I do not wish to discuss details, though I might protest against the evangelical clergy being represented as a very few faithful men," and against the unjust obloquy cast on the names, applied by our brethren to places of worship, to the Lord's Supper, &c. But supposing these allegations to be as true as they are questionable, is this the way to deal with systems loved by our brother Protestants? Can it do otherwise than repel Churchmen from the fraternal union which I know you desire to witness as much as myself? If Churchmen were to string together as many injurious epithets as they could collect, to describe the imperfections of the Congregational order, overlooking what is good in our system, and heading the whole, "Why I dare not become a Congregational Dissenter," would not you naturally exclaim, "How bigoted! how one-sided!” and why is that commendable in a Dissenter which would be bigoted in a Churchman?

Forgive me, my dear Dr. Campbell, for taking this liberty with you. You are too good and too generous, to suppose that I am either indifferent to my principles, or I would compliment them away to gain a reputation for candour. I agree with you, heart and soul, in adhering, among imperfect systems, to our own as the best. I deprecate the connexion of Church and State as much as ever I did, and I believe it will be a blessed day for the evangelical clergy, the country, and for the world, for the Church" of England" and for the Church" in England," when every section of the church shall cease to be controlled by the civil power. But this will never be effected by violent assaults on the Church as established. Diatribes against religious errors in the Episcopalian system will not convince statesmen, and will only irritate Churchmen. Men of the world hate Methodism quite as much as they do Puseyism, and, do what you will, you will never make Parliament so much more sound than the clergy, as to separate Church and State for the sake of religion. Men "not of the world" will be repelled by harshness, and will cling the closer to their system the more you attack it. No, dear Sir, with reference to our peculiar views, as Dissenters, as well as to our common views as Christ

ians, our right course seems to be, to tighten the bounds between believers, not to repel them from our fellowship. I am persuaded that, in so doing, we are not only obeying Christ but are taking the best course to promote our distinctive principles, so far as they are correct. If the establishment of religion be agreeable to God, the union of his people will strengthen the principle. If the contrary, it will produce the result which we, according to our present light, desire. Will you not, my dear Sir, with your large heart and your powerful pen, thus join issue with the thousands of devoted Churchmen who are prepared to meet us in a cordial spirit? For the glory of our common Saviour, and in the name of all that is dear to us, in our common, as well as our peculiar principles, I implore you to do so.

Repeating my cordial wishes for the success both of the Witness and the Penny Magazine; believe me, my dear Sir, your faithful servant and brother in the Lord, CULLING E. SMITH.

[Since inserting the above, we have received the following Letter from an esteemed Correspondent.]

DR. CAMPBELL

versus

SIR CULLING E. SMITH, BArt. Finsbury, January 23, 1846. MR. EDITOR,-Your excellent Magazine having taken such a decided and scriptural part in the great question of Christian Union, I feel it to be a proper medium for communicating some remarks on the character of the attempts made by some who dare to name the name of Christ, and yet shrink not from the iniquity of trying to keep apart those whom the Spirit of the living God hath made to be one. At present I refer to a correspondence between Sir Culling Eardley Smith, Bart., a gentleman, whose energetic appeals on behalf of Christian Union are known and appreciated by every child of God, and Dr. Campbell, the individual who, for several years, has occupied the pulpit in which the estimable Whitfield once poured forth the treasures of gospel truth to listening thousands. Would God, that the spirit of Whitfield rested upon him! and that love to all those who love the Lord Jesus, prevailed over the root of bitter

66

ness, too plainly manifested in his lengthy epistle, despite the smooth and courteous terms in which it is couched. The Dr., with an egotism, unfortunately too prominent in all he writes and says, sets himself up as the champion of a body of our Christian brethren, many of whom, with an amount of learning and piety not a whit behind him, are actually taking a decided position on the side of Union. He talks of " our own community," our views," &c., as if the Congregationalists of England were the echo of Dr. Campbell, and Dr. Campbell the echo of the Congregationalists. Speaking of the Clergy of Finsbury, by whom he has been surrounded for twenty years he says, there is "not one among them whom I can look upon as a servant of the most high God, showing unto men the way of salvation." Sir, there have been, and are, in the Established Church, in the borough of Finsbury, clergymen as earnest and zealous in proclaiming the truth of the Gospel as the Rev. Dr. can be. This libel upon them is discreditable to him as a man, and especially as a Christian minister. Has he forgotten the Rev. Mr. Thompson, late of St. Barnabas, in the very parish in which the Dr. dwells; and the immense congregation that assembled there under his ministry? Does he not know that his successor keeps together a very large congregation; also, that in the parish church, there is a rector and curate, both faithful preachers of "the way of salvation." That they have not gone to the residence of the Rev. Dr., and courted his acquaintance, is by no means marvel; his "quenchless hostility" to their church, so continually expressed in the organs he boasts of having "created," is quite sufficient to account for the separation. But, Sir, the Dr. further declares, that "there can be no fraternal union while the Establishment exists." He also says, "from the introduction of liturgical services I solemnly pray-Good Lord, deliver us!" I re

