science of the late venerable John character. Her industry, her discreNewton, which cleaved to him through tion, her piety, her dutiful and kind all his subsequent licentiousness, till demeanour, diffuse a savour which is he became an eminent believer and like the dew of Hermon, and as the preacher of that gospel which he had dew that descended upon the moundespised;" I feel the weight of the sen- tains of Zion, where the Lord comtiment, that "though her station is manded his blessing. Daughters who subordinate, yet, in a great measure, a are thus qualified to fill the stations mother carries in her heart, and holds they occupy, are beautifully compared in her hand, the destinies of the world." by the sacred penman, to "corner I could mention other men and other stones" in a splendid edifice, that are mothers whose benignant influence has " polished after the similitude of a pabeen felt through a long line of de- lace." As a sister the influence of such scendants, and whose usefulness will a female is scarcely less desirable. not be revealed till the final restitution The reason why sisters so often exert of all things. The name of mother vi- a lamented influence over one another, brates on my heart. One I knew, of and over their brothers, is, that they blessed memory, whose tender affec- are not qualified to exert a better. If tion was never weary, and to whose instead of devoting their attention to sentiments of faith and picty, often mere external accomplishments, and whispered in the ears of a reluctant a very limited course of intellectual son, is it to be attributed, more than to attainments, they would aspire after any other means, that unto him, who is solid improvements and durable virthe least of all saints, is this grace tues; if instead of being absorbed in given, that he should preach the un- the love of ornament and admiration, searchable riches of Christ. Who can they would aim at accomplishments estimate the value of one devout, de- that ennoble the mind, dignify the pervoted mother? Who can limit the in- son, and meliorate the heart; how fluence of woman in such a sphere? I easy would it be for them to give their pity woman, but I honour her. I know own domestic circle the pre-eminence the reproach of woman, but still more above every other society, and within do I know her honours. Next to their their own happy dwelling, form each rejection of the Son of Mary, do I es- other's habits and characters, so as to teem it the deepest reproach of Jewish become ornaments and blessings to the men, that in their daily prayers they world. Nor is the more humble conthank the God of Abraham they were dition of a female servant, who is qualinot born women! Yes, my friends, it fied to fill her important station, to be is an honour to be born a woman. Of esteemed of little or no account. To what avail are the authority, and pow- what a multitude of families has the er, and laws of nations, compared industry, the intelligence, the faith, with the silent influence of woman? the piety, the prayers, the example of Who is more justly honoured than the such a woman, even in this retired demother of children who have been the partment, proved an invaluable blessbenefactors of the world? This influ- ing. Very often, when unknown to ence and honour are the blessing of herself, is she scattering the seeds of many an humbled and ennobled fe- mercy. Many a parent, and many a male. What was the high and honest child, many a giddy daughter and froexultation of the Roman Cornelia, ex- ward son, has been kept from perdition hibiting her Gracchi, compared with by the timely efforts of a faithful serthe gratified faith and piety of many a vant. Are there none of you, my Christian mother, as she points to her friends, in the higher walks of human sons and daughters, and says, These society, who have been snatched as are my treasures-these are the chil- brands from the burning, by the indren which God has graciously given strumentality of a godly servant? Eternity only can disclose the extent of influence which a discreet and pious female may exert even in the humblest sphere." me. But there are domestic relations of a less important kind, which an accomplished female sustains with distinguished benefit to all around her. As a daughter, every member of the family with which she is associated acknowledges the power and purity of her The concluding address to the members and patrons of the society, for whose special benefit the sermon was delivered, is so fervent and animated that we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of presenting it to our readers as our concluding extract, praying God deeply to impress on the bearts of all our female readers, the great interest which it is their highest interest to feel in the great work of evangelizing the world. "I address you as a society bound and banded together by the love of Jesus Christ, and for the most noble and sacred of purposes,-that of sending the gospel to the destitute settlements of our extended country. Never did woman appear more elevated than in this high calling. Well may the speaker congratulate himself on being the advocate of female piety on such an occasion as this. Woman has been little else than a prisoner, or a slave, where the celestial influence of a pure religion has not knocked off her chains, and proclaimed emancipation from her servitude. And woman, defenceless woman, needs the influence and support of piety. In all her fears and trials, in all her disappointment and fatigue, how frail, how baseless, the superstructure of her hopes, if the Eternal God is not her refuge. But with the God of Jacob for her help, how does poor, feeble woman triumph over the trials of apostasy, and the helplessness of her condition, and throw into the shades of oblivion, the patience, submission, and confidence of the stronger sex. I have often thought that piety has been to women what it never matchless power been evinced, espehas been to men. And how has its cially in the storms of keen adversity! Many a time, while the quivering spirit of her hardy compeer has been shattered by the tempest, and when in painful apprehension, I have looked to see her frail form sink beneath the billows; has her heaven invigorated countenance faced the storm, and her buoyant heart been fixed, trusting in the Lord. Oh! my young female friends, lift your youthful eye up to the Father of