Lectures on the Apocalyptic Epistles addressed to the Seven Churches of Asia. By JOSEPH WADSWORTH. Frederick Westley and A. H. Davis. 6s. 6d.

Ir is refreshing to turn from the glare of oratory, and the dryness of disquisition, to works of practical and experimental godliness. We are astonished by the majesty of intellect, and are delighted by its well put arguments; we are instructed when industry and learning collect the evidences and illustrate the letter of truth; we are powerfully excited when genius and eloquence body forth the ideas that glow in words that burn; but we are edified, and our spiritual graces are revived, and our spiritual strength is recruited, when we listen to the faithful instructions which, in simplicity and godly sincerity, lay open the very heart of piety.

Much need have we of such instructions. When we have passed through the process of holy fears and solicitudes, when peace has been obtained at the foot of the cross, when an open profession of the gospel has been made, when the duties of such a profession have become habitual, and when to all this has been added an active co-operation in works of faith, and love, and zeal, we are prone to settle down satisfied that all is well, and forgetful that the 'process of fears, and the applications of faith, and the professions of personal piety, are but first steps in a career which requires unceasing vigilance and dependence. It is now, perhaps, that principle is put to its severest test; for now it is to be proved, whether, amid the calm of newlyacquired peace, we shall continue to follow on to know the Lord; and whether, after having become nominally ranked with God's people, we shall continue to maintain the arduous struggle with sin in its million forms. It is in this stage of Christian profession that we are in danger of losing our first love, and satisfying ourselves with cold affections, under the idea that this is the natural order of things. To this may succeed habitual lukewarmness and spiritual poverty; while insensible of the declension, we shall still fancy that we are rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing. And ultimately may the charge be applied to us, "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Melancholy would be the issue of such a retrogression, terminating either in the gloom and unprofitableness of the very lowest and most dubious state of vital religion, or, which is still more to be apprebended, in flagitious sin and final apostacy.

To guard individuals against these evils, and to preserve churches from these declen

sions, the work before us is peculiarly adapted. We welcome it as a most important and seasonable production, and we recommend it as a most judicious and useful volume. The solemn documents upon which these Lectures are founded, have special claims upon the awe and attention of the churches. Introduced amid symbols of the Saviour's glory, and authority, and grace, they were dictated immediately by his own lips. Addressed to seven distinct churches, they involve almost every peculiarity of state and character. Adapted to every age, their solemn import is eminently calculated to arouse to holy alarm, to self-examination, to vigilance, to faith, to prayer, to patience, to activity. The Lectures in exposition of these Epistles are judicious and luminous. The style, without being ornamented, is usually felicitous; and without a single attempt at ambitious writing, the author succeeds in fixing the attention and arousing the best emotions of the soul. He faithfully probes the heart; he sounds the alarm in Zion; he earnestly expostulates with formal and lukewarm professors; but he neglects not to apply the balm, of healing; he arouses to alarm that he may speak more substantial peace; and his earnest expostulations are the pleadings of benevolence, tender as it is enlightened. The most pious cannot peruse his appeals without feeling a holy jealousy of himself; and while impelled to self-examination, he will be animated to go forward in faith and obedience. The careless, and those that are at ease in Zion, can scarcely turn over these pages without being aroused from their stupor, and driven to serious anxious enquiry. The declining may happily, by the instrumentality of this volume, be recovered out of the snare of the devil; nor are those who have backslidden furthest from the ways of God likely to close the book in despondency: they will indeed see their characters faithfully depicted, but will be convinced that they are not shut out from mercy and from hope. Most salutary might be the influence of such a volume, were it widely circulated among our churches, and most happy should we be to see it in every church-member's posses

sion.

It would be going too much into detail to give an analysis of the Lectures in this volume, and it would be scarcely fair to the author to offer extracts as specimens of his work; as his is a work which must be judged of, not by isolated quotations, but by its continuous excellence. It may be proper, however, to say, that three Lectures are devoted to the Epistle addressed to the church at Ephesus, two to that to Smyrna, one to that

to Pergamos. The Epistles to the churches at Thyatira and Sardis occupy each two Lectures. Three are given in illustration of that addressed to Philadelphia, and two of that to Laodicea; and a concluding Lecture cursorily glances at the subsequent history of the seven churches, but is principally occupied with some judicious remarks arising out of a general review of the whole, in which the nature and order of the primitive churches are well described, and the danger of declension in the best constituted churches is faithfully exhibited.

