massive tomes in theology, which, after all, do not contain an entire exposition of the Scripture. Our hopes will then be ranging in any other province than either Gethsemane or Calvary. As our understandings will be beclouded, so our hearts will be benumbed; and the preciousness of a Saviour will be to us a term wholly unintelligible.

Decay of genuine devotion is a further consequence of our partial or complete dependance on our own merits. True! the Tractarian will tell us that " 'you must learn of us what is genuine devotion." Away with your drawing-room prayers,' (i. e. family worship,-a practice to which the Tractarian is commonly opposed, as interfering, in his view, with the observance of public worship)-accompany us morning and evening to the church; there you may be taught to pray, there your prayers will be accepted." Yet without detracting from the value (however I may deny the necessity) of daily worship in the sanctuary, I would contend that the self-righteous spirit holds little communion with God. For it offers not "the prayer of faith" in the alone merits of a Saviour. How, then, can we be heard of God? (John xiv. 6.) And while the pulse of prayer is still, however the forms of it may be maintained, are we not devoid of the gracious influences of the Spirit; and as we pursue our Pharisaic race, are we not consequently enwrapped in a deepening cloud of self-deception? While satisfied with "the form of godliness,' we shall never make "the power" of it the object of our earnest supplications.

Far am I from pretending to have pointed out, in this paper, all the devious steps by which a professed believer in Christ abandons his reliance upon Him for a virtual dependence upon works in the great matter of salvation; yet it is my firm conviction that, in some such way as I have stated, the awful transition very generally occurs; and with it that paralysis of the heart, which it is truly shocking to contemplate. Indeed Dr. Pusey has maintained (in part of his "Letter to the Lord Bishop of Oxford," though, not possessing the work, I cannot recollect the very page) that the affections are not to be exercised in the province of religion. Certainly not upon his scheme. For, so long as we regard Protestantism as a curse to the Church of God, and speak tenderly of Romanism, we can assuredly retain but little faith in Christ, and therefore but little love to our adorable Redeemer. That impulse is then greatly, if not entirely, wanting to the soul, which is derived from a believing view of his "agony and bloody sweat, his cross and passion.' Be our exterior as holy as it may, even to the mortification and emaciation of our dying bodies, the interior is "barren and desolate," while insensible to the grace of Jesus as our only hope and peace in this abode of sin and misery. This is the extremest evil (the "ultima Thule") of Tractarianism. With its noisome exhalations it would extinguish the vital spark of piety, and leave nothing behind but rites, ceremonies, austerities!! Thus is the law virtually substituted for the Gospel, and the hood-winked self-justiciary dreams not of all his delusions and of all his danger. And if, unhappily, a minister of Christ, his case is the more pitiable, since his influence is then the more extended, and his responsibility the more tremendous.

Would to God that we could be persuaded to "prove all things" by His word, and then (as both the Papist and the Tractarian must know full well) we could not walk on quietly and contentedly in error: on the contrary, our eyes would be opened, even by "the power of the Holy Ghost," applying the Scripture to our hearts, to see eternal misery as that

natural heritage of sinners which alone they can justly claim, and to trust with simplicity and earnestness in our great and everlasting Surety, Jesus Christ. Nor should we fail to connect with the examination of the sacred Volume, especially on the part of her clergy, the prosperity, and even the existence, of the Church of England. Let the Bible once be closed, and her days "are numbered." Errors the most extravagant may then pass for truth; and corruption, in all its awful varieties, may overspread the social body. "Justification by faith" will have no place in our creed, if the Scripture have none in our meditations. Far, far distant be the day when the voice of God shall be unheard, the Gospel trumpet unsounded, and our land again groan under the load of Papal tyranny and oppression. Yet between Protestantism and Popery there is no "middle course."

Πιστις.

ON THE PROPER PREFACES IN THE COMMUNION SERVICE.
To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

year,

1, FOR One, remembered the premonition in your volume for last
that the first Sunday in January 1843 would occur upon the octave of
Christmas Day, and that consequently the "Proper Preface" for that
day in the Communion service, if the Lord's Supper is administered,
should be repeated; but as many clergymen-including, perhaps, some
of your readers-ignorantly or inadvertently omitted it, and as such
omissions are frequently occurring, it may not be superfluous to re-
iterate that all the "Proper Prefaces," except those for Whitsunday
and for Trinity Sunday, are to be used, not only on the day to which they
belong, but "seven days after." The Whitsunday Preface is super-
seded by that for Trinity Sunday, and therefore the rubric says only
"and six days after." The Trinity Sunday Preface is directed to be
used "upon the Feast of Trinity only." Why it is not continued for
seven days after, I am not aware.

