Letters: The Peaceable Fruits of Righteousness

“Edgbaston, April 14, 1842.” My dear Brother Pattox, — I have received your letter of the date of March the 2d, which has somewhat surprised and grieved

me by its contents. I am reluctant to speak or think ill of Mr,

for all I saw of him while here led me to respect him as a man of much Christian integrity, charity, and simplicity; but the account which you have forwarded me has shaken my confidence in my own views of his character. During his residence in this town I had much conversation with him on the subject of Perfectionism, but I most certainly never professed myself a believer in that doctrine, even in the modified and clarified form that it assumes at Oberlin. I had previously heard, that as held by many in the United States, it is only

another name for Antinomianism, and this I stated to Mr, who

was anxious to convince me that the Oberlin views were defecated from the dregs of that lax and impure theology; and as a proof of this read, I recollect, a passage of !Mahan’s book, in which the author exonerated their system from the charge of a tendency to licentious practice. After this he lent, or sent me Professor Cowles’s book. With the apparently holy tendency of that little work I was certainly much pleased, and did not fail, I dare say, to express myseK to that effect to

Mr; but certainly I never intended in anything I said to convey

my approbation or belief of the doctrine in question. That perfect sanctification is required by the law of God — that provision is made for it in the scheme of redemption — that there is nothing impossible in it arising from any defect in the natural faculties of man — and that on all these groimds it is obviously man’s duty, are propositions the truth of which cannot be gainsaid; but that it is ever attained in the present world, I do not believe, and never did believe. The nearest approach

LJFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

I make to this doctrine is, that it is not in itself to be considered impossible, and, therefore, in that sense it is attainable. It must be in

some such sense I have written to Mr; and if, as I conclude to

have been the case from what you have stated, he suppressed so important an exception, when reading the commendatory part of my letter, as an objection to the doctrine which Mr Cowles’s book was wi’itten to support, he did not deal honourably with me, or honestly with my communication.

“Your information of the course which Oberlin theology is running is affecting and alarming. However, I have sufficient confidence under God in the logical accuracy, the metaphysical acumen and theological sobriety and orthodoxy of the great body of your ministers and professors, to resist the spread of opinions so imscriptural and unphilosophical as those you mention. I am not for limiting the range of theological investigation, nor for shielding the venerable systems of antiquity from the most rigid scrutiny — nothing is true merely because it is old, nor is everyUdng true that is new — let all be tried; but still I believe that the system of Calvinism is not a mere vapour arising over the lake of Geneva, which a gust from Oberlin will dissipate.

“I have long been of opinion that Calvinism, as it was put forth in the writings of the divines of the seventeenth century, and in some of the symbols of orthodox churches down almost to the present time, needed to be accommodated more closely to the mental economy and the Word of God; and by many modern writers, both in your country and ours, this has been done; and though I should receive with gratitude fresh light from any quarter, not excepting Oberlin, I do not expect much accession to our present knowledge of it as a system of dogmatic theology.

“I perceive by the New York Evangelist, that the Anti-Slavery cause is progressing in various ways in the United States, though perhaps not quite so obviously in the form of Anti-Slavery organisation. I am persuaded there is a growing conviction of the iniqmty of slavery, and an increasing desire to get rid of it. The debate raised by Mr Adams on presenting the petition for the dissolution of the Union, does him great honour, and will do the Anti-Slavery cause great good. I have no fear of a war with your country. The case of the Creole will make your Southerners bluster a little, and the claim of our Government to a right of search will add to it, but it will end in wind. Your Government will never go to war on a question in reference to which your own people are so divided, and on which so large a proportion of them are with Great Britain. Neither country is in a position for war. I am confident the matter vtdU be somehow or other settled. May God preserve us in peace!....

TO THE REV. C. M. BIRRELL OF LIVERPOOL,
ON THE DEATH OF HIS BROTHER.

“Birmingham, January 31, 1843.” My dear Sir, — I have intended from day to day, ever since the arrival of your most welcome letter, with its mournfully interesting accompaniment, to acknowledge with much gratitude your obhging communication.

“I congratulate you that you had such a brother — I sympathise with you that you have lost him. The narrative is deeply affecting; he was indeed a bud of promise, but taken to open and bloom in Paradise. I bless God for my share of instrumentality in recovering him from sin to holiness, and from Satan to Christ. ‘Blessed youth, though unknown to me on earth, thou shalt be in my crown of rejoicing in the presence of our Lord at his coming! ’

“And you, too, my dear sir, do you owe anything to my pen 1 Thank God for this grace also to His servant, though it be ever so small a share of that tributary influence which contributed to your conversion. The name of Mr BirreU of Liverpool awakens too much affectionate esteem in my mind to leave me indifferent under his own assurance, that I in any degree helped to lead him first to the cross, and then as the consequence of this to the pulpit. May God long spare you, my dear sir, to labour successfully for immortal souls! Little did I think when I was distributing as I have done ‘The few counsels to Believers,’ that I should ever receive such a communication fi-om the author as your pen has sent me.

“I have not the pleasure of knowing Mrs Birrell, but seventeen years ago I spent a day with her excellent and eminent father and mother in Edinburgh. I beg to be most kindly remembered to her. — And am, -with fraternal love, yours truly,

“J. A. James.”

to the same,
on irreligious alvrriages.

“35 Highbury Place, London,
” October 14, 1844.

“My dear Sir, — In the multiplicity of my engagements, I came away from home without replying to your letter, the subject of which is not more important than it is perplexing.

“While I have, in various ways, protested against the practice to which you refer, I have never seen my way clear to make it a matter of church discipline, and that for several reasons, which I will now mention. First, I hold, in common with all others, that when a member

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

is suspended or excluded from fellowship, lie cannot, of course, be restored but upon a profession of repentance, accompanied by fruits meet for it. But is it not a strange and unseemly thing to expect a married man to say he is sorry he did marry 1 And even suppose he should go thus far, and say he is sorry, what fruits can he offer to prove the sincerity of his affirmation 1 He cannot divorce his wife.

“Second, Again, is it not a supposed sin, the reality of which cannot in all cases be proved? Where there is infidelity, immorality, or a total neglect of religious ordinances, here is proof positive and palpable; but where there is a regular attendance on the means of grace, though no profession of religion, there may be piety without our knowing it; and are we to insist, in such a case, upon the persons being in fellowship?

“Third, Suppose the intended party against whom exception is taken belong to another communion, as is sometimes the case, how is the evidence of piety, or the want of it, to be ascertained?

“Fourth, Innumerable cases occur wherein the religious party hopes the other is converted, or is likely, from present appearances, to become so, and goes forward with the approbation of conscience; and it seems hardly right in such cases to excommunicate.

“I mightj had I time and leisure, say more, but I have neither, and have written this in so much haste, and amidst so much interruption, that it is hardly worthy your notice, and yet, as I am on my way to Norwich, I know not when I shall have time to write more.

“/ therefore cannot, on these grounds, make the matter a subject of church discipline. In haste. — Yours very truly,

“J. A. James.”

TO THE EEV. DE SPEAGUE.

“Edgbaston, July 3, 1843.” My DEAR Feiend, — .... It is now I cannot tell how long since I heard from you, long enough to make me blush, much longer than ought to be necessary for that, and therefore I cannot reply to old topics, but must enter on new ones, and in this world of movement one need never be at loss for novelties. First, to begin with your side of the water, and what concerns yourself. By a letter which Mr Joshua Wilson read to me, and which he had lately received from you, I find, as well as from the newspapers, that Albany has been visited with the revived influence of revivals, and, indeed, that this has passed to a very considerable extent over the land. Some of the accounts have startled me. A man swearing or drunk in the week, and at the Lord’s table on the Sabbath, such doings, I am quite sure, are not with you. It is a pity they should be with anybody. I do not think an apostolic example •7ill bear this out I am become cautious about the fniits of revivals. I have had an experiment before my eyes, and am inclined to think, that while measures ought to be used for reviving a dull state of things, and producing a deeper impression than ordinary upon the minds of the unconverted, yet a little caution is necessary in gathering the fnuts into the Church. However, I think, from your volume on this subject, and what I presume you are not prepared to retract — ijou and I shoidd not differ. You cannot do or approve what has been done by some in Albany. I suppose there is a downward tendency in all regidar routine business, not excepting preaching, praying, and seeking the salvation of souls — a tendency, I mean, to the temperature of freezing point — which requires occasionally some unusual efforts to send out the mercury, and yet we ought always to be up. I think in our own churches there is a considerable flatness just now, at least, in many places, which perhaps requires a degree of attention.

“I presume there is none of the attractions of cohesion becoming apparent between the two American Presbyterian Churches. So fir as the accounts of the two bodies contained in the public prints go, there is neither attempt nor wish to unite. Perhaps it is better that you should be as you are. You are large enough to be separate, if you can but maintain good temper and good conduct towards each other. Pray, does it interrupt the flow of brotherly and neighbourly good feeling? Do neighbouring ministers, who belong to both churches, keep up friendly intercourse with each other 1

“Thus far I had written when your letter, June o, arrived I am glad to learn you are in good health, and that your family enjoy the same blessing, and especially that on some of them the shower of heaven has fallen during the late awakening. I hope my namesake will be added to the nimiber. Your accoimt of the revival confirms what I had previously heard ....

