THE
BIBLICAL REPERTORY
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PRINCETON REVIEW
PHILADELPHIA :
JAMES A. PEABODY, PROPRIETOR,
J. BOGART, PRINTER PRINCETON.
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library
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INDEX TO VOL. X.
ABOLITIONISTS, Objections to, 603.
ALPHABET, Roman, Application of, 396.
ANTIGUA, Emancipation in, 618.
ANTIQUITIES, Christian, Compend of, by C. S. Henry, Review of, J53.
APHORISMS, Eleven, for every Pastor, 31.
ASSEMBLY of 1838, 457.— Of 1638 (Scotland), 382.
BAPTIST Version of the Bible, 413. — History of, 415. — Doings of Phila- delphia Convention, respecting, 418. — f3a<x<ri^u, 422, 428, 429, 435. — Bible Society, design of, 423. — Difficulties to be encountered in making such a Version, 430. — Consequences of such Version, 442.
BAPTISTS, Concessions respecting word 435. — Their quib-
bles, 437. — Point in controversy with them not settled, 439. — Not the only Denomination which is to convert the Heathen, 447. — Their apology un- satisfactory, 453. — Charges against American Bible Society groundless, 454.
BARBADOES, Emancipation in, 619.
BASTINADO, Description of, 63.
BEETHOVEN’S Style of Composition, 358.
BISHOP, Office of, in the early church, 172.
BURKE as an Orator, 349.
CHARLES I. Tour through Scotland, 273.
CHILDREN, Advantages of attention to, by a Pastor, 23, 27. — Ideas early impressed permanent, 24. — Renders his ministry more profitable to young 25. — Binds them to the church of their fathers, 25. — Attaches them to his person, 26. — Wins the hearts of parents, 27. — An effectual way of reaching parents, 27. — Same principles applicable to missionary stations, 29. — Ele- ven aphorisms on this subject Jor the minister, 31.
CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITIES, Compendium of, by C. S. Henry, review- ed, 153. — Nota fair abridgement of Bingham, 155. — Does not give correct information on the topics treated, 155. — Examples, 157. — Sponsors, 157. — Liturgies, 159. — Posture at Communion, 169. — Establishment in early church, 171. — Office of bishop, 172. — Chorepiscopi, 172. — Difference be- tween bishops and elders, 174. — Confirmation, 175. — Christmas, 177. — A work ad captandum, 178.
CHURCH, Presbyterian, state of, 243. — Separation of Congregationalism from Presbyterian church the avowed object of the General Assembly, 244
IV
Index.
Examination of arguments of Chancellor Kent and Mr. Wood, 261. — The right to the property examined, 263.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, History of, from Reformation to Revolution. Bv Geo. Cook D.D, 362. — Its early form of government, 362. — Origin of superintendants, 363. — Episcopacy how esteemed then, 364. — Assembly’s proceedings in regard to it, 366. — Presbytery sanctioned by law A.D. 1592. 368. — Conduct of James, 368. — Episcopacy forced on the church, 371. Effect of introduction of liturgy, 270. — Character of Presbyterian party, 374. — Assembly of 1638, 382.
COCHIN CHINA, Embassy to, 179.
COMPREHENSIVE COMMENTARY, Noticed, 505.
COVENANTERS, Origin of, 376.
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERY, Dissolved by Synod of Kentucky, 481.
DEAD SEA. notices of, 81, 83.
DICTIONARY, Union Bible noticed, 322.
DRAWING, Art of, 271, 275.
EDOM, Prophetic denunciations against it fulfilled, 78, 80.
EDUCATION, and school government, by E. C. Wines, noticed, 510.
EMANCIPATION in West Indies, account of, 602.
EMBASSY to courts of Cochin China, Siam and Muscat, by Edmund Ro- berts reviewed, 1 79. — Contains observations worthy the attention of commer- cial men, 180. — Gives authentic accounts of Chinese education, 180.
ERASMUS, Illustration of character and spirit of, 14.
EXPOSITORY PREACHING, most natural and obvious mode of convey- ing the import of Scripture, 34. — Has the sanction of ancient usage, 34, 38. — Other advantages of, 39, 48. — This method requires much labor, 54. Leighton and Summerfield as lecturers, 54. — Testimony of Dr. J. M. Mason.
FLINTER, Col. account of Porto Rico, 602.
FOREIGN MISSIONS, in Presbyterian church, historical sketch of, bv A. Green, D.D. 335.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY of 1838, 457.— Conduct of Mr. Cleveland, and others, 458. — Lawsuit, 460. — Sentiments of New School, 461. — New theo- ry of Presbyteiianism examined, 464. — Right of the assembly to decide who is entitled to a seat, 490. — Mistakes of the seceders in their organiza- tion, 491. — Moderator’s conduct constitutional, 493. — The acts of the As- sembly vindicated, 500.
GILCHRIST, His scheme of writing the Indian Alphabet, 406.
GREEN. Dr. Ashbel, his history of missions reviewed, 335.
GRAPHICS, Manual of drawing and writing, by Rembrant Peale, reviewed,
Index.
V
■871. — General views of the author, 271. — Suggestions by the author on instruction, 272. — Drawing promotes accuracy of observation, 276. — Ne- cessary to mathematician, naturalist, and traveller, 278.
GRAMMAR of Hebrew language, by Dr. Isaac Nordheimer reviewed, 196. — An original work, 19S. — Arrangement good, 200. — Learned work, 201. — Letters, 203. — Valuable set of Hebrew technics, 205. — Dagheesh, 205. — Accents, 206. — Consonants, 207. — Roots, 209. — Doctrine of tenses, 212. — Imperfect verbs, 216. — Noun, 216.
HAMILTON, Marquis of. his conduct towards the covenanters, 376. — Con- duct in Assembly of 1638, 385. — Abrupt departure, 388.
HENGSTENBERG, his work on the Pentateuch, 542.
HERVEY ISLANDS, missions among, 141, 145.
HOVEY, Rev. Sylvester, letters from West Indies, review of, 602.
IMPERFECTION of man, evidences of, 126,138.
INCIDENTS of travel in Arabia Petrsea, and the Holy land, by an Ameri- can, review of, 55. — Preparation to ascend the Nile, 59. — Pilgrims at Cairo 63. — Bastinado, 63. — Pilgrims at Suez, 65. — Fountain of Moses, 66. — Passage of Red Sea, by Israelites, 65. — Sinai, 68. — Journey toPetrrea, 73. — Ruins of Petrsa, 75. — Mt. Hor, 78. — Edom, 76 — Dead Sea, 81, 83.
INDIA, Geographical, historical and descriptive picture of, by Robert Mudie, reviewed, 220. — Use of term “India” 220. — Face of country, 221. — Fa- cilities of communication, 221. — Productions, 222. — Climate, 223. — Popu- lation, 324. — British power in India, 225. — Hindoos a distinct fa- mily of the human race, 225. — Their employments, 22.6. — Caste and cus- tom, 226 — Society, manners, and civilization, 227. — Hindoo Knowledge, 227. — Writings sacred, 229. — Mass of people ignorant, 230. — Their religion, 230. — Field of missionary labor, 233. — Favourable indications for spread of Christianity, 237. — Approaching crisis on religious concerns of India, 240. — System must be removed, 241.
INDIAN AFFAIRS, Mr. H. Everett's Report on, to the House of Repre- sentatives of United States of America, reviewed, 513. — Present condition of Indian tribes, some original tribes extinct, 514. — Reasons for plan of their removal, 514. — This plan adopted under Monroe, 516. — Disapproval by Secretary Barbour, 516. — Right of general government limited, 517. — Accounts of the country various, 518. — Location of Choctaws, 520. — Chickasaws, 521. — Creeks, 521. — Cherokees, 523.— Osages, 526. — Frag- ments of other tribes, 528. — New York tribes propose to remove, 528. — General remarks on tribes west of the Mississippi, 529. — Schools among Indians, 530. — “New System” of education, 531. — Applied to eight Indian languages, 532. — Choctaw academy of Georgetown, Ky., 533. — Number of Indians, 534. — Our hopes for Indians, 534.
JAMAICA, Emancipation in, 620.
JONES, Sir William, his plan of writing the Indian Alphabet, 405.
VI
Index.
JUSTIFICATION by Faith denied in Oxford Tracts, 104, 107, 111.
JONAS, Justus, professor at Wittenburg, 20.
LITURGIES, whether used in the primitive church, 159. — Introduction into Scotland, and opposition to them, 373.
MAN, his relative and permanent grade in the scale of intellectual being, 122. — Relative rank will continue forever the same, 122. — Future life in many respects superior to present, 122. — His understanding small, suggested by three considerations, 126 — 128. — I. By disadvantages of our intellectual ocnstitution, at the beginning almost no understanding, 126. — Ascent from this toilsome, 127. — Necessity of intellectual discipline, 128. — Imperfection in the exercise of attention, 128. — Memory, 130. — Its very existence evi dence of imperfection, 131. — II. Doctrine illustrated by imperfection of our knowledge. — Of the world of sense, 132. — Of the science of mind, 133. — Of politics, 133. — Of morals, 135. — III. Doctrine illustrated by failure of our knowledge in its practical results, 136. — The three classes of human imperfection above enumerated are not all, 1 38.
MELANCTHON, Notice of his letters lately published, 1. — Illustrate the history of the reformation, 2. — His name, 3. — Early letters abound in class- ical allusions, 5. — But little Christian spirit in them, 7. — Melancthon as a lecturer, 7, 12. — Change in his religious feelings, 8. — Enlists in reforma- tion, 10. — Luther and Melancthon, 12.
MELVIL, Andrew, the great advocate of Presbytery in the General Assem- blies of 1575, 6, and 7, of Scotland, 364. — Dies in prison, 370.
MISSIONARIES, their attention should not be turned from schools exclu- sively to preaching, 31. — Demand for a new order, 321.
MOZAMBIQUE, account of Portuguese colony at, 192.
MUDIE, Robert, his work on India, 220.
MUSCAT, Remarks concerning, 183. — Location, harbour, 184. — Navy and commerce, 185. — Modern history of, 186. — Description of vicinity, 188. — Importance of, 189. — Increase of navy, 191. — Value as a Missionary post, 192.
MUSIC OF NATURE, by Wm. Gardiner, 347. — Sounds of nature reduced to musical notation, 348. — Elocution, requisites of a good orator, 349. — Practice of reading in pulpit injurious, 350. — Means of strengthening the human voice, 354. — Gradual improvement of Psalmody since the time of Luther, 356. — Character of the productions of the great European compo- sers, 358. — Serious difficulties arising from choirs, 359.
NEW ECHOTA, Treaty of, 523.
NEW TESTAMENT, by William Tyndale, First translation of N. T. made in English language, 325. — Groundwork of all subsequent versions 326. — Valuable reprint of Mr. Offer (1836), 329. — Accuracy of Tyndale’s version, 330. — Tyndale’s early life, education, &c., 331. — Becomes a friar,
Index.
Vll
332. — Tutor of Sir John Welch — retires to London, 335. — Opposition he met from Sir Thomas More, 337. — Leaves England and publishes his Tes- tament, suffers shipwreck, 338. — Effect of his Testament on England, 339. Tyndale’s works, character, manner of life, &c., 344. — Suffers martyrdom after two years imprisonment in castle of Vilvoord, 344.
NORDHEIMER, Dr. Isaac, his grammar of Hebrew language, review of, 196.
NOTICES of new publications, 150, 321, 504.
ORDINATION by Presbyters acknowledged by Archbishop of Canterbury, 371.
OWEN, Dr. John, his concession in regard to Baptism, 438.
OXFORD TRACTS, reviewed 84. — Contributors, 84. — Unfriendly ter Christian Observer, 85. — Key of the series 86. — System briefly exhibited, 88. — Their regard for the papal church and severity to the reformers, 91. — Language of these tracts contrasted with that of homilies and reformers of theEnglish church respecting the Romish church, 93. — The church, the centre of the system, 98. — Apostolical succession, 100. — Power of the priesthood, 101. View of justification, 104, 107, 111. — Sacraments, 108. — View of sin, 1 10. — Rule of faith, 113.
PEALE, Rembrandt his work on Graphics, 271.
PENTATEUCH, authenticity of, by Hengstenberg 542--Opinions of neolo^ gists respecting, 543. — Influence of Spencer, Clericus and Michaelis, 545-7.- Author of Pentateuch, 551.
PETRA, city of, 73-
PETRAEA, Arabia travels in, 55.
PHYSICAL, Theory of another life, review of, 121.
PHRENOLOGY, Lectures by Thomas Sewall, review of, 279. — Grounds of the science, 280. — Gall andSpurzheim, 284. — Principles of the science ex- amined, 286. — Absence of facts, 312. — Merits of the science as a theory of the mind, 319.
POPERY advocated in the Oxford Tracts, 85, 114.
ROMAN ALPHABET, new application of, 396. — Expediency of introdu- cing the English language into India, 401. — Hindoo sounds expressed by Roman letters, 407.
SEWALL, Thos. M.D. his work on phrenology, review of, 279.
SHERWOOD, Dr. new discoveries of, 506.
SIAM, Embassy to court of, 179.
SINAI, Mt. visit to, &c. 68.
SLAVERY, difference of opinion respecting, 603. — Spanish laws respecting,. 616.
Index.
via
SOUTH SEA ISLANDS, review of missionary enterprise in, 140. — Origin of the inhabitants, 48.
ST. CATHARINE, convent of, 70.
THOME and KIMBALL, tour through West Indies reviewed, 602.
TIDES in South Seas peculiar, 148.
VAUGHAN, agent of English King to inveigle Tyndale, 341.
WATTS, Dr. Lyric poems, by Southey, noticed, 321.
WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, 602.— Results of, 625.
WEST INDIES, state of, before emancipation, 615.
WILBERFORCE, Wm. life of, reviewed, 560. — His early years, 561. — member of parliament, 563. — Brought under influence of gospel truth by Mr. Milner, 566. — Exertions for the reformation of manners, 569. — Efforts to abolish slave trade, 570. — Not a modern abolitionist, 571. — Labours for the evangelization of India, 579. — His “practical view,” 579. — His death, 589. — Opinions respecting him, 593.
WILLIAMS, John, narrative, &c. reviewed, 140.
WINES, E. C. on popular education and school government, noticed, 610.
WOLSEY, Cardinal, his conduct towards Tyndale, 339.
YEOMANS, Rev. J. W. his address before a literary society in La Fayette College, 510-
Gjr- A full Index of the contents of the Repertory from 1829 to 1837 in- clusive, will probably be prepared during the ensuing year : certainly if sub- scribers will signify their wish, through agents or by mail, post paid, to possess it at a moderate rate, sufficient to cover the cost. Early notice to this effect, after receiving this number, is indispensable.
RECOMMENDATION.
In order to promote unity of sentiment on topics of vital importance to the in- terests of the Presbyterian Church, and to present able discussions of subjects of general interest to Christians, the undersigned think that some such vehicle as the Biblical Repertory is needed, and will go far, if generally patronized, to allay the present difficulties of the Church. We therefore cheerfully recommend the Bib- lical Repertory to the Christian public.
Jno. M. Campbell, Pastor 1st Presbyterian Church, Albany, N. Y.
W. B. Sprague, Pastor 2d Presbyterian Church, Albany, N. Y.
Tryon Edwards, Pastor 1st Church, Rochester, N. Y.
Joseph Penney, President Hamilton College, N. Y.
W. W. Phillips, Pastor 1st Presbyterian Church, N. Y.
Gardiner Spring, Pastor Brick Church, N. Y.
Joseph M’Elroy, Pastor Scotch Presbyterian Church, N. Y.
George Potts, Pastor Duane street Church, N. Y.
John M. Krebbs, Pastor Rutger street Church, N. Y.
Ashbel Green, Philadelphia.
Fr M’Farland, Corr. Sec’ry Board of Education, Philadelphia.
Cors. C. Cuyler, Pastor 2d Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia.
John M’Bowell, Pastor Central Church, Philadelphia.
Henry A. Boardman, Pastor 10th Presbyterian Church, Philad.
John C. Backus, Pastor 1 st Presbyterian Church, Baltimore.
William M’Pheeters, Fayetteville, N. C.
H. Potter, North Carolina.
Jas. W. Douglass, Pastor Presbyterian Church, Fayetteville, N. C. Thomas Smyth, Pastor 2d Church, Charleston, S. C.
R. Post, Pastor Circular Church, Charleston, S. C.
Wm. C. Dana, Pastor 3d Church, Charleston, S. C.
Erastus Hopkins, Pastor Church Beech Island, S. C.
Benj. Gildersleeve, Editor Charleston Observer.
Sami. K. Talmage, Professor Oglethorpe University, Georgia.
C. H. Howard, Professor do. do. do.
Wm. L. Breckinridge, Pastor Presbyterian Church, Louisville, Ky. John C. Young, President Centre College, Danville, Ky.
Lewis Green, Professor do. do.
A. B. Leland, Professor Theol. Sem. Columbia, S. C.
George Howe, do. do.
Philip Lindsley, President University, Nashville, Tenn.
John T. Edgar, Pastor Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tenn,
George Baxter, Professor Theol. Sem. Prince Edward, Va.
Hiram P. Goodrich, do. do. do.
E. Balentine, do. do. do.
James H. Thornwell, South Carolina.
George W. Musgrave, Pastor 3d Presbyterian Church, Baltimore.
The names of persons recommending the Repertory, to an almost indefinite num- ber, might be added to the preceding list, but it is unnecessary.
'
CONTENTS OF NO. I.
A bt. I. — Melancthon’s Letters, . I
Abt. II. — The importance of peculiar attention on the part of Ministers of
the Gospel to the Children of their charge, ... 23
Abt. III. — Remarks on the Disuse of Expository Preaching, . . 33
Abt. IV, — Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petrcea, and the Holy
Land. By an American, with a map and engravings, . 55
Abt. V. — Tracts for the Times. By Members of the University of Oxford, 84
Abt. VI. — Physical Theory of Another Life. By the Author of Natural
History of Enthusiasm, .119
Abt. Vn. — A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Is- lands, with remarks upon the Natural History of the Islands, Origin, Languages, Traditions, and Usages of the Inhabitants.
By John Williams, of the London Missionary Society, . 140
Quarterly List of New Books and Pamphlets, 150
THE
BIBLICAL REPERTORY.
JANUARY 183 8.
No. I.
Art. I. — Melancthon' s Letters .*
Whoever feels ‘an interest in the Reformation, feels an interest in Melancthon; and yet, to judge others by our- selves, he is comparatively little known. The noble edition of Luther’s correspondence, published by De Wette, which is, in fact, the best biography of Luther, made us wish for something of the same kind, to bring us personally acquainted with Magister Philippus. We supposed, however, that the epistolary remains of Melancthon would probably not prove so illustrative of his history and character, as those of his more ardent and open-hearted colleague. We even doubted whether there existed a sufficient mass of his letters, to form a collection of tolerable size. We are, therefore, both sur- prised and pleased to see three goodly quartos, filled with the miscellaneous papers, chiefly letters, of Melancthon. While we gratify our own curiosity respecting them, we propose to take our readers with us, for the purpose of afford- . ing them a glimpse at Master Philip, through the faithful glass of his own private correspondence. Before doing this,
* Corpus Reformatorum ed. C. G. Bretschneider. (Philippi Melanthonis Opera quae supersunt omnia.) Vol. I. — III. — (Epistolae, Praefationes, Consilia, Judicia, Schedae Academicae.) 4to.
VOL. X. NO. 1.
1
2
Early Letters of Melancthon. [January
however, we must give them some account of the great work, of which these volumes are the welcome beginning.
The last edition of Luther’s works was that of Walch, published at Halle, in 1740 and the following years. This edition was out of print ten years ago, and the proprietor applied to Dr. Bretschneider to prepare a new one. Instead of this, Dr. B. advised him to project a Corpus Reformato- rum or complete collection of the works of the Reformers, of which he undertook to be the editor. A prospectus was accordingly issued in September 1827, proposing a uniform and cheap edition of the works of Luther, Melancthon, Zwingle, Calvin, and the Reformers of inferior rank, includ- ing their correspondence, and excluding nothing but their biblical translations, with a critical revision of the text in works already published, and a careful impression of inedited manuscripts, every sentence to be published in the language it was written in, without alteration of style, but in the mo- dern orthography. Original manuscripts of the Reformers were, at the same time, earnestly solicited, and the public were informed, that as Luther’s works had been repeatedly published, and those of Zwingle were elsewhere in the press, the series would commence with the Praeceptor Germa- niae, Melancthon. The publication of the work was de- layed by various causes, but the delay enlarged the editor’s collection of inedited letters, with which he had determined to commence the series.
At the very opening of the book, we are surprised and encouraged by the editor’s statement, that Melancthon’s let- ters are no less illustrative of history than Luther’s, and far more numerous, as he was particularly fond of letter-wri- ting, and actually wrote more than most of his contempora- ries. This being the case, it is a curious fact, that he was in the habit of correcting and re-writing what he wrote, to a degree which would be thought incredible, in the absence of the interlined and blotted autographs. To illustrate this, the editor has given one of his letters, with the erasures of the manuscript printed at length, and they appear to form at least one half.
The estimate placed upon Melancthon, as a letter-writer, by his contemporaries, appears from the fact that collections of his letters were formed while he was living, and various editions of them, more or less extensive, came out imme- diately upon his death. Of these Dr. Bretschneider gives a particular and critical account, and the number on his list
1838.]
Early Letters of Mclanct/ion.
3
amounts to twenty-three. Of most of these we do not scru- ple to confess our ignorance, and most of our readers will be satisfied with knowing, that these collections include only Latin letters, and that their compilers have allowed them- selves great license in alteration and abridgment. With respect to this last point, we may observe that one great merit of the work before us, as well as of Luther’s letters by De Wette, is the critical labour bestowed upon the text. This sort of learning would, with us, be looked upon as wasted if bestowed on such a subject; but the learned Ger- mans despise every thing uncritical, and there is certainly a great satisfaction in the assurance, which this method gives us, that we have before us the ipsissima verba of the great Reformer.
We feel the less ashamed of our ignorance in reference to the extant letters of Melancthon, when we find Dr. Bret- schneider saying: “Who can turn over the two hundred books and pamphlets in which the epistles of Melancthon are dispersed ? But why do I speak of turning over ? Who so much as knows any thing about them ?” (Introd. p. 96.) The extent of the collections made by Bretschneider himself will appear from the statement, that, without reckoning sin- gle letters, but only such manuscripts as contain a number, he enumerates and describes 104.
Philip Sehwarzerd was born in the dominions of the Elec- tor Palatine, Feb. 16, 1497. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, at Heidelberg, when fourteen years of age; and that of Master, at Tubingen, three years later. His first known appearance as an author, was in 1514, in a preface to a collection of letters from distinguished men to Reuchlin, who had promoted his studies, and at whose suggestion he exchanged his German name, Sehwarzerd, meaning Black- earth, for the synonymous Greek compound, Melanchthon. This name, thus written, he retained until the year 1531, when he softened it, by dropping one of the Greek gutturals, into Melanthon, to which form he afterwards adhered, ex- cepting in a very few cases, where he wrote Melantho. Our English form, Melancthon, he seems never to have * used; it is indeed a mere corruption, altogether inconsistent with the Greek orthography. We retain it, however, to avoid confusion, and from strong dislike to orthographical innovation. Dr. Bretschneider uniformly writes Melanthon.
The earliest letters in this collection are mere letters of friendship, or on classical subjects. The first that possesses
4
Early Letters of Mela net hon. [January
any general interest, is a German letter of Reuchlin, to the Elector of Saxony, May 7, 1518, in answer to that prince’s application for a professor of Greek and one of Hebrew, in his new university of Wittenberg. With respect to a He- brew professor, he informs him, that he had sent for one Icolampadius (Oecolampadius), preacher at Weinsberg, but that the Basel men had plucked him out of his hands, and the only other competent person, not a monk, whom he pro- fesses to know, throughout all Germany, is Dr. Paulus Ri- cius, physician to Cardinal von Gurck, whom he advises the elector to apply for, to the cardinal himself. In case of fail- ure, as a last resort, he names a bare-footed friar, called Con- rad Pelican, who might be obtained by application to the superiors of the order. As to the employment of converted Jews, Reuchlin justly observes, that unless they have re- ceived a classical education, they are incompetent to teach the language scientifically. As to the Greek professor, he informs the elector, that to gratify his highness, and promote the cause of learning, he had determined to give up a most intimate friend, relative, and pupil of his own, “ Meister Philip Schwarzerd von Bretten,” who, though comfortably settled and provided for at Tubingen, “ is willing,” says Reuchlin, “in this matter, to do just what I tell him.” As to money matters he can make no bargain, as he does not know the cost of living at Wittenberg; but Reuchlin stipu- lates that, if he is not accepted, his expenses, thither and home again, must be defrayed. This agreement seems a little curious, when looked at, in the bright light of Philip’s subsequent distinction. It is pleasant, however, to have a sight of the private affairs and every-day actions of illustrious men, even before they rose to eminence. For this cause we quote the following paragraph of Reuchlin’s letter.
“ Now, most gracious prince and lord, it is really necessary that Master Philip should get ready for his journey, and bring all his books along with him ; for without many books, especially in a university, no one can either teach or study well. He has therefore, determined, at the next Frankfort fair, to send his books to Wittenberg, by the merchants of your country, and to ride with them himself, as the roads and places are unknown to him. I therefore beg your grace to give orders to some merchant belonging to your grace, to take charge of the man in your grace’s name, to travel with him, and to look well both to him and his books, that he and they may come to your grace safely. He may be found, next Frankfort fair, in Book-row, at the house of Master Thomas Anshelm, bookseller and printer from Hagcnau.” I. 30.
Two months later, Melancthon writes to Reuchlin at Stuttgart, expressing his readiness to go wherever he might
1838.]
Early Letters of Melancthon.
5
send him, and his anxiety to get away from Tubingen, where he had no employment, suited to his genius and precocious learning, and was therefore, as he says himself, busy doing nothing — nihil agendo occupatus — or, to quote a still more expressive phrase, becoming a boy again among the boys — re- puerasco inter pueros. It appears from this letter that no an- swer had arrived from the elector, but he was expected to write from Augsburg. This, like the earlier letters of Melancthon, is almost disfigured with scrapsof Greek and classical allusions. In none of them, thus far, is there any expression of a reli- gious kind, except such as are imitated from the heathen writers. Reuchlin’s answer to the letter just referred to, is so interesting from the great celebrity and relative position of the correspondents, and from the light it throws on Me- lancthon’s disposition, at this early age, that we must quote it entire. It is dated at Stuttgart, July 24, 1518.
•“ To the learned Master of Arts, Philip Melancthon, my cousin.
“ Here is the letter of the most religious prince, signed with his own hand, in which he promises you kindness and his favour. I shall, therefore, no longer address you poetically, but make use of God’s true promise, given to faithful Abraham. Egredere de terra tua, &c. This is from Genesis xii. Thus my mind presages, and thus I hope it will be with thee, my Philip, my work, my consolation. Come, therefore, -with a glad and cheerful mind. But first, have all your goods brought, by some carrier, in a wagon, to my house in Stutt- gart. There we can select what you will want at Wittenberg, and every thing shall be done under my direction. But if you will (and I advise it) go first to your mother, by the way of Phorce, and, after taking leave of all your friends, come back to me. As soon as you can, however, lest you should lose this fine opportunity of going with the prince. I have positively written to him, that you would come. And that you may see how much his courtiers and chamber- lains make of you, I send you a letter from Dr. Spalatin, who rides in the car- riage with the prince himself. This is the summa rerum. Collect whatever you want into a trunk, or some other convenient receptacle, and send it by a one-horse-chaise to Stuttgart. And that as soon as possible. Then, after taking leave of all you friends at Tubingen, go home to your mother, taking Phorce in your way, and when you have saluted Augustin and my sister, come back to me, not creeping but on wings. Princes’ affairs are changeable ; I fear the elector may go back from Augsburg without you. These things I advise, and that you l>e of an unbroken mind, not a -woman but a man. A prophet is not accepted in his own country.” I. 32.
In Reuchlin’s letter to the elector, dated the next day, in- troducing “ Meister Philipps Schtvarzerd,” he says of him, “I know none among the Germans who is above him, ex- cept Herr Erasmus Roterodamus, and he is a Dutchman. He beats us all in Latin.”
Melancthon set out upon his journey about the middle of August. One of the Tubingen doctors said, on this occasion, that his departure was a public loss, and that no one left was
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Early Letters of Melancthon. [January
learned enough to estimate the learning of the man whom they had lost. At Augsburg he paid his repects to the elector and Spalatin, who were at the diet there, and then went on, by Nuremburg and Leipzig, to Wittenberg, where he arrived August 25, 1518. On the 28th he delivered his inaugural oration, de corrigendis adolescentiae studiis. Of this performance, Luther writes to Spalatin as follows. “Four days after his arrival, he delivered a most terse and learned speech, with so much applause and admiration, that you need no longer think of saying aught to recommend him.”* A few days later Luther writes to the same person — “ I hear that he has been engaged at too low a salary, so that the Leipzig braggarts are in hopes of getting him away from us.” It is probably in reference to this, that Melancthon writes to Spalatin, a little after — “ As to what is said about me and the Leipzig people, be assured I will deal with you, as a son with his father. If I lie, if I deceive you, may the ravens make me an example of impiety.” From this same let- ter it appears, that, wdiile at Augsburg on his way, he was urged by the Bavarians to take a place at Ingolstadt; and he professes to be hurt at the assertion that he had been inclined to stop at Leipzig, the authors of which charge he calls “ au- daces <5ia/3oXoi.” He declares himself contented with his stipend, though a little doubtful whether it could support him. “ I am a philosopher,” says Master Philip, “ What care I for a pleasant place ? I do care for an honourable one. What I am yet to be to Wittenberg, let no one say until he has made trial of my efforts. You know, the university knowrs, what I am attempting, and how faithfully I teach. You will hear further, in my name, from Martin, a most ex- cellent and learned man.” (Letter IS. Vol. I. 43.)
In a letter of nearly the same date (Sept.l51S), he announces that he expects to publish eight works, chiefly translations from the Greek, before the end of the year. And this within a monthof his arrival, and before his twenty-second birth-day ! A more interesting paragraph, to us, in the same letter, is as follows. “ I have begun to translate the Proverbs of Solo- mon, and am very busy at them. When Boschenstein comes, I shall devolve this labour upon him, that he may add some notes, and we will publish scholia upon Proverbs, with the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin text.” Boschenstein, the Hebrew teacher, arrived in October, but the book on Proverbs was not published for six years.
* Luther’s Letters, ed. De Wette, vol. 1. p. 134.
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Early Letters of Melancthon.
7
In these early letters of Melancthon, as we have already stated, there is not the slightest tincture of a Christian spirit, nor any allusion to religious subjects, except in the terms of the classical mythology. To the Muses, Graces, Dii Superi and Inferi, there are abundant references, and the whole tenor of the correspondence proves the truth of his assertion, when he professes to be wholly and passionately devoted to the Muses and the Graces — ™v /xoutfwv xa / <rwv ^afiVwv roavra ivogyid- %sifda i. From the friend of Luther, and the author of the Augs- burg Confession, it seems strange to read such phrases as — “ita diis visum superis”— -“ habeam male propitios deos” — “vale et me serva, Cwth^ pt-ou,” &c. The first indication of the Chris- tian and the future theologian is in this short sentence, under the date of Oct. 15, 1518. “Hereafter we will purge our philosophy, that we may be fit to undertake theology, in which, if it please the Giver of good things, we shall yet ac- complish something.” At this time, be it remembered, he was not, in any sense, a teacher of theology. His zeal for the honour of his patron and the university is manifested in such sentences as this. “ I will do my best to recommend Wittenberg to all good and learned men, if, through divine favour (indulgentia superum), I should become any body.” All these letters are moreover characterized by a courtly and even adulatory tone. He is profuse and vehement in his ex- pressions of gratitude and attachment, and asserts, with seem- ing truth, that he was constitutionally grateful. Besides the publications which have been referred to, the only fact that we glean, as to his literary labours, during the first months of his academical career, is, that in a letter of December 16, 1518, he announces his intention to deliver two courses of Greek lectures, a systematical course on grammar, and an ex- egretical course on certain authors.
The impression which Melancthon’s first appearance, as a teacher, made at Wittenberg, may be learned from a para- graph in one of Luther’s letters, written four days after his inauguration. “ Philip has his lecture room crowded with hearers; he has inspired all the theologians, high, low, and middling, with a passion for Greek learning.” In March of the following year, Melancthon writes to Spalatin, apparently in answer to some counsel from the latter, declining to lec- ture upon Aristotle’s Physics, and proposing to substitute Galen or Hippocrates. Even from a boy, he had been ad- dicted to medical reading, and especially the ancient authors. Before Boeschenstein’s arrival, he taught Hebrew grammar
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Early Letters of Melancthon. [Jan dart
also, and, even three months after, says in one of his letters, “ I am lecturing on the Hebrew Psalter.” And again, in May 1519, “ I am lecturing on the Psalter, till a more learned man shall be procured;” from which it would appear, that the place of Hebrew teacher had again become vacant. Both Luther and Melancthon, as appears from their letters, were extremely solicitous to furnish Wittenberg with a competent Hebrew teacher. The aspirants to the office seem to have been numerous, but most of them deficient in the necessary learning.
The first letter in which we observe what may be called a Christian phraseology, is one to Erasmus, dated Leipsic, Jan- uary 5, 1519, in which Melancthon vindicates himself from the charge of having disparaged the biblical labours of Eras- mus. “ Though conscious of no fault in this thing, if I have done wrong, I beg to be forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ. I have not been so remiss a reader of Erasmus, as not to have learned from him what is due to an instructer and a brother in Christ.” The delicate compliment in the last sentence is not the only one in this adroit and elegant epistle. At the close of it he sends Martin Luther’s salutation, at whose in- stance it was probably written, and who may have suggested the expressions above quoted, so unlike the usual mytholo- gical dialect of the young professor. At any rate, there can be no doubt, that any change which may have taken place in the spirit and language of Melancthon, on religious subjects, was externally owing to the company and influence of his illustrious colleague.
In February, 1519, in the choir of All Saints Church, Wit- tenberg, Melancthon delivered a funeral oration in honour of the Emperor Maximilian. According to his own account, in one of his letters (No. 35) it was wholly extemporaneous, but was afterwards written out and published. This fact is interesting only as an early instance of Melancthon’s appear- ing as a public speaker, without the precincts of the univer- sity.
We have already mentioned Melancthon’s apologetic letter to Erasmus. Under the date of April 22, 1519, we find an answer, truly worthy of Erasmus, in its mild reproofs, apt repartees, purity of style, and graceful nonchalance of man- ner. We can only allow ourselves to quote one or two sen- tences.
“ I have also read your Preface, in which you preach up ancient learning boldly and with spirit, as becomes a young man and a German. But if you
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will suffer Erasmus to advise you, I would rather see you take more pains in actively promoting literature, than in assailing its opponents. They are worthy, indeed, of all abuse from all the learned ; but the other method, if I err not, will be more effectual. Besides, we must endeavour to appear superior, not in elo- quence only, but in modesty and gentleness of manners. The life of Martm Luther is approved by all of us. As to his doctrines men’s opinions differ. I have not myself yet read his books. He has told us some true things ; I only wish that he had done it with as much skill as freedom (tarn feliciter quam libere) . Moderate your literary labours, that you may the longer serve the cause ; for I hear that your health is not quite adamantine. If for nothing else, prolong your life, in spite to these barbarians (fols /3«£/3a|o i£ toutokJ'i'.)” No. 41, vol. 1, 77—79.
Those who are at ail familiar with Erasmus, will perceive even in our imperfect version of these few short sentences, much that is characteristic of the writer. The part relating to Melancthon’s health was written as a postscript, and at Luther’s instance, who, not long before, had thus addressed Erasmus:
“ Philip Melancthon comes on prosperously, except that none of us have influence enough to prevent his literary madness from hastening the destruction of his health. He bums with youthful zeal, not only to become, but to do, all things to all men. You will be doing your part, if you exhort the man to save himself for us and for the cause of learning.”
It is certainly curious to observe how the influence of Luther over his contemporaries, even in such matters, is evinced by this affectionate finesse, brought to light by anti- quarian research, hundreds of years after the decease of him, whose health he was so anxious to preserve.
In the spring of 1519, Melancthon’s feelings began to be enlisted more and more in the momentous controversies of the day. In May he writes to Spalatin:
“ I send you Luther’s sermon on justification. Riccius has attacked Eck, and that pleasing personage now boasts that he is engaged in conflict with Za- sius the lawyer, Luther the theologian, and Riccius the philosopher. You see how far his Christian modesty extends. To all this not a word is answered by priests, theologians, princes, or the wavering people. This is the wrath of the Lord. I am wretched when I think of these tilings. Martin, the soldier of the Lord, has brought it. all upon us. Stand fast and watch with us. My ardour in writing is not greater than the agony I feel when I consider the gross wick- ednesses of the theologians.” No. 42. vol. 1.81, 82.
Even a superficial reader can perceive, that this serious and impassioned writer is not the same young classic, who was wont, a few months earlier, to obtest the gods and god- desses, and imprecate the vengeance of the furies on himself. It is pleasant to possess the means of tracing such transitions, and it is certainly an interesting fact, that, from this time onwards, though Melancthon’s letters still abound in forms
vol. x. no. 1. 2
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Early Letters of Melancthon. [January
of speech somewhat pedantic, and indicative of intimate acquaintance with the classics, they are free from that frigid puerility of learning, which would seek to express even Chris- tian feelings in the forms of the old mythology, and also from that coldness in relation to all interests not purely literary, by which the earlier letters of this wonderful stripling were offensively distinguished. Nothing could evince the change in question more distinctly than the long and interesting letter of Melancthon to Oecolampadius, dated July 21, 1519, containing a particular account of the debate at Leipzig, in the previous month, between Eck, Luther, and Carlstadt. As this dispute is matter of history, we shall quote nothing but Melancthon’s observations on the men concerned. “ Eck,” says he, “ was much admired by most of us, on ac- count of his various and distinguished gifts. Carlstadt, I believe, you know already by his writings. He is a good man, of rare doctrine, and of more than common learning. As to Luther, with whom I am now intimately acquainted, from long intercourse, I admire his lively genius, his learning and his eloquence, while at the same time I am forced to love him for his sincere and truly Christian spirit.”
This letter, which was published at the time, drew forth a reply from Eck, in which Melancthon is described as “a grammarian of Wittenberg, named Philip, not unlearned in the Greek and Latin languages.” In another place he says — “ the impudent little fellow (audaculus) does not hesitate to say, that I made irrelevant quotations from St. Bernard. When the debate is published, it will be seen whether the grammarian has told the truth.” The wit of this perform- ance seems to lie in the contemptuous application of the epithets, “ grammaticus,” “ grammatista,” “ grammatellus.” The zeal with which Melancthon now began to enter into the conflicts of the Reformation, peeps forth in such sen- tences as this, from a letter to Spalatin, July 29, 1519. “ Herewith you will receive Martin’s Book of Resolutions [on the power of the Pope]; you will think it too severe; I think it not at all imprudent.” In the same letter there is a paragraph, which we shall quote, because the rise of Hebrew learning in that day is highly interesting, from its natural connexion with the great work of biblical translation. “ Our Hebraist,” says Melancthon, “is unwilling to lecture; he is frightened, I believe, at the difficulties of the Psalter, which I began to teach a year ago. There are men enough able to teach Hebrew grammar; I know not why they arc all afraid
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Early Letters of Melancthon.
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of Hebrew authors. If it is thought best that 1 should, in the mean time, continue to hebraize (l/3pcu££iv), I will cheer- fully bestow this labour on our illustrious prince, and on you, my dear George. I will leave no stone unturned, to supply the deficiencies of our instruction.” (No. 45. Vol. I. 104, 105.) The growth of his personal attachment to Luther, it is also highly agreeable to trace, on account of its influence upon his own belief and character. At the date last quoted, this attachment had become extremely strong, and from time to time, it finds expression in such terms as this. “ For Martin’s pious labours and for Martin himself I feel the most vehement affection and entire regard.” “ Martin sends his salutations. He, he is a friend indeed, ex animo xcni ^piaViavw?, of you and all good men.”
The reply to Eckius, published in August 1519, affords proof, not only of that gentleness and meekness which have always marked Melancthon as the John of the Reformation, but also of an obvious growth in zeal for truth and in reli- gious feeling. The gradual maturing of his doctrinal opin- ions is illustrated also by the eighteen propositions, or The- mata Circularia, which, in this edition, are referred to the date of September, 1519. We copy No. 1. “The beginning of justification is by faith.” No. 2. Love is the effect of faith. No. 6. Faith and love are the works of God, not of nature. No. 9. There is no external sacrifice in Christianity. No. 14. As faith is the sum of our justification, no work can be said to be meritorious. No. 15. All the works of men are, therefore, truly sinful.
Our next quotation will be welcome to those readers who feel an interest in Melancthon as an academical teacher. The latter sentences illustrate his ideas of scholastic disci- pline.
“ I am waiting, my dear Spalatin, with anxiety for your answer, in relation to the lectures on Quintilian, and to the whole course (de tota schola.) For unless the classes (collegia) are well arranged, believe me, we shall gain very little by our lectures, however numerous. I could not take Planicius into my house, as he said he could not study hard, where there was much company. His father had given him permission to live elsewhere. And yet the young man needed a private instructor, and a careful one too. None need to be well guided more than such as he. And this end we might more easily secure by a . proper arrangement of the class. Farewell. St. Andrew’s eve.
PHILIPPUS.”
Another glimpse into his lecture-room is furnished by the following extract from a letter to a parish priest in Melanc- thon’s native region.
