In one instance I ventured to state as a fact, and I will not fear to repeat it now, that the Wesleyan Methodists are the greatest compact body of Christians in the world. nay, so far as I can recollect, they present an example of active, intense, and incessant co-operation, unequalled in ecclesiastical history, among the professors of personal experimental religion. In respect to these, in our own age, it may be safely affirmed, that the Wesleyan Methodists are the greatest compact body of Christians throughout the world. Their force moves in phalanx; it moves all at once; and it moves all together. Whatever may be their peculiar labours in their respective localities, at home or abroad, the one purpose, of preaching a free, a full, a present, and an everlasting salvation to all who will accept it on the Gospel terms, according to the principles and upon the plans of their illustrious Founder; that one purpose is always and every where the aim of their personal, their social, and their united exertions. Like the Rechabites of old, that it may be well with them and their generations, they adhere to the precepts of their father, whose ordinances cannot be altered in anything material, since the legislator himself is gone to glory, and (if I am not mistaken) there is on earth no appeal from his authority.

In those ordinances and precepts, with consummate wisdom and knowledge of mankind, Mr. Wesley embodied a system of sacred polity, which renders all means within reach, and all individuals in the Connexion, subservient to the promotion and prosperity of that particular church which he had established. Hence the Methodists have work for all men, and they have meu for all work. Their whole economy is so admirably constituted, by the subdivision of classes, and the dependence of each upon the rest, that whatever they do, they do with the utmost practicable effect. They have labourers of all ages, and of both sexes, in

ive circumstances in life; men, women, and even children, being early initiated in the business of the society, and interested in it, by having a share, according to their abilities, entrusted to themselves. I need but name the Local Preachers, the Trustees and Stewards of their chapels, their Class and Prayer Leaders, their Teachers of Sabbath and day schools, their Visiters belonging to Benevolent and Infant Clothing Societies, their Tract Distributors, and, not among the least, either in number or efficiency, their Missionary Collectors; while the whole body of the people, by their often meeting together, praying together, and talking together about the things of God, and the concerns of the society, afford to their Preachers a measure of countenance and support rarely exemplified elsewhere. The annual appointment of those Preachers secures a perennial ministry. It is a perpetuation of youth, added to the vigour of manhood, and the experience of old age, throughout all their Circuits. Hence the Gospel among them is scarcely liable to those hinderances, interruptions, and reverses, which arise from bodily or mental infirmity, disease, decay, and the ordinary accidents of this mortal life (to say nothing of weariness, lukewarmness, or unfaithfulness, on the part, either of congregations, or their stated Pastors, where the lack of service in the latter cannot be promptly supplied, or their places on removal by death be immediately and effectually filled up). I am not unaware of some inconveniences and disadvantages inherent in this system; such as might be calculated upon in any human institution, framed by finite intelligence, and administered by imperfect beings; but, making full allowances for all these, I think they are transcendently counterbalanced by that concentration of means and agencies which the system generates and controls, in every way wherein these can be employed for the propagation of the Gospel, as I have remarked, upon the principles and according to the

plans of their venerable Founder. I feel myself warranted, from long acquaintance and observation, to affirm, that, while in zeal, activity, perseverance, and self-sacrifice, the Methodists yield to none of their contemporaries, in the combination and command of all the elements of moral power and influence, they excel every one of them. In their union lies their strength; and that union embraces every body and every thing within their sphere of occupation.