It is not to be expected that a volume of nearly 500 pages should be without fault; and we suppose a review which should not -point out some instances of fault would be considered very defective. A principal complaint we have to utter, respects the disproportion in the exposition of the different passages in the author's text. We will take as an example the Epistle to Philadelphia, which consists of seven verses. (Rev. iii. 7--13.) In this case, the address of the Epistle, ver. 7. occupies a whole Lecture. A second Lecture is occupied with the state and character of the church, as described in ver. 8. And into a third are thrown the privileges of the church, the exhortation addressed to it, and all the inducements by which it is enforced, comprising the subject of four verses, v. 9--12. We felt particular regret, when arriving at that interesting passage contained in ver. 12, and found scarcely four pages in illustration of it. We have thought also that the author might have discovered some more particular connection between the attributes which the Saviour selects as descriptive of himself in his addresses to the respective churches, and the characters of those churches; as well as between the state and character of the churches, and the promises with which, in conclusion, he encourages each of them. In estimating the character of the churches, we know not that we should, with our author, have pronounced that of Philadelphia the most prosperous, which had at best the praise of " a little strength," when Smyrna was the object of unqualified approbation. As to the Laodiceans, we are inclined to doubt whether their doctrinal views were incorrect; it appears to us that their self-conceit more probably consisted of a sort of evangelical Pharisaism,---a boast of orthodoxy, associated with spiritual pride. In this Lecture, we confess we expeeted also to find the anointing of the Spirit illuminating the mind, exhibited as the leading idea in the blessing so emphatically described as 66 eye-salve, that thou mayest see." The style furnishes us with scarcely any opportunity of critical remark. A few plurals are perhaps used in unclassical taste, ---" their states,' »" their conditions;" now and then a word or a phrase might be amend

ed, as "worldlings," externals," 12 and

"outside religion." But as these are almost all the cases of incorrectness, so they but seldom occur.

These are but slight blemishes, and perhaps it was unnecessary to particularize them. We add a single extract from the work, not, as we have already said, as a specimen, but to meet the expectations of our readers. Of many passages that we marked for this purpose, some of the most animated are not sufficiently brief. From a work so equal in its execution, no single quotation can appear to advantage; and we are by no means sure that we have selected a passage the most adapted to exhibit the spirit and style of the Lectures. We have been regulated in our selection by a desire to follow up the spirit of the remarks we made at the commencement of our review.

"Now, from these statements it is evident, that such as have a name to live, and are dead, are likely to injure the cause of truth and the souls of men. When the heart is not right, the life and conduct are a lie; they by no means exhibit Christianity in its true nature and proper lineaments. The holy religion of the gospel, however zealously professed, is but very partially and imperfectly exemplified. If, then, my hearers, any of you are characterized by lifeless formality, the evil consequences are likely to be incalculable in their extent: for spiritual Christians will be pained by the view of your lamentable defects; worldly persons, who are infidels in heart, will conclude that professors are no better than themselves, and that surely there is little reality in religion; while your ignorant friends, regarding you as safe patterns, taking their ideas of Christianity from your partial exemplification of it, and thinking that all will be well if they only have as much religion as appears in you, will be encouraged and confirmed in their fatal misconceptions and errors. But oh how can we reply when it is asked, what influence the character of a nominal Christian will have on his own family, whose ideas and habits are in a great degree formed and modified by his own? I have often thought those who maintain a form of religion, and outwardly' abstain from gross vices, but are not really influenced by the doctrines of revelation, nor conformed to the spirit and precepts of the gospel, are of all characters the most dangerous. An avowed enemy to religion is known, and a hearty exemplary Christian is sure to be useful; but a cold formalist, or lifeless professor, diffuses a fatal contagion around him, while by many he is unsuspected of evil. We need not wonder, therefore, that our Lord should highly dis approve, and be greatly offended with, those who have only a name that they live."

We have read this volume with the highest Christian satisfaction, and can recommend it with fullest confidence to pious individuals of all persuasions.

A Short History of the Church of Christ, from the close of the Sacred Narrative to our own Times. Designed for the use of Schools, or of those Persons to whom the size of the Church History of the late Mr. Milner (should that valuable Work ever be completed,) would be an objection. By the Rev. JOHN FRY, B. A. Duncan. 12s. 8vo. pp. 614. 1825.