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Early Letters of Mclancthon. [January
“ You wish, perhaps, to hear something of my studies. During this summer, I have been expounding Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, the most important of them all, and serving as a scope or mark, in relation to all scripture, which I wish you would attend to. I would have sent you my notes on this epistle, but your messenger went off unexpectedly, and I was afraid moreover of their getting out (ne evolarent). A great deal I delivered extempore. I am now pursuing the same course with Matthew, and may publish a commentary on it [as he did, four years later]. I am now devoted wholly to sacred literature, and wish that you would do the same. There is an exquisite pleasure in it ; nay, the mind, when employed upon these studies, seems to suck a sort of heavenly ambrosia. When I know your views of the Epistle to the Romans, I will send you mine. I now see that our fathers (I mean those of the schools) taught not mere corrup- tions, but destructive errors. Oh that I might see you one day face to face. My famulus has something upon Romans with him. Use it, and you will get from it, I trust, no small assistance. Wittenberg, Dec. 1 1, 1519.”
Upon this let us say one word. The spirit of Luther was fed for years upon the study of the Hebrew and Greek scrip- tures. The translation, which resulted from this course of study, was, and will again be, a stupendous engine in the work of reformation. Melancthon likewise, under Luther’s influence, seems to grow in depth of feeling and extent of comprehension on religious topics, as he exchanges classical for biblical studies; as he forsakes the graces of mythology he becomes familiar with the graces of the spirit. This is one view of the case; another is, that those departures from the faith, among ourselves, which are most dangerous, are eminently marked by a postponement of the scriptures. Nor is it to be wondered at, that some apostles of the metaphysi- cal gospel treat the study of God’s word, in the original, with scorn. Alas for poor Luther and Melancthon! Why did they rack their brains with Greek and Hebrew, when they had their “ common sense” and “ common version” to rely upon ?
Towards the close of 1519, Rcuchlin or Capnio, Melanc- thon’s relative and early patron, accepted a call to lngolstadt, as professor of languages, and, not long after, solicited Me- lancthon to become his colleague. In a letter, dated March IS, 1520, he replies, that the inducements for removing were very strong — love of country — attachment to Rcuchlin — lite- rary society — superior libraries — and the need of a more southern climate, to restore his health, which had been im- paired in Saxony. He nevertheless declines the invitation, on the ground, that he had pledged his word to the elector — that he was pusillanimous and afraid of change — and that he felt himself bound to remain where he was, till Providence should imperatively call him elsewhere. “I do not so much care to live in comfort, as to live in honesty, and like a
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Christian.” He seems afraid, throughout this letter, of his acts being attributed to juvenile ambition, caprice, or love of ease; but in the end submits himself to Reuchlin’s judg- ment, and promises to abide by it. The feelings, principles, and conduct, manifested in this letter, are highly satisfactory and pleasing, and exhibit a decided growth in all the elements of manly Christian character.
The following extracts will be not without interest to the biblical scholar and to those who like to view the every-day employments of such men as the Reformers.
“Doctor Martin is just now too busy to interpret any of the Prophets ; but I hope that when some of his engagements are despatched, unless God take him from us, he will be moved to write a commentary either on Genesis or Isaiah. For Gen- esis is a good deal harder even than Isaiah ; as I know by experience, being now intent upon it. I know not whether I can accomplish any thing at this time. The unfaithful Latin bibles answer badly to the Hebrew. As for the interpreters, they are so frigid, that I almost blush at our own indolence, who, after mastering all other parts of literature, fail in this, the most useful, true, sublime, and elegant of all. For I am not of their opinion who regard sacred literature as something coarse and vulgar. Believe me, Hess, there is something grander and sublimer in the world than man’s philosophy. I have not yet finished Matthew. You have no occasion to desire my notes or scholia. I have treated the Evangelist too briefly, more in the way of introduction than of commentary. I am now about to address myself to my Obelisks and Romans. The Obelisks grow won- derfully on my hands. For I shall not, as I intended, write mere annotations, but regular common places on the Law, Sin, Grace, the Sacraments, and the other mysteries.” “I will try to prepare Martin’s Sermons on the Festivals for the press. During your absence, he has been lecturing on the doctrine of the Eucharist, as well as on Emmanuel, Melchizedek, and the Sabbath.”
As the facts, which we have introduced, derive their inte- rest from their connexion with the history of the Reforma- tion, the following short letter is well worthy of quotation, though it sheds no light on the biography of Melancthon.
“ W. F. Capito to P. Melancthon.
“ Our friend Oecolampadius has retired to a monastic life, in the convent of St. Alton. The otherwise discreet and prudent man has done a foolish thing, in loading his spirit, not too lively at the best, with this new yoke, from religious motives, as if Christ took pleasure in our sadness, or a Christian character could be cultivated by avoiding the society of men. However he may mortify his fee- ble body by obstinate silence, vigils, abstinence, he would have done more good by leading an exemplary life among his fellow-men. He is now entirely subject to a set of silly women (paueulis mulierculis) for whom he will toil and sweat, submitting himself as a disciple to teachers who themselves need to be taught, and who ought rather to experience than exercise authority. The monastery is one of the order of St. Bridget, where women govern men, by a preposterous in- version. But as this cannot be helped, it must be borne.”
A letter from Melancthon to his countryman, John Schwe- bel, expresses, in an interesting manner, his recollections of his boyhood and his actual state of mind. “ Happy you,”
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Early Letters of Melanclhon. [January
says he, “ who enjoy both literature and leisure. Literature I have scarcely been allowed to touch with the ends of my fingers, and 1 hardly know what leisure is. My engage- ments, too, are more serious and urgent than those which occupied me, as a youth, in Suabia.”
We have already given some quotations which evince, not only that the Elector Frederick took a lively interest in his university at Wittenberg, but that he directly, or at least through Spalatin, his organ in such matters, controlled the course of study and directed the professors. Another illus- tration of the same fact is presented in a letter from Melanc- thon, dated June 25, 1520, in which he declines to lecture upon Pliny, as he had been requested or required. This letter manifests no small degree both of modesty and wisdom. He urges that the good of the university would not be pro- moted by his undertaking such a course; first, because he really did not possess the necessary knowledge; and, second- ly, because he had not credit for that sort of learning, suffi- cient to command the public confidence. “ I am for remain- ing,” says he, “ in my own sphere, which is Greek, and merely aiding, where I can, in other matters. You know my temper; I should not need to be solicited, if I were not really conscious of my ignorance.” He even goes so far as to urge the appointment of an able colleague, to discharge those duties to which he felt himself to be inadequate, and he subjoins three names as worthy of consideration. All this evinces a self-knowledge and a freedom from envious or jeal- ous feeling, which are rare perhaps in persons of precocious learning. With this same letter he transmits a scheme of philosophical lectures — which he had probably received from Spalatin — with suggestions and remarks.
A second letter from Erasmus now occurs, (June 1520), containing an account of the attacks which had been made upon him by Edward Lee, by Standish, bishop of St. Asaph, and by others in England. Then comes a paragraph which interests us deeply, not only on account of its historical allu- sions, but especially because it so remarkably illustrates the position, character, and spirit of Erasmus. He speaks of va- rious reports respecting Luther; professes to be on his side, as far as he can be (quoad licet); but complains indirectly, that Luther and himself have been every where supposed to be engaged in common cause. He is not at all surprised that Luther’s books were burnt in England, but professes to have done his best to hinder it, by writing to Cardinal Wolsey,
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and not without effect, in suppressing popular excitement against Luther. Wolsey, he says, would have found no fault with Luther, if he had not denied the primacy of the pope to be juris divini. So much more did such men care for dignities and power than for doctrines! Erasmus then goes on to say: “Those who favour Luther — and indeed all good men favour him — could wish that he had written with more mildness and civility. But it is too late now to talk of that. I see that the affair tends now to revolution. I pray that it may turn out to the glory of Christ. It is neces- sary, perhaps, that offences should come; but I do not care to be the man by whom they come.” This last sentence is it- self a striking portrait of Erasmus. In the postscript there is another characteristic trait. “ Luther’s Reply [to the con- demnation of his books by certain doctors of Louvain and Cologne] has given great satisfaction. Those men at last be- gin to be ashamed of their premature decision. I am only sorry that my name was mentioned. It hurts me, without assisting Luther.” It is curious to compare this mild and courteous complaint with the sentence which occasioned it. In the Reply, Luther, after having named several others, adds, “I pass by Faber Stapulensis and Erasmus, that ram caught in a thicket by his horns!” Every reader, acquainted with the history of the times, must be equally impressed with the felicity and truth of this uncivil metaphor, and with the cha- racteristic contrast here exhibited between the two great men. The spirit of Erasmus is displayed, not only in the actual ex- pressions of the letter, but in its obvious design, as a complaint of Luther’s rudeness, and at the same time an attempt to cry him mercy. No wonder that instead of a direct approach to Doctor Martin, he preferred an indirect one through the gentle Master Philip, to whom we now return from this digression.
We have already given an example of Melancthon’s mo- desty and judgment, in relation to his labours as a teacher. We may now give an instance of his noble moderation, as to lucre, and his disinterested zeal for learning. Even from the time of his arrival at Wittenberg, Luther had urged an aug- mentation of his stipend, to prevent his being drawn away from them to Leipsic. In compliance with these instances, Spalatin, it seems, had advised the professors to apply to the Elector for an increase of salary to Melancthon, no doubt with an assurance that it would be granted. In this measure Melancthon declines to acquiesce, briefly stating, as his rea- sons, that his stipend was a large one, in the actual state of
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Early Letters of Melancthon. [January
German affairs ; that it was large enough compared with those of other professors; and that he was unwilling to abuse the goodness of his patron, the Elector. In the same letter he urges the appointment of Petreius of Erfurt, to supply the chasm in the faculties of Wittenberg, which he had repre- sented in a former letter. In allusion to the subject or occa- sion of that letter, he here adds, “ See to it, then, that Wit- tenberg may have one capable of teaching Pliny.” In a let- ter of about the same date we have one of those passages, so frequent in the letters, both of Luther and Melancthon, which express the judgment of those great Reformers, those pre- eminently practical and efficient men, respecting the impor- tance of learning and education. Will some of our American dXAorpiossJiffxo'jroi attend for a moment to the following lines, written amidst the conflicts of that great revolution, to which, under God, we are indebted for our privileges, and, compared with which, many of our noisy controversies are but puffs of wind ? “You are not ignorant what a general desolation of every thing good must follow the decay of learning. Reli- gion, morals, all divine and human interests, must sink in the absence of good education. And the better any man is, the mere ardently will he desire the maintenance of learning, because he must see that there can be no more deadly pest than ignorance.” With this, and scores of similar expres- sions, compare the gothic jargon of some modern and Ame- rican reformers. Those who follow in the steps of a Luther or Melancthon, need not greatly care for the contempt and censure of these modern Anabaptists. We have reference, in these observations, to two current errors. The one is, that a high degree of literary culture is unfavourable to the growth of piety; the other, that it renders men unfit for ac- tive usefulness. Upon both these points, we cheerfully ap- peal to the example of the old Reformers, as contrasted with the new. “ By their fruits ye shall know them.” A tinc- ture of history might make some men more modest.
The following extract from another letter to his country- man, John Schwebel, is interesting on more than one ac- count.
“ Almost all my friends at home appear to have forgotten me, to teach me, I suppose, that there is reason in the ancient proverb — ‘ out of sight, out of mind.’ You, and you alone, seem still to remember Philip. My exile, sad enough at best, is rendered still more bitter by this impiety, to use a strong expression, of my friends. Yet I have my consolations, most delightful consolations, in reli- gious studies, which, if they ever flourished, now, by God’s grace, flourish here. And, if you will believe me, I find Martin a greater and more admirable friend
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than I can possibly describe. You know how Alcibiades admired his Socrates; well, I admire this man far otherwise, because I do it in a Christian manner ; I admire him as one who, when I look at him again, seems still greater than him- self. I only wish that you could see from how sincere a heart this eulogy pro- ceeds.”
In a letter to Spalatin, soon after, under the excitement of renewed attacks on Luther, and new fears for his security, Melancthon writes:
“ Martin seems to me to be inspired (spiritu aliquo impelli). That he may be successful, we must use our efforts, not in counsel, but in prayer. I value Mar- tin’s safety higher than my very life, and know of nothing that could happen more disastrous than the loss of him. For my sake, therefore, not to mention public reasons, which you know full well already, if you have any influence where you are, see that you preserve, from being overwhelmed, this man, whom I boldly and sincerely place, not only above all his contemporaries, but above all men of every period, the Augustins, Gregories, and Jeromes of all ages.”
What must he have been, who, with all his faults, could extort such an encomium from such a man!
Melancthon’s early appearance, as a teacher and an author, induced the usual regrets and retractations, with respect to his more juvenile performances. The natural feeling, in re- lation to this matter, is expressed with much naivete, in the preface to a second edition of his Greek Grammar, which begins as follows. “ I have always wished that the tracts upon Greek Grammar, which I published formerly, might perish, as having been written by me, when a boy, for the boys whom I instructed. And indeed they would have perished, as they well deserved, if the printer had not forced me to repeat my former follies, and rebuild my ancient ruins.”
Though originally called as a mere classical professor, Me- lancthon, by his biblical labours, had become a most impor- tant addition to the theological strength of Wittenberg. That he likewise felt an interest in the success of the other depart- ments, appears from a letter to Spalatin (Jan. 24, 1521), in which he announces the death of Henning, one of the law professors in the university, and the expected removal of an- other, Wolfgang, and urges the appointment of John Misner, as a young man well instructed in the law, and a respectable practitioner, as well as a proficient both in classical and sacred - learning. It is perhaps an illustration of Melancthon’s pru- dence, and of Luther’s frankness, that the latter, in a letter written on the same occasion, after recommending Misner as a competent civilian, adds that, if he could obtain this pro- fessorship, he would probably become a layman (e clero lai-
vol. x. no. 1. 3
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Early Letters of Melancthon. [January
cus fieret), which would suit the man much better! In the same letter, Melancthon requests Spalatin to examine the library of the Bishop of Worms, and see if it contained any of the ancient writers. To a modern reader this request might seem to have been prompted by mere curiosity ; but we forget, that books which now are in every school-boy’s hands, might then be precious rarities, even to the learned. In a subsequent letter Melancthon writes again.
“ I am very desirous that you should attend to the bishop’s library. I wish to lecture upon some of the best and purest Greek writers, which design may be facilitated by that library. I know that the bishop is very much attached to this treasure ; but what may you not obtain through our illustrious Prince 1”
There is something strange in the idea of the first Greek scholar of the age being hindered in his literary labours by the difficulty of obtaining books, which Tauchnitz of Leipsic has now put within the reach of poverty itself. To the sub- ject of the library he returns again and again, and, on one of these occasions, assigns, as his motive, a desire to recover the materials extant for a complete ecclesiastical history. In April 1521, he laments that he could not go to Worms with Luther, chiefly because he wished to search the libraries upon the Rhine for ancient writings.
In a letter written about the time of the diet of Worms, Melancthon, after adverting to the state of public affairs, pro- ceeds as follows, in relation to his studies.
“I am still expounding Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, and am now treating the tenth chapter. The system of theology which I have promised [his Common Places] I hope to publish in the coming summer. I am now writing in answer to the book of Thomas Rhadinus, which we suppose to be by Emser. Martin has begun to write a Commentary on the Gospels and Epistles, as they are read in church, following the example of those who have written Postils.”
The conclusion of this letter is highly interesting. It is addressed to his friend John Hess, who was then at Breslau, and of whose fidelity and zeal in the great cause he seems to have been doubtful.
“ I vehemently fear that you will fall short of yourself. But pause and re- member, that the gospel cannot be in favour with the wickedness of Rome. How many were offended at Christ, in better times, when he was here on earth, and among these, how many Nicodemuses, how many Gamaliels, how many Sauls ! What is not to be feared, then, in our own unhappy age 1 Can we hope that there wall not be among us a Judas, a Caiaphas, a Pilate or a Herod? Against such arm and fortify your spirit by the gospel. Farewell, my dearest brother.”
How different are the. tone and spirit of this eloquent ap- peal from those of Melancthon’s letters, before he became in- terested in the Reformation, and felt the influence of Luther !
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How obvious, too, that a certain position and associations had nerved even this mild spirit to the calm courage of a Chris- tian hero ! That much of this spirit was imbibed by daily intercourse from Luther, is apparent from the fact that, when Hess replied to this solemn admonition, by professing his at- tachment to the truth, Melancthon assures him that he never doubted it, but only wrote in jest, though he owns that he had wished to see him more courageous. Under the date of March 21, 1521, Melancthon introduces the old subject of the Hebrew professorship, and as Adrian, the last incumbent, had just gone to Leipsic, disgusted with the doctrines of grace, as taught by Luther, he strongly recommends Aurogallus, as well qualified to take his place, having studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, two years at Wittenberg, and satisfied Melanc- thon of his skill in Hebrew, by extempore translations from that language, and by his compositions in relation to it. He also represents the preference due to a tried and well known man, above mere adventurers and vagrant office-hunters. In the same connexion he refers to one of his late colleagues, in a manner which is any thing but flattering.
“ As to the professorship vacated hy Morlinus, nothing perhaps can be deter- mined till the Prince returns. Any thing, however, will be better than the waste of time and money on such frivolous performances. If you wish any thing to be done in the mean time, I think that some attention should he paid to mathematics, which are almost lying waste.”
In the same letter he informs his correspondent, that he had been desired by his old friend, relative, and patron, Cap- nio (alias Reuchlin), not to write to him in the existing crisis. He also gives utterance to his feelings, upon public matters, in this strong expression: “Oh that God would purchase the deliverance of his people, at the price of our blood!”
The gradual progress of the Reformation in surrounding countries is now matter of authentic history. It is pleasant, however, to find the same facts, which we have learned from history, stated incidentally in private letters, as the current news, Melancthon, for example, writes to Spalatin as fol- lows (March 30, 1521).
“ I have this day had a letter from the man who went from us to teach Greek at Copenhagen. He writes that the king of Denmark is on Luther’s side; but whether from conviction or mere impulse, like the common people, I am not aware. He has caused some bishops to be beheaded and some monks to be drowned.”
A far more striking instance is afforded by a note, written in May 1521, just after hearing of the safety of Luther, who
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had been seized on his return from Worms. We copy it entire. It is addressed to Wenceslaus Linck, vicar of the Augustinians.
“ Reverend F ather,
“ I am under the necessity of being brief. Ocn n f. loved father is still living. You will hear from the Prior all that I know. See to it that you never act unlike yourself. A dreadful proscription is said to be preparing ; but by this very thing the cord may possibly be broken, as in other cases. A quarter of an hour ago, I had letters from Nuremberg. They say, two thousand war- rants of proscription have been issued, and sent to Innsbruck likewise ; but the imperial council there refused to publish them, for fear of angering the people. Strengthen yourself and be firm. And pray for me, who am your’s with all my heart. Farewell.”
In June 1521, another illustrious member of the Witten- berg fraternity begins to figure in the correspondence. This is the celebrated Justus Jonas, the circumstances of whose introduction to the society of Luther and Melancthon, as described in a note by the editor, we have found so interest- ing, that we must presume upon their being so to others. We have mentioned incidentally the death of Henning, pro- fessor of civil and canon law, and, at the same time, by some strange arrangement, though apparently a layman, provost (praepositus) or dean of the collegiate church of All Saints. On his death the elector made an offer of these places to the celebrated Mutian, then resident near Gotha, and, in case of his refusing them, begged him to use influence with Justus Jonas, then at Erfurt, and, if possible, induce him to accept the offices. Mutian, in an elegant and interesting letter, draws a most imposing picture of the new professor.
“ Illustrious prince and most serene elector, we have secured Jonas. Such a successor to Henning it would have been worth while to seek and sue for throughout Germany, at any price, so well skilled in theology, so learned in the law, so pure in morals, as to be above all praise. As a preacher he is popu- lar enough to fill the churches, and as a professor, to have six hundred students. He is well known to Father Staupitz, and most dear to Doctor Martin. In short, he loves Wittenberg, and is ready to leave Erfurt, when you say the word. So bright an ornament of the church and schools must be acceptable to teachers and students. I am sure there will be an immense concourse to hear Christ preached by a second Luther. I thank God, who has given to your highness such a man, worthy of any bishopric. I did think of Erasmus; but he is a mere writer, whereas Jonas can do great good likewise viva voce. As a proof of my fidelity, I offer you this man to be your provost. I myself will grow old in contented privacy, devoting my leisure to the glory of my sovereign.”
Thus recommended and extolled, Justus Jonas made his entrance into Wittenberg, and was installed, as provost and professor, June 6, 1521. Rut immediately afterwards, his friends began to fear that they should lose him again; for he
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declared himself unable, in good conscience, to lecture on the papal law, or to retain his station in the church, if this con- dition were considered indispensable. In this state of affairs, Melancthon writes to Spalatin, declaring that a greater addi- tion to their strength could not be made, and that he must be retained, at all events. He asks why the professorship of canon law might not be turned into a theological chair, and urges the superior importance of theology to one, who as dean or provost, would have many churches under him, and the evils which had formerly resulted from the want of learning and piety in those who filled that station. In proof of this he cites the example of the late incumbent, Henning, and gives a description which is highly interesting, as it affords a glimpse at the condition of the church in Germany before the Reformation and in the first stage of its progress.
“ Henning, otherwise a worthy man, hut strange to Christian learning, when consulted on religious subjects, treated them as trifles, and made sport of all projected reformation in the church. I myself know — for I was too much inte- rested personally not to know — how light a thing he thought the office of a parish priest. He thought the church prosperous, if the people paid well, and the priests grew fat. I say this not in malice, least of all against the dead ; but I exhort you to consider how far they have acted wisely, who have committed the government of churches to mere lawyers. Oh that you would weigh the matter as it well deserves ! Nay, more, I see not why our Prince himself ought not to wish to have a theologian for his Provost, since the blood of ruined souls will be required at his hands. I beg you, therefore, to establish Jonas, and, if it can be done, retain him here. Do something, exert yourself, move every stone, rather than let such a man be lost to us.”
This extract, in our judgment, sets the piety and wisdom of the writer in a new and highly favourable light. It is also an interesting illustration of the zeal, with which the Ger- man professors, from that day to this, have struggled to main- tain the credit of their universities, in which praiseworthy zeal they always have been, and are still, kept in countenance by the example of the civil powers, as appears from the anx- iety of the Elector Frederick to fill Henning’s place with a distinguished man. The end of the whole matter was, that Jonas had permission to employ a lecturer on cannon law at his own expense, while he himself preached regularly in the collegiate church, and delivered theological and exegetical lectures in the university.
The loss of such a man was deeply felt at Erfurt, and efforts seem to have been made for his recall. In reference to this, Melancthon writes to Lang.
“ I desire the welfare of the church at Erfurt. But what if God have called Jonas hither, to reform a far greater number of churches? To the deanety or
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Early Letters of Melancthon. [January
provostship there are subjected about tliirty churches. Would you rather see these governed by another Henning, than by such a man as Jonas 1 You will rather favour his removal, if you do but think, how small a charge he gives tip, and how great a charge he takes. We shall all pray that God would impart something of your spirit to your brethren, and raise up bishops, who are truly Christians and like Jonas. But what if it should be Christ’s intention, by re- moving this your ally, to inspire you with more courage in the warfare against Antichrist?”
It is impossible to calculate the full effect of such admoni- tions— perpetually given, both by Luther and Melancthon, to their less decided brethren — on the great work of religious reformation and revival.
All the letters of Melancthon, which we have thus far quoted, are in Latin, and addressed to learned men. Under the date of July 24, 1521, we meet with one in German, which is so far interesting, as it is a sample of the way in which these great men dealt with common people, as to prac- tical affairs and cases of conscience. It is addressed to one Melchior, who seems to have been a lay brother in the con- vent of Rebsdorf, and who had written to Luther for advice, as to the expediency of leaving his trade and taking orders. Melancthon, after telling him that Luther was absent, and had given him directions to open and read his letters, informs brother Melchior, that his calling was an honest calling, and that his wish to leave it was probably a temptation of the devil ; that if he supposed he could live a more Christian life by making religious services his ordinary business, he was much mistaken; that piety consisted not in outward acts of worship, but in faith, hope, and love; that the highest office upon earth was that of serving the brethren with a willing heart; and that, on the other hand, no office was more dan- gerous than that of the priesthood. He advises him, there- fore, to abandon his intention. As to the right use of the mass, which had also been a subject of inquiry, he refers him to Luther’s Sermon on the New Testament, and to his tract on Good Works. He also recommends Luther’s books on Christian Liberty and on Confession ; but, not satisfied with this, he concludes by giving him a general direction to read Luther’s writings. The postscript is as follows. “ Paul has earnestly commanded, in the fifth of Ephesians, that we la- bour with our hands. Therefore do not leave your trade. All is not Christian virtue that appears to be so.” The plain com- mon sense and simple language of this letter may convince us, that, with all his learning, this distinguished man was fitted to exert a powerful and salutary influence on common minds.
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Our limits warn us to conclude these extracts. Though made in the most desultory manner, and in a very hasty and imperfect version, they will not, we trust, be wholly without interest for many of our readers. And yet two quarto vol- umes and a half remain untouched. From this the reader may infer, how large a measure of instruction and amuse- ment might be derived from an attentive reading of the en- tire work. It is certainly an invaluable addition to our means of information, with respect to a most interesting pe- riod of history. It is especially important, from the new light which it throws upon the personal relations and pecu- liarities of the great characters in this great drama. To those, however, who may be disposed to draw conclusions, with respect to Melancthon, from the quotations in the pre- sent article, we would urge the propriety of recollecting that they all belong to the first twenty-three years of his life. If in the beginning of our strictures, we were struck with the deficiencies apparent in Melancthon’s early letters, we are no less struck with the rapidity and vigour of his moral growth during the few j^ears over which we have been pass- ing. We are confirmed in our persuasion, that the reforma- tion times not only tried men’s souls, but disciplined their minds, matured their characters, and, in some signal cases, made them genuine heroes. We recommend the volumes now before us to some of our book makers, as affording mat- ter for at least a stout octavo; and the whole series, of which they are a part, to our public libraries and private book-col- lectors.
Art. II. — The importance of peculiar attention on the part of Ministers of the Gospel to the Children of their charge.
It is a remark which has long had all the familiarity and weight of a proverbial maxim, that children are the hope of the church and of the state. If this be so, it is of the utmost importance, in every point of view, that the friends, and es- pecially that the ministers of religion, should direct early and pointed attention to their moral and religious, as well as to their intellectual training. The arguments in favour of the
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[January
early and diligent instruction of the young in every kind of laudable knowledge, and especially in the most precious of all knowledge, are so many and powerful, that the only dif- ficulty is, where to begin and where to end the enumeration.
When useful knowledge of any kind, and especially reli- gious knowledge, is early lodged in the mind of a child, it is most likely to be permanently fixed there, and to be produc- tive of rich ultimate fruit. This scripture, reason, and ex- perience all attest. Hence we see so many examples of per- sons faithfully instructed in religious truth from their mo- ther’s lap, even though years of carelessness and sin succeed- ed that instruction — being afterwards brought to reflection and unfeigned piety — by the seed, long before sown, and, to all appearance, irrecoverably buried, springing up, and bring- ing forth a rich harvest. The writer of these pages has had many opportunities of observing the deplorable, and almost invincible ignorance of those who passed their early youth without any instruction in divine things. It seemed difficult to measure or conceive the impenetrable darkness which covered their minds, and appeared to defy all efforts to im- part instruction to them. It became almost necessary for them to learn a new language before the instructor, in such cases, could be understood. Whereas one whose mind had been early and fully brought in contact with the bible, with catechisms, and other formularies of truth, manifested a rea- diness and a capacity to receive instruction altogether pecu- liar and striking.
While this consideration ought to encourage and stimulate parents , both to begin early, and to take the utmost pains, to imbue the minds of their children with divine knowledge; it ought also to impel ministers of the gospel to direct peculiar and unceasing attention to the children and youth of their charge. There is no part of their charge so likely to be benefited by faithful attentions to their spiritual interest as the young; and no part so likely to make that rich return for this fidelity, which cannot fail of being peculiarly gratifying to the heart of a pious and devoted pastor. The present wri- ter by long, varied and painful experience, knows some- thing of the difficulties which attend a faithful discharge of the duty here recommended; but he can deliberately declare, that, if these difficulties were tenfold greater than they are, the advantages resulting from their constant and adequate discharge, are, in his opinion, so many, so important, and so incalculably precious, that he could not hesitate to consider
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these advantages as an hundred-fold more than a counter- balance for all the labour undergone for their attainment.
Does a pastor desire to render his own ministry us pro- fitable as possible to the young people of his charge ? He cannot take a course more directly adapted to attain this object than to attend to them; to become acquainted with them; to meet them frequently in private, and as a body; to catechize 'them; and to render them familiar with his per- son, and his modes of thinking and speaking; and to imbue their minds with those elementary principles of divine knowledge which will prepare them to hear him in the pul- pit with intelligence, with respect, and with profit. If a preacher wished for the most favourable opportunity con- ceivable for preparing the youth of his charge to listen to his sermons to the greatest degree of advantage, it would not be easy to devise one more admirably suited to his purpose than to meet them, by themselves, once a week, in a paternal and affectionate manner; to teach them the elementary prin- ciples of that system which his ministry in the pulpit is intended to inculcate; thus to accustom them to his topics, his phraseology, his manner, his whole course of instruction, and prepare them to receive the richest benefit from his ser- mons. There can be no doubt that one great reason why so many young people receive so little profit from the regular discourses of their minister, is, that he has taken so little pre- vious pains to gain their attention by previous instruction; to prepossess them in favour of the substance and mode of his teaching; to fill their tender, susceptible minds with those simple views of gospel truth which he carries out, and im- presses in his more studied discourses from the sacred desk. That minister who desires that his preaching may make the deepest and most favourable impression on the minds of the children of his charge, is an infatuated man, regardless of all the dictates of reason, experience, and the word of God, who does not employ himself diligently, in all practicable ways, in paving the way for their reception of his more mature and public instruction. Young people thus prepared to attend on his preaching, will, of course, understand it better, receive it more readily and respectfully, and be likely, by the grace of God, to lay it up in their hearts and practise it in their lives.
Does a pastor desire to bind the young jieojde of his charge to the church of their fathers; to prevent their wandering heedlessly and ignorantly to other denomina-
vol. x. no. 1. 4
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tions? He cannot take a more direct or effectual course, than to imbue their minds early and deeply with the system of truth; to put them on their guard against error; and to pre- possess them in favour of those doctrines which he deems scriptural and true. Let any one observe the history of parti- cular churches, and it will invariably be found, that where the pastoral care and instruction of children is most diligently and faithfully maintained, there the young people are found to adhere most closely to the church of their parents, and to take the most deep and tender interest in its affairs. While, on the contrary, other young people, when neglected by their pastors, and receiving no other instruction than that of the pulpit, though the sermons delivered from that pulpit be ever so enlightened and faithful, are found to be connected with their appropriate church by ties so slender and feeble, that they are ready to go off on the slightest temptation, and perhaps to unite themselves, without scruple, to the most corrupt denominations. Can any reflecting minister think of such a penalty of pastoral unfaithfulness without the deepest humiliation and shame ? Can he think of so dis- charging his official duties as to lead to the probable disper- sion and ruin of his flock, without the deepest remorse ? If he can, he has not the heart of a faithful minister.
Does a pastor desire to attach the youth of his charge to his oivn person; to draw their affections to himself, and prepare the ivay to render them the affectionate friends and supporters of his old age ? He cannot possibly take a course better adapted to attain his purpose than to meet them statedly and often; to instruct them in the bible, and in the accredited catechisms of his church; to do this with unceas- ing assiduity and affection; and thus to imbue their minds with these elementary truths which he treats more fully and largely in his preaching, and, at the same time, to manifest that he takes a deep and paternal interest in their improve- ment, and in their temporal and eternal happiness. When an aged pastor grows out of date with his people, and loses his influence over them; especially when the younger part of his flock feel no attraction to him; dislike his preaching, and sigh for another minister; we may generally assume it as a probable fact, that he has neglected the youth of his charge; and that, whatever reason they may have to respect him for his learning, or his worth, in other respects, he has taken no measures to bind their affections to his person; to make every one of them revere and love him as an affection-
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ate father; and to connect with his person the strongest sen- timents of veneration and filial attachment. Those whose range of observation has been considerable, have, no doubt, seen examples of ministers, whose preaching was by no means very striking or attractive, yet retaining, to the latest period of their lives, the affections of all committed to their care, and especially being the favourite of the young people, who have rallied round them in their old age, and contributed not a little to render their last years both useful and happy. It may be doubted whether such a case ever occurred excepting where the pastor had bestowed much attention on the chil- dren of his charge.
Further; does a pastor desire to win the hearts of parents to the gospel and to his ministry ? It is impossible to de- vise any means for the attainment of his object, more direct, appropriate, and efficient, than to attend with diligence and kindness to their children. It cannot have escaped the no- tice of any attentive observer of human affairs, that there is no avenue to the hearts of parents more infallibly open and certain than respectful and affectionate attentions to their children. It would really seem as if they could often bear to be themselves neglected, if their beloved children be follow- ed with manifestations of interest and good will. When ministers, then, in visiting from house to house, pointedly attend to the children of the respective families; mark their number; learn their names; accost them with paternal regard; have a word of kindness and of instruction to address to each; and give to each, if the way be open, a tract, and an affection- ate benediction; they not only win the hearts of the children themselves, but they take the most direct means to conciliate the affections of the parents, who are sometimes far more ready to be attracted by these attentions to their children, than if bestowed on their own persons. Instances of the most striking character are recollected in which parents ap- peared to receive the strongest impressions in favour of par- ticular ministers, and in favour of the cause in which they were engaged, chiefly because those ministers had taken par- ticular notice of their children, had given them affectionate, paternal advice, and appeared to manifest a peculiar interest in their temporal and eternal welfare.
Nor is this all. It is undoubtedly a fact, that, in some cases, one of the best methods of addressing parents on the great subject of religion, is through the medium of their children. In other words, many interesting cases have been
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known, in which instruction and exhortation on that great subject, addressed to children in the presence of their parents, have made a deep impression on the latter, when all preced- ing means had failed; and have been made, by the blessing of God, effectual to their saving conversion. A single exam- ple will suffice to explain what is meant. During a powerful and most precious revival which occurred in a neighbouring state, the parents of a charming and highly promising family of children, had remained, during the greater part of the moving scene before them, in a great measure unimpressed and careless. Their pastor had addressed them directly in private, as well as very solemnly in public, but all without any apparent effect. But calling at the house one day, when most of the children were present, he began to speak to them exclusively, recommending to them the Saviour, dwelling on the infinite importance of obtaining religion in early life; and solemnly warning them that, if they did not obtain it in youth, every year they receded from the morning of life, the probability would become less and less that they would ever obtain converting grace. The children were, most of them, bathed in tears, and manifested deep, and, as was hoped in regard to some of them, permanent and saving impressions of religion; but, what was still more remarkable, the hearts of the parents, which had never relented before, began to melt, and that very conversation was _ the means of bringing them to serious reflection; to deep conviction of sin; and, finally, as their friends and the church believed, to a penitent and believing acceptance of the Saviour.
And, when we reflect on the subject, what was there strange in this? What species of address can be conceived more adapted, instrumentally, to fall with peculiar weight and solemnity on the hearts of parents than to hear their children entreated and warned against the folly of procrasti- nation, and against the hardening effect of delay, of which they themselves are living witneses ? What more adapted to cover them with confusion and shame, than to hear a man of God manifesting a deep and tender interest in the salva- tion of their offspring, toward whom they were conscious that they had never contributed one serious word ?
That pastor, then, who does not pay unceasing and diligent attention to the children of his charge, from the mother’s lap to adult age; who does not take notice of them; make himself acquainted with them ; assemble them to be catechized and instructed every week that he lives; who does not, by every
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lawful means, endeavour to attract their attention to himself; to win their affections; to imbue their minds with religiousknow- ledge; and study to prepare them for attending on his ministry with understanding and with profit; who does not, in a word, by all the means in his power, and by every attraction that he can invent, put in the Lord’s claim to them, and strive to draw them to the Saviour, is unfaithful to the souls of his people; deficient in one of the most important parts of his ministry; blind to his own official comfort and acceptance; and negli- gent of a department of duty of which no one can calculate the value, or see the end. In short, he who is most constant in making the young people of his charge the favourite ob- ject of his attention, his instruction, and his prayers, studying to win his way to their hearts, and “ lead them in the way everlasting,” is most “ wise to win souls” to Christ, and does most to promote the edification of the church, and the happiness of the world, as well as his own personal enjoy- ment.
The same great principles apply, in all their force, to mis- sionary stations, as well as to pastoral charges of the ordinary character. It has been ardently debated whether missionaries among the heathen ought to devote their time entirely to the public preaching of the gospel, or give a con- siderable portion of it to schools for the benefit of the heathen children. It would probably be a great error to contend for exclusive attention to either. The preaching of the gospel is God’s own ordinance for the conversion of men, and is by no means to be neglected. The missionary is bound to “ hold forth the word of life,” as often and as extensively as he can find opportunity. He who would neglect this for the sake of using means which he deems better, is chargeable with undertaking to be “wiser than God.” But when the gospel is imparted by the living voice, in the school-room, to children, is not this, to all intents and purposes, preach- ing? and when such children are taught the use of language and letters, and the various elementary principles of human knowledge, is not this direct preparation for hearing the gos- pel ? Surely, then, when missionaries conduct schools among the heathen wisely and faithfully, they are as really and directly fulfilling the great duties of their office, as when they address hundreds, or even thousands, from the pulpit. In many cases, missionaries are unable to speak the lan- guage of the people to whom they are sent. They must preach, if at all, by an interpreter; and, of course, under all
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the disadvantages attending this medium of communication. The children of such pagans may be taught, at first, either by means of an interpreter, or by slowly imparting to them the vernacular tongue of the missionaries. But, in whatever way they may he taught, they are perhaps, the most hopeful objects of the missionary’s labour. Many cases, have, no doubt, occurred, of adult, and even aged pagans being con- verted to the knowledge and love of the gospel. Not a few trophies of evangelical truth have been found even among the most hardened and degraded slaves of idolatry and moral corruption. So that the encouragement to preach the gospel to adults is unquestionable and ample. But can any one doubt that the richest harvest is to be expected among their children, as well from the direct as the reflex influence of in- struction imparted to them ? The minds of children, though by nature depraved, are more simple than those of adults; less hardened; less armed with prejudice; less bound to idolatry; less borne away by corrupt habits; less fettered with worldly cares; so that the efforts of a wise, pious and affectionate mis- sionary are more likely, humanly speaking, ultimately to take effect on the youthful than on the adult or aged mind. So that if he neglects the children, or makes them only a secondary object of attention, he miscalculates most egregiously on the probable means of the greatest usefulness. There can be no doubt that, in heathen as well as in Christian lands, children are the hope of the church; and, of course, the most diligent attention to their instruction ought to go hand in hand with that which is directed to the adult population.
But in pagan, as well as in Christian countries, the princi- ples before mentioned apply in all their strength, viz. that one of the best means of exciting the attention, and reaching the hearts of heathen parents, is through the medium of their children. When heathen children are collected in well- governed and well-taught schools at missionary stations, the influence of such schools can scarcely fail of being benign and happy. When the parents visit the schools, and see their children daily improving in knowledge, order, and dutiful behaviour, can they fail of receiving an impression favourable to Christianity and its advocates ? When they listen to the instruction given to their children, and see their eyes sparkling with intelligence, and their hearts impressed with truth, will they not be likely to catch something of the sympathetic feeling ? And when their children visit them, and begin to speak of Jesus, his condescension, his sufferings
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and his love, will they not be more apt to receive favourable impressions, in the first instance, from the lisping statements of those whom they love as their own souls, than from the addresses of strangers whose persons and errand they may regard with some degree of suspicion ?
Of all the delusions, therefore, we have ever witnessed, one of the most unhappy, in our opinion, is that which would pro- pose to put down all the schools hitherto maintained by mis- sionaries among the heathen, and to direct all their attention to the labours of the pulpit, or to what is commonly called the public preaching of the gospel. There is infatuation in the proposal. To say nothing of the considerations already suggested, how is a race of native missionaries to be raised up but by means of such schools ? And if out of every hundred, or even two hundred of the children thus labo- riously instructed, ten , or even five , should be prepared, by the blessing of God, to become enlightened and faithful preachers of the gospel to their countrymen, who would not say, that the schools had yielded a glorious harvest ? How narrow and blind the policy which would reject or consent to abandon such a promising instrumentality!
In view of the foregoing remarks, we should be glad to see the following aphorisms pasted up in the study of every minister of the gospel on earth, and regarded as practical maxims of vital importance, as well of indisputable autho- rity, viz.
1. Consider all the children and young people who may be brought within the sphere of your instruction or influ- ence, as the most precious and promising part of your charge, which calls for all your vigilance, skill, labour and prayer.
2. Keep, as far as you can, an exact catalogue of such children; see them as often as you can; and never allow yourself to meet them, without saying and doing something, if practicable, which shall tend to make an impression on their minds favourable to your office, your ministrations, and your Master.
3. When you move about among your people in family visitation, be sure to carry in your pockets some interesting tracts, New Testaments, or other interesting publications, as presents to the children whom you may see. A sufficient stock of these, in ordinary cases, to last a year, might be pur- chased for twenty-five or thirty dollars, which the ladies in almost any congregation would take pleasure in raising for the purpose of enabling their pastor to perform this duty.
