the said letter very improperly describes, and condemns, the proceedings of the last Annual Assembly of the representatives of the Association, in reference to a matter which came under its consideration, and also contains statements, which, in the judgment of this Committee, are most unfair in reference to opinions which had been expressed by the Rev. Robert Eckett." "Resolved, That the preceding resolutions be printed in the body of our large Magazine." WILLIAM PATTERSON, President. It may be interesting to our readers to know, that there was a very full attendance of the members of the Committee. That to the major part of the preceding resolutions there was only one dissentient. The Committee took into consideration the measures needful to be taken for securing the services of a suitable minister to go to Australia. Information was given to the Rev. Joseph Townend, that the Committee would be happy to receive from him, an intimation, that he and his wife would be willing to go to Australia. Mr. Townend, after consulting with his wife, informed the Committee, that he and his wife would leave themselves at the disposal of the Committee, for the Australian mission; provided a satisfactory ministerial supply could be obtained for the Bury Circuit. It has been referred to the Connexional Officers to make arrangements for this purpose. We believe that this information will give general satisfaction, to the members and friends of our Connexion. The Committee was entertained with the utmost cordiality, and very liberal hospitality, by the Bury friends. LETTER FROM THE REV. EDWARD WRIGHT. TO THE EDITOR,-DEAR SIR, I think the time has arrived when you have a right to expect from those of your brethren who approve of your conduct as the Editor of our Magazines, and who sympathize with you under the cruel, unjust, and unchristian attacks to which you have been and still are subjected, an open expression of such approval and sympathy. As a member of the late Annual Assembly, and as one of those who voted for the resolution of that Assembly expressive of its approval of your Editorial labours, I may state that I have seen no reason to change my views in this respect, but after three months reflection, I am prepared to endorse the vote I then gave. You have in my judgment a claim to the gratitude of every member of the Connexion, for the very able manner in which you have defended its principles and proceedings, and it is my conviction that approval is very general, and distrust and dissatisfaction is confined to a few. I subscribe to the opinion of Mr. Mallinson, that there was an absolute necessity for the appearance of those articles in the Magazine, and I have no doubt the time will come when even those to whom controversy is most distasteful will duly appreciate the services thus rendered. They have done much to enlighten many of our own members, on subjects to which I fear they are disposed to pay too little attention, namely, the principles, constitution, and working of the Connexion, and the Scriptural liberty which as a body we enjoy, and they have certainly put to shame, if not to silence, your vindic tive opponents. Praying that you may be long spared to labour for the glory of God, and the extension of Christian liberty throughout the world, I am, dear Sir, yours most truly, Leicester, Nov. 6, 1850. EDW. WRIGHT. We are much obliged to the writer for the kindness which he has manifested by sending us the preceding, with liberty to make such use of it as we might think proper. We have received from many esteemed brethren similar expressions of sympathy and esteem; for which the writers will please to accept our acknowledgments, as thus presented. ED. LETTER FROM THE REV. J. MOLINEUX. MY DEAR SIR, I have just finished reading carefully the third time, your excellent pamphlet, entitled "An Appeal to Facts, or Folly Exposed and Defamation Rebuked," and I must say its contents fully support the title. I am one of those who have deeply deplored aud lamented the necessity of such strictures, but the necessity was absolute, and I tender you my thanks for your labours. I wish a copy of your pamphlet could be put into the hands of all the readers of the Wesleyan Times, the evil effects likely to be produced by the foolish doings of the letter-writer, the protester, and resolutionists would, I feel assured, be fully counteracted, at least where intelligence, candour, and love of truth exist. I hope your " Appeal" will find its way to the members of our Society, either through the Magazine or by some mode of widely distributing your pamphlet: and I trust my poor thoughtless brethren, who have so foolishly committed themselves under very fearful responsibilities, will see the propriety of abstaining from further selfexposure. We have surely opposition enough from other quarters, without becoming foes to each other. Yours very affectionately, Rochdale. J. MOLINEUX. WHAT I DON'T LIKE. TO THE EDITOR,-DEAR SIR, PERHAPS the following, put in a rather unusual form, may cure, or help to do so, some of the things complained of. If you deem them worthy a corner of your pages their insertion will oblige, Yours, &c. ALPHA. A great many people, and professors too, habitually absent themselves on the Lord's-day from his house. This I don't like. A great many professors of Religion rob God of his day, by indulging themselves in eating or drinking, or taking medicine, that they may be able to attend their work on Monday morning. I don't like it. A great many more ramble here and there; one Sunday hearing one preacher, the next Sabbath hearing some one else: