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Blackfriars, is the largest church in the metropolis, except St. Paul's Cathedral.

During the last six years nineteen communities of nuns have been established, and nine of religious men; while eleven clergymen of the English Episcopal church have gone over to Popery, and a large number of students. A million and a half of Roman Catholic publications have, in the same period, issued from their press at Derby, not for gratuitous distribution, but for sale. On Sunday, too, the 5th of November, in the year of grace, 1848, a Popish processional cross was, for the first time since the Reformation, carried through the streets of Halifax, accompanied by a Romanist priest and his clerks !! It is time, British Protestants, is it not, to be awake, and to be, with boldness and determination, occupying the watch-tower? These facts, so significant, so stirring, must not be forgotten,-must not be kept in abeyance,-else we shall rue the consequences, and our children may for generations.

Popery, then, has been, in this country, and is still, increasing. This is a fact indisputable, startling, but one which is not, by any means, sufficiently pondered.

We are no idle and foolish alarmists; but we say, deliberately and earnestly to British Protestants, Beware! beware! After all our schools, our churches, our chapels, our machinery for the diffusion of the simple and pure gospel,-our gigantic efforts, through the medium of the press, to disseminate knowledge, to awaken inquiry on every subject, Popery has been and is, at this hour, advancing.

The Puseyite heresy has given, we believe, an extraordinary impulse to Popery in this country. Its influence over the young has been great, and in many instances fearful. The periodical publications of the Catholics are continually boasting of this circumstance. It is their triumph-but, alas! our shame!

Let us, remember, too, that Popery is very bland and insinuating in its representations, its stratagems, its efforts. Nothing, frequently, can be more plausi

ble and seductive than its statements, to warp, to proselyte, to ensnare. It requires, then, to be more carefully, vigilantly, sleeplessly, watched, that none of our rising and interesting, but too yielding youth, may be caught by its wiles.

We should also bear in mind, that Popery is never to be daunted or crushed. It will always put forth and concentrate its energies, pursue its labours,—diffuse its virus. There is no part of the globe which the restless feet of Popery have not invaded. There are no dangers which Popery has not braved. There are no artifices which Popery has scorned to employ. There are no difficulties, however formidable, which Popery has been unwilling to encounter. There is no subtlety of mind which Popery has not been ready to exercise, to accomplish its objects. There is no amount of wealth which Popery has not been willing to expend, so that its power and resources, as a system of consummate policy, may be multiplied.

To check Popery, therefore, we must educate the people. They must not remain in darkness, or in comparative ignorance. They must be taught to think and discriminate-to judge for themselves; and we must see, especially, that they are well read in the Scriptures. We have no fear of the predominance of Popery, if we have a rising generation of Bible-readers and Bible-thinkers.

To check Popery, we must maintain our Protestant principles: explicitly and boldly avow them. We must express them in all companies, under all circumstances; show clearly that we are not ashamed of them,—indeed, that we glory in them. An enlightened, manly, and energetic avowal, and exposition of our great Protestant principles-those of the Reformation-those of the Apostles-is required now more than ever.

The clergy, too, and the ministers of Christ universally, must preach the momentous principles of the Reformation, and exemplify them. Those principles must be clearly elucidated. Their value and importance must be continually un

folded by those who are "set for the defence of the Gospel." They must never be blinked, else the consequences will soon be mournfully experienced. We often think that these great principles are not brought forward with that prominence and fulness which their inestimable value so imperatively demands. They are everything to us, as a Protestant, as a Christian nation.

Popery, in a Protestant country like ours, owing all that is noble and happy, and glorious, to our Protestant principles, must never be Endowed. Such an act would not only be most impolitic and unwise, and improper, but, in our view, it would be perfectly suicidal, anti-English, anti-Christian, and insane. It would be the direct way to augment its numbers, to increase its wealth, to extend its power. Is it the part, can it be the duty, of a professedly enlightened Protestant and Christian Government, to endow such a system!· - a system so opposed to the education of the people, so unfriendly to liberty of conscience, so completely at variance with the truth, -so inimical to the real elevation and prosperity of the empire?

We think, that any government, any Protestant administration, endowing the Romish church, would not only stultify and uspeakably degrade itself, but it would, by such an arrangement, inflict great and irretrievable injury on Protestants and Christians of this mighty empire. A purchase would be given to Popery, which she would be determined not only to hold, but to increase. We

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know not what disastrous results might ensue. The glory of our nation would be dimmed. Should any such measure be proposed in our day, British Protestants, from whatever quarter it may emanate, we hope it will be checked and defeated at once. We trust that the one voice of a roused and indignant nation will be heard, loud as a peal of thunder, startling our Rulers, and compelling them to yield.

We would fetter none; still we are not to proscribe the truth of God, and endow error. Our country is indebted, for nearly everything that is truly excellent and valuable, to its sound Protestant principles,-the instruction of the young,

unlimited freedom of thought,- an unrestricted Press,—the diffusion of the noblest and most generous sentiments, the finest spirit; and above all, the cultivation and continual increase of pure Christianity.