Lights, and however dark and heavy the clouds that may be about him, you shall descry some "bow of promise” around his throne. Heavy clouds and thick darkness may indeed be there. The days may be few that are crowned with peace and joy. But oh! there is every thing to cheer the mournful vale. Those indications of grace and faithfulness shall never withdraw their encircled lustre from the throne of God. Jesus Christ hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light, and that light shall never fade, that immortality shall never die." From the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine. "SIGNS OF CONVERSION AND UNCONVERSION IN MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH." SINCE the revival of evangelical truth, by the preaching of the Methodists, several of the bishops, and many hundreds of the clergy, and thousands of the members of the Church of England, have seen the necessity of distinguishing between the converted and unconverted ministers of the church. In the diocess of St. David's a society, of which the bishop is the president, gave a premium, a few years ago, to Mr. S. C. Wilks, a young man of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, for an "Essay on the Signs of Conversion and Uncon version in the Ministers of the Church," which essay was printed by the society, and we hope was circulated, not only in Wales, but through the whole United Kingdom, for the instruction of both clergy and laity. Mr. Wilks, who is now himself a minister, and a converted minister, we have no doubt, has lately published a second edition of his Essay, which has just fallen into our hands, and which we are desirous of bringing under the notice of our readers. The signs of conversion and un conversion in the ministers of the church are clearly marked in this essay; and it is of great importance that both the ministers and congregations of the Church of England, and of every denomination of Christians, should know them, and remember them. The terms conversion and unconversion, as Mr. Wilks observes, have fallen under a degree of reproach, as well as other terms which are connected with the fashionable doctrines of Christianity. In the primitive church, the language of Christians, in speaking on religious subjects, was formed from the language of the New Testament. Among the ministers of the Church of England also, both at the Reformation, and for many years afterwards, a similar practice prevailed: at length, however, Scripture language was disused, and even studiously avoided, and the doctrines with which it was connected were neglected or disbelieved. It was discovered that ethics might be discussed without the use of terms peculiar to Christianity; and it was not difficult to substitute the words virtue, reformation, and moral consciousness, for sanctification, conversion, and conviction of sin. It may naturally be asked, What are the peculiar doctrines in the preaching of a minister which form the test of his conversion? To this question we will give the answer in Mr. Wilks's words: "The most obvious (of those doctrines) is, that man has departed from original righteousness, and on account of sin is justly obnoxious to the divine anger. This fact, and the consequence deduced from it, form the hypothesis on which the preaching of every converted minister, and, indeed, the whole scheme of Christianity, is founded; and which being denied, Christianity and preaching become inappropriate and useless. What minister who admits the necessity of the atonement; and who that admits its necessity, can be who, that allows its importance, can unconscious of its importance? Or fail to make it a prominent topic in his parochial addresses? "In addition to these points, justification, solely and exclusively through the merits of Christ, has been always considered, among men of piety, as a doctrine plainly revealed in Scripture, and of essential value in the system of human redemption. They have viewed much less as an excrescence, but as it, not as an appendage of corollary, the sum, the substance, the life, the spirit, of the whole dispensation. On this only, their own hopes of pardon and on this only have they exhorted and acceptance have been founded, others to depend. Having learned from revelation the nature of God and the extent of the divine requisitions, and having at the same time discovered the fall, to secure to himself a place in the utter incompetency of man, since heaven by sinless obedience, they have acknowledged that nothing but a revelation of gratuitous mercy could relieve our wants, or be worth our doctrine in question has, in every pure acceptance. On these accounts, the church, been considered of supreme importance; and, whatever may be the prevailing sentiment of any particular always the same, the piety of that miage, the gospel and its effects being nister is undoubtedly suspicious, whose preaching is heretical or defective on this fundamental subject of justification by the merits of Christ. mentioned topic is that of the Divinity Intimately connected with the last of our Saviour, a doctrine which, beyond most others, has been ridiculed and impugned; but which is so explicitly taught in the Sacred Writings, economy of human salvation, that it and so necessarily implied in the whole would be difficult to imagine him a converted man who denies its truth, or him a faithful minister who forgets its importance. The disbelief of this doctrine, virtually implies a disbelief of Christianity. (except so far as it is a system of ethics,) and must, therefore, be the most fatal of mistakes. "The Divinity of the Holy Spirit will hardly be denied, but by men who have read the Scriptures with the express design of perverting them; or his agency, but by those who have 1 previously concluded that it is not ne- trines of Christianity will appear in the preaching of a converted minister, to be of moral and practical importance; while, from the preaching of the unconverted minister, who is ignorant of the evangelical principle of obedience, the doctrinal and preceptive parts of Scripture will scarcely appear to have any connexion. cessary, and, therefore, is not promised. Every minister of the Church of England has so solemnly attested his belief on these two subjects, (and, indeed on all those before mentioned,) that, even if unconverted, we might reasonably expect him to be orthodox. In that very