the sinner return to thee with his whole heart, as I do here at this present. Wherefore have mercy upon me, O God, whose property is always to have mercy; have mercy upon me, O Lord, for thy great mercy. I crave nothing for my own merits, but for thy name's sake, that it may be hallowed thereby, and for thy dear Son Jesus Christ's sake. And now therefore, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name," &c. Then rising, he made an exhortation to the people. 1st. He addressed those who set their hearts upon this false and cheating world, putting them in mind of the Apostle's words, that the love of the world is enmity against God. 2d. He put all persons in mind of their duty to honour and obey the King and Queen. 3d. He exhorted them to love each other like brothers and sisters, to do good unto all as much as in them lay, and to hurt no man any more than they would hurt their own natural brother or sister. 4th. And because a sore famine was then in England, he largely exhorted the rich to show their charity, repeating to them three moving texts for them to consider, viz. our Saviour's declaration, that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven; St. John's saying, that he that "seeth his brother have need," &c. 1 John iii. 17; and St. James's warning, "Go to now, ye rich men," &c. James v. 1, &c. Afterwards he proceeded with his exhortation thus: And now, for as much as I am come to the last end of my life, whereupon hangeth all my life past and all my life to come, either to live with my master Christ for ever in joy, or else to be in pain for ever with wicked devils in hell; and I see before mine eyes either heaven ready to receive me, or else hell ready to swallow me up; I shall therefore declare unto you my faith without any dissimulation, for now is no time to dissemble, whatever I have said or written in time past. "First, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker, &c. and every word written in the Old and New Testament. "And now I come to the great thing which so much troubleth my conscience more than any thing I ever did or said in my whole life, and this is, setting forth a writing contrary to the truth, which I now here renounce and refuse, as written with my hand contrary to the truth I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death. And because my hand' offended, it shall first be punished; for may I come to the fire it shall first be burned. And as to the Pope, I refuse him as antichrist, with all his false doctrine." Here all the standers by were astonished, and it was a sight to see the doctors, now they were beguiled of their hopes. They began to fret, and fume, and rage, and that so much the more because they could now no longer threaten and hurt him, for the most miserable man in the world can die but once. So when Cranmer began again to speak of Popery, Cole cried out, "Stop the heretic's mouth, and take him away." Then was Cranmer pulled down from the stage, and led to the fire, all the way exhorting the people. And when he came to the place where Ridley and Latimer were burnt before him, he prayed, and put off his garments, except his shirt, and prepared for death. His shirt was made long down to his feet. His feet were bare. His head, when his caps were off, was so bald that one hair could not be seen upon it. His beard was long and thick, covering his face with wonderful gravity,Such a countenance moved the hearts of his friends and enemies. Then was an iron chain tied about Cranmer, and they commanded the fire to be set unto him. And when the wood was kindled and the fire began to burn near him, stretching out his arm, he put his right hand into the flame; which he held so im movable, (saving that once with that hand he wiped his face,) that all men might see that his hand burned be fore his body was touched; and when' the fire came to his body, he moved them; to be reminded that they are our spiritual guardians, liable, like other guardians, to be called to account. That such an interference should be tempered with delicacy and respect, nor repeated oftener than occasion requires; that it should be grave, liberal, and honest; that it should confine its reproof to those things which are plainly within the reach of remedy, mixing with censure a due value and reverence for an Order which comprises so much individual excellence in all its departments, and which would be sacred, if by nothing else, in virtue of its destination alone; that it should disdain the gossip of the idle and the slander of the malevolent, feeling and allowing for, with charitable sympathy and conscious humility, the kindred infirmi ties of a fallen creature, and doing all from christian love and with christian temper:-that these should be the characteristics of every remonstrance or appeal addressed to the clergy as a body, none feel more strongly than ourselves. We will not dwell upon irritating to pics, and shall therefore make but slight mention of some practices and omissions which appear to us to be conducive to the insecurity of the Church and the disesteem of its ministers; and among the things to be complained of, we shall wholly omit all flagrant immoralities, or profane and profligate associations; they speak their own condemnation to every untainted ear and solid understanding. Whatever is immoral in a layman, is more mischievously and malignantly so in a clergyman; and many things scarcely disreputable, or but ambiguously wrong in others, are decided deformities, to say the least of them, in a dispenser of God's word, and an official servant of Christ. It cannot be doubted for a moment, by any man commonly sensible, or endued with the primary principles of sound moral taste in character (putting the concerns of the soul for a moment out of consideration), that racing, fox-hunting, and all rough and boisterous pastimes, especially those which border upon cruelty, induce gambling, or lead to noisy