sures," when we bring to his recollection the following sentence, including the most singular use we ever remember to have seen made of the most solemn warnings against guilty pleasure.

"No limit can be prescribed for all persons beyond which indulgence in pleasure is sinful. The variety in the constitution of the human character, and the difference of strength in the passions of different individuals, place at different degrees the point where indulgence in pleasure becomes criminal. Each one must determine for himself. The limits of lawful indulgence are exceeded the moment worldly pleasure begins to assume that place in our hearts which is due to God, to his laws, and to the work of our salvation. He that thus liveth in pleasure, is dead while he liveth.' Innocent to a certain

distance as may be the course in which she leads us; beyond that point, her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.' vol. I. pp. 170, 171.

"Difference of strength in the passions of different individuals!" "Innocent to a certain distance as may be the course in which she leads us!"

In reading this passage, we are alarmed at the oversight that has given it birth, and the consequences to which it might lead, especial ly in the volumes in which it appears. What can be intended by it? and what may be collected from it? In the first place, we see nothing in St. Paul of qualification," THUS living in pleasure," but simply "she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." Next, the wretched female in Solomon's Proverbs, by which the Bishop personifies pleasure, is one towards whom a single step, as we understand the wise man, not beyond a certain point, but a single step to be taken is "the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." Again, we see nothing at all in the Bible warranting allowance in pleasures, we know not of what kind, according to the strength of passion in different individuals. And last, and least of all, do we see any connexion, even the remotest, between the really innocent marriage festival in Cana

of Galilee at which the SAVIOUR was present, with a single step, or any one point, toward HER whose "house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." We say nothing of the immediate reference of the passage or passages alluded to in the above extract, because it clearly never once occurred to the mind of the writer, though it must have occurred to But we

the mind of his readers. mean to assert the dangerous tendency of such a passage, and to say, that with some minds a whole volume of pious effusions would go for nothing compared with the encouragement most undesignedly given by that one passage to the indulgence of the passions; and this, notwithstanding the proviso of not letting our love of pleasure become so predominant as to take that place in our hearts which is due to God, his laws, and our own salvation. We wish also, above all, to state the impression under which every true Christian, as we deem of hin, will rather instinctively shrink from than indulge many of those even innocent pleasures at which the Bishop may point, because they almost invariably, in worldly minds and worldly company, lead to the reality of that spirit which he himself would be among the first to condemn. How very distinctly, andeven severely, does the Scripture itself draw the line in such cases where it prescribes from whom we are to "come out and be separate," with whom we are "not even to eat;" and what are the things which are "not to be once named amongst us as becometh saints."

But we forbear enlarging on what is sufficiently obvious, and proceed to the next series, that which introduces and embraces the season of Lent to Palm-Sunday.

Into this series the Bishop has very judiciously thrown his whole body of practical divinity. It embraces that season in which reflection upon our ways, and the amendment of them, according to the urgent and oft-repeated advice of the

church, are the diligent business of the devout churchman. It is that season in which the minister and instructor of the flock has the fairest opportunity of telling them all he means, in exhorting them generally to repentance, faith, and holiness:and the deepest possible anatomy of the human heart, the most affecting delineations of the evil of sin-its exceeding sinfulness-with the full est possible invitations to faith in the Saviour, and a clear exposition of the way of acceptance with God, are topics which naturally lie before him, throughout this most interesting "retraite spirituelle." The Bishop has given ample weight and verge to these topics, in allotting four whole sermons to the varied demands of Christian repentance. And with his usual energy and exuberance of style he has very forcibly applied himself to what we should conceive would be the prevailing crime of his own growing and thriving country, a spirit of worldly and sordid application to the main chance of the present life. It would be difficult to say in how many lights he has placed the obstinate carelessness and desperate procrastination of nine tenths of mankind, with respect to those vast concerns of the eternal world, so utterly overborne by their far feebler concerns in the present; whilst, as he observes in his rapid and full manner,

