by, and that we can alone be enabled to walk according to his will and commandments, all the days of our life.

I would conclude with two general

remarks:

1. How serious is the covenant into which those who have renewed their baptismal vows, have entered! In declaring, like the children of Israel, that we will serve the Lord, we resolve to fight manfully under the banners of Christ, against sin, the world, and the devil. And is this an easy matter? No task is so difficult; no contest so arduous. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against enemies spiritual and invisible; nor can the labour and conflict ever cease till the separation of soul and body. And let not parents or guardians conceive that their responsibility is at an end, because the youth of whom they had the charge have now ratified the vows formerly made in their behalf. It still is your duty to see that they be brought up to lead a godly and a Christian life. Has this been your object hitherto? If you are chargeable with neglect in the time that is past, endeavour to redeem it. Let your example, as well as your precepts, convince them that it is their bounden duty to act at all times as children of God, who have renounced the works of darkness and are alive from the dead. And remember what a solemn woe our Saviour denounces on those "who shall offend one of these little ones;" that is, who shall teach them to think lightly of their obligations, or by any means destroy the good seed sown in their hearts.

2. How awful will be our condemnation, if, after all, we forget our vows and persist in disobedience ! We shall, like the Israelites whom Joshua addressed, be witnesses against ourselves. The congregation who beheld the solemnity of our vow, will bear evidence to our breach of it. Our own conscience, that sleepless monitor, will tell us, in

language which cannot fail to be heard, of pledges abandoned, of promises broken, of principles violated, of wrath proceeding to vengeance. Let it not, however, be supposed that the obligation to serve God arises solely from our having acknowledged it. Whether we make such an avowal or not, we are absolutely bound to worship and obey him. But still, will not our violated promises add to our guilt and confusion, when we stand at the bar of God? Let us then remember, when tempted to be careless or indifferent, how many witnesses are ready to testify against us. The walls of God's house bave heard the solemn vow, promise, and profession that have been made by us. The altar has beheld us kneeling in the presence of God and dedicating ourselves to his service. Those walls will find a voice; that altar will deliver its testimony; they will be witnesses against us, should we deny our God. then begin the course which we are bound to pursue, and let us begin it without delay. While the impression is still fresh, let it be our care to confirm it by all the means of grace, and especially by attending at the table of the Lord. And if weakened by the lapse of time, or the pursuits of this world, let it be our constant care to rekindle the hallowed lamp, while we are yet permitted to commemorate the death of him by whose sacrifice the gate of life has been opened to us all. Let us then entreat him to give us the fulness of his grace, that we may be fruitful in every good work, and may increase in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Amen.

Let us

ON THE COMPANION TO THE ALTAR.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I REQUEST your permission to offer a few remarks on a religious tract, more widely circulated perhaps than any other, from the circumstance of its being usually bound up with the Prayer-book; I mean, the Companion to the Altar.

One principal object of this compilation, as declared in the title, is to quiet the apprehensions of those who dread to approach the eucharist on account of their suspected unfitness; and whose "fears and scruples"-I quote the words themselves-" about eating and drinking unworthily, and incurring our own damnation thereby, are proved groundless and unwarrantable."The writer of so very confident an assumption of the success of his own argument, could not, I trust, intend that every person who read his book might find in it a ground and warrant to go forthwith to the sacrament. If this were meant, his performance places the sincere and insincere on the same level, by issuing an unreserved permission to all persons whatsoever to meet at the Lord's table. If, on the other hand, he designed to limit his permission to those who feared to communicate from real tenderness of conscience, he ought to have said so at the outset of his undertaking; for who 'can calculate the evils occasioned by vague and indefinite language, on subjects imperatively demanding all the accuracy which the imperfection of language enables us to supply?

The motto on the title, "I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord, and so will I go to thine altar," is open to two objections. First, David's intention to perform a ceremonial ablution, and his consequent or concurrent approach to

the altar, have nothing to do, either Christian sacrament. typically or spiritually, with the Secondly, Communicants go to their altar, not as innocent, but as sinners; and as such, they bewail on their knees the guilt, known and unknown, which has defiled their conduct; in terms expressive of the deepest bumiliation and self-abhorrence, and of their provocation of the Divine wrath and indignation due to offenders of their character and demerit.

