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divine physician, who shall change all our disease and weakness and spiritual offensiveness into perfect soundness, we never shall behold the face of God and live; as it says this, it is indeed awful. What is there to heighten the misery of the sinner, but only his indifference to his own wretchedness. Great indeed was the spiritual wretchedness of that Jerusalem, over which the pitying Jesus wept as he said, How often would I have gathered thy children, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." Great need had they of such fostering care; but O! who shall measure the depth of melancholy meaning in those words, which be added, "and ye would not." . O! it is this would not, which ruins all. We would many things; we pour out our souls in eager wishes for various things, many of them odious, some questionable; some perhaps in themselves innocent. We would be great; we would be clever; we would be rich; we would be noble ; we would be strong; we would be admired; we would, after our own fashion, be amiable; yea we would be useful; but when Jesus saith, "Wilt thou be made whole ?" our foolish heart makes light of the question, if it do not give an insulting answer, and say, "We would not."

There is one grand distinction to be observed between the offers which our fellow man makes to us, and those which God makes, for our benefit; that if we reject the former, it may never happen us to know what we have lost. Not so with the latter; it would be unbecoming the majesty of God, that he should descend to treat with the worms of this earth, and propose to them a perfect restoration in the Son of his love, and have this offer despised, yet the sinner never to know of what enormity he has been guilty. They who will not be made whole in time, shall have eternity to reckon up the blessings they have lost. What need the unbelieving any other hell than the bare reflection, that now they are shut out of heaven, that now the face of God shall never shine upon them, that although once they heard the voice of mercy, now it shall never be heard again, and while their misery is fearful, and their hurt dreadful, while all they hear and see and feel is terrific, they know also, that it must be for ever. Never, never, again, shall those once despised words be heard, "Wilt thou be made whole?" Here then surely is a lesson, here is a call to us poor miserable procrastinators. Should we not to-day repent and believe the Gospel, and with our whole hearts turn unto the Lord our God, lest that day come upon us unawares, the day without an end, the day of interminable remorse and ceaseless agony. J. C. L.

FOR THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

A FRIENDLY ADDRESS TO THE CONVERTS FROM THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, AT CAVAN AND ELSEWHERE.

BELOVED IN CHRIST,-We are strangers to each other, and probably may never meet until summoned by the last trump to stand together before the Judge of quick and dead; but Christian love knows no bounds, for it extends to a foe, as well as to a friend to a Heathen, or a Jew, as well as to a professing Chris

tian-to those we have never known, as well as to those who are united to us by the ties of friendship and of blood. It rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; and it constrains me now, although at a distance from you, and unacquainted with the minute circumstances of your several cases, to offer you a word of friendly counsel, which I earnestly pray may be made a blessing to you. You have taken an important step, and I should hope you have with much deliberation, and prayer for the divine direction, counted the cost. (Luke xiv. 28.) Your change of profession has, I trust, proceeded from a change of opinion, and that change of opinion been effected by means of the Holy Scriptures. If this be the case, you have abundant reason to thank and praise the Lord, each day you rise-not, that you have forsaken one Church, and embraced another-not, that you have renounced one name, and are now called by another; but because error, and ignorance, and prejudice, have in a great measure let go their hold of you-because you have begun to exercise your reason upon the counsel of your instructors, and to read or hear God's word in the tongue in which you were born, and to examine into the truths of that word without being obliged to submit to the controul, or to ask for the permission of man. This is a great privilege, and I sincerely hope you may receive grace to improve it, that as you pass along the journey of life, you may think, and speak, and act as the Holy Scriptures direct, and may thus become the means of recommending to your relations and fellow-countrymen that which has been the means of bringing light to your minds, and comfort to your hearts. The use of a Church is not to save souls, (there never was a church, a council, a man, or an angel, which could do that) but to provide Christian instruction for those who stand in need of it. In the Apocalypse, or Revelation of St. John the Divine, churches are called candlesticks, because they hold forth the light. (chap. i. verse 20.) Now the light which is to be held forth is the Gospel, which tells us of Jesus Christ, who is the light of life-the light of the world—the true light-the bright and morning star, the Sun of Righteousness. But for him all would be darkness, and no man could see the door of mercy, or the path of peace; but when the Spirit of God opens the Scriptures to the soul, and gives a spiritual understanding of the truth which is contained in them, it sees Jesus Christ to be the only Saviour, and therefore it is satisfied with him, and being satisfied, it cleaves to him, and glories in him. You will remark, that although the candlestick holds up the light, yet it is not the light-a candle can burn and give light without a candlestick; but a candlestick has in itself no light at all, and therefore without the candle it is useless. Surely no man would be so silly as to take a candlestick to guide him in a dark night, and on an intricate way: it is the light he wants, and if that light were held in his own hand, without a candlestick, it would be of real use to him, whilst the most costly and ornamented candlestick, without a candle, could be of no use at all. God is a God of truth, and not of deceit-and when he calls a church a candlestick, he does not mean that a church is a candle --very far from it, for he never says one thing, while he means another.

