as putting a formidable weapon into the hands of his infidel adversaries; while at the same time those assertions are flatly contradicted by well known facts of history, and by a most succesful experiment now carrying on, as it were, before our own eyes.

3rd. We have painful apprehensions that Christianity has been, and still is, materially injured in its reputation and retarded in its progress by standing in alliance with secular governments. The kingdom of Jesus "is not of this world ;" it is spiritual, heavenly, and divine. National senators, as such, are utterly unfit to manage its momentous affairs. Besides, most of them are carnal and selfish men; consequently they have nothing congenial with its spirit. They cannot rightly appreciate its principles; they have no enjoyment of its peculiar privileges; nor can they sympathize in its sublime designs. If they interfere with it at all, then, there is a moral cer

tainty that they will inflict upon it considerable injury. It cannot be safe in their custody; it must be deteriorated by their patronage. Accordingly, when we want to look at the religion of Christ in its most corrupted and its most offensive condition, we turn at once to those continental nations in which it is most completely identified with the secular government, and there we see how it has been despoiled of its beauty, crippled in its energies, and obstructed in its progress. Is there not reason to believe, that the most monstrous and mischievous evils have been engendered and nurtured up to a frightful maturity by means of national religious establishments; evils which have grievously delayed the march of truth and righteousness, if not postponed for many generations the evangelization of the world? Yes: it is our decided conviction, that the religion we profess could not have been confined for so long a time within such circumscribed geographical limits, and that it would not have been known by

so inconsiderable a portion of the earth's population only in this, the nineteenth century of its existence, but for the hostile and pernicious influences of state religions. If such are our opinions, then, after deliberate and serious consideration, who can wonder that we protest against all national establishments of Christianity, and that we are anxiously hoping for their total and everlasting overthrow?

But we were also to assign some additional reasons for our nonconformity to the Church of England in particular. Before we do that, however, we would take the liberty of offering a few remarks on the negative side of the question.

1st, Then. We do not refuse to conform because we can discover nothing whatever that is good in connection with the Church of England; for we can discover several things which irresistibly command our respect and admiration. I will refer to one this morning, and will give you my reason for naming that one. I allude to the buildings in which our Episcopalian friends and neighbours are accustomed to meet for public worship. Many of those buildings, we freely acknowledge, are spacious and magnificent, commodious and beautiful in a very superior degree. We have frequently admired them when travelling as among the most interesting objects in the landscape. have often admired them also in our towns and villages, as exceedingly ornamental to the places in which they are erected, and as manifestly adapted to the purposes for which they are designed. I mention this so distinctly and emphatically, because, when we are speaking about the overthrow of the Establishment, we are understood by some persons as advocating, among other things, the entire demolition of our parish churches. Hence it has been repeatedly affirmed, that dissenters would be very glad of the opportunity to rase all those edifices to their very foundations, and

We

appropriate the materials to no better a purpose than the repairing of the roads! For my own part, however, I have no such desire, nor do I believe that one dissenter in a thousand would give the slightest sanction to such barbarous and sacreligious spoliation.

2nd. Our refusal to conform does not arise from the apprehension that there are no pious people in connection with the Church of England. On the contrary, we feel assured there are numbers who believe the fundamental truths of the Gospel, who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and are constantly displaying in their spirit and deportment "the beauties of holiness.' Such individuals we most cordially acknowledge as worthy members of "the household of faith." We should be glad to commune with them at the table of our common Mediator, to co-operate in any Scriptural and prudential endeavours "for the furtherance" of his glorious cause; and, however little of Christian intercourse we may be permitted to enjoy with them in these lower regions, we are sincerely hoping to meet them eventually, and to dwell with them for ever, in our "Father's house" above. But, while we have every reason to believe there are amiable, useful, and exemplary members of the Established Church, we cannot admit that their excellencies have any necessary connection with the system they espouse. We incline to think they are excellent in spite of that system rather than as the result of any sanctifying influence it has exerted upon their minds. 3rd.