thus the old proverb is verified, "A rolling stone never gathers moss." I don't like this. } Another bad custom is; some people think it quite right if they get to the chapel during singing and prayer, and sometimes even later than that, disturbing every body. I don't like this. " Another bad custom is; some people, instead of joining heartily in the singing, stand mute; or allow their eyes, and their ears to be carried away by every squeak of a door, or by the hearty "Amen" of some one who would worship God in spirit and truth. This I don't like, mus Another bad custom is; some preachers there are, who give out the Hymns and Lessons for the day, in an under tone of voice, as if their audience ought not to know anything about it; and then give out our incomparable hymns, in a see-saw, sing-song kind of way, as if they were ashamed of them. I really don't like it. Other preachers there are, who will not read the Lessons as marked upon the Plan; the consequence is, we sometimes have the same chapters read two or three Sabbaths consecutively. I don't like this. Another bad custom is—and the last which I for the present will mention -We are not careful to entertain strangers by conducting them into seats, or to hand them a book when in; forgetting that by attending to these little, but important matters, numbers have been added to religious Societies. I wish we could remedy these things. WHAT IS HEAVEN WORTH. To fix a definite value on heaven is impossible. We have no balances in which we can poise or measure the eternal weight of glory. The heavenly inheritance was never truly appraised. "Go wing your flight from star to star, and, after all, you have not obtained the elements of a calculation which shall show, as a result, the sum total of heavenly bliss. But one thing is certain-Heaven is worth all the effort it can ever cost. On this point we may safely take the testimony of those who ought to know. Call in then the witnesses, and carefully note their statements. Ask first the dying Christian. There he lies alone on the borders of another world. His physical powers are well-nigh wasted by the consuming breath of disease. He has endured long days and nights of intensest pain, with only now and then a moment of relief from almost mortal agonies. Ask him, how much heaven is worth? And though his lips are now unable to frame an answer, you may even see it depicted upon his radiant countenance. It shines like the face af an angel. Heaven has already begun in that soul. There is peace, perfect peace within. Not the calmness of indifference, nor the submission of insensibility, but the active realizing enjoyment, the gracious triumph communicated to the mind by God himself. Does he now feel that any toil was too self-denying, any cross too heavy to be taken up and borne for Christ? Is there any regret, at such an hour, that the religion of Jesus was openly professed before men, and God thus honoured by a public avowal of his cause? Is there any sorrow that the pleasures of the world were not more eagerly sought, and fully enjoyed? Is there any lingering suspicion that the Christian's hope, now relied upon, has cost more than it is worth? No! NO! The feeling is, rather, that it is valuable beyond all price. "Were the whole sea one chrysolite, And diamonds all the stars of night, Make to that soul, if you could, the offer of all created things in exchange for its peace, its sweet assurance that it has passed from death unto life, and it will be affected with nothing, but pity for your folly, that you should think of accomplishing with it such a worthless exchange. Go next and ask the Christian mother, who has just lost an infant child, how much heaven is worth. And she will tell you, rejoicing in the midst of her tears, that heaveu is at once the home of her treasures and her hopes. Her heart is there, and though she still continues to rejoice and do good in her earthly life, yet her spiritual being is hid with Christ in God. If you wish more evidence, consult the prophets, the evangelists, the apostles, the martyrs; the thousands who have counted their present life but the offscouring of all things, that they might win Christ and be found in him; and who have gone up through the smoke and fire of faggots at the stake, through the tribulation and anguish of persecution, the creaking of the rack, and every instrument of torture; who have triumphed through the blood of Christ, and having first passed through the narrow gate of piety, have also passed the resplendent doors of Paradise. Ask them what heaven is worth. Ask them if it cost them more than it now realizes to them of enjoyment. What is their reply? Their joy in God is so full that they cannot avert their eyes to look upon you. It would be painful for them to break in upon their thrilling symphonies even to answer your question. Ask now Gabriel, who, with an eye of fire and a soul of love, tunes his heavenly harp to sweeter and still sweeter harmonies, and then lifts from his angelic brow a crown flashing with jewels, and casts it before the throne of him that liveth for ever and ever; ask him what heaven is worth; and when you have heard his answer, translate it if you can into some language of earth, that saints below may be ravished with its import. Would you still question the witnesses? Ask then, finally, the dying sinner, who is sensible of his condition, but is going without hope into the invisible world. Ask him what heaven is worth. "Heaven!" he replies, with a shriek that pierces the very soul with anguish; "there is no heaven for me. I am on the verge of hell. Its fires are