To the Editor of the "Church Warder." LINES ON THE FILEY HARBOUR OF REFUGE. WHO wide o'er the sea could survey The beams of the moon, that have striven Benignly her light to display, And not wish to reflect thus the glory of heaven, I looked on the face of the deep, Like an infant that's cradled asleep; But indignant it now tossed its billows on high, Then a cry 'bove the tempest so wild, Of sailor, of parent and child; And humanity joyed to see Filey extend Then I thought of the refuge from wrath, For all on life's ocean distressed; And what safety the mariner hath, Who heeds but the Heavenly Pilot's behest, Then I thought of the fire of that Day, In time, then, to Him will I flee, Himself the world's ransom who gave, My life and my refuge is He: His arm shall protect from the menacing wave, T. H. T. Notices of Books. In CYCLOPEDIA BIBLIOGRAPHICA (Darling).—Subjects with Part XII. just published, is now completed. No. XII. contains the conclusion of the Commentaries on the Revelations, Scripture Prophecy; Types and Figures of Scripture, Scripture Promises and Threatenings, Biblical Antiquities, Sacred Geography, Natural History and Dictionaries of the Bible, Scripture History and Biography, Parables of Christ, Miracles, Language of Scripture, and Concordances. To complete the volume, there is an index, title, preface, and contents. the preface to this most comprehensive work, Mr. Darling says, “The great aim in this volume is to point out the authors who have written in illustration of any or all of the books, chapters, and verses of the Holy Scriptures. It is limited to no [church or] sect; the contributions of all denominations will be found here referred to. It is limited to no nation, English, French, Italian, German, and other nations, are in a greater or less degree here represented; nor is it limited to any time; authors from the earliest to the latest period are here ranged under each head in chronological order. And it is contemplated that books in the whole range of human knowledge may be ultimately embraced in this work". This work has so swelled in the compilation that it will require another volume to make it complete, which we hope will meet with the success which it so well deserves. THE LITERARY CHURCHMAN (J. H. & J. Parker) keeps the high ground which it took from its commencement, and its principles are what we like, neither ultra-high nor ultra-low church, but true Church. There is, however, one feature in it which we dislike, and that is their giving so much attention to German literature, to the exclusion of the more readable publications of our own country. CONFIRMATION; OR, WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVE? (Wertheim & Co.) is a very good tract; but in warning his young parishioners against thinking that the laying on of the bishop's hands will work as a charm, the author goes too far, and nullifies the good which his tract would otherwise do, in the following passage, to which we object, but which we hope he will expunge or modify in another edition :-" But there is no virtue in a bishop's hand. Nor is there any more worth or power in a bishop's prayers than in those of the most sincere and humble Christian." (p. 8.) CHURCH THE Ꮃ Ꭺ Ꭱ Ꭰ Ꭼ Ꭱ, And Domestic Magazine. No. CLVII. JULY, 1859. Vol. XIII. A BRIEF HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF THE (Continued from p. 167.) AT this time "Lauderdale must be justified in letting the law take its course, or else to see the three kingdoms again deluged in blood, under the obligations of the Covenant. He had tried moderation, connivance and indulgence, and had found them so far from conciliating the Presbyterians, and inducing them to live in quietness and peace, that they only increased their fury against the clergy, and their insults on the Government; and, unless he had suffered the Constitution to have been subverted and revolutionized, he was laid under a necessity of using those severities for which he has been so greatly blamed," and of which the Church has been so unjustly and wantonly accused. The opposition to Lauderdale was now so great that in VOL. XIII, order to counteract it he suddenly attached himself to the Presbyterians; and Burnet says "he connived at them in their insolent contempt of the laws; and allowed them to take possession of one of the principal churches in Edinburgh. On the 24th of March, 1674, he published an act of grace or indemnity, remitting all impositions whatsoever due or imposed on the kingdom previous to the Restoration; and all accessions to Conventicles previous to that date were pardoned. But the effect of this indemnity was considered to be rather an encouragement for the future than a remission for the past;" and Kirkton says that "from that day forward Scotland broke loose with conventicles of all sorts, in houses, in fields, and in vacant churches; so in different places they fixed so many posts in the fields, mosses, mures and mountains, where multitudes gathered almost every Sabbath, till the time of the defeat at Bothwell-bridge." It was not necessary to hold conventicles; because in almost every parish in the diocese of Glasgow there were indulged ministers independent of episcopal authority; but these were not satisfied with that toleration. The Episcopalians in the indulged parishes were deprived of the means of grace; but there was no consideration or pity for them. James Mitchell, who had formerly attempted the life of the Archbishop, but had escaped to Holland, was arrested in the beginning of February, for again threatening to shoot him. He was examined by a Committee of the Privy Council, but, denied the attempted assassination; but on being taken aside and promised his life if he would confess the truth, he did so, and signed a written confession. He was committed for trial; but in the interim he was advised to retract his confession and challenge his prosecutor to prove that he fired a pistol at the Primate, and shot the Bishop of Orkney. On being taken again before the Privy Council he retracted his 1 confession and demanded to have the crime proved by evidence. To this determination he stubbornly adhered; and then the Council declared that they also withdrew the conditional promise of sparing his life; and his trial for accession to the rebellion, and his attempt on the life of the Archbishop, was appointed for the 25th of March. But, as no evidence could be produced except his own confession, which he retracted, the Court postponed the trial, and he was committed to the state-prison of the Bass. The Council issued a proclamation against field conventicles and "invasions [assaults] upon ministers and pulpits; they ordered all conventicle preachers to be apprehended; but particularly the two ringleaders, Welsh and Semple. Some of these and their abettors were taken, fined and imprisoned; but Law, one of their own authors, says that "if they would have taken the oath of supremacy they would have been all set at liberty without a fine." Yet so anti-Christian is the spirit of the Covenant that these genuine Presbyterians would not accept remission, on the terms of what their natural duty required of them; although they had the examples of prophets and apostles, and even of Christ Himself before Pilate. At this time, the King wrote a letter to the Council, which was published, mercifully warning the peaceably disposed to beware of attending the field conventicles, but adding that "it is not for their opinions, but for their traitorous practices, that we intend to punish them." The Council was perplexed to know how to act for the preservation of the peace; but ordered masters of families to be answerable for their servants, and heritors for their tenants, under pain of fines and imprisonment; and in July the Council passed a decree against fifty persons for conventicling. The whole odium of this measure is unjustly thrown upon Archbishop Sharp; and one of their historians says, "Those rigorous |