WORKS on Ecclesiastical History, written with a tolerable degree of accuracy and candour, can scarcely be multiplied to too great an extent; in as far as they contribute, more, perhaps, than any other class of writings, to the increase of useful knowledge, and to the settlement of religious belief. It is in this appropriate mirror, when its surface is sufficiently polished, that we see reflected the real character of particular Christian communities; and thus it is, that, by an induction which Bacon himself could not have disputed, we are enabled to trace a nearer or more remote coincidence with the word of God. However much obscurity may be thought, in certain quarters, to hang over the long agitated question of Ecclesiastical Polity, it must be admitted by all, "who profess and call themselves Christians," that the visible forms of Christianity are intended to subserve the propagation of its great doc trines, and the diffusion of its unequalled morality.

Let this test be invariably regarded, let all foreign interests be excluded in the ap. plication of the test, and we are strongly inclined to believe that the road to primitive order and discipline, will every day become more convincingly obvious. In the meantime, we have no hesitation in affirming, that the mere polity of a church is totally unimportant and without value, except so far as it facilitates the march of truth and holiness. These are the only considerations which engage the solicitude of the Great Master, and in proportion as a primitive spirit obtains among his disciples, all other considerations will recede from their view as foreign to the interests of a "kingdom which is not of this world."

The plan of Mr. Fry's history deserves high commendation, and corresponds, in almost every particular, with that of the celebrated Milner. It is, however, more complete than his, in as far as it extends to the present times, and includes a very ample review of the efforts which have recently been made for the spread of Christianity throughout the world. The work, upon the whole, breathes a liberal spirit, though it must be confessed, that it looks with great favor upon the English Church, as by law established. This is nothing more, perhaps, than might have been expected from a clergyman attached to the national form of religion, not more by education and habit than by conscience and deliberate choice. VOL. IV.

We wish the Puritans had been looked upon with greater interest; and yet even here we dare not complain, for they have met with kinder treatment from Mr. F., than they have usually been accustomed to. It would be most unjust not to admit that Mr. F. has written in the spirit of enlightened candour. The young cannot but profit by this most comprehensive volume. We wish it a wide circulation, and cannot doubt its tendency to promote the interests of pure and undefiled religion.

1. England Enslaved by her own Slave Colonies. An Address to the Electors and People of the United Kingdom. By JAMES STEPHEN, Esq. Hatchard and Son. pp. 92. 1826.

2. Negro Slavery. An Address to the Clergy of the Established Church, and to Christian Ministers of every Denomination.

3. An Address to the Inhabitants of Europe, on the Iniquity of the Slave Trade; ISSUED BY THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, commonly called Quakers, in Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by W. Phillips, George-yard, Lombard-street. pp. 16.

4. Third Report of the Committee of the Society for the Mitigation and gradual Abolition of Slavery throughout the British dominions. Read at a special Meeting of the Members and Friends of the Society, held (on the 21st of December, 1825,) for the purpose of petitioning Parliament on the subject of Slavery. With Notes, and an Appendix. Hatchard and Son. pp. 36. 1826.

THE activity of the public press, single-handed and alone, must, ere long, demolish the hateful system of slavery, in spite of the cool indifference of some, and the active and interested opposition of others. The leaven of truth has insinuated itself into the minds of the reflecting and humane throughout this great community, and the period is not far distant when the colonies themselves must listen to the voice of reason, of conscience, and of uncompromising authority. It is, at the present crisis, incumbent upon every man, especially upon every Christian man, to stand prepared, whenever the British parliament shall assemble, to do his duty. Let the sentiments of the whole nation be laid before the legislative assembly; let those sentiments be properly digested, and temperately expressed; and thus let the hands of government be strengthened in carrying into effect its own system of melioration. We have always been friends to a gradual and temperate abolition of slavery; but we are thoroughly satisfied that the entire improvement must originate with the G

government and people of this country. Had the colonists been abolitionists in principle or in fact, legislative enactments might, long, ere now, have been rendered unnecessary.

The pamphlets before us are most valuable, as containing an accumulation of facts and arguments illustrative of the injustice, impolicy, cruelty, and inveteracy, of colonial slavery.

