to have spoken, and threw grave charges recklessly about him, when he ought, in the first instance, at least, to have been silent as the grave and yet he assumes the character of a public censor, and pronounces, with the authority of an oracle, what other men should say and do. A more disgusting exhibition of selfsufficiency and self-ignorance, we never witnessed. What fol lowed in the three successive numbers of the Banner' is strikingly illustrative of the truthfulness of Dr. Campbell's mind, and of the consistency of his views. We print the passages in parallel columns, that their beautiful harmony may be more readily apprehended :-'How any man who really read our article (April 3), could arrive at the conclusion that it was an attack on the Anti-state-church Association, is to us utterly incomprehensible, and we are scarcely able to reconcile such a conclusion with integrity.'-Banner, April 10.

We have no reply for those who, to serve a purpose, whether of pique or party, may deem it decent, at the expense of truth, to represent us as hostile to the Anti-state church Association....

It has, in our view, been an utter failure; there seems no rational ground whatever for believing that it can, in any possible way, ever contribute to the accomplishment of the assigned object.

a

'As the matter now stands, the entire British nation is eligible to membership. Doctrinal views, and personal profession of religion, are matters of no concern whatever; nothing more is required than agreement on the single object of the separation of Church and State. According to the fundamental prin. ciple, Lord Bolingbroke might have been president; David Hume, treasurer; Edward Gibbon, secretary; and Thomas

Paine, travelling agent; while the French Directory, of bloody fame, might have formed the acting. committee. There is nothing to have prevented this in the constitution. Is it possible to contemplate such a without

'We submit, therefore, that it is folly to persevere in the so-, called organization.. A lengthened experiment has now been made, and, although more has been done in this way than was ever done before, still the result is such as, utterly to extinguish all reasonable expectation of success, in this way alone, for centu--horror? The thing ries to come.Ban-has but to be stated· ner, April 17.

to settle the question; to men of rightly

constituted mind, we presume, argument is needless-it is an impertinence, almost an insult. They will instinctively exclaim, "O my

soul, come not thou into their secret, and to their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united! ... Who ever heard the voice of prayer in any meeting of the Anti-state-church Association in this great metropolis? There the devout and the ungodly, both in the highest degree, meet and mingle; and, while it is expected that the wicked, from courtesy, shall not swear, it is provided by statute that the pious shall not pray. No! The inscription on the organization seal is, virtually-THERE IS NO GOD!'-Banner, April 24.

The consistency of these passages, occurring, be it observed, in three successive numbers of the same journal, it is not for us to establish, neither should we attempt to reason with any man who affirmed it. If Dr. Campbell imagines they hold together, he has a logic with which we are unacquainted.

The suspicion was not unnatural, that he was unwittingly led on in his attack by other occurrences which had happened in his editorial career. He himself appears to have surmised that something of the kind would be imagined, if, indeed, conscience did not suggest that such was really the case. At any rate, he explicitly denies the fact; and our readers will be better able to judge of the worth of his denial, when they have compared it with the Note which we print by the side of the editor's statement. Let it be borne in mind, that the review of Mr. Miall's volume, on which Dr. Campbell founds grave charges, appeared in the January Eclectic,' and that Dr. Brown's review of Mr. Gilfillan's work was published in the number for February.

The second Triennial period of the Anti-state-church Association is now expired, and in this day's paper will be found a statement of our views of the policy of its extension to another. That statement is made solely from a sense of public duty, and would assuredly have appeared, although the events had not occurred which led to our own withdrawment, as announced a fortnight ago. Some such statement, indeed, had been resolved upon previously to the Eclectic'

affair. It is not, therefore, to be put down to the score of the events just referred to, although such events alone, we think, all things considered, would render it in the highest degree expedient that the Association should be brought to an end, as the most efficient mode of dealing with a serious evil. ..

This circumstance (the Second Triennial Conference), would have

led us at this time to do as we are now doing (recommend the dissolution of the Association), altogether apart from the considerations aforesaid. To this our minds had been made up before the special case relative to heresy and "anarchy" arose.'-Banner, April 17.

Where a purpose of secession has been formed, under such a conviction as Dr. Campbell now avows, it is not usual to entertain the anxiety here expressed; neither are men accustomed in writing to the secretary of an organization, which is described as ' an utter failure,' to speak of the great cause you are so worthily ADVANCING.' If there be consistency and truth in such things, we plead guilty to a want of the perceptive faculty. The Eclectic affair' happened in February at the latest, prior to which, we are told, some such statement' as appears in the 'Banner' of April 17th, was resolved upon, and yet, on the 5th of February, the above Note was penned. Either the Note of February was insincere, or the statement of the Banner' is untrue. Dr. Campbell may choose which alternative he pleases.

6

But the society has proved a failure, a total, absolute, failure, and that, too, notwithstanding the skill and energy with which its affairs are admitted to have been conducted. Such, at least, is the present averment of its accuser, though his statement, if admitted, would reflect rather on others than on the society. We thank him for his admissions, which nothing but overwhelming evidence could have extorted, and confidently leave our readers to judge of the reliance to be placed on other parts of his state

ments.

