The visits of the faithful to the sick-beds of the heathen are always acceptable. The approach of dissolution awakens the powers of the mind, which, under other circumstances, would have remained as dormant and dark as the grave, and influences them, alas! when too late, to contrast the increasing glories of Christianity with the murky shades of Paganism. It is, therefore, no uncommon occurrence for the grossest heathen, who were never known to have listened to the message of Divine mercy, utter their dying request that they might be buried with believers, whom they had all along mocked and despised.

"Some there are who threaten and rage; but the believers at all our stations are composed of persons too numerous and too influential to be moved by what

they hear. Sometimes the orphan-child of believing parents is forced into these ceremonies by their heathen guardians. From this circumstance, some of the native brethren at Borigelong intimated their wish to withdraw to a situation like the Kuruman, where they might be exempted from annoyances. Not approving of this, I observed, Ye are the salt of the earth, and your heavenly Father intends you to salt the mass among whom you live. Ye are witnesses for Christ. Only place yourselves in their condition, or suppose that those who were the firstfruits of the gospel among the Bechuanas, and had much more reason to complain, had departed from their land, what would your condition have been now?' This was a new view of the subject, and they instantly responded to it."

THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST IN HIS CHURCH VIEWED IN CONNECTION WITH THE POSITION, PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES, AND DUTIES OF THE INDEPENDENTS.*

"These things saith he that hath the key of David; he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth."-REV. iii. 7. To us, as a body of Protestant Nonconformists, the truth proclaimed in the text is one of the highest importance. The supremacy of Christ in his own kingdom, is the foundation-stone of our ecclesiastical polity. We are Protestants, because, among other objections to the Papal system, we believe it invades the legal and legislative prerogatives of the King of Zion. We are Nonconformists, because the Establishment of our country, both in theory and practice, does the same. We are Congregationalists, because we think that our church polity as such does more homage to the crown rights of the Son of God, than the polity adopted by any other body of Dis

senters.

Whatever may be said of the abstract possibility of establishing a Christian church without invading the supremacy of its Head, and the spiritual freedom of its members, it is certain that this plea cannot be urged in defence of the Establishment of our own country. By the

* Closing part of a Sermon preached before the Derbyshire Congregational Union, at its last Annual Meeting, and since published at the unanimous request of the Union."

Act of Supremacy the crown has been plucked from the Saviour's brow, and given to the occupant of the English throne. When the king or queen of England was made the head of the English church, the affair was not merely a name without a reality-a theory without practice-an honour without power, -but he who was made to bear the name of Zion's King was invested with his prerogatives also. By the aforesaid Act, the king or queen of the English nation was invested with "full power and authority to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend""whatever, by any manner of spiritual authority or jurisdiction, ought or may be lawfully reformed, redressed," &c.

But who gave to the sovereign of these realms this unlimited power in the church? The legislature of the nation. It was given by act of parliament, and by that it is continued. Here we have another invasion of Christ's supremacy in his own kingdom. A body of menamong whom, in our own day, may be found many who are utter strangers to vital religion-some Papists, some Socinians, and some infidels-dare to make laws for the church, and impose them upon its members. If this human legislation for the kingdom of Christ abrogates, suspends, or alters his own laws, then it is impiety of the most presumptuous character. If it adds any law to those which he enacted, it reflects on his

wisdom, and imposes on his subjects. If it only confirms what Christ has commanded, it is ridiculous as well as impious ridiculous, because useless-impious, as it seems to imply that Christ's laws are invested with additional authority when confirmed by acts of parliament. In any case Christ is dishonoured; because his authority is set aside, and his laws are virtually made of none effect.

That which robs the sovereign of his legal and legislative rights, robs his subjects of some of their most valuable privileges. Christians in the Establishment have no voice in the election of their minister. He is appointed by some ecclesiastical dignitary, or by the lord chancellor, or by the patron of the living. The opinion of those who are to receive him as their spiritual guide is never once asked, nor their wishes once consulted. High-church or low-orthodox or heterodox-converted or notthe people must have him, and they have no choice in the matter. As they have no voice in the election of the minister, neither have they in the admission of those to the fellowship of the church whom they should regard, and love, and seek to edify, as their brothers and sisters in Christ. Indeed, according to the consistent theory of a national church, as explained by Hooker, there is no necessity for an act of formal admission to the church, for the church and the nation are co-extensive-every member of the one is a member of the other. Thus the law of Christ is entirely set aside-the key is taken from his shoulder-the door is opened and thrown wide to thousands against whom he had shut it.

