of Christianity, precisely to that extent which may seem necessary to secure her against those perils? But would not this, in fact, be entering into a compact with falsehood for the protection of truth? Would not the Evangelical church, then, be really giving up her own existence, by thus seeking to maintain herself at every cost? Besides, it is a sheer delusion, which the former history of our church completely dissipates, to suppose that there can ever be any outward security for the pure and energetic maintenance of Evangelical doctrine in the life of the church.

Or shall she, as some would rather advise, form a still closer alliance with the civil power, with which she is already in many ways so intimately connected, in order to reflect from the venerable authority of its ordinances a borrowed lustre on her own? Shall she adulterously court the favours of the governing powers of this world, that by their support she may acquire a more extended influence over life and all its forms? True, indeed, it is, that the powers of this world not seldom meet such wishes with alacrity are willing, as they say, to guard religion against the threatening ruin, and to lift up her fallen power by a multiplicity of outward regulations, which are intended to adorn the church with a few beams from that fulness of worldly splendour with which they are themselves encompassed-and to secure and confine her under a new law-within the limits of a rigid and immutable letter.

Poor and powerless men! What presumptuous attempts are these! Is Christianity the sublimest truth of our being?—is it the Spirit of God?-eternal life? And if it be not this, it is nothing less than nothing-the most odious delusion. What would you then protect? The Almighty God, and his working among men, and his kingdom upon earth? Him, to whom all power is given in heaven and on earth? Help religion! Can ye command the Spirit of God, when to pour itself out on all flesh? Does not the wind blow where it listeth? Ye hear the sound thereof, but ye know not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.

O that the rulers of the nations, if from their hearts they fear God and love Christ, would show themselves in their calling true servants of God and followers of Jesus Christ! that they, whom God has stationed on the high places of this earthly life, would walk as burning and shining patterns of true piety before their people! that they would represent it to themselves as their highest honour to be servants of the King of Kings with the meanest of their subjects! But never let them cherish the vain imagination, that it is their duty to procure for the church of Christ, by new outward ordinances, a firmer or a broader foundation than that which it already possesses-the Gospel of Jesus

Christ. Do they feel themselves impelled to promote, with all their might, the interests of the church!-'tis well: let them afford her then free scope, to disengage herself from the entangling fetters with which a constitution unsuited to her nature now holds her bound; and then the newly-awakened spirit of Christian fellowship will circulate through her members with fresh vigour, and bind them more intimately with each other. The privilege of free action and development, in accordance with the inward law of her being, which is the Divine Word;this is all which the Evangelical church can desire from the powers of this world. Were it come to the point that she must ask for more-that henceforth she could sustain, only by outward assistance, the attacks of the world-then let us say at once, Perish that which cannot maintain itself on the basis of the Divine Word! That which cannot stand by the might of God, let it not be artificially propped up by the power of man! Woe to the altar that seeks its support in the throne! Woe to the church that relies on the authority and the power which men can bestow upon her, and maketh flesh her arm! If the present time offers assuredly a more pleasing object of pious contemplation, than the days which immediately preceded us— if the everlasting wants of the human race again make themselves more powerfully felt-if in many minds there is awakened a more vital faith in Christ, working by love-if the extinguished interest in the services of the church is in many places kindling itself anew, and many an almost-forsaken house of God is again filled with hearers thirsting for salvation—was it the power of this world, was it outward ordinances and regulations, by which all this has been accomplished? No; rather the free working of God's Spirit-his creating breath-whose mysterious stirring moved over a time which the least expected it. Out of the midst of the most fearless searching-from the very bosom of the keenest conflicts a deep yearning after faith has arisen, and come forth in invincible strength. This is the great thought, which no one has more majestically uttered than our own Luther, whose faith craved not the patronage of princes, but took princes themselves under its protection. Yes; this is the great fundamental principle of our church-that she owes her triumphs only to the free power of the Word, and of the Spirit, which works through the Word-and that by this power alone will she assert the authority which is her due; and nothingneither the alluring prospect of the most brilliant success-nor an anxious dread of the ruinous consequences of an abuse of freedom-shall ever tempt her to swerve from that narrow path. With a sublime devotedness, she disclaims the succour of human craft and power; but in her very avowal of this renunciation lies the hidden mystery of her strength. When she is weak, then

is she strong. When she has completely cast away from her all reliance on the aid of man, then the power of God works in her so much the more purely and unimpededly-so much the more powerfully and irresistibly. By this divine energy will she hereafter overcome the world, and win susceptible spirits to that eternal truth which heals and blesses the soul, and to that kingdom of God which reveals its presence in the midst of her with power.

Yea, Lord! in this path keep thou thy church, in these days of manifold bewilderment and peril. Preserve to her the true faith, as thy Gospel declares it. Preserve to her that freedom of spirit, without which the truth itself is not recognized as truth. Let thy Spirit rule and work in her with power. Where thy Spirit is, there is liberty: yea, where thy Spirit is—and only there is true and holy freedom. Amen.

RELIGIOUS EFFICACY.

