may stand in the position of Timothy, and be justified in appropriating the admonition"Let no man despise thy youth." That you may enjoy such a confidence, let your motive be pure, your eye single, your heart warm, and your sole aim the glory of Christ in the salvation of souls.

If I may offer a word on what, I fear, is likely to prove the greatest defect, and the greatest hindrance to extensive usefulness, it is the too prevailing tendency to think lightly of what may be strictly called pastoral duties. Many who think highly of, and discharge efficiently those of the pulpit, are found but too negligent in the private duties of visiting the sick, and so inspecting the flock, as to know its state and preserve its healthfulness. But important as is the first of these, the second is in no degree below it. And I may be allowed to say to my young brethren, that they will never greatly succeed, but by the combined influence of both.

Few,

But from the young or rising ministry, I turn to show my opinion of the old or declining ministry. So surely as there is a rising, will there be also a selling sun. And the churches have, not unfrequently, suffered from our not admitting, and yielding to the influence of this very obvious fact. indeed, are the instances in which anything like the mental vigour, or physical energy, of early life, is in any considerable degree sustained in old age. And if a minister will hold his position alone till his powers entirely fail, or till they are extinguished in death-and so leave the flock as sheep without a shepherd; or if, in a moment of undue excitement, produced by such an one as "Alexander the copper-smith," treating him roughly, or if because some " Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them," become a thorn in his sides, he flee from his post; in either case, there will, in all probability, be "confusion and every evil work."

From early life it has been my determination, if spared for many years, to avoid such a catastrophe. In the year 1844, when approaching to my seventieth year, I therefore intimated my desire for permanent assistance. After many trials, such was obtained. But it ultimately ceased, from the views taken of the pastorate to which I have referred. But now, having nearly completed my seventyfifth year, and passed the fiftieth of my ministry, I am anxious, before I close my eyes in death, or retire to the more secluded restingplace of private life, to see the church which I have the happiness to serve, well settled under the care of a faithful and vigilant pastor. Having an utter abhorrence of all secrecy or contrivance and manoeuvring in the church of God, I expressed my views in the following letter, which was read to the

public congregation (after having been first communicated to the acting brethren of the church) by a brother minister :—

Brixton Rise, Dec. 15, 1848. DEAR BRETHREN AND FRIENDS,-Time has brought us to a period when I think it proper to place before you the views I entertain of our present position and prospects. I am not insensible to the indications which advancing age cannot fail to give of a period approaching, when some relaxation of my present duties will be necessary, and, probably, retirement altogether from stated public engagements desirable. Under the influence of these impressions, I am anxious only to know what the will of the Lord is. This cannot be ascertained from any written revelation, nor is any special communication to be expected. It can be derived only from circumstances, and in these it must be sought for.

With respect to my ultimate retirement, if that should take place in connection with the choice of some young minister to succeed, sufliciently tried to possess the confidence and suffrages of the people generally-and such a provision be made as my then position and circumstances may require-I shall think such coincidences may be interpreted as the voice of God: and I should act accordingly. In the mean time, I shall be happy to receive such assistance, and to afford to our friends such opportunities of variety as they may wish; and to any extent for which they will provide funds.

I have thus, as briefly as I could, stated my views, and having nothing further to offer, must leave the subject to the consideration of those who feel, as I do, a lively interest in this particular department of the church of Christ.

Earnestly praying the Head of the church to direct to such measures as may best secure the interests of that cause for which he died and rose again,

I am yours, faithfully and affectionately in the gospel,

JOHN HUNT.

This letter was subsequently considered by the church, and the following read, as the result, to the congregation, Feb. 11, 1849:

"The church having considered the communication of their pastor, read by the Rev. John Burnet after the service on Sabbath evening, December 17th, 1848

"It was resolved as follows:

"The church deeply sympathise with their pastor under the growing infirmities of advancing age, and desire to express for him their continued esteem and Christian affection, and their wish to render his declining years easy and comfortable; bearing in mind that he has now filled the office of a Christian minister for nearly half a century, and that he still manifests a willingness to spend and be spent

in the cause of Christ, and to promote the best interest of the church and congregation worshipping in this place.

