he replied that the children were abrupt and rash in their tempers,' that he generally reasoned with them respecting their indiscretion, but that when civility failed he had recourse to a little severity. "There was no classification of the children; and the few books in the school were such as some of the parents choose to send.' "No doubt school-rooms like these might be found in Manchester; but it cannot be supposed that such sketches will apply to the generality of even those frequented by the poorest part of the population." "The Rev. Baptist Noel, in his Report of the State of Education in Lancashire, leaves a very unfavorable impression on the mind, in thus describing a Dame School he visited, frequented by children of the poor :-'I found thirty-one children, from two to seven years of I have been thus diffuse in my notes age. The room was a cellar about ten feet on the metropolis of manufactures besquare, and about seven feet high. The only cause we Americans are likely to be window was less than eighteen inches square, the second, if not the first, manufacturand not made to open. Although it was a warm day, towards the close of August, there ing people on the globe. I am glad was a fire burning: and the door through which to say that all that I have visited any alone any air could be admitted, was shut. Of where in the United States, especially course, therefore, the room was close and hot; in New England, stand in most favorbut there was no remedy. The damp subterraneous walls required, as the old woman assured able contrast with those of which we us, a fire throughout the year. If she opened have been speaking, so far as the the door, the children would rush out to light general appearance of all necessary and liberty, while the cold blast rushing in comforts on the part of the operatives would torment her aged bones with rheumatism. is concerned. But when the AmeriStill further to restrain their vagrant propensities, and to save them the danger of tumbling can people learn that the cotton into the fire, she had crammed the children as growers of the United States received closely as possible into a dark corner at the foot from Great Britain for their cotton of her bed. Here they sat in pestiferous obscurity, totally destitute of books, and with crop of 1846 only thirty-five millions out light enough to enable them to read, had of dollars-that is, for the growth, books been placed in their hands.' picking, bagging, conveying to market, and selling expences of her crop, while Great Brittain received an accumulated value on the same crop the ground floor, up a dark and narrow entry, for labor performed upon it, amountand about twelve feet square. Here forty-three boys and girls were assembled, of all ages, ing to the sum of sixty-nine millions from five to fourteen. Patches of paper were of dollars, in the ratio of two to onepasted over the broken panes of the one small that is, Britain makes two dollars for window, before which also sat the master, manufacturing our cotton for every intercepting the few rays of light which would otherwise have crept into the gloom. Although one we make by growing it :-I say, it was in August, the window was closed, and when we learn that fact as a nation, a fire added to the animal heat, which radiated we will certainly become a still more from every part of the crowded chamber. manufacturing people. If so, then, the front of the fire, as near to it as a joint on the spit, a row of children sat with their faces from the data here presented, and it towards the master and their backs to the is but a drop of a bucket full at our furnace. By this living screen the master, command, it is expedient that we though still perspiring copiously, was some-profit from her experience, and "This same gentleman gives another graphic sketch: Not far from this infant asylum I entered a common school. It was a room on what sheltered from the intolerable heat. In As another measure of relief, amidst the oppressisu of the steaming atmosphere, he had also laid aside his coat. In this undress he was the better able to wield the three canes, two of which, like the weapons of an old soldier, hung conspicuously on the wall, while the third was on the table ready for service. When questioned as to the necessity of this triple instrumentality, timously provide for the education, intellectual and moral, the general comfort and ample remuneration of our operatives, that we may not, in creating a thousand "cotton Lords," create also a million of paupers. cannot think that these details can I be so interesting to you as they may be important to many of my readers; but we must all occasionally, at some expense to ourselves, yield a little to the insturction and comfort of others. Since our visit to Manchester, concerning which I gave some information before, I was glad to learn, at the general meeting at Chester, before leaving England, that a union was formed between our brethren there and a Baptist church on the other side of the river. I know of no field of labor in Great Britain more promising of an abundant harvest, under a judicious evangelical culture, than the town of Manchester and its immense environs. Your affectionate father, A. CAMPBELL. selves. Christ being the Lord of the Universe, since God has transferred to him the power and rule He himself exercised, Christ, then, has the right of dictating to mankind, his rebellious subjects, the conditions on which he will give them pardon, and the right of entrance into his kingdom. As a monarch cannot hold personal communication with rebellious subjects, without derogating from the dignity of his character and office, he therefore sends to them one or more of his servants, to act as ambassadors or representatives, to state the conditions on which he will pardon those rebels, and recognize them as loyal subjects. Christ has done the same. Man, therefore, cannot deny to his King and Saviour, a custom which he himself practises. Every monarch gives his ambassadors credentials or proofs, THE QUESTIONS OF THE