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ting away the unclean thing altogether, she will be an unfit instrument for reformation of the world.

Almost contemporaneously with the meeting of the World's Temperance Convention, a great National Convention, of a similar character, assembled in Stockholm, and during the three days in which it was in session, the King and Queen sat at its deliberations, and thus crowned themselves with honour by evincing so sincere and active an interest in the well-being of their subjects. Is there any thoughtful man or woman in these lands, who does not feel that our good Queen Victoria, and her royal husband, would give increased dignity to their elevated position, by a similar act of wisdom on their part? The time will come, and is, I hope, fast approaching, when no individual, be he subject or sovereign, will be allowed to have performed this duty to God and man, unless they be Teetotaler. That word, now so sneered at, by some, as unauthorized and vulgar, will yet be the test of a man's sincerity as a lover of his fellow-men, and the reformer who will come forward without this badge of his fitness as a moral and a Christian teacher, will be cast aside as unworthy of the noble office.

I believe that I have, in the foregoing lines, given a fair and unexaggerated outline of the opinions and feelings of the World's Temperance Convention, and that these opinions and feelings are the opinions and feelings of the millions of men and women whom that assemblage represented.

The principles of Teetotalism are founded on God's Word and Works; they are true and unassailable as the pillars of Heaven. He that fights against them, fights against Truth, and he will be foiled, for,

"Truth crushed to earth, will rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers,
But error wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies amid its worshippers."

The Rules of the World's great Temperance Association are simple, and easily practised by all. They consist in a total renunciation of all alcoholic drinks as a common beverage, and in a solemn determination to labour earnestly for the diffusion of the principles and practice of Teetotalism, in which are included, the duty of promoting "peace on earth and good will to Man."

I commend these principles and practices to my fellow men, and I pray that they may find an entrance into every heart.

JAMES HAUGHTON.

DUBLIN, 11th February, 1847.

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I WANDER on my lonely way
A poor and solitary man ;
Yet gladsome heart and spirit gay
Were mine, when life began.

For in my parents' house was I

A merry child of mirth and glee ;-
But in their grave my parents lie,
And grief remains for me.

I see the gardens blooming fair;
I see the rich and golden grain;
But mine the barren ways, that bear
No fruit but care and pain.

Still 'mid the busy throng I go,

And stifle tear and bitter sigh,
And greeting kind and warm, bestow
On all who pass me by.

Yet, oh, kind Lord! thou leav'st me not,
All comfortless and sad to mourn;
For hope, beyond this earthly lot
Aloft to Heaven is borne.

And, rising in each hamlet low,
We see thy holy house appear,
Where hymns from voice and organ, flow
On every listening ear.

And sun, and moon, and stars, still give
Their kind and blessed light to me;
And when the bells ring sweet at eve
Then talk 1, Lord, with Thee.

What time thou openest to the blest
Thy feast of love and joy, O Lord,
I'll come, in festive raiment drest,
And place me at the board.
L. R.

LOVE YE ONE ANOTHER.

Oh! love ye one another-in childhood's gladsome hours,
When fancy twines herself a wreath of heaven tinted flowers;

How blessed are the groups who meet around the household hearth-
All pure, all fair, all beautiful, the innocent of earth!

A tender and a holy spell, is o'er their spirits thrown,

As they blush beside the parent stem-sweet roses but half blown;
Yet, hush a change may e'en come o'er the dwellers 'neath one roof,
A careless word, a look of pride, a doubt that hath no proof.
Affection's fairest buds may blight, the fondest friends may sever,
Then guard the treasure of the heart. once lost, 'tis gone for ever.

-

Oh! love ye one another. in Manhood's ardent prime,
When like the towering Palm tree of some far distant clime,
The soul erect in native power, points to the heaven above,
And dreams of deed of glory, of virtue, and of love.

How prize we, then, the faithful friend to whom our fame is dear,
Who greets our gladness with a smile, yields to our woes a tear,
The host of hidden sympathies that in our bosoms lie
Ungathered or uncared for, will wither, droop, and die.
This world has many a precious gift of fortune to bestow,
But give to me one kindly heart, whence noble feelings flow.

