a second time; and while they are with us the objects of most distinct statutory proscription, they are thronging our ways, covering our land with their schools and cathedrals, like the frogs of Egypt creeping into our palaces; they are the avowed teachers of Oxford and Cambridge tutors, the advisers of statesmen, the noisy radicals of parliamentary debate, and the chosen and demure associates of High Church Clergymen ! The subsequent history of the Syrian Church is involved in obscurity. Mr. Hough collects the most authentic and interesting particulars, and to his pages we must refer our readers. The latter part of his second volume is given to the establishment of the British power in India, a fact which connects more immediately with the history of modern Christianity in the peninsula; we may perhaps enter on this at some future period. It is not, however, possible to turn aside from the melancholy exhibition of Romish and Jesuit power in India to vanquish and adulterate a genuine and independent Christian Church, without a solemn note of warning to our readers against the tremendous errors and evils of that system. God forbid that we should cherish a spirit of intolerance or of bitterness towards the persons of our fellow men; or that we should wish to withhold the civil privileges to which they are intitled. Far from it. In this imperfect world the free admission and maintenance of truth is closely interwoven with the parallel tolerance of error, i. e., of error in the concrete in the persons and ways of men. the utmost of this social charity to men, as sharers with us in civil rights, leaves us entirely open to entertain the most deeply serious and abhorrent views of that which we believe to be error, superstition, and falsehood, and to have as its practical result, the moral and spiritual ruin of immortal souls. We believe also, that never was there a time in the history of the Church when there was a more solemn call to stand boldly for the truth; not so much by the municipal and statutory defence of recognized opinions, but by the calm and resolute preference of Scriptural truth itself; and But 66 by the open exhibition of that religi ous honesty which at once repudiates and sloughs off every particle of ascertained error. We do see, with deep regret, that many, and some of them in high and influential positions, are flinching from this manly decision, which is the only true status of a Christian leader; and for the sake of subordinate and by-influence, are tampering with error; and allowing the errors of superstition on the one hand to be worked as a bugbear against the errors of an irreverent infidelity on the other. But to all such, we say most respectfully, non tali auxilio." To condescend to such a weapon, is to make common cause with those who would use it more grossly, and for more questionable ends. We do intreat them to consider deeply before they admit, however obscurely, the false principle, that the end sanctifies the means; and not only to look at the crowning and most objectionable errors of Rome, but at all the auxiliary forces of a petty superstition, in which the Puseys and the Hooks delight, through the medium of the unerring glass of Scriptural truth. All such processes of influence are in essence immoral and ungodly, and must recoil on those who venture thus to deviate from the strait and narrow way. They may give temporary influence and power. But what power? A false and ruinous power over the imagination and the conscience, rather than the heart. They foster a delusive submission, a pseudo-loyalty, which in a day of trial cannot be trusted; and which according as temptation is shaped, may as likely end in dissent, Popery, or infidelity. We have no warrant to wield any weapon, and can wield no weapon innocuously and prosperously, but truth-plain revealed Scriptural truth. Taking then as our guide the holy writings of the New Testament, as exhibiting to us the doctrines and the aspects of the Gospel church, and throwing its pure light upon the hierarchical pretensions, the superstitious inventions, the heathenish mummeries and the cruel and false deception and government of the Pope and his surpliced princes; we denounce the whole system as a great falsehood -as an imposture upon the world; an imposture which, for the corrupt passions of men and the use that they have made of it, must have been long since seen through, and thoroughly exposed and hated. The history of its poisonous growth in the place, and to the injury of the “plant of renown" is amply before the world. The records of its sanguinary persecutions are known beyond the possibility of question or collusive misreprentation. Their murderous principles have been abundantly accredited by their own documents; and yet such is the suitability of the delusion to the corrupt heart of man, that the gaudy and presumptuous pageant of this antichristian apostacy and usurpation still glares delusively in the eyes of most unthinking men. The lamb-like fleece still hides the claw and the fang and the blood-shot eye of wolfish rapacity. Melancholy fact! Thirty educated Protestant gentlemen, after protesting in every possible way, that a sincerity, for which generally speak ing we give them credit, could dictate, have received the mark of submission in their foreheads. The series of tracts which they profess to write against Rome has led them there as slaves. The issue which Scriptural students ventured to predict has come. They dabbled in the margin of the stream, and they slipped into the tide. We do most solemnly, affectionately and imploringly warn all to whom these presents may come" against the slightest approach to the expediency of superstition. Let them fly from it as from the face of a serpent. principle be once admitted, truth is shaken in her seat. The religion of architecture and of pictures,-the religion of music and scenery will soon displace the religion of spiritual truth —will soon grieve the spirit of God, and make him a departed or departing guest. The moment in which a man resorts to the agency of these merely human and unwarranted measures to produce a religious impression instead of, or even auxiliary to, the testimony of the Heavenly witness, the Spirit of God, through Christ Jesus, that moment is critical. That act of mind is "a falling away." And, assuredly, 66 If the unless there is a convulsive effort to return, that fall will be further, final, fathomless! How many have fallen who once boasted that they could stop in the via media? How many are