peared among ourselves, he would, we doubt not, have been eminently popular; but his popularity would not have been of that specious nature which attracts, astonishes, and produces no abiding effect, for he not only strives to arrest and interest, but labours with eminent success to instruct and impress his hearers. Take for instance the following extracts from his fourteenth sermon, which is entitled

Sinners entreated to hear God's will,' the Text is, Heb. iii. 7, 8. "The Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." After some suitable and appropriate observations, Dr. P. thus proceeds,

Who, let me ask, are the persons that die suddenly and unexpectedly? Are they the feeble, the infirın? No, my hearers: observation will tell you, that they are the youthful, the vigorous, the strong. She will tell you, that, while the former, like a reed, bend before the blast and escape; the latter, like the stubborn oak, brave its fury, and are prostrated. She will tell you, and the physician will confirm her remark, that those who enjoy the most vigorous health, are most exposed to many of those diseases, which arrest their victims by surprise, and cut short the thread of life, as in a moment. Such is the wise appointment of him, in whose hands is our breath, that none may be tempted to abuse their health and vigour, by drawing from them encouragement to postpone preparation for death. Will you then, frustrate the design of this appointment? Will you boast of to-morrow as if it were your own, when you know not what a day may bring forth? You would pity and condemn the madness of a man, who should stake his whole fortune on the turn of a die, without the smallest prospect of gain. But, my delaying hearers, you are playing a far more dreadful and desperate game than this. You are staking your souls, your salvation, on the continuance of life; on an event as uncertain as the turn of the die. You stake them without any equivalent; for if life should be spared, you gain nothing but should it be cut short, you lose all, you are ruined for eternity. You run the risk of losing every thing dear, and of incurring

everlasting misery-for what? For the sake of living a little longer without religion, of spending a few more days or years in disobeying and offending your Creator, of committing sins which you know must be repented of. And is it wise, rather is it not madness, to incur such a risk? Let the following case furnish the reply. I will suppose that you intend to defer the commencement of a religious life for one year only. Select, then, the most healthy, vigorous person of your acquaintance; the man, whose prospects are fairest for long life, and say, whether you would be willing to stake your soul on the chance of that man's life continuing for a year? Would you be willing to say, I consent to forfeit salvation, to be miserable for ever, if that man dies before the expiration of a year? There is not, I presume, a single person present, who would not shudder at the thought of entering into such an engagement, if he supposed it would be binding. My delaying hearers, if you would not stake your salvation on the continuance of any other person's life, why will you stake it on the continuance of your own? Yet this you evidently do, when you resolve to defer repentance to a future period; for if you die before that period arrives, you die impenitent, unprepared, and perish for ever. O, then, play no longer this desperate game; a game, in which millions have staked and lost their souls; but if you intend ever to become religious, begin to-day, for to-morrow is not.-Pp. 259-261.

After proceeding at some length in this striking manner, the Dr. adds,

Permit me to remark, First--that if you do not commence a religious life today, there is great reason to fear that you will never commence it. This is a most important, as well as a most alarming truth; and could I persuade you to believe it, I should feel strong hopes, that you would comply with the exhortation in our text; for I venture to assert, that there is no one thing, which encourages you to neglect religion to-day, so much as a secret hope, that you shall become religious at some future time. Could this delusive hope be destroyed, could you be made to feel, that your eternal salvation depends on your becoming religious to-day, you would scarcely postpone it till to-morrow. Permit me then to attempt the destruction of this hope, by showing you how

groundless it is, and how many circumtances combine to render it probable, that, if you do not hear God's voice today, you never will hear it. With this view, 1 remark, that the very causes, which induce you to defer the commencement of a religious life, render it highly improbable that you will ever become religious. When this duty is urged upon you, you allege, perhaps, that you are not able to become religious, or that you cannot give your minds to it, or that you have not sufficient time for it, or you know not how to begin. Now, all these causes will operate with equal force another day. You will then feel just as unable, or, to speak more properly, just as unwilling to become religious, as you do now. When tomorrow arrives, you will, therefore, probably defer repentance to some future time; when that time arrives, you will again defer it; and will continue to pursue this course till life is spent. Would the work be rendered more easy by delay, there might be some appearance of a reason for deferring it. But it will not. On the contrary, every day's delay will render it more difficult. Your hearts, as you have already been reminded, will, to-morrow, be more hard and insensible than they are now; your sinful habits also will be more confirmed; your consciences will be less tender; you will be less susceptible of religious impressions; in a word, you will have greater difficulties to overcome, and less disposition to contend with them, than you have to-day. It is, therefore, exceedingly improbable, that those who neglect religion to-day, will attend to it to-morrow.-Pp. 265 -267.