"This inordinate love of the world, this supreme devotion to its pursuits and pleasures, characterizes the bulk of mankind, and leads them to disregard all the warnings, the threats, and the invitations, to repentance and a holy life. The man devoted to wealth cannot relax his pursuit of it. The covetous man cannot think of diminishing, in acts of pious and charitable munificence, his accumulating hoards. The unjust man cannot relinquish the successful arts of fraud and imposture; much less can he bring himself to the resolution to make restitution of his unrighteous acquisitions. The slave of intemperance cannot resolve to subdue the passion which holds him in bondage; nor the debauchee to forsake the haunts of brutish sensuality. The candidate for worldly greatness cannot be induced to withdraw

his gaze from the honours for which he is contending; nor the votary of pleasure to renounce the fascinating idol which has seduced her heart. The prosperous man cannot consent to stop in the rapid course to the haven of fortune; and he who is struggling against the adverse current, thinks that a moment's intermission, a moment's diversion of his attention, may sink him in the flood. The man of business is engrossed with incessant cares; the man of indolence and leisure shuts duties. The man of science cannot remit out all painful reflections and serious the ardent pursuit and enjoyment of his intellectual treasures: and he who knows no higher joys than the gratification of claims his devoted service. animal passion, finds this a master that

"All these slaves of the world you may call to repentance, to turn from these vanities to the service of the living God. Alas! how often will you call in vain! of conscience, the voice of reason, the voice of God-the world, whose imperfect pleasures its votaries can enjoy but in the moment when she is flattering them for a few years; which often forsakes them with her choicest gifts; and from which they may be wrested when in the full career of prosperity, of glory, and of enjoyment.

"It is the world that silences the voice

This is the world, O God, which engrosses us, and which renders us insensible to the demands of thy authority, to the calls of thy justice, to the invitations of thy love.

"Brethren, is not this the fact? What

is it which dissipates the serious concern for your salvation, which sometimes arises in your minds? What is it which banishes the sense of your sinfulness, of your guilt, disobedience to God? What is it which and of your danger, while in a state of leads you to disregard the calls to repent. ance, and to postpone this most important duty, this indispensable work of conforming, by divine grace, your hearts and lives to the image and to the laws of God?

"Is it not the world-its business, its cares, its pursuits, its pleasures?

"And this dominion will continue? and will prevent you from making, by repentance, your peace with God, and from finding the full perfection and the full happiness of your nature in his service; until you strip the world of those delusive colours which your reason tells you it has assumed; and boldly resolve to act upon a just estimate of it-as corrupting and unsatisfying, as utterly unworthy of your desire and pursuit, except in subordination to the concerns of eternity, to the principles and hopes of religion, to the laws and to the favour of your God." vol. I. pp. 322-325.

Here, however, we must acknow

ledge that our unqualified approbation of the Bishop's remarks in this series must cease: and we are fain to say, that, on the whole, the entire practical exposè presented to us in this Lenten series of sermons, has been the least suited to our views of any that has hitherto met us. We shall, with great candour, distribute our few observations, on what we consider a very important department of Christian doctrine contained in these sermons, into a few distinct heads.

1. We do not find the real source of repentance sufficiently traced up to Him who was exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, that He might "give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins." The real source of inattention, worldly mindedness, procrastination, &c. is a want of the all powerful and prevailing efficacy of Divine grace in the soul: and the minister of Christ may preach down to the last sand of the hour glass, and yet leave his hearers utterly unimpressed at last, if he trust either to his own powers of remonstrance, or to their powers of reflection. It is the constant, the devout, the affectionate appeal to the weakness of man, and the power of God, which can alone produce the effect to be derived on Scriptural principles. "Paul may plant, Apollos may water," but "God only gives the increase."

we

2. Again, the terms (if we must use this equivocal expression) of acceptance with God-as broadly stated in these sermons, and particularly in their connexion with the standard of Christian holiness required in the Gospel, we conceive to be liable to much exception. We are conscious, as commenced with saying, that we take an exception here against Bishop Hobart, in company with many other worthy and well-meaning divines. But to our respected preacher, in particular, we now address ourselves, and ask what is his Scriptural warrant for expressions such as the following?" By

