hard and continual labours. "This example," says Lewis a Paramo, "the most holy tribunal of the Inquisition follows, confiscating by a just proscription the goods of heretics, and depriving them of all their effects and fortunes. The same author says, "what was Sarah, the wife of Abraham, but an inquisitor, when she expelled Ishmael from his father's house, on account of idolatry?" At this rate, it is easy to quote Scripture as a warrant for any thing. In that case, Ahab's prophets of Baal were inquisitors, when they compelled the heretic Elijah to hide himself by the brook Cherith; and Jezebel's 400 prophets were inquisitors, who caused Micaiah to be put in prison for telling disagreeable truths.

Another punishment of the Inquisition was the disinheriting the children of heretics. Heresy, like original sin, was supposed to taint the constitution, and therefore their offspring were considered as labouring under the same infection, and justly punishable for the sins of their depraved parents. Thus the sour grapes of heresy eaten by the fathers, always set their children's teeth on edge. The last punishment, for there were many others, was that of death, not a common death, but to be burned alive. This they defended by the example of Josiah (2 Kings, Chap. 23.), where that king commanded the bones of the heretical priests to be burnt; and also from the words of our Lord, John xv. 6: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." And lest this should not be enough, they add: "James and John thought that the Samaritans, who would not receive our Lord, should be destroyed with fire from heaven, according to St. Luke, Chap. 9. See here now the punishment of heretics; viz., fire-for the Samaritans were the heretics of those times." But the inquisitors take care to keep out of sight, that our Lord reproved his disciples on that occasion, and told them, that they knew not what manner of spirit they were of. They afterwards refer to the nuptial feast prepared for those who were invited, adding this comment: "By these he plainly shows that the kingdom was to be taken away from the heretical Jews, and their city to be burnt with fire. See here now the very confiscation of effects and fire with which heretics are punished." Nor is this reasoning to be wondered at in men, who every where in the Old and New Testament, and even in Paradise itself, find out an inquisition against heretics, and endeavour to prove by many arguments, that God himself exercised the office of inquisitor of heretical pravity against Adam and Eve. At this rate, we may prove any thing. No doubt there were inquisitors in the court of the Eastern king, who having an exquisite faculty for smelling out heresy, found Daniel guilty of the abominable crime of praying three times a day upon his knees to the true God, and rested not till they had secured him fast in one of the chambers of their holy inquisition; namely, in the lion's den. Indeed, no man ever escaped

from any of their prisons from that day to this, except by a kind of miracle. Herod, too, must have had his inquisitors, who discovered the heresy of John the Baptist; and the chief priests and Pharisees had an inquisitorial eye upon one of a more sacred name, whom they never left till they had performed the auto da fe of "Crucify him, crucify him." The same hunters after heresy would fain have stopped the mouths of Peter and John; but those undaunted men refused to be silenced, and such was their favour with the people, that the inquisitors durst not proceed to extremities. They, however, glutted their rage and revenge upon the sainted Stephen; and would have gone equal lengths with the whole church, had not the disciples fled into other countries.

To prevent the unhappy heretics from addressing the people at the stake, they were gagged with an iron instrument, so that they could only utter an inarticulate sound. Carena justifies this and all other tortures on the ground, "that if any punishment more terrible than another could be found, it ought to be inflicted on heretics, as their crime was the most grievous of all crimes, and by this means both the heretic and his crime might be more speedily blotted out from the remembrance of men." Thus greater gentleness was used towards thieves, traitors, and rebels, than towards heretics-who endeavouring to worship God with a pure conscience, and regulate their lives by the Gospel rule, opposed some doctrines of the church of Rome-it being a much more grievous offence in that church to oppose certain opinions by the clear light of the word of God, and to reject certain Pharisaical superstitions, than to contemn the Divine commands by an impious and profane life, and vilely to dishonour the holy name.

Autos da fe, or acts of faith, as they are strangely called, meaning in plain English, burning of heretics, were not confined to countries under the rule of popery. Our own Queen Elizabeth, a person of a very high and arbitrary temper, was unhappily tinctured with the same spirit, and she also must have had her inquisitors amongst the bishops of that day, for eleven Dutchmen, who were Anabaptists, were condemned in the consistory of St. Paul to the fire, for heresy, nine of whom were banished, and two of them burnt alive in Smithfield. In the year 1583, Copping and Thacker, two Puritan ministers, were hanged for nonconformity. It would be endless to go through all the severities that were used in this reign on account of religion.

Her successor, James I., copied her example, but in a more limited way. One Edward Wightman was prosecuted for broaching erroneous doctrine, and being canonically condemned, was burnt at Lichfield. One Legat, also, accused of heresy, expired in the flames at Smithfield. He denied the divinity of our Saviour, according to the Athanasian mode of explaining it, but as Fuller tells us, he was excellently skilled in Scripture, and his conversation very unblameable.

In the reign of Charles I., we have the dreadful case of Dr. Leighton, a scene of barbarous and execrable cruelty, perpetrated at the instigation of Laud, because he had published a book, called "Pious Plea against the Prelacy."

Even the Presbyterians in Cromwell's time betrayed too much of the persecuting spirit, and imposed their solemn league and covenant vigorously on all people, as they would escape the brand and penalty of malignants. Suspensions, sequestrations, and fines, were multiplied, and intolerance was the order of the day.

But Charles II. being restored, the triumphs of the presbytery and covenant were short. Prelacy immediately revived, and exerted itself in its primitive severity and rigour. The act of uniformity was passed, and in one day, between two and three thousand excellent divines were turned out of their churches, and exposed to the greatest distress and poverty. Other acts were passed, in consequence of which great numbers of ministers and their people were laid in gaols, among thieves and common malefactors, their effects were seized on, and their families reduced to beggary.