The eleventh sermon in this volume deserves very serious attention-it is entitled Amiable In

stincts not Holiness;' and its object is to shew the danger of resting in amiable natural dispositions, instead of earnestly seeking for sanctifying grace. We can, however, only extract the following brief passage from this valuable discourse, and we select this on account of its throwing light on a somewhat difficult passage of holy writ.

This subject may assist us to understand that memorable declaration of Christ," From him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have." We have seen, that

every thing which appears to be naturally good and amiable in sinners, such as parental and filial affection, sympathy, or compassion, and a sweet natural temper, belongs to the animal soul. Now this dies with the body. Nothing survives death, but the immortal spirit. Of course, at death, sinners who have no grace, no real goodness, will lose all this apparent goodness, all those natural affections, which made them appear amiable here; and nothing will remain but a spirit wholly given up to the power and rage of malignant passions. Thus, from those who have no grace, no real goodness or holiness, will be taken away all which they now appear to have. O then, be persuaded, ye who now appear amiable, to seek the sanctifying grace of God. This alone can render your apparent goodness real, and cause it to be permanent. This alone can stamp on your souls that image of God, which consisteth in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, and without which no man shall ever see the Lord.-Pp. 217-218.

We had marked many striking and instructive passages in this volume. Our limits, however, compel us to omit all except the following, most glad shall we be if these extracts induce many se riously to peruse the whole publi

cation.

Dr. P. had just been speaking of the proofs afforded him that his labours were not altogether in vain. He then adds

Would to God, my friends, we could believe, that the class now addressed, included all in this assembly. But melancholy experience constrains us to believe, that the comparison in our text applies to many present, no less exactly than it did to the Jews. Means, as promising as God employed to effect their conversion, have been employed with you. Indeed, you enjoy far greater advantages than they did. They had only the Old Testament. You, in addition to that, enjoy the New. They were stumbled and perplexed by the mean circumstances in which Christ appeared, so different from what they expected. To you, the reasons of his appearing in this manner, are fully explained. They rejected the Sun of Righteousness, when he first rose, and · when his beams were comparatively feeble; you reject him, while shining in meridian splendour, and after his beams

have blessed the nations for more than eighteen hundred years, diffusing light and happiness wherever they come. They only heard the predictions of Christ; you have witnessed their exact fulfilment. They refused to hear Christ, while he spake on earth; you turn away your ears now he speaks from heaven. They refused to believe the testimony of prophets and apostles; you reject, not only their testimony, but that of all the multitudes of Christ's ministers, who have preached ever since. It is not surprising, therefore, that you should refuse to believe my testimony. I have exerted, to the utmost, the abilities God has given me; in his name, I have, by turns, reasoned and persuaded, exhorted and entreated, invited and threatened, warned and promised, prayed and wept, but to no purpose. I have set before you, all that is awful and all that is amiable, all that is alarming, and all that is alluring, but without effect. I have sounded the brazen trumpet of the law, but you have not mourned. I have blown the silver trumpet of the gospel, but you have not rejoiced. Other and more able ministers have also addressed you. You have, from this pulpit, heard, at different times, cogent reasoners, eloquent speakers, and impressive, persuasive preachers, endeavouring to prevail with you to embrace the gospel. But all have been in vain, and with respect to many of you, I fear, worse than in vain. My labours have now apparently less effect upon many of you than ever. Where they once made some impression, they now pass like water over a rock; where they once convinced, they now only irritate; where I was once received with affection, I am now considered as an enemy, because I tell you the truth. My friends-if, to labour, and watch, and pray for your salvation, with a heart broken with apprehension, and tortured with anxiety, lest you should fail of it; if, to goad on a worn out body and jaded mind to exertions in your behalf, under which nature sinks, and life becomes a burden; if, to desire your conversion more than riches, more than reputation, more than health, more than life, if these are marks of an enemy, then I am your enemy, and such an enemy, I trust, I shall continue to be to my last breath. In fact, if I except the tempter and the world, you have no enemies but yourselves. God, and Christ, and his servants, are your friends, or would be, if you would permit them :

