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repetition even of the Lord's Prayer: and possibly some persons may consider the substitution of judiciously adapted hymns, for the chaunting or recitation of psalms, an improvement on our own liturgy; or even wish that so large a portion of Scripture was not appointed to be read in the midst of one devotional service. But if there be something of supererogation in our liturgy, that of his Prussian Majesty is undoubtedly defective. The prayers prescribed by it for ordinary use do not contain the fulness, the depth, the contrition, the earnestness of supplication and intercession, the devout and grateful outpouring of the whole heart, which are found in our General Confession of sins, our Prayer for all Ranks and Conditions of Men, and our General Thanksgiving. But the work is imperfect, and was probably designed only for a temporary experiment. Let us therefore indulge the hope that it will be progressively improved, until it shall arrive at an adequate representation of the real wants and desires of a Christian people.

My next observation is, that this liturgy is confined to "the principal service of Sundays and Holy-days." No form is given for the second, or afternoon, service; which is therefore left, as formerly, to the discretion of the minister. The reason of this omission I have not been able to ascertain. Perhaps the government of Prussia are aware of the existence of strong prejudices against prescribed forms of prayer, and unwilling to give them too violent a shock. Perhaps they wish fairly to

observe the effects of the two modes of Divine worship, in the same churches, and conducted by the same ministers; and not to determine on a general alteration until their judgment shall have been established by the experience of the people.

On the whole, I have derived great pleasure from the review of the Prussian liturgy. Although defective, it cannot be charged with error. It is "a form of sound words," and, amidst the wild variety of opinions which have been disseminated in Germany, may be considered as a very valuable profession of public faith. It is the work of a patriotic and a pious ruler of his people. It breathes the genuïne spirit of Christian simplicity, purity, charity, and peace. It bears a delightful testimony to the personal religion and virtue of its author; to his own experience of the mercies and blessings which he would excite his subjects to seek at the throne of his Redeemer. May the work of the Lord prosper in his hands! May his prayers for his descendants be abundantly granted! When his last hour shall come, may he enjoy the comforts and hopes for which he so affectingly supplicates! And, in future "commemorations of the dead," may it be said by the Christian people of Prussia, "Grant, O faithful God, that we may live in thy fear, die in thy grace, and depart in thy peace, as did the beloved King who taught us to pray!" I am, sir, Your faithful servant,

E. J.

ON THE NEGLECT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. IN consequence of some statements which I have recently met with, concerning the general neglect of public worship by the lower classses of our own countrymen, I am induced to forward a few plain and practical remarks, with the humble hope, that, if maturely con

sidered by those upon whom the responsibility to a certain extent rests, this evil may, in an extensive degree, be corrected.

Every thinking person must be aware that the labouring classes of this country constitute by far the largest portion of our population.

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And when we recollect, that, accord-
ing to some recent calculations, not
more than one-fiftieth part of this
immense population are supposed
to attend regularly upon public
worship on the Lord's-day, we are
loudly called upon to explore the
cause to prescribe the remedy-
and to unite in acting with decision
and vigour in adopting every step
that may be calculated to abate this
awful impiety. Such inattention
and profaneness, such deliberate
and impious neglect of the privileges
with which we are favoured, seem
to call for the Divine vengeance, and
may well excite our apprehensions
of some serious public calamity,
especially when we consider how
long and how bountifully favoured
we have been with the ministers of
God's word, and the ordinances of
his house. Under such circum-
stances we may well exclaim, in
the language of Scripture, "Go
out into the highways and
hedges, and into the streets and
lanes of the city, and compel them
come in:" Go ye out, ye
'masters, amongst your labourers,
your servants, and others, who
look in any way to your instru-
'mentality for temporal support
reason with them; tell them the
6 consequence; exert your authority,
' and compel them to come in; that
6 house
my
be filled, that my
'work may go on, and my servants
'be encouraged to see it prosper in
'their hands.' For He emphati-
cally says, by the Apostle Paul,
"that it is good and acceptable in
the sight of God our Saviour, who
will have all men to be saved and
come to the knowledge of his truth."
The Christian who is the father of
a family will naturally use every
affectionate endeavour to cause his
children to wait upon the Lord.
He is not satisfied with merely
offering a prayer on their behalf,
but exerts every effort in his power
in order to establish their feet in the
Saviour's peaceful, firm, and narrow
path and if he would only enter

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a little into the spiritual meaning of that charitable text of Scripture, "Love thy neighbour as thyself," or as thine own, he would feel it his imperative duty diligently to exercise any authority the Lord may have given him, in order to obtain for others that light and know. ledge which he himself has received. And although the Christian should habitually engage in earnest and devout prayer, he should not confine himself solely to this duty: he has certain talents entrusted to his charge, and he is bound to occupy with those talents, by using every means he possesses, to promote the glory of God and the salvation of souls; and having done this, let him then implore a blessing upon the means, and he will ultimately find his labours and his prayers abundantly rewarded.

