I will go and see him before I die." Encouraged at Beersheba by a vision from God, Jacob pursued his journey: Joseph also went forth to meet his father; and after an embracing that no words can describe, Jacob and his family were placed in the land of Goshen. Jacob and five of his sons were also presented to Pharoah; and there, when enquired of as to his age, the venerable patriarch said, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years." He confessed himself a pilgrim, -a traveller to a better land,-and recognized the vanity and misery incident to human life; and when he had blessed Pharoah, departed out of his presence.

Jacob and his sons, with their flocks, found a secure retreat in the part of Egypt assigned them, and the venerable patriarch lived after he arrived there seventeen years. His last days appear to have been his best. He had a strong sense of the goodness of God; and his mind rested on his promises. The visits of Joseph, whose sons he blessed, cheered him, and the prosperty of his family and the presence of God gave him joy. When his end was near, he called his twelve sons to his dying bed; gave them prophetically his word concerning them; marked, in expressive language, the tribe through which the Messiah should come. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." (Gen. xlix. 10.) He gave his sons directions as to his body, that it should be taken to Canaan and buried there, and breathed his last. What a solemn scene! Here lies the dying patriarch: around his bed gather his sons, then advancing in years: his blessing tells of the character and possessions of their tribes, and of God's purpose. He dies in peace, exclaiming, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord." Surely the "last end of the good man is peace!" He was buried according to his desire; a great mourning was made for him; and after this, Joseph assured his brethren of his regard for them, sustained them to the end of his life, and at his death, which took place fifty-four years after Jacob's, B. c. Î635, he gave commandment that his bones should be taken by his people into

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Canaan, when God should visit them and bring them into the promised land. So good men die, but their faith rests on the promises of God, which afford support and serenity at the last hour.

From the numerous reflections which crowd upon us in a review of the various incidents which have just passed before us, let us select a few. 1. How clearly is the descent of Christ, the promised seed, marked out before us. As it came to Isaac and

not Ishmael: so we have seen that it was destined to come from Jacob and not Esau. Hence, these patriarchs have distinguished honour. God was afterwards known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. And when Jacob died, the line of succession was pointed out in Judah, and a singularly specific prediction was given as to the distinction of the tribe of Judah, and the period of the appearing of Christ. These, the sequel will show, were most exactly accomplished.

2. How remarkably is it displayed, in this narrative, that religion and irreligion, virtue and vice, ultimately meet with their own reward. Esau lost his birthright for his profanity: Isaac was agitated and disturbed because of his disregard to the prophetic voice of God, and his unworthy partiality to Esau: Jacob and Rebecca were greatly afflicted as a consequence of their deceit: Laban, for his perfidious and capricious conduct to Jacob, was made deeply to suffer: Joseph's brethren, when trembling before him, confessed the pains which conscious, though concealed guilt, had brought upon them: while Joseph, whose conduct was in the highest degree virtuous, pious, and exemplary when in Egypt, was ultimately honoured of God, and praised of men. So it frequently is even now; deceivers are detected, and the crafty are caught in their own snare; but "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and his countenance doth behold the upright."

3. How prone we are to reason incorrectly as to the events God permits to occur in the course of his providence. So Jacob reasoned when Laban ill-used him: but God overruled it for good. So also he reasoned when his son's coat was brought to him, "Joseph without doubt is torn in pieces." But he

realms are concerned, constitute the Church of Christ; sacraments which could be duly administered only in the Church of England, were declared to be the source of all grace; from the neglected folios of patristic lore, authorities were produced for doctrines and practices which had long been rejected as popish, and tradition was placed by the side of scripture as its necessary expositor and a joint rule of faith. And as the developement of the system proceeded, fasts, and penances, and ritual observances, and the honour of saints' days, were strongly urged; the Roman Catholic Church was recognised as a sister or mother, and though blamed for carrying some things too far, was extolled as possessing advantages of which the Reformation had deprived the English church, while protestantism was denounced in unmeasured terms, and fierce anathemas were poured upon it.

In the rubric, the church services, and the catechism, a great many of the elements of this system were found; but other principles were drawn from the Nicene church, and it was an avowed object, not to bring back the English church to the standard of the reformation, but to modify and alter the reformed church till it should resemble the church of the fourth or fifth century.

Some

But all this while the new, or the revived system, was without an appropriate name. It was not high churchism, nor low churchism, nor Erastianism, nor evangelicalism, nor popery. called it" church principles;" but this was not sufficiently specific; it was "tractraianism," as being the theology of the Oxford Tracts, but this was rejected by many of its advocates and leaders; it was Puseyism," and perhaps it has been more generally known by this appellation than any other.

