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my view, every act on our statute-book, and every institution in the land, has a moral quality, giving it a corresponding influence on the community; and I cannot conceive that God will hold the minister guiltless, who employs not even the super-citizen influence with which his character invests him, to infuse into these laws and institutions a right moral quality, that they may have a tendency to improve the moral and physical condition of humanity. Ministers are a portion of the salt of the earth, and I think they are bound to exert all the power they have to prevent our world from sinking deeper in moral putridity, as also to promote, as far as they can, the assimilation of the laws of nations to the law of God, which is the standard of that morality and religion which it is their province to propagate. "But it is implied, that, if it is right for ministers to express their opinion on the corn-laws, why not on other subjects-as, the war with China, our relations with America, the recognition of Texas, the electoral franchise, the ballot, the beerlaws, or hundreds of other measures connected with the interests of morality and religion? And I say, why not? If ministers were as fully agreed on these subjects as they are on the corn-laws, wherein would consist the impropriety of expresing to the Government and to the country their views respecting them."

BY A MANCHESTER MINISTER." It is not because the revision of the Corn laws is an affair of legislation that it has been taken up, but because of its relation to the interests of religion and humanity. How far religion is concerned in the affair, is, to say the least, problematical. No direct connexion between the two will be pretended; whether vital Christianity will be impeded or accelerated by the amelioration or removal of the restrictions upon the importation of corn, is surely too vague an inquiry to furnish a basis for public ministerial consultation, and certainly has formed no part of the theology of former times. Its influence upon the interests of humanity in some limited spheres is questionable, in denser populations almost indispensable for maintenance and comfort, and probably on the whole, much for the advantage of this nation, and other parts of the world. The interests of humanity are necessarily affected by every act of legislation. It is on this account that every one is bound to employ the civil influence which the Legislature gives him for the welfare of his country; but whether on account of any religious capacity, it becomes our duty publicly to canvass and carry our opinion before the government upon a certain measure, which intimately concerns the internal trade and foreign imposts of the nation, upon the plea that the interests of humanity require it, and that the interests of religion are supposed to be affected by it, is the point at which I demur.

"It is supposed that the interests of humanity are identified with those of religion? This has led to much fallacious reasoning. Religion is humanity, but humanity is not religion. Every true Christian is a philanthropist, but every philanthropist is not a true Christian. It was by identifying humanity with religion, that all the plausible arguments were devised for bringing the secular welfare, first of individuals, then of communities and localities, and finally of whole kingdoms under ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Give me but this proposition, that ministers of religion are entitled, by virtue of their office, to take the public interests of humanity under their controul, and I will easily establish the validity of all the pretensions of the Hierarch at Rome. We know only of these two provinces in the moral world-religion and humanity, or the Church and the world. These we at least, and none more than we, profess to be perfectly distinct. The highest office in one, gives no official authority in the other. We, who object to the power which human legislators assume, of enforcing religion in any form upon the nation under the plea that religion is the cause of humanity, must beware of assuming, by virtue of a religious office, an influence in the affairs of the world, under the plea that humanity is the cause of religion. The humanity of the Gospel is its own. It invariably flows from it, and can never be put before it. When the minister of religion stands forth as the advocate primarily of humanity and subordinately of religion, does he not abandon the spirituality of his office?

"Much has been said of the peculiarity of the times. Extraordinary occasions call for extraordinary measures. But the duties of the Christian teacher are in all ages substantially the same. His office changes not with the times. The Church

