look tamely on and behold the God they fear, and the Saviour they trust in, dishonored; because, in short, a holy indignation burned in their breast that they felt themselves stirred up to deeds of Christian devotedness, in comparison with which all the sacrifices the world can boast of are poor indeed. It was not mere philanthropy that moved these men. They were not all tenderness and love. They were made of sterner stuff. There was in them a higher and stronger principle-zeal for the honor of God; and yet who so philanthropic as they? who so loving, so tender over an erring brother or sister; and what would they not do, what would they not suffer, for that brother's or sister's good in time and eternity? schism in the soul, this conflict of feeling. We should pity-from the bottom of our hearts pity-poor, thoughtless, perishing sinners, and long and labor for their salvation. And yet we should not the less be angry with them, and denounce the Divine threatenings against them, and feel our whole soul recoiling from them as sinners-haters of God, and despisers of his Son. Thus would we feel and act if we had the mind of Christ. But we have little of it, very little. Here I refer not so much to those who, on the one hand, giving way to the promptings of mere benevolence of heart, would blot out the just-hearted as they? They could shed tears ice of God altogether, and do away with punishment at the hands either of God or man; or who, on the other hand, would destroy the free grace of the gospel, and introduce a system of stern and unmiti gated justice; as to real Christians themselves, who, I cannot but think, have not by any means entered into the spirit of Christianity as fraught with love and mercy to man, at the same time that it upholds the character of God, and the majesty of his law. It is this beautiful union of anger and sorrow, indignation and grief, that characterizes all those who have come nobly forward, and devoted themselves to the arduous work of rescuing sinners from destruction. It was because of their deep views of sin; because of their zeal for the Lord of hosts; because of their hatred of all evil; because they could not You will now see why I have dwelt so long on this incident, or rather one point in this incident-namely, how Jesus felt on the occasion referred to. It exhibits him in a light at once attractive and aweinspiring; it teaches us the necessity of taking deeper views than we are accustomed to do of his character, and of the necessity of our aiming after a more thorough conformity to it; it enables us to see how the love of the Saviour for sinners is compatible with their being left to perish miserably, since they will have it so; it warns them against trusting in the Divine mercy so long as they remain in impenitence and unbelief. Editorial Notes and Gleanings. THE RELIGIOUS WORLD. CHURCH VACATION.-One of our secular exchanges comments pretty severely upon the practice of closing some of the city churches during the hot months of summer. Though it does not object to invalid pastors seeking rest and relaxation abroad, it strongly insists that the churches be kept open. The editor thus discourseth: But, as the majority of poor sinners of the city are rightly supposed to stay at home while wealthy saints go to the seaside or the springs to "spread" and enjoy themselves, we do object, in the name of common sense, consistency, and humanity, to all or any of our leading churches being closed during the vacation so enjoyed by fashionable righteousness. There are plenty of young and itinerant clergymen, ready to supply any one and all of our pulpits during the summer rambles of their regular pastors. We wish this fact recognized and acted upon. Let us have churches open in summer as well as winter. Religion and humanity demand it. And no argument can be urged in favor of closing churches during the summer season, which might not be properly treated as an argument in favor of closing the gates of heaven and the doors of salvation for the same period, and for the same cause. The religious life and practice of professed Christians is orthodox, sectarian and fashionable enough, without bringing the dog-star Sirius and the "heated term" into church discipline. Whatever fashion may teach to the contrary, God is God of the summer as well as the winter, and Christ was not the Christ of summer resorts and fashionable society alone. The mother of Jesus did not live at Saratoga, Newport, or in Fifth avenue. Christ and the apostles labored not alone during cool weather, and for the affluent, aristocratic, and fashionable, but for all men, "in season and out of season." And while we are unfortunately educated to This event, which deprived the Wesleyan Church of one of its brightest ornaments during the past half century, occurred at his residence in London, on the 16th of June. Dr. Bunting was a native of Derbyshire, and at the time of his death was in the eightieth year of his age, having been a minister in the Wesleyan Connection for a period of fifty nine years. During that time he held in succession almost every high position at the disposal of the Church, and was several times chosen president of the Wesleyan Con admire orthodox and fashionable churches, orthodox