Notices of Books-Works of Dr. T. Goodwin. 'Let him that is athirst, come.' His promise is, He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' ORIGIN OF THE HABIT OF PREACHING WRITTEN SERMONS. COTTON MATHER says that John Warham was the first preacher that ever preached with notes in New England. And if this be so, it was the universal habit of the first preachers in New England for about twenty years to preach without notes. When he first went into the colony and introduced the practice there, he was at first blamed for it, and that by some judicious men. Yet it was said that when those who found fault with the practice came to hear him, they were forced to admire the notable energy of his ministry. Ile was a more vigorous preacher than most who made no use of notes. The origin of the custom in England, from whence Mr. Warham brought it, is dated by Mr. Mather about 1550, and is said to have originated in this way: Before the Reformation there was in the Church of England little preaching by learned and competent men,-and this state of things continued long after the yoke of the Papacy was thrown off; and to supply in a measure the need of substantial preaching, itinerants were sent about the country to preach to the people who had no competent ministry. These itinerants were prompted by their occasions to write and read their sermons; finding that as they went from place to place, they could by this means collect more force and substance 337 into the sermon which they had occasion often to repeat. And it was supposed that what was wanting in heat of delivery, was made up in the strength and solidity of the matter. From that time till the days of Baxter, the expediency of using written sermons occasioned much discussion. Baxter in meeting some existing prejudices made these remarks:-" It is not the want of abilities makes us use such notes; but it is a regard unto our work and the good of our hearers. I use notes as much as any man when I take pains; and as little as any man when I am lazy or busy, and have not time to prepare. It is easier to preach three sermons without notes than one with them. He is a simple preacher that is not able to preach a whole day without preparation, if his strength would serve." Though this subject has been discussed from that day to this, the wisdom of ages has justified these remarks of Baxter. The perfection of preaching doubtless lies in combining the advantages of the written and extempore forms. But the Church would in an age suffer an incredible loss as to intelligence and energy of character if the preaching from written sermons were wholly laid aside. But Cotton Mather's remarks on this subject are to the point. "I would have a distinction made between reading and using notes. It is a pity that a minister should so read his notes as to take away the vivacity and energy of his delivery. But if he use his notes as a lawyer uses his minutes, to carry a full quiver into the pulpit, from which after the lively shooting of one arrow he may fetch out the rest, it might be a thousand ways advantageous." Notices of Books. THE WORKS OF THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D., Sometime president of Magdalen College, Oxford. With a General Preface by Dr. Miller, Rector of St. Martin's, Birmingham. Vol. I., containing an exposition of the Epistle to the Ephesians. 8vo. cloth, pp. 564. Edinburgh: James Nichol. London: Nisbet and Co. 1861. This is the first volume of a series just started by Nichol, of Edinburgh. It is to comprise the works of many celebrated Puritan divines, long since out of print, and only to be picked up The exposition before us consists of thirty-six sermons on the first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians. It will be useless to attempt any analysis of the whole, and no correct idea of the value of the exposition can be gained from a bare outline of any one discourse. Goodwin's exposition is not dry and scholastic, but full of points and force. His style is simple and homely, with an occasional quaintness and humour. Take the following as an instance. It is in the twenty-ninth sermon, an exposition of the nineteeth and twentieth verses of the first chapter of Ephesians. He says there are two things to be spoken of: (1) the exceeding greatness of power shewn forth in Christ's resurrection and sitting at God's right hand; | and (2) that in a proportion, there is an exceeding greatness of power shewn to us, indeed when God bringeth us to believe. Under the second proposition, and as an illustration of the statement that 'a man in a state of nature is a dead man,' he quotes Paul's words 'I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died: and the command. ment, that was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.' now and then in cumbrous folios at every man having self-love in him, second hand book shops. Adams, self-flattery will never give up the ghost Sibbes, Brooks, Trapp, Swinnock,Gilpin, | of itself; all the reason a man hath will Bates, Burgess, and others - are fight for arguments to prove himself a some of the old worthies, who, if the living man. This same self-flattery, scheme should be favourably received, which you are all born with, will will be brought before modern readers. struggle for life; it must be killed, it The start is a good one, and a marvel will never yield itself; and to kill it is of cheapness. We shall rejoice to hear a mighty power. What, to kill the Benthat the publisher is sufficiently en-jamin of original sin; what is a man's couraged to complete the series. Benjamin? To think well of himself that he shall be happy. Now