expended in the erection of Upper Canada College, in this city; and on the grounds of King's College (to be built some time during the present century), and that U. C. College is endowed to the amount of some 8 or 10,000 dollars per year, and wholly under the management of Episcopal clergymen. On the other hand, it is no vain boast, but is admitted by all, that the Methodist Church in this province has laboured more extensively and successfully than any other religious community. Well, a literary institution, called the " UPPER CANADA ACADEMY," has been built under the auspices of that church, at an expense of about 40,000 dollars, upwards of 20,000 dollars of which has been raised by voluntary subscription. At length an agent was sent to England, who succeeded in obtaining a Royal Charter of Incorporation, and a despatch to Sir F. Head, directing him to advance 16,000 dollars out of the casual and territorial revenue of this province, in aid of said institution; but the matter had to be contested with Sir F. Head on the floor of the House of Assembly, before he could be induced to obey the Royal instructions. The institution is sustained entirely by individual effort and liberality; not a farthing is granted out of the provincial funds; and in the recent legislation on the Clergy Reserve question, the High Church party resisted every measure by which the WesleyanMethodist Church might obtain a farthing's aid for the Upper Canada Academy. And, to add insult to injury, the High Church presses of the province denounce us as republicans, rebels, traitors, and by every possible epithet and insinuation of contumely, because we complain, reason, and remonstrate against such barefaced oppression and injustice; notwithstanding also, my lord, I am a native of this Province-the son of an United Empire Loyalist, who gave up his paternal inheritance, and fought seven years during the American revolution for British supremacy in America; and, during the late war with the United States, for British supremacy in Canada ; notwithstanding disloyalty to a British sovereign never appertained to the name I have the honour to bear; notwithstanding not a single member of the church with which I have the privilege to be connected, has been tried or indicted during the late unhappy troubles in this Province; notwithstanding more or less Methodists have been in every battalion

that has been raised, and every battle that has been fought with rebels and brigands; and notwithstanding I myself have given my earnest support to the government, whenever I have (whether justly or unjustly) apprehended it to be in danger. My lord, I believe that no provocation or injustice could induce me to violate the laws of the land; but government is founded upon public interests, and has claim to public support no longer than it promotes the public good; loyalty, however enthusiastic, must become a dead letter, nay, disaffection itself, in course of time, under any government where palpable injustice is the order of the day, -where commerce declines, the trades languish, and property becomes valueless, and the discontent of felt neglect and injury mantles the mind of the population. Fully persuaded I am, that a perpetuation of the past and present obnoxious and withering system will not only continue to drive hundreds and thousands of industrious agriculturists and tradesmen from the country, but will prompt hundreds and thousands more of her Majesty's faithful subjects (before they will sacrifice their property and expatriate themselves), to advocate constitutionally and openly, and decidedly the erection of an independent kingdom,' as has been suggested even by Mr. Attorney General Hagerman, as best both for this province and Great Britain."

What can we say of this statement, but that clerical rivalry is the real cause of all this strife? The Wesleyan ministers, conscious of the numerical and popular strength of their sect, can ill bear the preference given to the priests of the minority. The established clergy have received, from time to time, nearly a million dollars in hard cash, besides grants of lands, and other solid proofs of "the piety of the government." But of all this golden irrigation, of all this copious effusion of opulence, the Wesleyans of Upper Canada have only been favoured with a few dribblets scarcely worth mentioning; and are, besides, treated with all that scorn and contumely which is the unfailing portion of the inferiors, when struggling for power and place withtheir superiors. All this is hard for flesh and blood to bear; and, therefore, flesh and blood is up in arms against this ill treatment. Hence all these words of menace, hence all this editorial thunder, expressive of the accumulation of heat in the Wesleyan atmosphere.

how comes it that the sect of whose loyalty we have have heard more than enough in other circumstances, should thus suddenly appear before the world as the most irritated and irritable opponents of government?

Mr. Ryerson testifies, as it will be seen, to the military achievments of the Methodists in the late disturbances; and indeed it must be confessed that Mr. Ryerson's views, as editor of the Christian Guardian, are superabundantly martial. In another part of the paper, there is a loud outcry against the disarming of "suspected persons," in the Gore District, by command of the government. The editor of the newspaper asserts that those whom the government terms "suspected person" only differ in politics from the parties employed to ransack their neighbour's houses. This is termed "a most pernicious proceeding." From all which we may gather, that the Wesleyans have been classed amongst these "suspected persons," and that the government has taken the precaution of disarming the discontented sect; a precaution which some passages in Mr. Reyerson's letter to the Marquis of Normanby would seem fully to justify.

