of one or two, or more, whose minds are distracted by other cares, that will suffice. Men should be devoted to them exclusively. Besides the increased support thus brought to the institutions, the labours of such men over a country are of incalculable benefit. They rouse the ministry, quicken the churches, and awaken the attention of the careless world. We trust the volume shall have an extensive circulation, and that it shall be abundantly blessed to these and similar effects in the land.

The DOCTRINE of the TRINITY, and that of the INCARNATION and ATONEMENT of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, established by an APPEAL to the WORD of GOD. By the Rev. D. STUART, Dublin. Second Edition, G. TYRELL. P.p. 60. 1834. IS UNITARIANISM the DOCTRINE of the BIBLE? Addressed to the Congregation of StrandStreet. By the Rev. D. STUART, Dublin. G. TYRELL. P. p. 23. 1834.

THESE two tracts have been occasioned by a discourse delivered in Dublin, by the Rev. Dr. Drummond, upon the death of the late Rajah Rammohun Roy. They are short, judicious, sensible, and comprehensive. The first particularly contains a very lucid and satisfactory outline of the argument for the doctrine of the Trinity. The existence of God being assumed, evidence is adduced of his unity-of a plurality in that unityof the deity of the Father, which, it is shown, must be proved by the very line of argument adopted to prove that of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, or it cannot be proved at all-of the deity of the Son, who is shown to have the names, attributes, works, and worship of God rendered to him-of the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit. The statement of the doctrine of the incarnation and atonement of Christ is equally comprehensive and satisfactory. And an appendix is given, containing some remarks upon the sermon of Dr. Drummond, on the death of the Rajah. This short treatise will be found most suitable for circulation among those who have not leisure for an extensive course of reading upon the important subject of which it treats. In a very short compass, it brings the substance of the argument before the mind. And to all who apprehend it, and are willing to have their faith determined by the authority of the Scriptures, it must prove entirely satisfactory. We cannot conclude without adding, that it is most pleasing to us to reflect upon the well-sustained ministry of Mr. Stuart, in the metropolis, and to contemplate the high and honourable place which he holds in the estimation of the wise and good. He is a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. He has ever shown himself ready to every good work. And we congratulate him, and bless God on his account, that he has been enabled to bear a consistent and unwearying testimony to the truth, and that he continues to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.

A DEFENCE of CIVIL ESTABLISHMENTS of RELIGION, bearing on the History and Prospects of the Church of Scotland, and on the Secession. By the Rev. W. MACKRAY, Stirling. G. CLARK and SON, Aberdeen. P. p. 116.

Ir is a blessed thing that we live under the providence of that Being who bringeth good out of evil, and light out of darkness. By means of the

furious attacks lately made on religious establishments, many powerful defences of this great scriptural principle have been called forth, inferior to none, with the exception of the writings of the early reformers, on the same subject. Mr. Mackray's discourse argues the question from history-the efficiency of establishments the light of nature-Scripture, including example, injunction, and prophecy-the beneficial effects of the Scottish establishment-and the bearings of the opposite principle. Objections also are answered, taken from the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom-persecution-state of the church during the first three centuries-independence of the church-and hostility to abuse. It is enough to say of this discourse, that it is not unworthy of the author of the "Essay on the Effect of the Reformation on Civil Society in Europe," and the other productions that have come from the pen of Mr. Mackray. It is clear, concise, and conclusive. Upon the subject of establishments, nothing has given us more pain than the course that seems to be generally followed by the Independents of England. They have been hitherto a highly useful and honourable body; but we fear the extent to which they are interfering in the political contests of their country will not a little endanger their piety and respectability. Even many of their ministers seem to act more as political agitators than ambassadors for Christ. Many exceptions, we have no doubt, there are; and, if we are not misinformed, there will be shortly a powerful reaction among themselves, proceeding from some of their best and most esteemed ministers, who have disapproved of the conduct of their brethren, but in the love of peace, have hitherto remained silent. It is pleasing to contemplate the conduct of the Methodists of England under the present excitements. They are a very large, respectable, and influential body, and, as it became Christians and lovers of their country, they have taken no part in the political game that is now playing by others around them. They have done themselves great honour, and, we have no doubt, they enjoy its advantages in their own peace and prosperity. The abuses of all establishments we wish to see corrected; but should it ever come to pass that their great principle shall be abandoned in England, it will be the sacrifice of a great scriptural principle, which will open the way for confusion and every evil work, Will the day ever come when a British Parliament, out of compliment to a spurious liberality, must not be constituted by prayer to God? when the Bible must be put out of sight, lest its laws might be founded upon it? and when it would be counted criminal to make any provision for the instruction of the poor throughout the land? When the principle of an establishment is given up, all these must be sacrificed with it, for they are included with it. Or is there any Christian prepared to condemn the Missionaries of Otaheite because they have taught the people to base all their laws upon the Bible and Christianity? The enemies of establishments surely do not consider whither their principles tend.

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ORDINATION.-On the 5th of April, the Rev. James M'Clatchy was ordained to the pastoral charge of the newly-erected Presbyterian congregation of Cavan. The services of the day were conducted by the Rev. P. White, of Bailieborough, Rev. J. Bleckley, Monaghan, and Rev. Joseph Denham, Killishandra.

"The state of Presbyterianism in England at the present time."

