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of a public journal." We are told, that few Socinians and men of no religion were present at the conference. Does not this prove, that "the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light?"

We thought the political character of the conference was made sufficiently evident by such statements as these, "We are anxious to avail ourselves of every political weapon which Christianity does not forbid, to work out the deliverance of the church from civil bondage." It is placed beyond dispute by the scheme of organisation which the conference has adopted. One of its objects is there stated to be, "The promotion of the return to Parliament, wherever practicable, of men of known integrity and ability, conversant with the principles of this society." We presume, if our churches are to form an organisation to interfere in the election of members of Parliament, that this will be "to use Christian churches for the promotion of political objects." And if we "avail ourselves of every political weapon to work out the deliverance of the church," is not this" to employ worldly influence for the advancement of Christian objects?" And yet we are told the conference no more designs these things, than "to navigate steam-boats upon the Birmingham Railway, and to run coaches and four upon the Bridgewater canal." This to us is a great mystery. What good the conference designs, or what it is likely to accomplish, it is not easy to declare. We cannot tell to what class of religionists the writer may belong, who says, "It may confidently be affirmed, that there was no more room for the intrusion of men of no religion into this conference, than into the communion of our most orthodox and best-conducted churches." We beg to inform him, that whatever may be the practice of his friends, the churches of our order do not receive Socinians, nor the representatives of any hundred persons in the congregation, nor the elect of public meetings. To our readers, we need not state, that the Congregational Magazine never has been, and never will be, backward in the Christian advocacy of Dissenting principles. But it would not be in consistency with itself, its cause, or its friends, if it were to adopt any other course. The statement that the Editor of the Congregational Magazine, in objecting to the conference, expressed but the sentiments of an individual; and that the Editor of the Christian Witness in supporting the conference, expressed the real sentiments of the Congregational body, displays an entire ignorance of our affairs. Our respected friend, the Editor of the Christian Witness, has given testimony on this subject, which is quite conclusive. In the number for February he says, "About the policy of this conference, men of equal worth and wisdom are very much divided. In our pastoral character we will, at the proper time, act upon our own convictions; but we will commit the Christian Witness to nothing to which the Congregational Union is not committed." But to this conference the Congregational Union has not given the slightest aid, encouragement, or approval.

BRIEF NOTES ON PASSING EVENTS.

A PRESSURE of other matter compelled us to omit, in the two last numbers, our short summary of events, but the kind remonstrances of several friends on the omission have induced us again to occupy the post of observation.

The intelligence from CHINA is chiefly interesting to commercial men, though the kindly bearing of the native authorities inspires hope that the missionaries of the Gospel will be permitted, without interruption, to prosecute their labours.

BRITISH INDIA has been the scene and the subject of deeply interesting events. The unsettled state of Gwalior, and its peculiar position in the midst of our possessions, induced Lord Ellenborough to interfere, and invade the territory of Sindia

with a formidable army. Two sanguinary battles were fought at Maharajpoor and Punniar, in the presence of the Governor-General; and though victory attended our arms, yet it was purchased by a frightful sacrifice of human life. The dispatches of his lordship were in his characteristic style, promising bronze "stars" and triumphal monuments. Whilst he was so occupied, enemies to his government at home, much more formidable than the Mahrattas, were resolutely engaged in subverting his power; and the Court of Directors recalled his lordship, by the exercise of their constitutional anthority, though strongly opposed by the Home government. Never has such an event occurred before in the history of British India; and the thoughtful Christian will see in this sudden overthrow, the just retribution of the Supreme Ruler, whose honour was so far forgotten by the author of the idolatrous proclamation about the gates of Somnauth. They that honour me I will honour, but they who despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

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Sir Henry Hardinge has been appointed to succeed him, and it is gratifying to observe that, at the splendid inauguration banquet given by the Court of Directors, Sir Robert Peel said that he desired such a government for India as would ultimately recommend "the doctrines of Christianity, not by vexatious interference with the religious tenets and principles of other nations, but by the blessings of a mild and beneficial rule on the great principles of the Christian religion." Only thirty years ago it required the united strength of the earnest Christians of this country to extort from the government permission to send a missionary to India! A blessed change since then, truly!