“You speak of Puseyism in America. I do not wonder at this. It might be expected, that, as Episcopacy is not sustained with you by any State support, it should seek to strengthen itself by high spiritual claims and pretensions. It is sadly rampant here, especially among the younger clergy. But it has received one or two severe checks in the Quarterly Review, the leading High Church and Tory periodical, and in the suspension of Dr Pusey from preaching for two years by the convocation. One thing is alarming. A tutor — I mean, a son of the great Wilberforce — has lately been appointed to the Prince of Wales, our future king, who is a Pusepte. But the most extraordinary event that has transpired here is the disruption of the Church of Scotland. That between four and five hundred ministers of that body shoidd secede on the ground of the independence of the Church is an extraordinary

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JA1IES.

event. It is true their position in claiming spiritual freedom and tern- i j porary support was a false one, but still they are an illustrious band of confessors. You will have heard, long before this reaches you, of the death of my venerable friend, Thomas Wilson of Highbury. After a lingering and painful illness of two years’ standing, he is dismissed to his rest, full of honour. Joshua succeeds to a large portion of his father’s property and spirit. He is most happily married.

“I am still as I was, a widower, and shall in all probabiUty remain such to the end of my life. My daughter is still a great invahd, and is now away at the sea, and wUl be for months to come. I have none but God dwelling with me, and He is everything. I beg to be most kindly remembered to Mrs Sprague and your family, and remain very truly yours,

“J. A. James.”

TO THE SAME.

“EDGBASTOif, January 29, 1845.

“My dear Friend, — Your mild and gentle rebukes contained in your letter forwarded by Mr Goddard have produced the effect which reproofs administered in such a spirit usually do, and have led, as you will now see, to confession and amendment; but while I thus submit to your chastened reproach for my long neglect of your last two letters, if not more, I may, Avlthout impeaching the sincerity of my contrition and acknowledgment, put in one word by way of explanation, if not of extenuation, and that is, such a surfeit of letter-writing brought on by our penny-postage system, as makes me turn sick at the very thought of writing a long epistle. We are flooded now with letters on all subjects, so that what does not demand an immediate reply is often postponed tiU a spirit of procrastination creeps over me, and, like other sinners, I am the less disposed to amend the longer I postpone it.

“I am glad to find, by your communication, that you are stUl ’ strong to labour; ’ and able, as you see your shadow lengthening on the plain, to rejoice in an ability as hale and vigorous as ever to work for Christ. Long may it be so! You occupy no inconsiderable sphere of activity and influence, and your life is of some consequence in another and a vidder circle than that which is drawn round your own fireside. It is a mercy to you to be brought nearly to fifty years of age, and a still greater one for me to be brought on near sixty, without any serious mistake. I often think and say, that in looking back, I see many things which, if I could go over life again, I could correct and do better; but then again, perhaps I should commit still greater blunders, so that wlule I am humble, and much there is to make me so, I am thankful.

“The termination of your presidential election, to which, when you last wrote, you were looking forward with doubt and dread, has taken place, and realised the worst fears of the WTiig party. Well, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, and there is God’s hand, as well as God’s wisdom, even in this. “What a blessed thing it is to be let into the secret of God’s government of the world, to know what is His line of policy, and by how certain, though to us unknown methods. He is working out His plan and purpose! ‘Christ is head over all things to the Church.’ There it is: and it is enough.

“I am glad to find the two di-sdsions of your Presbyterian Church are approximating, first, in sentiment and feeling, and by this means are preparing the way for re-union; but if the unity of the Spirit is better produced by separate organisation, then remain and love at a little distance, rather than come near to quarrel.

“Now a little about myself, my country, and the general aspect of affairs here. Through Divine goodness, I am able to go on with my work. My health continues pretty good, and I preach, as far as I know, with as much vigour at times as ever; but as I am now in my fifty-ninth year, and as my work, by my connexion with a local college as chairman of the Board of Education, and other new matters, is very much increased, I sometimes feel that I must look out for a co-pastor; but it is a step on which such consequences hang, both as regards my own comfort and the peace of the church, that I am afraid to take it, and am praying and watching and waiting for the ^^’iIl of the Lord in the movement of the cloudy pillar,

“What a state our country has been in, and still is, in regard to ecclesiastical matters! The disruption of the Scottish Church is a grand and important movement; it is a wave that will roll further than many expect or wish. Our own southern Establishment is convulsed to its very centre. The Puseyite leaven has produced a fermentation which is agitating the whole mass. AYhat it will come to, and where it will end, the most sagacious calculators and the most far-seeing prognosticators cannot divine. It has produced so much alarm, that I think the bishops now and the Government will attempt to arrest its progress; not, however, by any legislative measures, but in an equally effectual though more silent resistance. Puseyism will be a bar to preferment; and that is a powerful consideration with the adventurous, and there are some such who speculate upon the chances of getting on and up in the State Church. Still there is an infatuation come over the public mind in reference to this matter, wMcli will not easily let the matter drop. The middle classes of the laity are in some places resisting it to turbulence and mobbing, but I fear it is creeping about among the upper classes. There are certainly elements of mischief at work in the Church,

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

which bode no good for it. It is a house divided against itself. And yet, withal, I do not think Dissent is gaining ground. The property and the people who hold it, are continually going off from us to the Church, and many of those who go verge right over to Puseyism.

“StUl there are signs of good. There is among a large portion of evangelistic Christians, a strong desire for a closer union with each other. I send you herewith a volume of essays on Christian Union, in which you will see one by your present correspondent: the others, vdth the exception of Mr Wardlaw, are all by Presbyterians of the Free Church of Scotland, and several other Presbyterian bodies in that country. The volume had its origin in the catholicity and liberality of a Scotch gentleman, who was so interested and impressed by the speeches delivered, by various Presbyterian clergymen, at the bi-centenary meeting held at Edinburgh two years ago, to celebrate the meeting of the Westminster Assembly, that he determined to devote £300 to promote union: and this volume is the fruit of his generosity. Just as my essay was going through the press, I received Dr Patton’s letter, which you will find appended. It is a good and a grand thought. Difficulties will, of course, lie in the way of realising it; but could it be brought to bear, it would be a noble achievement. I doubt whether a simple declaration is all we should seek. This would not be enough to draw us together; but could we not form a Protestant Association to sustain and extend the cause of Protestantism by the press, in the way of re-printing old standard works, and offering premiums for the publication of new ones, and thus caU out the talent of the whole Protestant world, in England, America, France and Germany 1 The Catholics are at the present moment doing this, and calling out thus most effective and even voluminous publications. I think ten or twenty thousand pounds a-year thus spent, with all the activity and energy which it would engage, would do much to arrest the swelling tide of Popery. WUl you turn the subject round in your mind 1

“I beg to be kindly remembered to Mrs Sprague and your family, and am, as ever, affectionately yours, J. A. James.”

TO THE KEY. E. K. CONDEE, M.A., OF POOLE, (nOW OP LEEDS.)

“Edgbaston, February 10, 1845.” My deak Sir, — I am not surprised that you have already found out how much greater are the difficulties of the pastor than those of the preacher. It is, indeed, far easier and far more delightful to teach men than to govern them. Even after forty years’ experience, discipline often makes me tremble. I am afraid your venerable and most estimable colleague has too much of the milk of human kindness in his nature ever to be in danger of erring on the side of excessive severity.

Partaking more of the father than of the judge, he has, perhaps, held the reins of government -vnth rather too slack a hand, and suffered the church to get a little beyond his control; and now that you are seated by him upon the box, or rather have come into his place as coachman, the horses will not like to be too hastily pulled up. I see, from what you say, it will require great prudence in you to carry out your views and wishes and not give offence, and, at the same time, not to seem to reflect on Mr Durant’s administration. You must not be in haste to reform, but bring about a better state of things gradually.” I will now take your queries in order.

“If a report be in general circidation, charging moral deKnquency upon a member, it ought instantly to be investigated by tracing it, if possible, to its source, and ascertaining its correctness, as far as this can be done, before a regular examination. This should be done by the pastor and deacons. Justice to the accused requires he should be cleared, if innocent — justice to the church, that he should be corrected, if gixUty.

“Unpunctuality in the payment of debts, if so notorious as to bring scandal, should be noticed ffrst by a private remonstrance, delivered by the pastor and one of the deacons; if persisted in, the individual ought to be requested to see the whole eldership.

“It is a matter of no consequence that information comes from a person who is not a member, if he be a veracious person, and is prepared to substantiate his allegation. In many, if not most cases, the only witnesses afe non-professors.

“The details into which it may be necessary to descend, in the investigation of any case, must be regulated by the nature of the case. To criminate or clear is the object sought, and you must go to any length necessary for this.

“There are some cases so notoriously bad, that the honour of the church requires expulsion as soon as the crime is proved; but these are of unfrequent occurrence. In most cases suspension, to give the offender an opportunity of bringing forth fruits meet for repentance, is the best mode of proceeding; but then, if there be no confession of sin and marks of sincerity in a few months, the individual ought to be expelled. Suspension is not so much a punishment — a sentence by itself — as a space given for repentance.

“We never pass votes of censure; but we sometimes rebuke an offender by the discipline committee.

“I think the pastor and deacons, or discipline committee, as the case might be, ought to have the power of suspending an indilndual from church privileges, with the view of ascertaining the nature of an allegation, and whether it is necessary to proceed further.

“I could not consent to receive or retain a member who kept a

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

public-house, except in cases where the regulations are so strict as to render it all but impossible for such an establishment to succeed. The case is different vnth. a wife, who is not her own mistress; but then she ought peremptorily to refuse to sell liquor on the Sabbath, and leave that to her husband.

“I can conceive of cases, but they are most extraordinarily rare, in which the pastor and deacons, or discipline committee, should have the power of requesting a member to withdraw.