Let us, then, as an enlightened and well-trained, and Bible-taught community, maintain our Protestant principles more vigorously than ever, and oppose, promptly and unitedly, with the utmost determination of purpose, and by every constitutional mode, all arrangements, all laws, by which Popery would be taken into Government favour, be increased in influence, be replenished with money, and, by which enactments, Protestantism would be degraded and decidedly enfeebled. If the Government ask: "Shall Popery be endowed?" let every Protestant voice in the empire at once respond,-" Not while we live!" T. W.

SHALL CHILDREN CONTINUE TO ATTEND THE MINISTRY OF OUR STATED PASTORS?

To the Editor of the Evangelical Magazine.

REV. AND DEAR SIR,-Having been a reader of the Evangelical Magazine for the last forty years, and having often admired the ability, courage, and energy with which you have expressed your opinions on questions of vital importance to the Christian Church, I hope I may

be allowed to state, that, in my opinion, your article in the Supplement just published, on "Separate Services for Sunday-school Children," demands the serious consideration of the ministers of religion of all denominations.

It has been well observed, by one of

the most able and earnest of modern preachers, that the proper teacher of the child is its parent; and that when the child has grown to manhood, its proper home is the church. To train men and women for the church above is the proper business both of the parent and the minister.

I have in my recollection, at this moment, a Christian family whom I knew forty-five years ago. The father, mother, and all the eight children, were members of Christian churches. Four survive, the others all died in the faith and hope of Christians. No one who knew them entertained any doubt of their genuine piety. It may be worth while to state the manner in which their sabbaths were passed. At seven o'clock in the morning the father called his eldest son, then about ten years old, to accompany him to the prayer-meeting, which lasted till eight. At half-past nine, all who could read repaired to the Sunday-school, and remained during the public service, which commenced at half-past ten, and ended at twelve. At two they repaired again to the Sunday-school, and returning at four, some poor members of the church, who lived at a distance, were commonly invited to join the family at tea. At six all repaired again to the chapel, and returning at eight, the family were assembled at nine, and spent an hour in reading verses, singing hymns, and family prayer; after which they retired to rest. As these young persons grew up, they

not only taught in the Sunday-school, and attended public worship; but the young men went into the neighbouring villages, and gathering the children of the neglected poor into any cottage in which there was a large room, taught them to read, and then persuaded them to become regular attendants at the house of God. I think it is not too much to state, that at least one-half the congregation now consists of persons who were thus taught and brought into the habit of attendance on public worship.

The end of all was the church on earth as a foretaste of, and preparation for, the church above; and the teachers of all were the minister of Christ, and Christ himself, by his word and his Spirit.

Now I do not see how we can improve on this plan, detaching the children from the parents, the school from the house of God, and forming, as it were, a new institution under separate instructors, does not seem to me a likely method for improving the teachers or the children, or enlarging the church.

A much better plan was suggested and exemplified by the late Rev. Mr. Gunn, the effect of whose labours may now be seen at Chard, in Somersetshire, and Christchurch, in Hampshire. Is there no school in the metropolis in which this admirable plan has been followed out? and if there is none, could not one be now formed? B.

Kennington, Dec. 2, 1848.

SEPARATE RELIGIOUS SERVICES FOR CHILDREN. Evangelical Magazine.

To the Editor of the DEAR SIR, Having perused very attentively your article entitled "Strictures on separate Services for Sundayschool Children," and having been practically engaged in the conduct of such a service for a long time, I should esteem it a favour to be permitted to state, in as brief a way as possible, the arguments by which I am continually striving to recom

mend the adoption of a system so strongly reprobated by you.

The proposal which you term "revolutionary," (1) seems to me to be but an advanced step in the great movement which you, in common with others, have been wont to denominate progression; and the development of this new feature in our Sunday-school history, is but the natural

result of the adoption of plans, the wisdom of which was once much questioned by great and wise men, who predicted, as you do now, the most disastrous results.

Since the institution of the Sundayschool system, what wonderful changes has this progressive principle wrought! The school-room, once the scene of mere discipline, is now the seat of learning, ―a stipendiary agency, hired for a shilling a day, is now superseded by a noble band of gratuitous instructors,-pious teachers have taken the place of unconverted monitors, and the door once barred against the little child is open now to the infant of tenderest years. All these changes we owe to this same principle; and now, that in this age of earnest thought, it advances with steady step, and asks, as a matter of consistency, (2) A SEPARATE SERVICE for young children; and, as a matter of convenience and economy, A CHILDREN'S CHAPEL,-why should we say it "Nay?" It is admitted, on all hands, that children can and ought to be encouraged to worship God. The only questions left to us are: "Do they worship? and ought they to be expected to do so, under the present unfavourable circumstances?" and now, sir, as this is a practical matter, let us appeal to facts.