whereby the rebels may know that PRESENT AGE, CONSIDERED IN THIEIR RELATION TO DIVINE TRUTH. NO. III. THE STATE CHURCH. (Continued from page 509.) THE GOVERNMENT AND INSTRUCTION OF THE CHURCH. I. ALL mankind, by the strict tenor of the Divine law, were condemned as rebels against God. Christ, by the voluntary offering of his own blood, provided the means by which the law, and the character of God, might be magnified, and yet the punishment withheld. As the reward for the immense sacrifice he made in enduring the cross, and despising the shame-in giving the blood of himself, a guiltless being, as an atonement for us who are guilty, God has given him all authority in heaven and on earth. He is now the Lord of the Universe, and having given us life, has, and exercises the right of giving us law. All parents claim the right of giving law to the beings to whom they have given life they cannot, therefore, deny to Christ the right which they justly claim for them | these persons are indeed appointed to the office they represent. Christ has done the same; and again man is compelled to acquiesce, since he practices that custom himself. The Scriptures declare that Christ ascended to the throne prepared for him by God, and that he left ambassadors on the earth to proclaim the conditions of pardon, and reorganize the social and legislative system in his kingdom. And now, remember, it is not we who speak, but the Word of God: 1. "Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men ; and he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers," (Eph. iv. 8-11. 2. "For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity," (1 Tim. ii. 5-7.) 3. "Now, then, we are ambassa dors for Christ; as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God," (2 Corin. v. 20.) 4. "For which (i. e. to make known the mystery of the gospel) I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak, (Eph. vi. 25.) These quotations from the Word of God declare: firstly, that the apostles held the highest rank in the kingdom of Christ; and secondly, that the apostles were the ambassadors of Christ, to beseech the world in Christ's stead. Now will any one contradict Paul, and say that he did not understand the rank and condition of his own office? But the mere assertion of the ambassadorship is not sufficient; we shall ask him for his credentials, whereby we may know that he is indeed the ambassador of the King of Heaven; and if he show them to us, we must believe his assertion. Hear the Scriptures again : 1." And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by signs following," (Mark xvi. 20.) 2. "And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles," (Acts ii. 23.) 3. "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all," (Acts iv. 33.) 4." And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and they were all of one accord in Solomon's porch, and of the rest durst no man join himself to them, but the people magnified them," (Acts v. 12.) 5. "Long time therefore abode they, speaking boldly in the Lord, who gave testimony to the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hand," (Acts xiv. 3.) 6. "And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul," (Acts xix. 11.) 7. "I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you, for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest of the apostles; though I be nothing, truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you, in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds," (2 Cor. xii. 12.) 8. "God also bearing them witness, both by signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, (or proofs) and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will,” ( The Word of God, says, then, that the apostles were in possession of proofs, or credentials: whereby it was demonstrated that they were the ambassadors of the King of Heaven. The Word of God declares expressly, that the Heavenly King confirmed their words (or proclamation) by signs following. Now every king invests his ambassadors with his own power, and the King of the Universe has invested his ambassadors with his own power likewise. He gave them the power of taking away life, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira; also, the power of giving life, as in the instances of Dorcas and Eutychus : and a greater proof than these they were even endowed with, the power of creation! for Peter gave perfect strength and organization to a cripple who had been "lame from his mother's womb," ," "who never had walked." Now an organic defect like this could not be remedied without exercising a creative power. The Great King, then, had deputed his power to his ambassadors as credentials, and the voice of nature spoke when the people said, "The Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men." Will you contradict the Scriptures, and say that the apostles were not the accredited ambassadors of God? But the apostles, like all ambassadors, must have-nay, they had- -a mis sion, and what was it? Christ himself shall tell you. Listen to the words he addresses to his apostles, or ambassadors:" All power is given to me, in heaven and on earth go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you," (Mat. xxviii. 18-19.) Christ, then, says that the apostles were commanded to teach all nations the things he had commanded them to teach. When, therefore, the apostles had taught all nations when they, as ambassadors of God, had proclaimed the conditions of pardon to every human being then their mission was fulfilled. Who will controvert it? Let us hear the Word of God, as to whether the apostles did fulfil their mission, or whether they did not. 1. "So, then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God; but I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went unto all the earth, and their words to the end of the world," (Rom. x. 16-17.) 2. "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before, in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come to you, as it is to all the world,” (Col. i. 6.) 