HAIL, world of bliss! for ever hail! Adieu! ye earthly woes,

I rise from death's dark gloomy vale, To undisturb'd repose.

Hail, dear Redeemer! all the praise Of all my bliss be thine,

My grateful voice, in ceaseless lays,
Shall bless thy love divine.

Hail, all ye happy saints of God!
I join with you to sing
The merits of the sacred blood,
Of heaven's Eternal King.
Hail, happy land! with pure delight
Thy glories I survey,

Still glorious to the enraptur'd sight,
Through all th' eternal day.

Hail, blissful regions! now my own The Christian's blest retreat, Mine be the lowest, humblest throne, But near my Saviour's feet. Winchester.

HENRY.

PARENTAL BREATHINGS.
How sweet when spring discloses,
On her maternal breast,
Her earliest embryo roses,
By every gale caress'd.

See them when morn appearing,
With dewy moisture wet,
Like infant princes, wearing
Their pearly coronet.

To see them meekly bowing,

Beneath their leafy shade; When noontide suns are glowing, Or storms their beds invade. When evening o'er creation Breathes her expiring gale; Shook into soft vibration,

Their balmy sweets exhale.
Till from each crystal censer,
The fragrant incense rise;
To God, the kind dispenser

Of all that earth enjoys.
As welcome, cherub stranger

Art thou to this low sphere;
Unconscious of the danger,

That waits thy sojourn here.
As sweet when o'er his slumbers,
The light gay visions stream;
Light as the myriad numbers,
That dance the solar beam.
To catch the faintest breathings,
That scarce the mirror soil;
And watch the sunny wreathings,
Of his first waking smile.

To mark the moonlight traces,
Of mental agency;

A thousand nameless graces,
Each moment multiply.

No other sound can ever,
Such powerful sweetness claim,
As his first weak endeavour,
To lisp a parent's name.

Not all the adoration

That angel worship pays,
In mighty congregation,
Of universal praise,

More grateful has ascended,
To God's indulgent ear,
Than when the knee is bended
By infancy in prayer.

When nature's loveliest roses
Shall strew th' autumnal sod,
And when this head reposes
Beneath the valley's clod,
Mayst thou, all good possessing,
In peace and honour live,
Enjoying every blessing,

That God himself can give.

Till grown in virtue hoary,

At length thou shalt lay down, That diadem of glory,

252

For an immortal crown. C. J. WEBB.

THE FOLLY OF DELAY.

Do pluck me a nosegay, dear sister, I pray,
For this in my bosom is withering away,
Go, pillage the garden, and strip ev'ry bed,
Till you bring me a large one, as big as my head.
Ah! sister, I'm sorry that summer is gone,
And autumn and winter are hastening on;
This ghost of a rose, and 'twas all that I found,
When I touched it, threw all its pale bloom to the
ground.

I could not help thinking how often 'twas so,
When we let the fair season of usefulness go,
We run, and arrive just the moment to find,
That though time has a forelock, he's nothing be-
hind;

And the hand that is stretch'd for the blessing, receives,

For the flow'r of enjoyment, the mock'ry of leaves. O ne'er may such folly my spirit control,

In the weightier matters, the things of my soul.

"Seek ye first," is the strong, but inviting command,

"The kingdom of heaven," that kingdom's at hand, All other possessions compared to this, Are but dreams of enjoyment, and shadows of bliss. C. J. WEBB.

REVIEW.-An Inquiry, What is the one true Faith; and whether it is professed by all Christian Sects; with an Exposition of the whole scheme of the Christian Covenant, in a Scriptural Examination of the most important of their several Doctrines. 8vo. pp. 463. Whittaker. London. 1829.

THIS is a very singular work, in which orthodoxy and heterodoxy are strangely blended together. There is scarcely any one, among the sects into which the Christian world is divided, that may not find something in these pages to approve, as coinciding with their respective systems; and many things to condemn, as being utterly inconsistent with their doctrines and fundamental principles. Viewing what the author has advanced on the favourable side, his readers will not withhold their

253

254

which bear a hostile aspect, he will find himself somewhat like Ishmael, "his hand against every man's, and every man's hand against him."

