this United Presbyterian Church, have thrown such an insuperable obstacle in the way of the other branches of the Presbyterian church who may wish to have church fellowship with them? This new church has most solemnly declared, by the terms of their union, that so long as this basis shall endure they will never fellowship any of their brethren of any branch of the Presbyterian church, other than those of their own communion. Will the United Presbyterian church say, in vindication of her conduct in so doing, that we are under the painful necessity of debarring from our communion those whom we esteem as brethren in the Lord, in order that we may preserve the primitive faith and practice of the church in its original purity? The purity of the church, then, must be maintained at the expense of rejecting and debarring from Christian fellowship those whom Christ has received. A most painful alternative, assuredly!

Has the Head of the Church, then, legislated that when the members of his spiritual body shall differ in their views on certain things not essential to the salvation of men or the integrity of the church, they may divide and exclude from their number those who may thus differ from them? If he have so legislated, where shall we find the law and the testimony? That the primitive Christians did differ in several things, is an undoubted fact; to which, indeed, the Apostle deposes in his Epistle to the Romans, xiv. 1, 2, 3; but did he adjudicate the differences between them and finally settle them as our brethren of the New Church have done in relation to their brethren of other branches of the church? Were not the points of difference between those whom the Apostle addressed as brethren in the Lord, as great and as small, as dangerous and as harmless, as the differences that now exist between the branches of the Presbyterian church? How, then, does the Apostle decide the case in the church at Rome. Does he say to those who differed from each other about certain Jewish customs-upon which, too, a dangerous importance might have readily been given them-does he advise or authorize them to separate, seeing they were not agreed about these matters?-for how can two walk together unless they be agreed?

So did not Paul teach or authorize in the case; but just the opposite. Let the reader examine the whole case as contained in the fourteenth chapter of the Romans, and he will easily see what was the decision of the Apostle. He assuredly would have those who were intelligent in the gospel, who saw its all and alone sufficiency to save the believer and unite him to the body of Christ, to bear and forbear with the brother who was comparatively weak in the

faith, because of his undue attachments and prejudices in favor of things in no way essential to his salvation or the perfection of his Christian character. The Apostle teaches them that they should receive the weak brother with all his imperfections, for this plain and best of all reasons, that God has received him. And he also beseeches his brother who was strong in the faith, that he would treat his weak brother with all affection and love, and not destroy him for whom Christ died.

We would, then, in view of the case just cited from the pen of Inspiration, ask the advocates of such a basis of union as we are now considering, if the terms of Christian fellowship proposed and agreed upon therein are in accordance with the letter and spirit of what we find taught in the fourteenth chapter of the Romans? Assuredly the Apostle would hear of nothing as a term of fellowship that was not necessarily connected with the salvation of the individual. Does this basis of organic union present for the reception and admission of the believer nothing but what is essentially connected with his salvation and justification? If it contain more or less than this, it cannot form that basis, that tried precious corner stone laid in Zion, in which he that trusts shall not be confounded. No other foundation or basis can any man lay than that which is laid, says the Apostle. Be it remembered, then, that this foundation or basis of Christian union and fellowship is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Upon this foundation the Apostle built believers in Corinth, when he proclaimed to them that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. No sooner did they evince to the Apostle that they believed what he preached concerning Jesus of Nazareth, than they were built upon this foundation. Upon Jesus Christ, thus laid as the chief corner stone, he built up a congregation of saints in the city of Corinth. He did the same at Ephesus, Thessalonica, and in many other places where he proclaimed Jesus Christ crucified. The belief of the gospel united them to Christ as the head of the body, and to the members of his spiritual body. Upon their belief of the gospel, as evinced by their obedience in submitting to the ordinance of baptism, they received the right hand of fellowship and were thus welcomed into the church or kingdom of Christ-where they continued in the Apostle's doctrine, in the fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Thus we have shown, we conceive, to the satisfaction of all who

acknowledge the authority which we have adduced, that the saving truth which converts the sinner from the error of his ways, the same truth, neither more nor less, unites him in church fellowship to the body of Christ.

This surely is a platform or basis of union broad enough for all believers, of whatever name, to stand upon or to build upon. For every article of faith or opinion we add to this basis, we narrow it. A creed of three articles is very much broader than one of thirtythree. Reason, common sense, as well as scripture, teach us that if we would have many to unite with us in sentiment or belief in relation to any grand scheme of moral or physical improvement, the truths or facts must be few, simple, and important. The great fundamental truths in every department of science are few and comparatively plain. It is just so in the great moral scheme of man's redemption. The truths which the Apostles proclaimed were but few, but they had a meaning which, when understood, gave them a moral, reformatory power, that could hardly be calculated. In them were contained the wisdom and the power of God. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, when rightly understood, develope to the human race the perfection of the divine philanthropy. Hence the Apostle declares, if they are kept in memory, they will save those who believe them.