Our ministers can only act in conjunction with other powers. They can do little more than preach and pray; but the masters of workmen, and the fathers of families, can do much, in persuading and compelling the people to come in and hear. And, in proportion as persons are entrusted with riches, and the management of worldly concerns, they are doubtless both called upon to give an account of their property and influence, and to render an account also how far they have, in the discharge of such power, used their authority in endeavouring to bring every individual, within their reach, under the sound and liberty of the Gospel. Such rulers may justly be said to be entrusted with that authority, which the Scriptures require to be made use of, as an encouragement to good works and a terror to evil-doers."

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In order to further these views, I will relate two facts, which seem to apply immediately to the subject. They will, I have no doubt, tend to shew the general practicability and power of our Christian friends to assist in alleviating the evil.

A friend of mine is obliged, in the

course of his business, constantly to employ a considerable number of workmen; but makes a practice of keeping none in his regular work except such as punctually attend a place of public worship. He was, upon one occasion, applied to for work by a man who he knew to have been reduced from opulent circumstances, through sloth and intemperance, to his then laborious dependence. My friend knew also, that he had for many years been in the habit of wretchedly abusing the Lord's-day; and, at the time he engaged the man for his own service during the week, it was made a positive condition that he should regularly attend upon some place of public worship on the Sunday. This circumstance occurred several years since; and the result was highly gratifying; for the reduced man became a sober, hard-working, useful servant, and an habitual attendant on Divine service.

The other circumstance which I shall mention occurred very recently. I had myself been reasoning with a young man upon the impropriety of neglecting a place of worship, and, finding him not disposed to yield to persuasive means, I at last plainly told him, that, unless I saw him there on the next Sunday, he should be dismissed from my service on the following morning. Rather than lose his work, he then submitted to go. But, to shew the awfully degraded state of his mind, and his antipathy to such duties, only a few weeks before he had declared, in the hearing of a fellowworkman, that, when he entered either church or meeting, he wished the building might fall upon him. He has now, however, consented to attend regularly. He will have the advantage of hearing a pious minister; and will, I trust, ere long become better acquainted with his religious duties, and more desirable and useful to me.

I feel persuaded that a similar plan might be acted upon, even with those persons who have occasion to employ hundreds of individuals; and Scripture pronounces dreadful indignation against those enlightened minds who are negligent in the use of their powers, or ashamed of the work of salvation. Let all such who are in authority, therefore, so use their talents as not to be ranked at the judgment amongst the wicked and slothful servants. Let them employ every gentle and persuasive means, in order to impress the necessity of the work upon all around them. I should recommend them to enforce the high importance of a proper use of the Sabbath on the minds of their workmen, by explaining to them that the day of rest was by no means intended by its Author to be employed in idleness, intemperance, or worldly pleasures; but for the service of their God and the improvement of their minds. They ought not, however, to stop here; but to go on, and employ their powers as the case may demand, by firmly requir ing all under their authority seriously to attend to the public duties of the Sabbath. They would then, in the true sense of the word, be endeavouring to "do good unto all men," but giving the preference to those who are favourable to the household of faith.

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ON TOLERATION AND CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.

FROM SCOTT'S WORKS*.

It may not, perhaps, be generally known by your readers, what were the sentiments of that venerable man, the late Rev. T. Scott, on the above subjects. Should the following extract, which at once shews his liberality and decision, be deemed, at the present crisis, worthy of an insertion in the Christian Guardian, it will oblige

،، Whatever company, in any nation, can give proper security that they will act as peaceful citizens and good subjects, has, I apprehend, a right to the protection of the state, whatever its religious opinions or observances may be; provided nothing grossly immoral, and contrary to the general laws of the country, be practised under the pretence of religion. Yet the murders, human sacrifices, and other abominations in the East Indies, and in many other places, can have no right to toleration, nor can the toleration be by any means excused.

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Again, whatever may be urged in favour of allowing Papists full liberty, as to their superstitious and idolatrous worship (for so it doubt

less is), this should be done in their case with peculiar circumspection. But to grant them what they claim, and many claim for them, as emancipation, and which means nothing else than admission to power and authority, seems irreconcileable with wisdom either human or divine. It is an essential principle of Popery, however disguised by some, and lost sight of by others, to tolerate none who are not of that church and the grant of power to them, till this principle be disavowed by bishops, vicars-general, legates, cardinals, and popes, as well as others, in the most full and unequivocal language, is to liberate lions, because they have been harmless when not at liberty: and the event, should this emancipation be fully conceded, will be, that the power thus obtained will be used in persecution of those who gave it, as soon as it has acquired a proper measure of consolidation. If the advocates for this measure in our land, should they prove successful, do not themselves live to feel this, their posterity, I can have no doubt, will know it by deplorable experience."