is his province. He has no official authority beyond what the Scripture confers. The whole duties of his office are clearly prescribed, and we cannot but remember the evils which have resulted from carrying them beyond their strictest limits. With us it is held to be an office purely spiritual. This has ever been our honoured distinction; and never was it more needful to preserve it inviolable, than when the opportunity offers and the temptation occurs to interfere with mortal things, that it may be seen we had embraced it from principle, and not from necessity. Admitting, then, that we have no authority to employ the official capacity which the Gospel has conferred upon us, beyond what by precept, or example, or fair implication it prescribes, it is surely not too much humbly to inquire by what Scripture interpretations this novel part of our office (for novel it is, and much neglected in past times by the best of men,) can be sustained? I am compelled to own that I know of none; but I do know, that, when there was an unjust distribution of the provisions of this life amongst the poor members of the Church at Jerusalem, and their complaints were laid before the apostles, that one and all (for the whole twelve were present,) agreed that it was not a matter which came within their province. This was a case of real monopoly and oppression. It was not in the world, but in the Church. It was entirely unincumbered with political bearings. It was not an oppression upon the labouring poor, but upon a still more deserving class of the community. The widows of the Hellenistic Jews were left to want, while the widows of the Hebrews were amply supplied from the contributions of the Church. Why did not the apostles hold a conference npon the subject, and summon these widows before them, and investigate the whole matter, and then order a more equable distribution to be made in future? Might they not have pleaded their office and the common interests of humanity for so doing? But they urged neither. There were not some assenting to the propriety of responding to the call, some doubting, and one opposed; but they were unanimously agreed that it was an affair with which they could have nothing to do, and requested that others might be chosen to investigate and rectify the disorder, and assigned as their motive for so doing, It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables; we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word,' So entirely do we approve of their conduct on this occasion, that we refer to it as the origin of an important office in our churches. Have we, then, more authority in secular matters by virtue of our office than the apostles? Is their ministerial conduct no rule for ours? Did they refuse on account of their office to interfere with the secular disarrangements of the Church, and can we claim, upon the same ground, an influence in the secular government of the world?"

BY ONE OF THE CONFERENCE." Mr. Wardlaw argues, 'If it belong to our office to be political, then it is not merely permitted us to be so, but imperative upon us; and where does the obligation cease within the circle of politics?' In this sentence Mr. W. winds up and condenses all that he has adduced at length in the paragraph of which it forms the close. Shall the principle here laid down be admitted? By no means-if it is to be understood as Mr. W. has put it. Permission and obligation are generally understood to be different things. It may not be inconsistent with the ministerial function to interfere in any branch of politics; and at the same time it may not be obligatory to interfere in all. Circumstances and a minister's abilities and means of usefulness may have something to do in determining his duty. Let Mr. W. show why the distinction between permission and obligation should vanish in connection with this subject, and this only. It is not beyond my functions as a minister to preach from every verse of the Divine Word; but I am not in duty bound to do this. It is not beyond my functions as a minister to preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven; but I am not in duty bound to do this. I cannot do this very effectually, and I may safely leave some districts of the globe to others. So with regard to politics. I am not excluded as a minister from interference with any political measures, if I deem them of importance to the happiness of my fellow-men; but I am not therefore bound to interfere with every political measure. I am, I think, allowed to use my discre

tion. Some measures I may not deem so important as others, some I may not understand so well as others, some I may safely leave to other hands."

BY THE REV. JOSHUA RUSSELL, OF MELKSHAM." I submit for consideration, whether such a Conference was not objectionable, because it was a meeting of ministers as Christian ministers, who cannot consistently acknowledge one another as such. Roman Catholics, Clergyman of the Establishment, Independent and Baptist ministers, and Socinian ministers, all met together. How can a Socinian acknowledge a minister of the Church of England as a minister of Christ, when if Christ were nothing more than a man, He would at all events be admitted to be a good man, and must regard the Divine worship paid to Him as an offence and an insult? How can an Independent or Baptist minister acknowledge a Popish priest, simply as such, or a clergyman of the Church of England, simply as such, to be a minister of Christ? Are, then, any of these parties to be shut out from a discussion on the corn laws? No, certainly not; but let them meet on the only ground really common to them, as men and citizens, and not as the servants of Christ. It may be said, that the invitation was to ministers of all religious denominations on a matter unconnected with their peculiar sentiments, and that it was only their recognizing each other as de facto such and such ministers. I know this; but see what it led to. They recognize one another as Christian ministers, as ministers of the God of love and peace, and as such all together address the Queen, the Houses of Parliament, and the people of the United Kingdom, and receive addresses directed to them all as ministers of the Gospel and faithful servants of their Divine Master, and in their solemn resolutions they recognize one another as ministers of the same religion. Influenced,' they say, 'by a deep interest in the success of the religion whereof they are ministers !' What religion do they mean? Is the Queen, are the Houses of Parliament, are the people of the United Kingdom, to have the impression that they are all of one religion in fact, though they happen to bear different names?

