publicly professed your faith in "God the Father, who hath made you and all the world; in God the Son, who hath redeemed you and all mankind; and in God the Holy Ghost, who hath sanctified you and all the elect people of God." If you have truly and faithfully pledged yourselves to the service of your Saviour, you may confidently trust that he "will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able to bear, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape" (1 Cor. x. 13); and if you are filled with apprehensions at the number of those evil spirits of whom we have spoken, do ye not remember the most encouraging intelligence which our Lord declares unto us respecting his little ones, "that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven ?" Is it not an animating and delightful thought that the highest angels, who stand continually in the presence of God, watching the expression of his countenance, and ready on the instant to obey his motions, do not disdain to perform services of friendship and protection for the youngest, meanest, weakest Christian, but are, as St. Paul expresses it, "all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation?" (Heb. i. 14.) Do I then say too much, when, adopting Elisha's words, I say to you, "They be more that be with you than they that be with him?"

But now let us, from the general notice of your high privileges and consolations, turn to a particular consideration of some of your dangers.

First; it is not improbable that the tempter, who is too wise to approach you all at once with a direct temptation to sin, may whisper gently in your ear some such insinuations as these: Well, now you have been confirmed, and you have done a good act, and you have attended with much regularity the appointments made by your minister for the purposes of examination and instruction; and you have read the books he gave you, and have said your prayers and sought the Saviour's presence night and morning; and during this season of preparation you have abstained more than you have been used to do from worldly ways, and light amusements, and idle and unprofitable company,-you have been very good in all this, and it was very right; but, now it is all over, there can be no need for all this strictness; you may now surely relax a little, and indulge yourselves as before prayer once a day will now serve; or, as you are very much engaged in your worldly callings, and, you know, God commands you to be "not slothful in business," it will be sufficient if you read the Scriptures and attend diligently to your religious duties on the Sunday; you will remember that

your Lord himself condemned the Pharisees for their much praying; be not you like them; "be not righteous overmuch."

It is possible that the serpent may insinuate suggestions such as these into the ears of some among you. He can cite Scripture when it suits him, and by perverting and wresting it to his purpose, seduce the hearts of the unguarded, and "obtain an advantage over them."

Should he have assailed you thus, remember that it was with passages of Scripture he approached our Lord in his temptation in the wilderness; and bear in mind that it was with passages of Scripture our Lord resisted his assaults. If he would beguile you by urging the performance of one duty as a ground for the omission of another; if he tempt you to the neglect of prayer by setting before you the duty of being "not slothful in business,"-meet him with the very weapon he employs, and tell him he has cited only half the text: say to him, "it is written," indeed, "not slothful in business;" but it is added, "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." O, how can you be fervent in spirit without continual supplies of his most gracious influences? and how can you obtain or expect them, except your heavenly Father, in answer to your prayers, (offered up, not on the Lord's day only, but night and morning, yea, seven times a-day), be moved as he has promised, to "give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" And then, how shall you know what blessings to ask for, or what evils to avoid, or what are God's accustomed dealings with his children, if his blessed word be laid aside and read only on the Sabbath? How would your bodies be kept in health and vigour if they were to be fed but once a-week? But you will say, The case is different, we could not live if we ate but once a-week. I know it well, dear friends; but I know that unless you would starve your immortal spirits, and provoke the Lord to "send leanness into your souls" (Ps. cvi. 15), you will not give less attention to the preservation of the inestimable jewel, than you do to that of the poor perishing casket. Neither, let me add, will you be likely to be "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," in the indulgence of any habits, or the presence of any society, from which the reasonableness of the thing has led you to withdraw during the season of preparation if it was reasonable then, it is no

in the second and last place, some of the means by which, through God's assistance and a constant remembrance of our Own frailty, we may combat the devices of the evil one, that " he get not the advantage over us."

