conduct; and if a Christian man has fallen into sin, he who shall succeed in bringing him to repentance will give joy to the angels of God, and will save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins."

4. In most instances where difficulties occur there is something of wrong on both sides, or in some cases the demands of the injured party are unreasonable. There is no Christian who knows himself who will be willing to trust himself in the final adjustment of a difficulty which is to interrupt Christian fellowship with a brother. But after all efforts have been tried in vain, what then? Shall we refuse to speak to the offender? That is precisely like the world. It is going as far as public sentiment will allow, and even farther than a Christian should go, in returning evil for evil. We should love and forgive our enemies-return good for evil-overcome evil with good-imitate Him who causes the sun to rise and the rain to descend upon the evil as well as the good.

If any of our readers have difficulties with their brethren-if perchance they don't speak to each other-we urge them prayerfully to consider the matter, and to proceed without delay, according to that standard which they solemnly profess to adopt. Do so, or cease to call yourselves Christians, or delude yourselves with the hope of heaven! Worcester.

T. D.

THE ONLY WAY.

When so much is being said and written about this way and that method of salvation-about this Church and that sect of Christians-it is refreshing to meet with the sentiments expressed by Bunyan upwards of two hundred years ago: "There is no way left but this; fair means will not do; good words, a glorious Gospel, entreatings, beseechings with blood and tears will not do. Men are resolved to put God to the utmost of it if he will have them, he must fetch them, follow them, catch them, lame them-yea, break their bones-or else he will not save them. Some men think an invitation, an outward call, a rational discourse will do; but they are deceived. There must be a power-an exceeding great and weighty power-attending the word, or it works not effectually to the salvation of the soul. I know that these things leave men without excuse, but they are not enough to bring men home to God. Sin has hold of them; they have sold themselves to it; the power of the Devil has hold of them; they are captives at his will-yea, and more than all this, their will is one with sin and the Devil, to be held captive thereby; and if God gives not contrition, repentance, or a broken heart for sin, there will not be, no, not so much as a mind in man to forsake this confederacy and plot against his soul." T. D.

RITUALISM AND RATIONALISM.

BY THE PRESIDENT.

Theoretically, Ritualism is an attempt to invest the worship of God with a more attractive service, by the introduction of a gorgeous ritual and excessive ornament. To this end the eye, the ear, and the senses are studiously considered. Ornamental vestments are introduced, a higher class of music cultivated, and a dramatic performance of the service studied and enforced. You have lights blazing on the so-called altar, incense perfuming the air, and a gorgeous display of flowers, and banners, and streamers giving effect to the scene and a finish to the performance. The eye is satisfied, the ear is charmed, and the senses are captivated. Being introduced as aids to devotion, they are, according to the Bishop of Oxford, the expression of "a quickened life, and a deepened piety." It is no doubt true that "the history of thought is a history of re-actions," but of what this so-called revival is a re-action, does not quite appear, except it be a re-action from the evangelical faith and life that had set in, in the Church of England, as one result of the great revival of the last century. The mere glare and show of the thing simply, have an attraction in them to people, just as any exhibition would have, and much on the same principle. Still, we cannot suppose that such puerilities would long retain their hold on men's minds if there were not higher principles at work, and there were not in them an adaptation to the deeper sympathies of human nature, and strongly appealed to the feelings of the soul. Whether such usages in the worship of God be right or wrong is not the question now, but whether they influence the mind; and of this there can be no doubt. They would naturally produce an effect on man as a mere creature of passions and emotions, and where the exhibition is, as in Ritualism, of a purely religious character, the effect would be to excite a feeling of awe and veneration, and to draw out the religious sentiment in human nature. The devout and religious are moved by the apparent depth of the piety exhibited; the religiousness of human nature is supplied with an attractive faith of form and ceremony; the self-righteous principle is charmed and fascinated with a religion of feasts and fasts, and the laying of a foundation for justification in rites and ceremonies; the mystic can gratify his taste to any extent of absurdity; the intellectual finds relief from severer thoughts in a ritual so attractive and absorbing; and the worldling has his faith carved out for him without going out of his way to be "righteous over much." It is a net that catches all sorts of fish. Do not, therefore, despise it because it is a religion of show and form, of music and flowers, of bowings and genuflexions; of lighted tapers and tinkling bells. There is a principle in human nature that is flattered by all these external attractions. They satisfy its morbid craving after a sentimental religion; relieve the conscience by the performance of religious acts; and supply its yearnings after a demonstrative faith. It provides the natural heart with a religion that is at once attractive, ornamental, and ministerial, removing it from a region of faith to that of sight. The things that are seen become the medium of the things that are not seen; the temporal a mean of the spiritual. The golden

