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EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE,

AND

MISSIONARY CHRONICLE.

FOR AUGUST, 1851.

PROTESTANT TRUTH THE GLORY OF A NATION.

THE greatest honour which the Ruler of the world can bestow upon a people, and the richest treasure He can intrust to their care, is the Gospel of His grace -His written Word, unpolluted by human tradition-Protestant truth and Christianity and the simplicity and spirituality of His worship correspondent thereto.

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a community, and the greatest treasure of a kingdom, has indeed been the subject of inquiry and discussion for many ages, and the theme of many a sagacious and enlightened mind. But few, with the light of the nineteenth century around them, the experience of past times to instruct them, and the actual state of nations at the present period, will venture to dispute our assertion, or set up a rival claim. Aristotle with all his knowledge, and Plato with all his sagacity, could they have lived in our day, and seen with our light, and been taught by the history of the past as we are, would have subscribed to this. Indeed Bacon, and Newton, and Boyle, (kindred minds,) have avowed it: and the principles of their immortal writings go to prove that pure, enlightened Christianity, is the only safe basis of states, and the security of their prosperity.

Were it needful to attempt any formal establishment of such a position as this, innumerable evidences might be adduced, from the value of the boon itself, from the opinions of the most eminent of mankind, from the experience of past ages, from the state of existing nations in the present day, and from the reiterated testimony of God's own Word. These all unite to confirm it. "For what nation," asked the ancient Lawgiver of Israel, "is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this law which I set before you this day?" "He hath not dealt so," responds the pious Psalmist, "with any nation: and as for His judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord." What constitutes the true honour of with the least, but apparently not very

VOL. XXIX.

To what else can it be attributed that our own highly favoured land has attained that elevation amidst the nations of the earth which she at present enjoys? But a few centuries ago, emerging from the darkness and superstition of the middle ages, unnoticed and almost unknown among the nations of Europe, she was not only numbered

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and put forth its enterprise, in common with other lands. Providence, which rules over all, favoured its designs. One step after another prospered. Ad verse winds and rising waves were all made subservient to Britain's safety and welfare. And now this little speck in ocean, this island of the northern sea, gives laws to other lands, and governs, directly or indirectly, the largest portions of civilized mankind. Its colonies encircle the globe. Its

likely to rise, or at all to equal, much less to surpass, her illustrious compeers. France was swaying the sceptre of universal fame, and was recognized as "the grand nation," in every civilized land. Spain was great in the discovery of America, in the wealth she derived, and in the homage she exacted from the new world. Portugal was laying, as she thought, the foundation of another empire in India; and the States of Holland were spreading their commerce, and their power, to the hope-commerce is extended to every shore. ful "Cape," and towards the islands of the rising sun. Whilst England, at that time, within its own contracted bounds, was torn by intestine divisions, scarcely able to maintain its own, and seemed likely to become, what it almost offered itself to be, the prey of any successful invader who should attempt its shores. Providence, however, watched over this feeble land. It was preserved for nobler deeds and better things. The light of the Reformation arose. It settled on Britain. No nation, as such, welcomed its rays more cordially, or carried its principles so far. Monarch, ministers, and people, (from various causes,) were ripe for the glorious change, hailed its arrival, and, as if predisposed by an invisible power, yielded to its future developments and consequences. Wearied with the superstitions of Rome, impoverished by its insatiable covetousness, and disgusted by its enormous vices and cruelty, it cast off, once and for ever, its despotic sway, never again, we trust, whilst the sun of creation shines on its beauteous plains, to be subject to its power, or entangled again with its "yoke of bondage."

Its laws are transfused into the codes of other nations. Its constitution is the admired of the whole earth. Its language is becoming known in every land: and its people are found residents and occupants in every zone. To its justice the tribes of India look for redress. To its principles of freedom the slaves of every clime look with hope. To its benevolence the wretched and destitute of all lands are accustomed to turn. We have peace within our borders; plenty in our streets; safety in our homes. We have religion in our sanctuaries; the Bible in our houses; worship on our Sabbaths; and privileges and immunities, both civil and sacred, unknown to other people. Whilst, above all, and as the crowning honour of all, from us, as from a centre and source, the gospel of the grace of God is taking its course to distant lands: the river of the water of life is flowing through other climes; and the oracles of the one living and true Jehovah are being translated and diffused in almost every human tongue.

