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of death fell thick around youyet you were most mercifully preserved. Such a signal deliverance calls loudly for gratitude. May the spirit of God enable you to testify it, "not only with your lips but in your lives;" and, should this grievous disease, which appears to be sent directly from the Lord's hand, to scourge the nations for their ignorance of, or apostacy from the truth, return among us, as it has done in other places, may you be delivered from every fear, and in the full confidence of faith, be enabled to meet it, saying from the heart, "it is the Lord, let him do with me what seemeth him good." The cholera has not yet done its work-its voice is yet heard its march is proceeding with speed and certainty; and, doubtless, many victims are still destined to fall by its unerring stroke, while perhaps they are passing on to their fatal doom, as heedlessly and securely as did the scoffers and unbelievers before the flood. "Be not ye therefore like unto them"-but institute a solemn inquiry into your present state, and future prospects, by means of the sure testimony of the Sacred Scriptures. Has the long suffering of God led you to repentance? Does the soul appear of more value than it ever did? Is there more care taken of it? Is sin hated? Are its advances more closely watched, and its assaults more firmly and promptly resisted? Is the Saviour humbly trusted in, decidedly followed, and boldly confessed? Is his cause supported by your money, your time, your influence, and your prayers; and are "his people" loved for his sake? Are the Holy Scriptures read by you in secret and in your families; and are you careful to instruct out of them your children and servants? It is an undeniable fact, that formality is not religion, and that however attached a man may be to the name of Christian, it con

tains no power by which the chain of sin may be broken, the favour of God enjoyed, or eternal life secured; for "except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Without this change, man is in his natural state, which is a state of ignorance, of blindness, of guilt, and of alienation from God. Rom. i. 21. to end. Rom. iii. 10. to 19. John iii. 18, 19, 20. Psalm Iviii. 3, 4, 5.

There are still I fear many houses in this parish where family prayer has never yet been established, where daily mercies are received, where deliverances from trials are daily experienced, and where there is no outward expression of gratitude to God. Of whom among you can it in truth be said as of David, that "he returned to bless his household?" 2 Sam. vi. 20. or, as of Joshua, whose holy resolution is thus left upon record,

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as for me and my house, we will

serve the Lord!" Joshua xxiv. 15. or, as of Abraham, "I know him,

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that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.' Gen. xviii. 19. or, as of Cornelius, that he was 66 a devout man, and one that feared God, with all his house, and prayed to God alway." Acts x. 1. Say not, you have neglected it so long that you are now ashamed to commence it. Never be ashamed or afraid to do that which is right, that which is scriptural, that which is agreeable to the will of God. Say not, that you are at a loss how to conduct it. Have you not the Bible, from which a chapter can be read distinctly and accurately? Have you not the book of Common Prayer, (if you do not possess any other manual) containing collects sound as to doctrine, so scriptural as to expression, so beautiful as to composition, and so comprehensive as to matter, that they far transcend all other productions of a similar

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character. There is an inseparable connexion between prayer and praise, and if we ask not here, how can we join in everlasting songs hereafter? If we have not here a real affection springing from love to the Saviour, for the members of our respective families, how can we hope with them fully to partake, and that for ever, of "the glory which will hereafter be revealed?" O! beware of the awful doom threatened in Jer. x. 25. and may "the voice of joy and gladness" be yet heard in the dwellings to which "salvation" has not yet come-and to which the Saviour has not yet been invited.

Another striking and gratifying testimony to the value of the Sunday School instruction has appeared in the case of Mary, wife of Dr. McCreery, of the 9th foot, who was indeed "cut down like a flower"- and is now numbered with the dead. The "bread cast upon the waters" was found in her case after many days. Eccles. xi. 1. and when the last enemy appeared, he had no sting for her.

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Strong in the Lord and in the power of his might," she was borne up under the most oppressive weakness-and enjoyed a quillity of mind which nothing could give but a view of the Redeemer by faith. Her influence was great in the circle in which she moved, and those who knew her best, bore the strongest testimony to the steady consistency of her character. The blandishments of the world lost their attractions with her, for by the teaching of the word and spirit of God she discovered, what so many are willing to allow, that the world itself is a vain shew-and that "if any man love it, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John ii. 15.

