has its use; while the soft and thrilling tones of the daily service of prayer steal away the passionate aspirations of the soul, and bear them far from the strifes of time. That many who have been wont to take part in the service of the college chapel, should be attracted to the more complete worship of the Romish church, in which the sensuousness of religious worship is carried to its utmost extreme, can excite no surprise. Their education, their early impressions, all tend to such forms. To them worship is nothing if it be not largely commingled with the outward and visible symbol. But putting aside the imaginative, the fanatical, the thoughtless, and others whose adhesion to Rome may have been determined by still lower motives, there is a class whose perversion is not so easily accounted for. We have seen the children of evangelical parents become priests of the apostate church. We have known men once ornaments and preachers of evangelic truth abandon the pulpits of the establishment for the monk's cowl, and the Jesuit's gown. A clear sighted vision, and years of bold proclamation of the doctrine of man's justification before God through faith only, have not availed to hinder such from yielding to the allurements of the man of sin. It is no satisfactory explanation to throw out a doubt of their sincerity, or of their true conversion. If there be any certain marks by which a regenerated nature may be known, some of these individuals have borne them; while the sacrifices they have made of friendships, of position, of respect, and of property, testify to the genuineness of their convictions. Still, it is an anomaly not to be overlooked, that men who have once to all appearance realized the blessedness of the man whose sins are covered by the all-sufficient merit of the Redeemer's sacrifice, should mix up therewith human merit, and find in supposed pur gatorial fires a more complete purgative from sin than His blood, which is said, in scripture, to cleanse from all sin. It is, indeed, most strange that any who have once enjoyed sweet converse with God by the alone intervention of the great Intercessor, Christ Jesus, should now be induced to resort to saintly service, and to trust their cause in the hands of inferior and multitudinous mediators, of whose compassion they know nothing, and whose power to deliver is altogether supposi titious. We wonder that thoughtful men should take refuge in a church, whose boasted unity is the oneness of a despotic usurpation, and commit their salvation to the care of a priesthood whose claims of exclusive power to save deny the words of him who said, “I am the door, by ME if any man enter in he shall be saved." Yet such cases are not rare. Not a few of the best converts Rome has made were trained in schools of evangelic piety, and own for ancestry the names of men honoured in these last times as faithful expounders of the pure gospel, and large contributors to that revival of true godliness which marked the opening years of the century. A reason for this may perhaps be found in one aspect of Romish theology, to which there is little that is analogous in the teaching of protestants. Rome has multiform ways of attracting to herself the hearts of men; and one of the most alluring of these, to a certain order of minds, is the means she presents in abundance for the cultivation of the highest forms of a contemplative and spiritual life. The greatest masters of the interior life, of the hidden life with God, peculiarly characteristic of the regenerate soul aspiring after high degrees of communion with the invisible, are to be found among the retired inmates of the cloister. From them have emanated works of the pro-, shall realize its blessedness and its foundest piety, expressive of the deeper peace-its perfect peace. "So run emotions of the aspiring spirit. The meditations of these recluses are not seldom found in the hands of the most pious of protestant Christians, breathing as they do the purest sentiments, the holiest attachment to Christ and God, and revealing the sighings of the heart after fellowship with the Eternal. And this because protestantism presents but few manuals of the kind. The object of this study is the entire sanctification of the soul. The Redeemer often urged on his disciples the need of frequent and earnest prayer, Luke xviii. 1. His own example-the entire nights in which he sought communion with God, were comments on the precept he gave, Luke vi. 12. The forty days and nights of his sojourn in the desert, and the night of his passion, were spent in contemplation and prayer. Paul, again and again, repeats this lesson; and Peter adds his exhortation to "watch unto prayer," Eph. vi. 18; Rom. xii. 11; 1 Pet. iv. 8. For the manner of prayer, Jesus teaches us to withdraw from the observation of men. He himself withdrew into desert places. In the private chamber the heart can pour out its griefs, its aspirations before God. There, with David, it may meditate on the divine nature, the love of God, the compassions of the Infinite, the purity of the Holy One, the sweetness of Divine friendship, and importunately press after their realization in itself. As the child of God by faith in Christ Jesus, the regenerate soul now desires to walk in love, to express, in every word, the love to God that animates it, to imbue every thought with this element, to live a loving life with God and men. But this state of pure love can only be attained through many watchings and many prayers. Conflicts of many kinds have to be endured, before the soul that ye may obtain," says the apostle. "Fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life." The race is an arduous one, the warfare full of vicissitude and danger. The world, in its thousand-fold forms of temptation, besets the runner's path. The flesh, with all its passions and sensualities, counsels the pursuit of ease; while the devil, with weapons of fiery temptation and trial, strives to consume the energies of love. The provision made by our popular protestantism for the cultivation of the higher forms of piety and devotion is but scant, if, indeed, it can be said, at the present time, to exist at all. Few are the guides placed in the hands of the people to instruct them how to live to God and with God. Great and laudable diligence is displayed in awakening conviction in the unthinking and careless, in