this nominal church makes what a man preaches to be of less matter than who appoints him; puts its own authority higher than Christ's, who warns us not to hear false teachers; and perils precious souls by hiring the blind to lead the blind, so as for both to fall into the ditch. How can I dare to uphold zuch claims?

V. Because it teaches the awful untruth that its ministers can save souls by baptism! This is solemnly avowed before God when a babe is christened, as people paganly term it, and is taught the poor child ever after: an impious and deadly heresy, as those will feel with horror when the souls they are blinding shall accuse them as their eternal destroyers before their just and common Judge! Besides, it makes sponsors "promise three things," which are so strictly divine, that were they not in heathenish darkness they would shudder to say. For a church to ask such lying promises, is a deadly crime against the parties, against the truth, and against God.

III. Because I take my Bible as my rule of faith. The Church of England pretends to have power to decree rites and ceremonies, and authority in matters of faith; therefore Queen Elizabeth dared her clergy to believe or preach but as she ordered; and even now, every one of them is bound to sign and swear to what half of them doubt and none obey. Were kings inspired and infallible, or were the Bible sent only to them, there might be some excuse; but our Lord tells us to "search the Scriptures" for ourselves; and Paul, that "they are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith." Men have their own ends to answer who tell us to listen, before the Bible, to those they have bribed and schooled themselves; and the sooner I free myself from the un-mockery! what an awful sin! godly imposition the better.

IV. Because of its trifling ceremonies, such as bowing towards the east, praying in a white gown and preaching in a black; going from the desk to what is impiously called the altar to read the communion service; signing the form of the cross in baptism; kneeling to take the Lord's Supper; and often changing the posture in divine service, which appear childish and trifling, a religious mummery, or an irreligious formalism, and not a worship of Him who "is a Spirit, and must be worshipped (with the heart) in spirit and

in truth."

VI. Again; in order to gain power for its priests, it exceeds the sin of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, whom God destroyed in anger, only because they assumed to be priests; but this church makes its ministers assume to be God, for in the rite of confirmation and ordination its lord bishop (poor, sinning, mitred mortal!) pretends to give the Holy Ghost. O what a fearful

VII. Again; by the absolution service a poor dying criminal is led to think that the minister's reading a form of pardon gives him a passport to a happy eternity; and the minister, perhaps, is himself befooled to think that he can pardon sin-an error which we who know the truth can only look upon with agony, when we think that many, trusting to it rather than to Christ, may find their awful mistake when they open their eyes in hell!

VIII. Lastly; I might condemn its teaching us transubstantiation, its excommunicating good men of other churches, and its forbidding me to hear

the gospel; but these are nothing to the
evil of the Burial Service, which has
often been read over the corpse of an
atheist, an infidel, a thief, a drunkard,
a prostitute, as though it were that of
an eminent Christian; and the holy
God is defied to his face by a man, dar-church?
ing to call himself a minister of Christ,

The Letter Box.

DUTY OF BELIEVERS TO JOIN step, that, as a believer in Christ, you

despot, commenced a war for his rightful throne. He sent forth a body of faithful adherents to promote his interests throughout the kingdom. By their means, small bodies of brave men in many parts of the country were won over; and, as they became patriotic and loyal subjects, they declared for the legitimate sovereign.

They took the required oath of allegiance; they signed a declaration of adherence; they separated from the vassals of the despot; they organized themselves according to a body of laws transmitted to them by their prince; and they assumed an appropriate uniform, proclaiming whose they were, and whom they served. A great multitude mixed with those bodies; attended their less and larger gatherings; and professed the utmost esteem for the sovereign, and ardent desires for his success; but, though urged and persuaded, they always declined, and refused to take the oath, and the steps that followed it, on which success so entirely depended. Professing love to the prince, and hatred to the despot, they still ranked and numbered with the enslaved subjects of the old despotism. They not ouly remained useless for the objects of associated action; but, by the weight and authority of their example, they exceedingly impaired the force and retarded the progress of public opinion, and obstructed the success of the royal cause. Judge ye what the prince thought of these men's loyalty; and whether he deemed that their conduct amounted to a profession of it; and whether the royal cause could ever have triumphed by such means and such men ;-judge also in what light the king viewed such persons, after his ascension to the throne, in spite of their apathy and heartless pretension! I speak as to wise men, judge ye what

to the horrors of darkness! These
abodes of the Spirit would be sundered
into their elements! The schools of
the prophets would be closed, and the
order of the ministry expire for ever'
The fonts of baptism would be dried
up, the tables of the Lord moulder into
dust, the institutions of education and
philanthropy, created and supported
by the gospel spirit, would vanish away,
and Christianity perish from the earth!
These would be the results of your
principle, as it respects Christ, and hig
church, and the world, on the hypothe-
sis of its universal extension; must it
not, then, even now be attended with a
perilous probability as to yourselves?
From the words of Christ you may
learn your desert and prospect: "Who-
soever shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Fa-
ther which is in heaven; but whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which in hea-
ven," Matt. x. 32, 33.
C.

