dependent speech and action. They complain that a London committee, with Dr Jabez Bunting at their head, has monopolised all the honours, and all the power, of the church; that the centralising spirit, which is one of the leading features of Wesleyan Methodism, has been so much abused, in the person of this reverend Doctor, that no one can "move the wing, or open the mouth, or peep," without his permission; and that by means of his subtile diplomacy, he has gathered around him an amount of influence and authority, with which no man can be entrusted, without placing in imminent peril the liberties of the connection. It would almost appear from the representations given of the marvellous power of Dr Bunting, that his will is the law in Methodist committees and conferences. Like Louis XIV., who said, “I am the state:" Dr Jabez Bunting can say, "I am Methodism." To us cold unyielding Scotchmen, contemplating all things from our presbyterial platform of equality, and perhaps disposed to exercise a little undue jealousy towards the claims of superior talent, it is a mystery how any man should have climbed to such a pinnacle of authority. Is Dr Bunting, after all, a man of such towering intellect, that were he connected with any other denomination, he would have occupied the same post of eminence, and have controlled as many minds? Or are the Wesleyans the only sect in protestant Christendom, whose system of church-government, and whose habits of discipline, facilitate and sanction this revived authority of the old Roman dictator? We strongly suspect the latter, though it would be worse than ridiculous to deny his consummate tact and ability. Certain it is, that there is no man in the British empire has anything approaching to the influence which, for many years, has been exercised by Dr Jabez Bunting. The

Archbishop of Canterbury, with all his wealth and benefices, has not a tithe of the power of this poor successor of John Wesley.

It being found impossible to overturn this huge colossus, and the system of which he is the symbol, in open conflict, another species of warfare has been adopted by some parties who were desirous of seeing a change in the operations of their body. A series of pamphlets, called "Fly-sheets," was extensively circulated among the ministers of the connection. They were sent through the post-office, and, in order to prevent any suspicion of the quarter whence they originated, they were posted in several of the large cities and towns. They were anonymous, and did not even bear the name of a printer or publisher. They were evidently written by persons thoroughly conversant with the administrative proceedings of the Wesleyan Church, who had a large store of the floating gossip about the chiefs of the denomination and their friends, and who possessed a ready and stinging pen to give point and publicity to all their representations. These "Fly-sheets" were four in number, and appeared at regular intervals of two or three months, and as they were brimful of alleged facts, and unprecedented in their boldness, they occasioned an immense excitement and agitation in the Wesleyan world.

There is a good deal in these Flysheets which all impartial judges will unhesitatingly condemn. There is by far too much of personality; and, in two or three cases, the appearance of the outer man has not escaped the lash of the writers, so that we are introduced to a few stories, which one could take a hearty laugh at, if told at the fireside upon a winter night, but which, coming before us through the printing-press, awaken feelings of an opposite description. There seem at times, a freedom or recklessness in the imputation of motives, and a dispo

sition to view all things through an exaggerated medium, for which a proper discount will be made by those who are in the habit of examining evidence. The authors are, no doubt, smarting under a sense of personal wrong, and every one is aware how much an individual grievance sharpens the edge of patriotism. But it does not follow, because a man thinks himself ill-used by a government, that his charges against it have no solid foundation; and it would be no proof of wisdom were we to suppose that, because a story is told with some irritability of temper, the storyteller deserves to be treated as a liar.

Much has been said about the anonymous character of these "Flysheets." We have no partiality for anonymous attacks, and all the less, when the writer is an accuser of those who belong to his own denomination. But it does appear to us, that, if there be anything like an apology for making use of this weapon, it is found in the present instance. It is alleged that there is a system in operation before which no man of independent action can stand up, and that, if he display any liberal tendencies, or refuse to look at all things through the glasses of an ecclesiastical oligarchy, he is straight way put into the black book. He is a marked man; there is hay upon his horns, and he is made to feel that he is one of the pariahs of Wesleyan Methodism. Let his talents, his piety, his attainments, be of the highest order; there are no more good appointments for him. It is his no longer to "eat of the fat and drink of the sweet" of Methodism. All the appointments of the ministers in the church are at the disposal of this London clique, for our readers will remember that Wesleyan congregations do not choose their own pastors, and that, as a general rule, they are shifted once a year, and hence the facility with which a troublesome minister of the body can be got

