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folly of arguing with such a mind, and therefore quietly waved the subject, and after a little further conversation he bade the family good morning, and escaped further pain.

"How do you do, Mr. Jones?" exclaimed a man who was ploughing by the road-side. Mr. Jones raised his eyes from the ground, and kindly responded to the salutation. The farmer was a member of the church, active and useful, but want of humility was his infirmity. Mr. Jones inquired of him if there were any thing interesting of a religious nature among his neighbours :

"Why yes, sir," said the farmer, "yes, sir, I think things look more encouraging. My neighbours are more ready to talk upon the subject than they have been for a long time. It appears to me that forcible appeals to the heart is all that we want now. I know there are some persons who like doctrinal sermons, and I suppose they are important in their place; but the trouble with our people is, that they know their duty, but they won't do it. It isn't enlightening that they want, it isn't instruction, but melting appeals to the heart, to make them feel. This is my view of the matter, Mr. Jones."

"There is certainly some good sense in what you say; but a man cannot feel unless he believe. We must convince a man of his danger before he can feel it."

"True, sir, true; but, if I may be so bold, it appears to me that you preach doctrinal sermons a little too much, Mr. Jones. I have been reading some of Whitfield's sermons lately, and I am taken with them mightily; all heart, sir, all heart. And only see how successful he was. It is really astonishing."

Mr. Jones continued the conversation a little longer, and then went on his way. As he was passing the door of his aged deacon, he thought he would step in a moment. The deacon was eighty years of age, a man of old fashions, and deeply versed in theological lore. The good old man gave his pastor a cordial greeting, for he loved him, but he thought the times sadly degenerate. He took from his shelf a volume of sermons, preached some fifty years ago, and placing it in the hand of Mr. Jones, said

"There is an interesting volume which I have been reading lately. It is a real treat to me to get hold of good old-fashioned doctrinal sermons. The fact is, Mr. Jones, you modern preachers are altogether out of the way. The doctrines are the very marrow of the gospel. And it is doctrinal preaching that we want to enlighten the public mind. Now I have lived eighty years, Mr. Jones, and have seen the effect of all kinds of preaching, and you may depend upon it, that the great thing needed is to have men well 'indoctrinated.' I do think it would be a great improvement if you would preach doctrinal sermons rather more. Shall I not lend you this volume, sir? perhaps you would like to look it over."

Mr. Jones smiled at the delicate hint which his good deacon supposed he was giving, and, taking the book, endeavoured to lead the conversation to subjects of practical godliness; and, after uniting with his venerable deacon in prayer, continued his parochial visits.

In the middle of this village there was a milliner's shop, where Mr. Jones occasionally called. As Mr. Jones entered the door, he heard the voice of a female exclaim

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"I have come," said he, " to tell you the news from Harlow. Oh, they have a most precious minister there! He is the most faithful, active man I ever saw. He is all the time visiting from house to house. pears to me that such activity and zeal as he possesses must be successful any where. People cannot be unconcerned when the importance of religion is urged so incessantly upon them in their houses."

As Mr. Jones did not consider it necessary to enter upon a defence of his views of duty, his good parishioner supposed that he had been rather too obscure in his hints, and was growing more personal in his allusions when he was interrupted by the entrance of another visiter.

Mr. Henry, who last entered, was a gentleman of sincere piety, and of a refined mind. He was fond of close reasoning, and shrank from every thing which was not perfectly in good taste. After the usual salutations, he said

"I had the pleasure, Mr. Jones, of hearing Dr. Simpkins preach last sabbath. He certainly is a most eloquent man. He is a most indefatigable student. You always find him in his study. I understand that he generally studies twelve hours a-day. And now he has risen to be one of the most eminent men in the country. How wretchedly those ministers mistake who fritter away their time in running about from house to house! There is the minister of Harlow, for instance; they say he is a very friendly man, and talks very pleasantly in the family, but it is no matter what text he takes, he always preaches the same sermon. The men who live in the study, and who devote their energies to the pulpit, are the men who do the most good."

Now Mr. Jones, though he loved his study, thought it his duty to devote a portion of his time to parochial visiting; and, as the two visiters eagerly engaged in dispute, he pleasantly suggested to them the propriety of embracing some other time and place for their discussion.