a

come

member the time, when the Dr. commended the Liturgy to me, and said, he used it by CHOICE at the Tottenham Court Road; but a change has " o'er the spirit of his dream," and now, in his "quenchless hostility," declares, "While I teach any thing, I must teach our people, and all the readers of my journals to regard the

WHOLE Episcopalian system as antagonist to their own; yea, and to the unerring word of the living God." I do remember, also, the Dr. telling me, that he thought a very good case could be made out for Episcopacy from the Bible. The spirit of exclusiveness, which may well be called the curse of the Church of Christ in the present day, is the main obstacle in the way of Christian Union. The high Churchman, on the one hand, who in the pride of his heart regards his dissenting brethren as schismatics, and the ultra dissenter, who regards the Episcopalian as holding principles antagonist to the unerring word of Almighty God.

And

These are the enemies of Christian Union; and the "Evangelical Alliance" will doubtless in the pursuit of its noble and scriptural objects, have to combat them. But the spirit of Christian love, exercised in all the firmness of Christian faith and truth, must triumph. though a Dr. Pusey on the one hand, and a Dr. Campbell on the other, may revel in the search for points of difference, many, we trust, will be found, engaged in the more noble and godlike work of of uniting those who differ, of resting upon those great truths in which Churchmen and Dissenters are one; rejecting that empty vanity that regards one system of church discipline and government as abstract truth, and every other as essential error. Time will not allow of any lengthened remarks on this subject; another opportunity may be afforded me of exposing the narrow-minded and exclusive spirit of those, who, calling themselves ministers of the Gospel, have dared to raise a voice against the high and holy object of the Evangelical Alliance. Yours, &c., A TRUE CHURCHMAN.

SECTARIANISM.

Dear friends; soon you will enter on the great battle of the Church. Enter upon it, not with a spirit of sectarianism, but with a profound sentiment of the great Christian Unity. As soon as you depart for this good war, do not regard this or that particular standard, or the standard-bearer of this or the other particular company, but look to the standard of the General, to the flag of the Chief, to the cross. Your battle-cry (mot d'ordre) during the whole struggle, should be, Jesus Christ-all-in ali.Merle D'Aubigne, D.D.

COMMON SENSE. Extracted from the Journal of the Hoxton Academy Chapel " Irish Missionary."

Some time since, a young man married within the degrees of consanguinity forbidden by the Church of Rome, except on the payment of a certain fixed sum for the purchase of a dispensation. The man having learned, from a Protestant, that marriage in such a case was no offence in the sight of heaven, concealed from the priest his relationship to the woman of his choice; but by some means he soon discovered it, and then promptly, and sternly, demanded payment of the usual fees; and furiously threatened excommunication by bell, book, and candle-light, if his demand was not satisfied. The poor man hesitated, or rather was unmoved, and the result was, his being

THERE IS A GOD.

66

held up to public odium from the altar, and his marriage pronounced null and void. But by the following stratagem he succeeded in outwitting his Reverence, whom he approached one day while he was holding a station"-publicly thanking him for delivering him from the onus of holding to the woman whom he had taken "for better, for worse," representing that he cordially hated her. Upon which this soi-disant vicegerent of Jesus Christ-this particle of infallibility-alarmed at what he supposed to be the man's real intention, vociferated that the villain was as truly bound in wedlock as any man in the parish! On hearing this, the man retired, to the no small amusement of such as were in his secret; thus giving a practical lesson of what the exercise of a little common sense would do, with those rapacious beings who have invented so many ways of fleecing the people.

'Midst youthful pleasures once I passed my days,

And thought myself the happiest of my race.
No cares had I; and of no helping hand
I thought that I had need. Enthroned
within-

All happiness and mirth and joyousness;
Beloved by parents, and by friends caressed;
Thoughtless of all beyond the present hour,
And feeling but dependant on myself-
Religion I despised. In vain, alas,
My conscience urged; the God-head I denied!
Time thus passed on, in cheerfulness and
mirth,

Until one fearful day the world's great curse,
The hand of death, that certain bane of all!
Did with one blow dissever from the earth
A friend most dear. One parent less I had!
Oh, then, for once I felt a pang within!
A pang so bitter that I hid my face,
And lowly mourned within my hardened
soul.

