and popular minister riseth against her, it ought to be heard. But happily God thinks and acts otherwise. He has pledged himself that every such tongue shall be confounded, and every such weapon frustrated. Ye who feel a secret satisfaction in the weakness and failure of small beginnings, will do well to attend to the counsel of Gamaliel. "Take heed to yourselves what ye do, as touching these men, and I say unto you, Refrain from these men and let them alone. For if this counsel or work be of men it will come to nought; but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it, lest happily ye be found to fight against God." Ye infant societies in patience possess ye your souls. "Stand still," in the faith and hope of God's promise, "and see the salvation of God." Be instant in pleading all those encouraging promises at the throne of grace. And wait for him, do not fret. In addition to this "Watch-lest ye enter into temptation;" lest satan by his wiles divide you; lest the world around make you ashamed of your profession; and most of all, lest your own hearts deceive you. Put on the whole armour of God, and pray that you may be taught to use it skilfully. Bear ye one another's burdens. Love ye one another, with pure hearts fervently. And may the God of hope do exceeding abundantly above and beyond all that you can ask or think. Amen.

AMICUS.

SECESSION CHURCH IN THE ORKNEY ISLANDS. A very remarkable instance illustrative of the remarks of our correspondent, in the foregoing article, is the introduction of the Secession principles into the Islands of Orkney, on the north of Scotland. The baleful operation of patronage in that place, as well as in many others, had filled the pulpits of the Establishment, with but few exceptions, with an erroneous, careless and unprofitable ministry. A few pious individuals, Provost Jamieson, Oliver Scott, William Folsetter, William Borwick, and another, whose name I have forgotten, dissatisfied with the existing and apparently hopeless state of things, withdrew from a ministry by which they could not profit, and formed themselves into a praying society, in which they united their supplications to a throne of grace for a pure dispensation of the gospel. Their beginning was then small, but their latter end was greatly increased. Their prayers were answered in such a way as clearly to manifest, that the hand of God brought them relief. Sometime after this, Oliver Scott being on a voyage to London, was driven by stress of weather to New-Castle upon Tyne, where he providentially met with the minister belonging to the General

te Synod, in that place, and in conversation, acquainted with their situation in Orkney. A suitable representation his was made at the meeting of Synod, in 1797, and a mission

ent to Orkney. In the course of the summmer, a congregation was formed in Kirkwall which, before the end of the year, increased to 200 members, though suffering every species of abuse. So violent was this, that in some instances during public worship, which, for the want of other accommodation, they were obliged to have in the open air, they were pelted with stones and annoyed in every possible way. On the 3d of August, 1798, the Rev. William Broadfoot, was ordained pastor of this little flock; the sacrament was dispensed on the 12th of the same month, and 300 were added to their number. In the course of the next year, a congregation was formed in the Island of Stronsay, which embraced nearly all the population of the Island. In 1800, the congregation of Kirkwall had 800 joined members; and in 1816, after it had in the interim, set off the congregations of Stromness and Holme, then numbering the one, 400 and the other 600 communicants, together with a small congregation in the Island of Sanday, there still remained from 12 to 1500 in the parent society. Congregations of considerable strength have since been formed in Eva, Westra, and South Ronaldsha. Thus, in less than thirty years, by the blessing of God attending a faithful dispensation of the means of grace, have 8 congregations, embracing upwards of 3,000 communicants, been raised up, which now with one or two exceptions, have a settled ministry; and the origin of the whole, is to be found in a praying society of four or five individuals. This example, we think, is calculated to afford GREAT

ENCOURAGEMENT TO SMALL BEGINNINGS.

For the Religious Monitor.

Yet

SOME THINGS WHICH ARE NOT MARKS OF GRACE. It is more important to be in Christ, than to know that we are in him; and more wise to multiply our evidences, than to examine what we have. Our eternal safety depends upon our actual union, our present peace alone is concerned in knowing it. every one who considers the importance of salvation, must also feel the vast importance of certainty, where eternal ruin may be the consequence of a mistake. And, as the Holy Spirit does not witness to our interest in Christ by a supernatural voice or vague impression, without reason, but by stirring up the grace which is in us, and so enlightening the mind that we are enabled to discern what are the evidences of grace, and to discover these evi

dences in ourselves, those doctrines of scripture which respect the christian character must be unspeakably important. A mistake, respecting them, may prove ruinous, by leading us without cause to presume or despair of mercy. In these things, at least, one would suppose, that the general cry against attaching importance to the truth would be hushed in awful interest; and that the labours of the learned and pious would have left no room for doubts. But even here, where the truth most deeply and directly affects the practice and comfort of men, how widely do they differ; some, pronouncing peace to the shadow of religion, and others, requring more than heavenly purity. The object of the present essay is, to point out some of those things which are not to be approved or required, as marks of grace; and,

