affliction. God, he knew, was the Father of all the families on the earth, and had appointed him to look after all without distinction; and especially to teach the rich in the day of their rejoicing, not to forget the Lord, but to call on his name and walk in his commandments.

66

6.

"Lucy, if you will accompany your cousins to Mr. Kent's lecture, I will sit with your grandmother." “Thank you, aunt, but grandmama does not wish me to go to the lecture." Aye, that is the way she prevents your hearing the gospel." "Oh! aunt, sure I go to meeting every Sunday, and read the Bible to her every day; and Mr. C teaches me the catechism." "Yes, he teaches you to deny the Lord who bought you." "No, indeed," said Lucy, "he teaches me that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of men." "Well, well," replied the aunt, "what he teaches you will never take either grandmama or you to Heaven, and I wish he would not be coming here constantly. I am sure he is not like other Unitarian preachers, for he is not to be frightened away by cold looks and broad hints. I have tried my best to banish him, and introduce Mr. Kent; but no, his foot on the stairs is as well known in this house as my own." "But sure, aunt, he does not interfere with you or your family worship; he says, every one should read his Bible and judge for himself." "Well, child, I find he has made a preacher of you." During the pause that ensued, the well-known foot of the minister was heard. Lucy sprang after him, and catching hold of his hand. they entered grandmama's room. What a happy group! -the Christian pastor alternately opening the gates of Heaven in prospect to youth, and accompanying the aged, spiritually, to its very threshold.

7.

"Will papa be home for tea, do you know, mama,” said Mary, placing her work on the table. "I do not know, my love," replied her mother; "the nature of your papa's duties renders the time of his absence always uncertain." "I wish he would stay more at home," says James, "I want to learn a great many things he could teach me, and we are all so happy when he is teaching us." "That is rather a selfish

wish, my dear child; you forget that virtue requires us to sacrifice personal gratification to the good of others. Besides, you know, it is your father's duty to watch over his flock; he would be deficient towards his congregation, and especially towards God who has appointed him to the care of so many precious souls, did he neglect them." "But," observed William, rais. ing his eyes from his book, "my father says that every man is accountable for his own soul." 66 True, my dear, in the same manner that every man is accountable for his health, and yet is often glad to have the assistance of a physician. When your father returns, he can explain the matter more fully. Mary, take this bowl of tea to the poor woman who is waiting for him in the kitchen; stop, I think I hear his step at the door-that foot which he boasts is well known in the house of every hearer he has." It was the wellknown foot. Its approach excited uo display of rapturous emotion; but every heart experienced that delightful, quiet, happy sensation which we feel when, after expectation, one we love approaches; and who so loved as (in his family,) the good father and the truly Christian Pastor!

0.

A PARABLE.

A certain sovereign sent his son into a distant province of his empire to restrain the disloyalty of its inhabitants; to re-establish his authority, and to promulgate a new and more simple code of laws. The prince went, as directed by his father, and, as had been preconcerted, he did not at first declare himself, but dwelt among them like one of themselves, making himself acquainted with their feelings, their expectations, and their wants. When the time appointed, however, had arrived, he publicly exhibited the commission of his majesty, proclaimed himself their prince, and proceeded, not to rule them with the rod of arbitrary power, but to unite them to the throne and with one another by the great moral chain whose links are gratitude, submission, benevolence, and love. Their duty he taught them patiently and judiciously, in words suited to their limited ideas and uneducated minds. Their desires he gratified by the promise of important privileges which his father would

bestow on that province in case of their obedience; and their hearts he endeavoured to gain by living among them as a brother, by listening to their complaints, and relieving their distresses. Lest, however, they might be induced by his kindness and condescension to transfer their loyalty from his father to himself, he expressly cautioned them on this subject; told them repeatedly to look exclusively to the throne for redress for all grievances, and to pay to it their undivided allegiance; and in his own conduct set them a most noble example of deference to the wishes of the monarch, by submitting to be recalled by him in a manner the most cruel, disgraceful, and ignominious.

For a time the inhabitants of the province abided by the instructions of the prince; but a few years after his departure, they turned again to their ancient practices. As formerly they had lived in a state of rebellion and anarchy, openly despising the authority of their sovereign, yet, strange to say, fiercely disputing about that sovereign's laws; so now they made the prince's instructions the subject of contention. Those instructions they perverted so as to counteract the very purpose for which they were intended; and in those things which he most clearly taught, by a strange perversity of nature, were the foremost to offend. He had told them that they would best prove their loyalty to their sovereign, by submission to the laws; but they, as if in defiance of his caution, trusted solely to his promises, without observing the condition, to procure his majesty's pardon, and to obtain his favour. He had said that it would be particularly pleasing to his father and himself, should they live in peace, unanimity, and friendship; but they, as usual, indulged in contention, malevolence, and strife. And although he had expressly cautioned them against paying him that allegiance which belonged exclusively to the sovereign; yet they maintained that it would be positively disrespectful to him, did they not do so; and consequently, they proceeded, if not entirely to transfer their loyalty, at least to set him as a rival upon his father's throne, to attribute to him all, if not more than his father's rank, dignity and power; and to apply exclusively to him for assistance, redress and pardon, in direct opposition to his express commands.

