Holy Spirit upon many professors of religion among us. "Prayer was made without ceasing of the church," that God would send us prosperity; and the result was, that the ministry was not only accompanied with an unction of the holy One, but scores of poor careless sinners were converted; for some months the work went on without any abatement, and “believers were added to the church daily." It was during the time of this revival, that Dr. Chalmers became more conversant with Methodism, and deeply interested in some of the extraordinary instances of conversion that came under his notice.

The Doctor was in the habit, on a week-day afternoon, and sometimes in the evening, of assembling his people in the several localities of his parish, previous to the great sacramental seasons, for special exhortation and prayer. Many of the Methodists were glad on these occasions to avail themselves of an opportunity of listening to his godly counsels. The Doctor being in want of a suitable place in the neighbourhood of Great Hamilton-street chapel, which was in the possession of the Wesleyans, he had the offer made to him of the large upper-room above the chapel, which was willingly accepted. The place on these services was crowded to excess, and many of the Methodists mingled with the multitude. After service, he observed to me, "I am sure there were many of your people here to-night. I know when they are present, by the hearty manner in which they sing unto the Lord." Nor were these services unprofitable to our people not unfrequently have I heard our plain brethren, in our public band-meetings, "Bless God for brother Chalmers !

During the week of one of our annual District-Meetings, while I was in that city, the late Rev. George Thompson was appointed to preach in Great Hamilton-street. On the night of his appointment, Dr. Chalmers, and one or two of his friends, passing at the time, entered the chapel. They were immediately conducted to a seat by some of our friends, who said afterwards, "that when they saw the Doctor enter, they wished, for the honour of Methodism, they had some one of our more talented Ministers in the pulpit;" fearing that Mr. Thompson's preaching would not suit the taste of Dr. Chalmers; but in this they were mistaken. The Doctor being afterwards asked, on leaving the chapel," what he thought of the Minister who had preached," replied, "I admire the man: he goes about his work in a business-like way!"

It was shortly after this, in his own pulpit, (referring to Methodism,) that he said, "If I am asked, 'What is Methodism?' my answer should be, METHODISM IS CHRISTIANITY IN EARNEST!'

6

In my occasional interviews with Dr. Chalmers in his own house, he often spoke of our system, and of its adaptation to general usefulness; yet would not fail to point out with great candour what he judged to be its defects. Speaking of our ministry to me on one occasion, while I sat by him in his study, he said, "I exceedingly admire your Methodistical way of preaching. Of all other men, you seem to me to make the most deadly thrust at sin at the first go-off; and it is that which I believe, under God, gives pernranency to all your labours; " and then added, "I should like to hear one of you preach on the doctrine of heart-holiness."

A. B.

THE POPE'S HIGH MASS AT ST. PETER'S IN ROME.

A LARGE space behind the altar was fitted up with boxes, shaped like those at the Italian Opera in England, but in their decoration much more gaudy. In the centre of the kind of theatre thus railed off, was a canopied dais, with the Pope's chair upon it. The pavement was covered with a carpet of the brightest green; and what with this green, and the intolerable reds, and crimsons, and gold borders of the hangings, the whole concern looked like a stupendous Bon-bon. On either side of the altar was a large box for lady strangers. These were filled with ladies in black dresses, and black veils. The gentlemen of the Pope's guard in red coats, leather breeches, and jack-boots, guarded all this reserved space, with drawn swords, that were very flashy in every sense; and from the altar all down the nave a broad lane was kept clear by the Pope's Swiss guard, who wear a quaint striped surcoat, and striped trowsers, and carry halberts like those which are usually shouldered by those theatrical supernumeraries, who never can get off the stage fast enough.

I got upon the border of the green carpet, in company with a great many other gentlemen, attired in black, (no other passport is necessary,) and stood there at my ease, during the performance of mass. The singers were in a crib of wire-work (like a large meat-safe or bird-cage) in one corner, and sang most atrociously. All about the green carpet there was a slowly moving crowd of people, talking to each other, and staring at the Pope through eyeglasses, defrauding one another, in moments of partial curiosity, out of precarious seats on the bases of pillars, and grinning hideously at the ladies. Dotted here and there were little knots of Friars, (Francescáni or Cappucíni, in their coarse brown dresses and peaked hoods,) making a strange contrast to the gaudy Ecclesiastics of a higher degree, and having their humility gratified to the utmost, by being shouldered about, and elbowed right and left on all sides. Some of these had muddy sandals and umbrellas, and stained garments, having trudged in from the country. The faces of the greater part were as coarse and heavy as their dress; their dogged, stupid, monotonous stare at all the glory and splendour, having something in it half-miserable and half-ridiculous.