There have been many churches in the world which have no existence at present their corruptions and departures from the truth have proved their ruin-they ceased to hold up the light, and therefore perished; but the light of God's word still continues in all its power and brilliancy. Were it not for the Gospel, first preached by the Apostles, and then written, there would have been no Christian Church-it was not then the Church that framed or determined what the Gospel was; but the Gospel gave being to the Church, and the Church is now to be tried by the Scriptures, which are the word of God -not the Scriptures by the Church. In the day of judgment the Scriptures will undergo no trial, for they have committed no offence against either God or man-they have practised no deceit-they have countenanced no evil-they have taught no error: but every Church-yea, every member and every minister of a Church will be tried and judged: and by what rule will they be tried and judged? Jesus Christ tells you, "the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge you at the last day," John xii. 48. The best Church, then, is the Church that makes most use of the Scriptures-that most honours the Scriptures-that is least afraid of the Scriptures, and you should now bring yourselves to that test to which you and your Church, whatever it be, will be brought in the last day. The true Church of Christ is composed of all true believers, in whatever outward Church they may be found, and this is the Church that you ought all to pray that you may be members of; for every member of it will be saved, and will enter into glory when he dies— but we cannot say the same of all the members of any visible Church whatever. This subject points out an important duty to you, which is, to examine yourselves whether you be in the faithyou have always been called Christians--you lived for a long time without entertaining a doubt as to your safety, because being ignorant of the Scriptures, you rested your hope of salvation upon the word of man: you have now acknowledged your error, and it is to be hoped have seen it-you have joined a Church that draws her doctrines and practice from the Scriptures, and inposes no restraint upon your inquiry, save this, that you will read humbly, and pray constantly for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that you may be led into the knowledge of all truth. In so doing, you have, I am sure, acted right; but you are not to stop here, and rest satisfied with this change, however great. You are sinners before God—you have wicked heartsyou want a new heart and a right spirit which can only come from Him, and except you be born again you cannot see the kingdom of God. The salvation of your souls is the most important of all concerns, and you should daily ponder upon that question which was put by the Lord Jesus Christ, What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Beware that in what you have done, and in what you shall do, you preserve a good conscience. Pray that you may not be influenced by fear, or jealousy, or revenge, or a love of gain, or any other unworthy motive: but that the soundness of your principles may appear evident to all with whom you have to do, make the Holy Scriptures your study; read therein by day, and meditate

therein by night, as David, and Timothy, and the Bereans did, and as all true Christians desire to do. Read them as if you believed that God speaks in and by them; rely upon it that though Heaven and earth shall pass away, God's word shall not pass away. Expect trials from various quarters, but cast your care upon the Lord-commit your way unto him-believe his sure promises; he will give you support in life, comfort in death, and Glory in eternity, through our Lord Jesus Christ.Your sincere friend and well-wisher,

BEDELL.

CLERICAL ASSOCIATIONS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

SIR. The following extracts are taken from a Charge, delivered in 1807, by the then Bishop of St. David's.* It relates to those most important institutions, " Clerical Associations"-the utility of which, his Lordship defends by the high authorities of Lord Bacon, Bishop Burnet, and Archbishop Tenison. The publication of them in the CHRISTIAN EXAMINER, might prove useful at the present time.