Oh! love ye one another when the dreams of youth are fled,
When the gnarl'd trunk, tho' standing still, is blasted sapless, dead.
'Twere sad to fade from life away, pale shadows of the grave,
As useless, as forgotten, as the foam-wreath on the wave.
Then love ye one another such was our Lord's command,
The solemn and the sacred pledge he claimed from every land.
Away with faction's deadly strife the war of sect and creed-
Oh! be but Brothers in your hearts, and ye are blest, indeed.
T. B. L., DUBLIN.

OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF PRESBYTERIANISM, IN IRELAND.

BY THE REV. H. MONTGOMERY, LL. D.

(Continued from No. III. Vol. II. page 104.)

THE persecution of Emlyn, the overthrow of Creeds in Geneva, the liberal toleration of Dissent by Geo. I., and the Debates at Salters' Hall, had largely contributed to diffuse a spirit of free inquiry on religious subjects. The Presbyterian Ministers of Ulster had been, to some extent, prepared to sympathize with this spirit, by their education under the Rev. John Simson, Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow. In the year 1715, he was accused of various anti-calvinistic heresies before the General Assembly, in Edinburgh; and, after multifarious trials, appeals, rebukes, and suspensions, continued for several years, it was finally decreed, that he should not be any longer entrusted with the education of candidates for the Ministry. A gentle orthodox Writer grievously mourns over "this slight censure of an Arminian and Arian blasphemer, which exceedingly grieved and offended multitudes of the more serious"! It was not enough that the most learned and estimable man of the University was cast upon the world, homeless, pennyless, and branded with the odious name of heretic, in his advanced old age: his life was spared, and he was not even cast into prison-a forbearance which "exceedingly grieved and offended multitudes" of the degenerate descendants of those brave men who had secured freedom of worship for themselves and their children, on the blood-stained glens and mountains of their native land!

But, although they were able to crush the venerable Teacher, they could neither recall his lessons, nor entirely erase the love of liberty and truth which he had imprinted upon young and generous minds. Many, no doubt, were inspired with a salutary dread of ecclesiastical power-many sacrificed conscience to interest, and became supple hypocrites-many temporized, and kept the truth in abeyance-but a few still ventured to think and to inquire. Amongst these last were the members of "The Belfast Society”— an Association of ministers and students formed for the laudable purposes of devotion, conference, the interchange of books, and mutual assistance in the study of the Bible. Of this Society, the following account has been given by the late Dr. Bruce :

Among the members were T. Shaw of Ahoghill, W. Taylor of Cairncastle, M. Bruce of Holywood, J. Abernethy of Antrim, S. Haliday and James Kirkpatrick of Belfast; who, with other Nonsubscribers, afterwards com

posed the Presbytery of Antrim. Their method was to confer on the mean. ing of difficult texts, compare one place with another, and debate on the sentiments of the best interpreters. For this purpose two were appointed at every meeting; one for the Old Testament, the other for the New, to study three or four chapters in each, without debarring others from proposing doubts on other passages. They also conversed on the most profitable mode of preaching, visiting the sick, and discharging the other duties of the pastoral office. They consulted on the proper measures for procuring the best intelligence concerning books, and united in buying them; taking care, that no two members should purchase the same, except those in constant use. They also communicated what they met with in their private studies. After conference, one was appointed to reduce the substance of their reasonings to writing; and upon reading it, the conference was resumed; and at each Meeting, they had a Sermon, generally on Christian Union, Schism, Rights of Conscience, and the sole dominion of Christ in his Church, beside the evidences of natural and revealed religion, &c.

"Notwithstanding the inoffensive and edifying nature of their plan, they became an object of jealousy and suspicion. They were represented as enemies to the Confession of Faith, which they positively denied; and assured their brethren, that no opinion was vented or received in their society, înconsistent with the important articles of religion, or hitherto reputed important among the Dissenting Ministers of Ireland. They were also accused of a design to subvert the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church. This they peremptorily denied; but they would not allow its decisions to be the rule of faith, but believed it to be the unalienable right of every Christian to examine them according to the Word of God, and reject or receive them accordingly. This charge was countenanced by their inquiries into the different forms of Church Government.

