division, and the sense of common danger arising from the latter, suppressing it. Moreover, who that thinks, need be told of the advantages resulting from a national creed and confession of faith, by which the hundred hands of heresy are bound down, and silence imposed on the many tongues of impious speculation? Reading men are no strangers to the innumerable discordancies, the fierce and fiery controversies, that ever have shaken, and will shake and rend, the whole fabric of Dis

sent.

Dissenters boast of freedom of

thought a dearly bought freedom when purchased at the expense of order, truth, and sacredness-of the welfare of man, the honour of religion, and the peace of nations. To attempt to set landmarks to science, until philosophy have explored to their boundaries the wide dominions of nature, and examined the whole arcana of material being, were absurd, because it were to stop the traveller before his journey has been performed: but if this, being practicable, once were done; were science, having completed her voyage of circumnavigation, merely to sit down in the capacity of a preceptress and tell the story of all that she had seen, the absurdity would disappear; because all that existed being known, the business of one party would be to teach principles already laid down, and of the other to learn them. Nay, were a cluster of men, qualified only by ignorance, impertinence, folly, and impudence, gross dulness, and an abhorrence of all existing order, to stand forth and question, or wholly deny the doctrines of true philosophy, relative to its fundamental laws of matter and motion, and thus to annoy the minds and obstruct the progress of disciples,-who would oppose the adoption of measures which might surely lead to the suppression of error and the preservation of truth? Just apply this. You have illustrations of both in the republican licentiousness and outrage of Dissent, and in the general uniformity and sweet unison of our Establishment. Once more, consider the benefits resulting from state support. This is vociferously deprecated by the plebeian. portion of Dissent; but were their famished pastors consulted, probably they would not be less loud in lamenting the ills and sorrows of their dependent state, nor less earnest in wishing a change of places. But the comfort of ministers apart, consider the general good. Dissenters, owing to this very thing, can only exist in a dense population, so that, as for them, our hamlets and numerous thinly peopled

districts, the sum of which constitutes the major part of the national population, might utterly perish. In all chapel projects, the first Dissenting question is, What is the population? You say, it is Oh! that will not do. But the place is very destitute; the rector is careless; the curate preaches error. It may be so, but still-it will not do. Conceive of every established minister removed, and every such house of worship demolished, what would remain? Were the lights which illumine the city of London all extinguished in one night, what would remain? a few watchmen's lanterns! Would not these prove a sorry substitute? What would be the state of the metropolis, if henceforth the steps of the citizen must be guided by these! What horror of darkness must brood over every street, and lane, and alley! What ravage and plunder and death would ensue ! Apply this. There are in England and Wales upwards of 10,000 parishes: destroy the churches and disband the ministers; and say to Dissent, Go forth and occupy! Alas! who could go forth? The handful of watchmen with their glimmering lamps. With resources so feeble, what could Dissenters do? It would be sinking a pebble to stem a torrent. To be plain, Gentlemen, the question is not, Whether Dissent be superior to an Establishment, but, whether an Establishment be better than nothing. Having, then, to my own satisfaction, set forth its utility, I have at the same time demonstrated its expediency; and this was all that I pretended. The last fact on which I have reasonedstate support-alone demonstrates the unspeakable utility of an Establishment. Dissent says to the populous city or town, You shall have a minister-to thin districts, which form the habitation of millions, You shall have nothing. Perish! You cannot pay-we will not work. Establishments say to places populous, You shall have ministers, you shall have aid to your aged, and education to your orphans-to bleakest regions, how few soever the families, You shall have a pastor, with all the privileges of your richer brethren. Rustic modesty whispers, O we would like that, but we are poor, we cannot pay! Royal munificence replies-Enjoy your blessings; we will pay it for you.

Paley.-Gentlemen, I quite accord with Mr. Newton, and I can speak from experience of the stupidity of the multitude and their incapacity of judgment; for often have I preached elaborated ser

mons to empty benches; while, but a few doors distant, an illiterate Methodist has been listened to by an assembly of two thousand, who have hung on his lips as if an oracle, while he was uttering the most tasteless common-places, in language ill chosen, and in an order ill digested. I do think the hints which Mr. Newton has given, might be expanded and ramified into an irrefutable argument.