It has been remarked, that "the hand which cannot erect a hovel may demolish a palace;" and in few instances has this been more strikingly exemplified, than in the volume before us. The author, with a degree of temerity we have not often witnessed, enters the sanctorum of religious communities, assails their first principles, and in a moment pulls the fabric about their ears. This is also done with an apparent consciousness of superiority, the reality of which we have not been so fortunate as to discover, and a promise of erecting on the wreck of demolished theories, an enlarged and more consistent view of Christianity than any which he has overthrown with the hand of violence. But on

these outlines, his own language will best convey his sentiments.

"Although, probably, little or nothing new will be achieved in the interpretation of particular passages, mueh may, and no doubt will, be done by greater attention to consistency, and the general tenor and spirit of the sacred text. Were these not neglected, the doctrine that man in his original state was naturally immortal; that he was to have lived for ever on earth, or have been translated in the natural body to heaven, death in this world being the consequence of Adam's transgression, and that although men still die, the effect of Adam's sin was "done away" in Christ; or, that man having been born, not to immortality on earth, nor exemption from death in this world, but to subsequent perpetual life, lost that inheritance, lost that immortality, through Adam, and nevertheless, that all mankind will have an everlasting existence, although "death reigns over all," and all will not be saved from the consequence of Adam's crime; that through Adam's fall from innocence, all are born guilty of sin, and objects of God's wrath, yet that Christ has expiated, has "done away" that sin, the sin of the world, and accomplished the reconciliation of God with mankind; that Christianity is a covenant betwixt God and mankind for man's future safety on several practical conditions, and nevertheless,

that man cannot "work out his own salvation;" that the right of baptism is necessary for salvation, and efficacious for the forgiveness of sin, yet that man can of himself do nothing to promote his future welfare; that God can be moved by nothing which man can do; that repentance and devout prayer are not certainly availing, but nevertheless, that God is merciful, just, and appeasable; that the good and wicked pass immediately after death to heaven or hell, and that it is at the day of general resurrection every individual of the human race shall be judged and sentenced to happiness or misery: these and other

But" whatever may be the defects of this work," the author assures us, that, "respecting the future state in particular, he may confidently say, that it will, better than any other yet published, enable the reader to judge what the scriptural doctrines really are, to know more correctly how far the destiny of mankind has been revealed; how far left in obscurity," &c.-Preface, p. xx.

Elated with the hopes which the above promise was calculated to inspire, we turned with solicitude to that portion of the volume in which this momentous subdisappointment waiting to mock our hopes, ject is described. Here, however, we found in passages like the following::

"Although Adam would certainly, if he had not transgressed, bave enjoyed in the next world an everlasting life, he was not, strictly speaking, created immortal: of this, that he was subject for his offence to the sentence, In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,' is an unquestionable proof; for had he really been immortal, how could he have lost immortality? A perfectly immortal being could not have become by any means subject to death, the death of the soul, to which that sentence appointed him. He must, therefore, have been made only so far in the likeness of God (as possessing a soul independent of the body for life) to have been capable or susceptible of immortality: his attainment to which was contingent on an observance of certain conditions. On these conditions made with Adam as the representative of mankind, immortality was offered to him, for himself and his posterity; and when he broke them by eating of the forbidden fruit, the offer of immortality was of course annulled; and with regard, consequently, to them as well as to him."-p. 163.

Having thus discarded immortality from the soul as well as the body, through Adam's fall, both as it respected himself and his posterity, our author goes on to argue, that to all believers in Christ, and to none besides, immortality shall be restored. He views man in his redeemed state, as regaining the condition Adam was in before the fall, his immortality, like Adam's, being conditional. "If man," he observes, " were not now restored to ex

were studied with an attention so regulated, be entertained, as at present by the same individuals."-Preface, p. ix-xi.

