No! for the childish things" of life
This day the appointed hours are gone,
And here for manhood's ordered strife
I'll do my armour on;

With sword of Knowledge, shield of Truth,
And Holiness, bright helm of youth,
And Faith's pure banner, to begin
The war with Ignorance and Sin.

O let me at that last dark hour,—
Not dark, if thou in love be near,
O doubly dark, if sin's rude power

Have weaned me from thy fear,-
Then let no keen rememberment
Of treasures wasted, time misspent,
A vainly late repentance bring,
Or add to death a sharper sting.

So then, as erst that Hebrew boy
Ev'n from the womb and cradle giv❜n,
My soul and body thus with joy
I consecrate to Heaven.

Thou wilt the fainting step sustain,
The Tempter's wiles wilt render vain,
And crown at last, from terror free,
The patient child with victory.

T. T.

THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY A BAPTISM AND FUNERAL
AT THE SAME TIME.

TRUE speaks that holy word-“ Abiding place
For mortal born is none upon this earth!"
All flit like shadows; death succeeds to birth
In quick succession, through the human race.
Joy comes the infant smiles a little space,
Enough to mark its weakness or its worth;
Then comes disease, and puts an end to mirth!
May we, while life and health are ours, have grace
So to pursue our course, our race so run,

So bear ourselves along the path of life,

That when at length its final thread is spun,

And so, upon Death's unaverted day,

As I speed upward, I shall on me bear,

And in no breathless whirl, the things that were,
And duties given, and ends I did obey.

And, when at length I reach the throne of Power,
Ah! still unscared, I shall in fulness see
The vision of my past innumerous deeds,
My deep heart-courses, and their motive-seeds,
So to gaze on till the red dooming hour.
LORD! in that strait, the Judge! remember me !

2. THE GIFT OF TONGUES.

ONCE cast with men of language strange
And foreign-moulded creed,

I marked their random converse change,
And sacred themes succeed.

O how I coveted the gift

To thread their mingled throng
Of sounds, then high my witness lift!
But weakness chained my tongue.

LORD! has our dearth of faith and prayer
Lost us this power once given,

Or is it sent at seasons rare

And then flits back to Heaven?

3.-THE LATIN CHURCH.

O THAT thy creed were sound!

For thou dost soothe the heart, thou Church of Rome,
By thy unwearied watch and varied round

Of service, in thy SAVIOUR's holy home.

I cannot walk the city's sultry streets,

But the wide porch invites to still retreats,

Where Passion's thirst is calmed, and Care's unthankful gloom.

There, on a foreign shore,

The home-sick solitary finds a friend.

Thoughts, prisoned long for lack of speech, outpour Their tears; and doubts in resignation end.

I almost fainted from the long delay,

That tangles me within this languid bay,

When comes a foe, my wounds with oil and wine to tend.

4.-CHRISTMAS.

How can I keep my Christmas feast

In its due festive show,

Reft of the sight of the High Priest
From whom its glories flow?

I hear the tuneful bells around,
The blessed towers I see;
A stranger on a foreign ground,
They peal a fast for me.

WHERE'ER I roam in this fair English land,
The vision of a Temple meets my eyes:
Modest without; within, all glorious rise
Its love-enclustered arches, and expand
Their slender arms. Like olive-plants they stand,
Leafed with bright sister-tracery, the sweet guise
Of home-affections. At the Altar sighs
Parental fondness, and with anxious hand
Tenders its offering of young vows and prayers.
The same and not the same, go where I will,

The vision beams! ten thousand shrines, all one.

Dear fertile soil! what foreign culture bears

Such fruit? And I through distant climes have run
My weary round, yet missed thy likeness still.

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Editor begs to remind his readers that he is not responsible for the opinions
of his Correspondents.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

MR. EDITOR, The present condition, and the future prospects of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, are subjects which must, by all members of that society solicitous for its real welfare, be viewed

with feelings of a most painful description. But to those unconnected with the systematic management of its concerns, to those especially who, like myself, belong to the laity, and who feel therefore that their place is to follow, not to lead, in affairs intimately connected with the church, and in the management of which the prelates of that church are more prominently concerned,-it is easier to contemplate and to deplore the evils which surround us, than to devise and to apply the suitable remedies. The remembrance of scenes which have been witnessed at our monthly meetings may be felt as sufficient to deter any one from ever originating a discussion within our walls; and the publicly addressing either the prelates-who may appear, in theory at least, to guide the society-or the members of the society at large, as if they, on the other hand, were to rule the prelates-would be objectionable

Looking on those who manage public journals as idealisms,-as not representing any particular class, rank, or station in the church, I may, I conceive, by soliciting your attention, Mr. Editor, in some measure avoid the charge of violating the due discipline of the church, by addressing, on the subject of the following remarks, an improper quarter.

