sinners from their ways. What, then, we contend for is, not so much that ministerial labour is lukewarm or indifferent to the drunkard's fate, or backward in declaring the whole counsel of God upon the point, but that such labour is not directed in the course which is most likely to render it effectual; and whilst in any worldly scheme, the folly would be at once apparent to the children of the world, the children of light are blind to those means by which their spiritual labours would be made of tenfold effect. Custom, habit, and early prejudice have so rooted in their own minds, the drinking usages of society; and to them it may be, the practice has been so innocent, that they do not look as they ought upon the effects which such usages produce upon the minds of others;-those especially who are not fortified as they are by religious principle, to resist the excesses to which it cannot be denied strong drink invites.

Now, it is for those who are most exposed to the temptations of strong drink, and least able, perhaps, to resist them-the working-classes of society we repeat, for whom these churches have been mainly built; and it is to this class, in the present instance, we would confine our observations. Knowing, therefore, as we mournfully do, the habits of our countrymen, and the blot which intemperance has cast upon our country's fair fame, speaking generally as to their spiritual condition, we should say there are two distinct and contending principles-one, in which they are now enslaved-the love of drink; and one which you are desirous to instil-love of God. And in nothing is the declaration of our Lord more palpably verified, as to the impossibility of serving God and Mammon, than in the love of strong drink, as co-existing with the love of God. All experience demonstrates that they are utterly irreconcilable, and cannot simultaneously exist within the human heart. The frequenters of the beer house and the gin shop, will not be numbered amongst the frequenters of the sanctuary upon the Sabbath.

What will it then avail to erect our churches, and invite worshippers thereto, whilst an idolatry, gross as that which fills the gin palaces with victims, so fearfully prevails amongst those we seek to win? We must pull down the altars of Baal, before we erect the ark of the living God. The axe must be laid to the root of the tree, or it is with very remote chance of spiritual benefit to the mass, we are here and there enabled⭑ to prune off some vicious excrescence. Would the children of the world, then, with the ordinary sagacity by which they are characterized in worldly affairs, thus labour and toil at much expense, to produce effects, which the existence of a known evil so altogether nullified; and this, too, with a remedy so simple and easy in their hands, as that by which we seek to stop the love of drink, by opposing to it the safe and certain cure of total abstinence from its fascinations? We do not say that to extinguish the love of drink within the human heart, is necessary to infuse therein the love of God. No; but in respect to the cure before us, the means of grace afforded in the public services of the Sabbath, we do say that we make those means more generally available by destroying that taste, and checking that indulgence, which where they exist, make all your churches, however numerous, and your ministry, however evangelical, if not useless, inefficient.

This, then, is the subject which we wish to press upon the attention of the Christian Church, and which we would entreat every follower of our common Lord, faithfully and prayerfully to ponder. Let them for a moment consider the vast number of living souls, whose destiny for eternity depends upon their conduct in time-who are daily immolating those souls by the love of strong drink— for whom the Sabbath dawns, not to bring them in holy contact with their God, but as a day of rest from weekly toil, which they can more entirely devote to the indulgence of an appetite which places them farther and farther from Him, and more and more hurries them on to the eternal

condemnation that awaits them. Let them think, too, of the vast number of wretched females whom our churches invite in vain-who continue in infamy and sin-infamy of which they feel the degradation, and sin which in their souls they now abhor-only because their consciences are silenced, and their satiated passions still inflamed by the excitement of strong drink; and say whether laying the axe at the root of all this, and far more than we are able to enumerate, would not be a more effectual means of grace, than if you had churches in every street, whilst an evil of such enormous magnitude still remained unassailed by some extraordinary efforts of the children of light?

Let us make a plain and simple inquiry. There are in London, it is calculated, about 5,000 gin palaces. Now, which would effect the most good in a moral and religious point of view, the destruction of these dens of infamy and woe, and the eradication of those drinking habits which their frequenters indulge in, or the erection and endowment of 5,000 churches, whilst they still continued in all their hellish influence, ensnaring and destroying 10,000 victims to every 100 souls whom the preaching and ministry of the Gospel reclaimed? Oh! for a little worldly wisdom amongst the children of light. Oh! that the high and dignified of our ministers would devote themselves with the same fidelity to our great and holy cause, that they now do towards furnishing those means of grace, education, and churches; and what different results do we believe would attend their labours. Eradicate the love of drink amongst the working-classes of society, and we should lack no funds either for schools or churches. A sober, and as a consequence of sobriety, industrious population, would find the means to educate their children; and as our experience of total abstinence proves, they would not neglect their God upon the Sabbath. But whilst this evil remains comparatively unmet, whilst the encouragement of

example is afforded by the children of light to the use, of what in the vast majority of cases invariably terminates in the most fearful abuse, we are rendering the means of grace which we offer in our churches, for the most part ineffectual, and labouring in vain for the salvation of souls, whom we allow to be swept away from our grasp in the overpowering deluge of intemperance.

