1st, That the power of godliness is the most efficient agent by which a people will successfully use their weapons in giving battle to Popery.

It was this that gave energy to the arms of the Reformers, in our own and other lands, in the use of those weapons, by which this adversary was so signally defeated, and driven from the strongholds in which he had intrenched himself; and it is the degree in which this is wanting in our times, that is rendering us so powerless in the use of the very same weapons. We have Scripture and reason, the most powerful armour against Popery, as they had, but we have not this in the hand of a vigorous faith, nerved by an ardent love of truth, a heart-hatred, not only of Popery as such, but of every error, and every thing at variance with the divine law. And we have not these weapons in the hands of societies pervaded by the same spirit, and carrying out Protestant principles in all their breadth in a consistent practice.

2d, That it is only with the revival of the power of godliness, that we can expect to see attachment to the Covenanted Reformation restored in the Church and nation.

If it was from this, as a leading second cause, that the Reformation sprung, and with the decay of this that the minds of so many became alienated from it, we cannot expect that this will live in the love and esteem of men, till our spiritual captivity is brought back. It is a part of the glory of this work, that it is such as those cannot be expected cordially to adopt or support, with whom the world occupies the first place, and religion is made a secondary matter, which must be made to subserve their worldly interests. It is a part of its honour, that it demands of those who embrace it, conformity to the will of God in all things, in faith and practice, and meets, with a determined frown, all who would please themselves with half measures, in testifying their respect to the will of Christ. It may so far reconcile us to the opposition which the Covenanted Reformation has now to encounter in the Church and in the world, and the reproach with which it is loaded, that it would not have been of God, it would not have squared with the requirements of Scripture, and met the approbation of Christ, were it such as commanded the approbation, engaged the hearts, and won the applause of the great body of the present generation of professing Christians in the Church and nation; for they are undeniably living in the neglect of many duties which Christ requires of his people, in the practice of much that is hateful to him, and do not seek their highest blessedness in a life of gracious fellowship with him; as all the excellent of the earth have done in past ages, and will do in the good days that are yet to come.

3d, That it is only in connection with the power of godliness, that the professed friends of the Covenanted Reformation can be expected to continue attached to it.

In as far as there is a decay of vital godliness among us and other friends of this great cause, we are so far on the road to apostacy from it, as certainly as any who have preceded us in this course. We may not think that this is the case-we may be unwilling to believe it— but it arises from the very nature of things, and it is meet that we

should lay it to heart. The Covenanted Reformation being the Christianity of the Bible in its breadth, our hearts must be alienated from it, in proportion as they are so from God himself, and from his truth and laws revealed to us in the Scripture. However well persons may be indoctrinated in theory in the principles of the Reformation, and however able they may be to defend them in argument; unless there is a heart-love to them as the truth of Christ, and a true sense of obligation to stand by whatever is His, they will not be able to withstand temptations to swerve from a public appearance in its behalf. This is a conclusion which is forced upon our attention, by affecting proof, almost daily, in the conduct of some of the professed friends of the Covenanted cause.

4th, That if we would, as a Church, ministers and people, continue faithful to the cause of the Reformation, the power of godliness must be preserved among us; without this, our continuing steadfast is hopeless. Few things would be a more favourable symptom, than such a sense of this, as would stir us up to employ every Scriptural means of having vital religion preserved and revived among us, and every thing that interferes with spiritual health put away.

This is not the place in which this subject can be discussed, and the means most fit for this purpose pointed out; this would require a paper for itself. Our end at present will be gained, if a conviction is lodged in the minds of our readers of the absolute necessity of this, that will not pass away without leading to the adoption of active measures for promoting this great object.

5th, That the object of our association, as a witnessing Church, is one of great breadth.

The object of the great actors in the First and Second Reformation was, first, to render the Church, in all respects, an institute harmonising with the Scripture Standard; and, next, the nation, as a civil community, in its rulers, laws, and administration, what the Word of God requires nations to be. The Reformation itself is what was actually effected in accordance with this aim; and our object, as a witnessing body, is, 1st, The preservation of all the Scriptural attainments of the Church and land in Reformation; first, because they are agreeable to Scripture, and thus what God requires, and will ever require, that every part of his Church, and every people, should be ; and, second, because this, in all the degrees attained to, is what we are, as a people, bound by the oath of God to cleave to and maintain. 2d, So far as we can, to lift up our voice for the claims of God in all their breadth, and against the departures of the Church and nation from reformation attained to in accordance with the Word of God, aggravated by being breaches of solemn engagements to Him. 3d, To bring the Church and nation to remember whence they have fallen, repent, and do the first works. And, 4th, In the spirit of Joshua, who said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," to endeavour, for our part, to follow the Lord fully, and be doing what we know God is requiring the whole Church to do, and for doing which, he has a special bond on this Church and nation.

