expression of his sons, a mind made by nature of the most vehement kind," an unrivalled command of his native tongue, and a pen the power of which was equalled only by its perseverance, he might have exerted a moral influence among the people of England, greater, by a thousand-fold, than that of the whole Bench of Bishops! One of the most eminent Transatlantic prelates now living truly says, "The bishops, in theory, are indeed the governors of the church: in practical effect, however, on the minds of the majority, the editorial chair stands far above them." This witness is true, and it is time that the Independents of England should know it. The foundation of their system is heavenly truth; their hope of triumph is entirely founded on the spread of scriptural knowledge. To them light is life; darkness, destruction! Both as it respects church polity, and civil as well as religious liberty, they have taken up a position far ahead of the bulk both of the church and of the world, and there they calmly await the arrival of all people, tribes, and tongues; for thither, assuredly, however slowly, they are all travelling onward. The hearts of mankind will find no rest but in God; the thrones of the world no repose but on truth. The religion of Christ must one day become the politics of the Nations, and the New Testa ment the code of universal legislation. Let the principle of Independency once pervade the religion of the earth, and that simple fact will be a virtual proclamation that despotism in all its forms has fallen, that our race is emancipated, and our world become the Temple of Freedom!

Our counsel, therefore, to our people is, to seize the Printing Press, and to bring its utmost power to bear upon the millions of the British Empire. As truly as beautifully did the Right Hon. George Canning describe its general power when he said, By means of printing, man may speak to all kindreds, and tribes, and people, and tongues, and make his voice be heard, with simultaneous power, beyond the Atlantic waves, and upon the shores of the Caspian Sea, and amid the population of Europe. Nay, he may speak to accumulating generations after his death with all the freshness and force of personal eloquence. Printing gives to man a sort of ubiquity and eternity of being; it enables him to outwit death, and enshrine himself amid a kind of earthly immortality. It enables him to speak while yet dead. His words that breathe, and thoughts that burn, are embodied and embalmed; and with him thousands hold profitable or hurtful communion till time is no more. If, then, we are loudly called upon to be careful what we speak, and what we do, we are doubly warned to beware what we throw into the press, and invest with a power to endure, and a strength to pass every sea, and to visit every people." All this applies with force a hundred-fold increased, to the Periodical Press. Other things being equal, circulation is everything. The influence of a book is just in proportion to the number of its readers. Beyond all question, therefore, the highest application of the power of the Printing Press lies in the issue of popular periodicals. Compared with this, all ordinary authorship, how splendid soever, is work in a corner, labour in a cave: it may benefit the few, and conduct its authors to fame, but it will leave the masses unblessed. What is at this moinent, whether for evil or for good, feeding, forming, and moulding the minds of the British people? Is it the folio, the quarto, the goodly octavo, or the royal twelves? Nay, verily; but small and unpretending manuals of divers forms and diminutive appearance. But in the more athletic efforts of the Periodical field itself, where lies the chief power? Assuredly there, too, not in the larger, but in the smaller publications; not in those of the least frequent, but in those of the most frequent recurrence. On this subject, we think, some wise and good men are mistaken; they seem to us to attach a most inordinate importance to costly periodical literature. According to them, no religious community was ever respectable and strong without a high-priced

