stations, edifying the body of Christ, they might be performing the office of evangelists throughout the land. We could name several men, great and good, whose talents are peculiarly and manifestly adapted to this branch of ministerial labour. And we are fully assured, that if, instead of having a pastoral charge, they would entirely consecrate themselves to it, they would find in almost any town in the empire, on every Lord's day, great multitudes pressing to hear their message; whilst, speaking κarà aveрwлov, we also as firmly believe that their converts would be multiplied in some thirty, in some sixty, and in some a hundred fold.

9. There is but one topic more we deem it needful now to mention. If it should be admitted that the principal Lord's-day service should now be held, as we think it anciently was, for the breaking of bread, in commemoration of the death of our Lord, an alteration in the arrangement of our assembly would seem to be required. True, we might return to the weekly celebration, without any such change, by having it, as it now is, a second service; but the objections to this are, that it would weaken our interest in it, and compel us to abridge or hurry over both services, so as to bring them within a convenient time; or come to the second in an exhausted frame of mind.

In apostolic times, we apprehend, those who were in the habit of communicating, would, for the sake of order and convenience, be seated around the officiating minister; others, who were present, taking their station elsewhere. We are quite aware that, towards the fourth century, the service was double; and that there was a missa catechumenorum, and a missa fidelium; that the non-communicants, in some districts, were subdivided into catechumens, energumens, and penitents; and that all these retired, before the service of the faithful began, who commemorated the death of Christ in secret. We doubt greatly, however, whether all this was apostolic. We have met with no evidence from history, that the Lord's supper was a secret service, until the Christians, driven by persecution, had, for a long time, been compelled to retire to observe it. When the disciples at first met in private houses, it is not to be imagined that those members of the family who were not yet believers were forbidden to be present; or that, when they assembled elsewhere, a Christian parent was not allowed to bring his yet unconverted child, or his heathen neighbour, who wished to learn the new doctrines. There is nothing in the New Testament that we can discover, nothing in the spirit of the Gospel, or in the nature of the institution, that would lead us to conclude that it must be observed in private. But, when it came to be a solemn sacrament, and a tremendous mystery, instead of a feast of sacred and holy joy, it was necessary rigidly to exclude the catechumeni, to strike them with a salutary awe.

The arrangement that would seem desirable, on the supposition that

it were made one service, and that public, may perhaps be objected to, on the ground of its breaking up families and separating their members. And this, from the force of habit, would doubtless, for a time, be felt to be an evil, and be attended with painful feelings. But would it be without some great advantages? Might not our addresses often receive a point, which now, through the promiscuousness which marks all our assemblies, we are unable to give them? Might not communicants and spectators both be appealed to with greater distinctness and power? Would not the unconverted be often made to revolve beneficially, the distinction between them and the converted? And would not believing persons be led, by the felt separation from the family, to offer up many a fervent prayer for the salvation of the husband, or the wife, or the parent, or the child? But, besides this service, there would be others, when no such divisions need take place, and families, as now, might still sit together, when Christ crucified was to be made known to the multitudes; and for the profitable conduct of which, we cannot but think, the previous services might be made an admirable preparative.

We add no more at present. We may hereafter attempt to sketch two or three orders of service, in illustration of our remarks. In the mean time, we submit with deference, what we have said, to the consideration of the wise and good. We are not aware that we have suggested anything which can properly be denominated innovation. In the main, we believe our modes and forms of worship to be right, because they are scriptural. There is no new principle we wish to be introduced. It is true, we have spoken of defects; and there are always some who are unwilling to hear of defects. But, we believe it to be characteristic of our body, more than of any other, to disclaim infallibility, and to be ready to acknowledge faults. And, for our part, we take this to be no insignificant proof of our substantial conformity to the word of God. Those defects, however, are only in the carrying out of our principles, only in the details of our services. They exist through inadvertence, may be supplied without difficulty; but they require to be pointed out and well considered. All, therefore, that we desire is, to see harmony restored between the different parts of our worship, and every branch of it receive its due and full proportions; that our principles may be seen in all the variety and power which we are sure they possess, and our public religious services be clothed with all the attractive and impressive interest which, we believe, they might be made to wear.

THE WHITEFIELD PAPERS.-No. IV.

MR. DEBERT.

THE name of this gentleman is sometimes spelt Debart. He was a dear friend and frequent correspondent of Mr. Whitefield. He was a resident in London, married, and still living in August, 1763. To him, Mr. Whitefield addressed the following letter.

Deal, Jan. 27th, 1737-8.

DEAR SIR,-Last night I had the pleasure of yours, and the same Spirit who assisted you in writing it, made it speak peace to my soul. The joyful news of so many holding up holy hands for me whilst I am tossing upon the great deep, gave me unspeakable satisfaction; and a firm persuasion that God would regard the supplications of his praying people, made me believe that God would prosper the work of his hands upon me. Oh, dear sir, were you to see how good the Lord, my strength is, your soul would be filled with marrow and fatness, and you could not but praise him with joyful lips. Wherever I go, He makes his Divine power to be known, and so mightily has the word of God increased and prevailed in the place where I now sojourn, that all Deal is in a holy flame. A Divine fire seems to be gone out from the presence of the Lord, which, I trust, will run very swiftly, and purify the hearts of the inhabitants of this town. The fields seem white ready to harvest, and, blessed be God, he has enabled me to put forth my spiritual sickle. I have preached here twice: once on Sunday, and once again on Wednesday, and the Holy Ghost has fallen, I trust, on many that heard the word. Pricked to the heart, they were made to cry out, "What shall we do to be saved?" amongst whom were some, I hope, of my own ship. I continue to expound at my own lodgings, to as many as will come, every night, (not indeed with that great apostle, Saint Paul, from morning till evening; though, before I die, I hope to do even that,) but for nearly three hours together: for many now flock of the chief, as well as lowest, of the people; so that I was obliged last night to divide them into three companies, about eighty persons in each. Surely, my dear friend, your prayers are come up before God! Surely they have been heard: and therefore now you will not be wanting to return and give thanks. Oh! the great riches of God's free grace to me, the chiefest of sinners. How unsearchable is his mercy, and his lovingkindness past finding out! Oh ! dear sir, my heart is full,—my heart is ready to burst with the sense of my dear Redeemer's unmerited, unexpected, uncommon love and blessings ! Help me, oh, help me, to be thankful, and pray, above all, that I may, like a pure crystal, transmit all the light God poureth upon me, and never claim as my own, which is his sole propriety. Pay my humble thanks to hind Mr. Hall, and all others who mention me at the throne of grace. I hope I shall not be wanting to pray for you in return. But my treacherous heart! Well, God can rectify and make it upright. I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that neither things present, nor things to come, shall ever separate from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Dear Sir, farewell. Ever yours, in Christ,

