PUBLISHED BY FREDERICK WESTLEY AND A. H. DAVIS, AND SOLD BY JOHN BOYD, EDINBURGH. PREFAC E. ANOTHER year of extraordinary interest has rolled away, and new scenes of deeper inmportance open to the view of mankind. Both at home and abroad, changes of a most unexpected nature have taken place; so that no one can now venture to anticipate, with any degree of certainty, the course of public events. It is impossible for the most sagacious observer of the state of mankind to say what will be the ultimate effect of those revolutions which have recently occurred on the Continent of Europe; but, in looking to France, it is delightful beyond expression to see how the God of nations is over-ruling the downfall of a superstitious and bigoted throne, for the advancement of vital Christianity, and the diffusion of the Sacred Volume. The agents of the Paris Bible Society are now, without interruption, going from village to village, in the length and breadth of the country, and in the open streets, calling out to the benighted inhabitants, "Bibles and Testaments for sale." In a Catholic country, what a joyful spectacle is this! cause. We also learn, from Extracts of Correspondence recently published by the Continental Society, that the holy and devoted men who labour in their service have found a change of government most favourable to the objects of their mission; that it has diminished, in every quarter, the influence of the Catholic priesthood, and that it has given birth to a feeling of religious inquiry, which induces them to appeal to the Com-mittee of the Institution in this country for fresh exertions on behalf of the great Some of the letters are of the most gratifying description. May the kingdom of Christ come, and his will be done, in that land where, for so long a period, superstition and infidelity have unhappily prevailed! Let the friends of vital Christianity direct their attention to this important country, under its present interesting circumstances; let them stand in readiness to answer the call of those Christian friends on the continent who best know what measures ought, at the present moment, to be pursued, and we may soon hope, by the divine blessing, to see the revolution of empire and the change of dynasty over-ruled for the establishment and increase of that kingdom which "is not of this world." In looking at home, we see much to call forth humility and prayer, on the one hand, and gratitude and hope on the other. There are many things, in the state of religious society, truly alarming to every sober-minded observer of human events. In Scotland, England, and Ireland, a spirit of daring speculation obtains, to a most painful extent, on subjects connected with the study of unfulfilled prophecy ;-so that the predictions of the infallible Spirit are put out to pawn, in certain quarters, upon all the political and passing events of the times. This unhealthy state of a portion of the public mind, which owes its existence to a few pertinacious but talented individuals, has, of late, associated itself with the doctrine of modern miracles; so that every one who has reached the proper pitch of enthusiasm, now vests himself in the garb of apostolic authority, and calls upon the victims of nervous debility, in the name of the Lord Jesus, to arise and walk. We do say that this is an awfully presumptuous state of religious society; and we call upon all wellinstructed ministers and private Christians to enter, without hesitation, their decided protest against such gross and dangerous instances of superstition; that if those already entangled in this well-known popish snare cannot be reclaimed, simple-hearted enquirers may at least be retained on the side of truth and common-sense. We give it as our deliberate opinion, after reading all the printed accounts of certain occurrences which have recently taken place, both North and South of the Tweed, that no miracle, nor any thing answering to a miracle, has yet been wrought, either by avowed or anonymous agents; and we have elsewhere pledged ourselves that, at no distant day, we shall, if God spare us, lay before our readers instances of popish miracles so called, quite as wonderful and quite as well authenticated as any to which the new prophetic school yet lays claim. We call upon them—and all their charges of infidelity and hardheartedness shall not deter us—to put their miraculous gifts, if indeed they possess them, beyond the possibility of reasonable doubt. Let them open eyes which never had the faculty of vision,-let them raise a dead man after he has become putrid, -let them walk, without dismay, on the troubled ocean,-let them speak some well-known tongue that they never learned,―let them do any one or all of these, and we will instantly concede the point that they have wrought a miracle. Till then, we must tell the public, and we do it in all gravity, that the doctrine of modern miracles is nothing more than an appendage of millenarianism. Christ, according to this scheme, is about to leave heaven and take up his abode on this earth, and therefore it is reasonable to expect miraculous gifts, as the precursor of his advent. Why, then, should not that be realised which it is reasonable to expect, and why should not true believers in the state of things looked for be feeling their way, by faith, for the miraculous dispensation anticipated? Well, all this may be very consistent with the scheme advocated by certain moderns; but it will not necessarily empower them to work miracles; and we again call on them to do some of the things referred to, or to cease from their present presumptuous efforts. Whence, we ask them, did they receive their extraordinary commission? What are its express provisions? What benefit will accrue to Christianity as the result of their miraculous credentials? What advantage to mankind at large from the miraculous endowment of a section of the professing world already notorious for its spiritual pride? Ere they are able to answer these questions, we hope, by the divine help, and by the aid of the Christian press, to convince all capable of being reasoned with, that the things called miracles, in certain quarters, lay no claim whatever to such a high and sacred character. We cannot close these remarks without referring to the disturbed state of the country. It is such, beyond doubt, as to excite alarm. A few designing and wicked men are practising partly upon the credulity and partly upon the despair and distress of their fellow-creatures; and are goading them on to acts of outrage which can only augment the general calamity. It cannot be concealed, however, that the labouring classes of this country are suffering most severe hardships; nor ought it to be forgotten, that the nobility, gentry, and clergy, and, indeed, all the monied interests of the country, must consent to make sacrifices, in order to the preservation of the existing state of society. We look to that God who has so often interposed on our behalf. Let Christians act up to their sacred profession, and they may yet shield our country from the richly-deserved judgments of Heaven. We rejoice to think that we have a kindhearted and patriotic Monarch; and we congratulate the nation npon the fact, that our beloved King has recently called into his counsels an Administration of great intellectual and political vigour, which has already won the public confidence, by entering on a system of unshrinking national retrenchment. We hope to see Colonial Slavery abolished under the auspices of such an administration. |