and fashionable ministers preaching an orthodox and fashionable gospel, orthodox and fashionable congregations seated on orthodox and fashionable cushions and listening to orthodox and fashionable sermons, and going to and returning from church in orthodox and fashionable carriages, adorned with orthodox and fash-ference-the highest mark of esteem and ionable postillions and footmen in orthodox and fashionable liveries, it is carrying the pomp, circumstance, and pride of orthodoxy and fashionable religion too far to say that the gospel shall only be preached to the poor, unfashionable, and heterodox multitudes at such times as orthodoxy deserts the watering-places and other resorts of summer loafers and conventional Christians. Whatever may have been the spirit that dictated these strictures, it is perfectly obvious that in the main they are sound and wholesome. There is, alas, too much of fashionable religion, or, as an old divine used to say, too many "fair-weather Christians." We are happy, however, to be able to correct the writer in one important particular, and which, in our estimation, is perhaps the only one, certainly the most important one, as forming an occasion for these strictures. The "poor," thank heaven, "have the gospel preached to them." This is one of the standing ordinances of the new dispensation to be perpetuated to the end of time. The " "poor" are not found in these fashionable churches. They never soil the brussels or velvet of these temples, and if they were admitted to seats they would find precious little gospel adapted to their condition. But there are churches which, like the gates of gospel grace, stand open night and day, summer and winter, and whose pastors are not lured from their posts by the attractions at fashionable wateringplaces, nor yet driven from them by either pestilence or famine. Such a ministry the Church of Jesus has always had and always will have until the end of time. They show their regular apostolical succession by possessing the "mind that was in Christ," and exhibiting, in the self-sacrificing zeal and de votion of their lives, a love for the poor and perishing which no trials or hardships can alienate and no times destroy. REV. JABEZ BUNTING, D.D.-The London Watchman contains a brief notice of the last illness and death of this venerable man. confidence a minister of that denomination can receive at the hands of the Church. He was for many years senior secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, the financial success and general prosperity of which society were to a great extent the result of his admirable and sagacious management. Subsequently he was chosen president of the Wesleyan College at Richmond, which office, as his years and infirmities increased, he more than once resigned, but the conference refused to accept his resignation, and he continued to hold it with the understanding that he should bear as little of the burden of it as possible. For some years he has been quite feeble in health, but has nevertheless taken an active part in giving advice and aiding in the direction of the missionary, educational, and financial departments of the Wesleyan Church. He was unable to attend the session of the Wesleyan Conference held in 1857, but sent a touching and affectionate farewell to his brethren, expressing his belief that he should no more appear among them. Such proved to be the fact. But a short time previous to the session of the Conference held last month, surrounded by his numerous friends and relatives, he calmly and peacefully passed away, leaving to the Church and the world the memorial of a spotless life and abundant labors. Since writing the above we have seen an appropriate article, accompanied by a sideview portrait, in the London Illustrated News which, after sketching his character as a Methodist, says: But it was not among the Methodists alone that Dr. Bunting was known and esteemed. In other religious communities his help and his counsel were frequently sought. He was one of the earliest and firmest friends of the Evangelical Alliance. His attachment to the Bible Society was intense. And few religious movements of a public nature have taken place within the last fifty years, with which his name has not been associated. In political circles also he was well known, and was frequently consulted by the statesmen of the day. He strongly advocated Catholic emancipation, the abolition of slavery, and national education by means of government aid; and on all matters relating to our colonies, a subject in which his advice was eagerly sought, he invariably gave the same opinion, namely, that as few restraints as possible should be put upon their social and political freedom. The same spirit influenced him among his own people, who are indebted to him for many measures which have made Methodism more acceptable to its supporters, and have destroyed those invidious distinctions between clergy and laity which must be an occasion of perpetual feud or paralysis in Churches where they exist. It is scarcely within our province to speak of Dr. Bunting in any other than his public character. But, perhaps, it is due to his memory to say that he was a great preacher, having a wonderful power of convincing