grant me this night quiet and refreshing sleep. Let thine hand shield me in the darkness, and thy presence keep me from all harm. Thanks be to Thee for all the blessings of the day past; teach me to love Thee and praise Thee for them as I ought. Above all, make me thankful for thy mercies through Christ for his sake forgive me all my sins; and let thy blessing be upon me, and upon my kindred, and on all people whom Thou hast made. Grant this, O heavenly Father, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." To each of these may be added a prayer for God's grace to enable us to amend our lives, such as this following. "Grant to me, O Lord, I beseech Thee, the help of thy Holy Spirit, that as I grow in years, so I may grow better and more pleasing to Thee day by day. Grant that I may daily become more pure in thought, more serious and soberminded, more gentle and forgiving, more careful of my duty towards Thee, and in all things more like the example of thy blessed Son; for whose sake I pray that Thou wilt bless me with all heavenly grace, and strength, and bring me, when I die, into thine everlasting kingdom. Amen." As a Prayer for Sunday (when time may always be found for such a purpose), say the following. in me. : "O heavenly Father, I thank Thee for thy great mercies; for the blessings of health and strength, of food and clothing, of a peaceful and comfortable home, which Thou hast permitted me to enjoy. Specially I thank Thee for this day's rest; for the blessing of thy holy religion; for the ordinances of thy Church; and, above all, for my redemption from the power of sin and death by Jesus Christ. Forgive me, O God, for His sake, all that Thou hast seen amiss Give me grace to amend my life; and by thy Holy Spirit sanctify my heart, and make me holy. Send me day by day such things as are needful for me, especially such good thoughts and desires as will purify and improve my heart. Enable me to perform faithfully and devoutly the particular duties of this day to be attentive at Church; to pray heartily and fervently; to give thanks and praise sincerely; humbly and unfeignedly to confess my sins; and to listen reverently to the reading and preaching of thy Holy Word. Let thy good Providence keep me both from temptation and from bodily harm, and let thy blessing be upon me, and on all that belongs to me. Bless the Queen and Royal Family; bless the Bishops and Ministers of thy Church, especially him whom Thou hast set to watch over my soul's health; bless my home and country; make us to live together in unity and godly love; and send thy peace and saving health unto all men. This, and all the prayers which are offered up to Thee this day, I beseech Thee to hear, and to grant according to thy wisdom and goodness, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." Observe, the Lord's Prayer may be at all times used, as an effectual prayer to God, and it should be used after each of the prayers above given; only, let it be said devoutly, and with special consideration who it was that taught it. A Prayer to be said on entering Church. "O Lord, while I am in thy house, make me careful what I think and do. 'Be merciful to me a sinner;' and help me both to pray and praise Thee as I ought, forgiving my many faults, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." A Prayer to be said on leaving Church. “O God, make me thankful to Thee for that Thou hast suffered me, a sinful creature, to pray to Thee, and hast instructed me by the reading and preaching of thy Holy Word. Hear my prayers, O heavenly Father, and forgive my sins, and give me grace to amend my life, and please Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." LITERARY REPORT. The Fifth of November; or Gunpowder Treason. By the Rev. T. LATHBURY, M.A. London: Baisler. 1839. 12mo. Pp. 24. THIS is a well-timed and accurate publication, which, in the compass of twenty-four pages, contains a concise account of the detection of the Gunpowder Treason; the principles which gave it birth; proofs that these are the principles of the Romish church, which consequently is chargeable with the guilt of that transaction; and a brief refutation of the false assertions now (as formerly) made by the papists, that the gunpowder treason was a contrivance of Cecil's, in order to render the papists odious. Mr. Lathbury deserves the thanks of every member of our reformed Church of England, for this very useful tract. We may remind our CLERICAL READERS, that, in the CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER for the year 1837, pp. 680-682, we have printed for their convenience the otherwise almost inaccessible Act, 3 Jac. I. c. 2, intituled, "An Act for a Public Thanksgiving to Almighty God, every year, on the fifth day of November:" which Act EVERY MINISTER is required to read " PUB LICLY, DISTINCTLY, and PLAINLY,... AFTER Morning Prayer or Preaching." The Preaching of Christ in the