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of sadness. If, in addition to this instinctive melancholy, the thought of an irreligious world, of evil abounding in all parts of society, and of misery following everywhere in its train,-if this thought also presses heavily on the spirit, a state of mind is realized which may be some feeble approximation to what was experienced by the Apostle Paul in his hour of dejection. But with us such feelings are often morbid, and nearly allied to discontent. We travel for plea sure for curiosity--for excitement. It is well if we can take such depressions thankfully, as the discipline of a worldly spirit. Paul travelled that he might give to others the knowledge of salvation. His sorrow was only the cloud that kindled up into the bright pillar of the divine presence. He ever forgot himself in his Master's cause. He gloried that God's strength was made perfect in his weakness. It is useful, however, to us, to be aware of the human weakness of that heart which God made strong. Paul was indeed one of us. He loved his friends, and new the trials both of anxiety and loneliness."

But these feelings could not prevent Paul from busying himself in his Master's work. He was in Athens alone; but he was there as the apostle of God. We find him at once, then, beginning to dispute in the synagogue with the Jews. Little, however, is told us of his success there. It was not with Judaism, but with Paganism—with its religion and its philosophy-that Paul had to battle at Athens. St. Paul himself admits their carefulness in religion, (Acts xvii. 22, for this, and not superstitiousness, is the true meaning of the word,) and all who visited them admitted that this was the case. Let us, however, quote our author's remarks on the

RELIGION OF THE ATHENIANS.

Pausanius informs us, "that there were more gods in Athens than in all the rest of the country; and the Roman satirist hardly exaggerates, when he says that it was easier to find a god there than a man. But the same enumeration which proves the existence of the religious sentiment in this people, shews also the valueless character of the religion which they cherished. It was a religion which ministered to art and amusement, and was entirely destitute of moral power. Taste was gratified by the bright spectacle to which the Athenian awoke every

morning of his life. Excitement was
agreeably kept up by festal seasons, gay
processions, and varied ceremonies. But
all this religious dissipation had no tend-
ency to make him holy. It gave him no
victory over himself; it brought him no
nearer to God. A religion which ad-
dresses itself only to the taste, is as weak
as one that appeals only to the intellect.
The Greek religion was a mere deifica-
tion of human attributes, and the powers
of nature. It was doubtless better than
other forms of idolatry which have dei-
fied the brutes; but it had no real power
to raise him to a higher position than
that which he occupied by nature. It
could not even keep him from falling
continually to a lower degradation. To
the Greek this world was everything; he
hardly even sought to rise above it. And
thus all his life long, in the midst of
everything to gratify his taste, and
exercise his intellect, he remained in
This fact was tacitly
ignorance of God.
recognized by the monuments in his own
religious city. The want of something
deeper and truer was expressed on the
very stones. As we are told by a Latin
writer that the ancient Romans, when
alarmed by an earthquake, were accus-
tomed to pray, not to some one of the
gods individually, but to God in general,
as to the Unknown; so the Athenians ac-
knowledged their ignorance of the True
Deity by the altars 'with this inscription,
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD,' which are men-
tioned by heathen writers, as well as by
the inspired historian.
origin of these altars may have been, the
true significance of the inscription is
that which is pointed out by the Apostle
himself. The Athenians were ignorant
of the right object of worship. But if we
are to give a true account of Athenian
religion, we must go beyond the dark-
darkness of corruption and sin. The
ness of mere ignorance, into the deeper
most shameless profligacy was encouraged
by the public works of art, by the popu
lar belief concerning the character of the
gods, and by the ceremonies of the
established worship."

Whatever the

There are a few more interesting extracts from this work which we shall defer quoting till the next Number.

The devils, we are told, believe and tremble: our part is to believe and love. The greatest truths are the simplest; and so are the greatest men.

In darkness there is no choice. It is light that enables us to see the differences between things; and it is Christ that gives us light.-Hare.

LETTERS BY THE LATE REV. JAMES HARRINGTON EVANS
TO HIS FORMER FLOCK.

No. II.

WE have selected the two following letters from the life of Mr. Evans, (which we noticed in a former volume,) addressed to the Church at Milford. This retired but beautiful village on the sea-coast of Hampshire, formed the earliest scene of Mr. Evans' labours; and to the last he yearned over it with the tenderest solicitude. The first is one of many periodical pastoral letters he was in the habit of addressing to his former flock; the latter was called forth on the occasion of their being bereaved of the faithful and affectionate clergyman who had succeeded

him:

To the Church at Milford.