Entertaining the views that we do of the supremacy of Christ in his own kingdom, and of the duty of all the subjects of his kingdom to defend that supremacy against every usurpation, we have no alternative but to act as we do, and separate ourselves from a church in which his crown is dishonoured, and his legislative rights are practically denied. The sole authority of Christ in his church is not with us an appendage to our religion, it is an integral part of it. On the same authority that we learn that he is a Saviour, we learn that he is a King; the book that tells us of his atonement, tells us of his supremacy. He who says to us, "I am the way, no man cometh unto the Father but by me;" says also, "I have the key of David; I shut and no man openeth, and open and no man

shutteth." As we should do wrong by depending on any other Saviour, so we believe we should do wrong by obeying any other King. As we owe it to Christ to maintain the efficiency of his sacrifice, so we owe it to him to defend the inviolability of his supremacy. As we owe it to our fellow-men to warn them against any other " way," so we owe it to them to warn them against yielding to any other sceptre, or submitting to any other laws than his. Viewing the subject as we do, we could not countenance a system that robs the Saviour of his regal glories without wilful sin; we could not be neutral, without betraying the trust which we believe he has committed to us. To take part with those who invade his rights, would on our part be treason; to remain silent, and see others do it without our protest, would be a cowardice and a compromise, unworthy of those who bear the name of Christ, and have sworn fealty to him as the only King in Zion.

Everything that is essential to our ecclesiastical polity springs out of our recognition of Christ's supremacy in his own kingdom. We acknowledge the sole authority of the Scriptures in all questions of religious faith and order; because we believe them to be the statutes of our King. The dicta of fathers, councils, synods, or assemblies, are to us invested with no authority. Not even the writings of our own illustrious forefathers do we follow, except as we find them agreeing with the law and the testimony. We observe certain religious ordinances, because we think it the will of Christ that we should do so. We place the ruling power of our churches in the hand of the whole body of Christ's disciples, because we believe this to be his own appointment. We do not allow any foreign interference with the government of our churches, because we believe that the perfect independency of each is a privilege granted to it by the charter of its Head.

When we unite together as a number of churches located in this country, we do it in the full recognition of the separate completeness and perfect independency of each. We unite for the purpose of mutual sympathy, mutual counsel, and mutual help. He who has the key of David, has taught us that "the strong should bear the infirmities of the weak.' The ability of the strong to grant aid invests them with no power over the assisted, and no right whatever to interfere

with their self-government. The reception of aid by the weak, involves not the slightest renunciation of independence. Ours is union without amalgamation, assistance without interference, counsel without dictation.

From a recognition of the principles laid down in this discourse there arise obvious obligations:

1. We are bound to study the Scrip

tures.

The subjects of any kingdom must know the will of their sovereign, and the laws of their country, before they can be sure that they act in accordance with the one, or in obedience to the other. Especially is it needful, that they who explain and administer the laws should understand them. The laws by which we are to be governed, as the subjects of Christ's kingdom, are registered in the Scriptures. Hence it is of the first importance that, as ministers and people, we should all be familiar with the Scriptures. As ministers we should seek to excel in Biblical knowledge. Our calling is to feed the flock of God with knowledge and with understanding; to help our people to gain an acquaintance with the mind of Christ, by rightly dividing the word of truth, and declaring the whole counsel of God; to rule in the church by explaining and enforcing Christ's laws. Competency for this work can only be gained by a patient, prayerful, and persevering study of the Scriptures. Without that, whatever we possess beside, we cannot be "good ministers of Jesus Christ." Our avowed principles bind us, under the most solemn obligations, to study the Bible. Did we acknowledge the authority of popes, we should be bound to study their rules; of councils, we must study their decrees; of parliaments, we must make ourselves familiar with their acts. Had we signed any articles, or sworn assent and consent to any book, creed, or confession, of human compilation, then it would have been our duty to study such compositions, and to take care that in our public ministry we taught nothing inconsistent with them. But we have signed no articles, except those drawn up under the infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit; we acknowledge no creed but the apostles', as we find it in their own writings; we have declared assent and consent to no book but the Bible. Our disgrace will be equal to our loss, our guilt will be equal to our people's misfortune, if we do not give diligence to gain an

enlarged and accurate acquaintance with the doctrines of our Divine teacher, and the laws of our spiritual King. Fathers and brethren, pardon me if I say, let this be our highest ambition, our chief distinction, that we are "mighty in the Scriptures."

