monly outruns performance; that multitudes look abroad with eagerness, who are unable, or unwilling, to concentrate their views at home; that, in zealous efforts for the improvement of others, too many neglect the improvement of themselves; that the Bible is more praised than read, more circulated than consulted; that, in all ranks of the commu nity, men are to be found, more solicitous to waft the sacred volume from the Ganges to the Mississippi, than to make it their companion, their guide, and their own familiar friend; and that, in few periods, have declared promoters and advocates of Christianity seemed less inclined to commune with their own hearts, and be still; to enter into their closet, and shut their door, and pray unto their Father which seeth in secret, with a calm and peaceful confidence, that their Father which seeth in secret will reward them openly."-Ser. vili p. 190.

In his notes upon this admirably written passage, he is still more outrageous. Instead of retracting any of his assertions, and apologizing for his uncivil suspicions, he proceeds to call witnesses in support of them-witnesses, too of unimpeachable credit. We will quote him, and leave him to the mercy of the public.

"This is a grave charge, and should not be lightly hazarded. Yet, if true, its retrenchment could answer no good purpose; while its maintenance may have some tendency to correct, or at least, to mitigate the evil."

"Whatever may be doubtful thus much is certain; that the bustling and unquiet tendencies of the present religious world; that the avidity with which names are accumulated, too frequently with a total absence of moral discrimination, in support of any favorite religious object; that the proportionate negligence of unambitious and retired duties, of close communion with God, and of inward cultivation of the mind and heart,

that these things have been deeply felt, and seriously deplored, by those most favorably circumstanced for extensive and accurate enquiry; and, on such a subject, least to be suspected of weak, or of malignant exaggeration. For this fact, I shall now invite attention to no more than two authorities. The late Mr. Cecil, a man deservedly distinguished among the evangelical clergymen of the Established Church: and Messrs. Bennet and Bogue, in their recent History of Dissenters; authorities, on this question, beyond all reasonable exception. Each intimately acquainted with the religious world; each intimately connected with the respective parties, which their piety and candour oblige them to con demn.'

"The religious world,' says Mr. Cecil, has a great momentum. Money and power, in almost any quantity, are brought forth into action, when any fair object is set before it. It is a pendulum which swings with prodigious force: but it wants a regulator If there is no regulating force on it, of sufficient power, its motions will be so violent and eccentric, that it will tear the machine to pieces. And, therefore, when I have any influence in its designs and schemes, I cannot help watching them with extreme jealousy, to throw in every directing and regulating power, which can be obtained from any quarter.'

"The religious world has many features, which are distressing to a holy man. He sees in it much proposal and ostentation, covering much

surface: but christianity is deep and substantial. A man is soon enlisted; but he is not soon made a soldier. He is easily put into the ranks, to make a show there; but he is not so easily brought to do the duties of the ranks. We are too much like an army of Asiatics: they count well, and cut a good figure; but, when they come into action, one has no flint, another has no cartridge; the arms of one are rusty, and another has not learned to handle them. This was not the complaint equally at all times. It belongs too peculiarly to the present day. The fault lies in the muster. We are like Falstaff. He took the King's money, to press good men and true: but got together such ragamuffins, that he was ashamed to muster them. What is the consequence? People groan under their connections. Respectable persons tell me such stories of their servants, who profess religion, as shaine and distress me. High pretensions to spirituality! Warm zeal for certain sentiments! Priding themselves in Mr. Such-a one's ministry! But what becomes of their duties? Oh, these are "beggarly elements" indeed! Such persons are alive to religious talk, but if you speak to them on religious tempers, the subject grows irksome.'"-Cecil's Remains, p. 329–331.Edit. 8vo.