February 5th, 1816.

MY DEAR FRIENDS,-Although absent from you in body, yet not in spirit, I cease not to pray for you; indeed I love you in the Lord most dearly, God knoweth, for you are my crown of rejoicing and my joy. Never shall I forget, I trust, that covenant mercy of my God, my sojourning with you at Milford, nor His having so wonderfully blessed my very poor ministry to the good of your souls. Indeed, my dear friends,-I may truly add, my dearly beloved and longedfor, we have all abundant reason to cry out, "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within us praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O our souls, and forget not all His benefits." What an encouragement it is to us in our journey through this waste howling wilderness, where everything is changeable and uncertain, to know that "Jesus is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever!" To know that God is the same, Jesus the same, the Spirit the same, the covenant the same, heaven the same, yea, that we ourselves considered in Christ are, as to God's love towards us, always the same in His sight. I beseech you to remember that most sweet text, "I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." troublesome world, and we have many This is a enemies to beset us on all sides; but "Fear not, I am with thee," can, when applied by the Spirit, give comfort in the darkest days. Meet what enemy we

will, it is an enemy that Jesus has met and conquered. The law, the world, Satan, sin, death, hell, are all overcome. the Lord," to rejoice always; because I earnestly entreat you all to "rejoice in "all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Cling firmly to your foundation; "for other foundation is Jesus Christ." He that stands here, can no man lay than that is laid, which stands for ever. Remember to keep your conscience clean;-I mean clean by the with a pure heart; that is, a heart puriblood of sprinkling. Study to go to God fied in the "fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness." A little sin upon the soul keeps God at a distance. Remember, therefore, Christ's invitation: "Let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy Voice, and thy countenance is comely; thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee." This opens the door for aside, having loved this present evil prayer; a smiling God breaks the hard heart. world. Treat them not as enemies, but yourselves, lest ye also be tempted. I admonish them as brethren, considering beseech you that ye love one another, that ye be all of one mind; let each

I hear that some have turned

esteem others better than themselves.

Read your Bibles much; pray most of all, pray for me, as I also do for you. We are going home; we have passed some milestones since we saw each other. 1 have you in my heart, God knoweth. Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Your affectionate brother in the Lord Jesus.

To the Church at Milford on the death of their Pastor.

December 9th, 1836. Christ Jesus, His most dear and precious To the Church of the living God in Son, our Lord and Saviour, in Milford, a brances, and so many mercies. Grace, place so dear to me from so many rememmercy, and peace be unto you at all times, and under all trials; may they be manifested to you at this and especially present time, and under your present

most afflicting trials, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Dear and beloved in the Lord, when I think of you, bereaved as you are of your best earthly friend,-of that man of God who had laboured among you and for you for so many years, even one-and-twenty next month -of him who lived for you, and, if the Lord had bidden him, would, I doubt not, through His grace, have died for you, when I call to mind his deep affection for you, and what you have lost in him, a pastor so faithful, a friend so true, a brother, a father,-I could well sit down and lay aside my pen and weep.

But, beloved, the time is short, and Jesus liveth. In all your affliction He is afflicted. When the Lord removed me from among you, He gave you a better than me; and now that He, even He, has received him to glory, and removed him from you, believe and doubt not but that the same hand which wounds is quite able also to bind up. He, and only He, is enough for this deep and agonizing wound, be assured. The hand which inflicts it is the same which raised the sword to sheathe it in the bosom of His Son. To you it is a sword for ever sheathed. Turn His hand He will upon, but not against, His poor, little, and scattered ones. He will place His arms under you, and cover you with the hollow of His hand. He loves you better than your dear and honoured pastor ever did, ever could, ever can love you. He

loves you infinitely better than you love yourselves. In patience possess ye your souls; wait on, and wait for the Lord; Jehovah-Jirah is His name. It is so, because He is love. Rom. viii. 32, is your watchword in this dark and gloomy Farenight. It will be soon day. well, dear and beloved in the Lord. It is pleasant to know, that while friends die the world changes; the Church, as to its outward appearance, waxes and wanes; Jesus is the same as ever,-the same loving, tender, gracious, sufficient Saviour as ever He was. He knows no shadow of a turn. May this solemn, deep, affecting dispensation be truly, permanently sanctified to all your souls, prays your ever affectionate brother in Jesus,

J. H. EVANS.

Lord, I will take no comfort but of thee !
I had an earthly plant-a pleasant vine,
From whose dear grapes I pressed delightful
wine,

That made my heart as merry as could be.
Thine anger hath cut down that cheerful tree;
Or, at the least, (for yet I but divine,)

Thou hast cut off its joyful fruit from me,
And made its precious shade no longer mine.
Shall I then murmur? If my road henceforth
Lies hot before me, wearisome and bare,
And no green garland twined among my hair,
Will guard, as it was wont, my tortured eyes,
What then? The sweeter after this stripped
earth

Will be the shady rest of paradise.