“I have now gone through your interrogatories, and will come to ou>- plan, which, indeed, you perhaps recollect. At the church meeting in February we always elect a discipline committee for the year. A list of names is proposed by myself, which always comprises four of the deacons and five other members, who, with the pastor, constitute this committee. Whatever cases of delinquency occur are examined by this committee. For instance, if I heard of the bad conduct of a member, which required investigation, I send for the secretary, and request him to call the committee together. When assembled, I lay the case before them; and one or two members are requested to inquire into the case, and, if true, to request the attendance of the person at the next meeting. At that meeting we have sometimes witnesses adduced. And, when the case is discussed, we form our opinion, and come to a conclusion; and send up a report to the church, if it be a matter which requires suspension. Sometimes it is enough to rebuke the offender, and let the matter drop. The church invariably acts upon the recommendation of this committee, and excommunicates or suspends as we recommend. We have found this plan to work well hitherto. If a person were to refuse to be answerable to this committee, the church would instantly expel him for contumacy; and some, rather than undergo an investigation, will do this. There is an advantage in this over the plan of confining the persons investigating, before it comes to the church, to the deacons — the responsibility is shared with thein, and the church is likely to be more satisfied with the conclusion. We change the committee usually every year.

“I hope this will help you. What you have to guard against is, a too great laxity, on the one hand, and a fidgety looking out for cases, on the other. Did you ever talk over the whole matter wth Mr Durant 1 I would advise this — submit to him every plan. Mr Brown is a sensible man, talk with him also.

“Next Wednesday week, Mr Creak is to be ordained; and that day fortnight, Mr Hill. I have conditionally promised to be at both; but I am becoming so nervous and poorly, that I am almost afraid, especially for Mr Hill. May the Lord direct you! — Yours most truly,

“J. A. James.”

TO MRS MATHESON,
ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. DB MATHESON.

“Edgbaston, February 2, 1846.

“My dear Madam and deeply- aeflicted Friend, — If, in the multitude of your sad and troubled thoughts, you can listen to the words of sympathy and receive the expressions of tender condolence, I now offer them. God has indeed afflicted you; but it is your consolation to know, that it is God which hath done it: and may you be able to look up to Him with profound submission, and say, ‘I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it!’ It is a deep and painful mystery, and to us on this side of the cloud it is all darkness and distressful gloom; but to him who has been taken, and who sees the other side, it is all light and splendour and glory. You have no refuge, resource, or consolation, but in God, and in Him you have all these. Thousands pity you and pray for you. Oh, how fervently have I knocked at the door of mercy for you! God tvill hear all these prayers. You will be supported and provided for, and your dear babes too. Jehovah is the widow’s God, and the Father of the fatherless. He has not put off this tender and touching title, this endearing character and relation. Honour Him, my dear friend — glorify Him in the fires, by giving Him your confidence. They that know His name will put their trust in Him, and i/ou do know His name. He lives, and blessed be your Rock, and let the God of yoirr salvation be exalted. I wish I knew what best would comfort you, what most readily and efifectually would reach your riven heart, I would select the softest, sweetest accents of consolation. What better can I do than direct your eye and heart and arm to the glorified Man of sorrows, who, touched with the feeling of your infirmities, bends from His throne, to offer, to convey, to impress the sympathy of His holy and merciful heart! He knows what He has done, why He has done it, and how to comfort you under it. He loves you too well, and the dear departed, to have done it for anything but for good. You will justify Him in the end- You will then see, what you must now believe, that in some way or other it is for His glory and your good. I know that it is a triumph of faith almost too great to be expected from you, to believe that such a bereavement can be for good.

“I feel as if I had lost a dear friend. I loved him, respected him, confided in him. Alas! for the society; — but you and your dear children! Well, cast yourself and them upon God — tell Him He is your husband and their father, that you and they have no other, and see if He wUl disown you. No; never. He can. He will provide. He is what He was on Mount Moriah, JehovaltrJireh. Lay hold, and keep hold by faith, of this title.

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAIVIES.

“If my prayers are worth anything, they shall be yours. My love to your dear children. — Your tenderly sympathising friend,

“J. A. James.

“Accept the little volume which I send with this.”

TO THE EEV. DU SPRAGUE.

“Edgbaston, September 1, 1847.” My deae Friend and Brother, — Permit me, first of all, to acknowledge — which I do with many thanks — your kind remembrance of me in the various offerings of your prolific pen which have lately come to hand, and which fully sustain your literary reputation, and corroborate the declaration of your welcome letters, that your energies are unimpaired. I rejoice to find you so diligently sowing beside all waters, and I trust that the harvest of good to others, and of legitimate fame and reward for yourself, will be reached in rich and ripe abundance.

“It is a great thing to live and labour for God and souls. This only is to work for immortahty. But how difficult to keep the waters pure — to live only for Christ!

“Your little work addressed to a young man’s conscience, is a gem, which I must have pubUshed in this country, and try to help you to do good here.

“It is but fair I should send you a quid pro quo; and yet this is rather assuming that I give you what can be considered as of equal value — but the expression hardly unpHes equality. Such as it is, I lay it before you; at any rate, the subject is momentous to the last degree. I only regret that I have not done justice to it. Far, far mightier intellects than mine must fall below such a theme. Ah, my friend, as you and I draw nearer and nearer to the closing scenes of our ministry, even the importance of that ministry itself magnifies upon our view and presses upon our heart. How little we seem to act as men who profess to be labouring for eternity — men upon whose lips hang the destmies of immortal souls! Where is the Lord God of Ehjah? Where is the Lord God of your Edwards and our Whitfield? I am happy to say that there seems a disposition in this country to enter into the subject of my little work, as is evinced by the fact that, although the work was published only in May, I am now preparing a third edition. May God sanctify the perusal of it!

“Your representation of the state of religion in America, is but a counterpart of what it is here. All is duhiess, and the wind seems blowing upon the valley of dry bones. The Wesleyan body had a decrease last year of five thousand. Neither we nor the Baptists are doing much, and the evangelical clergy of the Church of England as little. The excitement of the age is bearing down religion. Men’s minds are wholly engrossed by the things that are seen and temporal.

“The Church partakes of the spirit of the world, and worldhness in a variety of forms is eating out the core of personal godliness. As a pastor, I have perhaps as little to complain of as most, but still I see the effect of the existing state of things upon my flock. Amidst all, however, there are some few elements of character conspicuously visible in the present generation of professing Christians. Zeal and liberaUty are rather growing than in a state of decadence. The aggressive operations of the Church upon the territories of the prince of darkness are nobly sustained, though perhaps not yet with proportionate success.

“I conclude you have not entered upon a very serious consideration of the present movement for Christian Union. I am a little afraid we shall not make very rapid advances towards our great desideratum. But even to fad in such an attempt appears to me more honourable than not to make the effort. Though I am by no means convinced that our plan has been in all respects the wisest that could be devised. Dr Candlish, in his essay on the subject of Union, published in Scotland, said, that yei’haps all denominations must be first taken down before they can all unite. We may none of us be yet in a condition for general union. The strife between the friends and opponents of State endowments is waxing stronger and stronger, and the late general election has given political strength to the latter.

“I am happy to hear so good an account of your domestic affairs. May your ‘Angell ’ be one in nature as well as in name, and a far better and holier man than he from whom he has borrowed his cognomen. You say he is preparing for college. This does not imply that he is on his way to the pulpit; if it did, I would have dedicated the little volume I have sent, to him. May God convert him by His grace, and then call him into the ministry. Give my love to him, and tell him I shall pray to God on his behalf for these two things.

“I have lately had a very agreeable change in my domestic affiiirs by the marriage of my son, who, with his bride, is now travelling on the continent. It is a union to my satisfaction. My daughter is still a great invalid, and is now in London under the care of a physician; so that I dwell much alone — but He whose company is a substitute for all others, is with me.

“I beg my kindest regards to Mrs Sprague and your family. Shall you ever cross the Atlantic again? If we ever meet on this side of the grave, it must be in this country. If not, we shall meet in a far better one. — Yours most truly,

“J. A. James.”

TO THE SAME.

“BiRMiNQHAM, September 18, 1851.” My dear Friend and Brother, — I am not quite sure you will think I am sincere in the use of this epithet, and of these relationships — for you will be ready to ask how so long a silence on my part can really consort with friendly and brotherly feeling. I fall under your rebuke, and confess to its justice. I can set up no defence — and can scarcely frame an excuse. The best apology I have to offer — and poor and feeble enough it is — that with advancing age I have a growing dislike to correspondence, which is strengthened by the all but overwhelming pressure of the penny postage. I know not whether your country is favoured with this facility for epistolary intercourse — if so, you will be prepared to sympathise with us in this land to which it has brought such a vast assemblage of letter-writing, with, really very little diminution of outlay.

“Your letters, with the pamphlets which have often accompanied them, have demonstrated to me that you are not only alive and well, but active and useful. You have indeed the ’ pen of a ready writer,’ but I am glad that you are employed, if I mistake not, upon something more substantial and permanent than mere pamphlets. For these, however excellent and acceptable, rarely have vitality sufficient to keep them alive beyond the day of their production, and cannot be expected to float upon the stream of time to posterity. If I mistake not, you are engaged on an American Ministerial Biography. This is a great idea, and can be made eminently serviceable to the future by preserving the precious remains of the past. A well-written life of a good man is calculated to produce the lives of many good men. May God give you health, and wisdom, and grace, to finish the work in such manner as shall be for His glory and the good of His Church!

“As regards myself, I am thankful to say I am in tolerable health, and, considering that I have entered upon the forty-eighth year of my connexion with my church, in pretty good working condition. I go through my Sabbath-day services with about as little fatigue as for many years past, and, blessed be the God of all grace, with, I believe, as much acceptableness to my flock. My family remain as they were, — my son a widower, after a short season of three months’ happiness — my daughter unmarried, but somewhat better in health than she was in former years. I have not done much since I last wrote, in the way of authorship, except publishing a plain, practical monthly sermon to young men, — a class of persons in this country and in our congregation more hopeless than any other. It is really fearful to think how indifferent they are to the claims of religion, and how few of them we gather into our churches! I calculate that two thirds of the membei-s of all our ckurcLes are females. I sujipose this is the same -with you in America, as well as with us.