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4. Meet all the children of your charge once every week for the purpose of reciting the Assembly’s Catechism; and accompany the recitation of that formulary with such expla- nation and prayer as may be adapted to impress the youthful and tender mind.
5. Never content yourself with the instruction given to the children of your charge in the sabbath school. Prize those schools highly; encourage them continually; keep those which are connected with your own church constantly under your own supervision and control; and see that the catechisms of your church are faithfully taught by the instructors. But be not content with this. However excellent and thorough the instruction in the sabbath school, it is of the utmost im- portance to them, as well as to yourself, that you bring all the children of your charge statedly in contact with your own person, that mutual acquaintance and mutual affection may be promoted by the intercourse.
6. Make the recitation of the catechism a serious matter. Many pastors run over it in a hasty manner, and take little or no notice of the failures to recite it well. These failures should always be noticed at the time, recorded in a memoran- dum book kept for the purpose, and referred to afterwards for quickening or shaming the delinquent.
7. Maintain a Bible Class, embracing as many of the chil- dren and young people of your charge as you can prevail on to attend. Attend to this class punctually; — prepare for it carefully ; and endeavour to make it subservient to an en- lightened and serious study of the scriptures.
8. Let your attention to the children be vigilant, respectful and affectionate. Endeavour to engage their attention, and attract them to your person in every house you enter; and, in general, always endeavour to treat them in such a manner that your visits shall be welcome to them.
9. Take frequent opportunities of speaking to children in the presence and hearing of their parents. Many parents are fond of knowing what is said to their children. And even when they would be glad to shun serious conversation, a word addressed to their children in their hearing may be blessed to their everlasting welfare.
10. When you are about to go forth to attend on family calls, spend a few minutes in prayer, that your visits and conversation may be blessed to parents and children and ser- vants, wherever you may go. And if you have an opportu- nity, without forcing or undue urgency, to pray with the
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family circle, let your recollection of the children in prayer be as pointed, affectionate and paternal as you can make it.
11. In one word, be it your study to treat all the children and young people of your charge under the solemn impression that they are one day to be men and women, to be a blessing or a curse to the church and the world, and heirs of an eternal heaven or hell; and that your mode of treating them may have a governing influence in making them the one or the other.
Art. III. — Remarks on the Disuse of Expository Preaching.
The pulpit discourses of Roman Catholics as well as Pro- testants, during several centuries, have been for the most part founded on short passages of scripture; commonly single verses, and oftener less than more. This has become so pre- valent, that in most treatises upon the composition of sermons all the canons of homiletics presuppose the treatment of an isolated text. We are not prepared to denounce this practice, especially when we consider the treasury of sound doctrine, cogent reasoning, and mighty eloquence, which is embodied in productions formed on this model, and call to mind the instances in which such discourses have been signally owned of God in the edification of his church. But there is still another method, which, though less familiar to ourselves, was once widely prevalent, and is recognised and approved in our Directory for Worship, in the following words : “ It is proper also that large portions of scripture be sometimes expounded, and particularly improved for the instruction of the people in the meaning and use of the sacred oracles.”* And it may not be out of place to mention here, that in the debates of the Westminster Assembly, there were more than a few members, and among these the celebrated Calamy, who maintained with earnestness, that it was no part of the minis- ter’s duty to read the scriptures in public without expositionA
It is not a little remarkable that in an age in which so much is heard against creeds and systems as contradistin-
* Directory for Worship, Chap. ri. § 2. fLightfoot’s Works, Vol. xiii. p. 36.
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guished from the pure text of Scripture, and in which sacred hermeneutics hold so high a place in theological education, we should have allowed the methodical and continued expo- sition of the Bible to go almost into disuse.* What our pre- decessors practised under the name of lectures is almost ban- ished from the pulpit. It is against this exclusion that we now propose to direct our argument. And in what may be offered in the sequel we ask attention to this statement of the ques- tion as limiting our purpose. Far be it from us to decry the mode of discoursing which prevails in our churches. We freely acknowledge its many excellencies and rejoice in its gracious fruits; but we plead in behalf of another and an older method, which we lament to see neglected and forsaken. With this preface, we shall proceed to give some reasons why a judicious return to the expository method of preaching seems to us to be desirable.
1. The expository method of preaching is the most obvi- ous and natural way of conveying to the hearers the import of the sacred volume. It is the very work for which a mi- nistry w’as instituted, to interpret the scriptures. In the case of any other book, we should be at no loss in what manner to proceed. Suppose a volume of human science to be placed in our hands as the sole manual, text-book, and standard, which we were expected to elucidate to a public assembly: in what way would it be most natural to go to work ? Cer- tainly not, we think, to take a sentence here, and a sentence there, and upon these separate portions to frame one or two discourses every week. No interpreter of Aristotle, of Lit- tleton, of PufFendorf, or of Paley, ever dreamed of such a method. Nor was it adopted in the Christian church, until the sermon ceased to be regarded in its true notion, as an explanation of the scripture, and began to be viewed as a rhe- torical entertainment, which might afford occasion for the display of subtilty, research, and eloquence.
2. The expository method has the sanction of primitive and ancient usage. In the Israelitish, as well as the Christian church, preaching was an ordinary mode of religious instruc- tion. In both it was justly regarded as a means of conducting the hearers to the knowledge of revealed truth. As early
* Although the subject of this essay may, in certain particulars, run very na- turally into that of critical interpretation, the writer begs leave to disclaim any special right to dwell upon this topic, as his pursuits have not led him into the field of hermeneutics, any further than the performance of ordinary ministerial duty required.
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as the time of Ezra, we find that the reading of the law was accompanied with some kind of interpretation. In the syna- gogues, after the reading of the law and the prophets, it was usual for the presiding officer to invite such as were learned to address the people. Our Lord Jesus Christ availed him- self of this opportunity to deliver one of his most remarkable discourses; and this was an exposition of a prophetic passage. The apostle Paul seems also to have made portions of scrip- ture the basis of his addresses in the synagogues. But it is not to be expected that the preaching of the apostolic age, when the speakers were divinely inspired, should be in all respects a model for our own times. It was their province to communicate truth under inspiration; it is ours to inter- pret what has thus been communicated. The early Christian assemblies naturally adopted the simple and rational methods of the Jewish synagogues; in conformity with which it was an essential part of the service to read the scriptures. Manu- scripts were rare, and the majority of believers were poor; and hence the church assemblies must have long continued to be the chief, if not the only, sources of biblical knowledge. Justin Martyr, who is one of the earliest authorities on this subject, informs us that the public reading of the text was followed by addresses, adapted to impress the subject on the minds of the hearers.* According to Neander, who may be considered as an impartial judge on this topic, it was at first left to the option of the bishop what portions of scripture should be read; though it was subsequently made necessary to adhere to certain lessons, which were judged appropriate to times and seasons. Bingham also concedes that the les- sons were sometimes arbitrarily appointed by the bishops at discretion. Augustin declares that he sometimes ordered a lesson to be read which harmonized with the psalm which he had been expounding.!
As this is a point of history concerning which there is little room for question, we shall content ourselves \vith the diligent, and, as we believe, impartial deductions of Bingham and Neander. It is not to be denied, that there were, even in the early ages, several different modes of preaching, and that some of these approached very nearly to that which now prevails; yet there was no period during which the exposi- tory method was not highly prized and extensively practised.
* Apolog. 2.
t Aug. in Psalm 90. Ser. ii. — Bingham, Antiq. B.xiv. c. iii. § 3.
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These discourses were very frequent and often flowed from the intense feeling of the moment. Pamphilus, in his Apology for Origen, represents this great teacher as discoursing ex- tempore almost every day. The same frequency of public address is recorded of Chrysostom, Augustin, and other fathers. Their sermons were taken down by stenographers, and in such of them as are extant we have repeated evidences of their familiar and unpremeditated character. Chrysostom, for instance, thus breaks forth, in one of his homilies on Genesis: “ I am expounding the scriptures; yet you are all turning your eyes from me to the person who is lighting the lamps. What negligence! to forsake me, and fix your minds on him! For I am lighting a fire from the holy scriptures, and in my tongue is a burning lamp of instruction.” Au- gustin also tells us, in one of his homilies, that he had not thought of the subject on which he actually preached, until the Reader chanced to read it of his own accord in the church.*
The two greatest preachers of the Greek and Latin churches, respectively, afford striking examples of the value set upon exposition. Augustin has left homilies upon the Psalms, the Gospel of John, and other whole books of scripture. Chry- sostom, in like manner, expounded at length the book of Genesis, the Psalms, the Gospels of Matthew and John, and all the Epistles of Paul. His homilies consist usually of a close interpretation, or running commentary, followed by an Ethicon, or practical application. That biblical exposition was recognised as the end of preaching seems clear from such declarations as the following : “ If any one assiduously attend public worship, even without reading the Bible at home, but carefully hearkening here, he will find a single year sufficient to give him an intimate acquaintance with the scriptures.”t And indeed this is so natural a result of the catholic belief that the scriptures are the great storehouse of saving truth, as to leave us in some surprise at the neglect into which this direct exposition of the authentic records has fallen.
When we look into the history of England during the thirteenth century, we find that two modes of preaching were in use, neither of these being that which we now employ. In the first place, that of Postulating , which was identical with the expository method; secondly, that of Declaring , in which the discourse was preceded by a declaration of the
* Bingham, Book xiv. chap, iv, § 4.
f Horn. 28. in Job. — Ncander, Der hcilige Chrysostomus.
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subject, without the citation of any passage of scripture. When, about the beginning of the thirteenth century, the method of preaching from insulated texts, with subtile divi- sions of the sermon, was introduced, it was zealously adopted by the younger clergy, and became extensively popular; while it was as warmly opposed by some of the best theologians of the age, as ‘a childish playing upon words — destructive of true eloquence — tedious and unaffecting to the hearers, — and cramping the imagination of the preacher.’ Among others, it found an able opponent in the great Roger Bacon; a man whom we can never mention without amazement at his phi- losophical attainments, and veneration for his character. “ The greatest part of our prelates,” says he, “having but little knowledge in divinity, and having been little used to preaching in their youth, when they become bishops, and are sometimes obliged to preach, are under the necessity of begging and borrowing the sermons of certain novices, who have invented a new way of preaching, by endless divisions and quibblings, in which there is neither sublimity of style nor depth of wisdom, but much childish trifling and folly, unsuitable to the dignity of the pulpit. May God banish this conceited and artificial way of preaching out of his church; for it will never do any good, nor elevate the hearts of his hearers to any thing that is great or excellent.”*
“ The opposition to this new method of preaching,” says Dr. Henry in his History of England,” continued through the whole of the fourteenth and part of the fifteenth century. Dr. Thomas Gascoigne, chancellor of the university of Oxford, tells us that he preached a sermon in St. Martin’s church, A. D. 1450, without a text, and without divisions, declaring such things as he thought would be useful to the people. Amongst other things he told them, in vindication of this ancient mode of preaching, — ‘ that Dr. Augustine had preached four hundred sermons to the clergy and people, without read- ing a text at the beginning of his discourse; and that the way of preaching by a text, and by divisions, was invented only about A. D. 1200, as appeared from the authors of the first sermons of that kind.’ ”
It is no part of our business to enter further into this inves- tigation, or to determine critically at what point of time the method of preaching from insulated verses became exclusively prevalent in the church. Whatever excellencies it possesses,
* R. Bacon, apud Henry’s Hist. iv. 366.
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and there are many, can derive no additional dignity from the origin of the method, which is referable to a period by no means the most glorious of Christian history. When the light of divine truth began to emerge from its long eclipse, at the Reformation, there were few things more remarkable, than the universal return of evangelical preachers to the ex- pository method. Book after book of the scriptures was publicly expounded by Luther, and the almost daily sermons of Calvin were, with scarcely any exceptions, founded on passages taken in regular course as he proceeded through the sacred canon. The same is true of the other reformers, par- ticularly in England and Scotland.
To come down to the times of the Nonconformists; while it is undoubtedly true that they sometimes pursued the textual method even to an extreme; preaching many discourses on a single verse; it is no less true, that exposition in regular course was considered a necessary part of ministerial labour. Hence the voluminous commentaries on single books with which the press groaned during that period. Let us take a single instance, as late as the latter half of the sixteenth cen- tury, in the person of Matthew Henry, whom it is difficult to refer exclusively to the era of the elder or the later Non- conformists. We may suppose his practice in this particular to be no extreme case. Mr. Henry was an able and laborious preacher from single texts, but it was by no means to the exclusion of the expository plan. On every Lord’s day morning, he read and expounded a part of the Old Testament; on every Lord’s day afternoon a part of the New; in both in- stances proceeding in regular order. During his residence in Chester he went over the whole Bible in this exercise, more than once."* Such was the custom of our forefathers; and in the prosecution of such a plan, we need not wonder that they found the body of their hearers constantly advancing in scriptural attainments. The sense of change, and change without im- provement, is unavoidable when we come down to our own times; in which, within our immediate knowledge, there are not a dozen ministers who make the expounding of scripture any part of their stated pulpit exercises. Nay, although our Directory for Worship declares expressly that ‘ the reading of the holy scriptures in the congregation, is a part of the public worship of God, and ought to be performed by the ministers and teachers;’ — that the preacher, ‘in each service
Williams, Life of Henry, c. x.
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ought to read, at least one chapter, and more, when the chap- ters are short, or the connexion requires it;’ yet it is unde- niably the common practice to confine this service, which is treated as something almost supererogatory, to the Lord’s day morning. Now while we are zealous in maintaining, that the Christian minister should not be bound down by any imperative rubric and calendar as to the portion which he shall read, we cannot but blush when we compare our actual performances in this kind with those of many sister churches, who have chosen to be guided by more strict liturgical ar- rangements.
3. The expository method is adapted to secure the greatest amount of scriptural knowledge, to both preacher and hear- ers. It needs no argument, we trust, to sustain the position that every minister of the gospel should be mighty in the scriptures; familiar with the whole text; versed in the best commentaries; at home in every portion of both testaments; and accustomed to grapple with the most perplexing difficul- ties. This is the appropriate and peculiar field of clerical study. It is obvious that the pulpit exercises of every dili- gent minister will give direction and colour to his private lucubrations. In order to success and usefulness in any spe- cies of discourse, the preacher must love his work and must have it constantly before his mind. He must be possessed of an enthusiasm which shall never suffer him to forget the impending task. His reading, his meditation, and even his casual trains of thought must perpetually revert to the per- formances of the Sabbath. And we take pleasure in believing that such is actually the case with a large proportion of cler- gymen.
Now it must not be concealed that the popular and preva- lent mode of sermonizing, however favourable it may be to professional zeal of this kind, and to the cultivation of mental habits, does by no means lead in any equal measure to the laborious study of the scriptures. The text, it is true, must be a fragment of the word of God; and it may be confirmed and illustrated by parallel or analagous passages. But where no extended exposition is attempted, the preacher is naturally induced to draw upon systematic treatises, philosophical the- ories, works of mere literature, or his own ingenuity of invention, and fertility of imagination, for such a train of thought as, under the given topic, may claim the praise of novelty. We are aware that with many it is far otherwise, and that there are preachers who are wont to select such texts
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as necessarily draw after them a full interpretation of all the foregoing and following context; and such sermons are, to all intents and purposes, expositions. But we also know, that to compose a sermon upon a text of scripture, with very little reference to its position in the word of God, and very little inquiry as to the intent of the Spirit in the words, is a thing not only possible, but common. The evil grows apace, wherever the rhetorical aspect of preaching attracts undue attention; and the desire to be original, striking, ingenious, and elegant, supersedes the earnest endeavour to be scriptural.
This abuse is in a good degree precluded by the method of exposition. The minister who from week to week is labouring to elucidate some important book of scripture, has this kept forcibly before his mind. It will necessarily be the chief subject of his studies. Whatever else he may neglect, he will, if he is a conscientious man, sedulously pe- ruse and ponder those portions which he is to explain; using every auxiliary, and especially comparing scripture with scripture. Suppose him to pursue this regular investigation of any one book, for several successive months, and we perceive that he must be acquiring a knowledge of the very word of truth, vastly more extensive, distinct and profound, than can fall to the lot of one who perhaps for no two dis- courses together finds himself in the same part of the canon. Two men practising upon the two methods, each in an ex- clusive manner, may severally gain an equal measure of intellectual discipline and real knowledge, but their attain- ments will differ in kind. The one is driven from the variety of his topics to a fitful and fragmentary study of the bible: the other is bound down to a systematic and unbroken investigation of consecutive truths. Consider, also, how much more of the pure teachings of the Spirit, accompanied with suitable explanation, necessarily occupies the mind of the preacher in one method, than in the other.
If such is the influence, with respect to the preacher him- self, who, under any system, is still free to devote his mind to scriptural study; how much greater is it not likely to be with respect to the hearers, whose habits of investigation almost always receive their character from the sermons to which they listen. Perhaps none will deny that every hearer should be made as fully acquainted with the whole word of God, as is practicable. But where, by the mass of Christian people, is this knowledge to be obtained, except at church ? The truth is, the scriptural knowledge possessed by our ordi-
1838.]
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nary congregations, amidst all our boasted light and im- provement, bears no comparison with that of the Scottish peasantry of the last generation, who, from very infancy, were taught to follow the preacher, in their little bibles, as he expounded in regular course. If long habit had not pre- possessed us, we should doubtless agree at once to the propo- sition, that all the more cardinal books of scripture should be fully expounded in every church, if not once during the life of a single preacher, certainly once during each genera- tion; in order that no man should grow up without the opportunity of hearing the great body of scriptural truth laid open. And considering the bible as our only authentic document, this method seems so natural, that the burden of proof may fairly be thrown on such as have well nigh suc- ceeded in excluding it. There is something beautiful in the very idea of training up a whole congregation in the regular study of the holy scriptures. And if we were called upon to devise a plan for inducing people to read the bible more diligently, we could think of none as likely to attain the end. When hearers know that a certain portion of scripture is to be explained on the ensuing Lord’s day, they will naturally be led to examine it during the week, and will thus be pre- pared to listen with greatly increased advantage to what may be offered. This is precisely the exercise which Chrysostom recommends to his hearers in his first homily on Matthew.* The same Father seems also to have sometimes thrown out to his hearers, difficult questions, in order that they might be stimulated to inquiry. “ Wherefore,” he says, “ have I presented the difficulty and not appended its solution ? Be- cause it is my purpose to accustom you, not always to receive food already prepared; but often to search for the explana- tion yourselves. Just as it is with the doves, which as long as their young remain in the nest, feed them from their own bills; but as soon as they are large enough to be fledged and leave the nest, cease to do thus. For while they bring them corn in their bills, they only show it to them; and when the young ones expect nourishment, and draw nigh, the mother lets it fall upon the earth, and the little ones pick
* "CIijtS 5s SufjadsdTipov yevidOui <rov Xoyov, 5s6fJ.s6a xai capaxaXoufJ.lv, ocip xa i sc i ruv d XXuv ypucpuv irS'iror^xapi.Sv, cpodXafj.(3avsiv ■jrspixiwnjv
s ypocpvjS, V)V av fj.sXXufJ.Sv i^rfylidtoai, iva crj yvudSi -/j dvdyvudvs cpodo- 5 o'ffoioGrfa, (6 xa. i id cou suvuu%ov yiyovs ) iroXX^v capddyy>\ Tiiv lux oXiav rjfjJv.
VOL. X. NO. 1.
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it up.”* If scripture difficulties are in our day often started in the pulpit, and often left unresolved, we are not prepared to say whether it is exactly with the motive avowed by this great preacher. Certain it is, that the able elucidation of dark places, and the reconciling of seeming contradictions, occupy far less room in the sermons which we now-a-days preach, than they did in those which have come down to us from a former age. Not many clergymen adopt the method of bishop Horsley, who was accustomed to select difficult texts, in order that his preaching might be, in the highest possible degree, an aid to the inquiries of his hearers. And unless scriptural doubts are resolved from the sacred desk, it is plain that the great body of our congregations are likely to remain in darkness, as long as they live. But he who proposes to analyse and interpret any considerable portion of the bible, in regular order, cannot evade this labour, but must repeatedly confront the most difficult passages, and prepare himself to make them intelligible. It would be easy to ex- patiate on this topic, but enough has been said to awaken some doubt as to the expediency of banishing formal exposi- tion from the church-assembly.
4. The expository method of preaching is best fitted to communicate the knowledge of scriptural truth in its con- nexion. The knowledge of the bible is something more than the knowledge of its isolated sentences. It includes a full acquaintance with the relation which every proposition sus- tains to the narrative or argument of which it is a part. This is particularly true of trains of reasoning, where every thing depends on a cognizance of the links which connect the several truths, and the order in which those truths are presented. Large portions of holy writ are closely argu- mentative, and can he understood in their true intention only when the whole scope and sequence of the terms are consi- dered. This logical connexion is no less the result of inspi- ration than is any individual statement. In some books of scripture the argument runs from beginning to end, and the clue to the whole is to be sought in the analysis of the rea- soning. As instances of this we may cite the epistles to the Romans and to the Hebrews; of which no man can have any adequate conception who has not been familiar with all their parts as constituting a logical whole. This however is so universally conceded as a first principle of hermeneutics,
* Vol. iii. p. 103.
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that it is needless to press it further. But it is not so gene- rally perceived, that in the other methods of preaching this great advantage is sacrificed. It is true that a man may announce as his text a single verse or clause of a verse, and then offer a full and satisfactory elucidation of the whole context, but so far as this is done, the sermon is expository, and falls under the kind which we recommend. But this species of discourse is becoming more and more rare. In the sermons of the nonconformists this was usually the plan of proceeding. In modern sermons, there is, for the most part, nothing which resembles it. A text is taken, usually with a view to some preconceived subject; a proposition is deduced from the text; and this is confirmed or illustrated by a series of statements which would have been precisely the same if any similar verse, in any other part of the record, had been chosen. Here there is no interpretation, for there is no pre- tence of it. There may be able theological discussion, and we by no means would exclude this; but where a method merely textual or topical prevails, there is an absolute for- saking of that which we have maintained to be the true notion of preaching. We can conceive of a hearer listening during a course of years to every verse of the epistle to the Hebrews, laid open in connexion with as many sermons of the popular sort; without obtaining thereby an insight into the grand scope and intricate contexture of that wonderful production. Now we say that the method which makes such an omission possible is unfit to be the exclusive method.
As a remarkable instance of what is meant, we may adduce the sermons of the Rev. William Jay, who is justly celebrated as one of the most fascinating and instructive preachers of Great Britain. In these sermons we find many valuable scriptural truths, many original and touching illustrations, much sound argument, pungent exhortation, and great unc- tion. In themselves considered, and viewed as pulpit orations, they seem open to scarcely a single objection; yet as exposi- tions of the scripture, they are literally nothing. They clear up no difficulties in the argument of the inspired writers; they give no wide prospects of the field in which their matter lies; they might be repeated for a lifetime without tending in the slightest degree to educate a congregation in habits of sound interpretation. The same remark applies to the majo- rity of American discourses, and most of all to those which conform to the prevailing taste of New England. In occa- sional sermons, and monthly collections, where we have ac-
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cess to a number of printed discourses, we are often forcibly struck with the absence of all logical concatenation. The text is a sign or motto, after announcing which the preacher glides into a gentle train of common-places, or a series of thoughts which, however ingenious and interesting and true, have no necessary connexion, ‘continuous in their disconti- nuity, like the sand-thread of the hour-glass.’
The mental habits of any Christian community are mainly derived from the preaching which they hear. It is fair to ask, therefore, from what source can the Christians of our day be expected to gain a taste and ability for interpreting the scripture in its connexion ? Certainly not from the pulpit. Among the ancient Scottish Presbyterians the case was dif- ferent. Every man and every woman, nay almost every child, carried his pocket-bible to church, and not only looked out the text, but verified each citation: and as the preaching was in great part of the expository kind, the necessary con- sequence was, that the whole population became intimately acquainted with the structure of every book in the bible, and were able to recall every passage with its appropriate accom- panying truths. The genius of Protestantism demands that something of this kind should be attempted. Where the laity are not expected to search the scriptures, or in any de- gree to exercise private judgment, it may answer every pur- pose to give them from the pulpit the mere results of exposition; but more is needed where we claim for all the privilege of trying every doctrine by the word of God; and sermons should therefore be auxiliaries to the hearers in their investigation of the record. And we earnestly desire a gen- eral return on the part of our preachers to a method which will necessarily tend, from week to week, to open the scrip- tures, and display, what is by no means their least excel- lency, the harmonious relation of their several portions.
5. The expository method affords inducement and occasion to the preacher to declare the whole counsel of God. No man who selects his insulated texts at random has any good reason to be satisfied that he is not neglecting the inculcation of many important doctrines or duties. This deficiency is prevented in some good measure, it must be owned, by those who pursue a systematic course of doctrines in their ordinary ministrations. But usually, the indolence or caprice which renders any one averse to the expository method, will like- wise withhold him from methodical series of any kind in his discourses. There is perhaps no man who has not an
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undue fondness for some one circle of subjects : and this does not always comprise the whole of what he is bound to declare. But the regular exposition of a few entire books, well selected, would go far to supply every defect of this nature.
It is the province of the minister to render plain the diffi- culties of the bible, and this is not likely to be done exten- sively, as we have elsewhere hinted, in an exclusive adherence to single texts.
There are some important and precious doctrines of reve- lation which are exceedingly unwelcome to the minds of many hearers; such, for instance, are the doctrines of pre- destination, and unconditional election. These, the preacher is tempted to avoid, and by some they are never unfolded during a whole lifetime. It is obvious that no one could expound the Epistle to the Romans, without being under the necessity of handling these points.
Moreover, it is unquestionable that many doctrines are abhorrent to the uninstructed mind, when they are set forth in their naked theological form, which are by no means so when presented in their scriptural connexion. Here, again, is a marked superiority on the side of exposition.
There is, we suppose, no pastor, who has not, in the course of his ministerial life, found himself called upon to press cer- tain duties, or inveigh against certain sins, which it was ex- ceedingly difficult to dwell upon, either from the delicacy of the theme itself, or from its relation to particular classes or individuals in his congregation. Now when such topics na- turally arise in the regular progress of exposition, all hesitation on this score is removed at once. The most unpopular doc- trines may be stated and enforced, the most prevalent vices denounced, and the most daring offenders chastised, while not even the censorious or the sensitive can find room for complaint. For these, and similar reasons, we conceive the expository way of preaching to supply a grand deficiency in our common pulpit ministrations
6. The expository method admits of being made generally interesting to Christian assemblies. We are aware that the vulgar opinion is just the reverse of this, and that there are those who refrain from this way of preaching, under the be- lief that it must necessarily prove dry and repulsive to the hearer. To this our reply is, that the interpretation of the scriptures ought to be interesting to every member of a Christian community : if it is not so, in fact, the cause of this
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disrelish is an evil which the church should not willingly endure, and which can be remedied in no other way than by bringing the public back to the assiduous study of the bible. It is not every sort of exposition, any more than every sort of sermon, which is interesting. He who hastily seizes upon a large portion of the text, in order to furnish himself with ample material for an undigested, desultory, and extempo- raneous address, cannot expect to awaken and maintain atten- tion. With all their blindness, in certain matters, the public are very sagacious in discovering when the minister gives them that which costs him nothing. But let any man devote equal labor to his lectures as to his sermons, and unless he be the subject of some idiosyncrasy, the former will be equally interesting.
The observation is very common, that expository preaching is exceedingly difficult. Yet the writers on homiletics, as if it were the easiest thing in the world, and taught by nature, almost without exception, dismiss the whole subject with a few passing remarks, and lay down no rules for the conduct of a regular exposition. We are persuaded that if equal pains were taken to prepare for one as for the other, and if the one were as often practised as the other, this complaint would have no place.
As a matter of fact, we have observed no lack of interest in such exercises, on the part of intelligent hearers. The truth is, the bible is made for the common mind, and as it is the most interesting book in the world, so its interpretation, well conducted, is always found to be highly and increasingly agreeable to the majority of hearers. On the other hand, there are few instances of any man’s interesting large con- gregations, for any length of time, by discourses which were void of scriptural statements, however elegant they might be in a rhetorical point of view. The effect of mere ethical preaching has been sorely felt in Germany, where in the greater number of places, the ancient services of the Sunday afternoon, and during the week, have gone into desuetude, and there are whole classes of persons whom one never ex- pects to see in church, such as merchants, military officers, and savans. Teller once preached a sermon to a congregation of just sixteen persons, the intent of which was to warn them against setting too high a value on going to church. “ Let any man,” says Tholuck, “imagine a modern preacher — as was common in former days — to direct his congregation to bring their bibles with them, and that they might be assured
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that he declared, not man’s word, but the word of God, at every important point, to look out the passage cited : the remark of all elegant gentlemen and ladies would be, ‘ Oh! this is too simple!’ — Dies ist clock allzu naiv /” But in the days when this simple practice was in vogue, every one was interested in exposition; and it will be so again, when- ever the public taste shall have been reformed by a return to what was good in the ancient methods. We rejoice to know of at least one instance, even in Germany, serving to show that ordinary Christians may, with proper care, be led back into the old paths, and that highly to their satisfaction. “ I know but one preacher,” says a writer in the Evangelical Church Journal, “in my native country, where there are more than four hundred churches, who practises biblical ex- position with success. In his country parish, which com- prises several hamlets, he is accustomed to visit each of these in turn once a month, (perhaps oftener in winter) and to lec- ture in the school-house. The hearers bring their bibles, and even aged and infirm persons, who cannot go to church, repair hither with eagerness and delight. They receive, nei- ther mere fragmentary and superficial remarks on single words or clauses, nor a merely edifying address on a scrip- ture passage, but the connected exposition of some whole book, developing as well the specialties of language and mat- ter, as the entire scope according to its contents. The lec- turer begins, at every meeting, where he left off at the pre- vious one. In the next hamlet he interprets another book, as large numbers come in from the neighboring villages, to enjoy the additional privilege.” Would that we could wit- ness the same thing in every congregation in America!
There is one advantage of expository lectures, in respect to interest, which must not be omitted. Nothing is more evident, than that the attention and sympathy of an audience are best ensured by a rapid transition from topic to topic. This cannot always be secured in the common method. The preacher, from a sort of necessity, hammers with wearisome perseverance upon some one malleable thought, in order to keep within his preconceived task. But where he has be- fore him a number of connected scriptural propositions, he is not only allowed, but constrained, to make precisely such quick transitions from each point to the next, as gives great variety to his discourse, and keeps up the unwearied atten- tion of the hearer. With faithful preparation, and assiduous practice, there is probably no minister who might not find this happy effect from weekly lecturing.
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7. The expository method has a direct tendency to correct, if not to preclude, the evils incident to the common textual mode of preaching. It is an ordinary complaint that the sermons of the present day, as compared with those of the seventeenth century, are meager, and often empty of matter; we think the charge is founded in truth. No one can go from the perusal of Barrow, Leighton, Charnock, or Owen, to the popular writers of our time, without feeling that he has come into an atmosphere of less density. In the mere form of the pulpit discourse, in an aesthetical point of view, we have unquestionably improved upon our model. The performances of that day were too scholastic and complicated. “The sermons of the last century,” says Cecil, “ were like their large, unwieldly chairs. Men have now a far more true idea of a chair. They consider it as a piece of furniture to sit upon, and they cut away from it every thing that embar- rasses and encumbers it.” But we have gone on to cut away until we have, in too many cases, removed what was import- ant and substantial. The evil is acknowledged, but it is worthy of inquiry, how far the superficial character of mo- dern sermons is derived from the exclusive use of short texts. We certainly do not assert that the Puritans themselves did not carry this very method to an extreme, by preaching many sermons on the same text; but it is well known that they almost universally pursued some variety of regular exposi- tion in conjunction with this. Still less do we contend that all the evils of sermonizing are to be imputed to the exclusive use of brief texts; the source of the evil is more remote, and must be sought in the spirit of the age. But still, there is good ground for the position, that the prevailing method gives easy occasion to certain abuses, to which direct expo- sition is not liable; and hence we argue that the exclusion of the latter mode is greatly to be deprecated. This is the extent of our demand. Some of the abuses to which we re- fer may be indicated.
It is by no means uncommon to hear sermons which are absolutely devoid of any scriptural contents. The text in- deed is from the bible, and there may be interspersed, more for decoration than proof, a number of inspired declarations; but the warp and the woof of the texture are a mere web of human reasoning or illustration. Sometimes the subject is purely secular; and often, where it is some topic of divine truth, it is maintained and urged upon natural grounds, inde- pendent of the positive declarations of the Word. It is not
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merely among the Unitarians of Boston that this style pre- vails. There are various degrees of approach to it in many orthodox pulpits of New England. The expository method renders this exceedingly difficult: being professedly an ex- planation of the bible as the ideas are there set forth. In point of fact, this evil seldom occurs in exposition; as it is both natural and easy for the preacher to open clause after clause in its true sense and its revealed order. Expository discourse can scarcely fail to be largely made up of the pure biblical material.
A still greater abuse is that of wresting texts from their gen- uine meaning by what is called accommodation. This is the extreme refinement of the modern method. As if there was a lamentable paucity of direct scriptural declarations, to be used as the subjects of discourse, we have proceeded to em- ploy sacred words in a sense which never entered into the minds of their inspired writers. This is the favourite trick of many a pulpit haranguer, and deserves to be classed with the sesquipedalian capitals of play-bills, and the clap-traps of the theatre: in both cases the object is to attract attention or awaken astonishment. There can scarcely be found, on the other hand, a single man, however unbridled his imagination, who could fall into such a fault in the process of formal and professed exposition. Common reverence for the word of God must needs forbid any one, while in the very act of in- terpreting its successive statements, to exhibit as the true intent of any passage, sentiments which no fair exegesis can extract from it.
But even where the text is understood in its literal and prU mary sense, the avidity for some thing new, and a regard for the ‘itching ear’ of modern auditories, seduces the preacher into such a mode of treating his subject, as renders the sermon too often a mere exercise of logical or rhetorical adroitness. Where the aesthetics of sermonizing have been cultivated with overweening regard, and the exquisite parti- tion of the topics has been exalted to the first place, we see every thing sacrificed to ingenuity. The proper basis of every discourse is some pregnant declaration of the scripture. But in the elegant sermons which are occasionally heard, the real basis is an artificial division, or ‘ skeleton,’ commonly tripartite, and frequently of such structure as to offer a pretty antithetic jingle of terms, and at the same time to remove out of sight the true connexion and scope of the text. When this is the case, far too much stress is laid upon the division,
vol. x. no. 1. 7
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however ingenious. This abuse has grown from age to age. It was the natural consequence of exclusive textual preach- ing. Among the French divines it may be said to have prevailed, but it has reached its acme among the Germans; who have almost defeated our object in these remarks by playing the same tricks of fancy with long passages. Thus the excellent Tholuck, in the ninth of his second series of University Sermons, has contrived from Acts i. 1 — 14, to produce a division not merely in forced antithesis, but actu- ally in rhyme! The partition being as follows:
1. Die Statte seines Scheidens, die Statte seines Leidens;
2. Verhiillet ist sein Anfang, verhiillet ist sein Ausgang;
3. Der Sehluss Ton Seinem JVegen ist fiii die Seinen Segen;
4. Er ist von uns geschieden, und ist uns doch Geblieben;
5. Er bleibt verhullet den Seinen, bis er wird klar erscheinen.
But as a discourse is not made expository by having pre- fixed to it a connected passage of scripture, we still maintain, that genuine exposition removes in great measure the temp- tation to these refinements. It deserves consideration that we treat no other subjects but those of religion in this way. In all grave discussions of human science, all juridical argu- ments, and all popular addresses, the logical or natural par- tition of the subject commends itself to the common sense of mankind. Such is the judgment of unbiassed men on this point. It may not be improper here to cite the opinion of Voltaire himself, because through his sneer we discern some- thing like the aspect of reason. “ It were to be wished,” says he, “ that in banishing from the pulpit the bad taste which degraded it, he ( Bourdaloue) had likewise banished the custom of preaching upon a text. Indeed, the toil of speaking fora longtime on a quotation of a line or two, of la- bouring to connect a whole discourse with this line, seems a play unbecoming the gravity of the sacred function. The text becomes a species of motto, or rather an enigma, which is unfolded by the sermon. The Greeks and Romans had no knowledge of this practice. It arose in the decline of let- ters, and has been consecrated by time. The habit of always dividing into two or three heads subjects which, like morals, demand no partition whatever, or which, like controversy, demand a partition still more extensive, is a forced method, which P. Bourdaloue found prevalent, and to which he con- formed.”
But there is another evil incident to the modern method of preaching which is still more to be deprecated; namely,
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emptiness. Next to the want of truth, the greatest fault in a sermon is want of matter. It is not the province of any mere method, as such, to furnish the material, but the ordi- nary mode of handling scripture in the pulpit affords great occa- sion for diffuseness, and has brought leanness into many a dis- course. A man of little thought, it is true, whether he preach from a verse or a chapter, will necessarily impress the cha- racter of his mind upon his performance; yet the temptation to fill up space with inflated weakness is far greater under the modern method; and where this method is universal will overtake such as are undisciplined in mind. We conceive it to be no disparagement of the word of God to say that it is not every verse even of sacred writ upon which a long discourse can be written without the admixture of foreign matter. In too many instances, when a striking text has been selected, and an ingenious division fabricated, the preacher’s mind has exhausted itself. Perhaps we mistake, but our conviction is, that far too much stress has been laid upon the analyses of sermons. Essential as they are, they are the mere plotting out of the ground. The skeleton, as it aptly called, is an unsatisfactory object, where there is not superinduced a succession of living tissues; it is all-important to support the frame, but by no means all-sufficient, and they who labour on this, in the vain hope of filling up what re- mains by extemporaneous speaking or writing, ‘ quite mis- take the scaffold for the pile.’
We regard the diffuseness of many ministers, however perspicuous, as even worse than obscurity. The labour of the preacher’s thought is too often intermitted upon the con- ception of a good analysis. Our fathers of the last century used to throw out masses, sometimes rude, and sometimes fantastically carved and chased, but always solid and always golden; we their sons are content to beat the bar into gold leaf, and too frequently to fritter this into minute fragments. Defect of thought is a sad incentive to laboured expansion, when a man is resolved to produce matter for a whole hour. In such cases, the effort is to fill up the allotted number of minutes. Too many moments of sacred time are thus occu- pied in adding water to the pure milk of the word. The dilute result is not only wanting in nutritive virtue, but often nauseous. Under an admirable partition, we find sermoni- zers offending grossly, and this in a two-fold way. One preacher will state his topic, and then, however plain it may be, pertinaciously insist upon rendering it plainer. In this
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instance, the heads of discourse may be likened to milestones on a straight and level highway, from each of which, the traveller is able to look forward over a seemingly interminable tract. Another will, in like manner, announce his topic, and then revolve around it, always in sight, but never in proximity, until the time of rambling being spent, he chooses to return and repeat his gyrations about a new centre. There is little progress made by the haranguer, though his language or his embellishment be unexceptionable, qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter xinam. This paucity of such matter as is germane to the subject in hand is sometimes betrayed in the attempt to indemnify for the meagerness of the argu- mentative part, by an inordinate addendum in the shape of improvement, inference, or application.
The expository method, if judiciously intermixed with the other, offers a happy corrective to this fault. Here the preacher is furnished with abundance of matter, all-import- ant, and fertile of varied thought. He is placed under com- pression, and compelled to exchange his rarity of matter for what is close and in the same proportion weighty. We could give no better recipe for the cure of this tympany of sermonizers, than a course of expository lectures.
One word must be added before we leave this copious topic upon the avidity with which both preachers and hearers seek for novel and striking texts. The most common and familiar texts have become such, for the very reason that they are the most important. It is unworthy of the minister of Jesus Christ to be always in search of fragments which have never before been handled. The practice militates against the systematic and thorough developement of the ■whole counsel of God. We need not pause a moment to show that this is an evil that cannot exist under the method which we are solicitous to recommend.
It forms no part of our plan, in these remarks, to lay down rules for the conduct of an expository discourse, though the subject is quite as deserving of being treated in detail as any other connected with homiletics. No mistake could be more injurious to the character of such exercises, than to suppose that they demand less method or less assiduity than the most finished sermons of the ordinary kind. They are not to be used as a means of retreat from the labours of the closet, and he who thus employs them will soon find his pul- pit services empty and unsuccessful. In the present state of society, when the public mind, especially in our own country,
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is trained by the discipline of reading and hearing the highest specimens of forensic and deliberative eloquence, it is vain to expect that any congregation can long be interested in unpremeditated addresses. We may apply to this whole' subject the words of our Directory for Worship: “The me- thod of preaching requires much study, meditation, and prayer. Ministers ought, in general, to prepare their sermons with care; and not to indulge themselves in loose, extempo- rary harangues; nor to serve God with that which cost them nought.”* We have met with no instance in which perma- nent usefulness has followed the practice of delivering unstu- died sermons. The preacher who attempts this is sure to fall into empty declamation, objurgatory invective, or tedious repetition. Undigested discourses are commonly of tiresome length, and proportionate dulness. Wherever we hear fre- quent complaints of a preacher’s prolixity we assure our- selves that he leaves much of the filling up of his outline to the hour of actual delivery. Without being himself aware of it, such a preacher falls into a routine of topics and ex- pressions, and is perpetually repeating himself, and becoming more and more uninteresting to his charge; while, at the same time, he is perhaps wondering at the diminution of his hearers, and attributing his want of success to any cause but one within himself. The assiduous study of the bible, with direct reference to the services of the pulpit, is indispensably necessary, whatever species of preaching may be adopted.
