ness, and who had man's salvation and the Lord's glory constantly in his eye. While I perfectly accord with his views of the impropriety of the phraseology which he reprobates, and that the denial of a superintending Providence is implied and indicated by the use of the word chance, in the lips of a profane, sceptical world, I must observe, that the word is occasionally found in the Sacred Scriptures in a sense highly proper, and is used by the best of men, and even by our Lord himself, to indicate events the reason or cause of which we cannot see or comprehend. For example, our Saviour says, Luke x. 31, "By chance a priest came down that way." This is equivalent to, it happened, or it came to pass. Hap is itself chance, in common usage. Hence the phrase, "By good hap" it came to pass. So both chance and hap are found in the Book of Ecclesiastes-" Time and chance happeneth to them all" (chap. ix. 11.) And so, again, 2 Sam. i. 6, "I happened by chance on Mount Gilboa." I quote this passage, not from inspired lips, but to show its acceptation as equivalent to happen, which occurs more than twenty times in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. "It happens alike to the wise and the fool" (Ecc. ii. 14-15.) "Now these things happened to them for examples" (1 Cor. x. 11.) Whatever occurs, the cause or instrument of which we do not perceive, is said to happen, or to come by chance. But of chance, we will ask with Alexander Pope, What is chance? And with him we answer,

“All chance" (is) " direction which thou canst

not see."

But with the Great Teacher we had better say, "Not a sparrow falls to the ground" by chance, or without the will, or permission, or appointment of God. Some copies read," Aneu tees boulees tou Patros," "Without the will of your Father”—which is, unquestionably, the sense. But we need not argue this point. We all believe and teach, that in the strict sense of the word chance, as respects God, there is no such thing; and as respects us, we use that word to indicate only that of which we cannot see the reason or immediate cause. In this sense the inspired writers use the terms happen and chance.

As to "blind fortune" and "good luck," they are creatures of Pagan ima

gination. Luck was the Anglo-Saxon catch. A "luck of fish" was a good catch a good hawl of fish; and thus lucky and fortunate were taken in a good sense, though etymologically they indicated neither good nor evil fortune, but mere chance; simply an event which could not have been foreseen, yet a link of a chain, the connection and length of which was wholly inappreciable.

Fortune, luck, and chance, as understood and used at the present day, are wholly incompatible with Christian sentiment and style. "Has there been evil in a city," or a family, "and the Lord hath not done it?" asks a Prophet. As respects the divine knowledge and will, there is no chance in the universe.

To illustrate this, let us turn back to the history of Joseph, and note the chances, "the good luck and the bad luck" of this renowned patriarch.

He happened to be the eleventh son of Jacob by his beloved Rachel, and to be the most beloved by his father. He happened once upon a time to be sent upon an errand to see his brethren, away from home tending their flocks at Shechem. He had the good fortune to be a beautiful boy, and to have so much of his father's partiality, as to be more elegantly dressed than any of his brothers. He happened to have two remarkable dreams in his boyhood, which, when told to his father and brothers, greatly excited the envy and hatred of the latter. He happened to lose his way in seeking for his brothers, and lost much time in the plains tracing their movements. But by good luck a kind stranger came along and directed his way to Dothan, and there he found them. On seeing him approach, his brothers conspired against him to kill him; but Reuben fortunately saved his life by proposing to cast him into a pit. By great good luck a company of Ishmaelitish traders in spicery and gums, came along from Midian, and succeeded in purchasing him for the Egyptian market. This was a very remarkable chance, for had he not lost his way, he might have been there too soon for such a deliverance.

One Potiphar, a very worthy officer and captain of Pharaoh, fortunately wanted a servant, and bought Joseph. But the Lord was with Joseph, and he was for a while a lucky man, for he obtained favors from his master, and be

came the steward and ruler of his family. But, unfortunately Potiphar's wife was not the most virtuous woman in Egypt, and fell in love with the beautiful Joseph, and sought to allure him into her room. Finally, on one occasion she seized him by his garment, but he, resolutely withstanding, unluckily lost his garment in the scuffle, and, by the falsehood and villainy of Mrs. Potiphar, he was complained of to his master, and had the misfortune to be thrown into prison. By his good manners and prepossessing appearance, he was, however, so happy, as to obtain the confidence of the jailer, and to be made a sort of superintendent of the other unfortunates, whose unpropitious stars had made them inmates of the dungeon.

It chanced, once upon a time, that Pharaoh's cup-bearer and confectioner offended their master, and were cast into the same prison, and placed under the care of Joseph. By good luck, these new inmates of the prison happened, each on one night, to have some portentous dreams. On inquiring into their sadness next morning, they told Joseph their dreams, who, by his great sagacity, was enabled to give them a true interpretation.

