Sayfadaki görseller
PDF
ePub

mittee feel warranted in laying their case before the public; and we earnestly implore for them the blessing of God, and the liberal patronage of the friends of the church in their labours. We fully concur with them, that in a period when Christian liberality is fertilizing and gladdening the most desolate plains of the heathen wilderness, the necessities of the church at home should not be forgotten.

YEARLY EPISTLE OF
FRIENDS.

This annual document becomes increasingly interesting from the truly spiritual tone which it has of late years strikingly manifested. We copy one or two

passages.

"Ourwell-known practice of assembling for worship at an appointed time during the week, besides the first day, has again been a subject of religious exercise amongst

us.

Thus to leave our outward concerns in humble dependence upon God, and in solemn silence to wait together upon him, we believe to be acceptable to our Heavenly Father, and eminently calculated to promote our religious edification. We desire to encourage our dear friends every where to a diligent attendance of these meetings the neglect of them is an affecting indication of a lukewarm mind; and there is surely great danger that we shall hinder our religious progress if we refuse to avail ourselves of so valuable a privilege.

"We would remind our beloved brethren, that unless we are pressing forward toward Zion, the city of the living God, we may soon lose our remaining strength, and become immersed in the spirit of the world. How earnestly will they who are seeking to make progress in the spiritual course, ask and wait for that holy aid which constitutes the life and strength of the renewed soul! It was by a constant reference to the Spirit of Christ in the heart, that our early predecessors were enabled to support their Christian testimonies under severe persecution; as well as to maintain that standard of Christian principle by which they obtained, from those who injured them, so high a character for strict veracity and integrity in all their transactions. We entreat you, Idear friends, to consider whether the Lord is not requiring of us, individually, a fuller surrender of the natural will, a greater degree of decision in giving up all for Christ, and a more ardent pursuit of heavenly things: If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right

hand of God.'

"A just view and full belief of the astonishing fact, that God sent his only begotten Son into the world to save us, is we believe suited, beyond all other things, under the power of the Holy Spirit, to

humble us in a sense of our own corruption, and to excite in our own minds fervent gratitude towards the Author of all good. Under the influence of this gratitude, may we all devote ourselves without reserve to the service of our Redeemer ! When love for Christ has expelled from our hearts the love of the world, we shall no longer go halting on our way in a condition of weakness, but shall experience growth in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

"We have been once more led to take a view of the responsibility which attaches to parents and heads of families. To train up our children, servants, and those under our care, both by example and precept, in a religious life and conversation, consistent with our Christian profession, is a duty of a very serious nature. We beseech our dear friends to reflect on its vast importance, and in order to perform it rightly, to press after true godliness. Never shall we be found faithful stewards in this respect, until we are ourselves men of prayer, weaned from the spirit of the world, and walking in the reverent fear of God our Father."

"We long to impress upon you,dear young friends, the beauty and value of an early and unreserved dedication of yourselves to God: cultivate a tender and enlightened conscience, and obey his law with all sincerity. Be faithful in maintaining your plainness of speech, behaviour, and apparel. Cherish those wholesome restraints of a guarded and religious education, of which the evident tendeney is to keep you out of the way of evil. We entreat you to avoid speculation and disputation on religious subjects; for these will hinder, instead of promoting, your growth in grace. Let all your conversations on the sacred truths of the Gospel be conducted under a due sense of their importance, and in the true fear of God. Carefully peruse the Holy Scriptures, and meditate upon them in private. Above all, delight yourselves in communion with God, and lead a life of prayer; then will the blessed word of promise be yours, I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.'”

"To do all things in the name of Jesus, to obey the dictates of his Spirit, and humbly to follow his example, will be found our highest interest and our best security. Let us then, beloved friends, seek to be clothed with the meekness and gentleness of Christ; walking circumspectly before God, and endeavouring to perform all our relative duties in his holy fear. And, since love is the fulfilling of the law,' let us pray that we may be endued with charity, not only towards each other, but towards our fellow-men of every class and description."

VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

THE new parliament opened on the twentyfirst of June, with the following speech, delivered by his Majesty in person, which we insert entire, reserving our remarks on the subjects touched upon in it till they come successively, as they are likely to do, for discussion before Parliament.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,-I have availed myself of the earliest opportunity of resorting to your advice and assistance, after the dissolution of the late Parlia

ment.

[ocr errors]

Having had recourse to that measure for the purpose of ascertaining the sense of my people on the expediency of a Reform in the Representation, I have now to recommend that important question to your earliest and most attentive consideration, confident that in any measures which you may propose for its adjust ment you will carefully adhere to the acknowledged principles of the Constitution, by which the prerogative of the Crown, the authority of both Houses of Parliament, and the rights and liberties of the People, are equally secured.

"The assurances of a friendly disposition, which I continue to receive from all Foreign Powers, encourage the hope that, notwithstanding the civil commotions which have disturbed some parts of Europe, and the contest now existing in Poland, the general peace will be main tained.

[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]

The discussions which have taken place on the affairs of Belgium have not yet been brought to a conclusion: but the most complete agreement continues to subsist between the Powers whose Plenipotentiaries have been engaged in the conferences of London. The principle on which these conferences has been conducted, has been that of not interfering with the right of the people of Belgium to regulate their internal affairs, and to establish their government according to their own views of what may be most conducive to their future welfare and independence, under the sole condition, sanctioned by the practices of nations, and founded on the principles of public law, that, in the exercise of that undoubted right, the security of neighbouring states should not be endangered.

"A series of injuries and insults, for which, notwithstanding repeated remonstrances, all reparation was withheld, compelled me at last to order a squadron of my fleet to appear before Lisbon, with a peremptory demand of satisfaction. A

prompt compliance with that demand prevented the necessity of further measures, but I have not yet been enabled to re-establish my diplomatic relations with the Portuguese Government.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons, I have ordered estimates of the expenses of the current year to be laid before you; and I rely with confidence on your loyalty and zeal to make adequate provision for the public service, as well as for the further application of the sum granted by the last Parliament; always keeping in view the necessity of a wise and wholesome economy in every branch of the public expenditure.

[ocr errors]

My Lords and Gentlemen,-It gives me great satisfaction to state to you, that the large reduction of taxes which took place in the last and in the present year, with a view to the relief of the labouring classes of the community, has not been attended with a proportionate diminution of the public income. I trust that such additional means as may be required to supply a part of the deficiency occasioned by these reductions, may be found without any material abridgment of the comforts of my people.

"To assist the industry, to improve the resources, and to maintain the credit of the country on sound principles, and on a safe and lasting foundation, will be at all times the object of my solicitude, in the promotion of which I look with confidence to your zealous co-operation.

"It is with deep concern that I have to announce to you the continued progress of a formidable disease, to which my attention had been early directed, in the eastern parts of Europe. Information having been more recently received that it had extended its ravages to ports in the Baltic, from whence there is a great commercial intercourse with my dominions, I have directed that all the precautions should be taken which experience has recommended as most effectual for guarding against the introduction of so dangerous a malady into this country.

"Great distress has unhappily prevailed in some districts, and more particularly in a part of the Western Counties of Ireland; to relieve which, in the most pressing cases, I have not hesitated to authorise the application of such means as were immediately available for that purpose. But assistance of this nature is necessarily limited in its amount, and can only be temporary in its effect. The possibility, therefore, of introducing any measures which, by assisting the improvement of the natural resources of the

country, may tend to prevent the recurrence of such evils, must be a subject of the most anxious interest to me, and to you of the most grave and cautious consideration. Local disturbances, unconnected with political causes, have taken place both in this part of the United Kingdom and in Ireland. In the county of Clare, and in the adjoining parts of Roscommon and Galway, a system of violence and outrage had for some time been carried on to an alarming extent, for the repression of which the constitutional authority of the law has been rigorously and successfully exerted. By these means, the necessity of enacting new laws to strengthen the Executive Government with further powers will, I trust, be prevented. To avert such a necessity has been, and ever will be, my most earnest desire; but if it should unfortunately arise, I do not doubt your firm resolution to maintain the peace and order of society by the adoption of such measures as may be required for their most effectual protection."

The abstinence of the speech from topics of debate prevented any amendment being moved to the usual address. Before our pages reach our readers the Reform Bill will have been introduced; and several other points claim instant attention.