TURKEY has witnessed the partial revival of the spirit of Mahometan intolerance and fanaticism, under the present government, which has required the united influence of France and England to restrain.

The kingdom of GREECE has passed through a bloodless revolution, and secured by wise and peaceful counsels a constitutional government, which looks well on paper, and promises civil but not religious liberty.

Affairs in ITALY are very critical, especially in the Church States. The government is in the hands of ecclesiastics, and the people do not like to be ruled by priests. An edict has been published at Rome, announcing that new and very great dangers threaten the church, and ordering prayers to the Virgin, &c. Russia has a bitter grudge against the Vatican, for the protocol of the Pope respecting Poland; and it is supposed the intrigues of that country have much to do with present difficulties. Austria is likely to occupy the Church States, and France will probably demand another intervention of Ancona, and to share in the protectorate of Austria.

Whilst affairs look so dark for the papacy in its own dominions, they appear to have brightened a little in SPAIN; the queen-mother having pledged all her influence to restore the relations of that court with the see of Rome. Some of the exiled prelates have also returned; and, under the iron hoof of a military usurpation, the liberties of the people are trodden down, and the hopes of the church revive.

Ecclesiastical affairs are at this hour the elements of contention all the world

over.

The diet of SWITZERLAND is troubled about the restoration of the suppressed convents of Argovie; and such is the violence of parties that civil war is threatened.

FRANCE is much disturbed by the same questions. The claims of the clergy to educate the people have been urged in the Chambers and by the prelates upon the king even in a congratulatory address, which provoked Louis Philippe to give them a tart reply.

The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA are not exempted from trouble from the same element. Not content with entire freedom from state interference in religious matters, the meddling priests of Rome in that country have used the Irish Catholic

emigrants, who are naturalised to act as a party in elections, to further their ecclesiastical views, till a reaction has been produced by the formation of "a native American" party. These have unhappily come into frightful collision in the city of Philadelphia, which has been the scene of a riot in which fourteen persons were killed and thirty-eight wounded; two Catholic churches were burned, a large school, priests' houses, &c., and property destroyed to the amount of perhaps 250,000 dollars. These are deplorable scenes in the peaceful old city of William Penn, and show how fearful a thing it is to excite the passions of a mob with religious animosities.

At HOME there appears to be a lull come over the public mind, so that public affairs proceed without much excitement. The Dissenters' Chapels Bill, which might be called a bill to endow heresy at the expense of crthodox founders, has, strange to say, been brought into parliament by a Conservative government, and has passed the House of Lords. Most vigorous efforts are being made to resist it in the Commons, and a most harmonious and energetic meeting was held in Exeter Hall on the 29th ult. against it, which exhibited a most hearty and generous union of evangelical Christians of all denominations against this unrighteous measure.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Favours have been received from

Rev. Drs. Redford-Vaughan-J. P. Smith-and Reed.

Rev. Messrs. J. D. Morell-G. B. Johnson-B. H. Kluht-J. Jennings-W. Jackson-T. Milner-A. J. Morris-D. E. Ford-T. Wallis-T. Colman-S. ThodeyT. Haynes-J. Bounsall.

Sir J. B. Williams.

Messrs. Fairbrother-R. Townsend-G. Johnson-A Cambridgeshire Minister.

Mr. Johnson's hints are not suited to our work.

The crowded state of our pages compels us to omit an account of the meeting to found an Asylum for Infant Orphans on catholic principles.

A Cambridgeshire Minister is much mistaken if he supposes that the Congregational Ministers in London stand alone in their disapproval of the Anti-State Church Conference. We can assure him that the article of which he complains has received the warm approval of the most influential Independent ministers throughout the country. We shall endeavour to comply with the wish he expresses on another subject, and are happy to find that the articles are deemed interesting.