even now burning in my soul. Speak not of heaven to me. The thought of such a place stings me with remorse Hail! horrors, hail!" and so he dies. Pursue these inquiries to any extent you please, and there can be found no being in the universe, except the devil, the father of lies, and those who are like him, lying children, that will tell you heaven is not worth all it can cost. The most soul-trying discipline and self-abasement, the most terrible persecution and excruciating earthly torments are trifles light as air, when weighed in the balance with heaven. This is the truth, as deathbeds testify, as the Bible declares, and God avers. And, if men would only see it so, there is in this thought one of the strongest motives which can influence human feeling and conduct. ANCIENT JERUSALEM. JERUSALEM, to the Christian as well as to the Jew, is a name that brings along with it associations the most interesting, and excites the most tender and lively emotions. The country of which it was the capital, the noble erections that rendered it the pride of the circumcised and the admiration of the Gentiles, the momentous transactions of which it was the scene, the sacred songs which record its excellences and celebrate its glories, together with the religious institutions within it, and the residing symbol of the present Deity-on account of which it was reckoned the joy of all the landhave been, from the dawn of our existence, the things about which our minds have been daily occupant, and on which our imaginations have delighted to dwell. This city, whose beauty, strength, and prosperity were sung to the lyre of the sweet singer of Israel, and whose future destinies were foretold on the harp of the seraphic prophet, was reared on a foundation of hills, called Moriah, from the circumstance of their being visible from afar; it was encompassed by mountains which served as a natural fortification; and was surrounded by a country which travellers inform us is destitute of attraction, desolate in the extreme, without water, without level ground, and without any of the common recommendations of a country. Here, however, despite of the dreariness of the region and the barrenness of soil, was reared amidst "the munition of rocks" the city of Jerusalem,— renowned to the ends of the earth for the strength of her bulwarks, the gorgeousness of her palaces, and the splendour of her religious ritual, celebrated throughout all ages as "the city of the living God," the beautiful type of the spiritual church which the Messiah was to erect upon earth, and the expressive symbol of that celestial "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God!" To every nation there is something peculiarly interesting in the capital of their country. There are generally collected the wealth, the talent, the dignity of the land. There the arts, and sciences, and literature flourish; and there intellectual merit and enterprising adventure meet with encouragement. Thence, as from the centre of a circle, are diffused to the cities, the towns, the villages, the hamlets, however distant, the blessings of civilization, literary improvement, and commercial enterprise. Thither the eyes of all classes are directed when the signs of the times indicate movement in the political horizon; when men are panting for the reformation of national abuses; when they are downcast by reason of the long continuance of commercial depression; and when measures are taken to remove the obstructions and give facilities to commerce, to infuse vigour and activity into all the departments of government, and to render effective the institutions which ennoble and adorn the country. The capital, in short, is to a country what the heart is to the body, or the sun is to the solar system. But whilst Jerusalem had many things in common with the metropolis of every country, it had privileges and peculiarities that distinguished it from them all. Like them it was the seat of government, being the royal residence of the kings of Judea, and the place where sat the Sanhedrim in deliberative council;-but, above them all, it was remarkable as a place peculiarly entitled to the honour of being called the Holy City. The site on which it was founded had been from time immemorial, though honoured with no sacred edifice, regarded as hallowed; and a spot of it, there is reason to think, had been, at an early period, allotted for public worship. Here Melchizedek of Salem flourished as the priest and king of the surrounding country. Here Abraham appears to have offered up his son Isaac. Here, on account of the sacredness of the place in accordance with ancient usages, David deposited Goliah's head, the trophy of his victory. Here too David, by divine command, erected an altar, "under very extraordinary and afflictive circumstances;" and here Solomon, following up the intentions of his father David, reared the Temple of God,-a fabric which, for admirable design and grandeur of conception, beautiful workmanship and exquisite finish, commanding position and magnificence of structure, has never been equalled, and is not likely ever to be surpassed. Jerusalem was the rendezvous of the Jewish nation. Thither they repaired at the annual festivals thrice a year; not to celebrate games as did the ancient Greeks; not to muster for the battle-field as do hostile armies; but as a nation to worship the God of heaven. How transporting the occasion! How vast the multitudes! How august the assembly! Jews have crowded to the capital. The city is one living mass moving onward to the temple. Now they are convened within the inner court The |