255

is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, (and will consequently perish,) and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," (and will consequently live.)-p. 170.

To the finally impenitent, our author has assigned an abode in the regions of annihilation, and, in accordance with this view, he has interpreted every passage that either asserts, or seems to assert, perpetual misery. In thus extorting from such portions of scripture, a language which no impartial reader can ever imagine they were intended to express, he has trodden in the steps of the universalists, though to serve a very different purpose. The latter detach eternity from punishment, to make way for universal restoration; but the former adopts their reasonings, arguments, and scheme, that he may provide for annihilation.

The divinity of this volume bears a strong resemblance to its philosophical disquisitions; but of this also the reader shall judge from the author's own words.

"In the foregoing part of this inquiry, we found reason to conclude that the only belief required is belief in Jesus Christ; and here we are assured, that we shall be saved, if we have a belief of future life; the instilling of which was the only purpose of St. Paul's thus preaching, that Jesus "rose again the third day :" for after immediately mentioning to (by) whom Christ was seen subsequently to his resurrection, he proceeds to declare that mankind shall be raised also; and to give an account of the order in which the resurrection will take place; the whole drift of his reasoning being to establish in their minds that persuasion. Unless then the belief of future life, and belief in Jesus, are the same belief, unless these persuasions call our faith to the same object, the scriptures teach us that there are two rules of faith for salvation, inconsistently with the declaration made by St. Paul, that there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism.' But in fact, the belief that mankind may have a future everlasting life through Christ, is the essential belief in him."-p. 40.

It is melancholy to reflect, that the true faith of the gospel, which works by love, and purifies the heart, should be thus robbed of its spirituality, and reduced to a mere ethical assent of the mind to a given proposition, or an historical fact. Nor is it to this alone that the author's investigations are confined. The question whether Christ in his death made an atonement for mankind, he considers quite immaterial to our faith and future welfare; and so far as his opinion is expressed on this momentous doctrine, he disbelieves and denies the fact. He also roundly asserts, that "it is possible for every man, rich or poor, to obtain, through God's mercy, salvation by works." -p. 256.

From the specimens thus given of the

256

author's views respecting the gospel dispensation, the economy of God towards mankind, and the design and end of Christ's coming into the world, the reader must be well aware of the character and tendency of this book.

In glancing along its pages, the numerous passages quoted from scripture would seem to give it a formidable aspect; but when we proceed to examine their import, and the original connexion from which they have been torn by the hand of disingenuousness, to bear an application which their authors never anticipated, they only serve to expose the weakness of the cause they were intended to support. It is a volume in which important truths, and the most palpable errors, are strangely blended together. The author pities the advocates of other systems, because they involve themselves in inconsistencies, and combat error with error. To such purblind polemics, he professes to point out a more excellent way; and yet, perhaps, it may be more than doubted if he can find within the compass of his researches any one book more abounding in theological absurdities than his own.

That the author is not the slave of any sect, we feel fully persuaded; the boldness of his expressions, and the fearlessness of his tone, forbid such a belief. Yet we

cannot avoid suspecting, that in the exuberance of his freethinking, he has erected his standard on that side of Socinianism which lies nearest to infidelity.

As a composition, the style is in general argumentative; but the sentences are greatly involved, and the language wants perspi cuity. It is nevertheless a work of considerable research, and much time has been spent in collecting from other authors, passages which are supposed to favour the doctrines inculcated, and the topics which the writer wishes to establish. Throughout the whole, he has displayed more courage than prudence, more energy than judgment, more resolution than modesty. With talents, which, under proper discipline, might have produced a standard work, without any additional exertions, he has toiled through six hundred pages, to merit reprehension, and to excite a regret that both learning and abilities have not been more usefully employed..