Catholic Church. An Inaugural Discourse, delivered in the Church of St. James, Leeds, on Whitsunday, 1839. By the Rev. GEO. AYLIFFE POOLE, A.M. Incumbent. Published by request, and for distribution. Leeds: T. Harrison; and J. Cross. London: Burns. Pp. 16. MR. POOLE is probably known by some of his various publications, as a sound and able writer, to many of our readers. It appears from the present discourse, that he has been appointed to the church of St. James, in Leeds; and it gives good promise, from the excellence of its contents, that the new incumbent will prove a most valuable coadjutor to Dr. Hook in that very important town. He seems fully sensible of the difficulties of the christian pastor in general, and of the peculiar trials to which he is exposed in the present day, more particularly in such stations in the Church as that to which he is himself called. The outline of the course which he has here marked out for himself, shows how well he is prepared to meet those difficulties with zeal, with discretion, and with faithfulness. 1. Be sure your Sin will find you out; The Rise, Progress, and Consequences of Sin considered: a Sermon, preached to a Village Congregation, on the Sunday after the Execution of Charles Daines, the Hempnall Murderer. By the Rev. S. HOBSON, LL.B. London: Roake & Varty. 1839. 12mo. Pp. 21. 2. On the Worship of God: a few Words to Church-Goers, and especially to those who wish to" serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." By the Rev. S. HOBSON, LL.B. London: Roake & Varty. 1839. 12mo. Pp. 31. We are always glad to see any tracts from Mr. Hobson's pen, because we are sure to meet with quiet good sense, sober piety, christian benevolence, and sound Church of England principles. These tracts are characterised by these most useful qualities, and we are glad to hear that they have been circulated very beneficially in the author's immediate neighbourhood. But they are worthy of a more extensive circulation, which we cordially hope they will receive. From the list of publications THERE is much to approve in this sermon. It is on an important subject, and one which, we are glad to say, is daily receiving more and more the attention it deserves. The author appears to us, on the whole, to take a right line respecting it, and writes in good plain language: still, should the sermon reach another edition, we conceive the materials it contains might be rearranged with advantage, so as to render the arguments employed more effective. It might thus, we think, be made a very useful tract for general circulation; and tracts on Baptism, giving right views of the nature and benefits of that holy sacrament, would be very acceptable just now. Never theless, even in its present state, the sermon may afford some very good hints to clergy who are instructing their flocks on baptism. Whilst we are on this subject, we may mention with pleasure that Dr. Pusey has just published a new edition of the first part (considerably enlarged) of his most valuable treatise on Baptism. Letters of a Reformed Catholic. No.1, and No. 2. London: Rivingtons. We have seen as yet but two of these letters: No. 1. "On the leading Principle of the Reformation;" No. 2." On private Judgment and Authority in matters of Faith." But these are sufficient to make us wish to see much more from the pen of so good a writer. It may, perhaps, relieve the letters from the disadvantage which generally attaches to works appearing anonymously, and at the same time give them additional interest, if we quote the remark of Dr. Hook on them, which occurs in the notes to his wellknown Visitation Sermon :-" These plain and powerful letters are generally attributed to the Rev. Edward Churton, M.A. Rector of Crayke, and they are worthy of his high reputation." As Mr. Churton has associated himself with the Rev. W. Gresley in the editorship of Mr. Burns's "Englishman's Library," some of our readers will probably like to learn from these letters, what sound principles may be expected to characterise the series of good works about to issue from the press under their joint superintendence. Sermons, preached before the University of Oxford, in St. Mary's Church, in the years 1837, 1838, and 1839. By the Rev. SAMUEL WILBERFORCE, M.A. Rector of Brightstone, Isle of Wight. Pp. 198. London: Burns. THESE Sermons are well worthy of the University pulpit, and could scarcely have failed to make a deep impression, especially on the minds of the younger members of the University, for whose benefit they seem chiefly to have been designed. Their principles are catholic, and their general tone excellent. The subjects of them are as follows: 1.-2 Cor. vi. 1. The moral conse quences of permitted sin. 2. St. Luke xv. 31, 32. The penal 4.-Isaiah v. 20. The danger of de- 6.