We do not refuse to conform

because we are unfriendly in any degree to Christian union, or because we take delight in schisms and divisions

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considered in themselves. Such imputations have been cast upon us, and probably will be cast upon us still, by some of our opponents; but they can only proceed from those who "know not what spirit we are of." Many of us are frequently mourning over the divided and distracted state of the nominal Church of Jesus. We bitterly lament that so much of precious time has been expended, and so much of spiritual energy has been consumed in angry contentions and controversies with each other, when we ought to have been unitedly exerting ourselves against the common adversary, and striving together for the faith of the Gospel." We seriously apprehend that much of the infidelity and profligacy of our favored land, if not much of the ignorance and iniquity of the world at large, may be chargeable upon the divisions and contentions so rampant in our midst. But, while we deprecate disunion in the Church of Jesus as unscriptural and pernicious, we cannot consent to relinquish our views of evangelical truth, or to sacrifice our principles and privileges as Protestant Dissenters for the sake of a coalition which would in such a case be based upon a sandy foundation, and purchased at too high a price. If our brethren of the Establishment will come over to us, as we are hoping they will in course of time, they will find us ready enough to receive them, and to give them the appropriate token of fraternal affection, "the right hand of fellowship;" but, while we entertain the views and feelings which we do at present, our going over to them must be quite out of the question.

LAST Lord's-day the writer took tea

with one of his members, and the

conversation turned upon the means of his conversion to God. My friend

then stated the following circumstance, which has been deemed of sufficient interest to lay before the reader. He was apprenticed in the town of C- and nearly the whole of the time attended the parish church. He occasionally went to the General Baptist chapel. The clergyman's daughter took notice of him, and recommended him to take a magazine. He went to the bookseller, and ordered it; but, by some mistake, a number of a different magazine was obtained, which my friend took home and read with much interest. In this little messenger of truth was a deeply interesting article from America, on the awful consequences of quenching and grieving the Spirit of God. This article was read and read again with deep interest, and speedily lead the young reader to attend the General Baptist chapel, and ultimately to follow the example of a pious brother, now a minister of Christ, and cast in his lot with the people of God. The little book was The Cottage Magazine, for Dec., 1835: and thus the mistake of the bookseller, either in London or Leicestershire, was overruled for the conversion of the soul. 66 How great a matter a little fire kindleth!" This individual is now a valuable tract distributer, a Sabbath-school teacher, and an active and useful member of the Church in this town.

A circumstance of a similar character, but more important in its results, was related to the writer by the aged minister, who was the happy subject of this singular providence. This

conversation occurred in Jan., 1820. To an inquiry, what were the circumstances in which the cause in the village originated, the venerable minister replied, to the following effect:- "When I was a young man, I used frequently to hear the Rev. Mr. Venn, an evangelical clergyman. Going one day to our market town, I strolled into the bookseller's shop, as I was rather given to

reading, and observing two new books upon the counter, I asked a young female who was present what they were; to which she replied, 'Oh! they are some Methodist books, that have been sent from London by mistake; and I don't know who is so likely to buy them as yourself.' I looked at them," said the good old man," and found they were some sermons by the Rev. G. Whitfield; but I did not know who Whitfield was, and so laid them down. The next Lord's-day I went to hear Mr. Venn, and asked him about Mr. Whitfield, who replied, 'He is an honored servant of the Lord.'' Upon this recommendation, the Methodist sermons were speedily purchased, and, as the good man assured the writer, one of them was read to his family in the evening after he returned from market! The neighbours assembled of their own accord, and sent word, they wanted to hear another of the sermons. In this manner the stock of sermons was soon exhausted, and, said the venerable minister, "When I could procure no more, I had to try and make some myself!" An awakening to the great concerns of religion thus commenced in this village, which spread extensively. A place of worship was opened by a pious clergyman, and this village now contains a substantial Baptist chapel, with a congregation of five or six hundred persons. The writer was in this neighbourhood about three years since, and was delighted with the aspect of the cause of Christ. It may not be uninteresting to state, that this village is in the county of Huntingdon. How important the results of these volumes of Whitfield! How singular the incident, that the bookseller in London should send them sixty miles into the country by mistake! Was it a pious act of the bookseller, or a mere speculation? How unimportant to the purchaser and his benighted neighbours, the motive; but how important the sowing of the

A few reflections naturally arise from this statement of facts. The first is: How great may be the value of a good book or magazine! The young man, whose conversion was first narrated, derived more benefit from a two-penny magazine than six years' attendance at the parish church, or occasional attendance at the chapels. My friend has preserved this number, and, on being requested to read the article, his feelings prevented him. His wife then undertook it, and, with some difficulty, finished it. The little magazine is evidently destined to be an heirloom. The same may be predicted of Whitfield's sermons. How interesting thus to trace and retrace the origin of important events! Dr. Leifchild has the following observation in his memoirs of the Rev. J. Hughes, the honored originator of the British and Foreign Bible Society :-"If it were possible to recover the original grain of wheat, which we may suppose to have enfolded the vital nourishment, and indeed the embryo being of almost all the human race, it would produce far stronger emotions in a contemplative mind than the brightest gem that ever enriched a museum, or adorned a crown! It is with a similar, but sublimer feeling, that we reflect upon that single idea arising in the mind of an individual, which, however insignificant or unpromising in its first appearance, was the destined germ of a greater influence on the condition of mankind than perhaps any other single idea that has been conceived during the present generation." How great the honor conferred upon the Baptist denomination when Bunyan conceived the Pilgrim's Progress; Roger Williams that of religious liberty; Howard his course of philanthropy; Carey the importance of modern missions; Hughes the pro

