are fully set in you to do evil." How dangerous is this conduct! Suppose you should see death before you have "seen the Lord's Christ!" But who can ensure to you a single year; yea, a single month, or a day, or an hour? While you are delaying, time is rolling on, death is advancing; your destruction slumbereth not, your damnation tarrieth not. They were "ignorant of God's righteousness, and went about to establish their own righteousness;" and therefore, as the apostle says, they "submitted not themselves to the righteousness, which is of God; for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. How many are there in the same condition! They will not come down from their legal dependences, their Oh! let these things sink down into high thoughts, their exalted imaginations, your minds, and induce you to "seek their proud reasonings, their creature defirst the kingdom of God and His righte-pendences, so as to "deny themselves ousness. How long have some of you been trifling with Divine things, with God and with your own consciences! Many who were once like you, have been unexpectedly removed: they are now in the world of despair, amidst lamentation and mourning and woe. Do not you tread in their steps. While it is called to-day, oh! hear His voice, "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." Zaccheus "made haste and came down:" and what he did actually, you must do morally. You say, then is 66 and take up their cross and follow" the Saviour; so as to receive the kingdom of God as a little child; so as, as Paul says, to "become fools that they may be wise;" so as to be willing to be wise in another's wisdom, to be strong in another's strength, and to be righteous in another's righteousness; so as to give all the glory of their salvation undividedly to "the praise of the glory of His grace;" to acknowledge that they live entirely on alms; to come to Him, not to buy, but to beg; or, if to buy, "without money and without price." This is the thing; it an act of condescension in us to and to do this every really convinced sinreceive the Son of God? By no means: ner is reduced. The day of conviction is it will do you the highest honour. the day of humiliation, in which the But did you never know a wretch who was words of Isaiah are exemplified: "The as proud as he was poor-who though humi- proud looks shall be humbled, and the liated in his circumstances was not yet hum-lofty looks shall be laid low and the bled in his mind? Why, Naaman would not Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." come down ;" and therefore when Eli- And you need not be afraid of this humisha sent a messenger to him to "" liation. "He that humbleth himself shall go and wash in Jordan and be clean," what said be exalted." he?" Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper." He could not "come down." "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them and be clean? "So he turned and went away in a rage," and had nearly missed a cure. But his servants came near and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." The Jews could not "come down." "It is enough, my All in all, At Thy dear feet to lie; Thou wilt not let me lower fall, And none can higher lie." Lastly, he received him joyfully. That is, he entertained him with the most cheerful hospitality, knowing that the obligation was on his side; that if he afforded the Saviour natural food, he received from Him spiritual. Many of the Jews, I dare say, were ready to exclaim, " Ah! you will pay dear for your curiosity by taking in such a leader with all His herd of followers.' But he looked upon this as the happiest day of his life, and only grieved that he did not come sooner and that He was to depart so soon. But though the Saviour departed as to His bodily presence, the spiritual blessings which he had to bestow were to abide, and did abide, with him for ever. For Zaccheus received Him not only into his house, but into his heart, into all the powers of his soul, as the "unspeakable gift "of God." And thus we ought to receive Him. The Gospel is not only a "faithful saying," but "worthy of all acceptation," and can never be duly received unless it awakens up within us sentiments and desires, such as nothing else can gender. “Blessed,” says David, "are the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance; in Thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted." When Philip preached Jesus in Samaria, there was instantly "great joy_in_that city." The Thessalonians "received the word in much affliction," but "in joy of the Holy Ghost." The Hebrews "took oyfully of the spoiling of their goods, knowing in themselves, that they had a better and an enduring substance." Christians, let nothing reduce this joy; but take up the language of the Church, and exultingly say, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels." Let no losses diminish or impair it; but say with the Church, “ Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olives shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Let no conflicts, no fears, ever diminish or impair it; but say with the apostle, "Yea, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that hath loved us.' Amen. CONFERENCE OF CHRISTIAN MINISTERS ON THE CORN LAWS. In July last a Circular was issued by twenty-eight reverend gentlemen at Manchester, inviting "Ministers of all religious denominations" to meet in a "National Conference," "on the subject of the laws restricting the food of the Community." The conference was held in that town accordingly on the seventeenth of August, and three following days; and various resolutions were passed in favour of a free trade in corn, and the repeal of the duty on the admission of this article from abroad. The following table shows the extent and manner, in which it was attended; the ministers present wereIndependents Baptists Scotch Seceders Methodist New Connexion Scotch Relief Countess of Huntingdon The five ministers in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, who attended were the Rev. A. Balfour of Middleton, 275 the Rev. John Langredge of Tyldesley 182 Banks, the Rev. E. C. Lewis of Roch30 dale, the Rev. Richard B. Parsons of 23 