On the efficacy of private prayer, at the commencement and conclusion of every day, I have so often dwelt, and the Bishop, in his address to you on Friday last, spoke so much at large, that there is less need for me, on the present occasion, to insist upon it; but I will just refer to one point, which, doubtless, through want of time, was not insisted on. I wish you to bear in mind, that though the morning and the evening seem naturally pointed out as stated and suitable seasons at which God is to be worshipped, he is confined to no place or period. In the midst, therefore, of happiness, raise your hearts to him in thankfulness, and pray that you may you may be "wise as well as merry;" in the midst of heaviness or temptation, let it be your practice, as well as your privilege, to "lift up your eyes unto the hills whence cometh your help;" when sitting down to meat, seek his blessing; when you have eaten and are satisfied, offer to him, as the Giver, the thanks that are his due; if you are busy, pray that you may be preserved from undue carefulness; if for a moment unemployed, entreat that you may not be led into temptation. The Lord is nigh; his "eye is ever upon the righteous, and his ears open to their prayers" (Ps. xxxiv. 15; 1 Pet. iii. 12). The rite in which you have lately participated is a means of grace, which has been blessed to many, who, like yourselves, have "vowed a vow unto the Lord." The vow which you have recently made is registered in heaven; the engagement is written in God's book of remembrance-read it over frequently. It shall be my part and duty also, if spared, to recall your attention to it occasionally; the remembrance of it may stand you in stead in the hour of temptation; in a moment of surprise, "when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord may lift it up as a standard against him" (Is. lix. 19), and enable you, under the recollection of your plighted troth, to say with our Lord, "Get thee behind me, Satan ;" and with Joseph, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Have nothing to say to those who are going about seeking to persuade you, that confirmation is either dangerous" or "delusive;" the Lord may work by the remembrance of this solemn season, to spare your soul the commission of many a sin; and every victory obtained by grace over the enemy of souls is, as it were, a supply of grace for future conflicts.

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There yet remains one topic on which, though generally referred to on Friday by my Diocesan, it will doubtless be expected that I should say a few words. I mean the sacrament of the Lord's supper; the commemorating, in obedience to his last injunc tion, of his precious death and passion.

From those who are truly sensible of a dying Saviour's love, and desire in obedience to his command to commemorate his passion and draw larger supplies of grace from communion with him, I shall rejoice to receive the notice which the Church requires, that I may speak with them on the subject; to those who desire counsel and instruction, I wish to say that I shall be always ready to impart it to the utmost of my power; while to all and each I cannot err in recommending an attentive and prayerful perusal of the communionservice in connexion with our Church Catechism.

I must now conclude; yet not without an expression of thankfulness to my young friends for their cheerful compliance with my directions; to their parents and relatives for the encouragement and assistance which I received from them during the preparation for this anxious and interesting service; and, above all, a grateful acknowledgment to our God and Saviour for the help of his grace at this season, without which, "neither is he that planteth nor he that watereth any thing" (1 Cor. iii. 7).

ADORATION OF IMAGES.*

UPON this subject I have referred, as I have before done with respect to my other notices of the Romish dogmas, to the Scriptures for the purpose of discovering whether there be a single text or passage to authorise such adoration or worship. I have searched the Scriptures; and the result of my scrutiny is, that out of about a hundred and sixty passages in which the word image, or its synonymous word idol, occurs, there is not one verse or passage which gives the slightest sanction to this doctrine of the Romish communion; and I will further add, that in all in which image - worship is mentioned, it receives from the written word an express and implicit prohibition. Indeed, it may be said, with the most perfect regard to truth, that if there be any one point on which the Divine mind is more sensitive than another, if I may so express myself, or, in other words, the Almighty is more particularly jealous, it is on this very practice; for this, perhaps, among other reasons that might be alleged, on account of the proneness and liability of the human mind to be betrayed into the marked, that the Greek word eldwλov, translated commission of this idolatrous act; for it may be rein the Septuagint from the Hebrew one, image, signifies also an idol. It expresses and means one and the same thing in the Scriptures. They, therefore, who prostrate themselves before an image do, in strictness of speech, bow themselves down, and proffer homage to an idol. They justly expose themselves to the charge of being the worshippers of idols.

