gained, when such notions of ecclesiastical uniformity become prevalent, the state of the countries subjected to the Papal sway sufficiently evinces; and where circumstances allow the attempts to establish them to be resisted, yet still is the object of the “enemy" secured; for not only does the resistance often generate unchristian tempers, but, in avoiding one extreme, too near approach is made to the other. In rejecting what is, in reality, but a death-like uniformity, we may forget the obligation to a living unity,fancying that if we resist tyranny, we may trample upon order.

But, as we have said, much as we lament this state of things, we do not despair. The Gospel of peace shall produce the effects for which it was given, and the prayer of the Redeemer be answered, that his disciples may be united, and that the world may believe. And it were an important point gained, if, even in these days of eager disputation, the impression were made, that, whatever the state of nature may be, the state of grace is not a state of war. Every Christian would be benefited by making it a subject of meditation, as well as an article of faith, not only that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God, and of his Christ, but that they who are spiritually members of the same family-the one "whole family in heaven and earth" -shall be so "like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus," that they shall "with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." They who thoroughly believe this, and frequently contemplate it, will be increasingly disposed to the observance of the scriptural injunction, an injunction delivered to a disputing people, in the very time of their disputation,-"Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God." They will not consider the points at issue as immaterial, thus preparing the way for indifference to all religious truth whatsoever; but they will distinguish betwixt what is material to all, unchangeably

so, and what is, however important in itself, material only to those who clearly perceive it. For themselves, therefore, they will still firmly maintain, and conscientiously practise, the points in debate; but, in reference to others, they will give them credit for equal conscientiousness, allow the subject to remain undecided, each acting as they are fully persuaded in their own mind, and recognise as Christian brethren those who do really furnish the Christian evidence that they are God's children. The point of mutual recognition would not refer to disputed subjects; and these would still be maintained by each, with the acknowledgment, "There is mistake somewhere. In the mean time, till the mistake is rectified, we acknowledge the evidences of the divine adoption, and therefore of mutual relationship, and agree to love one another."

It is supposed, in these remarks, that the blessings of the divine mercy are not communicated merely through a string of external relations; but that, in Christ Jesus, the essential points are, faith working by love, and a new creature. Take, then, to illustrate our remarks, the knotty question of church government. Here is the Episcopalian and the Wesleyan. Take them both as Christians, spiritually so, or the argument does not apply. With those whose episcopal succession is the very Christ crucified of their scheme, our contention is of a different character; we have no concessions for them but take the Episcopalian and the Wesleyan ; let them even agree on the necessity of the "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," as necessary to constitute the inward kingdom of God; nay, let each furnish scriptural evidence that that kingdom is set up in himself. What then? that Episcopacy, that the discipline of Wesleyanism, are valueless? No such thing. Why cannot each agree to leave the points of difference for the decision of a day of clearer light and better feeling, and each resolve to follow the plans he in his conscience believes to be

best, without deciding as to the other? Why not each say, "It is clear to me, with my present light, that this particular form of church government is right; but it is likewise clear to me, that my opponent in argument furnishes the true evidences of Christian love and holiness; and, therefore, that God hath received him?" Why not this mutual recognition on the ground of Christian holiness? We firmly believe that Christians are to be made one by genuine love, rather than by a minute and detailed uniformity, which chiefly preserves them from quarrelling, by keeping them from thinking. Let them mutually acknowledge the features of the image of God; and while each steadily maintains his own opinion, let all love one another "with a pure heart, fervently," and wait the result. Love, founded on essential truth, would lead eventually to subordinate truth. The unity of the church will first be a unity of genuine charity.

