adding to the congregation, five; at B. Arnit's, Nelson county, Ky., five days, adding three; at West Point, Harding county, five days, adding four; at Lyconia, Harrison county, Indiana, three days, one hundred and fifty-all from the old "Christian denomination but two.

Brother Clark then returned to Kentucky and preached at Davidson's meeting-house, adding one; then at the stone meeting-house, on Nolin Creek, Hardin county, for eight days, adding fifty-two In a tour of six weeks previous to this brother Clark added eighty-one-making in about twelve weeks, two hund red and eighty-six introduced into our fellowship and communion through his labours.

From brother W. J. Mason, we have an account of a protracted meeting con. ducted in February, by brother M'Chesney, at Lexington, Ky., during which six young men became obedient to the faith,-several who had wandered into the wilds, returned again ;-many who had indulged somewhat in bitterness and strife, received each other as brethren beloved, and the hearts of all were made glad."

W. S. Speer, writing from Giles county, Tennessee, informs us that in October last, he and brother Trott closed a protracted meeting at Berea, in Marshall county, adding twenty-three; afterwards in November, at Cathey's Creek in Maury county, in company with brother Groch and father Speer, adding thirtyfour, who, with the results of five other meetings, held since the first September last, make one hundred and eighty-five immersions, by brother Speer and other brethren with whom he has laboured.

OBITUARY.

Saltcoats, November, 1846.

DIED here, on the 17th instant, MRS. JAMES SERVICE, aged twentyfour years. Previous to her marriage, she was one of those who formed the first church in Kilmarnock on reformation principles; and subsequent thereto she was connected with the congregation at Stevenston. She was much beloved on account of her amiable disposition and affectionate manner; and the deep interest she constantly displayed in all matters concerning the kingdom, betokened her close reliance to the King himself. During her illness, which lasted nine weeks, she exhibited the patience and fortitude of the Christian, and often expressed her confidence in God, and joy in the anticipation of soon being with Christ. Her latter end was calm, peaceful, and happy. She was emphatically one of those who "love his appearing," and we rest assured, that she is now awaiting in peace the return of her Saviour, to receive from his hands the "crown of righteousness."

J. SERVICE.

POETRY.

THE ANGELS' MISSION.

A LITTLE band of angels bright once winged their gentle way
From the blest fields of azure light, the realms of endless day
And wandered o'er the things of earth, so beautiful and sweet,
To find an offering for the skies, acceptable and meet.

As on they went things fair and gay their lovely shadows flung,
And flowers of Eden's bloom they found with dew-drops on them hung,
And diamond's bright of princely worth, and pearls from out the sea,
And helmets gay and glittering blades, the treasures of the free;
And stars, the dust of heaven's throne, were flashing in the sky,
And forms too beautiful for earth, were seen in passing by,

But on they went with rapid wing: "These, these, alas! will fade;
The things that worthy are of heaven, of earth must not be made.'
Through forests hoar, and valleys deep, and foaming seas they went;
For one thing pure and good to find they on their errand bent.
At length they saw a light heart boy within the silent glen;
A sight so beautiful, so sweet, they never saw till then,
Amazed, entranced, in silent awe they poised upon their wing-

"An offering meet we've found on earth, thence to the skies we'll bring," When thus the leader courteous spoke: "But will our Father own

A gift so mortal and so frail to lay upon his throne?"

To this the next in haste replied, with reverend look aud eye,

"Our God has power to grant the gift of IMMORTALITY.'

The third then spoke; ""Tis love and virtue that alone can shine in worlds above,

And flourish in their native skies; for God alone is love."
Besides, from sore temptation's coils, and any evil dart,

Will turn the deadly point away that's aim'd against his heart.
Thus spake the angels who for aye behold their Father's face,
With eye so full of tenderness and heart so full of grace.
To this the leader then replied, with equal grace and truth,
"There is a beauty far more bright than innocence and youth,
Which childhood in its time of bud is here denied to share,
And only on the stem of life the ripened fruit may bear.
Shall we not rather wait for this, than offer up a boon,
Which, like the flow'rets of the grass, will fade at early noon?"
And thus they waited till the child had now become a man,
For to the immortal, life on earth is but a narrow span;
Then pain and sorrow came apace, and from his furrowed brow
The rose of health and beauty fled, and grief had settled now,
And anguish bowed his stalwart frame, and with'ring age sat there,
And on the fibres of his heart the gnawing tooth of care;
And darkness veiled his soul in deep and hopeless agony,
And peace all died—and in its stead despair and misery.
Then came the visitants of heaven, and words of bliss they spoke,
And on the chaos of his soul the light of glory broke.