and large-typed Quarterly Periodical; just as, according to others, no nation was ever respectable and strong without a rich and privileged Nobility. What Nobles have done for nations may be ascertained from history; but what Quarterlies have done for religious bodies we have yet to learn. A good Nobility, if it can be created, may, for aught we know, be a good institution; and a good Quarterly, if it can be established, in its own little sphere, may be a useful organ: but for the advancement of a nation's real good we would not give 10,000 well-disciplined British-School Teachers for all the Nobles in the world; and for training, purifying, elevating, animating, and impelling on to virtuous deeds the souls of the Christian portion of the British people, we would not give a well-conducted Weekly Religious Paper, with a circulation of 100,000 copies, and so cheap as to bring it within the reach of the poorest, for all the Quarterlies that British talent could produce, and British wealth support. We say, therefore, whatever else you do, attend to the organs of the Millions! Would that the minds of our gifted ministers, and of our opulent, liberal, and public-spirited laymen, were fully alive to this subject, and that they would direct their energies into this channel! Neglect what you may, remember the Millions! Let your first object and your last be to advance, in all possible ways, your own cheap periodical literature. This is your life! Even the opulent, instead of overlooking, should most prize the excellence which is cheapest. The cheaper it is, the more it approximates to all God's chief blessings. That which only few can purchase, only few can read. The numbers circulated of half-crown Monthlies, and six-shilling Quarterlies, whatever their respective merits, must always be limited to comparatively a few hands, and therefore utterly and every way impotent for popular objects. But fact in this matter is better than argument. The present Number of the CHRISTIAN WITNESS, for example, publishes 33,000 copies of the important Documents of the Union in one day, thus diffusing them among myriads of minds, of every order, in all the coasts and districts of the British Empire, and through most parts of the civilized world, and this at such a price as a child pays for the most insignificant plaything! This is a boon that could not be conferred on the church of Christ by all our expensive Monthly and Quarterly Reviews and Magazines, both religious and secular, united. Six-shilling Quarterlies belong to the reign which gloried in castled waggons, drawn by twelve horses, and moving at the dignified pace of twelve miles a day; half-crown Monthlies are of a species with the handsome English stage coach, driving at twelve miles an hour-good things, inside, for people possessing wealth and leisure; but Cheap Periodicals belong to the age of the Railway! Every man, then, to his taste; Gothic things for Gothic men; but light postage, quick transit, cheap Bibles, and cheap Periodicals, for the Millions of England!

In looking on the awful future, we most heartily thank all our friends for all their kindness, and throw ourselves upon their generous confidence and best feelings during the year to come. We need make no promises, nor give any pledges, where neither are demanded; but we think it probable that our next volume will be superior to the present. The year of commencement is attended with difficulties which diminish with time, and it is connected with wants which time alone can supply. Our correspondence has been as unexampled in amount as our circulation; but very little of it has been availing. Utility is the star by which we steer: things speculative and curious are not to our purpose. Our cue, relative to chief articles, is always taken from the times which are passing over us. To fill our pages with general edifying matter-matter equally suited to any month of the year, and any year of the century -would be an easy task; but that ease would be purchased at a very heavy expense to the cause for which, and to the community for whom we toil. Now that our

principle is understood, we trust our excellent correspondents will act upon it, and thus mitigate the severity of our personal labours.