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Death has also removed the heads of two families, and has spoken loudly to those who may now be looking with much interest, affection, and expectation to the

children which are growing up around them. Mr. Basil Gray was cut off by a most unexpected stroke; but his mind had been turned for a considerable time to the serious perusal of the Bible, and in the last trying hour Christ was the strong rock of his confidence. The recollection of the peaceful departure of two sons in the possession of the same faith, could not but have produced a cheering effect upon his mind. His papers show that death was the subject of his most serious thoughts long before its actual appearance. The great secret of dying happily consists in living by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. To-day then hear his voice-lay hold upon him now, and you need not fear any of the melancholy accompaniments of death, such as pain, sickness, weakness, temptation, or even wandering of mind. When the soul finds peace with God, there is no real cause for fear, because the curse of the law is removed, and the utmost demands of justice are satisfied by the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ; so that the triumphant challenge of the Apostle may be unhesitatingly given, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that has risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. "Rom. viii. 33. to the end. The grave has just closed upon another servant of Christ, Doctor Alcock, whose unblemished character was before you all. If honesty of intention, if integrity in all his worldly transactions, if indefatigable exertion in the dis

charge of the arduous duties of his profession, if steadiness in friendship, if anxiety to promote the happiness of every member of his family—if benevolence to the poor -if these or any of these could have formed a foundation upon which the edifice of hope might be erected, he possessed them all, but his glorying was not in them. He was made a partaker of "the wisdom that cometh down from above" —and having learned that he was a sinner, he found that "in him dwelt no good thing”—that he had neither righteousness, nor holiness, nor merit of his own, and that he could be saved only through the merits of the JUST ONE who, however despised or rejected of men, is yet the Prince of life-the Lord of glory.

In the course of the past year we have heard much of Reformand it is desirable that every abuse in every department should be corrected. But how can the streams be pure while the fountain remains corrupt? How can those who have beams in their own eyes, take the motes out of the eyes of others? How can those who neither know nor are influenced by the principles of truth, correct error? How can those whose ruling motive is selfishness, consult the real welfare of their church or their country? The great Reform is as yet unattained, and but few are troubled about it. The Reform which can be effected only by the Holy Spirit, commencing in the heart, and extending through all the affections, and desires, and words, and actions; so that a new character, bearing a striking similitude to that of the Lord Jesus, is produced; a character which meets with few admirers here, but one which will meet with approval before the throne of God. "If the tree be good the fruit will be good," and not otherwise. Never, perhaps, was the antichristian confederacy, which aims at the subversion of

the truth, by the overturn of the Church Establishment, in greater vigour or activity than at the present moment. Never were the enemies of godliness more sanguine in their expectation that all the restraints which are put upon human actions by means of the Bible, will be done away, than now. "The foundations of the earth are out of course:" the pillars upon which the fabric of society is erected, are shaken. to the foundation; and wherever we look, clouds and darkness meet the eye, but yet there is hope; not indeed from human foresight, from human counsel, or from human power, but from the Lord of Hosts himself. He "will work, and who shall let it?" He "sits upon the whirlwind and directs the storm." That storm may destroy all existing establishments, and will, before it ceases, subvert every false, antiscriptural religion, however entrenched it may be in antiquity, in superstition, in ignorance, and in prejudice; but it cannot touch those who have found shelter under the rock, CHRIST. They are the objects of a love that never varies, and of a watchfulness that never ceases; and therefore they "need not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.' Sanballat failed in all his attempts against Jerusalem, while the servants of the Lord prayed unto him, and were strengthened by him for their work; and so it will ever be with the enemies of the truth. Sooner or later a blast will come upon them; God will assert his own authority; he will plead his own cause; he will make his Church

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a praise in the earth," "Be still then and know that he is God." "Fear not"-" the Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge."

Your very affectionate Pastor, and faithful Friend,

PETER ROE.

INTRODUCTION OF THE GOSPEL INTO THE SOCIETY ISLANDS.

WHERE, far from Britain, underneath a sky
In which ant-arctic constellations reign,
The South Pacific heaves its ample breast,
Emerging from the bosom of the deep,
Asocial' group of islands rear their forms
Majestic, based on coral-circled shores,
Their verdant slopes, and cloud-capt pinnacles;
In aspect lovely, fertile in the fruits
Of torrid climes; oases green and fair,
Not on the sandy, but the watery waste.