“The state of religion in our country — if we mean by this the conversion of the impenitent, and the high-toned devotion of the professors — is low. I do not think I ever preached with less saving results since I was a minister; and this is the case with most others. It is a general complaint We have no diminution of Christian activity and associated effort; but indiWdual piety is undevout and feeble. A spirit of worldliness characterises the Church, and its separation from the ungodly is less conspicuous than it ought to be. But there is a still more serious ground of apprehension in the minds of some of us, and that is for the orthodoxy of some of our young ministers. It is obvious to eveiy one that a spirit of scepticism is coming over our land and yours from Germany and France, and all the great verities of religious truth are to be tried over again. This is finding its way into the minds of some of our young men — who, by the German mode of thinking, aided by y-oiu: Emerson and Parker, and our Carlyle, are not siitisfied either with established doctrine or commonly-received phraseology. Religious truth it is supposed cannot stand stUl while all around it is moving onward. I am myself far more apprehensive of mischief from this source than I am from Popery; though, indeed, this latter has risen up with a front and audacity that astounds many and alarms more. But people whose reason is more active than their fears, are of opinion that the Papacy has made a mistake in its late attempt to establish a Roman hierarchy here. Protestant feeling is roused as it has not been since the Revolution of 1688. Papacy was making its silent way unopposed before — but it is not so now. All are roused, and a flood of Protestant light will be poured over the land. It is said that your Roman Cathohc bishops wanted a cardinal for America, and that the Pope refused it, and confessed he had been misled in grantuig one to this country. StUl I have no doubt that there will be a considerable uicrease of Popery as long as Puseyism continues in the Church of England; but I have no fear at all of Popish ascendancy. It appears probable that the final triumph of our Redeemer over Antichrist will not be when the Papal power is in its weakness, but in some considerable strengtL

“Everything here in the religious world is in a strangely imsettled state. The Church of England is shaken to its centre. The Methodists are divided in consequence of a struggle of a reform party against the conference. The Dissenting bodies are peaceable, if not pure. But one of the strangest religious phenomena of our day and coimtry is the zeal and diffusion of a sect which is an import from yoiu: countrj’ — I mean, the Mormonites. Your Joe Smith, though he went out in infancy,

5iG

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

is glorified in myriads. “What absurdities will not men rather receive than the truth! I suppose you know that we have had a visit from your Mr Finney. He was tln-ee months in this town, where he excited some considerable attention, but did not succeed to the extent of his expectations. Most of our ministers stood aloof from him. This I could not bring myself to do. He preached five or six times for me, and sometimes with great power. Dr Campbell of the Tabernacle thoroughly entered into his measures, and gave him his pulpit for months. Dr Bedford of Worcester also welcomed him to his congregation. He certainly was useful; but there is so much that is startling in his phraseology, at any rate, and so much that is novel in his statements, together with so much occasionally that is low and vulgar in his assertions, that I feel considerable hesitation about encouraging his return to this country, for which a proposal is now being got up. But how can he be spared from Oberlin and the American churches, if he be so powerful a revivalist 1 And one should imagine he is wanted at home. Yet, after all, there is so much deadness prevailing that one would welcome any instrumentality that is likely to infuse a little more life, provided it be not the life of a lunatic or a maniac.

“I have seen some of your friends during our Great Exhibition — among the rest Judge DarUng and his son, though it was but for a few minutes. I met Dr Murray of New York in Scotland, with whom I was much pleased. There was also a large gathering of Americans at the Evangelical Alliance. Drs Baird and Bacon were prominent above most. You may be sure we did not keep clear of the subject of Slavery. Your atrocious fugitive slave bill came up. Still I think the discussion did good. The objection taken by your brethren was against the sweeping resolution of our British organisation, to hold no fellowship with slaveholders, who may be such, under any circumstances; and they also reprobated the strong language used on tlus side of the water, and the obtrusion of the subject on all Americans coming to tlus country, which, they said, if continued, would sever the tie between the two countries. Your brethren behaved very well, though they said something in our meetings which, perhaps, had better not have been said. The meetings of the Alliance were good, and wUl do good. — Your sincere and afi’ectionate friend,

“J. A. James.”

TO THE REV. H. MAELEN, LIVERPOOL.

“Birmingham, October 25, 1852.” My dear Sir, — A letter so kind and catholic in its spirit, and so flattering to myself, as yours of the date of the 15th September, ought to have received an earlier reply. But you know the current of en-U7

gagements which in a large town is ever setting in upon the ministers of reUgion, and how much this is increased by the correspondence brought upon them through the penny postage. I suppose it is the custom of all to despatch those letters first which are demanded by the most pressing claims, and reserve the others ’ for a more convenient season.’ The consequence is, that they do not escape the peril of temporary oblivion. Accept this as my apology.

“And now accept my sincere thanks for your truly fraternal and Christian reference to my productions, both of the pulpit and the press. Well do I remember the sermon you mention as haling been preached at Canterbury. I never felt my subject more than I did on that occasion. I believe the great Master was with His servant, and gave an unusual unction to his mind. But, sir, you know enough of our mental economy to be aware how much depends upon manner. It happens that God has given to me a voice of some compass, and much of what is agsthetical in my constitution. Stripped of this, my sermons would appear but as ordinary things.

“I am much obHged to you for the suggestion about a volume of these things; but I am sure they would disappoint eveiybody, not excepting even yourself, so kindly disposed to think well, ah, too well, of what I do. It is a proof that some charity is yet left in our world when a clergyman of the Church of England writes to a Dissenting minister as you have to me. As to earnestness, this is what we all want. There is a magic charm about it that ldll compensate for other things, and carry others away upon the tide of its own feeling.

“What you say is very true about the desirableness of a catalogue of useful books for a young minister; but young ministers now-a-days choose rather to judge and select themselves.

“I trust you are blessed by God in the conversion of souls. This is what we should all seek; but I have a painfid apprehension that the work of real conversion goes on but slowly in our day. Mens minds, hearts, hands, are all so full, that it is difficult even with the themes of eternity to gain a serious hearing, and to arrest the torrent of worldliness that is flowing through society. May the blessing of God rest upon your labours! — I am. my dear sir, with much esteem, yours faithfully,

“J. A. James.”

Note. — The previous letter is explained by the following extract from a note of Mr Marlen’s to the editor: —

“It was written in reply to one I addressed to the Rev. Mr James under the following circumstances: — Ahout thirty years ago, or more, he was preaching in the city of Canterbury at the Independent Chapel there, on a Lord’s-day morning, to a full congi-egation, and there being a strong desire felt by the members of other churches to hear that gifted minister, the manager of the AVesleyan Chapel

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMi!.rf.

(the Iiugest cliappl in the city) offered the use of the same for the evening servic. The building was crowded, and its galleries forming a sort of amphitheatre, tin: appearance of the assembly, and the irairession left by the service, have never been effaced from my memory. Mr James took for his text on that occasion the 2d chapter of Hebrews, and a part of the 3d verse — ‘How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?’ I had never heard a sermon delivered with equal power, and the treatment of the subject led me to think of the discourse as a model of pulpit eloquence. Reflecting on the effect produced on that large assembly of people, about eight years ago I wrote to Mr James, suggesting the publication of a volume of his sermons as delivered, to which the enclosed is the rejily, and as it illustrates the humble estimate he had been led to form of hi.s

own gifts, its preservation may not be without its use — Excuse great

haste, and believe me, reverend and dear sir, most affectionately your.s,

“Henry Marlen,
“Incumlenl of All Sairils, Liverpool.”

TO THE KEY. DR PATTON.

“BiEMiNGHAM, October 28, 1853.

“My dear Brother Patton, — If when you wrote your letter dated May 14, 185:2, you expres.seLl yourself in terms of mild and Christian rebuke for my long silence, and reminded me of my heavy aiTears to you in the way of correspondence, what must be your feelings and words of reproach now, a year and a-half after that time? In mitigation, at least in regard to that letter and the books which accompanied it, let me say, that strange as it may seem, and unaccountable to me as to the cause, they never came to hand till this morning. Where for eighteen months they have been lying I know not, nor do I know now whence they came. IIow ungrateful you must have thought me in not acknowledging your kind remembrance of me! As regards my y)revious silence, I was not aware that it was so long since I wrote to you. Time rolls on with such rapid current that one is frequently led to neglect duties under the idea they have been already or recently discharged. And then the penny postage in connexion with the vast increase of public business has so multiplied our correspondents, and so accunmlated in this way the claim upon our time, that those friends who live remotely from us are almost sure to be neglected, if not forgotten. However, to-day as soon as I had read your letter, I determined not to give sleep to my eyes till I had answered it.

“And now, first of all, let me thank you for a copy of that wondrous book which you have sent me. ]Iodern times have produced no such phenomenon in literature. No work ever produced such an impression on the public mind of this country. ‘Uncle Tom ’ is known in every home in this kingdom, from the palace to the cottage; and Ave cannot help thinking it will do more to promote the cause of Abohtion than all the volumes ever published, all the sermons ever preached, and all the speeches ever delivered. I don’t think the wound will ever be healed wliicli the pen of Mrs Stowe has inflicted on the cause of slavery. Her visit to this countiy excited great attention, and she was everywhere received with great love for her work’s sake, and I thiiilv she will speak favourably of Eiiglisli and Scotch hospitality. She was to have been my guest on her return to Birmingham, but as she left England earlier than she expected, I was deprived of the honour of entertainhig her.

“Your Fugitive Slave Bill is as great a disgrace to your country as Mrs Stowe’s book is an honour. Oh, it is sad indeed to see a nation boasting of its liberty, and proud of its independence, exjiosing itself to the reproach of the civiUscd world for this outrageous violation of the laws of our common humanity! The conduct of some, yea, most of your ministers of religion, in reference to this matter, excites great surprise in tills country.

