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seasoned rhapsody.' We propose only just to glance at the reviewer's impartiality—take a few samples. 6 The more immediate subject of all his preaching' is himself. In his Oration on the preparation necessary for consulting the Oracles of God,'' there is not a single difficulty removed, not a single prejudice anticipated, not a single caution supplied." There is scarce a prose composition of Mr. Southey whose single service in the cause of Christianity has not been productive of far more general advantage, than all the rhapsodies of Mr. Irving put together. To the unintelligible incoherence of Ossian, add the ambitious flippancy of the Edinburgh Review, season the whole with a spice of covenanting causticity, and garnish the dish with a few "ITHS" and "eths," and voila Mr. Irving.' 'We have no hesitation in pronouncing the volume before us to be a publication most inauspicious to the holy cause. The rant, the incoherency, the ostentation which it displays, are at all times most unfavourable to the propagation of true religion.' After all this, who can expect any redeeming excellencies to be admitted into the account, and some of these of the first order? But the critic's conscience seems to have admonished him, that he had gone too far; or he became alarmed lest his own common sense should be called into question; and, therefore, he thought it better, even to contradict himself, than to wound the one, or expose the reputation of the other-hence, he concludes, after he has said If the Gospel were preached in Christian simplicity and truth, not one soul of them all (his hearers) would be there to hear it' and various similar things, he concludes, 'To shew, however, that we have no prejudice against Mr. Irving we are ready to allow, that his doctrines are sound and scriptural; that his faith is free from fanaticism on the one side, or Latitudinarianism on the other. It is his language, his style, and his presumption that we condemn.' After saying every thing contemptible of him as a preacher, he asserts-and in the face of an admiring world, he could not avoid it- Mr. Irving is a man of ability!

THE ECLECTIC REVIEW notices IRVING'S volume. The reviewer says, 'These discourses or orations, call them what you will, furnish abundant matter and provocation for criticism; and,' says the author, somewhat loftily, I deprecate it not.' They are framed, however, of a stuff and quality which will endure the roughest handling. There is that stamp of intellectual energy on the volume, which will bear down the cavils and juster exceptions of those who may be disposed to quarrel with the writer on the score of taste. His periods are of sterling weight, if not always of the finest mintage; and this will secure their being received as currency. Above all, there is throughout the volume an appearance of passionate earnestness, firmness of purpose, intrepid attachment to truth, and, if we may so express it, of magisterial commission, which, harmonizing with the infinite interest attaching to the subject, renders it next to impossible for the reader to escape from the impression. The discourses will not please in the perusal, as they pleased in the delivery; for there is the interpretation of a speaker's meaning carried on through the medium of the eye, and a sympathy with the speaker awakened by his tones, which very materially assist the prompt and easy reception of the communication, and preclude that mental fatigue, which reading is apt to occasion. But, though they may not please as much, they cannot fail powerfully to interest; and the popularity of the preacher will no longer appear, after the perusal, a fortuitous and unaccountable circumstance. Mr. Irving is no phenomenon to be gazed at and forgotten. The light which he holds forth is steady and pure; and whatever charm there may be in the vehicle or the medium through which it is transmitted, the illumination which it casts is not that of a meteor, but of heaven's daylight. And the low-minded malignity and petulance with which he has been assailed, proceed, we are well persuaded, more than from any other cause, from a hatred of the light. "The Liberal," and the most infamous of public journals that ever disgraced the