Upon the green carpet itself, and gathered round the altar, was a perfect army of Cardinals and Priests, in red, gold, purple, violet, white, and fine linen. Stragglers from these went to and fro among the crowd, conversing two and two, or giving and receiving introductions, and exchanging salutations: other functionaries in black gowns, and other functionaries in court-dresses, were similarly engaged. In the midst of all these, together with stealthy Jesuits creeping in and out, and the extreme restlessness of the youth of England, who were perpetually wandering about, some few steady persons in black cassocks, who had knelt down with their faces to the wall, and were poring over their Missals, became, unintentionally, a sort of human man-traps, with their legs tripping up the passengers by the dozen.

There was a great pile of candles lying down on the floor near me, which a very old man in a rusty black gown with an open-work tippet, like a summer ornament for a fire-place in tissue paper, made himself very busy in dispensing to all the Ecclesiastics one apiece. They loitered about with these for some time, under their arms like walking-sticks, or in their hands like truncheons. At a certain period of the ceremony, however, each carried his candle up to the Pope, laid it across his knees to be blessed,

took it back again, and filed off. This was done in a very attenuated procession, as you may suppose, and occupied a long time. Not because it takes long to bless a candle through and through, but because there were so many candles to be blessed. At last they were all blessed, and then they were all lighted, and then the Pope was taken up, chair and all, and carried round the church.

I must say that I never saw anything, out of November, so like the popular English commemoration of the fifth of that month. A bundle of matches and a lantern would have made it perfect. Nor did the Pope himself at all mar the resemblance, though he has a pleasant and venerable face; for, as this part of the ceremony makes him giddy and unwell, he shuts his eyes when it is performed; and having his eyes shut, and a great mitre on his head, and the head itself wagging to and fro as they shook him in carrying, he looked as if his mask were going to tumble off. The two immense fans which are always borne, one on either side of him, accompanied him, of course, on this occasion. As they carried him along, he blessed the people with the mystic sign; and as he passed them they kneeled down. When he had made the round of the church, he was brought back again; and, if I am not mistaken, this performance was repeated, on the whole, three times. There was, certainly nothing solemn or effective in it, and certainly very much that was droll and tawdry. But this remark applies to the whole ceremony, except the raising of the host, when every man in the guard dropped on one knee instantly, and dashed his naked sword on the ground, which had a fine effect.-Pictures from Italy.

ON PREACHING THE GOSPEL.

(To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.)

As the ministry of the word is that ordinance which it has ever pleased the Almighty to employ for the recovery of immortal souls from sin and misery to holiness and happiness, assuredly no subject can present a stronger claim to the serious investigation of such as contemplate entering upon this solemn work, than that of ascertaining—from a careful review of the method adopted by those whose labours have been most honoured of God— the course it will be their wisdom to adopt. Impressed with this consideration, I am induced to offer to the notice of that class of your readers, who are under training for the ministerial office, the following excellent quotation from Milner's "History of the Church of Christ :" (vol. ii., pp. 314, 315; six-vol. edit. :)—

"In no age was the pastoral taste more depraved than it is at the present. A highly-finished, elaborate, and elegant style is looked on as the perfection of a Christian speaker; and the manner, rather than the matter, is the chief object. It is not considered that an artificial and polished arrangement of sentences is lost on a common audience; and those who affect it are, it is to be feared, little moved themselves with the importance of divine things, and are far more solicitous for their own character, as speakers, than for the spiritual profit of their hearers. Yet in no age did God Almighty ever more clearly show, by the effects, what was agreeable in his sight. What a number of learned and elaborate sermons have been preached to no purpose! Even the truth of the doctrine that is in them is rendered, in a great measure, useless, by the wisdom of words with which

it has been clothed; while plain, artless, colloquial addresses to the populace, by men fearing God, and speaking of divine things in fervour and charity, have been attended with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power,' and souls have been rescued, through their means, from sin and Satan. Classical and ornamental knowledge is not the first thing to be aimed at by a Pastor. If he is yet very young, his time, indeed, is laudably employed in cultivating his faculties in this respect; and if his genius for eloquence be strong and acute, he will soon learn the justest rules sufficiently for the purpose of his profession. There is, indeed, an eloquence in the Scripture; but it is an eloquence adapted to the subject, plainly divine. A Pastor, who has talents for speaking, attended with superior learning and endowments, will study to attain a diligent negligence,' that he may never overshoot the capacities of his audience, either by refined reasonings, or by artificial elegances of diction. Plain, downright, above all things perspicuous and intelligible, without being rude or clownish, he will descend to the lowest comprehension of his audience; and his grandeur and sublimity will appear in things, not in words. He will gladly give up his reputation to the fastidiousness of critics; for he has souls to bring into Christ's fold, and is not solicitous of the praise of men. He will show, without designing it, from time to time, that he can speak more elaborately, and more elegantly; but eloquence will follow his subject, not go before it. This will be the plan of a man of genius and learning in the work of the pulpit: he will humble himself, that Christ may be exalted. But Christ can do his work by workmen of slower and more ordinary capacities; and he has often done so."