But, while we believe that, eventually, this day of brightness will come to the churches, we fear that as yet it is far distant. Our duty, however, is not the less to proclaim its approach, and to call all within our reach not only to wait for its appearing, but, if they can, to expedite it; at all events, to cherish no temper that might hinder it. Long before the stubbornness of man shall have yielded to the power of evangelical truth and love, all who compose the present generation shall have passed into eternity, the, true members of Christ's suffering and militant church, to his church reigning and triumphant; from his church obscured by the misty atmosphere of earth, to the lucid brightness of heaven ;-they shall have joined the great multitude before the throne of God and the Lamb, where they shall sing one song with one heart and mind, as well as with one voice. And is it true, that the pious members of Christ's church, the branches in the vine, however they may differ on earth, shall agree in heaven? And is it true, that the very groundwork of their heavenly agreement is

already begun in them? that, though they differ in speech and judgment, in heart they are already one? Then let no one, who anticipates heaven with pleasure, indulge a feeling which is inconsistent with it. The differences which exist now, shall not exist then; and, surely, that which is permanent, is that which is of most value. We may be right in our opinions; and the homage we owe to truth requires that we hold them firmly, and profess them with modest but courageous openness : but we may be wrong; and the remembrance of our own fallibility should produce humility, and respect for those who judge of their own opinions as we judge of ours. If there were at all times an unfeigned obedience to the command, "Let brotherly love continue,' there would be that state of mind which, as it is most favourable for the farther discovery of truth, is precisely the one under whose influence misunderstandings and disagreements would be cleared up, errors rectified, and approximation to unity of judgment and action gradually increased, till Christians should all be perfectly one in Christ Jesus.

That this happy state of things shall most certainly arrive, we as surely believe, as that the triumphs of the Gospel shall be universal. It is the direct tendency of the religion of the New Testament to produce it; and, perhaps, the present remarkable condition of ecclesiastical society, and the singular controversies of the day, unfavourable as they may be for its direct production, may yet, by the wonder-working providence which out of evil is still educing good, be designed to accelerate its arrival. Formerly controversies referred chiefly to the circumstances of religion: they relate now to its essential nature. Whatever aspects they may assume, the real question for decision is, “What, personally considered, is religion? And if the New Testament is to decide the question, the matter is settled. And this is so felt by the advocates of Popery, -using the word in its broadest sense,—that

they bring in other judges. They profess to honour the Scripture; but it is not to the Scripture that the cause is submitted for decision. The church is to teach, and to her teaching the members of the church are very reverently to submit. She is, indeed, to prove her teaching by texts of Scripture; but these are to be interpreted by tradition, as taught by the Fathers. While, on the other hand, the advocates of spiritual religion appeal at once to the written word. And they refer not to insulated passages, but to texts taken in their proper connexion; and especially do they refer to the whole tenor and spirit of revelation. If words have meaning, then do the Scriptures teach justification by faith, and its collateral and dependent doctrines; and then do the results which follow the enlightened and earnest ministration of these doctrines, agree with the results which the same Scriptures, with prophetic wisdom, both describe and promise.

Embracing these doctrines, Mr. Wesley sought to experience the blessings to which they refer; and he believed that he did experience them. Beholding an all but universal carelessness on the subject; and persuaded, that if his own views and feelings were scriptural, his fellowcreatures were in a state of great wretchedness and imminent danger; he, a Minister of Christ, a regular member of the body of the Presbyters of the Church, immediately begun to preach as he believed. He preached the law of God, to convince men of sin; the Gospel, to direct them in the way of peace and salvation. He meddled with no ecclesiastical questions. He found fault with no ecclesiastical constitutions. He testified "repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ;" and, under his preaching, many of his hearers were so powerfully impressed, that they came to ask from him spiritual advice and direction. He appointed a time to meet with them; and thus did the Wesleyan societies commence. This was their origin; and, by the continued operation of the

same causes, they have grown to their present magnitude.

At the present day, the advocates of sacramental justification and salvation-they who say, that the externalism of the Jews has been succeeded by one that is, in point of undeniable fact, far less spiritual, and far more formal, and that the kingdom of God does essentially consist in external appointments and instruments-see so much evil in Methodism, that they appear to be directing all their forces against it. This seems especially to be the case with some of the younger Curates of the Establishment. As these young men do not expect to save men by preaching, but by sacramental administration, they have plenty of time on their hands for visiting; and, taking advantage of their position in the parish,-particularly where they have the direction of parochial alms and benefactions, their interferences with the poorer members of the Wesleyan societies are often painfully disturbing. It was hoped that the authors of these disturbances of the quiet of a society which only desires to pursue its own way in peace, would become tired of their profitless labours, and themselves abate the nuisance; but their perseverance renders other measures necessary.