The Preface for the Nativity is not that which was used in this coun-
try in the days of Popery, but resembles one in the Sacramentary of
Galasius of the fifth century. That for Easter may be traced back to
the same age and source; and has been in use in this land ever since the
arrival of Augustine. It is found in all the liturgies used in England
before the Reformation. That for the Ascension was probably the com-
position of Pope Gregory the First, towards the close of the sixth cen-
tury. The Preface for Pentecost is fuller and more appropriate than the
ancient forms. That for Trinity Sunday is traced back to the days of
Galasius;
and is found in the Sacramentary of Gregory, and our Anglo-
Saxon formularies. We see in these, as in many other instances, the
wisdom of our Reformers in retaining what was good, while they rejected
what was exceptionable. In the Latin service there were ten Prefaces;
the last of them, that concerning the Virgin Mary, being of as late a
date as the close of the eleventh century.

LITURGICUS.

LETTER FROM MR. STOW IN REPLY TO A PAPER ON NATIONAL

SCHOOLS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

Glasgow, Dec. 31st, 1842. SIR, Knowing that I seldom have an opportunity of perusing your valuable publication, a friend of mine in the south sent me the other day your Number for last November, by my son, who is a Divinity student at Cambridge. In this Number I observe a letter signed X. X., purporting to be a "Defence of National Schools against unjust charges.' My practice, for many years past, has been to pass over in silence any remarks made upon my published statements on the Training System of which they treat, being conscious of integrity, and knowing that we have an advocate in each of the seven hundred students who have been trained in the Normal Seminary, and who have gone throughout this and foreign countries establishing the same natural system. As your correspondent, however, almost says that he does not believe the facts narrated, my friend says I must say something in answer, however short.

I have a great respect for the National Schools of England, and the Parochial Schools of Scotland; and I desire to see them efficient in promoting the great end which they professedly have in view. In general they fall greatly short, and therefore our population continues sunk in ignorance and in morals. This is true as regards the rural parishes of England, and the large towns of both Scotland and England. A more natural system is requisite, and one under which the child as a wholethe " whole man "may be trained, not simply taught. This is my object in any humble exertions I am enabled to put forth, whether in providing the model of such a system, or in training teachers to the practice of it.

Your correspondent charges me with giving "a one-sided view;" but he has shut his eyes to the fact that the examples given are from both sides of the Tweed. I think it right to avoid giving names of parties, as it is principles, and not men, I desire to contend with. The example noticed page 659 of your publication is true. I had it from my brother, who resides in the immediate neighbourhood of the Vicar alluded to; and I know the clergyman to be a man of "profound piety and high literary attainments.”

The next illustration respecting the complex question, "Is it not a fact that mutation is stamped on all sublunary objects?" rests on the testimony of my father, who was the chief-magistrate of the town, and was present during the examination. The learned M.D., who is now dead, I knew well.

As to "Eli and his two sons," page 660, I find I have given rather too favourable an account of the whole exhibition; and instead of it being an overcharged picture of the low state of intellectual culture, I could furnish your correspondent with a dozen of other illustrations much more ludicrous.

In "plain English," I may state that the master of the National School alluded to spoke distinctly; and in respect of myself, I certainly can "Count Saxe "with any Scotchman; but my habit is to speak in a simple style, alike removed from the high tone of Bath and the more chaste style of Inverness. Your correspondent is afraid the class did not

comprehend my dialect; but knowing how to talk Yorkshire as well as plain English, I put the questions each way, and still they could not comprehend that "Eli had two sons," although they had read the passage thrice, and I had put the questions in different tones of voice half a dozen times.

I leave you to make what use you please of this letter, and the printed slips herewith enclosed, on some points of the system.-I remain, &c. DAVID STOW,

Honorary Secretary of the Glasgow Normal Training Seminary.

IMPROVED TREATMENT OF MENTAL DISEASE.

For the Christian Observer.

Ir may afford information to some persons who have not had the means of considering the subject, to state that the great modern secret of management in Insanity is gentle treatment-occupation and amusement-and last, though not least, religious and moral instruction for all who are sufficiently convalescent to bear it. If the boasted advance of our age in knowledge had stopped short of the poor lunatic, who was least able to take care of himself, we should have less ground for mutual congratulation; but thanks to the philathropist and the Christian, the sorrowful sighing of the most pitiable of prisoners has at length come before us, and much has been done by the scientific and the pious to increase his comfort, and to accelerate his cure. The writer of this is no divine, but he means to divide his text into three heads.