rid of. The Athenian law of ostracism is brought into operation. Wesleyanism has its penal colonies, as well as Great Britain; and the "unsafe men" are sent to the Welsh mountains and the Shetland Isles, where, in poverty and fatigue, amidst the rushing winds or roaring of the vexed sea, they can appreciate the comforts of a wealthy circuit, and muse upon the evil they have done, in not yielding implicit obedience to the metropolitan chiefs. If these allegations are correct, if freedom of speech be destroyed in the Wesleyan body, as it apparently is, it becomes a grave question-What course of procedure should be adopted by those who, loving their church, are desirous of setting her free from the yoke of bondage? And the peculiar circumstances of the case must be considered, before we are entitled to pronounce an indiscriminate censure of the "Fly-sheets," upon the ground of no author's name being appended. Facts are better understood than principles, and probably it may cool the ire, or at least restrain the tongue, of some, when they are informed that the celebrated "Provincial Letters" of Pascal against the papal Jesuits were published anonymously. Pascal may have supposed the experiment too dangerous of declaring himself the author of those winged and fiery shafts. And unquestionably, of all religious bodies in Christendom, the Jesuits and the Methodists, with their mysterious and irresponsible power, should be the last to complain of this species of warfare. Persons who stand behind a curtain, and pull the strings in secret, should not cry out too loudly, whatever they may feel, when their accusers cast a veil over their faces also. Simple minded people will ask, Who began it?

We must reserve other remarks on this important crisis in Methodism, till our next number.

THE Sabbath has, especially of late years, been so extensively and variously discussed by men of all parties, ranks, and professions, that were it not for the vast importance of the subject, we should long ago have been thoroughly tired of it. That it can bear such an amount of discussion without weariness, is, in our judgment, no slight evidence of its divine vitality. A merely human construction would long since have perished under such tossings. But to sensible speeches and papers on the Sabbath, notwithstanding their frequency, one returns with almost as much relish as if they were things but of yesterday. Nor does there appear to be the slightest approach to a termination of this daily theme. The combatants seem as fresh and vigorous as if hitherto they had been only bracing themselves for action. Of this we had, in October last, unmistakeable evidence. The Government had but to intimate their intention to do something affecting the Sabbath, in connection with the postal department, and, all at once, London-not to speak of the provinces-heaves with excitement and agitation; from the highest civic and the highest ecclesiastic, the Lord Mayor and the Lord Bishop, down to the humblest clerk and the poorest curate. All ranks and degrees of men-the votary of pleasure, who fears that his frivolities may be circumscribed, and the Christian, to whom the Sabbath is a delight, a high, intellectual, moral, and spiritual holiday-all have been in excitement and action, as if some foreign foe had landed on our shores, or some deadly danger threatened. Such exhibitions endear us the more to our native land. No other country in Europe could have been moved by Whatever some may have thought to the contrary, this

such a cause.

unlooked for agitation, shows that the moral pulse of Britain is still healthy, and augurs well for her continued greatness, glory, and freedom. "England, with all thy faults, I love thee still."

It is curious to watch the various feelings evolved, and the different weapons employed, in these Sabbath discussions. Not a few seem to struggle as if fortune, life, body and soul, were all at stake. Some appear as if personally quite disinterested.

Among this personally disinterested class we have, first and foremost, the railway companies. The shareholders have no regard whatever to their pecuniary interests! They never think of the dividends! Their anxiety to open, and keep open, their lines on the Lord's-day, arises only from their generous concern to provide for cases of necessity and mercy! Their tender hearts bleed at the very idea of an affectionate daughter being prevented from attending the deathbed of a beloved parent, or of a patient being deprived of the visit of an eminent physician from some neighbouring city. The milk of human kindness flows copiously and freely in their breasts. They are the most melting, generous, and tender-hearted of human beings!

Besides their anxiety to gratify thefiner and tenderer sympathies of our nature, they feel deeply concerned for the moral, intellectual, and physical elevation of the community; especially of the poorer classes of our large towns and crowded cities. They are incited, by motives of pure benevolence, to have the sons and daughters of toil-the inmates of our large factories and unwholesome workshops-removed at least one day in the seven from the haunts of vice, and the deteriorating influence of an impure atmosphere, to the pure airand the healthful scenes of the coun

try, that thus their physical energies may be invigorated, their intellects expanded, their tastes refined, and their hearts softened, by the sight of the grand, the delicate, and the beautiful, in nature. They are, in fact, so deeply concerned for the community, that they actually wish Parliament to compel trains to be run for their benefit!