In a note appended to the foregoing extracts, the same author, speaking of Augustine, observes:-" He knew how to practise his own rules of eloquence; and two instances related by himself, show him, notwithstanding the defective taste of his age, to have been no mean orator. While he acted as a Presbyter at Hippo, under Valerius, his Bishop, he was appointed by him to preach to the people, in order to reclaim them from riotous feasting on solemn days. He opened the Scriptures, and read to them the most vehement rebukes. He besought them, by the ignominy and sorrow which they brought upon themselves, and by the blood of Christ, not to destroy themselves, to pity him who spake to them with so much affection, and to show some regard to their venerable old Bishop, who, out of tenderness to them, had charged him to instruct them in the truth. 'I did not make them weep,' says he, by first weeping over them; but while I was preaching, their tears prevented mine. Then, I own, I could not refrain myself. After we had wept together, I began to entertain great hope of their amendment.' He now varied from the discourse he had prepared, because the present softness of their minds seemed to require something different. In fine, he had the satisfaction to find the evil redressed from that very day.

"The other occasion was this: 'We must not imagine,' says he, 'that a man has spoken powerfully when he receives much applause. This is sometimes given to low turns of wit, and merely ornamental eloquence. But the sublime overwhelms the mind with its vehemence; it strikes them dumb; it melts them into tears. When I endeavoured to persuade the people of Cæsarea to abolish their barbarous sports, in which, at a certain time of the year, they fought publicly for several days, I said what I could; but while I heard only their acclamations, I thought I had done nothing when they wept, I entertained a hope that the horrible custom

which they had received from their ancestors would be abolished. It is now upwards of eight years since that time, and, by the grace of God, they have ever since been restrained from the practice.' Here was true eloquence, and, what is of far more consequence, true piety in a Preacher." Deeply is it to be deplored in this day of abundant means of grace, when the strong fence of civil authority is placed around the followers of the Redeemer, and every section of the Christian church, whatever be the form of worship, is secured from the slightest molestation, that so little saving power is seen to accompany the ministry of the word. The external machinery is both extensive and admirably arranged; and many, in the fervour of their zeal, are aiming, apparently, to outvie others in the flow of liberality, for the diffusion of sacred truth in this and foreign lands; yet, alas! how scanty is the produce of all this exertion! On every hand we witness the toil of the flesh; but where are the evidences of the presence of the life-giving Spirit? The husbandmen weary themselves with incessant labour: why are the showers withholden, and, as the consequence thereof, do we behold so small a portion of fruit in the vineyard?

Among other causes of this lack of usefulness, may we not instance a mode of preaching, which, it is to be feared, bears not the stamp of the divine approval? To gratify the taste of a merely-intellectual part of the professing church,—a description of hearers who have only a name to live,addresses from the pulpit, too generally, have, by degrees, and therefore imperceptibly, dwindled into a vapid essay-style; so that, while the several divisions of the discourse have been adjusted in the nicest order, and warm encomiums lavished upon the mental acumen, appropriate action, and sometimes almost electrifying animation, of the speaker, by the class just referred to, others, who have come thirsting for the living water, have found the well dry, and returned the victims of painful disappointment. It is confessed, indeed, that the words spoken were in strict accordance with the inspired oracles, and "shone as they ran, but, grasped at, slipped away," leaving behind them no stirring interest whatever.

These remarks, it must be stated, are not offered with the invidious design of applying them to this or that section of the true church, but are affectionately submitted to the serious consideration of all the Ministers of the sanctuary. While, therefore, the people are exhorted to implore a richer outpouring of the Holy Ghost, does it not behove those who properly urge this important duty, to see that they themselves do not hinder the coming of the blessing sought? Preaching, in very many cases, it is apprehended, is become more a memory than a heart work, and a rigid bondage-adherence to the dictates of the former faculty too often determinately repels the heavenly operation; and the Spirit being grieved, his gracious influence has been unfelt, unseen. But, who has courage to burst the shackles of long-established custom, to yield himself to the movement of the celestial guide, and to speak as, and so long only as, He is pleased to breathe into the "earthen vessel," regardless alike of man's praise or blame? Upon a pleasing change appearing in his auditory, Augustine, we are informed, " varied from the discourse he had prepared, because the present softness seemed to require something different.” Until this wise subservience to divine teaching be shown, the lament will be heard, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"

B. C.