The duty of ministers to study the word of God, does not release our people from the obligation to study it for themselves. The expositions of that word given you in public, are designed to assist, not to supersede, your own study of it in private. It is only by studying it for yourselves, that you can tell that your ministers expound its doctrines and its laws in harmony with the mind of Christ. The Bible is not the book of a priesthood, or the directory of ministers in their official capacity only, but it is the book of the people, designed for the people, and adapted to the people; and hence it is both their privilege and their duty to make themselves acquainted with its contents. Brethren, search the Scriptures! Take the Bereans for your pattern. Let God's word be hidden in your heart. Your principles require this; consistency demands it. Your loyalty to your King, and your attachment to his kingdom, will be questionable without it. You believe that he, in the exercise of his absolute supremacy in his church, has intrusted to your hands the power of government. How solemn, then, is your obligation to study diligently, his laws, lest, in the exercise of your privilege, you should, in ignorance, oppose his will and disobey his commands.

are

2. From the principles now explained and enforced, it follows that we bound to yield to Christ implicit obedience in all things.

As our King, we must allow him to reign in our hearts, to rule over the empire of our thoughts and affections. As our Legislator, we must allow him to enact laws for our guidance in all our relationships and transactions in life, and we must observe his laws in the family, in business, and in all our intercourse with society. But we speak now more particularly of our obligation to obey him in everything connected with his own spiritual kingdom. Let us take care how we give countenance to the common distinction between essential and non-essential truths. Who shall say exactly where the line is to be drawn? How shall we be certain that we are right in putting in the class of nonessentials, any single truth that Jesus has

clearly taught, any single law that he has clearly commanded? If he says distinctly, "My kingdom is not of this world," who is at liberty to say that we may allow it to be incorporated with the kingdoms of this world, and be guiltless, just because we put his declaration into the class of non-essential truths? If he expressly says to his disciples, "This do in remembrance of me," who is at liberty to say that the command may be disobeyed with impunity, because we do not think obedience to it essential to salvation? We may certainly lay this down as a settled point, that nothing can be unimportant that he has taught, and that nothing can without guilt and danger be neglected that he has commanded. What he has opened, we should be content to leave open, and rejoice in it; what he has shut, we must endeavour to keep closed, because he has done it. If the laws of Christ are not, in all respects, observed in our churches, the fault is our own. We are amenable to no tribunal but his; we are bound by no other laws. Every single church in our Union is perfectly free to obey all his commands without the least interference from any power on earth. Oh, that God may give us grace rightly to value our liberty, and rightly to use it!-to use it, under an enlightened sense of our responsibility, for no other purpose than to obey our Saviour's laws, and to promote his glory.

3. What we are required to know and to obey, we are required to make known to others.

"Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord." If, as we humbly hope and believe, our views of the supremacy of Christ in his kingdom are the correct ones; they have not been revealed to us for our own guidance only, but that we may defend, proclaim, and propagate them. This is an important part of our mission. The truth as it is in Jesus we must seek to bring in contact with the minds of our fellowmen, that through their minds it may reach their hearts, and lead to their conversion. They all need the salvation that is in Christ; without it they must perish. We must tell them of the provision of God's mercy-of Jesus as a Saviour, waiting to be gracious, ready to pardon, able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. We must seek to awaken them to a sense of their danger. We must rebuke, reprove, warn, and entreat them. As though God did beseech them by us, we must pray them, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God.

Having, by God's blessing, been successful in leading them to Christ as a Saviour, we must then proclaim him to them as a King. We must seek to teach them that he is the only lawgiver in his church, the only ruler in his kingdom. We must teach them to swear allegiance to him, and to him alone, in all that appertains to religion; to say with unaffected loyalty, in reference to all that is civil, one is our sovereign, Victoria the Queen; but, in reference to all that is religious, we have but one King, that is Jesus. The more extensively we can propagate our principles, and the more genuine Christians we can bring into our churches, the more will there be on earth to plant the crown on the Saviour's head, and to vindicate the honours of his throne. The object is glorious-worthy of all the effort, thought, toil, and sacrifice we can call into exercise to secure it. The glory of Christthe liberties of his people-the purity of his church-the salvation of souls these are the ends we seek. To gain them, who would not be willing to labour? Friends of Jesus! we ask your sympathies, we ask your prayers, we ask your help!