We are encouraged to hope that our usefulness will be largely increased during the year to come. Things new are strange, and men must scrutinize them: new periodicals are at first received, even by the wise and good, with more or less of doubt, suspicion, jealousy, and fear. But this comes gradually to an end. Anxiety naturally gives place to repose, caution to confidence, criticism to reflection-advantages which, both to them and ourselves, time alone could bring. Still, with a body of readers so great, an attempt to please all would be as preposterous as its attainment would be impossible. All that we can expect to realize is, sometimes to please, and sometimes to offend; to please all by turns, and occasionally to please one class and offend another by the selfsame articles; and often to confer most benefit when we yield least pleasure. To be felt, a public writer must be strong-and gentle spirits, in his strength, will sometimes see violence; to be understood, he must be plain-and plainness will offend pride. Nor is this all; to public men in our present state the condition of doing much that is wise and good is, the doing, sometimes, a little that is neither. But the Public should remember that error is not confined to editors and action; they too may err in judgment and conduct-may err through ignorance, through precipitance, through prejudice, through misrepresentation, and inculpate deeds which merit the highest praise. An editor, too, has frequently occasion to say and do things of strange aspect and apparently questionable prudence to those who look on from a distance. Duty will often prompt a deed of which propriety conceals the reason. The function, therefore, demands confidence-strong, full, general confidence. He who fills the office must deserve this; and deserving, he must possess it. The public creed concerning him should comprise but one tenet, and that tenet, INFALLIBILITY! One passing word on such public questions as unhappily divide us. On these, of course, we have our own opinions-opinions with respect to which many are before, and not a few behind us. Now, seeing that we cheerfully bear with both, and labour to benefit both, is it too much that we ask both in turn to bear and work with us? With regard to those ahead of us, we deem it not merely impolitic, but cruel and unjust, to asperse and malign them. We do, we must, we ever shall, respect the men who pay such penalties for their principles. We hold ourselves their debtors. They are pioneering our way. Where they are we shall one day be. Are they harsh, bitter, uncharitable? They may be so; but this is very much a matter of taste. Are they violent and needlessly offensive to our common adversaries? They may be so; but this will pass away, while the spirit of freedom, with which it is associated, will outlive all things. By their indiscretions is it contended that they retard the cause they, in common with us, seek to advance? Time alone can prove the truth of the allegation. We have somewhere read a beautiful tale of a fairy, which the writer applied to Freedom. It was to the following effect. For certain causes this tiny spirit was condemned to appear on earth, at particular periods, in the guise of a loathsome and poisonous snake; and in that state her treatment from mankind was carefully remembered by her. Those who, in the seasons of her humiliation, injured her, were for ever excluded from all share in the rich blessings she bestowed at other times. But to those who, unrepelled by her disgusting aspect, pitied and protected her till her transformation, she afterwards revealed herself in a lovely and celestial form, which was her natural and proper body, attending their footsteps, granting all their wishes, loading them with wealth, and lavishing on them all sorts of favour. Such a spirit is Liberty. At times she takes the form of a loath some reptile. She creeps, she hisses, she stings. But woe to those whose hatred and disgust prompt attempts to

crush her! Happy are they, on the contrary, who, pitying her frailty, overlook her faults, and, waiting for time to correct and experience to teach her, espouse her cause, and help her against her enemies. When the time shall come for her to ascend her throne, clothed in beauty, and surrounded with glory, she will load them with her choicest blessings. Let grave divines, the monopolists of wisdom, and the apostles of prudence, ponder and remember the lesson of the fairy!

Now for action, in the prospect of 1845. Whose bosom glows with warm desires for the good of his country and of mankind? Who bears an ardent love to the Congregational community, and fervently longs to see their churches improved, elevated, animated, and multiplied? Who prays with all prayer and supplication for the spread of the gospel, the triumphs of truth, at home and in our distant colonies? Whose sympathizing heart bleeds over the benighted heathen, and burns to behold the whole earth filled with the glory of Emmanuel? LET ALL SUCH DIFFUSE THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS! Pastors, Deacons, Communicants, Auditors, Door-keepers, Collectors, Visitors, Home Missionaries, Travelling Agents, we urge, we conjure you to devise all practicable methods, and watch for every opportunity, to DIFFUSE THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS!

At the opening of the year we said, "The Public, not the Editor, are now on their probation. If they perform their duty, we shall strenuously labour to promote their best interests; if not, at the close of a year we shall separate. Gold could not have brought us to the task; and, unless our ideas of success be realized, gold shall not bind us to it." Now part of our people have done "their duty," and done it nobly, and so far we are satisfied; the majority have not so done, and we are disappointed. Our "ideas of success," therefore, though largely, have not been fully "realized." Cheered, nevertheless, by the generous zeal of the one class, we shall have patience with the other; and although, at present, declining the permanent Editorship, we have agreed to extend the probation of our defective friends to ONE MORE YEAR, in the hope, in the confidence that they will yet perform "their duty." According to our views, after the most careful inquiry and mature deliberation, our circulation, at the very least, ought to be FIFTY THOUSAND. We shall, therefore, wait to see the result of our present appeal. If the leading spirits and official men of our community shall awake, put on their strength, and enable us to begin the year with 50,000, we shall be encouraged to begird ourselves for its labour and turmoil with courage and constancy; and at the commencement of 1846, should life be spared, and our services continue to be acceptable, we might probably then see our path clear to a continuance; but if otherwise-if, at any rate, we do not close the next year with 50,000-whatever else may issue from the fact, it will be to us a great, a grievous disappointment. But it must not, it will not be! We shall not be disappointed. No! our expectations will be more than realized. If only a minority of our people have achieved for us such a circulation already, what may not be effected by THE UNANIMOUS, SIMULTANEOUS, AND RESOLUTE EXERTION OF OUR ENTIRE COMMUNITY!

