paration. During the lives of these two leaders, each pro fessed to desire no separation from the church, though the methods they pursued in preaching, and forming societies, necessarily led thereto. They and their followers would have preferred an episcopal regimen; at least, they had no conscientious objection to subscribe and conform to the established church, if they could have secured to themselves the preaching of the gospel in the places they had erected; and, unto the death of their leaders, and in several of their chapels to this day, they preferred the Liturgy as a form of public worship. The impossibility of maintaining their several congregations, and pursuing the object of spreading the gospel diffusively through the land, without a ministry, and no hope being entertained of being admitted to episcopal ordination, they were necessitated to have ministers ordained in some other mode, and to form a separation from the established church, without any conscientious objection either to her Articles or Liturgy; so that at first made Dissenters from circumstances, not by choice; and despairing of obtaining ordination in the established church, they have settled into a new sect of Dissenters, and are grown into a body of some hundred thousands; and from the torpid and formal state of the ministers in the establishment, their numbers, zeal, and activity continue to attach to them a multitude, especially in all the great manufacturing towns, and the populous regions of the mining country. They continue, as they began, two distinct bodies, moving in their different orbits, but tending to the same centre, Jesus Christ. The Westleyan Methodists being, formed on the original plan of their great leader, have continued a more firinly united body; not under a superior, but a Conference of all their Ministers, annually associated; and are distributed into districts, by rotation, according to a settled plan. Their labours have been very successful; and are extended to Ireland, America, and the West India Islands; in all which, as in their own country, they have formed numerous congregations. Their Annual Reports speak strongly of the zeal and diligence which animates them to enlarge their sphere of usefulness. The number of their stated and local preachers is very great; multitudes of new places of worship are erected, and opened by them every year; their societies enlarge; and, though chiefly from the interior ranks of life, the liberality of the affluent, and a small weekly collection from every member, supply their multiplied expences at home, and maintain their missions abroad a pleasing proof of their industry as well as of their Christian liberality. These all maintain close union and correspondence with each other. [The Review of Europe will be concluded in our Supplement.] Evangelicana. DR. GILL ON THE MORAL LAW. It is used unlaw THE law of God is good, if a man use it lawfully.' fully when men seek to obtain life and righteousness by it; for the law cannot give life, nor is righteousness by it, nor can men be justified by the works of it before God; for no man can perfectly keep it. There is not a just man upon earth that does good and sins not but it is used lawfully when obeyed in faith, from a principle of love, with a view to the glory of God, and without any selfish or sinister ends. The law is useful to saints and true believers in Christ. 1. To point out the will of God to them, what is to be done by them, and what is to be avoided; to inform them of and to urge them to their duty, both towards God and man; for in that the whole of it lies. 2. To be a rule of life and conversation to them, - not a rule to obtain life by, but to live according to; to direct their steps, and to preserve them from going into bye and crooked paths. The wise man says, The commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light;' and David says,' The word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my paths.'; 3. It is as a glass, in which a believer, by the light of the Spirit of God, may see his own face, what manner of man he is, how carnal, how corrupt and deformed when compared with this law, and how far short of perfection he is in himself. I have seen an end of all perfection,' says David; but thy commandment is exceeding broad, to which the imperfect works of men are not commensurate.' Hence good men are sensible that their own righteousness is insufficient to justify them before God. it being but as rags, and those filthy ones. Hence, 4th, They are led to prize the righteousness of Christ, since that is perfectly agreeable to the holy law of God; wherefore they desire to be found in Christ, not having ou their own righteousness, but his, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes.'