case be such that Bishops cannot or will not deal with this Protestant Popery, other means must be taken for disposing of it. We say, with the Dean of Bristol-" If it could be proved to be really true that the Church of England does speak with so uncertain a voice as to admit Tractarianism within her pale, with those who are favourable, more or less, to the superstitious spirit of Rome and their rites and observances, the people of England owe a great duty to the Almighty God of truth, and that is, not to rest until a Church speaking so uncertainly be again reformed, and brought nearer to the principles of the Reformation; that is, to the principles of THE PURE, SINCERE WORD OF GOD." We shall, in our next, show what the people may do, and how they may do it. EMINENT PIETY THE BEST PRESERVATIVE FROM ROMANISM. In looking around at the present day on the general agitation of society, and observing the numerous results which have already ensued from the recent Papal aggression on the Protestant character and integrity of this highly favoured land-an aggression which has come upon us like the raven wing of darkness, brooding over the best interests and future destinies of our people-a question of importance naturally arises to every reflecting mind, and one which should and will be cherished by every truly Christian and patriot heart-What are the best means of preservation from it? and what will most effectually arrest the progress and defeat the purposes of the "Man of Sin" among us? What will be most sure to disappoint the expectations of "that wicked one, whose coming is with all deceivableness of unrighteousness," to frustrate his designs, and to rob him of his wished-for prey? To this momentous and, in the times that are passing over us, most deeply interesting inquiry to all, it were easy to return an answer suited to the taste of different individuals, and to speculate on the best plans to be adopted, in accordance with the different bias of those who view it from different points of the political compass, and agreeably to the previous convictions and principles which they have che rished, with all seriousness and sobriety, in their minds. Some may question the propriety of employing one kind of instrumentality, and some another, wherewith to oppose the deep-laid machinations of the enemy of Britain and of the Church of God, at this interesting crisis. And in reference to these we say, "Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind," so as the opposition is but maintained and carried on decidedly, unsparingly, and unceasingly, against the encroachments of the most soul-destroying delusion that ever entered the precincts of this or of any other land. We war not with man, but with a system; not with any of our fellow-subjects, but with that mighty fabrication of evil which is now being attempted to be organised and established in our native isle, with all the ramifications of injury, and influences of corruption, which it may spread around. This, this is the object against which we have to con tend! And in reflecting upon the best and most effectual means of opposing it, it is delightful to consider that there is one, and perhaps almost only cne, in which the lovers of truth and of mankind will most cordially agree, against which not a voice can be lifted up, and the power and value of which none can exaggerate or too highly extol that which, perhaps alone, will be our safety, and the sheet-anchor of all our hopes in the coming future. It is the increase of genuine, evangelical piety among us, individually, socially, generally, as the best means, the most successful method, of counteracting the delusions of Popery, and of raising up a barrier against them over which they shall not be able to pass. This is indispensable. This would be our preservative, personally and ecclesiastically our national breakwater. Or, to adopt the words of inspiration, foretelling and providing it, "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him." That standard, and that alone, will repel the aggressions of Romanism. Against it, with Puseyism to its aid, "there will be no rising up." "How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight!" The one great object, then, upon which all our desires, solicitudes, and prayers at the present time should be concentrated, and in which all the lines of controversy should meet and terminate, is this-the progress and augmentation of vital godliness, of evangelical piety, of spiritual Christianity, in the midst of us. The mind that is impregnated with this, the people among whom it dwells, will be proof against all the insinuations of a false philosophy on the one hand, and the delusions of superstition on the other; and will say to them, as the evil spirit did to the exorcists of other days, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" If there be but a due amount of saving light in the understanding, and holy principle in the heart, the darkening clouds of Popery will fit over us as shadows that pass away; and the gorgeous array of a worldly ceremonial will have no more attraction for us than the glittering gewgaws of a summer's day. Nay, the thunderbolt of the Vatican itself, and the lightnings of its displeasure, with such a conductor will fall harmless to the ground. And all the appliances of Romish impudence, or of Jesuitical priestcraft, will have no more power to hurt us than the insect which flies with heedless course and buzzing wing against a stone wall. How can an individual in whose mind the light of salvation dwells, and in whose heart "the love of God is shed abroad by the power of