and not any thing in ourselves; there is nothing we make more mistakes about, than in this; we are drawn off from Christ, when we might be getting much comfort to our souls, because we are looking to our sense of his salvation; to our own experience, instead of looking to him and to his finished work. Notwithstanding, I would not be supposed to insinuate that we may neglect our duty of cultivating communion with God; we must use all the auxiliaries we can; but the main thing is, to cleave to Christ, and live upon his fulness for every thing by faith.'

October 11th.- In the middle of the night, while supporting her as she sat up in bed labouring for breath, after a long silence, she said, My love!' I inquired what she wished for; she replied, 'Jesus is all-sufficient.' You feel, then, his supporting arm.' 'Yes,' she whispered, he keeps me quiet.' When I expressed my pleasure at hearing it, she added, "It is a great thing to be kept quiet.' I spoke to her then of the mercy of having her lamp trimmed, and oil in her vessel, and being prepared for the coming of the bridegroom, and to enter into the marriage supper, and to hear those blessed words, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

I have no experience, she said, of such texts of Scripture; I do not rest upon my faith, but upon Christ's faithfulness; I cannot look at any thing I have done for comfort.' At another part of the night, when I had given her some wine, she said, 'O what a merciful God I have-how many kind friends, and a kind husband!' Afterwards, while suffering acutely, she exclaimed, Oh! what shall I do?' I reminded her that God was her God, and would be her guide even unto death and that, as a child of God, she was interested in Christ, and in all his

promises, not one of which would fail; she promptly replied, 'Oh, no! God will keep all his promises.'

12th. Her illness was so extreme, that her dissolution was hourly expected. In the night, while by her bedside, she inquired of me what had been the matter; I told her how ill she had been, and our fears; she said, 'Yes, I was very ill, but my God was with me in the midst of all.'

13th.—This was the last day:she was not oppressed so much as usual with languor and drowsiness. She saw and conversed with several of her family; indeed, there was an energy of manner so uncommon as to excite the strongest forebodings of the last change. I said to her, feeling that she was exerting herself too much, in admitting so many to speak with her, How kind you are to all your friends!' She replied, ‘I ought to be kind now I am going out of the world-God has been very kind to me, and I ought to be kind to others.'

had been an extraordinary one; she neither slept nor dozed as she lately had done, and seemed alive to every thing about her. She passed a disturbed night, breathing with a rapidity which was most distressing to witness; requiring continual assistance till about four o'clock. She continued quiet till half-past six, when I gave her the usual medicine. She lay down for a short time, and then begged me to raise her up in bed, which I did, supporting her with pillows: she was breathing with difficulty: her pulse did not appear at that moment to be unusual-but, after the lapse of a few minutes, the dews of death were upon her face and hands.

In this extremity, her collectedness of mind and tenderness of

seen.

feeling were affectingly Kneeling by her side, I said, 'Give me one more kiss, my love; -she did so immediately. While my tears were flowing down my face, she wiped them away with her hand, gently waving it with an expression evidently meaning Do not weep.' Then taking a last look at me and those around her bed, she leaned back upon her pillows, and gazing upwards with a peculiarly joyful expression of countenance, in another moment closed her eyes, and, without a struggle, breathed her soul into the bosom of her God. Thus the Lord graciously fulfilled his promises of support and guidance to the last, and answered our prayers for her easy and happy translation. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

'MY YOUNG FRIENDS, - You have all of you heard of the solemn visitation under Divine Providence in the swift and sudden death, under circumstances the most fearful with which we are acquainted, of one, as young as yourselves, who had the hope of a long life; but who, in a manner fearfully rapid, has been, as it were, driven from among us! Had you witnessed the scene of his departure, as many of us did, you would acknowledge how, above all things important it is to be ready; that so, in whatever way summoned hence, we may have hope in our death.

