given out by Mr. Keene, deacon of the Baptist Church in Keppell Street; Mr. Barnard prayed and read the Scriptures; and Mr. Chinn, of Walworth, delivered a discourse from Ps. Ixxii. 17. "His name shall endure for ever.' In the afternoon Mr. Ivimey, of Eagle Street, prayed and read the Scriptures, and Mr. Freer, of Cumberland Street, preached from Isa. Ix. 1. "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. In the evening Mr. Shenstone, of Ayliffe Street, preached. All the services were well attended.

ON THE PROSPECT OF THE RENEWAL OF WAR.

ALTHOUGH it be far from our wishes or intentions to occupy the pages of this Magazine with political disquisions, yet we cannot but think the present very critical and alarming posture of public affairs, when "Peace seems to sit like down upon the thistle's top"-may serve as an apology for introducing a few words upon a subject in which the vital interests of our beloved country, and probably the fate of millions of our fellow creatures are deeply at stake. "My bowels, my bowels: I am pained at my very heart-I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, Jer. iv. 19. Surely at such a moment, if ever, patriotism be comes a virtue; and to enlighten the public mind by a fair statement of facts; to excite our fellow subjects to the exercise of calm deliberation on so momentous a topic; and, above all, to rouse our fellow Christians to the duty of fervent prayer to that sublime Being who holds the destinies of nations in his hand, that he would, if consistent with his holy purposes, hush the angry nations into peace, and avert the calamities of war-must be an exercise of benevolence. With this view, we lay before our readers, an extract of a letter from an English gentleman at Paris to a friend in this country.

Paris, March 29, 1815. "My dear Friend-By your letter of the 23d, I see you were alarmed for me. Never was there less reason. This revolution has taken place with as much quiet as an ordinary demise of the crown. The cause of the Bourbons has expired without a struggle.

"You say you are all astonishment at this extraordinary event, which appears to you inexplicable; and to give you a solution, if I can, I do assure you, that having been an eye-witness of all that has passed here since the arrival of the Bourbons to the day of their departure, nothing could appear to me more na

tural than what has happened; so much so, that I have never conversed with a single well-informed Frenchman, who from the first day did not say that the Bourbons were incapable of governing France. To present to you all the acts by which the late Government has rendered the Bourbons and the emigrees odious to the nation, and exasperated the army, I should recapitulate their acts, from the day they entered France to the day they left it. It is a fact, that the return of the Bourbons was far from being agreeable to the French nation. The way they came in, and the company they came with, wounded the pride of fices of all the conquests on this side of the nation most deeply; and the sacrithe Rhine, the price of so much blood, and the fruit of so many victories, occasioned a general gloom. Besides, the restoration of the proscribed families produced considerable apprehension and distrust. Under such unfavourable circumstances, the first impressions arising from the acts of the King were of the greatest importance, and unfortunately these were of a nature to cause universal mistrust. The Emperor of Russia had published a declaration on the 1st of April, 1814, which ends with the following paragraph: They (the Allies) acknowledge and guarantee the constitu tion which the French nation shall give itself. They invite, in consequence, the Senate to appoint a Provisional Government, which may provide for the wants of the Administration, and prepare a Constitution which shall suit the French people. The intentions which I have expressed are in common with all the Allied Powers-ALEXANDER.

"It was on the faith of this declaration that all the French armies ceased hostilities, and that the nation acquiesced. Yet from the first moment the Bourbons manifested their disposition to govern as despotically as they could; the King began with denying the right of the nation to have any part in the framing or accepting the Constitution; he offered to the age an ordinance of reformation, and from the moment he granted it, his Ministers set up Journals and Papers of every sort to destroy it, and to preach up the blessings of arbitrary monareby. Addresses poured in in favour of the same principle, and to which it was remarked his Majesty gave most gracious answers; while the unlimited zeal with which the clergy began their public processions, and all their innovations, convinced the French people that the re-action of the Emigre and the Clergy was begun, and that as soon as they found themselves strong enough, they would attack, one by one, every thing the nation had gained by the Revolus tion."

It is with concern I perceive that my friendly remarks on your assumption of the clerical gown have excited your displeasure: I flatter myself, however, that what may be adduced in justification of these remarks, and in answer to your reply, will have some ten dency to lessen, if not wholly to remove it.

You say, "That the wearing a gown is an affair of no importance; that it is far from being a general practice among Dissenters; and that, as those individuals by whom it is worn are not influenced by improper motives, they ought to be exempt from censure."

That in one view the gown is of no importance will be readily allowed. But that the unimportance of a practice should be urged as a reason either for its adoption or continuance, is a species of argument the force of which I am unable to discover. To you, indeed, it may appear perfectly con

VOL. I.

whether it will be viewed in the same light by adepts in logical precision. The only object of titles or of peculiarity of habits, says the learned Dr. Campbell, must be to procure respect for ministers, by working on the prejudices and weaknesses of mankind. But neither Jesus nor his apostles ever sought honour by such means. They are human inventions, very necessary, it may be, in the kingdoms of this world, but can never prove of real benefit to religion. Let ministers of the gospel, by all means, avoid contempt; let them study to maintain the greatest respectability. The word of God shews them an excellent way to obtain it: 'Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity'.”

Whether dissenting ministers have a right to appear in some habit that shall indicate their calling, is not the subject of inquiry, but that they have no right to appropriate for this purpose gowns similar to those that are worn by ministers of the national establishment, appears to me indisputable. Such a practice is, to say the least, highly inconsistent, if not arrogant. For, as the venerable Job Orton remarks, "It seems ridiculous in

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