REVIEW.-The Modern Martyr. By the author of the Evangelical Rambler. In Two Vols. 12mo. pp. 318-318. Westley and Davis. London. 1829. THE Modern Martyr, the author observes in his preface, is not a religious novel, but

257

a tale founded on facts which have fallen under his own observation. He does not, however, mean to assert, that the facts recorded in these volumes have ever been exemplified under his own eye in any one individual. He has perceived some portion in one, an additional feature in a second, and a continuation in a third. These fragments he has transplanted into his pages, and, concentrating the whole in one character, given existence to his Modern Martyr.

The early part of this narrative we distinctly recollect to have seen in the "Spirit and Manners of the Age ;" and so well were we pleased with the interest it excited, and its promise of entertainment and usefulness, that we regretted it should have been left unfinished. In these volumes the tale is again begun, and carried on to its conclusion, without any such interruption.

The story commences with a survey of an old Baronial mansion, once inhabited by a hospitable family now gone down to the dust, but on whose virtues, the parishclerk, becoming the faithful historian, descants to the author, who happens to visit the place. On the extinction of the Baronial family, the mansion was purchased by a Mr. Lester, a wealthy tradesman who had retired from business, but had scarcely brought with him a single virtue to adorn his name. The striking contrast between these two opposite characters is nicely discriminated, and finely preserved; the former being generous, hospitable, compassionate to all around him, and beloved by all; and the latter mean, proud, and selfish, a stranger to benevolence and every noble feeling of the heart.

The Lesters had two children; one a young lady, amiable in her disposition, and truly pious, devoting her time and talents to the necessities of the sick and indigent, administering to their temporal wants, and instructing them in the things which made for their everlasting peace. In almost every respect she was the contrast of her churlish parents. This conduct exposed her to much unkind treatment from them, to which they were stimulated by the worthless rector of the parish. To rescue this young lady from the fangs of Methodism, fanaticism, piety, and enthusiasm, both artifice and threatening exerted their influence, but finding her incorrigible, she was at length banished from home, and compelled to seek an asylum in Wales, where, after remaining some time, she was taken ill, and brought 123.-VOL. XI.

258

to the margin of the grave. On her departure, the father relented, but the mother remained inexorable, from an apprehension that by countenancing the conduct of the daughter, they should lose all their respectability in the eyes of the genteel profligates, whose society they courted, and wished to secure. But, unfortunately, scarcely had she been sent into exile, before they found themselves abandoned by the persons whom they meant to please, and traduced as unfeeling wretches, by the miserable rector who had advised the measure. In consequence of these complicated disasters, old Mr. Lester became insane, but his wife remained inflexible. Recovering his understanding, and repenting of his rashness, a letter was despatched to recall the daughter, but being detained, apparently by the unnatural mother, its object was defeated. The daughter, however, returned exceedingly ill, and shortly died, leaving her father a prey to remorse and mental aberration, and the mother the victim of unyielding insensibility.

This general outline is filled up with numerous characters, events, and occurrences, that naturally arise as we pass along. Some of these are remarkably pleasing, while others derive their interest from the disgust which they excite. The conversations to which we are introduced are in general sprightly and vigorous, in which each individual creditably sustains his allotted character. There are many letters, which, though excellent in themselves, lose much of their importance, by interrupting the history, of which every reader is solicitous to see the catastrophe. So far as progressive narrative, and diversity of incident, can attract attention, the former part of the first volume, and the concluding half of the second, will be found the most interesting. The intermediate portions either branch off into some needless digressions which might well be spared, or furnish a convenient vehicle to convey religious peculiarities, though without being contaminated with sectarian bigotry.

Throughout these volumes, many topics of general and permanent interest become the subjects of examination and discussion, such as the Sunday-schools instructing the lower orders of society, the progress of dissenterism, and the sin of attending conventicles. Against all these, Miss Frip, Miss Grig, and the whole tribe of Fribbles, Gads, and Dancers, with the angry rector at their head, set their faces; denouncing them as the means of disturb

259

REVIEW. Twenty-one Sermons. By the late Rev. Thomas Spencer, of Liverpool. 12mo. pp. 324. Religious Tract Society, London. 1829.

