"O no, not so much as you suppose; altogether it amounts to only a trifle." I could not but smile as my friend repeated these words; but after I left

in Jesus! Let us catch this spirit of prayer, and we shall not spend our breath in vain.

LOVE.

him, I fell to thinking how much PRAYER IS THE MEASURE OF good he is doing with "only a trifle." He supplies three or four families with the bread they eat from day to day; and though the actual cost for a year shows but a small sum, the benefit conferred is by no means a small one. A sixpence, to a man who has plenty to "eat and drink, and wherewithal to be clothed," is nothing, but it is something to one on the verge of starvation. And we know not how much good we are doing when we give "only a trifle" to a good object.

SPIRIT OF PRAYER.

IT is distressing to hear long, desultory, and cold prayers. They evince that the sacrifice is from a dead heart, and that the lips are not touched with a live coal from the altar of God. When prayers are short, specific and warm, we have evidence that God is among his people. Each worshipper comes to the meeting with an errand to the throne of grace; and he pleads it earnestly, being full of faith and the Holy Ghost If he prays aloud, he supplicates for the thing he came for, and he entreats for it with filial, fervent, and importunate desire, and then he stops. O Christian! do you feel for dying sinners? Do you feel for the cause of Christ? Then pray, wrestle in prayer; besiege the throne of grace; take no denial; say with Jacob, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." What an example we have in Moses, in Abraham, in Hannah, in Elijah, in all the Old Testament saints; and especially

Ir is a striking remark, ascribed to St. Augustine, that prayer is the measure of love. A remark which implies that those who love much, will pray much; and that those who pray much, will love much. This remark is not more scripturally than philosophically true. It is the nature of love to lead the person who exercises this passion, as it were, out of himself. His heart is continually attracted towards the beloved object. He naturally and necessarily exercises, in connection with the object of love, the communion of the affections. And this, it will be readily seen -viz, the communion of the affections -is the essential characteristic, and, perhaps it may be said, the essence and sum of prayer. In acceptable prayer, the soul goes forth to God in various acts of adoration, supplication, and thanksgiving; all of which imply feelings of trust and confidence, and particularly, love to Him who is the object of prayer. Accordingly, he who loves much, cannot help praying much. And on the other hand, when the streams

of holy communion with God fail in any considerable degrees, it is a sure sign that there is a shallowness and drought in the fountain of love from which they have their source.

DO WE KNOW HOW TO PRAY?

The late Dr. Hamilton, of Leeds, while solemnly enforcing on the church its duty in reference to the conversion of the world, asks the following signi ficant questions:-" And has not the

We have been favoured by the Rev. Dr. Brown, Minister of the Presbyterian Church, Aghadowey, with a copy of a Sermon, entitled, "The Reformation," already in the Fifth Edition, amounting in all to some 10,000 copies. We need not say how much we recommend the discourse to all the friends of true Protestantism; but our object at present is to extract, and give the benefit of our circulation to, a remarkable letter of one Mr. Brannigan, one of the most energetic and successful ministers of the Irish Presbyterian Church, according to the statement of Dr. Brown. The letter, which is graphic in a high degree, runs thus:

LETTER TO DR. BROWN, WITH HIS REMARKS. Ballyglen, 14th October, 1851. in defence of truth. I thus became a DEAR DOCTOR,-I am delighted be- Protestant in heart, though I had not yond expression at the thought of your courage to leave the Church of Rome republishing your invaluable Sermon until brought out of it in the following on the Reformation. When I first read marner:-After mass, the priest acyour Sermon, I confess it was my opi- cused, one day, an Irish Scripturenion that no such contradictions existed reader, called James Traynor, of having in the Apocrypha as were embodied in said at Stewartstown, "that the Priests your discourse. To test your honesty, of Rome could not forgive sin." This I took your Sermon in one hand and man was absent: the priest then called the Douay Bible in the other, and ex-again and again loudly for other Irish claimed, "To the law and the testi- readers, but they did not answer, as mony," &c. Well, I read your Sermon they did not wish to fall into the priest's and the references over and over again, hands. I then said, "I was there, and and afterwards was joined by another could prove on oath that no such words man in the examination; and, though were uttered by James Traynor." The reluctantly, we were both compelled to priest said, "I would not believe your conclude that the Apocryphal books oath." I turned to the people and are no part of the Word of God. In asked if they would believe my oath, a short time I committed to memory and they replied, "Yes," and "Even these contradictory passages, and so your word without an oath." prepared unconsciously to make a stand priest asked what version of the Scrip

The

rised version."