Admitting, then, that education and church-building are means which we are bound to use for the enlargement of our Saviour's kingdom-are duties to which the love and attachment that we bear to Christ should so irresistibly prompt his followersduties, for the neglect of which we shall be justly held responsible hereafter ;;-are we less responsible for persisting to uphold a system, which makes all our labours of comparatively no value, which so constantly defeats our most anxious care; renders of no avail the early principles we have instilled at school, thins our churches, and closes the hearts of thousands to all the winning invitations of a Saviour's love? To this it is we complain, that the children of light are blind. Would God they were wise in their generation as the children of the world. Then should we have no doubt as to the general adoption of our views by the Christian Church; and that her main care would be, by all the influence, not merely of her precept, but her example, to send forth into the world, the children that she educated, armed in the principles of total abstinence; thus, under God, more fitted to contend against the many trials to which the drinking-habits of society will inevitably expose their faith-better guarded in the maturer years of life against the lure to Sabbath desecration, and the sins which follow in its train, by which strong drink ensnares so many souls to their eternal woe. And so by mercy and grace, should we truly make our schools the nurseries of Christian faith, and our churches, indeed, the sanctuaries of the living God.

Pass o'er the mighty thresholds Choked with the desert sand, And gaze upon the temples

Of Pharaoh's wondrous land:

Dost thou not see in vision

In sunny noontide dreamA thousand craftsmen toiling

Beside an ancient stream?

Dost thou not see them carving

The stone with hidden lore, Whereon the wise shall ponder

A thousand years and more?
Dost thou not see them lifting

The huge dark stones on high,
Shadows of mortal glory
Against the quiet sky?

Strangely their toil endureth,

But it may quake and fall Ere yet the earth's last terror Hath thrilled the sculptured wall.

God hath a mightier temple,

That shall not crumble then,Age after age it tow'reth

Above the homes of men.
None see the axe uplifted,
None hear the mattock ring,
Yet multitudes are building

The temple of their King;
And God hath strangely chosen
The simple and the mean
To lift that goodly temple
The heaven and earth between.

I see a knot of fishers,

Hard by the moaning seaSuch as of yore were casting

Their nets in Galilee;

And where the sea-flowers tangle
Among the broken rocks,

A little child is sitting

With dim and sun-scorched locks.

That little one is reading

The words that holiest be,
Heard like a solemn music
Above the restless sea.

His grey-haired father hearkeneth,
With lips like burning coal,
Pouring the secret meaning
On many a simple soul.
And ever as he speaketh

The old men's faces light
With the same joy that maketh
An angel's forehead bright.

Is it not soothly written

In a fair scroll and wide,
That tells how martyrs suffered,
How that grey father died,-
And how the child was gazing
When forest boughs grew red,
And saw the fiery mantle
Folding his father's head?
Oh how would he remember

The balmy words of peace,
Read in the pleasant sunshine
Beside the moaning seas!
How like a fount of waters

With a calm noiseless flow,
Would they pass o'er his spirit
In the dread hour of woe!
The words of that young teacher,
And that grey-headed sire,
Lay hid in many a spirit

Holy but mould'ring fire.
And angel eyes may number

When the bright earth shall fade, The hidden stones, yet goodly

Their hands in Zion laid. Such are the simple craftsmen That heed our Master's call, And in the burning noontide Build up his temple wall.

H. T.

"That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed."-LUKE i. 4.

THE Scriptural character of the Church of England can only be duly estimated by those who examine the circumstances which gave rise to her various formularies. When hearing Scriptural truth in an unknown tongue, the people might be truly said to "sit in darkness;" but when through the Providence of God, and the guidance of his Spirit, the services of the Church were given in the vulgar tongue, they not only

66

saw a great light," but continued to enjoy it. Nor can we ever be sufficiently thankful for the catechetical instruction provided for our children, which when compared with the word of God, at once proves "the certainty of those things wherein they are instructed," without leaving them to the "implicit" faith of the Romish Church.

"They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy."-REV. iii. 4.