The weapons used, as well as the motives indicated, in these sabbath discussions, are sometimes of a rather singular kind. It has been discovered that the Apostle Paul, Luther, and Calvin, are favourable to the running of railway trains on the Sabbath. And shareholders and their friends, well knowing that, whatever may be thought of Paul and Luther, Calvin's name is, at least in Scotland, a tower of strength, seem disposed to make it do service in their cause. Hence the old Calvinists are far outdone by a new class of that great man's admiring disciples, who are found occasionally exercising their metaphysical intellects, and theological gifts, in railway meetings and town-councils, and who seem so profoundly and extensively acquainted with the writings, and so deeply imbued with the spirit, of Calvin, that one would pose he was the idol of their worship. Yet we scarcely think they have fully appreciated Calvin on this subject. He thinks (Institutes, b. 2, c. 8),

sup

that the ancient Jewish Sabbath was (1) a type of spiritual rest; (2) a season for religious exercises; and (3), a time when "servants, and those who lived under the authority of others, should be indulged with a day of rest, and thus have some intermission from labour." The first of these has, he thinks, received its accomplishment; but he says

"The other two cases ought not to be classed with ancient shadows, but are adapted to every age. The Sabbath [in its typical aspect] being abrogated, there is still room among us, first, to assemble on stated days for the hearing of the Word,

the breaking of the mystical bread, and public prayer; and, secondly, to give our

servants and labourers relaxation from labour. It cannot be doubted that the Lord provided for both in the commandment of the Sabbath. The former is abundantly evinced by the mere practice of the Jews; the latter, Moses has expressed in Deut. v. 14. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou.' Likewise, in Ex. xxiii. 12-"That thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.' Who can deny that both are equally applicable to us as to the Jews?"

Thus wrote Calvin; but, whether from design or accident, these passages, so far as we know, are very seldom, if ever, brought forward and commented on, at their meetings, by the Calvinistic gentlemen to whom we have referred.

These gentlemen, as Calvin hints, have a sensitive fear of the Jewish Sabbath. "They complain," says he, "that christian people are trained in Judaism, because some observance While such of days is retained." fear of being subjected to the Jewish law on this point is manifested, it may be well for us to look into the subject, that we may see why it should be so much dreaded, and so vehemently denounced.

We have

sometimes thought the nature of the Jewish Sabbath is but very imperfectly understood by many of those who speak most against it.

The Jews professed to have great respect for the Sabbath; and were, at least in certain periods of their history, very strict in the external observance of it. Their law, as every one knows, pointedly forbids all laborious and servile work on that day. It was, in fact, a day for physical rest, and for mental and moral enjoyment.

As a religious day, it was, in opposition to the idolatry of the surrounding nations, a weekly profession of faith and reverence towards the great

Creator of all things; and, in this respect, it was a sign between God and his chosen people. Additional sacrifices were offered at the temple on that day-in the synagogues, prayers were wont to be made, the Scriptures were read and expounded. The people were called to reflect on the eternal God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth-the Proprietor and Governor of all things. The Sabbath was designed, not only to fix their minds on the living God, but also to keep alive in their hearts the grateful remembrance of the Divine favours their nation had received. It was, moreover, a type of blessings yet to be conferred on them-of that rest that remained for the people of God; and on it, pious parents were in the habit of instructing their children in the doctrines and duties of religion, by recounting the striking facts in their national history-the remarkable displays of judgment and mercy which God had made to their fathers. It was, moreover, a day specially designed for the cultivation and exercise of the social sympathies and benevolent affections. On this, the sabbath-law is most touchingly expressive: "On the seventh day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thine handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed;" "that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm; therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbathday." We should like to hear what there is in this that warrants a sneer. The very terms are full of pathos. The recollections, the objects, the associations, the tender tones of the expression, are all of such a character, as to excite and bring into action the finest and noblest feelings of human nature. Cold indeed must be

the heart of the man who can look on this scene who can listen to these words-without feeling that in this feature, at least, everything is attractive, nothing repulsive, in the Jewish Sabbath.

It is true, the law required absolute cessation from labour on the Sabbath, and sternly denounced the person who should violate the injunc tion; but in this the God of mercy was protecting the health, and making provision for the comfort, of his creatures; especially those of them whose dependent circumstances exposed them to the avarice and tyranny of their fellow-men. He knew what

was in man.

He knew that avarice

and tyranny are like the gravehaving no pity, no bowels of compassion, never satisfied-and from their merciless fangs the God of love would, at least occasionally, snatch the feeble and the needy; and therefore he, on the one hand, with all the sternness of infinite majesty, confronts the oppressor; and, on the other, with all the tenderness of the sovereign guardian and refuge of the weak and oppressed, he commands that, on every seventh day, they shall "loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke." "Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thine handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed." And is this the cruel austerity of the Jewish Sabbath? To brooding avarice, and unfeeling tyranny, it must indeed have been an austere and gloomy day-preventing a man from doing what he likes with his ownkeeping a man from belabouring his own slave! "That thine ox and thine ass, and the son of thine handmaid may rest." Let them rest in the grave when we are done with them! Oh, what a weariness is this gloomy tyrannical Jewish law! When shall we get quit of it, that, withou