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with the soundness of his remarks. The Sunday evening was subsequently passed (as all Sunday evenings should be) in pursuits of a religious nature, including useful and interesting conversation. Some of the party read books of a Scriptural tendency. If any thing striking occurred, we ventured for a few moments to break the thread of our next neighbour's subject, by a question upon our own point of divinity. Having been to the house of God as friends, we continued to take sweet counsel together; and at length, after closing the day with prayer, we betook ourselves to repose.

When left to myself, I reviewed, as is my general custom, the circumstances of the past day; and could not but reflect upon the nice line of distinction which separates fair, candid, criticism, from that rash judgment of others which too often disgraces the Christian character. My old friend was right, said I to myself, in checking the hasty outpouring of opinion in these young persons; and yet it is profitable to make observations upon what we hear and read, provided those observations be made with humility and in an affectionate spirit. How can we improve our own style, or remedy our own defects, if we do not critically examine the writings of our contemporaries, and pass a fair judgment upon the doctrinal and practical matter of our modern preachers? For my own part, had I children, I should certainly encourage a careful perusal of the best divines; and I should especially urge every young man intended for the ministry, not to rest satisfied until he has diligently studied every thing which can tend to the formation of a good style of composition. His sermons will then be more likely to be delivered in an impressive manner, and with a weight of proper authority, suited to a preacher of the Gospel of Christ. The next morning, at breakfast, I resolved to revive the subject of our previous conversation.

"What was it," said I to my young friends, "which led you to think the sermon of yesterday so uninteresting? The vicar is a good man: he takes pains to instruct the poor, and to educate their children: tell me, if you can, without reserve (for there can be no prejudice in your minds, and, if there be, it is in favour of the preacher), why the sermon failed to edify you?" The answer given was to the following effect :"We have, sir, as you well know, the highest possible respect for our minister, and can have no doubt of his wish to benefit his hearers. But there is a sort of common-place poverty in his preaching--a dearth of Scripture fact, and of Scripture authority-a want of materiel,' which creates a feeling in our minds that, though he believes every word he says himself, he does not know how to persuade other men to believe.

He that winneth souls is wise.' Now there is, in some preachers whom we have heard, an affectionate regard,-an earnest power of persuasion,-a deep solemnity of reproof, which prove that the subject of each sermon has been well considered, carefully digested, and earnestly prayed over in private, before it is presented to the hearer. Our vicar appears to offer to God that which has cost him nothing." In short, my young friends seemed to consider that the best polished weapons are generally the sharpest ;— that even the plainest truths may be presented in an attractive, as well as an unattractive, form ;-that, in preaching the Gospel, there are, so to speak, conductors and non-conductors;-that the shepherd leads his sheep into green pastures; they know his voice; he goeth before them, and they follow him;—and, in a word, that a cold delivery of common-place matter does not seem to touch the heart. Upon these sen timents of my young friends, I would make a few practical observations.

St. Paul himself said to the Colossians, "Whatsoever thine hand

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findeth to do, do it with all thy might." Of all men living, the preacher of the Gospel has the most need of energy. He is to write and to preach for eternity. The greater the extent and importance of the subject under review, the more diligent and pains-taking should that man be, who is called upon to present it to others. It is, in fact, "the savour of life unto life, or of death unto death;" and who is sufficient for these things?

In the present day, a day remarkable for the wide diffusion of miscellaneous knowledge, there certainly is not generally to be found that depth of penetration, and that acuteness of thought, which are conspicuous in the works of many of our old scholars and divines. I am not about to undervalue many very able preachers, and useful sermonwriters. "In a great house there are not only vessels of gold, and of silver, but also of wood and of earth." But every man who handles a sacred subject should wish, according to the ability which God hath given him, to be "a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." I can see, with heartfelt pleasure, the love of learning spreading widely in our two universities. I have no doubt that there is a larger proportion of wellinformed men, to a certain extent, in these kingdoms than there was two centuries ago. But in those days what were the men? There were giants in those days upon the earth. As our modern soldier, with his matchless bravery, could not stand under the suit of armour worn by John of Gaunt, or of Edward the Black Prince, so neither shall we find the intellect to compose, nor the pen to write, the sermons of Barrow, of Taylor, of Hall, or of Beveridge.

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In the present day, we are a race spinners rather than of miners, and we for the most part spin our thread too finely. Our books resemble the flow of a partial irrigation,

rather than the waters of the great deep. Whether some of our modern authors are like the schoolboy, who hurries over his exercise that he may get the sooner to play; or whether our reviews, magazines, and periodical publications, to say nothing of our newspapers and even our current literature, do not lead the rising generation to dip the wing and skim the surface of a variety of topics, rather than to become thoroughly acquainted with any one subject, I shall leave to others to decide. In some of our old books of divinity, we have a frontispiece with this device: Three figures are represented; the first sitting in a chair, the second leaning upon a spear, and the third walking with a spade in his hand. Over these emblematical figures are the words; "Disco, milito, operor." The Christian may learn a useful suggestion from these his elder brethren.