but, alas, you will not. Often would they have gathered you, but ye would not. A deep rooted, unconquerable aversion to what you think the strictness of Christ's regulations, frustrates all the endeavours of your friends to save you. You know, that religion is important, you are convinced that it should be attended to; but you have no heart to it, you have no love for it, and, therefore, as you sometimes confess, you cannot give your minds to it. My friends, what will be the end of this? You have seen its end in the Jews. You know how terribly they were destroyed for neglecting Christ; and if they escaped not, who refused him, when he spake on earth, much more shall not ye escape, if ye turn from him who addresses you from heaven. Once more, then, we conjure you, by every thing sacred and every thing dear, by every thing dreadful and every thing desirable, to renounce your unreasonable opposition, and yield yourselves the willing servants of Christ.-Pp. 193-195.

The perusal of these volumes has forcibly recalled an idea which has often strongly been impressed on our minds-namely, the duty and importance of pious ministers preparing from time to time a few select sermons which may be ready for publication in case God should call them unexpectedly away, and by which, being dead, they may still speak. It is not every minister whose sermons are worth publishing, and many have been grievously disappointed, who have endeavoured in this way to obtain a little pecuniary relief; but in most cases there are some who, while standing over a beloved pastor's grave, are desirous of some permanent memorial of his ministrations, and a few plain sermons may thus be handed down from generation to generation, be perused with reverence and affection, and be owned of God to the salvation of many, as we trust will be the case with these volumes long after the writers have returned to the dust. Posthumous fame, said the father of Mr. Scott, is very vanity, but posthumous usefulness, is what we should all earnestly desire.

The Political Duties of the Ministers of Religion in Times of Great National Excitement. By the Rev. J. W. Cunningham, A. M. Vicar of Harrow. 8vo. Pp. iv. 42. Hatchards, 1832.

Letters to J. E. Gordon, Esq. M. P. Shewing the true nature of the evils of the country; the inadequacy of the remedy hitherto proposed, and the only true remedy, and the mode of procuring its adoption, with an Appendix, containing a brief estimate of the comparative effects of Popery and Protestantism on National Morals. By M. S. G. 8vo. Pp. viii. and 88. Seeleys. 1832.

Mr. Cunningham states first the negative duties of the clergy in such periods as the present, under which general head, he maintains that they should anxiously shrink from every thing like political notoriety, that the less they have to do with politics, the better for themselves and for the country, that they should avoid the character of a political partizan, should take care, lest their leaning to any particular system in politics betray them into the vindication of what is wrong in morals, or the violation of what is right. Mr. C. then considers the positive duties, under which he lays down the obligation to give the strongest footing, and the widest preference to those fundamental principles on which all true policy depends; to cherish amidst contending political parties, a spirit of candour and kindness, and to labour to qualify the people for the discharge of any new obligation which may devolve upon them.

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The letters to Mr. Gordon abound in weighty and valuable remarks and observations, and deserve a careful perusal by every well-wisher to his country. We have indeed on or two occasions been induced to pause and say, 'Is this position quite correct?' but as a whole, the letters deserve very high commendation. The following passage, however, strikes us as deserving attentive consideration in connexion with Mr. Cunningham's pamphlet.

"But it will be objected again, that

such exertions as I have pointed out are not the duty of the Clergy, nor consistent with their duty-that they have nothing to say to politics. This was not the opinion of God when he said to Jeremiah, Then saith the Lord, go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, see Jer. xxii.Is. lviii.-Ez. ii. Here we find that

Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were political prophets, yea, and so were all the prophets from Elijah to Malachi. And shall the ministers of God hold their peace when they find their best exertions counteracted and marred by the proceedings of our legislature, and thousands of unhappy souls led to perdition through the infidel, thoughtless, and inconsistent conduct of those in high places? I do not find in all scripture a charge against a prophet for being a political prophet, but I find it very emphatically laid to the charge of many, that they were dumb, dogs that could not bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. To the present day, the tendency of poor human nature is to the latter fault. I admit, however, that a priest may very criminally mix himself up in politics. I conceive that he does so when the object at which he aims has not a very decided connexion with the spiritual interests of his people -in fact he has nothing to do with national politics as such, but he has much to do with national religion."