This is, therefore, an object which, in its great matter, is not local,

but extends to the whole Church and to the world, which shall yet assuredly be realised; and when realised, shall certainly bring along with it, an acknowledgment from the heart of the obligation of vows and oaths to God, whether made by individuals or societies, by churches or nations.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

A Treatise on Relics, by John Calvin, newly translated from the French Original, with an Introductory Dissertation on the Miraculous Images, as well as other Superstitions of the Roman Catholic and Russo-Greek Churches. Edinburgh: Johnstone & Hunter. 1854.

THIS is a very interesting work, and the peculiar circumstances in which we are placed, both in a political and ecclesiastical respect, renders its publication highly seasonable. Any work of Calvin's needs no recommendation from us. His known talents, and reputation as a writer of the first class, and his character as a theologian and champion of Protestantism, renders this altogether superfluous.

In this treatise, the author having first shown, in his usual masterly style, the evil and danger of relics of every kind as objects of religious veneration, proceeds to expose, by an overwhelming induction of indisputable facts, the impostures that have been practised by the traffickers in relics, on the devotees of superstition. Of the many instances of this imposture, which are here laid open to the loathing and scorn of every one in whom power to exercise reason is left, we give the following, as a specimen of the manner in which our author manages this subject:

"Now let us," says he, "consider how many relics of the true cross there are in the world. An account of those merely with which I am acquainted would fill a whole volume, for there is not a church, from a cathedral to the most miserable abbey, or parish church, that does not contain a piece. Large splinters of it are preserved in various places, as, for instance, in the Holy Chapel at Paris, whilst at Rome, they show a crucifix of considerable size, made entirely, they say, of this wood. In short, if we were to collect all these pieces of the true cross exhibited in various parts, they would form a whole ship's cargo. The gospel testifies that the cross could be borne by one single individual. How glaring, then, is the audacity, now to pretend to display more relics of wood than three hundred men could carry."

It might be a curious inquiry, also, how many different species of wood could be found in these supposed fragments of the cross. It appears, also, that in some cases, when the bones that were adored, as those of saints, have been examined, they have been found those of some animal. No wonder though Popery dreads the light of science; that of comparative anatomy could not fail to make sad disclosures among the supposed remains of saints, that are hoarded up to be the objects of adoration by the votaries of Romish superstition. This extensive practice of fraud has also laid the foundation of wide contention among the holders of relics, when different parties lay claim to the possession of the same relic, as to which is the true, and which the counterfeit, which it is utterly impossible to settle, by satisfactory evidence, in favour of any of the contending parties; and the most

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How rational conclusion is, that they are all equally counterfeit. pitiable, then, is the condition of those who attach value to such things, and how needful is it, that the use of reason and common sense should be entirely superceded by a blind implicit faith.

As to this, Calvin makes the following striking remarks:

"The foolish fancy which people had at first for collecting relics, ended in this open abomination,-they not only turned from God, in order to amuse themselves with vain and corruptible things, but even went on to the execrable sacrilege of worshipping dead and insensible creatures, instead of the one living God. Now, as one evil never comes alone, but is always followed by another, it thus happened that where people were seeking for relics, either of Jesus Christ or the saints, they become so blind, that whatever name was imposed upon any rubbish presented to them, they received it without any examination or judgment; thus the bones of an ass or dog, which any hawker gave out to be the bones of a martyr, were devoutly received without any difficulty. This was the case with all of them, as will be shown hereafter.

"For my own part, I have no doubt that this has been a great punishment inflicted by God. Because, as the world was craving after relics, and turning them to a wicked and superstitious use, it was very likely that God would permit one lie to follow another; for this is the way in which he punishes the dishonour done to his name, when the glory due to him is transferred elsewhere. Indeed, the only reason why there are so many false and imaginary relics is that God has permitted the world to be doubly deceived and fallen, since it has so loved deceit and lies.