E

calf springs up before their eyes, all glorious and dazzling, and the people eat and drink and rise up to play—a sensational religion, as captivating to the senses as it is gratifying to the heart. This is the theory of Ritualism.

Practically, Ritualism is the revival of obsolete usages and ornament which the Reformation had practically, though not legally, swept away with other lumber that had overladen the Christian doctrine and worship. In a word, and speaking plainly, it is the revival of Popery, "flat Popery," and nothing else. That viper which had lain in a torpid state for three hundred years and more, and which all thought to be quite harmless, has gradually revived before the tire of Tractarianism, and is already showing signs o renewed life and vigour, and fast becoming a power in the land. Now there can be no mistake either about its nature or objects. The teaching, we are kindly informed, is "Catholic teaching;" a teaching acknowledged to be "incompatible with the peaceful platitudes of popular Protestantism." Englishmen must no longer remain in ignorance of the objects and tendencies of this school of theologians. Events having precipitated a crisis somewhat earlier than anticipated or hoped for, the party are driven, in sheer self-defence, to openly avow their intention of bringing about a re-union of England with Rome. Ritualism is thus admitted to be nothing more nor less than the revival of undisguised Popery, and so identical in worship with that of Rome, in those churches where the system is fully carried out, that the Bishop of St. David's says, in his recent " Charge,' that a keen observer would scarcely be able to discover any difference between the services of the two Churches.

Nor is the age unfavourable to such a movement in many of its leading characteristics, irrespective of the religious aspect of the question. It is bold, and uncompromising, and defiant; and men admire that which is bold, and open, and fearless. Right or wrong, a man that strikes out for himself a bold course, and pursues it resolutely, will find supporters if only for his boldness of purpose. Then the movement is new to this generation, and the age is attracted by anything new or novel; it is peculiarly an age of novelties in science and art, and anything new in religion is sure to be equally attractive. The Ritualist, indeed, though claiming freedom of thought and action, aims at the suppression of both; but any extravagance is accepted, if only it be spirited and fearless. The age is prepared to deify "free thought," and vauntingly exults in having burst its old, shackles, shaken off the prejudice of ages, and emancipated mind! On these and similar grounds, this Ritualistic movement is sympathised with by persons who take no interest in Ritualism itself. Admiring an open and candid avowal, and a bold expression of thought, they bespeak for it an open field and no favour. The question, therefore, must be fairly met and fully looked in the face. It is useless relying on the intelligence or intellect of the age; on its learning or even its Protestantism. The highest intelligence and intellect are already enrolled in its support; some of the greatest scholars are found in its ranks, and its chief abettors are entrenched, behind the walls of the Protestant Church itself. The old weapons of the Reformation must again be taken down from the walls and the battle fought anew; otherwise the transition from England to Rome will be effected without a blow. We are being so familiarised with crosses and crucifixes, with altar candles and showy

vestments, with an elaborated ritual and a sensuous worship, that they will soon cease to be novelties and to excite any observation. The people are so gradually and imperceptibly indoctrinated into the system, that a bold and open enunciation is now made of the doctrine of Transubstantiation, or, as it is more frequently called, "The Real Presence ;" and as if nothing should be wanting to give impetus to the movement, it has recently been decided by nine of the most eminent counsel in the country, that "the use of altarlights, the mixed chalice, and the wafer bread," is legal. Nothing more is required, therefore, to consummate the movement, but time and tact, so that the nation may awake some morning and find itself folded in the embraces of Rome. This is Ritualism practically. This is its teaching and its aim. Let not the Protestants of this country shut their eyes to the fact, now patent as the noonday sun.

