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dictate on the original introduction of such institutions, and on a question of their total abolition, where they have cast their roots wide and deep, and where, by long habit, things more valuable than themselves are so adapted to them, and "in a manner interwoven with them, that the one cannot be destroyed without notably impairing the other.' A man full of warm speculative benevolenee,' adds that eloquent apologist for the things that be, may wish his society otherwise constituted than he finds it; but a good patriot and true polician always considers how he shall make the most of the existing materials of his country.' Let it then be permitted to us, to wish the ecclesiastical part of our national institutions quite otherwise in its structure from what it is, while we are anxious, nevertheless, that it should be made the most of for the good of society; to which nothing would more powerfully conduce than the reform for which Dr. Chalmers is so earnest an advocate.

But never has the word reformation been in worse odour than in the present day. Never were we further, in appearance, from the consummation which he describes as the perfection of an ecclesiastical system. We have disclaimed any wish for the overthrow of the Church; using those words in the sense which our Author would attach to them. But is he not aware, that the very system which he recomiends, namely, a modified patronage, by which the popular will or taste should be recognised as a reason for ecclesiastical appointments, and the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts-would be regarded by a large proportion of our churchmen as the virtual overthrow of the Church? The Test and Corporation Acts, those absurd and iniquitous enactments, have been, again and again, declared to be essential to the very existence of the National Church. Now, if this be the case, Dr. Chalmers cannot blame us for saying, If the Church cannot stand without these props, there is no life in her; let her fall.

Not that we, malcontents as we are, have so bad an opinion of the condition of the venerable structure, as to join in the anticipations of our Alarmists. The Church has survived much heavier disasters it has survived the passing of the Toleration Act, the rise of Methodism, and all the mischief's confidently predicted from the British and Foreign Bible Society; and we verily believe that, after the cancelling of those Acts, she would be found still standing, in all the glory of her articles, and in all the affluence of her tithes.

Under the existing imperfections of our ecclesiastical system, all that can be done is, for the Church to go on building, and for the Dissenters to go on preaching; and long, we fear, it will be, before the wants of the population are overtaken by their

combined efforts. The latter, Dr. Chalmers thinks, and we believe he is in the right, have not yet put out their strength. The great achievement' of providing a sufficient apparatus: for the religious instruction of all the families of a town, lies," he is of opinion, within the power and scope of Dissenterism; ⚫ and if so little progress has yet been made towards it, it is only because Dissenters have not localised.' He would have them, in large towns, take up and act upon the parochial systemupon that plan of subdivision and local inspection which has been found of such marvellous power in the case of Bible Associations and Sunday Schools. Something of this kind has been done by our County Associations for promoting village preach-i ing in rural districts; but there, the ministry employed, is, for the most part, itinerating instead of stationary. Dr. C. contends. for the vast importance of stationary local teachers, who may 'go aggressively forth upon a given territory,' and gather round them, not merely by their Sabbath ministrations, but by the sacred and benevolent attentions of the pastoral office, a congregation of neighbours. The success which has attended the erection of private chapels, where a popular ministry has been provided, is appealed to in proof of the feasibleness of thus going forth to. meet the wants of the population with the offer of instruction, instead of waiting for the slow and partial operation of a demand. He would have the whole of a large town laid out into ehapel districts, the preference for seats being uniformly assigned to the families of the locality, and the week day services of the minister being restricted to them.

At first, in a rude and heathenish district, the preference would not be extensively taken; in which case the remaining seats would be held forth to general competition; but a single generation would not elapse ere this chapel minister, though a Dissenter, stood vested with all that ascendancy over his little neighbourhood, which a parochial congregation is fitted to give a minister in the Establishment, It is thus that Dissenters may gain by territorial conquest, upon an Establishment which either provides inadequately, or patronizes carelessly, for the religious welfare of a city population.' p. 174.

In the early Numbers, the necessity of this system of localization, in connexion with a missionary zeal, is more fully insisted on. After adverting to the large amount of Sabbath profanation and week-day profligacy which, notwithstanding all the philanthropic exertions of societies and of individuals in the present day, is still to be found in every town of the empire, Dr. Chalmers proceeds:

In these circumstances, do we know of no expedient, by which this woful degeneracy can be arrested and recalled, "but an actual search and entry upon the territory of wickedness. A mere signal of invi tation is not enough. In reference to the great majority, and in re

ference to the most needful, this were as powerless as was the bidding to the marriage feast of the parable. We must have recourse, at last, to the final expedient that was adopted on that occasion; or, in other words, go out to the streets and the highways, and, by every fair measure of moral, and personal, and friendly application, compel the multitude to come in. We must do with the near, what we are doing with the distant world. We do not expect to Christianise the latter, by messages of entreaty, from the regions of paganism. But we send our messages to them. Neither do we give a roving commission to the bearers, but assign to each of them their respective stations in that field, which is the world. And we most assuredly need not expect to Christianise any city of nominal Christendom, by waiting the demand of its various districts, for religious instruction, and acting upon the demands, as they arrive. There must just be as aggressive a movement in the one case as in the other. There is not the same physical distance, but there is nearly the same moral distance, to be described with both; and they who traverse this distance, though without one mile of locomotion to the place of their labour, do, in effect, maintain the character, and fulfil the duty of missionaries.' p. 66, 7.