conviviality, are to be deprecated in a lergyman. Public ball-rooms and card assemblies are certainly not the scenes wherem clergymen appear to the most advantage. The reasons are many and not ufficult to be assigned; but the consideration of them is scarcely necessary: tastelland feeling summarily decide the point. It is enou, that no good manlikes to see them there. There is in the mass of mankind a natural and general sense of physical and moral proportion whic 2 logic can surpass or subvert. Ignomen contemplate religion in its profa, and raise their thoughts to the ception of its internal excellence upon the testimony of the external marks with which it is accompanied. Religion with them undergoes a kind of personification. That the clergy of this kingdom are improving in religious zeal, and religious consistency of life, we venture fearfully to hope. Whether this improvement keeps pace with the improving spirit of inquiry which has of late gone forth, is a question of the deepest practical importance to the stability of the Church of England. The safety of the Church rests much upon the lives, but it also rests much upon the official ability of its clergy. I' theological learning they cannot be ported deficient, (though we cannot think that in this respect their education is sufficiently specific, or admit that Greek and Latin have a right to all the first years of a son of the Church), for the great and essential objects of enunciation and elocution their education makes no provision. It was said by Dr. Johnson, that the first business of an author was to procure readers; it may with equal truth he said, that it is the first business of a teacher to take care to be heard, and his next, to be heard with attention. Decen. cy, or duty, or devotion, may create a congregation; but distinct utterance and impressive delivery are necessary to keep them awake. A long residence in either of our uni yersities cannot be favourable to that zeal or activity of disposition which are wanted in a pastor of a parish, or to brace the mind for those gratuitous offices which are the sinews of a laborious ministry. The divinity, also, of persons who have passed through the grades of academical education, is apt to be of too ethical a cast for sound evangelical instruction. The waters of comfort to which the poor should be invited to come and quench their thirst, have never washed the foot of Helicon, or glided along the pleasant bank where Socrates sat and discoursed. No knowledge is adapted to the pulpit but the saving knowledge of the Gospel, and there is nothing in a Christian's hope independent of him who has opened the only road that leads to heaven. SOUTHEY. The following remarks on the charac ter of Southey as a poet, and on his poem of Roderick, are extracted from the Bri tish Review. We live, and let us feel it a privilege that we do so, in times that are signalized by the correction of abuses, and the renewal of a vigorous system of activity in many departments, in which a sleepy torpor seemed established by precedent. The office of Poet-laureat ranked proverbially high in this list, and we must confess, that the first effort of Mr. Southey's muse, after he had accepted it, rather damped the hopes of practical reform which such an appointment had encouraged, and led us to fear that the mantle of his predecessors must have descended to him, as an heirloom most unfortunately attached to his office. We therefore hail with peculiar satisfaction the appearance of a poem well calculated to dispel this alarm, and to convince us, that though "the cloud-compelling queen" succeeded for a moment in a struggle to maintain her "old empire," her dethronement and expulsion have at length been fully accomplished. Mr. Southey began his poetical career with rather an ominous disregard of the rule which Horace, knowing probably the extreme to which his brethren are most addicted, has certainly laid down rather broadly; and we suspect that in several other instances, besides that of the noted six-week's epic, the fruits of his genius have wanted that rich flavour which ensures universal applause, in great measure because they have not been allowed time to ripen. If we add to those volumes which bear his name all the works in which his free and masterly hand may be traced, it will be found that his pen is both versatile and active in the extreme; and the marvel will be, that one, who has written so much, should have written so well. Still, in tenderness to his fame, which must ultimately depend, not on the quantity, but the quality of his literary productions, we have often wished to trace in his works some increasing symptoms of elaboration, and are happy to say that our wish has at length been gratified. Indeed he has, in his poem of Roderick, so far deviated from his usual practice, as to have kept the public for some time in expectation; the poem of which we are about to give some account being, no doubt, the same which was more than once announced as forthcoming in his publishers' prospective list, under the title of " Pelayo, the Restorer of Spain" Rapidly, however, as Mr. Southey may have written in former instances, his productions have uniformly borne strong and decided marks of a rich and vigorous imagination, an ear nicely tuned to the harmony of eloquence, and an elevated tone of moral sentiment.These, and other praiseworthy qualities, have been counterbalanced in different instances, by a puerile affectation of simplicity, a boldness amounting to temerity in the assumption of metrical licence, and a wild extravagance of fiction which has divested his leading characters of that power of exciting the interest of sympathy, which the magic wand of Na ture has confined within the circle of human possibilities. If we may be allow ed rather to exceed the bounds of our peculiar province, at the impulse of a feeling too pleasurable to be resisted, we would cordially congratulate Mr. Southey on the eminent proofs afforded by his last poem, of his possessing a mind sufficiently humble and sufficiently strong to see and to correct his own deficiencies. In former instances he has reminded us of the bold and graceful but irregular movements of an untrained steed, starting with unrivalled speed, but forfeiting the prize by deviating from the course. Here we see him distancing most of his competitors, and gaining ground upon the foremost, by submitting to the rein, and doing full justice to his powers by a sober and well-disciplined use of them. "Thalaba" his skill in producing rhyth mical harmony has done much, in spite of his contempt of all metrical rules.