In connexion with these observations it should be remembered that Roman Catholic Emancipation has introduced Messrs. O'Connell, Sheil, &c. into the House of Commons-that the Reform Bill will open the door to sixty or seventy more Papists. Is not then the national religion in danger; and ought not the Ministers of religion to warn their people of that danger which they so clearly foresee?

The Course of Divine Judgments, Eight Lectures principally in reference to the present times, and the impending Pestilence, delivered during the Season of Advent, 1831, at Godstone, Surrey. By the Ven. Charles James Hoare, M. A. 12mo. Pp. xii, and 164. Hatchards.

The Cholera: or God's voice in the Pestilence. A Sermon by the Rev. James Taylor, A. M. Lecturer of St. John's, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Third edition, 12mo. Pp. 36. Hatchards.

This sermon contains most useful and appropriate warnings and instructions. The profits of it are appropriated to such Widows or Orphans as are left destitute by the afflictive visitation; for whose relief also the author kindly receives subscriptions, &c.

A Concise View of the Succession of Sacred Literature, in a Chronological Arrangement of Authors and their works, from the Invention of Alphabetical Characters to the Year of our Lord 1300. By J. B. B. Clarke, M. A. Vol. II. 8vo. Pp. xx. and 770. Clarke. 1832.

A Call to Union, addressed chiefly to the Members of the British and Foreign Bible Society. By the Rev. Thomas Dikes, LL. B. Incumbent Minister of St. John's, Hull. 8vo. Pp. 18. Seeleys. 1832.

Eruvin: or Miscellaneous Essays on Subjects connected with the Nature, History, and Destiny of Man. 12mo. Pp. 290. Nisbet, 1831.

We have here ten Essays on the nature and object of revelation-the impediments to the right understanding of Scripture-Man before the fall-Satan -the Consequences of the fall-Fallen Angels-the Kingdom of MessiahThe Regeneration and the Modern Doctrine of Miracles.-All interesting and most of them important topics, but they are here treated in a lively, offhand, and somewhat flippant manner, which recalled to our minds, the old line, which yet we would by no means offensively apply,

Fools will rush in, where angels fear to tread.

The perusal of the little volume has led us to feel, how little we really know. What a mixture of intelligence and folly is often to be met with in the same individual!-To what a boundless extent speculation may be carried; and after all, to what little purpose ! O, what need have we of the caution, "Secret things belong to the Lord our God, and, those which are revealed to us, and our children after us." "Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole of man." after all what does it really concern us, how long Adam was in paradise before

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the fall; or what would have been his state had he never sinned; or whether the Sons of God were angels, or the professors of true religion; or whether beasts have a knowledge and love of God, &c. &c. Such speculations may occupy the mind, and divert it from the contemplation of Christ, and communion with God, and meditation on his word, and the pursuit of holiness: and may thus afford the great enemy of souls an advantage against us; we are therefore compelled to characterize this volume, as another specimen of misapplied talent, and as much more calculated to mislead than to edify.

The Doctrine of Spiritual Gifts dispassionately examined. By a Clergyman of the Church of England. 12mo. Pp. 36. Nisbet.

Hints to a Clergyman's Wife, or Female Parochial Duties practically illustrated. 12mo. Pp. viii. and 204. Holdsworth. 1832.

This small volume contains many very sensible and judicious observations, every way deserving of serious attention, and clearly pointing out in what numerous ways a clergyman's wife may assist in diffusing religious knowledge, and promoting peace and happiness among his parishioners.

A Treatise on the Authority, Ends, and Observance of the Christian Sabbath. With an Appendix, containing a variety of Documentary Evidence respecting Prevalent Abuses, and means for their suppression. By the Rev. Duncan Macfarlan, Minister of Renfrew. 12mo. Pr. and 272.

Whittaker.