“We have had an importation from your country to ours of this strange delusion of spirit-rapping. The testimony of one of your judges of New York astounds us. Some of our credulous people here believe it to be an operation of Satanic agency; and two clergymen of the Church of England have each pubhslicd a [lamphlct avowing this to be their conviction. It will, however, soon pass away here and be forgotten -with other wonders, that like meteors kindle and are extinguished.

“We have now in our country your celebrated temperance orator, Mr Gough. I have heard him once, and truly, for a popular speaker to the multitude, he has unrivalled powers. His command of the audience by his humour, wit, anecdote, and eloquent appeals to the feelings is astounding. It is a combination of acting and speaking. There is an equal mixture of the ludicrous and the pathetic. He is amazingly popular, and therefore attracts large audiences wherever he goes.

“And now about youi-self. What are you doing? What part of the city are you labouring in 1 and are you still a Congrcgationalist 1 As to myself, I have lately ventured upon sharing mj’ labours with an assistant, whom, next year, I shall take as co-pastor. If I live as long as next September I shall enter upon my Jubilee. Oh, what a life of unmerited and unexpected mercy I have enjoyed! And this prospect of a comfortable settlement with a man to my own heart’s content, is an immense addition to all my other mercies. I have printed two or three things since I last wrote, but which I have not thought it worth while to trouble you with. I am still in great mercy preserved in good health, and never worked harder than I have done of late years. Blessed be God for ability in any way to serve om: gracious Lord. Since I M’rote last, I have lost my dear brother James, who lived in this neighbour-LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

hood, and lately I have lost a brother-in-law. I came home last evening from the annual conference of our Evangelical Alliance. We still keep going on, though I am afraid we do not make much progress. I was informed at the conference, that the French Branch of the Alliance has sent, or is about to send, a deputation to the United States to expostulate with the brethren there on the subject of slavery. May God speed their way!

“And now may God bless you and yours! I shall be glad to hear from you again, if you are not discouraged by my long silence.

“My daughter unites in kind regards to yourself and Mrs Patton. — Your sincere friend and brother,

“J. A. James.”

TO THE EEV. DR MORISON.

“EdgbastojST, Septemher 17, 1854.

“Liv mtjch-loved Fkiend, — Your truly fraternal, kind, and Christian letter demands as early and as full a reply as my poor, shattered, and enfeebled powers of body and mind will enable me to give. Thanks, many thanks, my brother, for your sympathy and the delightful expression of it. That you who have so many objects, and all of them important ones, to think about, should think of your now afEicted friend — and that you, who have so many things to do, should appropriate part of your precious time to write to him, is a proof and expression of Christian friendship which is not lost upon him on whom it has been bestowed. I hope you love me chiefly for Jesus’ sake. I had rather be loved for His sake than for my own. This is the feeling I have towards you: I love and respect you as my friend and brother, Morison — your manly intellect, and generous disposition, and loving, brotherly heart endears you to me. Yes, but I regard you as one who loves and serves Christ, and whom Christ loves and serves — and this makes my friendship sacred, heavenly, divine. Oh, how sweet the reflection that friendships in Christ are eternal! You and I are friends for ever and ever.

“Well, now, a little about myself — my poor, enfeebled self. How little did I think, when we were regaling ourselves with the beauties of Ventnor, that the furnace was heating in which my faith was to be tried. Oh, may it be found unto praise and honour at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ!

“I believe I was a little incautious in preaching too often after I left Ventnor. At Sherbourne, I was seized with an attack of low, slow, and obstinate fever. This has continued for more than a month, and has such a grip, as I think you Scotch people say, upon me, that I cannot throw it off. I am still waiting, I hope in calmness and confidence, to see how it will go with me. I seem, to myself, to be a broken vessel; and whether I am to be mended for further service is known only to Him, in whose hands I am, and out of whose hands I would not be removed. This was commenced last evening, for it could be no desecration of the Sabbath to hold fellowship with a Christian brother. What an awful and affecting account j’ou give of the desolation of the pestilence! God be praised, you, though attacked, were not numbered with its victims! God preserve you, my dear friend, amidst all your infirmities for many years to come! ^ly love to our dear wife and the good girls. — Yours affectionately,

“J. A. James.”

TO THE SAME.

“Edgbaston, November 23, 1S54.

“My dear Friend, — Your solicitude about my health deeply affects me. Who am I that I should have such a place in the minds and hearts of God’s people. His ministers, and in yours among the rest? I am sure if they knew me as God knows me, and as I know myself, they would experience some abatement in their esteem. ^Vhat a mercy it is that they do not know us as we know ourselves! Well, I thank you for your kind inquiries, and lose not a post in gratifying the affection that prompted them, by saying, that through the unmerited goodness of God I continue to improve. I now preach once on the Sabbath, but do little else. Perhaps the best idea I can give you of my present condition and capabilities is, to teU you what I went through yesterday, when the ordination of my excellent co-pastor took place.

“I was in chapel the whole of the morning service; delivered a charge to the young pastor of an hour and five minutes in length; presided at the dinner for about two hours; and, after two hours’ repose, went to hear Samuel ^lartin preach an extraordinary sermon, of an hour and a quarter’s length; and after all this slept soundly, and am in tolerable health this morning. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together! You see, I must have some strength left, more than either I or my friends thought I had. Oh, that God may give me a little more work to do for Him, and help me to do it better! The ordination service was a deeply solemn one; the chapel crowded to excess; about forty or fifty ministers present; the dinner “without toasts, and prayer and praise and holy speaking instead. Oh, how favoured am I! How blessed of God in this harmonious settlement!”

TO THE REV. DR PATTON.

“BiHMiNQHAM, January 2, 1855. “.... Since I last wrote I have been somewhat seriously iU. AVhile on a journey of recreation, in August last, I was attacked with

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

low fever, which hung about me for some weeks, and left me in a debilitated state. I am not able yet to engage in the full duty of my pastorate. My constitution, I think, has received a shock from which it will never entirely recover. I am, you perhajis know, in the seventieth year of my age, and the fiftieth of my ministry; and may well suppose that the elasticity of my frame is somewhat weakened. Youth may rally, but age cannot be expected to do so to any great extent. Happily both for myself and the congregation, I had engaged a co-pastor, who has the confidence and affection of the whole church, so that during my illness the pulpit was supplied, and the congregation kept up to its usual standard. This is, of course, still a great relief to me, as I have only half work to do, and when unable to do that, my colleague can supply my lack of service. I feel it some trial of faith and patience to be in any degree laid aside from my former activity. Still I am thankful to be able to do any work. I love my Master, I love His cause, and I love His service; and if He is pleased to continue me a little longer in His employ, I shall be grateful, and if not, I hope I shall be submissive to His will. If He give me life, health, and strength, I want to send out a reprint in this country, with a rather long preface on preaching, a work which has been pretty widely circulated in America, entitled, ‘Pastoral Sketches,’ by a Dr Spencer, who, I have been informed, is since dead. He seems to have been a skilful physician of souls, and possessed admirable tact in dealing with individual cases. Now, in tWs you Americans excel us, except in some few instances. Our young ministers are deficient here. Their sermons are not very well adapted to produce conviction and conversion; and as to their ability to meet the cases of awakened sinners, or all the perplexities and anxieties of the first stages of the divine life, they are quite novices many of them. Much of our preaching just now has little to do with the heart and conscience. Now, for their sakes, I should like, if God will accept the service, to send out an edition of Spencer’s work with an introduction. Do you happen to have known himi Can you give me any information concerning him, which would give an interest to the work when it comes before the English public?

“Everything I hear from your land, and everything I see in my own, convinces me that all the great verities of Divine revelation are to go through a fresh conflict with error. Even our reputedly orthodox men are somewhat tinged with the philosophical tendency and scepticism of the age. Amidst the ten thousand splendid novelties that are ever rising before the public mind, the old gospel is in danger of being considered effete and out of date. But of all the wonderful meteors of the age, Mormonism is the most wonderful. It is amazing that so clumsy and vulgar a delusion should have gained access to, and lioKl upon men’s minds. I think the community at the Salt Lake must, some time or other, come into collision with your federal governiiKiit. Polygamy can surely never receive the sanction of the States, liich it must in some way obtain, if the territory of the ilormons should ever become populous enough to become a State, and be received as such. And then we hear strange things of your fraternity of the ‘Know-nothings.’ I doubt not the reports are exaggerated, but there seems to me to be a nucleus of mischief there. “We are all deei)ly interested in this horrid war vnih Russia. The war spirit is all but universally rampant, much more so than suits my taste or my principles. I am inclined to think we had no business ■^^ith it. When and what the end will be, none knows, but He who sees the end from the beginning. Already the slaughter and destruction by disease are fearful, especially of the officers, which has sent ’ mournLug, lamentation, and woe ’ through the ranks of our aristocracy.

“You have said nothing of yourself and family. What are you doijig? Have you a congregation, and where? or are you enjojdng a quiet evening of life? Revivals are rare vdth you as with us. Stagnancy characterises the spiritual state of our churches. Men’s minds and hearts, and hands, are all full of secular matters, and religion is made to stand by at present.

“Well, now, I must conclude with my kind regards to your family. I hope ^Irs Patton and your children are all well, and doing well. The Lord whom we serve bless you! — Your affectionate friend and brother,

“J. A. James.”

TO WALTEE, SOX OF JOHX GRAHAM, ESQ.

“Edgbastos, January 19, 1855. “My dear Walter, — You will probably be surprised, but I am sure you will not be displeased, at receiving these few lines from me. I feel so deeply interested in you, that I cannot resist the impulse to express to you my good wishes for your present and eternal welfare, and to assure you that you are individually the subject of my earnest prayers.

