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Independents and Baptists, Quakers and Methodists, Presbyterians and Moravians, Roman Catholics and Protestants, "Chartered Libertines," profane swearers, sabbath-breakers, racers, dancers, hunters, duellists, and sceptics of various grades, from the philosophical admirer and editor of Hobbes, down to the coarse and irreverent editor of the Northern Star. Such men may make very good statesmen, and when met in parliament may be quite competent to discuss and settle any question of a purely commercial or political character; but who would ever undertake to defend the position that there is either piety, wisdom, consistency, or common sense, in entrusting to such a motley group the settlement of any question of religious faith or church order? And yet such are the men who can, at any day they like, discuss the doctrines which you shall be required to believe, and the practices you shall be required to observe. Such are the legislators who have the power to alter, add to, or take from the laws of your church, and then to enforce their own enactments by pains and penalties, the prison and the sword.

Do you say that you have the Bench of Bishops to take care of the Church in the House of Lords? I reply, 1. Their right to sit there is a purely political right, granted to them by Act of Parliament, and by Act of Parliament could at any time be taken away. 2. According to your theory of Episcopacy, they are entitled to the entire government of the church. As spiritual peers they have no more power in making church laws than the same number of lay peers, or the same number of Commoners, who may happen to be Socinians or Roman Catholics. 3. Laws af

fecting your church have passed in spite of the opposition of the Bishops; and laws which they would like to have passed have been objected to and defeated, and no doubt will be defeated again. It is these men of all creeds and no creeds-the Parliament, and not the Bishops-who, after all, make your laws, and are your real governors.

Do you reply, There are some men of enlightened minds and Christian character in the House of Commons ? Most firmly do I believe it, and most readily do I grant it. But it is no violation of Christian charity to affirm that such men form but a small minority in the House. If they were to attempt to settle any church question by a direct appeal to the sole authority of the New Testament, every one knows that they would be laughed at for their pains. And should they ever introduce a motion that could only be urged by considerations drawn from the guilt and danger of the soul without an interest in Christ, it would fare no better now than when introduced by Mr. Wilberforce, but would be sure to be treated with "much profane ribaldry." But if such men formed an overwhelming majority in the House, the evil in principle would still remain; you still allow to Christ's enemies, however small the minority, the right and power of interfering with the government of Christ's church. And if there should be no minority of the kind-if every member of the present House of Commons was as good a Christian as Mr. Wilberforce himself-even then the thing would be wrong, and they would be quite out of their province in making laws for your church: for, 1. It is as statesmen, and not as theologians, that they have been sent to parliament.

2. Their being all Christians would be purely accidental; the next election might return a majority of ungodly men. 3. It is not religiously right that I, a Nonconformist elector, should have as much power in choosing the men who shall make laws for your church as any one of you who is a conscientious Churchman. 4. It is not religiously right that any member of parliament who is a Nonconformist, however enlightened and pious he may be, should be allowed to interfere with the government of a church to which he does not belong. We should not permit an Episcopalian, be he rich or poor,

to interfere with the government of our
churches. What in our case is reli-
giously right, is politically right also;
but it is not so with you, and so long
as you allow yours to be a political
church, you must submit to the rule of
political power. By continuing in your
present position, as the National Esta-
blishment, you are giving the preroga
tives of Christ into the hands of men
who may be his enemies, and your own
privileges into the hands of men who
may be your enemies, or directly and
conscientiously opposed to the church
for which they are required to legislate.
Oct. 1, 1848.
A FRIEND.

The Counsel Chamber.

WE doubt not that among our readers there are not a few Young Men whose hearts are more or less under the influence of a desire to be engaged in the good work of a Christian Bishop, either in the Home vineyard, or in Foreign Lands; indeed, we have had frequent inquiries from such, as to the marks of a Divine call, and the qualifications which may be considered necessary to authorize the entertainment of a hope that it may not be presumption for them to offer themselves for this high vocation. We have, therefore, pleasure in introducing them to-day to one who, above most men of his time, from his wisdom, piety, observation, and experience, is entitled to answer these solemn inquiries.

