for all who come within the range of its influence! But in addition to things temporal and spiritual, there are eternal benefits in that state which " eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive."

To you who are spending your Sabbaths in teaching the young, we would say, "be not weary in well doing, for in due time you shall reap if you faint not." Discouragement may sometimes be your portion; when this is the case look unto Him who, when He came to seek and to save that which was lost, persevered until He accomplished the great object for which He came; then looking up to heaven exclaimed, I have finished the work which thou gavest Me to do." "Be ye therefore steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." W. DAWSON.

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Birmingham.

REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.

Motives to Faith. By the REV. BENJAMIN GLAZEBROOK. 18mo. 116pp. ROBERT Daw.

THIS is an excellent little volume, well adapted for usefulness, ably exciting to the exercise of saving faith. We, however, have not been favourably impressed with its commencement; the opening sentences, in our judgment, are open to objection; subsequently we found little to which we demurred, but much which commanded our commendation. We will just quote the passage which arrested our attention and excited our surprise. It is in the following words

6

"Having in a former work, designated Motives to Piety,' endeavoured to induce you as a sinner, to lead a life of devotedness to God, and hoping we have succeeded, the design of the following sheets is to lead you as a penitent sinner to the exercise of faith; for while you may have renounced all your sins, it is no less important to come with a lively faith in God through Christ for the pardon of all your transgressions."

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Upon this passage we have to remark, that, we believe, it does not verbally express what its author intended. He, surely, had not endeavoured to induce his reader, as a sinner, to lead a life of devotedness to God!" but to induce the reader, as one who had renounced sin-and not as a sinner-" to lead a life of devotedness to God." But the author, in addition to having expressed a hope, that he had induced his reader "to lead a life of devotedness to God," also says, "you may have renounced all your sins," and then proceeds to address him as one destitute of faith in Christ and unconverted. We believe, however, that the author will agree with us, that no man, to whom the Gospel has been preached, has renounced "all sins," unless he has renounced unbelief, and exercises faith in Christ. We think also, he will admit, that although an unconverted man may have put away many of his evil doings, he cannot, while in his unconverted state, "lead a life of devotedness to God." He who may truly be said to lead such a life, must be "a new creature, born again of

the Spirit of God." Perhaps the author may see it needful, in the second edition, to alter the passage to which we have referred. We cannot believe, that he intended it to express the sentiments which the words employed strictly signify. Such inadvertences may happen to the most careful. However, we have pleasure in stating, that the work is one of sterling excellence, affording such explanations and illustrations of the nature, importance, and benefits of evangelical faith, as cannot fail to be highly beneficial to those who are seeking salvation; and believers in Christ may read it with much advantage.

the

The Tried Christian: a Book of Consolation for the Afflicted. By the REV. WM. LEASK. Royal 18mo. 158pp. JOHN SNOW. AFFLICTION is the common lot of man; and many are afflictions of the righteous; therefore, to know how to obtain comfort in the time of sorrow is highly important. To afford instruction on this subject has been the design of the author in sending forth the volume now before us. It contains" chapters" on the following topics: Trials common to Christians; Evidences of Adoption; Joy in Sorrow; Heavenly-mindedness; Sanctification; Fellowship with Christ; Meetness for Heaven; Sorrows at an End." These themes are discussed with great ability. The work is remarkable for comprehensiveness, clearness, vivacity, and attractiveness; it contains much solid and important instruction, on which afflicted Christians, and indeed all other Christians, may meditate with great spiritual profit. It admirably directs attention to the present, glorious, and eternal, advantages which may be realized through sanctified affliction.

The City of Rome: its Engravings. Royal 18mo. THIS is an admirable work. It contains a brief, but comprehensive description of the rise and progress of ancient Rome; of the domestic and social condition, the arts, language, oratory, and moral condition of the ancient and modern Romans; also very interestingly describes the principal buildings and ruins which now exist in the city and its vicinity. It is a volume presenting many attractions to young persons; it contains numerous excellent illustrative engravings; pleasingly conducts the reader to view the principal sites and buildings, and affords much valuable instruction in a most interesting

Edifices and its People. With numerous 252pp. RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

manner.