press of this country, have selected Mr. Irving as a fair mark for their infernal shafts. We think that this augurs well for his success. We like to hear the Devil cry out, What have we to do with thee? It looks as if some measure of the power of the preacher's master was resting upon him.' The reviewer justifies the trial of the Oration, instead of the Sermon; but justly considers it as not new. He differs with Mr. Irving on the subject of catechisms, which he thinks he treats with too much indifference; and he is soberly severe on the charge made against the London Evangelical Preachers, as though they were all of the ultra kind in their theology. Some extravagant expressions are also, with propriety, condemned. The review appears to us extremely just, and is a well-written production; near the close, it further commends the author of the Orations: 'We think that he demands, at the hands of all the friends of religion, the welcome, the candid treatment, and the honour due to no mean champion of the best of causes. On this account, we disdain all petty criticism. The world loves its own; it is never at a loss to palliate the faults of its favourites, and is often found doting on the very imbecilities of its men of wit and genius. What an ado is it making with its small poets, and smaller philosophers! Now, in point of originality, and boldness of thought, and vigour of faculty, and force of expression, we may challenge the whole tribe of Infidel witlings and sentimentalists to produce such a volume as this. There is a vast parade of imitating our elder poets and classic writers; but we know of no one among the literati of the day, with the single exception of Coleridge, who has succeeded in catching so large a portion of the spirit of those giant models. Mr. Irving's phraseology is disfigured by the affectation of quaint and obsolete words not worth reviving. This weakness we hope to see him outgrow. But the march of his periods, as well as the occasional beauty of his imagery, (though strength, rather than grace, is the usual attribute of his style), reminds one continually of Milton's prose

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writings, without suggesting the idea, as is the case in reading the inflated rhodomontade of Wordsworth, of servile imitation. Then, dismissing the consideration of his style, there is a noble elevation of sentiment pervading the volume, which, in any other than a theological work, would not fail to raise the author into consideration as a high-minded patriot; and no doubt could be entertained of his success, had he chosen a different sphere for the display of his oratory. We admit that the theological value of the volume is quite independent of these considerations; yet, we cannot suffer the literary merit of the work to be overlooked or depreciated, because it is a religious work, when, as a production, it so far transcends in texture of thought and sterling qualities of mind, the average literature of the day. As a theologian, we confess, we do not think Mr. Irving "thoroughly furnished.” He is neither so original as he imagines himself, nor as his phraseology may lead others to suppose; which is all the better, for truth is very old, and novelty on such topics is always suspicious. But he has the invaluable art of setting familiar truth in a new light.Musa Solitaria: a Collection of Original Melodies, adapted to various Measures of Psalms and Hymns; with Words at length, and a full Accompaniment for the Piano-forte or Organ. This elegant volume is the production of Mr. Jowett, the brother of the Rev. Mr. Jowett, of Malta, at whose request some of the melodies were composed, to suit an Italian version of some of the psalms, by Mattei. Scientific without affectation.' They Breathe the genuine language of devotion.' These and other warm commendations are bestowed upon these melodies. The reviewer also uses them as a text on which he enlarges to plead for the use of music in church worship, and we gather from it that he is not a foe to the grave instrumental. Leech and Walker are not his favourites; and the old masters are justly held up to praise; while, perhaps, the others are too lightly esteemed. Modern clerks, and, indeed, all singing clerks, are very much degraded,

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so that we know not what the reviewer would have to say in his defence, in the presence of the singing brother of yore, who magnified his office even beyond that of the pulpit, and asserted that there would be singing in heaven, though there would be no preaching there. On the subject of church music, and especially the uses of music for the purposes of devotion, the critique is long and interesting, and in general judicious. We cannot, however, agree on the general fitness of Mozart's airs for congregational singing, and greatly disagree with the reviewer when he expresses his opinion, that Ah perdona is utterly removed from devotional expression.' It has often filled our soul, and those of others, with the most pleasurable sensations, while we have sung it in the parlour to words we deemed appropriate; for public worship, it is too delicate.-HALDANE'S Four Treatises. I. On the Mystery of Redemption. II. Prayer of Moses. III. Doctrine and Duty of Self-examination. IV. Faith of the Gospel, are commended.-The Discipline practised in the Churches of New England. By COTTON MATHER, D. D. Of this it is said, 'This is an interesting tract, and deserves to be reprinted.'-Narrative of the Life and Travels of SERJEANT B. is called 6 an instructive and interesting memoir.'-Scientia Biblica is considered as an useful work for the student, as far as it respects the plan; but the selections of text are thought too numerous, aud many of them irrelevant; and the size of the work by far too swollen, "got up more for sale than use.'

THEOLOGICAL CRITIC.

The Trial of EDWARD IRVING, M. A.

Criticism. 8vo. pp. 96.

A Cento of

THIS work is not destitute of spirit and ingenuity. It has afforded us a little amusement, though rather at the expense of the worthy divine, whom it arraigns.

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