BURBIDGE.

CAUTIONS FOR THE TIMES. (Continued from page 377, Vol. IV.)

WE resume our gleanings from the tracts bearing the above title, and written, as we have already stated, by the Archbishop of Dublin. We believe that those short and pithy extracts, transparent in their diction, logical in their meaning, and accurate in their facts, will really furnish our readers with more serviceable weapons, in the present controversy with Papists and Puseyites, than any other popular work can do with which we are acquainted.

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF TRACTARIANISM. Not many years ago, a considerable number of clergymen and others became alarmed at what they considered an aggression" of the State upon the Church, and at the great spread of Dis

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senting principles and practices in England. They desired (very properly) to it should be able to stand without relying see the Church in a position in which upon the secular power, and to obtain union and due subordination amongst its members. But instead of looking in Scripture for the true foundation upon which Christ has placed His Church, in full confidence that, when found, it would prove a sufficient one for all needful purposes, they seem rather to have looked about them for arguments to defend such a system of Church authority as they thought necessary for the times. Their intention was to devise a "middle way between Romanism and Dissent; but they executed that intention by taking the principles of Romanism, and, for a while, stopping short of the necessary conclusions from those principles.

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Their scheme was pretty nearly this: -They agreed with the Roman Catholics in holding that "the Catholic Church" (meaning thereby one visible organized body of Christians under one government) was the authoritative expounder of the will of God; and was, consequently, the authority to whose decisions all men were bound to submit their private judgments; only, they did not allow that the Pope was the head of the Catholic Church. They said that the governors of the church were bishops, who could only be ordained by bishops in a continual succession from the apostles, and who alone could impart to others the power of administering the sacraments necessary to salvation; so that they at once excluded from the Church, and from all the ordinary means of grace, the whole body of Dissenters in this country, as also almost all the Protestant churches on the Continent of Europe, who do not pretend to any such "apostolical succession" of men ordained by a continual chain of bishops down from the apostles' times. The "Catholic Church," then, according to them, was the whole body of orthodox believers living under the government of bishops; and they held that councils of such bishops (meaning thereby the majority in councils of bishops) were the supreme authority in the Catholic Church for determining religious faith and practice. And the rule which the governors of the church were to follow in their decisions, was (according to these persons) Scripture as interpreted by tradition, that is, such a meaning as could be fixed on the written records of the apostles' teaching, by reports of their teaching delivered down by word of mouth.

so far as it delivered to us the faith and discipline of the united primitive Church. Thus the faith and discipline of the Church of the first six centuries became practically their guide; and to it they set themselves to conform as closely as they could.

Now the first six centuries was a period during which those errors which we commonly call Romish, were gradually stealing in unperceived amongst Christians. The seeds of corruption in human nature were, during that period, springing up into poisonous weeds; which, being left to grow unchecked, spread wide over the whole of Christendom, till, at last, they appeared full-blown in that shape which they wear in Romanism, and in the Eastern churches. It was but natural, therefore, that when these men took the writers of the first six centuries for their guides (without venturing to try them by Scripture) they should be led on, step by step, to that very Romish system, towards which the Church of those ages had been itself moving. They were like travellers, who, coming to the brink of a precipice, go back to the point from which the road which conducted thither set out, only to turn round and follow the same track again. The same principle which induced them to explain Scripture by the teaching of the Church in the second century, obliged them to explain the teaching of the Church in the second century by that of the third, and so on; till finally, the last and most corrupt teaching of the Church became ever the authorized expounder of all the rest.

Accordingly, as their own eyes gradually opened to the real state of the case, they first perceived, and then began cautiously to avow the necessity of drawing daily nearer and nearer to Romanism.

They taught, for example, that the Lord's Supper is a real sacrifice offered by the priest, for the living and the dead. Only, they added that this doctrine had been much abused by the Church of Rome.

