mable in character,-if it is now sought to uphold all the splendour, power, and dignity of an unscriptural hierarchy, by all that is fatal to souls in sacramental piety and salvation,—at such a time it may be more than pardoned, if the Congregational body, among many acknowledged and lamented defects, should yet deem itself, with other unendowed evangelical churches in this country, reserved by God's good providence to act a part in the emergency; as set for the defence of the truth, and called upon by considerations far superior to those of party, or distinctions of church polity, to contend more earnestly than ever in defence of the faith once delivered to the saints. To fail of this view and purpose at the present juncture, would be to show themselves unwise in counsel, narrow in view, sectarian in spirit, and unprepared for anything great, disinterested, and of power for the present and the future in the sacred cause of truth, of souls, and of Christ.

But wisdom seems to require that no less stress should be laid on the energy than on the accuracy with which the Gospel must be preached, to meet the wants and dangers of the present time. The evil to be resisted is in energetic action; and energy must be met by energyzeal with zeal. Besides, the truths of the Gospel, always distasteful to the majority, are doubly so when unaccompanied with warmth in those who advocate them. Cold and formal orthodoxy, evangelical professions without heart and unction, the high claims of the Gospel without its tender compassions, as they will receive no blessing from God, so they will have no power with men; but, on the contrary, as they do the highest wrong and injustice to the Gospel, so will they be the ruin of the pastors and churches by whom it is thus enfeebled and chilled. A ritual service may be a substitute for vital religion and warm devotion its splendour, its charms for the senses, its low claims and easy terms for conscience, may gratify while they delude the carnal mind. Evangelical truth cannot be so degraded. Its claims, its mysteries, its grace, its sanctity, as they cannot be changed, so neither can they be compromised or employed as substitutes for the piety their whole tendency is to produce. They come warm and living from the mind of God, the cross of Christ, the word of the Spirit; and are only represented and administered with truth, when they possess, warm, and sanctify the men through whom they are to be proclaimed and testified to their fellow-sinners. Formal orthodoxy will be as fatal to our cause as an erroneous theology, and will even more deprive our churches and pastors of influence in society; as, with the latter they might find a favour with the world for worldly objects and purposes, of which the former will deprive them, as well as of all power to promote the sacred cause of the glorious Gospel.

These brief and imperfect representations are, with deference, submitted to the present meeting, as an introduction to fraternal discussion on the important subject to which they refer, and as the preface

to a more formal and condensed declaration of the same views, now to be proposed for the adoption of the meeting, that it may record and publish its views on the course of duty to which the churches and pastors of the Congregational body are summoned, at this eventful and critical period.

APPEAL TO THE INDEPENDENT CHURCHES THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH EMPIRE, AND TO THEIR BISHOPS AND DEACONS, ON THE IMPORTANCE OF A DECIDED TESTIMONY TO EVANGELICAL TRUTH AT THE PRESENT CRISIS.

The brethren convened at this adjourned session of the Thirteenth Annual Assembly of the Congregational Union, having given serious consideration to the state of the cause and truth of Christ in their native country at this time, feel it their duty to publish their sentiments on this great subject in the following form, not in controversy, or for accusation, or with authority; but in love to their Saviour and his truth, to their brethren and the souls of men; and in hope that this their declaration may awaken their own zeal, and that of many others, in efforts to maintain and to spread the pure and saving truth of the glorious Gospel.

The brethren avow their deepened conviction of the scriptural truth of the doctrines which embody essentially the salvation of the Gospel -the doctrines of grace-of the free, rich, and glorious mercy of God to man in Christ. These doctrines they do not define. What is intended, will be easily understood. They are speaking of salvation by grace through faith, of full and free pardon through Christ crucified to guilty sinners, on their repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. To this vital and central point in the Gospel, the attention of the churches is especially directed, because another salvation is now by many recommended; and an entirely different view of the Gospel is by too many proclaimed. The brethren delight to be summoned to the consideration of this subject. It is dear to their hearts, and glorious in their view. At one time, free grace and full salvation seemed peculiarly liable to abuse from Antinomian and licentious sentiments. Then the faithful advocates of the true Gospel were called on to contend for, and bring into prominent notice, the practical, holy character and tendencies of God's grace in Christ. Now, on the contrary, when the legal, papal spirit abounds, and men are taught salvation by sacraments, penance, and connexion with what claims to be the only true church,-the servants of Christ seem bound to publish the free and abounding grace of the Gospel as with the sound of the trumpet. The brethren put the question to themselves with earnestness, to others with respect, Is the Gospel enough preached? Are the first simple verities respecting the love of God, the grace of Christ, the great salvation by faith, insisted on with the frequency, prominence, and earnestness, demanded

not only by their own glory and importance, but by the peculiar character of the present times?

The brethren do not speak of these doctrines as embodied in any creed, or as strictly defined for the accurate declarations of controversy, and for defence against the subtleties of error. These modes of setting forth truth have great value and importance, but at present the brethren are speaking of God's gracious truth as it is warm, simple, and living, in his inspired word; as it should be taken among brethren who have confidence in each other's known attachment to the Gospel; as it should be preached with popular freedom and ardour for the conversion of sinners, and the joy of saints. In this respect, the pastors and brethren of the Congregational churches have always walked by rules of charity and liberty, and this course they have found that of safety and peace. They have been careful to secure great truths and the right spirit; then they have known that lesser differences of sentiment, or of modes of interpretation, can, and ought to be charitably borne with. The brethren see that this is no time or place for settling niceties of phrase and sentiment. The times, in their view, demand great truths, great views, great impulses-whatever has power to harmonise and animate the friends of truth, the servants of Christ.