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But though Dr. Pusey has appeared prominently among its defenders, he was neither one of the originators of the movement in its favour, nor has he been at any time the master spirit by which it is animated and guided.

But whatever be the name by which this ecclesiastical system is to go down to posterity, its appearance on the great theatre of human affairs, what it has already done, and what it promises yet to accomplish, is an event which may justly be considered among "the signs of the times." Within the course of ten. years it has produced a change in the spirit and working of the established church, unequaled in its importance and probable results by any ecclesiastical movement of modern times. Its influence is not confined to England; it extends to our most distant colonies, and in every part of the world where British residents are found or our language is known, its effects are seen and felt. Across the Atlantic, throughout the United States, in Canada, and the islands of the west; beyond the Pacific, in Hindostan, and in the Asiatic isles; in the highest latitude of the north occupied by British colonists, and in the most distant portions of the southern hemisphere to which our population has emigrated, its working is apparent. The attention of all Christendom is excited by it, from the triple-crowned dignitary of Rome to the humblest village pastor. Protestants of all denominations and all countries regard it with amazement as a fearful portent, and Roman catholics, hailing it as the morning star of a bright and glorious day of papal splendour, in which, as in times of yore, England yet shall shine, take new courage and redouble their efforts and their prayers for the recovery and restoration of this long lost province to the dominion of the pope.

THE following is from a late Charge of this Evangelical Episcopal American Bishop:

The whole system is one of Church, instead of Christ; priest instead of gospel; concealment of truth, instead of "manifestation of truth;" ignorant VOL. 6.-N.S,

superstition, instead of enlightened faith; bondage, where we are promised liberty ----all tending directly to load us with whatever is odious in the worst meaning of priestcraft, in place of the free, affectionate, enlarging, elevating, and cheerful liberty of a child of God. G

A VOICE FROM CEYLON. The present state of British connexion with Idolatry in the Island of Ceylon: a Letter to the Right Hon. Lord Stanley. By the REV. JAMES PEGGS. Snow, London, pp. 40.

It

THE island of Ceylon is but a small section of our Eastern territories. is, however, a very interesting and beautiful spot. Its population is more than two millions, and its capabilities for sustaining a multiplied number of inhabitants are immense. Its coasts are level and covered with rice fields and forests of cocoa trees. Its interior is hilly, and its rich soil produces nearly every tropical plant and fruit. mountain torrents bring down the topaz, the ruby, the garnet, and some twenty varieties of precious stones. The mines produce gold, silver, tin, iron, and mercury. It has every convenience of climate and position, and might be as Bishop Heber once said, one of the happiest, as well as one of the loveliest spots in the universe."

The

The earliest information Europeans received of this island was from Almeyda, a Portuguese, who, in 1505, entered a port of Ceylon by accident. The Portuguese afterwards established commercial settlements on the island, on account of the great quantity of cinnamon it produced; but their cruelty, avarice, and attempts to convert the natives by violence to their corrupt Christianity, made them so abhorred that the Cingalese joined the Dutch in 1603 in expelling them from their coasts. They soon found the Dutch no more their friends, and after several dreadful conflicts the natives were compelled to seek refuge in the interior of the island, leaving the Dutch in possession of the maritime provinces. The English took the island from the Dutch in 1796; and in 1815, roused by the atrocities committed by the king of Kandy, the British authorities, led by the chiefs of Kandy, took possession of Colombo, and made their king prisoner. From that time this entire island has been under the British power, and its destinies are thrown into our hands. It is a crown colony, and is therefore more directly under the influence of the

British Government than the territory of Continental India.