-Now the law of God continues under the present dispensation for the said uses. Christ came not to destroy it, and to loosen mens' obligation to it; but to fulfil it. Nor is the law made void through faith; but established by it. However, it is certain, believers are not under the law as a covenant of works, but under grace, as a covenant of grace. It does not continue as a terrifying law to believers, who are not come to mount Sinai, but to mount Zion, and to all the privileges of a gospel-church state. They are not awed and urged by its menaces and curses to an observation of it; but are constrained by the love of Christ to run with cheerfulness the way of its commandments: they serve it not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of spirit, or as they are renewed by the Spirit of God. Nor is it a cursing and condemning law to the saints, Christ having redeemed them from the curse of it, being made a curse for them; and they shall never enter into condemnation. Yet it continues as a rule of life and conversation to them, as before observed; and is to be regarded by them as in the hands of Christ, by whom it is held forth as a King and Lawgiver in his church. Believers are not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,' and obliged to regard it; and the rather as he was made under it, and fulfilled it; and therefore it may be viewed and served with pleasure. Gill's Body of Divinity, 8vo, vol. ii, p. 39–41. HOW TO SPEND WINTER EVENINGS. THE harvest being over, and winter coming on, it is of importance that professors of the gospel, who are busily employed all the day, should know how to spend their evenings. As l'take it for granted, that such 3 R XVIII. persons at tend public worship two or three times every Sabbath, and a Lecture or Prayer-Meeting once in the week, I shall give no direction respecting those evenings. I have therefore only to propose the best way in which the majority of week-day evenings may be spent in families, or amongst females who work together. For this purpose, I shall first mention what are the most suitable books for reading; and then point out how they should be read. As to books, none can be proper that contain any thing contrary to the gospel; nor is there any need to read mere moral essays, as I shall mention some which are equally instructive and entertaining, and yet upon the plan of the gospel. As the British Classics, and especially the Spectator, are written in a good style, they are generally read; but as they recom mend plays, and in other things not strictly agreeable to real religion, they are not suitable for this purpose, unless the reader has judgment to make a selection from them. There are only three works that I shall mention at present, as peculiarly suitable and unexceptionable; namely, Buck's Anecdotes, 2 vols. 12mo; the Christian Mirror, 1 vol. 12mo; and especially the Christian Classics, 2 vols., published about two years since. The reading of these works, allowing for intermissions, would take up the evenings in one winter. The articles are not long, the language in each is good, and the sentiments consistent with the truth as it is in Jesus. With respect to the method of reading, where several persons in one room sit together, and can hear reading, I would propose that the best scholars should read to the rest; and that there should be an English Dictionary at hand to consult for a better understanding of difficult words which may occur. To relieve the breath of the reader, and to promote improving conversation, the book should be laid aside several times in an evening; and questions arising from the subject proposed and conversed on. In this manner families, or select companies, may spend their time during the long winter evenings in a pleasing and profitable manner. May I not add, that if professors would form Reading Societies of this kind, instead of loitering away their time, or during winter evenings, wandering from house to house, inuch slander would be prevented, and they would become more judicious and comfortable in their minds. G. G. S. Buckingham. APOLOGUE. HAVING, in my youth, notions of severe piety,' says a celebrated Persian writer,' I used to rise in the night to watch, pray, and read the Koran. One night, wholly engaged in these exercises, my father, a man of practical virtue, awoke while I was reading. Behold (said I to him) thy other children are lost in irreligious slumber, while I alone wake to praise God.'"Son of my soul," he answered, it is better to sleep, than wake to reSadi. mark the faults of thy brethren." JUVENILE DEPARTMENT. MISS SUTCLIFFE. As the present age is particularly marked by an attention to the rising generation, it is probable the following Narrative may not be destitute of Yours, &c. interest. Mary Ann Sutcliffe, the subject of the present Memoir, betook herself to secret prayer from between two and three years of age; and from that early period evinced the possession of real religion. By select reading, by the sacred Scriptures, and by a uniform course of devotional service, she manifested the existence of those evangelical motives which discovered themselves exercises. by a