Hebley, and the Rev. J. P. Simpson of 21 Preston. The two clergymen of the 18 Established Church were the Rev. H. 9 Bostock of Aylesbury, and the Rev. 2 Thomas Spencer of Hinton. The Wes2 leyan Methodists were the Rev. Robert 2 Melson of Birmingham, and the Rev. 1 John Newton of Stockport. The metro1 polis furnished only fifteen of the whole 1 number; namely, the Rev. T. Archer of 12 Oxendon Street, the Rev. J. Belcher of 10 Greenwich, the Rev. J. Carlisle, the 8 Rev. Dr. Cox of Hackney, the Rev A. S. 5 Dubourg of Clapham, the Rev. J. J. Freeman, the Rev. M. A. Garvey, the Rev. N. M. Harry of New Broad Street, the Rev. J. H. Hinton of Devonshire Square, the Rev. John Pulling of Dept ford, the Rev. Dr. Pye Smith of Hackney, the Rev. James Stacey of the Methodist New Connexion, the Rev. H. Townley of Bishopsgate Chapel, the Rev. Dr. Vaughan of Kensington, and the Rev. John West. Our object, in noticing this Conference, is to collect in one view the various testimonies which it elicited, upon the ques tion whether ministers of the Gospel ought, as such, to interfere in politics. And we will take first. the favourable, and secondly the unfavourable, to the Conference. I. FROM THE INVITATION, SENT BY THE SECRETARIES, TO THE PRESIDENT AND MINISTERS OF THE WESLEYAN DENOMINATION, THEN SITTING IN CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER. "We claim the testimony of Scripture in behalf of the move ment which we contemplate. If it be a religious duty to provide for the destitute, it is surely no less a duty of religion to endeavour to prevent the honestly industrious from sinking into indigent helplessness. We are taught to seek the moral amelioration of those who are criminal, and to rejoice in their restoration to virtue does it not equally become us to do what we can to protect the virtuous from temptation and the snares of sin? That the corn-law system has an impoverishing, debasing and demoralising tendency, is abundantly evinced by the enclosed documents. may be obtained for the necessities of their fellow-men." FROM THE REV. DR. LEIFCHILD'S ANSWER TO THE GENERAL INVITATION. "I hail the proposed Conference as a grand step out of that state of reproachful supineness to public good, in which, as a body of ministers, we have long lain. A squeamish dread of the charge of meddling with politics has kept us from meddling with abuses: the growth of which, therefore, is in a measure to be laid at our door. Blessed be God! the incubus is about to be shaken off; and I am glad we have enlisted the cause of humanity, which ought never to be separated from that of religion, into the means of excitement." FROM THE REV. DR. WARDLAW'S ANSWER. "Some of my brethren call it a political question, and object to a ministerial convention respecting it on this ground. That should not frighten me. Admitting it to be a question of political legislation, I cannot, on that account, regard it as the less a question of humanity. Granting it to be a problem of political economy, I dare not allow myself to forget, to what a vast extent it is a question of domestic economy, most seriously and fearfully affecting the condition of myriads of families, and the families too of those who must ever be the staple of a commercial nation's strength and prosperity. In such a view of it, it can never be out of the legitimate sphere of the servants of the Saviour, who while the great end of His mission was to seek and to save the lost,' manifested, in the fulfilling of that "If Jacob and the patriarchs sent even commission, so benevolent a concern for . from the promised land to Egypt for the temporal, as well as the spiritual incorn; if the Jewish people travelled interests of a sinful and suffering world; time of famine to the surrounding countries to obtain supplies of food; if Solo- | mon bartered with Hiram, giving him wheat and oil for his timber and the labour of his men; if Nehemiah rebuked the nobles because they oppressed the people, and brought them into bondage by keeping up corn; and if, by the prophet Isaiah, the God of heaven and earth has taught us that the fast which He has chosen is to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free and to deal bread to the hungry; then, surely, ministers of religion are only legitimately fulfilling the duties of their province when they take counsel how food VAL, XIII. the one in such harmonious and beautiful keeping with the other. And why should the political aspect of the question overpower the interest, which as ministers of the Gospel, we ought to feel in it as a question of humanity? Politics themselves are a branch of ethics. Properly viewed, they are the morals of nations. They affect the character and the well-being of the world. Indifference to politics, in this view of them, is indifference to their results-peace or warplenty or starvation-virtue or viceprosperity or declension-security to person, property and life, or the jeopardy of them all. Surely such indifference 3 D cannot be a feature of character which I The patriot's God, peculiarly Thou art; have, perhaps, supposed, that the evil of the self-restraint was less than of the shock which might be done to the habits of public thinking. Might not Christian Presbyters, then, plead a small toleration, that as they must not encounter the stir and excitement of these promiscuous assemblage, they may occupy a quiet enclosure of their own? Is their voice to be suffered no medium and no enunciation? Are they to be annihilated to an affair of taste? FROM A LETTER BY THE REV. R. W. HAMILTON." If others have known the pressure of associations such as I have known,-if their relationships at all resemble mine-their duty in this agitation is not altogether self-imposed. They will have been surrounded by a people-most unaccustomed and indisposed to dictate, to teach their teacher, to guide their guide-who have not been able always to conceal their surprise, that the cause of "There appears little disagreement the poor, their simple, and I think, between those who favour or discountemost philosophical view of this question-nance this project, that some expression should be overlooked or suppressed in our ministry. They who would not