It fortunately came to pass soon after, that Pharaoh himself had some portentous dreams, which caused great perturbation of mind, and induced him to call for the magicians of Egypt, to interpret his dreams. By great good luck none of them, however, could satisfy the monarch. His cup-bearer, fortunately at this crisis, remembered his own dream and Joseph's interpretation of it, and was prompted to report his talents to his master.

Joseph was sent for, and had the great good fortune to satisfy the monarch of his superior wisdom and learning in the department of oneiracriticism. Soon after, he was most luckily called from the prison to the palace, and made governor of Egypt, and next to Pharoah in power.

Under his wise and prudent administration of the affairs of Egypt, the famine was anticipated, and large preparations were made for its approach. It had extended to Canaan, and compelled its inhabitants to go down into Egypt for bread. Meantime Joseph's brethren, and finally his father, were compelled to come down into Egypt and reside there. Fortunately the shepherd

kings, who had been a scourge to Egypt, were compelled to vacate the land of Goshen; and that being the best portion of Egypt for pasturage, Jacob and his sons, with their flocks and herds, were, under their new fortunes there, happily located. At Goshen they remained for very many years, enjoying general good fortune, till another king was placed on the throne, who, unluckily for them, knew not Joseph nor his people, and they were reduced to slavery.

Such is the doctrine of chance. One hundred such chances, all terminating in one great event, affecting to this day the destiny of a nation, the most prolific of blessings to the world, metamorphoses these chances into the well wrought links of designs, terminating in the eternal destiny of the world. For had not Joseph been sold as a slave into Egypt, and there risen to honor, the family of Jacob had not gone down there, and would not have been enslaved there. Moses would not have been born and educated there. Egypt had not been plagued. The first-born of Egypt had not been slain. Israel had not been redeemed and led through the Red Sea by the naked arm of God. The Passover had never been instituted. The law would not have been given on Sinai-the tabernacle and its worship would never have been instituted, and all the miracles displayed in the fields of Zoan, and in the wilderness for forty years, had never been wrought. Out of Egypt God could not have have called his Son, nor would his character have been made known to all the earth as it was by the instrumentality of the Pharaohs. The manna had not fallen from heaven-the rock of Horeb had never been converted into a perennial fountain in the desert a thousand types and figures, essential to the development of God's moral government, and the means of redemption had never been wrought, and the destinies of the world at this day would not, in any great point, have been as they now are.

Now, all this seems to be traceable to an "unlucky" variegated dress, placed by fond and partial parents upon a handsome boy, or to his telling two portentous dreams to the family, and his being sent on an errand, and then to the contingency of the arrival of a company of traders dealing in goods and men at the moment. On the failure

of any one of these "chances," the destiny of the world would have been very different from what it now is, and has for a long time been. How far this chain may reach beyond the bourne of time, it is not given to man to know. Hence it becomes him not to be dogmatically positive in affirming this or that, touching a chain the first and last link of which he has never seen! Nor to set about the creation of a demi-god called chance, who has lost one or both of his eyes, and of whose other senses he can never learn nor communicate any thing.

It required several centuries to develope the mysteries of Joseph's dreams and early fortune-and it is he alone that sees the end from the beginning, and to whom the issues of life and death are ever present, that can fully vindicate his own government, and that can satisfy the universe that he has done all things well. Our duty is to walk by his precepts, to acknowledge him in all our ways, and always to cherish the feeling of an absolute dependence on him for every thing that we enjoy, or hope to enjoy.

It is, beside, a thousand times more rational and blissful to refer all things interesting to us, either in the present or the future, to the counsel, the hand, or the blessing of the Lord, than to a mere contingency, or "our good fortune" or management to feel that. our persons, our lives, and all our conditions of life, are of his superintending care and providence, and not of "blind chance" or "good luck," but of his own direction and blessing; for, indeed, in this life, many of our so-called misfortunes are the choicest blessings, and all things do work together for good to them who love God and keep his commandments.

"Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his works in vain ;
God is his own interpreter,

And he will make it plain."

SCENES IN A WESLEYAN CHAPEL.

DURING the last few weeks, what are called special services have been held in the Wesleyan chapel, Wigan. On inquiry, I learned that the object of these meetings was to convert sinners by extraordinary means! Knowing that

such means had been practiced by the Methodists for many years, and being desirous of comparing their proceedings with the Word of God, I attended these special services, to see and hear what was done and said, to accomplish this benevolent object.