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"The closets of Christians, at the commencement of the present reign,' say the historians of Dissenterism, were kept warmer, than those of many modern Christians. In these secret retirements, the elder generation read the Scriptures, meditated, and prayed, with such effect, that they were entitled to retain with some firmness, what they had acquired with so much diligence. They had not so frequent social meetings in the Church as at present, but they had more religion at home; where their superior knowledge of the scriptures, and of theology, enabled them to conduct devotional services to greater advantage. If, in public worship, the performance was less animated than those of modern preachers, there was more to inform the judgment, and to preserve the mind from the aberrations of falsehood and enthusiasm, which, too often, produce a motion like that of the "troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." It would be difficult to bring Christians now to listen to those enlarged and correct statements of evangelical truth, which ministers were then encouraged to give. Nor would the exact, laboured expositions of the scriptures, which were common at the commencement, be endured at the close, of this period. It is at present necessary to vary, to embellish, to enliven public instruction, in every way, in order to suit the more volatile turn of the public mind." "History of Dissenters, vol. 4. p. 375.

The three last Sermons in this volume were preached on extraordinary occasions, and possess great merit. In the tenth, an eloquent appeal is made to the feelings of the public, in favour of the Magdalen Asylum, Dublin. Of the two last, one was delivered at an ordination, the other at a visitation by the Archbishop, and they contain much excellent advice to a minister of the gospel. We are sure that our readers will peruse with pleasure the passage we are about to present to them from the last Sermon, and that they will agree with us that it is replete with "sense, absolute sense."

"That sacred knowledge which we should possess, and that manly study by which it must be gained, have been most ably defined, and most impressively enjoined, by the best divines of all ages, and in the authoritative documents of our own national church. Amidst such a cloud of witnesses, it were at once superfluous and presuming, to obtrude the suffrage of a very private individual. It must, however, be observed, that the exigencies of the present day, call, with peculiar emphasis, for a studious and a learned clergy. This is an age, both of enquiry and of observation. In all ordinary professions, there is a dispo sition to dive beneath the surface of things. In many important branches of knowledge, the student of to-day is better informed than the proficient of the last century. And shall it be said, that Christian ministers are the least diligent, in the most important concern? What useful science, what mechanic art, what that tends to increase the comforts, to multiply the decorations, or to improve the finer tastes, of cultivated life, is not pursued with avidity, and enriched with the daily acquisitions of successful enterprize? And shall we be put to shame by the reproach, that we are cold, and careless, and indolent, in the study of those truths, which involve our dearest interests, for time and for eternity? This reproach, there is but one method of escaping. Whilst human industry is deeply occupied in profane learning, and secular pursuits, it is ceasing, also, to be negligent on the subject of religion. A spirit of enquiry is abroad, which we can no more repress, than we can stop the revolution of the globe on which we stand. Within and without the pale of our establishment, investigation is afloat; and, in too many instances, is engendering those "erroneous and strange doctrines, conrary to God's word," which, at our ordination, we solemnly engaged, with all care and diligence, to banish and drive away." We shall not, then, be found faithful; and shame and woe must be our portion, if we do not so study, that we may be ready to give an answer to every man for the hope that is in us; and to oppose, as occasion may require, the sincere word of the gospel, and the sober, but sublime spirituality of the church, to a cold, rationalizing, semi-christianity on the one hand, and to a zeal not according unto knowledge, on the other." Sermon xii. pp. 325-327.

We now turn to the Appendix-an article, which seems to us not the least valuable part of the volume; though it appears under a form so unassuming, that it is likely to be overlooked by many readers.

The object of it, is to prove, that the plan of our early reformers was to restore the English Church, as nearly as possible, to a conformity with the primitive church of Christ; and that the result of their exertions has been, that the church of England is purer and more apostolical, both in its form and essence, not only than the church of Rome, but also than any other branch of the reformation. He proves that our reformers have, at all times, been careful to hold fast that

which hath Leen believed in all places, at all times, by all the faithful, [quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus, creditum est] a maxim, which has been most palpably violated by every other church in the

world, whether Romish or Protestant. This is the effect of that reverence for the ancient Fathers, to which Romish writers, in their liberality, allude, when they give us credit for being the best of heretics. This is the cause of that superiority to other religious establishments, which made the learned Grotius declare, that, in his opinion, the Church of England was a proper medium of reconciliation between all the churches which were then, or should at any time be at variance. This is that glorious preeminence which induced Mosheim to describe the English church, as " that correction of the old religion, which separates the Britons equally from the Roman Catholics, and from the other communities who have renounced the domination of the Pope."