"The church cannot but expect that the time will ere long arrive, when, considering Mr. Hunt's age, his pastorate must terminate; at the same time, they do not think the present indications such as to render his immediate retirement desirable; indeed, they are decidedly of opinion that, whilst public worship can be suitably conducted by their pastor and efficient supplies, he ought not to relinquish his pastoral office until an acceptable and tried successor has been obtained, and a suitable provision made for the retiring pastor.

"In the existing state of things the church apprehend there may be some difficulty in making a suitable provision for Mr. Hunt, and obtaining an acceptable successor, but on these subjects they would be glad to know the views and wishes of the congregation (on whose support, pecuniarily, they know much must depend), and they invite communications from any seatholders, who may feel interested in the subject, and may have any suggestions to offer; it being the desire of the church to act in harmonious concert with the congregation in such measures as may appear best calculated to promote the true interest of religion in connection with this place.

"The church think it desirable that these resolutions should be made public in the same manner as the letter of Mr. Hunt was, and request any communications from the reatholders to be addressed (during Mr. Potter's lamented illness) to Mr. Satchell or Mr. Blacket, when they will be taken into immediate and friendly consideration; and, if desired or necessary, a public general meeting convened."

For very obvious reasons, it would be improper, without the consent of the parties, to mention instances illustrative of the evils so carefully to be avoided. But I shall not be charged with taking an undue liberty, if I mention the contiguous towns of Gosport and Portsea. Dr. Bogue died almost suddenly, at the age of seventy-five, leaving the church destitute. Mr. Griffin died at the age of sixtythree, having in his colleague seen his successor. The results are well known. How lamentable in the one case! How desirable and happy in the other!

I have no sympathy with the outery often raised against the union of two ministers in one charge. Christian principle will preserve the elder from jealousy, and the younger from assumption. And sure I am, that gentlemanly deportment, to go no higher, will always lead to an amicable arrangement, as to the time and circumstances of the elder minister retiring from the stated discharge of official duties. Such is my opinion, which I offer both to my younger brethren and

to those of my own standing, at any price they may severally think it worth.

And subscribe myself theirs affectionately in the gospel of our common Lord, JOHN HUNT.

Brixton Hill, Nov. 7, 1849.

THE CHOLERA, CONSIDERED PSYCHOLO-
GICALLY.

[UNDER this interesting title Dr. Winslow, of Sussex House, Hammersmith, whose admirable establishment for the treatment of lunatic patients is so well known and so highly estimated, has sent forth a tract, which deserves, in our humble judgment, to be circulated in the length and breadth of the land. It came into our hands at too late a period for notice in our last number; but though, since its publication, the pestilence has mercifully abated, and in many quarters totally disappeared, we cannot deny ourselves the satisfaction of laying a few extracts from it before the public. The influence of mind over disease, in cholera, as well as other epidemics, is so admirably depicted, that we regard it as an imperative duty to make known its contents to our readers at large. ED.]

"Amidst much wailing and distress, the question asked almost simultaneously by a thousand voices is, 'Can nothing else be done to stay the progress of the epidemic? Are we to sit with our arms folded, crying, 'Peace, peace, where there is no peace?'

"Without desiring for a moment to depreciate the necessity and importance of carefully examining those physical causes which obviously engender the malady and accelerate its advance, I may be allowed to observe that there is a higher, and perhaps more philosophical altitude, from which the subject may be viewed. The question of disease generally is to be considered in a double aspect-1, physically; 2, psychologically, or morally. At present, the subject of cholera has been investigated principally in relation to its PHYSICAL ASPECT. I propose to view it through another medium, and to consider whether the MORAL or PSYCHOLOGICAL bearings of the question are not entitled to grave and serious consideration.