• From "Increase of Popery." By James Rudge, D.D. London, Painter.

Now, I have remarked, that the passages are numerous in which such adoration is prohibited; and such profanation is condemned in language, too, than which nothing can be imagined more direct and emphatic. Such passages must be familiar to those who are in the habit of perusing the Scriptures, or of hearing them read. It will, therefore, be but a waste of time to transfer them from the written word into this sermon; but there is one which it is quite impossible that I should omit to quote, because, in my mind, it is decisive on the point; as it must be, I apprehend, in the judgment of all who are prepared to receive the Bible as the only authorised standard of the revelation of the will and pleasure of Almighty God. I believe it will be conceded by the members of all religious communities, that if there be any of the precepts and commandments in the written word, which, considering the awful circumstances under which they were promulgated, are, I will not say of more, but of most important signification, they are those which are contained in the Decalogue, or the ten commandments. Commandments they are, all of which are obligatory on the conscience and practice of religious communities, however diversified their modes of worship and their forms of discipline. They teach, first, the duties we owe to God; and secondly, the duties we owe the one to the other. The first four of the commandments are termed those of the first table, because they refer exclusively to the Supreme Being, and those are of such commanding weight and consequence, as must quite disqualify any man from having the slightest claim to his being regarded as a religious being, if he lives either in the occasional evasion or habitual infringement of any one of them. With those only which refer to the first table am I concerned at the present moment, and of them only with the first two. And what are they? What do we read? If any thing hath power to inspire awe and arrest attention, it surely must be the words with which they are introduced to our notice. What voice do we hear? That of men? No; the voice of Omnipotence itself. "God spake these words" (let all, then, stand in awe, and hear and obey what he saith)- "God spake these words, and said, I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have none other gods but me. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them; for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shew mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep commandments." my

And such is the commandment, and such are the jealousy and hatred expressed. Against whom? Can a question be mooted, or a doubt be harboured, against whom that jealousy is enkindled, and that hatred is directed? If words, then, have meaning, if language hath force, it is as clear as truth, in all her majestic splendour and simplicity, that from this one passage (and, for brevity's sake, I omit the curses and denunciations contained in others), -I say, from this one passage, all who gaze upon, and bow down and offer incense to, and worship images and idols, carved and manufactured by artificers, and therefore the works and creatures of men's hands, and set them up in the secret corners of the temple, or in the public courts of the sanctuary, have the curse and condemnation of a jealous and a wrathful God upon them; yea, whether those images be representations of himself, whom no eye hath seen, and no hand therefore can carve; or whether they be pictures of the Godhead embodied in the person of Him who once was his express pattern

• Augustin remarks, "Simulachra nefas est in Christiano templo collocare."

on earth, and now is man's Mediator alone in heaven; or whether those images are manufactured to represent one-honourable indeed among women, the mother of an incarnate God-once, indeed, an instrument of marvellous agency, but, that agency having been fulfilled in the mighty scheme of human redemption, her star at once set on earth, and now only shines forth within the celestial hemisphere as one of magnitude indeed, but to be worshipped and adored no more" than any thing besides that is in heaven above, or on the earth beneath; or whether they be images of saints, or relics of martyrs, or the wood of the cross, or the bones of the dead, or rosaries, or crucifixes, abused to the purposes of superstition and idolatry,-I call forth the page of the written word to attest that they are all among the accursed things; that the only object of human adoration is heaven's God, who alone is cognisant of what nor angel, nor saint, nor the Virgin Mary, can or does know, human want and human guilt; and who, if he needs any propitiation to be made, or any intercession to be offered, is satisfied to accept those only of the Mediator between God and man, the God-propitiator, and the man-protector, Jesus Christ, who is " now sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, ever living to make intercession for us;" and is constituted the " one Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ."

