5. It has ruined the piety of many professors, by making them familiar with evil. It can hardly be a matter of surprise, that even some godly people have been corrupted, and have departed from the simplicity of the faith," when we recollect the means that have been adopted to accomplish this. To look at one of these means; namely, the gratuitous circulation of a paper, whose only recommendation is to be found in the infamous slanders which it regularly serves up for its readers. A more malicious and wicked production does not issue from the press; and if a large reward were to be offered for a single copy of this paper, since August, 1849, which should be found free from slanders, he who offered the reward would never be required to pay it, simply because the condition is impossible. Week after week there appear calumnies of the most atrocious character respecting men in every part of the kingdom, and filling every station in the Connexion. And yet this paper is circulated, industriously circulated, among Methodist families. Who can wonder that some minds should get warped and unhinged by pondering over its unwholesome details? If persons will study evil, they will soon learn to love it; on the same principle that, if they persist in listening to slanders, they soon learn to believe and repeat them. Here, then, is another dreadful evil which is chargeable upon the agitation. It has created and fostered in many professing Christians an appetite for slander, which has robbed them of all their charity, and ruined their piety.

6. It has brought discord into Christian families, and separated chief friends. Many who formerly "took sweet counsel together,” and strove with each other for the faith and "hope of the Gospel," are now taking different courses, and have become opponents. Whole families have been disturbed. Parents have risen against their children, and children against their parents; brethren against brethren ; and husbands against wives. And if it were expedient in this paper, we could point out cases, in which some members of a family have used threats and violent means for the purpose of preventing other members, who differed in judgment and feeling, from doing what they believed to be the will of God. In some of these instances, Christian people have preferred, and have publicly avowed their resolution, to sacrifice friendship rather than fail in their duty to God. But in others, the threats have been successful. One of our Ministers called, at the request of her Leader, to see a member who had been absent from her class many weeks. She told him, with tears in her eyes, that she wished to continue in Society, but that her husband, who was a Reformer, said she should go to class no more unless she went to a Reform class, and she feared the consequences of disobeying him. Nor is this a solitary case. The advocates of liberty, tired of the tyranny of the Conference, seem to judge that a little exercise of it by themselves would be both pleasant and salutary; and so, laying hold of all they can reach, they compel them to do just as they please, however offensive or repugnant it may be to the party so compelled.

Here, then, are some fruits of the agitation. It has brought great strife into the church; it has made the world despise religion; it has prevented the salvation of many souls; it has driven hundreds of our members out of the church altogether; it has undermined the piety of others; and it has occasioned discord and separation in many Christian families. Now let any one judge, whether, so far from such results being desirable, they are not greatly to be lamented; and whether the objects proposed to be accomplished by the agitation are not exceedingly dear at such a dreadful price. Was it not wicked, then, in men to originate such a disturbance? And is it not equally wicked to promote it? And ignorance of the probable results cannot be pleaded, since most of the chief agitators were aware of what took place in the scandalous movement begun by Dr. Warren; and they could not but expect that what occurred at that time would occur again,—only, perhaps, on a larger scale.

But lest it should be imagined that we are not doing the agitation all the justice it deserves, and that some advantages have been connected with it which have not been noticed, we further observe, that,

7. It has given the Methodists a good opportunity of discerning their friends. Churches are called to pass through trials, as well as individual members of the church; and such seasons are generally times of great sifting. Ecclesiastical history is full of such records. St. John refers to one of these trials in his first Epistle: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (1 John ii. 19.) We may apply this language to many of the agitators, who, though Methodists in name, were not so in reality. Some of them were Independents in principle, some Associationists, and some were without any fixed principles of church government at all. Most of these, however, have now discovered themselves and gone off; and Methodism, instead of being weakened by their separation, is the stronger for it. Nevertheless, it is humiliating enough to find that such men ever were in our ranks. But it is more humiliating still, to find some Christian Ministers, connected with other branches of the church of Christ, who could not possibly have had any concern in the strife, coming forward to join the enemy that was within our borders. We especially refer to those Dissenting and Baptist Ministers, -not leading men, for these have, with one or two exceptions, honourably kept aloof; but some others,—who, to their great disgrace be it spoken, when they heard of the attack, regardless alike of their union prayer-meetings, and of the justice or decency of their conduct, joined in the assault.