As in the works of nature, whether in the garden or in the field, there is abundant employment for every day, so it is in the cultivation of the mind. Youth is a season, and a most delightful season, for laying up stores of valuable knowledge. But if you idle away the spring, you lose your summer and your autumn crops. A young man who wastes his time, or misemploys it, rarely ever can regain his lost opportunities. In after-life, he becomes perhaps a preacher of the word of God. But how can he build without materials? The able divine should be well read in history as well as in theology. He should be master of the events which passed when Hooker wrote his Polity and Burnet his Histories. And I firmly believe, that if many of the seceders from the Church of England had been morethoroughly acquainted with the history of their own country, and of that church from which they went out, but for whose doctrine and discipline martyrs shed their blood, they would have acted a very different part. At least they would have hesitated before they ventured to set up their own opinions, in op

position to the dying judgment of Cranmer, Latimer, Hooker, and Ridley. I am willing to think, that had they been taught in a better school, they would rather have done as the people did in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah; they would all have brought something useful wherewith to build up the temple. "This is that church," says the writer of the preface to Clarendon's History of the Rebellion (speaking of the Church of England), "which desires to have her doctrines understood as well as obeyed; and which depends upon the infallibility of Scripture for her guide, but never could be drawn to allow it to any mortal men, whether in a single person or a greater number.”

The ministers of such a church should be men of piety and learning. How is it with men embarked in other professions? What would become of the fanciful or the idle lawyer; of the man who should oppose his own opinion to facts and precedents; or should put his own gloss upon established Acts of Parliament? If such persons were suffered to have weight, life, and property, and reputation would be at a tremendous risk. At the English bar the best informed man, and the most eloquent man, will have the most practice.

We might easily apply these observations to the divine. Ever remembering that he must not rest satisfied merely with human learning, he must humbly seek that wisdom which cometh from God only. "Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but God only can give the increase." Diligence in the work of the ministry will go hand in hand with the influence of the Holy Spirit of God. This influence will prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to such things as are pleasing to God. The workman will not be ashamed, because he will find himself a worker together with God.

Let the sermons of our best preachers be more carefully ela

borated; let many of our modern publications have a little more pains bestowed upon them; and they will make a more lasting impression upon the mind. There are but few

authors, indeed, who, with Dr. Johnson, could write a paper on procrastination, whilst the printer's messenger stood waiting at the door. We do not indeed expect such sermons as those of Isaac Barrow, with every argument supported and corroborated by marginal quotations in Greek and Latin. Nor shall we find a second Beveridge, to render his texts in the Syriac and Chaldee. To these heights we do not aspire. But still, we should avoid that weak, flimsy, unsupported dictatorial style, which obtains with some, and those popular, preachers of the present day. It is too bold a step to offer just such divinity as is sometimes produced before polite congregations in the metropolis. If these sermons were to be subjected to a sort of spiritual excise, and were to be guaged and measured by the standard of Divine truth, I apprehend that the strength of the commodity would add but little to the revenues of sacred literature.

As ministers of the Gospel, we have a solid foundation to build upon. Let us not raise the superstructure with "hay and stubble," but with "gold, silver, and precious stones; for every man's work shall be made manifest." If we live in an age of new inventions in every art and science, still let us remember that there is nothing new in Christianity. The man who can best copy the old masters will be the most useful. Let us follow the Apostles and Evangelists, as they followed Christ. It is allowed on all hands, that "the old music, the old colouring, the old drapery, and the old gold," are more valuable than the new; and that, because there is more strength, and vitality, and richness, and durability to be found in them. It is thus with divinity. Let the style be modernized, but not too much softened to catch

the ear; lest the whole effect of the composition be enfeebled and rendered nugatory. Let a little of the vivacity of the French school, in its best days, be added to our own old English sterling worth. Let the tenderness of the Royal Prophet, in his penitential Psalms, be blended with the more rigorous declarations of judgment in the Prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Let St. Paul, and St. Peter, and St. John infuse, by the aid of that Spirit which ani

mated them, a portion of their devotional power into our modern writers and preachers; and we shall then have more workmen who "need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." We shall have here and there an Apollos, and a Boanerges, with many a son of consolation. We shall have more good old-fashioned theology issuing from the press, and more Scriptural doctrine from the pulpit. R. P. B.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The History of the Church of Christ, particularly in its Lutheran Branch, from the Diet of Augsburg, A. D. 1530, to the Death of Luther, A. D. 1546; intended as a Continuation of the Church History, brought down to the Commencement of that Period, by the Rev. Joseph Milner, M.A. Vicar of Holy Trinity, Hull, and the Very Rev. Isaac Milner, D. D. F. R. S. Dean of Carlisle. By JOHN SCOTT, M. A. Vicar of North Ferriby, and Minister of St. Mary's, Hull, &c. London: Seeley. 1826.