Another parent fell! and now the earth
Began to seem as if the fiends of hell,
Which once I thought existed but in dreams,
Urged by the master of all misery,
Did rule and govern it, to crush and spoil
The happiness of man! Ah, where was then
My fancied paradise? My heart-felt joys,
Where were they gone!....E'en friendship
was destroyed!

Those whom I loved and cherished near my heart,

Who clung around my boyish soul in youth, E'en as the flowers of earth will sometimes cling,

And form their part existence; whom I hoped
In manhood to enjoy, and in my age,
Did, by the bitterness of my great grief,
And, frighted by my unreligious tongue,

Which then blasphemed the guiding hand of God,

Leave me to myself, alone and blighted ! Oh, but to think that one whose little bark Had hardly put forth on the sea of life, Then should, by causes unforeseen, be wrecked,

And cast on such a fearful shore as this! Without one ray of light or hope within, Deep-rooted grief did take up all my heart; And thus I wandered on the cheerless earth, Without a friend or tie to bind me there! Thus time went on; my grief subsisting still; Until one Sabbath morn I strayed alone. Worn out by long fatigue, I laid me down; But not in hopelessness. The Sabbath bells, Those heavenly sounds, which childhood

make me glad?

I slept.-Again I was a little child!
In vision sweet I near my mother knelt,
With little hands uplift, in silent prayer.
My mother's scalding tears I felt roll down
My burning cheek and mingle with my own.
O, how I prayed!-Though in my sleep a
child,

I prayed to be forgiven as a man.

My heart, subdued by God,-no longer hard, Poured out its sorrows in that fervent prayer! And He, who heard it, blessed the contrite soul,

And opened forth the gates of bliss to show There was a God, to punish and to save!

F. A. L.

G

WHAT IS LIFE?

What is Life? 'tis a delicate flower,
Transplanted from gardens on high;
Sent to perfume the earth for an hour;
To blossom, to wither and die.
What is Life? 'tis a bird of the air,

Just pluming his wings for the flight;
Eager we gaze on an object so fair,

But gazing, 'tis lost to our sight.
What is Life? 'tis the dew of the night,

All sparkling in pearly array;
But, behold! the bright sun is in sight,
And the glittering gems are away.
What is Life? 'tis a beautiful tale,

Which the dreams of our childhood unfold;
But ere its sweet visions we hail,
The int'resting story is told.
What is Life? 'tis a musical breath,
For a moment enchanting the ear;
And silenced so quickly by death,
Its note we no longer can hear.
What is Life? 'tis a brief period given,
By God in his mercy divine;

To escape to the portals of heaven,
And seek with the ransom'd to shine.
A. A. WATSON.

A BETTER COUNTRY. HEBREWS xi. 16.

'Midst changing scenes and friendship here,
There is a thought to Christians dear;
A better home's prepared on high,
And passing hours, but bring it nigh.
Better for God that home has made,
And firmly its foundation laid;
What earthly mansion can compare
With that my Saviour will prepare!
Better-for none shall enter in
But those who, free from taint of sin,
Are cleansed by Jesu's precious blood,
And thus become the sons of God.
Better-for nothing shall annoy,
Or interrupt the peace and joy;
The wicked gone-souls once distrest,
Have entered into perfect rest.
Better for want shall be unknown,
As He who sits upon the throne

Shall every coming need supply,
And wipe all tears from every eye.
Better!-that heritage will last,
When all this world's scenes are past;
Nor shall its glories fade away
Throughout eternity's long day.

G. N. W.

A PARAPHRASE On the 8th and 9th verses of the 8th Chapter of Solomon's Song, addressed to Great Britain, with reference to Ireland.

Our much-loved country! long may be thy sway!

While foreign lands admire thee and obey; Long may thy vallies be with verdure crown'd

And from thy temple holy praise resound!
But O, most noble mistress of the sea!
Hear the petition which we ask of thee.
And while thou rulest o'er the mighty main,
Let not our prayer be look'd on with disdain.
O think on what we ask-a sister's claim:
A little sister pleads an orphan's name!
No tender mother nourishment supplies,
For which the new-born babe so fondly cries:
Will not Britannia's sons their silence break
And for their long-neglected sister speak?
Yes! for the happy day will yet arrive,
She shall be spoken for-she yet shall live!
For lo! there rises up a noble band
To sound the gospel trumpet through the
land;

Adorn'd with eloquence, enflamed with zeal,
The Saviour's grace and glory to reveal;
Speak for her, ye who bear the holy word
To foreign lands, as heralds of the Lord:
Speak for your sister, ye who bend the knee
And pray that all the world converted be,
That she may bow no more beneath the sway
Of superstition, and its rites obey.
Soon, beauteous Island, may'st thou cease

to bow

Where sacred streams and holy waters flow; Nor think from saints or angels to receive, That and pardon which they cannot peace give.

