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ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG.

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are often those of his own household, so eventually, perhaps, the Church of England may find out that her worst enemies were not amongst the men who have been called " political dissenters," nor amongst the men of stern and uncompromising minds in the ranks of the conscientious non-conformists-but amongst those who, whilst avowedly adhering to her hierarchy, and scrupulously following all her rubrical directions, are by little and little sapping its foundations, and bringing in all the soul-deluding practices, and soul-destroying heresies, of the apostate Church of Rome. Let Protestants, then, both in, and out of the Establishment, awake to the impending dangers of the present crisis.

Let them discountenance Error. Let them only value the preachers and advocates of pure, New Testament christianity-let them prize their distinctive principles-let them propagate and defend them earnestly-and, as men of God and lovers of bible truth-LET THEM ACT ACCORDINGLY!

3. We would address-THE YOUNG AND RISING MEMBERS OF THE BRITISH CHURCHES.

Young people! The descendants, the admirers, and the followers of the Reformers of a by-gone age. Is this a day of awfully prevailing heresy, semi-popery, and infidelity? Yes, it is. Then be ye valiant for the truth, in this truth

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ADVICE TO THE YOUNG.

perverting age. Prize your Bibles, more than thousands of gold and silver. Bring every tenet to its standard. Search the Scriptures daily with more unvarying punctuality, with greater attention, and with more earnest prayer than ever, for additional heavenly light, that thus you may have deeper insight into their spiritual design and meaning. Seek, with greater solicitude, to have clearer and more enlightened views of the whole system of protestant christianity, and revealed truth. TAKE NO MAN'S MERE ASSERTION, in matters pertaining to salvation, but rather, demand scriptural testimony for every thing connected with religion. Avoid all unnecessary association with men of a sceptical, superstitious, or antiprotestant turn of mind, as well as the perusal of all works which tend insidiously to undermine the authority of holy writ, or to weaken in any way the foundations of our most holy faith. Select not your bosom friends from the circles of frivolity or infidelity. Beware of new doctrines, and pretended new lights; generally they are nothing else, but the scintillations of error; mental meteors generated by the corrupted imaginations of superstitious, or perverted minds. They may appear luminous and fascinating, but the light they emit tends first to dazzle, then delude, and often ultimately to

BE INTELLIGENT BELIEVERS.

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destroy. Thousands have wandered amidst the mazes of superstition and will-worship, and at last have sunk into the mire of bottomless perdition, by following the false lights of Tradition, mere human opinion, and sceptical speculation, instead of the guidance uniformly granted to humble minds by the Star of Bethlehem's beams. Seeing then that the present, is such an age of popish pretension and assumption, of errors and extremes, when there is such an incessant collision between Truth and Error, between believers and unbelievers, Protestant, Puseyite, and Papist, avail yourselves of every scriptural and historical aid to defend by legitimate weapons, and by the invincible force of truth, the outworks, as well as the citadel of our common christianity; and for this purpose, use all possibly available means to become more thoroughly acquainted with the internal and external evidences of our holy religion. Thus shall " your faith stand, not in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God." Thus shall you be ready "to give an answer to every man that asketh you, a reason of the hope that is in you.” Be urged to make the Eible the book of your study-to seek after a more enlarged acquaintance with its doctrines and truths. Also, thoroughly to possess yourselves of the historical records of your own country; read largely in ecclesiastical

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STUDY REFORMATION PRINCIPLES.

history, for its stores are needed in the present day; and above all, be not ignorant of the history of the Reformation.* To the study of this era, at the present moment, devote your serious attention. Thus, be well informed as to the real ground on which our Reformers, as illustrious men of God, took their stand, and the great interests, truths, and principles for which they nobly struggled, and more nobly died. Seek also to be imbued with their heroic and self-denying spirit, and earnestly and continually pray, that whatever may hereafter arise in the future history of the church, that grace may be abundantly imparted to you, that thus you may be found equal to the trying occasion. "Stand, therefore," ye who aspire to be, young and worthy soldiers of the cross- having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Thus nobly, and scripturally equipped, young

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* J. H. Merle D'Aubigne's "History of the Great Reformation" is a work worthy of most diligent perusal, at this juncture.

CONTEND-PRAYERFULLY.

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christians, BE VALIANT FOR THE TRUTH, even in a nobler degree than your fathers have been before you; for, clad in this armour of proof, you need not fear the sly and undermining insinuations, nor the more open and furious assaults of the adversaries of Revelation, or the apologists of Popery, Puseyism, and AngloCatholic error and superstition.

Having addressed certain classes of character, we must add a few remarks, as to the spirit and manner in which this contention is to be carried on, and its final glorious result.

First. Contend for the faith once delivered to the saints-PRAYERFULLY, and not politically. We are not to go down to the camp of the Philistines to sharpen our weapons for this holy warfare, but to go upward to Heaven's magazine for spiritual panoply. Nor are we in the spirit of the world to go forth, to attempt to fight the battles of the Lord. Truth is great, and it must finally prevail. Too many have dishonoured the cause of the true faith, by adopting unhallowed and secular means for its propagation. It wants not political defenders, nor does it crave state protection, or state interference: because favouritism to one established sect, or the unjust and exclusive patronage of one peculiar modification of the faith has impeded, rather than promoted, the conquests of the truth as it

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