together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." That there should be no schism in the body: or, as the passage is rendered in Wiclif's Testament, of 1380, that debate be not in the bodi, but that the membris be bisi into the same thing ech for othir:' a lesson which, though in an old fashioned dress, is by no means powerless, or inapplicable in these later days.

Having waded through the waters of his distress, and collected all the injuries which the conference has inflicted upon the societies under their care, the invention of our nameless author begins to fail; and he gathers up his ends, by asking, What can and ought to be done? To which he answers, We e say, Let the societies generally awake from their slumbers; of course, for the purpose of war and contention. But another, and a far better reply may be made: Leave off contention before it be meddled with.' This gentleman, who supposes that the myriads of the Methodist society have been asleep for the last century, will not be received as a competent witness; and had better take care lest, in his haste to slander his neighbours, his own name be found recorded in the catalogue of persons, drawn by a great writer: Busy bodies, who are apt, not only to speak, but print and circulate, things which they ought not.'-One fact is pretty clear, and, if reflection has resumed her office, it may relieve the mind of this assailant. His book will not do much harm. It is true, report has stated that a few misguided persons have so far erred, as to elope from the society; and if that step was induced by the publication in question, one can only lament that the parties were so easily moved. As an effort to create disunion, a more complete failure was never exhibited. If this should disappoint, it may at the same time instruct, the parties. Having formed a wrong estimate of the Methodist societies, they may perhaps learn to form a right one of themselves; a task which, if faithfully executed, will do them a world of good. The miscalculation of power is singular, and could have been entered into only under an aberration of the faculties: Awake from your slumber!' says the penman, addressing the societies throughout the United Kingdom; as if at a call so puny, the Methodists from all winds would rise and congregate. But it did not answer. All was quiet, and likely to remain so. 'Let meetings be held,' he again rejoins; but no one listened; the earth did not pause upon its axis; the blast was too feeble to disturb a gnat; and if his letter-press thoughts are again to be divulged to the public, he will do well to inquire in the first chapter, Why he, who has nothing to say, should nevertheless determine to write?

Persons of cultivated minds are not likely to be moved by the sallies of meddling and officious men. It is among the class of persons chiefly who are not much indebted to education, that the

net is thrown, and who, unless sufficiently guarded, are likely to be entangled in its meshes. Not that the merits of the case are a whit altered, whether it receive support or not. That which is essentially untrue remains so, let who will assert the contrary. It is enough to know that the nature of truth cannot be altered, let who will speak it; and that error remains the same, even though a cluster of names are collected to avouch it. Twenty ciphers are infinitely less than a unit: and if men inconsiderately attest the thing which they ought not, they must be content to fall within the price usually fixed to goods of no value. But it may happen that persons by the force of importunity are drawn in to sanction measures at which on reflection the mind must naturally revolt. It is probable that the evils of party spirit, are not always considered. Party has been defined, 'the madness of many, for the gain of a few. In our day, it is occasionally the folly of a few, for the gain of none.-Let us exhibit a sample. A party man is seldom an agreeable companion. His theory is so narrow, and his creed so small, that, like his shoes, they seem made for his exclusive use. He is amazed that any one should doubt the accuracy of his system, because he is satisfied with it. His judgment is biased, and resembles a pair of scales of which the beam is for ever awry. General society is so imperfect, he cannot endure it; and in the investigation of its laws, his aim is, not to enjoy that which is right, but exult over that which is wrong. He fares therefore as a cer

tain countryman did, who took the trouble of extracting the husks from a bushel of wheat: he has the chaff for himself. He surveys creation through the medium of a contracted vision, and is apt to forget that he is not the only man who has a claim upon the bounty of the skies. He pities people who differ from his persuasion, and wonders how it is that others dream of being right. He revolves in a circle, of which the centre is himself. Those who are squeezed in with him are the lucky few: all without are nothing, if not something worse. Unused to much thinking, and too impatient to pursue it, petty purposes, and a kind of pin's head policy are all he compasses. His cause appears great, because he will look at no other. A maggot in a nut might come to the same conclusion, and for a similar reason, because he has a maggot mind. He is struck with the degeneracy of all around. People, too, are so ignorant. And if wisdom should die with him, matters, he is sure, would be worse. In these sweeping censures he never suspects the prejudices of his own mind; though they produce a jaundiced yellowness on all he inspects. Of this every body is sensible but himself. They smile at his folly; and were it not that he flies off at a tangent, some charitable person might undertake to undeceive him. He expects, after death, to go to heaven. It is devoutly hoped he may. That, he thinks, is a place just large enough to contain himself, and those who subscribe to his opinions.

