until we are deprived of them, and, perhaps, on this ground, we may account for, although we cannot excuse, the want of gratitude for our common blessings. But on what ground shall we account for that degraded and heartless selfishness which, on the restoration of a blessing, of which we have been deprived, will sullenly and thoughtlessly receive it again without feeling one spark of gratitude kindled in our freezing bosom-from what can it arise but from the want of sufficient consciousness that all our blessings are from the Lord, and we have, at least, reason to suspect that all things are not right if we find that gratitude is not the predominant feeling of the heart on the removal of any affliction.

. Examination is, at least, as necessary, if not still more so, after the removal of afflictions as during its continuance. In the latter case, the Lord is felt to be dealing with us as he may be expected to force that upon our attention, by means of the affliction, which may require to be sought for when the affliction is removed. When the Lord has lifted his afflicting hand from off us, we ought to feel as if some operation had been performed upon us; anxiously should we examine ourselves to see whether the effect which was intended has really been produced, or whether we have been hardened rather than improved; and how fearful will it be to be found, that instead of being for our improvement, it has rather tended to make us worse. There are then but two alternatives, either to remain for ever in our present degraded circumstances, far away from the true spirit of Christian perfection, and always declining farther and farther from the source of life or, by some still more grievous affliction, to be brought back as far as we have gone astray; for if the past affliction was not sufficient to overcome the obduracy of our hearts, if we be the children of God and not bastards, then must the Lord afflict us until he has wrought in us a complete change both of heart and life.

Those who are not afflicted have great reason to be very jealous over themselves, because their circumstances suppose either that they do not require affliction, or that requiring it, they are "let alone."

After the removal of affliction we have also great cause for diligence and watchfulness. If, as we may expect, the Lord has indeed wrought in us a change for the better by the visitation of affliction, let us then be most wary in our walk and conversation, lest our past afflictions should be only the prelude of a more fearful calamity. It is not at the time that we are most

apt to wander from God, it is afterwards. Our feelings may be like the seed sown on the stony ground, which at first sprang up but afterwards withered away. Pharoah, on the infliction of every several plague, repented and thought he would do better for the time to come; but when the feelings had subsided, it appeared evident that his heart was still unchanged. Let us beware, lest a similar fate await us. "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be cut off, and that without remedy."

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We cannot conclude these remarks without making one application to the circumstances of the nation. Our sins and our iniquities have mounted over our heads. The sins of the nation have called aloud for vengeance, and it did come. What was our duty as a nation and as individuals? While the destroying angel lifted up his hand against us, he did so at the command of God-the nation should then have bowed its head and worshipped. As a nation, we ought instantly to have humbled ourselves in deep submission. Yet was this done? Was not the idea of our affliction coming directly from the hand of God ridiculed in our national parliament, and has not the high and blasphemous example been followed by others throughout the country? Can we say that the nation has examined itself in order to discover what was wrong? Alas, we cannot. It may be that the people of God have endeavoured to perform their duties in this matter, yet how remissly have even they done so ? Ye are the salt of the earth, said the Lord to his disciples, and so must they be regarded still. The Lord has been pleased, in some degree, to stay the pestilence which has been devastating our land, yet how differently must it leave the children of God and the children of the world. To the one it has been the savour of life unto life, to the other it has been the savour of death unto death. If it has not been the means of improving them, it must have had the effect of hardening them in sin. Let each of our readers then examine himself-let him ask what has been its effect upon his own heart. Let him inquire, have I become more habituated to the thoughts of death, without being in a corresponding degree drawn towards him who has already conquered death? Have I become more accustomed to the sight of widows and orphans, and bereaved parents and friends, without being also induced to prepare for similar chastisement? Let these things sink deep into our hearts, and let our self-examination, our diligence, and our watchfulness not be discontinued, because the Lord appears to be lifting his

afflicting hand from off us, but let us rather be stimulated to more exertion and greater zeal since the Lord has again left us to the more common and the more comfortable means of

grace.

Gratitude is now a debt, a double debt, and how shall it find expression unless it be by a public thanksgiving. Hardened and cold must that heart indeed be which will not warm towards our merciful Father who has afflicted, but who is now comforting us. Let all join in it even those who have been bereaved of near and dear relatives have reason to be grateful. To whom are they indebted for the destroyer being commanded to pass over them? Come, then, let us pay our vows unto the Lord, let us pay them before all the people-let all unite in raising a song of gratitude to him who, in the midst of deserved wrath, has remembered mercy.

Oh thou my soul bless God the Lord!

And all that in me is,

Be stirred up, his holy name

To magnify and bless.

PRESBYTERIANISM IN ENGLAND.

THE state of Presbyterianism in England is annually becoming more interesting and important. At one period it flourished there to a considerable extent, but for many years past it has been sadly deteriorating, and seemed to be on the direct road to utter extinction, till, through the zeal of some of its friends, in the present times better prospects appear to be opening before it. The withering heresy of Arianism, and then Socinianism, first appeared in these countries in some of the Presbyterian Churches of England. The consequence, in a very short time, was the abandonment of all church discipline, for in all ages of the church, error in doctrine has uniformly been followed by neglect of discipline, and that again had its reaction upon the doctrines of the Gospel, till both the doctrines of the truth and the discipline of the church_seemed wholly to depart from the Presbyterian Churches of England, leaving only the name behind. A few exceptions there were, but, alas! they were, indeed, few. A more humbling and melancholy spectacle than these churches presented, under the influence of what is now called Unitarianism, the history of the church never exhibited. The houses of worship are almost deserted-the few individuals who worship in them are

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united by no common bond of Christian truth they have no Session, no Presbytery, no Synod. They are maintained chiefly by misappropriated funds, originally bequeathed to support the preaching of the Gospel, and of the Presbyterianism of the New Testament they have not retained even the form, while they appear to have no other reason for continuing the name, than that it is deemed necessary for the enjoyment of those funds which were bequeathed for other purposes than those to which they apply them. Under these circumstances, it must be gratifying to the Christian public to find that any efforts are making for the revival of true Presbyterianism in England. And it is to put them in possession of what is doing by our much esteemed friends in the North of England, that the following document is submitted to our readers. As Presbyterians, we feel grateful to them for their zealous labours. With all our heart we wish them God speed. And we entreat for them the prayers and sympathy of all that love our Zion ::

"CIRCULAR OF THE PRESBYTERY OF THE NORTH-WEST OF ENGLAND.

"THE Presbytery of the North-West of England is connected with the Church of Scotland,-all its Ministers having been licensed by Presbyteries of that Church, and the basis of the union of its Members being a recognition of its Standards. It was formed, after serious deliberation and prayer, on the 21st day of January, 1824, on the joint resolution of the several Kirk-Sessions, whose Office-bearers compose it. Previous to its formation, the Congregations, though nominally Presbyterian, wanted many of the benefits of that form of Church government. There had been no inspection of the Kirk-Sessions, no stated superintendence of of Congregations deprived of their Pastors, and no direct occasion of intercourse between Ministers and Elders of Churches which were in the neighbourhood of each other, and professedly in the same communion. And, from the want of the Presbyterian discipline, or the corruption of it, many Churches in the North-West of England had either dwindled away, or lost the sound doctrines of their original constitution.

"At the formation of the Presbytery, a provision was contemplated against these serious evils; but it was also contemplated, that exertions might be made for reviving decayed Churches, and for planting new ones in those parts of the district connected with the Presbytery, in which a large population, and the scarcity of permanent means of religious instruction, render the establishment of such Churches desirable. For the prosecution of this object, the direct resources of the Presbytery are very scanty. The Congregations, in general, are far from being affluent, and the stipends of the Ministers are consequently very small. Yet the Presbytery trust that the design which they have in view, of in easing the number of Presbyterian Churches in the North-West of England, is one which will approve itself to many-especially to Scottish Christians, whom the Lord has blessed with the means of aiding them in it.

"In Lancashire there are not fewer than thirty-nine Unitarian Chapels, seven of which were founded by Unitarians, and the remaining thirty-two by Orthodox Presbyterians, by whom also the most of them were amply endowed, In Cheshire, there are fourteen Unitarian Chapels, twelve* of which were founded, and these too, generally endowed by Orthodox Presbyterians. There are thus in those Counties wide fields, where the tares have choked the wheat, which invite the labours of this Presbytery.

"But the circumstance, that the population of the whole district of country with which the Presbytery is connected has far outgrown the present means of religious instruction provided for it, either by the Episcopal establishment, or by any of the active bodies of Dissenters from that establishment, constitutes an independent and powerful claim on the exertions of the Presbytery in planting new Churches. And one feature of that population-the great number of emigrant Scotsmen to be found in it-particularly enhances this claim. These are found scattered in the villages, and are also collected in considerable numbers in the large towns, and yet it is believed that there is not in Lancashire, (Liverpool and Manchester excepted,) nor in Cheshire, nor in Westmoreland, nor in Yorkshire, one single Presbyterian Church connected with the Church of Scotland!

"Now, without disparaging the Church of England, or English Dissenters, and without insinuating that Scotsmen in England can be excused for neglecting the ordinances of the Gospel, although they have not these administered according to the forms of their Country's Church, or by its Ministers, it is yet obvious that many of them, whose religion has been more in the letter and form than in the spirit, will be tempted to neglect Divine ordinances altogether, when they cannot enjoy the administration of them in those modes, which from their childhood they have been taught to revere, and the love of which in them mingles with the very love of country. And it is a melancholy fact, that in the district alluded to, emigrant Scotsmen have in some cases swelled the numbers of the Unitarians, having been allured to attend on their Chapels, from the name of Presbyterian, which Unitarians there unwarrantably assume.

"The Presbytery of the North-West of England have thus felt that a powerful call was made on them for Missionary exertions in their own neighbourhood. They entertain no fear of exposing themselves to the charge, in a discreditable sense, of being influenced by a proselytizing spirit; seeing that the Legislature, in the recent large pecuniary grants for building Churches, the Methodists, by their systematical preaching itineracy, and the Dissenters, by their Home Missionary Associations, all confess the same prevailing want in our country of increased means of religious instruction.

"The Presbytery have been encouraged in the commencement of their labours by pecuniary subscriptions from various quarters; and by the assurance of co-operation on the part of many of the most eminent Ministers of the Church of Scotland. They lately opened a preaching station at Manchester, one of the most populous towns in the North-West of England, where the want of a Scotch Church was long felt and deplored, but where a splendid edifice for the worship of God will soon be completed. And prior to the death of the Rev. JOHN SELKIRK, at Workington, and

• Among the twelve, unhappily, is included the Chapel built for the venerable Matthew Henry and his congregation.