The obvious design of Providence in permitting Great Britain to extend her territory to the ends of the earth, is the advancement of the great interests of humanity, and the diffusion of that religion which brings "glory to God in the highest, and good will to men." This view of the extending conquests of England, while it lays a heavy responsibility on the pious and devoted Christian Churches in our land, to put forth every possible effort to evangelize the world; also warrants the Christian philanthropist, in watching with vigilance, and in reporting with fidelity, the conduct and proceedings of the English rulers in our colonies, to the British public. We do not believe that it is the province of the English Government, as such, to attempt the conversion of the Hindoos, or Cingalese, to Christianity; and the efforts that have been made of this kind in sending bishops and episcopal clergy, imbued as, they are with Puseyism, only obstruct the progress of real Christianity. But we do think it is the duty of a professedly Christian government to keep its hands clean from the pollution of idols, and not to lend its sanction, or give its honour, or use its authority, on any pretence whatever, in behalf of idolatry or sin. If they cannot legitimately as governments promote the Christian religion, they are bound as Christians not to encourage idolatry. But how stands the fact? In Ceylon we are assured that the heathen priests, superior and inferior, are appointed by the right honourable the Governor, and hold their offices, bene placito, -that the Government is the trustee for all the endowments of the temples,-that the Government patronizes their festivals, and pays for devil-dancing in the name of Queen Victoria!—and that the British soldiers are a constant guard of honour to the chief temple! The vilest heathenism has at this moment an influence in Ceylon, from the patronage of the British Government, which it would not otherwise be able to maintain. We are gratified with every attempt to expose the evils of British connexion with idolatry, and hope that the pamph

let before us will not be published in vain. The noble lord, the Secretary for the Colonies, to whom it is addressed, is a high-minded and a professedly Christian person, who would scorn to stoop to base means of discharging his office. His lordship has very courteously acknowledged the receipt of the pamphlet, and has transmitted it to the Governor of Ceylon for his consideration.*

The chief facts contained in Mr. Pegg's pamphlet are from a publication by Mr. Hardy, a Wesleyan Missionary, in 1839. It will not be until many efforts have been made by the faithful, that pure religion will be emancipated from the unhallowed touch of governments at home; or that the same governments will be induced to "keep themselves from idols" abroad. Powerless for good, in connexion with religion, they are omnipotent for evil.

AN EXAMINATION OF THE PRINCIPLES AND TENDENCIES OF DR. PUSEY'S SERMON ON THE EUCHARIST. In a series of Letters to a Friend. By the REV. B. GODWIN, D.D. Minister of New Road Chapel, Oxford; Author of Lectures on the Atheistic Controversy, &c. London: Jackson and Walford. 8vo. pp. 82.

DR. GODWIN has long been known not only as a faithful minister of the New Testament, but as a learned and powerful advocate of the truth. We feel happy that divine providence has fixed his abode in the city of Oxford. There can be no doubt that his eminent abilities will greatly subserve the interests of evangelical religion in that stronghold of high churchism.

The above letters are written with the Doctor's usual acuteness and tact. He has evaded no argument used by his opponent, employed no artifice to

LETTER FROM LORD STANLEY TO THE
REV. J. PEGGS.

Downing Street, Jan. 2, 1844. SIR,I am directed by Lord Stanley to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th ultimo, on the subject of the evils resulting from the continuance of Idolatry in Ceylon, and expressing your anxiety at not having received an answer to the communication which on that subject you had addressed to his Lordship on the 27th of Nov. In reply, I am to express to you Lord

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obtain a partial triumph, but has calmly and clearly exposed the errors of Dr. Pusey's doctrine in connection with its evil tendencies. The first position which Dr. Pusey maintains in his sermon, is the real presence of the body of Christ in the elements at the Supper. With the view of substantiating this point he quotes our Lord's words: "This is my body," &c. Dr. Godwin shows from the circumstances under which this language was uttered, that it was impossible for it to be understood in a literal sense, and that its figurative import is in perfect accordance with current phraseology.

"We are constantly in the habit of putting the cause for the effect, the instrument for the agent, the sign for the thing signified, and vice versa. By Ireland we often mean the people of Ireland-by the pulpit what is delivered from it-by the press what is printed by it. When looking in at our print shops, I say, pointing to the sketches in the windows, this is Dr. Pusey, and that is Mr. Newman,"-" and this mode of speaking was especially common, much more so than with us, in the language which our Lord and his disciples used. 'I am the good shepherd; I am the door; I am the vine;' The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. When our Lord, therefore, taking up the bread, said 'this is my body,' the meaning, this represents my body, was so perfectly natural and accordant with those forms of speaking to which they had always been accustomed, that it was morally impossible that they should understand the words in any other sense. taken in this manner, all is plain, affecting, and edifying; we then see the Saviour, just before his awful sufferings, appointing a standing memorial of his death, and of its supremely benevolent

And

Stanley's regret that you were not apprized
that your letter had been received, and that
the pamphlet which accompanied it had been
transmitted to the Governor of Ceylon for his
further considerations in reporting upon the
statements submitted by you to Her Majesty's
Government in September last, relative to
British connexion with Idolatry in Ceylon.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,

Your most obedient humble Servant,
G. W. HOPE.