The principles and practice of a consistent member of religious

society are directly the reverse of that described. Before he enters into communion, he sits down, as every reasonable man ought, and counts the cost. When that is done, he ascertains how far and in what respects such a society is suited to his condition. He acquaints himself with its general and special laws and regulations; with its privileges and prohibitions; and with its adaptation to his present state. This is performed before he joins the body, not after. For want of taking this trouble, some persons he had seen who entered the church they knew not why, and on principles they never understood; in consequence of which, though ever learning, they scarcely ever advanced. The corner stone of his attachment was laid with examination and care. Satisfied as to its security, he proceeds with the superstructure; and finds himself established in the faith. It is scarcely necessary to add, that he feels confidence in the integrity of the pastors of his church. Were it not so, he would not have committed his spiritual concerns to their custody and guidance. For if they are worthy of his trust in that which is greater, he thinks it would be unreasonable to suspend it in that which is less. He considers that, as the precepts and observances of the church are promulged for general use, they ought to be honored by general obedience. Nor does he carp and quibble at the whole, because it contains an enactment or two which presses hard on his particular interest. He tries, on these as on all other points, to preserve the even tenor of the Christian temper; and is therefore noted, not so much perhaps for what he says, as what he does: matters in which he imagines there is some difference. He is sensible that, in the church, he is merely one member among many; that others have rights, and require respect, as well as he; and that for the welfare and perpetuity of the body, the well-being and convenience of every member must be consulted. He perceives that as the eye cannot perform the functions of the ear, nor the hands those of the feet, every member and faculty must remain in the assigned department. This rule he thinks is absolute, and admits of no exceptions; and that whoever forsakes the post of duty, and invades that of others, sins against the whole body. In assemblies for temporal affairs, he puts the best construction upon the acts of others; and in matters which are nonessential would rather yield to public opinion, than support his own by cavil and pertinacity. Above every thing else, and this decides the superiority of the man, he keeps in mind that the control and direction of the pecuniary affairs of the church are important only with reference to the spirituality of the members, and the prosperity of the cause of God. He sees 'there is a house above, not made with mortal hands;' and that when the top stone is put on, and all is ready, the scaffolding of human means and ordinances will be taken down. Like a man on the verge of an important journey, he is intent on his safe arrival and right reception, and has no time to quarrel about the vehicle in which his place is taken. The

prevalence of these impressions fits him for duty; and if unwittingly drawn into the vortex of debate, it improves the atmosphere in which he breathes, and like the broken box of spikenard very precious, as mentioned in Scripture, throws around a fragrance, which a heart disciplined by grace alone can feel.

Upon the whole, we assume, as a defensible proposition, that Wesleyan Methodism, in its present unchanged and unchangeable form, is likely to survive its assailants, ghostly and corporeal; and of the latter, at least, we are disposed to expect not only a suspension of hostility, but the establishment of perfect and permanent peace. By the destruction of an enemy is meant, that, by some salutary process of moral alchymy, he should be transmuted to a friend. The enmity dies, but the man is preserved. From what has occurred it is evident that the attempts made to unloose the bonds of the society have failed. The members have, in fact, other and more important work upon their hands, and cannot descend from their high calling, either to make systems or to blow bubbles. They went round the towers of Methodism before they went within them. They marked well her bulwarks before they trusted to them; and having fairly entered her gates, have no disposition to dispute points on which their minds, through long and comfortable usage, have been taught, almost intuitively, to rest in peace. Besides, will any man who condemns existing Methodism, tell how it may be mended? No one has done so, and on that account people are inclined to think no one can. How it may be marred and spoiled is easily seen. And yet some sound an alarm, as if the skies were about to fall. They put out our light, but do not lend us their candle. They say, "See how far we are going forward:" but they only turn round. From the pretensions made, one would suppose that tomes of ecclesiastical lore had been searched for some new law of clerical jurisprudence, and that a mine of intelligence, deep and rich, was about to be revealed. But it has turned out like some other mines. We have sunk a shaft, and there is nothing in it.

There is another consideration, which ought to be seriously weighed. The utmost degree of success which could attend the promoters of the attempts we now condemn, is, that they should produce a rent in the church. If, for instance, the writer to whom we have before alluded, had powers of persuasion ten times greater than he possesses, and could make proselytes at pleasure, what reward awaits him? He would be a noted schismatic; and those who follow in his train must share his honor. Is this, can this be, a pursuit worthy of an intelligent and enlightened mind? Can it be supposed by the most romantic descendant of the Spanish knight, that human life and human intellect were given for a purpose so poor and paltry, so evil and malignant? We presume to answer in the negative. If the comfort and spiritual stability of the poorest man, in the poorest village in the kingdom, were destroyed, by

the perusal of factious and inflammatory matter, the bare possibility of the case ought to be highly admonitory to the inventors of evil things. And as authors, like us common men, must die, it might not be amiss now and then to throw forward their reflections to the end of life. Perhaps it may then be discovered, that to foment division by a prostituted pen, among those who ought to be united, is a method of making sad provision for their final hour.

The observation is trite, that facts are stubborn things; and apart from mere assertion or averment, the present pacific and united condition of the Wesleyan body is a fact, palpable as the risen sun; and encouraging as clear.- -As to an Address to the Members of the Methodist Connection,' which is the title chosen on the occasion now under notice, as if the author had some peculiar license to deal out general and extraordinary epistles to the church throughout the world, there can be but one opinion upon it. It is a liberty which ought not to have been taken. If, indeed, any remarkable event had rendered it necessary that a distinct and an immediate appeal should be universally made, no doubt suitable persons would be found to execute the task. Here, however, nothing of the kind is seen, and the attention of half a million persons is invoked, to look at a few pages, written by a person whom nobody knows, to do an action about which nobody cares. This will not do. There is no relish of common propriety in it. Something magnificent was probably intended: but the writer mistook his power. -The discipline as well as the doctrine of Wesley will roll onward for many a year to come, and no man will be thanked who throws a nettle on his grave, by impugning them.Now, if factious remarks are pernicious within the church, what are the consequences with regard to the world? This is a painful consideration, and worthy the notice of those concerned. From open violence the people of God have nothing to fear. Truth, in one form or other, will force its way; nor can religion be frowned from the world. But what is to be said, when men professing piety become the accusers of their own church and people; and are detected in the circulation of remarks adapted to expose the best of causes to contempt and derision? And what are we to say, when this is done by men, whose supposed experience ought to render them respectable?

Who would not smile that such a man there be?
Who would not weep that Atticus were he?

The alleged profession of these persons is, to describe the condition of Methodism; but this is all pretence. They never hit a single feature, nor succeed in the outline. It is neither a cabinet painting, nor a whole-length portrait. Its character is broad caricature. The beauties of the original are vilely dropped. Supposed deformities are embodied and distorted. New ones are invented and superadded. All this, which, setting aside the mischief, may be very comical, is set forth upon paper, which any worldling may