have hesitated to commit a wicked action; but his conduct that day proved that he had no wish to injure the king.

16. And it came to pass.-Saul was softened for a time by the behaviour and words of David, and forced to acknowledge that he was right; but this feeling did not last long.

LESSONS.

I. God's providence may hinder a man for awhile from going on in wickedness; but if his heart remains unchanged, he will set about it again. V. 1. (Num. xxii. 13, 21, 35.)

II. It is a time of strong temptation when we have a fair opportunity for committing sin, and are urged to it both by our own interest and the persuasion of others. V. 4. (Prov. i. 10—16.)

III. A tender conscience will make a man uneasy at what others would think nothing of. V. 5. (Gen. xxiv. 5—9.)

IV. Kings and magistrates are to be honoured for the Lord's sake; nor is it lawful to despise or resist them, even though they be wicked men. V. 6. (1 Peter ii. 13—17.)

V. We must never wink at sin, or allow others to do for us what we feel it would be wrong to do ourselves. V. 7. (Ex. xxxii. 35.) VI. The Christian's conduct should ever prove that those who accuse him speak falsely. V. 9-13. (1 Peter iii. 16.)

VII. Even the wicked may be much moved, and appear changed; but we cannot depend upon any good feelings or resolutions which do not come from a heart renewed by the grace of God. V. 16-19. (Hosea vi. 4.)

THE PROTESTANTISM OF THE LITURGY.

(From "Ancient Christianity," by Isaac Taylor.)

THE actual character of the English Liturgy--we mean the offices of congregational worship, including the "Communion"-furnishes an inferential argument of the most decisive kind, as showing what is the spirit of the Church. To perceive the force of this argument, the facts should be considered, which are these:

A disposition not to depart unnecessarily, or except at the demand of principle, from existing modes, is manifested throughout the structure and offices of the Episcopal Church. Moreover, it is known that the English Reformers—and of this tendency they have left indications enough-inclined to follow the Church of the mid period of the third century, as far as might be practicable; drop

ping its errors, when perceived. The ancient was the model of the English Church; any instance therefore of wide departure from that model, affords a proof of the presence of some controlling law or rule, always held paramount to the rule of following antiquity.

These facts are scarcely disputed. But in expunging from the exi ting, and most of them very ancient, liturgical models, what was 1 garded as offensive, or as incompatible with the spirit and the professions of the Church, some distinctions were to be observed; and these should be taken into our account, in estimating the Protestantism of the Church.

If the mind of the Church had indeed been what it is now affirmed to be "Catholic," in the sense of the sixth or seventh century-it would have stopped short in rejecting from its devotional offices those shameless expressions of the polytheistic delusion, and in discouraging those enormities of image-worship, which distinguish the middle from the earlier ages.

The Church did indeed reject these enormities; but did it stop there? On the contrary, it removed, root and branch, the entire scheme of the ancient demonolatry; it abolished the shrine-andrelic offices, and the pilgrimages, and the celebrations, which are the broad characteristics of the religion of the Nicene age. Nay, it actually put a stop to saint-and-martyr miracles! cashiering these divinities, at a stroke, of their honours, of their revenues, and of their wonder-working powers! And all this was done, and this vast clearance was effected, notwithstanding the reverence which the Reformers professed to entertain towards those very Fathers, who had been the authors or the zealous promoters of this worship, and of these nefarious delusions!

Here then becomes manifest the presence and operation of some very powerful counter motive. The Church of England, breaking its way through the entanglements of antiquity, has held another path! But this is not all, for we have next to notice an instance still more decisive in relation to the question, as to the Protestantism of the Church; and this is, the absolute rejection of prayers "for the repose of the dead."

The case, in this instance, is of the most convincing kind; and it may justly be regarded as an experimentum crucis, in our present argument. In disallowing the image-worship and the saint worship of the Romish and Nicene Churches, the Reformers were easily determined by the gross offensiveness of these superstitions, and their glaring contrariety to the language and to the spirit of the Scriptures. But it was otherwise in regard to the apparently innocent, and the more ancient practice of praying for the peace of

1

souls departed. This usage-the fond superstition of the heart— enters into, and forms a prominent feature in all ancient Liturgies; and it is unquestionably of as high antiquity as any element of Christian worship which is not authorised by the inspired writings. In a word, the practice of praying for the dead, is wanting in no kind of support, except that of Holy Scripture. Here, then, we come to a crisis of that PRINCIPLE which is the paramount law of the English Church.

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If the question be put-Why should we not pray, in the congregation, for the repose of the deceased, inasmuch as the practice is catholic, and primitive ;" and as ancient as the earliest existing monuments of Christian worship? Why? for this one and sufficient reason:-It is destitute of "warranty of Scripture." The adherence then of the church to this rule, in such a case, where all secondary reasons weighed on the other side, is a proof incontestable-it is a flaming proof of its Protestantism.