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priety of a Bible society for the world; and Pike the practicability of the General Baptists supporting a mission in the land of Juggernaut, till this Jupiter of India, with all its rites, shall be

"Buried midst the wreck of things that were." How valuable the labors of these devoted brethren! Who can tell the good that has resulted, and will yet result, from their books, their example, their influence?

What important results may issue in apparently accidental occurrences. Could anything be more of the character of mistake than the Cottage Magazine coming instead of the Cottage Monitor? Or any transaction in business be more like a mere speculation or mistake than Whitfield's Sermons sent into a market town in Huntingdonshire? Did not Luther find the Bible in his monastery very unexpectedly? Did not Romaine, who had at first a great aversion to the metropolis, attribute his settlement in it to the fact, that of the two streets which led to the Edinburgh packet, in which he was about, in much mortification, to leave London, he walked down that in which he met the friend who overruled his purpose, and proved to him an angel of the Lord, to direct him to set up the standard of the cross in that great city? The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." Whoso is wise and will consider these things, they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord." With what importance this invests all the actions of life. What appears fortuitous, accidental, unseasonable, discouraging, may, by the movements of Providence, be thrown into most important circumstances and issue in events of deepest interest. A late missionary in India observed, "A missionary can hardly be out of his place, if he be but prosecuting his work." As Milton says,

66

"No matter what or where, if I be still the same."

The first convert at Serampore, Krishna, received his serious impressions in favour of Christianity while Dr. Thomas was setting his broken arm. Petumber Sing found the missionaries at Serampore by the word Serampore printed on the tract, which had reached him in the Sunderbunds of Bengal. How suitable the admonition: "Be instant in season, out of season." How appropriate the encouragement: "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whether shall; prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." (Ecc. xi. 6.) Hence appears the great utility of circulating religious books, magazines, tracts, &c. The records of the Church abound with the most striking and interesting details of the good resulting from the scattering of such seed. A good book or tract, or even a handbill, may be like a packet of valuable seed sent from a friend by carrier, or by sea, or through the post-office, to some distant, foreign, or retired part. The reports of Home and Foreign Missions, Tract, and Book Societies, contain numerous instances of this character, many of which must have passed under the reader's notice. Let us refer to our own observation and experience. The writer cherishes the greatest regard for one of the early volumes of the General Baptist Magazine. When a youth, anxiously enquiring "what must I do to be saved," and incapable of understand ing the nature of faith, a pious female friend, who lived in the same town, lent me this book, and from an article in it I was encouraged there and then to fall upon my knees, and commit my perishing soul to Christ. How many, in "giving a reason of the hope that is in them," distinctly and thankfully refer to Doddridge's Rise and Progress, Allein's Alarm, Baxter's Call, Pike's Persuasives, James's Anxious Enquirer, &c. &c. These and similar books and tracts contain

"the form of sound words," the plan of salvation, and God has made them his messengers of mercy to myriads of souls. These facts speak to the heart and conscience of ministers, parents, teachers, guardians of youth, and all, who knowing the value of religion, should labor for the good of others, to use their utmost efforts to promote the circulation of the word of God, and those books and tracts which most usefully embody "the truth as it is in Jesus." And does not this subject come home with peculiar interest to the authors in the Churches, that they may be so endued with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of his will;" that publications, tracts, and essays, in our periodicals, may continue to be written, pre-eminently adapted to promote the cause of Christ both at home and abroad. Our God is "the Father of lights;" to him let us look for light to direct us in every step. Let us instantly pray,

"Be Thou our guardian, Thou our guide; O'er ev'ry thought and step preside."

Let these views be extended to distant, to foreign climes. How is the popedom to be attacked but by divine truth directly, or through pious books indirectly finding their way into those barren and benighted countries. And as it respects "the regions beyond," our present cultivation in heathen and mahomedan lands, let us take the advice of the Alsace farmer, sending his contributions to the Missionary Society: "Throw the seed far, my lad." Let the seed be good; and let us remember, “He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." Who can tell the results of a single prayerful effort? "Who hath despised the day of small things?" Let these efforts be viewed in their reference to eternity, and "what manner of persons shall we be in all holy conversation and godliness." As an excellent writer in the Edinburgh Review has