I am not about to discuss any matters of minor importance. There is a grave subject, from the consideration of which, it appears to me, we may not longer shrink, without an abandonment of our duty to Him whom we all profess to serve-to Him, of whose holy institution, the church, we are the sworn-the privileged-servants and members. I am speaking, Mr. Editor, of things known to all-all, at least, who have any cognizance of our society's proceedings-when I refer to the design now entertained and openly avowed by a number of our members, of effecting a total change in the character and doctrines of our publications. I am most sincere in expressing my respect for those persons themselves, by whom the intention to which I allude has been admitted. I consider them, indeed, to be mistaken; but I believe them to have a zeal for God, though it be not, in my judgment, according to knowledge. I believe them conscientiously to intend his service. But these feelings-charitable may I call them?-toward themselves, we are not, of course, justified in extending toward their opinions. If they now publicly and fearlessly express their anticipations of the successful accomplishment of the change of which I have spoken, we, the members of the society who yet strive to hold the fulness of the truth revealed, and who dare not refuse our assent to the most sublime doctrines of scripture on the ground of their mysteriousness, are, I need not say, bound as strenuously to exert ourselves in opposing that purpose as though those by whom it was entertained were men for whom we could entertain no personal respect.

In proceeding to set forth my case,-in citing for that purpose, as the representative of the tenets of those to whom I allude, and as the indicator of their views, an evenings paper, which recent events have shewn to be connected with some, at least, among our members,I may startle many, who are aw are that the number of professed admirers of that paper among us is but small, and that the great VOL. IX.-Feb. 1836.

X

majority even of those whom it specially undertakes to represent, speak of it as-to use the language of the day-ultra in its tenets, and violent in its tone. I admit, Mr. Editor, all this. But this does not prevent its being an excellent guide and index to the opinions of perhaps a large body of persons of whose average tenets it would unquestionably afford an exaggerated representation. Generally speaking, when any new doctrine acquires weight, and thus becomes formidable, that weight is not directly derived from those who go all lengths, and who adopt and profess the fulness of the error. These are for the most part but few, and intrinsically weak; but they become strong in wielding the strength of numbers who go to a certain extent along with them,-who are partly, but not altogether, convinced by their arguments, or who feel the necessity of compromising, in some measure, with their views. And yet, numerous as this last section of a party may be, it is clearly the firstthat of the few who go the farthest-which stamps the character of the whole. And to this first section, therefore, to its speeches, publications, &c.,—we may fairly look for the real aim and tendency of any party, even though that aim and that tendency be,-as in the nature of things they will be,-unconsciously forwarded and imperfectly understood by the most apparently influential portion of that party itself. The tone of the extreme, in such cases, is but a representation of that which the bulk of the body is tending to assume; and will assume, when its character shall have reached its further and natural development.

In this sense, then, I regard the paper in question as the representative and organ of a considerable number of our members; and consider its declarations of systematic warfare against the present system and doctrines of our society as of an importance which, did we look simply to the direct and avowed influence of that paper over our members, might appear imaginary.

The paper in question contained, on the 26th of November, an animating address to its friends-an exhortation to them to "strain every nerve to purify the books and tracts of the society; not to rest till a great change shall have taken place in them." Toward this change, it is asserted, something has been done; but, comparatively speaking, it is trifling. Such as it is, however, it is hailed by the editor as "the first streak of the rising day."

The criticisms contained in the same article, on the tract of a Right Rev. Prelate, sufficiently shew in what a main part of this great and desired change is to consist. And the true member of our Holy Church, if ignorant of our late proceedings, will be startled to learn that it is to consist in obliteration from the tracts of our society, and, by consequence, from the popular creed of our country, of those views of the doctrine of the Christian sacraments which were held by our reformers. They, we know, defined the word sacrament as follows: "An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof."

Now, the following passage from the tract just alluded to (which