men of the truth; that he had large "understanding of the times," showing consummate judgment and wisdom in dealing with them; and that he was an eloquent and commanding speaker, unrivaled in debate, and seldom answered. Dr. Leifchild, in his funeral oration, observed that when in the committees of the Evangelical Alliance the members were in great doubt and perplexity as to the course they should take, his voice, when he rose up to speak, was just like light to men in a thicket, and they instantly knew they should get out of their difficulty. Of his private virtues, his domestic relations, his genial spirit, his friendly bearing toward all men, there will be other and ample records. We have only to add that as he lived so he died, in the bosom of the Methodist Church, and, having rejoiced in her prosperity, stood by her in her storms, and resisted many tempting offers to come out of her, his bones at last found a resting-place with her fathers in the yard of the City-Road Chapel, a special license having been granted by the late government upon his own earnest and oft-repeated request. The funeral took place on Tuesday. The cortége, consisting of hearse and four horses, containing the remains of the deceased, and some twenty mourning-carriages, left the late residence of the deceased, Myddelton-square, at one o'clock, preceded by the committees of the Wesleyan Missionary Society and the Richmond Theological Institution, sixty Wesleyan ministers, and two mourning-coaches containing the officiating ministers and the surgeon. On arriving at the chapel in the City-Road, Dr. Hannah received the body by reading the preliminary sentences of the burial service, in which he was assisted by the Rev. John Farrar, by whom also the psalms and lessons were read. Prayer was offered by the Rev. John Bowers, and impressive addresses delivered by the Rev. John Scott and the Rev. Dr. Leifchild. The latter gentleman referred with great feeling to his fifty years' acquaintance with the deceased. Dr. Dixon, having closed the service in chapel with prayer, the procession moved to the ground, where the remains of Dr. Bunting were deposited in the grave, and the service read by Dr. Hoole ; after which the funeral cortége was re-formed, and returned in the same order as it came. VOL. XIII.-12 THE SUBLIME AND RIDICULOUS.-The Archdeacon of Bristol has issued a citation to the clergy, ordering them to meet him at a visitation for the purpose of transacting the ing a charge from him on the subject of ordinary ecclesiastical business, and of heartheir clerical duties, and generally on the state of the Church. Appended to the citation is an intimation that after this solemn proceeding the archdeacon will meet with the clergy at dinner, "the charge for which will be five shillings, including beer, half a pint of wine, and waiters." The unusual addendum to the citation has created much amusement among the clergy. METHODIST THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS. Within the last quarter of a century it may be said that academic and collegiate education in the Methodist Episcopal Church has taken its rise and reached its culminating point. The academies, colleges, and universities located in all parts of the country and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are numbered by hundreds, and have kept pace with, if they have not exceeded, the educational wants of the Church, especially in some places where it is evident they are too numerous to thrive vigorously. This educational position has not been reached without a severe struggle. The sad fate which befel Cokesbury, Madison, and Auships through which the University of Midgusta Colleges, and the sacrifices and harddletown was cradled and nursed into being and brought to manhood, are all within our memory. When we commenced this article, however, it was not our intention to write a history of our failures and successes as a Church in the establishment of institutions of learning, but, as the heading indicates, to allude to the efforts of the Church in the department of theological education. Much as has been said about an automatic training for the ministry, and severely as theological seminaries have been denounced, yet the sound conservative good sense of our fathers never allowed them to indulge in such an indiscriminate denunciation as to convey the remotest idea that they were opposed to a theological training, even of the most thorough character. It was the abuse of the system they wished to avoid, and not the system itself. It was not difficult for them to see that a ministry manufactured to order for the Church, in the same way in which lawyers and physicians are produced, without any regard to a divine call, and having no other than mere literary qualifications, must inevitably result disastrously to her spiritual interests. They contended that a Divine call, such as the Church would recognize, was a sine qua non for all who sought to enter upon a course of theological study as a preparation for the work of the ministry. Impressed with the importance of such a preparation, they accordingly, in due time, established Biblical Institutes in connection with literary institutions, where "the called" might have an opportunity of