We are as one family, and when one member is taken from us, it is admonitory to all the sur

In

viving branches of the same. ordinary cases this, alas! is but little noticed by us; and when, as in the present instance, it is accompanied with such fearful circumstances, it is more than want of feeling if we lay not to heart the afflicting event! As your resident Pastor, I now affectionately call upon you, to improve this death of a young man in the prime of life, who, could he have anticipated what has befallen him, would most cordially have received such an admonition as this, which I now put into your hands, as a feeble substitute for personal conversation. Let me ask you, are you ready, supposing a similar swift summons hence was made to you? It is not an uncommon thing to die without a long previous illness, on which some vainly calculate, hoping in the sick chamber to make compensation for the cruel neglect of themselves in the days of health and vivacity. Have you any security against a call to appear in the presence of God ?—

"to

If not, are you prepared to meet him, before whom sooner or later you must appear? There is one, who, to serve his murderous purposes, can quote mutilated portions of Scripture, and who, I fear, prevails with too many young men (as so few of them are seen in the congregations of God's worshippers) and can bid you to "rejoice in thy youth, and to let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth," and prompts you walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes," and, as of old, can assure you "yon shall not die," though you regard not the commandments of God. Are you listening to his temptations, and so living carelessly, and presumptuously choosing to forget what is written touching those who live unmindful of God, and how God will bring you into judgment for a life without him in the world. -If so, oh! let me adjure you to consider whither a life of thoughtlessness tends, and in what it must end-even in remorse of conscience. Let me persuade you, then, at once, without delay, (if unhappily there should be occasion,) to break away, at whatever cost, from all habits which you know to be contrary to the Divine will and pleasure ;-to honour the Sabbathday; to read daily, with prayer for wisdom, the Holy Scriptures, by which a young man cleanses his way, to his great honour, liberty, and happiness;-to approach the Divine Saviour of the world, who invites you to himself, that you may live for ever, and have the free and full pardon of your sins, and the inestimable blessing of a humble, contrite, and pure heart; and who, as from his cross, laments that "he is despised and rejected of men," who "will not come to him, that they might have life."

Let me entreat of you to cultivate a spirit of prayer, by approaching the house of prayer, and

associating yourselves with those who honour and fear God; which things, if you will bravely do, and not, like cowards, shrink from the discharge of duty in a day of trial, you will not lose the real enjoyment of this life, which the pleasures of sin absolutely poison; you will not hinder your advance in life, for godliness enriches many, whilst ungodliness is certain ruin to all who love and obey it; you will not lose a real honest friend, but gain many; losing only those whose example, counsel, and spirit is pernicious," for a companion of sinners shall be destroyed."You will not be unmanned to bear up under the pressure of calamities, but enabled patiently to endure them; and should death come suddenly upon you, and should God, in the mysteriousness of his providential dealings, call you hastily to the grave, it would be only the more speedily to usher you into real blessedness and permanent rest for which a life of thoughtless levity, or fashionable inconsideration-not to say of unclean living-brings with it no meetness or preparation, but only what darkens still more the dark hour of mortal existence, and sometimes causes, even here, a certain fearful looking for of eternal judgment !

Oh! let not the grave of the departed young man close upon him, without profit to yourselves: let not the noise, bustle, and stir of this present, passing, deceitful world, obliterate from your minds the seasonable reflections his death suggests, or cause you to treat with indifference those solemn admonitions: your sun may go down at noon, like his; therefore, whilst you may, acquaint yourselves with God our Saviour, that thereby the unspeakable good of his great salvation may come to you!

I am your's, faithfully and affectionately,

THE CURATE.

DEAR SIR,-As circumstances seem likely to prevent our resuming our accustomed meetings, I will now continue, according to my promise, my review of the doctrines and practices of the Romish Church, in such a manuer as to furnish you both with the leading arguments on their part, and also with the reasons which influence Protestants in repudiating and opposing their views. And, having considered, at some length, the doctrine of Transubstantiation, the point which comes next in order, is its twin corruption, THE MASS. These two great inventions of the Church of Rome, may, indeed, be considered rather as two branches of the same subject. Transubstantiation declares that "the bread which we break is not only

the communion of the body of Christ," but is that very material body itself! The Mass goes one step further, and tells us that the same body, thus miraculously and multitudinously and perpetually reproduced, is not so reproduced for our own comfort and edification merely, but for the purpose of being daily, in every communion, offered up to God the Father, as a propitiatory sacrifice for sin. Each of these dogmas is alike in plain opposition to the text of Scripture, and to the dictates of common sense. Of the first we have already treated: Let us now pass on to the second.