leading the sinner to the atoning blood, in displaying the fulness and freeness of that salvation which Calvary secured for the guilty. But where shall we discover equal solicitude in the popular teaching of the day for the spiritual welfare of the believer, and his continued progress in the path of holiness and purity? Not that we would be understood as implying that practical godliness is never insisted upon, nor the duties of practical piety forgotten. These are often powerfully urged and still further enforced by the consciences of the enlightened; but we do miss the directing hand in this difficult path, the kind monitor, the wise assistant. Duty may be fully set before us, but the how to fulfil it is wanting. If prayer and the perusal of the divine word be urged, and the duty of their observance recognized, yet is there given no practical lessons as to the best method of reaping the most advantage from these necessary practices of piety. It is a mistake to suppose that the life of church members requires no careful cultivation on the part of the ministry. It is the most important feature of the pastoral relation. For want of attention to it, many who began to run well gradually relapse into indifference or fall away. The moral affections demand as much training as the intellectual powers; and forming, as they do, the motive power of every individual man, they should receive the most sedulous regard. But where is the ministry that leads on the immature to perfection-the children of grace to the stature of men in Christ Jesus? where are the helps to self-discipline, to meditation and prayer, -so essential in the earliest stages of the Christian life? where do we find, in the pulpit or the press, an urgent demand on Christian men to seek after the attainment of purity of thought and feeling, loveliness of character, and that "holiness without which no man shall see the Lord?" where are the means, by the diligent use of which the child of God may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus? Because these are wanting, it is, we fear, an age of low attainment, and of spiritual dwarfishness. Many have felt this, and have sought in the mystic theology of Rome the satisfaction denied them in their own communion. and bustling philanthropies of the day. Communion with God is welcomed, even in the solitude of the cloister, with all the mortifications and hardships of convent rule, since there is but little room for it amid the publicities of modern piety, and the éclat of platform celebrity. The platitudes of the evangelical pulpit, and the common-places of our protestant theology, have ceased to interest minds conscious of a deeper experience, and longing after higher and holier communion with the invisible. Hence many have been led on by the fervent, yet profound piety of a Fenelon to the study of St. Francis de Sales, from Thomas à Kempis to the counsels of perfection displayed in the works of Rodriguez. They have there found a response to the yearnings of a soul in love with God, and anxious to have its being penetrated with His sublime presence. The result has been most mischievous. Romish dogmas have come to be thought less erroneous because held in combination with so much that is true and precious. The dross has been accepted for the sake of the gold imbedded therein. We must confess that while we long to see a revived piety in our churches, it is our conviction that it can only be obtained by a more diligent regard to the various aspects of the Christian life, and a practical observance of those rules of piety and holy living which experience has approved as essential to the existence and growth of spirituality, and holiness of thought and feeling. The numerous works, some of them injurious enough because imbued with Romish error, that have issued from the Tractarian press, evince this tendency of unsatisfied desire, and the longing after a deeper and purer spiritual life. The errors and enormities of Rome have been forgotten or passed by in the joy of finding a spirituality of feeling that certainly is absent from the modern phases of our protestant theology. The monastic institution has been regarded with favour because of its opportunities for meditation and frequent prayer, denied to the active in an authentic form. Very brief must be our remarks on the works before us. Dr. Urwick is well-known as an able assailant of the errors of Rome, and his present work will not diminish his reputation. Of the next on our list we can but express our conviction, that if in substance true, it would have been better had the author given us the narrative We are per suaded that this dressing up of facts into fictitious forms is injurious to the truth. A few well authenticated instances of the chicanery and fraud practised in this story, would do more to baffle the efforts of Rome than all the tales that can be written. Let the truth be told, the plain unvarnished facts, and we are sure the warning would be vastly more powerful. The Witnesses in Sackcloth is a brief and somewhat meagre account of the sufferings endured on the revocation of the edict of Nantes by the Protestants of 'rance. The most valuable part of e book is the large bibliographical dex appended of the literature of the subject. The letters of Kirwan are as usual racy and full of point, and will well repay perusal. The Curse of Christendom, or the System of 685 the evidence of their having turned to the subject with earnest thought and exemplary diligence. The effect of this cannot fail to be salutary. It will prevent our people from flying off into the opposite extreme of intolerance, and will prepare them properly to deal with the system. They will learn to distinguish between what is due to their Romish fellow subjects, and the system of which they are victims, and the priesthood who uphold it-subjects indeed of vast importance, difficult no doubt to deal with, but yet requiring unquestionably a very different treatment. Mr. Pike has contributed his share to this work. A sentence from the preface will explain his object, which is thus expressed: "To bring together in as compendious a manner as possible, such a collection of facts and arguments as shall in the first place present a fulllength portraiture of the Romish system; and in the next supply an antidote to its pestiferous evils." The work opens with an