What is the present system? Suppose the school assembled in the crowded gallery, the teachers at their post, and the minister in the pulpit. A hymn is given out, it is not in the scholar's hymnbook. He listens, but he cannot remember the "lining out," or it is sung through, and his voice is dumb. But say the child has a book; the hymn selected is not calculated to awaken his devotional sentiment; he may sing, but he does not feel -he does not understand. Now there is, in the simple vocal melody of children, themselves being the melodists, an incitement to cheerfulness, and that which disposes them to pleasurable feelings at the very opening of the service. To insure this, the hymns should be of the very simplest devotional character, in language and sentiment within their comprehension, and the tune should be well

known, sprightly, and cheerful. But for the want of all this, that very portion of the public service best adapted to win the attention of the little child, has not only no charm, but is wearisome and tedious.

The word of God is read,-but here again the child is at fault; for though he may have his Bible, he is not prepared to follow the continuous reading of the minister. The good old day of expounding has gone by; and while the little, active, inquisitive mind would suggest its many questions, and start its numberless difficulties, the lesson for the day has been read, but without one word of comment,-the book is closed, and the congregation are engaged in prayer.

The minister offers prayer, and the children stand; but the thoughts, the phraseology, the petitions, are those of the matured Christian mind. The wants of childhood are not expressed, the heart of infancy is not engaged. How can it be?

The minister preaches. Now nothing can be more improving than the beautiful precepts of Christianity, exemplified by the actions and words of Christ, and the illustrations he has left us for our example, imitation, and warning; yet there is a Scripture knowledge too high for these little ones, and pulpit instruction cannot be equally adapted to the two great sections of the congregation. Our sermons are the finished compositions of wellfurnished minds. The minister speaks to the people of God. It is the sabbath morning. He discourses; doctrinal questions, metaphysical subtleties, prophetical speculations engage his mind and argumentative, spiritual and intellectual, he speaks, to whom? The children? Certainly not. They need to be taught the first principles of the oracles of God;" they are "such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat." Would you, sir, in your school in the afternoon, address your children as you preach in the morning? Simplicity, beautiful everywhere, is indispensable in the matter of Sunday-school instruction, the

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very essence of its excellence. But if children cannot understand, why have them in that gallery? That, they may be under "the weekly observation of the church and congregation!" I am sure you would not deem this a sufficient reason. (3.)

Children uninterested will be unruly. We require that they shall be idle and quiet at the same time. It is a thing impossible; and any enforcement of such a law renders the state of the child one of complete misery. And what is the position of the teachers set to keep order? If they be tender-hearted and reasonable they relax the code of discipline; but if not, then a fierce warfare goes on, in which children, unoccupied and uncomfortable, restless, fretful, and obstinate, use every expedient to while away the time, and teachers, irritated and defied, distribute at discretion, and too often with anger,

"Unapostolic knocks and blows." upon the heads of their little prisoners. Poor children! every whisper checked; deprived of the book dexterously hidden in the cap; the pencil and paper taken away; even the solace of sleep denied; is not their position likely to excite the sympathetic pity of the congregation? If it does not, it is because these things are not inquired into. Yet, do they never witness those scenes of contention? Did they never hear the buzz of undisguised delight when the minister closed the book, in token of the near approach of the hour of liberation?

Thus, instead of a good habit, a dislike of Chapel Services is engendered, which too often lasts with life. Hence arises the serious discrepancy between our morning and afternoon attendance, and hence the abandonment of many Morning Infant Classes. A child ought always to be lighthearted; but here all the tendencies are to depress and to provoke unholy temper. At his tender age he is unprepared for deep and protracted mental excitement or effort; and yet we reprove him in the morning for a weariness he cannot overcome, and in the afternoon discourse upon the pleasures of

VOL. XXVII.

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religious service. How natural the remark of the little girl, who, having said, I would rather not go to heaven," was asked the reason, and replied, "Nurse says, it will be always Sunday there.' Were it not well to implant in these dear lambs a love of religious exercise and the sacred day? (4.)

Now, if my picture be a faithful one, it is scarcely fitting that blame should rest on the Minister because he fails "to fix the wandering thoughts of careless listeners;" or that the failure should be attributed to a want of diligence on the part of the teacher in the school-room. It is not the want of more discipline or more obedience: its cause is to be found

in the entire want of adaptation; and because of this, and this alone, do we desire to see the system altered.

Your great plea (5) for a continuance of the present system is "consistency with the principles of the word of God." Now in the absence of any express law, will it not be found that numerous precedents furnish proof, that children under twelve years of age did not worship with their parents? Ezra took those only who could understand (in hearing). But this point has been so ably discussed by Mr. Martin, in his admirable lecture, that I forbear entering upon the question.

Then, where are the good results of this system? What are our own recollections of sermons heard in childhood? Is the good habit of coming to God's house, and attending while there, observable? Where are the thousands who have passed through our schools and from our influence, into the world? When allowed to choose for themselves, does the will constrain them to come to the sanctuary? On the contrary, it is stated to be a well-ascertained fact, that we retain only five out of every hundred of our scholars in our congregations. Where are the proofs of early conversion? When they do occur, is it ascribable to the

*A Lecture delivered for the Sunday-school Union, on Separate Services for Children," by the Rev. Samuel Martin; and published by Partridge and Oakey, Paternoster-row.

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