time in such holy exercises as these are, we must suppose him at length to be seized with some distemper, before he departs from this world; and then the Church, to shew her great care of him to the last, requires the minister of the parish where he lives to pay him a solemn visit. And that he may be sure to have the best directions that can be given to him at that great juncture, she has drawn up an order for the visitation of him, and likewise for the administration of the Holy Communion to him; which is the best cordial he can take to support his spirits, and carry him through the great work which he has now to do. And when it has pleased Almighty God, of his great mercy, to take unto himself the soul of this our dear brother, the minister, by the order and in the name of the Church, commits his body to the ground, in sure and certain hope of joyful resurrection to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thus we see how the Christian, from his first admission into the Church militant upon earth, is conducted and governed all along by her, until at length he is advanced to the Church triumphant in Heaven.

VOLUNTARYISM IN AMERICA.

THE chapter on Religion in Captain Marryatt's Diary in America, affords some most decided and unequivocal evidence against the Voluntary System, and proves in the most decided manner the evils resulting from such a mode of supporting religion. One of the most striking and unanswerable arguments which Captain Marryatt brings forward in favour of religious establishments, and against the voluntary system, is the fact, that those States of the Union which have enforced religion and morality, and have punished infidelity, and, as a consequence, have an established religion within their respective limits, are the most virtuous, the most refined, and the most intellectual, and are always cited as such even by American writers. Speaking of the advantages to be derived in a temporal point of view from an establishment of religion in a State, the author ob

serves:

"It would appear as if the majority were much too frail and weak to go alone upon their heavenly journey-as if they required the support, the assistance, the encouragement, the leaning upon others who are journeying with them, to enable them successfully to gain the goal. The effects of an Established Church are to cement the mass, cement society and communities, and increase the force of those natural ties by which families and relations are bound together. There is an attraction of cohesion in a uniform religious worship, acting favourably upon the morals of the mass, and binding still more closely those already united. Now, the voluntary system in America has produced the very opposite effects; it has broken one of the strongest links between man and man, for each goeth his own way: as a nation, there is no national feeling to be acted upon; in society, there is something wanting, and you ask yourself what it is? And in families it often creates disunion: I know one among

many others, who, instead of going together to the same house of prayer, disperse as soon as they are out of the door-one daughter to a Unitarian chapel, another to a Baptist, the parents to the Episcopal; the sons, any where or no where. But worse effects are produced than even these: where any one is allowed to have his own peculiar way of thinking, his own peculiar creed, there neither is a watch, nor a right to watch over each other; there is no mutual communication, no encouragement, no parental control; and the consequence is, that by the majority, especially the young, religion becomes wholly and utterly disregarded."-Vol. III. p. 96.

One of the worst consequences resulting from the existence of the voluntary system in any country, is the circumstance that it places the minister of religion in a degree under the influence and at the control of his congregation; thus inverting not only the natural course of things, but still more, that prescribed order which the Word of Inspiration has laid down for our guidance, and instead of giving to the pastor the spiritual rule over his flock placing them in authority over him. Captain Marryatt draws a melancholy picture of the consequences of such an unnatural practice, as it takes place among some of the dissenting sects in America. It seems that the minister is tyrannized over by the laity in the most absurd and unjustifiable manner. If he does not choose to submit to their decisions-if he asserts his right to preach according to his own views, he is arraigned by his congregation, and dismissed. In short, although sent for to instruct the people, he must consent to be instructed by them, or else to surrender up his trust. Thus does he lose all his influence, and become the mere slave of the congrega. tion, who give him his choice, either to interpret the Scriptures according to their mode of understanding them, or otherwise to go and starve. Captain Marryatt gives a curious illustration of the manner in which the Americans are accustomed to reason on this subject:-"I was once canvassing this question with an American, who pronounced that the laity were quite right, and that it was the duty of the minister to preach as his congregation wished. His argument was this-If I send to Manchester for any article to be manufactured, I expect it to be made exactly after the pattern given, if not, I will not take it.' So it is with the minister; he must find goods exactly suited to his customers, or expect them to be left on his hands."