1st. As to mild treatment. The mind, whether in a sound or unsound state, naturally revolts at oppression and injustice; and the reason as well as experience of the sane should have taught them earlier, that all coercion or correction, beyond what is obviously essential, should be studiously avoided. That great master of human life, Shakespeare, makes one of his helpless females thus address one of the boasted lords

of the creation :—

"You may ride us with one soft kiss a thousand miles,

Ere with the spur we heat a furlong."

And thus it is seen that kind and courteous language, a compliance with pardonable eccentricities, an endurance of provoking language, the suggestion of hope-whether of amendment or discharge-an attention to little wants and even weaknesses, and an affectionate sympathy with the character and case of each individual, are charms too potent to be resisted. Hence a really good temper is indispensable in superintendents and servants of the insane, and the control of their own passions becomes the first of duties. When patients see, however imperfectly, that real kindness alone dictates the necessary regimen, and feel that some interest is taken in their comfort, one half the work is done.

It

2nd. Occupation and amusement are of great importance, though their value has only been properly recognised of late. Out of confinement, as well as in it, idleness is the greatest evil of our nature. makes the man who is at liberty his own tormentor; while employment will sweeten the dreariest hour of solitude in a prison, and greatly increase the pleasure of society under confinement.

It was once the de

claration of a poor convict, who was long immured in a dungeon, that he was

engaging his thoughts by watching the movements of a spider, the only tenant of his cell. We now find the females in every well-conducted lunatic asylum, working, knitting, mending, getting up the linen, and reading suitable books; while the men are also engaged with similar books, garden work, tennis ball, pumping water, battledoor and shuttlecock, or other healthful and harmless occupations. It is hardly necessary, in such a publication as yours, to supply a caution against the use of dice, cards, or similar games of moral evil or mental excitement. The bodily exercise, so necessary to the health, is thus provided for, by promoting proper circulation, and assisting due secretion; while the mind is no longer suffered to prey upon itself, for want of some external object. In this way, both present comfort and future cure are found to be eminently, and often speedily, promoted.

As to the 3rd head-many will no doubt exclaim at once, What, teach religion to madmen! Why religion was always supposed to make people mad! Softly, gentlemen objectors; the experience of all the asylums which have tried it is, that, under the exercise of a wise discretion in the selection of cases, and of proper caution in their management, religion and morals are actual auxiliaries in the cure of insanity, as well as no small alleviations where a cure may never be effected. This is not an experiment of yesterday, for the judicious religious instruction of the convalescent has been in use for a great number of years at Bethlem Hospital, under two successive chaplains; nor did that Hospital adopt the plan till such accumulated evidence poured in from all England and Scotland, as could not be resisted. The last weekly return at Bethlem gave a proportion of 181 under religious instruction, out of 388 patients then in the Hospital. The same system is pursued at Hanwell; and indeed spectators have often observed, that the deportment of the insane, during public worship, is such as need not fear a comparison with that of the most sane congregation wherever assembled. The writer of these remarks has known cases in which the highest possible comfort has been administered by the chaplain, both in health and sickness, to the poor patient, whose gratitude has been expressed down to the latest opportunity; and indeed, when we consider how frequently it happens that much aberration will sometimes appear on any given subject, while on all others the mind preserves its tone, it would be no more philosophical than Christian to withhold a remedy of God's own providing in those cases where no particular reason for doing so is indicated.

If space would allow, it could be easily shewn that (so far from the common notion being true) the want of religion is more frequently the source of derangement. Whatever constantly excites the passions strongly, is not only injurious to the exercise of reason, but often suspends its operation for a season, and assists in its final overthrow. All the stronger passions of our fallen nature peculiarly call for the controul of religion, as their only sufficient corrective. The indulgence of bodily appetite has the same tendency. Many persons under the influence of inebriating liquor are in a state of temporary madness; nor can any fact be stronger than that the friends of many (perhaps a majority) of those who are brought to our public Hospitals invariably assign the drinking of spirits as the only known cause of the malady. And nothing is more common than for patients, who, while in the Hospitals, have no means of indulging their unhappy propensities, to be again and again discharged, cured, and as repeatedly brought back, in consequence of their again yielding to the temptation of liquor.

In conclusion-for I suppose my discourse should have an application