We plead, at present, for no more than a discreet admix- ture of biblical exposition with the other methods of dis- course. In entering upon such a course, it is not necessary that the minister should introduce his first experiments into the principal service of the Lord’s day: he might make trial of his gifts in less frequented meetings, or in some more fa- miliar circle called together for this special purpose. And even where the expository method is exclusively adopted, as some may see cause to do, the pastor is to beware of that ex- treme which would always present very long passages. The expository plan, wisely conducted, may be said to include the other. Where, in due course, a verse, or even a part of a verse occurs, so important in its relations and so rich in matter as to claim a more extended elucidation, it should be taken singly, and be made the basis of a whole sermon, or even more.
Chap. vi. $ 3,
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As a model of familiar exposition we would cite the Lec- tures of Archbishop Leighton on the First Epistle of Peter. The great excellency of these is their heavenly unction, which led Dr. Doddridge to say that he never read a page of Leighton without experiencing an elevation of his religious feelings. “ More faith and more grace,” says Cecil,” would make us better preachers, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Chrysostom’s was the right method. Leighton’s Lectures on Peter approach very near to this method.” — “ Our method of preaching,” says the same writer, “ is not that by which Christianity was propa- gated: yet the genius of Christianity is not changed. There was nothing in the primitive method set or formal. The primitive bishop stood up, and read the gospel, or some other portion of scripture, and pressed on the hearers with great earnestness and affection, a few plain and forcible truths, evidently resulting from that portion of the divine word: we take a text, and make an oration. Edification was then the object of both speaker and hearers; and while this continues to be the object, no better method can be found.”*
Such a mode of preaching is less adapted than its opposite to make the speaker a separate object of regard, and might be selected by many on this very account. It is now some years since we enjoyed the privilege of listening to the late pious and eloquent Summerfield, the charm of whose brilliant and pathetic discourses will never be forgotten by those who heard them. After having, on a certain occasion, delivered a deeply impressive sermon on Isaiah vi. 1 — 6, he remarked to the writer of these pages, that, in consequence of having been pursued by multitudes of applauding hearers, he had been lead to exercise himself more in the way of simple ex- position, as that which most threw the preacher himself into the shade, and most illustriously displayed the pure truth of the Word.
The same idea was expressed by the late Dr. Mason, in circumstances which no doubt drew from him his sincerest convictions and most affectionate counsels. The words are found in a sermon preached in Murray Street Church, De- cember 2, 1821, on the occasion of resigning the charge of his congregation; and we earnestly recommend to every reader this testimony of one who, it is well known, was emi- nently gifted in the very exercise which he applauds.
* Cecil’s Works, vol. iii. p. 312.
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In suggesting to his late charge the principles upon which they should select a pastor, he says : “ Do not choose a man who always preaches upon insulated texts. I care not how powerful or eloquent he may be in handling them. The effect of his power and eloquence will be, to banish a taste for the word of God, and to substitute the preacher in its place. You have been accustomed to hear that word preached to you in its connexion. Never permit that practice to drop. Foreign churches call it lecturing; and when done with dis- cretion, I can assure you that, while it is of all exercises the most difficult for the preacher, it is, in the same proportion, the most profitable for you. It has this peculiar advantage, that in going through a book of scripture, it spreads out be- fore you all sorts of character, and all forms of opinion; and gives the preacher an opportunity of striking every kind of evil and of error, without subjecting himself to the invidious suspicion of aiming his discourses at individuals.”*
With these remarks we may safely leave the subject, com- mending it to the careful and impartial investigations of all who are interested in the propagation of divine truth, and particularly to ministers of the gospel, who, of all men living, should be most solicitous to direct their powers in such channels as to produce the highest effect.
Art. IV. — Incidents of Travel in Egypt , Jlrahia Petr sea, and the Holy Land. By an American, with a map and engravings. In two volumes. Second edition: Harper & Brothers, N. Y. 1837.
It has become very customary for young Americans to take the tour of Europe; but few of them hitherto, have ven- tured far to the East, except our enterprizing merchants. The writer of these volumes appears to possess, in a high de- gree, the qualifications of a successful traveller. His curiosity is unbounded. His intrepidity is such as to be intimidated by no dangers, and turned aside from his purpose by no com- mon obstacles. He seems also to possess the power of con- ciliating those with whom it is important for the traveller to be on good terms. He appears to have travelled extensively
* Mason’s Works, vol. L p. 366.
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Incidents of Travel in Egypt, [January
in Europe and America, before he commenced the tour, the incidents of which are here described. And he does not de- tain his reader with any preliminary dissertations, or tedious details respecting his motives for undertaking this tour, and preparations before setting out; but hurries him at once, and somewhat abruptly, into the narrative. The style of the au- thor is not elaborate, not at all ambitious; but he expresses himself as simply, and in as few words as possible. But some- how his descriptions of the scenes visited have the effect of presenting them to our imagination in a very vivid manner. The reader must not expect to find a scientific tour in these volumes. The author disclaims every thing of the kind. His object evidently was not to enrich botany or mineralogy with new species: and although he seems to have a taste for architecture, and took every opportunity of visiting the splendid antiquities of Egypt and Arabia; yet he examines nothing with the eye of an artist. He simply gives the im- pression made on his own mind by the objects before him. And we confess that a traveller of this description suits us. He gives us very exactly the impression which we should receive were we on the spot. In one respect, however, we cannot express an entire satisfaction with our American tourist. He is too fond of the ludicrous: and often employs pages to describe a scene of this kind, which might have been des- patched in one or two sentences. No doubt this very thing will be a strong recommendation for the book to many read- ers; but we are soon sated with this frothy nutriment.
When we began to read these volumes we strongly sus- pected, from the manifest levity of the author, that we should have, after a while, a spice of irreligion; but in this we have been happily disappointed. He not only shows, every where, his unwavering conviction of the truth of the Christian reli- gion, but is evidently familiar with the holy scriptures, and has done more to illustrate the sacred volume, than any tra- veller who has recently visited the east. It is solely on this account that we have resolved to give an extended notice of these volumes, in our periodical, which is devoted almost entirely to biblicla subjects. Our attention, therefore, will be principally directed to those things in these volumes which cast light on the sacred history, or serve to elucidate the prophecies of scripture.
There is nothing in our author’s description of the city of Alexandria, which need detain us a moment. Indeed, he was hurried away from the place, before he had time to enter
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upon a minute examination of the curiosities and antiquities of the place. When he arrived at the Nile, he felt that he stood upon ancient and sacred ground.
“At about eight o’clock next morning we were standing on the banks of the Nile, the eternal river, the river of Egypt, recalling the days of Pharaoh and Mo- ses ; from the earliest period of recorded time watering and fertilizing a narrow strip of land in the middle of a sandy desert, rolling its solitary way more than a thousand miles without receiving a single tributary stream ; the river which the Egyptians worshipped and the Arabs loved, and which, as the Mussulmans say, if Mohammed had tasted, ‘ he would have prayed heaven for terrestial immor- tality, that he might continue to enjoy it forever.’ ”
Rich as is the country of Egypt, especially on the banks of the Nile, nothing can be conceived more wretched than the condition of the inhabitants. Christianity, which has proved a blessing, and the means of civilization to every country where it has been received, has long been nearly banished from Egypt, and Mohammedanism, which has blighted the fairest portions of the globe, has full sway here. At Old Cairo our tourist saw a few miserable Copts, the de- scendants of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt, who have the charge of a church and grotto, where, as tradition reports, Mary and the infant Saviour found a refuge, when they fled from Ju- dea. u The grotto, w'hich is guarded with pious care by the Coptic priest, is a small excavation, the natural surface covered with smooth tiles: it is hardly large enough to allow one per- son to crawl in and sit upright. Itis very doubtful whether this place was ever the refuge of the virgin; but the craft or sim- plicity of the priests sustains the tradition; and a half dozen Coptic women with their faces covered and their long blue dresses, followed me down into the vault, and kneeled before the door of the grotto, with a devotion which showed at least that they believed the tale.”
The predictions of Jehovah respecting the desolations of Egypt have been signally accomplished as it relates to the character of the inhabitants, and the nature of their govern- ment. It was foretold by Ezekiel, that it “ should be a base kingdom; the basest of kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for I will diminish them that they shall no more rule over the nations.” And again, “ 1 will sell the land of Egypt into the hand of the wicked, and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein by the hand of strangers, and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt.” But by the concurrent report of all travellers, it appears, that the threatened desolation respected the condition of the very
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land, as well as the condition of the inhabitants. The sand of the desert has been making inroads on the fertile valley of the Nile, every year for ages, until now it has entirely covered the sites of some of the most famous cities, and has so encroach- ed on the suburbs of Cairo, “the mother of the world,” that according to the testimony of this author, “ The sands of the desert approach it on every side ; and every gate, except that of Boulac, opens to a sandy waste. Passing out by victory gate, the contrast between light and darkness is not greater than between the crowded streets and the stillness of the de- sert, separated from them only by a wall.”
One cannot but be filled with melancholy reflections on the vanity of all human greatness, when he contemplates the present desolation of cities, once the wonder of the world. Our traveller rode four miles from Cairo, to the site of the ancient Heliopolis, on the borders of the rich land of Goshen. “The geographer Strabo visited these ruins thirty years be- fore Christ, and describes them almost exactly as we see them now. A great temple of the sun once stood here. Herodo- tus and Plato studied philosophy in the schools of Heliopolis; a barbarous Persian overturned her temples; a fanatic Ara- bian burnt her books; and a single obelisk standing sixty- seven feet high, in a field plowed and cultivated to its very base, stands, a melancholy monument of former greatness, and eternal ruin.”
The only works of man which have been able to stand against the ravages of all-devouring time, are the pyramids, tbe origin of which has hitherto baffled all inquiries. But even on these the desolating sands of the desert are making encroachments on these imperishable structures. The largest pyramid is described by our author as about eight hundred feet square, and covering eleven acres of ground; and accord- ing to the last measurement four hundred and sixty-one feet high; and is supposed to contain six millions of cubic feet of stone. “The four angles stand exactly in the four points of the compass. The entrance is on the north side. The sands of the desert have encroached upon it, and with the fallen stones and rubbish have buried it to the sixteenth step.”
The celebrated sphinx, probably as old, and hardly inferior to the pyramids in interest, is so covered with sand, that it is difficult to realize the bulk of this gigantic monument.
The preparations of our traveller for ascending the Nile will be amusing to our readers, and, therefore, we give an extract.
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“ On the first of January I commenced my journey up the Nile. My boat was small, for greater convenience in rowing and towing. She was, however, about forty feet long, with two fine latteen sails, and manned by eight men, a rais or captain, and a governor or pilot. This was to be my home from Cairo to the cataracts, or as long as I remained on the river. There was not a place where a traveller could sleep, and I could not expect to eat a meal or pass a night except on board ; consequently, I was obliged to provide myself at Cairo with all things necessary for the whole voyage. My outfit was not very extravagant. It consisted, as near as I can recollect, of two tin cups, two pairs of knives and forks, four plates, cofifee, tea, sugar, rice, maccaroni, and a few dozen of claret. My bed-room furniture consisted of a mattress and coverlet, which in the day- time were tucked up so as to make a divan. Over the head of my bed were my gun and pistols, and at the foot was a little swinging shelf, containing my Li- brary— which consisted of the Modern Traveller in Egypt, Yolney’s Travels, and an Italian Grammar and Dictionary. My only companion was my servant ; and as he is about to be somewhat intimate with me, I take the liberty of intro- ducing him to the reader. Paollo Nuozzo, or, more familiarly, Paul, was a Maltese. I had met him at Constantinople travelling with two of my country- men ; and though they did not seem to like him much, I was very well pleased with him, and thought myself quite fortunate, on my arrival at Malta, to find him disengaged. He was a man about thirty five years old ; stout, square built, intelligent ; a passionate admirer of ruins, particularly the ruins of the Nile ; honest and faithful as the sun, and one of the greatest cowards that luminary ever shone upon. He called himself my dragoman, and, I remember, wrote himself such in the convent at Mount Sinai and the temple at Petra, though he promised to make himself generally useful, and was my only servant during my whole tour. He spoke French, Italian, Maltese, Greek, Turkish, and Arabic, but could not read any one of these languages. He had lived several years in Cairo, and had travelled on the Nile before, and understood all the little arrange* ments necessary for the voyage.”
We pass over the incidents of travel which occurred in sailing up the Nile, until our tourist came to Ghizeh, from which place he crossed over the river to Dendera.
“ The temple of Dendera,” says our author, “ is one of the finest specimens of the arts in Egypt, and the best pre- served of any on the Nile. It stands about a mile from the river, on the edge of the desert, and, coming up, may be seen at a great distance.” — “ I shall not attempt any description of this beautiful temple; its great dimensions, its magnificent propylon or gateway, portico, and columns; the sculptured figures on the walls; the spirit of the devices and their admi- rable execution; the winged globe and the sacred vulture, the hawk, and the Ibis, Isis, Osiris, and Horus, gods, god- desses, priests, and women; harps, altars, and people clap- ping their hands, and the whole interior covered with hiero- glyphics and paintings, in some places, after a lapse of more than two thousand years, in colours fresh as if but the work of yesterday.” •
“ It was the first temple I had seen in Egypt ; and although I ought not per- haps to say so, I was disappointed. I found it beautiful, far more beautiful than
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I expected ; but, look at it as I would, wander arouud it as I would, the ruins of the Acropolis at Athens rose before me ; the severe and stately form of the Par- thenon, the beautiful fragment of the temple of Minerva, and the rich Corinthian columns of the temple of Jupiter, came upon me with a clearness and vividness I could not have conceived. The temple is more than half buried in the sand. For many years it has formed the nucleus of a village. The Arabs have built their huts within and around it, range upon range, until they reached and almost covered the tops of the temple. Last year, for what cause I know not, they left their huts in a body, and the village, which for many years had existed there, is now entirely deserted. The ruined huts still remain around the columns and against the broken walls. On the very top is a chamber, beautifully sculptured, and formed for other uses, now blackened with smoke, and the polished floors strewed with fragments of pottery and culinary vessels.
“Nor is this the worst affliction of the traveller at Dendera, He sees there other ruins, more lamentable than the encroachments of the desert and the burial in the sand, worse than the building and ruin of successive Arab vil- lages ; he sees wanton destruction by the barbarous hand of man. The beau- tiful columns, upon which the skilful and industrious Egyptian artist had la- boured with his chisel for months, and perhaps for years, which were then looked upon with religious reverence, and ever since with admiration, have been dashed into a thousand pieces, to build bridges and forts for the great modern reformer.”
Near the cataracts of the Nile is the beautiful island of Philoe, on which are the ruins of a very splendid temple, of which the author gives the following brief description.
“ The temple of Philoe is a magnificent ruin, four hundred and thirty-five feet in length, and one hundred and five in width. It stands at the south-west corner of the island, close upon the bank of the river, and the approach to it is by a grand colonade, extending two hundred and forty feet along the edge of the river to the grand propylon. The propylon is nearly a hundred feet long, and rises on each side the gateway in two lofty towers, in the form of a truncated pyramid. The front is decorated with sculpture and hieroglyphics ; on each side a figure of Isis, twenty feet high, with the moon over her head, and near the front formerly stood two obelisks and two sphinxes, the pedestals and ruins of which still remain. The body of the temple contains eleven chambers, covered with sculpture and hieroglyphics, the figures teinted in the most lively colours, and the ceiling painted azure and studded with stars.”
From the cataracts our tourist began to descend the river, having proceeded as far to the south as was expedient. The only place described, worthy of notice, before coming to Thebes, was Edfou, which lies a mile from the bank of the river. “ The town, as usual, contained mud houses, many of them in ruins, a mosque, a bath, bazars, the usual apology for a palace, and more than the usual quantity of ferocious dogs; and at one corner of this miserable place stands one of the magnificent temples of the Nile. The propylon, its lofty proportions enlarged by the light of the moon, was the most grand and imposing portal I saw in Egypt. From a base of nearly one hundred feet in length, and thirty in breadth, it rises on each side of the gate, in the form of a truncated py- ramid, to the height of a hundred feet, gradually narrow-
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ing, till at the top it measures seventy-five feet in length, and eighteen in breadth. Judge then what was the temple to which this formed merely the entrance; and this was far from being one of the large temples of Egypt. It measured, however, four hundred and forty feet in length, and two hundred and twenty in breadth, about equal to the whole space occupied by St. Paul’s church-yard. Its dromos, pro- naos, columns, and capitals, all correspond, and enclosing it is a high wall still in a state of perfect preservation.”
Our traveller, bent on seeing every thing worthy of ob- servation, formed the purpose of penetrating the desert, until he reached the great Oasis. Having provided himself with a caravan of six camels and their drivers; and having engaged a guide, who was to meet them at a Christian convent situated in the entrance of the desert. To this place he came, and to his great chagrin and disappointment was refused admittance; and began to pour forth his reproaches against the only men who bore the Christian name in that region. But in the night, the priests, who had been absent at a village in the neighbourhood, returned and received him kindly, and treat- ed him courteously. Upon inpuiry of the presiding priest, he found that the number of Christians in that region was small, and rather decreasing; that it was a thing unknown for a Mohammedan to become a Christian; but that there were instances of Christians turning to be Mohammedans. The priest, however, though apparently devout, appeared to be a very iguorant man.
Our traveller, by lying in a damp room, where he was ex- posed to a current of air, felt himself, in the morning, much disordered, and, experiencing the return of an old complaint, he found it necessary to relinquish his visit to the oasis of Siwah, and to return to Thebes.
On the last day of his descent of the Nile, our traveller visited the ruins of, perhaps, the greatest city, which ever flourished in Egypt, so renowned for its great cities. So complete is the desolation that antiquarians have disputed whether there is really a single monument to show where the great Memphis stood; but the weight of authority is in favour of the site occupied by the little Arab village of Metrahenny.
“This village stands about four miles from the river; and the traveller might pass through it and around it, without ever dreaming that it had once been the site of a mighty city. The only passage in the bible, in which this city is mentioned by the name of Memphis, is Hosea ix. 6, “ Egypt
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shall gather them up. Memphis shall bury them.” The author inferred from this expression, that there must be here “ some allusion to the manner in which the dead were buried at Memphis, or to a cemetery or tombs different from those of other cities. It seems almost impossible to believe, that a city having for its burying place, the immense tombs and pyramids which even yet, for many miles, skirt the borders of the desert, can ever have stood upon the site of this mise- rable village; but the evidence is irresistible.”
He represents this plain, however, as being one of the rich- est on the Nile, “ and herds of cattle are still seen grazing upon it, as in the days of the Pharaohs. The pyramids of Sacchara stand on the edge of the desert, a little south of the site of Memphis.” Concerning which he remarks, “If it was not for their mightier neighbours, these pyramids, which are comparatively seldom honoured with a visit, would alone be deemed worthy of a pilgrimage to Egypt. The first to which we came is about 350 feet high and 700 feet square at its base.
After spending two months in Egpvt, and almost the whole of it on the Nile, our tourist returned to Cairo, and immedi- ately began to make preparation for a journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, and thence to the Holy Land. His reflections upon Egypt when about to leave it, are solemn as well as just
“ It is now more than three thousand years, since the curse went forth against the land — Egypt. The Assyrian, the Persian, the Greek, the Roman, the Arabian, the Georgian, the Circassian, and the Ottoman Turk have successively trod- den it down, and trampled upon it. For thirty centuries the foot of a stranger has been upon the necks of her inhabitants; and in bidding farewell to this once favoured land, now lying in the most abject degradation and misery, groaning under the iron rod of a tyrant and a stranger, I cannot help recur- ring to the inspired words, the doom of prophecy, “ It shall be the basest of kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more among the nations; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt.”
Our American traveller having formed his plan of a jour- ney through the desert of Arabia, secured the guidance and protection of a sheik of one of the Bedouin tribes w>ho dwell in the wilderness through which he wished to pass. This was the sheik of Akaba, who had come to Cairo to escort the annual caravan from that city, on their pilgrimage to Mecca.
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These tribes of the desert are so far from being under the dominion of the pacha of Egypt, that unless he sent for some of their chiefs to protect the caravans, they would be sure to rob them. This wily Arabian, accustomed to make the most out of European travellers, while he promised the most per- fect protection, could not be induced to name any sum which would be satisfactory to him for conducting our traveller to Gaza. The caravan which was now about to set off for Mecca, “ consisted of more than 30,000 pilgrims, who had come from the shores of the Caspian, the extremities of Persia, and the confines of Africa; and having assembled, according to usage for hundreds of years, at Cairo, as a cen- tral point, the whole mass was getting in motion for a pilgrim- age of fifty days, through dreary sands, to the tomb of the prophet.”* These 30,000 people, with probably 20,000 camels and dromedaries, men, women, and children, beasts and baggage were all commingled in a confused mass, that seemed hopelessly inextricable. Some had not yet struck their tents, some were making coffee, some smoking, some cooking, some eating, many shouting and cursing, others on their knees praying, and others again, hurrying on to join the long moving stream that already extended several miles into the desert.”
Before leaving Cairo, our traveller had an opportunity of seeing the punishment of the bastinado inflicted on a poor Arab; and as some of our readers may not have a very dis- tinct conception of this dreadful means of torture, we will give the substance of the description. After the governor had given sentence against the culprit, he laid himself down upon his face, a space was immediately cleared around; a man on each side took him by the hand, and stretching out his arms, kneeled upon and held them down, while another seated himself across his neck and shoulders. Thus nailed to the ground, the poor fellow, knowing that there was na chance of escape, threw up his feet from the knee joint, so as present the soles in a horizontal position. Two men came forward with a pair of long stout bars of wood, attached to- gether by a cord, between which they placed the feet, draw- ing them together with the cord so as to fix them in their horizontal position, and leave the whole flat surface exposed
* The notion that the tomb of Mohammed is situated at Mecca, instead of Me- dina, has heen widely extended ; and the fable about his coffin being suspended in the air by the power of magnetism, in the great mosque at Mecca, was for a. long time believed in Europe.
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to the full force of the blow. In the mean time, two strong Turks were standing ready, one at each side, armed with long whips, much resembling our common cowskin, but longer and thicker, and made of the tough hide of the hippo- potamus. When the first blow fell upon the naked feet, the convulsive agonies and piercing shrieks of the miserable suf- ferer were dreadful. “ I have heard,” says the narrator, “ men cry out in agony when the sea was raging, and the drowning man, rising for the last time upon the mountain waves, turned his imploring arms towards us, and with his dying breath called in vain for help; but I never heard such heart-rending sounds as those from the poor bastinadoed wretch before me.” When the punishment was ended, “ the poor scourged wretch was silent; he had found relief in hap- py insensibility. I cast one look upon the senseless body, and saw the feet laid open in gashes, and the blood streaming down the legs. At that moment the bars were taken away, and the mangled feet fell like lead upon the floor,” when his friends took him in their arms and carried him away.
The author’s reflections on entering on this interesting and dangerous tour, are worthy of being noticed. “ It was a journey of no ordinary interest, on which I was now begin- ning my lonely way. I had travelled in Italy, among the mountains of Greece, the plains of Turkey, the wild steppes of Russia, and the plains of Poland, but neither of these af- forded half the material for curious expectation that my jour- ney through the desert promised. After an interval of four thousand years, I was about to pursue the devious path of the children of Israel, when they took up the bones of Joseph, and fled before the anger of Pharaoh, among the mountain passes of Sinai, and through the great and terrible desert which shut them from the land of promise. I rode on in silence and alone for nearly two hours, and just as the sun was sinking behind the dark mountains of Mokattam, halted to wait for my little caravan; and I pitched my tent for the first night in the desert, with the door opening to the distant land of Goshen.”
On the third day after leaving Cairo, our tourist came “ in sight of the Red Sea, rolling between the dark mountains of Egypt and Arabia, as in the days of Pharaoh and Moses; and in an hour more came in sight of Suez,” which is de- scribed “ as a low dark spot on the shore, above the com- mencement of the chains of mountains on each side.” The author seems to have had his mind intent on finding out the
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localities mentioned in sacred scripture. As soon as oppor- tunity offered, he strolled along the shore of the Red Sea, looking for the place where the children of Israel miracu- lously passed over dry-shod, under the conduct of Moses. But of this, more hereafter. As the pilgrimage to Mecca is the most meritorious duty of a Mussulman, it will be worth while to take a nearer view of the manners of the devotees. The author had wished, on some accounts, to go by sea as far as Mount Tor, by which he would have been saved six days journey in the wilderness. This is supposed to be the Elino, or place of Palm trees, mentioned in Exodus, and only two days journey from Mount Sinai. But “the boats were all taken by the pilgrims, and these holy travellers were packed together, as closely as sheep in one of our North River sloops. They were a filthy set, many of them pro- bably, not changing their clothes from the time they left their homes.” Upon application for a place in one of the boats, he was advised by an Arab, the owner of the boat, ‘to think of no such thing.’ “He told me, if I hired and paid for such a space, the pilgrims would certainly encroach upon me; that they would beg and borrow, and at last rob me: and above all, that they were bigotted fanatics, and if a storm occurred, would very likely throw me overboard.” — “ The scene itself did not sustain the high and holy character of a pilgrimage. As I said before, all were abominably filthy; some were sitting round a great dish of pilau, thrusting their hands into it above the knuckles, squeezing the boiled rice, and throwing back their heads as they crammed the huge morsel down their throats. Others packing up their mer- chandize, or carrying water skins, or whetting their sabres. Others wrangling for paras; and in one place was an Arab butcher, bare-legged, and naked from the waist upward, with his hands, breast, and face smeared with blood, leaning over the body of a slaughtered camel, brandishing an axe, and chopping off huge pieces of meat for the surrounding pilgrims. A little off from the shore, a large party were embarking on board a small boat, to go down to their vessel, which was ly- ing at the mouth of the harbour. They were wading up to their middle, every one with something on his shoulders, or on his head. Thirty or forty had already got on board, and as many more were trying to do the same; but the boat was already full. A loud wrangling commenced, succeeded by clenching, throttling, splashing in the water, and running to the shore. I saw bright swords gleaming in the air, heard VOX.. X. NO. 1. 9
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the ominous click of a pistol, and in one moment more blood would have been shed, but for a Turkish aga, who had been watching the scene from the governor’s balcony, and now, dashing in among them with a huge silver headed mace, and playing about him right and left, brought the turbulent pilgrims to a condition more suited to their sacred character.” Having relinquished the plan of going by water to Mount Tor, our traveller sent his camels round the head of the gulf, with directions to meet him on the other side, while he crossed over in a small boat. “Late in the afternoon,” says he, “ we landed on the opposite side, on the most sacred spot connected with the wanderings of the Israelites, where they rose from the dry bed of the sea, and, at the command of Moses, the divided waters rushed together, overwhelming Pharaoh and his chariots and the whole host of Egypt. With the devotion of a pious pilgrim, I picked up a shell and put it in my pocket as a memorial of the place.” — “ I shall never forget the sun-set scene.” — “ I was sitting on the sand, on the very spot where the chosen people of God, after walking over the dry bed of the sea, stopped to behold the divided waters returning to their place, and swallowing up the host of the pursuers. The mountains on the other side looked dark and portentous, as if proud and conscious witnesses of the mighty miracle, while the sun, descending slowly behind them, long after it had disappeared, left a reflected brightness, which illumined with an almost supernatural light the dark surface of the water.”
There is in the neighbourhood a grove of palm trees, shading a fountain of bad water, called, ayoun Moussa, the fountain of Moses.
“ I am,” says the author, “aware, that there is some dis- pute as to the precise spot where Moses crossed; but having no time for skepticism on such matters, I began by making up my mind that this was the place, and then looked round to see whether, according to the account given in the bible, the face of the country, and the natural land-marks did not sustain my opinion. I remember I looked up to the head of the gulf, where Suez or Kolsum now stands, and saw that almost to the head of the gulf, there was a high range of mountains which it would be necessary to cross, an under- taking which it would have been physically impossible for six hundred thousand* people, men, women, and children,
* The author greatly underrates the number of the host of Israel. There
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to accomplish, with a hostile army pursuing them. At Suez, Moses could not have been hemmed in as he was: he could go off into the Syrian desert; or, unless the sea has been greatly changed since his time, round the head of the gulf. But here, directly opposite where I sat, was an opening in the mountains, making a clear passage from the desert, to the shore of the sea. It is admitted, that from the earliest history of the country, there was a caravan route from the Rameseh of the Pharaohs to this spot, and it was perfectly clear to my mind, that, if the account be true at all, Moses had taken that route: that it was directly opposite to me, between the two mountains, where he had come clown with his multitude to the shore; and that it was there he had found himself hem- med in, in the manner described in the bible, with the sea before him, and the army of Pharaoh in his rear. It was there he had stretched out his hand and divided the waters; and probably on the very spot where I sat, the children of Israel had kneeled upon the sands to offer thanks to God for his miraculous interposition. The distance too was in con- firmation of this opinion. It was about twenty miles across; the distance which that immense multitude could have passed, with their necessary baggage in the space of time (a night) mentioned in the bible.”
Our traveller pursued the very route which must have been passed over by the Israelites in their march to Mount Sinai. Of this he says there can be no doubt, because the country and mountains have remained unchanged, and there is but one way by which an army could pass from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai. “Then, as now, it was a barren moun- tainous region, bare of verdure and destitute of streams of living water; so that the Almighty was obliged to sustain the people with manna from heaven, and water from the rocks.”.
The fountain of Marah, so called from the bitterness of its waters, is represented in Exodus, to have been three days march into the wilderness. “ They went three days in the wilderness, and found no water; and when they came to Marah they could not drink of the waters, for they were bitter.” “ Burckhardt objects that the distance is too short for three days journey, but this cavil is sufficiently answered by others; that the movements of such an immense multi-
were six hundred thousand capable of bearing arms. The whole number could not have been less than two millions, possibly three.
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tude, of all ages and both sexes, with flocks and cattle, must be slow. And it is according to the custom of the east to march slowly, after the pursuit was over.” Our traveller ar- rived at this fountain on the third day at noon; and says, “ he would fain have performed the duty of a pious pilgrim, by making his noon-day meal on its banks; but as in the days of Moses, they could not drink the waters of Marah, “ for they were bitter.” And even the camels would not drink them. It seems then, that the effect produced on the waters by the piece of wood which Moses was directed to throw into these waters was not permanent. They were rendered sweet for the present occasion, but when the super- natural power was withdrawn, the natural causes which made them bitter, operated as before.
After entering among the mountains of Sinai, “at every step the scene became more solemn and impressive: all was still around us, and not a sound broke the universal silence, except the soft tread of our camels, and now and then the voice of one of us — but there was little encouragement to garrulity. The mountains became more striking, venerable, and interesting. Not a shrub or blade of grass grew on their naked sides, deformed with gaps and fissures; and they looked as if by a slight jar or shake, they would crumble into a mil- lion of pieces. It is impossible to describe correctly the singularly interesting appearance of these mountains. Age, hoary and venerable, is the predominant character. They looked as if their great Creator had made them higher than they are, and their summits, worn and weakened by the ac- tion of the elements for thousands of years had cracked and fallen.”
The sufferings endured hy pilgrims in the desert, for want of water, are very common. And when the caravan comes in sight of a palm tree shading a fountain, their eagerness to obtain this necessary of life, is not easily conceived by those who never experienced the extremity of thirst. And water, which in our country would be rejected with disgust, is drunk in the wilderness with indescribable avidity.
One remarkable thing observed in these mountains was inscriptions on the rocks, in a character which our traveller could notread. He informs us, that in several places of the wilderness of Sinai, the rocks are full of these inscriptions, supposed to have been made by the Israelites in their long sojourn in this dreary region. As we know that letters were known to the chosen people, and as they had years of leisure,
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there is nothing improbable in the supposition that they were made as far back as the time of Moses; especially as letters deeply engraven on the solid rock, and sheltered from the weather, will last for thousands of years; and we can scarcely conceive of their being placed there by any other people. We have heard of the existence of such inscriptions from others, and a strong wish expressed, that some learned ori- ental scholar would visit these regions with the view of as- certaining the language in which they are written; and per- haps such a man might solve the vexed question about the original form of the Hebrew alphabet.
On the tenth day from Cairo, our pilgrim, as we may now call him, as he was going to visit places deemed holy by Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans, was all day in full view of the top of Mount Sinai.
The last day of the journey was by far the most interesting. The road lay in a deep valley, between parallel ridges which arose like ramparts on both sides, sometimes receding and then contracting again. About mid-day they entered a nar- row and rugged defile, bounded on each side with precipitous granite rocks, more than a thousand feet high. In this defile there were so many fragments of fallen rocks, that the camels with difficulty, and not without frequent stumbling, made their way, and the travellers found it safest and pleasantest to dismount and pursue their journey on foot. At the other end, they came unexpectedly to a table land of some extent, and the holy mountain of Sinai now towered in awful gran- deur, so huge and dark, that it seemed close to them. On their left hand was a large isolated stone, called Moses’ chair, on which, tradition says, he rested when he came with the people of his charge to this place. Farther on, on a little eminence, are some rude stones which are pointed out as the house of Aaron; and on the right hand, there is a stone which is absurdly alleged to be the petrified golden calf, which we know Moses reduced to powder and cast upon the waters.
Our pilgrim traveller seems to have been much impressed with the solemnity of the scene by which he was surrounded. “ I felt,” says he, “ that I was on holy ground, and dismount- ing from my dromedary, loitered for more than an hour in the valley. — It was after dark, as alone and on foot I entered the last defile leading to the holy mountain. The moon had risen, but her light could not penetrate the deep defile through which I was toiling slowly on to the foot of Sinai. From about half way up it shone with a pale and solemn luttre,
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while below all was in the deepest shade, and a dark spot on the side of the mountain, seeming perfectly black in contrast with the light above it, marked the place of the convent.”
When the monks were waked up by the noise below, they let down a rope for the traveller’s letter from their patriarch ; and as soon as they had read it, the}' sent down the rope again to draw him up; for in this way alone is any stranger permitted to enter the convent of St. Catharine. This pre- caution is necessary on account of the wild Arabs, who often made hostile attacks on the building.
No sooner was the pilgrim introduced within the walls, than he was almost smothered with the kisses of the long- bearded monks. The superior is described as “ a remarkably noble looking old man, of more than sixty.” — “ He was a Greek by birth, and though he had been forty years absent from his country, he was still a Greek in heart. His relation to his native land was kept up by the occasional visits of pil- grims. He had heard of her bloody struggle for liberty, and of what America had done for her in her hour of need; and he told me that, next to his own country, he loved mine; and by his kindness to me, as an individual, he sought to repay in part his country’s debt of gratiiude.” — “When I talked of Greece, and what I had seen there, of the Bavarians lording it over the descendants of Cimon and Miltiades, the face of the superior flushed, and his eyes flashed fire. And when I spoke of the deep interest their sufferings and their glorious struggle had created in America, the old man wept. Oh, who can measure the feeling that binds a man to his native country! Though forty years an exile, buried in the wilder- ness, and neither expecting nor wishing to revisit the world, he loved his country as if his foot now pressed the soil, and under his monkish robes there glowed a heart as patriotic as ever beat beneath a soldier’s corslet. The reader will excuse an unusual touch of sensibility, when he reflects upon my sin- gular position, sitting at the base of Mount Sinai, and hearing from the lips of a white-bearded Greek the praises of my be- loved country.”
We respect in our countryman these sentiments of patriot- ism— they require no apology. We would that the breast of every American, who visits foreign climes, might be actuated oy the same glow of patriotism. But there is another senti- ment manifested by him, for which we feel a still higher re- spect. What it is will be understood by the following pas- sage. “ From the door of the little room in which I sat, I
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saw the holy mountain, and I longed to stand on its lofty summit. Though feeble and far from well, I felt the blood of health again coursing in my veins, and congratulated my- self that I was not so hackneyed in feeling as I had once supposed. I found, and I was happy to find, that the first tangible monument in the history of the bible, the first spot that could be called holy ground, raised in me feelings that had not been awakened by the most classic ground of Italy and Greece, or the proudest monuments of the arts in Egypt.5’ The next day after his arrival, our traveller, in company with an old monk, undertook to ascend to the top of the mountain. At almost every step he heard a monkish legend which was associated with the place which they were passing. When he had reached the summit, he exclaims, “ I stand upon the very peak of Sinai — where Moses stood when he talked with the Almighty. Can it be, or is it a mere dream ? Can this naked rock have been the witness of that great inter- view, between man and his Maker ? where, amid thunder and lightning, and a fearful quaking of the mountain, the Almighty gave to his chosen people the precious tables of his law, those rules of infinite wisdom and goodness, which to this day, best teach man his duty towards his God, his neighbour and himself.” He then justly remarks, that the site of many important places mentioned in the bible are ex- tremely uncertain, “ but of Sinai there is no doubt! This is the holy mountain; and among all the stupendous works of nature, not a place can be selected more fitted for the exhi- bition of Almighty power. I have stood upon the summit of giant Etna, and looked over the clouds floating beneath it, upon the bold scenery of Sicily, and the distant mountains of Calabria; upon the top of Vesuvius, and looked down upon the waves of lava, and the ruined, and half-recovered cities at its foot: but they are nothing compared with the terrific solitudes and bleak majesty of Sinai.”
“The level surface of the very top, or pinnacle, is about sixty feet square. At one end is a single rock, about twenty feet high, on which, as said the monk, the Spirit of God de- scended, while in the crevice beneath his favoured servant re- ceived the tables of the law. There, on the same spot where they were given, I opened the sacred book in which those laws are recorded, and read them with a deeper feeling of devotion, as if I were standing nearer, and receiving them more directly from the deity himself.” It is the lofty peak of Sinai, which towers far above the surrounding mountains,
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which is called Horeb. Mount Catharine is the only peak which rivals that of Sinai in height. “They rise like giant twin brothers, towering above every other.”
The next day our traveller was honoured with the company and guidance of the superior, which was a favour seldom be- stowed on any pilgrim to the holy mount, and was now granted to our countryman, simply because he was an Ame- rican. What a blessing to belong to a country whose good name obtains affectionate respect for her citizens, even in the deserts of Arabia !
As our traveller was ascending the mountain, the accom- panying monk pointed out to him the place where Moses stood, with his arms supported by Aaron and Hur, while Joshua successfully contended with the Amalekites below. It was a table of rock standing boldly out, and running down almost perpendicularly an immense distance to the valley.” — From the height I could see clearly and distinctly, every part of the battle ground, and the whole vale of Rephidim and the mountains beyond; and Moses, while on this spot, must have been visible to the contending armies from every part of the field on which they were engaged.”
Among the many sacred places pointed out, the rock smit- ten by Moses, from which water gushed out to supply the people, was one. “ The stone,” says the author, “ is about twelve feet high, and on one side are eight or ten deep gashes from one to three feet long, and from one to two inches wide, some of which were trickling with water. These gashes are singular in their appearance — they look something like the gashes on the bark of a growing tree; except that, instead of the lips of the gash swelling and growing over, they are worn and reduced to a polished smoothness. They are no doubt the work of men’s hands, a clumsy artifice of the early monks to touch the hearts of pious pilgrims.” Other travellers, however, no how addicted to superstition, have been of opinion that this is the identical rock smitten by the rod of Moses; and that the orifices are of such a na- ture that they could not have been made by the hands of men, since no tool could work so deep in the rock as they go. If we recollect right, the judicious Dr. Shawr, in his travels in the east, expresses this opinion. It is, however, after all, a matter of little consequence.
Our traveller having taken leave of the monks of St. Ca- tharine, from whom he had received unceasing kindness, had determined, notwithstanding his strong curiosity to visit
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the extraordinary ruins of Petra, to go straight forward in the usual route to Gaza; but when he came to the place where the roads divided, his desire of passing through the land of Edom, and of seeing the city cut out of the solid rock, pre- vailed. For although the prophet Isaiah had predicted the desolation of this country would be so complete, “ that none shall pass through it forever;” and although Keith, in his learned work on the Prophecies, takes much pains to show that this has been fulfilled to the very letter; yet our traveller judiciously concludes that the prediction was sufficiently ve- rified by the total breaking up of the route then travelled, as the great highway from Jerusalem to the Red Sea and India, and the general, and probably eternal desolation that reigns in Edom. He was so far from feeling any disposition to brave the prophecy, that he says, “ I had already learned to regard the words of the inspired penmen with an interest I never felt before: and with the evidence I have already had of the sivre fulfilment of their predictions, I should have con- sidered it daring and impious to place myself in the way of a still impending curse.” Our traveller, therefore, with a full view of the difficulties and dangers of the way through this desolate land, and almost untrodden by the feet of Euro- pean travellers, determined to proceed to Akaba, which is a sea-port on the eastern or Elanitic gulf of the Red Sea .He had come in sight of this place, when upon the view which he had already obtained of the remarkable fulfilment of the prophecies, in regard to the utter desolation of the land of Edom, he has the following just and solemn reflections.
“ I had now crossed the borders of Edom. Standing near the shore of the Elanitic branch of the Red Sea, the doomed and accursed land la}' stretched out before me, the theatre of awful prophecies and their more awful fulfilment ; given to Esau as being of the fatness of the earth, but now a barren waste, a picture of death, an eternal monument of the wrath of an offended God, and a fearful witness to the truth of the words spoken by his prophets. ‘For my sword shall be bathed in heaven : behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.’ ‘From generation to generation it shall lie waste ; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. But the cormo- rant and the bittern shall possess it ; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it : and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of empti- ness. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof : and it shall be a habitation of dra- gons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow ; the screech-owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow : there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate, Seek ye out
VOL. X. NO. 1.
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the book of the Lord, and read : no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate : for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line : they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.’ Isaiah xxxiv.
