history of Sabbath schools, and their claims on the Christian public. In order to get at the work as soon as possible, I herewith send you the Introduction, to be disposed of as you may think best.

Your fellow labourer-PHILO. SAB.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

If there be a period in the history of the world, in which the God of providence has done wonderful things among the nations, and in behalf of his Church, it is this in which we live.Let us turn our attention for a moment to political events. What a crowd of the most momentous events have transpired within the last fifty years! Our own nation has risen to independence; is spreading a broad tide of population over a vast and beautiful country; is rivalling in arms, and arts, the oldest nations; and has sent abroad among the nations of the earth, a spirit of liberty, which bids fair to renovate the old world. So many changes have taken place abroad, that few civilized nations retain their ancient form. The most powerful excitement has been given to every species of knowledge, while facilities for its attainment have increased a thousand fold The spirit of the age in temporal matters is a noble spirit, free in its nature, liberal in its views magnificent in its plans.— Such has been the change effe ted by commerce, international treaties, and the consequent interchange of good feelings, that, in the language of an eminent writer, The whole civilized world has now become a field upon which mind may labour. The movement of one intellect now sets in motion the intellect of millions. And we are called to calculate its effects, not upon a state, or a people, but upon the melting, amalgamating mass of human nature. The hand of the Lord is in all this, and all has a decided bearing upon the interests of the Church. Thus he has been preparing the way, that his gospel may march forth in all its majesty. He has been, and he still is stretching out, far away before his people,

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field of benevolent operation, commensurate with the world. He has brought the possessions of the light of divine truth, in almost immediate contact with the people of every land and every make tongue, so that every devout Christian may himself felt in the remotest part of the world."

The present and the improving attitude of the nations seems highly prophetic; and through it, we think, we can indistinctly descry the time when, from his holy heavens, the Lord shall