Lastly. The agitation has given notoriety to some obscure and unworthy men, whose names, but for it, would never have been heard of. And the desire of this notoriety has, perhaps, had more to do in promoting the agitation in Methodism than all other things put

together. It is indeed almost incredible what some, who are ambitious, and who pant for distinction, will do to obtain it. Plutarch tells us of a certain Ephesian, who burnt the celebrated temple of Diana, that his name might be handed down to posterity. And a very considerable amount of the wickedness which is perpetrated in the present day, has its origin in this anxiety for fame. Had things gone on quietly with us, the Methodist world would probably never have heard of the members of the Exeter-Hall Committee and its batch of Secretaries, nor of the deliberative assembly of Delegates. Nor would it have been conceived possible, that the very writers, who could so utterly falsify the laws and regulations of 1797 and 1835, were the most suitable persons to revise all the laws of Methodism. But the agitation has shown that this is possible. And it has, moreover, afforded an opportunity to some men, neither authorised nor qualified, to act as Local Preachers and Leaders, to usurp the office of Pastors, to hold lovefeasts and watch-nights, to administer sacraments and covenant-services, to meet classes for tickets, and call DistrictMeetings, &c.; none of which duties would they ever have been deemed competent to discharge by any but themselves. But selfelection in such cases gives no right.

Such are some of the things that the agitation has done.

DESPOTISM OF THE DELEGATES.

1. ASSUREDLY the relationship subsisting between the Wesleyan Conference, and the private members of the Society, involves the essence of a compact. On the one hand, the Conference engages to furnish a regular supply, and change, of properly-qualified Ministers, and to keep them under its own vigilant inspection; and, on the other, the people engage to provide, according to their ability, the means of maintaining these Ministers and their families. Delegates, however, must have the power to set aside this compact, without at all consulting the other party to it; for that they have actually done. In merely mercantile matters, a party sustaining loss, by the non-fulfilment of a covenant, can, by a legal process, recover damages; but, as this is simply an affair of religion and honour, the Conference is left without the means of redress.

2. Delegates have power to do all this, now, after Methodism has entered upon the second century of its career. Allured onward, by what the Conference supposed were honest professions of adherence, and promises of continued support, it has increased its liabilities to a fearful extent, by calling to the work of the ministry many hundreds of men, employing them, in various places, at home and abroad, and thus becoming morally responsible for the maintenance of them and their families. Delegates now show they have power, suddenly, to turn round upon this confiding Conference, and say, "Unless you

instantly agree to some new terms, which we have to propose, we shall stop the supplies,' and thus throw all these families upon your hands, to be provided for as best you can."

3. All this the Delegates have actually done without the formality of a trial. Conference, although amenable to the law of the land, has neither been legally convicted or condemned, nor even subjected to the "question on penalty," but, without either verdict or interrogatory, plunged, as far as the purposes of the revolutionary party are concerned, into irretrievable pecuniary embarrassment and dishonour.

4. Delegates boast of having the power to do all this with perfect impunity to themselves. "Preachers," they say, "may struggle with their own difficulties; but not an hair of our heads can they touch." One of them writes, in a letter to his Superintendent,—“ I put forth no hand to recover that ticket, because its value is gone: its purchase cannot bless; its refusal cannot curse. In this respect there is no divination or enchantment against me. The moral and religious status which I held you cannot touch; in civil society no door will be closed against me because your passport is withheld; and should I wish to seek admission into any other church, I should want no other letter of introduction than my name, and the title of a Wesleyan Reformer." So that to say to the Wesleyan Ministers, "Your slain can be numbered by the thousand, and your wounded by tens of thousands," is for Delegates to set a scribe to write what themselves do not believe.

5. Delegates wish to monopolise the power they employ. They "stop the supplies" of money, but complain vehemently when Preachers "stop the supplies" of tickets. Division of power they find very inconvenient.