service, for example, by which he is initiated into the ministry, he distinctly acknowledges the Sacred Spirit's influence; and that, not as a vague dogma, or a mere article of peace, but as a practical truth, and as the very bias that incited him to become a Christian pastor. This spiritual agency a pious man will not be content to forget with the day of his ordination. He will of course assiduously guard it against the misconceptions of fanaticism, distinguish it from the more evident and miraculous effusions of the primitive ages, and teach his hearers to hope for it only in the appointed use of means and second causes: but he will not deny its existence, dispute its necessity, explain it away till it becomes useless, or fail to implore it both for himself and the people committed to his charge. The man who denies the influences of the Holy Spirit, can of course have no reason for supposing that they have been vouchsafed to himself; and since they are represented in Scripture as necessary to implant either the desire or the ability to return to God, he can in consequence have no just evidence of his conversion. He, on the contrary, who is really and visibly bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit, and showing his faith by his works, will with humility acknowledge, that whatever is good in him flows from a higher source than his own heart, and, without the least semblance of enthusiasm, will consider it as an emanation from that Being from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed."—p. 36-42. After having mentioned the principal doctrines which the converted minister preaches, Mr. Wilks proceeds to describe the practical effects which flow from them. A constant theme of the discourses of such a man will be the necessity of that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. All the essential doc The most conspicuous aim of a pious minister, says Mr. Wilks, and that to which his whole conduct may be reduced, is the salvation of his own soul, and the souls of those that hear him. It is impossible that he who has imbibed even the smallest portion of that Christian spirit which actuated the apostles, confessors, and martyrs, can remain an unconcerned spectator of the religious wants of those whose souls are entrusted to his care. His preaching will be cordial and affectionate; his private labours conscientious and unremitted; and in his whole conduct, he will appear to value his bodily strength, and his mental attainments, only as they promote the cause of the Redeemer. In speaking of the recreations of a clergyman, as important tests of his character, Mr. Wilks observes, that the converted minister has neither time nor inclination to swell the processions of gayety. His spirit not being secular, his amusements will not be such. There are atmospheres which he knows he cannot breathe without contamination. Besides, he has a definite object of pursuit, and is conscious that the souls of his people will be required at his hand. A man who is thus impressed, will not devote his mornings to the chase, or his evenings to the card-table; he will not feel ambitious of being the steward of a raceground or the litigious guar dian of the game laws; he will neither appear the foppish and idle attendant of female vanity, nor the boisterous associate of Bacchanalian carousals. Mr. Wilks then considers the difference between the converted and unconverted minister in various other respects, in which we adopt his sentiments although we abridge his language. Suppose an ignorant, careless person to be convinced that he is a sinner before God, and that the threatenings denounced against the wicked are applicable to himself. If he apply to a minister who has himself been convinced of sin and has found consolation in Christ, the penitent inquirer will be directed to look unto him who taketh away the sin of the world.' But the merely nominal minister is, in such cases, unavoidably embarrassed; not being practically acquainted with the subject himself, he knows not how to act towards others; and, perhaps, even views the inquirer as a hypocrite or an enthusiast. The friends of a pious minister, as far as selection depends upon himself, will be Christian. He will mix with the world only with a view to benefit it, but his solace and delight will be with the excellent of the earth.' If it were difficult to distinguish an unconverted minister by other signs, he may be detected by his familiar and unnecessary intercourse with careless and irreligious persons. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It is not possible for the gospel to be professed in its unsophisticated energy and spirit, without exciting the opposition of mankind. The sarcastic hint, the retorted sneer, and the petty insult, are frequently employed against the faithful minister of Christ, and he patiently sustains all such opposition, while the unconverted minister will not endure it. The one bears the reproach of the cross of Christ, with meekness and charity; the other violently repels it, and thinks nothing is of so great importance as the friendship and the praise of the world. We shall conclude our extracts from this essay with a paragraph which shows that Mr. Wilks felt strongly the great necessity of distinguishing between the converted and unconverted ministers of the church. and minor considerations must, there"The souls of men are concerned, fore, disappear. If those who profess to instruct others in the way to heaven, be ignorant of it themselves, the consequences are too awful to be risked for of individuals. It is essential to the the sake of gratifying the false delicacy interest of the people at large, and also of individual ministers themselves, that the precious be separated from both must fall. The advantages of sethe vile. If the blind lead the blind, rious examination into the characters of the clergymen, must, therefore, always be far more than commensurate with its inconveniences. The unfaithful may indeed be exposed to disgrace, but the pious will, at the same time, be rewarded with the honour due to their fidelity and labours." To the Editors of the Methodist Magazine. A BRAND PLUCKED FROM THE BURNING. DEAR BRETHREN,-I copy the following lines from my memorandum book, where, some days ago, they were written without any design of giving them to the public. It having since occurred to me that the publication of these |