I pass from the title to the preface; where the writer tells us, that his design is to shew what that sacramental preparation is which is absolutely necessary to qualify men for a worthy participation of the Lord's supper, so that they may come without the least fear of "eating and drinking damnation to themselves." The question is, whether there be any farther preparation absolutely necessary to qualify a communicant, than that religious sincerity which marks him out from the world as a sound Christian, and qualifies him to pray, or read the Scriptures, or even to transact, conscientiously, life's hourly duties? The reception of the sacrament is, unquestionably, an act of great seriousness; and a Christian naturally anticipates it with distinct feelings and exercises of devotion: but, as to any prescribed series of religious performances being essential to the efficacy of the sacrament, it is a doctrine built, in my judgment, on a radically erroneous view of religion itself; which is not a set of insulated observances, but a habit of mind. Voltaire might, twelve times in the year, have gone through the Week's Preparation, attended the monthly sacrament, and built a church (which he actually did); but he would have remained Voltaire still. On the contrary, a be

liever is formally fit to be called to the eucharist, not merely when he comes fresh and renovated from the devotions of his closet; but (on account of the permanent habit of his mind) he might safely go to the communion from the bosom of his family, from his farm and merchandize, from the crowded concourse of the market or exchange, and even from the tumult and agitations of a battle. Should any one start at this doctrine, let me ask him the simple question-Whether a real Christian be not always fit to die? And the simple inference is, he who is fit to die is a welcome guest at the table of the Lord. I confess, that I am exceedingly jealous of what may be termed the subordinate machinery and apparatus of religion, which the ceremonious minds of men so frequently mistake for religion in its essence. In the body of the tract under consideration, it is said, "That we may come to this heavenly feast holy, and adorned with the wedding garment, we must search our hearts, and examine our consciences, not only till we see our sins, but until we hate them; and, instead of those filthy rags of our own righteousness, we must adorn our minds with pure and pious dispositions." If I rightly comprehend this cloudy passage, the candidate is instructed to look upon sin, when detected, to be righteousness. I always understood that the words of Isaiah, here alluded to, signify either acts of false virtue, or observances of ceremonial strictness; that, in either case, they were regarded by the Almighty as a loathsome thing, and rejected because they were substitutes for sincerity. The self-satisfied, or rather self-justified, Jew might deem an outwardly good act (as almsgiving), or a ceremony enjoined by the Mosaic ritual, meritorious; but it does not appear that sin as such, and sin discovered after a serious scrutiny, is righteousness in the eyes of any man. The splendida peccata of the heathen world had at least a

shew, and a very imposing shew, of virtue. I am, therefore, at a loss to know what peculiar necessity there was to apprize a candidate of the identity of sin and righteousness; or, at least, to suggest to him the propriety of not confounding one with the other. Without treating a religious matter with levity, one may honestly inquire, whether a self-examiner, on discovering, previous to communicating, that in a given week he had profaned the Sabbath, trifled away the Monday, neglected prayer on the Tuesday, borne hard upon some indigent neighbour on the Wednesday, ridiculed religious persons on the Thursday, and gone through the succeeding days he knew not how. would such a man require to be told that all this was the "filthy rags of his own righteousness ;" and in the next place, how would such a character set about adorning his mind with "pure and pious dispositions;" then by what process could he surmount his scruples (if he had any) of unfitness; and finally, in what laver of innocency might he wash his hands, and so go to the altar!-I may, indeed, have misapprehended my author; and his meaning may, after all, turn out to be orthodox: but in religious books, he that runs ought to understand.

In a subsequent page, the duty of self-scrutiny is taught thus: "Of such great use and advantage is this duty of self-examination, at all times, that Pythagoras, in those golden verses which go under his name, particularly recommends the same to his scholars, Every night, &c. &c.' This course, if daily followed, as is suggested by Hierpcles, his excellent commentator, perfects the divine image in those that use it. Plutarch, Epictetus, Seneca, and the Emperor Marcus Antoninus, agree in recommending the same practice by their own example; but especially holy David: I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to thy testimonies." Had this writer compiled an essay on the brevity of life, I

conclude that he would have urged his point by the concurrent and equalized testimonies of heathen voluptuaries and Christian apostles, thus: "Of such weight is this truth, that Anacreon and Horace, in those beautiful odes which they wrote, agree in asserting it; but especially holy Paul: But this I say, brethren, the time is short."

I have now to accuse the author of the Companion to the Altar of a formal adulteration of the Scripture he writes "Sin no more, says our Saviour to the woman taken in adultery, and I will not condemn thee." The passage really is; "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." But this venturous divine not only adulterates Scripture, but cites passages of Scripture in evidence of his doctrine, which, being referred to, are found to be utterly irrelevant. Thus ; "We read, that when this sacrament was administered in the Apostles' days, large collections of monies were then gathered for the maintenance of the poor clergy and laity; Acts ii. 44, 45, 46; 1 Cor. xvi. 1." On opening the New Testament, as directed by these references, the citation from the Acts is as follows: "And all that believed were toge ther, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." The proof from 1 Cor. xvi. 1. is" Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye."-Such a commentator on the Bible as this, might readily be suspected of being jealous of those parts of the Liturgy, which do not quadrate with his own system. I add a specimen of his dissatisfaction with our Communion Service; -"Some people, I remember, have been very much concerned and discomposed at their devotions, upon

