nity bill, to save harmless the revilers of and overt conspirators against our holy catholic establishment? The laws they violate would not have to be suspended another hundred years in their favour. Long before their abrogation, chaos will be come again; and to chaos we are hurrying, unless the declamations and publications of those pseudo-ministers of the gospel be checked. They cannot be considered true to their holy vocation whilst they disseminate their hideous calumnies against the most tolerant establishment that ever existed in any age or country. That such malignant leaven should be infused into the public mind by any hand, must be a matter of deep regret; that it should be mingled and prepared by those hands from which the world is wont to look for blessings, seems awful and portentous. But, however awful the consideration, no wise government would wait till revolution manifested itself by overt actions, but check aught which hath a tendency that way. But, what say we? Is not treason sufficiently overt? Is it not a misdemeanour by the law of the land, the conduct of certain titular theologians? Are the specimens we have already given of their declamations* not enough to ruffle up the spirit of the vulgar, and set mischief afoot? And as, à priori, we should apprehend, so it has turned out. Rebellion stalks abroad like a giant at noon-day, naked and unchallenged. The language used at these meeting-houses, and disseminated through the country by means of their organ of the press, are aggressions on the public tranquillity. They are unfortunately, however, so familiar to the nation of late years, as to be little regarded." "It is to be ascribed to the lamentable helplessness of Government, which, even where it may be well inclined, must let I dare not, wait upon, I would,' that these heresiarchs find themselves possessed of perfect impunity to do, and to say whatsoever they are inclined." Surely, as Mr. Wesley said, "were the present restraint taken off, they would gnash upon us with their teeth!" Let then the Dissenters learn, that it is by a loyal attachment to their gracious Sovereign, and by a cordial support of her Government, that they have, under God, their best security against a humiliating and faithless concealment of their principles, or a fierce persecution for the avowal of them. MONITOR. NEW YEAR'S DAY. Now another year has vanish'd, Ere we raise our waking head. But its thoughts, and words, and ac- Written with the eternal pen, Ah! and life is fast declining, Death on me his seal has set; With the glory of the Lamb; With the incense of his name. The lengthened article from which this is extracted, refers by name to the Rev. Dr. J. P. Smith, Rev. J. A. James, Rev. Thomas Binney, Rev. J. Sibree, Mr. Josiah Conder, and the Editor of the Christian Advocate; so that the reader may understand who will be the victims of the Auto da Fé, which is to be solemnized the next time high church principles gain an ascendancy in the councils of this nation! N. S. VOL. III. Р Go, my soul! thine anchor casting In the vail; abide in peace; Haste! his mercies everlasting Flow from thence and never cease. And as now the rosy morning Tells of precious hours in store; Let me not, instruction scorning, Spurn its lessons evermore. Perhaps the storms of life may low'r, And the lightning scathe my brow; Perhaps temptation's darksome hour Is at hand, hangs o'er me now. When my gourd in one night withers; When grim want or pale disease; When the unsparing king of terrors, On my wife or babe may seize; When I'm call'd to self-denial, And my treach'rous lusts awake; When to sacrifice-dread trial Sacrifice for Jesus' sake; When, like him that reign'd in Hebron, Then, when I am friendless written, Or my hearth laid desolate, Be thou, Lord, my strong Protector! To thy care I now deliver Body, spirit, kindred, all; Not a fragment should be lost; I shall rise; to thee ascending, Meet to join heaven's minstrelsy; T. "I AM THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR."-Rev. xxii. 16. THE night- a night of deep despair Had gather'd round the sky, And neither sun, nor moon, nor star, Had shed a ray from near or far, To light my wildered eye. No guide nor friend to set me right, "A wounded spirit" gives; The day, the day in sadness came, With eye bedimm'd and moisten'd cheek, I lay in long despair,- For mercy's radiant light, And points me home to God, Farewell henceforth, to doubt and fear, Farewell to earthly care: Though sometimes clouded by a tear, That glorious Star will soon appear, The Eternal Morning Star. N. REVIEW. 1. An Address delivered on laying the first stone of the New King's Weigh-house Chapel, by T. Binney. Fifth edition, 1834. 2. The Ultimate object of the Evangelical Dissenters avowed and advocated; a Sermon preached at the King's Weigh-house Chapel, by T. Binney, 1834. 3. What? and Who says it? An Exposition of the Statement that the Established Church "destroys more souls than it saves," by the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D.D.; the Right Rev. the Bishop of Calcutta; the Rev. Samuel Charles Wilks, &c. &c. Edited by John Search. Second edition, 1834. 4. Strike, but Hear: a Correspondence between the Compiler of" What? and Who says it?" and the Editor of the Christian Observer: with a Dedication to the Conductors of that Work, by John Search, 1838. 5. John Search's last Words; with a Letter addressed to the Right Reverend Charles James, Lord Bishop of London. By the Editor of "What? and Who says it?" and "Strike: but Hear." 1839. 6. The Christian Observer, in reference to the foregoing, passim. THE pamphlets enumerated at the head of this article present for examination, a prominent and instructive incident in that ecclesiastical struggle, which is the most remarkable feature of our active, eventful age; that which most affects the interests, and stirs the passions of our contemporaries; that which will most powerfully influence the opinions and destinies of posterity. If the particular controversy now to be examined, has not arrived at a close, it has, at least, reached a completeness that admits of its being subjected not merely to a literary, but even to a historic review. That we should at so late a period, when the dispute seems exhausted, undertake a critical adjudication of its merits, if it be a circumstance exposing us to a colourable imputation of apathy and neglect, is attended, notwithstanding, with two very material advantages. In the first place, we are now able to take not only a more complete, but a more calm view of this singular polemical affray, than if we had, at an earlier period, mingled in the confusion and heat of the strife. In the next place we may claim some merit on the score of forbearance. Upbraided as we are, for eagerness in political discord; represented, or rather misrepresented, as finding the appropriate and chosen elements of our very existence as a religious body, in endless, restless, agitation; taunted perpetually with the reproach