His Lordship, after strenuously advocating "Monthly or Quarterly Meetings of serious and devout ministers anxious to learn, and ready to communicate,"-proceeds to remark that "such meetings were strongly recommended by Lord Bacon, Bishop Burnet, and Archbishop Tenison. And such too (he says) were held not many years since in this Diocese, by a pious and zealous minister, and excellently good man, Mr. Howell Howell, Vicar of Llanboidy, most acceptably to the Clergy of his neighbourhood, and most usefully to the younger part of them."

His Lordship then gives the following interesting extracts on this highly important subject:

Extracts relative to the usefulness of Clerical Meetings for Religious Edification. I. From Lord Bacon's Tract on the Pacification of the Church.

"Upon this point, I ground three considerations: First, whether it were not requisite to renew that good exercise which was practised in this Church some years, which was this: that the Ministers within a precinct did meet upon a week day in some principal town, where there was some ancient and grave Minister, that was President; and an auditory admitted of gentlemen, or other persons of leisure. Then every minister, successively beginning with the youngest, did handle one, and the same part of Scripture, spending severally some quarter of an hour or better, and in the whole some two hours; and so the exercise being begun and concluded with prayer, and the President giving a text for the next Meeting, the Assembly was dissolved. And this was, as I take it, a fortnight's exercise; which, in my opinion, was the best way to frame and train up preachers to handle the Word of God, as it

* Dr. Burgess, now Bishop of Salisbury.

ought to be handled, that hath been practised. For we see orators have their declamations, lawyers their moots, logicians their sophisms; and every practice of science has its exercise of erudition and initiation before men come to the life; only preaching, which is the worthiest, and wherein is most danger to do amiss, wanteth an introduction, and is ventured, and rushed upon at the first. I would wish, the Ministers might brotherly admonish the one the other, and especially the elder sort the younger, of any thing that had passed in the exercise, in matter or manner ursound and uncomely; and in a word might mutually use such advice, instruction, comfort, and encouragement, as occasion might minister." (Bacon's Works, p. 442, vol. iv. quarto ed.)

II. From Bishop Burnet's Pastoral Care.

1. From Chap. VIII,

"The Clergy ought to contrive ways to meet often together, to enter into a brotherly correspondence, and into the concerns of one another, both in order to their progress in knowledge, and for consulting together in all their affairs. This would be a means to cement them into a body.—(Sundry reasons are then adduced for such Meetings, to which the reader is referred.)

"Upon all these accounts it is of great advantage, and may be matter of great edification to the Clergy to enter into a strict union together, to meet often, and to be helpful to one another. But if this should be made practicable, they must be extremely strict in those meetings, to observe so exact a sobriety, that there must be no colour given to censure them, as if these were merry meetings, in which they allowed themselves great liberties. It were good, if they could be brought to meet to fast and pray.

"Four or five such meetings in a summer would neither be a great charge, nor give much trouble: but the advantages, that might arise out of them, would be very sensible."

2. From the Conclusion.

"We are now brought very near the greatest crisis that ever Church or Nation had. And if God should so far punish us for our sins, for our contempt of his Gospel, and neglect of our duties, as to deliver us over to the rage of our enemies, we have nothing to look for, but a persecution more dreadful than any is in history. Now, nothing can so certainly avert [this,] as the serious minding of our functions, of our duties and obligations, the confessing of our sins, and the correcting of our errors. Nothing can so certainly hasten on the fixing of our tranquillity, and the completing of our happiness, as our lying often between the porch and the altar, and interceding with God for our people; and our giving ourselves up wholly to the Ministry of the Word of God, and to prayer."

3. From Archbishop Tenison's Circular Letter.

"In the year 1699, a Circular Letter was sent by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Bishops of his Province, in which he says, "It were to be wished that the Clergy of every neighbourhood would agree upon frequent meetings to consult for the good of religion."

The Bishop of St. David's had also revived in his diocese, in 1807, monthly and quarterly meetings, under the direction of Rural Deans, for the purpose of clerical edification. He recommends that the meetings should be for prayer, reading of the Scriptures, religious and literary conversation; accompanied with the public service of the Church, and a sermon.

A very interesting paper is given in the appendix to the Charge from which I have taken the above extracts, containing a Cir