hold their money, the wise, that they should refrain from countenancing so unscriptural a scheme. If this be a friend of Missions, what is an enemy? Yet, Mr. Irving claims to be taken as a true friend to the work in which they are engaged.' Let them judge me,' he says, in the spirit of love, not of bitterness or strife.' Is it in the spirit of love that he has judged his brethren? Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?'

Whether Mr. Irving will give us credit for it, or not, our feelings towards him have hitherto been those only of cordiality and kindness, accompanied with anxiety that he should justify the hopes we have entertained of his future eminence. We have looked to see him outgrow his juvenilities, and have thought, that as his judgement ripened, the exuberant efflorescence of his imagination would fall off; that he would lay aside his affectation and his haughty airs, the mere boyishness of the mind, and, by study and self-discipliné, mellow into greatness. His extreme injudiciousness, however, as displayed throughout this publication, makes us fear that his mind has done growing, that we have seen him at his best. If so, let' him beware lest he degenerate; lest his noble hardihood as a preacher, misdirected, should become insufferable dogmatism, his zeal, untempered by the meekness of Christ, run out into harshness. Yet, Mr. Irving is spoken of by all his acquaintance as a very amiable man in social intercourse. How much is it to be regretted, that, in the character of a minister of Christ, he should exhibit so little brotherly kindness and charity! But we will yet hope better things of him, believing, as we do, that his errors are those of judgement, not of the heart. The present Oration is dedicated to Mr. Coleridge, whom the Preacher professes to have found more profitable to his faith in orthodox doctrine, to his spiritual understanding of. the word of God, and to his right conception of the Christian. church, than any or all of the men with whom he has entertained friendship and conversation. We were sorry to read this, -sorry, we mean, for Mr. Irving's sake, because we regard Mr. Coleridge, though a delightful lecturer and monologist, as well as a profound thinker and man of learning, yet, as a very inadequate and unsafe expositor and guide in matters of faith. Though profound, he is any thing rather than a clear thinker, (for a man who thinks clearly, will write clearly,) and though a most valuable library in himself, he would be a most vicious model. Coleridge in the pulpit, more especially Coleridge at second-hand, would be intolerable. No, if Mr. Irving would not go down to posterity with the Henleys and the Fordyces of other days, whatever delight he may take in

listening to his philosophic friend's commentaries on Hobbes, Shakspeare, Grotius, Leighton, and all things knowable and unknowable, he must, for spiritual understanding and the replenishment of his faith, learn of a Greater Master and in another school. Nay, for spiritual profit and right conceptions of the Christian Church, we will venture to refer him to a man far below Mr. Coleridge in learning, in fancy, in genius, but far his superior in wisdom and spiritual understanding. A Sermon is now lying before us, delivered at an annual general meeting of the Baptist Missionary Society; having for its subject, the Christian Spirit which is essential to the triumph of the kingdom of God.' The Preacher's name is Christopher Anderson.* Whether he is an orator, we know not; or a philosopher, we know not; but he is evidently a man well qualified to counsel the counsellors, and judge the judges,' and whose spirit and temper Mr. Irving will do well to emulate. A few paragraphs from this sermon will form no inappropriate sequel to this article.

In promoting the interests of the kingdom of God, it is not less necessary that we unite and proceed in a spirit of self-abasement, of self-denial, and of self-annihilation.

I unite these three, not only because they all stand opposed to proud and sordid self, but because each of them has an important bearing on the duty here enjoined by the Saviour; and each of them has with the others, a sympathetic connection. The first, Self-abasement, has an especial reference to HIM in whose service we engage. The second, Self-denial, is essential to the WORK which he calls us to perform. And the third, Self-annihilation, refers to the work when FINISHED, or to every STAGE in the progress of that work.

As for self-abasement, in producing such a disposition, God forgets not our good, but ultimately he has in view the advancement of his kingdom. He commences, however, with our good. When a few individuals unite under a sense of their unworthiness and collective inability, with a view to promote the purity, the union, and the extension of the kingdom of God, it is certain that they are on the way to elevation, at least another day, both in this world and that which is to come. "To him that hath shall more be given." They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” God, however, well knows that, in all elevations, there is a tendency to self-importance; a tendency to intoxication and derangement, if not destruction. Hence the drowning of Pharaoh, the derangement of

"The Christian Spirit which is essential, &c. A Discourse ✓ delivered June 23, 1824. By Christopher Anderson." 8vo. Price 1s. 6d. London. 1824.

Nebuchadnezzar, the awful end of Herod! With all those saints, therefore, whom Jehovah intends for usefulness and reward in his kingdom, he begins by leading them through a course of self-abasement. Even when he has bestowed upon them only a glimpse of their future eminence and value as agents in his hand, he has immediately called for a cloud to darken their immediate prospects. What became of Joseph after he had dreamt his dreams? What became of Moses after he thought that his brethren would have understood that God, by his means, would deliver the children of Israel? What became of David after he was anointed to be king over Israel? What became of Paul after he was caught up into the third heaven? Nay, as though to this rule there should be no exception, if I might be permitted to instance one more than human, where there could exist no such tendency as that to which I have adverted, what became of God's own Son, immediately after the Father had proclaimed him his Beloved, and the Holy Spirit descended and lighted upon him? Was he not driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, among the wild beasts, where forty days he was tempted of the devil?