The New Casket. A Gift Book for all Seasons. Royal 18mo. 188pp. RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

HIGHLY pleasing and instructive tales, with beautifully-coloured engravings of parrots, parroquets, butterflies, shell fish, sea-weeds, and other objects, are presented in this very elegant volume. We are sure that to young persons, this will be a very acceptable present. They will be charmed with the prose, the poetry, and the engravings. All are excellent and the volume is got up in the best style.

The Church of England in the Reign of the Stuarts. Post 8vo. 251pp. A. COCKSHAW.

WE have already pronounced a favourable opinion of the this volume. This we did when it was published as Part I.

former half of We now com

mend the entire volume to the notice of our readers. It admirably sketches the chief public events, connected with the rights of conscience, which occurred in this country, from the accession of James I. to the termination of the reign of James II. It also affords decisive evidence of the monstrous evils which are engendered by State and Church alliances.

Lives of the Popes. Part II. From the Age of Gregory VII. to the dawn of the Reformation. RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

UNDER the pontificate of Hildebrand, the Romish Church attained to the zenith of its arrogant domination. We know nothing which is more calculated to fill the mind with disgust towards popery, than faithful accounts of the conduct of the popes. The publication of such cheap and excellent works will render good service to the Protestant cause.

The Young Man's Counsellor. By WILLIAM MACKENZIE. 187pp. RICHARD GROOMBRIdge.

18mo.

We have read this work with much pleasure. It affords much highly important instruction, upon a great variety of topics. Weighty counsels are communicated in short pithy sentences; many of which are worthy of being set as gems in well informed and cultivated minds. We most heartily recommend the work to the notice of our young friends. If they follow the counsels which it contains, they will secure happiness and honour.

The Child's Companion and Juvenile Instructor. New Series, 1851. RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,

A VOLUME which cannot fail to afford pleasure and important instruction to young persons.

The Elijah of South Africa; or, the Character and Spirit of the late REV. JOHN PHILIP, D.D., Unveiled and Vindicated. By the REV ROBERT PHILIP. 12mo. 72pp. JOHN SNOW.

A BRIEF, but able, sketch of the moral, ministerial, and patriotic character of a truly great man, who occupied a distinguished place among Christian philanthropists and heroes. This neat little work is an eloquent and well deserved tribute to the memory of the noble missionary whose great virtues it, with a master's pencil, graphically delineates.

The Union Magazine for Sunday-school Teachers. 12mo. 430pp. SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.

AN ably conducted work, devoted to the promotion of the interests of Sunday-schools. We are surprised to find that, according to the introductory address contained in this volume, the receipts for the sale of this work have not been sufficient to cover its expenses. Such a work deserves to have better support.

Notes on the Scripture Lessons for 1851. SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION. THESE notes will render important aid to teachers, in addressing their scholars on the passages to which the notes refer. They have, we believe, been prepared for the press, by a well known dissenting minister, who is well qualified, by possessing extensive biblical knowledge, a sound judgment, and literary ability, for the authorship of such a work.

The Bible Class Magazine, 1851. SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION. An excellent work, affording a pleasing variety of important instruction.

The Devotional Psalmist; A New and Original set of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, harmonized for Four Voices, with an Accompaniment for the Organ or Pianoforte, adapted to the Hymns of all Christian Churches. By JOHN HAYHURST, Clitheroe. R. DAW, London; J. AINSWORTH, Manchester.

WE are assured, by persons better qualified than we are to judge of musical compositions, that this work contains some admirable new congregational tunes; and furnishes an excellent variety for hymns of peculiar metres contained in the Wesleyan Hymn Book. A long list of subscribers for the work is appended, from which we infer that the author must have acquired considerable reputation as a composer of sacred music. For four shillings the purchaser of this work will become possessed of fifty new tunes.

The Sunday-school Teachers' Class Register and Diary for 1852. The Sunday-school Teachers' Class Register for 1852.

THESE are well known useful works. Every Sunday-school teacher should possess one of them.

God, the Guide of Youth. A Word of Loving Counsel to Sundayschool Scholars for the New Year. Royal 18mo. 16pp.

A New Year's Address to the Parents of Sunday-school Scholars. Royal 18mo. 12pp.

New Year's Counsels to Sunday-school Teachers. Royal 18mo. 11pp. SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.

EXCELLENT tracts, well adapted for extensive distribution at this season of the year. We especially recommend the "Guide of Youth," and "New Year's Counsels."

THE CAUSES OF SCHISM.