"The devil, perceiving man's folly, was not satisfied with having led the world into one deception, but added to it another, by giving the name of relics of saints to the most profane things. And God punished the credulous by depriving them of all power of reasoning rightly, so that they accepted without inquiry all that was presented to them, making no distinction between white or black."

We would recommend the following remarks of Calvin to some Protestants in our own times, who are in some danger of making a dangerous use of pictures and relics, under the influence of false zeal :

"I know well that there is a certain appearance of real devotion and zeal in the But it allegation, that the relics of Jesus Christ are preserved on account of the honour which is rendered to him, and in order the better to preserve his memory. is necessary to consider what St Paul says, that every service of God invented by man, whatever appearance of wisdom it may have, is nothing better than vanity and foolishness, if it has no other foundation than our own devising. Moreover, it is necessary to set the profit derived from it against the dangers with which it is fraught, and it will thus be found that, to have relics is a useless and frivolous thing, which will most probably gradually lead towards idolatry, because they cannot be handled and looked upon without being honoured, and in doing this men will very soon render them the honour which is due to Jesus Christ. In short, the desire for relics is never without superstition, and what is worse, it is usually the parent of idolatry. Every one admits that the reason why our Lord concealed the body of Moses, was that the people of Israel should not be guilty of worshipping it. Now, we may conclude that the act to be avoided with regard to the body of Moses, must be equally shunned with regard to the bodies of all other saints, and for the same reason-because it is sin. But let us leave the saints, and consider what St Paul says of Jesus Christ himself, for he protests that he knew him not according to the flesh, but only after his resurrection, signifying by these words, that all that is carnal in Jesus Christ must be forgotten and put aside, and that we should employ and direct our whole affections to seek and possess him according to the spirit. Consequently the pretence that it is a good thing to have some memorials either of himself or of the saints, to stimulate our piety, is nothing but a cloak for indulging our foolish cravings which have no reasonable foundation; and should even this reason appear insufficient, it is openly repugnant to what the Holy Ghost has declared by the mouth of St Paul, and what can be said more?

"It is of no use to discuss the point whether it is right or wrong to have relics merely to keep them as precious objects, without worshipping them, because experience proves that this is never the case.'

To this treatise there is prefixed a large, and very valuable introduction, by the translator, containing much interesting informa tion, as to "the origin of the worship of relics and images in the Christian Church; the compromise of the Church with Paganism; the position of the first Christian emperors as to Paganism, and their policy in this respect; the infection of the Christian Church with Pagan ideas and practices, during the fourth and fifth centuries; the reaction against the worship of images, and other superstitious practices, by the Iconoclast Emperors of the East; origin and development of pious legends, or lives of saints; analysis of Pagan rites and practices which have been retained in the Roman Catholic, as well as the Russo-Greek Church, and the image-worship and other superstitions of the latter Church." The reader will find in this much curious information, drawn from sources which are placed beyond the reach of most, the results of the labours of those who have devoted time and talent to researches into the history of the Church during the first centuries and the middle ages; and also from such as have had the means of being acquainted with the present condition of the Greek Church in the East, and in the empire of Russia in particular. From the facts stated, it appears that the corrupt and enslaved Greek Church, as presently constituted in Russia, is a powerful instrument in the hand of the Emperor for promoting his ambitious designs. The value of the work is greatly enhanced by the introduction, which shows the extensive acquaintance which the translator has with the subject, and the care which he has taken to make his knowledge profitable to his readers. We cordially wish the work extensive

circulation.

A Conversation on the War, by a Cabinet Minister and a Presbyterian Minister. Glasgow: W. Love, 20 St Enoch Square.

THE subject of this little work is perhaps the most important, as undoubtedly it is the most interesting, among the things of time, that can at present occupy our attention. A war has been commenced among the nations of Europe, the termination and results of which are only seen by Him to whom the end is known from the beginning. When the ostensible and real grounds of the quarrel are considered, the parties between whom it arose, the combination of political influence, and diplomatic machinery employed for its amicable adjustment, and the singular alliances which have in consequence been formed, we believe it will be admitted to be not only the most important, but the most remarkable, event to be found among the annals of the world. We greatly dislike all dogmatising as to the fulfilment of Bible predictions by particular events in Providence, but we cannot for a moment question, that the present conflict among the European powers (the field of prophecy), will introduce some of those changes