Here is the solution of the problem; here is the candid (at any rate) acknowledgment, which at once tells us, and in the most forcible terms, of the wisdom of our pious ancestors, who, by setting apart endowments throughout the land for the support of a body of clergy, have rendered them independent and uncontrolled in action, except by their ecclesiastical superiors; have placed them above the caprice and variable temper of a human congregation, and have thus made the most admirable provision for the maintenance and assertion of the truths of revelation, pure, genuine, and undefiled. In our own favoured land, whatever may be the humours of the congregation, whatever may be the mutations either in their opinions

or sentiments, the parochial clergyman is rendered independent of them all by the piety and munificence of former generations. Possessing a maintenance, small although in many cases it may be, his right to which is as ample, as good, and as well secured, as the title of any member of his flock is either to his landed or funded property for which provision, moreover, he is not obliged in the slightest degree to his congregation; and which, rendered as it is by certain members of it, is not rendered as a gift, or as a tax, but as a rightful payment, the withholding of which would be as gross an act of dishonesty and robbery, as it would be for the farmer to keep back the rent from his landlord-he is not obliged to consult the caprices, or to indulge and flatter the inclinations of his auditory, either in the pulpit or in his more private and individual ministrations, but is amenable only to the authorities of the Church in which he is an ordained minister.

But the case is far different in America. There, from the democratical nature of the government, most of the usual paths for ambition being cut off, the only way in which one man can raise himself above his fellows, is by the acquisition of superior wealth. The consequence of this is, that Americans in general are so deeply imbued with ideas connected with trade, which is the chief road to fortune, that they are accustomed to measure all things by the standards of loss and gain, and they even carry this propensity so far, as to make use of these debased and degrading tests of value in estimating religion, and the services of its ministers. Captain Marryatt observes," It is my opinion that the voluntary system will never work well under any form of government, and still less so under a democracy. Those who live under a democracy have but one pursuit, but one object, which is wealth. No one can serve God and Mammon. To suppose that a man who has been in such ardent pursuit of wealth, as is the American for six days in the week, can recall his attention and thoughts to serious points on the seventh, is absurd."-Vol. III. p. 142.

THE DUCHY OF SAXE-COBURG GOTHA.*

As the family which is at the head of this State is about to become so nearly connected with this country, by the approaching marriage of one of its members with our illustrious Sovereign, we think some account of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg may not be unacceptable to our readers.

The Ducal house of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, is of the Lutheran religion. The reigning Duke is Ernest, born January 2, 1784, who succeeded to the Duchy, December 9, 1806. He was married, first to Louisa, princess of Saxe-Gotha, from whom he was separated in 1826, and who died in 1832; and secondly, in 1832, to Maria, daughter of the late Duke Alexander of Wurtemberg. He has two

*For the materials of this sketch we are indebted to Dr. Hawkins's valuable work, entitled, " Germany," 8vo. 1838.

sons-Ernest, the heir apparent, born June 21, 1818; and Albert, the destined husband of our most gracious Sovereign, born the succeeding year. Of his two sisters, Julia, married to Prince Constantine of Russia, from whom she was divorced in 1820, is dead; the other is Victoria, Duchess of Kent, born August 17, 1786; he has also two brothers-Ferdinand, born 1785; and Leopold, King of the Belgians, born 1790. The former has three sons and one daughter; the eldest son, Ferdinand, is married to Donna Maria, Queen of Portugal.

According to the latest census, the entire population of the Duchy amounts to 131,867. The principal towns are, Gotha (13,000 inhabitants) and Coburg (9,067). With the exception of the Jews, all the inhabitants are Germans; and with regard to religion, all are Lutherans, except 2,000 who are Papists, and 1,000 who are Jews. The revenue is 1,100,000 florins (the value of the florin is twenty-pence English.) The public debt amounts to 3,000,000 florins. The army consists of 1,366 men, who form one infantry regiment, divided into two battalions. The Government is similar to that of a

constitutional monarchy. The representatives form one Chamber only. The deputies must be of the Christian religion, citizens of the State, thirty years of age, and persons of unblemished reputation. Those who represent the towns and villages must have either an estate free from incumbrances, of the value of 5,000 florins, or an annual income of 400 florins. The Ministry is composed of one Minister of State, and of three Privy Councillors. The highest court of justice is the Supreme Court of Appeal; the lower courts are the Colleges of Justice at Coburg and Gotha; and, finally throughout the country, justice is administered by bailiffs, magistrates, and patrimonial judges.