NECESSARY

QUALIFICATIONS

FOR ONE WHO WOULD BE A MINISTER OF CHRIST. THAT he have a call inwardly by the Holy Spirit, exciting him to the ministry of the gospel, and frustrating all attempts to employ himself otherwise.

That he have an outward call from some congregation or people, who are desirous that he should exercise his gifts among them.

That he be not only a regenerate man himself, but that he have peculiarly large experience in spiritual things.

That he be a person much exercised to godliness, much given to prayer, re markable for self-denial, for zeal, for charity.

That he have had many conflicts with Satan, been sore tried with temptations, much chastened of the Lord, and so be able experimentally and with confidence to speak to the troubled consciences of others.

That he have an abundant and extensive knowledge of the Scriptures, both in his head and in his heart, and be able to give a reason convincingly

for the hope and faith of every kind that are in him.

dition on longevity. He tells us, that during a recent year in that State, the

That he be of good report among following results took place: those with whom he sojourns.

That he have an overflowing love to God, and to the souls of men, and that he be willing to forego any temporal comfort, and undergo any temporal hardship, so that he may glorify the one and edify the other.

That he be not given to doubtful disputations, nor unnecessarily occupied about the circumstantials of religion.

That he be of a hale constitution of body, having the use of all his members and faculties, and able to endure hardship and fatigue, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

That he be endued with a meek, and patient, and humble spirit, ready to bear and forbear, and to be kind to all.

THE MARRIED AND SINGLE. THE Secretary of the State of Massachusetts recently published a series of statistical facts, illustrating the influence of the domestic and wedded con

Married males

Unmarried males

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14,366

Average age-35, 55·100.

64,750

Average age-56, 65.100.

Widowers

21,490

Average age-75, 94.100.

Unmarried females
Average age-42, 11.100.

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22,490

Married females

61,246

53,754

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Average age-43, 78.100.
Widows.

Average age-73, 55·100.

We invite the especial attention of our bachelor friends to these facts. It will be seen that the chances of longevity with the married are decidedly greater than with the single; that with males the average was only thirty-five years among bachelors, while it was fifty-six with married men; also, that among females, while the average age of the unmarried was little more than forty-two years, it was nearly fortyfour with the married.

Poetry.

FORGIVE AND FORGET.

"I FORGIVE the offence, but I cannot forget;"
How often that language I've heard,
And felt that forgive, in such company set,
Was a vain and a meaningless word.

Remember'd offences must canker the heart,
And poison the fountain of love;
They rise like an iceberg to keep us apart,
Wherever our footsteps may rove.

At least I confess, when my heart is made scre,
And my feelings indignant I find,

The only true method my peace to secure,
Is to banish the cause from my mind.

I must seek to forget, or I cannot forgive,
However my reason may strive,

For it whispers, If just, the resentment should live,
While I keep the remembrance alive.

And I turn with a resolute will from the thought, Whenever it enters my brain,

Till my spirit hath found the tranquillity sought,
And no angry emotions remain.

And I pray that the seal of oblivion thus set,
No future remembrance may break;
'Tis then I forgive, for the fault I forget
No longer resentment can wake.

LIFE'S SUNNY SPOTS. THOUGH Life's a dark and thorny path, Its goal the silent tomb,

It yet some spots of sunshine hath,
That smile amid the gloom.
The Friend who weal and woe partakes,

Unchanged, whate'er his lot,
Who kindly soothes the heart that aches,

Is sure a sunny spot.

The Wife who half our burden bears,

And utters not a moan;

Whose ready hand wipes off our tears,

Unheeded all her own;

Who treasures every kindly word,
Each harsher one forgot,

And carols blithely as a bird,-
She 's, too, a sunny spot.

L. F. M..

The Child who lifts, at morn and eve,
In prayer its tiny voice;
Who grieves whene'er its parents grieve,
And joys when they rejoice;
In whose bright eye young Genius glows,
Whose heart, without a blot,
Is fresh and pure as summer's rose,-
That child's a sunny spot.

There's yet upon life's weary road

One spot of brighter glow, Where Sorrow half forgets its load, And tears no longer flow; Friendship may wither, Love decline, Our child his honour blot; But still undimm'd that spot will shineRELIGION lights that spot.