Williams.-Gentlemen, that cause is very bad which admits of no defence by special pleading-that object is supremely disgusting which presents not one comely spot by exhibiting this in the best of lights, and cloaking the rest with rhetorical vestments, the worst of things may make a plausible appearance. The great question remains untouched by Mr. Newton. We devoutly wish that we did "behold but a rag and a tatter of religious profession.' Let us remember, that for profession to outrun reality is a sore calamity-the latter is the body, the former is the garment; this has no value but as connected with that--we may stuff a suit of clothes-we may make an effigy will one such carry a burden? will a thousand such ward off danger from our shores? A nation of unbelieving professors, is just so many effigies which will not stand, but fall, in the day of trial; we may fill our edifices with such mock Christians, but the kingdom of God consists of real believers, and for such alone is heaven reserved.

Much of

what constitutes Mr. Newton's ground of glorying is with me a ground of lamentation. I shall apply the criterion above mentioned to determine the truth or error of Mr. Newton's principle. That criterion is, the promotion of the real interests of the church of God, and the accomplishment of the ends for which it has been established. This requires the application of a threefold test-Purity of communion -Ministerial exertion-Missionary enterprise. Your argument requires it to be made out, that there is produced, by the union of the kingdom of Christ with the kingdoms of this world, an abundant increase of each of these three things,an increase beyond the measure that obtained among the primitive believers and churches, and that now obtains among those churches which are constituted nearest the primitive model.

I. Purity of communion. Two things are here to be considered-the description of characters that constitute your churches --and the measure of discipline which is exercised among them. Are they, then,

and are they all, professed believers of the gospel? Is their profession borne out by their conduct? Are they such as a judge in spiritual things would pronounce born again? Rather are not these things never so much as thought of, expected, or looked for? Do not all born within the precincts of a parish become Christians in virtue of their birth and their baptism? Does not the system of your Establishment require, and proceed upon, and involve, all the absurdities of baptismal regeneration? Is not this dreadful doctrine an essential doctrine of your Church? Deny this, and what meaning is there in confirmation? May not each, and all, even the grossly immoral, spiritually blind, and dead in trespasses and sins, obtain, nay force admission, to your communion? Are not church privileges, so called, obtained and held by the same tenure as those of a civil nature? In a word, your churches can no more be called Scripture churches, than any ordinary assembly of worldly persons, of every variety of moral character; and such is the spirit of the multitude, of the majority, who constitute your communion, that a transition from play to prayers, or prayers to play, would present nothing violent. The charges which my idea of these questions involves, can be met and repelled only by a blunt negation. This is felt, and has been bewailed by some of the best men of your body. In regard to the second point, What has been gained in discipline? Is there any discipline among you at all, even in the case of enormous crime? Are there not among you multitudes who despise piety, and mock at all seriousness -who have not, and do not profess to have, the fear of God nor any hope in his Son-who are scandalous in licentiousness and gross in immorality-who are given to drunkenness and blasphemy, to falsehood, and slander and to many other ways which demonstrate them the children of Belial, and who are yet admitted to the table of the Lord? These are the bitter fruits of this unhallowed union. Was such the state of things in the first churches? Is such the state of things amongst those whose cause I advocate? Was it not in the one, is it not in the other, the very reverse? Do these things prove the utility of such an alliance? If such are the dreadful and necessary results, is such alliance expedient? II. Ministerial exertion. Here your system of endowment, creating inde pendence of popular approbation and of

decent performance of duty, is at utter variance with a fundamental law of political economy; and it is not more erroneous in theory than it is found to be injurious in fact. The fruit is just such as might be expected. Are there not multitudes of the ministers, so called, of the church to which you belong, who do not preach at all; and are not these such as possess by far the largest emolument? Are there not multitudes who preach very seldom ? Are not the majority remarkable for the perfunctory manner in which they perform their duties, for every thing but length, labour, and stern fidelity? Does pastoral visitation, or the instruction of the young, occupy a large place in their vocation? Do the darker parts of cities or of parishes, or the more destitute villages, excite their compassion, and call forth their exertion? Does the sum of their toils come any way up to the Apostolic precept―" "Be instant in season, and out of season?" Are they forward to encourage itinerancies, and every other Apostolic undertaking which is calculated to disseminate Divine truth? Need I state and quote a mass of facts to prove that the very reverse of all this, and more that might be said, is the case? Was it so among the first Christians, or is it so among those whom I defend? These questions may be deemed invidious, but they embrace weighty truths, and I can only do justice to my argument by the statement of them. Such are the fruits of state alliance and state support. Simpson's "Plea" is a lasting monument of clerical avarice, and clerical infamy, and worth a folio of argument in proof of the enormous evils which have resulted from the union in debate. That this is more or less the state of things in every church supported by Government, and must be while man is man, admits of no rational dispute. Who, with these facts before him, will contend that Establishments can be supported by an appeal to expediency?