“ I read in the sacred book prophecy upon prophecy, and curse upon curse against the very land on which I stood. I was about to journey through this land, and to see with my own eyes whether the Almighty had stayed his uplifted arm, or whether his sword had indeed come down ‘ upon Idumea and the peo- ple of his curse to judgment.’ I have before referred to Keith upon the Pro- phecies, where, in illustrating the fulfilment of the prophecies against Idumea, ‘ none shall pass through it forever and ever,’ after referring to the singular fact that the great caravan routes existing in the days of David and Solomon, and under the Roman empire, are now completely broken up, and that the great hadji routes to Mecca from Damascus and Cairo, lie along the borders of Idumea, barely touching at and not passing through it, he proves by abundant references that to this day no traveller has ever passed through the land.”
At Akaba, the author was taken sick and was surrounded with difficulties, but a Bedouin sheik, whom he had met at Cairo, and who had engaged to meet him here, and conduct him to Petra, made his appearance, and informed him that he was ready for the journey, and had provided for our traveller, a fine Arabian horse. He no sooner mounted this fleet and docile animal, than his disease left him, and he felt as if in- spired with new life.
While standing on the northern shore of this gulf of the Red Sea, he saw an immense sandy valley, which appeared evidently to have been once “ the bottom of a sea, or the bed of a river.” This valley had been partly explored by Burck- hardt, and is noticed in modern maps, as the valley of El Ghor, extending from the shores of the Elanitic gulf to the southern shore of the lake Asphaltites or the Dead Sea. And it was manifest to our author, that over that sandy plain those seas had once mingled their waters; “ or, perhaps, more pro- bably, that before the cities of the plain had been consumed by brimstone and fire, and Sodom and Gomorrah covered by a pestilential lake, the Jordan had here rolled its waters. This valley varied from eight to twelve miles in breadth, and on each side were high, dark, and barren mountains, bounding it like a wall. On the left, the mountains of Judea, and on the right, those of Seir — the portion given to Esau as an inheritance.” In the midst of these mountains was situated the ancient capital of the kingdom, the excavated city of Petra; the cursed and blighted Edom of the Edomites.
It will, we think, appear more than probable to every in- telligent reader, that prior to the formation or enlargement of the Dead Sea, the river Jordan pursued its course along the
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sandy valley above mentioned, and emptied its waters into this eastern arm of the Red Sea, near to the fortress of Akaba, which is evidently the site of the ancient naval depot, Ezion- Geber. The ground now occupied by the Dead Sea was, before this catastrophe which overwhelmed four populous cities, probably a beautiful and fertile plain, and as Jordan passed through it, was called “the plains of Jordan,” by the beauty and fertility of which Lot was determined in making his choice of a residence, when it became necessary for him and Abraham to separate from each other.
As the desolate city of Petra, excavated from the solid rock, is one of the greatest curiosities in the world; and for centuries entirely lost sight of by all, except the Bedouin Arabs, we are of opinion that our readers will be gratified to have the author’s description of the place, with very little curtailment.
“ Petra, the excavated city, the long-lost capital of Edom, in the scriptures and profane writings, in every language in which its name occurs, signifies a rock ; and, through the shadows of its early history, we learn that its inhabitants lived in natural clefts or excavations made in the solid rock. Desolate as it now is, we have reason to believe that it goes back to the time of Esau, ‘ the father of Edom that princes and dukes, eight successive kings, and again a long line of dukes, dwelt there before any king ‘reigned over Israel;’ and we recognise it from the earliest ages, as the central point to which came the caravans from the interior of Arabia, Persia, and India, laden with all the precious commodities of the East, and from which these commodities were distributed through Egypt, Palestine and Syria, and all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, even Tyre and Sidon deriving their purple and dyes from Petra. Eight hundred years before Christ, Amaziah, the king of Judea, ‘slew of Edom in the valley of Salt ten thousand, and took Selah (the Hebrew name of Petra) by war.’ Three hundred years after the last of the prophets, and nearly a century before the Christian era, the ‘King of Arabia’ issued from his palace at Petra, at the head of fifty thousand men, horse and foot, entered Jerusalem, and uniting with the Jews, pressed the siege of the temple, which was only raised by the advance of the Romans ; and in the beginning of the second century, though its inde- pendence was lost, Petra was still the capital of a Roman province. After that time it rapidly declined; its history became more and more obscure; for more than a thousand years it was completely lost to the civilized world ; and, until its discovery by Buickhardt in 1812, except to the wandering Bedouins its very site was unknown.
“ And this was the city at whose door I now stood. In a few words, this an- cient and extraordinary city is situated within a natural amphitheatre of two or three miles in circumference, encompassed on all sides by rugged mountains five or six hundred feet in height. The whole of this area is now a waste of ruins, dwelling-houses, palaces, temples, and triumphal arches, all prostrate together in undistinguishable confusion. The sides of the mountains are cut smooth, in a perpendicular direction, and filled with long and continued ranges of dwelling- houses, temples, and tombs, excavated with vast labour out of the solid rock ; and while their summits present Nature in her wildest and most savage form, their bases are adorned with all the beauty of architecture and art, with columns, and porticoes, and pediments, and ranges of corridors, enduring as the moun-
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tains out of which they are hewn, and fresh as if the work of a generation scarcely yet gone by.
“ Nothing can be finer than the immense rocky rampart which encloses the city. Strong, firm, and immoveable as nature itself, it seems to deride the walls of cities, and the puny fortifications of skilful engineers. The only access is by clambering over this wall of stone, practicable only in one place, or by an entrance the most extraordinary that Nature, in her wildest freaks, has ever framed. The loftiest portals ever raised by the hands of man, the proudest monuments of ar- chitectural skill and daring, sink into insignificance by the comparison. It is, perhaps, the most wonderful object in the world, except the ruins of the city to which it forms the entrance. Unfortunately, I did not enter by this door, but by clambering over the mountains at the other end ; and when I stood upon the summit of the mountain, though I looked down upon the vast area filled with ruined buildings and heaps of rubbish, and saw the mountain-sides cut away so as to form a level surface, and presenting long ranges of doors in successive tiers or stories, the dwelling and burial-places of a people long since passed away ; and though immediately before me was the excavated front of a large and beau- tiful temple,! I was disappointed. I had read the unpublished description of Captains Irby and Mangles. Several times the sheik had told me, in the most positive manner, that there was no other entrance ; and I was moved to indigna- tion at the marvellous and exaggerated, not to say false representations, as I thought, of the only persons who had given any account of this wonderful en- trance. I was disappointed, too, in another matter. Burckhardt had been ac- costed, immediately upon his entry, by a large party of Bedouins, and been suf- fered to remain but a very short time. Messrs. Legh, Banks, Irby, and Mangles had been opposed by hundreds of Bedouins, who swore ‘ that they should never enter their territory nor drink of their waters,’ and ‘that they would shoot them like dogs, if they attempted it.’ And I expected some opposition from at least the thirty or forty, fewer than whom, the sheik had told me, were never to be found in Wady Moussa. I expected a scene of some kind; but at the entrance of the city there was not a creature to dispute our passage ; its portals were wide open, and we passed along the stream down into the area, and still no man came to oppose us. We moved to the extreme end of the area ; and when in the act of dismounting at the foot of the rock on which stood the temple that had constantly faced us, we saw one solitary Arab straggling along without any apparent ob- ject, a mere wanderer among the ruins ; and it is a not uninteresting fact, that this poor Bedouin was the only living being we saw in the desolate city of Petra. A fter gazing at us for a few moments from a distance, he came towards us, and in a few moments was sitting down to pipes and eoffee with my companions. I again asked the sheik for the other entrance, and he again told me there was none; but I could not believe him, and set out to look for it myself; and although in my search I had already seen enough abundantly to repay me for all my difficulties in getting there, I could not be content without finding this de- sired avenue.”
The traveller having found the main entrance to this won- derful city, gives of it the following description.
“ For about two miles it lies between high and precipitous ranges of rocks, from five hundred to a thousand feet in height, standing as if torn asunder by some great convulsion, and barely wide enough for two horsemen to pass abrea t. A swelling stream rushes between them; the summits are wild and broken ; in some places overhanging the opposite sides, casting the darkness of night upon the narrow defile ; then receding and forming an opening above, through which a strong ray of light is thrown down, and illuminates with the blaze of day the frightful chasm below. Wild fig-trees, oleanders, and ivy were growing out of
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the rocky sides of the cliffs hundreds of feet above our heads ; the eagle was screaming above us ; all along were the open doors of tombs, forming the great Necropolis of the city ; and at the extreme end was a large open space, with a powerful body of light thrown down upon it, and exhibiting in one full view the fagadeof a beautiful temple, hewn out of the rock, with rows of Corinthian co- lumns and ornaments, standing out fresh and clear as if but yesterday from the hands of the sculptor. Though coming directly from the banks of the Nile, where the preservation of the temples excites the admiration and astonishment of every traveller, we were roused and excited by the extraordinary beauty and ex- cellent condition of the great temple at Petra. Even in coming upon it, as we did, at disadvantage, I remember that Paul, who was a passionate admirer of the arts, when he first obtained a glimpse of it, involuntarily cried out, and moving on to the front with a vivacity I never saw him exhibit before or afterward, clap- ped his hands, and shouted in ecstasy. To the last day of our being together, he was in the habit of referring to his extraordinary fit of enthusiasm when he first came upon that temple; and I can well imagine that, entering by this narrow defile, with the feelings roused by its extraordinary and romantic wildness and beauty, the first view of that superb fagade must produce an effect which could never pass away. Even now, that I have returned to the pursuits and thought- engrossing incidents of a life in the busiest city in the world, often in situations as widely different as light from darkness, I see before me the fagade of that tem- ple ; neither the Coliseum at Rome, grand and interesting as it is, nor the ruins of the Acropolis at Athens, nor the Pyramids, nor the mighty temples of the Nile, are so often present to my memory.
“ The whole temple, its columns, ornaments, porticoes, and porches, are cut out from and form part of the solid rock ; and this rock, at the foot of which the temple stands like a mere print, towers several hundred feet above, its face cut smooth to the very summit, and the top remaining wild and misshapen as Nature made it. The whole area before the temple is perhaps an acre in extent, enclosed on all sides except at the narrow entrance, and an opening to the left of the tem- ple, which leads into the area of the city by a pass through perpendicular rocks, five or six hundred feet in height.”
The author goes on to describe the interior of this wonder- ful temple, which he represents as perfectly plain, and in which he found a room fifty feet square and twenty-five in height.
After leaving the temple, and entering into another defile, he found a circular theatre cut also out of the solid rock, con- taining thirty-three rows of seats; and capable of holding three thousand people. Although the front pillars have fallen; yet “ the whole theatre is in such a state of preservation, that if the tenants of the tombs around could once more rise into life, they might take their old places on its seats.” The au- thor here makes some sober reflections, and concludes them by exclaiming, “Where are ye, inhabitants of this desolate city ? ye, who once sat on the seats of this theatre, the young, the high-born, the beautiful, and brave; who once rejoiced in your riches and power, and lived as if there was no grave! where are ye now ? Even the very tombs whose open doors are stretching away in long ranges before the eyes of the
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wandering traveller, cannot reveal your doom: your dry bones are gone; the robber has invaded your graves; and your very ashes have been swept away to make room for the wandering Arab of the desert!”
The following remarks are at the same time so just, ani- mated, and striking, that although our extracts have already been so long, we cannot consent to withhold them from our readers.
“Amid all the terrible denunciations against the land of Idumea, ‘her cities and the inhabitants thereof,’ this proud city among the rocks, doubtless for its extraordinary sins, was always marked as a subject of extraordinary vengeance. ‘ I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah (the strong or fortified city) shall become a desolation, a reproach, and a waste, and a curse, and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual waste. Lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men. Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thy heart, oh thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rocks, that holdest the height of the hill ; though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord.’* ‘ They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing ; and thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof, and it shall be a habitation for dragons, and a court for owls.’j-
“ I would that the sceptic could stand as I did, among the ruins of this city among the rocks, and there open the sacred book and read the words of the in- spired penmen, written when this desolate place was one of the greatest cities in the world. I see the scoff arrested, his cheek pale, his lip quivering, and his heart quaking with fear, as the ruined city cries out to him in a voice loud and power- ful as that of one risen from the dead ; though he would not believe Moses and the prophets, he believes the hand-writing of God himself, in the desolation and eternal ruin around him.”
As Mount Hor, where Aaron died, and was buried, reared its lofty summit in the immediate neighbourhood of Petra, our adventurous traveller, contrary to the remonstrances of his Bedouin guide, determined to ascend to the top; and with great difficulty, and no small peril, accomplished the enterprize. Here be found a small building, called the tomb of Aaron. The building is about thirty feet square, contain- ing a single chamber. In front of the door is a tomb-stone, in form like the oblong slabs in our church-yards, but larger and higher. As our object in this review is the elucidation of scripture history and prophecy, we cannot pass without notice, the following appropriate observations of the author, suggested by the view from the top of Mount Hor.
“ If I had never stood on the top of Mount Sinai, I should say that nothing could exceed the desolation of the view from the summit of Mount Hor, its most striking objects being the dreary and rugged mountains of Seir, bare and naked
* Jeremiah xlix. 13, 16.
f Isaiah xxxiv. 14, 15.
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of trees and verdure, and heaving their lofty summits to the skies, as if in a vain and fruitless effort to excel the mighty pile, on the top of which the high-priest of Israel was buried. Before me was a land of barrenness and ruin — a land accursed by God, and against which the prophets had set their faces ; the land of which it is thus written in the book of life : ‘ Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, and say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, oh Mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate ; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time, of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end : Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee : sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that retumeth. And I will fill his mountains with his slain men : in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers shall they fall that are slain with the sword. I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return : and ye shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”*
The mind of onr enterprising traveller seems to have been greatly struck by the remarkable fulfilment of the prophecies against Edom, which he had continually before his eyes in this whole journey. He returns to the interesting subject again and again. His road still lay along the valley of El Ghor; and having now nearly passed through the land of Edom, he reflects with some degree of exultation, that he was the first American who had ever visited this region; and not only so, but the only modern traveller who had passed through the whole extent of this land so evidently lying un- der the blighting curse of the Almighty. “The road along which the stranger journeys, was far better known in the days of David and Solomon, than it is now; and when he tires with the contemplation of barrenness and ruin, he may take the bible in his hand, and read what Edom was, and how God, by the mouth of his prophets, cursed it; and see with his own eyes, whether God’s words be true.” “Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbouring cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, nei- ther shall a son of man dwell in it. Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Edom: and his purposes that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman; surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry;
* Ezekiel xxxv.
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the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea.”* And again, “Thus saith the Lord God: because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; therefore, thus saith the Lord God, I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, I will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman.t Edom shall be a desolate wilderness.^ For three transgressions, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment hereof.§ Thus saith the Lord concerning Edom; behold, I have made thee small among the heathen; thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high: that saith in his heart, who shall bring me down to the ground ? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau ? And thy mighty men, oh Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.”||
While this country remained unknown, and before the city of Petra was discovered, such prophecies as the above, were exceedingly obscure; but now we can see the beauty and force of the particular expressions, by which Edom, and especially this wonderful city, are designated. They did, indeed, dwell “ in the clefts of the rocks,” and were exalted on high, like the nest of an eagle. And as to the exact exe- cution of the divine denunciations against this whole country, wTho can entertain a doubt who has only read what this Ame- rican traveller brings to light, in his interesting volumes?
It seems that the road pursued from the Red Sea to the confines of the Dead Sea, w7as in the same sandy valley, through which doubtless the Jordan once flowed. “ He who, in the wonders around him, seeks the evidences of events recorded in the sacred volume, here finds them in the abun- dant tokens that the shower of fire and brimstone which de- scended upon the guilty cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, stopped the course of the Jordan, and formed it into a pesti- lential lake, and left the dry bed of a river, in the desolate valley in which he is journeying. This valley is part of the once populous land of Idumea; in the days of Solomon, the
Jer. xlix. f Ezek. xxv. $ Joel, iii. 19. § Amos, i. 11. || Obadiah, i.
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great travelled highway, by which he received the gold of Ophir for the temple; and by which, in the days of imperial Rome, the wealth of India was brought to her doors.”
Our traveller now entered the Holy Land, and terminated his journey through the wilderness at the ancient city of He- bron, where Abraham and the other patriarchs lived; and where many of them were buried; and where David com- menced his reign after the death of Saul. It would be plea- sant to accompany him to Bethlehem, to Jerusalem, and to the sacred places in and about this sacred spot; but we have already occupied more space than we intended; and so many travellers have recently described every thing worthy of notice in the Holy Land; and the accounts of our own missionaries, residing in that country, have made our readers so familiar with the places connected with the sacred history, that we feel the less regret in not being able to give the ob- servations of our American traveller, or what he saw in this interesting country. We must, however, make one excep- tion. The Dead Sea has been visited by many; and innu- merable fables circulated respecting this mysterious lake; but few travellers have taken much pains to ascertain the true state of facts, or even the accurate topography of this mephitic lake. The attention of our author was turned to this object with intense curiosity; and, accordingly, he has given us more correct information respecting the dimensions, depth, and the qualities of the waters of this stagnant lake, than any who have preceded him.
The traveller passed over from Jerusalem to Jericho, and agrees with all former tourists in the character of the country, through which the road passes: but no one has represented the ancient city of Palms in so impoverished and desolate a condition. Scarcely could he obtain a night’s lodging; and when obtained, far from being comfortable. He proceeded as near the bank of the Jordan as he conveniently could, until he arrived at the mouth, where he distinctly saw the waters of the river commingling with those of the lake; so that there is no foundation for the opinion formerly current, that the Jordan passes through the lake Asphaltites, without mingling with the waters of the lake. “ And Pococke says, ‘I thought I saw the stream of a different colour;’ but Po- cocke did not follow the river down to the extreme point. I did: and could see most distinctly, where the waters min- gled. Instead of keeping its way through, its current was rather stopped at once by the denser water of the lake; and,
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in fact, for two or three miles above its mouth, the Jordan is impregnated with the salt and bituminous matter of the lake.”
“ Almost at the moment of my turning from the Jordan to the Dead Sea, not- withstanding the long-credited accounts that no bird could fly over without dropping dead upon its surface, I saw a flock of gulls floating quietly on its bosom ; and when I roused them with a stone, the}- flew down the lake, skim- ming its surface until they had carried themselves out of sight From the point on which I stood, near its eastern shore, the sea was spread out before me, motionless as a lake of molten lead, bounded on either side by ranges of high and barren mountains, and on its southern extremity by the great desert Valley of ElGhor; constantly receiving the waters of the Jordan, but, unlike other waters, sending no tribute to the sea. Pliny, Diodorus Siculus, and J osephus, describe it as more than sixty miles long; but Mr. Banks and his companions, by observation from elevated heights, make it not more than thirty ; and, as the ancients were better acquainted with it than modem geographers, it has been supposed that the lake has contracted in its dimensions, and that part of the Valley of El Ghor was once covered by its waters. Moving on slowly from the point of the Jordan, the shores low and sandy, strewed with brush and driftwood, and rising in a slope to the sandy plain above, I rode along near the whole head of the lake, with my horse’s feet in the water, and twice picked up a large piece of bitumen, almost like common pitch, supposed to be thrown up from the bottom of the lake. The sand is not bright like that of an Atlantic or Mediterranean beach, but of a dirty dark brown. The water is exceedingly clear and transpa- rent, but its taste and smell are a compound of all that is bad.”
Here his guides insisted on returning to Jericho, but our adventurous traveller had not half satisfied his curiosity; and, at all events, determined to see more of this extraordinary lake; and against all remonstrances persevered in his deter- mination to take as full a survey of it as he possibly could; and as his narrative is always concise, and perspicuous, we choose to give his observations in his own words rather than ours.
“ Since early in the morning, I had had the sea constantly before my eyes. While riding along the northern shore, the general aspect was very much the same ; but, as soon as I turned the head, and began to move along its side, the mountains every moment assumed a different aspect, although every where wild, rugged, and barren. At three o’clock we were approaching a place where the moun- tain rises precipitously from the lake, leaving no room for a passage at its foot ; my eyes were fixed upon the lake, my thoughts upon its mysterious properties. The ancients believed that living bodies, and even heavy metals, would not sink in it ; and Pliny and Strabo have written of its extraordinary' buoyancy. Be- fore I left Jerusalem, I had resolved not to bathe in it, on account of my health ; and I had sustained my resolution during the whole of my day’s ride along its shore ; but, on the point of turning up among the mountains, I could resist no longer. My clothes seemed to come off of their own accord ; and. before Paul had time to ask me what I was going to do. I was floating on its wateis. Paul and the Arabs follow’ed ; and, after splashing about for a while, we lay like a parcel of corks upon its surface.
“From my own experience, I can almost corroborate the most extravagant accounts of the ancients. I know, in reference to my own specific gravity, that in the Atlantic or Mediterranean I cannot float without some little movement of the hands ; and even then my body is almost totally submerged ; but here, when
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I threw myself upon my back, my boily was half out of water. It was an exer- tion even for my lank Arabs to keep themselves under. When I struck out in swimming, it was exceedingly awkward ; for my legs were constantly rising to the surface, and even above the water. I could have lain there and read with perfect ease. In fact, I could have slept, and it would have been a much easier bed than the bushes at Jericho. It was ludicrous to see one of the horses. As soon as his body touched the water, he wras afloat, and turned over on his side ; he struggled with all his force to preserve his equilibrium ; but the moment he stopped moving he turned over on his side again, and almost on his back, kick- ing his feet out of water, and snorting with terror. The worst of my bath was, after it was over, my skin was covered with a thick, glutinous substance, which it required another ablution to get rid of ; and after I had wiped myself dry, my body burnt and smarted as if I had been turned round before a roasting fire. My face and ears were incrusted with salt ; my hairs stood out, ‘ each particular hair on end and my eyes were irritated and inflamed, so that I felt the effects of it for several days. In spite of all this, however, revived and refreshed by my bath, I mounted my horse a new man.
“ Modern science has solved all the mystery about this water. It has been satisfactorily analyzed, and its specific gravity ascertained to be 1.211, a degree of density unknown in any other, the specific gravity of fresh water being 1 ,000; and it has been found to hold in solution the following proportions of salt to 1 00 grains of water —
Grains. |
|
Muriate of lime, |
3.920 |
Muiiate of magnesia. |
10.246 |
Muriate of soda, |
10.360 |
Sulphate of lime, |
0.054 |
24.580 |
“ Except the ruined city of Petra, I never felt so unwilling to leave any place. I was unsatisfied. I had a longing desire to explore every part of that unknown water ; to spend days upon its surface ; to coast along its shores ; to sound its mysterious depths, and search for the rains of the guilty cities. And why not? If we believe our bible, that bituminous lake covers the once fertile Vale of Sid- dim, and the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah ; and why may we not see them ? The ruins of Thebes still cover for miles the banks of the Nile ; the pyramids stand towering as when they were built, and no man knows their builders ; and the traveller may still trace, by ‘the great river, the Euphrates,’ the ruins of the Tower of Babel. Besides, that water does not destroy ; it preserves all that it touches ; the wood that falls into it becomes petrified by its action ; and I can see no good reason why it should liide for ever from man’s eyes the monuments of that fearful anger which the crimes of the guilty had so righteously provoked.”
We feel some regret in taking leave of our lively, and we are persuaded, veracious traveller. His volumes have af- forded us much entertainment, and no little instruction. Wishing our readers to participate in our pleasure, we have extracted much more than is our custom. To those who have perused the work, our review can be of little service; except to present in a brief space those “incidents” and scenes, which in our view, are most interesting, and worthy of notice. To those who have not access to these volumes, nor time to read them, we feel persuaded that our compend
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will afford much gratification. We are pleased to observe that the work is duly appreciated by the public; and that a second edition has been demanded. There is in our country a predisposition to think that nothing very good in literature can be expected from American authors; and too often second- rate British productions will pass through edition after edi- tion among us; while works of more intrinsic value of Ame- rican manufacture, lie uncalled for on the bookseller’s shelves. This prejudice is certainly not patriotic; and we hope will soon give place to a more just estimate of American genius.
As our American traveller has visited many other coun- tries, and no doubt has by him copious notes of the “ inci- dents of travel” in those regions, we would respectfully sug- gest— what will occur to many who read these volumes — that another set of volumes from the same pen, would not be unacceptable to the public. We are aware, indeed, that no countries upon earth are so interesting as those, of which we have an account in these volumes; there is in the very ruins of Egypt, Arabia, and Judea, what may well be called “a religious interest;” a sacred feeling of reverence accom- panies us whilst we read of the desolations which a righteous God hath produced in those regions, in punishment of the pride, luxury, cruelty, and rebellion by which they were characterized; and in fulfilment of prophecies uttered and recorded three or four thousand years ago: but sti 11 a lively description of scenes in Greece, Italy, Russia, and Poland, would be instructive and entertaining; and as our author has got the attention of the public, he may calculate upon their continued favour.
Art. V. — Tracts for the Times. By members of the Uni- versity of Oxford. Second Edition. London. J. G. & F. Rivington. 1837. Three volumes.
These Tracts may be regarded as among the most import- ant ephemerical productions of the day. They derive their consequence not so much from the ability with which they are written, as from the station of their authors, and the cha- racter of their contents. The title page informs us that they were written by members of the University of Oxford. The principal contributors are Dr. Pusey, the professor of He-
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brew, Mr. Keble, the professor of poetry, and Mr. Newman, a fellow of Oriel college. All these gentlemen are distin- guished for their talents, learning, and exemplary character. They are the modern Fenelons of the Church of England. This statement must indeed be taken with some allowance. They have the refinement, the learning, the mysticism and devotional feelings of the celebrated Catholic, but they have more of bigotry, and we fear, of self righteousness, than be- longed to their amiable prototype. “ If, indeed,” says Mr. Newman, “there is one thing more than another that brings home to me that the Tracts are mainly on the side of truth
it is this: the evidence which their writers bear
about them, that they are the reviled party, not the revilers. I challenge the production of any thing in the Tracts of an unkind, satirical, or abusive character; any thing personal.
The writers nowhere attack the Christian Observer,
or other similar publications, though they evidently as little
approve of its theology, as the Observer of the Tracts
We know our place and our fortunes; to give a witness and to be contemned, to be ill used and to succeed. Such is the law which God has annexed to the promulgation of the truth; its preachers suffer, but its cause prevails. Be it so. Joyfully will we all consent to this compact; and the more you attack us personally, the more for the omen’s sake, will we exult in it.”* This sounds rather strangely, as the Observer remarks, from men who come forth as public assailants, who month after month publish tracts teaching that the majority of the members of the Church of England have cast aside her doc- trines, and differ only in degree, but not in principle, from Rationalists and Socinians.t It is not a matter of surprise
* Christian Observer, Feb. 1837. Much of Mr. Newman’s letter to the Ob- server strikes us as not only satirical and unkind, but as supercilious and un- candid.
-(■ The Observer frequently complains of the tone of these tracts, and as we think with justice. “ Under soft words they are more invidious than many hotter compositions ; and their overweening tone, their unfair assumptions, their constant allusions to ‘ a certain class,’ and so forth, without that straight-forward specification that can be grappled with, are more irritating to an ingenuous mind than even abuse.” “Mr. Newman only echoes the assuming and un- charitable tone of the Tracts ; which, under mild words, are supercilious to a degree that vexes a truth-loving man far more than warm expressions.” “We are ashamed of the cant about the meekness, mildness, and good spirit of the Oxford Tracts. As often as we have spoken applaudingly of what is good in them, we are sure to feel ourselves immediately rebuked hy some passage which stultifies our panegyrics. We abhor persecution ; but we must say, that it is a hard and unequal measure, that a clergyman should be taunted and extinguished
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that these publications, proceeding from such a source, many of them elaborate and learned, others popular and plausible, and all of them imbued with the spirit of ascetic devotion, should excite more than ordinary attention. The interest which they have awakened, however, is no doubt principally due to the character of their contents. The key note of the whole series is to be found in the preface to the first volume. “ The sacraments, not preaching, are the sources of divine grace.” The same sentiment is expressed rather more at length in the preface to the second volume. “ Rationalistic, or (as they may be more properly called) carnal notions concerning the sacraments, and, on the other hand, a superstitious ap- prehension of resting in them, and a slowness to believe the possibility of God’s having literally blessed ordinances with invisible power, have, alas! infected a large mass of men in
our communion Hence we have almost embraced the
doctrine, that God conveys grace only through the instru- mentality of mental energies, that is, through faith, prayer, active spiritual contemplation, or (what is called) communion with God, in contradistinction to the primitive view, accord- ing to which the church and her sacraments are the direct and visible means of conveying to the soul what is in itself supernatural and unseen. For example, would not most men maintain, on the first view of the subject, that to administer the Lord’s Supper to infants, or to the dying and insensible, however consistently pious and believing in their past lives, was a superstition ? and yet both practices have the sanction of primitive usage. And does not this account for the pre- vailing indisposition to admit that baptism conveys regene- ration ? Indeed this may even be set down as the essence of sectarian doctrine (however the mischief may be restrained, or compensated, in the case of individuals), that faith, and not the sacraments are the instruments of justification and other gospel gifts ”*
for some offence against ecclesiastical etiquette, while the only censure passed upon divines who vituperate the Protestant Reformation, anil take part with Rome as a sister, though we have some ‘ private differences’ with her, is ‘ most excellent, respectable, and learned men, only somewhat too high church.’ If these were really high church, by which we mean true church principles, the sooner the nation abolished such a church the better.”
* In reference to the passage quoted above, the Christian Observer asks, “ Did ever any man, but the most ignorant Popish fanatic, till these modern days, write thus ! Administering the Lord’s Supper (by which we feed upon Christ ‘ by faith, -with thanksgiving-,’ that is, in a purely spiritual banquet) to infants, or to the dying and insensible, is not superstition, if it can be proved
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The Tracts avowedly aim at producing a revolution in public opinion. Their doctrines, it is said, have “ become obsolete with the majority of the members” of the church, “and are withdrawn from public view even by the more learned and orthodox few who still adhere to them.” The main doctrine in question, they tell us, is “that of the one catholic and apostolic church .... as the storehouse and
that there were in some former age some persons weak or ignorant enough to act or advocate such folly and impiety ! Why not equally vindicate the Pope’s sprinkling holy water upon the horses, or St. Anthony’s preaching to the fishes ?
The Church of England teaches, after holy scripture, that we are
‘justified by faith.’ Professor Pusey [the Observer was mistaken in ascribing this particular passage to Dr. Pusey, though he abundantly teaches the doctrine complained of] teaches that the sacraments are the appointed instruments of justification. The learned professor ought to lecture at Maynooth, or the Vati- can, and not in the chair of Oxford, when he puts forth this Popish doctrine.
Will any one of the writers or approvers of the Oxford Tracts, venture
to say that he does really believe all the doctrines of the articles and homilies of
our churchl We have often asked this question in private, but could
never get an answer. Will any approver of the Oxford Tracts answer it in print!” It was this appeal which produced the letters of Mr. Newman to the Observer to wliich vve have already referred, and which are published, with re- marks, in the numbers for February, March, April and May of 1837. The re- marks of the Observer, wliich are in the form of foot notes to the letters, are very excellent; evangelical in doctrine, and cogent in argument and style. Any reader of the passage quoted in the text, would be apt to take it for granted, that the writer approved of administering the Lord’s Supper to infants and to the dying and insensible. He was complaining of the low views now prevailing of the efficacy of the sacraments, and contrasted with modern notions the purer faith of primitive times, when the Lord’s Supper was thus administered. And throughout the Tracts primitive usage or apostolical tradition is said to be worthy of equal reverence with the scriptures. We learn from Mr. Newman’s letter, however, that the writer did not mean to “ advocate” this usage, or to teach that it was now binding, inasmuch as ‘ a usage may be primitive, and not universal,
may belong to the first ages, but only to some parts of the church He
does but say, that since it has a sanction in early times, it is not that ‘ absurdity,’
‘ irrational fanaticism,’ and so forth, which the Observer says it is.” The Tracts are full of traps for critics of this kind. The whole course of reasoning and statement produces a clear and strong impression of the general sentiments of the writers, but there is great difficulty in selecting distinct assertions of definite opinions. “ They are,” says the Observer, “ so scholastically constructed that, when the obvious bearing of a passage or tract is shown to be open to objection, there is some little qualifying word in a corner, which an ordinary reader would never discover, to ward off the full weight of an honest reply to the passage in its true spirit.” This is true. Though we have read the three volumes with a good deal of care, we dare not pledge ourselves to any thing more than an honest report of their general doctrines. As Mr. Newman has corrected some misapprehensions into which the Observer has fallen, we regret that his promised examination of the great point of justification has not been printed. He seems to have discontinued his communications, on the ground that the Observer did not comply with his unreasonable demand to publish Iris letters, without note or comment.
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direct channel of grace, as a divine ordinance .... which conveys secret strength and life to every one who shares in in it, unless there be some actual moral impediment in his own mind.” This is the centre of the system around which all the other doctrines revolve and to which they tend. Ac- cording to the confession of the Anglican and all other Re- formed churches, the Catholic church is ‘the congregation of faithful men in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments are duly administered.’ The Reformed churches have ever considered Christ and justification by faith in his merits, as the great centre of the Christian system. The Oxford Tract writers make the church the main point; the church as an ordinance for conveying life to all its mem- bers by means of the sacraments. The church, with them, is the great mediator between God and man, the only autho- rized channel of divine communication. If any one is bur- dened with a sense of sin, he must resort to the church and her sacraments as the means of obtaining pardon and sanctifi- cation. Hence we are told that the sacraments and not preaching, the sacraments and not faith, are the instruments of justification. Of course the question, who has authority to administer these sacraments, who have “power over the gifts of the Holy Ghost ?” is one of vital importance. It is answered, of course, by saying that those who have been episcopally ordained for that purpose; hence the apostolical succession, and as Mr. Keble calls it, “ Episcopal grace” is one of the most prominent themes of these tracts. The bishops, in regular succession, have received power to com- municate the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. This mysterious gift does not depend for its efficacy on the cha- racter or state of mind either of the donor or recipient. The act of ordination conveys grace and power “over the gifts of the Holy Ghost.” Priests are thus “ entrusted with the keys of heaven and hell — with the awful and mysterious gift of making the bread and wine Christ’s body and blood.” As the sacraments are the channels of communicating divine grace, and the means of access to the blood and merits of the Redeemer, and are in all ordinary cases necessary to sal- vation, they are repeatedly called the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and those authorized to administer them are there- fore entrusted with these keys, and are authorized to admit or exclude, as they deem proper, those who desire the bless- ings of redemption. The mode in which the sacraments are so efficacious is expressedly denied to be through faith and
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prayer; it is an opus operatum efficacy, depending neither on the state of mind of the administrator or partaker, provided there be in the latter no actual moral impediment, which, in the case of infants, it is said, can never exist. By baptism we are fully justified, which is made to include the forgive- ness of sin, original and actual, the renewal of our nature, and grace to enabie us to keep from falling into any deadly sin. Hence those declarations of scripture, and those articles of the church which speak of justification by faith have no reference to the case of baptised persons, they having been thus justified at the time of their baptism. Should they fall into any grievous sin, especially a second time, there is no certainty of forgiveness. It is a delusion to suppose with the Papists that penance is a scicra?nent by which such forgive- ness can be secured, or with the Protestants, that we may, in faith and penitence, confidently rely on the merits and right- eousness of our blessed Redeemer. All that remains, in this case, is ‘ the baptism of tears’ and ‘doubt’s galling chain;’ we have “ no right to appropriate again what was given ple- narily in baptism.” In the Lord’s Supper, the priest has the mysterious power of making the bread and wine Christ’s body and blood. This presence of Christ’s body is a real pre- sence, not of his spiritual body, but of that which was born of the Virgin Mary, and with which he ascended to heaven. The Papists err in this matter, not in asserting the real pre- sence, but in undertaking to determine the manner of it. The power of the priesthood extending to the things of the unseen world, to the efficacious administration of those ordi- nances which are the ordinary means of salvation, includes the authority to forgive sin. Absolution is not a general de- claration that forgiveness is granted to the penitent and be- lieving, nor is it a prayer for such forgiveness, it is the autho- ritative remission of sin. On this subject there is indeed not much said directly, but a great deal by implication. The rule of faith is not the bible merely, but the bible as inter- preted, and even “ limited” and corrected by tradition. It is expressly said that the controversy on this subject with the church of Rome is not as to the value of tradition, but is a mere historical question, what does tradition teach ? There is no dispute as to principle, but solely as to the application. Such is the system of the Oxford Tracts. It is, as the Chris- tian Observer tersely describes it, “ Protestantism rejected, and Popery spoiled.”
Before appealing to any particular passages in proof of the
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correctness of this general exhibition, it may be well to refer to some general indications of the character and spirit of this system. In the first place, these writers repeatedly intimate, and often directly assert, that the doctrines, which they are engaged in advocating, have gone out of vogue; that they wish to introduce a new, or rather to bring back an old system of religion very different from that now prevail- ing. The tracts on baptism are therefore represented “not as an inquiry into one single isolated doctrine, but as a delinea- tion, and serious examination of a modern system of theology, of extensive popularity and great speciousness, in its elemen- tary principles.” In the tracts entitled Via Media, we are taught, that the church stands in need of a second Reforma- tion, to bring it back from its ultra Protestantism, that the great distinction between this modern system of theology and that which it. is desirable to restore is, that the former makes faith and “heart-worship” the great points, the latter the “ power of the church,” and the efficacy of the sacra- ments."" In the second place, Rome is spoken of, throughout these volumes, with the greatest tenderness and respect. The difference between Papists and the Church of England is represented as comparatively slight, while all non-episcopal churches in Great Britain and elsewhere, are treated with scorn. Even the early Reformers of the English Church, are represented as having gone much too far in their opposi- tion to Popery; and the Reformers of the foreign churches are rejected as either allies or brethren.
* Thus, in Tract No. 41, in order to show how different modem religion is from the right system, Protestantism is said to be “ the religion of so called free- dom and independence, as hating superstition, suspicious of forms, jealous of priestcraft, advocating heart-worship.” Would not, it is asked, a modem Pro- testant, “ in the Confirmation Service, have made them (the candidates) some address about the necessity of spiritual renovation, of becoming new creatures,
&c. 1 I do not say such warning is not very appropriate .... is it not cer- tain that the present prevailing temper in the church would have given it . . . and the Liturgy does not ? . . . . Take again the catechism Why is
there no mention of newness of heart, of appropriating the merits of redemption, and such like phrases, which are now common among so called Protestants ? • Why no mention of justifying faith ?” Again, in the Order for Visiting the Sick .... a modern Protestant “ would rather have instituted some more searching examination (as he would call it) of the state of the sick man’s heart . . . and besides, not a word said of looking to Christ, resting on him, and renovation of heart. Such are the expressions which modern Protestantism would have con- sidered necessary, and would have inserted such. They are good words ; etill they are not those which our church considers the words for a sick-bed exami- nation.” This, and much more to the same effect, is said in order to show the characteristic difference between modem Protestantism, and that system which the Oxford writers are labouring to restore.
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To exhibit the evidence of the tenderness of these writers to Rome, and of their severity to the Reformed churches, would render it necessary to transcribe a large part of the Tracts. We can only give a few specimens. The conside- ration of the difficulties and imperfections attending the Eng- lish Reformation, we are told, are adapted “ to turn us in af- fection and sympathy towards the afflicted church,” which has been the “ mother of our new-birth.” Rome is called “ our Latin sister,” and we are told to
“ Speak gently of our sister’s fall,
Who knows but gentle love
May win her, at our patient cal),
The surer way to prove.”
It is said to be a mischievous error “ that we are one among many Protestant bodies, and that the differences between Protestants are of little consequence; whereas the English Church is not Protestant, only politically, that is, externally, or so far as it has been made an establishment, and subjected to national and foreign influences. It claims to be merely Reformed , not Protestant, and it repudiates any fellowship [alas! who is guilty of schism now ?] with the mixed multi- tude which crowd together, whether at home or abroad, under a mere political banner.” To prove that this is no new doc- trine, appeal is made to the fact that the lower house of con- vocation, in 1689, objected to the address prepared by the bishops to King William, thanking him for his “ zeal for the Protestant religion in general, and the Church of England in particular.” The ground of objection was the phrase quoted, which imported “ owning common union with the foreign Protestants,” vol. 3, tr. 71. In Tract 36, there is a list of the “ parties” who have separated from the church; and under the head of those “ who receive and teach a part but not the whole of the truth, erring in respect of one or more funda- mental doctrines ,” are enumerated Presbyterians, Indepen- dents, Methodists, Baptists, &c.” Speaking of the Quakers, they say in Tract 41, a churchman “ must consider such per- sons to be mere heathens, except in knowledge.” “ So far,” says Tract 47, “ from its being strange that Protestant sects are not ‘ in Christ,’ in the same fullness that we are, it is more accordant to the scheme of the world that they should lie be- tween us and heathenism. It would be strange if there were but two states, one absolutely of favour, one of disfavour.” “ Now,” says Tract 74, p. 4, “the privilege of the visible church is to be herein like the ark of Noah, that, for any
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thing we know to the con'.rary, all without it are lost sheep.” In the notes to extracts from the writings of Vicentius, vol. 2, No. 24, we find such passages as the following, “ Consider- ing the high gifts and the strong claims of the Church of Rome and its dependencies, on our admiration, reverence, love and gratitude, how could we withstand it as we do; how could we refrain from being melted into tenderness, and rushing into communion with it, but for the words of truth itself, which bid us prefer it to the whole world ? ‘He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.’ ” “ Whatever be our private differences with the Roman Ca- tholics, we may join with them in condemning Socinians, Baptists, Independents, Quakers, and the like. But God forbid, that we should ally ourselves with the offspring of heresy and schism, in our contest with any branches of the holy church, which maintain the foundation, whatever may be their incidental corruptions!” They have some “pri- vate differences” with Rome, it seems, but declare open war on all non-episcopal churches. “Now that Rome has added, and we have omitted, in the catalogue of doctrines, what is left to us but to turn our eyes sorrowfully and reverently to those ancient times, and, with Bishop Ken, to make it our profession to live and “ die in the faith of the Catholic church before the division of the East and West.” This then is what these gentlemen are aiming at, to bring things back to the state in which they were before the great schism. Rome has erred; it has some “ incidental corruptions:” it had not faith enough in the efficacy of the sacraments (!!) and there- fore added to their number; it pays undue reverence to images; it invokes religiously saints; it teaches that the bread and wine are actually transubstantiated; it ascribes too much power to the pope, a certain primacy these gentlemen think his due, &c. & c. These are incidental corruptions of little importance compared with the apostacy of the Reformed churches of Scotland and the continent from episcopacy. Not merely the doctrines, but the rites, ceremonies, ritual of the ancient church ought to be restored. Hence the Oxford writers have published the Catholic Breviary in extenso, omitting the invocations of the saints; they lament the omis- sion of the practice of exorcism before baptism: they urge the propriety of praying for the dead; they insist on calling the communion table the altar, the eucharist a sacrifice; they turn their back to the congregation during the service; offer-
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ing up, after the manner of a priest, prayers for them, instead of praying with them, &c. &c.