November 11, 1844.

JOHN CAMPBELL,

PREFACE.

THIS Volume is the first of a series which will probably extend through many ages; and from this circumstance it derives an interest and an importance which could not otherwise belong to it. On this account, therefore, it becomes not only proper but necessary to record, and so preserve an outline of the Plan of the Work, as published preparatory to its appearance. That Document comprised nine Heads, of which the following are the special provisions.

I. THEOLOGY AND BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATION.—The paramount object of our Journal will be, by every means, to promote the work of God in the hearts of his children. With this view particular attention will be constantly paid to the subject of Gospel truth in its manifold and multiform doctrinal, experimental, and practical bearings. Each Number will contain a short Discourse, or Essay, or Address to some particular class, in which especial regard will be had to the comfort and encouragement of Old Age, as also to the support and consolation of Christian suffering. In addition to these, there will be generally an Illustration of some difficult, important, or interesting portion of Scripture. Into the pages of the CHRISTIAN WITNESS, however, no profound and perplexing theological controversy, no scholastic and elaborate criticism, will be admitted.

II. BIOGRAPHY AND OBITUARY.-The cultivation of this department will be a particular object of our regard. Grace reigning in life; grace triumphing in death! Properly conducted, nothing conduces more to interest, impress, and edify all classes of believers. Especially is this the case in regard to death. Never are the riches and the power of sovereign grace displayed with greater beauty than at the close of a life of faith, when the countenance of God shines on the face of his departing child, and heaven, with all its glories, opens to receive him to its rest and bliss!

III. ESSAYS, EXTRACTS, AND CORRESPONDENCE.-This department will bear a very comprehensive character. Christian Missions, Church Polity, Church History, Popery and Puseyism, Memoirs of particular Churches and Institutions, Striking Events, illustrative of Divine Providence, Extracts from works, new, rare, or remarkable, Anecdotes, Plans of Usefulness, Essays on Benefit and Friendly Societies,-these and kindred subjects will all, in turn, find a place in the CHRISTIAN WITNESS.

IV. CHURCH AND STATE.-The Separation of Church and State is the grand, the paramount question of our times. It involves the principal interests, both religious and political, of the British Empire; and unhappily it most affects those interests on which, for England and all nations, most depends,-public harmony and the diffusion of Education, the purity and spread, both at home and abroad, of true religion, the introduction of patriotic government, and the perfecting of a system of rational and just legislation. Language cannot express the importance of this separation! The human mind cannot even approximate the formation of a true estimate of the calamity and evil which flow from this most unscriptural and most baneful union! To fire the mind, we must illumine the judgment, and awaken the conscience. Line must be upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and this will not be forgotten in the CHRISTIAN WITNESS.

V. ANALYTICAL REVIEWS AND SHORT CRITICISMS.-True Criticism is less allied to art than to instinct; it depends on a right perception of the just, the true, and the beautiful. As founded in truth and nature, its principles are, therefore, as immutable as their basis, and its operations are regulated by fixed and settled laws. The prevalent and popular system of reviewing by the worldly Press of this country, is, to a vast extent, anything but criticism; it is essaying; it is dissertation; it may be, and it frequently is, erudite, able, and eloquent, but it is not criticism; the matter, the manner, the merits of the works, which supply the thesis, are ofttimes entirely forgotten; not a sentence is penned that can guide the public judgment. The vice of the great secular Periodicals