to make him think that the state he is in, is a state of damnation, if he go on in it, and to strike all self-Battery at the root, to lay the axe at the root of the tree and kill it; my brethren, what saith the soul? Nay then, saith he, if this Benjamin be once killed, I shall go with sorrow to my grave; I shall never recover that, I shall never have a good day more, if I entertain such a conceit, that I am in a state of death. To keep up this opinion in a man's heart that he is a living man, all in a man will fight for it. So that, first, to kill the man is a mighty work. And the truth is, my brethren, it is never thoroughly done till there cometh in a spiritual light created in a man's heart. For my part, I think that which strikes a man dead, and dead to purpose, and prepareth ultimately for grace, is a spiritual light, the same light wherewith I see Christ afterward. There is nothing else will kill a man. God indeed may come with terror upon a man's conscience, knock him into a swoon; but self-flattery will revive again when the terrors are off, and he will have a good opinion of himself again. But to kill a man wholly from ever rising again, that a man shall say as Paul, I am dead to the law for ever; I can never recover this wound; I can never have a good opinion of my former state. Move, or of myself move; nothing can do this but spiritual light ; the commandment must come; there must be spiritual light to discover a mau's sin and his state of death, or he will never die.... When a man is thus dead, thus killed, to work faith in his soul is a resurrection.' pp. 443, 444. VINDICATION OF THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE ATONEMENT. In Reply to the recently published work of the Rev. Dr. Candlish, of Edinburgh, entitled, I went upon a mistake, saith he; I thought I should have been saved by my works, by doing: Do this, and live. I was mistaken; I saw the law did nothing but condemu me, and that all my works were dead works. The commandment came, came in the spiritual knowledge of it; he saw the spiritual holiness the law required, when this commandment came into his heart, as you see the sun cometh and shineth into a house; then it struck him stark dead. Now, my brethren, to work this, to kill a man thus, that is alive through self-flattery, and to lay him for dead, it is a mighty work. Why? Because Notices of Books.-Morison's Reply to Candlish. 'The Atonement: its reality, completeness, and extent.' By James Morison, Minister of the Gospel, Glasgow. Glasgow: A. Wallace and Co. London: Ward and Co. Price One Shilling. Dr. Candlish in James Morison meets bis equal, in argument if not in style. Mr. Morison, in this masterly pamphlet, takes up various passages of Scripture, from which Dr. Candlish would deduce a meagre gospel, and shows them, on the principles laid down by the doctor himself, to be full of the savour of that truth which our own denomination most steadfastly believes that Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man! On one point, wherein some think Morison himself deficient, he gives this certain sound:'-'We agree with Dr. Candlish in holding that "to all for whom Christ died, the Holy Spirit in his saving power is given.' But then we also agree with Stephen in holding that even when the Holy Spirit comes in his saving power, men may "resist" him, and are in fact often successful in this resistance (Acts vii.15). We agree with Paul that it is possible not only to "grieve," but also to "quench" the Spirit. (Eph. iv. 30; 1 Thess. v. 19). For we suppose that his "saving power" is moral in its nature, and not at all to be confounded with his physical Omnipotence. It is a power over souls, and not over stocks, or stones, or stars. It is a power that acts by motives. It is a power that appeals to intelligence. It is a power that never forces free-will. It does not drag men's souls; it only draws them, and draws them with the cords of a man. It is indeed by the intermediacy of the Spirit's power that men are at once drawn by the Father and drawn by the Son. And the measure in which the power is inwardly experienced, will even be found to be proportional to the voluntary recipiency of the soul.' We shall refer again to this admirable' vindication.' THE BAPTISMAL RECONCILIATION. With Fraternal Remarks on Dr. Halley's Reply,' and the Appendix of Dr. Wardlow. By the Rev. Charles Stovel. Cheap Edition. London: Eliot Stock, 62, Paternoster-row. Mr. Stovel has been induced to republish his strictures on value of the appeals made to Scripture in the defence of infant baptism by Tractmen and two eminent ministers in the congregational body, (though one alas is now no more) by the fact, that Dr. Jowett, in the far-famed Essays and Reviews,' has declared, that infant baptism has sufficient grounds; the weakness is, the attempt to derive them from Scripture.' The author's name and reputation will ensure for it many readers. THE PLEADING SAVIOUR. By Rev. James Smith. London: T. Nelson and Sons.-Condensed sermons on the intercessory prayer,' marked by the writer's well-known leanings to Calvinism. His interpretation of the words I pray not for them' is onesided and unfair.-ELEMENTS OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By J. C. Curtis, B.A. Religious Tract Society. A useful book, well-executed.-GLEANINGS FROM THE POETS FOR COTTAGE HOMES. Religious Tract Society. As pleasant a handful of golden ears as one would wish to be in the hands of every peasant_in_Britain.