It would be easy to show that these gentlemen, and those in this country who follow them with willing minds, but with unequal steps, are apostates from the true doctrine and spirit of the Church of England, as to both these points, Rome and the Protestant churches. It would, indeed, be amusing, had we space for it, to contrast the respectful and affectionate language of these Tracts, with the plain and honest language of the Homilies and Reformers respecting Oxford’s “ Latin sister.” They do not speak so lightly of her fall as these gentlemen would desire. They teach that she is the mother of abominations, the mystical Babylon, the antichrist, antichristian and idolatrous, “ that she is so far wide of the true church, that nothing can be more;” that she is not “ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” They apply to her language of opprobrium and contempt which we do not care to repeat. These gentlemen say she is deserving “ of our admiration, reverence, love and grati- tude.” Surely they are men of another spirit than their fathers, degenerate and apostate children. Again, as to the Protestant churches, the Oxford gentlemen, as we have seen, utterly repudiate all fellowship with them; they call on God to forbid that they should ally themselves with such “ off- spring of heresy and schism” against the “ holy church” of Rome.* Were such the language and spirit of the English Reformers ? Every one knows that there was scarcely an individual among them who was not in familiar and affec- tionate correspondence with the Reformed churches on the continent; that they sought the aid and counsel of Calvin, Bucer, Martyr, Bullinger and others; that Cranmer had Bu- cer called to Cambridge, and Martyr to Oxford, to teach theology; that Jewell, in his correspondence with Bullinger and Martyr, after the accession of Elizabeth, laments that the queen would not allow the thorough reformation which they desired, but, he adds, “ as to doctrine, we have gone to the quick, and are not a nail’s breadth from you therein;” that native clergymen, presbyterianly ordained on the conti- nent, were admitted without objection to hold preferment in England, without re-ordination ; and that as it regards foreign- ers, instances of the same kind occur down to the civil war.
* Those who take the trouble to refer to the Tracts will see that we state fairly the meaning of their language.
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Laud was formally reproved as late as 1604 by the Univer- sity of Oxford, for maintaining that their could be no true church without bishops. Hallam, in his Constitutional His- tory of England, vol. i. p. 540, says that the first traces of the absolute necessity of episcopacy, are to be found about the end of the reign of Elizabeth. Lord Bacon, writing about that time, says, “ Yea, and some indiscreet persons have been so bold in open preaching, to use dishonourable and derogatory speech and censure of the churches abroad; and that so far [as though it was a thing unheard of before] as some of our men ordained in foreign parts have been pro- nounced to be no lawful ministers.” Vol. i. p. 382, quoted by Hallam, who adds, that “ Cranmer and most of the origi- nal founders of the Anglican church, so far from maintaining the divine and indispensable right of Episcopal government, held bishops and priests to be the same order.” Indeed, as we may have occasion to show, Cranmer and his associates went much further in this matter than Presbyterians are wont to go. Such is not the language of individuals only; it is the authorized and authoritative language of the stand- ards of the Church of England. They define the church catholic to include ‘all faithful men among whom the pure word of God is preached and the sacraments duly adminis- tered.’ In the twenty-third article, speaking of those who are lawfully called to preach, it is said, “those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have public authority given unto them in the congregation to call and send ministers into the Lord’s vineyard.” This definition, Bishop Burnet tells us was drawn with a view to the several churches which had been differently reformed. In the 55th Canon, all ministers are told, “Ye shall pray for Christ’s Holy Catholic Church, that is, for the whole congregation of Christian people dis- persed throughout the whole world, and especially for the churches of England, Scotland and Ireland.” Scotland was then, as now, Presbyterian. The fact is, that these high- church principles, as they are called, are not the principles of the Church of England, nor of her purest and best sons. They owe their origin mainly to Archbishop Laud, and belong to his peculiar school. This is virtually admitted by Prof. Keble himself, who says, “ Hooker, as well as Laud, Hammond and Leslie, in the two next generations, regarded the order of bishops as being immediately and properly of divine right . . . but he, in common with most of contemporaries, shrunk
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from the legitimate results of his own premises. . . . The next generation of divines entered on the subject, fresh from the discovery of the genuine remains of St. Ignatius.”* It is here admitted that it was not until the generation after Hooker (i. e. during the reign of James and Charles I.), that the absolute necessity “ of the apostolical commission to the derivation of sacramental grace” was inculcated. This ad- mission is not confined to Professor Keble ; these Tracts abound in complaints of the influence allowed to the foreign Reformers by those of England; of lamentations over the omissions of popish doctrines and ceremonies in the formulas of their church ; of an earnest desire “ to add to the articles” and catechism, and that too specially in reference to the “ power of the church” and the apostolical succession. What does all this amount to, but an admission that the English Reformers regarded their brethren on the continent in a very different manner from that in which these Oxford gentlemen do, and that they entertained very different views of the doctrines on account of the omission of which such complaints are made ? The truth is, that at the time of the glorious Reformation, there was a revival of pure doctrine and genuine religion throughout Europe. The great body of the Reformers in England and on the continent were of one mind and of one heart ; they regarded each other as brethren, and felt that they were engaged in the same great work. The only question which seriously divided them was the nature of the eucharist, and this might have been accommodated, had it not been for the individual peculiarities of Luther ; and on this point the English sided with the Swiss, in opposition to the Lutheran divines. As to doc- trines, as Bishop Jewell says, there was not a nail’s breadth between them. Caivinistic divines (Bucer and Martyr), taught theology in the universities ; Calvin’s Institutes was long their principal text book ; and when Arminianism first arose, it excited as much opposition in England as it did in
* See Christian Observer April 1837. The Observer remarks on this passage, “Mr. Keble’s admission, that the discovering of ‘the genuine remains’ of St. Ignatius, in comparatively modern times, was of sufficient potency to change the aspect of theology, and to stultify the articles of the church of England, by turning Hookerism, Cranmerism and Jewelism, into Laudism, is a far better comment upon his own sermon on tradition, than any that we could offer.” “ We thank God,” the Observer says, “that 6uch is not the doctrine of the church of England. Our most eminent divines, in her true spirit, have blessed God for our own exalted privileges, without unchurching other com- munions.”
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Holland. Archbishop Whitgift published the Lambeth Articles containing the strongest assertion of Calvinism, to withstand the progress of the new doctrine. James called Vorstius an atheist, and insisted on the states of Holland per- secuting him and other Remonstrants. He had previously sent a delegation to sit in the synod of Dort, where Armi- nianism was fully condemned. A preacher in Oxford in 1623 having expressed himself dubiously on this point, was obliged to recant, and to maintain the theses — Decretum praedestinationis non est conditionale — Gratia sufficiens ad salutem non conceditur omnibus. It was the rise of Laud whom these Oxford gentlemen call “Father and Martyr,” and some in this country, “that eminent martyr for Christ and his church,” but whom the Christian Observer styles, “a Protestant inquisitor,” and “ecclesiastical tyrant,” that changed so suddenly the face of things — we say the face , because it was for a long time nothing more. The court be- came high church and Arminian, and a cruel persecution was set on foot and long continued against all who ventured to differ from the Archbishop. We must not allow ourselves to be led away from our subject by the tempting field for historical detail, which here opens before us. Suffice it to say, that a majority of the bishops and clergy, and an over- whelming majority of the nation continued faithful to the doctrines and spirit of the Anglican church. From the accession of James I. to the restoration of Charles II., there was not a single parliament in which those who were stig- matised as Puritans, had not the complete ascendancy. The high church and court party were a mere faction, incon- siderable in number, though all powerful from the possession of office, and the control of those tremendous engines of tyranny, the Court of High Commission, and of the Star Chamber. We are not to suppose that all, who ultimately sided with the king in the civil war, approved of his peculiar principles of ecclesiastical and civil government. Far from it. Strafford and Laud, the one the representative of arbi- trary power, and the other of High Churchism, were both impeached at the very commencement of the parliament, and by the almost unanimous consent of the house. Under James I. when episcopacy was introduced into Scotland, Presbyterian ministers were consecrated bishops, without previous re-ordination as deacons and priests. (On the re- storation of prelacy under Charles II., however, Leighton and Sharp, as high-church doctrines had obtained the ascend-
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ancy, were re-ordained before consecration. But as soon as they reached Edinburg, they with two associates, who had been ordained before the Commonwealth, immediately con- secrated six Presbyterian ministers without presuming to re-ordain them as presbyters.)* When the unfortunate Charles was reduced to extremity, and the enemies of episco- pacy had gained the ascendancy, and demanded the abolition of prelacy as the condition of peace, he pleaded his conscien- tious belief of the necessity of episcopal government in the organization of the church. To this scruple his own intimate friends and counsellors replied, “If by conscience it is in- tended to assert that episcopacy is jure divino exclusive, whereby no Protestant, or rather Christian church, can be acknowledged for such, without a bishop, we must therein crave leave wholly to differ. And if we be in an error we are in good company, there not being, as we have cause to believe, six persons of the Protestant religion of the other opinion.”! This may have been an exaggeration ; but it proves clearly enough that the high church party, even among the royalists, was a mere faction. We have not space, nor is this the occasion, for tracing the history of these principles. They have prevailed, sometimes to a greater, and sometimes to a less extent, in the English church, but they have no claim to be considered as the prin- ciples of the church itself. In opposing these principles we are not to be accused of hostility to the church of England. We love and venerate her Reformers, w’e claim communion with her martyrs, we rejoice in her testimony for the truth. We are, as Presbyterians, what the editors of the Christian Observer are, as churchmen. We prefer our own form, but we do not denounce theirs. We shrink from the idea of renouncing communion with the Holy Catholic church, the congregation of Christian people dispersed throughout the whole world. We pity, as burdened with the guilt of schism, “ those who repudiate all fellowship” with the mil- lions of God’s people who do not believe in the truth and
* See Burnet’s History of his own times, vol. I. pp. 200, 201.
+ Hallam vol. 2, p. 254. Poor Charles may have been sincere in this matter, he had been so long under the influence of Laud. Yet he had consented to the abolition of Episcopacy in Scotland, and in his letters he principally urges po- litical reasons for his refusal. “ Show me,” he says, “ any precedent where Presbyterian government and regal was together without perpetual rebellions. . . . . And it cannot be otherwise; for the ground of their doctrine is anti- monarchical.” He was constantly quoting the maxim of his father, “ N o bishop no king.”
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necessity of “ Episcopal grace.” If our high church friends wish to know how we feel when they unchurch and denounce us, we can inform them, by asking how they feel when they hear themselves excommunicated and denounced by the Romanists ? We presume they feel neither alarm nor remorse ; that there is a sentiment of pity awakened at the blindness and bigotry which such denunciations evince ; a feeling of wonder that men, with any knowledge of the bible or sense of religion, can so exalt matters of form and organization above doctrinal truth and spiritual piety, can consider mint, anise and cummin as of more importance than judgment, mercy and faith. There is perhaps a little differ- ence between the two cases. The denunciations of the Romanists come from a majority against a minority. But the reverse is the fact when high-church men denounce their fellow Protestants. And when this is done, as in this country, by a mere handful in the presence of the whole Christian community, there is an air of the absurd about the whole matter, which softens, without elevating the feelings which it excites.
It is time, however, to return to the Tracts themselves. We feel bound to substantiate the correctness of the general outline given above of the doctrines which they teach. This can be done at best in a very inadequate manner by detached quotations, and must in the present instance be done very briefly. We have already perhaps quoted enough to show the views of the Oxford writers on the church, which they consider the great fundamental doctrine. The importance of this doctrine is frequently and strongly asserted. Thus, in Tract 49, it is said, “Let it be considered that the restoration of a doctrine so evidently important in its bearings as that of the church, must necessarily produce a great change upon a system out of which it has been lost. We have been accus- tomed to a Ptolemaic theory of our spiritual system ; . . . . we find ourselves called upon to adopt an opposite theory, to take for the centre of our system that which we had been used to regard as a mere satellite about our own orb. No wonder if we feel our notions deranged ; if every thing seems in a new place ; that which before was primary, now made subordinate ; and vice versa.” It cannot be pretended that the doctrine of the church as taught in the standards of all the Protestant communions, has been lost out of the theo- logical system of the great majority of the members of the Church of England ; that is, that the church catholic is the
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whole congregation of believers throughout the world, and a particular church is a branch of this general communion in which the pure word of God is preached and the sacraments duly administered. This doctrine has not been lost, and is therefore not the one to be restored, and the restoration of which is to produce such a revolution in our system of reli- gion. The church, according to these Tracts, is “ a visible spiritual society, formed by Christ himself, a household over which he has appointed his servants and rulers to the end.” There is nothing in this general statement either novel or startling. But we are taught, however, in the second place that we must not suppose that this means merely that“ there is a number of sincere Christians scattered through the world,” but “ that there is on earth an existing society, apostolic as founded by the apostles; catholic because it spreads its branches in every place; i. e. the church visible with its bishops, priests and deacons.” This church, thus organized, is the representative of Christ to the end of time. Thirdly, we are to believe in this visible episcopally organ- ized society, because “Christ hath appointed it as the only way to eternal life. . . . Christ never appointed two ways to heaven,' nor did he build a church to save some, and make another institution for other men’s salvation.” Tract 2. The reason why communion with this church is so necessary is, that it is “ the storehouse and direct channel of grace, a divine ordinance ... to be approached joyfully and expectantly as a definite instrument, or rather the appointed means, of spiritual blessings.” Vol. ii. p. 5. The visible church is thus “the channel of grace,” not so much because its ministry preserve and preach the truth, as because they bear a com- mission from Christ to administer the sacraments. “ The sacraments are in the hands of the clergy,” and of a clergy episcopally ordained, no one has a right to take this authority on himself; “ no command of an earthly king, no ordinance of an earthly legislature, could invest us with power over the gifts of the Holy Ghost .... or over the things of the un- seen world.” “ He alone is evidently entitled to confer the power of conveying, by the appointed means, the gifts of His Spirit, who himself, in the first instance, gave that Spirit to his church.” Now, as the sacraments are the means of con- veying justification and other gospel gifts, as these sacraments “ are evidently in the hands of the church visible,” it follows that, “ as we betake ourselves to a dispensary for medicine in like manner we are to come to that one society,
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to which Christ has entrusted the office of stewardship in the distribution of gifts of which He alone is the author and real dispenser.” When tempted, therefore, to forsake the hal- lowed pale of this society, let us reply, “To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe and are sure that thou art the minister and representative of Christ the Son of the living God.” Tracts 5 and 11.
Such being the nature of the church, it is evident that the peculiar power belonging to it, and its ministry of conferring the gifts of the Holy Ghost, is to be attributed to the trans- mission of this mysterious prerogative in an uninterrupted line from Christ himself. Hence the apostolical succession is one of the most prominent subjects in these volumes. To understand this subject, it must be remembered that this suc- cession does not consist in the mere regular and orderly se- quence of properly appointed officers, analogous to the regu- lar succession in a line of civil magistrates, but in the trans- mission by the laying on of hands, of a secret, mysterious and awful power, over the gifts of the Spirit and things of the unseen world. Ordination, therefore, is not a mere mode of appointing to office, but it is an ordinance for conferring grace, which, as it can come from no other than a bishop, is called “ Episcopal grace.” Hence we are told that “ Ordi- nation, or, as it is called in the case of bishops, consecration, though it does not precisely come within our definition of a sacrament, is nevertheless a rite partaking in a high degree of a sacramental character, and it is by a reference to the proper sacraments, that its nature can be most satisfactorily illustrated.” The two points in which it partakes of this sacramental character, are, that it confers grace, and that its efficacy is not dependent on the moral character of the giver or receiver of the rite. “He who receives unworthily, or in an improper state of mind, either ordination or consecra- tion, may probably receive to his own soul no saving health from the hallowed rite;” but this does not interfere with its validity. The grace or gift conferred is nothing less than the Holy Ghost, and power over his gifts. This is repeated- ly and explicitly asserted. Thus, in this same Tract, speak- ing of worthiness, it is asked, “ Who is a fit and meet dis- penser of the gifts of the Holy Spirit ?” “ No earthly au-
thority,” it is said, “can compel him (a bishop) to lay his hands on what, he may conceive an unworthy head .... or arrogantly assume to itself the power to confer the Holy Ghost.” In Tract 1, it is said, “ we have confessed before
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God our belief, that through the bishop that ordained us, we received the Holy Ghost . . . are these words idle .... or do they express merel}1- a wish (which is surely far below their meaning), or do they not rather indicate that the speaker is conferring a gift ? Surely they can mean nothing short of this.* But whence, I ask, his right to do so ? Has he any right, except as having received the power from those who consecrated him to be a bishop. He could not give what he had never received. It is plain that he but trans- mits; and that the Christian ministry is a succession — we have therefore .... acknowledged the doctrine of Aposto- lical Succession. And for the same reason, we must ne- cessarily consider none to be really ordained who have not thus been ordained.”
The power of the priesthood resulting from this exclusive claim, and from this view of the nature of ordination, is of course tremendous, and is asserted by these writers with great boldness. The successors of the apostles, we are told, are the bishops. ‘‘ They stand in the place of the apostles, as far as the office of ruling is concerned; and, whatever we ought to do, had we lived when the apostles were alive, the same ought we to do for the bishops. He that despiseth them, despiseth the apostles.” Tract 10. “ They stand be-
fore their flocks as the authorized successors of the apostles; as armed with their power to confer spiritual gifts in the church, and, in cases of necessity, to wield their awful wea- pon of rejection from the fold of Christ.” Tract 5. “ This is
faith, to iook at things not as seen, but as unseen; to be as sure that the bishop is Christ’s representative, as if we actu- ally saw him work miracles as St. Peter and St. Paul did. — I repeat, the bishops are apostles to us. — The meetingers [Mr. Newman says there is nothing unkind or contemptuous in these tracts] have no head, they are all mixed together in
a confused way Our Lord and Saviour confirms us
with the Spirit of all goodness; the bishop is his figure and likeness .... he rules the whole church here below, as Christ, the true and eternal sovereign, rules it above . . . . he visibly chooses those whom Christ vouchsafes to choose invisibly^, to serve in the word and sacraments of the church.” Tract 10. We do not wonder that the Observer asks, ‘ How
•Reference is here had to the Ordination Service, “Receive the Holt Ghost for the office and work of a priest in the church of God, now committed unto thee, by the imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven ; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained,” &c.
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long would the bishops be tolerated .... in a Protestant country, if any half dozen of them should rise in their places and say of themselves what these Tracts say of them ?’
It is no part of our object to examine the grounds on which these extravagant claims are rested. These writers frequently reprove the spirit which calls for clear and decisive proof of their doctrines. They tell us, that the humble Christian is content to follow the slightest intimations of his Saviour’s will, to be guided by his eye, to rest satisfied with the crumbs which fall from his table. This is all very true. But when a system is advanced of such portentous character, and pressed on our belief as the condition of salvation, we must have scriptural reasons, or our faith will stand in ‘the wisdom of men,’ and not ‘in the power of God.’ We cannot be satisfied with being told “ it is very clear, and there is no doubt about it.” We cannot consider such assertions as even crumbs of evidence. Tract 19 says, reasonably enough, “Men are sometimes disappointed with the proofs offered in behalf of some important doctrines of our religion; such especially as the necessity of episcopal ordination in order to constitute a minister of Christ.” To meet this difficulty we are told, “ the faintest probabilities are strong enough to de- termine our conduct in a matter of duty.” As a specimen of these “faintest probabilities” reference is made to “the argument«for the apostolical succession, derived from the or- dination of St. Paul and St. Barnabas, Acts xiii: 2, 3.” A better specimen for faintness could hardly be selected. For in the first place Paul had been a preacher for several years before this supposed ordination, having exercised his ministry in Damascus, in Arabia, in Jerusalem, in Cilicia, and for a year in Antioch itself. In the second place, he over and over denies that he received his apostleship, or his ministe- rial office, from any other than Jesus Christ. It was neither ‘of man, nor by men.’ Yet Hooker, Hales, and others, would have us believe, for the sake of episcopacy, that the apostleship was conferred on him at this time by the laying on of the hands of men. In the third place, there was no apostle at Antioch to ordain him. If he was ordained at all, it was by the prophets and teachers, as ‘ Simeon, that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen,’ the lowest order of preachers. It was these who “ ministered to the Lord,” and to whom the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul. This is surely a very faint argument for the absolute necessity for episcopal ordination. When men begin to for-
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sake the scriptures for tradition, and dote about fables, they seem to lose the ordinary power of discriminating truth.
The great source of priestly power, however, is the posses- sion of the exclusive right to administer the sacraments, and the exclusive possession of the power to render them effica- cious. By their ordination by the hands of a bishop, the priests have been “ intrusted with the keys of heaven and hell . . . and with the awful and mysterious privilege of dispensing Christ’s body and blood,” Tract 10; or as it is elsewhere expressed, “ the awful and mysterious gift of making the bread and wine Christ’s body and blood.” They alone have authority to admit any one to the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness; the merit of Christ is applied through the sacraments which they only have the right to administer. These gentlemen say, that even on the ground of expediency, it is best to adhere to their church, for it is THE ONLY CHURCH IN THIS REALM WHICH HAS A RIGHT TO BE QUITE SURE THAT SHE HAS THE Lord’s BODY TO GIVE to His people; a sentence which they print in capitals for the sake of emphasis. The Papists never claimed higher powers for their priesthood than these writers arrogate to themselves and brethren. They claim the power of dispen- sing life and death, salvation or perdition, at pleasure.*
The proofs of the extent of this priestly power, are neces- sarily involved in the evidence to be adduced of the correct- ness of the statement already given of their opinions of the nature of the sacraments.
* To the popish “ exaggerations,” says the Obseuveh, “ of priestly absolution, and the power of the keys, that frightful engine of despotism, the fulcrum of which was the doctrine maintained in these Tracts upon the apostolical authority, which every minister of Christ still possesses to bind and loose, the sacraments being the channels for the conveyance of divine grace, and the priest who administers them having power over the gifts of the Holy Ghost,’ ‘ power over the things of the unseen world a power never more arrogantly assumed by Rome herself, in the madness of her spiritual tyranny, when ‘ drunk with the blood of the saints,’ than in such passages as the following, by Mr. Newman, Mr. Keble, and Dr. Pusey, who actually dare to write, ‘ The fountain (of the Redeemer’s blood) has, indeed, been opened for sin and uncleanness,’ but ‘it were to abuse the power of the keys entrusted to us J again, that is, (after a first offence) to pre- tend to admit them thus ; now there remains only the baptism o f tears.' (May God forgive men who thus awfully presume to limit the virtue of the Redeemer’s atonement, who substitute the penance of tears for the blood of Christ ; and who interpose between man and his God, to admit, or shut out from the kingdom of heaven, as they see fit, just as the popish priests did, to their own pontifical dignity and great gain, though of this we accuse not the Oxford brethren, till Luther spoiled Tctxel’s trade): to all such presumptuous follies and unscriptural dreamings our Homilies reply as follows,” &c. Christian Observer, March 1837, p. 162.
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On this subject we are taught generally, as already quoted, that “ the sacraments, and not faith, are the means of justifi- cation, and other gospel gifts,” and in Tract 41, that “Al- mighty God has said His Son’s merits shall wash away all sin, and that they shall be conveyed to believers through the two sacraments.” In Tract 73, p. 12, it is said, the sacra- ments are “ the principal channels through which His(Christ’s) merits are applied to individuals,” . . . that, “ regeneration, the communion of saints, the resurrection of the body (are) consequent on their administration.” We are told in Tract 27, that it is “ the nature of sacraments, that not only the name, but even the properties and effects of what they represent and exhibit are given to them.” Accordingly, as water in baptism represents both the blood of Christ and the influences of the Spirit, to it are ascribed at once the forgive- ness of sin, and the renovation of the heart. “ The sacrament of baptism is not a mere sign or promise, but actually a means of grace, an instrument by which, when rightly received, the soul is admitted to the benefits of Christ’s atonement, such as forgiveness of sin, original and actual, reconciliation to God, a new nature, adoption, citizenship in Christ’s kingdom, and the inheritance of heaven — in a word regeneration. And next, baptism is considered to be rightly received, when there is no positive obstacle or hindrance to the reception in the recipient, such as impenitence or unbelief would be in the case of an adult; so that infants are necessarily right re- cipients of it, as not being capable of actual sin.” Tract 76, p. 1. “Whether grace be given in and through the water, or only contemporaneously with it Whether bap-
tism besides washing away past sin, admits into a state in which, for sins henceforth committed, repentance [penance ?] stands in place of a sacrament, so as to ensure forgiveness without a specific ordinance; or whether the full and explicit absolution of sin after baptism is altogether put off till the day of judgment;” . . . these and similar questions are said to be points, about which the divines of the church of Eng- gland differ. We shall see that the Tract writers teach that there is no certainty of the forgiveness of post-baptismal sins; and if we understand some of their statements they favour the theory that the water becomes “ impregnated with a spiritual property,”* to use the language of Comber, one of the
* With regard to this point we may be mistaken, though we doubt it. The Christian Observer, however, says, “The Oxford-tract doctrine on sacramental
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authors quoted in the Catena Patrum. In Tract 40 it is said, “ Our Lord joined the two together — the high, mysterious, and spiritual doctrine of the Trinity, with the no less myste- rious communication of grace by water baptism.” One of the running titles of the Tracts on baptism, as we learn from the Observer is, “ Reformed notions destroy the sacraments,” and one of the heads of destruction specified is, “they deny that baptism is the means of remitting original sin, or of ob- taining justification.” “If men conceive of sacraments,” it is said, “as external symbols, and acting through a moral operation, by representing to our souls the greatness of his love, his humiliation, his sufferings, and thus kindling our faith, and thereby uniting us with Him; then, and much more, will all the operations of the Holy Spirit be resolved into presenting to the mind outward motives.” No believing Protestant denies that the sacraments are means of grace, or is disposed to limit the mode or measure of the operation of the Spirit in rendering them effectual. But Protestants do deny what these Tracts labour to establish, that the sacra- ments are the means, i. e. the ordinary and principal means of gaining access to the merits of the Saviour, so that there is “in general” no reception of the benefits of those merits either before or without them, that they constitute the keys of heaven and hell in the hands of the clergy, and give them “ power over the gifts of the Holy Spirit;” that they uniformly
efficacy, we confidently assert is Romanist. The distinction which the Tracts make, to take it from the mazes of Popery, and to reduce it to a via media, mis- named Anglican, avails nothing. The Papists made the same distinction. At the Council of Trent the Dominicans insisted that the sacraments operated by inherent grace-conferring efficacy ; the Franciscans said that the efficacy arises from God having attached it to them; whereupon long quarrels ensued, though each acknowledged opus operatum influence. Now we do not affirm that Dr. Pusey and his friends are Dominician, but only that they are Franciscan : and Dr. Pusey himself states that he holds the Bellarmine opus operatum view, which involves the Franciscan notion. If the Oxford friends are not Romanist, then are not Bellarmine and the Franciscans.” May p. 322. Our collection of these Tracts, unfortunately, does not contain Dr. Pusey’s three Tracts on bap- tism, much however is said on the subject in others of the series. While they teach clearly that the sacraments “ convey grace,” the mode in which they do it is left undetermined. There is an evident unwillingness to make any expla- nation which should lessen the mystery. That God should see fit to attend the penitent and believing performance of even an external duty, with the special influences of his Spirit is not so great a mystery. These Tracts, however, teach that the communication of grace by water baptism “ is as mysterious as the doctrine of the Trinity.” No less mysterious, they tell us, is “ The virtue of the holy communion ; how it conveys to us the body and blood of the Incarnate Son crucified, and how, by partaking it, body and soul are made spiritual.” Tract 73, p. 12.
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convey grace, in the absence of any actual moral impediment; or that Papists and the Church of England, to the exclusion of all Lutherans and Reformed, have the power of “ imparting the Trinity in baptism.”*
That these Tracts teach that the real body and blood of Christ are present in the “holy communion,” is not merely inferred from the expressions already quoted, in which they speak of “making the body and blood of Christ,” of having “the mysterious privilege of dispensing” that body; or of their being the only church that have “the Lord’s body to give his people,” but it is fully and elaborately taught in Tract 27, which is a dissertation on the subject from the works of John Cosin, Bishop of Durham. “ As to the man- ner of the presence of the body and blood of our Lord in the blessed sacrament, we that are Protestant and Reformed, ac- cording to the ancient Catholic church, do not search into the
manner of it with perplexing inquiries we leave it
to the power and wisdom of our Lord, yielding a full and unfeigned assent to his words. Had the Romish maintainers of transubstantiation done the same, they would not have de- termined and decreed a manner of presence, newly
by them invented.” “We hold by a firm belief, that it is the body of Christ; of the manner how it becomes so, there is
not a word in the gospel we believe a real presence
no less than you (the Romanists) do.” “ If it seems impos- sible that the flesh of Christ should descend, and become our food, through so great a distance, we must remember how much the power of the Holy Spirit exceeds our sense and
our apprehensions and so make our faith to receive
and believe, what our reason cannot comprehend. Yet our faith does not cause or make that presence, but apprehends
it as truly and really effected by the words of Christ
In this mj-stical eating by the wonderful power of the Holy Ghost, we do invisibly receive the substance of Christ’s body and blood, as much as if we should eat and drink both visi- bly.” The doctrine of transubstantiation is denied, yet it is admitted that “ there is a conversion of the bread into the body of Christ, for .... by virtue of the words and blessing of Christ, the condition, use, and office of the bread is wholly changed, that is, if common and ordinary, it becomes our
mystical and sacramental food; whereby the true
body of Christ is not only shadowed and figured, but also
* Christian- Observer, March p. 161.
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given indeed, and by worthy communicants truly received.
. . . . This change, whereby supernatural effects are wrought by things natural, while their essence is preserved entire, doth best agree with the grace and power of God.” “ The words of Christ make the form of the sacrament to consist in the union of the thing signified with the sign, that is, the exhibition of the body of Christ with the consecrated bread, still remaining bread; by divine appointment these two are made one.” Not merely the merits of Christ are represented, but “ His very body that was crucified, and his blood that was shed for us, are truly signified and offered.” “ We con- fess the necessity of a supernatural and heavenly change, and that the signs cannot become sacraments but by the infinite power of God, whose proper right it is to institute sacra- ments in His church, being alone able to endue them with virtue and efficacy.” This is a painful subject; strong as is the language of Calvin, and especially of Bucer in relation to it, arising partly out of the influence of their previous opi- nions, and partly, no doubt, from a strong desire to keep on terms with the Lutherans, (this was particularly the case with regard to Bucer, who was severely censured for his concessions), yet their doctrine was very different from that here presented. They did not hold to the real presence of the very body that was crucified, or admit any change in the elements which it required infinite power to effect; nor did they believe that these elements were “ imbued with virtue and efficacy” so that “supernatural effects are produced by means natural.” Professor Pusey’s complaint that “Re- formed notions destroy the sacraments” is of course an ad- mission that his opinions are not those of the Reformed church.
Intimately connected with the subject of the nature of the sacraments, is the great question of justification. It is here that the Oxford Tracts make utter shipwreck; giving up, if not in words, at least in reality, the great doctrine of the Re- formation, the restoration of which from the rubbish of popery was the greatest service ever rendered to the world by unin- spired men. We have already seen that these Tracts teach that we are justified in baptism. This doctrine is expressed so frequently and plainly that the passages need not be again recited. As in an ordinary Christian community the great mass of the people are baptised in infancy, are they all to be considered as justified persons ? The answers given to this question do not seem to be uniform. According to one mode
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of representation they are; they are not only justified, but saints, the children of God, no matter how infidel their opi- nions, or how profligate their lives.* But according to an- other view, baptismal grace may be lost and all its privileges forfeited. Those who sin, (we suppose, who commit any mortal, or deadly sin, for the system seems to demand the distinction, between venial and mortal sins), Mr. Newman says expressly “they have no right to appropriate again what was given them plenarily in baptism.” He does not deny them all hope, nor forbid their looking to Christ, but he does deny them all confidence that their post-baptismal sins are par- doned; that is a question the decision of which must be post- poned until the judgment, all that is left for them in this world is “ the baptism of tears” and “doubt’s galling chain.”
The doctrine then is, that the merits of Christ by which we are justified, are plenarily given in baptism, toge- ther with that renovation of nature, and those aids of the Spirit which are requisite to our salvation. Should we sin after baptism, there remains no more sacrifice for us; the
* “Talk,” says the Observer, “of the antinomianism of Crisp and Hun- tington ! Let the reader find if he can, in all their writings, any passage so mischievous, so soul-deluding, so provocative of licentiousness, as the following remarks of Mr. Dodworth. To tell men avowedly living in every kind of pro- fligacy, ‘ intemperance and lust,’ and who even ‘ deny the fundamental doc- trines of the bible,’ that they are — not merely that they ought to be, but that they actually are — ‘faithful brethren in Christ Jesus ‘saints,’ though they scoff at the name ; is morally polluting, and opposed to the whole genius of pure and undefiled religion.” Some of the passages quoted from Mr. Dodworth are the following. He asks, “ How is the efficacy of Christian baptism to be recon- ciled with the actual state of those who have been baptised V The answer is, “ We cannot see that a Christian is one who is risen again,” but “ he is spiritu- ally, though not ostensibly or manifestly a new man.” “ The testimony of human observation is to be entirely and altogether set aside.” “ Think of ad- dressing those who are living in every kind of worldly folly and frivolity .... as saints, by a name which they themselves will ridicule. Think of addressing those as faithful brethren in Christ Jesus .... who are addicted to intem- perance and lust, or who may be denying the fundamental truths of the bible.” “ It can scarcely be a subject of surprise, that an inconsistency so palpable as this should forcibly strike the mind [and conscience too, we should think], and suggest a difficulty with respect to the initiatory rite of the Christian church.” “ It is a point to which, above all others, we must apply the Christian rule, We walk by faith, and not by sight. We have nothing but the bare word of God to rely upon.” Observer, March, p. 1 81. Mr. Dodworth is said to be “ a devout, amiable and zealous clergyman, who, having begun with Irving and Mr. Drum- mond in defending modem miracles, has found for the present a resting place in the system of the Oxford Tracts.” He may be a very amiable man, but if he wrote the above extracts, he is certainly a very silly one. It is proper to say that we have met with nothing in the Tracts themselves, so absurd or so revolting. They are bad enough, but this is almost insane.
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merits and mercy of Christ are indeed sufficient for our for- giveness, but no sacrament has been provided for again com- municating those merits, or for assuring us of that mercy. The precious invitations and promises of the gospel are not addressed to post-baptismal sinners, who have therefore no right to appropriate them to themselves. “ Dr. Gardiner;” (the famous Catholic Bishop of Winchester, under Henry VIII. and Mary) says the Christian Observer, “argued (see his well known letter to Fox) that as persons are now generally baptised, and therefore justified, in infancy, the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith, even if it were in theory true, is of no greater practical importance to those who were born under the Christian system, and were therefore justified in baptism, and never did any works in our unjustified state, than to discuss ( — we quote the illustration with pain, but it shows the profane levity with which this cardinal doctrine of the gospel has been too often treated — ) whether, &c. &c. [the illustration we omit]. Professor Pusey does not adopt Popish Gardiner’s profane levity of illustration, but he makes use of his argument as his own; thus directly fraternizing with Rome and rejecting Protestantism; for he says — Dr. Pusey we mean, not Dr. Gardiner, the professor of Hebrew at Ox- ford in the nineteenth century, not Chancellor Gardiner in the sixteenth, 1 The article on works before justification is of much importance in clearing the system, by setting forth the relation to man’s natural state and unassisted powers [very true, Dr. Gardiner would have echoed] : but to us individu- ally, who have been born within it, (the Episcopal church) [good, good, exclaims Gardiner, rcm tetigisti — it was just what I tried to teach your ignorant Reformers], and who were never left to our mere natural powers, having had original sin remitted to us through baptism in our infancy, and having then been justified and cleansed from all sin, and had the grace of Christ given, and fresh supplies pledged to us, the statement of the character of works done before justification and the
grace of Christ does not apply it does not* speak of
a state in which we ever actually were.” Neither do the calls or promises of the gospel apply to baptised persons. “ He who is touched with a sense of our infirmities says, ‘Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest;’ — but Professor Pusey interposes between
* Christian Observer, Feb. p. 125, as we have not seen these Tracts on Baptism, we are obliged to take our extracts from the Observer.
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Christ and the penitent, saying, * the way of repentance must not be made so easy;’ and holding the keys, to open or shut, to remit sins or to retain them, he does not see his way, he says, to apply to a penitent after baptism ‘ the gracious words which invited those who had never known Christ, and so had never forsaken him’ — .... yet, even with this gra- cious promise before him, Dr. Pusey does not think he is to admit this post-baptismal penitent to a joyful hope of pardon through Christ: he tells him, that having been baptised, ‘ he has no fresh baptism for remission of sins to offer; and there- fore tears, and fasts, and pains, and ever enduring terrors, must do the rest. Oh! it is a dreadful doctrine! And if so dreadful in the hands of a Keble ora Pusey, what must it be when administered by priests of a sterner mould.”*
It is obvious that this system involves the most unscrip- tural doctrines respecting the nature of sin. It supposes that after the renovation received in baptism, we may, in virtue of the aids of the Spirit, live without sin, or without such sin as shall forfeit the divine favour, or need the renewed appli- cation of the blood of Christ. “It is enough,” says bishop Jebb, as quoted in Tract 76, p. 54, “for us to believe . . . . that at the time of baptism, a new nature is divinely commu- nicated, and gracious privileges are especially vouchsafed, in such measure and degree that, whosoever are clothed with this white garment, may, through his help, ‘keep their bap- tism pure and undefiled for the. remainder of their lives, never wilfully committing any deadly sins.” If deadly means any thing here, it must mean grievous, or as the papists say mortal. In like manner Mr. Newman speaks of the baptised living without sin, and in his letter already referred to, he says, “ When the Spirit takes up his abode in us [at Baptism], we have so superabounding and awful a grace tabernacled in us, that no other words described it more nearly than to call it an angel’s nature.” We can see no difference between this doctrine and that of the Roman- ists, except that the latter makes provision for the assured forgiveness of post-baptismal sins by the sacrament of pe- nance. The council of Trent teaches that if the regenerated had sufficient gratitude towards God, to preserve the right- eousness and grace given them in baptism, there would be no need for any further provision for the remission of sins; but since we are liable to fall into such sins, God has pro-
* Obsehteb, May, p. 333.
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vided sacramentum poenitentiae, quo lapsis post bap- tismum beneficiurn mortis Christi applicatur, i. e. the sacrament of penance by which the benefit of Christ’s death may be applied to those who have fallen after baptism. These Tracts teach that for such sins, no provision is made, forgiveness is not absolutely hopeless, but there is no pro- mise of it. For a first offence there is some comfort, “there is yet one plant left after the shipwreck of baptismal grace — not, says Dr. Pusey, what ‘a modern class of divines’ pre- tend, namely, ‘the appropriation of the merits and righteous- ness of our blessed Redeemer,’ but ‘a baptism of tears’ and ‘ pains whereby we ma}7 be restored.’ ”*
The reader will be surprised to hear after all this, that these writers still hold the doctrine of justification by faith. It is not, however, that previous doctrine which the true catholic and apostolic church in all ages, has expressed by those terms. “The article about justification does not apply to us; we are justified in baptism, by the faith of the church, which is involved in the sacrament. They do not speak of merit, or making ourselves worthy of justification, or of good works helping out the righteousness of God in Christ for effecting it; all this may safely be disallowed, and justification be predicated of faith, and not of works, by attaching it to baptism, in the virtue of the faith of the church, and not of
the recipient Is it sufficient to tell the world that
you believe the doctrine of justification by faith, when you mean by it something quite different to that which the ex- pression conveys to a Protestant ear; something quite diffe- rent from that which the whole body of the Reformers meant
by it? We ought, however, to add, injustice both
to Professor Pusey and to the Reformers, that though the article on Justification by Faith is grievously opposed to the
* “ The doctrine of the church of Rome upon these subjects [ justification and post-baptismal sin], though it is in spirit that of these Tracts, is less terrific, be- cause it makes repentance a sacrament ; so that an authorized avenue of ‘ sacra- mental grace’ is still afforded for the solace of the trembling penitent. The Tract writers indeed give the substance of penance, and the seal of absolution, but not in the full and consistent manner necessary to cohere with the other
part of the system The Tract doctrine is Protestantism rejected, and
popery spoiled. It yields the penitent neither the sacrament of penance, nor the scriptural appropriation of the blood of Christ.” Observer, May, p. 332. In another part of the same note the Observer says, “ We might apply the matter to the Oxford writers. What is your hope of salvation ? Is it not that you were justified, cleansed, and renewed, in baptism ; and that grace was then given you to work out your salvation ; which grace you have not forfeited by sin ; so that you are entitled to the covenanted mercies of God?” Obsehyeh, May, p. 332.