III. Missionary enterprise. If so defective be your system at home, there is

little to be expected from it abroad. Every thing of the sort is indeed nearly impracticable and illegal. None of your ministers dare preach in the parish of his neighbour, whatever may be the necessity arising from the cast of his character or of his ministrations. Should he, excited by his sympathy for perishing souls, determine on it, and persevere after ecclesiastical censure and rebuke, suspension or deposition is the issue; while he whose conduct, or whose ignorance and error, called forth the offensive zeal, sits unmolested, and uncorrected. As each of your ministers is bound to his own parish, so all of you are bound to your own nation. You can consistently labour only where your king has the sceptre and appoints you to stand. The moment you

step beyond his dominions, you burst the tie of union, and become Dissenters from other churches, and must just fight your way as we do at home. But I reserve this topic for a future occasion. Meantime, tell me, who are the best, and who have been the first, missionaries? Let us examine the records of missionary enterprise, and we shall see that whatever has resulted from this evil union, it has not been a spirit for missions!-Thus I have, I think honestly, applied the criterion, and made out to my own judgment, that not good but evil, and almost only evil, has resulted from this alliance. If evils, the greatest and worst of evils, be expedient, so is the union of the kingdom of Christ with those of this world!

Paley.—Gentlemen, these are sore things, but not new things. I have said what is much akin to them in my Moral Philosophy. I am not disposed to dispute the facts, but that they are the necessary results of such a union may be debated. But if so, then the sooner it is dissolved the better.

Blunt.-Yes, Doctor; but calculate first how much the dissolution would cost you. Five-and-twenty hundred pounds a year must have great weight in an argument of expediency.

ARISTIDES.

The Practical Works of Richard Baxter. With a Preface, giving some Account of the Author, and of this edition of his Practical Works, and an Essay on his

Genius, Works, and Times. Four vols. Royal octavo. Virtue.

THE works of Richard Baxter have long

ceased to be the subject of criticism. He has taken his place in the front rank of the most illustrious body of men that England, or any nation, has produced. Nonconformity has never boasted a giant of greater mental might, nor a saint of more seraphic piety. His acquisitions. were prodigious: his intellectual activity had no parallel. His works form no inconsiderable library: it would require many years carefully to read and thoroughly to digest them. Upwards of one hundred and fifty treatises are acknowledged as the productions of his pen, of which four were folios, seventy-three quartos, and forty-nine octavos! The practical portions of these were, at an early period, collected in four volumes folio, and separately published. They have for ages been of the first repute, and always brought a very high price in the book market; so high, indeed, as to place them utterly beyond the reach of the great portion of mankind. These

volumes are now before us, and offered to the public on terms so very moderate, that they may almost be said to form a "People's Edition" of Richard Baxter. We need only add that the printing is worthy of John Childs, and the getting up of George Virtue. The work is a great treasure, and it will doubtless find its way, in thousands upon thousands, among all denominations of Christians.

The Analytical Bible, with upwards of Fifty Thousand Original and Selected Parallel References in a centre column, and Analytical Notes appended to each book. Arnold.

The Portable Commentary, with the most approved Marginal References and Explanatory Notes, selected from the most distinguished Biblical Writers. Arnold.

To a large portion of the public it will be enough to say, that both these works are from the practised and indefatigable pen of the Rev. Ingram Cobbin, of whose high character, both as a Biblical scholar and critic, they are every way worthy. The printing is by Rider, and it is not too much to say that it has never been surpassed. As pocket Bibles they have no superior; and, unless in the case of Bagster's, we know of none that even approach an equality with them. Their value to the student of Scripture and the Sunday-school teacher can hardly be estimated.

Jamaica; its Past and Present State. By JAMES PHILLIPPO, Twenty Years a Baptist Missionary in that Island. Post octavo, pp. 487. Third Thousand. Snow.