THE

CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE.

JULY, 1844.

LUTHER AND HIS WRITINGS.

BY C. E. STOWE, D.D., PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE,
LANE SEMINARY, CINCINNATI.*

*

LUTHER has left more of his impress on the German nation, than any other one man has left on any nation. Hear a literary gentleman, Protestant or Catholic, at this day talk of Luther in his own land; and so intense and glowing is the enthusiasm with which they mention his name, and so fresh and hearty the feeling they manifest, that you would think they must have seen him and talked with him but yesterday. Any one who has visited France, cannot fail to see at once the pride and home-feeling with which the memory of Napoleon is cherished by the French. A man will say to you, "Here I saw the Emperor," as if he had stood on the spot but a few minutes before. So every spot where Luther stood, which can be identified, is still cherished by the Germans; and when they tell you that Luther stood here, though it were three centuries ago, they speak with such fondness of feeling and an eye so glistening, that you almost start as if the Reformer were actually there now. Riding once from Potzdam to Halle, I stopped for a few moments at a small hamlet by the roadside, and inquired of a peasant there the name of the place. "Luther's Brunnen," [Luther's Well,] replied he, promptly and with a brightening eye. Why has it that name?" continued I. With a face full of feeling and eyes glowing with pride, he answered, "Luther once drank here." This is but a specimen of what you meet everywhere in Germany. The cause of this national enthusiasm we trust the reader will be at no loss to discover, if he follow us patiently through the developments of this article.

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* Reprinted from The American Biblical Repository, No. 54.

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On the most superficial glance at the writings of Luther, we are struck with astonishment at their number and variety, as well as their eloquence and power. Almost all subjects are embraced in themtheology, history, politics, education, literature, fables, poetry, music; he seems in all nearly equally at home; and on every topic his views are original, and sketched with a masterly hand. He led a life of almost as great public activity as Napoleon; his public influence, cares, and responsibilities were little, if any, less than those of the great emperor; and he had no facilities, such as Napoleon had, for commanding the services of others. His correspondence alone seems enough to take more than the entire time of one strong man. In June, 1529, writing to one of his friends, he says: "The letters pour in upon me every day up to my neck; my table, benches, stools, writing-desk, window-seats, trunks, the floor itself is covered with them."

From 1517 to 1526, the first ten years of the Reformation, the number of his publications was three hundred; from 1527 to 1536, the second decade, the number was 232; and from 1537 to 1546, the year of his death, the number was 183. His first book was published in November, 1517, and he died in February, 1546, an interval of twenty-nine years and four months. In this time he published seven hundred and fifteen volumes, an average of more than twenty-five a year, or one a fortnight for every fortnight of his public life. He did not go through the manual labour of all this writing, it is true, for many of his published works were taken down from his lips by his friends; and it is also true, that several of the volumes were small enough in size to be denominated pamphlets; but many of them, also, are large and elaborate treatises. In the circumstances in which he wrote, his translation of the Bible alone would have been a gigantic task, even if he had had his lifetime to devote to it.

He continued his labours to the very last. The six weeks immediately preceding his death, he issued thirty-one publications from the press, an average of more than five a week. He did not enjoy uninterrupted health, nor was he free from the family cares and accidents which interrupt the labours of other men. For example, in one letter he says, "My home has become a hospital; Hannah is dangerously sick, Katey is near her confinement, and little Johnny is teething very hard." In another, "The plague has broken out here; Sebald's wife is dead, and I have taken their four children into my house." Again: "I am without help, for the kitchen-girl was so full of all mischief, that I was obliged to send her away." His own health often broke down under his labours. Says he in one letter, "" I have such constant pains in my head, I can neither read nor write." In another, "I have taken such a cold that I cannot speak a loud word; I can do nothing but cough." In another, "I am suffering with dizziness and pains

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