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Oxford Tract system .... and though Professor Pusey considers that article as having been the cause of infinite mischief, by leading to ‘the wildest antinomianism,’ yet, that, on the whole — bountiful concession for an Oxford Pro- fessor to the glorious eleventh article of the Anglican church — it was i innocently intended ! /’ ”
That this is a fair exhibition of the doctrine of these Tracts on the all important subject of justification, may be inferred not only from the passages quoted, and from the authority of the Observer as a witness, but from the concession of Mr. Percival, one of the most conspicuous and accredited writers of the Oxford school. He says, in a letter published in the J^ondon Record, Oct. 2, 1837, “Allowing certain explana- tions there is nothing in the Tridentine statement (about justification) which cannot fairly be reconciled with gospel doctrine.” Now as this, and the sufficiency of the scriptures, which these gentlemen also reject, were the two great doc- trines in dispute between the Papists and Reformers, and in comparison with which all other points of difference were of minor importance, can there be a more distinct avowal of adhesion to the anti-protestant faith, than is contained in this declaration of Mr. Percival, and in the extracts already given from the other Oxford writers ? What is that protestanism worth which is Tridentine on the doctrine of justification, and on the rule of faith ? The great secret of popish power, the great source of the long continued degradation of the hearts and consciences, the lives and fortunes of men under the Romish priesthood, was this very Oxford doctrine of baptismal justification. If after the plenary application of the merits of the Redeemer, made in that ordinance, there is no right remaining to the penitent to appropriate those merits afresh by faith, the door of heaven is closed against almost all mankind. For who has failed to commit, and that wilfully, since his infant baptism, not one, but many sins, which his own conscience, and the word of God, pronounce grievous? The only hope now is in pains, penances, alms, fastings, and priestly absolution. Who but a priest can tell when these penances are adequate — when our alms to the poor, or to the church, are sufficiently ample ? He has the key of the kingdom of heaven. “ As the encysted venom, or poison- bag,” says Coleridge, “ beneath the adder’s fang, so does this doctrine lie beneath the tremendous power of the Romish Hierarchy. The demoralizing influence of this dogma, and that it curdled the very life blood in the veins of Christendom,
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it was given to Luther beyond all men since Paul, to see, and feel, and promulgate.”* Yet this very doctrine, Oxford professors, in the heart of Protestant England, are now assiduously labouring to revive.
The only other doctrine belonging to this system, which it remains for us to illustrate, is that which relates to the rule of faith. It may indeed be taken for granted that men who hold such a system, would never be content with the scrip- tures. It is impossible that any one who adopts the principle that * The bible, the bible alone is the religion of Protestants’ could be led to admit such opinions. These Oxford gentlemen do not admit this principle. Dr. Pusey states in a passage al- ready referred to, “Our controversy with Rome is not an a priori question on the value of tradition in itself, or at an earlier period of the church, or of such traditions, as, though not contained in scripture, are primitive, universal, and apos- tolical, but it is one purely historical, that the Romanist tra- ditions not being such, but, on the contrary, repugnant to scripture, are not to be received.” The whole question be- tween Protestants and Papists is, whether there is any un- written traditionary rule of faith or practice now binding on the church ? The former say there is not, the latter say there is. The Oxford gentlemen side with the Papists; and they may safely be left to contend among themselves, what that traditionary rule teaches, and what it does not. They go so far, that Protestants can have no interest in this ‘private dif- ference’ between them and their Latin sister. “ I make no scruple,” say they, in the language of Hammond, “ to grant that apostolical traditions, such as are truly so, as well as apostolical writings, are equally the matter of that Christian’s belief, who is equally secured by the fidelity of the convey- ance, that as the one is apostolical writing, so the other is apostolical tradition.”! “At the Reformation,” it is said, Tract 45, “the authority of the church was discarded by the spirit then predominant among the Protestants, and scripture was considered as the sole document both for ascertaining and proving our faith.” This spirit is censured throughout the Tract, which is entitled “Grounds of our Faith;” we are told that even if Episcopacy were not at all mentioned in scripture, “ it would be our duty to receive it” on the ground of tradition. In Tract 34, Tertullian is quoted with appro-
* Aids to Reflection, p. 190.
f See Yol. 3. pp. 13 and 16, for the above cited passage.
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bation, who says, “ Let us examine, then, how far it is true that an apostolical tradition itself, unless written in scripture, is inadmissible.” In illustration he refers to the ceremonies attending baptism: to the fact that the candidate renounced the devil, his pomp, and his angels; was plunged in the wa- ter thrice; after coming out, he tasted a mixture of milk and honey, and abstained for a week from his daily bath; and then adds, “ If you demand a scriptural rule for these and such like observances we can give you none .... tradition directs,” and that is sufficient. Again, Basil is quoted in support of the same doctrine, who says, “Of those articles of doctrine and preaching, which are in the custody of the church, some come to us in scripture itself, some are conveyed to us by a continuous tradition in mystical depositories. Both have equal claims on our devotion, and are received by
all, at least by all who are in any way churchmen
To take any obvious instance; which apostle has taught us in scripture to sign believers with the cross ? Where does scripture tell us to turn to the east in prayer more-
over, we bless the water of baptism, and the oil for annoint- ing,” &c. &c. “ The Catholic ritual,” we are told in the
same Tract, “is a precious possession; and if we who have escaped from Popery, have lost not only the possession, but the sense of its value, it is a serious question whether we are not like men who recover from some grievous sickness with the loss or injury of their sight or hearing!” Mr. Hook, in his sermons before the University of Oxford, as we learn from the Christian Observer, March, p. 146, teaches, “‘ We are neither to trust to the bible only,’ nor to ‘transmissive religion only,’ but are to combine ‘the reciprocal influence and conjoined operation of both — the one suggesting the other confirming.’ .... We are indeed, to pray and study, ‘but let us place all under the supervision and correction of Catholic tradition.’ ” Mr. Keble, in his famous visitation ser- mon, goes if possible still further. According to the Chris- tian Observer, May, p. 326, “ He argues that church tradition is ‘ parallel to scripture,’ not ‘ derived from it;’ in proof of which he quotes some of the Fathers; and that ‘ it fixes the interpretation of disputed texts’ ‘ by authority of that Holy Spirit which inspired the oral teaching of which such tradi- tion is the record,’ so that we are as much bound to defer to tradition as ‘ to the written word of God,’ which he has been pleased to give us ‘ over and above;’ tradition being ‘ the ori- ginal gift,’ and the written word only something almost su-
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perfluous — for what other meaning can we put upon the words ‘ over and above ?’ ” In the course of his sermon he quotes the famous passage from Chillingworth, beginning, “ The bible, the bible only is the religion of Protestants,” and adds, “ It is melancholy, but instructive, to reflect that the writer of these sentences is credibly reported to have been an Arian, or near it, before he died.” The homilies of the Church of England on this subject say, “ Let us diligently search for the well of life in the books of the Old and New Testament, and not in the stinking puddles of men’s tradi- tions, devised by men’s imagination, for our justification and salvation; for in holy scripture is fully contained what we ought to do and what to eschew.” Mr. Newman gets over this by saying the homilies speak of men’s traditions, where- as he contends for God’s. This must make a Papist smile. Does not he contend for tradition as being from God ? The homilies do not contrast one kind of tradition with another, but tradition with the bible. A man must be very hard pressed before he can have recourse to such evasions as this. On the authority of tradition these gentlemen are for re-in- troducing the whole of the Catholic ritual, bating the cor- ruptions of the middle ages; the ‘offering of the elements to God,’ since, according to the primitive church, “the offering of the altar was intercessory;”* and various other supersti- tious observances. See what they quote from Tertullian and Basil as to the teachings of tradition. But this is a small part of the evil. Tradition is to fix the interpretation of scripture, and even to correct and limit its declarations: thus Dr. Pusey quotes Hermas to prove that there is no repent- ance for sin, or at least, a second sin, after baptism, and ad- mits that this “limits very awfully what their (the apostles) written teaching has left undefined. ”t We know not how far sincerity of conviction, and goodness of intention can free men from the charge of dreadful wickedness in thus presu- ming to limit the invitations and promises of the gospel. Those assurances of free forgiveness, which every sinner needs, it is said, are not addressed to those who have been
* See Vol. 1, Tract 34.
f The words of Hermas are “ I have heard from some teachers, that there is no other repentance than that when we descend into the water and receive re- mission of sins And he [the Angel of Repentance, reader !] said unto
me, ‘ Thou hast heard rightly.’ Hermas admits that ‘ if any be tempted of the devil to sin, he has one repentance;’ and Dr. Pusey accordingly acknowledges one repentance after baptism, more would be “ very rare, if not altogether hope- less,” See Observer, March, p. 148.
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baptised; — they have been forgiven; for them, there is no longer ‘a sacrifice to lay upon the altar.’ Thus almost the whole of Christendom is cut off from any hope of salvation founded upon the promises of God. Tradition is further made necessary to prove satisfactorily, infant baptism, the observance of Sunday, the doctrine of the Trinity, and espe- cially Episcopacy, which it is admitted is “ not obtruded upon us” in the bible.*
Such then is the system of the Oxford Tracts. The church is the storehouse and channel of grace; the sacraments are the instruments of conveying this grace to individuals; these sacraments are in the hands of the clergy episcopally ordain- ed, who alone have the awful and mysterious power of con- ferring the gifts of the Holy Ghost: men are justified in baptism, and for sins committed after baptism, they must do the best they can; repentance for a second offence is rare, if not altogether hopeless; the body and blood of Christ are really present in the eucharist, and in some mysterious way render our souls and bodies spiritual; the rule of faith and practice is the written and unwritten word of God, the latter interpreting, limiting and correcting the former. Whether this system is popery or not, is a mere dispute about a word. If by popery is meant, the acknowledgement of the supreme authority and jurisdiction (not mere primacy) of the Pope, and the validity of all the decrees of the council of Trent, then it is not popery. But if popery means the leading cha- racteristic features of that system of doctrines against which the Reformers struggled and protested, then it is popery. The vital spirit of that mystery of iniquity is here. The power of the clergy, the efficacy of the sacraments, the me- thod of justification, the rule of faith, are the same in both systems. The one has more errors than the other, but both are equally at variance with the scriptures, and with the Re- formers, and equally destructive of evangelical religion and liberty of conscience.
To what extent this system has gained favour, either in the Church of England, or among Episcopalians in this country,
* James II. when duke of York, told Bishop Burnet, that the reason of his becoming a Papist was, that he heard so much from the English divines “ of the authority of the church, and of the tradition from the apostles, in support of epis- copacy,” he considered that other traditions might be taken on the word of the Catholic church, as well as episcopacy on the word of the English, and he there- fore thought it “ reasonable to go over to the church of Rome.” Burnet’s History of his own Times, vol. 1, p. 245.
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we are unable to say. As to England, we are led to infer from various circumstances that its converts are already nu- merous. The preface to the first volume of these Tracts speaks of the doctrines which they advocate as having almost passed into oblivion. The preface to the second, rejoices in the great change already produced in public sentiment on these points; and that to the third volume speaks still more confidently. Some of the leading organs of the high-church party, as the British Critic, the Church of England Maga- zine, &c. have endorsed the Oxford writers, and their doc- trines, as to some points at least, and without reservation, as far as we have observed, as to others. Besides, the alarm expressed by the leaders of the evangelical party, who con- sider this developement of popery in the church, as by far the greatest danger which it has to contend with, would seem to indicate that these opinions are pretty widely extended. As to our own country, we are not in the way of knowing much. The Churchman defends the doctrine of baptismal justification, (the root of the whole evil) and laughs at the fears of the London Observer about Oxford popery. It de- fends and praises Archbishop Laud, a papist, (in the true sense of the word explained above) and a persecutor hardly second in cruelty to St. Dominic. The Burlington Mission- ary seldom ventures to be doctrinal. Its soft praises of Pro- fessor Keble, “ as the sweetest spirit of the age,” of “ the elo- quent and excellent Newman,” disclose clearly enough which way its guiding spirit tends.* That the system will spread
* Perhaps our readers, if they can prevail upon themselves to peruse the fol- lowing passage from the Missionary, may form some conjecture of the doctrines of that periodical. Complaining of the congregation remaining seated during the administration of baptism, the Missionary says, “ This service commences with an exhortation to the whole congregation to call upon God ; and yet we know of a congregation where the invitation is almost wholly disregarded, and while another is added to the sacramental host of God’s elect, while a soul is born of water and the Spirit, while the water and the blood flow afresh from the side of the adorable Redeemer, while the Holy Ghost hovers over the font to sanctify water to the mystical washing away of sin, the people, with a few honourable exceptions remain seated.” For bad taste and irreverence we can bring no parallel to this passage ; but for extravagance the following quotations from one of Mr. Newman’s sermons may fairly dispute the palm with it. The reason, he says, why the Virgin Mary has not been “ more fully disclosed to us in the celestial fragrancy and beauty of the spirit within her,” is that “ it is too high a privilege for sinners like ourselves to know the best and innermost thoughts of God’s servants .... how is it possible that we should bear to gaze on the creature’s holiness in its fullness .... it is in mercy to us that so little is re- vealed of the blessed Virgin.” “ Christ derived his soul and body from her.” “ What, think you, was the sanctity and grace of that human nature of which God formed his sinless son ; knowing, as we do, that what is bom of the flesh is
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both in England and in this country we have no doubt. There has always been a leaven of popery in the Episcopal church, which is to be attributed in a great measure to the political circumstances, of a ‘peculiarly malignant character,’ under which it was reformed. This leaven has continued to work, sometimes more, and sometimes less actively. Apart from the predisposition for these opinions arising from this source, there is no doubt weight in the remark of the Obser- ver, “That the system of the Oxford Tracts is likely to find abettors among weak and ignorant clerics, who understand little of the matters at issue, but fancy there is something very dignified and ecclesiastically aristocratical in assuming the powers asserted for them in these Tracts.” There is another and much more respectable class, among whom this system will obtain favour. It consists of sentimental religion- ists, whose devotion must be kindled through the imagina- tion; and of those also, who for any reason, are led to read and reverence the fathers more than the scriptures. The danger arising from this source to the Church of England is far from being imaginary. Should the principles of these Tracts prevail, the whole evangelical party will join in its overthrow. The sooner the nation abolishes such a church, says the Observer, the better. If the time should come for carrying out the second (or retrogade) Reformation, for which these Oxford writers are so anxious, the true Protestants must leave the church. They have as much as they can bear al- ready in the baptismal, communion, and burial services. If to these are to be added baptismal justification, sacramental and episcopal grace of the opus operatum character, and other peculiarities of this system, they must do as their fa- thers did, protest and dissent, even should it cost them their lives. Every thing gained at the Reformation is at stake in this controversy, and the duty of separation from Oxford is as imperative as it was three hundred years ago, to separate from Rome. The circumstances of the times greatly en- hance the dangers of which we are speaking. Had Laud lived under Charles the second, instead of under his father and grandfather, he might have advocated and enforced his system without bringing either himself or his church to de- struction. It was his misfortune and folly to be high-church and papistical, while the current of public feeling was in- creasingly in the opposite direction. Every parliament re- flesh, and that none can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ?” See Obseh- yeb, April, p. 246.
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monstrated against ecclesiastical abuses and popish practices, every edict of the court confirmed and increased these causes of complaint. In this conflict it required no prophet to predict the result. In like manner, at the present day, public feeling in England is for civil and religious liberty, and against the as- sumptions and abuses of the church. In direct antithesis to the spirit of the age, rises up the spirit of Oxford, pushing the claims of the church and the clergy to the extreme of popish arrogance; becoming more exclusive and denuncia- tory as the necessity for conciliation increases. What must be the result of a conflict of a small minority,* insolent and encroaching, against the body of the nation ? If this mino- rity should go on to array against itself not only the opposi- tion of dissenters, but of all who retain any love for the doc- trines of the Reformation, and the cause of religious liberty, the doom of the church can be neither doubtful nor distant. That liberty as well as truth is involved in this conflict we think is very plain. The principles of these Tracts have never been combined with zeal and power without leading to persecution. The men who are the apologists and eulo- gists of Laud, whether in this country or England, are worthy of no more confidence when they claim to be friends of civil and religious liberty, than those advocates of toleration, who are forever praising the inquisition. We have no faith in the professions of either. Our hope and prayer are, that God would so revive pure religion, both in the Church of England and her American daughter, that this baneful spirit of popish superstition and intolerance may be effectually extinguished; and the whole body of the Reformed be united in one great brotherhood, as in the days of Cranmer and Calvin.
Art. VI. — Physical Theory of Another Life. By the
Author of Natural History of Enthusiasm. New York.
D. Appleton & Co. 1836. pp. 278.
Were it indispensable to the usefulness of all speculations on the powers and conditions of man that these speculations
* Even the nominal members of the Church of England are less than one third of the population ; about four million out of thirteen. The high-churchmen are very careful to place the duty of establishing a particular church on the ground that it is the true one, not that it is the church of the majority. British Critic, No. 43, p. 226.
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invariably follow the path of truth, the range of profitable reflection on the properties and prospects of the human soul would, in this life, be confined to narrow limits. It seems a concession to our mental infirmity, that we may gain advan- tage to both the understanding and the heart from random excursions of thought, in proper directions and for proper ends, although we cannot propose to ourselves as the result of our study, the attainment of absolute truth. We are often tempted from pure love of truth to adventure on doubtful ground. The pleasure of discovering a rare gem in the field of science awakens the strenuous activity of the mind, and sustains it through a long and laborious series of experiments, often fruitless of all but the incidental benefits of exercise in the intellectual employment, and of acquaintance with the field explored.
The chief end of the present life of man is holiness and happiness to come; labour in the present for reward in the future; discipline in the present for perfection in the future. The very definition of a course of tuition and discipline for the human mind on earth, embraces the idea of a sparing communication of self evident truth; and accordingly, in- stead of coming at once into possession of the truth we are capable of perceiving and enjoying, we have the field laid open before us where the treasures of truth are to be found; and where we are to search and dig them out, with only cer- tain knowledge enough beforehand to give us a taste for the truth, and only help enough to encourage us to help ourselves.
The object of the present life of man relates so purely to his immortality, and every power and circumstance of his nature is so subordinate to his religious character and destiny, that his intellectual attainments here have little value, except as they contribute to secure for him the privileges of that future state. Whether there be tongues, they shall fail; or whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. It suffi- ces us here that we know in part. We have truth enough, established and understood, to give ample knowledge of duty, and to furnish the outline of a safe sphere of mental exercise; and for the rest, we may employ and discipline and entertain the mind in balancing probabilities, tracing obscure analogies, framing conjectures, or inventing theories. While we look for more and better knowledge in another life, we cannot deem it an unsuitable preparation for that higher intellectual state, that in this we should toil so hard and long to find a little truth, and be borne towards that world of light on an ocean of probabilities, where here and there only an island
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of established truth stands in cheering prominence and eternal stability above the waves.
We are, therefore, predisposed to favour plausible specu- lations on the physical conditions of our immortality. We do not receive them coldly because they may not be true. JNor do we insist, as one of the terms of our approbation, that such discussions shall always promise the discovery of truth; nor that they shall prove their course to lie in the di- rection of positive truth; nor even that they shall make the attainment of truth their professed aim. It is lawful to dis- cuss probabilities. It is lawful to discuss possibilities. Be- tween the utterly absurd and the absolutely certain, an almost illimitable field lies open to the excursions of reason, and yields, when skilfully^ explored, a copious and varied tribute to the lasting wealth of the mind.
Our relish for this class of speculations has given us an in- terest in the “ Physical Theory of Another Life.” We have read this work with a pleasure arising from several sources. The volume is replete with the marks of a capacious and discriminating mind. To say nothing here of the “ Theory” itself, which has, at least, all the recommendation that inge- nuity could give it, we regard this volume as the best speci- men the author has yet given us of his taste and power as a writer. Every paragraph reveals the hand of a master. Although mainly bent on spreading out his theory of another life, he has incidentally given us fine examples of the higher grades of philosophical analysis, of rigid reasoning and glow- ing imagination.
As to his style, we are happy to perceive in this work, fewer of his peculiar faults, than in his previous volumes; while he retains all such of his characteristics as are unques- tionable virtues. He is more perspicuous and direct. We have fewer occasions to stop at the close of a sentence to draw out some common thought from the author’s verbose and elaborate obscurity, or to recover the sense that escapes us as we wind through his graceful involutions. The cast of his thoughts, as well as their connexion, is remarkably ori- ginal; yet when he falls, as he sometimes inevitably must, upon ideas which have occurred to other minds, he arrays them in the costume and gives them the air of strangers. His commonest thoughts are the obscurest. As if ambitious to appear never to touch or approach the track of inferior minds, he changes the features of every thought that might meet us as an old acquaintance, and often affects to be a stran-
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ger through the mere strangeness of his dress. Even in this volume, the best in this respect the author has given us, we find many pages, which, if they were clearer, would seem less profound.
It is not the design of this article to prosecute a thorough examination of the book. We may recur to these specula- tions at a future day; and if we should, our suggestions on this or any other theory of another life may be a sequel to a few thoughts we propose now to offer on what may be con- sidered the relative and permanent grade of man on the scale of intellectual being.
Every physical theory of another life must involve the whole system of mental operations in the future state; and the book before us follows the natural order of thought, by inquiring first into the conditions of the mind’s immortality, and thence inferring the probable attributes of an immortal body. The first theory must relate to the glorified state and exercises of the mind.
Among the conjectures which would be comprehended in a rational theory of the future life of man, will be found that of his probable continuance in his present relative rank of intellectual being. If any point in the philosophy of our immortality is settled by the tenor of the scriptures, it is that men will continue for ever to be men. As they are now lower than the angels, they will remain so. Their perfection and glory does not, from any revealed process, and certainly not from natural necessity, imply their promotion to a higher nature. They will not take intellectual rank with the innu- merable company of angels; but remain a distinct order; — spirits of just men made perfect. Their perfection will be the perfection of men, not of angels. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars; and each glory has its own perfection. The perfect star is not a moon, the perfect moon is not a sun, nor is a perfect man an angel. We have more than the obtuse hints of faint analogy to teach us that the human soul, through its everlasting ascent on the scale of glory, will retain the cha- racteristics of its order.
It will, therefore, be an indispensable though negative vir- tue of our philosophy of the future state, that we do not the- orize away the identity of the race. The supposition that distinctions between the orders of intelligence will ever be annihilated is gratuitous. There are scriptural allusions in great variety, which intimate, that some, at least, of the
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general laws of mind which govern our experience here, will prevail in our experience for ever.
The intellectual life to come, (we speak of life in heaven,) is uniformly represented in the scriptures as, in many and momentous respects, superior to the present. All that is imperfect will be done away, and that which is perfect will come. Human nature, while it will remain human nature, will be raised to its perfection. Then shall we know, even as we are known. The change from one state to the other must be great, and it may not vary far from truth to suppose that the happiness to follow will be enlivened by the cease- less perception of the contrast between the two states of being. However perfect may be our knowledge hereafter, we here know in part; and be our intellectual condition hereafter what it may, it is unquestionably and extremely imperfect here.
Some of the qualities of our mental constitution which are recognized as imperfections are incidental to the connexion between the mind and a material organization; some are even ascribable to moral depravation; others may without controversy as we judge, be accounted essential characteris- tics of humanity in all its probable conditions.
The method we propose in these remarks does not con- template these several classes of .imperfections in distinction from each other; but will treat them promiscuously, as evi- dence cumulative of the mental inferiority of man; and from the whole discussion, if we do not mistake, the conviction may be gathered, that the human race stands at or near the bottom of the intellectual scale.
Were it necessary to conciliate respect for our views of human insignificance, it might be well to premise, that we would not be thought to favour indiscriminate and reckless declamation against the excellencies of our nature, and the many and high advantages of our present state. We have no sympathy with such as refuse to see any thing desirable in human life or character, and ascribe to man no excellence because he has not all. There is an earnest and deep con- viction of the imperfection of man, which is not the sullen obstinacy of misanthropy. It is worthy of attainment to be able to appreciate both the evil and the good in human na- ture, and to estimate our endowments according to truth.
And in following the train of our thoughts on this subject, we do not consult alone the profit of the understanding. If any doctrine of the Christian system requires enforcement by
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the united powers of scripture and philosophy, it is the doc- trine of human imperfection; — the imperfection as well of the understanding as of the heart. Although not less a doc- trine of reason than of scripture, it is an element of true religion, and with the use of it our spiritual improvement must begin and continue. A vivid and correct understanding of this doctrine is an indispensable preparative for the whole sequel of Christian knowledge, experience and duty.
The nearest approach to demonstration in morals, is where nature and revelation give direct and positive evidence to the same point. Respecting any truth established by the mouth of these two witnesses there can be no reasonable controversy. The perfection of moral evidence is the testimony of God; and when both his works and his word bear witness to the same doctrine, the testimony is complete.
It is therefore the legitimate office of reason to compare scripture with scripture, and nature with nature, till we un- derstand them apart; and then mark their mutual agreement. Nor does our calling up the world to bear witness of its Creator betray distrust of the scriptures; for, without the feeblest tendency to unbelief, we may enjoy every word by which nature corroborates the testimony of the bible, from a pure relish for the pleasures of faith; just as, from a relish for the pleasures of taste, we seek new sources without, implying dissatisfaction with the old. The testimony of nature for the doctrines of revelation, tends to exalt the holy scriptures in our esteem, and increase our joy in believing.
Hence we are more than justified in employing science as the handmaid of religion; in searching out analogies between them, and making free use of those analogies in explaining and enforcing religious truth. Although the bible does not derive its credibility from the things that are made, it yet appeals to them in illustration of its truth, and gives us a hint, that by our observation of nature we may augment the practical efficiency of faith, and make it more perfectly the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Now to engage our reflections on the intellectual inferiority of our species, we have the high and solemn motive of a spiritual necessity. The temper to be cultivated by the use of these reflections, is a virtue of the Christian system; and without the help of these humbling views that humble virtue will not, in due degree, be cherished.
The two opposite aspects in which man may be contem-
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plated, are equally just, and of equal practical importance. If we compare him with the lower grades of being, we may extol his excellence. His rational and moral endowments, the high ends of his being, the extent and dignity of his re- sponsibilities, and his sublime and solemn destiny mark him clearly for a superior rank. We may celebrate his dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea; and his divine right to appropriate to his sole convenience the whole irrational world. But comparing him with higher grades of being we are reminded of his con- finement in this world, to a low and narrow sphere, his cor- poreal grossness and infirmity, his limited knowledge, and his want of control over his own experience and destiny. We may even suggest the immense abatement of his lordship over the lower creation, arising from his dependance on that creation for much of his life and enjoyment; from his neces- sity of providing for and serving all things that serve him; from his subjection in common with all earthly beings to the destructive power of elements above his control; and his ex- posure to injury from the very creatures over which he claims dominion.
In one of these aspects, man appears among the noblest works of God; a little lower than the angels, fit for glory, honour and immortality. We magnify his responsibilities, and assign him to an exalted station in the universe. In the other, his glory is obscured by his many infirmities; his highest power and offices dwindle into insignificance, and we exclaim, Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him ?
Such is the union of extremes in the constitution of the human race;
“ From different natures marvellously mix’d
Connexion exquisite of distant worlds
a compound of the great and the small, the noble and the vile. Here then must be joined the responsibility of great- ness with the humility of littleness; and the complete moral character of man must fill the space between the two wide extremes of aspiring desires and purposes and a lowliness of self-esteem.
The upper extreme is most naturally considered by the reflecting and intelligent portion of mankind ; the latter needs to be better defined and more insisted on. Pride, self-flat- tery, and self-complacency press spontaneously upon the higher limit of our nature; so that, for want of a practical and
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habitual remembrance of our infirmities, we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. The true doc- trine of human imperfection is often perverted by men’s comparing themselves among themselves; and taking the difference between man and man instead of the difference be- tween man and higher natures as the measure and the motive of humility.
If, moreover, in our present train of reflections, we find reason to admire the inherent and inestimable worth of mind, as a personal endowment in all its degrees, we shall gain by the discussion another and valuable end. When invited to the contemplation and exercise of intellect in its sublimest offices; when we see the highest displays of its glory; when we consider its lofty aspirations, its exalted and exalting sen- timents, its generous sympathies, its splendid imaginations, its etherial and blissful activity, its searching, lucid and com- manding reason, and its inborn thirst for truth, — we rejoice in the immunities of intellectual life. We glory in the name of man. We claim fellowship with the universal family of intelligence; and, though perhaps last born of the family, and least endowed, yet nevertheless justly conscious of a high nature and destiny. Our esteem for mind will rise, our ra- tional views of its essential excellence will be enlarged and enlivened, by observing how small a portion of the precious essence produces so magnificent effects. If, by calculating the value of a grain of gold, we learn to admire the massive wedge, on the same principle, while considering the minute- ness of our own inestimable mental gem, wre may learn to adore the Infinite Mind, whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth.
Now that the human understanding is formed on a scale exceedingly small, perhaps even the smallest conceivable, we think to be strongly suggested, I. By several of the most ob- vious disadvantages of our intellectual constitution; II. By the imperfection of our knowledge in both kind and degree; and, III. By the vast failure of its legitimate results.
I. Of the obvious disadvantages of our intellectual consti- tution, the one most prominent and comprehensive appears in the very beginning of our existence, when the human be- ing may be said to have no understanding at all, and puts forth scarcely more signs of intelligence than appear in a sensitive plant.
Wishing not to disturb any man’s theory respecting the intellectual powers and exercises of infancy, and to keep
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clear of contestable ground, we merely state the fact as it is practically recognized by all. There is a period in the life of every man, when, to all the purposes of this argument, he has no intellect; when he thinks not, reasons not, remembers not; when he exists in a state which, if protracted through the whole term of human life, would never suggest to us the presence of so much as the embryo of an intelligent mind. Who ever goes back to the field of his infancy to gather its productions for the support or the entertainment of his ma- turer years ? What is there in infancy to enrich, to adorn, or to flatter the man ? What account is taken of even the whole of the first broad stage of human life ? In the biogra- phy of man, you read that then and there he was born, and then a blank, — a broad and silent blank, tells the history of years of that living soul!
Compare now this universal condition of man’s intellectual being with its opposite. Place by the side of that sensitive thing in the cradle — that prelude of a man — that negative quantity of humanity — place in contrast with it a newly cre- ated intelligence of human kind, in the height and glory of his maturity, sending forth over the whole prospect of his three score years and ten the glowing promise of a brilliant career; and let any man, who loves the treasures of the mind, be requested to say which of the two conditions he would, from intellectual considerations alone, prefer. And let him say by how much he would prefer it. Let him tell us what, that is not life itself, nor real and permanent mental excellence, he would not give for choice, if choice could be allowed him, between these two ways of beginning existence. The differ- ence is that of two extremes. For a being destined to im- mortal and ever-growing intelligence, whose understanding is to accomplish, in the short term of this earthly life, a mo- mentous part of its grand design, and seems to have been created mainly for the sake of the results of its highest per- fection— for such a being to begin his life without the least perceptible sign, or the least consciousness of an intellect, and to reach his destined capacity by those slow degrees which occupy so great a portion of his present term, is a most humiliating restriction upon the prerogatives of intellectual life. It is a disadvantage, in its kind, the greatest conceiva- ble.
Then, secondly, from this low beginning the ascent is only toilsome. The maxim, Nil sine labore, holds peculi- arly respecting the valuable attainments of the mind. The
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hill of science, at the foot of which every man is born, is to be climbed by patient exertion, and with long and oft repeated al ternations of weariness and rest; no man being placed at first upon the summit, or rising by a natural buoyancy. Why might not man — we exclaim in our natural coveting of men . al advan- tages— why might not man be permitted to make, without ef- fort, all the acquisitions for which his capacities were prepared? And we praise those minds which learn with least effort, and we recoil from intellectual labour, and we are copious in ex- pressions of our preference for superhuman exemption from the claims of this universal law of our nature. Alas, the next evil to that of having no knowledge at all, is the evil of getting knowledge at so hard a rate.
And then, thirdly, as if every way to buffet man’s com- placency in his mental endowments, there is the necessity of intellectual discipline. Mental discipline is the chief end of education. To be capable of acquiring knowledge with the greatest facility, and of using it with the best effect, the human intellect must have a long and thorough training, at vast expense of toil and self-denial, and half, perhaps, of the term of its earthly existence. How far superior to ours would be that mental constitution which might rise above this necessity of laborious and expensive discipline, and com- prehend, in a spontaneous developement, the whole prepara- tion of the mind for its destined office. The least superiority to discipline is among the higher proofs of intellectual great- ness among men. Perhaps no endowments draw more gen- eral admiration than those which enable a man, with least of mental discipline, to produce its greatest results. But the necessity of this discipline is universal, in order to the mind’s maximum of efficiency; and we here adduce it as one of the disadvantages of our mental constitution, and an evidence of the inferior rank of the human mind.
The three foregoing unquestionable disadvantages adhere to the mind’s entrance on its stage of action; and we pause to challenge the conception of greater imperfections in their kind, which would still leave to man any thing the least de- sirable as an intellectual boon: — beginning with nothing, having all to gain by hardest labour, and spending half the lifetime in learning to work!
But having gained its highest improvement, the human mind still reveals in all its acts its own imperfection; as, we observe, fourthly , in the exercise of attention. The re- cognition of such a faculty concedes an imperfection; imply-
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ing the temporary confinement of thought within a narrow compass; and the greater perfection of this faculty implying the greater imperfection of the mind possessing it, as though the power of thought were compressible indefinitely. We have the power of withdrawing the thoughts from their ra- pid excursions among various objects, and fixing them on a single object, or directing them in a particular line; and that the mind may exert its greatest power upon a given subject, it must confine its thoughts for the time to that subject alone. We hold this faculty of the mind in due esteem, and are fully aware that it is the higher perfection of this power that gives some minds their great superiority over others; but its use- fulness results entirely from the mind’s want of power to do its perfect work on more than one subject at a time.
We wish not here to agitate the question whether the mind has power to carry on, at the same time, two or more distinct operations, or whether it only passes so rapidly from one object to another as to seem to attend simultaneously to both. We take simply the undeniable fact, that every man who proposes the highest application of his thoughts to one subject abstracts his attention from every other, and this sin- gle fact we take to prove the very inferior power of the hu- man understanding; it must collect itself upon a single point to perform its appropriate work; as, if the sun, to dissolve the frost of winter and raise vegetation in one field should be compelled to withdraw his light from all others.
Now that there are powers of thought superior in this re- spect to our own is easily conceivable. We know indeed of one intellect which considers all things at once and with equal and effectual attention; and down along the scale of intelligence we can imagine various degrees of this power above our own and still below perfection ; but having de- scended to the sphere of man we seem to have reached the end of the series. That there may be degrees of this power of expanded attention above us and below the infinite who can deny? Is it inconceivable that a mind conversant with objects of the same kind with those of human know- ledge should be able to think intently and effectually on many things at the same time, and perform simultaneously a number of difficult operations? Is such a mental constitution inconceivable as would enable the person, at the same time, to calculate, unerringly, a future eclipse of the sun; solve an intricate problem in mathematics, conduct an exact and ex- tended argument in political economy, investigate a profound
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doctrine of theology; and all this, while addressing an elo- quent appeal to a popular assembly on some topic of public and exciting interest? That such a power may be an endow- ment of some superior order of intellect is altogether con- ceivable, nay, probable; but does it seem possible that a mind could be formed inferior in this respect to the mind of man and still possess the characteristics of a thinking and reasoning soul — a mind which must think of less than one thing at a time and which still can think?
And, fifthly , we are admonished of our mental imperfec- tions by the faculty of memory. The imperfection of the memory itself needs hardly to be mentioned, it is a common topic of plaintive remark. From the school-boy, who for- gets one lesson while learning another, to the philosopher, who must classify his acquisitions and provide repositories far his knowledge out of his mind, we trace this great and grievous sign of mental imperfection. How great a portion of all the labour of the student consists in classifying and ar- ranging his articles of knowledge, and placing them where they may be found in the time of need.
And let any man consider how few of the thoughts and feelings which exercise his mind during any portion of his life leave permanent traces on his memory; let him reflect what myriads of thoughts, some of which are perhaps as precious as any of his mental offspring, escape at the instant of conception, and are seen no more, and he will be disposed to consider his mind almost like a channel through which a current is constantly gliding, and in which nothing remains stationary but some fragments of thoughts which float in eddies near the margin of the stream.
But the infirmities of the memory may be the result of its connexions with a material organization. They may be- long only to the present life. When the mind shall enter upon the stage of its future and enlarged action, it may drop this mark of imperfection, and the memory may become a more expanded and tenacious repository than it now is of the past exercises of the soul.
Instead, therefore, of insisting on the imperfection of the memory as an essential characteristic of the mind, we would suggest the kind of mental inferiority implied in the very existence of the faculty. Why is it that our mental consti- tution requires such a faculty as the memory? Why is it that the mind is furnished with the power of recalling its past thoughts and feelings, and making them matter of pre-
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sent consideration? It is an indispensable power to the hu- man mind because the thoughts and feelings of that mind must exist in the form of a series, and because the attention must be confined to one individual of the series at a time. With such a mental constitution the want of a memory would detract largely from the value of the power of thought. So little could thought and reason avail us without the memory that if deprived entirely of memory we might almost as well relinquish the other powers of a rational soul. But a higher power of understanding which should embrace a wide range of simultaneous thought might be less dependent on memory, for its proper effects, and the less dependent the higher it rises towards perfection; till, if it could reach the perfection of the Supreme Mind, its exercises (if such terms may be applied to such a subject) can bear no resemblance to a series, no relation to time, nor admit any prerogative of memory. The very existence of memory, therefore, and its vast impor- tance in our mental operations as infallibly indicate the im- perfection of the human mind as the machines of locomotion indicate the imperfection of locomotive power in the human body. The memory meets the wants of the mind in its re- lation to time as locomotion meets the wants of the body in relation to space.
We will notice under this head but one other broad mark of imperfection which distinguishes the human mind, viz. the immense deficiency of intuitive power, which a compari- son of man with a higher order of intelligence might reveal; the necessity of reaching abstract truth by circuitous and la- borious reasonings. It seems scarcely questionable that we stand in this respect not one degree above the lowest concei- vable. The axioms of philosophy show fair specimens of the truths we perceive by intuition. “ The whole is greater than a part.” “It is impossible for a thing at the same time to be and not to be.” These and such like are the truths which the human power of intuitive perception is supposed to reach ! And what do they add to the stock of knowledge ? What satisfaction does the contemplation of them impart to the mind ? They scarcely deserve the name of truths; they give no exercise to the power of intuitive perception; the mind looks upon them and sees nothing, as the eye looks off into the blue depths of space. The perception of such truths seems to be no proper act of the mind. It is rather a neces- sary state of the mind at rest, having before it no article of valuable knowledge, nothing which it can contemplate with
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satisfaction as an acquisition; and yet this kind of abstract truth is the only kind that the human mind receives as self- evident; the only class of truths which comes within the reach of the intuitive power of the human mind. Could such a faculty be imagined to exist in smaller measure ? Is there a conceivable degree of the power of intuition lower than this ? Detract at all from this, and what power would the mind retain of taking one step in a process of reasoning for the discovery of truth, or even of perceiving truth when we found its locality.
In such facts as those above stated we have strong sugges- tions of the doctrine that the intellectual endowments of the human race belong to a very 1owt, if not even to the lowest order.
II. The doctrine finds further illustration in the imperfec- tion of our knowledge.
The nature and degree of our knowledge of objects of sense is perhaps one of the most palpable proofs of our intellectual imperfection; for what and how much do we know of them ? We know the fact of their existence; we distinguish what we denominate their properties, such as solidity, form, co- lour, and the like; we observe their apparent changes, and infer thence a general state or law of their being to which we give a name. Of the essential nature of things, we know nothing — we pretend to know nothing. If any one desires to feel the full force of these assertions, let him seek a defini- tion of gravity, of colour, of animal or vegetable life — a defi- nition which shall reach the essence of the things; and if the result of his inquiries give him leave still to “think that he know'eth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.”
And what but a world of mystery to us is the science of mind, of politics or of morals ?
The science of the human mind, the most attractive of all the branches of philosophy, the branch upon which the mind is disposed to expend its highest efforts for correct and ample knowledge, is involved in deepest obscurity. It is in this field of knowledge that the mind advances with greatest difficulty. It feels least confidence in its discoveries. It seems to stand in its own light while surveying itself, like a man before a mirror with the lamp behind him; and the dark depth of the subject, the very thing which tempts intellectual adventure in every other field, repels the mind from the study of itself. Here we seem to stand in the centre of the cloud,
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where the mental eye is but half supplied with light, and where the same darkness envelopes both the observer and the object; while in other sciences we seem ourselves to stand in clear light, and look upon the dense and well-defined surface of the cloud as upon a veil which obscures nothing but what it hides entirely.