But the Protestantism of this country is attacked from two opposite points-the Ritualistic and the Rationalistic points of view respectively. By the former it is condemned as an error; by the latter as a dogma; and each are impatient of its power, because each aspires to the control and direction of thought in this country. The Rationalist, in a recent review, tells us that "popular educated England has long since revolted from the mental shackles which evangelical Protestantism had imposed on it." It assures us that a vast amount of our philosophical minds are heartily sick and tired of the obstacles which are perpetually thrown in their way by the efforts of those persons who have no higher religious faith-no newer appeal to man's inborn faculties of truth and observation-than the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible.'' The Ritualist, on the contrary, avows it as his object to uproot Protestantism, and rectify that grand mistake which was committed in the sixteenth century in the establishment of the so-called Reformation. What the Ritualists would give us instead we know; but what the Rationalists would give us in lieu thereof does not seem so clear, except, indeed, it be what they describe as their “rival” scheme, "science," which, say they, "has claimed, or is claiming, everything but an inspired book as its own." One is curious to know what "shackles" Protestantism has imposed on educated England !" We had always regarded it, in our simplicity, as the very bulwark of our liberties, both civil and religious, and to have secured to "thought" in this country the freest expression. Men are permitted to hold what opinions they please, and to disseminate them too. No other restraints are imposed than those which law or morals would require. Protestant shackles! The thing is a misnomer. The very essence of Protestantism consists in the right of "private judgment," and "freedom of speech," as the inheritance of every man, and not only the right, but that right secured to every man in these realms. Protestant shackles indeed! Away with the maudlin sentiment. Both the Ritualist and the Rationalist owe it to Protestantism that they have an opportunity and the liberty to disseminate their deadly errors unrestrained. What "obstacles" are thrown in the way of our philosophers," and of which they are so "sick and tired," we cannot pretend to conjecture, but when such philosophers consider that a "higher religious faith than the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible," should be presented to men, and can speak so complacently of "man's inborn

faculties of truth," we must despair of any "appeal" that could be made either to their reason or to their hearts.

It is instructive to observe that while Rationalism requires a higher religious faith than the Bible, Ritualism descends to a faith lower than the Bible; its centre being the Church, its fountain of grace the sacraments, its living power the priest. This is the trinity of the Ritualist. With the Church, the sacraments, and the priest, the faith of Ritualism is complete; the Church being the fountain of truth, the sacraments the medium of grace, and the priest the power on earth that dispenses salvation to man. That such a system, so dishonouring to God, and derogatory to the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, should find favour in England at this time of day, is a fact that should make all Christians tremble and fear for the future of this country. It is ominous of evil days that such wickedness should be successful even for a day, and should make the true Church of God in these lands thoughtful, and serious, and prayerful; and, above all, to be prepared to meet the coming storm, and to stand in their lot at the end of the days. People of England, you are standing on the verge of a precipice! A grave responsibility rests on every man that values his present privileges as a citizen and a Christian. "Who is on the Lord's side?" "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour," the sword in this case being the Word of the Lord. But there must be no compromise, no favour, no leniency shown to brother, companion, or neighbour. God and truth. "He that is not with me is against me." Take your sides. Stand forth in the ranks; "quit you like men." "Nulla pax Roma"-no peace with Rome. Awake, thou slumbering Church! "Let God arise, and let all his enemies be scattered !”

BIBLE-CLASS PAPERS.

PRAYER A TALENT.-Luke xix. 12-27.

This is one of God's "good and perfect gifts," which is to be used for our own great advantage, and also to bring in much glory and honour to himself. The vastness of this "talent" seems almost overwhelming when we look into it. The mighty God, the Majesty of heaven and earth, condescending to establish this mode of communication between himself and us-we, who are not only insignificant creatures of the dust, but offensive and rebellious creatures! That He himself should have instituted such a medium of constant and daily access to himself, and have told us that

whatever petition or request we bring in his Son's name, at any hour, night or day, He will hear us, listen to all we say, receive our full request, and send us all we ask, and much more!

Now, when you go apart to pray to your Father who is in secret, and have shut the door upon everything else but your intercourse with Him, kneel down and utter your whole heart before Him, "believing that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Now, the "Talent" was a certain amount of something given, to be so employed or laid out, as to produce