-But surely the effect, though less striking perhaps, is much more pleasing and satisfactory, when, as in this instance, rhythm and metre combine to gratify the earThe wild and uncertain, but exquisitely touching notes of an Eolian harp, swept "leniore halitu sibilantis Euri," will either soothe or excite the mind, according as it is previously disposed, most pleasingly for a time; but soon pall upon the ear, and produce a sensation of weari ness In But give the same notes all the advantage of skilful and harmonious modulation, and we listen to them repeatedly with renovated delight. Nor is this the only instance, in which we can trace the happy result of a combination of two qualities, in one of which our author has formerly seemed deficient. The bold eccentricities of his truly inspired fancy are here chastened by a correct taste; and his characteristic simplicity, though by no means renounced, is elevated and ennobled. But the improvement which strikes us most forcibly is this-that the high tone of moral feeling, which always made a favourable, but yet a vague and indeterminate impression on the mind, and which always seemed to aim at some laudable and exalted end, but failed in the discovery of. mean adequate to its attainment, now takes a palpable form, and an honourable name.→→ The shapeless though shining vapour of an aspiring philosophy has bee condensed into the substance of a dfied and efficacious, though, as we shaereafter show, in some rapects imperfect religion. The consequence is, that the man who va lues eternity too highly to be willing to devote too much of his time any thing that has not some bearing it, may take up this poem with tourance of never reading many page th without being reminded of his highe duties and most important interests, of the themes which most effectually elevate his mind, and most deeply penetrate his heart. The poem of Roderick, for sustained depth of interest, for strong and varied character, and for exalted sentiment and diction, may challenge a competition with the first of our day. It is founded on the traditionary account of the first introduction of the Moors into Spain by Count Julian. A private wrong Before he departs, Urban, the Archbi shop of Toledo, thus addresses him : The rule which thou hast taken on thyself, And as the will divine, to be received, 'Me Roderick cried; Of those in whom they trusted. Yet have these Therefore, my brother, in the name of Christ Now, brother, go thy way: the peace of God Missionaries in Caucasus. (From Klaproth's Travels in Caucasus, 1807 and 1808.) Our road now led in a south-west and afterwards in a north-west direction to the English missionary settlement, founded about five years since, at the foot of the highest of the Beschtau mountains, and named Ckarass, after an adjacent Abassian village, now burned down on account of the plague. Seventeen families originally resided here; but, owing to the unhealthiness of the climate, they are now reduced to eight; and these, two years since, were so unfortunate as to have several of their buildings burned by the neighbouring Nogays and Abasses. Their principal minister is Henry Brunton, a worthy old man, who formerly resided as a missionary in Africa, among the nation of the Suni or Mandinga in Sierra Leone; and has published a grammar with a vocabulary, and likewise several religious books written in their language. These Missionaries are supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and his Imperial Majesty has graciously conferred on them extraordinary privileges, procured chiefly through the influence of the former Secretary of State, Nikolai Nikolaewitsch Nowossilzow. The main objects of their establishment here are, the translation of the Bible into Tartar, and the conversion of the Caucasian nations, particularly the Tartars, to Christianity, according to the tenets of the Church of England. As all these Missionaries apply themselves with peculiar zeal to the study of the Tartar language, most of them have already made very great proficiency in it, especially as they have native Tartars for their attendants, and are thus kept in constant practice. Their superior, Henry Brunton, has chiefly directed his attention to the language used in writing, and has ably translated the four Evangelists, besides several smaller religious books. All these works are printed; and, according to the account of several Wartars whom I questioned on the subject, they are extremely well written. The Mission has a complete printingoffice with a fine press, which, together with the paper for three thousand copies of the New Testament, was sent hither from London. The Arabic-Tartar types rival in beauty those of the first-rate establishments in Europe. There are two founts; the larger was cast upon the same matrices as were used for the Oxford letters with which White's Institutes of Timur and several other works have been printed in England. The smaller corresponds with the types employed in printing the Arabic New Testament and Psalms, which appeared in London between the years 1720 and 1730, and after which the Arabic letters at Gottingen were cast. As these Missionaries enjoy the right of purchasing slaves, they already possess several Tscherkessians and Tartars, whom