under the law, had not only to offer sacrifice on the altar, but to carry the blood of it into the sanctuary, to sprinkle it before the mercy-seat; so Christ himself went with his own blood into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us. This intercession consists in his presenting the memorials of his sacrifice to God, in behalf of his people, and to obtain for them all needful blessings; in his answering all the charges which are brought against them, and in his offering their services with acceptance to his Father. How consolatory is this doctrine to true Christians! You are conscious that you have not a single plea in yourselves for the least favour; you are aware how crafty and violent your enemies are, and how much you furnish them with, by your folly, to employ to your discredit; and your services are so poor and so corrupted, that you are ashamed of them; but in Christ you have an Intercessor who founds his pleas in his own merit, aad who can find in that merit an answer to every charge against you, and who can purify your services for the throne of God. * "How lovely does Christ appear in this character! A good man praying for others, seems amiable; but he has no merit of his own to plead; his eye must be directed to the sacrifice of Christ, and his supplications must pass through the hands of the Advocate with the Father, ere they can be accepted; but Christ pleads in his own name,-and with his whole merit, and his whole heart in his intercession, he must be successful. Sweet to the heart of a child are the prayers of a holy parent, and delightful is it to him to recollect how they rose by his cradle, and attended his path; but far sweeter are the prayers of our Lord to the pious heart, which traces in them a love stronger than death, high as heaven, and better than life. He has a name above every name, in power and glory; but the compassion of his eye, the pleadings of his voice, and the gifts of his hand, shew that he still bears the character of a merciful and faithful High Priest. Though in the midst of the throne, he still pleads; though surrounded by acclamations, he still prays; and when no sounds shall be heard in the universe but the songs of the blessed and the howlings of the damned, he will intercede. The High Priest who so graciously sympathized with his people's infirmities, shall rejoice in their happiness, present to his Father their gratitude, and guide their praise. "Let us feel the warmest love to our High Priest, who did and does so much for us; let us seek for an increasing experience of the influence of his priesthood; and may the voice of his blood be heard, and its efficacy felt, in such a way as to kindle the warmest piety in our hearts. His priestly garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, and may their fragrance refresh and delight us. Let us seck consolation in his sacrifice and intercession, in every scene and time of need. I have seen his blood giving hope in the deepest anguish of contrition, and his intercession encouraging a parent looking with anxiety and fear to a helpless family round his death-bed, brightening to aged Christians the shadows of their evening, and bringing to their minds his pitying heart, his pleading blood, and his helping hand. And let our prayers be made for him continually, that is, for the prosperity of his kingdom, and the happiness of his people. Let the purity of our lives plead for his law; the contentment of our spirits for his goodness; our patience in affliction for his wisdom; our heavenly-mindedness for the attraction of his glory; our detachment from the world for the power of his cross; the earnestness of our prayers for the virtue of his intercession; and the hope of our death for the grace of his welcome." RULES FOR RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. THE following Rules have been suggested by some Minis ters of the General Synod of Ulster, for the management of the religious societies in their congregations; and it is hoped their publication may be useful as a groundwork for others: 1. Relying upon the promise of Christ, that where two or three are met together in his name, there will he be in the midst of them-the undersigned resolve, by the grace of God, to form themselves into a religious society. 2. They purpose to hold a meeting once in each 3. That every meeting shall open and close with prayer and singing of psalms. 4. Two members shall be appointed at each meeting to conduct the services of the succeeding meeting. 5. At every meeting the Scriptures alone shall be read; the reading shall comprehend at least a chapter in the Old, and one in the New Testament; and the discussion shall be directed chiefly to searching out the parallel passages, by means of a Bible with marginal references. 6. The chapters to be selected and appointed at one meeting, and read at the next. 7. Though strangers may be introduced, yet no one shall become a member, except by a vote of the Society. 8. Every candidate for membership shall require to be proposed to the Society by a member, and after one month his admission may be considered. 9. Every member elected must be a communicant, and have the wor. ship of God established in his family; and shall consider himself as engaged to devote a portion of his time to some of the following exercises, viz.:-Visiting the sick, catechising the young, examining how his neighbours are supplied with Bibles, and exhorting them to the duties of family and public worship. 10. The members shall endeavour, by the grace of God, to watch over one another in love, correct one anothers faults with tenderness, and be helpers of each others joy in the Lord. 11. Any member walking negligently or disorderly, shall first be warned and entreated as a brother: but if he remain unreformed, he shall be removed from the Society. 12. That we shall endeavour to obtain a visit from our Minister to a meeting of the Society once every three months, and oftener when practicable. RULES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS. HAVING been frequently applied to, respecting regulations for Sunday Schools, we subjoin the following, which we judge to be well adapted to general use-and most of which we know to be already received into several large and valuable schools: 1. The object of this School shall be to instruct the young of both sexes in the knowledge of the Scriptures. 2. The system of teaching adopted in this School, shall be that technically called the Lesson System, tas set forth in the Lesson System Magazine, and the other valuable publications of Mr. Gall, of Edinburgh. 3. The School shall be governed by a Committee. 4. A Superintendent and Secretary shall be annually nominated by the Teachers, subject to the approval of the Committee. 5. The Superintendent shall have the general management and control of the School. 6. The Secretary shall keep the Books of the School, and summon and attend all meetings. 7. Any person willing to become a Teacher, must be proposed by the Superintendent, and unanimously elected by the Teachers. 8. Every Teacher to be considered as engaged to attend, God willing, every Sunday; or provide a substitute in case of occasional absence. 9. The School shall be open on each Lord's day from- to to in the -o'clock in the morning, and fromafternoon, and shall be commenced and concluded with Singing and Prayer. 