His heart grew strong, his feet stood firm, and faith with eager eye
Drew virtue from the things not seen, eternal in the sky;
And thus within the crown of life a glorious gem was seen,
That, but for him of Nazareth, on earth had never been.
And when temptations gathered thick around the path of life,
And wind and storm, and lightning's flash all mingled in the strife,
His guardian angels hovered near to watch his struggles dire,

To kindle hope, that would have died, with heaven's eternal fire;
Until with other strength than his he battled to be free,

And thus the grace was perfected of sweet humility.

But still they poured temptation's darts, thick as the icy hail;

But not to blast, for firm he stood secure in coat of mail;

More godlike grew his countenance, as seraphs' pure and bright,

And on the windows of his soul they shed celestial light;

And when they breathed into his heart the joy with which they're filled,
"'Tis done," they said, "the work is done-our mission is fulfilled.”
With awe they looked upon the work which God to them had given,
And then with rapture and surprise pronounced it fit for heaven,
But with those who looked upon his withered lifeless form,
They wept that he should fall beneath so pitiless a storm;
In anguish wept; but still the soul all pure and bright had grown,
And to the realms of light they flew and laid it on the throne.

J. CHALLEN.

T. KIRK, PRINTER, ST. PETER'S GATE, NOTTINGHAM.

[MR. CASSEDY, the writer of the following letter, is supposed to be a gentleman in the profession of the law. He is evidently of high literary attain. ments, but does not admit the Bible to be a divine communication, or revelation from God, to the human race. The object of this letter is to state the difficulties which have presented themselves to his mind, and prevent him embracing the gospel. Although this elaborate epistle, with Mr. Campbell's triumphant answers, contained in four letters, was printed in England in the year 1836, yet so few, very few, of our readers have seen them, that we have concluded, by the earnest request of some brethren, to give them a place in this volume of Messenger.-J. W.]

From the Millennial Harbinger, Old Series.

TO ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, OF BETHANY,

VIRGINIA.

Pulaski, West Tennessee, October 29, 1832. RESPECTED SIR.-I must desire you to believe, that neither suggestions of vanity, nor sentiments of irreverence for the genuine spirit of the Christian religion, have any participation in the motives which dictate this communication. Attentive perusals of those of your writings which have fallen under my notice; the favourable opinions I have been morally compelled to form of those writings, and the doctrines they are intended to support; to say nothing of my impressions respecting the intellectual character of the writer, induce me to state to you with entire candour, some of those prominent, and to me insurmountable difficulties which present themselves against an implicit confidence in the authenticity of all the doctrines of the Christian religion. I am not the only person interested in an explicit and condensed commentary on the statements which are subjoined; thousands, perhaps millions, in every Christian country of magnitude and intelligence, are surrounded by the same obstructive, and to them, invincible

barriers to implicit faith in the doctrines of Christianity, which I, sir, am compelled to acknowledge-and especially that Christianity which manifests itself under such a multiplied variety of creeds, many of which, instead of affording consolations to mankind, under the pressure of innumerable calamities, seem to involve the hopes and destinies of the whole human race in contradiction, mysticism, and impenetrable obscurity.

I do not wish you to refer me to the records of your public debates for the desired information; it is possible that the umpires who presided, occupied the judgment-seat with preconceived and dogmatical opinions and you cannot be a stranger to the important truth, that among the generality of mankind, opinions on nearly all subjects are forined in the first instance, and arguments afterwards sought for to support them. This process seems to me to be fraught with innumerable mischiefs to the cause of truth; it seems to be at open war with the cool and deliberative exercises of reason-and, is probably productive of more dissensions in opinion among men than they are willing to acknowledge. In many of those popular conflicts, you have been compelled to reply to captious, and often puerile objections, not unfrequently beneath the dignity of rational consideration, urged and reiterated by those who reason from their prejudices and passions, argue without acknowledged and established facts, and who are often found to raise the shout of triumph, without having obtained the victory.

