are, after all, in connection with that "kingdom which cannot be moved," principles which, in the best and highest sense, are at the same time reforming and conservative and which, if need be, will prove to be resuscitating also; since, even on the supposition of events the most appalling in prospect to a patriotic mind, they would survive the wreck of civil order, and reorganize society on a permanent foundation. It is not intended to be maintained that the spirit of change, which so strongly marks the present age, is all darkness, and its opposite all light; nor will the desire for legitimate reform be confounded with a passion for lawless revolution. But taking his station on the tower of that heavenly truth, which is perfect and immutable, and thus raised above the tumult of these various conflicts which may at any time distract the public mind, it will be the object of the "Watchman" not only to keep a diligent look-out upon the movements of society, and to make regular and accurate reports of them, but also, on all fair occasions, to interpose among the combatants with "words of truth and soberness," such as may serve to soothe and moderate their spirit; and especially whenever, as appears to be partly the case at present, conflicting parties, weary with contention, languish for repose, it will be his concern to seize the golden opportunity, and to throw off their attention from mere party politics, to things of everlasting and universal obligation. . But, in all cases, the principal aim of the journal will be to encourage that moral "preparation of the heart," which is so favourable to a right use of the understanding; and to place all public affairs in that same light in which alone the far less complicated and uncertain interests of private life can be fairly estimated the clear and solemn light of eternity. The earlier numbers of the "Watchman were moderately Conservative in tone, but disfigured by the verbosity and "cant" which mark the passage quoted above. They are, moreover, anything but pleasant reading, from the fact that, at the time when the paper was first started, the Methodist body was in the throes of one of those periodical convulsions which wait like a Nemesis on all sects. Column after column was occupied with the disputes of "Dr. Warren and his party; with complaints against "an individual most falsely styling himself a follower of John Wesley, and who (sic) has for years been well known in the Circuit as a promoter of strife and contention both in Church and State, and whose vulgar abuse and outrageous violence towards the Ministers of Christ are such as must make it apparent, even to his own partisans, that he is wholly destitute of that piety to which he has made such high but delusive pretensions.' On the other hand, the early numbers of the "Watchman" contain a host of advertisements expressive of the "high sense" which the Methodists of that day entertained for the Rev. Jabez Bunting, for whose "intellectual and moral character, and for the value and disinterestedness of his labours in the cause of Wesleyan Methodism," it would, it appears, be difficult to say too much. Of the amenities of Protestant controversy, the earlier numbers of the "Watchman" afford some interesting specimens. Of late years it has changed its character to a somewhat remarkable extent. In politics it still professes Liberal-Conservatism, but the former quality is much more conspicuous than the latter; while its religious tendencies are distinctly less sectarian than they were when it first started on its career. It is interesting to note how from time to time even a journal so distinctly Protestant as this, is compelled to admit the power and influence of the Catholic Church. To its credit, it has never joined in the anti-religious warfare which some of the sects have waged during the last half century, and the representatives of the Wesleyan body will usually be found in the same division lobby with Catholics when religious education is under discussion. Latterly this subject has been taken up with considerable energy, and those who care to turn over the files of the "Watchman" will find abundant reason for hopefulness with regard to the future of Wesleyanism. Sectarian though they may be, the followers of John Wesley are very obviously impressed with the fact that Sectarianism pure and simple unquestionably leads to contempt for and defiance of all religion, and that the only hope for religion lies within the fold of the Church. A recent number of this paper contains a letter from Dr. J. H. Rigg, the Principal of the Wesleyan Training College for Elementary Schoolmasters, and a member of the London School Board. This letter is remarkable for the indirect testimony which it affords, first, to the rapidly increasing power and influence of the Church in the United States; and, secondly, to the uneasiness with which Protestants, who are honestly religious view the flood of infidelity which is gradually over-spreading those countries where the principle of authority is condemned, and where "the right of private judg ment" is most freely exercised. The official organ of the American Methodist body-the" New York Christian Advocate" -has, it seems, devoted a long article to the religious condition of the city of St. Louis, and Dr. Rigg, from his personal experience, endorses the statements of his American contemporary. appears that in that city, which numbers 350,000 inhabitants, "Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion;" that the "Unsectarian common Schools of America have become absolutely godless;" that the people of St. Louis have to "submit to a godless system of education controlled and enforced by bar-room politicians, infidels, and atheists," and that "there is not a distinctively Protestant religious school in St. Louis, excepting one little institution belonging to the Episcopalians." Two or three sentences from Dr. Rigg's letter may be added in this place in order to illustrate the charity of Protestant dissenters, and the amenities of controversy as understood by the Wesleyan body. It We have (says the writer) 45,000 in the churches of all denominations, and 120,000 in the saloons on the Sabbath day. Roman Catholicism (he adds) is an angel of mercy as compared with those saloons. . . . With few exceptions the leading churches are huddled together in a small compass in the wealthiest portion of the city. The down-town population is left to the Catholics, the police, and the devil. One fact only remains to be noticed in connection with the "Watchman," and that is the great number of quack medicine advertisements which adorn its columns. Religious newspapers generally profit by advertisements of this kind, but the "Watchman" is unusually fortunate in securing them. Another organ of the Wesleyan body is the "Methodist Recorder," a penny sheet, which