"Accustomed as I am almost daily, in the exercise of my professional avocations, to witness the fearful inroad made upon the material organisation through the agency of mind, I am perhaps disposed to overrate the importance of examining, in all its relations, the influence of mental emotion, either in causing the disease, or in readily predisposing the body to the action of those occult agents, which are believed, under given circumstances, to develope the epidemic malady. The knowledge we possess of the history and peculiar character of the cholera is quite sufficient to convince us of the fact, that if the

depressing passions cannot of themselves engender the disease, they certainly render the system most peculiarly and remarkably susceptible to the smallest conceivable quantity of that poison (be it what it may), which, acting upon the body, paralyses all the vital energies, and in the majority of cases sets at nought the best-directed efforts of medical science and skill.

"It is a well-established fact, that persons may be exposed for a length of time to the influence of the most virulent contagion with impunity, so long as the mind remains in a fearless, tranquil, and unanxious condition; but if mental depression ensues, the contagion seizes hold of the constitution, and disease manifests itself. Mr. Madden, in his account of the plague, contained in a record of his Travels to Egypt and Turkey, when speaking of the effect of mental despondency in predisposing the body to the malady, observes, 'In no other complaint is the influence so marked. The man who is apprehensive of contagion, is always the person to take the disease; FEAR is the predisposing cause of plague.' The same remark holds good with reference to typhus fever, small-pox, and diseases which have a malarious origin. If the mind is exposed to any depressing cause, a liability or predisposition to disease is imme. diately engendered. In illustration of this fact, the fatality which attended our troops in the lamentable expedition to Walcheren has been referred to. It has been remarked, that whilst our troops and seamen were actively engaged in the siege and bombardment of Flushing, exposed to intense heat, heavy rains, and poisonous exhalations from the malarious soil inundated by the turbid waters of the Scheldt, scarcely a man was on the sick list the excitement of warfare, the prospect of victory, and the expectation of booty, completely fortifying the body against all the potent causes of disease that environed the camp and the fleet. But as soon as the troops became inactive and dispirited, by the failure of the expedition, the poisonous exhalations seized hold of them, and disease, in all its frightful malignity, broke out, and created desolation in the camp. The memorable retreat of the 'ten thousand Greeks' under Xenophon affords us another striking example of the influence of MENTAL ACTIVITY and HOPE in protecting the body from disease. In the terrible night that preceded the murder of Clearchus, and other leaders of the phalanx, Xenophon, in his address to the troops, says, 'You have at present nothing before your eyes but misfortune: if any CAN TURN THEIR THOUGHTS INTO ACTION, it would greatly encourage them.' Acting on this principle, their celebrated leader converted the torpor of despair into the energy of desperation,' urging the men to prefer death

in the sanguinary, but brief and almost painless conflict with the enemy personally and collectively, to the protracted tortures that would be the inevitable consequence of captivity. Then it was,' says a modern historian, 'that the tents were burnt, the carriages destroyed, the sumpter-horses slaughtered, and every unnecessary incumbrance, besides "the soldier and his sword," abandoned. During two hundred and fifteen days of almost uninterrupted and toilsome march-often in the face of the enemy-often between two enemies, and engaged in front and rear at the same moment, the army lost an uncertain, but not a great number of men-partly by the darts and arrows of the barbarians-partly by desertion-partly by drowning in the rivers, or sinking in the morasses-partly by perishing in the snows of the Armenian mountains, but not ONE BY SICKNESS! Xenophon is often very minute in his statements of losses, even describing the individual cases, the names of these individuals, and the parts of the body wounded. Only two instances of SICKNESS are put on record: one a sort of Bulimia, or canine appetite, produced by the cold of the snow, which was observed in a considerable number of men, but did not prove fatal. The other was an illness of twenty-four hours, which was general throughout the army, in consequence of indulgence in a kind of honeycomb, which they found at one place in Armenia in great abundance. It produced vomiting and purging among those who ate freely, but a kind of drunken delirium in those who ate little. He also describes very minutely the almost unconquerable disposition to sleep, produced by the frigidity of the snows on the mountains near the sources of the Tigris. The army was in great jeopardy from this cause for some days,, and the soldiers could hardly be induced to continue their march. Many of the rearguard lay down, and preferred dying, or being captured by the enemy, to perseverance against the lethargic sleep that overpowered them. Xenophon was obliged to halt and repulse the enemy, to prevent these men from falling victims to the cold or to the barbariane. The number of the Greeks, at the commencement of this memorable retreat, is not stated; but, estimating it at the full complement of TEN THOUSAND, it is clear that they could not have lost above five hundred men at the utmost, since they mustered, in the very last battle which they had (and in which they experienced hardly any loss) nine thou sand five hundred troops, not including women and slaves they never abandoned a single individual; and they had no means of carrying sick men along with them, if any considerable number existed. The fact is therefore clearly established, that no sickness, in the common acceptation of the word,