As they withdrew, Mr. Jones resolved, as he had done a thousand times before, that he would do that which appeared to him to be right in the sight of God, and most for the spiritual good of his people, and leave others to think and say what they pleased.

Poetry.

THE HOUR OF DEATH.
(For the Church of England Magazine.)

I OFTEN think upon the hour
When friends around my bed
Shall watch my pulse's failing power,
And prop my drooping head;
And whisper, "Life is ebbing fast,
It cannot-no!-it will not last!"

And what will, in that hour of grief,

My fainting soul sustain ?
Will riches bring me sure relief?
Will honours ease my pain?
Will laurels brush away the dews

Which then my cold damp brow suffuse?

Ah! no. The wealth the world supplies,
Its titles and its fame,

Will not in that dark hour suffice

The latest foe to tame.
A Saviour's love, for ever new,
For ever strong, alone will do.

His grace the troubled brain will calm,
Support the sinking heart,

And drop upon the soul a balm

Unknown to human art;

And, when both sight and hearing cease,
Suggest the thoughts and words of peace.

Thus, thus sustain'd, the vale of death

I'll tread secure from harm;
And, while I struggling pant for breath,
Still lean upon his arm;

Till life's last gleam shall light my eye,
And my tongue falter, Victory!

Miscellaneous.

DR. HUIE.

holy writ, but such confession may be made by each individual in his own closet-may be made by him in secret to his God; and into this blessed and spiritual intercourse no mortal has a right to intrude. If his mind be perplexed or grieved, and he be unable from prayer, public worship, or reading God's word, to draw consolation to his wounded or oppressed conscience, he is then enjoined by scripture to "tell it to the church;" that is, to his minister in private, that he may receive the consolation that such spiritual person may impart. If in time of sickness, and that sickness be unto death, after receiving the aid which the church through her minister may impart; having also, through the instrumentality of his hands, received the grace of God which, if faithfully taken, accompanies the participation of the eucharist, he earnestly solicits the priest to absolve him; then, and not till then, the priest, as the minister of God, may pronounce and declare God's pardon; the efficacy of which, however, is entirely dependant upon the sincerity of his faith and repentance. The obligation to general confession is not enjoined by the word of God, but is insisted upon by the Romish church in order to lead to subsequent absolution, which, from being made sacramental, is taken to invest her priests with a judicial power of relieving the penitent from sin and its punishment. This belief puts, in the place of God, the priest, as pardoning the transgressor; making such absolution an instrument of extensive power in his hands. That the priests hold at their unrestrained command the exercise of this judicial absolution, puts the consciences of the people into their keeping; and it is used as a chain to bind them to their will, when they are so disposed-as, indeed, too often they are; and it becomes a mighty engine, combining civil and political with ecclesiastical and spiritual power. That this assumed judicial power of absolution is grossly exercised, is a matter of common observation and disgust. Amongst innumerable instances of it, I will mention only that the chapel and shrine of the virgin at Loretto, in the very centre of the popedom, has been for years, and continues to be, the resort of multitudes of pilgrims, who go thither to rob the Almighty of his worship, and pay it to a fictitious goddess. Dr. Moore, in his "View of Society and Manners in Italy," tells us how the ma

"In the great church, which contains the holy chapel, are confessionals, where the penitents from every country of Europe may be confessed in their own language, priests being always in waiting for that purpose; each of them has a long white rod in his hand, with which he touches the heads of those to whom he thinks it necessary to give absolution. They place themselves on their knees, in groups, around the confessional chair; and when the holy father has touched their heads with the expiatory rod, they retire, freed from the burden of their sins, and with renewed courage to begin a fresh account." And yet, against all these, and other well known practices of a similar nature, the pope and his college of cardinals issue no prohibition; by which it is apparent that their church approves the delusion, or at least considers the pious fraud too profitable to be relinquished.-Archdeacon Wilkins' Address to Parishioners of St. Mary's, Notts.