falling now? Who that knows anything of the mazy labyrinths of the human heart would give anything now for the Scriptural religion of the Tractarian party, whether they are Hebrew professors, vicars of great towns, or chaplains to an archbishop? They have fallen from the Scriptural doctrines of grace. "They have gone away backward." They are the slaves of a fallacy; that religion may be formed, fostered, and advanced by external ceremonies. Any such trust, however indirectly entertained, is its death-wound. The abbettors of such a confidence will ultimately leave us; and they are now unworthy of their social positions of responsibility in the midst of us. Hitherto experience has most fearfully warranted this assertion as in no respect problematical; and a little time will yet show that the remainder of the party must fly speedily out of Sodom, ("the Lord being merciful to them,") or they will soon follow their leader to the dead sea of Anti-Christian apostacy. The safety of the churches of the Reformation (and there are churches besides the episcopal), lies in the reverence for the testimony of God, through this written word. May our readers view that word, that heavenly light, with increasing reverence. May they form all their doctrinal principles, all their devotional habits, all their morals from this sacred and ab solute guide. May a prayerful application to its pages open to them the blessed mystery of revealed and sanctifying truth, and bring them nearer and nearer to the elevating source of holiness and peace; and though the darkness of superstition shall thicken upon its advocates to a totally starless night, and increase the difficulty of every step to the sincere pilgrims along the upward way, yet truth shall mark out for its honest votaries a line of light on which they may walk securely, and it shall shine brighter and brighter to them unto the perfect day. "For the elect's sake their days shall be shortened." LATIMER. WHAT ONE MAN CAN DO. The elevation of Napoleon from the ordinary walks of life to an em. inence and splendour of power before which the thrones of Europe trembled, shows not more conclusively the omnipotence of persevering, individual effort, than does the abolition of the slave trade in the British empire, through the unwearied exertions of Wilberforce. The sympathies of his benevolent heart were early enlisted in this noble though most unpopular cause the cause of freedom, and the rights of man. He spent the best part of his life in struggling against the cupidity of the slaveholder, and enlightening public sentiment; receiving with the utmost meekness the calumny and abuse of those whose private interests were endangered by his new doctrines and his newer measures. By his individual efforts, and fixedness of purpose, accompanied with uniform lenity towards his most bitter opposers, and unwavering confidence in the justice of his cause, he at length gained to his side a majority in both Houses of Parliament, and had the unspeakable satisfaction, not merely of gaining a most complete triumph over all his opposers, but of witnessing the entire success of his long and painful efforts to wipe the stain of slavery from the British throne, and to secure the freedom of millions of his fellow beings. And never was victory more hardly earned, or richly rewarded, than was the final triumph of Wilberforce. During the address of Sir S. Romilly, the Solicitor General, on the passage of the abolition bill, when he entreated the younger members of Parliament to let that day's event be a lesson to them, how much the rewards of virtue exceeded those of ambition; and then contrast the feelings of the Emperor of the French, in all his greatness, with those of that honoured individual who would that day lay his head upon his pillow, and remember that the slave trade was no more, the whole House, surprised into a forgetfulness of its ordinary habits, by their deep sympathy, burst forth into acclama mations of applause. They had seen the unwearied assiduity with which, during twenty years, Wilberforce had vainly exerted all the expedients of wisdom and eloquence; and when they saw him riding with a prosperous gale into that port from which he had been so often driven, they welcomed him with applause "such as was scarcely ever before given," says Bp. Porteus, "to any man sitting in his place in either House of Parliament." "To speak," says Sir James Mackintosh, "of fame and glory to Wilberforce, would be to use a language far beneath him. But who knows whether the greater part of the bene. fit that he has conferred on the world (the greatest that any individual has had the means of conferring) may not be the encouraging example that the exertions of virtue may be crowned by such splendid success? We are apt petulantly to express our wonder that so much exertion should be necessary to suppress such flagrant injustice. The more just reflection will be, that a short period of the life of one man is, well and wisely directed, sufficient to remedy the miseries of millions for ages. Benevolence has hitherto been too often disheartened by frequent failures. Hundreds and thousands will be animated by Mr. Wilberforce's example, by his success, and by a renown that can only perish with the world, to attack all the powers of corruption and cruelty that scourge mankind. Oh, what twenty years in the life of one man those were, which abolished the slave trade. How precious is time! How valuable and dignified is human life, which in general appears so base and miserable! How noble and sacred is human natnre, made capable of achieving such truly great exploits. While the names of illustrious warriors and statesmen fade away in the lapse of time, the name of Wilberforce is regarded with increasing veneration, and will continue to be most tenderly cherished by grateful millions, when the thrones of Europe shall have crumbled to dust. THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. To the Editor of the Christian Guardian. DEAR SIR, It is almost impossible for real Christians not to feel much interested in the social meetings which have recently occurred, with the view to feel after and realize a greater sense of affectionate union among believers of all the differing branches of the Christian community. It seems to be at length an opening answer to the prayer so long offered up in the English Church, for the Catholic (i. e. the universal) Church, that "all who profess and call themselves Christians may hold the faith in the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life." After