6. Moreover, Delegates have a great objection to special DistrictMeetings. These are never employed, except where the exercise of discipline has been obstructed, as when a Leaders'-Meeting finds a verdict in flat opposition to the notorious facts of the case submitted to them. In all such instances the Delegates stand by the Leaders, and resist the Special District-Meeting. In other words, after their friends have said that black is white, they cannot allow Methodist Preachers practically to affirm the contrary.

7. While Delegates are very fond of preferring charges, or, as they call it, "detecting abuses," they are utterly opposed to anything like defensive replies. This clearly appears in the direction now given to the series of attacks upon the Mission-House. Much has been heard about "discounts," "waste paper," and other things. But as the answers furnished by Messrs. Scott and Hoole have been found inconvenient and damaging, an onset is now made upon the dead, the assailants knowing that a man who has been some years in his grave, is not likely to defend himself. This has compelled a bereaved widow to dry her tears, gird on her armour, and try to shield the character of her deceased husband. Her crushing reply has fully disclosed the reason why the accusers had no wish to hear directly from this insulted Missionary.

Every man who exercises such a power in such a way, may call himself a slave; but his chains are all forged by the "despotism" of which his heart is indubitably full.

NOTICE OF PUBLICATIONS.

Report on the Laws and Constitution of Wesleyan Methodism; by the Committee of Privileges, appointed for that purpose, at a Meeting of Wesleyan Delegates, held in London, in March, 1850.—We have accidentally fallen in with the Report of the pretended Committee of Privileges, which has been put forth by the individuals appointed at the Meeting of professed Delegates, in March last, to revise the Laws and Constitution of Wesleyan Methodism ; and we are too much amused with it not to give it a passing notice, though to do so may peril the respectability of a page or two of our periodical, and place them with the five or six tons of waste paper of which we have lately heard so much. We were not aware, until it was put into our hands the other day, that this precious document, dignified by the title of a “ Report on the Laws and Constitution of Wesleyan Methodism, by the Committee of Privileges,” was in existence; for it is now some time since we felt ourselves called upon to watch the revolutionary publications issued from the press of Messrs. Kaye and Co. We looked at some of them for a time; but they were so devoid of interest, both in their worn and tarnished subjects, and in their sickly consumptive style, that we were ready to fall asleep over them; and, for some months past, we have let them pass without notice. We confess that we were influenced, also, by religious and prudential motives, such as we think it is time for some of our friends to consider; and especially, by the Christian duty of abstaining from giving any support to that which we believe immoral and sinful. We have reason for saying that it is questionable, whether the publication of some of the anti-Wesleyan newspapers and pamphlets, of late so injurious, has not been mainly supported and encouraged by an unjustifiable indulgence of curiosity on the part of the true and earnest friends of Methodism. In this respect, as in others, there should be no fellowship with the works of darkness, but an obedient remembrance of the apostolic injunction, "Neither be partaker of other men's sins."

We are told in the introduction of this wonderful document, that a Committee of laymen was appointed to "revise the whole of the Methodistic laws;" and that, in accordance with their instructions, they "have revised the whole of the laws relating to the Circuits and Societies."

Doubtless, when these gentlemen came to look at the work they had undertaken, they found rather more upon their hands than they expected. But, unwilling to separate without doing something, they send forth a small pamphlet of twenty pages, the first page of which is taken up with the title, the second with nothing, the third with an advertisement of five lines, the fourth with a short table of contents, part of the fifth, the sixth, and half of the seventh with an introduction, and twelve more pages with the "revision." So that "the whole of the Methodistic laws” -the laws of a great body which has existed upwards of a century, and which is computed to number in members and hearers about two millions of people-are revised by this "Committee of laymen" in twelve octavo loosely-printed pages; not even the amount of space which a small benefit or burial club requires for its rules and regulations! We expected, when we first saw the pamphlet, that it was little better than a hoax; and, having read it, are now persuaded that most people who see it will come to the same conclusion. A more juvenile or ridiculous parade of "revision," perhaps, was never met with before, and probably will never be met with again. We should be sorry to waste the time and labour of our readers by analysing it; but will give three or four specimens of the great ability with which