presence in the eternal world. But, Sir, though I am more attached to life than ever, I have no objection to resign it, when it may please God to call me to it. At my advanced age, though my health is good, and my constitution unbroken, I cannot expect to live many years; yet I feel the strong pulsation of a life, over which neither the first nor the second death have any power. I should like to live on earth, if it were the will of God, to see my dear children embrace the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ; but if I should be removed before that event takes place, I have no doubt but I shall unite with the ministering angels and the spirits of the redeemed in celebrating it in His presence."

"I am happy to hear you speak,” I remarked, "with so much confidence on such an important subject; as I have long thought, that the fears, which christian parents so often and so long cherish respecting the salvation of their children, are no less dishonourable to God, than destructive of their own peace. He has commanded us to use the means for the conveyance of truth to their mind; and he has given us many promises to insure success; and ought we, after all this, to despair? He may withhold the renovating power, to make us more importunate in prayer; and to convince us still more deeply, that human means alone will not prove effectual; but still it is our duty and our privilege to expect that his word shall not return unto him void; but that it shall accomplish that which he pleases; and prosper in the thing whereto he sends it.”

I now left this sequestered spot, on which nature had lavished some of her most attractive charms;this sacred, yet obscure local-habitation of an heir of glory; to retrace my steps to the villa, highly gratified by the recreations of the day, which I found as conducive to my moral improvement, as they had been beneficial to my health. My gratification was increased by hearing that my host attended the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Guion, of whom he spoke with all the warmth of à strong filial attachment; that he personally knew and revered my esteemed friend the Rev. Mr. Ingleby; and had often heard of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, though he knew them not.

JANUARY 22, 1824.

J. S. Hughes, Printer, 66, Paternoster Row, London.

"Religion the source of misery? No: it's a perennial spring of contentment; it is the day-star of hope, it is the rising and setting sun of mortal bliss." Page 10.

London:

POPULAR THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS

EXAMINED AND DISCUSSED.

"Strange tidings these to tell a world, who treat
All but their own experience as deceit !

Will they believe, though credulous enough
To swallow much, upon much weaker proof;
That there are blest inhabitants of earth,
Partakers of a new ethereal birth,
Their hopes, desires, and purposes estrang'd
From things terrestrial, and divinely chang'd,
Their very language of a kind that speaks
The soul's sure interest in the good she seeks?
No!"-

COWPER.

AN occurrence took place in the course of the day, which revived the question which had been discussed on the preceding evening. Two funerals passed along the road in front of Mr. Roscoe's mansion, towards the church yard, which was visible from the drawing-room window. The first was that of a man, who died in the prime of life; and the second, was that of an infant who expired soon after its birth. The man had been a poacher, and like most who devote themselves to illicit practices, he had lived a dissolute life. He rarely, if ever attended church, usually spent his sabbaths in idleness, or in the indulgence of his evil propensities; was notorious for the vulgarity and impurity of his manners, and such was his aversion to religion, that when the Rev. Mr. C called to

see him only a few days before his death, he said, "I thank you, Sir, for your good intentions; but, as I have lived without your religion, I have made up my mind to die without it."

The infant was the first-born of a lovely pair, who had been married little more than twelve months. They lived in a genteel residence, at the remote end of the village; celebrated amongst their

neighbours, no less for their affection for each other, than the sufferings which they endured before their union was consummated. The cupidity of their parents kept them apart for a period nearly as long as Jacob served for his beloved Rachel; when death came, and by leaving them orphans, broke down the barrier which had obstructed their felicity. But they were both too deeply affected by their loss, to evince any symptoms of pleasure; and such was the respect in which they held the memory of their parents that they permitted one year to pass over their heads before they were married. On the nuptial morning, a large number of the smiling villagers greeted them, with their simple benedictions, as they left the church; and when they alighted from the chaise to enter their own dwelling, they were surrounded by a group of females dressed in white, who presented them with a garland of flowers, expressing at the same time a wish that their joy might prove of a less fading nature.

"It is," said Mr. Roscoe, "by bringing the doctrines of our belief to bear on the incidents and facts of life, that we are able to try them. The man, who has just been interred, and who lived, and who died without religion, was the son of the parishclerk; and I remember when he was baptized; and if regeneration takes place when the ceremony of baptism is performed, he was then made a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. But what moral good resulted from this supposed change in his state and character? None. He grew up a wild lad-he lived without religion-and without it he died. But this babe, the first fruits of conjugal bliss, which just made its appearance in this vale of woe; a branch too tender to thrive in such an uncongenial soil, after languishing for a few seconds, experienced a premature decay. It was a branch from the wild olive, and required the same spiritual grafting to fit it to luxuriate in the garden of the Lord, as a more hardy plant. But if this spiritual operation cannot be performed, except when the ordinance of baptism is administered, as

some assert; then is this tender scion, a briar, or a thorn whose end is to be burned, for it withered and died before the waters of healing could be fetched." Mr. John Roscoe. "I have been reviewing my opinion on the question of baptismal regeneration, since our last discussion, and I find the difficulties in which it is involved, too numerous and too for midable to be fairly overcome. I must abandon it; but in doing this I am plunged into deep perplexity; for I am utterly incapable of conceiving what regeneration can be, unless I imbibe the notions of the evangelical clergy, which I can never consent to do."

Mr. Roscoe. "To object to truth, attested by conclusive evidence, merely because it is admitted by a class of men against whom the antipathies of our nature are improperly excited, is a mark, not of wisdom, but of folly; and if you were to push such a determinatiou to the full extent of its application, you would be reduced to the necessity of giving up your belief in the existence of a God-the divine mission of Jesus Christ-the doctrine of Providence -the resurrection and the final judgment; as they believe these doctrines in common with you."

Mr. Roscoe. 66 Very true; but you know, that prejudice is more difficult to subdue, than reason; and hence it may be termed the forlorn hope of truth; which but few can take. But as the question is one of paramount importance, and we have leisure to discuss it, I wish it to be pursued, and will thank you to give me definition of rege

neration."

your

Mr. Roscoe. "The word regeneration, rarely occurs in the New Testament; but there are many other terms employed, which convey the same leading idea; such as, being born again-born of the Spirit-born of God-being made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Hence, when the apostle had exhorted the Ephesians to put off, with respect to their former conversation," The old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts," Eph. iv. 22. he adds, ver. 23, 24. " And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And put on the new man, which after God,"