Mr. Stephen's appeal is in his own best style,-energetic, lucid, conclusive, and withal, as it ought to be, uncompromising, on the great questions of liberty, humanity, and religion. We hope all "who glory in the old appellation of whigs," as well as those whom their opponents designate by the less popular name of "tories," will take the trouble of perusing this most luminous, constitutional, eloquent, and, we will add, Christian Essay.

The address to Christians at the close cannot but find its way to the heart. It is as follows:-

"Servants of God, of every description, my last and surest appeal is made to you. Of whatever faith you are, Churchmen, Dissenters, Catholics, Theists of every kind, if you believe that there is a God, the common Parent of the human race, who delights in justice and mercy, behold a cause that demands your strenuous support. The slavemasters would craftily divide you. They would avail themselves of your theological differences, and especially would persuade you, if they could, that those who earnestly maintain this cause of God and man, are all fanatics and enthusiasts. But what creed will be found to countenance a system like theirs, when its true nature is developed? Even the Mahometan faith proscribes it, though in a much milder form, except as a scourge for unbelievers.

"What then! is it pushing religious zeal too far to say, that innocent fellow-creatures ought not to be left in a perpetual hereditary slavery? That unoffending men, women, and children, ought not to be deprived of all civil and human rights, and condemned to toil for life, like cattle, under the whips of the drivers? Is it enthusiasm to hold, that a slavery so rigorous as to have destroyed thousands and tens of thousands of its victims, in our sugar colonies, and which is still so fatal, that the most prolific of the human race cannot maintain their number in it, ought to be lenified by law? Is it fanaticism to regard a bondage, imposed by açkowledged crime, as one that cannot be rightfully protracted, and fastened on the progeny for ever? Then let religion and wrong, religion and cruelty, religion and murder, shake hands. The Thurtells and Proberts among us may claim to be rational religionists, and rail at their prosecutors as saints, enthusiasts, and fanatics. Perhaps,

indeed, they do so; for it seems to be the fashion to stigmatize, by these terms, every degree of moral sensibility that exceeds our own."-p. 88.

The second article is addressed to the ministers of Christ, of all denominations, and ought to be read by them and acted upon. If the priesthood do their duty, slavery cannot be upheld. The multum in parvo is greatly regarded in this paper, it being a condensation of the entire moral bearings of the question.

The Appeal of the Friends has in it all the qualities for which they are so much distinguished. "The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," observes this benevolent people," is a system of peace, of love, of mercy, and of good will. The slave trade is a system of fraud and rapine, of violence and cruelty. The Author of our salvation, when he took upon him our nature, set us a perfect example of piety and virtue. He went about doing good to the bodies and souls of men. He taught his disciples, that the evil dispositions and passions of man are not to be indulged, but that they are to be restrained by the power of his Spirit acting upon the soul. His parables teach us the happy effects of a religious life. His miraculous cures bespeak a tender compassion for the sufferings and afflictions of man. His dis

courses inculcate disinterested genuine humanity. The man who traffics in the lives and liberties of his fellow-beings, goes forth to gratify the malevolent passions of selfishness and avarice: he does violence to all the tender feelings of humanity, and spreads around him distress and terror. Our blessed Redeemer taught us pure, impartial justice, in this plain but most important language, All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."", It is to the honour of the Friends, that slavedealers, or slave-holders, cannot be members of their denomination.

Finally, we call the attention of our readers to the Third Report" of the Society for the Mitigation and gradual Abolition of Slavery." It was read in Free-Masons' Hall, on the 21st December, 1825, to a crowded auditory, and, with the speeches delivered on the occasion produced a very powerful effect. It is an able Report, and is founded mainly on facts which the colonists themselves have been impolitic enough to disclose,-facts which cannot but awaken, in every generous bosom, the ardent wish that slavery were no more. May He who has made of one blood all men that dwell upon the face of the earth, arise and plead his own cause!

We are happy to learn, that Petitions to Parliament against Slavery are now receiving the general sanction of the public.

conse

IN the Introduction the Author gives the following statement of the objects at which he has aimed:-"Two objects have been kept chiefly in view: the one, to consider the state of Prophecy in the several periods of its dispensation; the other to reduce to some definite form, the proof of its inspiration and divine prescience. The first object has led me to trace the bistory of prophecy as it lies at large in the Scripture Volume: the second has led me to state, what kind of predictions will answer to the character of divinely-inspired Prophecies, and quently will possess a decisive and independent evidence of their Inspiration." The various and extended discussions are comprised in twelve discourses. The first of these discourses is employed in treating of the Christian evidences in general, and the connexion of Prophecy with the rest:-the second, in considering the moral contents of the prophetic volume, as distinguished from its predictions:-in the four next the structure of Prophecy is considered, and the course of its dispensation:-in the six last, the author examines its inspiration and prescience.