tures was read. I said, "The autho- Word of God. I have been a ProtestThe priest-"Why ant at heart during several months. Your mass I look on as an idol, and all your congregation as idolators. Farewell, your reverence! farewell, my old friends! you will never see me here again." Referring to the contradictions noticed in your sermon, I said, "Good people, werc Mr. M'Guickian dead, and were any person to write the history of that event, and to state that his reverence died of fever in Dungannon, and in another place that his horse ran off with him and broke his neck in Donaghmore, and in a third place that his bowels fell out in Aughnacloy, what would you think of the veracity of the historian ?" The people said, "We would not believe one word of it." "Well," I said, "I defy your priest to show that the Apocrypha does not contain as glaring contradictions as these." My dear Doctor, I have given you merely an outline of the dialogue between the priest of Donaghmore and myself, when I renounced the communion of Rome. Had not Mr. Allen given me your excellent discourse, I would not probably have been prepared to forsake that church so soon, or to defend the truth "once delivered to the saints." I am, my dear Doctor, yours faithfully,

don't you give the right name, Luther's
Bible, since Luther acknowledged that,
whilst making it, he ate seven bushels of
salt with the devil?" I then replied to
the people, that the Church of Rome
adheres to the Apocrypha, because it
seems to favour the doctrine of purga-
tory, which is the milch cow of the
priests, which never goes dry; but the
Apocrypha is full of contradictions.
The priest having denied this, I then
quoted the contradictions referred to
in your Sermon, and feeling mortified,
he flung at me, with all his might, the
mass-book. I staggered, but did not
fall. One of the people rose from his
knees, and handed the mass-book to
the priest.
The priest asked if the
Epistle of James was in Luther's Bible.
I said, "Yes;" and when he denied it,
I opened the book and showed it to the
people, and said, "You see this priest
has stated a glaring falsehood." Irri-
tated beyond measure, the priest threw
at me, a second time, with all his
might, the mass book, which I happily
evaded, and which was handed back by
the same person as before. A compa-
nion o. mine then stood behind me,
and cried out, "I and all my father's
family have read the Bible, and think

it the right and duty of all to read
God's Word." The priest having as-
certained the young man's name, said,
"Brannigan, I have no more to do with
you, as your townland has been at
tached by the bishop to another parish;
but, James, (the young man's name,)
I shall speak to you again." I said,
"Priest M'Guickian, this is no affair of
townlands or parishes. I stand hère
ready to prove, from the Douay Bible,
that all men have a right to read the

MICHAEL BRANNIGAN. Rev. Dr. John Brown, &c.

I have known some others whom this small sermon has aided to escape from Rome. When first published, it was commented on, and then trampled with contempt on three altars in this district, viz., Bovagh, Moneygrarann, and Rasharkin, and probably on many others. Notwithstanding, I continue to enjoy the respect and good-will of

many Roman Catholics, and I have no sympathy with those who, from political or other views, refuse to admit Roman Catholics to relations of friendship. In combating the man of sin, Protestants, in my opinion, err greatly who wield carnal weapons borrowed from the arsenal of Rome. On the other hand, while I know many converts from Rome, yet I am not aware that any minister in this country has gained converts who has not exposed with the utmost freedom the errors of Popery. When I first met Mr. Brannigan, he was an able and intrepid advocate of Popery, admitting no Protestant principle but the right of all to read the Word of God. I have heard him making a statement from my pulpit similar to what he has written, and I cannot describe my emotions of delight when, in company with him, I traversed the scene of his labours in Connaught, all conducted in a spirit of benevolence, and greatly blessed by

numerous conversions to the cause of Christ. I think I saw about 4,000 or 5,000 persons rescued by his exertions from the Church of Rome. My hope is, that this humble sermon may be yet blessed to lead inquirers to follow Mr. Brannigan's example. A large testimonial has been properly given to Dr. Edgar for his exertions in Connaught, but Mr. Brannigan, with declining health and a large family, has hitherto received little aid or sympathy. Shall it always be so? In Connaught I accompanied the Rev. Mr. Crotty, and heard him preaching with great power, and I spoke as well as I could to a willing people in Connemara. Mr. Crotty was not well-sustained by the Assembly, and the Established Church has reaped the profits of his labours. My belief is, that a great reformation is going forward in that region.

JOHN BROWN. Aghadowey, 7th November, 1851.

Biography.

ROBERT NEEDHAM, ESQ.*

FEW events have excited a deeper sensation throughout the ranks of Sunday-school Teachers in and around Manchester, than the recent decease of Mr. Needham. This excellent individual-previously a member of the church under the pastoral care of the Rev. A. E. Pearce, prior to his removal to that of Dr. Halley, on the ground of distance-took a deep interest in the recent sublime demonstration on the part of the Sunday-schools, on the occasion of the Queen's visit to Manchester. The services he then rendered were great and efficient. Seldom has Sunday-school labour attracted the notice of a more competent, serious, and high-principled teacher. For more than twelve years he went every Sunday morning a distance of nearly four miles to the scene of his toil, and never was heard to complain of weariness, or yield to discouragement. The

"The Glory of Young Men. A Sermon delivered in Pendleton Independent Chapel, on the Occasion of the Death of Robert Needham, Esq. By the Rev. A. E. PEARCE." Snow.

joy of the Lord was his strength, and he found unmixed delight in his endeavours to do good. For many years he sustained the honourable and responsible office of Secretary to the Manchester Sunday-school Union, and in that capacity so successfully did he commend himself to the judgments of the ministers of religion of all denominations, and the representatives of the Sunday-schools of Manchester and Salford, that he was called to act as Honorary Secretary to the Committee for managing the late glorious assemblage of Sunday-scholars in Peel Park, already referred to. Mr. Pearce speaks in the highest terms of his piety, and every quality, indeed, which rendered him an efficient labourer in the Gospel vineyard. We cannot withhold the following passage, which illustrates the means and the manner of his passing from darkness to light: