about seeking the Lord for deliverance. Instances of this sort should be warnings to us. As rumoured robberies endear our gold, so, when we hear what subtilty Satan employs, and what advantages he gains over others, it should make us redouble our diligence, and guard, lest we likewise should be stripped and spoiled of our best things, grieve the Holy Spirit, and be appointed to walk in darkness. It is a mercy to be kept from backsliding in life-from bringing an open reproach upon our profession; but there is a backsliding in heart likewise which is exceedingly uncomfortable, and often proves an inlet and occasion to the other.-Rev. John Newton's Twenty-five Letters. When God's word is by the fathers expounded, construed, and glossed, then, in my judgment, it is even like unto one that straineth milk through a coal-sack, which must needs spoil the milk and make it black; even so, likewise, God's word, of itself, is sufficiently pure, clean, bright, and clear; but through the doctrines, books, and writings of the fathers, it is very sorely darkened, falsified, and spoiled.—Luther. Human wisdom can so order, moderate, and make use of natural motions, that by them artificial effects shall be produced; as in a clock, the natural motion of the weight or plummet causes the artificial distribution of hours and minutes; and in a mill, the natural motion of the wind or water causes an artificial effect in grinding the corn. How much more, then, shall the wisdom of Almighty God be able so to use, incline, and order the wills of men, without destroying them or their liberty, as that thereby the kingdom of his Son shall be set up amongst them! So that, by the secret, ineffable, and most sweet operation of the Spirit of grace-opening the eyes, convincing the judgment, persuading the affections, inclining the heart, giving an understanding, quickening and awakening the conscience-a man shall be swayed unto the obedience of Christ.—Bishop Reynolds. Let me advise you to walk ever in the beaten road of the Church, and not to run out into singular paradoxes. And if you meet, at any time, with private conceits that seem more probable, suspect them and yourself and if they can win you to assent, yet smother them in your breast; and do not dare to vent them out, either by your hand or tongue, to trouble the common peace. It is a miserable praise to be a witty disturber. -Bishop Hall, to his Brother, Mr. Samuel Hall, on the great Charge of the Ministerial Function-Decade iv., Epistle 5. Poetry. SALVATION BY GRACE. SALVATION BY GRACE-Oh 'tis joyful to hear And fills the glad soul with a rapture divine. That opened a pathway to heaven through the gloom. When Justice assumes her most terrible form, Affrighting the heart with her thunders that roll; And sheds the bright sunshine of peace on the soul. Disperses that gloom from the soul of the dying. Calendar. W. B. S. ¡Days of Sundays and IstLesson 2dLesson 1stLesson | 2dLesson Sts. Phil. & James Ecclus. 7 John b 21 Ecclus. 9 Jude. 73 Sund. aft. Easter Deut. 4 Matt. 5 Deut. 5 Rom. 6 * Proper Psalms.-Morning, 8, 15, 21.-Evening, 24, 47, 108. + Ditto.-Morning, 124, 126, 129, 118. a Begin ver. 9, or Num. 16. b Begin ver. 45. Rogation Days, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. W. E. Painter, 342, Strand, London, Printer. 12 BISHOP BURGESS ON THE PRETENDED ANTI.. QUITY OF THE PAPAL CHURCH. Ir may be useful to appeal to the statements of the learned Bishop Burgess on the above topic. In Mr. Harford's Life of that amiable and devout prelate (p. 256) it is truly said (as the substance of the Bishop's masterly observations on the subject), "Romanism is not only not discoverable in the Bible; it is equally undiscoverable in the writings of the immediate successors of the Apostles-St. Clement, St. Polycarp, St. Ignatius. The epistles of these holy men are written with * * * primitive simplicity, with a firm adhesion to the fundamental principles of the Gospel as developed in the New Testament, and with an utter absence of any approach to the practices of Romanism. * Again (p. 257), "He (Irenæus) it was, who, when Victor, Bishop of Rome, imperiously attempted to exercise spiritual domination over the churches of Asia, by imposing upon them the Roman mode of celebrating the festival of Easter, not only aided in defeating his object, by convening a synod of the churches of France in opposition to him, but reproved, with dignified mildness, his rashness and inconsideration. The fact is the more interesting because the advocates of Papal supremacy pretend to urge, in defence of this tenet, the authority of Irenæus. They do so by misinterpreting a passage, in which he simply states what has never been disputed, that deferential honour and respect were always paid to the Bishop of Rome, as presiding over the see planted in the capital of the empire. This species of honour ceased, however, to be peculiar to the see of Rome, when the imperial dynasty quitted what has been so proudly denominated the eternal city." Thus did the Bishop appeal to Catholic antiquity, in order to demonstrate its opposition to Roman Catholic pretensions; for (as Mr. Harford well contends, p. 259) "though her (the Church of England's) appeal is to the Scriptures as a complete rule of faith, upon all fundamental doctrines, she makes a wise use of the light afforded by primitive antiquity upon various important particulars, which, in the nature of things, admit not of being proved by a reference to this standard." Mr. Harford here alludes to matters of ecclesiastical history, and others of subordinate importance, such as a man may be unacquainted with, and yet lose nothing in the great matter of salvation. Whoever may be desirous of ascertaining, in the most satisfactory manner, the antiquity of the Protestant Church established in Great Britain, as it regards its substance, has only to read Bishop Burgess's short Treatise on the subject, on "The Ancient British Church," in order to come to the conclusion, that "the British Church (as Mr. Harford shows, p. 266 and 269, in his Life of the Bishop) was existing in the third century," and "that the British Bishops asserted and maintained their independence," i. e. of the see of Rome. The Papal controversialist, Dr. Milner, in his "End of all Contro-versy," labours to pervert these facts, but he is clearly unable to disprove them. St. Paul's. The see of London was established by Augustine of Canterbury, when the Anglo-Saxons first embraced Christianity, and a church was founded on the site of the present edifice, by King Ethelbert, who dedicated it to St. Paul the Apostle. The structure was afterwards enlarged by St. Eckenwald, Bishop of London; but the Cathedral, together with a great part of the city, was destroyed by an accidental fire in the year 1083. The nave of the cathedral was rebuilt by Maurice, Bishop of London, 1086; the transepts by his successors, Richard de Beaumes, 1120, and Richard Fitz-Nele, 1199; the choir by their successors, William de Saint Maria, 1220, and Eustace de Fauconberg; the cloisters by Henry Wingham; and the lady chapel by Ralph Baldock. This erection was destroyed by fire in 1666. A commission was appointed in November 1673, to superintend the plans for rebuilding the cathedral. The first stone of the new foundation was laid by Sir Christopher Wren, on June 21st, 1675. In ten years the walls of the choir and aisles were finished, together with the northern and southern portico, and the great piers of the dome were brought to the same height. The style of architecture is different from that of all the other English Cathedrals; and consists of two orders-the Corinthian and the Composite. The present bishop is the Right Hon. and Right Rev. C. J. Blomfield, D.D. Consecrated A.d. 1828. "The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more, unto the perfect day."-Prov. iv., 8. It is not improbable that worldly minds, who judge all which surrounds them by a worldly standard, may secretly regard the brilliant image applied by the sacred writer, to illustrate the path of the just, as bearing a closer resemblance to that bright and broad path, which leads the votaries of the world to pleasure, wealth, and fame, and presents to their view all that ministers to earthly gratification. To them the way which is pursued by the righteous offers little to attract or please; they behold in it only a narrow path which must be entered by a short gate, far from the world's beaten track, strewed with the thorns of affliction, and in it lies many a cross which the Christian pilgrim must take up and patiently bear, till his |