many long years of painful alienation from each other, considerably embittered by the needless intermingling of political grounds of difference, good men appear to have suddenly started at the thought of an unnecessary schismatical spirit existing and cherished among those who give good evidence otherwise of being the body of Christ; and they have been led to consider whether, among those who agree as to the great truths of revelation, the points on which they as yet seriously and conscientiously differ ought to be accounted fundamental, and therefore dictating and requiring a fundamental separation. They have met, and in the presence of God and of each other, without the slightest pressure as to the abandon. ment of any one conscientious view, they have felt convinced that to those who agree on the great revealed truths which they have publicly and in distinct terms recognized, no ground of difference remains which should give rise to alienation of affection, to harshness of rebuke, or want of friendly association. This is a grand point gained. Some Christians may think light of it. To energetic men who are always on the move for doing, it may appear liable to be charged with having too much of a negative character. Yet surely it is something to be able to "rest" in Christian love, to join in the exercises of prayer and praise; to unite with differing men in a foretaste of the universal song, FEBRUARY-1846. "unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." It is something to have attained in this common and cordial sentiment on essential doctrine, a medium free from aberration, both as to form and colour, through which we may each look at the objects about which we may yet differ and probably a little calm observation may ultimately lead to the opinion that those are not so monstrous either in magnitude or outline as they have been imagined. My object, however, in addressing you at present on the subject, is a very limited one. It has regard to the vocal worship on such occasions. These meetings will doubtless increase; and probably the aggregate meetings will, under judicious regulations by the chosen friends of the alliance, be followed by provincial meetings, with a view to carry into all parts of the Christian community a measure of the same enjoyment which has been realized at Liverpool and elsewhere. On all such occasions the metrical and musical expression of sentiment seems fitted to call out and cherish the rising feelings of the heart; and it is well that suitable words should be ready at hand to be employed, words free from any fair or plausible ground of objection when so many persons with some difference of opinion meet and worship together. There are two well known and popular hymns which seem almost immediately to suggest themselves, as full of Scriptural truth and correct feeling. The one, "Come, Holy Spirit, come, The other, "Thou dear Redeemer, dying Lamb, We love to hear of thee." It were hardly probable that a mixed assembly joining in such devotions, would not feel the mind much drawn out to the affectionate consideration of the great doctrines of the Gospel in which they all agree. G These hymns are well known every where. I send you one which is not so known. ON CHRISTIAN UNION. God of eternal love, we bend In prayer one vast united host, Hear our united cry, and send The answer of thine Holy Ghost. Come from thy bright propitious skies, Our light, our life, thou heavenly dove; So shall thy Church united rise With thee, on wings of faith and love. Unveil the written truth with power Breathe on our withered graces, Lord, Bid us in godly sorrow weep The ways of separating pride; Bid us in lowly union keep The one loved shelter of thy side. Remove the earthly spot-the sign Of union wider than thy own. Brighten thy gift, the seal divine Of union round Messiah's throne. So to the loved Redeemer's praise Thee, Father, all creating power, I cannot refrain from adding to this a very precious hymn, written I believe by Charles Wesley, which in those early days of the modern evangelical Church, expressed with great fulness and good poetical taste, the sentiments that we would desire now to cherish. Unchangeable, Almighty Lord, Our souls upon thy truth we stay; Accomplish now thy faithful word And give, oh! give us all one way. Giver of peace and unity Send down thy mild pacific Dove, We all shall then in one agree, And breathe the spirit of thy love. Oh! let us take a softer mould Blended and gathered into thee, Under one Shepherd, in one fold, Where all is love and harmony. Regard thine own eternal prayer, And send a peaceful answer down, To all, thy Father's name declare, Unite and perfect us in one. So shall the world believe and know ance. How entirely these thoughts and petitions harmonize with the best feelings of the Christian heart! How directly they seem to savour of a holier atmosphere than that of theological strife. It is a matter of great mercy that Christians of different communions are seeking the opportunity for the expression and the enjoyment of such language. And there is need for it. The infidel world and the superstitious and counterfeit churches are banding together in strong alliThe connecting link is that strange and Protean Society of Jesuits, whose avowed and printed code of morals sanctions any falsehood, any cruelty, and any bloodshed, for the attainment of its object. They are pervading, in disguise, all orders. of society, all professions, and all Christian communities, to bring about their purpose in the ruin of the true Church. Final victory is to them impossible. For the Lord" will destroy them by the breath of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming." But present safety, peace and progress in the true Church in opposition to such enemies is awfully necessary. We need to "walk in truth," to throw off that which is false and injurious, to "strengthen the things that remain," to bind in closer bonds those who believe and love, to feel after the union of the divine life, and exhibit it for mutual comfort in all the graces of the Spirit. May united prayer besiege the throne of grace; may the yearnings of spiritual life in every believing soul bring down a larger blessing. May the issue of this holy alliance be a fuller assurance to all real Christians that "we are in him that is true," and that "this is the true God and eternal life." Such reviving graces will be the harbinger of the morning without clouds," the day of the Redeemer's coming. LATIMER. |