Now what we wish to be especially observed at the present time, and pondered with the deepest attention, is, that this unparalleled course of human prosperity is to be dated from, and

From that period the course of Britain's prosperity began. Relieved from the mighty pressure which (as in every land where Popery reigns) weigh-identified with, the progress of Protested it down to the earth, and bound its ant truth and worship among us. energies as with a nether millstone, it began with it. It advanced along a arose with an elastic spring to assert parallel line, and in similar degrees. its freedom, to employ its resources, As the one rose, so did the other: and

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rulers and people, so in proportion has Britain been free from those calamities which have afflicted other people, and renowned for that "righteousness" and its attendant fruits, which "exalt a

To what other cause, or combination of causes whatever, instrumentally and under God, can be attributed that happy state of things, which in these lands we at present enjoy? A little reflection will show, that whatever other causes can be named, as tributary to this effect, they may all be fairly ascribed to the influence of the Protestant Reformation, and the continued prevalence of its truth and sentiment

when the one was depressed, so also was the other. Invariably, from the beginning, just in proportion to the prosperity of the one, has been the prosperity of the other. Just as the sovereign and the subject agreed to donation." "Verily there is a God that honour to Protestant truth and worship, judgeth in the earth." "He putteth has been the prosperity of the British down one, and setteth up another." He Isles. This we think is a lesson, has a regard to His truth in the world. legibly inscribed upon, and distinctly "Them that honour me I will honour," taught by, all the records of the past. is as much the law of his government And now, as the genius of history towards nations as towards individuals. becomes cleared in its vision from the Nor was there a more important truth mists of prejudice and bigotry, does ever enunciated than that nations, as this truth shine out in unusual lustre. such, are punished or rewarded in the In comparison with her sister, and present world: individuals hereafter. even with her father, was Elizabeth a Protestant princess, and in proportion did her kingdom flourish. Cromwell, though not a king, was undoubtedly a ruler, and the most Protestant one England ever saw; and in his days it is admitted England obtained a name and a greatness in Europe, unknown before. The third William, of glorious memory, whom the Prince Consort of our illustrious Queen has, on a recent occasion, justly designated "the great-anong us. Talk we of the greatness est sovereign this country has to boast of," beheld the prosperity of the realm as based upon these principles which placed himself and Mary on the throne. Whilst in later days, when the three Georges reigned, and as the principles of Protestant truth and liberty prevailed, have the British Isles advanced in the ascending scale to the proud pre-eminence and just distinction which they have now attained. We are not speaking of the peculiar manner in which those principles have always been developed or advocated: nor are we called upon to justify all the modes which their manifestation has assumed: but this we affirm, and without fear of contradiction, that just in proportion as Protestant principles have been revered, in opposition to those of Popery, and just in proportion as Protestant truth and worship have been embraced and loved by both sovereign and subject,

and renown of our statesmen, of the justice and comprehension of our laws, of the impartiality and excellence of their administration? It was the influence of Protestant principles, founded as they are on the eternal Word of God, that made them what they were, and that still gives to British legislation and its execution, all the superiority and value they display. Refer we to the extent and enterprise of British commerce and its commanding intercourse with the nations of the earth? It is to the energy and sagacity inspired by the principles of the Reformation, grafted on the native enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon character that it is to be ascribed. Or do we boast, and think with complacency, of our poets and orators, our philosophers and scholars, our historians and logicians? Where had they all been but for the light which rose upon the world when Luther

lived, and Erasmus wrote, and Calvin and Melancthon poured forth on Europe their fervid strains. "Honour to whom honour is due." Wickliffe and Latimer, Knox and Tindal, Hooper and Jewel, et alii hujusmodi, were the men that laid the foundation of England's fame, and made her in arts, science, and legislation, as well as religion, what she now is. Their works praise them in the gates. Their immortal principles were the seed of all our prosperity: and never, whilst the glory of England remains, will these principles be obscured. Should it decline, it will be because those principles are forgotten; because we have been recreant from them; because we have lost sight of the granite rock, on which was built the superstructure of all our social and national prosperity, and have attempted to place, in legislation, economics, and religion, wood, hay, and stubble, or "sand" in its stead.