the Holy Ghost," be ever enamoured by the vain fascinations of a system like that of Popery; or be induced, by any consideration whatever, to substitute, in the place of the "one Mediator" and Lord of all, the intervening "gods many and lords many," which, borrowed from paganism, the Papal authority has grafted on pure Christianity, and by which it is so disfigured and perverted? Can a little scarlet and purple and fine linen, in which its ministers are arrayed, be in its estimation comparable to the fine robe of a Redeemer's righteousness? or imaginary emotions of affection and veneration for all the saints in heaven, even with her whom all generations were to call "blessed," at their head, be a substitute or an equivalent for "fellowship with the Father and with his Son Christ Jesus?" Would the splendour of gaudy colours which a fellow-mortal may wear, be even thought of in the presence of the all-beauteous and immortal One? or would the long array of saints and angels, with all the hierarchy of Rome in their train, be allowed to hinder an approach to the Eternal, whilst the by, nor obstruct the light of heaven | strained and controlled by the devices from the problem I am endeavouring and impositions of men? Enthusiasm to solve." towards a fellow-being encouraged, but none towards God! Affection for all the saints, but little or none towards the Saviour! Ignatius extolled, but not the God-man whose name he has stolen to propagate one of the greatest impostures that ever overspread the earth! Mary adored, but He whom "all the angels of God" at his birth were commanded to worship, and in whose praise all the songs of heaven are at this moment employed, dis honoured and unknown! The servant preferred to his Master: the human to the Divine! How can these things be? Can this satisfy spiritual, ardent, heavenly love? Can it rest with the creature, however great? Can it stay with the subordinate, however good? Must it not, will it not, direct its course, and find its way, right up to the throne of God and of the Lamb? The exercise of the component graces in which the religion of the heart consists, and by which it it scripturally described, is utterly at variance with the external show of Papistry, and all that ingenious and ensnaring apparatus by which it stands surrounded and upheld. What, for instance, has penitence to do with the confessional, when it consists solely of pouring into the ears of the omniscient One ingenuous and contrite acknowledgments of our guilt, with purposes formed and expressed in His presence of amendment and reformation for the future? What has Faith in the Divine Substitute for transgressors, and a Divine atonement for transgressions, to do with the mimic representations of the Mass? or, Can that which justifies, which is the "substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," and which loves to hover around the cross, be satisfied with the testimony of a fellow-man, that for so much value received so much guilt is forgiven, when the Divine pardon comes freely, "without money and without price?" Hope lifts up its head, and joyfully anticipates the rest which remaineth for the people of God-the palms, the crowns, the robes of victory, and the "many mansions" which are above. But how can this endure to be arrested in its upward flight by the intervention of a Purgatory, which has no place in Scripture, none in the experience of departed saints, and none, we might add, in the universe of God? And love, holy love, the "greatest of the three," and of all that now remain, embracing in its wide and complacent circumference all created beings, deepening and heightening in intensity the nearer it approaches the Centre and the Source of all-how can this endure to have its affections measured and bounded by Papal rule, its ardour cooled by its decrees, and its effusions re Obedience, the practical virtue, and best evidence of all the rest, whose mo tive is that sacred principle to which we have just referred, and whose scope is to walk in "all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord blameless " what has it to do with compliance with the dictates of men, or the most exact agreement with the rules of an order superstitiously formed and ecclesiastically imposed? Its natural, its prompt inquiry, at the feet of Him that bled and died, is, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and its code of laws is that which He also delivered, as penned and handed down to us in His sacred word. It never dwells so much in its own element as in subjection to the authority of Christ, and never feels so much delight as in compliance with the dictates of His will. To hear His voice, to see it recorded, “Thus saith the Lord," is enough to set in motion all the wheels of its energies, and to keep in tension the mainspring of its devotion, till all His statutes are regarded and all His will is performed. But how poor, how deteriorating, how dishonouring, to sub- | inheritance and divide the glory with stitute for Divine commands the traditions of men, and to transfer to human claims the honour and allegiance which are due to God alone! The most minute prescriptions of the "canon law" | may be observed, the exactest punctilios of the rosary and the ritual be regarded, and the rules of the "order be obeyed with a devotion and a zeal which should satisfy the most superstitious conscience and the most earnest devotee, but all the while the heart be a stranger to the "obedience of faith," | and to that compliance with the will of God which his word, and the mediatorial work of Christ, everywhere require. And then, "What doth it