JOURNAL OF THE LIFE, AND LABOURS,

AND TRAVELS, OF THOMAS SHILLITOE, IN THE SERVICE OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. 2 VOLS. 8vo.— London, Harvey and Darton.

THOMAS SHILLITOE, a member of the Society of Friends, was born in London, A. D. 1754. He was not a Quaker by birth, but was admitted into the society when he had passed his twentieth year. In the year 1778, he took up his abode in Tottenham, where he followed the shoemaking trade, and where he closed his long life, in the year 1836. In the year 1790, he was acknowledged a minister, by the Monthly Meeting; and that year also he yielded to an impulse of his mind, technically known amongst the Quakers as "a concern," which made him suppose it to be his duty to "leave his family and outward concerns in the

Lord's work." He states at some length his difficulties in following this impulse; and it must be confessed that the difficulties were not small which seemed to oppose the preregrinations of one who had to sustain his family by his daily labour. These difficulties were, however, in some way or other, surmounted, and he proceeded on "his visit" with certificates furnished him by his society. His first preregrinations were in Norfolk; but the same year he went to Dunkirk, to visit members of the Society of Friends who had emigrated from North America. In the year 1793, Thomas Shillitoe "felt a concern spread itself with considerable weight over his mind, to pay a religious visit to King George III." This concern he "trifled with" and consequently he found himself in "bitter anguish of soul," and he became tribulated, a state of mind often mentioned by Quakers, but not explicable by any reference to an English dictionary. In the year 1794, he says, "My divine Master, in mercy, was again pleased to visit me by the renewal of this concern, thereby putting my faith and faithfulness afresh to the test." The workings of this " concern are truly characteristic. After earnestly craving of the Lord to be directed to the individuals to whom he ought to open his prospects of religious duty, he says, "Joseph Gurney Bevan presented with such clearness, I had no doubt remaining in my mind as to the propriety of my so doing." There were, however, difficulties in the way of communicating with Joseph Gurney Bevan; but after some time, on accidentally meeting this individual at the house of a friend, the way was open, and the secret was discovered. This led to further communication, in a formal manner, to others of the society; and after no little preparation on the part of the Quakers, and the enacting of some scenes which to us appear a species of solemn comedy, it was at last arranged that Thomas Shillitoe and George Stacey should go down to Windsor, and attempt an interview with the king, on Windsor Terrace. At Windsor they were informed that their best chance of an interview was at the stables, at eight o'clock in the morning, when the king was expected to mount horse for the chase. Thither the two Quakers went accordingly, frightened out of their wits, and that to such a degree, that they nearly lost an opportunity of speaking,

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which the monarch seemed willing to grant them, when they first caught his eye. After a while, however, Thomas Shillitoe gained courage; and after bolting out the words "Hear, O King!" proceeded courageously with his " cern," speaking, as he supposes, for nearly twenty minutes. "It was evident that which was communicated was well received by the king, the tears trickling down his eyes. The king stood in a very solid manner (solidity meaning apparently attention in Quaker phrase)until I had fully relieved my mind of all that came before me." "It was said he did not pursue his diversion of hunting that day; but returned to the queen, and informed her of what had passed." The purport of this communication is not, however, mentioned in this journal.

This was the commencement of Thomas Shillitoe's interviews with sovereigns. In the course of his life he "eased his mind" to several princes. From the year 1805 to 1820, he was impelled by divers "concerns" to visit Ireland and various parts of England. In 1812, he attempted, though unsuccessfully, an interview with the Prince Regent at least he only gained a civil refusal from that prince, as he was riding at Brighton. He left, however, with Colonel Bloomfield a very curious epistle addressed to the Regent, which, it would appear, that prince afterwards read, though he must have been not a little surprised with the earnestness, and expostulation, and reproof which was thus unceremoniously addressed to him. In 1821, Thomas Shillitoe sailed for Rotterdam-visited Amsterdam, Hamburgh, Altona, proceeded on to Kiel and Copenhagen; had an interview. with the king of Denmark and the royal family. From Copenhagen he went to Christiana, in Norway, visited the bishops and magistrates there, and bore his testimony there, as elsewhere, against the profanation of the Sabbath. In 1822, he visited Basle, Berne, Geneva, Lyons, Nismes, Paris; endeavoured to see the Archbishop of Paris, but was not allowed

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ease his mind" to that prelate, otherwise than in the shape of a letter ;the "concern" being to protest against the practice of bull-baiting, on a Sunday, in the Amphitheatre of Paris.