the repetition of some few expressions, contained in the last Exhortation to the Communion: namely,

of being guilty of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour,—of eating and drinking our own damnation,-not considering the Lord's body,-kindling God's wrath against us,-provoking him to plague us with divers diseases, and sundry kinds of death.' These are hard sayings, and some of them too hard to be understood; but, however, they are all avoided by coming worthily, that is, with faith and repentance; therefore, let not those terrible expressions trouble you." Here is a pretty evident confession on the author's part, that the Church of England holds too severe an opinion on the danger incurred by insincere communicants; and be seems to me to explain away the obnoxious doctrine, in such a manner as to tranquillize the feelings of the guilty, or to flatter the security of the self-righteous. Alas! sir, did the author know where it is written, "Many, therefore, of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? But there are some of you that believe not." The last citation I shall adduce is this: " I dare affirm, that no part of divine worship has suffered more on this account" (that, I suppose, of religious fear or self-suspicion)" than that of the holy communion: thousands of people not daring, in all their life-time (though very good livers), to partake of the Lord's supper, for fear of eating and drinking their own damnation"which is the concluding sentence of the treatise. Subjoined are Prayers and Meditations; but of these, having not read them, I can give no account.

As to the general character of the Companion to the Altar, it may be pronounced to be composed of divinity, not indeed universally erro

neous, but still confused, inconsistent, and deficient. The anonymous compiler appears to have possessed a mediocrity of talent, with feelings considerably heavy and obtuse, and scarcely accessible to any emotion but what might be effected by the mechanical impulse of rites and ceremonies. Is it not then mortifying, that such a treatise, composed by such a writer, should be bound up with, I believe, the majority of Prayer-books circulated throughout the empire? By what means the tract obtained this most unmerited distinction, is a circumstance which it is difficult to account for, and impossible to justify. Did the inventors of the measure wish to soften down what they esteemed to be the asperities of the Established Religion? Did they mean to prepare the public mind for innovations on the doctrines of the Reformation, by furnishing a corrective to the errors of the Liturgy? It is very hard that even the Prayer-book itself may not be circulated" without note or comment;" and how will those opponents of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who authorize, by their own practice, this degradation of a public formulary, explain their conduct? If there already exist persons who prohibit the circulation of the Bible, unless guarded by a commentary; and, as a secondary exertion of their zeal to prevent the incursions of error, guard the Communion Office by the insertion of a corrective of that office, we may soon expect to witness the rise and prevalence of a new order of reformers, who may compile and bind up a Companion to the Companion already in circulation, in order to shew that the Church of England's tenets, being insufficiently diluted by the old tract, require a fresh infusion of error and inefficacy. This proceeding will auspiciously prepare the way for an improved version of the whole Prayer-book, founded on the basis of the late translation of the New Testament; and equally designed to accommodate the yet

surviving divinity of our Church to the creed and practice of those who believe as they live, and live as they please.

ex

I have offered these remarks on the Companion to the Altar, on account of the almost incredible circulation which it has obtained. There is not a bookseller in the empire whose assortment of Prayerbooks does not contain copies of all sizes (at least from the octavo downward) in which this Companion is to be found; and I believe, that the majority of purchasers select such copies as are thus adulterated *. Many considerate clergymen have pressed, as I have been informed, a sincere concern on seeing so many communicants approach the rails of the communion-table with this correction of the eucharistic service in their hands,-muttering or whispering the prescribed ejaculations, and frequently with an air and gesture indicative of their being about to perform an act of certain and mysterious advantage to themselves; an opus operatum, and when the opus is done, all is done. In fact, sir, the whole system of error by which the Companion is infected, and mistaken communicants rivetted to their habits of formal devotion, is a counterpart to the practice of the Papists, who have a strange variety of books, with yet stranger titles, to tickle or stimulate their imaginations during attendance at Mass. With them

*I am sorry to see that this tract stands also on the list of the venerable Society for promoting Christian Knowledge.

† Such as these "The Garden of the Soul."-" Devotions and Offices to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Devotions to the Three Hours of the

Agony of Jesus Christ our Redeemer."

Key of Heaven, or Posey of Prayers."— "Holy Altar, or Sacrifice of the Mass ex

plained."-" Manner of performing the An

cient Devotion in Honour of the Five Wounds

of our B. Redeemer, called the Crosses,”—which, with shoals of similar publications are sold by Keating, Brown, and Co. 38, Dukestreet, Grosvenor Square, in the metropolis of a Protestant empire, and in the nineteenth century!