In consonance with this idea, you may see the twelve apostles individually led, side by side with their Master, through all his abasement. They were to be employed to lay the foundation of this kingdom, but not as soon as they were called. Though drawn from the humblest vale of life, he saw that they were influenced by a spirit directly the reverse of self-abasement, especially towards each other; and the display of this spirit is distinctly noted down in the book of God, for the monition of future ages, and the government of all successive attempts to propagate Christianity. There had been a strife among them, which should be the greatest, and even the parents of these poor Galileans had caught the infection; nay, they went on and persisted, till they actually were so intoxicated with the imaginary prospect before them, as to inquire of Jesus himself, "which should be the greatest?" All this the Saviour habitually repressed, and upon this he frowned; yet still we find these men aiming after distinction and the mastery. But observe them, so long as they retained this disposition, and see whether their Lord did not cau tiously employ them. No such command did he then give them, as that which he delivered after his death; nor did he permit them to go out into the world, till they were effectually laid low and humbled by the down-pouring of his own Spirit.

To the kingdom of God, the benefits derived from such humbling of its subjects, are incalculable; this mysterious process being of service and value long after it has ceased. Were the trials of Joseph of no value in forming his temper and talents, when God had made him "Lord of all Egypt," so that he might " bind the Egyptian prin ces at his pleasure, and teach her senators wisdom?" Did the forty which Moses spent at the back of Mount Horeb, not fit him for the forty years which followed? And were the self-denied wander. ings of the fishermen of Galilee after their meek and lowly Guide, of little value to them, when the holy Spirit was afterwards teaching

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them all things, and bringing all things to their remembrance, even whatsoever he had said unto them?

In the whole procedure of the Messiah especially, we behold an invariable regard to what might be styled his favourite maxim: "He that exalteth himself shall be abased, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Yes, my brethren, he wished these, his immediate followers, as he does us, to understand, that in casting about for the proper objects of promotion, the eye of Omniscience regards not so much the number of talents, nor the comparative publicity, with which the individual is invested; but looking downward, till it arrives at the individual who, from genuine humility, has taken, the lowest room, to such a one the King of heaven invariably says, " Go up higher;" and if this individual, thus exalted, is ever to advance even a single step in the ladder of promotion, it can only be by an increase of this heavenly grace.'

Lastly I remark, that the interests of this kingdom can only be advanced in the spirit of wisdom.

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"Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, have ofttimes no connection," and if an illustration of this maxim is wanted more striking than another, it is to be found in the kingdom of God: since, in attempting to advance this cause, not only does the wisdom of this world appear to be foolishness with God, but so does even the knowledge of his own word, except it be associated with wisdom. "The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way;" and if this is requisite to the individual in his path to glory, how much more so when he is endeavouring to promote the well-being or the extension of the whole household of faith.

With reference to the best interests of social and civil life, wisdom has been divided into three kinds; the wisdom of behaviour, the wisdom of business, and the wisdom of government. The first of these, the wisdom of behaviour, men of great talents and learning are often observed to despise, as below their notice. In the last, the wisdom of government, as it regards political economy, they have been found greatly to excel; while, in the wisdom of business, they have not unfrequently exposed themselves to the ridicule of far inferior minds. Now each of these, the men who unite to promote the spread of Christianity ought to possess; and in these they must excel, if ever they are to succeed extensively, and continue to prosper. This may seem a hard saying, but it is worthy of God, that his cause should require the exercise of such virtue.

The wisdom of behaviour is soon found to be a gift which cometh down from above, and cannot be acquired at any of the schools. The wisdom that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." Here, you observe, the dispositions are mainly referred to, and these lead directly to the wisdom of behaviour.This modification of wisdom is in every instance to be sought, and sought from above; and the more so, since by it alone can the wisdom of business and of government in the church be acquired. The truth is, that the gentler virtues of Christianity, inVol. XXIV. N.S. 21

cluded in the wisdom of behaviour, require a protector; and this is to be found, not in power, not in fortitude, nor in cunning, (for no cunning man is truly wise,) but in the exercise of a nobler disposition,-heavenly wisdom.'

Oh! when rearing up this goodly fabric, and endeavouring to extend its limits, could we but daily observe the example and deportment of our heavenly Master when laying its foundations, then, at last, would many a man measure" wisdom by simplicity, strength by suffering, dignity by lowliness." At such a time, it might be said of many an individual, he "accounts it first to be last, something to be nothing, and reckons himself of great command in that he is a servant."

Art. IX. 1. Select Poetry, chiefly on Subjects connected with Religion. 32mo. pp. 160. London. Seeley. 1825.

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2. Sacred Poetry. Fourth Edition. 32mo. pp. 352. Edinburgh, 1825. 3. The Sabbath Harp: A Selection of Sacred Poetry. By the Rev. J. East, M.A. A New Edition. 24mo. pp. 452. Bristol.

THE

*HE increasing demand for publications of this description would seem to indicate one of two things; that either the taste for poetry is spreading among religious readers, or a relish for sacred themes among the lovers of poetry. Either Poetry is growing more religious, or Religion more poetical. To a certain extent, we are willing to believe, both positions may be true. Assuredly, at no period in our literature could there be numbered among contemporary writers, so many contributors to the national stock of sacred poetry as at the present. For although, when we have named Montgomery, Milman, and Bernard Barton as at the head of our sacred poets, and referred to the Hebrew Melodies of Lord Byron and the Sacred Lyrics of Moore, we have mentioned every name of high rank or general popularity; yet, the minor writers are extremely numerous, to whom we are indebted for scattered or fugitive pieces equal sometimes in poetical merit to almost any thing that has proceeded from more illustrious pens. On the other hand, the standard of taste in what is called the religious world, appears to have undergone some alteration for the better. Sternhold and Hopkins retain possession of only a few cathedral or collegiate churches; and even Tate and Brady have, to a very great extent, given way before the practice of introducing private selections of psalms and hymns for public wor ship. In Dissenting congregations, where Dr. Watts has been losing ground almost in proportion as he has been gaining on