After a period of six years, then, what is now the position of the society in relation to the Nonconformist body? Has it materially advanced, either in London, or in the provinces? We do not hesitate to avow, that it has not in either. In the metropolis, where are its acquisitions? The mass of the ministers are still opposed to it, and no chapel, so far as we know, has been opened for its service, that was not opened at the first; and even some of those are closed. Nor is there the slightest prospect of advance, but much the contrary. Matters stand precisely the same

'Have the writers of this address (Address of the Wesleyan Conference) to learn that no small portion of the most successful ministers of Great Britain are most zealous Anti-state-churchmen? Have they still to be informed, that the whole body of Scottish Dissenting ministers, of every communion, are zealous Anti-state-churchmen?-comprising a Wardlaw and a Russell, a Young and a Brown, a King and an Alexander,* and a multitude of others every way worthy of this high fellowship.'-Banner, Sept. 27, 1848.

The Association comprises not

* There is no room for quibbling here, the ministers named being not only Anti-state-churchmen, but members of the Anti-state-church Association.

The organization, after all, is, and was from the first, very much an affair of a name. The organization comprises but a few, a very few elements-a few hundred pounds and a few individuals; these pounds and those individuals withdrawn, there would be an end of the concern. . . . The wonder is, all things considered, not that so little, but that so much, has been realized. Nothing but energy, skill, and perseverance, such as are seldom brought to any enterprise, could have accomplished so much. The organization, however, we repeat, is much more a name than a thing, Deducting the zealous itinerant labours of Mr. Kingsley, and a few deputation movements, what remains of the labours of a year? Absolutely nothing.'Banner, April 17.

a few of the best, wisest, ablest, most thoroughly Christian and patriotic men of the times.'-Banner, April, 3, 1850.

'The value of this Association is not to be estimated by either its publications or its lectures. It is the visible embodiment of a portion of the true Nonconforming spirit of the empire. The Triennial Conferences are a representative concentration of that spirit. Did the society exist simply for the calling of conferences, without either publications or lectures, the institution would be one of incalculable importance; while its publications and lectures, of course, greatly enhance its value.' Christian Witness, June, 1847.

*

The history of the first three years of this society does honour to those able and devoted men who have taken the lead in its affairs. The result has exceeded all reasonable expectation, and is unlike everything of the kind hitherto known among us. Prejudice is rapidly passing away, and confidence extending. The accessions have been numerous. The delegation from Manchester was powerful; the ministers of Leeds have come forward in a body. The Congregational Union of Scotland are most hearty in the cause, and sent as delegates three of their best men. The Rev. J. H. Hinton, Secretary of the Baptist Union, at first strongly adverse, has now come boldly and cordially forward; and to this valuable acquisition is to be added that of some of the most eminent men of the New Connexion and the Association Methodists.' -Christian Witness, June, 1847.

Like all other associations which seek to act on the legislature through the medium of an enlightened public judgment, the resources of the society have been largely expended on meetings, held in various parts of the kingdom. These, as we have seen, have been numerous, and largely attended, and Dr.Campbell formerly regarded them as important and hopeful. Let us now see how he contrives to eat his own words. As in other cases, he here supplies the best answer to himself. His memory is It is well known that since the first Triennial Conference, the operations of the society have been doubled.

evidently as defective as his judgment is unsound, and his temper irritable :

Public meetings are no test whatever upon such a point. The announcement of two or three noted names, will always command an audience anywhere upon any subject. The theme, moreover, is captivating on other grounds than those of religion. It makes provision, in the hands of a certain class of advocates, for the rich gratification of some of the worst passions of the human heart. The roasting of a bishop, too, amid the blazing fires of a fervid rhetoric, is a rare pastime to the populace.'Banner, April 17, 1850.

"The Report next speaks to the subject of lectures and public meetings, on which, we think, the society ought to expend its main strength, as the importance of these can scarcely be overestimated.'Christian Witness, June, 1847.

It was not to be expected that the character of the meetings of the Association should escape censure. They are, of course, vilified in a style of wholesale defamation, at which we should smile if graver and more painful feelings were not excited. Let our

readers compare the statements we subjoin-looking rather at the general complexion and tone of that of 1848, than at particular expressions—and let them then say what they think of the morale of the man who could pen the sentences quoted from the Banner' of April last:

"It has ever appeared to us that its meetings, in this metropolis, bore a peculiarly earthly complexion, which can be explained only by a reference to the spirit of those who mainly compose them. They have ever appeared to us to be deplorably wanting in the spirit of piety. We never saw an Anti-state-church assembly in which the spirit of the mere natural man did not seem wholly to prevail over the spirit of the Christian man. The aspect of such assemblies has ever seemed to us to be essentially that of the world; their ruling element appeared that of the earth rather than that of heaven-with which neither the gospel of Christ nor the spirit of

'Our readers will find, in another column, a special report of the Anti-state-church meeting, held in the Queen's Concert-rooms, Hanover-square. . . . That such a hall should be obtained for the purpose of arguing the great question of Church and State, adversely, reflects no small credit on those with whom it lies to arrange such matters. . . . It was worth going some way to see the excellent member for Westminster, himself an Episcopalian, and a man of high Christian character, standing forth, &c. ... Never before did he make such a demonstration, in the midst of the aristocracy and in the face of the world. . . . As to Mr. Gardner, we need say