I would not be misunderstood: I state this as matter of fact solely; I state it as exhibiting the peculiar characteristic of Methodism at this day, and not in disparagement of any other religious community, each of which can claim some superiority over the rest, under its different constitution. There may be, I trust there are, as many,-nay, many more pious Christians in the Establishment, who worship God in spirit and in truth, in the sanctuaries of our fathers throughout the land, as can be found among the Wesleyans; but these are mingled up with the millions of all descriptions who are presumed to belong to the Church, because they belong to no other denomination, so that the faithful within its pale (whose number I believe to be rapidly increasing) can have no close, personal, common bond of co-operation. The same may be said of the various classes of Dissenters: there may be, and, judging from appearances, there probably are, as many pious Christians among these as among the Wesleyans; but their hundreds or thousands of societies are each so far independent, that were half of these extinguished in an hour, the remainder would still be so many integral bodies, and continue as before to perform all the functions of their ecclesiastical life. But though neither Churchmen Dissenters are systematically united for all evangelical purposes at home, in one instance (and it is a remarkable one) both are united with their brethren respectively, from one end of the kingdom to the other, for all evangelical purposes abroad; and in

their Missionary Societies they have gone forth to the ends of the earth, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ: and God has gone with them, and God has blessed them so signally, that their labours and successes-the Lord apportioning both according to his own good pleasure-may well bear comparison with those of the Society whose interests we are this day especially assembled to promote.

And this brings me to the point at which I have been aiming from the commencement; namely, to remind you, my Christian friends, and your associates throughout the Connexion, of the actual circumstances in which you stand at this day. If I have said great things of you, it was not to magnify you above others, but to humble you before God; for in proportion as He has put honour upon you, if you are sensible of it, you will be humble under his mighty hand; and much having been given to you, you will feel that much will be required again.

For what purpose, then, has all this pre eminence of power and influence, in the way which I have shown, been entrusted to you? For onefor one only-for the one purpose which I have mentioned already,-to preach, as you ever have done, a free, a full, a present, and an everlasting salvation, to all who will hear and receive it, with repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. While, therefore, in pursuance of this your calling, you continue to act always, and in all things, with heart, soul, mind, and strength, as one people, as one man, you may hope to preserve your pre-eminence; for in acting thus consists the secret of your ascendancy. But if ever you employ that power or that influence for the accomplishment of any object less sacred, you will abuse your trust, and come under condemnation. Hitherto, however, you appear to have kept the faith once delivered to your fathers, and God has advanced their children to unparalleled prosperity. But you must expect to be tried in a manner which will thoroughly prove you, and which I pray may thoroughly purify you. It some

nor

times pleases God, in his wisdom, to permit his people to be tempted severely, I use the word "tempted in its frequent scriptural signification, -at the very time when they seem most in his favour, and have in themselves the firmest assurance of their devotion to Him. When was Peter himself most confident of his love to his Master? When did he display most courage in his Master's cause? Surely when he drew his sword on an armed multitude for his rescue. Yet within one little hour, that same Peter denied him to his face, in alarm at the suspicion of a poor servant-maid. If ever man was in a situation, when he could feel no fear of falling into any kind of sin, it surely was St. Paul, when he had been caught up into the third heaven, and heard things which it was not lawful to utter,- secrets of eternity never revealed before to ears of flesh and blood, and which by himself were incommunicable to others; yet from that ecstasy, lest he should be exalted above measure, it was good for him to come down into the valley of humiliation, to be buffeted by the messenger of Satan, that he might learn a lesson, not for himself only, but to teach it to the church through all ages to come. Take it in our Saviour's own words, in answer to his thrice-repeated prayer, to be delivered from it: My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness." May you, my Christian friends, find this, both now, while you are rejoicing, and hereafter, when you are tempted. Your integrity as a church and a people will probably soon be put to the proof, that you may be happily brought to feel and confess your own weakness, as well as your utter and only dependence upon the Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength and everlasting righteousness. I would not have alluded to the subject in my mind, and doubtless in yours also, on this occasion, had I not persuaded myself that I have perceived for a long time past, a gradual and happy preparation, in your society here, for that great trial of your faith and patience, (more important, it would seem from recent indications, than any that has