prompt reverence for parental authority, a submissive readiness to the divine will, the most inviolable regard to truth, an undisguised attachment to the people of God, and a growing love to the order of Lord's Day Hence arose a pleasing prospect of usefulness in the domestic circle (she being the eldest of a numerous progeny) which furnished the parents with the fond expectation of extensive and permanent felicity; but He, whose thoughts and ways are higher than theirs, had appointed otherwise. It pleased the all-wise Ruler of the Universe to implant a consumptive disease, which, by steady and deliberate steps, accomplished the divine purpose. During the last few weeks of her pilgrimage, she exerted herself beyond her natural powers in the acquirement of important information; and the principal source from which she derived it was from the Scriptures. Here, with ever fresh delight,' she was disposed to ruminate; observing, with Job, But he knoweth the way that I take; and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.' She was repeat edly earnest with her endeared parents to pray for her; and upon enquiry for what they should pray, she replied,That God would forgive all my sins, and all mine iniquities: that he would give me an assurance of his favour, an interest in the merits of his beloved Son, and to know more of him. The period of her dissolution approaching, she renewed the expressions of attachment to her parents in the most remarkable language, which will not be forgotten by them; and intreated them once more, having excluded all enquiring friends (for solitude was now her reigning choice) to pray for, and to read to her many passages of Scripture and extracts from hymns, which appeared to be suitable to her circumstances. At length she suddenly exclaimed, I am going! I am going !'—to which a question was suggested, namely, "Where are you going, my dear?" "To Jesus!' she instantly replied; and in a few seconds slept in perfect peace, on the evening of August 14, 1810, aged 10 years and six months. About God, who made the Sun and Moon. [From Hymns for Infant Minds, p. 3.] I SAW the glorious sun arise And as he travell'd thro' the skies, But when his shining course was done, Who made the sun to shine so far, MAMMA. "'Twas God, my child, who made them all, By his almighty hand : He holds them, that they do not fall, CHILD. How very great that God must be, I fear he will not condescend "Oyes, my love! for tho' he made He should neglect your cry; That gambol in the spring: MRS. TYRRILL Obituary. withstanding her circumstances were not affluent, she was enabled to bring up her family with decency, as well as piety. other, be able to rejoice and say, As Mrs. T. was brought up in the use of the means of grace, she made a point of attending them after she was removed from home; she lived, bowever, like the rest of the children of Adam, a total stranger to vital godliness, until about 5 years before her death, though often visited by affliction, her constitution being very delicate. She has been repeatedly led to admire the goodness of God to her for his sparing mercy, particularly about 5 years before she was married, when she was given over by the faculty; as at that time she was totally unconcerned about her immortal soul; but it pleased God gradually to open her eyes; and, after her marriage, her understanding being under the influence of the Holy Spirit, she became very deeply convinced of her sinful state, both by nature and practice, and saw а beauty in the Lord Jesus Christ, and his method of salvation, though often distressed with the fear she was not interested in him, though every one who knew her could not but observe her soul was in the pursuit of the great object her heart was set upon. She omitted no opportunity of attending the meaus of grace when her health permitted. Often have I found her, either with her Bible, some good book, or the Evangelical Magazine before her. She was very partial to the Obituaries, as in them she often saw her own features; and, amidst all her doubts and fears, a hope would arise that she should, one day or &c. -- Oct. 17, 1809, she was delivered of a sweet little boy, which appeared likely to live; but it soon followed its mother. The goodness of God to her, in her speedy delivery, filled her mind with gratitude; and when her doctor intimated there was no hope of her getting up again, she received the message without dismay, and was enabled to say,' I know in whom I have believed.' When desired to compose herself, that she might get a little rest, she replied, I am going to that rest which remaineth to the people of God.' She said soon after, i trust I am building on the right foundation, for Jesus is my Foundation and chief Corner Stone; and, dearly as I love my husband and child, I can freely give them up; and then repeated, with great energy, the three last verses of the 17th Psalm (Dr. Watts's) This life's a dream,' One day, during her illness, |