THE length of the preceding remarks upon this subject precluded, in the former article, the advocacy of the Presbyterian Church from the charge of intolerance and a persecuting spirit. But if the charge be alleged against the principles of Presbytery, then a stigma attaches to the body, provided the allegation be founded in truth, at every period of its history, and a vindication of the principle, or an entire exemption from the charge, may, with propriety, be pleaded at any stage of our discussion.

That Presbyterian principles savour in the slightest degree of a persecuting tendency, it is in the very outset pointedly denied. But that enlightened Presbyterians have always considered their views of ecclesiastical polity based on Scripture, as well as in expediency, will be readily granted; and that a becoming zeal in the maintenance of their religious sentiments ought to be adduced as an excellence rather than a fault. That the Presbyterian Church of England, too, in her best and purest days, insisted upon subscription to creeds, as a safeguard against error,-that she admitted the power, propriety, and sacred obligation of the civil magistrate in matters of religion-that she contended for church-censures, as an institution of the Lord Jesus Christ-and that she preferred Presbyterian ministers to instruct the people, devoting to their maintenance the revenues appropriated by the nation to religious purposes, because they were deemed by her, from their sentiments and other qualifications, best calculated to advance the glory of Jehovah and the welfare of mankind, are all statements, whose truth the friends of Presbytery not only admit, but for which they strenuously contend. But

what one of these admissions necessarily engenders an intolerant spirit? Nay, all of them, when under the direction of wisdom, lead to the advancement of godliness and the prosperity of earthly kingdoms. Surely every denomination of Christians may be allowed to raise the men to places of trust, and to invest them with power, in whose character, conduct, and measures they have the greatest confidence. Equally certain is it that magistrates may employ their official powers in upholding and extending the Gospel, without having recourse to fines, imprisonment, and other inflictions. Nor can it be denied, that the healthful discipline which Christ has ordained in his church tends to purify rather than to destroy the lives of men; and instead of a subscription to religious truth being a bad thing, as has been often alleged, it appears to be the plainest of all axioms, that the doctrines which are good when spoken, can be nothing worse to be subscribed. Yet to some of these sentiments and the measures consequent upon their adoption, may the charge of intolerance and of persecution, in every instance, be traced. That Presbyterians have been sometimes found, in their individual capacity, to advocate the infliction of pains and penalties for religious offences, their friends do not attempt to conceal; so have the abettors of Independency and Episcopacy avowed similar sentiments; yet if they have not been countenanced by the parties to which they belong, who would condemn the many for the faults of the few? But without multiplying remarks, let it be briefly stated, that when we consider the extensive good which the Presbyterian Church attempted, in the midst of fierce opposition from princely power and the dominant ecclesiastical party, her proceedings, as Dr. M'Crie well observes, 66 were marked by lenity and tenderness, in place of being obnoxious to the charge of persecution."

Presbyterians, however, have often been the dupes of misrepresentation; and probably an overweening confidence, in the rectitude of their principles and the excellence of their cause, has disposed them to submit silently to calumny and reproach. But hoping that this day begins to pass away, let us inquire a little more narrowly into the grounds of this charge. Let it then be remembered, that the Assembly of Divines, in all their proceedings, went upon the supposition of a uniformity in religion for the three kingdoms; and that with this view, they and the Parliament, in the most public manner, took the "Solemn League and Covenant.' In this design the Independents of

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that day not only agreed, but some of them, proceeding to Scotland, solicited the Assembly of that church to send Commissioners to Westminster, for the purpose of adjusting the articles of religious uniformity: it cannot, therefore, be doubted that they were quite prepared to accept the benefits of a national and an established church. The very grounds, then, on which they became members of the Westminster Assembly; and, had they been consistent, the admissions which were afterwards made by them, as to their willingness to conform to the Directory, and to engage in occasional communion with the national Presbyterian Church, pledged them, being the minority, to submit to the decisions of the vast majority. To what, then, did Presbyterian intolerance amount? Even to this, the Parliament determined, in conformity with the covenanted league into which they had solemnly entered, and in accordance with the recommendation of the Westminster Assembly, to patronize the Presbyterian Church in England, as well as in Scotland and Ireland;-the Independents did not choose to conform, though they had virtually come under obligations to aequiesce in the articles of the contemplated uniformity, therefore were they shut out from official stations in the Government, and were precluded from a share in the ecclesiastical revenues of the kingdom. If this be persecution, judging from their measures in New England, it is just the persecution which the Independents would have exercised, and that they would have had a legal right to have exercised, had they proved the most numerous party in the Westminster Assembly and in Parliament. Intolerance!-persecution!it seemed very unlike the one or the other, when you reflect on the affection which the Presbyterians showed to the unsuccessful party, and the anxiety that they evinced to bestow a comprehension on the Independents, but which wounded pride would not permit them to accept.

To maintain that Presbyterian measures were never wrong, would be to contend for infallibility, which belongs to no individual, or council, or sect of Christians upon earth. But we do mean to assert, that if errors they had, they ought, in Christian charity, to have been attributed to inadvertence, or to want of understanding, instead of design. Than the destruction of mankind, nothing could be more inconsistent with the avowed principles of Presbyterians,-nothing could be further removed from the tendency of their exertions in behalf of civil and religious liberty, and nothing more incongruous with their enlightened piety, their pure morality, their