* Vol. viii. 641, 642,

TRANSLATION OF PSALM XLVI.

THOU, Lord, art my refuge and shield;
In danger a help ever nigh:
To thy will in affliction I yield—

O hear me, my God, when I cry. Though the earth from its base were withdrawn,

Though the mountains were gulfed in
the sea,

Tho' the waves roared in anguish and scorn,
My trust should be fearless in thee.

The city of God shall rejoice,

The place of the Highest shall sing;
For there floweth a fountain whose voice
And whose waters from holiness spring.
In the midst of his church is the Lord;
She shall not be shaken with fear:
He will save her from sinners abhorred,
Ere the stars of the morning appear.

The nations assembled in ire-
Convulsions throughout them were felt-
He spake, and, as smitten with fire,
The earth and its tenements melt.
The God of Sabaoth, the God

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Of Jacob,'s our refuge full sure: He smiteth the earth with his rod,

And its fruitfulness cannot endure. Thro' the earth, when He speaketh, no more Are seen the proud banners of war; Swords, chariots, and spears, red with gore, In ruins lie scattered afar.

The Lord will be known in his might;

By the heathen with praise be adored: But to us are his mercies most bright, Who the treasures enjoy of his word.

WILLOUGHBÆUS.

REVIEW OF BOOKS.

For Missionaries after the Apostolical School. A Series of Orations, in four Parts. By the Rev. Edward Irving, A. M. Pp. xxvii. and 131. Hamilton.

Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East: Twenty-fourth Year. The Night and the Day: A Sermon in Behalf of the Church Missionary Society. By Thomas Mortimer, M.A. Seeley. Pp. 48. THE promotion and the success of Missions to the Heathen must ever lie near the Christian's heart. He may, perhaps, labour under a considerable degree of ignorance or mistake, as to the nature of the attempts which are now making to evangelize the world: he may entertain doubts as to the expediency of particular measures, or as to the general results of the plans which may have been adopted: he may, and naturally will, prefer one society to another; or even may in some extreme case deem it his duty to protest against the proceedings of a particular society: but the man who can view the missionary cause with indifference, is practically convicted of hypocrisy whenever he prays " THY KINGDOM COME."

With these feelings we eagerly embraced the first opportunity of perusing Mr. Irving's publication. We had heard much, from different quarters, of his sentiments on Missions: our curiosity was strongly excited; and we certainly entertained some expectations of instruction and edification from the portion he has at length published. We are, however, compelled to add, that we have been very much disappointed; and that we differ from Mr. Irving on almost every point in which his work has the least pretension to novelty or originality.

Our readers in general are aware, APRIL 1825.

that, at the last anniversary of the London Missionary Society, Mr. Irving was appointed to preach at Tottenham-court Chapel; that he occupied the attention of a crowded. assembly for some three hours, or three hours and a half; and that he afterwards announced the publication of his sermon, for the benefit of the widow of the Rev. Mr. Smith of Demerara. At length, however, instead of a sermon, the First Part of a series of Orations has appeared, with the following explanation.

Having been requested by the London Missionary Society to preach upon the occasion of their last anniversary, I willingly complied, without much thought of what I was undertaking; but when I came to reflect upon the sacredness and importance of the cause given into my hands, and the dignity of the audience before which I had to discourse, it seemed to my conscience that I had undertaken a duty full of peril and responsibility, for which I ought to prepare myself with every preparation of the mind and of the spirit. To this end, retiring into the quiet and peaceful country, among a society of men devoted to every good and charitable work, I searched the Scriptures in secret ; and in their and in their pious companies conversed of the convictions which were secretly Missionary work. And thus, not without brought to my mind concerning the much prayer to God and self-devotion, I meditated those things which I delivered in public, before the reverend and pious men who had honoured me with so great

a trust.

At that time I had no design whatever of giving to my thoughts any wider publicity, and was prepared to resist any application which might haply be made to me to do so; but an application presented itself from a quarter which I was not prepared to resist, my own sympathies with a heart-broken widow, the who died in prison under a sentence of widow of John Smith, the Missionary, death, which the good sense and good feeling of England united in pronouncing to be unjust. Inasmuch as he suffered unjustly, I viewed him as a martyr, though condemned, like his Lord, with a show of law. And being unable in any other way to testify my sense of his injuries, and my feeling of the duty of the Christian Church to support his widow, I resolved that I would do so by devoting to her use this fruit of my mind and

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