Let, then, those who are training for the work of the ministry be men of prayer, let them unite together to pray, and may we not expect to see glorious things accomplished through. their instrumentality? blessings copi ously descending, and the kingdom of Christ rapidly advancing? Such is the sincere prayer of Yours respectfully, BETA. SENTIMENTAL PIETY. This is a very fair specimen of the religion of sentiment, which is often mistaken, especially by young Christians, for the religion of spirituality. It belongs to the "RosaMatilda school" of piety, much patronised by young ladies and gentlemen in their teens. Those who write in this strain, are apt to think themselves pre-eminently devout, while they are only pre-eminently silly. Greatly do they mistake, who suppose they are to reach heaven by a succession of idle rhapsodies, and enervating habits of indulgence in the “luxury of woe." Tears, it is true, will be often flowing; but they should be those of contrition, not of sentimental self-complacency. The indifference to the world which religion demands, is an indifference to its vanities, not to its duties. It may be quite true, (as he sings, in a rather unsuitable style of levity,) that "Born to-day, I fall to-morrow;" but there is much to be done in the interval. He makes very light of his "grim assailant"-death; with whom, it is plain, his only acquaintance is from works of fiction, forgetting that he was sent at first, and is still continued, as the punishment of sin-a punishment never remitted. But, if he would really enjoy what he counts upon so confidently-a "tranquil moment" amid the sighs and agonies of that fearful encounter, let him be up and active in the work of diligent preparation, instead of sitting forlorn a tombstone, and sighing about "sepulchral gloom" and lovely sor on row." "What we ought to chase away from the habit of the soul," says Dr. Chalmers, "is a certain quietism of inert and inactive speculation; when, lulled by the jingling of an unmeaning orthodoxy, it goeth not forth with its loins girded, as well as its lamp burning; and only dreams of a coming glory, and immortality, and honour; instead of seeking for them, by a patient continuance in well-doing." MINISTERS' WIVES. REMARKS ADDRESSED TO THE WIVES OF CHRISTIAN MINISTERS ON THE VARIOUS OPPORTUNITIES OF USEFULNESS AFFORDED THEM. DEAR FRIENDS,-The benevolent recognition of the widows of dissenting ministers, which this periodical promotes, serves also to remind us of the importance and high responsibility of the station you occupy. Permit me to address you individually. Your example is widely and powerfully influential in the church over which your husband presides: the eyes of many are upon you; both the friends and the enemies of Christ watch your conduct: the young professor looks up to you with unhesitating assurance : the aged Christian, with hopeful interest and godly con cern. The truths of the gospel, so forcibly preached from the pulpit, are expected to be exemplified and adorned in your character. God is honouring your husband, by blessing his labours, in the conversion of sinners, and the edification of saints; co-operate with him in his arduous, yet delightful employment; suffer the lambs of his flock to cluster around you; open your heart to the warm glow of their early, ardent, and kindly affections; aim to be the spiritual guardian and guide of the precious spring-time of their days; to whom they may communicate their joys, or unburden their sorrow; "Go in and out before them;" ascertain their wants, their difficulties, their trials, their fears, their failings, and make them known to their pastor, who will gladly meet their necessities, and adapt his ministrations for their special benefit. " A word in season, how good it is." Should a family of young immortals be intrusted to your charge, your own cares and duties will excite sympathy for others who are standing in the same interesting relation ; and while you will participate in their cares, you will also be called to stimulate them, by your example, to "train up their children in the ways of the Lord." Should you, however, be denied the anxious joys which fill the maternal bosom, remember that you are called to a more zealous discharge of those important duties which crowd around her who obtains the honourable distinction of a "mother in Israel." Great is the present reward of that expansive benevolence which seeketh not her own, which sets the example of a self-denying activity to do good; which upholds the hands, and cheers the hearts of others in their labours of love and which, by a patient continuance in well-doing, encourages the less persevering to hold on their way. While the devoted and diligent pastor goes forward, like the spiritual pioneer of his people, warning, exhorting, reproving, and stimulating them onward, his wife, too, without any undue assumption, or infringement on the higher sphere of his calling, has her appropriate duties, and in thus sharing his labours, will participate in his reward. Many timid young persons require encouragement; many a careless one is to be reclaimed; an ignorant one taught; a wanderer sought out; a backslider