MY BELOVED BROTHER,-How I rejoice to hear that the word of God has reached your heart! There are, however, points in your letter which create some anxiety in my mind, and induce me to lay my views at length before you. Union with Christ must precede union with his church. The instant you pass from death unto life, that you repent and believe the gospel, you beI say. come a member of the Saviour's body. Friends, ye who profess to believe in You are, therefore, from that moment Christ, consider! Extend your prin- a fit subject of fellowship; and you ciple and look at it, and learn its have a right to admission. Union to nature by its results. Were believers Christ is everything! He is the source generally to follow your example, all of life and power. On! endeavour the churches of Christ on earth after that most important attainment would be dissolved in one day. These self-acquaintance. Books may help lights of the world would be extin-you, but prayerful study of the Scripguished, and leave it once more tures, and honest, reflective self-scru

tiny by the light of the word, are
worth all other means united. You
cannot be deceived, unless you desire to
be so!
If your character be changed,
so is your state: justification and sanc-
tification are inseparable. See that
you have power over sin! O my bro-
ther, take heed that no sin have domi-
nion over you! He who is the slave
of one sin, is not fit for church fellow.
ship. Endeavour to form a proper
estimate of your own spiritual condi-
tion. Question yourself closely as to
the grounds of your hope. Collect the
reasons from which you conclude that
you are a Christian. Compare them
with the Scriptures. If sincerely satis-
fied that you are a new creature, al-
though but a babe in grace; come forth
without delay, and follow the Lord
fully. Seek an interview with your
minister, and lay your mind open to
him with simplicity and confidence.

1. Be not afraid! You may rely on finding a friend in the servant of Christ. He can fully enter into your feelings, and sympathize with you on every point. Go to him in the spirit of sincerity and humility; in a few minutes you will feel yourself at ease and comfortable, and upon a second interview you will be perfectly at home!

ful neglect, to an interview with a pastor, and a possible delay of their admission. What infatuation is this! If you are a Christian, even of the humblest standing, your Christianity can be ascertained, and made to appear, and then you cannot be rejected. Though "weak in faith," yet since you are in the faith at all, you must and will be received, Rom. xiv. 1. You are to enter the church, not because you are strong in the faith, but that you may be fed, nourished, and become strong. If even a little delay should be deemed necessary, it will issue in your profit. This has often occurred to persons who have afterwards become burning and shining lights. Go to your minister, and put yourself entirely into his hands, in the confidence of love, leaving it with him to judge of your views and experience: to admit you immediately, or to put you on a course of improvement, as the case may require. He will do as he thinks most for your good, and he will do it delicately and tenderly; you will enjoy the benefit of his knowledge and experience; and, whether the result be immediate admission or longer probation, there will be no repulse, no rejection; there will be nothing but discretion and kindness. He will suggest hints, recommend books, introduce you to the society of experienced and godly persons, and otherwise aid you in the most material manner.

2. Be not ashamed! There is nothing so honourable as the profession of penitence for sin and love to Christ; let the sinner be ashamed, but stand thou forth, and declare, with humble 4. Beware of procrastination! Oh, and modest gratitude, what the Lord what misery this has led to! Thouhas done for your soul! Many obsta- sands have so far yielded to the comcles will present themselves, but break mands of Christ, and the dictates of through them all, in the strength of conscience, and the impulses of the the Lord. The hour of decision will Spirit of God, as to resolve on profesbe an hour of conflict. The enemy of sing the faith of Christ; but when the your soul will not be idle; he will time has come, they have found, or assail you in ways you little think of; feigned, a reason for putting it off. he will stir up the whole mass of your This has occurred several times in succorruption, that you may fall into sin cession, and a season of spiritual deadonce more; he will rouse the wrath of ness has followed, perhaps for years, your enemies, and oppose you through when the Holy Spirit has withdrawn the tender instrumentalities of friends, from them! Again he has visited who, while they subserve his purposes, | them; and again they have resolved, know not what they do. But pray and again they have broken their without ceasing, and walk right on! resolutions! Thus have they lingered 3. Beware of pride! The fear of re-un till death has stepped in and put jection keeps back multitudes. They an end to this conflict.

prefer to live in uncertainty and in sin

E.

The Fragment Basket.

THE BLIND AND DEAF GIRL AND HER BIBLE.-A young woman, completely blind and deaf, was brought be-road. fore a number of eminent surgeons to see if anything could be done for her. Her sad condition had been suddenly produced by a violent pain in the head. The only method of communicating with her was by tapping her hand, which signified no, and by squeezing it, which signified yes. The surgeons concluded that her case was incurable, and in reply to her earnest inquiries, she