if any should be so fearfully miscalculating their interests; if any are so lightly esteeming the glories, "which eye hath not seen nor the imagination conceived;" if any so reckless about their future destiny, as to be madly rushing upon the keen edge of the sword of justice, securing to themselves a resurrection to everlasting contempt, and the tremendous doom of eternal death-everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power; better my brethren had it been for you, if instead of possessing intellectual faculties, capable of measuring the heavens and of securing an eternal mansion in them-of studying the character of the Infinite goodness, and training yourselves for his presence; better if you had inherited the whirling brains of the madman, whose life is but a series of wild imaginings diversified with the loud and vacant laugh, and whose death is to be consumed in a burning frenzy; better had it been for you, if instead of having the golden lamp of divine truth hung out from the secret council chambers of Omnipotence, to guide your footsteps through this wilderness, and, enjoying the pleasures which that undying but ever increasing light reveals, to cheer the tedium of its lonely hours; better had the breath of destiny scattered the seeds of your existence in the far off wilds of America, where the circle of your knowledge would contain little more than the use of the tomahawk, and the scalping knife, and the sphere of your pleasures, the wild dance, the war song, and the cannibal feast; infinitely better my brethren, had you never awoke into being, than the spark of which it consists should have been kindled only to be extinguished by the fierce anger of a God, whose wisdom you have counted foolishness, and whose benevolence you have despised.

You will, my brother, now permit me to spend a minute on the subject of public speaking, respecting which you kindly gave your advice. To my mind it is a subject of great interest, and has been ever since I tumbled down in the temple of fame, while endeavouring to place myself just five feet above such names as Shakespeare and Milton. This tremendous accident happened about fourteen years ago; during which time I have used almost every means that my small stock of information, or a somewhat active imagination could suggest, to overcome a timidity with which certainly I must have been born. I have wandered beneath the star-lit

sky, and preached in the bending corn fields; I have preached to an immense but imaginary multitude; and I have preached with my wife for my only auditory, until hope seemed to promise a triumph; and frequent attempts were made to rise before a really living audience, and as often was I riveted to my seat by their living eyes, and the idea of my own ignorance, only imperfectly acquainted with the a, b, c, of literature; and ultimate success could hardly be calculated upon while I lay prostrate, a dormant and useless thing, shrouded in the darkness and unhappiness of sectarianism. No; its coldness congeals the generous sentiments; in its confused and rayless heavens the spirit feels imprisoned, and, as the half-frozen dwarfish inhabitants of the polar regions, sleep away their long winters, or hunt beneath the lunar beam or the changeful light of their meteors, waiting the return of the hidden sun, so the sectarian remains the same stationery being, or roams in the world for its treasures, or dreams of the light and the fire of some distant revival; so did I dream, and so probably I should have continued dreaming until overwhelmed by the deeper shadows of an approaching eternity, had not the light of the reformation. revealed the path to duty, and afforded opportunities of performing it. The secret has been learnt, and like Archimedes, I feel inclined to shout, "I have found, I have found." I am afraid, brother Wallis, you will think this enthusiasm ; but when we consider the importance of the conquest, at least to me, the difficulty of securing it, how very seldom a victory over one's hereditary weakness is obtained, that it has been found more easy to conquer worlds than a man's single self, you will easily perceive that I who am a giant neither in mind nor humility, am likely to be a little pleased.

I speak now in the city, in my turn; sometimes at Brooklyn Long Island; and four or five brethren, all English or Scotch, alternately visit a little church in Jersey, a few miles up the North River. The first three disciples, myself, and another brother, baptized on the fourth of August; since which several others have been added, and I believe they are rooted and grounded in the faith, and are such as will be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. One of our sisters there is considered the mother of the Methodist interest in the "English neighbourhood;" and the scribes and pharisees

of that sect have been exceedingly unwilling to lose so valuable an assistant. In their exertions to save her, unfortunately for them, their "sheep's clothing" has sometimes fallen off, and exposed the "wolf" to the gaze of mortals. They are exceedingly mad against us; they call us liars, devils, and say we are as ignorant as their ducks; they absolutely refuse, however, to erase the name of our sister duck from their books, and that duck as determinedly refuses to return to their muddy waters. These benevolent and godlike rabbies have, moreover, exerted themselves most wonderfully to shut us out from God's universal temple-the rocks, and woods, and skies of America, in which we sought to proclaim the everlasting gospel; but its door was too massive for them to shut, and its covering too lofty for them to reach, and too wide for their embrace; we entered, therefore, the pure sanctuary of nature, and its woods have listened to it, and its rocks have echoed with their Maker's praises, and the waters of the noble Hudson have been the grave, and witnessed the resurrection of several whom we hope God will not be ashamed to be called their God.