The brethren now assembled have turned their thoughts to the fact confirmed by the history of the past, and by observation of the present, that the truths and the preaching now recommended, have power. They are of God. In their own nature they are mighty. Divine influence ever accompanies them. Using them, the feeble are strong, and the simple wise. Apostolic days, the times of reformation, the struggles of the Puritans, the labours of the Methodists, the triumphs of modern missions-all witness that the preaching of the cross is mighty through God. Nothing else will be mighty for our work, or against our adversaries. In our own times, the people will hear the Gospel. No minister preaches the Gospel vigorously in vain. Therefore, the brethren in the ministry present, charge it on their souls; and all present, with respect and affection, recommend to the pastors of the churches, and especially to the younger pastors, that the preaching of the Gospel should be their work, their joy, their glory-that on this theme they should rest their hope of success with men, and of acceptance with God. If taste and talent and eloquence can be employed to subserve the Gospel, let these choice gifts be consecrated to that honourable and blessed service; but it is the deliberate judgment of the brethren present, that no powers, no attainments, no accomplishments, will now avail the Christian minister, apart from a clear, plain, strong statement, of the great points of saving Gospel truth. So deeply are the brethren of this conviction, that they cannot forbear an affectionate appeal to the honoured tutors of the colleges on this

subject. Will those eminent brethren candidly receive the avowal, that this meeting will think the work of teaching the young minister then only complete, when, in addition to sound theology, there is impressed continually on his mind, the necessity that he should consecrate all the powers of his soul to preaching Christ Jesus, and Him crucified? And the meeting must add the expression of its respectful and affectionate, but deep anxiety for the rising ministry on this point. Great will be the joy and confidence of the brethren present, in whatever proofs they can perceive that the young pastors of the churches enter on public service with thoroughly evangelical sentiments and purposes-determined to know nothing among the people, but Christ Jesus, and Him crucified-willing to be despised as plain, rude, unwise, so they be but mighty and blessed in preaching the cross.

This meeting would also bear its testimony on the importance of union among all who love the Gospel, in these times of active and spreading error. For the sake of the truth-for the sake of strength and encouragement in its defence-for the purpose of lifting up a standard against the enemy now he comes in like a flood, the meeting testifies its sense of the importance of union and co-operation among all faithful ministers of the Gospel, of the same or of differing denominations. That such brethren in their several districts should exchange pulpits, or unite in series of lectures for the express purpose of declaring their agreement in the vital doctrines of the Gospel, their sense of the dangers by which those truths are now assailed, and their determination to employ every energy, and every legitimate means for their defence.

Finally, the meeting declares its sense of the importance of prayer at this crisis; prayer that God would arise and defend his own truth, -that he would endow his servants with courage, wisdom, and ardour, in contending earnestly for it-that he would raise up men equal to the times, and valiant for the truth. The meeting is entirely convinced that the times and the occasion demand this spirit of prayer; that if it be granted and exercised, the cause of God is sure of deliverance and success; that without it the friends of the Gospel will be feeble, and the enemy will triumph. In the closet, therefore, in the family circle, in the sanctuary, let prayer be frequent, distinct, and importunate, that in this time of deep interest and spreading danger, of mingled hope and fear, of intense struggle and universal effort, the Lord will work by every influence, by every instrument, friendly or adverse, for the purity, the power, and the spread of his own glorious and simple truth-that He "so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life."

OUR DENOMINATIONAL LITERATURE IN IRELAND.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE.

SIR,It is a circumstance which reflects the greatest honour on the Congregational body, that many of its ministers have been able, amidst the onerous and multifarious duties of the pastoral office, to produce works deserving to rank among the first publications of the age, both for sound learning and enlightened exposition of Christian doctrine. If some of them are deficient in the delicacies of taste, and the fascinating graces of style, that defect may be ascribed to the too theological nature of their education, and a course of reading in after life somewhat exclusively professional.

It may, however, be alleged, without any invidious comparisons, which the sensitiveness of sectarian feeling would hardly brook, that the Independents have made most valuable contributions to the Christian literature of the age. This fact has been cheerfully acknowledged by the most distinguished ornaments of other churches.

Yet it must be confessed, that our people have not derived as much advantage from this as might have been expected. They are sadly deficient in public spirit and a proper esprit de corps. I should be sorry, indeed, to give an advice on this subject similar to that given by Dr. Adam Clarke to his "Preacher," and to say, that all needful books on every subject have proceeded from our own body. An exclusive perusal of the books of one denomination, however excellent they may be, produces, almost of necessity, the contracted spirit of bigotry and intolerance.

But if there be no desire to possess and to study the best productions of those whose talents and learning have rendered our name respectable in the eyes of Christendom, it speaks as little for our mental cultivation, as it does for our religious zeal. And yet there are persons among us, of ample means and leisure, who confine their reading to a few odd volumes of the old divines, and will not know what you mean if you speak to them of the Congregational Lecture. They are strangers even to our periodicals. The Eclectic Review and Congregational Magazine they have never seen; of late the Evangelical Magazine may have found its way among them. As to The Patriot, and other papers connected with the English dissenters, they know nothing of them, or of the people, whose organs they are, except what they may chance to learn from an abusive allusion in their local tory paper. Some of these pious souls devoutly believe that Dr. Pye Smith is a factious political agitator, whose violence knows no bounds! and they sigh heavily at the secularity of English Independents in general. To this state of mind they are often brought by the misrepresentations of prelatic clergymen and Christian brethren; while several of our own ministers and missionaries, alas! cannot set them right, just because they are as profoundly ignorant of these matters as themselves. Hence they silently acquiesce in the censure, or, perhaps,