But as it was evident, that if the Greek or the Roman Catholic Church be not exclusively the Catholic Church, there is now no such church to be found as they imagined the Catholic Church to be, that is, one body under one government, able-or even claiming to be able to decide on matters of faith, and make laws for all Christians. Hence they were obliged to look for such a body in past times. They settled, therefore, that the whole Church now, except ourselves, was in a state of schism; which schism began when the Greek and Latin Churches broke from communion with one another; by which unfortunate event the possibility of holding_general They said that priests had the power councils of bishops was cut off. But of remitting sins by absolution, after conour Church, they said, intended to keep faithfully to the model of the ancient Church, as it stood compact and entire before that schism; and was to be obeyed

They said that the bread and wine were changed by the words of consecration, and became the body and blood of Christ;" only they would not call that change Transubstantiation, but regarded the manner of it as a mystery not to be curiously inquired into.

fession and penance; and that penance and absolution by a priest were the only way to obtain remission of grievous sins after baptism; only, they added, that

they could not go the whole length of the Romish doctrine on that subject. And so in other particulars.

It was no wonder, then, that many of those who had thus been brought on to the very brink of Romanism should, when they became aware of their real position, pass on. But much as their case is to be lamented, and great as the damage is which they have done to our Church, they are not the members of the party that are most to be feared. They have left us and beconie avowed Romanists; and by that very act, have set us on our guard against them.

Much more formidable are the leaders of the party who still remain in outward

communion with us. They "come to us in sheep's clothing,"-professing to be loyal and devoted members of our Church, and therefore they find, too often, ready listeners. They may be compared to a recruiting depôt for the Church of Rome, kept up among ourselves; and, sooner or later, the persons who fall under their influence very generally become open converts to Romanism. And their efforts are the more insidious, because they, for the most part, begin by loudly declaring that they teach nothing but the recognized doctrines of the Established Church, -that they are inculcating "Church principles," and that all who are opposed to them are little better than schismatics.

NARRATIVE BY A ROMISH PRIEST.

THE following interesting letter from a converted Romish priest was addressed to a Protestant clergyman in Turin, by whom it was published in the "Buona Novella," a Turin Protestant journal. There is no doubt as to its authenticity, for its publication has subjected the writer, as might have been expected, to the most violent animadversions in the Romish periodicals, to which he has replied with a dignity and calmness worthy of the good cause he has adopted. Mr. B., to whom reference is made, is Mr. Amadeo Bert, the Waldensian pastor, and chaplain to the Protestant ambassadors at the Court of Piedmont, who has subsequently published a letter expressive of his sympathy with the ex-priest

Ferrero :

WORTHY SIR,-One evening, last September, a Romish priest called at your house, and announcing himself by the name of Giovanni Ferrero, entreated an audience. You received him kindly, and spoke to the heart of the Romish priest with such evangelical unction, that he began to feel the time of his redemption to Christ was at hand.

Sir, I am that priest; no longer a disciple of the Pope, but a follower of Christ. Doubtless you have not forgotten the object of my visit; but I hope it may not be altogether profitless to repeat the history of my conversion; and perhaps it may be of service to some priest in the same circumstances of spiritual distress in which I was for many years.

Having been agitated for a considerable

time by doubts on the subject of religion, I endeavoured, by the examination of the sacred writings, to come to a decision on those points of faith which Rome imposes doctrines I had been taught, and conon her subjects. Thus meditating on the fronting them with the divine Word, and comparing the sublime simplicity of the religion of Jesus with the parade of doctrine of free justification, and that of Popish worship, and reflecting on the works of merit; and observing that the traditions of Rome concerning auricular confession, the Eucharist, the mass, transubstantiation, purgatory, indulgences, sacred writings; and that neither Christ &c., &c., are never mentioned in the nor His apostles have uttered a syllable respecting certain dogmas of the Pope and his Church,-I began to ask my. self, Does the religion of Rome in which I was born, and of which I afterwards became a minister, truly teach all that is trine conformable to the divine Word? Is its docnecessary for salvation? Is the teaching of Rome respecting faith and worship in harmony with the simplicity of the Gospel? To these questions, my conscience answered, No! whilst my conscience thus tells me that the Roman is not the true Church, and that those alone are to be reckoned true Christians who trust to the grace of Christ, and not to the efficacy of meritorious works, shall I hesitate any longer betwixt falsehood and truth? still hang in doubt betwixt Christ and Shall I the Pope? Shall I, a Protestant at heart, remain a Roman Catholic in ap. pearance? If the mass is no longer anything to me but a human ceremony; if to me but an invention of the middle transubstantiation is no longer anything

But

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