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"Far be it from me to condemn any who went to the Conference; I mean no such thing; but the most wise and pious will be willing to receive suggestions from those much less so than themselves. It is not to a Conference on the corn laws, or to the attendance of any minister who thinks fit to go and assist there, that I object; but I do venture to suggest the inexpediency of ministers of Christ coming down from their high spiritual dignity, and devoting themselves primarily and directly to attempts to avert temporal afflictions and to increase temporal riches, instead of exposing the many and great sins which bring those afflictions, and declaring the principles and Christian graces which alone can render prosperity, if enjoyed, safe and permanent. In a moral point of view, affliction is to be preferred to sin; it is better to go to the house of mourning than to that of feasting, and ministers should be more concerned to have troubles improved and sanctified than to have them removed. No doubt they ought to acquaint themselves with political affairs, and to take their part with others in protecting and preserving the rights and liberties of the country; but are they not to be temperate in all such things, and to give their first, their full, their unrestrained energies to the interests of a higher kingdom, and to the supply of the perishing souls of their fellow-men with the bread of life and the water of life? I know that this is the case with many of those who attend the Conference; their spiritual health is settled and sound, and they can bear the encounter with worldly interests and passions, but I do fear the effect of such a meeting with its fine aspect of benevolence and its high excitement upon our younger brethren. I fear lest some of us should forget that our duty is to moderate the ardour which men feel about worldly things, and lest some of our people should be led to suppose that the corn laws are the chief sins which as a nation we have to confess and forsake. I take my stand upon this; it is a dispute about temporal things, about subsistence to some and riches to others. Was the kingdom of Christ in jeopardy? Was religion in such hazard as to call its ministers together from all parts of the kingdom? Was the hazard from the corn laws? No one, I suppose, will seriously say that there was any such thing. Let men of business take the lead in matters of business, and in their opposition to the corn laws I wish them success. With great affection and respect I remind my ministering brethren that it is written, 'No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.''

ROMANISM AND ANGLO-CATHOLICISM. Lec- "the power of the keys;" and he de

tures, by JOSEPH SORTAIN, A.B. of Trinity College, Dublin, and Minister of North Street Chapel, Brighton. pp. 290. cl. bds.

Ward & Co., Paternoster Row.

nies and disproves, that there can be any authority (claimed by Rome in her Catechism of the Council of Trent and in her doctrine concerning Indulgences,) to forgive sins without requiring the presence of true repentance and true faith. And on this point alas! our modern High-Churchmen "do err, not knowing the Scriptures." They teach, not only baptismal regeneration, but that forgiveness for sin after baptism is to be obtained "through the ministr, of the Church ;" and thus they sing

RESUMING Our notice of Mr. Sortain's book, we have to follow him as he shows in detail the identity of Romanism and of modern Anglo-Catholicism with the archapostacy described by St. Paul. And we will limit ourselves for the present to the first feature in the inspired delineation Impious Arrogance (2 Thess. ii. 4). It was foretold, that in place of Roman poly-" Each morn and eve, the Golden Keys theism ("all that is called God or that is Are lifted in the sacred hand, worshipped''), there should appear in To show the sinner, on his knees, the Church of Christ ("the temple of Where Heaven's bright doors wide open God") a new power, assuming the temporal and spiritual prerogatives of God." And here the illustration is divided under four heads.

1. Romanism has attributed Divine titles and power to her head bishop, the Pope. In this spirit, in reference even to the inferior clergy, we are taught in Dens's Theology, the text-book of Maynooth, that a confessor, who has learnt a fact from sacramental confession only, "ought (when questioned) to say, and, if necessary, swear, that he does not know it, because he is interrogated as man and he answers as man, but he does not know that truth as man, though he knows it as God!" And is there any tendency towards this in the Tractarian School? Mr. Sortain fixes it with "the fearful assumption that the Christian ministry is the vicarship and representation of Christ;" and he argues, that even if the order of the apostleship was transferable, and if it has in fact been transmitted to the Church of England, still the members of it would not be his vicars, and Christ would not be by it represented (as those writers pretend,) but his Divine office would still be directly and immediately approachable by every true disciple. This topic occupies the whole of the third Lecture, and is handled with the skill of a master in Israel."

66

2. There is next the claim, on the part of the clergy, to the Divine prerogative to forgive sins. Mr. Sortain questions that there is any succession at all to

stand.

On the dread altar duly laid,
The Golden Keys their witness bear,
That not in vain the Church hath pray'd;
That He, the Life of souls, is there.
Man waits his hour, with upward eye :-
"Full of the past, all shuddering thought,
The Golden Keys in love are brought,
That he may hold by them and die.”