connecting with their studies those of a purely biblical and theological character. This, in process of time, resulted in the separate establishment of such institutes, and now the Church has two of this description, one at Concord and the other at Evanston. Before, however, the wants of the Church are fully met in this particular many more must be established. The attention of the Methodists in this section has been called to a consideration of this subject within a few months past by the action of the two New York Conferences, both of whom appointed committees on the subject of establishing a biblical and theological institution within their bounds. One of these committees was directed to confer with the trustees of the Middletown University, with a view of organizing a department of biblical and theological literature in that institution. The other committee were instructed to ascertain the feasibility of establishing a theological seminary in the city of New York or vicinity. The result of the deliberations of these two committees we have not learned, and probably shall not until the conferences shall convene next spring; but we most earnestly hope something will be done. There are many and strong reasons why the Methodist Church should have a theological school of the first grade in New York. This is the great center of all our missionary, Sunday-school, and tract interests, and where not only are facilities afforded, for becoming acquainted with our great religious interests as a denomination, but where the theological student can, after the suggestion of Campbell in his lectures on the study of theology, unite theory with practice. The student will at once be brought in contact with the perishing masses that crowd our streets and marts from all parts of the world. More especially will the location be favorable for such young men as design entering the foreign field as missionaries. They can here find types of all nations, and can study their characteristics, and while they are learning the Chinese or Arabic, or the various dialects of India, they can avail themselves of the vernacular advantages afforded by the presence of the Chinaman, Turk, and Indian. It is not the quiet of sylvan shades or "academic groves" that our young missionaries want to fit them for their work in pagan and Mohammedan lands, but study in the midst of the rattle and roar of busy masses, that they may witness the wordly strife, and thereby be the better enabled to present those motives which will most effectually tell upon the spirit destiny of men engaged in the great battle of life. As it is in the storm the pilot learns his art, so in the midst of the busy masses and the sin and pleasure-seeking thousands, and among the abodes of wretchedness and want, following the footsteps of the Saviour and his apostles, the preacher will become skillful to win souls. Some, taking the apostle's declaration, “I am determined to know nothing among men save Jesus Christ and him crucified," have supposed that it was the duty of the preacher to know nothing but his books, his closet, and his desk; but the whole life of the apostle contradicts such an exegesis, as it shows him in the markets, and schools, and theaters, and halls of judgment, as well as in the temple and the synagogue. We have known divines who had received the most thorough literary and theological training, but were strangely ignorant of everything else, and were inefficient accordingly. A knowledge of men and things, will give a preacher power over the masses that the most profound attainments never can impart. This was one of the secrets of Wesley's power, and which he never could have gained had he remained at Oxford, or even been promoted to the See of London. It was this contact with the world, this being in the midst of its masses without being of the world, that made the early Methodist preachers in this country so successful in winning souls to Christ. A SABBATH WITH THOMAS JEFFERSON.-In the summer of 1852 the Hon. Daniel Webster, in a letter to a gentleman in New-York, thus describes a Sabbath spent with Jefferson: Thomas Jefferson, at his residence in Virginia. Many years ago I spent a Sabbath with It was in the month of June, and the weather was delightful. While engaged in discussing the beauties of the Bible, the sound of a bell broke upon our ears, when, turning to the sage of Monticello, I remarked, “How sweetly, how very sweetly sounds that Sabbath bell!" The distinguished statesman for a moment seemed lost in thought, and then replied: "Yes, my dear Webster, yes, it melts the heart, it calms our passions, and makes us boys again." Here I observed that man was only an animal formed for religious worship, and that, notwithstanding all the sophistry of Epicurus, Lucretius, and Voltaire, the Scriptures stood upon a rock as firm, as unmovable as truth itself. That man, in his purer, loftier breathings, turned the mental eyes toward immortality, and that the poet only echoed the general sentiment of our nature in saying, that The soul, secure in her existence, Smiles at the drawn dagger, and dedes its point. Mr. Jefferson fully concurred in this opinion, and observed that the tendency of the American mind was in a different direction; and