THE DUELLIST-FLETCHER OF MADELEY.† MR. FLETCHER had a very profligate nephew, a military man, who had been dismissed from the Sardinian service for base and ungentlemanly conduct. He had been engaged in two or three duels, and dissipated his resources in a career of vice and extravagance. This desperate youth waited one day on his eldest uncle, General de Gons; and, presenting a loaded pistol, threatened to shoot him, unless he would immediately advance him five hundred crowns. The general, though a brave man, well knew what a desperado he had to deal with, and gave him a draft for the money; at the same time expostulating freely with him on his conduct. The young madman rode off triumphantly with his ill-gotten acquisition. In the evening, passing the door of his younger uncle, Mr. Fletcher, he determined to call on him, and began with informing him what General de Gons had done; and as a proof, exhibited the draft under De Gons' own hand. Mr. Fletcher took the draft from his nephew, and looked at it with astonishment; then, after some remarks, putting it into his pocket, said, "It strikes me, young man, that you have possessed yourself of this note by some indirect method; and in honesty, I cannot return it but with my brother's knowledge and approbation." The nephew's pistol was immediately at his breast. My life," replied Mr. Fletcher, with perfect calmness, "is secure in the protection of an almighty Power; nor will he suffer it to be the forfeit of my integrity and your rashness." This firmness drew from the nephew the observation, that his uncle De Gons, though an old soldier, was more afraid of death than his brother. "Afraid of death!" rejoined Mr. Fletcher; "do you think I have been twenty-five years the minister of the Lord of life, to be afraid of death now? No, sir, it is for you to fear death, who

Epiphanius observes, "Et si pulcherrima est Maria, et sancta, et honorata, at non ad adorationem."

t From "The Plain Englishman."

are a gamester and a cheat, yet call yourself a gentleman! You are a seducer of female innocence, and still say you are a gentleman! You are a duellist, and for this you style yourself a man of honour! Look there, sir-the broad eye of Heaven is fixed upon us; tremble in the presence of your Maker, who can in a moment kill your body, and for ever punish your soul in hell." The unhappy man turned pale, and trembled alternately with fear and rage; he still threatened his uncle with instant death. Fletcher, though thus menaced, gave no alarm, sought for no weapons, and attempted not to escape; he calmly conversed with his profligate relation; and at length, perceiving him to be affected, addressed him in language truly paternal, till he had fairly disarmed and subdued him. He would not return his brother's draft, but engaged to procure for the young man some immediate relief; he then prayed with him; and after fulfilling his promises of assistance, parted with him with much good advice on one side, and many fair promises on the other.

The power of courage, founded on piety and principles, together with its influence in overcoming the wildest and most desperate profligacy, was never more finely illustrated than by this anecdote. It deserves to be put into the hand of every self-styled man of honour, to shew him how far superior is the courage that dares to die, though it dares not sin, to the boasted prowess of a mere man of the world. How utterly contemptible does the desperation of a duellist

appear, when contrasted with the noble intrepidity

of such a Christian soldier as the humble vicar of Madeley !

The Cabinet.

CONSTRAINING Influence of DIVINE LOVE,* — It is to this principle of love, springing from a consciousness of the Divine mercies and forgivenesses, that the Gospel addresses itself; and opening to us what God hath done for our souls, makes this the grand motive to all practical obedience. And is it possible to conceive a motive more universal in its application, or constraining in its influence? It is, perhaps, not too much to say of gratitude, that it is one of the precious relics which has survived the wreck of all that was once excellent in our nature; it is often a flower that blooms alone on the chilly waste of a corrupt and depraved heart. Sin-ruined as we are, I believe that there is not an individual in whom this principle is wholly extinct; the man whom no authority can command, or violence compel, may yet be softened by a sense of benefits received. Trace the operation of this principle in a child: he may have left the paternal roof, and run the wayward course of vice and folly; he may have inflicted many a pang upon a parent's heart, and wrung many a tear from a parent's eye: but imagine such a child to recall the fond endearments of a mother's love-to retrace the patience, glowing, beautiful, and unwearied, with which she watched and cherished her infant through the long period of its helplessness-her smiles of affection, her tears of sympathy, her words of tenderness, her acts of kindness, and what will be the effect of recollections

such as these? Surely that the bosom will again dilate with filial love; that the spark of gratitude, however