,,

3. There is the claim of the Divine attribute of infallibility; which Rome declares to "reside in the body of pastors, joined with their head." In the exercise of this power she proclaims that the Word of God derives from her "authority which without her allowance it hath not,' Scripture "not possessing authority over, but rather being subjected to the faith and religion of the Church.' Mr. Newman also tells us, that "Scripture was never intended to teach doctrine to the many," and that "the Church may be said almost infallibly to interpret Scripture." But an "almost infallibility" is indeed a strange uncertain thing; the theologian who reaches it, will find it an unsteady foundation, and can hardly fail to take the one step further.

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4. There is the aspiration after temporal supremacy. Rome claims power "above all earthly kings and potentates. And what say the Oxford Tracts? Of those who exercise the right of private judgment, they speak thus in Tract 59: "Such troublers of the Christian community would in a healthy state of things,

ASSYRIANS AND CHALDEANS, MEDES, AND LYDIANS. From Rollin and other

authentic sources. With a Map. pp.

be silenced or put out of it, as dis- | ANCIENT HISTORY. HISTORY OF THE turbers of the king's peace are restrained in civil matters; but in our times, from whatever cause, being times of confusion, we are reduced to the use of argument and disputation, just as we think it lawful to carry arms and barricade our houses during national disorders."

Here we must lay aside this admirable volume till next month.

BRITISH CHRISTIANS CALLED TO SOLEMN INQUIRY, in reference to the limited efficiency of the Gospel in their own country. A Sermon, preached before the Home Missionary Society, May 17, 1841. By the Rev. JOHN ELY, of Leeds. pp. 40.

Snow, Paternoster Row.

A VERY earnest and faithful remonstrance, in reference to the affecting fact, that in this home of true religion Christians are still the exception and the ungodly form the masses. The true state of the case is exhibited, the immediate causes pointed out, and the consequent obligation enforced; and all with an hon est boldness, that compels attention and wins upon the reader as he proceeds. The sermon deserves general perusal, and may do much to awaken the Church of Christ to a deeper feeling of responsibility, and arouse many of its members serve their generation by the will of God," before "the night cometh

to ""

when no man can work."

SENIOR CLASSES. Their importance and the mode of conducting them. pp. 48.

Sunday School Union. THERE is no doubt, that in many places it has been quite the usage to quit the Sunday-School at a certain age an age when temptation is strong and no check can be dispensed with, and when accurate Scriptural knowledge is for the most part yet to be acquired. "Senior Classes," a species of Sunday "Bible Class," ought in every instance to exist. This excellent Tract, not only shows their necessity, but discusses the whole subject of their management, and propounds rules for conducting them. It is full of valuable advice; and no one interested in the matter ought to be without it,

72. Price 1s. 6d.

Religious Tract Society.

THIS valuable Series proceeds with unabated success. We have in these closely printed pages a history of the Assyrians and Chaldeans-physical, topographical, political, and chronological; then a similar history of the Medes, and lastly of the Lydians. Great care appears to have been bestowed upon the volume; and while the writings of unbelievers have been ransacked for information, Holy Scripture is continually kept in view, and its references illustrated. Thus consecrating profane history, the author has compiled an excellent standard work.

AN APPEAL TO SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS, on the Momentous Character of their Undertaking: and A VOICE TO THE CHURCHES, on the subject of Sunday Schools. The Substance of Two Lectures. By J. MORISON, D.D. pp. 64.

Sunday School Union. THIS little book will form an excellent guide to teachers; it places the office be great, but there is truth in its reprehigh indeed, and confesses the work to sentation, and weight in its counsels. Very stirring too are the appeals to members of Churches. It will be invaluable to those who would quicken their own zeal in this great work, or arouse their brethren who look idly on. It is worthy of the author's honourable name.

COMMON SENSE; or, Hints on your nearest and most considerable affairs. p.p. 62.

Religious Tract Society. THIS neat little treatise is simply what its title indicates. It appeals to the common sense of the irreligious man, and shows him the folly and madness, of which he is guilty. It bears a singular and business-like air about it, which makes it striking and impressive; and no man with whom religion is less than the "one thing needful" can read it seriously, without feeling conscious of his utter foolishness. It comes too close to allow of escape, and puts the great question in a light undeniable and overwhelming. It

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