THE melancholy fate of this amiable young man created in Liverpool a sensation among all ranks, that will not speedily be forgotten. Of his history and death the following account is given in the preface to this volume.

"The Rev. Thomas Spencer was born at Hert

ford, January 21, 1792. Even when a child, preachers and preaching seemed to occupy nearly all his thoughts. The manuscript of a sermon, written when he was about twelve years old, is still preserved, which shews the early bias of his mind, and indicates his future superiority. In 1806, when he was about fifteen, he was placed by Thomas Wilson, Esq. under the care of the Rev. William Hordle, of Harwich, to enter on his preparatory studies. In January 1807, he was admitted into Hoxton college. During the vacation in the following midsummer, he preached his first sermon in public, at Collier's End,' a small village near Hertford. This sermon is the first in the present volume, and was preached July 5th, 1807: the two following sermons were also delivered in the same month. The dates affixed to the ensuing discourses, will shew the time when they were preached, and will account for the early popularity which Mr. Spencer acquired.

"In the midsummer vacation of 1810, he was appointed to preach to a congregation at Liverpool. His sermons excited extraordinary attention," and he was invited to the pastoral office.

"On Sunday the 3d of February, 1811, Mr. Spencer commenced his stated engagements at Liverpool, just after he had attained his twentieth year. His preaching attracted such overflowing congregations, that in a few months it was found absolutely necessary to erect a much larger chapel,

of which the first stone was laid on the 15th of April, 1811, and in which the Rev. Dr. Raffles now successfully labours. But it pleased Him whose designs are inscrutable to man, though always wise and good in themselves, to cut short the days of this most promising and devoted young minister, after he had been settled about six months at Liverpool.

"On Monday morning August 5th, he resolved to bathe in the river Mersey, thinking it might brace his nerves after the exertions of the preceding Sabbath, and prepare him for the duties to which he intended to devote the day. He had folded his paper, and prepared his pen, in order to

260

compose a sermon to be preached in the ensuing week, on behalf of the Religious Tract Society. Mr. Spencer left his paper and pen prepared for this purpose, and proceeded to the river Mersey to bathe. While undressing himself, he was engaged in humming a hymn tune. He entered the river, was borne out by the current, sunk in the deep water, and was drowned: thus suddenly was he called from early labours on earth, to an early and eternal reward in heaven." Preface.

The sermons which fill this volume, are in perfect unison with what might be expected from the preceding character of their author, which is but an epitome of an enlarged and admirably written memoir of this eminent but youthful servant of God, published not long after the time of his unexpected death, by the Rev. Dr. Raffles. These sermons, written on some important passages selected both from the Old Testament and the New, do not appear to have been chosen to furnish the preacher with an opportunity of displaying his talents on particular topics which he had rendered familiar to his mind, but to enable him, in the fulness of a pious spirit, through the medium of a vigorous understanding, to inculcate such awful truths of revelation, as should influence the hearts and lives of his hearers. To accomplish this purpose they are admirably adapted, and we cannot but wonder that they had not long since been sent into the world. In giving them publicity at present, the Religious Tract Society have acted in a manner worthy of their character; and the honour they confer on the name of the deceased, will in due proportion be reflected on themselves.

Young as Mr. Spencer was when called from time into eternity, his sermons evince a mind imbued with genuine piety, accompanied with talents which must every where command respect. The lapse of time would have enlarged his sphere of knowledge in divine things, and, as a natural consequence, have increased his usefulness. He had already attained a maturity of judgment far beyond the number of his years; and had that life, which, through a mysterious dispensation of Providence, was sud denly brought to a termination, been prolonged to the common longevity of man, we might at this day have hailed him as an honour to the pulpit, and viewed him inheriting an exalted rank among the celebrated divines of the present age.

REVIEW.-The Scripture Reader's Guide to the Devotional Use of the Holy Scriptures. By Caroline Fry. 12mo. pp.

170. Nisbet. London.

THE first section of this little work contains some appropriate and pointed ob