they have instructed in the precepts of Christianity and baptized, with the intention of restoring them, at some future time, to liberty. Excellent as the object and plan of this institution may be, it seems very doubtful whether it will ever accomplish the aim of the founders, since it is extremely difficult to persuade Asi-. atics to embrace a religion unaccompani ed by external ceremonies, and the moral part of all religions is almost invariably alike. The Missionaries have moreover excited the animosity of the neighbouring Nogay Tartars, by the conversion of a person belonging to one of the principal families of that nation; and it is to be feared that on the very first opportunity they will fall a prey to their rapacious neighbours, against whom the six Cos sacks stationed in the English colony would be an inadequate defence. Their houses are small and very ill built; but they have commenced the erection of a more spacious edifice, where they mean to reside together, and where, according to the plan, they will have abundance of room. Since my return from the Caucasus I have been informed that many Herrn. huters from Ssarepta have removed to Ckarass and made common cause with the English Missionaries, by which the colony has been considerably increased. THE NECESSITY OF HUMAN LEARNING AND HUMAN AIDS IN THE ILLUSTRATION AND DIFFUSION OF DIVINE TRUTH-an Extract from a Sermon preached in All Saints' Church, Northampton, June 27, 1816; at the primary Visitation of the Right Reverend John, Lord Bishop of Peterborough. By the Hon. and Rev. Paul Anthony Irby, M. A. The very nature of translation carries with it a necessity for note and comment; because in the Bible, as well as in other books, there are many expressions, the meaning of which is so dependent upon the peculiarities of the original language, that they cannot be clearly understood, when literally rendered into any other. A circumlocutory explanation must often be adopted, to make them intelligible; otherwise, the mind of the unlearned reader will be bewildered in the literal acceptation of phrases, which must be, to his apprehension, obscure; or he will misconstrue some particular texts, in a sense directly opposite to the whole spirit and design of the sacred volume. The lofty figures of Eastern diction, so fre quent in the inspired pages of the prophets, and the simple parables and images, under which doctrines of the highest importance were delivered by our blessed Saviour, it is necessary to interpret according to their first idiom. The customs and manners of the different ages and persons to whom the revelations of God were made, ought also to be taken into consideration; and here human learning is of great service. An acquaintance with the sects and heresies which sprang up in the christian world, while the apostles of our Lord were still upon the earth, is indispensable for the elucidation of those admirable Epistles which were chiefly di rected against them; and, if these had always met with the attention to which they are entitled, we should not have now to lament the open avowal and maintenance of the same errors which they condemn. J We, who have beta ordained to the ministry of the Church, must feel the necessity of these explanations. Who cân say, that by merely reading his English Bible, he has, or could have, been qualified for his pastoral office? Which of us would not have been deservedly rejected, who had founded his pretensions to holy orders on such a preparation ? We must not, indeed, dispute the power of God, nor the efficacy of his assisting grace. We confess, that the hearts of men are at his disposal; and that he can, if it pleases him, endow the most illiterate man with the highest degree of heavenly wisdom. He could enlighten the under standing of the meanest individual while reading the Holy Scriptures, and grant him a full comprehension of every thing that they contain. But, as it is not consistent with the established order of his providence to employ extraordinary, where he has already appointed ordinary means, it is not to be expected that he should now convey the information which he has already revealed through the Scriptures, to any one, in a more summary way; or should enable a common capacity to solve, at pleasure, those difficulties in them, upon which he has evidently intended that the best faculties of the human mind should be exercised and employed. While, then, we endeavour to fulfil the duty imposed upon us by Almighty God, in promoting the knowledge of his revealed word, let us not neglect the use of those natural assistances which are afforded us for the illustration of passages, some of which even an apostle hath confessed to be "hard to be understood." When we know that " many false prophets are gone out into the world," and that it is of the utmost consequence that "the spirit of truth" should be distinguished from "the spirit of error;" when some who deny the divinity of Christ, and consequently depreciate the merit of his sacrifice, have gone so far as to publish & translation of the New Testament, wherein texts conclusive against them are either altered or omitted; when such impious notions are openly proclaimed, shall we impart to those whom we would instruct the means of forming a right conclusion on the momentous points which are made subjects of dispute, by giving with the Scriptures such notes and comments as may conduce to a correct understanding of them? Or shall we say, "We give you the Scriptures, in which all your hopes of salvation are contained. know that they are misinterpreted and misunderstood by many, to the great danger of their souls. Our principles of faith are right; but we will not obtrude them upon you-we are more liberal, and will leave you unbiassed, to decide for yourselves, even at the risk of your falling into the most fatal heresies, into the sins of those who "wrest the Holy Scriptures to their own destruction?" We |