What is called in the Romish Church "the Mass," is among all protestants called the "communion of Christ's body and blood." The institution of this service or celebration is plainly and explicitly described in Scripture ;-let us, then, first turn to that narrative.

DECEMBER 1838.

Matthew, the first evangelist, informs us, that at or after our Lord's last Passover, "Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (ch. xxvi. 26-28.) Mark repeats the fact in almost the very same words. Luke says, "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." (ch. xxii. 12--20.) John, the beloved disciple, though present at the institution, does not even record the fact in his gospel. But Paul, writing to the Corinthian Church, and giving them large instructions as to their religious observances, says, "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." (1 Cor. xi. 23-26.)

Such is the whole instruction of the inspired writers in this matter.

Now let us see whereunto this short and simple observance, upon which no one of the apostles has dwelt for more than a few lines,let us see to what it has grown. The following is a description of the Roman ritual of the Mass.

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"The Mass as viewed by a spectator, may be said to consist of five divisions. The first we may call the robing of the bishop in his pontificals, which must afford a highly intellectual and spiritual feast of soul to the spectators, and worshippers-shall I call them ? The bishop enters the chapel in a woollen pontifical cope, which has its tail borne up by a chaplain; and going to the altar, he kneels down and says the Introibo, I will go in," &c. He then goes to the place where the paramenta, or robes and ornaments, are placed, and seats himsslf, surrounded by the proper quota of chaplains and deacons, one of whom acts as his prompter, to tell him what to say, and to point with his finger to the place in the book where he is to read; near them lie the various paraphernalia and sacred vessels. The attendants having duly put on their sanctified robes and surplices, the bishop rises, and turning towards the altar, says the Lord's prayer secretly; then crossing himself from his brow to his breast, he says, God be my helper." And while the choir responds, he turns towards the altar, between two bearers of wax candles, and says, "The Lord be with you," and other prayers. Then gravely laying aside his plurial, or cope, he takes the ornament called his planet, and approaches the altar, and sits down, while the psalm of the hours is being sung. During the singing, the holy sandals are brought out, one deacon lifts up the corner of his cope, while another takes off the bishop's shoes; then uttering certain prayers, he at last

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"Shoe me with the sandals

of gladness." The dutiful deacon then puts on the consecrated sandals ; and thus answers prayer. Then standing up he says,

his

O Lord! strip the old man off me. The scutiferus, or shieldbearer, answers this prayer by stripping him of his flowing cope. Then looking at his hands, he says, "O Lord, give virtue to my hands." This prayer is answered by another, bringing a basin of water to wash his hands while he sits. The towel and basin are held by the most honorable and exalted layman, who, throwing himself on his knees, and pouring out a little water into the basin, sips and tastes it. Meanwhile, another of the attendants is taking the consecrated rings off the bishop's fingers; and then the distinguished layman, with the aid of a deacon, washes the bishop's hands, and dries. them, and then carries back the basin and towel to the credentia. The bishop's feet being shod with the gospel preparation, by putting on sandals, and the old man being put off by pulling off his old woollen cope, and having washed his hands in virtue and innocence, by getting them washed in water, he approaches the robes, and says, "O Lord, put on me the helmet of salvation." At this signal the paramenta, or robes and ornaments, are all brought forward-fifteen in number. The bishop approaches, bows, and kisses five of them, viz. the amictus, the pectoral, the cross, the stole, and the pall. All these the deacons receive from the chaplains, one by one, and put upon the bishop. And first, with great solemnity, they take the amictus, and having all kissed it, they put it over the bishop's head, and fix it on him. His head being thus armed with the helmet of salvation, he stands up and says, "O Lord, clothe me in white." Upon this they put on the white surplice. Then he utters another prayer, saying, "O Lord, gird me with