their better being. Mount Carmel shall echo back to Mount Zion the joyful sound. The cedars of Lebanon shall rejoice; and the face of Jordan reflect to the face of heaven, Mercy and Truth have met together; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other."-From an Address by the Rev. J. Cumming, D.D. 6. EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS. OPERATIVE AUXILIARY REFORMATION January.-After commencing the business of the meeting on the first evening in the new year, by holding a prayer meeting, the members and young men have come to the determination of prosecuting the work with more vigour, and of expelling those who may absent themselves from our meetings for the period of eight successive nights, without just reasons, in order that we may have only such members among us as are really useful. About fifteen of our members, with myself, met the secretary of the Deptford Auxiliary at Mr. Ballard's, Vauxhall, where we were all kindly entertained by Mr. B., and were presented each with a copy of his new work, "The Protestant's Armour," which he had dedicated to the Members of the Bermondsey Auxiliary, and which will, we trust, be a very useful work to all Operative Auxiliaries, and the public at large. February.-The members, with myself, often hold conversations with Roman Catholics, which are sometimes highly interesting, but owing to want of time to enter them in the report book they are consequently lost. Mr. Hart and Mr. Smith, (Tract Distributors,) mentioned before the meeting, that they had finished their district; that in the whole of the district they had not met with many who would hold conversation with them, that many had refused to receive the tracts, but that others took them in with pleasure; both the above gentlemen are about to commence another district, delivering about twenty-five tracts every week. March. I held a long conversation with a rigid Roman Catholic, who dwelt very much upon the antiquity and the catholicity of the Roman Catholic Church, he wished to prove that this country was indebted to their church for Christianity, that we Protestants were obliged to receive the Bible from them, and thought that our Bible was printed just to suit Parliamentary purposes, and inquired why there should be so much stir made in this and a few previous generations against the Roman Church, when for so many centuries, up to the time of Henry VIII., no one seemed to doubt (except a few fanatics) of the Roman Catholic Church being the true Church of Christ. I wished him to compare Paul's Epistle to the Romans when the Church of Christ was first formed at Rome, with the creed of the Roman Church at the present day, and asked him if in that epistle he could point out any thing about masses, the Virgin Mary, or purgatory. No! the Church of Rome at the present day differed in practice and in doctrine in almost every particular; as to its catholicity, there are some hundreds of millions of Turks and Chinese who are not Roman Catholics, and therefore it is not universal; as to Protestants being indebted to them for the Bible, or England for Christianity, I shewed him that we got our Scriptures from the Jews, or that it had been preserved by those churches which even the power of Rome could never destroy, and which still were in existence,—and that the Romish Church never did, and does not at this present day, make any effort to spread abroad the Scriptures; witness the Pope's letter against Bible Societies, also hear the account of travellers who have travelled through Rome; they say a Bible cannot be found in scarcely any house through the city, and many do not know what a Bible is; and also that it is an historical fact, that when Austin, the boasted champion of the Romish Church, came into this country, he found that already a Christian Church was formed in Britain, and a dispute arose between his party and the ancient Christians as to the keeping of Easter; and with respect to the Protestant version of the Bible, no learned man, who at this present day refers to the ancient Greek or original languages of the Sacred Scriptures, can select any wilful misinterpretation in the anthorized version; while, on the contrary, the Douay Bible has many glaring errors (which Roman Catholics cannot deny). And as to his last remark, I told him, that Protestants did not hold Henry VIII. as a good man, and in fact that he died a papist, but he was an instrument of destroying the power of the Pope in this country; and that ever since the Romish Church claimed infallibility and rejected the authority of Scripture as the sole rule of her faith, there has not been wanting in all ages good men (not fanatics), and whole communities, who have lifted up their voices against the abominations of that Church, and exposed the errors and inconsistencies thereof, in the same manner as Christians of the present day; and there wanted but one umpire to decide the present differences between the Protestant Church and the Church of Rome; and to what tribunal or authority can we possibly go to but the word of God, the only rule of faith? The humble Protestant was willing to let that decide,—would the Roman Catholic do the same? These are a few of the remarks which were made, and I trust the person with whom I held this conversation, as well as another man who was present, will both be led to examine into these things, as they seemed desirous of so doing, and that some good may result from the investigation. THE BRITISH PROTESTANT. No. XIX.-JULY, 1846. THE GLORIOUS REST.-ISAIAH xi. 10. AT the fall man's soul broke loose from God; its moorings were severed, and it was left in a tempestuous and unknown sea. This severance is the explanation of that restlessness which is the fever of fallen humanity. "Going to and fro in the earth," is Satan's autobiographic description in Job. He is a restless, because he is a fallen, and sinful being. Under the influence of sin the soul seeks after a rest, without ceasing. Miserable, it would fain re-attach itself to the happy; and torn and vexed with perpetual paralysis, it longs and looks around for some central column against which it may lean, and enjoy undisturbed repose. All mankind are in perpetual pursuit of this rest; they may have mistaken the direction, and miscalculated the nature of the rest they require; but the ceaseless rush of humanity is after it-its reiterated question is, "Who will shew us this good?" and all its inventions, prescriptions, and panaceas, are attempts to satiate its deep want, and heal its painful wound. Reason has concentrated its powers in order to prepare a rest, and it has retired unsuccessful. As soon as it recognised in its researches a God, and began to look at Him, the finite mind was overwhelmed in the presence of the infinite glory, and lost its footing amid the waves of that unfathomable sea. Besides, its greatest clearness was its greatest coldness. Its creed was not a religion, but a study; its God a subject of analysis, the soul a topic for investigation; and having begun by explaining every thing, it ended by doubting everything; finding uncertainty in all, and plastic influence in none. Imagination attempted to discover what Reason failed to do-a rest. It rose on strong pinion from Alp to star, and from star to system, and it discovered that the universe was covered with the footprints of Deity, and it reveled in the enjoyment of the result. But its wing grew weary-it fell from its height, and coming back into itself, it found its soul empty of God; a painful contrast to creation so full of God. Its religion had all the splendours of an icicle in the sun, but all its evanescence. The excitement of the imagination is not the regeneration of the heart. of a The affections made the experiment also. They saw proofs of the benevolence of God in the world, and began to love Him. Soon, however, they saw traces of His anger, and began to dread Him. They could not love an unknown God; nor hold any firm grasp faith which wavered with the beating of the pulse. There must be truth before there can be love; a revelation of a loving God beside us, before we can cherish the love of that God within us. The conscience also sought, and sought with tears, this lost rest. It felt sin-it feared its penalties-it knew God was angryit laboured to pacify itself by appeasing Him-it offered victims on His altar, and ultimately man offered up man to save man-but it attained no peace; just |