POPISH SUPERSTITION.-With respect to absolution as practised by the Roman church, I shall not enter far into the intricate discussion of its signification, or the extent to which it is carried, beyond asking, "Who can forgive sins, but God only?" The ministers of the Christian church may pronounce in what cases and in what respect the Almighty has promised, in his revealed word, to forgive sins; and may declare that, in compliance with that holy word, such sins are pardoned to the truly contrite and peni-gician's wand is used here by the Romish priests. tent sinner: that is, they may, in such instances, act ministerially and pronounce conditionally, but not judicially, from any power inherent in themselves, or connected with their office. The Almighty alone does forgive sins upon unfeigned repentance. He alone knows every secret of the heart of man, and cannot be deceived; he knows, therefore, whether the penitence of the sinner be assumed or not. In our church, as we cannot read the heart of man, we tell the sinner that, if his contrition be deep and unfeigned, and his promise of amendment sincere, God, in such case, has promised his forgiveness; and he may rest assured that, under these circumstances, his pardon is sealed in heaven, through the merits of his Saviour. On the other hand, the Romish church, aiming at the possession of the attribute of divinity, in knowing the secrets of the heart, tells its members that they must each make a general and particular confession of their sins to the priest, and that, if the knowledge of any be withheld from him, their souls will be devoted to torment and perdition. Under these terrors, they think to persuade their adherents to reveal every evil imagination of their hearts; and, as they are thus enabled "to know what is in man,' they think they can judicially, in the place of (iod, pronounce pardon, under certain penalties; which penalties, or penances, may be mitigated by the purchase of an indulgence, granted by the pope out of his treasury of works of supererogation of the saints. Confession of sins is a most imperative injunction of

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London: Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Periman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Towu and Courtry.

PRINTED BY

JOSEPH ROGERSON, 24, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON.

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ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL.

JUNE 30, 1842.

PRICE lad.

whom Lanfranc, the then archbishop, immediately restored all those lands he had THE see of Rochester is, except Canterbury, recovered from Odo. This recovery was at once the most ancient and the smallest in effected in a solemn assembly held at PenenEngland. It was established in 600 by den-heath. Gundulph removed the secular Ethelbert, king of Kent, together with a canons from the priory of St. Andrew, and priory of secular canons, in honour of St. appointed in their stead Benedictine monks, Andrew, to whose powerful intercession were to whom he conveyed the greater part of the ascribed many signal instances of divine estates belonging to his see. Out of those favour and various miracles. It appears manors, however, which he had assigned to that the impulse to "build a church to God" the monks, he reserved to himself and sucwas given to the king by Augustine, who cessors a right to certain articles of provision was the first archbishop of Canterbury. which were to be rendered annually on St. When the cathedral was founded in the year Andrew's day, under the name of a xenium 604, Augustine appointed to the office of (from vor, a present given in token of hosbishop Justus, a learned and worthy man, pitality). The following translation, in an who had been sent from Rome to aid in con- abstract form, of the original record concernverting the Saxons to Christianity. Ninety- ing this provision, may be interesting. It three bishops, many of them eminent for has been copied into the Registrum Rofpiety and ability, have successively held the fense, of which more will be said presently. see of Rochester from the above period." I, Gundulph, do appoint that every Many and extensive gifts were bestowed upon this church in after-times; yet, by the troubles which followed in the Danish wars, it was stripped of almost all of them; and at the time of the conquest it was in such a state of poverty, that divine worship was entirely neglected in it, and there remained in it only five secular priests, who had not sufficient for their maintenance. Many of the possessions belonging to the see of Rochester had come into the hands of the Conqueror at his accession to the crown, most of which he gave to his half-brother Odo; and the see itself, neglected by its primate, seemed fast verging to dissolution. Soon after this, Gundulph, a monk of the royal abbey of Bec, near Rouen, in Normandy, was elected bishop; to

VOL. XII.-NO. CCCLI.

year, at the celebration of the feast of St. Andrew the apostle, there be reserved to me and my successors, out of those estates which I have assigned for the maintenance of the monks, such a xenium as is here specifiedthat is to say, from Woldham and from Frindsbury, and from Denton, and from Southfleet, and from Stoke, sixteen hogs cured for bacon, thirty geese, three hundred fowls, a thousand lampreys, a thousand eggs four salmon, and sixty bundles of furze; but half the fish and eggs to be the monks' portion; and from Lamhea (Lambeth) a thousand lampreys for the use of the monks; also from Hadenham, twenty shillings-worth of fish, to be carried to their cellar. But, if it should happen, contrary to my wishes, that I, or any of my successors, shall be absent from the feast,

(London: Joseph Rogerson, 24, Norfolk-street, Strand.]

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