On the first occasion, the preacher was a youth from their denominational college, being cast in the Conference mould - his address, voice, language, and manner, alike indicating the training school in which his education had been received. At the conclusion of his discourse, he desired all those who were seeking salvation to come forward. A number of his hearers then presented themselves, and were ranged around the communion table, on seats which are termed "the penitent bench." They commenced moaning, crying, and praying-some in suppressed exclamations, and others in noisy shouting and screaming-just as the penitent may be operated upon. During these proceedings, the youthful preacher and others passed from one to another of the penitents, with such inquiries as these:"Are you seeking the Lord?" "What is it your soul desires ?"-" Do you now believe?" "Has God forgiven your sins?" "Cannot you now claim the promise?"" Is the Lord not precious to your soul now ?"" Can you not now rejoice in God your Saviour?" These and many other questions of a similar character, are submitted to the penitents as they kneel upon the bench; and the scene is sometimes continued for two or three hours, according as they believe and obtain "liberty," as they term it. The interrogations addressed to the penitents were occasionally interspersed with such advice as was deemed suited to their state, of which the following are specimens ::-"The Lord is waiting to be gracious" "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ"- "Believe just now" “Believe that your sins are forgiven, and they are forgiven !" "Now, my brother, throw your whole soul upon Christ"- "See there my Lord upon the tree," &c. While this was going on, some ten or twelve persons were praying alternately for the "poor penitents," and a dozen or more of the company shouting, “Come, Lord!"- "Save sinners!"- "Send a shower!"-"Send the power!"—" Hallelujah!" &c. To keep up the excitement, an appropriate hymn was sung at intervals to a lively tune.

"Come to Jesus, He will save you,

Just now,"

seems to be a great favorite on these occasions, as they will repeat it forty or fifty times. One of the penitents would now rise up and exclaim, "Bless the Lord, he has saved me!" Then began a new scene, the congregation (excepting the "poor penitents," who were still kneeling before the bench, mourning and crying for mercy) started up and commenced singing, "Hallelujah". "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," &c. This was described as being | "set at liberty"—their sins are forgiven. In this way, then, these special services are conducted, for a week or two every night, just as thay can manage to keep up the excitement. Such are the proceedings in a Wesleyan chapel! I ought to observe, that all the penitents are not "born again" at the bench. Some say they are saved, their sins being forgiven while in private prayer-others state that they were saved under some lively sermon; and I have heard persons say at a love-feast, that they obtained forgiveness while asleep in bed: they went to sleep burdened and oppressed with the heavy load of sin, and on awaking the burden was gone, and they were happy, rejoicing in God! I have heard it stated in a missionary meeting, of a black man who was convinced of sin, and groaning for salvation, his language being, "What must I do to be saved?" that it occurred to him, that if he could repeat two words in English, he should obtain "liberty." So he learned to say January" and "February," repeating them over and over again, until the Lord set his soul at liberty, and forgave him his sins, when, according to the minister, he rejoiced in God.

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The great founder of Methodism, John Wesley, says, that the Scriptures are the sufficient rule for the faith and practice of Christians. I wish to ask my Wesleyan friends, and all others who adopt such practices as those just related, by what rule, and where in the whole Bible is the example, precept, command, or promise, to authorise or countenance such proceedings? I ask seriously, is it from heaven, or is it of men? It must proceed from one of these sources, and if not from God, who can expect the approval of his Divine Master, in the great day of account? I know that many will say, thousands

have been born again this way, have lived and died happy, and are gone to heaven. I will not say a word against the sincerity of many whom I have known, many of whom I have heard, and many of whom I have read; but I ask, have they been taught according to the oracles of God?-have they been born of water and of the Spirit? (John iii. 5) – was this the practice of the apostles? is there anything in their writings to encourage it? Nothing at all.

The Saviour told the apostles just before he ascended to heaven, that they were to go into all the world and preach his gospel, (Mark xvi. 16) and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name; and they were to begin at Jerusalem (Luke xxiv. 47.)

To

Having been united with Wesleyan friends for many years, I know they desire the salvation of sinners. learn how to realize this desire, let them go to Jerusalem, and listen to Peter, who opens his commission on the day of Pentecost, speaking by divine authority and inspiration--consider the subject of his discourse. He proves from the Psalms and from the Prophets, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ; that he died and was buried, and rose again. Now when they heard this fact, they believed it, and it pierced them to the heart; they were convicted-they were self-condemned, and with penitence and contrition they cried out, "Men and brethren, what must we do?" Now they were not invited to the penitent bench, nor were they exhorted to believe "just now;" for they did believe, and their faith produced this conviction. Nor were they told to “believe that their sins were forgiven, and they are forgiven"—they were not invited, as the young preacher invited the penitents, in the chapel referred too. He said, "Mr. Boyd will preach to-morrow night, and all the penitents are particularly desired to attend, and expect to find mercy!"

See these Jerusalem penitents! No delay, no waiting the Lord's time for days, and weeks, and months, and years, as I have known many do. Peter directs them straight to Christ, "Repent (or reform) and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." My Methodist friends are startled at this answer of Peter's. All