First. Why are there so many, and such greatly diversified religious creeds among men; while reason, and the great interests of mankind, would seem to require but one religion, capable of embracing the welfare of the whole human race?

Second. Why do the votaries of nearly all these creeds, claim the exclusive privilege of being the chosen flock of heaven; always in the right, and never erring in opinion, to the exclusion of all others from divine mercy, who may chance to differ from them in principles and practice-especially considering that those others are equally rational with themselves, equally interested in discovering and embracing the truth, equally created by the Almighty fiat, and equally susceptible of happiness and misery ?

Third. Why do most of those narrow sectarians, of whom I have just spoken, dare to profess charity to all mankind, and "on earth, peace and good will towards men," and at the same time breathe a spirit of vengeance against those who cannot conscientiously embrace their doctrines:-especially considering, that those they doom to destruction are their fellow-beings, are equally unfortunate with themselves, and are seeking the right path with a candour, perseverance, and avidity equal to their own?

Fourth. Why dare these sectarians, in the face of their own professions of faith, in the face of reason, mercy, justice, and humanity, impiously attempt to wrest the high prerogative of judgment from the lofty and unerring tribunal of Heaven, and to sit as umpires between man and his Maker!

Fifth. Let it be supposed, to show the impious absurdity of such professions as have just been set forth, that the doctrines of any one religious sect were to be made the rule of judgment and condemnation

by the Almighty, at the great day of accounts-and, I would ask these exclusive sectarians, what would be the awful condition of countless millions of the human race, who would have existed between the commencement and the termination of time ? Here, sir, all arithmetical computations, as to numbers, absolutely fail; and all the boasted powers of the human imagination sink and expire, in attempting to grasp so vast, so unbounded a spectacle of human misery and ruin!

Sixth. But let us take these exclusive and inhuman sectarian doctrines a little further: let us admit, according to the Mosaical account, that the world is nearly six thousand years old let us also admit, and it is said to accord with philosophic calculation, that ten human beings are born, and that ten die, in every second of time. Here, as before, all numerical calculations seem to come short of the aggregate number of human beings who have been born, and who have died, in the long period of six thousand years, allowing ten for every second of time. But this is not all. There are probably, at this present time, a population of between ten and eleven hundred millions of inhabitants on the globe. Now, I would ask these sectarians, who consign all mankind to destruction but themselves, what proportion does the aggregate of all the Christians now on earth, bear to the immense population of the whole globe? Let these charitable followers of Christ cast their eyes over the immense nations which inhabit the great continents of Africa and Asia, and tell me how many Christians, of any possible denomination, can be found among the numerous and powerful nations of those continents? Next, let them turn their eyes to the continents of Europe and America; and, after taking a deliberate survey of the whole population, including those savage and barbarous nations to whom even the name of Christ is yet unknown, tell me how many, out of the vast population of these two immense regions, are professors of religion in any Christian shape. Accurate calculations, on these interesting subjects, would probably have the merciful effect of bursting the fetters of narrow sectarian prejudices asunder-and of assigning to man, no matter of what colour, or what distant and benighted region of the globe, that rank in the mercy and affections of the great Creator of the universe, to which he is and must be entitled, (or I am mistaken,) by the principles of unerring and eternal justice! Next, let those sectarians take into consideration, particularly as regards their own dissensions in belief,-1st. That truth is one. 2nd. That their beliefs are discordant. And, 3rd. That but one of all the religious sects existing can be right. And then let them exhibit, according to their own exclusive doctrines, what would be the afflicting spectacle presented to them at the great day of accounts, were the Almighty to adopt but one of all their numerous and conflicting creeds, as the rule of his final decision? I speak it without impiety, or irreverence for the great principles of the Christian religion-which no man in his senses can treat with indignity-that they would behold an abortive, thongh divine scheme of redemption, for their miserable race; they would see the regions of the damned peopled with countless myriads of their fellow-beings-a universe in ruinsand an almost solitary God! These, sir, seem to me to be facts and