We need not enumerate the questions which the mind of man is perpetually prone to ask about itself, and to which it expects no answer; questions of the essence of the soul, of the nature and mutual relations of its powers, of the faculty of perception, of memory, of reason, of imagination; how these powers, if indeed they are such distinguishable from each other, are combined to form one conscious, individual agent. We have long since learned better than to press such ques- tions. The better part of all our knowledge on these subjects is to know its impassable limits. After all the advances of mental philosophy, and we do not contemn them as insignifi- cant and useless, the assertion will not perhaps be confidently contradicted, that mental powers now distinguished, and classed as such by the ablest philosophers, may yet appear no more justly distinguishable from each other, than the heat which melts wax from the heat which hardens clay. What uncertainty still hangs over these very elements of our knowledge. When can we hope, with such progress as we are making, and with the warmest zeal which man’s un- quenchable ardour for knowledge has ever yet evolved, to reach the “ ultima thule” in the science of mind.
Scarcely fewer or less equivocal are the signs of imperfec- tion in the political knowledge of mankind.
It may, at first view, seem an all-sufficient argument on the deficiency of our political knowledge to refer to the universal and perpetual turmoil of the political world. But, since it may be said that a perfect government among imperfect be- ings is not to be expected, and that perfect laws in a perfect administration would not prevail to make all bad men do right, nor cause a people who are wanting in virtue to lead quiet and peaceable lives, we will not require too much from political wisdom, nor presume that its absolute perfection would make this world, in its wickedness, a peaceful and happy abode.
But of the man who should pretend to infallible know- ledge in political science, thus much may be demanded — that he shall give us, with all desirable evidence of their truth, those principles for the constitution of a state, includ-
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ing the form of the government and the distribution of its various powers, which shall most perfectly balance wicked- ness against wickedness, restrain corruption by corruption, repress the propensity to evil doing by the fear of suffering, make one man’s interests the defence of another’s, and thus hold the elements of anarchy at their maximum of tranquility, while he gives, at the same time, freest scope for the exercise of all existing virtue.
That such principles, with their demonstrations, have never yet been given to the world, is evident from the fact that they have never been recognized and applied; more evident, however, from the ceaseless agitation of many ques- tions in political philosophy, which are by no means the most difficult of solution, but to which the answer, giving universal satisfaction, has never yet been found; some com- prehensive questions of international law; of the foundation of the right of property; of the proper connexion between civil government and religion. Until such questions as these are settled, and the world has become of one mind upon them, we will speak with reserve of the perfection of our political wisdom.
We cannot fail to observe how few of the truths of politi- cal science have been discovered by means of intuitive know- ledge of human nature, or by any strict process of reasoning; how largely the political wisdom of any generation is drawn from the previous experience of the world, and drawn by a process in which the reasoning faculty exercises only a par- tial and inferior office. Men do sometimes learn to shun the fire which has once burned them; and from this experience of previous generations it is that the practical wisdom of the statesman is almost totally derived. “ Teach us,” he ex- claims, “ the lessons of the past; pour upon us the whole, the needful, the condensed light of the world’s experience.” Every system builder of political philosophy explores the length and breadth of the forest of history for his materials; and wisely, indeed; for what could he do without them ? Put out the light of history, and you might almost as well put out the statesman’s mental eye. For five and twenty centuries from the creation of man, till God taught Moses politics, the statesmen of the world were such as the patri- archs, the Pharaohs with their magicians, and the three and thirty kings of the little valley of the Jordan.
In moral philosophy the human mind finds itself encom- passed with infirmity at every step. The reasoner in morals
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has ever been perplexed by these two elementary questions: 1. Whether a given action be right. 2. Why it is so.
To take the last first. How long has the moral philoso- pher been employed in forming a definition of virtue, which should prove its own correctness alike to all; and here, on the threshold of their science, have the teachers of morals stumbled and reeled against each other, disputing about the reasons they would give their pupils why they ought to do right; and never by their philosophy alone would they have conquered the difficulty. They have been driven to seek from a direct revelation from heaven the only correct defini- tion of virtue.
As to the question whether a given action be right or wrong — we have a natural conscience which answers the highest of practical ends; but we are not now concerned with the conscience. It is a question for the understanding that we raise, to be settled by the intellectual application of the rule of right; and we need but suggest the fact that a long list of actions might be mentioned concerning which the wisest human moralist might be unable to decide correctly whether they were right or wrong.
We cannot omit to mention here the notorious fallibility of human judges in the dispensation of particular justice. A degree of intricacy scarcely above the least conceivable, or the feeblest contrariety of personal interest, is frequently suf- ficient to confound the judgments of different men, causing their decisions to contradict each other, and the same man, in different circumstances, to contradict himself. When we witness a series of decisions in successive courts alternately reversed, the last decision being, perhaps, no more clearly right than the first, while the law and the evidence before all the judges are the same; when judges on the same bench give opposite opinions in the same case, upon the same evi- dence and under the same laws; when we see a jury failing to agree in a verdict, or agreeing only by compromise; nay, when we consider the utter and vast diversity of individual judgments, of which the verdicts of juries, in very common cases, are compounded — half marking one extreme, half the other, and all falling at length, perhaps, upon the mean, we are strongly tempted to pronounce such decisions of justice the impulses of blind chance. Nor is it only in intricate matters of law that these diversities prevail; they extend to matters of simple equity, and are often more conspicuous, mortifying and injurious in matters of equity than of law.
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We perceive in such imperfection as this, a necessity that the civil law should be only a partial rule of justice, and the administration of that law a still more partial security for it; while the ceaseless occurrence of flagrant injustice in forms which no human laws contemplate, and the actual failure of the laws to defend right in a thousand cases which the)7 fairly reach, give us ample warning to prepare to suffer wrong with Christian meekness from the impossibility of redress.
But the highest of all evidence of the deficiency of man’s moral discernment is found in his natural blindness to the principles of Christian piety. Although this blindness is to a great extent, if not chiefly, attributable to moral deprava- tion, and may not with strict propriety be classed among the original imperfections of the human mind, it yet evinces the fallibility of the intellect, and proves frailty to have been one of its essential properties. The doctrines of Christian- ity are not offered to man to be sought as matters of disco- very. They are fully revealed. They are to be learned by the simple process of faith in a positive declaration of God. While truth, so intelligible to the understanding, is set before us in plain words, it is one of the mysteries of moral degene- racy that the natural man should not receive the things of the Spirit of God, and that these things should appear to him as foolishness. So delicate and frail an organ is the eye of man’s moral discernment, that its power of vision has perish- ed amid the impure exhalations of a corrupt heart; and now under the noonday beam of the sun of righteousness, “the sightless eyeball rolls and finds no ray.” The destruction is complete, and none but be who first caused the light to shine out of darkness, can restore the sight. Such frailty attaches to the human power of moral discernment the noblest power of the soul; the first to die, the last and-the hardest to be re- vived.
III. On tbe last topic of our proposed remarks, the vast failure of our knowledge in its practical results, we have room for a few words only; but in those few words much may be said.
Knowledge is chiefly valuable for its practical uses, and the ability to make the most effectual application of our at- tainments to the purposes of life must be an important endow- ment of mind. The want of this ability must be a great in- firmity, and any degree of this want a proportionable evil. No reflecting mind can overlook the manifest deficiency of the human understanding in this very thing.
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In how many branches of knowledge has science gone cen- turies ahead of art; the laws of nature being understood for ages before their uses are? Did not the ancients know the properties of the useful metals, the mechanical power of fall- ing and of boiling water, the tendency of fluids to a level? Yet think of the generation after generation that tilled the ground with the wooden plough, wrought their clothing from the distaff, ground their corn by hand, built the aqueduct on a single plane, and travelled three miles an hour. Where slept man’s practical genius through that long night? Now when we behold the application of long known science to the arts of life, the age is astonished at its own improvements. But these improvements have been long coming, alas, how long. This “intellect in man,” this “understanding which the breath of the Almighty hath given him,” has only shown its capability of wonders in these last days of time. How long a training, what an immense extent of observation and accumulation of experience, what a perpetual and mighty pressure of circumstances have been necessary to develope it; and if now, at length, we would glory in what man has done, we may well blush to remember how long he has been doing it. We may half suspect that these developements have only come in time to teach the world before it dies that few and feeble as are the powers of the human understanding, it still has powers which it long knew not how to use.
Of the practical application of our mental philosophy, it may suffice for the present to say, that the use of our know- ledge is quite as imperfect as the knowledge itself. Although a part of the practical benefit of the science of mind in regu- lating and improving the intellectual and moral powers, may in some cases be secured, still we know not what can be said with clearer certainty than that spite of all known laws for the regulation of mind, most minds even of the educated classes are but illy regulated either in their thoughts or their emotions. If happiness be one of the chief ends of our intel- lectual constitution and exercises, the failure of this chief end is momentous. Every reflecting man is often sensible of an afflicting deficiency in the application of the known laws of mind to regulate his mental action and secure its most bene- ficent results.
That part of the practical use of mental philosophy which relates to the education of the young is equally defective. We are not concerned to decry the approved plans of educa- tion. We earnestly commend them. Their offices are indis-
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pensable. It is but common praise to mention immeasurable benefits, both public and private, to those who enjoy their in- fluence. Still who pleads for them that they are perfect? Or who demands for them so much as the reputation of strict conformity to the acknowledged principles of mental science? and as philosophy advances towards perfection, its applica- tion to systems of education will ever, as it has done, follow afar off.
But were the plans of education perfect it would be di- rectly to our purpose to ask, have they resulted from the ap- plication of the science of mind to the art of teaching? It were the more natural process, and in our view far the more probable, that the science of education should have grown out of the art, and that philosophy has done less for education than education for philosophy. Improvements in education, as in many other matters, come by experiment. The most illiterate mechanic improves his tools by observing which kind works best. We have little room for boasting in the manner in which the art of education is conducted, since the connexion is so ambiguous between our science of mental philosophy and our practical efforts to improve the mind.
We reckon among the evidences of our intellectual inferi- ority this incapacity of applying our knowledge to its high- est practical use.
The three classes of imperfections above enumerated fall far short of comprehending the catalogue of infirmities with which the human mind is encompassed. They are only the most palpable; and when we have subtracted all which are the manifest result of our present complex, fallen and disci- plinary state of being, there will still remain original, inhe- rent, and essential characteristics of a low grade of intellectual endowment.
We are far from underrating the value of the human in- tellect. We do not indulge in loose detraction from its ex- cellence by striving to find and fix its place on the scale of rational being, and refusing to ascribe to it what it does not not possess. What we have, we received from the hand of our Creator, and one of his own cautions to us is that we think not more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.
The farther our meditations run in the train of the fore- going remarks, the more deeply do we become interested to examine every probable theory of another life. “ It doth not yet appear what we shall be;” but our curiosity presses with peculiar eagerness against the veil which hides the heavenly glory of this rational soul from our view.
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One of the most natural inferences from the preceding view of the human mind, is the unspeakable excellence of a rational nature. If we must regard our own minds as mere sparkling points of intelligence, which seem, like the point in mathematics, to have neither length, breadth, nor thick- ness, we perceive how little of this high principle is required to make a thing of vast importance. Estimate the value of this mind in miniature, whose acquisitions, after all the toil of gaining them, are, in quantity, almost the least conceiva- ble, and in kind the lowest possible; insignificant as it ap- pears, with what shall we compare it ? What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?
We prize, therefore, by no means too highly these powers of a rational nature; and while we thus hold our own small intellectual endowments in reasonable admiration, we may learn to admire all that we know of higher understandings which are greater in power and might than we; those intel- lects upon a larger scale. We know not their points of su- periority, but presume they excel us not merely in extent of knowledge. Do they learn without labour, and perform their most perfect work without intellectual discipline ? Can they think with utmost intenseness on many things at once ? Do they perceive, by direct intuition, all the truth which they perceive at all ? Do they look into the essence of things ? And can they apply to immediate and perfect practice all the knowledge they possess ?
There are strong hints from analogy that the happiness of glorified men in heaven will partake iargely of the pleasures of communion with superior minds, and suggestions to the same purpose come from the laws of our nature. Those, therefore, who live on earth in hope of the glory of God, may entertain the prospect of living for ever under the delightful power of the Infinite Understanding, and of being merged for ever in the splendour of his pure and perfect thoughts. By our rational endowments, whether held in high or in low degree, we are allied to the family of mind. We have indeed close bounds set to our knowledge on every side; say even, if we must, that we are the least of the intellectual world; yet are we capable of knowledge; of perceiving and enjoying truth; the same power which, in its perfection, constitutes, in part, the Essential, Infinite Glory, in whose image we are made. If found redeemed from sin at last, and restored to our forfeited standing in the favour of God, we become en-
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titled to a place among the great and good of every world; and the glorious society of heaven is to be composed of the innumerable^company of angels, the general assembly and church of the first born which are written in heaven, Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, God the Judge of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect.
Akt. VII. — Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands, with remarks upon the Natural History of the Islands, Origin, Languages, Traditions, and Usages of the Inhabitants. By John Williams, of the London Missionary Society. London. 1S37. 8vo. pp. 589.
The South Sea Islands, from the time of their discovery until now, have continued to excite a lively interest in the public mind. The earliest accounts of them which were brought back to Europe by the navigators of the Pacific, mingled with the marvellous, and received as pledges of the discovery of the long-sought southern continent, were highly attractive. And when subsequent voyages had abated the romantic expectations at first cherished, the public interest was still sustained by the wonderful descriptions given of the lovely scenery of these islands, and the peculiar mixture of barbarism and civilization in the manners and customs of their inhabitants. Humboldt seems disposed to complain that his own researches are deprived of the interest which they might otherwise awaken, by the superior attractiveness of the South Sea discoveries. “ The savages of America,” he says, “inspire less interest since the celebrated navigators have made known to us the inhabitants of the South Sea, in whose character we find such a mixture of perversity and meekness: the state of half civilization in which these island- ers are found gives a peculiar charm to the description of their manners.” Authentic information respecting the past and present state of these islands is still sought with avidity, though they have already formed the subject of more writings than many of the kingdoms of Europe. The Tahitians are already better known to us than the inhabitants of Hayti, and yet we are gratified with every new account of them. We follow the voyager from island to island, and never tire
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while he describes to us the romantic hills and valleys over which the charms of nature have been spread with the most lavish hand, — and the singular manners of their strange in- habitants. We delight to pause and inquire how these ver- dant specks in the wild waste of waters were formed and whence they were peopled, — to study the languages and cus- toms of the islanders, that we may trace their affinities, and learn whence they have been derived — and then to observe the divergencies from their parent stock, and estimate the in- fluences which have moulded the society of these beautiful regions to its present form. A new and absorbing interest has of late years been imparted to these islands, by the great moral changes of which they have been the scene. The his- tory of the world, since the days of the apostles, presents no parallel to the suddenness and extent of the transformations which have there been made in the habits and customs of whole nations.
It is important that we should have all the information which can be given of the nature of these changes, and the means by which they have been wrought. The generation, now rising up in the South Sea Islands, will know little or nothing of the customs of their ancestors. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. Many interesting and important facts, tending to illustrate the former character of the people and the value of the changes which have taken place, must be recorded now, or they will soon be lost amidst the vague uncertainties of tradition. We are disposed there- fore to look upon any work which adds to our stock of in- formation upon this subject, or which, without contributing much that is new, gives an intelligent confirmation of what was already known, as a valuable contribution to the history of our race.
The work of Mr. Williams is a modest and unpretending account of what he has himself seen. In the year 1817 he joined the mission in the island of Raietea, the largest and most central of the Society Islands. But as so much is al- ready known of this group, and the adjacent Tahitian or Georgian isles, his work is mainly filled with accounts of the Hervey and the Samoa or Navigator’s Islands, to both of which he made frequent excursions, with the view of introdu- cing and extending the influence of Christianity among them.
The Hervey Islands, seven in number, lie from five hun- dred to six hundred miles west of Tahiti. Little was known of any of them, and Rarotonga, the largest and most populous
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of the group had never been discovered by any European, until they were visited by Mr. Williams in 1823. Hervey’s Island, from which the cluster takes its name, was discovered by Captain Cook. When visited by Mr. Williams, he found that the population had been diminished by their extermina- ting wars to about sixty in number; and when he visited it again six years afterwards, there were left only five men, three women, and a few children! and yet there was a con- test among this miserable remnant as to who should be king.
The population of the Hervey Islands is estimated at from 14,000 to 16,000 persons. The history of the introduction of Christianity among these people is remarkably interesting. The first attempt was made in Aitutaki, an island about twenty miles in circumference, and containing 2000 inhabi- tants. While Mr. Williams was on a voyage to New South Wales for the recovery of his health, he touched at this island and left two native teachers from Raietea, under a promise from the chief of the island that he would afford them pro- tection and treat them with kindness. The people were at this time sunk in the grossest heathenism, and exhibited in their manners and habits all the wild features of savage life. A little more than a year after these native missionaries had entered on their labours, Mr. Williams determined on visit- ing Aitutaki, to see what progress the gospel had made, and to concert measures for introducing it into all the Hervey Islands. When he reached the island, the ship was immedi- ately surrounded by canoes, which were filled with the na- tives, crying out, “ good is the word of God; it is now well with Aitutaki; the good word has taken root at Aitutaki.” When the teachers came on board, they confirmed the joyful tidings, declaring that the maraes were burned; that the idols had been all destroyed or given into their possession; that the profession of Christianity was general, not a single idola- ter being left; that a large chapel was erected; that the Sab- bath was regarded as a sacred day, no work of any kind being done; that all the people, men, women, and children attended divine service; and that family prayer was very generally practised throughout the island. Mr. Williams had immedi- ate evidence of the change which had taken place, for the natives crowded around the boat in which he was landing, and ‘ instead of the unsightly gesticulations and lascivious songs with which he had been greeted on his previous visit, some were now spelling long words, and others were repeat- ing portions of the catechism or a prayer, another asking a
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blessing on his food, and others singing a verse of a hymn; indeed every one appeared anxious to show what progress he had made in the new religion.’ The next day he preached to an attentive and decorous audience of from 1500 to 2000 people, who had all been savages and heathens fifteen months before. Then they were wild and unruly in their deport- ment, indolent, and cruel, — now they had become mild and docile, diligent and kind.
While at Aitutaki, Mr. Williams determined to go in search of the island of Rarotonga. The Aitutakians endea- voured to dissuade him from the enterprise, assuring him that the Rarotongans were a most ferocious people, that they were horrid cannibals, and exceedingly treacherous. But nothing could move him from his purpose, and he set out upon his hazardous undertaking. This island never having been visited by any European, was not be found upon the chart, and the directions which he received from the na- tives were necessarily very imperfect. After six or eight days unsuccessful search for Rarotonga, he steered for Man- gaia, another of the Hervey Islands, containing a population of from 2000 to 3000 persons. Two native teachers, with their wives, were landed here, but they were compelled in a few hours to return to the ship for refuge from the rude and lawless violence of the natives. Two unmarried native teachers were, a few months afterwards, sent to Mangaia, and were favourably received.
Mr. Williams then sailed for Atiu, called, by Captain Cook, Wateoo. The following extract will show with what surprising suddenness the truth seemed often to find its way to the hearts of these people.
“We had not been long near the island, when we perceived a large double canoe approaching us, in the centre of which, on an elevated stage, was seated the principal chief. His person was tall and slender, and his aspect command- ing. He was clothed in a white shirt, having a piece of Indian print girt round his loins ; his long and beautiful black hair hung gracefully over his shoulders, or waved in the passing breeze, as, with the motion of his body, he kept time to the rowers. We gave him a hearty welcome on board.” — “By some circum- stance, which I do not now recollect, this chief was induced to remain on board during the night, and the following day being Sabbath, he attended worship. In the course of my address, I read and commented upon what is said by David and Isaiah in reference to idols. The mind of Roma-tane was powerfully im- pressed by these vivid representations of the folly of idolatry, especially by the words, ‘ with part thereof he roasteth roast, and is satisfied ; and the residue thereof he maketh a god, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my God.’ Nothing could be better calculated to make an impression on the mind of an intelligent South Sea islander than these inimi- table verses of inspired truth ; indeed the effect is likely to be far greater than
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that produced on the mind of an English reader. The natives have two words not very much unlike, but expressive of opposite ideas, — moa and noa, the moa meaning sacred, and noa the very reverse of sacred. All that pertains to the gods is the superlative of moa ; and all that pertains to food, and the cooking of food, the superlative of noa. The idea now, for the first time, darted, with irre- sistible force, into the mind of Roma-tane ; and he perceived at once the excessive folly of making a god and cooking food from one and the same tree, thus uniting two opposite extremes, the moa and the noa. The astonished chief appeared for some time lost in wonder. At length he retired, and spent the whole of the night in conversation with the teachers and chiefs from Aitutaki about the won- derful truths he had heard, frequently rising up, and stamping with astonish- ment that he should have been deluded so long, aud expressing his determination never again to worship his idol gods. ‘ Eyes, it is true,’ said he, ‘ they have ; but wood cannot see ; ears they have, but wood cannot hear.’ ”
This interesting chief, though he had been lip to this mo- ment a bigoted idolater, immediately renounced his false gods, and employed all his influence to advance the enter- prise of the missionaries. He sailed with Mr. Williams to two small islands, Mitiaro and Mauke, which lay in the vi- cinity of Atiu, and were under his government. Upon reach- ing the first of them, Roma-tane sent for the resident chief, to whom he stated that the object of his visit was to exhort him and the people to burn the maraes, abandon the worship of their gods, and place themselves under the instruction of a teacher whom Mr. Williams would leave with them. In like manner, when they arrived at Mauke, the first words which the chief uttered, as he leaped on shore, were, “ I am come to advise you to receive the word of Jehovah, the true God, and to leave with you a teacher and his wife, who will instruct you. Let us destroy our maraes, and burn all the evil spirits with fire; never let us worship them again. They are wood, which we have carved and decorated, and called gods. Here is the true God and his word, and a teacher to instruct you. The true God is Jehovah, and the true sacri- fice is his Son Jesus Christ.” He also exhorted them to erect a house in which to worship the true God, and to be deligent in learning his good word. The people immediate- ly consented to follow his advice; and thus, in a single day, was idolatry overthrown in the three islands of Atiu, Mitiaro and Mauke. Their inhabitants, at the first call, abandoned the time-honoured customs of their ancestors, and applied themselves to learn the worship of the true God, fulfilling in a striking manner the words of scripture, “As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me — the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.” Two of these islands had never be- fore been visited by the white man, and it is pleasing to re-
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fleet that the first ship which touched upon their shores, should have carried them our religion rather than our vices.
From Atiu, Mr. Williams sailed again in search of Raro- tonga. After being baffled and perplexed for several days, when their provisions were nearly exhausted, and they were within half an hour of the time at which he had agreed to relinquish the search, land was discovered from the mast head, and it proved to be the long sought island. Nothing can surpass the richness and beauty of the scenery, which Mr. Williams describes as unfolding itself to their view in their approach to this lovely island. He deserves well at the hands of geographical science, for its discovery. He found it to be about thirty miles in circumference, and with a popu- lation of from 6000 to 7000. The people were, of course, heathen, as they had never had any intercourse with white men. The following extract however will show that they had, in a remarkable manner, been prepared for the arrival of these strangers, and the reception of their religion.
“ A heathen woman had, by some means or other, been conveyed from the island of Tahiti to Rarotonga, and on her arrival she informed the Rarotongans of the wonders she had seen ; stating that they were not the only people in the world ; that there were others entirely white, whom they called Cookees ; that Captain Cook had been to her island, and that, subsequently to his visit, the servants of Jehovah and Jesus Christ, the white man’s God, had come and were still residing there ; that at her island they had ceased to use stone axes for hew- ing their trees, for those servants of Jehovah, and others, had brought sharp things, which they called opahi, with which they could cut them down with the greatest facility ; that they had also ceased to use human bones as tools for mak- ing canoes and building houses, for the same people had brought them sharp hard things, with which they could effect their work with far greater ease ; that their children did not now cry and scream while they had their hair cut, as they formerly did, when it was performed with sharks’ teeth, for the Cookees had brought them bright things, which were so sharp that the operation afforded pleasure rather than pain ; and that they had no need now to go down to the water to look at themselves, because these wonderful people had brought them small shining things, which they could carry about with them, and in which they could see themselves as plainly as they could see each other. These, with a variety of other ‘ mea tu ke,’ or very strange things, which this heathen female told the astonished inhabitants of this secluded garden of the ocean, excited so much interest, that the king, Makea, called one of his children ‘ Te/iovah’ (Je- hovah), and another Jesus Christ. An uncle of the king, whom we hope is at this time a truly good man, erected an altar to Jehovah and Jesus Christ, and to it persons afflicted with all manner of diseases were brought to be healed ; and so great was the reputation which this marae obtained, that the power of Jeho- vah and Jesus Christ became great in the estimation of the people.”
The unknown God, to whom they had inscribed an altar, and whom they ignorantly worshipped, was now declared unto them. The state of morals among this people was found to be such that the two native teachers, with their wives,
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whom Mr. Williams had intended to leave with them, could not remain with safety. Another unmarried native offered to land and remain, provided Mr. Williams would send him a coadjutor, upon his return to Raiatea. This man went on shore, taking with him only the clothes which he wore, his native Testament, and a bundle of elementary books. So faithfully did he labour, and so remarkably did the divine blessing attend his efforts, that when his promised colleague arrived, four months afterwards, a large number of the people had already castaway their idols. And when Messrs. Tyer- man and Bennet visited this island, only a little more than a twelvemonth after its discovery, the whole population had renounced idolatry, and were engaged in erecting a place of worship, six hundred feet in length. In less than two years, the whole face of society underwent a change. Wars, which before were frequent, and in the progress of which the pri- soners were slain and their bodies, with those which had fallen in battle, eaten at the close of every engagement, had entirely ceased. The people had been taught to build ceiled houses and to furnish them with bedsteads and sofas. The women had learned to make straw bonnets. They were all attentive to the instructions given them, and numbers were able to read. Family and private prayer were generally ob- served throughout the island. We know of no more won- derful instance of the triumph of the gospel in modern times, than is afforded us in this history. The result is so dispro- portioned, in its largeness, to the means employed, that we cannot but refer the glory of the change to Him who turns the hearts of men, even as the rivers of water are turned. Two native teachers, and they too, we are told, “ not particu- larly distinguished among their own countrymen for intelli- gence,” were the instruments of effecting this wonderful change in the habits of life, the modes of thinking, and the religious observances of 7000 people, before a single mis- sionary had as yet set foot upon the island.
In 1827, four years after the discovery of Rarotonga, Mr. Williams again visited it, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Pitman, who had determined to locate themselves there. On this occasion he remained at the island a year, and he gives an account of many interesting incidents which hap- pened during this period. Being desirous at length, to visit the Samoa Islands to introduce the gospel among them, and not knowing when a ship might touch at Rarotonga, he de- termined to construct a vessel for himself. That such an idea should have entered his mind, and been seriously enter-
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tained, shows that he was a man of uncommon energy; and the success of his undertaking displays a fertility of resources, unsurpassed by any thing which the imagination of Defoe has attributed to Robinson Crusoe. With but little iron, and with no coals, bellows, or forge for working that little; with no saws for cutting his timber; without oakum, ropes, or cloth for sails, he succeeded in building, equipping and launching a vessel sixty feet long and eighteen broad. He named her very appropriately, the “Messenger of Peace,” and had the satisfaction of performing many voyages in her to bear the glad tidings of peace and salvation to the benighted islanders of the Pacific.
About this time two other missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Bu- zacott arrived, and occupied a station in Rarotonga. The people received them with gladness and attended eagerly upon their instructions.
The following extract will give our readers some idea both of the natural beauties of this island, and of the eager- ness of the people to receive instruction.
“ There is a good road round the island, which the natives call ara medua, or the parent path, both sides of which are lined with bananas and mountain plantains ; and these, with the Barringtonia, chestnut, and other trees of wide spreading foliage, protect you from the rays of the tropical sun, and afford even in mid day the luxury of cool, shady walks of several miles in length. The houses of the inhabitants were situated from ten to thirty yards or more from this pathway, and some of them were exceedingly pretty. The path leading up to the house was invariably strewed with white and black pebbles ; and on either side were planted the tufted top ti tree or dracaena, which bears a chaste and beautiful blossom, interspersed alternately with the gigantic taro. Six or eight stone seats were ranged in front of the premises, by the side of the ‘ parent path- way.’ These were relics of antiquity, some of which were regarded with much veneration by the people ; who, while they pointed to them, would say, ‘ Here, my father, grandfather, or the great chief so and so sat.’ They were generally formed of two smooth stones, the one serving as a seat, and the other sunk in the earth to form the back.
“ Here, in the cool of the evening, after the labours of the day, with a wreath of flowers on their brow, anointed with a sweet scented oil, and wearing a new tiputa or the shining pakaku, sat the inmates of the house to chat with any lo- quacious passenger about the events of their own little world. It was thus I met with the spiritual beggar Buteve.
“ In passing one evening from Mr. Buzacott’s to Mr. Pitman’s station, my at- tention was arrested by seeing a person get off one of these seats, and walk upon his knees into the centre of the pathway. When he shouted, ‘ Welcome, ser- vant of God, who brought light into this dark island ; to you are we indebted for the word of salvation.’ The appearance of his person first attracted my at- tention, his hands and feet being eaten off by a disease which the natives call kokovi, and which obliged him to walk upon his knees ; but, notwithstanding this, I found that he was exceedingly industrious, and not only kept his kainga in beautiful order, but raised food enough to support his wife and three children. In reply to his salutation, I asked him what he knew of the word of salvation. He answered, ‘ I know about Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners.’ On inquiring what he knew about Jesus Christ, he replied, ‘I know
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that he is the Son of God, and that he died painfully upon the cross to pay for the sins of [men, in order that their souls might he saved, and go to happiness in the skies.’ I inquired of him if all the people went to heaven after death. ‘ Certainly not,’ he replied, ‘ only those who believe in the Lord Jesus, who cast away sin, and who pray to God.’ ‘You pray, of course,’ I continued. ‘ O yes,’ he said, ‘ I very frequently pray as I weed my ground and plant my food, but always three times a day, beside praying with my family every morning and evening.’ I asked him what he said when he prayed. He answered, ‘ I say, ‘ O Lord, I am a great sinner, may Jesus take my sins away by his good blood, give me the righteousness of Jesus to adorn me, and give me the good Spirit of Jesus to instruct me, and make my heart good, to make me a man of Jesus, and take me to heaven when I die.’ ’ ‘ Well,’ I replied, ‘ that, Buteve, is very ex- cellent, but where did you obtain your knowledge ?’ ‘ From you, to be sure;
who brought us the news of salvation but yourself]’ ‘True,’ I replied, ‘but I do not ever recollect to have seen you at either of the settlements to hear me speak of these things, and how doyou obtain your knowledge of them ?’ ‘ Why,’
he said, ‘ as the people return from the services, I take my seat by the way side, and beg a bit of the word of them as they pass by ; one gives me one piece, an- other another piece, and I collect them together in my heart, and by thinking over what I thus obtain, and praying to God to make me know, I understand a little about his word.’ Tliis was altogether a most interesting incident, as I had never seen the poor cripple before, and I could not leam that he had ever been in a place of worship in bis life. His knowledge, however, was such as to afford me both astonishment and delight, and I seldom passed his house after this in- terview, without holding an interesting conversation with him.
It would be interesting could we follow Mr. Williams to the Samoa or Navigator's Islands, where the gospel, hitherto unknown, met with almost as ready a reception as in the Her- vey Islands. But we must refer our readers to the work itself.
Mr. Williams has communicated many interesting parti- culars respecting the natural features and productions of the South Sea Islands. One of the most anomalous phenomena with which we are acquainted is that presented by the tides in these regions. The tide ordinarily rises only from one to two feet, and the time of high water is uniform throughout the year; so much so that the hours of the day are reckoned by the state of the tide. We know not how this can be re- conciled with our received theory upon this subject.
We are disposed to adopt the opinions to which Mr. Wil- liams’ observations have guided him respecting the origin of the South Sea islanders. These islands are inhabited by two distinct races of people, — the one with black skin, woolly hair, and other features of the negro, — the other, of a light copper colour, with long black hair, and a countenance re- sembling the Malays. The first of these, the Polynesian negroes, inhabit the eastern part of New Holland, and the islands lying within thirty degrees east of it, including among others, New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, New Cale- donia, the New Hebrides, and the Fijis. They are found in a lower state of barbarism than the others, and are in every
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respect an inferior race. Wherever their lighter-coloured brethren have come into contact with them, they have ex- pelled them, or driven them into the interior and reduced them to a state of dependence. We know so little of the language and customs of this race, that we have no other ground than their colour and other physical peculiarities for hazarding the conjecture that they came from the coast of Africa. But we have little doubt that in the progress of our researches, the original identity between them and some of the tribes of Africa will be established by sufficient evidence, t The other race inhabit Eastern Polynesia, including the Sandwich, the Marquesan, the Paumotu, the Tahitian, the Society, the Austral, the Hervey, the Navigators’ Islands, New Zealand, and a multitude of smaller islands adjacent to these. The countenances of this race, their languages, their customs, their numerals, all show conclusively that they have had a Malay or Javanese origin. Mr. Williams gives suffi- cient reasons for supposing that they came from Java, or from some other radiating point of Malay emigration to the west, rather than from the coast of America, as Mr. Ellis and some others have imagined. Nearly the whole of this race are now converted to the Christian faith. From the Society Islands, where the first Christian mission was established among them, an influence has gone abroad over the other islands which has brought the whole nation of Polynesian Asiatics into professed subjection to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is impossible to read the accounts which Cook and Forster have left of these people, and contrast them with their pre- sent state, without having the heart filled with reflections upon the goodness of God, and the power of his gospel to make the moral waste to become fruitful, and the wilderness to bud and blossom as the rose.
The reformation, in its progress westward, has now reach- ed the negro race. The Fiji Islands, which are inhabited by them, lie immediately west of the Friendly Islands. We hope that an effort may soon be made to establish missions among them. There is a vast nation of them scattered over the different islands of Western Polynesia, which may be ultimately reached, if the gospel can but be introduced into one of their settlements. Mr. Williams has gone to England with the purpose of directing the attention of British Chris- tians to this people, and we hope he may be able to persuade them “never to relax their efforts or suspend their prayers, till all the islands that stud the vast Pacific shall be enligh- tened and blessed with the gospel of salvation.”
QUARTERLY LIST
OF
NEW BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.
The Book of Psalms. A New Translation, with Notes, Explanatory and Critical, by W. Walford, late Classical and Hebrew Tutor in the Academy at Homerton. Jackson & Walford, London. 8vo.
This work professes to exhibit the common version, corrected in accordance with the Hebrew text, together with introductions and analyses, explanatory notes, and critical remarks at the end of the volume. In the prevailing dearth of sacred learning in Great Britain, even such a work is not devoid of interest.
The Epistle to the Hebrews. A New Translation, in Sections, with Marginal References and Notes, and an Intro- ductory Syllabus. Intended to facilitate the devout and pro- fitable perusal of the epistle, by elucidating its scope and ar- gument. Holdsworth & Ball, London. 12mo.
This beautiful volume is designed, not for the scholar, hut the English reader, as a companion to the authorized version, not a substitute for it. The version seems to be a sort of concise paraphrase ; the notes evince good scholarship ; and the mechanical execution of the volume is attractive in a rare degree.
Die Glaubwiirdigkeit der evangelischen Geschichte, zu- gleich eine Kritik des Lebens Jesu von Strauss, fur theolo- gische und nicht theologische Leser dargestellt von Dr. A. Tholuck. Hamburgh. Perthes, pp. 463. 8vo.
The primary design of this work was to refute the mythical explanation of the gospels, proposed by Strauss in his life of Jesus, and noticed in our number for April last. In accomplishing his task, however, the author was led to enlarge the plan, and make his book a general treatise on the evidences of Christianity. The name of Tholuck is a sufficient recommendation to the public notice in either hemisphere.
Beitriige zur Einleitung ins Alte Testament. Yon Dr. E. W. Hengstenberg. Zweyter Band, cnthaltend Untersuchun- gen fiber die Authentic des Pentateuches. Berlin, Oehmigke. pp. 592. 8vo.
A long expected and most valuable addition to the stores of biblical criticism. The first volume of Dr. Hengstenberg’s Beitriige, containing his vindication of the book of Daniel, was reviewed in the Biblical Repertory for 1832. This second volume contains the first part of an extended argument for the authenticity of the Pentateuch, which has long been a desideratum, and could not have been supplied by an abler hand.
Huebner’s Bible Narratives from the Old and New Testa- ments, with Practical Remarks and Appropriate Questions.
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151
Translated from the German. Adapted to Sunday Schools and youth generally. Embellished with fifty-one neat wood engravings. Mentz & Son, Philadelphia, pp. 468. 12mo.
The first English version of one of the most popular religious books of Ger- many. The author, a clergyman of Hamburg, wrote it more than a hundred years ago, since which time it has passed through many editions there, and four large impressions of the German original, from the stereotype plates of Mentz and Son, have been sold in America within a year. The secret of its great suc- cess appears to lie in its extreme simplicity. The translation is printed in a large clear type, and is recommended to young readers by its wood cuts, some of which are rather grotesque (e. g. Samson and the lion), and some to us offen- sive, viz. the frontispiece and the cut of the creation, where “ the Lord our Ma- ker” is exhibited under a wretched human form. We know nothing worse ex- cept the caricature upon the cover of the Sailor’s Magazine. We commend Huebner’s book to our readers, as consisting almost wholly of pure scripture.
Researches and Missionary Labours among the Jews, Mo- hammedans, and other Sects, by the Rev. Joseph Wolff, du- ring his travels between the years 1831 and 1834, from Malta to Egypt, Constantinople, Armenia, Persia, Khorossaun, Toorkestaun, Bokhara, Balkh, Cabool in Affghanistaun, the Himmalayah Mountains, Cashmeer, Hindoostaun, the Coast of Abyssinia, and Yemen. “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke vi. 26. First American Edition, revised and corrected by the Author. Rogers, Philadelphia, pp. 338, 12mo.
Mr. Wolff’s personal visit to this country has no doubt created a demand for this republication, the interest of which, however, is diminished by the fresh re- collection of his oral statements. The most valuable parts of this book are those which relate to regions previously unexplored or little known, such as Yemen, Abyssinia, and Bokhara. We regret that Mr. Wolff should have chosen so eccentric and equivocal a method of establishing his sanity, by advertising that it had been called in question. We say this in allusion to his short dedication.
Principles and Results of Congregationalism. A Sermon delivered at the dedication of the house of worship erected by the First Congregational Church in Philadelphia. Nov. 11, 1837. By Rev. John Todd, Pastor of the First Con- gregational Church. Marshall & Co. Philadelphia, pp. 64. 8vo.
We believe “ Rev. John Todd” to be a very worthy man and a good pastor. We did believe him to be likewise a discreet man and a man of correct taste. But here is a dedication sermon printed in short paragraphs or verses, like a bible, containing an elaborate eulogium on New England, delivered where the hearers could not fail to take the speaker as a specimen — a hyperbole of panegy- ric upon Independency — and an attack on the Presbyterian and other churches, which the author is afraid “ may be thought severe” — the whole clothed in a style of which we can give no idea, except by saying that, in the midst of a solemn dedication of the building, he goes thus into particulars — the capitals his
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own — “These seats, these galleries, that orchestra (!), that study, that boom of prayer, that room for the lambs of the flock, that lecture room.” As for his arguments, we venture to affirm that they are, at this moment, to be found among the scraps in Mr. Todd’s private copy of the Index Rerum ; and yet these stale compilations are propounded with an air of authority, not altogether warranted by his celebrity, as a manufacturer of blank books and manuals. “ This may be thought severe,” but it is just and true, and, when certain tempo- rary feelings have subsided, Mr. Todd will know it. After that he will, no doubt, be the same conciliatory, prudent man he was, and will again print his works like other uninspired productions.
Speech in behalf of the University of Nashville, delivered on the day of the Anniversary Commencement, Oct. 4, 1837. By Philip Lindsley. Nye & Co. Nashville, pp. 38. 8vo.
This speech has the usual characteristics of its author — various information, lively thought, pointed and often brilliant expression, biting sarcasm, and enthu- siastic ardour. We are sorry that Dr. Lindsley ’s improvements are, in a great measure, still prospective, and fear that he is at least fifty years ahead of Ten- nessee. His views and feelings fit him, not for a new country, but for one where the foundations have been laid of old, and building materials have been long accumulating. He ought rather to be decking and enriching ancient gar- dens, than forcing abortive hot beds in the wilderness.
A Sermon on the Work of the Holy Spirit, delivered in Easton, Pa. before the Synod of New Jersey, Oct. 17, A. D. 1837. By Isaac V. Brown. “ It is the spirit that quicken- eth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” John vi. 63. Carter, New York. pp. 35. 8vo.
A well-written, seasonable, sound, judicious sermon, rather largely described in the preliminary notice, as containing not only “ thoughts and reflections, which have been accumulating in the author’s mind through a course of many years,” but also “ copious gleanings from the wisdom and experience of others.” There is also an apparent disproportion between the size and substance of the sermon and its professed design, which is “ to set the important subject treated in a scriptural light — to correct some errors, now considerably prevalent, both in theoiy and practice — and, under the blessing of God, in answer to the prayers of his people, to accomplish some good.” With these slight criticisms on the preface, we commend the discourse itself to the attention of our readers.
The Apostolical Commission, the Missionary Charter of the Church. The Sermon at the ordination of Mr. Joseph Wolff, in Trinity Church, Newark, Sept. 26, 1837, by the Rt. Rev. George Washington Doane, D. D. Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey. Powell, Burlington, 8vo.
A lively and grandiloquent discourse, on an interesting occasion, and in the right reverend author’s usual blank-verse style, which, like some parts of the liturgy, may be either “ said or sung.”
Books and Pamphlets sent for insertion in this list, must reach the Editors at Princeton, at least two weeks be- fore the day of publication.