I HAIL that fair Beacon-that Westerly star,*
As its light o'er the ocean it throws,

To guide the dear mariner home from afar,
From the toils of the deep, or the terrors of war,
To this haven of safest repose.

How refreshing its beams to the tempest-toss'd band!
What a glow to their feelings is given:

As it speaks to their hearts of those pleasures at hand,
And the halcyon joys in this happiest land

Of Britain-the favor'd of heaven.

*A Light-house on St. Anthony's Point, at the entrance of Falmouth Harbour, which was first lighted the 21st April, 1835.

Yet I hail with more fervour this Light that would move
And invite to a happier rest;

To that heaven of blessedness, promis'd above,
-The purchase and gift of omnipotent love:

I would hail thee sweet 'Light from the West.'
And to souls yet unborn may thy visits be crown'd
By the power of invincible grace;

Like the dove with the olive of mercy be found,
Still bearing to sinners the rich Gospel-sound
Of joy, and salvation, and peace.

Oh! bless'd are the pages, most precious, most sweet,
Where the truth in its brightness has shone:
Where the sinner is brought to the dust of His feet,
In whom the full glories of Deity meet,

And where Christ is exalted alone.

Where the blood of atonement, that peace-speaking blood, Describ'd as reveal'd from above;

And its life-giving, soul-cleansing, pow'r understood,
As the way of a sinner's acceptance with God;
-Appointed by infinite love.

This blood, which gives hatred to self and to sin,
Jehovah the Spirit applies

To the chosen in Christ, in his righteousness seen,
All bright in his brightness, "all glorious within :"
All light in the light He supplies.

Yes, bless'd are the pages where Christ is the whole,
The talents devoted to him:

His name shall extend from the pole to the pole:
His name is the life and the light of my soul,

A light that can never be dim.

In him all the truths of the Gospel are known,
In him all their fulness we trace,

But his love above all has transcendently shone,
Like the emerald rainbow that circles the throne,
Bright halo of covenant grace.

Adored Immanuel! Lord of all might!

Blessed guide o'er life's ocean of cares,

Thou conductest thy people to regions of light,

Where their heaven of heaven is found in thy sight;
And where glory eternal is theirs.

M. F.

LET us be careful then to bear in mind the marks of a true Church, and regard them as the standard to which the Almighty has directed our appeal. For there is no object which Satan more steadily pursues than that of either confounding (by the obliteration of these characters of the true Church) all distinction between a true and a false Church, or else of inspiring a contempt for them, and so leading us into open defection from the Church of God. It has been by his contrivance that the pure preaching of the Gospel has now for some eenturies been unknown, and he is now endeavouring with the same wicked ingenuity to overthrow those ordinances which Christ has made so fundamental in his Church, that take them away, and the means of its edification are quite lost. How hazardous then-how deadly the temptation-when we incline to encourage separation from a congregation exhibiting the marks and evidences which the Lord has judged sufficiently descriptive of his Church. And hence we see the caution which is requisite on

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either side. In order that nothing may be imposed upon us as a Church which has no title to that character every congregation making pretensions to it ought to be submitted to this as the test by which its pretensions are to be tried-Has it that order of the word and Sacraments which the Lord approves? in this case there is no deception, and we may safely allow its title to the distinction of a Church. On the other hand, if it puts itself forth as a Church while it wants the word and Sacraments, its pretensions are an imposture, which we are no less imperatively required to discountenance than we are to flee the temerity and pride exhibited in renouncing a true Church. And the sentiment, that a pure ministration of the word, and a pure administration of the Sacraments is pledge and security sufficient for our embracing as a Church a communion in which both these characteristics are exhibited, goes to this extent, that we are never to reject it so long as it retains these characteristics, though in other respects it should be even full of faults. Nay, some corruption may even introduce itself into the administration of the word and Sacraments which ought not to withdraw us from communion with it; for all the heads of true doctrine are not of the same rank of importance. There are some so necessary that they must be held as fixed and unquestionable verities by all. Such are these,-that there is one God-that Christ is God, and the Son of God -that our Salvation results out of God's mercy, and such like. There are others, which, though controverted in the Church, do not interrupt the unity of the faith. What Churches, for instance, are at variance, because one, without contentiousness or dogmatism,

holds that the soul, on its separation from the body, goes immediately to heaven; another, on the contrary, does not venture to define its place of residence, but contents itself with maintaining that it lives with the Lord. The Apostle's words are, "As many as are perfect, let us mind the same thing; and if we are in any thing otherwise minded God will shew this also to us." Does not he here intimate that differences on unessential points ought not to be made an occasion of disunion among Christians? The highest grade of attainment is undoubtedly arrived at when we are agreed on every point of doctrine. But finding as we do that there are none entirely free from the mists of ignorance and error, we must either have no Church at all, or overlook a want of clearness on points on which men may be in error consistently with an adherence to the fundamentals of religion, and without a compromise of saving truth. Not that I would give encouragement even to the most inconsiderable errors, or go to foster them by either giving them mild names, or passing them altogether without notice. What I mean is, that we are not hastily to leave a Church, on account of minor causes of dissatisfaction, which maintains inviolate all that truth which is unto Salvation, and which keeps the Sacraments to the use intended by our Lord in instituting them. In the mean while our duty is to attempt the redress of what appears to us to be erroneous, as St. Paul says, "If any thing better be revealed to one sitting by, let the former hold his peace." Whence it is apparent that individual members of the Church have committed to them the duty of public improvement, according to their measure of grace, so long as this is