“I need not tell you that you are the child of many anxieties, many hopes, and many supplications. You have now arrived at an age when the bud of childhood has expanded into the blossom of youth, and when the blossom of youth will soon set in the fruit of manhood. And it is quite time to ask, how you would wish it to set, and into what kind of character it is likely to ripen. All the parental expectations, desires, and solicitiides of your father and mother concentrate in you. Should you be otherwise than they wish and pray for, there is no other

LIFE OP JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

to whom they can turn and say, ‘Whatever disappointment we may have experienced in Walter, this other son shall comfort us.’ But I hope and believe you will not disappoint their fondest and largest hopes.

“Hitherto, I think, from all I have heard of you, that you are a good and dutiful son, rewarding by your dutiful conduct the care that has been bestowed upon you. Thus continue to act. The heart of a loving child is a good soil for other excellences to grow in. Ever may you be your fathei-’s joy, your mother’s pride!

“But, Walter, there is another parent I want you to love, honour, and obey, and that is your Father which is in heaven. Have you yet thought of His claim upon your fiUal regard 1 Have you yet begun to remember your Creator in the days of your youth? Have you ever heard with reverent awe that demand, ‘My son, give me thine heart 1 ‘Is true, vital religion a matter of deep interest with you? Have you ever yet felt any yearning of heart over, and after, the character of a truly pious man? If not, let me affectionately entreat you to take up, in serious thoughtfulness, this momentous subject. I can assure you, as millions more can do, that wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace:

* ‘Twill save you from a thousand snares
To mind religion young.’

And then while it will bless us, it will help us to bless others. I want you, Walter, to be a good man, that you may be a useful one. You have a father who is in this respect a pattern for you. He is living not merely to get money, but to do good. Imitate his example. Say to yourself — ‘I will, by God’s grace, be a good and useful man, like my father.’ Do not be a cipher in society — be something good, and this may make you great. To religion add a thirst for knowledge, and a determination to improve. Aim at universal excellence. Be conscientious in all your conduct. Set your standard higL For all this, give yourself to prayer. Pray for Divine grace to be decided in reUgion, and decided in everything else that is good. There can be no religion while there is no love for prayer. How can you exjiect the blessing of God if you do not pray for it? And read and study your Bible. Do not be ashamed when you are at school of being considered a religious boy. May you deserve the honour!

“Give my kind regards to your good and excellent mother. I hope you will both enjoy your yresent situation, and return with a good stock of health. — Youi- friend and minister,

“J. A. James.”

TO THE EEV. J. C. MILLEH, 51. A., RECTOR OF ST MARTIN’ S, BIRMINGHAM.

“Edgbaston, April 28, 1855.

“My dear Mr JIiller, — I acknowledge, -witli many thanks, the receipt of a copy of your very admirable pamphlet on the important subject of National Education — a subject as difficult as it is momentous. After you had directed my attention to them, I read your letters in the Journal, and have repcrused them since they appeared in the present form; and most -vviUingly and cheerfully say that you have brought to the discussion of the subject a degree of intelligence, analytic power, and candour which must raise you stUl higher in the estimation of the public than you ever stood before. You have done as much to untie the knot as can well be accomplished.

“And yet, with all that you have written, and written so well, I am but ’ almost persuaded.’ I feel a theoretic perplexity on the question, whether the education of the people is indeed a matter within the jurisdiction of Government, especially their religious education. For the introduction of a catechism, if this be intended, as your reasoning and the two bills imply, makes it essentially religious. True, you make a provision for the gi-eat principle of religious liberty, by exempting all Nonconformists from the obligation to learn the catechism. But does this go further than the present toleration of the EstabKshed Church? And is it not, in fact, the principle of the Establishment carried into the school, since the great bulk of the children will be taught the catechism, as belonging nominally to the Church of England? And without being considered ultra- Voluntaries, may not many who look upon the catechism as teaching baptismal regeneration, feel a conscientious objection to be taxed for teaching what they believe to be error?

“I feel also some difficvdty on the subject from the effect a Government measure will have upon existing schools, supported to such an extent by voluntary contributions, and which have so multiplied of late, as to indicate that this system, if stimulated, may at last overtake the wants of the population.

“I am also a little apprehensive that any system of general local management will, in the present state of parties, become a fruitful source of social discord, strife, and contention. The number of bills, amounting to six, including Scotland, now before Parliament, seems to prove the difficulty of State interference, and the improbability of coming to a satisfactoiy conclusion. Moreover, I am inclined to think that if the State interfere at all, it should begin by protecting the labouring population against the cupidity of parents and the temptations held out by the manufacturing system. Until this is done, no measure of national education can meet the necessities of the case. It

LIFE OP JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

is not school-rooms and masters we want now, but scholars. None of our schools are full; and they never will be as long as children can obtain their eighteenpence or two shilKngs a-week at the early age of eight or nine years. I doubt if either of the bills now before the House of Commons would, in the present state of our manufacturing system, add a thousand children, or half the number, unless, indeed, a depression of trade .should intervene, which would throw them out of employment.

“Still, after all I have written, my mind is by no means made up to say ‘Neither ’ to the bills you have so ably and impartially analysed. On no subject do I feel so much perplexity. I see and lament the evils you so accurately describe and so feelingly deplore; and I am often inclined, in spite of my theoretic difficulties, to say, ‘Let iis have some parliamentary measure, for we cannot meet the case without it.’ Of the two bills, I prefer Lord John Russell’s, upon the whole, with the supplement you suggest; and upon the most careful consideration I can give the subject, I rather incline to his system of management. Town councils, I am aware, are not, in all cases — our own, to wit — the best directors of this measure; but this plan shuts out an occasion of social strife. I need not say I write only for your own eye. My mind is hardly made up; and if, upon further examination, I should see eye to eye, as I cei-taiuly feel heart to heart with you, I shall be most happy to follow and acknowledge you as my leader. — Yours with esteem and regard,

“J. A. James.”

TO DE MOPaSON.

“Sabbath Evening, [1855.] “My beloved Fkiend, — I am again your debtor for another letter, just like your o-wn heart, full of love and tenderness, — and, prevented from enjoying the communion of saints in the house of God, I sit down to hold epistolary intercourse with one of them in my own. How sweet and .sacred a tiling is Christian friendship, and how blissful a reflection that it is to be perfected in heaven, and perpetuated through eternity! You and I are to commune with each other millions of ages hence, and by our interchange of affection, are ripening for this everlasting intercourse. Oh, the sublimities of our holy religion! How little and insignificant appear all those his charities and offices which bind man to man, compared with those that bind Christian to Chii.stian! As there is nothing holy without the gospel of our salvation, so there is nothing holy but what is great.”

“Itlany, many thanks for all the kind expressions of your fraternal letter. Indeed, my dear friend, I am unworthy of them. Never, no, never was so much favour shewn to one so undeserving of it. A lengtheneil affliction, wliicli leaves its subject in full possession of his faculties and leisure, by the absence of extreme pain, to search the heart with candles, makes strange and humbling disclosures. I thought I knew myself, but I find now that, at the age of seventy, I have had much to learn. And how humbhng the discoveries that have been made! I need no other argument for the doctrine of sovereign grace than the knowledge of myself, compared with the multitudinous and wondrous blessings showered upon me as a man, a Christian, and a minister.

“You have been greatly tried, my dear friend, in your congregation, by the ravages of this fearful scourge, and well have you taught the readers of your magazine to sing of judgment and of mercy. May many have their hearts tuned for melody by these effusions of yours! Mrs Kamsey’s death was affectkig, and is doubtless a loss to you. But while Jesus is with us, whom cannot we spare?

“As regards myseK, I am thankful to say I am, I hope, slowly improving. To-day, in weakness, fear and trembling, but with joy and thankfulness, I presided at the Lord’s table, and went through the service with tolerable ease. To-morrow, T go for change of air to !Malvem. May God give balm to the breeze, and an invigorating influence to the scenery of that beautiful place! I sometimes think my healthy and hearty days are over, and that I may be called now to serve the Lord with infirmity of the flesh. But all is in God’s hands. Kind love to Mrs Morison, and to the lambs. — Your ever affectionate friend,

“J. A. Jajies.

“My dear daughter continues a great invalid. This has doubled the aflliction.”

TO WALTER, SOX OF JOBS GEAHAJI, ESQ.

“Edgbastox, June 3, ] S56.” My beak Walteh, — As you are soon to leave school and return to your father’s house, I cannot resist the inclination I feel to write you a few lines of congratulation and counsel. I say, of congiatulation, for is it not matter of thankfulness that you have been placed by Prolidence in such circumstances as to enjoy, and, I hope, to improve, the advantages of a liberal education? By the goodness of God, your father has been favoured in his worldly affairs, so as to be able to command for you the benefits of a good school. You have not been permitted to grow up in ignorance, but have had that training which will fit you to occupy a respectable station in society. I think I may commend you for having endeavoured to profit by the mental culture ■lhich has been bestowed upon you. Another ground for congratulation and thankfulness is, that you have a father’s house to return to,

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

and are coming home to such parents as God lias given to you, — parents who are anxious for your welfare in both worlds, and have done so much to promote it.

“Perhaps, on looking back upon school-days, now coming to a close, you can find some ground of regret, however diligent you have been, that you have not been more anxious to grow in all useful knowledge and in general excellence of character and conduct. I deem a penitential sense of shortcomings in every stage of life essential to future advancement. I am hopeless of that man’s growth in days to come, who does not see something to lament in days past.