LORD BROUGHAM'S LAMENT. MR. HENRY BROUGHAM, in the days of his forensic glory, delivered one of his greatest speeches against the Durham clergy, in behalf of Mr. Editor Williams, whom they were fiercely prosecuting for libel. On that occasion the orator delivered the following tremendous piece of sarcasm, which deserves to be long remembered: Strange as it may seem, and, to many who hear me, incredible, from one end of the country to the other he will see no such thing as a bishop; not such a thing is to be found from the Tweed to John o' Groat's; not a mitre, no, not so much as a minor canon, or even a rural dean; and in all the land not one single curate. So entirely rude and barbarous are they in Scotland, in such outer darkness do they sit, that they support no cathedrals, maintain no pluralists, suffer no non-residents; nay, the poor benighted creatures are even ignorant of tithes. Not a sheaf, or a lamb, or a pig, or the value of a plough-penny, do the hapless mortals render from year's end to year's end! Piteous is their lot! What is infinitely more touching is, to witness the return of good for evil in the demeanours of this wretched race. Under all this cruel neglect of their spiritual concerns, they are actually the most loyal, contented, moral, and religious people anywhere, perhaps, to be found in the world. Let us hope that His Majesty may return safe from the dangers of his excursion into such a country-an excursion most perilous to a certain portion of the Church, should he be infected with a taste for cheap establishments, a working clergy, and a pious congregation."

CHRONICLES OF MISERY.

SAMUEL CHIPMAN, Esq., of the United States, has recently been gathering statistics, showing the influence of the traffic in intoxicating drinks on the venders themselves. The results are published in the Journal of the American Temperance Society, from which we copy. Mr. Chipman says:

"I visited every town in the counties of Wayne, Ontario, and Genesee, calling on the older inhabitants, and obtaining the names of the persons who had kept taverns there for a period as far back as their recollection could extend, generally about twenty-five years.

"We marked them temperate or intemperate, as the facts would warrant. Here, however, I must make an important explanation. It was extremely rare -not one case, perhaps, in a hundredthat the tavern-keeper was a total abstinence man. Few were so very inconsistent as not to use themselves the article they sold to others, and when told to mark, mark, it was gently added:

He drank a great deal-perhaps a quart a day.'' His face was very red.'-' His nose was covered with rum blossoms.'

He was thoroughly pickled.'' His eyes were edged with pink; we should call him a drunkard now; but as he attended regularly to business, we called him a temperate man.'

"Seven-eighths of those marked temperate might, with perfect propriety, have been put down, soakers, tipplers, or habitual drunkards.

"The next step was to ascertain what had been their success in the attainment of their principal object, the acquisition of property. In doing this, I arranged into four classes-1st, made property; 2nd, made a living; 3rd, diminished property; 4th, lost all.

"Of the first class nothing need be said by way of explanation. The second class were those who, in most cases, kept but a short time-often less than a year. Those are included in the third class, where, at the commencement, there was considerable property; and, on closing, there was evident embarrassment and difficulty in paying rent or other debts. In some instances 5,000 dollars, and even 10,000 dollars, were lost, and yet there was not a total wreck. Those were put down in the fourth class where the

"Of the intemperate,-5 commited suicide, 3 were killed by drunkards, 3 became totally blind, 10 died of delirium tremens, 33 (others) died drunkards, 37 had drunken sons, 19 run away, and 13 had drunken wives.

"In regard to the last class, I do not suppose I have been able to ascertain more than a small part of the cases that actually existed.

"Another thing should be taken into account in this connection-that is, the number of husbands, and wives, and children, who may have contracted an appetite for strong drinks, which afterwards have matured into drunkenmay ness. These, of course, cannot be enumerated; but occasional instances of this kind, which have come to my knowledge, fully justify the belief that they have

been numerous.

"The following exhibits the result of my investigation in regard to property:

Made property.
Made a living
Diminished property.
Lost all

127

227

174

191

"From the above it will be seenfirst, that 592 either lost or did not gain; and, secondly, that the number who became entirely bankrupt was more than one-third larger than the number of those who gained any; and let it be especially noted, that among them were 181 who had farms. These may have, on the whole, increased their property; but it may have been from the products of the farm, while the sale of liquor was a losing concern. And such has sometimes been the case, as I have been told by those who could speak from experience. In one town, however, I found three cases in which farms had been exchanged for tavern stands, where entire bankruptcy ensued, and the owners became drunkards.

"These facts will enable us to decide who is the real friend to the tavernkeeper-he who would vote him into this