restored. The pastor's wife is frequently more capable of gaining access to the minds of the young of her own sex, having more opportunities than her husband for the freedom of confidential intercourse. Suffer me to remind you of the caution contained in James ii., lest you be tempted to pay more respect than is due to external circumstances alone. Never allow the rich and the prosperous to engross that time and attention which the silent claims of the afflicted and the poor demand; endeavour to manifest, by your conduct, that you seek not theirs but them. "Be kindly affectioned" and hospitable to all. Let your house, as well as your heart, be accessible; let it be seen that your best feelings are alive to the interests and happiness of your husband's charge, and that it is the utterance of delight as well as of duty, to say, with one of old, "I will dwell among mine own people." Be careful, however, to repress an undue familiarity, or give encouragement to mere talkers or talebearers your own time and peace are too precious to be invaded by the busy-bodies of the day. There is one class of young people who are frequently overlooked: I refer to those youths who have left their homes just : at the most critical period of their lives to be bound apprentices. Suffer them not to remain wholly unnoticed, when they most need a watchful monitor; inquire into their conduct; and, if of hopeful character, take them by the hand, invite them to share the worship and the hospitalities of the evening hour; and who can tell what the happy effects of such kindly notice might be, and what grateful bursts of prayerful acknowledgment would ascend from many a mother's heart in praise for the blessing of your tender interest and care for their beloved sons. Much exercise for self-denial is nccessarily involved, however, in meeting so constant and varied a demand for sympathy, advice, and relief; yet the writer has, in several instances, been privileged to see it all met, with a constancy and faithfulness, an equanimity of temper, and beautiful consistency of conduct, which has adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour, and drawn down a double and an abundant blessing. May these labours of love, and their delightful results, be more extensively realized and enjoyed! MISSIONARY PRAYER MEETINGS. SIR,-It appears to me of importance that when missionary services or any extraordinary meetings of a similar kind are held, in which a number of persons from different congregations are assembled together, that they all should have every facility given to them for joining heartily in singing the praises of God, since, by so doing, a sympathy is begotten in their minds with the object which has brought them together, which both helps them to hear and him to speak who has to address them. It, therefore, appears to me necessary that on such occasions those tunes should be adopted which are generally known, and that the hymns should be given out two lines at a time. Now, Sir, both of these things are very much neglected on such occasions, and especially so in those places where organs are used. To giving out two lines at a time, it may be objected, that it would be contrary to the order observed in the chapel in which the congregation might be assembled, that it would be unpleasant to the organist or choir, that it breaks the sense in the hymn, and that the majority of persons assembled have books. In answer to such objections, it may be remarked that, on the occasions of which I am speaking, the majority of persons assembled are those who usually attend other places of worship, and, therefore, have not books with them; that the number whose • sight is not sufficiently good to see to read is by no means small; that reading a whole verse at a time is really of no use, since there is not one in twenty who can remember a whole verse from once hearing it read; that in giving out two lines at a time, there is, in reality, but little violation of the sense, since the mind readily and almost without effort, connects the different parts of the hymn together as they are given out; and that it is surely for the organist and choir to accommodate themselves to the people, and not for the people to accommodate themselves to them. And with respect to the choice of tunes, he whose office it is to choose them should remember that, though in singing tunes not generally known, he and those who assist him have more room for the display of their vocal and instrumental powers, yet, if it be the praise of men which they seek, that will be more effectually secured by excelling in leading others to sing, than in their excelling in singing alone; and if it be the glory of God which they seek, surely that will be more effectually secured in leading hundreds to join in praising him, than it would be by their confining that work to themselves. Wishing that these remarks may be serviceable in promoting congregational singing at missionary services and on similar occasions, I am, Sir, yours truly, Baptist College, Bristol, He proceeds another step in advancing to the main design of the Lecture by remarking "Certain of the most sacred truths of religion