THIS is the work of a practical man, who has done and suffered much for the most oppressed portion of his fellow-creatures. "Twenty years a Missionary in Jamaica!" These words imply much; and we can assure our readers that the hopes they inspire will not be disappointed. In the work before us we have the results of the labours, observations, and experience of this most devoted missionary during that long period. Only such a man, so circumstanced, could have written it. The book consists of eighteen chapters, which are occupied with a sketch of the island, the physical aspects of the country, its vegetable productions, its territorial divisions, its population, government, commerce, white inhabitants, people of colour and free blacks, the character of the black people under slavery, their social condition, moral aspects of general society. These topics occupy the first and fourteenth chapters inclusive, and are full of instruction and interest. The fifteenth and sixteenth chapters comprise an exhibition of the religious state of the people, and form the mainstay of the volume. The language of England cannot boast a more triumphant demonstration of the power of Christianity and the worth of freedom. These chapters comprise nine sections from which the churches of Great Britain might derive many useful lessons. The two closing chapters are of an applicatory character. The book is illustrated by sixteen beautiful engravings. From this outline it is clear this must be a book of no ordinary importance. It is indeed a most precious document, and well deserves a hearty welcome from every portion of the church of God. The time was come for a calm, clear, Christian digest of the facts of the religious history of this celebrated island, and no man was better qualified to execute this important task than Mr. Phillippo. As a witness he is wholly impartial; as a missionary he is generous to his brethren of other bodies; as a writer he is most catholic; and as a Christian he is full of charity.

The Advancement of Religion the Claim of the Times. By ANDREW REED, D.D. 8vo. pp. 399. Snow.

THESE discourses were delivered at the close of 1838, previous to the spiritual

awakening in the writer's congregation, of which he has already presented to the public a very ample and interesting account. They are ten in number, and thus indicated:-"the advancement of religion desirable, its advancement in the person, its advancement by personal effort, its advancement in the family, its advancement by the ministry, its advancement in the church, its advancement by the church, its advancement in the nation, its advancement in the world, the certainty and glory of the consummation." It will be clearly seen that these topics open up a boundless field for discussion and for application; and an examination of the volume will show that it has been traversed through its length and breadth by a man who has an ear to hear, and an eye to see much, where, to the bulk of mankind, nothing is either to be seen or heard. The author's views stretch far into society, both religious and political; he is profoundly skilled in the deepest workings of human nature. This is the most marked feature of the book. Its grand characteristic is business. It is probably just such a series of discourses as Wilberforce would have written. In truth it not a little resembles, in several respects, his celebrated "Practical View." It is distinguished by the same freshness of spirit, force of thought, expansion of view, freedom of expression, and splendour of colouring. It has much the air and aspect of being the work of a Christian gentleman of high culture and polish, deeply versed in the ways of men, rather than of a man addicted to books and learned speculation. It seems the production of a Christian philosopher, rather than of a profound divine. It is oratory rather than theology. The texts are used chiefly as mottoes, and from the beginning to the end of the volume there is scarcely a Scripture quotation, or an illustration from the Bible. The work is also very sparing in statements of gospel doctrine. We are simply speaking to facts, not insinuating deficiencies, to show the original and extraordinary character of the volume; while, at the same time, we should certainly have liked a little more theology, and more of the Bible. Where all is transcendent excellence of its kind, it is difficult to distinguish and specify; but we deem the fifth discourse, on the ministry, one of incalculable value; and when we say that all those which follow are superlatively grand as compositions, we must add that this is their meanest praise. The volume, as a whole, is calculated, under the Divine blessing, greatly

to forward the paramount object announced in its title-page. We very strongly commend it to our ministerial readers and the leading members of every community.

The People's Music Book; consisting of Psalm Tunes, Sacred Music, Songs, &c., principally arranged for four voices, with Accompaniments for the Organ or Piano-forte. By JAMES TURLE, Esq., Organist of Westminster Abbey; and EDWARD TAYLOR, Esq., Gresham Professor of Music. Parts I-X. Virtue. THE design of this book is, to bring good vocal music, of all classes, within the reach of the many. It is in fact Music for the Million. The general title may at first sight seem to our readers, as it did to ourselves, to present a somewhat grotesque and incongruous combination; but while each number includes three portions, psalm tunes, sacred music, and secular music, these portions are so printed that, when the work is completed, each division, throughout all the parts, will be separated, and the whole will bind up in one volume regularly paged, and forming three distinct works. Christian families may then have the first and second volumes without the third. Nothing of the kind has yet appeared, which admits of a comparison with this publication. While the cheapness is extraordinary, the names of the conductors are a guarantee for the execution, and Mr. Virtue may be safely trusted for the rest; the paper and print are both of the first order. The parts before us, so far as the Psalm tunes and sacred music are concerned, are every way admirable. When finished it bids fair to become a standard work among the various denominations of British Christians.

Proceedings of the Anti-Slavery Convention, called by the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and held in London, from June 13, to June 20, 1843. By J. F. JOHNSON, Shorthand Writer. Snow.

SOVEREIGNS, statesmen, political philosophers, Christian philanthropists, all are deeply interested in the subject of this work, and all will find abundant materials in its crowded pages for profitable meditation. The evil against which this great convention is waging a solemn war, is one of gigantic power and deadly malignity.