THIS is, in many respects, a very important volume. It is well written; and the subject is full of instruction, and could scarcely have been brought before the notice of the public at a more seasonable period. Inquiries after the real doctrines of the Reformation are now eagerly made; a revival of primitive Christianity is rapidly adadvancing, especially in our own church; and all eyes are intent on the effects of this revival, in the purifying of the general body of nominal Christians, and in the multiplication of means for the conversion of the world. At such a juncture, a work like the present deserves a peculiar share of regard; and it is

the more useful since it takes the mind off from controversy and mere argument, and directs it to the unanswerable test of experience. It teaches by facts; it brings before us the noble army of martyrs and reformers, not in the miserable disguise with which a corrupt theology invests them, but in their own native simplicity, speaking their own sentiments in their own language, and confessing the pure doctrines of the Gospel of Christ, at the risk of every thing dear to them, before an apostate world. Such a history cannot but convince candid reader that the whole fabric of the Reformation was reared on the doctrines of the fall of man and the entire corruption of his nature; and of his recovery by the one meritorious sacrifice of the death of Christ, and by the sanctifying operations of the Holy Ghost

doctrines which it has been our endeavour to vindicate in this miscellany, during more than a quarter of a century. At the same time, the volume before us exhibits the truly Christian moderation which distinguished the chief reformers, and which led them, while contending for great and acknowledged truths, to avoid doubtful and less important matters, to guard jealously against enthusiasm and excess, and to unite discretion and meekness

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with an undaunted boldness in the
cause of Christ. We consider,
therefore, a simple narrative, like
that of our author, to be more likely
to advance the interests of vital
Christianity amongst us, in its mighty
principles and stupendous revelation
of mercy, and to guard these inter-
ests from the intermixtures of human
folly, than a thousand volumes of
controversy.

cessful continuation of the Milners'
Church History, and which, in com-
mon fairness, should be considered
by those who take up the present
volume.

The present publication, we have before stated, is happily timed; and of its wide circulation we can entertain no doubt. The preceding volumes by the venerable Milners have long been, not only in almost every considerable library, but among the few select volumes of the theological student and private Christian; and in proportion to the length of time which has elapsed since the appearance of the last volume (seventeen years), and the acknowledged difficulty of finding any competent pen to continue the history, is likely to be the favour with which the important production before us will be received and welcomed.

It will be our purpose, in the following pages, after a few preliminary observations, to furnish such specimens of the work as may convey to our readers a just impression of that portion of the history of the Reformation which it embraces. We shall then advert to the manner in which Mr. Scott has performed his task; and, lastly, proceed to such practical deductions, with regard to the duty of Christians in the present day, as may naturally flow from the whole subject. Our readers must forgive us if we are drawn into some length on such an occasion, notwithstanding that we have lately given considerable attention to some works on kindred subjects, particularly Soames's History of the Reformation in our own country.

Our preliminary remarks will merely be designed to remind our readers of some of the difficulties which lay in the way of a suc

The continuation of a great literary work is often much more arduous than the original enterprise. The plan of another is to be adopted; the freedom of choice, the delight of discovery, the parental feeling towards one's own project, are all wanting; and with them much of that warmth and naturalness of sentiment and manner on which the success of a difficult historical work so greatly depends.

To come to the case before us, the subject treated of in the present volume cannot, upon the whole, be considered so interesting as that which occupied the preceding volumes. The novelty is gone byLuther is already known and appreciated the most intensely momentous part of the struggle is over-his character is developed, examined, vindicated, admired, beloved. The volumes comprising the history of the infant Reforma tion came upon the public as with electrical force. Little comparatively had been known in this country of the elevated character and various excellencies of the great Saxon reformer; Hume, and Robertson, and Mosheim, having mistaken, or misrepresented, or concealed the most vital parts of the narrative. But the Milners seized his true image-they delineated him with affectionate minuteness. They gave his portrait faithfully and exquisitely.-Now, no continuation can revive this first interest, or carry on the story with any thing like the same charm of originality.

Besides, the period embraced in the volume before us sinks a little, and must sink, from that high tone of purely spiritual and evangelical matter which marked the annals of the first infancy of the Reformation. The thirteen years recorded by the Milners almost exhausted the private annals of Luther, and left

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