tianity, while at the same time they are strangers to its peace and power, was enabled to believe on Christ as her Saviour, and died rejoicing in the hope of eternal life. Mr Jackson has contrived, in the course of the memoir, to expose many of the fallacies which tend to check and impair the force of Divine truth; and we trust his little work may be extensively read, as we believe it to be calculated, under the Divine blessing, to assist those who are inquiring their way to Zion. The Independents. The Position, Prospects, and Duties of that body of Christians usually denominated Independents or Congregationalists, briefly considered. By W. DAVIS, minister of the Croft Chapel, Hastings. THIS forms the substance of a paper read before an assembly of ministers at Brighton, and published at their request. The subject is an important one. The System of Late Hours in Business: its Evils, its Causes, and its Cure. By ARTHUR J. KING. London: William Aylott. 1843. Hours of Business. A glance at the present system of business among shopkeepers, and the effect of that system upon the young men engaged in retail trades, as well as upon society at large. By EDWARD FLOWER. London: William Aylott. 1843. Late Hours of Business among Shopkeepers. Report of a public meeting of the inhabitants of Liverpool, convened by his worship the Mayor, &c. &c., held in the Music hall, 10th April, 1844. Aylott and Jones, London. We have already expressed our opinions on the subject of these publications, and are happy to find that it increasingly engages public attention. POETRY. TO MY PAST YEARS. Years that are past, Chequered my pilgrim way, Years that are past: Here let us pause awhile, Years that are past! One chorus of deep praise, Years that are past: One Hallelujah raise, Years that are past: Kindred hearts still entwine, Love's purest draught is mine, Years that are past! Even in the saddest night, Years that are past, O'er me beamed starry light, Years that are past: If tears have dimmed my eyes, The rainbow in the skies Has worn the brighter guise, Years that are past! Still shall your shadows gleam, Years that are past, O'er silent memory's stream, Years that are past: Still are your joys my own, I'll all your griefs disown, Years that are past! There-joys ye ne'er brought me, Years that are past: There-love ye ne'er taught me, Years that are past: Yet in that blest revealing Thoughts of you o'er me stealing, Shall deepen heaven's own feeling, Years that are past! DAVIS and HASLER, Printers, 4, Crane-court, Fleet-street. THE INDEPENDENT AND YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S MAGAZINE. OCTOBER, 1844. OCTOBER. WHO that gazes on the face of nature in the month of October, but is conscious that a marked change is passing over her beauty? The tints grow deeper as we look upon them-deeper and richer as they hasten to decay. The freshness of spring has evaporated from the leaves of the trees and herbs. They look as though they had borne a summer's heat: a part of their vitality has left them; their juices are dried up; and they wait their Maker's bidding to lay aside altogether the glory with. which they have been crowned awhile. "We So vanishes the beauty of all earthly things. It is not in the seasons alone that there is a ceaseless change: "all that is not heaven must fade." The gourds beneath whose shade we rest ourselves at noon, must wither. The flowers, of which we make our coronal, must die. The long days of joy and of sunshine, which seem to stretch themselves out for the very purpose of ministering to our desires, must be contracted to a shorter span. "Passing away" is written on every object around us. look on the monuments of antiquity, and they have fallen; on the flowers of a new spring, and they are fading; on the countenance of affection, and it sinks in death. The words of a French writer are but as the voice of human kind, when he exclaims, I entreat in vain a few more moments: life escapes and flies I say to the summer night, Be slow-but morning comes, dispelling it. Man has no haven: time has no pause; it rushes onwards—and we are gone.' * Sheppard's Christian Encouragement. A A Remember this, ye light-hearted, who exult in the profusion of your enjoyments; who gather from the brightness of the sun over your head, that its face can never be darkened; and who argue from the happiness of the present, that sadness is a word whose meaning you are never to know. As constantly and as surely as autumn waits on the footsteps of summer, so does sorrow wait on the footsteps of joy. Darkness follows in the wake of light. Were it not so, should we not make this world our resting-place? I passed beside a youthful group who were enwrapt in one another's love, and were all happy because the others were happy. They took no thought of the morrow. No cloud dimmed the skirt of their horizon. Their glad eyes were fixed upon each other, and were never turned to God. Again, I passed beside them but yesternight, and behold! the fairest amongst them was gone! The dark wing of mortal sorrow brooded over that once happy home. But the bereaved and mourning ones were kneeling at the cross; and now their eyes were turned heavenward, and their words fell soothingly on my ear-" In very faithfulness thou hast chastened us. Before we were afflicted we went astray, but now have we kept thy word." Far be it from us to damp the pleasures of July with the prospect of October's dreariness. No; rather be it ours to look forward to a better country, in the light of which our fairest garlands seem pale and dead. "There everlasting spring abides, And never withering flowers." October is a beautiful month withal. There is a radiance in the sun, and a freshness in the air, which, while it animates us to exertion, keeps us from being fatigued by it. So, traveler to Zion, let it be with thee. Thy days of joy may be growing shorter-thy nights of weeping may be growing longer-but, oh! still, in firm faith, leaning on thy God, and established in his word, be as a bright October day, smiling in spite of the present decay, and in spite of the coming wintry storms. The in-gathering of the winter fruits, which takes place in this month, is a happy sight to behold. The young and old cluster round the trees of our orchards, and rejoice together, as much in the delight of merely housing their rich stores, as in the prospect of sharing them beside the Christmas fire. A happy sight to behold! And yet happier and more glorious is the Christian in the maturity of his autumnal days, who, having been long planted in the house of the Lord, and having flourished in the courts of his God, brings forth fruit in old age. Young Christians! see to it that your roots be watered by living streams, and that the Sun of Righteousness shine on your opening buds and leaves;—then, yours shall be the blooming verdure and fragrance of spring-yours shall be the fervid warmth of summer—and, finally, yours shall be the mellowed radiance, the perfected fruitfulness, and the ripeness for glory, which mark the autumn of the believer's life. GREVILLE EWING. (Concluded from page 300.) Now he was happy. Human authority no longer restrained him from his duty, as a servant of the most high God, anywhere and everywhere to show unto men the way of salvation. Unfettered as the fresh mountain-air of his father-land, he went forth with a glad heart and free step, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison doors to the sin-enchained. It was not in a spirit of insubordination that he cast off the yoke of that authority, which, perhaps in well-intentioned ignorance, had assumed to itself a place in the church, which by right appertains only to Christ the Lord; but it was that he might yield obedience to a higher power than of earth-that he might better honour the commands of his only Master, and fulfil his parting charge. There were at that time, here and there in Scotland, several religious societies that held Congregational principles; of these, three or four were named Independent. One of them was in Glasgow, and its minister was the excellent David Dale. These were the Old Independents, of whom Mr Orme, in his "Historical Sketch of Independency in Scotland," which appeared in the Congregational Magazine for 1819, remarks-"They were generally characterised by low views of the pastoral office, and by their unforbearing dispositions and principles about very trifling things." Besides these, the Glassites were a small body of Congregationalists, whose distinguishing doctrine was not the salvation of sinners, but the election of saints, and who execrated the idea of missionary effort. With none of these societies did Mr |