occurred in this series of sufferings and pri

vations.'

"Instances have occurred during the prevalence of the present epidemic, which clearly prove that intense fear, independently of all physical causes, has produced most malignant attacks of cholera. Reasoning à priori, we should imagine that such might be the result.

"Fear has a most certain and remarkable influence upon the mucous membrane of the bowels, and often, if long in operation, produces violent, protracted, and incurable diarrhoea. The pernicious influence of this emotion is well marked during the prevalence of all great epidemic diseases. It is specially referred to by THUCYDIDES, in his account of the Plague of Athens; and by SYDENHAM, in his History of Epidemic Diseases.' The former historian observes, that the fiercest battle had to be fought with the dejection of mind which so constantly prevailed. He observes, 'The mind sinking at once into despair, the sick gave themselves up without a struggle.' The same fact was noticed during the existence of the plague in this country; and cases are referred to in which fear alone appeared to give rise to the disease.

"Considering, then, the subject of cholera psychologically, I have no hesitation in asserting that the disease has been much aggravated and extensively diffused by moral or mental agents. That the panic which existed both before and subsequent to the invasion of the disease has acted as a most powerful predisposing cause, very few will doubt. That in some instances the disease itself has been induced by great depression, fear, and anxiety of mind, is also capable of demonstration but I would rather confine myself to the consideration of the depressing passions, as they are often the most certain predisposing causes of cholera. Taking this view of the matter, how necessary it is that we should adopt every legitimate mode of allaying public apprehension, and of exciting its antagonistic emotions-hope and confidence! * I am much disposed to question the utility and necessity of making this matter the subject of such prominent discussion in the ordinary channels of communication. I also do not hesitate to affirm that the daily publication of the reports of cholera inquests, and the numerical returns of daily deaths from the disease, coupled with the copious details extracted from the official reports of the registrars, have had, and continue to have, a most depressing, injurious, and fatal influence, increasing to an extraordinary degree the public apprehension, and engendering a fearful predisposition to the

*

disease. There may be advantages resulting from such publicity, counterbalancing the certain evil consequences produced; but I must confess that I cannot perceive them.

"In addition to the attention now paid to the physical treatment of cholera, it may be a matter worthy of consideration whether there are not some powerful MORAL REMEDIES, by means of which the epidemic may be shorn of much of its virulence? In this point I have no hesitation in observing that it is the duty, the solemn obligation of those capable of influencing opinion, to devise every means of allaying the present panic, and of diverting the public mind from the consideration of the epidemic to other and more pleasing topics. It is a question entitled to serious discussion, what are the best means within our reach to effect so desirable an object. Many may smile at the idea of attempting, by any mental measures, to create a revulsion in the public mind, and thus to destroy, if possible, all fear and apprehension. When Rome was threatened with pestilence, the public authorities marched in solemn procession to the National Temple, and means were adopted for appeasing the anger of the gods. The psychological effect of this, to our minds, superstitious proceeding, was to allay public apprehension, and to excite hope and confidence. May not we, as members of the Christian community, adopt somewhat analogous means to arrive at similar results? I would not for a moment have it supposed that I differ from those who see in the present fearful scourge the finger of an angry God chastising his children for their many transgressions against his Divine laws. Neither would I say anything to discountenance the suggestion of setting apart a day for national prayer and humiliation. The psychological view of the question now taken tends rather to establish the importance and necessity of our prostrating ourselves before God in humble prayer that 'this cup may pass away.' At present, a large portion of the community are strongly impressed with the idea that we, as a nation, are sinning greatly against Providence, and hurling defiance at His laws, by the non-adoption of a day of public fast, prayer, and humiliation. The natural, inevitable, and necessary effect of this is, to create and keep alive a considerable amont of depressing, predisposing influences, arising from the consciousness of our not, as a nation, following the strict path of conscience and of duty. Were those in authority to act in conformity to the known feelings of the Christian portion of the population, much good would result."