that our cause having lost its sacred, religious character, has degenerated into the bitterness of odious faction-it is somewhat remarkable, that while the pages of some of our contemporaries, whose cause and temper, if we are to believe their professions respecting themselves and their accu sations against us, are exclusively religious, devout, and heavenly, have been from month to month occupied with incessant allusions, of what character will appear hereafter, to this particular controversy― our own have scarcely betrayed the knowledge of its existence. In reference to this very case now under review, we confidently challenge a comparison between our own course for the last five bitter and angry years, and that pursued by the conductors of the periodical literature of the advocates of the hierarchy, for a decision of the question, "WHAT? AND WHO SAYS IT?" Whose spirit has been political, contentious, unfair, unbrotherly? We could enjoy the undiminished satisfaction of these two advantages resulting from our long silence, were we but sure that they had been obtained without neglect of duty to truth, and to our brother. To speak ingenuously, we think the body, whose opinions we humbly advocate and represent, has been somewhat wanting to the great and sacred theme of the exclusively scriptural and spiritual character of the Redeemer's kingdom, during these years of recent excitement and controversy on that vital subject, when the testimony of our wisest and ablest writers was the more needed in proportion as it would have received unwonted attention from parties whose ignorance of our sentiments is as profound as the importance is great, that they should be more correctly informed. And we still less doubtfully express our conviction that our own silence, and that of our body generally, while one honoured brother, whose name needs no further allusion to secure immediate recognition, has sustained in our common cause a perfect storm of uncandid, unmerciful reprobation does not reflect honour on our courage or on our generosity. Nor is this sentiment expressed in forgetfulness that some of his own brethren might doubt the correctness, others the candour, a greater number the prudence of his too "celebrated sentence." Still might some of us have stepped in between our erring brother, if so deemed, and his ruthless assailants. Had we rebuked him, our reproof had been a gentle ointment. Brotherly expostulation might have convinced and softened, as far as his supposed delinquency required. But for his antagonists had we no explanation, no reproof or check? Could we not have told them how they mistook their man-garbled his words-forgot their own similar or stronger declarations--and seemed determined to afford him whom they condemned all the justification that could arise from themselves, employing language beyond measure, more offensive and inexcusable than his own? Well, at length, too late for honour, if not for service, JOHN SEARCH took an effectual course to shame and silence, some of Mr. Binney's clamorous pursuers, had there been either homo' or 'verecundia' left for the argumentum,' had any thing manly or modest survived the blighting effects of party strife. And we, later still, appear on the field of contest from which one party has retired, to verify and record the history of the struggle. As then it is an affair of history, let our observations pursue the course of narrative. In the year of grace 1828, equally contrary to the anticipations of the friends, and the opponents of the proposal, the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts was carried, while yet George the Fourth swayed the sceptre of these realms, and the Duke of Wellington and Sir R. Peel guided his counsels; the first palpable and legislative indication that the intelligence and the interests of the nation had outgrown the settlement effected at the revolution of 1688; and that the repose and the liberty by it secured to the people for one hundred and forty years, had, during that long period, been preparing the way for yet more equal and enlightened legislation in its bearing on religious opinions and interests. The following year exhibited to the wondering nation, the passing, under the same auspices, for such a purpose singularly applied, or misapplied, of the Catholic Relief Bill. It was impossible such changes should come alone. That they had taken place at all, proved that not those only, but others also, were necessary, and could be no longer averted; while they gave impulse and power for effecting the further changes they showed to be unavoidable. The hand of God, so often visible in the history and fortunes of our singularly honoured and exalted country, was conspicuous in these momentous events. Whether intended by the Supreme for good or for evil, we have our opinions, our convictions for which they were designed, His work they evidently were. The way for their accomplishment opened by previous strokes of death removing those whose power, station, and opinions, would have rendered it, humanly speaking, impossible; the statesmen by whose weight and influence in the nation, these measures could alone have been peacefully carried, undertaking a task contrary at once to their own opinions, and all men's expectations; no adequate change in the balance of parties and interests in the nation, having become previously apparent to inspire with some the hope, with others the fear of these changes in the cherished policy of ages; the hand of heaven was observable in these affairs in proportion as the human agency was unexpected and seemingly unprepared. Two short years had scarcely elapsed, when a change on the throne having intervened to open channels in which the strong current of reform, swelled by the influence of foreign struggles for liberty, might safely pursue a course which, though not to be resisted, might yet be guided; the nation, not yet recovered from the amazement produced by recent momentous changes, was once more delighted and surprised by the unfolding to Parliament of the ever memorable Reform Bill. A struggle of nearly two anxious and critical years, in which the people, on the one hand, were determined to obtain what now appeared beyond all expectation within their reach, and a powerful party on the other were equally determined to defeat a measure in which they thought they could read the doom of exclusive interests, aristocratical institutions, ecclesiastical establishments-a judgment in part accurate, in part mistaken-terminated in a triumph for the people, diminished, indeed, as well as retarded by the efforts of their opponents. And now who could avoid the expectation of sure and rapid advance in beneficial legislation? Who in the moment of triumph and expectation, when the victory won, and the achievement anticipated, equally roused the spirit, could be perfectly calm, subdued, and moderate? The men of this generation almost forget the scenes through which they have passed, the changes they have |