3." If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature under heaven," (Col. i. 23.) So, then, the Scriptures declare that the apostles accomplished their mission that the ambassadors of Christ, in possession of full credentials, have proclaimed the conditions of pardon to every rebellious being under heaven; and when the apostles died, the office died with them. The Scriptures declare that the signs of apostleship were "signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds;' and any one claiming to be a successor of the apostles, must exhibit the same divine credentials. Where is the man who, in the presence of "God, angels, and men," dare say, "I am a successor of the apostles, and I, as an ambassador of God, am invested by his grace with his own power ?" No man dare say it. Then what becomes of the doctrine of apostolic succession? It is gone for ever, only to be remembered as the offspring of the spiritual pride, the ambition, or the folly of man. Can Acts of Parliament give to a man the powers of the Divinity? You say, no; then the State can do nothing here, and both God and man can dispense with its assistance. II. Every nation has its own constitution- every constitution its own peculiar principle; and every nation has modelled its constitution so as to harmonize with its own spirit. A democratic republic, such as Athens or the United States of America, is the constitution adapted for swift progress, and excessive national aggrandizement-a fitful and occasionally frantic energy; and finally, a still swifter downfall and destruction. A regal oligarchy, such as Sparta and Rome under its kings, is adapted for durability and iron strength, but is opposed to progress. An aristocratic republic, such as Venice, Rome under its Consuls, or such as Washington and Alexander Hamilton wished the United States to be-such a republic as this is the institution which combines strength and energy with a career of progress. A limited monarchy, such as England, where the three principles of despotism, aristocracy and democracy, work uniformly together, each having the least possible amount of power, with the greatest number of checks against the undue exercise of that power-such an institution as this combines every advantage which any purely human government can possess the aristocratic and democratic principles, united together, give a sustained energy which rises with the need, to an unlimited extent; they are, at the same time, concentrated by the despotic principle which likewise works with them. But the principle which is the most perilous of all to the happiness of man, possesses the greatest amount of concentrated energy. This quality, in despotism, was one which the Romans, those masters in state policy, well understood; for, in all times of internal or external commotion, they invariably elected a dictator or despot, with absolute authority over life, property, and civil right. Such have been the various political developments of the human mind varied in every nation according to climate, temperament, and education. Christianity being from God, and adapted to human nature by its Creator, combines all the principles which man has found useful to himself; and therefore systematically organized, without any of the corresponding evils, it is, and must be, adapted to the happiness of man, and contains not only the means by which man might stand in his proper relation to the Creator, but also a system of ecclesiastical polity. Now we shall show that Christianity not only contains the three principles of despotism, aristocracy, and democracy, in perfect equilibrium, but also that a state church destroys the equilibrium of those principles, and gives all its influence to pure despotism, which the experience of mankind has proved to be the most terrible punishment which can be applied to the social crimes of mankind, and is, therefore, a still greater scourge in the church of God. Nottingham. (To be continued.) J. G. L. GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF HAVING at the late Glasgow Cooperative Meeting, proposed a resolution in favor of the disciples arranging among themselves districts and meet ings for the attainment of Christian objects, I think it right to present a few crude thoughts upon this matter, for the consideration of the brethren. I am well aware of the many prejudices which will naturally rise in antagonism to that resolution; but I know as well, that the better feelings of brethren, who have professed to reject the traditions of the fathers and the commandments of men, will be enlisted in the candid examination of a measnre, which is, by many, esteemed to be of great importance to the " edification of the body in love." I know well that it is difficult to disenthral ourselves from the bands which sectarianism and priestcraft have woven around our feelings; but I am sure that my brethren will stand forth in all "the freedom with which Christ has made us free," and assert the independence of our judgment to be paramount to the bondage of our feelings. 'Tis this alone that encourages me to elucidate and support the position I have assumed; and while on the one hand I combat the muchloved tenets of Independent-Congregationalism, it will be seen, on the other hand, that I am no abettor of that other extreme which forms the stamina of Presbyterianism, Wesleyan Methodism, and the like. In the following remarks I would direct attention to the proper meaning of the word translated "church." Compare this meaning with that commonly attached to it in the present day, and then conclude by showing the practicability of the scheme propounded at Glasgow, and the benefits which might be legitimately expected to result from its adoption. In the meantime, I do not think it necessary to advert to the plural meaning of the word referred to, as I conceive it to be analagous to many others which might be pointed to as presenting a meaning differing considerably in the plural, from its signification in the singular number. A church, according to popular no |