Opening Address delivered at the Meeting of the British Organisation of the Evangelical Alliance, on Wednesday, August 20th, 1851.

By the REV. ROBERT BUCHANAN, D.D., of Glasgow.

CHRISTIAN FRIENDS AND BRETHREN,-The grand characteristic object of the Evangelical Alliance is to promote Christian union. It has seemed to me, therefore, to be not unsuitable, in this opening address at our annual meeting, to consider what it is that has so extensively and injuriously divided the followers of Christ; that has split, into so many discordant parties, a body which the Saviour prayed might be one, as he and the Father are one. The name of the spirit of schism may indeed be called "legion," but, perhaps, the divisions that have so long and fatally rent the church of Christ may find, in a comparatively limited number of causes, their chief spring and source. It is to some of these I purpose shortly to turn the attention of this meeting, in the hope and with the prayer that by studying the origin and nature of the disease, something may be learned that will aid us in promoting its cure. It has seemed to me, that in this way our time, by the Divine blessing, may this morning be more profitably occupied, than in pronouncing eulogies on Christian union itself, or in idly longing to see it realised.

I. The first cause of schism in the church of Christ to which I shall advert is party-spirit. This evidently was the main source of the divisions

which, even in the apostolic age, were rending the church at Corinth, and threatening it with dissolution. One said, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; and a third, I am of Christ. Some members of the Corinthian church, dwelling too exclusively on the labours of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who had been the first to preach in that community the words of eternal life, were disposed to undervalue all who had succeeded him in exercising the ministry among them. Others again, to whom the Gospel had been first published by Apollos, captivated by his eloquence, and attaching themselves more immediately to his ministry, were tempted to disparage Paul, whom perhaps they had never seen. While a third number, despising all human agents alike, and priding themselves in a supposed superiority of knowledge and spiritual discernment, claimed for themselves, not in the spirit of humble and enlightened attachment to the Saviour, but in a self-righteous spirit of sectarian exclusiveness,-the name of the party of Christ. In all ages of the church, this disposition to form a party has been lamentably prevalent, and out of it schisms innumerable have sprung. It has its root in that desire to magnify and glorify self, which is so deep-seated in man's breast. In this way he seeks to make some amends to himself for the humiliation which the Gospel inflicts upon him, in pronouncing him to be a poor, perishing sinner. His religious teacher is far superior to others; his views of Divine truth are more exalted; his powers of mind more wonderful; his character and life more spiritual; his ecclesiastical discipline more strict and holy; and thus, under the guise of lavishing encomiums on his instructor, he is quietly extolling himself,identifying himself, as he does, with the object of his professed admiration, and in virtue of his connexion with a leader so eminent, being ready to say to the followers of every other religious guide—“Stand aside, for I am holier than thou."

Nor is it difficult to understand how such a spirit, spreading in the first instance among the members of the church, should gradually make its way from them to their ministers. The adulation, the exclusive preference, thus given to an individual minister, feeds his vanity, and tends at the same time to make him an object of jealousy and dislike to his brethren. Feelings of estrangement, ripening into enmity, too often follow, and from a state of disagreement and dissension within the same church, the schism gathers force daily, till, matured by mutual provocations and injuries, it ends by parting them asunder into separate and hostile communions. But, long before the schism has been thus completed,-nay, in many cases in which, owing to the influence of certain external restraints, it may never assume this public form at all,-it is, nevertheless, in busy and mischievous operation. No attentive observer of the state of things around him can be blind to the fact that at the present day the cause now named has much to do with the divisions and separations of the church of Christ. In virtue of his party connexion, each thinks himself better than his neighbour. It places him on a higher level, and the smaller his party is, the nicer its peculiarities, the more exclusive its character, the more superciliously does he look down from his fancied elevation upon all who follow not with him. The real secret of the distance at which he stands from other communions, is not that by joining with them in any common declaration of faith, or act of worship, he would be compromising the truth, but that he would be compromising himself. The truth might be safe enough, but his own superiority would be thereby practically surrendered, and this he cannot endure.

While party-spirit has thus largely contributed to erect and uphold, in all their frozen rigidity, those icy walls of partition which so endlessly and unhappily divide, and disgrace and weaken the churches of Christ,-the same cause is fruitful of a spirit essentially schismatical within individual churches that are still outwardly entire; breaking asunder the bonds of