brook a momentary political allusion, regarded this as a work of judgment and mercy. Members of my church and congregation, with my signature and perfect concurrence, petitioned the last parliament for a full relief. My avowal of intention to be present in this high debate only stopped a requisition from my flock that I should attend it. We have not preached to them the doctrine, that all restriction on the subsistence of the people is very wickedness; they have learnt the lesson of themselves. My sensitive delicacy of allowing any reference in the pulpit to passing strifes has precluded such instruction: but I have never dissembled my opinion out of it, that than this restriction we could not perpetrate a national crime more guilty and provoking. Surely this is a little palliation of our indecent violence, that it is almost the first time that should be given of the present opinions cherished by Christian ministers on this cruel legislation itself. Your respected correspondent thinks a declaration of some kind is advisable on the part of ministers who decline to attend, though perhaps the necessity may appear to have arisen from this call. Therefore, whether I went or not, silence is no longer the alternative. In my ministerial function I must inevitably speak out. Now, I prefer to do that in combination rather than act upon mine exclusive responsibility and judgment. "I am not insensible to the conceivable delinquences and mischiefs of clerical synods. But only are they formidable when seconded by civil machinery, or entrusted by popular credulity. This will be a very harmless Diet, self-constituted and self-dissolved. before it, and scarcely admits of adjournment. It has one theme preter of dreams, the favourite of the Most High, was the very man that was was to use measures to get all the corn together while corn was to be had. And when Israel was sinning against God to a degree almost beyond bearing, and there was to be a famine, Elijah, the prophet, was to be the instrument for effecting it; and though many are angry with the corn law repealers when they "There are two bearings of this per- | nicious law on which I find no room to dwell. The first is, its opposition to the general strain of the Bible, not only to particular texts, whenever it rebukes tyrannic rule and oppressive exaction. The other is, its destructive influence on the means of maintaining our religious institutions, which have always received their best and steadiest support from the industrious poor. Surely these are re-smile at bad weather and say, that it ligious points, and none can be more fit or competent to speak upon them than ourselves." rains repeal,' and that it will do good, yet Elijah, to bring about an ultimate good, prayed that there might be no rain FROM A LETTER BY THE REV. DR. for three years and a half. And when HOPPUS." Without supposing that a the end of this judgment was answered, great modification of the laws, or even it was Elijah that brought the King to their ultimate abolition, would produce his senses, that brought the people in all the final effect on the price of food humble obedience to the footstool of their which some anticipate, I cannot but be- God, and reconciled them to the true lieve that, at the least, great collateral religion. If Elijah therefore acted in benefits would be derived from a consi- this way, shall we be blamed for supposderable change; that such an experi-ing that such a dispensation as a bad ment is at all events worth trying, and harvest, by causing greater suffering at would not be more hazardous than many this time, may be the means of joy and other changes in political economy which prosperity for hundreds of years to come? circumstances are continually demand- And now, if we look at the New Testaing. I confess, that without inquiring ment, when there was a famine in whether the Conference might not have Judea, and the early Christians were been constituted in a more unexception- suffering, who was the man who went able manner, I do not at all participate and got corn from foreign parts, or what in the outcry against the ministers of re- was the same thing, he got money, and ligion for taking part in such an object, money is corn? Why, it was the apostle or in the assertions respecting their un- Paul,-he whose time was so valuable, fitness for the work. It is the work of that one would have supposed he did nohumanity and of patriotism; and the thing but preach, he who was detereducation which Christian ministers re- mined to know nothing among men, but ceive, ought surely to enable them to Jesus Christ and Him crucified;' he, take large and comprehensive views of above all other men, went round from all subjects so deeply affecting the masses country to country, collecting subscripof mankind, and involving, to a great tions to supply the wants of the Chrisextent, their moral and religious in- tian Jews in Judea. He gave months of terests through the medium of their his time to travelling about, when they temporal condition.” could not travel by railways.” FROM THE REV. T. SPENCER'S SPEECH FROM DR. PYE SMITH'S SPEECH AT AT THE CONFERENCE.-" And now, have THE CONFERENCE. "An opportunity we any authority, from the examples re- is given us for enforcing this branch of corded in Scripture, to act in this way? evangelical morals, with prospects of Did the ministers of God, in old times, attention and success, greater than we ever meddle with such things? Why, have before possessed. What we have they were the very men that did. When taught and inculcated in our own small Israel was to be delivered out of Egypt, circles we hope, by means of this meetit was Moses and Aaron who were to doing, to lay before our countrymen, in a it; Moses was the man who was to conduct them when no bread was to be got but what was rained down from heaven. And when corn was to be provided in Egypt for Jacob's children, Joseph, the best of his sons, the prophet. the inter way that will draw their more serious attention, and more effectually recommend the truth to their understandings and their hearts. Some persons may object that this and its allied subjects belong to the science of politics and political eco |