FRANCE.

EVANGELICAL ANTI-STATE CHURCHES

OF FRANCE.

OUR readers will be glad to perceive, from the following interesting documents, that light is breaking in on the friends of Evangelical religion in France, both as to the nature of Christ's kingdom, and the character of those who are to be associated in Christian fellowship. We regard the article as possessing an extraordinary interest.-[ED.]

CONSTITUTION.

"These things write I to thee, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."-1 Tim. iii. 15.

"If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."-Phil. ii. 1, 2.

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES.-ARTICLE I.

The evangelical churches of France, composed of meinbers who have made an explicit and individual confession of faith, and who do not recognise in religious matters any authority but that of Jesus Christ, the only and sovereign Head of the Church, do hereby unite to glorify God by manifesting the union of his children, to labour for the edification of the body of Christ, and to co-operate for the extension of the kingdom of God.

ARTICLE II.

These churches join themselves by their faith to the churches of apostolic times, and to those of all times which have maintained Christian truth: they link themselves to the reformed churches of France which have suffered so much for that truth.

They make with one heart and voice the following profession:

We believe that all Scripture, both of the Old and the New Testament,* is inspired of God, and thus constitutes the only and infallible rule of faith and life.

We adore one only God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Creator of the heavens and of the earth.

The Father, in his infinite and eternal com* We reject, as foreign to the Scriptures, the books known as the Apocrypha.

passion, when we were altogether lost, in consequence of the disobedience of Adam, and justly condemned on account of our sins, so loved the world that he gave his only Soa.

The Son, "the Word which was in the beginning with God," and who was veritably "God over all blessed for ever," became veritably man, "God manifest in the flesh." Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and men. He has completely redeemed us from eternal condeinnation by his death upon the cross, having offered himself to God for us as an oblation and a sacrifice of sweet savour. Delivered for our offences, he was raised for our justification. He has ascended to hea ven, and is seated at the right hand of God, where he intercedes for us.

The Holy Spirit, whom the Son hath seat in behalf of the Father, regenerates the redeemed "elect according to the foreknowledge of God." He dwells in them, he causes them to progress in the knowledge of the Word and in holiness, without which none shall see the Lord. He is given to all who seek him. It is through him that Jesus Christ directs and governs the church, which is his spouse and his body.

Jesus Christ calls all men to repentance, saving fully, freely, and without any merit which pertains to them, all those who believe on his name, and who come to God by him.

We wait for the Lord Jesus from heaven, who will return and introduce to us his glory. He will raise the dead, will judge the world with justice, and will render to every man according to his deeds.

This is the common faith of our churches. We will make every effort to propagate it. At the same time we extend a fraternal hand to all those who, in whatever place, and under whatever denomination, love the Lord Jesus and call on him in sincerity, and we regard them as members of the church universal.

To the Father who hath loved us, to the Son who hath washed us from our sins in his blood, and to the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, be praise and glory for ever! Amen.

CHAPTER II.

OF CHURCHES.-ARTICLE III. Each church which enters into the Union reserves the liberty to determine for itself its own constitution, according to its light and its wants. It will regulate, therefore, its worship, its discipline, and the form of its internal government.