In these there dwelt a race, of stature tall,
And muscular proportion, quick in thought,
Ardent in feeling; of ingenuous minds,
Sensitive pride, and courage unsubdued ;
But savage in their manners, in their hearts
More savage, in revenge implacable,

And ruthless in their hate; deeply immersed
In foul idolatry's Egyptian night,

Fast bound in error's adamantine chain;
Infanticides, and bloody worshippers,
With human victims of their deities,

That deities were not, but beasts and birds,

Fishes, and creeping things, and stocks and stones :
Inebriate, murderers, plunderers, evil men,

Who nought of goodness or desired, or knew.

Such was their picture once, but now, how changed!
A British vessel seeks those distant shores;
Not lured by thirst of gain, nor by the hope,
Adventurous, of Discovery's nobler prize;
But freighted with divine compassion, drawn

By love for perishing and guilty men.

She comes!" How beautiful" the canvass wings,

That o'er the bounding billows of the deep,

Bore her, the dove-like messenger of peace!

How blest the winds, the favouring breath of heaven,
That waft her still along her destined course!
Britain sends forth apostles, to convey
The rays of sacred Truth, and Gospel light,
To those benighted lands, the murky clouds
To penetrate, and burst the Stygian gloom.
Yet long that light appeared in vain to shine;
The darkness comprehended not:-long time

They wept, they laboured, and they prayed, but seemed
To weep, to labour, and to pray, in vain.
At length the quickening influence from above
Descended; the dry bones began to live;
The sightless orbs were opened to the day,-
The day-spring from on high. Before the ark
Dagon's vile image falls. A single chief
His idol's vengeance dared, his rites profaned,
The enchanted bond of superstition broke,
And found him impotent to inflict revenge.
The Chief's example-undeceived at length-
The nations followed; to the moles and bats
Their worthless idols flung; began to pray,
With bended knees and suppliant hearts, to Him,
(The living God) who hears and answers prayer.-

And now the wilderness begins to bloom,
The dry, unsightly desert to rejoice,

And blossom as the rose: where sprang the thorn,
The bramble, and the thistle, now appear
The fir-tree, and the myrtle, and the vine.
The fiend-like savage now becomes a man ;
The dark, debased, and creeping intellect
Now casts its slough, and rises into life:
The spirit is renewed, the heart reclaimed;

And nature changed, brings forth the genuine fruits
Of Christian faith, and patience, gentleness and peace.
Those lovely scenes, no longer now deformed
With orgies foul and riotous misdeeds,
Present an aspect doubly sweet and fair,
And grateful to the eye of God and man.
Now meek docility receives its task

With gladness; eagerly, though slowly yet,
Pores o'er the instructive page, and loves to learn.
Civilized manners, useful arts, prevail,
And upright conduct, and ingenuous truth,
And kind, compassionate, concern for those
Who yet in ignorance and darkness dwell.

Such are thy triumphs, such thy first fruits, here,
Victorious Gospel! May'st thou still prevail,
And, 66
conquering and to conquer," still proceed;
More deeply fixing, and more widely far
Extending thy dominion, till the earth,

In all its amplitude, obeys thy sway:

Till righteousness, and peace, and mercy reign
Supreme o'er all the kindreds of mankind ;—
Mercy, subduing hostile hearts by love,
Millennial Righteousness, and lasting Peace!

J. N. K.

ON THE INCONSISTENCY OF THE DISSENTERS RESPECTING ARTICLES OF FAITH.

SIR.-I have read with much
pleasure and satisfaction the admi-
rable Essays on the Church,'
which have lately appeared in
the Christian Guardian; and ear-
nestly hope with, I believe, most
of your readers, that they will
soon be published in a very cheap
form for distribution.* In con-
nection with the subject of these
Essays, I wish to draw your
tion to the inconsistency of the Dis-
senters respecting Articles of Faith;
and to show that, whilst they de-
claim against them, they persist in
using them. Not that I would

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* They are now in the press, and may be had shortly of any bookseller, under the title of Essays on the Church, by LAICUS.

I wish the Christian Guardian to be a vehicle of much controversy, for it has a higher and nobler purpose in drawing the soul to God in Christ; yet I hope we may be at least permitted to defend ourselves against the opponents of the Church of England.

When you ask the Dissenters, what is their standard of doctrine, they, in general, reply, The Bible; which is in fact no answer whatever, for all Christian sects assert the same but they even proceed further, and deny the propriety and the justice of any articles of faith. Now let us see what is their practice.

In the Christian's Penny Magazine,' from September 29

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