-1 Cor. x. 31. Doing all to the It may be mentioned, that the second sermon bears marks of being directed against certain views entertained, or supposed to be entertained, in Oxford, respecting "Sin after Baptism." "A Citizen of no mean City." A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of St. Lawrence Jewry, before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, the Worshipful the Aldermen, the Recorder, the Sheriffs, the Common Council of the City of London, the Liveries of the several Companies, and the City Officers, on Saturday, the twenty-eighth Day of September, 1839, before the Election of a Lord Mayor. By the Rev. CHARLES CATOR, M.A. of Brazennose College; Rector of Stokesley, Yorkshire, und Chaplain to the Lord Mayor. London: Rivingtons. Hastings. Stokesley W. Braithwaite. Pp. 39. THIS discourse has created no small sensation among the enemies of the Church, and we are neither surprised nor displeased at this circumstance. Mr. Cator, in defence of our venerable Establishment, has drawn a faithful picture of the great services conferred on the community by her christian labours, and shown that she is a great blessing to the public. This cannot fail to be a stumbling-block of offence to the radical Dissenters; and Mr. Cator, accordingly, has the satisfaction of earning their abuse. On this we congratulate him; and hope he may for many years continue to embody such sound doctrine, in equally eloquent language, and thus increase the high reputation he has already attained by previous publica tions. Fisher's Drawing-Room Scrap Book, with Poetical Illustrations, by L.E.L. and MARY HOWITT. London : Fisher, Son, and Co. 1840. 4to. THE present volume possesses a peculiar interest from the melancholy circumstance that the talented, the admired, the universally lamented L. E. L. is no more. She, whose brilliant genius had, since its first publication, shed a halo of splendour The winds are stirred with tumult-on the air Sound drum and trumpet, atabal and gongStrong voices loud uplift a barbarous song. Vast is the gathering-while the priests declare The seven-headed god is passing there. On roll his chariot-wheels, while every roll From prostrate bodies crushes forth a soul, Rejoicing such last agony to bear. Such are thy creeds, O man! when thou art given To thy own fearful nature-false and stern! What were we now, but that all-pitying Heaven Sent us a holier, purer faith to learn? Type of its message came the white-winged dove- What is the Christian's creed?-Faith, Hope, and Love. A SERMON. DIVINE GRACE ALL-SUFFICIENT. 2 COR. XII. 7-10. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak, then am I strong. : It appears from another passage of this chapter, that St. Paul had been distinguished by the Almighty with certain extraordinary manifestations of the divine favour, with "visions and revelations" of a most peculiar character. It appears, also, that there had been a danger of his priding himself on these singular marks of distinction. And hence, to meet this danger, it pleased the Almighty to act towards him in the manner described in my text. "Lest I should be exalted above measure," he observes, "through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." What the peculiar visitation here spoken of actually was, cannot, I think, easily be decided.* Nor, interesting as the question may be, does it seem necessary for us, in order to give a practical turn to the subject, to come to such a decision on this occasion. For whether it was some bodily infirmity which impaired his weight with the disciples; or whether it was the conduct of false teachers, who, under the influence of Satan, sought to lower his authority amongst the brethren; or whatever it might be, it will, I conceive, be sufficient for our present purpose to know, what is very clear, that it was a very painful visitation; that it was a dispensation sent, or rather, perhaps, permitted to be sent, by the Almighty Disposer of all things; that Satan, the evil one, was the instrument allowed to inflict this visitation on him; and that though Satan's object in inflicting it, was undoubtedly of an evil "What this thorn in the flesh' might be, has given birth to a multitude of conjectures: Tertullian thought it, dolor auriculæ, the ear-ache; Chrysostom, «epaλaλyia, the head-ache; Cyprian, carnis et corporis multa ac gravia tormenta, many and grievous bodily torments. I believe the apostle to refer simply to the distresses he had endured through the opposition he met with at Corinth. God permitted this, to keep the apostle humble."-Adam Clarke. "Several of the ancient Fathers, Chrysostom and Ecumenius, &c. by the 'thorn in the flesh' understand his afflictions and persecutions, which his adversaries, the messengers of Satan, brought upon him."-Pylo. Dr. Sumner, Bishop of Winchester, has maintained at some length, that the infliction was blindness; which opinion, also, found an independent advocate in the late Mrs. Hannah More. See The Ministerial Character of Christ, and Roberts's Life of Mrs. More. |