Thomas Shillitoe now returned home; but in due time was again sent forth on the Continent by the pressure of his "concerns," and the approbation, or as

it is mystically termed, "the acknowledgment of unity" of his society. We now find him in Germany; and gaining access to the Crown Prince of Prussia, at Berlin, with whom he pressed his favorite theme, the due observance of the Sabbath, in the kingdom of Prussia. This interview shewed the Prince in a favorable light; and, indeed, the courtesy and kindness of all the continental princes, whom Thomas Shillitoe visited, are worthy of remark. The traveller then proceeded on to Copenhagen, and had an interview with the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark: from Denmark to St. Petersburg, in the year 1824, where he had two very interesting interviews with the Emperor of Russia. From Petersburg to Berlin, and thence to England. In the year 1826, he sailed for New York; and in the United States he remained for three years, visiting the Friends' meetings far and near, and coming into constant collision with Elias Hicks, against whom he raised the standard of orthodoxy, as it is called, though it is not very easy to ascertain the difference of theologicai views that kept these two antagonists in a state of warfare.

In 1829 he returned to England, where he finished his days quietly, excepting an episode or two of a visit to the Prelates, and to King William IV. at Windsor.

Such is a brief outline of the life of this remarkable Quaker, whose journal is a very curious and interesting record of the principles of "the Society of Friends," placed in as favourable a light as the case will admit. The benevolence, integrity, and purity of purpose of Thomas Shillitoe, are unquestionable; the sincerity of his religious opinions must be conceded; and that he endeavoured to obey the God of the Jews, with such light as he possessed, seems clear, from the general memorabilia of his journal; but that his life, labours, and travels” were according to the assertion of the title page in the service of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we utterly deny. His life, labours, and travels, were in the service of the Law, not of the Gospel; and in the service of the law most imperfectly understood. From one end to the other of his voluminous journal, there is no acknowledgment in the faintest degree of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; of the atonement, justification by faith, the gift of righteousness, the forgiveness of sins through the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than that of Abel,

and the union of believers by faith with Christ, there is no mention. For all these saving truths, Thomas Shillitoe's journal substitutes benevolence, acts of kindness to man and beast, a peaceable, quiet, and sober life, and a careful attention to the dictates of conscience. If an epitome of Thomas Shillitoe's theology were required, it might be given in a formulary of words which should flatly contradict the doctrine of the Apostle Paul, as thus, "to him that worketh, and doth not believe in him that justifieth the ungodly, his good works are counted for righteousness." And how should it be otherwise? for as Thomas Shillitoe has made conscience in every man to be the God that justifieth, how can he, faithful to the doctrine of the inward light, believe otherwise? Many painful instances of this delusion are scattered up and down through the two volumes: take the following as an example :—“ The mother, this girl, two other women, and three illegitimate children, were living together, obtaining what little support they had by their evil practices. We sat down with them, and endeavoured faithfully to lay before them the tendency of their manner of life, as it respected themselves, their children, and others whom they were instrumental in drawing into their company, and the punishment that awaited them without true repentance. At first they resented our interference; but strength was given us to plead with them, until THE DIVINE WITNESS in their minds was evidently reached; and they were so brought down, as to evince some degree of contrition, acknowledging, at our parting, their full belief that we wished them well, and that they were obliged to us for the counsel we had given them." (i. 173.)

Here three prostitutes are declared to have the Divine Witness in them, that is, the inward light of the Quaker school; and this saving power within, Thomas Shillitoe reached, so as to make the sinful women evince some degree of contrition, i. e. they at last were civil, and acknowledged that their monitors wished them well! Is this preaching the gospel? Is this the service of the gospel? Is this setting forth Christ the sacrifice for sin? Is this teaching the word of truth, instead of declaring Jesus to be "the faithful witness," to endeavour to reach" the Divine Witness" within the bosoms of these degraded sinners,?