And how happily, how wisely, has the Church of England thus kept itself free from an error, apparently innocent; but which is in fact the germ of every species of superstition! The practice of praying for the dead, albeit not explicitly forbidden in Scripture any more than authorized, is clearly incompatible with evangelical doctrine; and it has in fact always supplanted that doctrine. The transition, moreover, from such a practice to that of praying to the dead, is natural, and easy; and it has been constant. The process of this transition may readily be traced in several passages in Augustine, and other Nicene Fathers. "We pray for the common dead; but not for the Martyrs, who have already reached a height of felicity where they need no such aid: instead of wanting our intercessions, they enjoy so much favour at court, that they are able to benefit us, by their intercessions: far from needing the suffrages of feeble mortals-they are themselves the princes of heaven! If so, how great are the boons they may be able, by their powerful supplications, to obtain for us! Let us then court their favourable regards, with this very view. But where should we do this with so good a prospect of success, as at their shrines-even those holy coffers, where their sacred dust is conserved? Then, how well shall our wandering thoughts be chained to the meditation of the virtues of these our celestial patrons, while we gaze upon an image or picture, fairly representing the visible graces of the glorified Being !" Thus, step by step, and each step easy, did the ancient Church descend from the natural but unwarranted practice of praying for the dead, to the last degradations-to the extreme blasphemies of idolatry! On this declivitous path the once Christianized nations

speedily reached the very lowest level to which human nature has ever sunk?

The Church of England, under the strongest inducements to the contrary, has purged its Liturgy most completely of this offence. Every Sunday, and in every parish church, does the Liturgy, by its exclusion of these pernicious superstitions, bear witness against— not Romanism only, but the corruptions of unanimous antiquity.

STIKING INSTANCE OF THE MUTABILITY OF EARTHLY THINGS.

(From Jesse's Memorials of London.)

We will conclude our notice of the vicinity of Cavendish Square with a tragical event which occurred at Chandos House, the London residence of James Brydges, Duke of Chandos, styled, from his magnificent mode of living, "the grand duke," and sometimes "the princely Chandos." Exceeding his customary splendour, the duke had announced a princely entertainment on the occasion of the christening of his infant heir. The King and Queen had consented to become sponsors; for weeks the magnificent preparations were the topic of conversation in every circle; the long expected night arrived; the guests, including the royal family, filled the gorgeous apartments; and, with all due honours, the child, in the arms of the nurse, was conducted to the place of honour which had been appointed for the ceremony of the initiation into the church. Suddenly, however, the scene changed. Affected, it is said, by the excessive glare of light, the child was seized with convulsions; the ceremony was stopped; the guests departed to their respective homes; and, before midnight, the infant pride of the princely Chandos had breathed its last. The duke and duchess were both deeply affected by their extraordinary bereavement. The former died shortly afterwards, and the latter retired from the world, but not from the house which had witnessed the wreck of her fondest hopes; for she is said to have conceived a melancholy pleasure in residing there to the last.

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND YOUNG MEN'S

SOCIETY,

FOR AIDING MISSIONS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

No. VIII.

INDIRECT ADVANTAGES OF THE SOCIETY'S

OPERATIONS.

IN a recent number of this Magazine, an appeal was made to young men to co-operate with the Committee of the Society in the formation of new Branches in various parts of the country. In respectfully soliciting the influence of the Clergy, for the furtherance of the same object, we thankfully avail ourselves of the following extract from an admirable address, recently delivered to the Young Men of Islington by the Rev. Mr. Childe, Principal of the Church Missionary College, upon the occasion of the opening of the Islington Branch of this Society.

"It is a familiar observation with reference to any valuable discovery or improvement, 'How strange that the idea should not have occurred to any one before!' And the wonder is enhanced when, as is frequently the case, the simplicity of the means employed corresponds with the importance of the end attained. A kindred feeling to that which I have just expressed, has more than once crossed my own mind, with reference to the formation of the Church of England Young Men's Society, for aiding Missions at Home and Abroad. If there is one object which more than another has long been a desideratum with faithful and active ministers of Christ, it has been to acquire and maintain frank and friendly Christian intercourse with that most important, most anxious, and, from circumstances hitherto deemed insurmountable, most neglected class-Young Men. Our confirmation classes bring a detached few from time to time before us, and from these again there may be a scanty gleaning added to our Bible Classes; but in the former case the union is too generally only temporary, and in both is rather formal and partial than social, cordial, and unconstrained. That, however, which the earnest longings and careful devisings of the pastor had failed satisfactorily to effect, now bids fair to be secured by the sanctified operation of the gregarious instinct of the flock. The movement, I grant, is not unattended with solicitude, but still it is full of promise. It provides a centre of spontaneous religious union and co-operation. The minister will now know where to find his young men, will be able in some measure to calculate upon their pursuits, habits, and associations; and, in proportion as both he and they are governed by the Spirit of Christ, may reckon on their warm-hearted sympathy and zealous co-operation in many an object which is dear to himself and important to the Church.

"It is moreoverata critical and seasonable juncture that this Society has taken its rise. Many of us who have been led to rejoice with gratitude on the discomfiture of the most formidable attempt ever made to unprotestantise our Church and Nation, have, nevertheless felt constrained to rejoice with trembling, in consequence of apprehensions for the future. The present generation, we have said again, is, thank God, sound at the core: the Laity have no sympathies with