been encountered among you since the removal of Mr. Wesley) which must probably be decided within these walls, before the supreme tribunal of your general body. In the administration of the laws of the land, there are special occasions when the intervention of the highest authority is sought to remove causes into other jurisdictions than those to which they properly belong, on the ground that impartial justice could not be expected from the prejudices or passions of the people upon the spot. No anxiety of this kind need be felt by the Methodist community at large, respecting the place of holding their next Conference. If there be a town in the kingdom where the resident members of your society are in a frame of mind, and a state of heart, peculiarly fitted to entertain the representatives of the whole Connexion, without any predisposition to disturb their deliberations by unseemly interferences, such is the town of Sheffield; and if there be a place more sacredly neutral, I ought to say at once, more hallowed than almost any other that could be selected, it surely is the floor of this building, on which the issue must be joined. Within the last four years, the Sheffield Circuit has been divided into two; and instead of being weakened, its strength must have been nearly doubled, if we judge by the zeal, liberality, and exertions of your people, externally displayed in the recent erection of chapels and schools that strike our eye with amazement, wherever we turn, throughout the neighbourhood. Scarcely had the first temporary excitement to rivalry in good works subsided into the usual tenor of friendly competition in the common cause of the Gospel, when an extraordinary visitation of awakening, alarming, convincing, and converting grace came down upon both Circuits, and multitudes in each were added to your church, most of whom I believe continue steadfast in their confession of the truth to this day, and have much increased your strength and efficiency in the District. Though the mighty emotions

which accompanied the preaching of the word, and the prayers of faith, during that season of power, have seldomer appeared of late in your assemblies, the blessedness itself has not passed away; the gracious influence remains, and works deeply and extensively, as an earnest of yet more glorious manifestations of the presence of God among you ere long, and especially during the Conference now so nearly at hand.

With these evidences of devout preparation among yourselves for the arrival of that important crisis, and all that may accompany and follow it, to affect your societies at large; and in reference to this building especially, where the discussions are to take place; when I consider how many thousand times the Gospel has been faithfully preached under

its roof; how often these walls have resounded with the cries of the penitent, and the songs of the ransomed; how many souls have here been born again; and how many bodies of those who have died in the Lord have been carried through these aisles to their long home in the adjacent burying-ground, I cannot but hope fervently, and would believe confidently, that in this place "the Lord will give peace." Wherefore, I conclude by converting one of the most comprehensive passages in the whole compass of Scripture, every word of which is distinctly emphatical, into the expression of my heart's desire and prayer to God for you: 'Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all (2 Thessalonians iii. 16.)

means.'

Amen!

We have hitherto confined our attention to those parts of Mr. Croly's Essay which contain positive evidence of the moral and religious state of the great majority of the Ministers and members of the Papal Church in Ireland; and we venture to hope, that the evidence which has been adduced will not merely inspire our readers with feelings of a deeper and more hearty abhorrence of that "detestable system of impiety, cruelty, and imposture," fabricated by the "father of lies," the withering influence of which is as destructive of civil as it is of religious liberty; but that it will also lead them to be more "zealously affected," in the support and success of those pious and philanthropic institutions which have for their object the diffusion of scriptural knowledge among the Irish peasantry; and their consequent elevation, from a state of mental slavery and moral degradation, bordering on that of the most untutored savages, to the liberty and dignity of Christian men.

The facts which are stated by Mr. Croly are as disreputable to the Papal Priesthood, as they are degrading to the peasantry of Ireland; and they demonstrate the complete absence of all those high and honourable moral feelings, (not to mention those which are heavenly in their origin, spiritual in their nature, and overpowering in their influence, that arise from the love of Christ,) which ought ever to animate and influence the messengers of the cross. Do such men as those described by Mr. Croly represent themselves as the exclusive successors of the Apostles? Was there ever a more arrogant or a more unfounded assumption? Are the "signs of an Apostle" to be found among those which are recorded by Mr. Croly? It is a singular fact, that throughout the whole of this Essay we have not been able to recognise one feature of Popery, which is "lovely" and of "good report," though it is written avowedly for the purpose of obtaining a legal provision for the