“Well, my dear Walter, let me now place before you the solemn questions, — In what state of mind are you leaving school, towards God and religion % and with what pui”poses are you returning to your home, not now for the holidays, but for a permanency ]

“Is the great matter decided? Have you yielded yourself to God 1 Have you made up your mind fully, and finally, to serve the Lord? I am not without hope that this is the case. Is my hope well founded? I know you have not been destitute of serious reflection; but is there decision? I know not whether you have read my ‘Young Man’s Guide to Immortality; ’ if not, I will furnish you with a copy when you come home, and beg you most seriously to read the three or four first chapters, as appKcable to your age and circumstances. I will suppose that you Imve decided upon a life of piety and usefulness, even while at school. Permit me, then, to remark, that though you are coming home to godly parents, to a father and mother who will still pray for you and watch over you, yet the transition from school to the domestic circle has, even in the most favourable circumstances, its dangers. It vsdll be so sweet and pleasant to nestle under the wing of such parents in such a home, that you will be in peril of so taking up with their comfort as to feel that you have no need of the pleasures of religion to make you happy. Now, let me beg of you to pray very earnestly to God that you may retain your religious impressions when you return. Be much in prayer, Walter. You can never become a Christian, nor continue one without prayer. Love to converse with God. Is it not a glorious and wonderful thing to speak to God? And never sufi”er a day to pass without the Bible.

“Let me earnestly entreat you to be very careful about companions. There are, alas! too few of your age who are decidedly pious. Very few whom it would be safe for you to associate with. Do not be at all anxious about society. Make books your companions. Bead, and read only such books as wUl do you good. Avoid all the habits of young men that tend to levity, and afterwards to something worse. I do not like to see young men, just out of their boyhood, swaggering alo’ig with a cigar in their mouth, priggish, vain, and trifling. Be attentive to -whatever business your father, after consulting your own tiste, shall determine upon. Make him your counsellor, and your mother your confidant. Love their society, consult their wishes, promote their comfort. Bring from school the fixed determination to make them happy. And then, do not be an idle or a selfish young man. Do not live only for yourself. Determine to be useful. Begin life domg good, as well as getting it. When you come home, become a Sunday-school teacher. Is it not noble work to train mind, to develop intellect, to form character 1 You would not be a worthy son of your father if you do not aim to be useful. He is one of the most useful men in our church. Grow up to be Uke him. A youth can be a philanthropist as well as a man.

“May God bless you, Walter! I have great affection foi- you and great hope of you. Do not disappoint ini, hope, your parents’ hope, and the hope of jom friends. Many prayers are presented for you, mine among the rest. I shall be glad to see you, and I cannot but believe you are coming home with a character and in a state of mind that will make me glad to see you. — Your affectionate friend and minister,

“J. A. Jajies.”

TO THE KEY. DK PATTOX.

“Edgbastox, October 11, 1S56. “My dear Feiexd and Brother, — Several months ago I wrote you a long letter, which as I could not at the time put my hand upon the directions you gave me for the transmission of my epistles, I forwarded to your son at Hartford. Not having heard from you, I begin to think my letter never reached you. I have determined, therefore, to wait no longer, but to write again to inquire about you and yours, and to give you all the important information that I deem interesting to you about what is going on in my circle. First of all, then, about the chapel, at the laying of whose foundation you were present and took part in the proceedings. It was opened for worship last Wednesday, the 8th, when, according to the condition you imposed at the time of promising a Bible, viz., that I should preach the first sermon, I delivered a discourse from Ezra vi. 16. When I rose in the pulpit, and before naming the text, I said, ‘I owe it to a Uberal friend who has made a handsome contribution to the service of this morning, to state, that the splendid copy of the sacred Scriptures which now lies before me is given to the congregation novr worshipping in this house, for the use of their pulpit, by the Rev. Dr Patton of New York, who was present with us when the foundation-stone of this chapel was laid. In this act of munificence, the American Eagle and the British Lion are

5G0 LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAJVIES.

seen bo-wing with reverence together before the Divine Lamb, and the heavenly Dove of the Word of God. May these two nations, marked out by God to be the twin evangelists of the globe, be ever held in the closest bonds of national and Christian fcllowshijj! ‘I then delivered a discourse of more than an hour and a half to a large and interested congregation. The place is very elegant, with its tower and spire — appendages, I confess, I could have dispensed with. Formerly the sarcasm was thrown upon us, that ‘Dissent is the religion of barns,’ now it seems to be infected with the ambition of becoming the religion of cathedrals. It is not that I altogether reject the graces of architecture, but I am afraid that our concern for them is waxing greater than our concern for the graces of the Spirit. I have delivered your photograph to the managers of the chapel, who intend to frame it, and hang it in their vestry, and they will, at their first meeting, I doubt not, pass a vote of thanks to you for the Bible. The other and stUl greater work which was in progress when you were here, I mean the college, was to have been opened to-morrow, when various services were to be held, and addresses delivered; but to our excessive mortification, all is postponed on account of the unfinished state of the building. Our denomination is somewhat agitated just now on the subject of religious dogmatic theology; defection being a little suspected to some extent on the part of some of our men. Perhaps there is more fear than there is any ground for. At least, so many think. / am not without some apprehension. There has been a grand quarrel between Dr Campbell and Mr Binney, the former having published a series of letters to Mr Binney in the British Banner. Not that he accuses him of error. Mr Binney is unsuspected, but he is one of fifteen of our leading ministers who have surprised our denomination by endorsing a suspected man. What a troubled scene does even the Church of Christ exhibit hi its present condition! And what a stUl more troubled scene does your country exhibit to the world at this moment! We are watching the progress of the present contest with intense anxiety. The great battle between fi-eedom and slavery is about to be fought, and if the records of the past be any guide to opinions for the future, there can be little doubt in my mind how it will terminate. I am afraid there is not virtue, courage, and patriotism enough, to say nothing of religion, in the Northern portion of your union, to do battle successfully with the South. Every conflict that has taken place yet, has ended in the yielding — the succumbing — of the former to the latter. I own the North has of late shewn signs of vigour and determination which are somewhat new. With your superior population, wealth, and intelligence, you ought to be in action, what you are in means, too strong for the slaveholding States. I wish the States of New England and their neighbours would consider that the eyes of the civilised world are upon them, to see how they will act in this tremendous conflict; whether they will rally round the constitution to bring it back to its original sentiment and policy, which, unquestionably, were founded on the conviction and declaration that slavery is an svil, and must be eventually abolished. AVhereas, the policy of late has gone in an entirely opposite direction.

“What is thought of Mrs Stowe’s new work in America? It is no disparagement to say it is not equal to ‘Uncle Tom.’ It is a book of deep interest, but in my opinion, it fails in giving a full and impressive view of the fatal effects of slavery on the whites. Yet this is its avowed design. That it does this to a great extent I admit; but I think it might have been carried further. Neither Tom Gordon nor his sister Nina are, I think, fair representations of slaveholders. There wants the epic character of Uncle Tom. There is no character that is the hero of the tale. My spiritual taste is also offended by the occasional and frequent profanity of the speakers. And I think the camp-meeting, though drawn with great power, as well as some other parts of the work, likely to turn not only hypocrisy into ridicule and contempt, but religion itself. Yet, after all, with some exaggerations and some unnaturalness, it is a powerful and interesting book, and is being extensively read in England.

“I hope you are all weE What are you doing in the way of preaching? Is Emily a Christian yet? Does she love Christ more than the world? Give my love to her, and tell her I ask these questions because I love her, and desire her eternal happiness. I trust your dear wife is as well as when she was here. Give my affectionate remembrances to her. As regards ourselves, I am getting worse in the disease of the bladder. I cannot now ride in my Own carriage without uneasiness. My dear daughter is very, very unweE My son and daughter next door are well, and their two children. Let me hear from you soon. — Your friend and brother,

“J. A. James.”

TO THE REV. DE MILLER.

“Haglzy Road, February 20, 1857.” My dear De Millee, — As it is the first time I have addressed you since your new academic distinction, permit me to congratulate you on the fresh honour which is attached to your name. I wish all who were called Rabbi deserved it as much as yourself. It will not raise you in my estimation, only because nothing can. For my own sake and others’ in this town, I would rather address you as Doctor, than as my Lord. But for the sake of your church, I could wish you 2 N

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

were raised from the pulpit to the throne and the bench. Whenever you attain the latter elevation, I will, if I am aUve and able, be among those who shall hear your first ex caihedrA address. Well, whether doctor or prelate, may your life be long, and your usefulness stUl more abundant!”

TO THE EEV. DR PATTON.

“Edgbaston, May 9, 1857. “.... Beecher’s name reminds me of the state of the anti-slavery cause, or rather the negro’s cause, in the United States. This decision of your Supreme Court fills us with astonishment, horror, and indignation. It is, indeed, the most terrible outrage upon humanity that has been perpetrated for ages, and will do more to lower the moral character of your country than even the present system of slavery. All Europe and the whole civilised world will. blush for you. It is the first time that I know of when a whole race was put without the pale of social life on account of the colour of their skin. Will your country submit to it? Can it be conceived that the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers will bow to so horrible a rebellion against the precepts of Christianity and the dictates of reason? !My dear brother, what are the Eastern States about that they do not rise en masse against this dictum of a few men upon the bench? However, there is one hope. It is so bad — she-ws so clearly the advance of the slaveocracy in yoiu: country — that it must help on eventually the cause of abolition. The American Union of the States appears to me to be becoming an idol, before which your people are willing to make the most costly sacrifice of moral principla Anything so that the Union be preserved. If it is attempted to be preserved in this way, God with one of the thunderbolts of His vengeance will by and by shiver it to pieces. I read with admiration Cheever’s eloquent papers in the Independent. Oh, he is a noble champion, not only for the rights of the negro, but for the honour of your country. ...”

TO JOSHUA WILSON, ESQ.