profit ?" "Can grapes grow on thorns, or figs on thistles? can a fountain send forth both bitter waters and sweet?" Can the fruits of a willing obedience to Christ grow from the same root as that which yields a superstitious and superior regard to man? Let the Searcher of all hearts reply" In vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." If the homage of the soul be transferred from the Divine to the human; if the dogmas of patristical or ecclesiastical authority be preferred to those of Christ; if the rules of any "order," or the code of any father, be substituted for the simple, clear, and known commands of Him who redeemed us with His blood, there is an end to all evangelical obedience. It is stunted in its growth; it is counterfeited by a pretender; its seat is preoccupied by an usurper; or, rather, it has no existence whatever in the soul. All Christian obedience must be rendered to Christ. It acknowledges no other Master or Lord. "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you," is the rule of discipleship now; and, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto me," is the reward of discipleship hereafter. With this is incompatible allegiance to any other. There can be no rival on the throne of Zion; none to share the Him. "But these my enemies, that Not so will be put in regard with equal observance, the examples of predecessors and the commandments of his Lord. By the one must the other be tried; the "To the law and former by the latter. to the testimony;" and if they walk not according to this, however distinguished their titles, and celebrated their actions, in the records of the past, "it is because there is no light in them." Faith, hope, love, obedience, all grounded on repentance towards God," and a fiducial reliance on our Lord Jesus Christ-these are the constituent graces. These make the Christian. Their development and growth is progressive sanctification; and their maturity is the "fulness of the stature of the manhood in Christ Jesus." Have they any fellowship with Rome? Can they derive aliment from its provisions, or strength from its supplies? Will its mythology minister to their increase, or its fables to their fuitfulness? As well might we expect life to be sustained by death; health to be engendered from corruption; and light to be illumined by darkness. There can be no fellow ship between them, much less vigour be imparted from the one to the other. In proportion as we are Christians shall we recede from Rome. In proportion as the constituent principles of "pure and undefiled religion" are strong and flourishing in our souls, will the ceremonies and superstitions of that apostasy, with all that is allied to them, be tasteless, insipid, and vain. The shell will not satisfy for the kernel; the casket for the jewel; the shadow for the substance. There will be no affinity between them; and, like opposites in chemistry, however near they may approximate each other, and on whatsoever side the juxtaposition may be, they will not mingle. The Christian thus fortified will laugh to scorn all the de vices of men, and bid defiance to all the blandishments or frowns of any system whatever which would withdraw him from the "simplicity that is in Christ." Strong in the might of principle, and in the strength of his Lord, he will resist the most powerful temptations to waver; and, like the constant seraph, as he pursues his onward course, in a world like this, and in times like these, it may be said of him "Among the faithless, faithful only he; Among innumerable false, unmoved, Unshaken, unseduced, unterrifiedHis loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal; Nor number, nor example, with him wrought To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind." M. C. THE BOOK OF RUTH: ITS SPIRIT AND DESIGN. (From the German of Dr. F. W. C. Umbreit.) *** If we but expound the sacred | panorama. Celebrated critics dwell for poetical writings of the Old Testament with a correct, Oriental taste, and an unprejudiced, devout mind, there must, naturally, be a mutual interpretation of the theological and the asthetic interest in our exposition of them. As an evidence of the manner in which a more profound aesthetical examination of the writings also promotes the more thorough understanding of them, in a theological point of view, we may find place here for the renewed critical illustration of a book which, for a long time past,* has not been subject to any very close examina tion. The most usual, and most superficial, admiration of the little "Book of Ruth," is based upon that idyllic, free life of nature which presents itself to us, with such charming freshness, in the faithfully and clearly drawn scenes of its *This was written in 1834.-TR. the most part in towns; and it is pleasant to them to be transported from the confinement of the city to the open harvest-fields of Boaz. Those who go a little deeper into the matter, linger with especial interest in the contemplation of the characters presented in their indescribable truthfulness and masterly completeness of delineation. Ruth, as the chief person of the history-what nobleness of the feminine mind, along with so much innocence and tenderness! How pleasing the generous disposition and the refined manners of Boaz! Naomi-how truly motherly, how charming in her disinterestedness, as she seeks, on the borders of the Moabite territory, to persuade her beloved daughter-in-law to return! And who does not readily forgive the affectionate motherin-law the little artifice which she employs in order to procure the marriage of her daughter-in-law to Boaz, and in |