On another occasion Thomas Shillitoe

finds a female amongst the Methodists "labouring under distress of mind," partly because her class-teacher had deserted her. "After sitting awhile in silence, I felt it required of me to query with her, if she had not reason to fear she had placed too much dependence on what her class-leader could do for her; and not enough looked to the Lord with that single eye and simple dependence he called for? I told her how all this was to drive her home to the only sure help in herself.". "After recommending her to the best of all leaders in herself, we parted" (171). Here a comparison of the two passages places “the inward light in a view not to be mistaken;-the harlot, had "the Divine Witness within her;" and the Methodist female had the "best of all leaders in herself,"-in other words, they had their conscience, whose leadings and guidings are the salvation that is by works, according to the creed of Quakerism! "What will the good desires of Friends avail," says T. Shillitoe, in another place, "unless we ourselves are willing to yield in humble submission to the impressions of good that follow us.” (59)

In one of the prisons on the Continent we find him thus preaching the Gospel to the prisoners :-"The absolute necessity there was for them in good earnest to seek unto God for help, to witness a truly forgiving disposition of mind brought about in them towards their prosecutors, the witnesses against them, the police, and the tribunal, before they could expect fully to experience that godly sorrow brought about in their mind which works true repentance, and is the only terms on which we can witness forgiveness of our sins from Almighty God" ii. 334. And thus did this diligent traveller go about the earth, vainly imagining that the course he was pursuing, and to which he was propelled by his natural kindness of disposition, was spending his life in the service of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is curious to remark how carefully Thomas Shillitoe avoids naming God by those terms which the Scripture has made precious to the redeemed children of grace.

"The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," and indeed all the expressions suggested by the spirit of adoption, whereby we say "Abba Father," he never allows to appear in his journal; endeavouring by periphrastic expressions to evade even the name of God; as thus, 'my Divine Care-taker," "Divine Director," my Divine Master," "my

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my

It need not, therefore, surprise us to find Thomas Shillitoe making the following remark,—he is speaking of what he saw at Petersburg :-" Passing by one of the cansls, et the time when the labourers on board the barges were about taking their dinners, which consisted of black bread and salt, I was forcibly struck, and somewhat reproved, by observing the uniform care they manifested to fix their attention on a cross placed on the top of one of their places of worship, before they attempted to eat. Although there may be reason to fear, with many of them, this their devotion is performed in the oldness of the letter, and not in the renewings of the spirit of their minds; yet I have not dared to doubt, but that sincerity was the governing principle in the minds of some of this poor degraded part of my fellow creatures in this act of duty." (ii. 82.)

Doubtless, idolaters are sincere iu their idolatry, as were the worshipers of Ashtaroth, and Moloch, and Baal, but strange it is for a Christian to put in a plea of sincerity as an excuse for sin.

QUESTIONS BROUGHT UNDER CONSIDERATION AT A MEETING OF CHRISTIANS. L. R. H. W. June 3, 1839.

MONDAY EVENING.

THE value of Scripture knowledge.How may we discern that which is of the Spirit's teaching, from that which is merely an intellectual attainment?

TUESDAY.

Is the power of the Church of God the same now as in the days of the Apostles? if not; what is the difference, and wherefore? and what the consequent duty of the saints?

Are there distinct gifts (according to the Scripture sense of the term) in the Church now? Do they necessarily accompany the indwelling of the Spirit? How may any gift or power which we have of the spirit, be ascertained, and directed to God's glory?

What do we learn from Scripture should be the prayer of the saint concerning the Holy Spirit, as to his gifts, power, or indwelling.

God's dealing with his people, in communion and in discipline.-Is it the Father, or the Son? What instrumentality, may we ask, does God use in discipline? Is joy the necessary result of communion? May communion exist without distinct consciousness of it.

WEDNESDAY.

The olive-tree, the vine, the fig-tree. Interpretation of Rom. xi. 17, in reference to our distinct standing in dispensation?

The import of the Scripture-terms, mystery, apostasy, remnant?

What are the relations in which the word recognises the Christian, and which may be maintained to God's glory?

What is his duty as to those in which the word does not recognise him?

Is the honour, or power of this world any part of the endowment of the saint, according to the word?

THURSDAY.

The special importance, as the day draweth nigh, of giving heed to the prophetic word? What light does it afford us as to the state of Christendom at the coming of the Lord? The Spirit in which we should ever come to it?

The Apocalypse-its structure, and interpretation-its relation to the book of Daniel ?

FRIDAY.

The bride ?-the Lamb's wife? Messiah's kingdom?-the means of its establishment ?-its duration?

Will the standing of the saints on earth in the millennium differ essentially, or only in circumstance, from the standing of the saints on earth now?

The fitting posture of the saints at the present time.