that Sunday schools presented the only legitimate means, under the Constitution, of avoiding the rock on which the French republic was wrecked. "Burke," said he, "never uttered a more important truth than when he exclaimed that 'a religious education was the cheap defense of nations." " "Raikes," said Mr. Jefferson, "has done more for our country than the present generation will acknowledge; perhaps when I am cold he will obtain his reward; I hope so, earnestly hope so; I am considered by many, Mr. Webster, to have little religion, but now is not the time to correct errors of this sort. I have always said, and always will say, that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands. Of the distinguished Raikes, he was clarum et venerabile nomen.' I took the liberty of saying that I found more pleasure in Hebrew poetry than in the best productions of Greece and Rome. That the "harp upon the willows by Babylon" had charms for me beyond anything in the numbers of the blind man of Smyrna. I then turned to Jeremiah, (there was a fine folio of the Scriptures before me of 1458,) and read aloud some of those sublime passages that used to delight me on my father's knee. Some there have been who have labored hard to prove that the sage of Monticello was an infidel, and that he ignored all religion but that of nature, and lived in the atmosphere of a blank and cheerless atheism. The testimony above given by so eminent a witness must be received as conclusive on this point. QUALIFICATIONS FOR CONFIRMATION. The Church Journal is troubled about the statistics recently given at the Virginia Convention. It seems that while the Convention reports six hundred and fourteen confirmations in a diocese of two bishops and one hundred and twenty-five clergymen, only eleven blacks were confirmed. The Journal asks if it takes on an average more than ten Virginia clergymen to prepare one negro for confirmation. The Southern Churchman comes to the relief of his brother of the Journal, and answers his query on this wise: We are sorry this question does not admit of a categorical answer until we have defined what preparation for confirmation means. According to Romanists and Puseyites all persons who lead tolerably correct moral lives, and are willing to go through the form, are invited to confirmation; that by certain processes and incantations grace, which is supposed to exist somewhere in a bishop's hands, may be couferred. Now if a person, without having been justified by faith in Christ Jesus is to be brought to confirmation, having been prepared for it by certain observances; if this be the preparation of which the Church Journal speaks, we may answer it does not take ten Virginia clergymen to prepare one negro. On the contrary, one clergyman would be amply sufficient for ten thousand with several thousands of "Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics" thrown in. Upon as much reflection as we can bestow upon the matter at present, we should think one Virginia clergyman could prepare about thirty-six thousand and five hundred persons for confirmation in a year, being one hundred a day. And if any one should ask, Why not two hundred a day, or five thousand? we are sure it would be hard to answer. really do not know why not, if the people can be found. In China, for instance, a few copper cash would induce so many persons to be confirmed that our Spirit of Missions could not contain even the names. We fancy our cotemporary rejoicing over the columns of our missionary periodical, six hundred Chinese_confirmed on Monday; the same number on Tuesday; and so on to the end of a year; or until the bishop dropped down from sheer exhaustion. Soon, by a liberal expenditure of cash, nearly the whole empire would have been confirmed. In Mexico we know how whole droves of the natives were driven to the water to be We baptized by the Romish priests. What glorious reports they sent over to old Spain of the number of their converts. No! Mr. Church Journal; it does not require ten Virginia clergymen to prepare one negro for such confirmation. On the other hand if preparation for confirmation means that persons having renounced the world, the flesh, and the devil; believing all the articles of the Christian faith, and purposing to keep God's holy will and commandments all the days of their life, are coming forward openly to renew, ratify, and confirm these their vows and promises; then such preparation would take not only ten ministers for one person, but ten millions would not be sufficient. This is the work of the Holy Ghost. None but God the Spirit can thus prepare one negro for confirmation. We are, indeed, sorry you did not. know this, or were wilfully ignorant thereof. When we say the Creed we repeat, "I believe in the Holy Ghost." Believe! What does belief in the Holy Ghost mean? Surely, leads to practice. Saying we believe in the like belief in Christ, it must be something that Holy Ghost is one thing; believing is quite another. Among all evangelical ministers of our Church this work of the Holy Ghost is believed in. And until the Holy Ghost has done his work in the heart of white or black such person is not to be confirmed; and we in Virginia are opposed to presenting them to the bishop |