must express all the varieties of emotion common to the Christian. It must include, in its wide range, the trembling of the sinner, the hope and joy of the believer; it must sound the alarm to the impenitent, and cheer the afflicted; it must summon the Church to an earnest following of her Redeemer, go down with the dying to the vale of death, and make it vocal with the notes of triumph; it must attend the Christian in every step of his life, as a heavenly melody, until that hour when 66 The redeem'd of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, There can be nothing esoteric in the hymn. Besides this, the hymn, skilfully linked with music, becomes the companion of a Christian's solitary hours. It is the property of a good lyric to exist in the mind as a spiritual presence; and thus, as a "hidden soul of harmony," it dwells, a soul in the soul, and rises, often unsought, into distinct consciousness. The worldly Goethe advised, as a means of making life less common-place, that one should "every day, at least, hear a little song, or read a good poem." Happier he, who, from his abundant acquaintance with Christian lyrics, has the song within him; who can follow the purer counsel of Paul, and speak to himself in hymns and spiritual songs, singing, and making melody in his heart to the Lord." Eph. v, 19. No poems will better abide these tests than Charles Wesley's. Their praise is in all the churches. They have afforded holy pleasure to thousands upon thousands; they have become in Christian assemblies a favourite vehicle for the expression of religious emotion; they have stirred those thoughts which "do lie too deep for tears;" they have enriched the language of devotion, and added new sweetness to prayer; they have cheered the weary hours of sickness, and have gushed with new force from the lips of dying saints; for there is in these immortal effusions no dulness; they do not creep along the earth, but rise above it; "in their proper motion they ascend." Nor do they fail the Christian in the highest soarings of his joy; but carry him "singing up to heaven's gate." No poetry has such power to create a fondness for itself. Nor is this pleasure confined to the unlearned. Genius includes taste; for what is genius but the utmost delicacy of feeling in union with the power of expression? But, genius apart, the "Poet of Methodism" was too fine a scholar to be coarse in feeling. His extensive learning was pervaded by the fire of his spirit; it was of the sort that refines and finishes. The most cultivated have felt the sweetness of his hymns; they, indeed, can best appreciate the charm of his inimitable expression. FOURTH SERIES, VOL. 1.-26 Shall we cite, for proof, some of those Divine songs which, in our own Church at least, have become as familiar as household words? The "Wrestling Jacob," the two funeral hymns, (incomplete in our book,) commencing with-" And let this feeble body fail," and"How happy every child of grace," the first one in our collection, originally written upon the anniversary of his conversion, and many others, are linked with a thousand tender associations. To specify here is out of the question. Mr. Creamer has frequently, in his notices of such hymns of our book as are incomplete, supplied the omitted stanzas. This is, in some cases, the restoration of a much-needed unity. We do hope that hymns of peculiar excellence which are too long for a Church collection, and some whose personal allusions unfit them for public use, together with others, which, as is evident from Mr. Creamer's work, are but little known, may be published in a separate form. As a specimen of the extent to which these Hymns are sometimes improved by the restoration of omitted stanzas, we subjoin the 36th of our volume entire :* "DESIRING TO LOVE. "O Love Divine, how sweet thou art! All taken up by thee? I thirst, I faint, I die to prove "Stronger his love than death or hell, The length, the breadth, and height. "God only knows the love of God; In this poor stony heart! "O that I could forever sit Be this my happy choice! My only care, delight, and bliss, To hear the Bridegroom's voice! *We take the omitted stanzas from the Hymnology. "O that, with humble Peter, I Could weep, believe, and thrice reply, Thou know'st-for all to thee is known- "O that I could, with favour'd John, The dear Redeemer's breast! From care, and sin, and sorrow free, "Thy only love do I require, Nothing in earth beneath desire, Nothing in heaven above: Let earth, and heaven, and all things go. Give me thy only love." All the parts of this poem have a fitness for each other; they all proceed harmoniously to the climax with which it ends. The first and second stanzas express the excellence of love; the second, concluding with its unsearchableness-the angels desire in vain to see. its depths; in the third, the poet despairs of knowing the mysteryGod only knows the love of God-and prays that he may feel it shed abroad in his heart. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth stanzas, he glances at the most striking instances of affection for Christ recorded in the Gospels. With Mary, having chosen the better part, he would sit at the Master's feet, and hear his voice; with Peter-for love delights in repeated asseverations-he would thrice, in tears, tell his Lord that he loves him; with John, he would recline his weary head upon the Redeemer's breast. His bolder spirit now declares that this love is all he wants in earth or sky; and, carried away by his vehemence, he refuses heaven itself if he cannot otherwise enjoy this gift. "Let earth, and heaven, and all things go, Give me thy only love." It was Charles Wesley's nature to express himself strongly. This hymn appears in our volume under the division-" Penitential;" it would appear better under its original name, which we placed at its head. Mr. Creamer, in his valuable work, has given the original titles of many hymns, and the texts on which others are founded. We should be glad, where it can possibly be done, to see the titles restored. No poet would thank his admirers for publish ing his effusions without the name belonging to each. Hymn 6th is for "New-Year's Day;" the author evidently implying that now every year is one of jubilee, and should be opened with that stirring proclamation. The 30th is entitled-" For one Fallen from Grace." The 39th is a "Hymn for Whitsunday," and is, of course, an invocation of the Holy Spirit; the 41st is a prayer in temptation, and is in no wise penitential; while the 56th is a "Grace before Meat." These instances are taken at random from the beginning of the book. Under the head of "Prayer and Intercession," it might be stated for what the prayer is made; though, in truth, most of the hymns are prayers, in whatever part of the volume they occur. Thus the 105th is a prayer for the Holy Spirit; 108th, for the Fear of God; 120th, for the Light of Life; 131st, for Faith; 145th, for Grace to Pray. (See the Hymnology, part iii.) Mr. Creamer has also brought, for the first time, before the American public, a beautiful poetic version of a passage in the Litany of the Church of England. We must, however, refer readers of the Review to the Hymnology. The book, besides the poems which adorn its pages, contains a rich fund of curious information. Mr. Creamer has shown himself, indeed, an indefatigable archæologist of Wesleyan poetry; and his work is unique in Methodist literature. The friendship of John and Charles Wesley for each other was inviolable. Never did two brothers labour with such unity. They had together watched and prayed at Oxford; they had together crossed the deep to convert the Indians; and together they toiled for half a century to spread religion. John called his brother the heart of the work; he felt himself to be its head. Charles, towards the close of his life, said that they had continued friends for above seventy years. What a spectacle it must have been to see two old men clinging to each other with child-like simplicity! They had seen their work prosper, and were now reaping the harvest of a well-spent life. They had gone forth "bearing precious seed," and were now returning "again, with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them." But, alas! the feeble health of Charles depressed his spirits, and poisoned the springs of enjoyment. How touchingly, when about to move from Bristol to London, he speaks of himself!— "What matters it to me, When a few days are past, The hoary hairs may screen Of one who would be clean forgot, At length, worn out with the toils of nearly fourscore years, the venerable man approaches his end. His spirit labours with his last poetic prayer. It is the last breathing of that sweet, melodious heart: "In age and feebleness extreme, Who shall a sinful worm redeem? Was ever such a dying song! ART. III-JULIAN THE APOSTATE. WE design to present in this article such a sketch of the character and career of the Emperor Julian as may enable our readers to form a just estimate of that distinguished man, and of his influence generally upon the world, and particularly upon the interests of Christianity. The sources of information on the subject may be found in Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Vol. II., Milman's History of Christianity, and in the Church Histories generally. There is also an able article on Julian in the New Edinburgh Encyclopædia; and his history is sketched with much fulness and acumen in Neander's Church History. Dr. Neander has also written a separate monograph on "Julian and his Times," a translation of which has been announced in London. The writers named generally agree as to the chief facts of Julian's career, while they differ somewhat in minuter details, and more especially in their speculations upon the causes and motives of his course. Gibbon, who was as great an enemy to Christianity as Julian himself, and treated it with the like sneering contempt and sarcastic ridicule, has profusely praised Julian for excellences which he did not possess, and endeavoured to transmute vices into virtues, with a view to exalt the character of his hero, to pour contempt upon his adversaries, and to render Christianity ridiculous. It is but justice to observe, however, that he manifestly strives to state the facts in the history of Julian fairly and fully, without abatement or disguise, while his philosophy is most evidently at fault in endeavouring to account for their existence, and for the various motives of the conspicuous individuals who figured in the world at that time. Milman, too close an imitator of the lofty and gorgeous |