How is religion to be made influential on our character and conduct? This is surely a question which the Christian Teacher may be expected to answer, and which every Christian parent must feel interested in seeing plainly stated. Must religious impressions be made by early training, or may we expect that the Deity will implant such feelings, independently of our culture? There have been various answers to these questions in the experiments which have been tried, and the reasons which have been urged with respect to the instilling of religion into the young mind. Some have thought that we should wait till reason and intelligence enable the parent to introduce the subject by showing the child marks of design, and thus by degrees lead it to the Creator; while others agree with Mrs. Barbauld, in thinking that a child should not be able to remember the time, when it did not know the name of God.' It is, however, generally agreed, that where seclusion is impracticable, it is safer to sow seed, than to permit tares-better to plant virtue, than to risk the introduction of vice-wiser to teach a child what is right, than to endanger its learning what is wrong.

Again, are we to bring up our children under the influence of religious hope and love, or of anxiety and fear? Parental solicitude is apt to exclaim, Ah! let mine be the influence of love is not God our Father ?' Yet it is said that 'perfect love casteth out fear,' from which it would seem, that fear must in the beginning have been mingled with our love. A fear of grieving, a fear of offending our righteous and Almighty Father,

must be one means of effecting a perfect love. How then shall we instil this sacred feeling in the breast of a little child? Must it not be by carefully seizing every opportunity when the affections are warm, of showing it the beauty of God's gifts to man, gradually leading it to feel grateful for His bounty, and accompanying the lesson with as much of religious knowledge, as will be pleasing and not irksome to the tender mind. This must be the mother's work, and great is the quickness and judgment requisite for the right performance of her task.

No doubt the Divine influence may be expected to aid our efforts, and as childhood advances into youth, the parent will be gratified by the opening intellect, and moved even to tears by the developement of amiable feeling. But let us not deceive ourselves God will work with us, but He will not work for us— instead of us. As in the natural world, He works by means, and the husbandman looks for no other manifestations of His help, than in the rain and sunshine which he has provided; so, in the moral world, God has ordained motives and impulses which must be sought, and cultivated, and cherished, before they can be influential in forming religious habits. If we desire to obtain God's grace, we must seek it.

In order fully to take advantage of the various helps with which God has furnished us, it will be useful to consider the means of religious influence which we see placed within our reach. The earliest of these blessed influences is filial love. No child, as it seems to us, can be taught to love and obey God, who has not first learnt to love and obey its parents. When once acquired, the transition is easy from an earthly to a Heavenly Father, and a young child may be made to comprehend the feeling. Sensitive children will sometimes feel, even painfully, the idea of what is almighty, infinite or everlasting. We knew a little boy, who, on being told that in another world he would live and be happy for ever, exclaimed, for ever, what a dreary idea!'

sure.

There will be different opinions respecting the proper time for introducing the help of prayer. Yet who can look for a pious mind without it. We would say-let the practice of prayer be commenced as soon as it can be connected with pleaThe temperament and disposition of the child must be the guide in this respect. Some very young children will show pleasure in being taught to repeat a few simple sentences, thanking God for His goodness, and praying for a blessing on relations and itself: and that mother's heart must be dull indeed, which does not thrill with emotion at the sound of her child's artless petitions, lisped out at her knees. She will be careful to avoid all idea of exhibition-let the little one's prayer be breathed in the sacred silence of the chamber; and, as soon as

possible, let it be connected with recollections of its conduct during the past day. To this very naturally succeeds family prayer, which, if short and simple, may easily be made interesting to a child.

There will be a still greater diversity of opinion respecting the best time and manner of making use of the next help provided by the Almighty for the formation of a religious character-the Sabbath. Believing, as we do, that the day was of Divine appointment-the only question is, how is it to be rendered most efficacious? Our forefathers, the Puritans, thought that the utmost solemnity and seriousness constituted the proper manner of observing the day, and children were not excused from the almost uninterrupted routine of catechism, hymns, prayers Where this ended in fatigue and disgust, and sermons. it must have been prejudicial to the mind, and would be more likely to alienate than attract the heart. On the other hand, our continental neighbours consider the day to be more honoured in allowing every kind of innocent recreation; public worship among the rest, if it is a recreation ; if not, it is dispensed with. They contend that the obligation to attend public worship has a tendency to promote a merely ceremonial religion, and that every action of the life ought to be an act of piety. That every action of the life ought to be an act of piety, we are far from disputing; we would only inquire whether that is inconsistent with the additional and peculiar employment of the Lord's-Day. We would say, let it be distinguished by a change in the occupations of a child. Far, indeed, are we from wishing it to be an irksome or an idle day; but let the studies and amusements be different from those of other days. Let the recreations be not only innocent, but connected in some way with the knowledge of the Creator, either through his works or his word. We have seen in a large and amiable family, the reading of the Scriptures rendered at once interesting and improving, by the father and mother taking their turn in reading, and afterwards each selecting a verse and giving a reason for the preference— thus keeping up the attention and connecting it with a pleasure. The natural temperament of children must regulate the degree of attention which parents require or can command. The demand upon the time and attention of children should not be continued so as to weary; but we think that some degree of restraint is desirable, and that noisy mirth should be repressed. We are not inclined to measure the piety, either of children or their seniors, by the number of services which they attend, nor the growth of their piety by the length of their prayers; but, while we question not the devotional spirit of our neighbours, whose practice is different, we deem it unwise to neglect any means whereby we may advance our souls in the grace of God.