was started in 1861, with the avowed intention of " presenting, from week to week, a complete body of Wesleyan intelligence.' The paper presents few features of special interest. Its terminology is of course that of the sect it represents, and its politics may be concisely described as Gladstonian. Like the "Watchman," it contains a good many advertisements of quack medicines, and it is further distinguished by its custom of printing at length the sermons preached on the occasion of the funerals of conspicuous members of the sect. The "Methodist "a third journal of the same type-dates from 1874, and is chiefly remarkable for its very aggressive Protestantism. The point aimed at is not very high, and a study of the columns of the paper is not likely to impress the reader with a very exalted opinion of the intellectual capacity of the modern Methodist. Much the same verdict will probably be given by the majority of readers with reference to the remaining Methodist publication on our list-the "Primitive Methodist." As its name imports, this is the organ of that sect of the Methodist body which is most addicted to the practice of those extravagances which have brought it into disrepute with sober-minded and reasonable people. It is hardly necessary to say that it is intensely Protestant in tone, or that in politics it is as ardently Radical. If the Church is mentioned, it is always in terms which imply that the enlightened Primitive Methodists consider her as on a level with the heathen; while if the Conservative party or the House of Lords comes into question it is always with expressions which appear to be borrowed from the vocabulary of those Sunday papers which are the discredit of English journalism. The most remarkable of the religious newspapers is, however, the "War Cry"-the organ of that "Salvation Army" whose erratic doings not unfreqently bring them into more or less violent collision with the police, and with the populace of our large towns. The social position of these persons maybe estimated from two facts: one that their head-quarters are in the not very savoury region of the Whitechapel Road; the other that, like the secret societies of Foresters, Buffaloes, Odd Fellows, and their kindred, they appear to take an immense delight in absurd titles, and in the wearing of uniforms and decorations. The kind of religion which is preached by the leaders of this singular organization may be readily comprehended by the study of a few numbers of its favoured organ. In the first place the hierophants of the sect appear to lay great stress on their having been originally persons of very bad character, and at best of the lowest rank in life. Each number of the "War Cry" contains the portrait and biography of one of the leaders of the movement, and during the first three months of the present year the personages thus commemorated have been as follows: Abraham Davey, an agricultural labourer, educated as a Protestant dissenter of some unspecified type; Henry Reed, of Launceston, Tasmania, who, if not a convict, seems as though he ought to have been one; Tom Payne, a "converted pot-boy;" "Captain (Mother) Shepherd," born a Baptist and utterly without education, who lived a vicious life for many years until "converted" by the preaching of "Dowdle, the converted railway guard;" "Captain" George Taberer, the converted drunkard; "Captain" Polly Parks, an ex-nursery maid; "Captain" Thomas Estill, an ex-seaman, not wholly unknown to the police; "Captain" Roe, the converted horse-jockey; "Captain " Wilson, the reformed Manchester drunkard; "Captain" Hanson, a foremast man, who appears to have been the most respectable of the party; and, lastly, "Mrs. Captain" Howe, apparently an ex-maidservant. The second point about these worthy people is, that, apart from their fantastic designations as members of the "Salvation Army," they are extremely fond of adopting fancy titles and eccentric signatures. Thus, in the number of the "War Cry" for the 13th of January there is a letter, the signature to which is literally as follows; "Private W. Stephens, the bloodwashed coachman of the Stroud Corps." In that for the 3rd of February is a piece of Welsh poetry, which is signed "William Davies, the happy Welshman," and similarly eccentric signatures may be found in every number. A third point which will strike the dispassionate reader of this paper is the astonishingly free-and-easy way in which the "Salvation Army" deal with matters of which commonplace Christians speak, if not "with bated breath and whispering humbleness," with at least reverence and humility. Richter is said to have remarked that no man could be described as truly religious who was not on such friendly terms with his religion that he could make a joke of it. Whether the saying was not in itself a somewhat indifferent jest may be open to question. At the same time, it is beyond question that the "hot-gospellers of the Salvation Army talk about the most sacred things with an irreverence which can only be described as shocking. No small amount of space is taken up with pious parodies of popular songs. "Rule Britannia" becomes "Rule Emanuel:" When Christ the lord at God's command, In love, came down to save the lost, CHORUS. Rule Emanuel, Emanuel rules the waves. The "Blue Bells of Scotland" is distorted into a hymn beginning "Weel Oh, where! and, oh where can I now a Saviour find? may We are all off to glory, to make the heavens ring. And so forth. The specimens already given will show pretty clearly the type of literature represented by the "War Cry." The news is given in paragraphs of the same character. We quote one which has for head-line: "SHEERNESS. Major Moore to the front. All night with Jesus. Our Chatham comrades ran over, and the salvation jockey and his lieutenant gave some soul-stirring speeches. We could see that many were too badly wounded to get over it without going to the Great Physician. But the meeting that followed, called "an all-night with Jesus," beggared description. From one to two o'clock Tuesday morning there could not have been less than 100 souls (saints and sinners) struggling and wrestling with the Lord, who had promised a clean heart. For about half-an-hour we felt we were in Heaven; the Spirit of God was upon us. . . . We do want a barracks of our own. Will not some one who loves God and souls send Captain Davey a good donation towards one. The Almighty pays 100 per cent. for all that is given out of pure love to Him. Send it along. The appeal with which this paragraph closes is eminently characteristic of the paper in which it appears. The begging is constant, and apparently very successful. By the figures which are published from week to week, it would seem that the circulation of the "War Cry" is about 5,000, and the leader of the movement acknowledges from week to week contributions of from |