Jesus Christ was the law of God fulfilled to the uttermost; and thus eternal life, the reward annexed to this law, merited for all those who should sincerely, though imperfectly obey it." (p. 266.) Again; "they must do [the commandments] as far as human infirmity will permit, universally," &c. (p. 269.) We are not willing to heap together passages which might sound offensive to readers of a different view from the writer. But our simple inquiry goes to ask for the sanction of Scripture to any such mitigation of the pure and spiritual laws of Christ's all-perfect kingdom as these and similar expressions imply. The requisitions of Scripture are absolute. "Be ye holy, for I am holy. Walk before me, and be thou perfect. The pure in heart shall see God. Be ye, therefore, perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. He that heareth my sayings, and doeth them." "He that is born of God doth not commit sin." "He that committeth sin is the servant of sin." In short, we see not a word in Scripture allowing the smallest deviation, the lightest mitigation, the minutest neglect, as entering into the conditions (if again we may use that equivocal word) of salvation. And, indeed, it would be the highest possible inconsistency, properly considered to do so: and would, in fact, be to render Christ the minister, if not of more appalling sins, yet of sins of infirmity, surprise, and inadverteucy. We know not by what softer appellations they may be called. We stand not for the position that all sins are equal in magnitude and criminality, considered in themselves. But, considered in reference to the corruption of man, and the purity of God, they are all parts of one great whole, and the members greater or less of that entire body of sin and death by which we are "alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in us; and they all require alike that entire repentance

which Scripture ordains, being all alike a departure from that perfect purity and renovation of heart and soul which with all good works "God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

3. And here, we must add, appears to us the hazardous nature of an expression very frequent amongst writers of various classes, viz. that of the conditions of the Christian covenant. We know but of one condition, as such, both of the Law and the Gospel: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." "Not one jot or tittle of the law shall pass." "Be ye holy in all manner of conversation." "He that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure." The question then is, Have we performed these conditions? And if not, we are reduced either to the alternative of "sincere but imperfect obedience," (and Bishop Hobart says it may be "sometimes even sincere" without effect, p. 268,) or of making an absolute "sola fides" that condition, with the certainty at last of finding this condition as imperfectly performed as all the rest. It appears to us a far safer course to consider salvation from first to last as a gift, a free salvation, on which, received or rejected, eternity depends. The little more or the little less of condition performed, and reward annexed, leads to selfdeception in every worldly man, dissatisfaction in every true Christian, and endless uncertainty in all. The free gift unto justification, and unto holiness, as well as to eternal life, leads to strict examination, to the deepest gratitude, to an ardent zeal, unceasing endeavours after a holy life corresponding to our profession, to an animating and never-failing hope, and to all joy and peace in believing.

4. In respect to a kindred subject, that of rewards in general, and rewards proportionate to service done, we think that, as far as Scripture uses the term, and sanctions the application of it in both

the senses above, we are not to hesitate so to use and apply it. We doubt not there may be different orders of the blessed in glory. And the humble Christian doubts it not, in his own case, because he can have no conception of standing in the same rank of glory with a Paul, a Peter, a James, a John. Yet we know, on the other hand, that "to sit on the right hand and the left of the Saviour in the kingdom," though to be "given to those for whom it is prepared," was not, on one occasion, a commendable object of ambition. But even waving that argument, we have no hesitation in saying, that setting up proportionate rewards as ordinarily understood in a mixed congregation, for an inducement to mere "carnal and worldly minds" to begin soon, and work hard, in the business of salvation, is a course liable to much exception, if not fraught with much evil. It leads to the slavish notion, that obedience is after all hard work; for which we may well expect, if not demand, good wages. It deeply trenches on that freedom of service and exuberance of love which deems all labour light, and "keeps alive in such servitude itself the spirit of an exalted freedom." It encourages that notion which Dr. Hobart, after all, has written many pages to disprove, that the reward is not of grace, but of debt. It is certainly against the letter of that parable which this very series embraces, and which our bishop strives hard to reconcile with the opposite doctrine, " May I not do what I will with mine own? I will give unto this last even as unto thee." And the few passages in Scripture, particularly the parable of the Talents, which are generally considered to assert the doctrine of proportionate degrees in bliss, according to the fitness of the subject, and the sovereignty of the Great Master of all, should, we think, be well reflected upon, and digested before they are brought forward; and then, perhaps, only as capable