Ah, no! were tears admitted into heaven, How would they weep to find to them were given,

Those sacred honors the Redeemer won, When on the cross his finished work was done.

Mary would fall before her much-lov'd Lord, And sink with shame to find herself ador'd. No! be the standard of the cross unfurl'd, And may thy sons proclaim it through the world!

Thy sons, Hibernia-ye whose powers of mind,

With corporeal strength so aptly join'd;
Are nobly fitted for a work like this,
To lead immortal souls to endless bliss.
Then shalt thou like a silver palace rise,
A radiant structure in the nation's eyes.
The earth admire thee, fairest of our Isles,
Blest with our love and our Redeemer's
AN AGED DISCIPLE.

smiles.

WOODCOCKS' EVANGELICAL TEXT-BOOK AND SANCTUARY REMEMBRANCER FOR 1846. Houlston and Stoneman, Paternoster Row ; and may be had of all Booksellers.

So treacherous is memory, that "where is the text?" is an inquiry often made soon after those sermons have been heard; and to which those to whom it has been addressed, have been unable to give a satisfactory reply. This neat little work will supply such with a very convenient aud useful record, as it can easily be carried in the pocket, and affords sufficient space, not only for the insertion of the text, and the minister's name, but also for the leading heads of the sermons preached. Each opening is headed with the numerical order of the sabbath in the month, and the month itself, so as to form a sabbatical diary for the year. It may thus greatly aid both ministers and private Christians in reviewing the subjects to which attention has been directed, and prove a source of much spiritual pleasure and profit. We therefore recommend all our friends who are in the habit of taking down texts, to procure a copy of this little work, which will be found far more convenient and useful than detached papers, which are often lost.

The Descriptive Testament. By INGRAM COBBIN, M. A., Author of the "Condensed Commentary," &c.

The Descriptive (or "Illustrated") Testament, contains the "Authorized Translation of the New Testament, with notes, explanatory of the rites, customs, sects, phraseology, topography, and geography, referred to in this portion of the Sacred Pages;" and is illustrated by a map of Canaan, and another of St. Paul's travels, as well as by nearly eighty well-executed

wood engravings. The subjects of the latter are very miscellaneous, comprising modern cities and ruins of ancient ones; animals, trees, utensils, dresses, occupations, buildings, ships; any thing by which the sacred text may be, not merely embellished, but really elucidated. Such representations of realities are very different from fancy sketches, or representations of scriptural events, in which imagination must, in a great measure, guide the pencil; and while we would not disparage the latter in their place, we must ascribe to the former, on the score of utility, a much higher position. We think it the duty of all to avail themselves of every assistance to the right and complete understanding of the Book of books, whether addressed to the bodily or the mental eye; and we consider the present to be one of the best applications made of recent improvements in the art of engraving. To young persons, for whom this work is "especially designed," we consider it especially adapted. The notes are copious, the type is very clear, and the binding is serviceably strong, and attractively hand

some.

The Domestic Bible. By the Rev. INGRAM COBBIN, A. M.

THIS is a valuable work, and merits a most extensive circulation. Most of our former observations apply equally to this and the following,

The Portable Commentary. By the Rev. INGRAM COBBIN, M. A.

THIS is a handsomely bound pocket companion; and with great pleasure we recommend it to the notice of our readers. Sunday School teachers will find it most valuable, when engaged in the delightful, but self-denying work, of instructing the young, London: T. ARnold, PaternoSTER ROW.

IRISH EVANGELICAL SOCIETY.

GREAT DISTRESS OCCASIONED BY THE
POTATO DISEASE.

THE Communications just received from the agents in different districts in Ireland, present a most gloomy picture of the widelyspread and increasing distress occasioned by the failures of the potato crop. This is felt not only by the peasantry of the country, but also by the agents themselves. Some of them, the Scripture Readers especially, are scarcely able to sustain their families.

The high prices they are now compelled to pay for every kind of provision, has reduced them to great straits. Still they persevere in their self-denying labours, with exemplary devotedness, and in an uncomplaining spirit. The Committee would most gladly minister to their necessities, either by an augmentation of their salaries, or by an occasional gratuity; but the state of their funds forbid. They acknowledge with thankfulness the increased liberality of some of the churches manifested in the enlarged amount of contributions to the October collections