netary worlds, shall have "absolved its fated round," when the mysteries of the divine counsels shall be unfolded and consummated, then shall fire obliterate all the monuments of human wisdom, art, and power, consume the globe itself, and usher in the great and terrible day of the Lord. Nor will its dreadful agency in the work of judgment cease here ; there will be an unquenchable flame, a vengeance of eternal fire; the righteous award of those whose, wilful impenitence has rejected the gracious and reiterated offers of infinite compassion.

And there shall its ministrations be confined; for the world of glory, the dwelling of the saints, the city of our God hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of the Lord doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

THE THREE SISTERS.

AN ALLEGORY.

THERE were three sisters dwelling in one house, each marked by certain peculiarities of person and character. The eldest, with a frame full of life, health, and vigour, had an air of dignity and decision, which, at times, bespoke somewhat of sternness. The second seemed to have less of strength, but more of sprightliness; her face glowed with the bloom of spring, and the blush of morning; every feature and motion indicated a sanguine temper, an ardent aspiring spirit, and a mind of elastic spring, easily recovering from any temporary depression. The third, possessed a person admirably fitted to please and delight; her countenance was open, ́ animated, and attractive; exhibiting the varied play of warm, liberal, and tender emotions; her voice was mild and musical, capable of those diversified tones and inflexions, which rendered it

at once the vehicle of thought and of sentiment; her steps and all her gestures were decent, graceful, and engaging. She had, blended in her constitution and habits, many of the principal qualities of the other two, without any of the stern severity, and the sanguine eagerness and impatience, which they sometimes discovered.

These three sisters, whose names were Faith, Hope, and Charity, lived in great harmony, and evinced a mutual attachment and dependance. In difficult affairs, and daring enterprises, Faith uniformly took the lead. Steady and intrepid, patient and persevering, when her object was clearly defined and approved by the judgment, and her purpose deliberately formed by the will, she shrunk from no task or toil necessary to its accomplishment, Hope, beside aiding and inspiriting the efforts of her elder sister, had the happy art of assuaging any misfortune and calamity, of heightening the relish of every enjoyment by the infusion of an exquisite sweetness, and of gilding every scene and circumstance with colours and tints peculiarly attractive. Charity, alive to all the wants and woes of the human species, was ever ready with her sunny smiles, or melting tears, to comfort and soothe the sons and daughters of wretchedness; her eyes, her tongue, her hands, her feet, her every faculty and power, were busily employed in ministrations of compassion and kindness. These illustrious sisters performed more wonderful works, achieved more glorious victories, than any of the heroines whom history has enrolled in the book of fame. Faith had a notable shield and heaven-tempered sword, which, being firmly grasped in either hand, were able to quench the fiery darts and repel the fierce assaults of every enemy, and even make Apollyon himself flee. Hope had an extraordinary cruse, which,

in times of scarcity, would continue to run, without ever being exhausted, and she possessed a telescope, which, when the weather was cloudy, served to bring distant objects near, and render the unseen visible. Charity had a graceful mantle, capable of covering a multitude of spots and blemishes, and a medicinal vial, like that which the good Samaritan carried, in which was a balsam, whose virtue healed all sorts of wounds. When she found stains and offences, which were not easily to be removed, she gently spread her mantle over them, and hid them from the sight; and when she found any bleeding broken hearts, she poured from her vial the balsamic mixture, which gave speedy relief, and seldom failed to effect

a cure.

These sisters, amiable as they were, had certainly their defects and faults. Faith, though far the most strong and active, now and then staggered, and became irregular and sluggish in her movements. Hope was not altogether free from fits of peevishness and discontent. The youngest, as I have before said, had so many charms in her benignant aspect, and soft winning address, as made her the general favourite; yet, being of a very delicate frame, she was subject to chills, and languors, and faintings, and did not use every means she might have done to prevent them. But without enlarging on their defects, I must say, that these lovely relatives, which is not always the case with persons nearly allied, were penetrated with the liveliest sympathy, and appeared necessary to each other. When Faith grew feeble and sickly, her sisters were half-paralized. If Hope were absent, though but for a short time, the whole house was sure to be hung in mourning, and filled with sighing and tears, till her return. Charity could do nothing without her

seniors and companions; and yet her presence was not less essential to them, as neither the plans of Hope, nor the work of Faith, succeeded in her absence.