Having sounded the note of self-gratulation so loud and so long, perhaps a word respecting the church of Christ here, may be acceptable; about which, however, but little wonderful can be stated; except, indeed, it be this-that its increase is so wonderfully slow, and its members so wonderfully inactive; but even this, upon due reflection, is not so great a wonder, for several reasons. The people of New York appear to be a refined and a religious (I did not, nor do I say, Christian) people, into whose composition enters a considerable proportion of false charity, and whose habits are decidedly mercantile. They are religious, at least, on Sundays; especially if the weather permits them to display their feathers and their jewellery; and the more they can outshine, by these means, their fellow saints, the more religious they are; and they attend to it in a most businesslike manner; morning and evening our streets present a continual stream of living beings, arrayed in all the colours and fashions that Paris or London can invent, and the prism with its pencils of light can paint. For such beings it is plain, that Saint John's Jerusalem could not be even one degree too beautiful, however its inhabitants and its God might disagree with their taste. Their temples, accordingly, are constructed in unison with such refinement, as much as architecture and

upholstery can; and the services are conducted upon a scale calculated to please, as much as pealing organs, the voices of sweet singers, and priests assisted by the laws of elocution, can please; and the sermons, for the most part, are so excessively polished, that they glide nearly unperceived right through the brain, and the truths they contain are of such a kind, and are presented so gently, that, like the vibrations of the Eolian harp, or the morning music of Christmas singers, please and then lull one to sleep, and we dream of universal charity, perfectly satisfied if the minister is amply provided for, and the seat rent paid. And for such ladies who resemble more the goddess of the rainbow than disciples of Jesus, to sit while the Word of God is read, or the redemption it makes known spoken of by fishermen and tent makers, is almost impossible; as well might the young lady who now graciously rules over you be expected voluntarily to retire to the life of an English pauper, or the musicians in her proud life-guards be delighted with her babies rattles. Again, for another, and a different reason, it is no wonder we increase so slowly, and are not more active; namely, we, with the majority, it is to be feared, of disciples, sometimes forget the principal object to be gained by the Christian religion; our present happiness certainly is not the chief object to be secured by it, that must be subordinate to the principal one, which is, by obedience to its various laws, to prepare us for future happiness. If we would be Christians, we must do this, whether our constitution either of body or mind permit happiness here to result from such obedience or no. Upon this principle it is, that the present is made a probation for our future destiny. And if any disciple meets not with such difficulties, as a Christian, which makes this a state of trial-a continual test of his faith, and strengthener of his virtue, there will be fearful apprehensions that in him Christianity is not answering its great end, and that the moment is coming that will find him little better than if its philanthropy and its glories had never to him been demonstrated. For these and other reasons our church does not grow very fast. We, however, know the truth, and some are trying to practise it; we are constantly having additions from some parts of Europe, and the States; others are going from us to the different States, according as inclination or necessity may dictate. Yours in hope of immortality,

J. & S. BEADMAN,

CHURCH OFFICERS.

IN the prosecution of this subject, I wish to show from the Bible, who elders, bishops, and deacons are, and their duties.

1. Elders. Too many have concluded that the term elder is indicative of office, and hence the "elder's office" is a very common expression. In classic usage, elder is used to denote seniority; the same is true in reference to its application in the Old Testament and New; and why intelligent Christians could have come to any other conclusion, I am at a loss to determine. Paul says, "rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father;" and Peter says, "The elders who are among you I exhort"-and who will say that these were any but old members in the church, who were to be respected on account of their age; and on the same account were commanded to take the "oversight" of the brethren. The term elder is adjective or descriptive, and not substantive. What is more ridiculous than to set apart young men or striplings, and call them elders or old men!! I do humbly trust my brethren will investigate this subject, and abandon their childishness. The term implies a certain qualification of an officer, but never denotes either office or officer. Who will undertake to prove that elder and bishop are synonymous ? 2. Bishop. The term episcopas, in the Greek Testament, is always indicative of an officer, and episcopee of office.

Bishop and bishopric are good translations. A bishop then, is a man of age, sobriety, intelligence, and other qualifications, who is to rule, nourish, instruct, and admonish the churches. This is a most responsible office, and for it men should be as strictly educated as for law, medicine, or for preaching the gospel. Bishops are always mentioned in the New Testament, as connected with churches, in the plural number. The idea of one man arrogating to himself the bishopric of a state or a territory, is a strange perversion of the order of the Almighty. Bishops, in every church, are as essential to their well being, as civil officers are to society in its present organization. It is certainly remarkable, that few of the churches have given this matter requisite attention. I know of but few churches of well qualified bishops, and the greater is the shame when we reflect, that almost every church might have such, were the members but disposed to