10. It shall be the duty of the Teachers to be present before the opening of the School, and to employ themselves diligently and affectionately during school hours, in teaching, encouraging, and governing the children. They shall also visit them, especially in cases of absence or sickness, and diligently exercise over them an habitual superintendence. 11. Teachers absenting themselves for two Sundays successively, without having provided substitutes, shall be erased from the list of Teachers. 12. The Scholars must be regularly present before the hour of commencing, and go directly to their seats when they come into the School. They must be attentive and diligent to learn while in school, and also to improve while at home. They must obey the Superintendent, and all the Teachers of the School, and be kind and good-natured to one another. They must go to and from School in an orderly and quiet manner, and avoid all rudeness or riotous conduct in the streets or roads. N. B.-In addition to the above, we would earnestly recommend that the school should be furnished with a Lending Library, and that the Lesson System Quarterly Magazine should be circulated among the Teachers. We have examined the four numbers already published, and are convinced that it is a work calculated to do more good than any other which we have seen for the use of Teachers. Its small expense (2s. per Annum) puts it in the power of any school to be provided with it. ORDINATION,-On Tuesday, the 3d inst., the Rev. John Stuart was ordained to the pastoral charge of the new congregation of Ballycarry. The services were conducted by the Rev. Mr. Campbell, Rev. Joseph M'Kee, Rev. Dr. Cooke, and Rev. John Doherty. NATIONAL EDUCATION-PETITION OF THE GENERAL SYNOD OF ULSTER AGAINST THE PROPOSED SYSTEMDEFENCE OF LORD ACHESON. [We have received the following letter from an esteemed friend—and although we have not changed our mind upon the subject, we yet deem it an act both of courtesy and justice, to give publicity to the letter of our correspondent. We have availed ourselves of his kind permission to abridge, but we have endeavoured faithfully to preserve the spirit and point of his observations.] TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN. SIR, IN the leading article of your last number, there are some reflections against Lord Acheson, which it would be an act of injustice, as well to the Synod of Ulster as to his lordship, to allow to pass without notice. I think it due to Lord Acheson to state, that although I have conversed with a very considerable number of Presbyterians, clergy, and laity, respecting the propriety of these reflections, there was not one who did not consider them as utterly without foundation. In the first place, then, it should be known, that Lord Acheson, immediately on his being informed, that the petition of the Synod was intrusted to him for presentation, made every exertion, by personally applying to -several Ministers of the Synod of Ulster, to obtain the most accurate and minute information respecting their various objections to the proposed plan of education; and having done so, he repaired to his place in Parliament sooner than he had designed, for the single purpose of embracing -the earliest opportunity of laying the petition before the House of Com The article goes on to say, "We know not his lordship, but he seems to us to possess, in great perfection, that useful statesmanlike quality of blowing hot and cold with the same mouth." In reply to this insinuation, I beg to observe, that though Lord Acheson did not say as much in favour of the object of the petition as I and the other petitioners could have wished, he yet supported strongly those parts of the petition which he believed to be just, whilst he withheld it, conscientiously from those parts, of which he could not perceive the reasonableness. Surely more than this petitioners could not require. The writer proceeds-"We are not cognizant of parliamentary etiquette; but we think his lordship treated the Synod of Ulster rather unkindly. We believe that it is a kind of parliamentary law, that members should present any respectful petitions intrusted to them, yet we believe it is not uncommon, where they do not concur with a petition, to tell the petitioner their objection. His Lordship did not do so." In reply to this, I beg to inform the writer, that Lord Acheson did, in several instances, tell the petitioners his objections to some sentiments expressed in the petition; and that several Ministers of the Synod have his letters to that effect. The writer goes on to say-"But he," Lord Acheson, “contrived, as we understood him from the report, to pour out upon the Synod a quantity of oblique and most undeserved abuse." From this opinion I must record my decided dissent. In my humble judgment, the speech was, in Synod very much The writer concludes by observing "We are told that his lordship is bThese circumstances will, I trust, be sufficient evidence of the wisdom of the Synod in intrusting their petition to his lordship, of the efficient manner in which it was supported, and of his lordship's friendship to the Presbyterian body. I tad rewond ed blooda I am, &c. We sincerely respect the motives of the writer of the foregoing strictures and if he, or any other, can convince us that we have taken an erroneous view of Lord Acheson's sentiments, we are ready to recant and apologize. We have, however, again read over the debate and our remarks; and though we have, perhaps, expressed ourselves strongly, because we felt strongly, yet our opinion in our last remains unaltered, That our readers may judge whether we had not some reason to complain, we call their attention to the following facts:1. If his lordship wished to be informed concerning the objections of the Synod, he had them in the petition: if he wished for more information, we respectfully submit, the Moderator and Clerk, who signed the petition, were persons who should not have been overlooked. This we call "neglect of parliamentary etiquette. 2. We complain that neither of the persons signing the petition were ever informed of his lordship's objections to any of its allegations.And yet his lordship absolutely argued against it in the House of Commons, and this we call "hot and cold." 3. We complain, because, after having stated the conscientious opposition of the Synod against the antiPresbyterian supremacy about to be set up, his lordship was pleased to add After all, the great objections in the petition were these,-that extracts selected by the Board were to be made use of as a school-book, to the exclusion of the Scriptures, whole and unmutilated; by which means Protestants would be deprived of the free use of the Bible. Now one word concerning these extracts. He would ask, whence this sudden horror of extracts? And here he trusted he might be allowed to say a few words, with regard to the assertion, that the Protestants were to be deprived of the Bible. He must protest, and did it conscientiously, against the insinuations nay more, the positive assertions which had been made in Ireland, that the object, he repeated it, the object of Government had been to deprive Protestants of the Bible. He disputed with no man |