was

I shall leave others to record their noble deeds, and numberless trophies, and only just touch on the nature and issue of their trials. Know then, gentle reader, that they were encompassed with bad neighbours, and what is far more grievous, were plagued and tormented with evil-minded and perverse domestics, who could neither be sent away, nor wholly subdued. Nothing is more true than the ancient proverb, “that the worst enemies are those of one's own house." It would be tedious to tell a hundredth part of the distractions and tumults, conflicts and woes, which the worthy sisters above described met with from this cause. Every generous purpose they could form thwarted and opposed, every word in its meaning, and every action, in its motive, was misconstrued, and almost every cup was poisoned, at least embittered, by these spiteful inmates. And, beside, their dwelling, though originally built after a faultless model, and wonderfully contrived, so as to combine every possible convenience and accommodation, had been in such a manner shaken and injured by a terrible catastrophe, that it required the most vigilant attention and incessant repairs to keep it in a tenantable state. The windows were dim, the doors shattered, the walls damp and mouldy, the timbers worm-eaten and decayed. At length, in a stormy winter's night, the house which had often rocked and tottered under the howling blast, suddenly fell with a tremendous crash. Faith and Hope, the two elder sisters, were crushed to death and buried in the ruins; the youngest, however, not only escaped unhurt, but, wonderful to tell, lost also by

the shock all her nervous tremours and languors, her chills and changes, her weaknesses and infirmities. While the sisters lived, she was dependant on them; but since their decease, all the virtues and excellencies of the three, detached from blemishes and defects, and refined to perfection, now concentre in her. Report likewise says, that she has risen to far higher honour and purer happiness; that she wears a robe of spotless white, and a crown of glory inlaid with costly gems; that she moves amid shining ranks of immortals, and occupies a mansion of indescribable magnificence; where, free from molestation, danger, and fear, and full of peace, and joy, and transport, she sings as an angel, and glows as a seraph. AMICUS B. Billericay.

In resuming my remarks I shall not confine myself to the paper entitled "Pearl Bibles, and 6000 errata;" though there are some statements in it, relating to the Assembly of Divines, which must not be passed over. Mr. D'I. records, that the little pearl Bibles were used by the members of the Assembly, and when they cited a text to prove their assertion, the great John Selden would reply, "Perhaps in your little pocket Bible, with gilt leaves, the translation may be so, but the Greek or Hebrew signifies this." Again,

With a sort of religious coquetry, they were vain of perpetually opening their gilt pocket Bibles; they perked them up with such self-sufficiency and perfect ignorance of the original, that the learned Selden found considerable amusement in going to their ". assembly of divines,' and puzzling

or confuting them, as we have noticed. A ludicrous anecdote on one of these occasions is given by a contemporary, which shows how admirably that learned man amused himself with this 'assembly of divines !' They were discussing the distance between Jerusalem and Jericho, with a perfect ignorance of sacred or of ancient geography; one said it was twenty miles, another ten, and at last it was concluded to be only seven, for this strange reason, that fish was brought from Jericho to Jerusalem market! Selden observed, that possibly the fish in question was salted,' and silenced these acute disputants."

I am willing to concede that Selden might occasionally gain some advantage over individual members, from his extraordinary acquaintance with Jewish antiquities, and he would have ob

tained similar honours in the most

learned convocation of clergy that Europe could then have furnished. I will also admit, that the clerical members of the assembly were not so adventurous in biblical criticism as modern theologians, and that, perhaps, they did appear afraid to follow his bold speculations. This, however, did not arise from their "perfect ignorance of the original," but from a desire, in their public deliberations, to sanction the received translation, and to rest on its authority rather than shake the confidence of the people in it by new readings or interpretation. But if the members were so ignorant, the fact reflects no small disgrace on the English Universities, for when the episcopal divines withdrew from the assembly, it replied to one of their objections, "that". the divines of that assembly, except the Scots and French, were in episcopal orders, educated in our own Universities, and most of them graduates." And were these men perfectly ignorant of the original?

Fie! Mr. D'Israeli, you prove too much; so saying, you censure those learned divines, who presided over the learned Universities during the learned reign of that profoundly learned scholar and divine, King James the First. Richard Baxter, who knew them personally, has declared, "that they were men of eminent learning and godliness, ministerial abilities and fidelity. And the Christian world, since the days of the apostles, has never had a synod of more excellent divines than this synod, and the synod of Dort." Such authority will not lose its weight with your readers, because it is opposed to Mr. D'I.'s ipse dixit.

In the paper headed "political religionism,” we are favoured with the following remarks on the ejectment of 1662. "The calamity was rather of a private than a public nature." "This ejection was not like the expulsion of the Moriscoes, the best and most useful subjects of Spain, which was a human sacrifice of half a million of men, and the proscription of many Jews from that land of catholicism; or the massacre of thousands of Huguenots, and the expulsion of more than a hundred thousand by Louis XIV. from France. The presbyterian divines were not driven from their father land, and compelled to learn another language than their mother tongue. Destitute as divines, they were suffered to remain as citizens. These divines could not disrobe themselves of their learning and piety, while several of them were compelled to become tradesmen among these the learned Samuel Chandler, whose literary productions are numerous, kept a bookseller's shop in the Poultry."