I. It is not a mark of grace to hope well of ourselves. Hope in God, is one of the fruits of the Spirit and a mark of a gracious state, but many have hopes of themselves, originating in their own minds and founded on their own goodness, which will never be realized. Men may have a mere impression on their minds that they are elected or born again, without any proof to satisfy others or themselves, except that such is their impression and they cannot think otherwise. But it is one part of the character of the believer that he has a reason of the hope that is in him. Religion is reasonable as well as supernatural. There is a reason both for faith and for that hope which is the fruit of faith. Many cherish the most confident hopes and make the most boasting professions-many of the highest rank and greatest attainments, who will not be acknowledged by Christ. Many will say to him in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And he will profess unto them, I never knew you. They are not such as were once in a state of grace and had reason to hope; Christ will profess that he never knew them; that even when their attainments and their hopes were at their highest, even when through the gift of the Holy Spirit they had been enabled to look into the dark and distant future, when they had seen the visions, and declared the messages of the Most High, and when acting in the name of the great God of heaven they had cast out devils, he had no knowledge of them as truly his and the subjects of his love. And they-O fatal delusion! though able to look into the future, had never seen themselves; though preaching the gospel to others, had been themselves gospel dispisers, though casting out devils, they never had cast out their own corruptions; and Christ will say to them, Depart from me ye that work iniquity. In their own opinion, they had been doing 11

VOL. III.

many and mighty works of God; in the reckoning of Chris? they were only workers of iniquity. In their own opinion, they were heirs of heaven; but from Christ they must hear the awful sentence, Depart.

If all who had such impressions and such hopes would be saved, heaven would be crowded with inhabitants, and only here and there a straggler would blunder into hell. For though ma ny be called and few chosen, where one not chosen knows himself to be under wrath, there are thousands who hope for heaven. The foundations of their hope are weak, but men could never be at rest in sin, if assured that its wages would be death. There be few that be saved, but O, what multitudes are hoping for salvation! It becomes every one with great earnestness to say, Lord is it I? Am I among those who, lifted up to heaven, in privileges, in character and hope, shall yet be thrust down to hell?— It becomes each of us to examine on what our hope is founded, lest we think ourselves to be something when we are nothing.— Job gives us a striking description of the specious attainments and false hopes of many a sinner. Can the rush, says he, grow without mire? or can the flag grow without water? While it is yet in his greenness and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall. be a spider's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. As the rush grows not without the mire, nor the flag without water, so can no true grace or hope flourish where there is no faith, no influence of the Spirit. They may appear to spring up and flourish for a season, but as plants not cherished by their natural soil and aliments, wither in the midst of their growth, and without being cut down, so these false graces and delusive hopes fade away in the midst of their flourishing, and without those strong temptations which sometimes produce defection. Having no proper root in them, though the scorching sun does not arise, they fade away and perish. The trust of hypocrites is the spider's web of selfrighteousness, thin and unsubstantial, and it will be swept away in a moment, when the Lord shall arise to judgment. Their house is built on the sand of their own strength. At first they lean upon it in the confidence that it will give support to them, but it will not stand; then they endeavour to give support to itto hold it up, but it will not endure. The eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost.

II. A profession of religion is not a mark of grace. Profession is so necessary that those who wilfully neglect it cannot be believers. Unless we confess Christ, by appearing openly on his side, he will be ashamed of us, when he cometh in his kingdom. Unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we have no part in him, and if we slight the outward means we have no reason to expect the blessing. Yet is it equally true, that many have a name to live while they are dead. Many say, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these, or the gospel of Christ, the gospel of Christ, are these: many are not only professors, but prophets in the church, who will not be acknowledged in the judgement. Some professors are so far removed from the truth of the gospel; and some, whose principles are sound, are so far from a corresponding practice, that they are evidently strangers to grace; and in others, though man may see no lack, God may see a total want of all the essentials of religion. In this the Jews trusted. They had Abraham to their father, as his descendants they were the visible church, and thought themselves certain of salvation, but Christ tells them though visibly the children of Abraham, they were in truth of their father the devil. It has been the case, when the cause of religion was most despised and persecuted, that false professors have crept into the church and submitted to much loss and reproach. The language of the conscience is louder than the threats of men; its terrors more dreadful than all the horrors of the dungeon, the scaffold or the stake. And it is not strange that those, who have a rational conviction of the truth, will risk the utmost that man can do, rather than live openly neglectful of duty and regardless of wrath. And when the church enjoys peace, or gets her feet upon the neck of enemies when her cause is fashionable and the ways of God approved, there is still more reason to fear that much chaff is collected in with the wheat, which the slightest wind of judgement would disperse.

III. Gifts are not marks of grace. Some have been remarkable for gifts, and not less remarkable for vileness. Balaam excelled as a prophet. He had clear views of the expected MessiasThe star out of Jacob, the sceptre out of Israel, the prince and Saviour of his people; he heard the words of God, he had the knowledge of the Most High, and saw the visions of the Almighty. Yet he loved the ways of unrighteousness-sought to curse those whom God had blessed-taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before Israel-and perished in open war against God and his people. Judas was one of the twelve whom Christ sent out with power, To heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead, to