introduction designed to illusWHATEVER difference of opinion may trate the nature of the conflict in which exist in regard to the political move- we are engaged, and then discusses the ments incident to the papal aggression- following topics: Gradual development Lord J. Russell's famous Durham letter of papal doctrines-hostility of popery -the bill passed by the late parliament to the bible-supremacy of the pope-or the proceedings of the Protestant infallibility of the church-idolatry of Alliance, all who love the truth must popery-the seven sacraments-purrejoice that the attempt to develope gatory-mummery of popery-immofully the papal system in England, has rality of popery—intolerance of popery awakened deep and almost universal-Romish saints, miracles, relics, and attention to it. Prior to this event there had been a criminal indifference to the subject, a general prevalence of false views regarding it, and a growing notion that it was not quite so bad a thing after all! Our public teachers for the most part neglected the study of it, and failed to communicate the necessary instruction to their flocks, especially the young. The papal aggression roused them from their fatal slumber; and we rejoice in legends. The last four chapters we particularly recommend to our younger readers, as deserving a careful perusal. The subjects are treated with great manliness and force. There is no want of plain outspokenness. Things are called by their right names; but there is no trace of an intolerant or unchristian temper. The writer quotes very largely from Romish authorities, and has evidently read extensively for his purpose; and for the most part these authorities 889 ts value to his it a reliable one. new statements and senere and there, which we should er deleting or altering, but not enough to render it necessary to modify our general expression of strong approval. One thing is plain to us, that our author proves from incontestible evidence the evidence of the papacy itself—that it is "the curse of Christendom." At all events he has vindicated the justness of the title. The book is exceedingly well got up, and quite worth the price of it. We hope it may have an extensive circulation. BRIEF NOTICES. The Past Teaching the Present. A Discourse delivered at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, June 1, 1852, before the Northern Association of Baptist Churches, at the Bicentenary of their Formation. By STEPHEN J DAVIS. Published at the Request of the Association. London: 8vo. pp. 24. Price 6d. Two hundred years having elapsed since the formation of a baptist church in the county of Durham, the Northern Association determined to celebrate the event at its annual meeting, and requested Mr. Davis to address them on the occasion. These pages contain a well studied and appropriate discourse, in which he showed that the event ought to be commemorated with devout and fervent gratitude; that in order to secure prosperity it was necessary to hold and promulgate the same essential truths of Christianity as their fathers had maintained;-that it was necessary to be like them distinguished by superior piety, the worthy sons of eminently worthy sires;-that the earnestness which they displayed it was now important to emulate;-and that progress is only to be expected if we sympathize with them in dependence on God as the great agent apart from whom we can effect nothing. Nothing could be more pertinent to the occasion than the preacher's suggestions; and we are certain that out of the sphere of the Northern Association as well as in it, the perusal of this discourse will give much pleasure. It is especially satisfactory that sentiments so evangelical and practical, and a spirit so devout and harmonizing, should be brought to view on this occasion by one who is engaged habitually in visiting the churches and stations assisted by the Baptist Home Missionary Society. The influence accruing from such intercourse must be very salutary as well as pleasant. Pearls from the Deep: consisting of Remains and Reminiscences of Two Sisters, Converts from the Roman Catholic Church for the sake of Conscience and of the Truth, a Narrative accompanied by Valuable Letters and Papers, Forming a Sequel to "The Morning of Life.” London: Hamilton, Adams and Co. 16mo. pp. viii. 184. entitled "Two Roman Catholic Ladies of the Nineteenth Century," and that entitled "The Dying Christian's Farewell" are derived from this interesting volume. It contains also many well written letters from the sisters to relatives and friends, having more or less bearing on the cardinal truths which Romanism throws into the shade. Blended with the historical portions of the book are numerous references to an earlier work called "The Morning of Life," though it has never come in our way. This is which some of our readers have probably seen, called "Pearls from the Deep" because, "as the pearl is taken from the darkness of the ocean depths, released from its natural prisonand set in a diadem that its lustre may be seen house in the shell, brought to the light of day, of all; so these two eminent instances of the power of the grace and truth of God were spiritually released from the darkness in which found, and were called by divine power and by nature every child of the human family is agency into God's marvellous light." Reality; or Life's Inner Circle. By MRS. Here is a book written by a lady, chiefly for the benefit of young persons of her own sex. "To guard the young against too easy a compliance with the ways and opinions of newly formed acquaintances, to inspire them with a dread of flattery, and an abhorrence of every species of deceit and false pretension; and at the same time to implant right principles, and cherish the desire for real excellence, comprise the design of this little work." A lofty design; but one which might have been realized to a much higher degree by a series of admonitory and didactic discourses. We are among the number of those who believe that in most cases religious fiction is a very insipid and mawkish tone and vigorous action which is its professed draught, and seldom produces that healthy aim. The present volume is one of the best of its class. There is no striking incident to enliven it; of this the writer is aware, and she The piece in an earlier part of this number assigns her reason for its omission. We have |