"They complain of the reproachful names bestowed on them in conversa. tion, such as New Light Innovators, New-fashioned Ministers, &c.; and that these evil reports were suggested by some of their brethren, who had asserted, that there can be no peace unless they disbanded their Society. This they could not do conscientiously, or in justice to their own reputation; but relied on the account of their conduct and discourses in their pamphlet, entitled The Good Old Way. They transmitted a circular letter to all the Presbyteries in Ireland, but received neither answer nor countenance, except from Dublin and Munster.

"Thus, the spirit of free inquiry, and the right of private judgment were fostered and asserted in Ulster, without, as yet, producing any material change in doctrine."

Three of the Ministers mentioned in the preceding extract, viz.: Haliday, Kirkpatrick, and Abernethy, became eminent as literary men, and able advocates of religious liberty. The first of these, as being mainly instrumental in producing the separation of the Presbytery of Antrim from the General Synod of Ulster, is entitled to a special notice; and, to Dr. Bruce, I am again indebted for the following particulars.

"Mr. Samuel Haliday was the son of Mr. Samuel Haliday, Minister of Omagh, who, on the troubles of 1688, had fled to Scotland, his native country, but returned in the latter end of 1692... Mr. Haliday, as was common in those days, finished his education in Holland, where he defended a Thesis on Levit. xxiv. 11-16, before Hermann Witsius, July 10, 1706, and was licensed in the same year; and in 1708, he was ordained in Geneva, be

cause the terms of Communion there, were not narrowed by any human impositions......By virtue of this ordination, Mr. Haliday became Chaplain to Col. Anstruther's Cameronian regiment, with which he served in all the Duke of Marlborough's campaigns; and in 1712, he was received as a member of the General Synod, as though he had been licensed and ordained in Ireland; and the Synod afterwards recommended to him a Call from Belfast."

For the proper understanding of what follows, a few words in relation to "The First Congregation of Belfast," may not be out of place. The earliest stated ministers of this Society appear to have been Wm. Read and Wm. Keyes, who officiated as co-pastors, in the year 1672. Three years afterwards, Mr. Keyes removed to Dublin, and was succeeded, in Belfast, by the Rev. Patrick Adair of Cairncastle, of whom honourable mention has been repeatedly made in these Outlines. Mr. Adair died in the year 1694, and the Rev. John M'Bride of Glasgow was installed in his room; but, refusing, in 1705, to take the oath of abjuration, he was compelled to flee into Scotland. There does not appear to have been any second minister at this time; and the Rev. James Kirkpatrick, of Templepatrick, was invited to take charge of the congregation, as colleague to Mr. M'Bride, who was permitted to resume his charge, in the year 1712. About this period, the Congregation having become very numerous, a new Meeting-House was built on the same premises—Mr. M'Bride remaining pastor of the first congregation, and Dr. Kirkpatrick taking charge of the second. The separation being amicable, the Communion Plate continued, and still continues, to be joint property-a happy omen of the uninterrupted Christian harmony which has, until the present day, subsisted between the eminent ministers and respectable people of those two most influential Societies. The Call which Mr. Haliday received was from the first congregation; and in his "Reasons against Subscription," subsequently published, he gives the following details:"In 1719, I received an invitation to be Pastor of the old congregation of Belfast; and as soon as this was known, the North of Ireland was filled with malicious reports of my being tainted with Arianism. This obliged me to attend the General Synod at Belfast, anno. 1720, where having my accuser face to face, I refuted very fully the calumnies which had been cast upon me; and the Synod did by an unanimous vote, declare them to be groundless.

"The Synod having recommended to me the call from Belfast, where I had a comfortable prospect of usefulness, I was, by the earnest solicitation of my friends, prevailed to embrace it; though this was very contrary to my own interest. But not daring to submit to terms of communion, by which, as I apprehended, those might be excluded whom Jesus Christ received, and commanded us to receive, and being desirous to do all that I could do with a good conscience, for cultivating peace and love with my brethren, I drew

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