What now will the sovereign do with these perverse subjects? Will the Prince himself deem that he is

honoured by the titles which they lavish, and the dignity which they ascribe to him? Will he not be pained rather than pleased; yea, will he not consider himself insulted, and his authority despised by such foolish and pernicious conduct? "He that hath ears to hear, let

him hear."

B. C. D.

REVIEW.

A LETTER, &c. showing from the Westminster Confes sion of Faith, the Larger Catechism, and other authorised documents, that John Knox, and our Protestant Reformers, &c. have all sanctioned the Intolerant Principles ascribed to Peter Dens. By a member of the General Synod of Ulster, pp. 39-1836.

THIS is a good and useful Letter, written by a member of the Synod of Ulster. The hue and cry has been raised against the Papists, because that one Peter Dens a Priest, argued, that it is the duty of all true sons of mother church, to root out "false doctrine, heresy and schism," wherever they are found, and whoever may profess them. And no wonder that the hue and cry would be raised against such a principle as this. It is against every feeling of humanity, as well as every dictate of religion, that because a man does not hold every opinion that the Pope holds, he should be disgraced-persecuted-burned. Every man has a right to think for himself, and form his own opinions; and the Pope might just as well punish an unfortunate wight, who did not carry his arms and turn out his toes at a certain angle, as he might punish one who did not hold, to the fraction of an article, the creed that had been put forth from the Vatican to guide the faith of all good Christians. If Popery do now, as we know she once did, foster a murdering spirit of extermination among her children, against all who worship not within her pale, then must her children be unworthy inhabitants of a country-dangerous members of society.

Public attention has of late been drawn again and again to this "spirit of the olden time." We thought it had died away, or lived only in the memory of another age; but lo! the champions of (so-called) Protestantism have taken the field against it. The wand of eloquence has moved-and behold coming forth from its grave this ancient spirit, arrayed in the tattered garb, and disfigured with the venerable dust of ages past. Deformed and hideous and unchristian indeed is this old Popish Demon; but who, let us ask, are the spirits by which it has been called from the "vasty deep of oblivion? Why, they are the spirits of two churches that have been in their dogmas as intolerant and as persecuting as that of Rome itself. Need we remind our readers of the persecutions of the church of England-a church that was cradled in the heated brain of the licentious Henry-a church that has retained most of its parent's deformities, and changed just so much as to show that it is not the parent, but the child a church that has preserved in

its canons every jot and title of that proud Supremacy that was arrogantly claimed by the Pope. And as to the other, the church of Scotland-the Letter before us plainly demonstrates by the writings of her chief advocates, Knox and Rutherford-by the very words of her Acts of Assembly-by her Confession of Faith and her Catechism, that she holds the very same spirit of intolerance and extermination for which old Peter Dens and the Pope have been so loudly decried.

own eye.

It is not our province as the conductors of a Religious Periodical, to pass the Rubicon that divides us from Party Politics. We must not therefore seek for a reason, why members of the Churches of England and Scotland should raise so loud a cry against the Church of Rome; but we must protest against men condemning others for the very principles which they hold themselves. If they are indeed Christians, they should first take the beam out of their A friend has suggested to us that it would be well to draw a picture of the Three Churches of Rome, England and Scotland, and present them side by side to our readers, each bearing her own burden of persecuting laws; and we verily believe, that if such a picture were faithfully coloured, our most impartial reader could not tell which was the blackest. They would form a beautiful representation of the Three Furies for a treatise on Mythology; but Oh, how unlike they would be to that Gospel of love, of which every church, as every man on earth should be the image and the ornament! Wherever there is intolerance, the gospel of Christ cannot be, for his gospel is perfect meekness-wherever there is persecution and oppression, the spirit of the Lord cannot be; for where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Be it ours to love our neighbour, whether he be Jew or Samaritan, Protestant or Papist; for "if we love not our brethren whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen?"

One word of the author of this Letter, and we have done. He professes himself to be a Member of the Synod of Ulster-a Member of that Body which takes for its standard the Westminster Confession of Faith, and thus pledges itself to every persecuting principle which he has exposed. In the chastisement therefore which he has so ably given others, he has prepared a rod for himself, and is subject to the very same condemnation which he has fastened on them. We can never admire the integrity of him who professes to be a member of that body, against whose creed he even presumes to write. If he like not the cause, let him leave the garrison; but let him not live like a traitor in the camp, aiming his weapons at those whose uniform he wears, and whose confidence he enjoys.

REVIEW.

THE SIN OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS, proved from the Scriptures. Druett, Belfast, pp. 23.

THE object of this little tract is to point out the various ways in which cruelty is practised towards the lower animals; and to show that it is condemned as well by the teachings of Scripture, as by the