“Edgbaston, January 1, 1858. “My dear Friend, — Although by the time this reaches you a day and a haK of the New Year vdll have passed off into the bygone time, yet as there are three hundred and sixty three more days to come, it is not too late to wish you a happy New Year. ‘Few and evil,’ said good old Jacob, ’ are the days of our pilgrimage,’ and his history had qualified him to bear the testimony. It is long since we heard of each other. Your last report of your health was better than the preceding ones, and I hope you can still give a good account of yourself and yours. I am much the same, and am thankful to say I have no great increase of disease or suffering. Sometimes I think I get worse, and comparing myself with what I was when with you at Hastings, I must pronounce myself advancing in the road of suffering. I have lately been much ’ exercised,’ as some good people would say, about my colleague. He has received a unanimous and cordial invitation to Dr Halley’s church at Manchester, and I do not wonder it presented to him some strong attractions. Our church, however, rallied round him in such force and with such entreaties, that he could not see his way out. He left it pretty much for me to decide whether I thought he could most serve the cause of Christ at large most at Birmingham or Manchester. / looked not merely at the two congregations, though here there was a difference of numbers, if numbers only are to be considered on our side; but I took into account the state of our denomination in Birmingham, and then I also took into view the condition of our college. We are in a very critical state. Mr Rogers leaves us at Lady-day for IManchester. Mr Watts resigns at midsummer. On all these accounts I gave my judgment in favour of his remaining with us. And on Friday last hia decision was made known to the great joy of our church.

“I dare say the church at Manchester will still try to get him, but I believe he will be firm. He thought his preaching more adapted to Manchester than Birmingham, but I told him what would suit one place would suit the other. I hardly think it was right of the Manchester people to try and tempt him away. We think of Conder of Poole, to take Watts’s place, though this must not be mentioned. We shall do with two tutors if possible, and some supplemental aid for mathematics and natural history. Our finances are not in a good state. — Yours affectionately,

“J. A. James.”

TO W. E. LLOYD, ESQ.

“Edobaston, September 23, 1858.” My dear Mr Lloyd, — I somewhat blame myself for not replying to your letter before this, for though you did not ask for an answer, and there was nothing in the way of business which required one, yet pastoral sympathy ought to have been sufficiently awake and active to have sent one, especially as I too have been in circumstances to make me feel how precious a balm for a wounded spirit, and even a diseased body, is Christian sympathy. Yes, I have been, and still am, much afflicted. True, I am mercifully relieved from the suffering which I for two or three days endured, but I am still enfeebled and laid aside from my usual ministerial duties. I have preached once, and may be permitted, probably, to preach again. But I believe my work, i.e., my regular ministerial and pastoral labour, is over. My disease cannot,

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

I think, be eradicated; however, it may be modified, and kept a little in check.

“But enough of myseK. You, my good friend, have been afflicted, though now I am glad to learn are convalescent. How highly you have been favoured by the sympathy and attention of that ministering angel who is lodging under the same roof! This individual effort to do good, or rather the effort to do good to an individual in private, shews that her benevolence is of the genuine kind, and not for public display. By her giving you the Olney Hymns, I am led to beUeve that her views are decidedly evangelical.

“Well, now, what have you and I to do besides endeavouring by God’s providential goodness to get well? Why, by His grace, to derive benefit, spiritual benefit, from our afflictions. Have you communed with your oato heart upon your bed? Have you been taking the candle of the Lord, which is His Word, and going down into the depths of the soul to search for besetting sins and defects 1 Has the gold shone in the furnace, and the dross of earthliness been consumed? Have you been praying and wrestling for holiness? You know God’s design in afflicting us is, that we might be partakers of His holiness. An affliction sanctified is better than an affliction removed. Oh, let us long, intensely long, to be made holy, spiritual, heavenly! A Christian should be one who lives in heaven, and from thence be looking down upon earth. You men of business need thus to be taken out of the world into a sick-chamber. May God sanctify us both more perfectly! All will go on well without us in the approaching Bible meeting. — Believe me, your friend and pastor,

“J. A. James.”

TO HIS ELDEST STJEVIVING SISTER, MES WOKSLEY,
ON HER BIRTH-DAT.

“Edgbaston, May 28, 1859.” My dear Sister, — I do not forget that to-morrow is your birthday, when you will enter on the seventy-seventh year of your age, and I now vnrite these few lines to express your brother’s continued, sincere, and fervent affection for you, and my best wishes and earnest prayers that you may yet see many happy and holy returns of the day. And yet is it a kind wish that you may be kept longer amidst the infirmities of old age, from that blessed world where neither old age nor its infirmities will be ever known, nor any of the sins, sorrows, or conflicts with which here they are ever associated? You are another year’s journey nearer home, and may say, ‘A few more stiles to cross, and I shall reach my Father’s house.’ Does it make you long to be gone to think of the glory, honour and immortality that awaits you? ‘Ah no!’ you are ready to say, ‘I am too earthly-minded. Even old age and the near prospect of eternity do not entirely wean me from the world.’ No, my dear sister, nor do they effect this so much in me as they ought. How we cling to earth! and yet, when we reach heaven, we shall wonder that we could endure to Uve on these low grounds. Well, let us confess, mourn, and endeavour to vanquish our earthly-mindedness. It is a shame that our affections are not more upon things above.

“I am glad to find you are, upon the whole, so well, and are not likely to be disturbed in your house. I shall never see you again in this world. I am in an enfeebled, dilapidated state, suffering great inconvenience and much pain night and day. Yet, I am thankful it does not yet amount to anguisL It Ls bearable. I sleep well, and my appetite is pretty good, but, in consequence of my being afflicted with diabetes as well as my other complaint, I am obHged to exercise great care, and much self-denial in my diet. I now do not go from home, though I generally preach once a-day, and have worked very hard with my pen. It is a great trial to see poor Sarah Ann, and for her to see me. I do, indeed, sometimes feel the want of a third person, and blessed be God I can truly say, * When most alone, I am often least alone, and feel how sweet, as well as solemn it is to be alone with God’ — Your affectionate brother,

“J. A. James.”

ID THE EEV. DR PAT TON.

“Edgbaston, June 25, 1859. “ISIy dear Brother Pattox, — My letters are literally AngeU’s visits, few and far between. But you know enough of the tunnoil, and distracting and diverting engagements of one in my circumstances, to account for the putting aside of matters which may be done at any time, for those which must be attended to at the ])resent time; and, by the way, I thus explained your long silence after your return to America. And I also, when I read your correspondence about the Tract Society, found that you had been much better employed than in writing to me. Your letters, on that subject, did credit to your head and your heart. I thought you clearly shewed that the operations of your society were carried on upon a very expensive scale; and yet it must be taken into account, that the colportage system, in a country like yours, where new congregations are so rapidly springing up, and but ill supplied with ministers, and where towns and villages are continually multiplying without the advantages of depots, is a means of suppljdng religious instruction, and thus a means of supplying a substitute, for a wlule, for both preachers and shops. I was at once surprised, amused, and somewhat grieved, by the uproarious conduct of your opponents at the

LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

annual meeting of the society. I am inclined to think that, instead of carrying on such scenes as these, you had better separate and form another society. I see no very near prospect of your altering the mode of procedure in the one for which you are battling. It is keeping open a running sore, which must be injurious to the spiritual health of both your pastors and churches.

“I perceive that the Revival feeling is a little subsiding among you — that is, as to the more conspicuous manifestations of it. I doubt not, however, that the impulse is still felt in the hearts and operations of your ministers. It was hardly to be expected that the feeling and action which were at one time maintained, can be, as human nature is, the constant state of things. You have perhaps read, or will have read before this reaches you, the account of the awakening in Ireland. It is in some respects more remarkable than anything which you have witnessed in the United States. Presbyterianism in the sister Isle was a dull and torpid mass. Eehgious routine and heartless formality characterised the churches, because it characterised their pastors. Suddenly the Spirit has breathed upon the valley of dry bones, and the skeletons are being clothed with flesh and are standing up an army of living men. The means of producmg this blessed change are similar to your own, — the power of prayer. But in one very material respect the manifestation is different — I mean, in the effect upon the physical nature. The bodily contortions and swoonings, which, in bygone times, were known in America, are now common in Ireland. I cannot but regret this, as it will beget some incredulity about the spiritual nature of the work. Still, it is a wonderful work of God. I send you, by the post which will convey this to you, a copy of the British Standard, which will give you an account of the work, and Dr Campbell’s remarks upon it. And I mean to send you, regularly, a copy of the Standard in return for the Independent, and am ashamed that it never occurred to me before.

“There is very little stir in this country. People talk about revival, and that is all. The Spirit is not yet poured out upon us. Prayer is low. I shall send you, by the next mail, a copy of a pamphlet which I have just pubUshed, on the ‘Spiritual Condition of our Churches.’ By this post, I forward a sermon I have just sent out as a token of respect to the memory of a man very well known in America — I mean, Joseph Sturge, whose death occasioned a great sensation in this town, and I may say in this country.

“You will see, by your journals, what a horrible war is going on in Italy. Napoleon III. is at the bottom of it all In spite of generous professions, his ambitious eye and heart are upon Italy. The friends of peace are exerting themselves to keep this country out of the strife.

The Roman Catholic countries are putting one another dovra. Oh, how tianquillising the reflection, ‘The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!’ Our home politics arc anything bat satisfactory. These rapid changes of ministry are not very favourable to national tranquillity and prosperity.

“And now as regards myself. I am become very feeble, and am consciously declining. My diseases increase upon me, and pin after pin of the tabernacle is being taken out, preparatory to the taking down of the whole, and I am calmly and hopefully looking on to the close. ‘I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him unto that day.’ My daughter is also getting weaker, and we have had an affliction in the death of my old servant Joseph. He died about two months since, after two or three days’ illness. All at next door are much as usual. In our congregation, affairs are peaceful, if not remarkably prosperous. Give my love to Emily, and ask her, from me, if she has yet given her heart to Jesus. It is a solemn thing to outlive a revival Tsithout being converted. My daughter is gone for a fortnight to Mrs Keep’s, the widow at Griffin’s HiLl. — Believe me, your affectionate friend and brother,

“J. A. James.”