Objections and obstacles will readily enough present themselves to the minds of our readers, which it would answer no good purpose for us to dilate upon. Of this we are well persuaded, that Dr. Chalmers's hints are highly worthy of attention, that his plan is, under some modification or other, not impracti cable, and that the general truth of his representations renders it incumbent upon Christian ministers to make some efforts towards giving it a trial. As an illustration of what may be done by a simple aggressive movement' on the part of a stated minister, we will mention one anecdote that has recently come to our knowledge. A Dissenting minister, who had for many years regularly officiated in a town comprising a considerable population, discouraged at finding his congregation gradually declining in numbers, at length determined to make the experiment of going forth from bis pulpit, and opening licensed rooms in different parts of the town and suburbs, where he might carry evangelical instruction to those who would not come to seek it; or, to use Dr. Chalmers's language, instead of holding forth signals to those who were awake, knock at the doors of those who were profoundly asleep.' His success exceeded his most sanguine expectations. This same neglected preacher whose chapel had become almost empty, was listened to in these hunble preaching-rooms with the greatest attention. The overtures of the Gospel thus obtruded on their notice, excited an interest in the minds of a multitude who would never have spontaneously gone in quest of instruction; and, eventually, his chapel was thronged with the trophies of his aggressive' zeal. Now, this does not quite come up to Dr. Chalmers's idea of stationary pulpits:i: rather falls under the description of itineracy.

But it shews what may be effected by Dissenterism, in towns where the expense of a permanent apparatus, on the extended scale demanded by the wants of the population, should be found too great to be safely hazarded. The attractive force of mere architecture, from the stately Gothic pile to the snugly pewed meeting house, has been tried with a success how inadequate, the millions who never enter a place of worship of any kind, took plainly shew. It remains to be seen, what can be achieved by a more condescending policy, by recurring, as nearly as the artificial circumstances of modern society will admit of, to the primitive mode of evangelising society, as the final expedient.

Art. X. The Truth of the Gospel, demonstrated from the Character of God manifested in the Atonement: a Letter to Mr. Richard Carlile. By Alexander Carson. 8vo. pp. 32. Price 1s. Edinb. 1820. F Christianity bad always been defended in the spirit and upon the principles of this pamphlet, we should never indeed have heard of prosecutions, prisons, and fines, but the interests of Divine truth would have been more effectually served, and infi delity would have been to far better purpose contrasted with the genius of the Gospel Mr. Carson does not insult his unhappy correspondent: but he treats him with tenderness and commiseration, and he reasons with him in a style of calmness and of animated seriousness. After observing the total want of

candid discussion' which characterizes the writings of Infidels, the Author thus states his own principles and the design of his work.

'Yet, there is a timid acquiescence in the truth of Christianity as little to be approved. Many declaimers against infidelity ery out, Why rob us of our pleasing hopes, even though vain? Why awake us from our dreams of future felicity? Let us enjoy our consoling delusions. It is cruel to deprive us of the only alleviation of human misery. This is not the language of any man who understands the evidence of the gospel; it is not the language of reason. The belief of imposture can never be useful to expose imposture cannot be criminal. If the Scriptures are a forgery, let them by candid reasonting be proved to be such. The God of truth cannot need the assisItance of lies in the management of his empire.

sit. It is not my intention to undertake a defence of Christianity from all the sources of its evidences. No truth ever communicated to the World recommends itself by such a variety of means of proof. Each of these is worthy of full exhibition by those who have leisures for the task. But of all proofs the most satisfactory to a Christian are found in the Scriptures themselves. These are open to the inspection of all, and level to the meanest capacity. I shall not however attempt to exhibit the general evidence that appears in the Scriptures, attesting their divine original. Even this branch of the subject would require

volumes to do it justice. I shall confine myself to a single point. I undertake to prove the gospel to be true from its own nature. I maintain that the way of salvation which it proclaims, gives such a character of God, as to demonstrate its own truth; and that, were it to be found in an island, without any other testimony, it is entitled to acceptance with the fullest confidence. Those who should reject it, even in these circumstances, would reject it to their own just condemnation. pp. 4-5.

Mr. Carson then proceeds to his argument. He undertakes to shew that the representations of the Divine perfections and character given in the Holy Scriptures, and particularly manifested in the doctrine of the Atonement, are infinitely superior to the speculations of the most sagacious philosophers; are perfectly rational, yet utterly unattainable on any principles of human discovery or invention; and consequently must have been derived from a Divine communication. In this course of reasoning, the Author considers the attributes of Justice, Mercy, Wisdom, Love, and Holiness; and concludes with a forcible appeal to the judgement and conscience of the individual addressed.

Art. XI. The Constitution, Order, and Discipline, of a New Testament Church. Originally published above a Century ago in England. Re-written and re-published by John Chamberlain, Missionary in India. 24mo. pp. 123. Price. 2s. London. 1820.

THERE is so much that we cordially approve in this little

work, that we regret that it does not admit of an unqualified commendation. The view which is taken of the constitution of a Christian Church, is correctly Scriptural; and some excellent remarks occur relative to the duties of Church-membership. With these however, unfortunately, its Author has mixed up the peculiar notions of a strict communion Baptist. Mr. Ivimey, in his preface to this edition, has drawn the attention of the reader to this circumstance, as forming, in that gentleman's view, a chief recommendation of the work. His reason for reprinting it in England, is, he tells us, the growing conviction, that a latitudinarian indifference about observing positive institutions, under the specious name of charity, is spreading among the congregational churches both Independent and Baptist.' The sentiment, that the Gospel enjoins no terms of communion but such as it also requires as terms of salvation, is deprecated as a vague and undefined statement, striking at the authority of Jesus Christ, as the only Law-giver in his 'Church. To those who think with Mr. Ivimey, his prefatory recommendation will weigh more than any remarks of ours. Those who do not, will, probably, be deterred by it from the purchase of the volume; its usefulness, therefore, will, we fear, be extremely limited.