There are two most distressing topics alluded to in the Speech; the famishing condition of large districts in Ireland; and the apprehension that the alarming disease which has gradually worked its way westward from India to Russia, may penetrate to our own shores.

With regard to Ireland, the first step is promptly to relieve the existing distress. Private charity has already done much, and great sympathy has been excited, but the supply is quite inadequate to the necessity; and we think that the public purse should, under the very peculiar circumstances of the case, be opened to assist the sufferers. In the mean while, the immediate want being supplied, it becomes the legislature to examine seriously what are the chief causes of the frequent distresses of Ireland, with a view to discover adequate remedies. Things cannot be in a right state in a country where large masses of its inhabitants are frequently on the very verge of famine, while that very country supplies enormous quantities of provisions for exportation. That proposed panacea, the introduction of a system of poor-laws, we feel assured would in the end only aggravate the evil to an incalculable extent. Such laws might work passably well for a few years; but woe to the next and succeeding generations, to whom we should leave such an entail of vice and misery. The hand of Christian charity cannot be too widely expanded at the moment of actual want; but in per

manently legislating for futurity, sound wisdom, and practical experience must be called in to prevent the evil results of ignorant good intention. The poor-laws in England ought sufficiently to have taught us this painful lesson. Better remedies may be discovered; and we have no fear in trusting God with the dispensations of his own all-wise and merciful providence, in the use of such means as appear conformable to a wise and Christian policy.

In reference to the pestilential disease which has visited so many countries, government has ordered a strict quarantine upon all vessels coming from suspicious quarters, and every precaution is being employed to prevent the importation of the contagion. The College of Physicians has decided that it is communicable by personal contact, but not by means of articles of merchandize. The nature of the disease is not thoroughly understood; at least no specific has been discovered to arrest its progress; nor does it seem to be decided whether it depends upon some local condition of the atmosphere, which no quarantine laws can controul, or only upon personal contagion, which the abovementioned learned body state to be its ordinary mode of propagation. A Board of Health has been appointed, consisting of skilful physicians, and other suitable persons, who will doubtless immediately put the public in possession of all that is known on the subject, with the best ascertained means of prevention and cure. We would trust that the danger is exag gerated, and the popular alarm greater than the circumstances necessarily call for; but be this as it may, it is one of those cases in which every man must feel how completely we are at the disposal of Almighty Power, and how liable is human skill to be baffled by causes beyond our vision or controul. We must say, that the occurrence of such a topic as this dreaded calamity, in the address from the throne, might almost inevitably have extorted, if in no other part of the speech, yet in this, some allusion to Him by whom nations and empires rise and fall, flourish and decay; and who can at a moment let loose upon us his sore judgments of war and famine and pestilence. We quite concur, therefore, with the remarks of Sir Robert Inglis, Mr. Sadler, and other members of the House of Commons, in lamenting the absence of all religious allusion in so important a public document: but, alas! the defect is in those who penned it; and though their own sentiments would not be mended by hypocritically introducing a scrap of devout recognition, yet we see not why they should innovate upon the solemn forms está blished in earlier days, when legislatures at least professed, however little they might practise, obedience to God. It is a most afflicting sign of the times, to ob

us.

serve how rapidly all religious allusion is sliding from our public forms. May not God justly visit us with his judgments, when we thus nationally throw off our allegiance to him? at least so far as our state documents are concerned; though, happily, not wholly, while a national church, truly Christian and Apostolical in its foundation, continues established among This the enemies of our holy faith will, perhaps, before long, seek openly to subvert, and, possibly, be joined by some who, as men of piety, though hostile to national church-establishments, ought to eschew so unhallowed a co-operation. Such are a few among our multiform dangers as a nation of professed Christians. Oh that, without being visited by the actual scourge of war, or famine, or pestilence, we may, by the very possibility, be brought to deep humility and repentance before God, and set the Lord always before us; so shall not his dreaded judgments fall upon our guilty heads.

