their hands is all along felt to be based, not on mechanical, The discussions but strictly philosophical principles. throughout afford a rare repast to a scientific mind, as compared with the small criticism, which goes to make up our popular science of criticism.

In our own distracted age, it is, perhaps, in vain for us to look for those grand poetic creations, which were at once. the bloom and the glory of the civilization of other days. With us a cold intellectualism, coupled with the spirit of negation, der Geist der stets verneint, has, in a great measure, dissolved the bonds of unity among men, and like a withering mildew, blasted the buddings of a child-like faith. May we not hope that our present state of disintegration is only transitional, designed by Providence to prepare the way for a more perfect unity and catholicity among men, than has ever yet been witnessed, when poetry shall take still higher flights, serve as the handmaid of faith and celebrate the union of heaven and earth, of God and man, as it has never done before.

A remark or two, suggested by the subject we have been considering, will close our present discussion.

The first remark we have to make, has regard to the kind of poets that should be read. A simple and very obvious rule is, that the greatest and the best should have a decided preference. This is a principle, which guides us in all our other selections. When we have access to cultivated fruit of a rare flavor, we do not collect the wild fruit of the mountain, and so, when the productions of the greatest geniuses that have ever lived are spread out before us, it does not argue the part of wisdom to pass them by, and to spend our time in communion with ordinary poets or writers of fiction. It is not wise, we say, to let Shakspeare lie unopened on our shelves, whilst we are trying to keep up with the current literature of the day, by being among the first to read every new work that makes a noise in the newspapers and professes to be a work of superior genius. Fiction should be read by all who aim at receiving

a liberal education, for when of the right kind, its tendency is to enoble and refine even more than science itself. But where shall it be found, if not in the works of those who have stood the test of the severest criticism. Of the ancient poets, that form a part of every regular course of liberal study, it is, of course, unnecessary for us here to speak. They are the best productions of antiquity. In our own literature, our great poets, Shakspeare, Spenser, Milton and a few others, should receive the first and the most prominent attention and careful reading. They are the sources from which most succeeding poets have caught their inspiration. Scott, though not so popular as he once was, nor so profound or spiritual as to be entitled to a place among poets of the first class, excels, however, in his descriptions of nature, and is, moreover, so pure in sentiment and feeling, that no one should deprive himself of the benefit of communion with him. Byron is a great poet, but not in the beginning nor the concluding part of his works. He of all others, has a magic spell for youthful minds. Imperceptibly he diffuses his misanthropic spirit into our breasts, and before we think of it, he would have us to array ourselves in a mad crusade against the human race as a whole. Some have been carried away so far by the Byronic spirit as to imitate his dress, his manners, his partiality for dogs, and even his fondness for intoxicating drinks. His better poems should be read, but with a critic's eye. The German language should be mastered, if for no other reason, with the view of reading Schiller and Goethe. The great Italian poets, are accessible to us in English translations. Dante, in particular, should be studied. The national epics of Spain and Portugal, the Cid and the Lusiad, we have in German translations. Lalla Rook is the nearest approach to an epic of Ireland. The poetry of ancient India has also been thrown open to us by the labor and industry of German scholars.

We have also a remark or two to make in regard to the manner and spirit in which the poets should be read. Poetry, as also the other fine arts, is frequently regarded as

nothing more than a source of pleasant enjoyment, an ele gant amusement for the scholar, an agreeable relaxation from severe study, or simply an innocent mode of passing an idle hour. But beauty is thus dishonored and dragged down into the sphere of mere sensation and feeling. Under this view, as Theologians or Christians, we could not be expected to take any special interest in advocating the claims of poetry. It would, indeed, be more consistent with the high purposes of a Christian education, as Plato proposed, to have them banished altogether from our li braries and institutions of learning. But from what has been said, as well as from what has not been said, for want of time, both poetry and her sister arts, have a higher vocation than to serve as a refined species of Epicureanism or animal enjoyment. They are, as already affirmed, under the control of law throughout and are as susceptible of being reduced to the form of science, as the starry heavens, or the wonders of the vegetable or mineral world. Poetry is, therefore, a proper subject for scientific study and investigation, as any one may assure himself, if he takes up Macbeth and Hamlet, or any other play of Shakspeare's, not for the love story or the fine sayings it may contain, but to understand it, to examine it in the evolution of its different parts-to grasp its unity and to trace it in its diversity. The science of criticism, as we have it in Kame's Elements, is here no adequate guide. Esthetics is a deeper science than that of criticism. It is indeed the only solid basis, upon which a true and reliable criticism can rest. In this new path of knowledge Carlyle and Coleridge have been our best pioneers, and have labored with good effect, in calling attention to it in the English language. But it may still be regarded as a science that is peculiarly German, and it is to German authors, that we must look for our best scientific guides in threading the mazes of art.

Poetry, we have said, should be read, not merely to drive away the horrors, or to satisfy our feelings of wonder or admiration, but for the purpose of scientific investigation. But there is still a higher point of observation, from which

it should be viewed. As a branch of art, it seeks to unfold the beautiful to our contemplation. This gives it a spiritual value, tends to raise it above nature and connects it with that world of purity, of truth and beauty, in which the troubled spirit of man looks for its eternal rest, when the toils and labors of this our sensuous life shall have come to an end. Natural, intellectual, or moral heauty, is an adumbration of that supernatural beauty, which emanates from God, and is reflected by happy spirits in their redeemed state. Here all art and science, and philosophy, which are given to us by our Creator, that they may serve as mute prophecies of his existence and glory find their vanishing point. Viewed in this light, art culminates in praise and divine worship, just as science finds its end in Theology, the knowledge of the true God. But viewed in any other light, the magnificent creations of the most gifted son of genius are merely phenominal, only gilded baubles on the ocean of life, or as one, who by experience, had realized the emptiness of earth, said:

like poppies spread;

You seize the flower, its bloom is shed,

Or like the snow falls in the river,

A moment white-then melts forever;

Or like the borealis race,

That flit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainbow's lovely form
Evanishing amid the storm.

Franklin and Marshall College,

Lancaster, Pa.

}

T. A.

VI.-ON EXTEMPORE PREACHING.

To a superficial observer there are many things which seem to prove that the Pulpit has lost much of that influence it once possesed over the popular mind; and that by means of the mass-meeting, the platform, the lecturer, and above all, the press, it is daily losing still more its hold on the people, and is destined to take a subordinate place among those moral and intellectual forces which move mankind. We have often heard this statement made, and more frequently we are able to discern the effect of a conviction of its truth in the minds and conduct of men. Even the ministry itself shows a want of ability in some cases, to see its real position, and to call in and depend upon its own resources. And such have launched forth into the very tempest of popular excitement and have dragged into the pulpit, topics the only recommendation of which was novelty, and which were better handled by those uneasy spirits who live, and move, and have their being amid tumult and uproar.

The minister of religion is a Samson shorn when he is thus taken captive by the spirit of this world; and however great may be his apparent success, or however popular may be his new themes of public address, the success is only apparent, his followers are a rope of sand, and not unfrequently it is his fate to outlive his reputation, and endure the inexpressible chagrin of beholding himself in the position of a plaything cast aside by a wayward child.

Let the minister of Jesus Christ remember that he is an ambassador of God, beseeching men, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God; and that the source of his real power and influence is the Spirit of the living God, which Christ hath promised shall be with His Church and His servants, guiding them into all Truth and giving the Truth, as proclaimed by the faithful pastor, a power over men's hearts,