The present Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha was formerly Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Saalfield; but in 1826 he ceded the latter, and obtained the Duchy of Gotha, with the exception of the lordship of Kranichfeld. After this change of territory, one of the first acts of his government was the creation of a privy council, consisting of the officers of government both in Coburg and Gotha. Each Duchy has its own system of internal administration, taxation, and excise.

The territories of the Duchy of Gotha lie in Thuringia, they are extremely fertile, well cultivated, and thickly inhabited. Agriculture is the principal employment of the inhabitants. The northern districts are plains, intersected by chains of hills; the southern are mountainous and woody. Coburg, the capital of the principality of Coburg, and formerly the residence of the Duke, is situated in a delightful country; it contains about 9000 inhabitants. One of the most prominent public buildings is the Palace of Ehrenburg, in which the present Duke has made large improvements. In the neighbourhood of the town is the Castle of Coburg, which contains a workhouse and a house of correction. In the town itself is a Gymnasium, supplied with a library, with specimens of natural history, and with a collection of medals. There is also a Senate House, an orphan asylum, a casino, an armoury, and a Government House.

Amongst the curiosities of the place are, Luther's room, containing some beautiful wood-work; and the monument, in alabaster, of Duke John Frederic, in the church of St. Maurice. In the neighbourhood there are some beautiful walks, the ruins of the castles of Callenburg and Lauterburg, and also the seat of the Duke, called the Rosenau. Gotha, the capital of the Duchy of Gotha, and also a residence of the present Duke, contains about 13,000 inhabitants. The Palace of Friedenstein contains a very good library, a collection of coins, a museum of natural history, &c. Near the town is the observatory on the Seeberg, 1189 feet above the level of the sea. In the neighbourhood of Gotha there are two ducal palaces, and also the Moravian colony of Neudietendorf.

BRIEF REASONS FOR AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

"HE taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way."—Job xii. 24.

THERE is not perhaps a more fearful sign of the wrath of a forsaken and insulted God, which is kindling every day against our land, than the peculiar manner in which we are given up to our own devices: God is not now leaving us to the gross sensualities of barbarian ignorance, but to the refined villanies and delusive conceits of a pampered and overweening intellect. The curse pronounced against ancient Babylon is coming fearfully upon us. "Thy wisdom, and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; (and to put our fancied omniscience to utter confusion,) thou shalt not know from whence it riseth," &c. (Isa. xlvii. 10, 11.) We have forsaken the God of light, and set up idols of our own; even the pride of our own hearts, we have "sacrificed unto our net, and burnt incense unto our drag," (Hab. i. 16,) and therefore hath he permitted us again to fall into the snares of the bitterest foe of all mental illumination that ever cursed this earth. It is but part and parcel of this blindness to assert, as many do, that there can be no danger in this enlightened and intellectual age, of a relapse into Popery; for what security can the pride of human wisdom afford us against its delusions? They quite forget, when they hastily pronounce that Popery has no likelihood of being revived in an enlightened age, that it is emphatically the religion of human nature; and that he who can persuade himself of its truth, passes into a position the most coveted by the mass of our race, that in which sin may be committed, with a thorough security that its consequences may be averted. This is a definition of Popery, that masterpiece of Satan, constructed for two mighty divisions of human kind-the men who would be saved by their merits, and the men who would be saved in their sins. Hence, if a day of great intellectual darkness be favourable for Popery, so may be a day of great intellectuul light. We may as well fall into a pit with our eyes dazzled, as with our eyes. blindfolded; ignorance is no better element for a false religion than