In James the Second's time the same proceedings were continued, but political events put a stop to them, aud that bigotted prince was compelled to abdicate. Since his day, open persecution has abated its rigours, and political disabilities have been substituted for the fires of Smithfield, though were we disposed, we could trace even in more recent periods, some transactions very unlike the spirit of true Christianity.

Thus all national churches have in them the seeds of persecution, "the trail of the serpent is over them all"-what multitudes have been sacrificed to the idol "uniformity." Christianity blushes for such things perpetrated in her name, and the followers of the meek and lowly Saviour tremble at the recollection of the guilt incurred by those who imagined that by such deeds they were doing God service. When will men learn the doctrine and duty of forbearance, the disuse of carnal weapons, in promoting Christ's spiritual kingdom, the conviction that the human conscience is amenable to God only, and that in the great day of final reckoning, "every man shall bear his own burden ?" If a cup of cold water given to a disciple shall not lose its reward, the shedding of the blood of a disciple shall as certainly receive its fearful retribution.

WHY DO WE NEGLECT THE JEWS ?

HAVING read a work detailing the remarkable conversion of a Jew to the faith of Christ, I was forcibly struck with his appeals to professing Christians in behalf of his unbelieving brethren. When I came to the words, "He who is not for us is against us," I thought of myself and my congregation, and began to inquire, what evidence do we give, as

a people, that we are interested in the salvation of the Jews? I could not charge myself with neglecting them in my public and private prayers; but beyond this, I perceived that nothing was attempted to convey the glad tidings of salvation to that infatuated race. Indeed, when I considered the subject attentively, I found that it was not practicable for a single congregation, the majority of which were very poor, to enter upon the mighty enterprise of disseminating the truths of salvation among the Jews of our own and foreign countries. The inquiry then arose, what are we doing as a denomination for the conversion of this interesting people? Here I felt some degree of astonishment, when I observed our general apathy towards the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, especially at such a remarkable period of our history, when we were employing efforts to bring the whole Gentile world under the influence of the Gospel. Shall we be content that the Episcopalians as a sect should occupy the field alone? The work is too great for any one denomination of Christians to accomplish; and it is doubtless the intention of the God of Israel, that every section of the church should be engaged, in promoting the accomplishment of his purposes in reference to the Jews, as in relation to the heathen world. The ground must be occupied, and shall the Congregational denomination be the last to engage in this holy enterprise? Shall we not rather take the lead, as the most considerable sect among dissenters in numbers and in wealth? I am aware, that the various societies in connexion with our Congregational Union draw largely upon the resources of our people; but we must not view this as a valid reason for disregarding the claims of our elder brethren. The same motive, prompting other denominations of dissenters to repel every argument advanced for immediate attention to the spiritual necessities of the forlorn Israelites, will leave the converted Jews entirely under the direction of the Episcopalians, from whom they will derive very erroneous views of the constitution of the Saviour's church, and, perhaps, be led to embrace some of those serious errors which, at the present time, mar the beauty of our holy religion, and destroy the influence which the Episcopal church is calculated to produce, when her articles and homilies are illustrated and confirmed by a clergy truly evangelical.

Many, no doubt, objected to the formation of the Colonial Missionary Society, upon the ground that we had enough upon our hands already; but divine Providence has granted the means for the establishment and support of that important object. It appears to me that it would form an ornament to our denomination, and certainly be the means, in the hand of the Lord, for the bestowment of showers of blessings to his ancient people, if we were to embrace within our Union a society, whose object shall be, the conversion of British and Foreign Jews. Let us give to the winds the common objection, "The Lord's time is not

yet come." This has already operated as a serious obstacle to the conversion of Jews and Gentiles. Who can say without presumption, that the Lord's time has not yet come? the command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," is intended to apply to every son and daughter of Adam, Jew and Gentile. Where, in the word of God, do we find anything in the shape of a prohibition with regard to the Jews? It may be objected, that considerable efforts have been made, and they have proved a failure. If the objection is intended to apply to the efforts of dissenters in bygone days, it would not be difficult to point out the circumstances which rendered the plans and movements of our brethren unproductive of any particular benefit to the Jewish people. If, however, the objection is grounded upon the want of success which may be considered to characterize the present operations of the Episcopal society, it may be remarked, that God has given his testimony, though not perhaps equal to our expectations. Perhaps it may not be incorrect to add, that great ignorance prevails, at least in our section of the church, of the good which has been already accomplished by the labours of that society: besides, it ill becomes us, supposing there had been no visible tokens of Divine approval after years of labour, to raise an objection on this ground; as our missionary brethren laboured in the South Seas for nearly twenty years, with scarcely any evidence that the Lord either blessed, or intended to bless their labours. It has ofttimes appeared, that the Lord has granted his blessing in a most abundant measure, after the faith and patience of his people have been submitted to a long and painful trial. We must not, therefore, in this case despise the day of small things. The question will be proposed, as a matter of course, "How are we to obtain funds?" To this I reply, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,"-"The silver and the gold are mine, saith the Lord." Having the promises of God on our side, (and these in reference to the Jews are numerous,) we may advance boldly to the throne of grace, and implore the Lord to impart to our denomination at large the spirit of benevolence, in connexion with other desirable blessings then may we expect, that we shall be fully prepared to support efforts upon an extensive scale, for the spiritual welfare of the seed of Abraham.

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In conclusion, how surprising is it, that we should neglect the Jews. Whenever we look at the Bible, we may remember our obligations to the Jews. We are addressed by Jews, whenever we assemble together to hear the word of God. From the Jews alone have we received all our knowledge of God and of ourselves, of Christ and of eternal realities. The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. How can we excuse ourselves in neglecting the Jews, when the Bible presents us with histories, and prophecies, and promises, which especially regard