In the following paragraphs, the author recapitulates the leading topics of this able discussion.

"The great mass of Protestant communities, sends each individual to the Bible alone; thence to collect, as it may happen, truth or falsehood, by his own interpretation or misinterpretation; and there to measure the most weighty and mysterious truths, by the least peculiar and appropriate passages of sacred scripture.

"The church of Rome sends her children, neither to the bible alone, nor to tradition alone; nor yet, to the bible and tradition conjointly, but to an infallible living expositor: which expositor, sometimes limits, and sometimes extends, and sometimes contradicts, both the written word, and the language of Christian antiquity.

"The church of England steers a middle course. She reveres the Scriptures she respects tradition. She encourages investigation: but she checks presumption. She bows to the authority of ages: but she owns no living master upon earth. She rejects alike the wild extravagance of unauthorized opinion, and the tame subjection of compulsory belief. Where the Scripture clearly and freely speaks, she receives its dictates as the voice of God. When the Scripture is either not clear, or explicit, or when it may demand expansion and illustration, she refers her sons to an authoritative standard of interpretation; but a standard, which it is their privilege to apply for themselves. And when scripture is altogether silent, she provides a supplemental guidance: but a guidance, neither fluctuating nor arbitrary; the same in all times, and under all circumstances; which no private interest can warp, and no temporal prejudice can lead astray. Thus, her appeal is made to past ages, against every possible error of the present. Thus, though the great mass of Christendom, and even though the vast majority of our own national church, were to depart from the purity of Christian faith and practice, yet, no well taught member of that church need hesitate, or tremble. His path is plain. It is not, merely, his own judgment; it is not, by any means, the dictatorial mandate of an ecclesiastical director, which is to silence his scruples, and dissolve his doubts. His resort is, that concurrent, universal, and undeviating sense of pious antiquity, which he has been instructed, and should be encouraged, to embrace, to follow, and revere."

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ART. II. The Speeches of the Right Honorable Charles James Fox, in the House of Commons. 6 Vols. London; Longman and Co. 1815.

ALTHOUGH Mr. Fox often aimed at objects, the attainment of which would have been injurious to his country, there are but few of his feelings with which we cannot sympathize. He was amiable amidst many failings, and even his culpable deviations were sometimes majestic. The political animosities which he excited are not-they cannot be forgotten; yet those who have the most distinct recollection of them, will not deny him the praise due to vigor of intellect, consistency of principle, and general erectness of character.

These speeches can give but a faint idea of Mr. Fox's eloquence. The oratory of modern statesmen, indeed, has but a slender chance of immortality, compared with the beautiful relics of ancient genius. The best orations of Demosthenes and Cicero were prepared in the study with intense labor, polished with the nicest skill, and frequently rehearsed before delivery. The fire which dazzled the Athenians and Romans seemed to be awakened on a sudden by a sort of inspiration; but the materials on which it fed had been long in collecting and arranging for use. The appearance of unpremeditation was premeditated; the imitation of artlessness was artful. The orators spoke only on great occasions, and then they threw the richness and brilliancy of their genius round the arguments they had elaborately prepared. They spoke what they had written, and they had written, not for their auditors merely, but for posterity. Their powers of elocution, therefore, their looks and their gestures, are all of which time has deprived us; since their modes of argumentation, the solid materials, and exquisite finishing, of their speeches, are happily preserved.

The public speaking of modern times requires talents of a different cast-in general less elevated, but far more varied: and it affords fewer opportunities for elegant composition and studied arrangement. The beauties which are struck out in the heat of debate are felt rather than remembered; and, though the impression made may be great, most of the finer expressions are forgotten by those to whom they are addressed, and can be but faintly exhibited by the most attentive reporter.

The only speech Mr. Fox ever prepared for the press was his panegyric on the late Duke of Bedford-a composition which exhibits but feeble glimmerings of his genius: for the