;

This is a curious paragraph. Mr. D'I. seeks to palliate the iniquity of the ejectment, because it was not so iniquitous as the expulsion of half a million of Moors from Spain, the ejectment of a CONG. MAG. No. 64.

hundred thousand Protestants from France, or the massacre of some thousands of Huguenots in Paris. No! it was not so bad! the generous and grateful Charles did not massacre them, they were only starved. He did not expatriate them, they were only imprisoned, and suffered to die in dungeons there, rather than in the slightest degree mitigate the severity of their close confinement. Mr. Wilberforce, whose attachment to the esta blished religion of the country none can doubt, has declared, "that they were shamefully ejected from the church, in violation of the royal word as well as the clear principles of justice." But perhaps Mr. D'I. would not consider the breach of either the one or the other as "a public calamity."

That gentleman, however, does admit, that the ejected ministers "could not disrobe themselves of their learning and piety." This is candid, for they were learned men; but were not the surviving members of the assembly among them? Yes! the majority of those ministers, who were perfectly ignorant of the original when in the assembly, could not disrobe themselves of their learning at the ejectment! To reconcile these opposing statements, Mr. D'I. may perhaps discover, that Selden's taunts drove them to their Greek and Hebrew grammars, and that they redeemed time sufficient from their pulpit duties,

*This was the case of Mr. Jenkyn, who was committed to Newgate, for attending a private fast. While there, he petitioned the king for a release, his Physicians declaring that his life was in danger from his close confinement; but no security would be accepted. He remarked, a little before his death, "that a man might be as effectually murdered in Newgate as at Tyburn." At his funeral, which was atteaded by many eminent persons, and some scores of mourning coaches, his son, with a spirit becoming the occasion, "William gave rings with this motto, Jenkyns, murdered in Newgate." 2 B

during the commonwealth, to be come able linguists. Among those who were compelled to embark in trade, after the ejectment, we are told was the learned Samuel Chandler. Now the ejectment took place in 1662, and S. Chandler was born in 1693, and did not open his bookseller's shop till he had lost his private fortune by the failure of the South Sea scheme, in 1720! Let Mr. D'I.'s admirers in future not think him infallible, though he boasts of authentic researches, and makes an imposing show of authorities.

I have several other passages in the three volumes marked for quotation, but I will not trespass on your pages farther than to remark, that, throughout the work, Mr. D'I. appears not content to war against "the Sectaries," as such, but against spiritual religion wherever it appears. Thus in a paper, entitled "Views of a particular Period of Religion in our Civil Wars," he extracts from the MS. diary of a Sir Symond D'Ewes, a "zealous church of England Protestant" of that age, passages in which the worthy knight manifests much anxiety to discover "the marks and signs of a new life" in his soul; and these papers, written only for the privacy of the closet, are dragged forth to public view, that the quaintness of his style, the depth of his solicitude, and the fervour of his devotions, may afford sport for the unhallowed wit of Mr. D'I. and his readers.

In concluding, allow me to remark, that if any contingency should throw this paper in that gentleman's way, I would advise him also to seek for "the marks and evidences of a better life," which he will find, at his last hour, to be a much more important employment than reviling and scoffing at those "of whom the earth was not worthy;" and your readers, who have glanced at this and

4

ON THE PROPOSED ASSOCIATION OF CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES, AND ON THE PROPER OBJECTS OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP.

THE judicious author of the Essay on this subject, in your Magazine for January, satisfactorily proves, that a general visible union of our churches does not rest upon scriptural precept or precedent; yet states that, in his opinion, "it is expedient" and then asks, how shall this union be formed, and what objects shall it embrace? His observations on the objects proposed by Mr. Morison, are forcible and just. They are objects which, I think, the congregational churches will not generally approve; and which, for the sake of union must be dismissed. A visible and effectual union of all the congregational churches in England, concentrating all their intelligence, and all their energiesand founded not on the basis of scriptural injunction, but on that of expediency, is a subject which demands to be fairly and fully discussed.

There may be some persons who have "a morbid sensibility to every thing approaching to associated energy and advice." Yet the worthy author, by whom this is considered to be a fact, will allow that associated energy has been frequently abused; and that the frequency of its abuse calls not only for moderation and prudence, in those who direct it, but demands the watchful observation of every friend to the freedom of conscience, and the dominion of truth Humanum est errare; and until associations