W. L

The Fragment Basket.

BEAUTY OF MINOR MORALS.

THE smaller parts of an edifice may be less important than its foundation, but they are not less necessary, and they are even much more beautiful. Look at the splendid edifice in course of construction for the British Legislature, and fix your eye on its sculptured niches and its fretted pinnacles. Why, without all these it would be substantially fit for the purpose for which it is designed; but they are its ornaments, its finish,-and to rob it of them would be to despoil it of its beauty. So it is with the minor morals of the Christian

character, and with the minor portions

of Christian truth. They are like the last touches in a painting; the few but most conspicuous touches, to which all else was preparatory, and by which all else is wrought to its perfection. Nor | can it justly be said that to treat these minor matters of Christian instruction is not preaching the gospel. I protest against so narrow an interpretation of this term. The precept," Be ye holy, for I am holy," is surely as much a part of the gospel as the declaration that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. And if the injunction of universal holiness be so, so likewise is every precept into which it may be broken up.-J. H. Hinton.

PREVENTIVES OF CHOLERA. THE public should be apprised of the paramount necessity for a more general use of chloride of lime in all sick rooms. It not only acts as a safeguard in contagious disorders, but entirely destroys the unhealthiness of the atmosphere which is more or less attendant upon invalid apartments. It is well known that cholera, typhus fever, &c., are always more severe and fatal when the atmosphere is impure, and many disorders are made contagious by a want of attention to this important fact. Most virulent diseases, which threatened to spread through whole districts, have been checked in their bud by the free use of this simple agent. About half a pound of the powdered chloride may be put in two gallons of water, to stand in the sick room, and a small quantity of the solution occasionally sprinkled about. Drains, cesspools, &c., the nuclei of most diseases, might, by

having chloride thrown into them, be rendered perfectly harmless.

THE BIBLE.

"A BIBLE," says John Berridge, "is the precious store-house and the Magna Charta of a Christian. There he reads of his heavenly Father's love, and of his dying Saviour's legacies; there he sees a map of his travels through the wilderness, and a landscape, too, of Canaan. And when he climbs on Pisgah's top, and views the promised land, his heart begins to burn, delighted with the blessed prospect, and amazed at the rich and free salvation. But a mere professor, though a decent one, looks on the Bible as a dull book, and peruseth it with such indifference as you would read the title-deeds belonging to another man's estate."

TRUTH alwaysjustifies itselfin events, but all compromises of it issue in proofs of our folly.

The Children's Gallery.

MEMOIR OF FREDERIC MORRIS.

FREDERIC MORRIS, a scholar in the Independent Sunday-school, Pendleton, Manchester, died on the 19th of July, 1848, being only eight years and four months old,

Little Freddy, at a very early age, gave indications that the spirit enshrined in his frail tabernacle was intelligent and amiable; and as his mind developed itself, it betrayed an originality of thought, and a delicacy of feeling, not generally observable in children.

In everything that related to spiritual and eternal subjects he appeared to take a solemn delight. He preferred the sabbath to any other day, the chapel and school to all other places, and the Bible to all other books: he cared little for other books; he scarcely liked them as well as he ought: but all that belonged to the soul and eternity attracted his attention, and engaged his heart.

On a present being made to him, he

remarked to the donor, "No doubt you think you have given me a great deal; but there is One who has given more. God gave his Son." Freddy was a lover of truth: never would he utter a falsehood, even to conceal his faults; for he had faults, chiefly resulting from the liveliness of his feelings; but he was sincere and guileless. He never would get into bed without offering up his prayer, which generally consisted of the Lord's Prayer, or, "Lord, look upon a little child," &c. Since his death, a little memorandum-book has been found, which contains a passage from one of the Psalms, recently written by the dear child: "Truly my soul waiteth upon God; from him cometh my salvation." It was signed underneath," Freddy's verse." Most touching to his parents' hearts was this discovery! The beloved one was evidently looking to God, and from God has his salvation come.

An impression was on his mind that he should not long be an inhabitant of this world. Last new-year's day, on

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