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Let the reflections which such facts as these, at which we have thus but hastily glanced, are adapted to awaken in our minds, be cherished and pursued by us, and followed by all the practical results to which they tend. They are instructive and salutary, and will prove eminently beneficial. We can never too highly value the principles of our glorious Reformation for all the subordinate benefits they have afforded. Independently of their connection with, and relation to our spiritual and eternal interests, they have scattered blessings on our path, and ministered to the welfare of our earthly lot a thousand fold. We have not referred more at length All that characterises the British isles to the enlightened and Christian theo- and British homes, that distinguishes logy of Britain, in whose language, and them from other lands, and endears in the productions of whose sons, are them to all who know them, has arisen treatises of divinity the most in ac- from the mercy of God, and the discordance with the Word of God of any pensations of his providence towards that were ever produced by the unin- us, in the overthrow of the popish power, spired mind, or, probably, ever will temporal and spiritual, within these be; and which, indeed, constitutes her realms. All was darkness, bondage, richest treasure and glory, because this and deterioration before. Since then, would furnish matter for a separate all has been light, freedom, and proarticle, and fill a volume; and because, gress, to the present time. Nor will moreover, it is in itself, as arising out that onward course be stayed, unless of, and identified with the Reformation, unhappily the dark shadow of the "man the cause and source of all the other of sin" be cast over us again, and his distinctions and honours of our native sway be readmitted over our isle. All land. It was the planting of the "Tree the evils which afflict the nations of the of Life" in our isle, whose "leaves are Continent at the present time, or have for the healing of the nations," and its afflicted them in days that are past, growth among us, that has produced all may be fairly ascribed to the ascendancy the fruits of righteousness, peace, and of Rome and its superstitions among abundance, which, among the kingdoms them. Destroy these, and they would of the earth, we now enjoy. Whilst rise, and be in health, and prosper, and this continues to thrive and flourish, wasting and destruction would be known free from the rationalisms of Germany no more within their borders. Only in on the one hand, and from the super-preservation from them are we secure: stitions of Rome on the other, shall and only as we lift up a barrier against

their progress and corruptions, will all down of strong holds." With these in that is dear to us as Britons and as our hands, and the love of truth in our Christians be perpetuated. "No peace hearts, let us gird ourselves to the with Rome," must be our watchword conflict afresh, and faint not, till the and our cry. Not on weapons of a conquest be won, and the liberties, imcarnal warfare must our chief reliance|munities, and privileges of Britain be be placed, but on those which are moral, secured to the latest generation. spiritual, and ethereal, and which are "mighty through God to the pulling

M. C.

THE BEAUTY OF CHRISTIAN LOVE.

"How fair is holy love!

Love which emanates from heaven, and reflects

Its sun-like brightness. An angel's face
Beams not with light so pure and radiant,
As that which love emits."

Sacred Musings.

THE spirit of love-pure and elevated love-is peculiarly regarded and inculcated by Christianity. It is, indeed, its distinctive feature-its characteristic and prominent charm. It is unfolded in all its doctrines, and embodied in all its precepts. It is breathed in all its invitations-lives in all its encouragements, and attracts and fascinates in all "its exceedingly great and precious promises." The true, unsophisticated temper of the gospel is, assuredly, nothing but one of love-love frank, diffusive, fraternal, and constant in its manifestations. Christianity requires that there be no distance between friend and friend-no coldness-no jealousymuch more no asperity-no estrangement of feeling between one disciple of Christ and another. If they are connected with different Christian bodies, not being able to see eye to eye-perfectly to correspond in their religious views-they must not “fall out by the way" - not express opposition - but quietly and intelligently agree to differ"—and not only so, but, as “heirs of the grace of life," they must "bear one another's burdens," and walk together in love. Those who are redeemed

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by the blood of the Lamb, and regenerated by the grace of the Saviour, as "the elect of God, holy and beloved, are to put away all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evilspeaking, with all malice." They are to "be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven them." Eph. iv. 31, 32. What can be more palpably the spirit of the Christian religion, than that which the apostle here inculcates, with so much simplicity and tenderness; and what obligation more plainly devolves on the followers of Jesus Christ, in all the sections of the Christian church to discharge, than that which Paul so sweetly recommends: -" Be kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another." Rom. xii. 10.

And how truly beautiful is Christian love when it is appropriately and uniformly exemplified! There is a beauty associated with its development which is obvious to all. There is a charm, an exquisite, an ineffable charm, invariably connected with it, which fixes the gaze, and awakens the admiration of every enlightened and devout beholder.

By Christian love, we specifically mean that love which the religion of the New Testament-the religion of the cross of Christ - when applied with Divine power to the heart, in every instance, induces and maintains; that love which renovates and ennobles the

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