From "The Debt of Sin freely forgiven:" an excellent sermon, by the Rev. James Williams, M.A., incumbent minister of St. James's, Ratcliffe; prefixed to the Report of that laudable institution, the claims of which we most gladly advocate, London Society for the Protection of Young Females."

"The

smothered for a season, will be rekindled, and the child will sacrifice all, and return to lead down his parents' grey hairs in peace to the grave. And suppose that child to be gladly received and welcomed, to be freely forgiven, to be reinstated in all the privileges of the family, and to be made the heir of his father's possessions,-what recoil of affection would be awakened in his bosom, what watchful obedience would henceforth distinguish his conduct! Gratitude would constrain him, never, never to wound again a parent's heart. And it is precisely thus in religion: "All we, like sheep, have gone astray;" we have forsaken our Father's house, and followed the devices and desires of our own hearts. But when we sit down calmly to reflect how kind a creditor God has been, how patiently he has ings upon us, how tenderly his compassion has yearned borne with us, how unceasingly he has lavished blessover us, at how costly a price he has redeemed usand if to these benefits we can add, how graciously he sought us when wandering, brought us back to his fold, frankly forgave us all, justified, adopted, saved usof angels (for the glory of Jesus will be the glory of yea, how he has promised us glory, even beyond that his redeemed Church);-O, surely, if the heart be not in a death-state of insensibility, there will be the glowing sensations of gratitude-there will be the deep and lasting love of the pardoned and accepted childthere will be unwavering allegiance and fidelity to Him who hath blessed us and saved us, not according to our works, but according to his own free and everlasting mercy.

THE NECESSITY OF GUARDING AGAINST THE SEDUCTIVE INFLUENCE OF SIN.-If our first parents, placed, as they were, in a state of perfect innocence, in the midst of inconceivable delight, and enjoying

daily communion with their God, with but one restriction laid upon them, in order to try the strength of their love and obedience to their heavenly Father, had not resolution to withstand the wily voice of the tempter, but ungratefully disobeyed the express command of their Maker, thereby bringing, as he had forewarned them, the curse of sin and death into the world, how much more ought we to be upon our guard that we 'spread not its contaminating influence ! We are told in the Scriptures, that by this single act of disobedience in Adam, all were made sinners; and daily experience proves this to be the case. The seeds of sin are interwoven with our very nature; and the heart, in its unregenerate state, so favours their growth, that it soon becomes, figuratively speaking, a hotbed, in which our vices grow so rapidly, as completely to overshadow our virtues; and unless some efficient means be applied to exterminate those noxious weeds, that a ray of light and sun may enter in and invigorate the tender plants they obscure, they must inevitably perish and we, instead of a luxuriant garden, behold a wilderness of briars and thorns. Instead of breathing the purest sweets, we inhale the most poisonous vapours; instead of enjoying domestic comfort, we take our station in a morose, unhappy circle, seldom enlivened, except by scenes of unhallowed mirth; instead of inspiring confidence, we inspire distrust: in short, we become so depraved, so lost to all that is good and charitable, that we create, as it were, a hell upon earth-nay, even within our own bosoms. In the midst of these calamities, some may ask, "What I affectionately answer, not to the tavern, as too many must we do? where must we go for relief?" To such of the male part of our community do. There you will but increase your misery; there you will not fail to find votaries of every evil passion, whose greatest pleasure will be to make you, if possible, worse than themselves, urging you to commit crimes you dare not reflect upon. They will then leave you; or, what is still worse, lead you to repeated draughts of intoxicating spirits for relief; there you may revel for a time in forgetfulness, impairing your health, faculties, and