As we learn the import of these wonderful truths their importance will rise in our estimation, and they must eventually become the great rallying truths around which all Christians will gather as doves to their windows. The Christian community entire will never consent to unite and form one undivided body, upon any thing short of saving truth. For such a union as this the Head of the Church, in his humiliation, prayed to his Father. We seem to have entirely overlooked the nature of that kind of truth in which the unity of the church is ultimately to consist. It is not revealed truth in general, nor is it the truth setting forth the order and discisline of the church in particular; nor are the views or opinions of Christians respecting the government of the Christian church, that are to form any part of the truth essential to the unity of the church or membership therein. To incorporate such truths and opinions in the believer's creed, and make them terms of membership, equally with the essential, saving truth of the gospel, is surely an error loci-a mislocation of divine truth.

A. W. CAMPBELL.

LETTERS FROM EUROPE-No. XXI.

My dear Clarinda-THERE are yet many matters of interest to you and my readers in England, which I have not as yet noted. Before I pass over the Tweed I will, therefore, note a few of the most interesting.

I informed you of my visit to Manchester and of our labors in that busiest of human hives; but of the magnitude and population of that metropolis of manufactures I said nothing. Situated some 200 miles from London and some 30 from Liverpool, on the banks of the Irwell, having Salford on the other side, standing in the same relation to it as Southwark to London-two great boroughs— this very old town is a theatre of great importance to the world. It is the best development and illustration of the varied power of manufactures in creating wealth, and in changing the conditions of society in almost every point of view, that stands upon the map of

the world.

This town, said by some writers to be centuries older than the Christian era, occupied but little space in the history of England itself, and as little conspicuity in the annals of Europe, until the era of manufactures by scientific power dawned upon its hitherto humble condition. In 1801 Manchester in its thirteen townships contained only 81,290 souls. Salford, on the other side of the river, in its four townships, 18,525; and Chorlton, in its sixteen townships, 18,640. In 1841 they contained in all 354,142 souls.

In the year 1775 the entered report of cotton from America to Liverpool was 5 bags, and in twelve years thereafter it only grew into 108 bags in one year. In 1840 it amounted to 528,000,000 of pounds, or one million three hundred and forty thousand bales!

To manufacture this enormous amount of cotton in one year a corresponding increase of power looms and all other apparatus is naturally to be expected. From the statistics that have fallen under my eye, from the invention of the power loom in 1785 till now, there has been a constant annual increase in the English empire of the number of looms employed. In 1813 there were only 2,400; in 1835, 115,801; now, more than 150,000 power looms in the whole empire.

Mills also have increased in corresponding ratios. In the district of which Manchester is the centre, there are 1164 mills; of these there are those that work 69 hours per week, 887; less than 69, there are 139; not at work in 1843, there were 138. The horse power in steam is equal to 35,901, and in water to 3,994. Employed

and unemployed in steam and in water, there is more than 48,000 horse power devoted to cotton; and this gives actual employment to more than 200,000 persons, and supports almost a million and a half of human beings, including the various trades connected with these establishments, and all the old and infirm persons and children depending upon the actual operants!

To form an adequate idea of this great manufacturing capital, it must be noted that in 1831, in twelve American States,-Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia,-there were in all 801 mills, 33,432 looms, and 77,457,316 lbs. of cotton consumed, employing in capital 49,612,984 dollars. In Manchester alone and its environs, in 1838, seven years after, there was a capital employed of £62,961,082, or 304,611,636 dollars and 88 cents.

The influence of so much capital so employed may be illustrated in many ways. Take an example in a single case: Sir Oswold Mosley, Bart., in the year 1790-1, sold for £28 or 135 dollars per annum, a certain lot near the Infirmary, containing 2400 superficial yards. Transient buildings were occasionally put upon it, but when last sold they had all been cleared away. In twenty years it was again sold for £5000, more than 25,000 dollars. In a few years afterwards it sold for 11,000 guineas. In 1841 it was sold for £25,500, or 125,000 dollars. The buildings on the premises being all removed by the last purchaser shows that the price paid was for the land itself, or for the site; and thus in fifty years it has increased about sixty fold!

But what is the financial, moral, and religious condition of the manufacturing population? This is a question of profound interest to even the political economist-much more to the philanthropist and the Christian. We, indeed, saw little of it-talked little about it; but were so curious on the subject as to gather up the best printed statistics of their condition we could find on the spot. Into these you would not expect me to enter with any great interest or at great length. A few facts and a few hints must, then, suffice for the present.

Within a radius of twelve miles around Manchester it is said there are one million of human beings, of which the much greater proportion is engaged, directly or indirectly, in manufactures. First, then, as respects their wages or means of subsistence.

So late as June, 1842, from statistical reports of high authority we learned that in the cotton spinning mills, employing some 450