The nation is most anxious for a reformed parliament; and much, we allow, it is needed; but to little purpose, so far as the blessing of God is concerned, in a political reformation, if there be not a larger. infusion of Christian principle among our public men. One of our chief hopes, in reference to a reformed parliament, and, resulting from it, a reformed system of government and legislation, is, that it will be chosen chiefly by the great bulk of the middle classes of society; among whom, rather than among the very

high or the very low, lies most of the piety and good sense and right feeling of the country. We can scarcely think that a reformed parliament, or a government virtually dependent upon it, would have suffered the nation to be insulted by a repetition of one of the worst passages in the days of Charles the Second, and Eleanor Gwyn: the king obtruding his illegitimate children upon the public, calling them, in the published official documents, his "natural children," and raising them to high rank and honours among the nobles of the land. And yet, while such circumstances can occur among us, almost without protest or notice, we pride ourselves upon our national moral susceptibilities, and thank God we are not as France, or the United States of America.

Of foreign affairs we have only space to add, that there has been a revolution in Brazil; the native inhabitants, in their hostility to the Portuguese, having caused the emperor to abdicate in favour of his infant son ;-that, Prince Leopold having hitherto declined accepting the crown of Belgium, the affairs of that country remain in an unsettled condition ;-and that in Poland the events of the war appear to be somewhat in favour of the brave defenders of their country, though the balance still wavers. The cholera morbus makes fearful havoc among the invaders : and general Diebitch has expired suddenly; whether by this pestilence or otherwise is not yet clearly stated.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

C. S. H.; THEATRALIS; B. B.; and A. H.; are under consideration. The West-India Manifesto, respecting which some of our correspondents inquire, was stitched up unsuspectingly by our Publisher as an advertisement without our knowledge; but we do not, upon consideration, regret that it appeared,-first, as the rejection of it might have been made a pretence for saying that the abolitionists are afraid of facts and suppress evidence, and secondly, because it has furnished occasion for a triumphant reply in the Anti-Slavery Reporter, which is affixed to our present Number. The patrons of slavery have exhibited their case with much art; let the impartial readers mark with how little success.

SUPPLEMENT TO RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

WE leave only room to announce the annexed papers, leaving their contents to the diligent perusal and consideration of our readers:

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.
ANTI-SLAVERY REPORTER. (Nos. 81 and 82.)
REFORMATION SOCIETY.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

Hebrews xii. 9: Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live?

THIS Epistle was written to the Christian converts under affliction, when suffering persecution for the sake of Christ. There are peculiar consolations and promises addressed to such persons throughout it. As the whole church of Christ was exposed to persecution in the first age, so that part of it which consisted of converts from the Jewish nation was peculiarly exposed to it, because the enmity of the Jews was more bitter than even that of the Gentiles against Christianity. Jewish bigotry and zeal excited all the first persecutions. This Epistle was written, by St. Paul most probably, to converts of Jewish extraction; and as they were in a very peculiar and critical situation, with regard to their own government, they needed all the consolations of the Gospel to sustain them under such trials.

The view here given of their afflictions, and of God's designs in them, is full of instruction and com

• Delivered at Bristol, Feb. 25, 1827.
CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 355.

[ocr errors]

fort to the people of God. The
text, together with the context, has
been a cordial in the hands of the
Holy Spirit, to many a fainting soul
of the church.
in every age
Whom
the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom he re-
ceiveth," &c. vers. 6-12. In these
words there is a case supposed, the
presence of affliction and trial;
and the proper endurance of it
is enforced, and the spirit of re-
signation recommended, by a power-
ful argument taken from the relation
we are in to God as the Father of
our spirits.

I. A case is supposed, and the duty of patiently enduring affliction enjoined, under the notion of chastisement. "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards." Mankind in all ages have been ingenious in inventing topics of consolation under it. But the progress in this, before the coming of Christ, was very slight. Whilst the knowledge of the Divine Providence was not taught as revealed in the Gospel, the mere contemplation of the state of things and the course of events, furnished but very slender grounds of consolation, and mitigated but very little the darkness of that gloom. During this time of heathen ignorance, we have reason to think that there were very few persons who derived any substantial comfort from the topics which philosophy invented, and eloquence embellished.

But now all is known. The doctrine of the Divine Providence re3 D

« ÖncekiDevam »