must not be claimed as peculiar to spiritual Christianity, inasmuch as they have long consisted with the most serious corruptions of its purity. Thus must we say, that orthodoxy, although essential to Christianity, is yet, of itself, not Christianity." While the lecturer not only admits, but clearly states, that "a Trinitarian faith, clear of every evasion and excluding even the disposition to look for evasion, is the basis of all Christian piety," yet he proves that a Trinitarian or orthodox creed has consisted with the widest departure from Christianity itself; and he goes on to say, "Must it not be acknowledged that orthodoxy, severed from evangelic truth, has been the temptation of England?" (he should have said of England's Hierarchy)" and that at this moment, by reviving its ancient connexion with superstition, it gives just alarm to the true sons of the Reformers? Those great men, the lights of the sixteenth century, whom we do not worship, but whose steps we would follow, were orthodox, and yet they were no monks; they were Trinitarians, but they were not idolaters; they had studied the Fathers, but they bowed to the Scriptures; and from the Scriptures they recovered evangelic truth-inestimable treasure, which so many around us are now ready to exchange for the 'vainly invented' superstitions of antiquity."-P. 78. Mr. Taylor, after these and other valuable preliminary observations, commences the announced subject of the Lecture in his best manner. He understands laying the foundation as well as rearing the superstructure. "First in systematic order, as well as in magnitude, is the doctrine of propitiation effected by the Son of God - -so held clear of admixtures and evasions, as to sustain in its high integrity, the consequent doctrine of THE FULL AND ABSOLUTE RESTORATION OF GUILTY MAN TO THE FAVOUR OF GOD, on his acceptance of this method of mercy; or, as it is technically phrased, JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH.' A doctrine this, which, in a peculiar manner, refuses to be tampered with or compromised; and which will hold its own place or none. It challenges for itself not only a broad basis, on which it may rest alone, but a broad border, upon which nothing that is human may trespass. "This doctrine, when unadulterate, not only animates orthodoxy, but shows us why it was necessary to lay open the mystery of the Divine nature, so far as it is laid open in scriptural Trinitarian doctrine; for we could not have learned the method of salvation without first learning that He who 'bore our sins' was indeed able to bear them, and was in himself' mighty to save."" -P. 79. On the propitiation made by God's incarnate Son, when he died upon the cross, Mr. Taylor remarks-" In bringing the mind distinctly to contemplate the scriptural doctrine of the atonement effected by the death of Christ, we feel ourselves to have reached an elevation higher than the highest of the speculations of man. We are compelled to confess ourselves in the presence of things divine and eternal." This sentiment is eloquently illustrated, and the great truths of man's forensic dependence upon God, and the forensic character of justification as based on the infinite merits of Christ, are finely drawn out and established. We must quote the conclusion of this first part of the Lecture. "The great question now at issue in the Protestant Church is not whether we shall restore or reject certain ancient superstitions, but whether we are to retain that GOSPEL-that bright apostolic truth which those superstitions so early supplanted, and with which it never has for a moment consisted, and never will consist. The question on which at this hour the religious destinies of England turn, is not whether we shall reestablish or shall repudiate, the 'ROMISH' or any other doctrine, concerning purga tory, pardons, worshipping and adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints: those fond things, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture; but rather repugnant to the word of God.' THIS IS NOT THE QUESTION; but whether the righteousness of God through faith' shall stand or fall among us; and whether the Protestant Church itself shall continue to be a witness for God, or shall be rejected as apostate. If the distinctly pronounced doctrine of justification through faith be indeed apostolic, can the bold restorers of the base superstitions of the fourth century make out their title to the honours of apostolicity? How can we grant it them; or how refuse to assign it to those who, having clearly read this apostolic truth in the apostolic writings, cordially entertain it, and convincingly teach it, and who honour it in their lives, and whose orders are authenticated by the Holy Spirit in giving efficiency to the word of his grace?'"-P. 93. The second great truth which the lecturer states to be peculiar to Spiritual Christianity, is that of "THE SOVEREIGN AND ABIDING INFUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RENOVATING THE SOUL IN EACH INSTANCE IN WHICH IT IS RENOVATED." "This doctrine," we are assured, "like the preceding, while in one view it is an inscrutable mystery, is in another an intelli |