This work may certainly be pronounced a masterly production. The writer is evidently a man of vigorous mind, accustomed to efforts of clear and sound reasoning. He displays the result of extensive reading, and deep thinking, on a great variety of subjects involved in this most important part of the evidences of divine revelation.

Of the predictions, which may be brought to the severest test, and of which the accomplishment appears most strikingly obvious, Mr. Davison selects the three following:The prophecy which predicts the establishment of the Gospel; that which foreshows the rejected and outcast condition of the Jewish people; and that which describes the great corruption of Christianity under the dominion of the Church of Rome. Under each of these there is much valuable elucidation, and much force of argument. We think, however, that under the first, Mr. Davison has not done full justice to that ample and most explicit part of the prophecy which relates to the character and the history of the Saviour.

We regret the near approach which he has made to the opinions of Bishop Warburton, as to the omission, in the writings of Moses, of a reference to a future and eternal life, and as to the absence of that article of faith in the creed of believers at that period. Of what value was the first promise, or the institution of sacrifice itself-if there was a total absence of encouragement

to hope for redemption and salvation in the very highest sense? Or, how could it be said, that Abraham and his believing descendants confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers upon earth, looking for a better, even a heavenly country? Does not this statement imply that they understood the promises subsequently recorded in the Pentateuch, and illustrated by the sacrificial observances, as having a reference beyond the present life! If the gospel was announced to Abraham, as the apostle asserts, must we not necessarily conclude that it authorized and inspired the hope of eternal redemption? We cannot recommend the volume before us as unexceptionably correct in its theological statements or reasonings, but we can strongly recommend to the attention of our readers the course of argument which is pursued in proof of the divine authority of Scripture.

BRIEF SKETCHES OF BOOKS.

1. Motives for the Religious Education of the Poor: A Sermon preached at the Parish Church of St. Mary's, Islington, in aid of the Islington Parochial Schools, in connection with the National Society. To which is prefixed, a Pastoral Address. By DANIEL WILSON, A. M. Vicar of Islington. Wilson, Essex-st. Strand. We have read this Sermon, and its Preface, with the greatest pleasure, because they display that solicitude for the salvation of the souls of men which so well accords with the high vocation of the minister of Christ. There is much useful advice in the Pastoral Address, on the awfully interesting topics of family prayer and the sanctification of the Lord's day. Whether the former of these duties be as currently regarded as Mr. W. intimates at the 8th page, may, with some, be matter of doubt. We by no means think that the practice has become so general" as to warrant the language Mr. W. has here adopted. Indeed we fear that family prayer is mournfully neglected by not a few even who frequent his faithful ministry. Sermon, which follows the Preface, presents a very lively picture of the sad consequences resulting from abandoning youth to its own wayward course, and furnishes a strong argument in support of education in general, and religious education in particular. The text is very appropriate" A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." We should rejoice to see all the ministers of every parish as faithful and devoted as Mr. Wilson.

The

2. Sephora; a Hebrew Tale, descriptive of the country of Palestine, and of the Manners and Customs of the ancient Israelites. 2 vols. price 14s. Hatchard and Son.

It is

These volumes belong to a class of publications which require, in general, to be narrowly inspected. The taste of the age is almost formed on fictitious representations, and the appetite for such mental food has become unnatural, and even voracious. somewhat dangerous to commend the best productions of this particular school, in as far as they all tend too much to foster an overwrought and unprofitable excitement. The writer of this tale seems to have been aware of all this, and has done as much as could have been done to avoid the evil complained of. A very considerable acquaintance with eastern habits and Jewish custom runs through these volumes, and renders them, to readers of the sacred narrative, peculiarly interesting. We consider the sentiment here expressed very unexceptionable, and the style of writing unusually animated, elegant, and full of incident. It will be interesting to our readers to know, that the widow of Nain, and her miraculously restored Some son, are the prominent subjects of the tale.