The author of the truly-excellent pamphlet before us, thus states the reasons which have induced him to come forward, and publicly give, to the question which he puts on the title-page, the answers which have been satisfactory to his own mind. That in England, at this particular period, the facts referred to in these reasons should exist,-and exist, too, unrebuked by the leaders of the Church,-is a circumstance as ominous as it is painful.

"It is boldly asserted, that these people," (the Wesleyan Methodists,) "who have hitherto passed for Christians, both in their own estimation and that of others,

form no part of the church of Christ; and that, if they be saved at all, it will be as mere Heathens, by some secret and unknown mercies, for the exercise of which no provision is made in any covenant that God has revealed to mankind.

They are therefore earnestly called upon, as they would meet their righteous Judge with acceptance, to abandon all their own places and forms of worship, and to attend exclusively the ministrations of the national Clergy; some of whom declare, that they are the only men in these realms who are able to dispense the Christian sacraments, and authorized to preach the doctrines of salvation. The Methodists are sometimes vehemently urged to be rebaptized, as the only means of acquiring the true Christian character. Nor are their breathless remains always treated with greater respect, being occasionally denied the common rites of Christian burial.

"What impression these things may make upon the minds of my Wesleyan brethren, I know not. I can, however, answer for myself; and to all candid and serious men, who may be concerned in the subject, I will frankly state the reasons which have determined me, by the grace of God, to remain among this people, till it shall please Him to call me hence; nor will I cease, in the mean while, to hold fast that blessed hope of eternal life which is given me in our Saviour Jesus Christ.' For the Church of England, as a whole, and as a Protestant Establishment, I have long entertained what I conceive to be a just and sincere respect; nor shall anything absolutely alienate me from her ordinances; but I decidedly prefer my position, as a Wesleyan Methodist, to that strict and exclusive connexion with her which some men declare to be even essential to salvation." (Pages 4, 5.)

"The first is, that Christianity is eminently a social religion; and hence Christians are everywhere described in the New Testament as a united people. I consider it, therefore, my duty, as a follower of the Lord Jesus, to be joined in church fellowship with those who bear his name. Now, whatever might be the state of things in the apostolic times, I find Christians in the present day divided into distinct and separate Churches; or rather, the universal church of Christ is divided into various sections. There are, for instance, the Church of England; the Church of Scotland; Baptist and Independent Churches; the Lutheran Churches of Germany, Denmark, and

Sweden; the Reformed Churches of Holland, France, and Switzerland; the Greek Church; the Church of Rome, &c.; some of which claim for their communities the honourable title of Catholic, or Universal. The Church of Rome calls herself the Catholic, or Universal, Church; and several sons of the Church of England affect the title of AngloCatholics, and speak with great bitterness of those whom they assume not to belong to the Church Catholic, and whom they therefore call 'sectaries." The fact, however, is, that the assumption of the name of Catholic, by any one class of Christians, is palpably absurd, if anything more be meant by it, than that the parties belong to the great 'family of God,' which comprehends all who hold the truth, and who practise what they hold. No one community of Christians can be Catholics exclusively. They are Catholics just as are other denominations of Christians who walk in truth and love. The Church of England, for instance, as the Church of England, is distinct and peculiar; having its own forms of worship and mode of government; and therefore cannot be the catholic church, any more than London is Great Britain, or than Great Britain is the world. same is true of the Church of Rome, notwithstanding the arrogance of her assumptions. Bold and pompous titles alter not the nature of things. The catholic church, as at present existing, is composed of various sections; and though one or more of these may declare themselves to be the whole church, they only proclaim their bigotry and exclusiveness. A branch of the catholic church they may be; but they are no more the catholic church, than the small

The

county of Rutland is the British empire.

"Seeing then that I ought to belong to the church of Christ, comprehending the body of the faithful; and that I have no means of doing this bat by connecting myself with some particular section of the church catholic; I am compelled to make my choice among the various religious communities to whom I can have access. In doing this I am so far a catholic Christian as I hold catholic truth, and am actuated by the spirit of catholic love." (Pages 5, 6.)

Such is the author's first preliminary observation. We have given it entire, both that the reader may perceive its sentiments, and for himself judge of its spirit; and that we may call his attention to one