-AN ESSAY OF CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. By J. Evans, B.A. London: Judd and Glass. A well-written and suggestive essay ou the nature, possibility, probability, reality, and authority of miracles, with a concluding chapter on false miracles. The late Baden Powell's essay is examined at some length, and its fallacies exposed. Just the pamphlet to put in the hands of young men who may be growing sceptical. It may be had for a shilling.-THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN IRELAND. A Lecture by R. Harris, Esq., of Leicester. Winks and Son. Interesting notes of a tour through Ireland during the revival.-SEPARATE SERVICES FOR THE YOUNG AND THE BEST MEANS OF CONDUCTING THEM. By Rev. J. F. Stevenson, B.A., of Nottingham. Nottingham: Taylor, Chapel Bar. An address delivered at the annual meeting of the Nottingham Sunday-school Union, on Easter Monday, 1861, and published by request. Good, and worthy of careful attention by every Sunday-school teacher.-A. LETTER ADDRESSED TO REV. T. W. RICHARDS, M.A., Curate of Holbeach : ON HIS TRACT ENTITLED A FEW PLAIN REMARKS ON INFANT Baptism, By J. Cotton. Price Twopence. Holbeach: the third is a monthly magazine deT. Mitchell, Post Office. The title voted to the same teaching: and the explains the object of the letter. Mr. last is equally an advocate, although the Richards has been proving himself a advocacy is put in an alphabetical form. consistent churchman by holding up Strange as it may seem, we know no baptismal regeneration, and Mr. Cotton better guide for those who are curious has very properly shown that the at- in some ancient wines than this. The tempt to prove himself equally con- 'hopeful account of the Abyssinian sistent with New Testament teaching Christians' spoken of as given by Dr. is futile.-ALCOHOL : the Substance of Gobat is directly opposite to that given two Lectures. By Jabez Inwards :- by Stanley in his Eastern Church.' Why have I Taken the Pledge. By Polygamy and Fetishism are rife, acDean Close:-The Temperance Spec- cording to the last author; and of tator:-The Temperance Dictionary. all branches of the Eastern church, By Rev. Dawson Burns:-Job Caud- this is the most corrupt. We would well, Strand, London. The first two advise an examination of this later are pamphlets by well-known advo- testimony. The Temperance Dictioncates of teetotalism, or as Mr. Miller ary is really a desideratum as well as a would now have us call it, nephalism; | curiosity. Correspondence. · THE BUSINESS OF THE|I fear, forbids the hope of such an ame ASSOCIATION. To the Editor of the General Baptist DEAR SIR,-Your Loughborough cor- ་ lioration of controversial acerbity. It would seem as if H. J. had lulled himself into the delusion that his tautological expression of his opinion that the temperance question is not a proper one for discussion, would be accepted by those who are desirous of that discussion,-a very curious delusion in deed. When H. J. produces any reasons for his opinion, I shall be most happy to examine them; at present I would only remark that there is not a denomination of dissenters which entertains or acts upon H. J.'s opinion of the irrelevancy of the temperance question to the object of its annual assembly. The Wesleyan Methodist Conference, the United Methodist Free Church Assembly, the Methodist New Connexion Assembly, the Bible Christian Conference, the Primitive Methodist Conference, the Wesleyan Reform Annual Meeting, the Congregational Union, and various Particular Baptist District Associations, have all discussed and adopted resolutions bearing on the question of national intemperance and temperance. The Free Church of Scotland has bad for about twelve Correspondence-Home Mission, Birmingham. years a standing Committee on Temperance, and the general assembly of that influential body patiently listens not only to the report of that Committee but to an annual teetotal speech by its distinguished convener, professor Miller, the author of 'Alcohol, its place and power,' and Nephalism, the true temperance,' works I would recommend to H. J's careful perusal. If he is so excited at the introduction of a resolution so very unoffensive as that which was proposed at the last Association,-affirming what every body admits the excellence of teetotalism as a remedy for intemperance -what a frightful tremour would have seized him had the following been proposed: 'It having been stated that more than one half the idolatry, madness, poverty, crime, and apostacy from Christianity, in Great Britain, is the result of strong drink-that one 341 proach upon our common Christianity; sovereign is expended by our country- This is something like a resolution; 'The Association having taken these facts into serious consideration, makes its renewed and earnest appeal to all Christians and church officers, and especially to all Christian ministers, solemnly before their God to consider their individual duty in relation to the temperance movement, lest by their refusal or neglect to co-operate with it, they should be found retarding a great moral movement, and bringing re HOME MISSION--BIRMINGHAM. To the Editor of the General Baptist DEAR SIR,-I much rejoiced in reading the letter of my friend Mr. John Cheatle, in your July number, at the interest it manifests in the extension of the denomination; but I totally differ from him as to the eligibility of the premises in Moor-street for Home Mission purposes. I believe it is felt universally by Home Mission managers, that the suburbs, and not the centres of our large towns are the places where Home Mission work needs to be done, and can be done most efficiently (of course I distinguish now between Home Mission and Town Mission work) As a matter of fact it is well known that |