How much Scriptural truth is implied in this short sentence! Enoch "walked with God," even whilst he was on earth. But before he could do this, the middle wall of partition between the sinner and his Maker must have been removed by the atoning blood and justifying righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. When this was accomplished, and the close communion of Spirit enjoyed by Enoch, how great must have been his happiness! Still he must have felt daily cause for the deepest humiliation on account of his daily sins. The promise made to the Church of Sardis includes far greater blessings. Walking with Jesus in white," implies perfect holiness, uninterrupted by any sin or sorrow. "They are worthy," from the imputation of their Saviour's righteous

66

ness, and the purification of his blessed Spirit.

"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."-JER. vi. 16.

THIS single text seems to give us the seed, as it were, of many sermons. The first duty inculcated is that of serious consideration, which is implied in the figure of standing. "Stand ye in the ways." Know that you are right, before you proceed. Energy of body and mind are only valuable when engaged in a right cause, or pursued for a right end. Enquiry is the next duty. "Ask for the old paths"! Go as nearly as possible to the period when God taught man either in his own familiar intercourse with him in the Garden of Eden, (Gen. iii. 8.) or through the renewed communication by Him who is the "WAY," as well as the "truth and the life." Look at the teaching and practice of the Apostles, without the additions and superstitions of the dark ages. There you will find the "GOOD" way, that which will bear "the line and the plummet" of truth to measure it. But here forget not that it is not enough to ask for "the old paths" because they are old;" but only if they be both "old" and "good" in God's sight. pent" loses nothing of his poison by his age. He is "old" still, and his malice against God and his Church is only increased by indulgence. Having enquired and investigated, the next step is pursuit-" Walk therein." Steady, unwearied perseverance, is thus aptly described: a Scriptural faith, and consistent practice, are invariably inculcated in God's Word; and it is only by such that the child of God can expect the peace of God to keep his heart and mind by Christ Jesus.

66

The "Ser

MY DEAR FRIEND,-I am very deeply grieved to hear that your dear child has imbibed the poison of that fatal teaching which is ruining England; but what else could be anticipated in the case of a young and ardent mind, at a time of life when the heart is so susceptible of impressions from the pompous and the mystic, if it be suffered to come into contact with the ensnaring instruments which the God of this world uses to blind the minds of men.

If there had been no possibility of attending a place of worship where such teaching was not to be found, I am fully persuaded that it would be better for the mind and spirit never to enter a church, than to attend a ministry where such doctrines are taught. You are well acquainted with my fixed persuasions on this subject. Christian fidelity enjoins our protesting against all error, and we are bound to use the authority which God gives us over our children to prevent their intercourse with those who would be likely to mislead them, and to compel their attendance with their parents, at those places of worship which they themselves (i. e., the parents,) select. As to the figment of parochial obligation upon the laity to worship in the parish church, we may well thank God that we know our Christian liberty better. My conviction is, that our social obligation involves the necessity of withdrawing from the teaching which causes to err from the words of knowledge; not our personal benefit only, but the good of our neighbourhood demands this of us. If we, with the light of God's truth in our hearts, are known to sit from Sunday to Sunday in a church where the saving doctrines of God's grace are not taught, or are contradicted, we are doing all we can to recommend others to do the same; we give our countenance, not to the pure form of our Church worship, but to the heretical substance of the

minister's teaching. We are exposing ourselves to temptations; and we are ourselves the tempters of others. How different we act in matters connected with the body! We neither tamper with poisonous substances ourselves, nor suffer our children to do so. We shun the place where an infectious disease rages, and we take all care to keep our children out of it; but, alas! when we come to examine our practice in religious matters, what do we find? We go to a church where Christ is dishonoured-we suffer our children to form acquaintance with those who hate the truth as it is in Jesus. Indeed, my dear friend, we are verily to blame in this, and we need not be surprised, if the way of duty be at last pressed upon our consciences, by such a severe blow to our parental affection-I grieve at my heart that your dear child has been ensnared from the way of truth, and pray that it may be but a temporary delusion; and that her eyes may be opened to see the folly and the peril of that Galatian error which is the characteristic of the present day. Ah! the bitter fruit of that deadly system shows that_it_never was of God. What! does God teach irreverence to parents' counsels? No -"Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.""Honour thy father and mother," is the spirit of the truth we love : that truth which teaches us, the parents, to bring them up "in the

nurture and admonition of the Lord." It is a fearful thing to refuse to hear a parent's affectionate reproof; "The eye that mocketh at his father, and refuseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." (Prov. xxx. 17.) I am truly glad to hear that you have not been ashamed to go elsewhere to be fedas long as the waters of your own cistern are poisoned, no one can