To Mr. Debert.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD.

MRS. BRAY.

The husband of this lady was a member of the Fetter-lane Society, between 1739 and 1746, and is frequently mentioned in Mr. Wesley's Journal, and in the letters of Mr. Whitefield. He was given to Christian hospitality. Mr. Whitefield had been his guest, and he accompanied his friend to Gravesend, on occasion of his embarking the first time for Georgia; he also followed him to Deal, to take a last farewell. Mr. Charles Wesley also visited him, and when suffering under sickness in London, he was an inmate of his house.

Mr. Bray was one of those who highly recommended "stillness before the Lord," and as this has been before referred to, the reader may be interested with an account of it, from the pen of the late eminent and holy Richard Watson.

"Not only Antinomian errors, but mystic notions of ceasing from ordinances, and waiting for faith in stillness, greatly prevailed among the Moravians in London at this time, and were afterwards carried by them into many of the country Methodist societies in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and other places. That incautious book, Luther on the Galatians, appears to have been the source of the Antinomianism of the Moravians; and their quietism they learned from Madame Guion, and other French mystic writers. The Moravian teacher, Mölther, appears to have been the chief author of these novel opinions, objected to by Mr. Wesley."*

Of the effect of this stillness, Mr. Wesley gives a curious account, in his Journal for June, 1741 :—

"In the afternoon, we went to Nottingham, where Mr. Howe received us gladly. At eight, the society met as usual. I could not but observe-1. That the room was not half full, which used, till very lately, to be crowded within and without. 2. That not one person who came in used any prayer at all, but every one immediately sat down, and began, either talking to his neighbour, or looking about to see who was there. 3. But when I began to pray, there appeared a general surprise, none once offering to kneel down, and those who stood choosing the most easy indolent posture which they conveniently could. I afterwards looked for one of our hymn-books upon the desk, (which I knew Mr. Howe brought from London), but both that and the Bible were vanished away; and in the room lay the Moravian hymns, and the Count Zinzendorf's sermons." The doctrine of faith, as held by the Moravian church, is set in a very different light in Spangenberg's Exposition of Christian Doctrine, (pp. 131, 215,) and widely differs from the stillness here spoken of.

* Watson's Life of the Rev. John Wesley, pp. 87-90.

Gravesend, December 31, 1737.

DEAR Mrs. BRAY,-As I have kept your husband from you, methinks I should be ungrateful, did I not write a line. Thanks to you for his good company, and all your other works and labours of love. I hope, dear Mrs. Bray, they will never slip out of my mind, but I shall always plead them before the throne of grace in your behalf. I believe you entertained me with a single eye, and therefore you shall in no wise lose your reward. I only wish you may never be so perplexed with much serving, as to forget the one thing needful,—the renewal of your fallen nature, the acquiring of the Divine image, which you lost in Adam, again in your soul. Oh, dear Mrs. Bray, let nothing divert you, or dear Mrs. Turner, from this important work. It is my last request, and best expression I can make of my sincere affection for you both. May God bless you and yours, hear the prayers of your little children for me, and reward you for all your favours conferred on, dear Mrs. Bray, your sincere friend,

For Mrs. Bray.

GEORGE WHItefield.

CORRESPONDENCE ON THE DISCUSSION RELATING TO THE STATE OF OUR MINISTRY.

WHEN the young gentlemen of College entered into a conspiracy against this journal, and sent forth a circular to the students of other collegiate institutions, inviting them to become confederates against us too, we had no choice but to give publicity to their resolutions, and to throw ourselves upon the judgment of our brethren and the churches.

Most cordial and encouraging has been the response; indeed, nothing has occurred for a long time so much to excite us to prosecute our work with vigour and fidelity.

It would not be possible to publish one-half of the letters with which we have been favoured from professors of our colleges, pastors of our churches, ay, and young pastors too, and from officers of our churches, on this affair. We wish, however, that the students who have so committed themselves should know how their conduct and our own are viewed by gentlemen of different classes amongst us, and therefore we shall extract from their letters passages that, we have little doubt, embody the opinion of many others.

"I hope," says an eminent tutor, addressing the editor, "that H-———— is not one of the two colleges which have been guilty of rudeness and conceited folly."

"Seldom," writes a Congregational Minister, "have I seen anything of a public nature that gave me more pain, than the resolutions passed by the students of two of our colleges, contained in the last number of your excellent Magazine. I had many fears that the statements which have given so much offence, were not without foundation; I am by no means alone in this apprehension, and certainly the very injudicious and reprehensible step taken by these young men greatly increases the fear; but your admirable work is not to be put down by them; to my own mind, it has for some time been rising in interest, and I greatly admire your faithfulness; any attempt to erush you for the conduct you have lately pursued will, I trust, only