Art. VII. Directions and Encouragements for Travellers to Zion: be ing an earnest and affectionate Address to professing Christians in general, on several important Subjects. By Joseph Freeston. 8vo. pp. 318. Price 5s. 6d.

NOTWITHSTANDING the quaintness of the title, this

is a volume of considerable merit, and one from the perusal of which every pious reader may gain much useful instruction. It is made up of a series of addresses, in the form of distinct chapters, upon the following subjects.

On the important change effected in the situation of the real Christian. On the invaluable privileges which Christians enjoy in the present life.-On the necessity of close attention to inward personal religion.--On the importance of domestic and relative duties. -On a proper attention to public duties.-On the necessity of maintaining a character for uprightness in the world.-How to improve afflictions and other adversities.-How to recover lost peace of mind.-Short directions for walking with God.-On heavenlymindedness and guarding against undue love of the world.—Ŏn seeking the salvation of others.-On death and the heavenly state. -Address to unbelievers and backsliders.-The true Christian a spiritual person.-On progressive holiness.-Meditation on the death of a beloved child. On religious declension.-On the doubts and fears of Christians.'

These subjects are handled throughout in a familiar and plain style; and are illustrated by copious references to the Scriptures, and by interesting extracts from a great variety of authors. In introducing these practical and experimental essays to the reader's attention, the Author says, he is daily expecting to be called to his eternal home, and it has been in the Dearest view of eternity, that he has penned the following Address. He has but little expectation of either pleasing or profiting any besides plain and serious minds. Such can overlook the defects of composition; and if the matter does but suit them, they do not much regard the manner.'-Preface, p. 5.

Religious experience is a theme not always treated in the most judicious manner, even by divines of eminence. And when men of education and taste look at the fool's coat in which some, both from the pulpit and the press, have dressed up their experience, they are induced to think but lightly of all that passes under that name; and sometimes, the religion itself with which these fooleries have been associated, has been brought into disrepute. But men of a bolder character, and more malignant intentions, have found here an inexhaustible source of ridicule. Too often such men have imagined, that by holding up these weaknesses and deformities to public scorn, they have thoroughly exploded the doctrine of expe

rience, and even manfully reasoned down the whole system of faith with which it stands connected.

To the more grave and reasonable of the objectors to the doctrine of religious experience, we beg leave to offer a few remarks. The sentiment we would wish them deliberately, or, if they please philosophically, to review is this: that revealed religion, when it becomes, in a man's conscience and heart, the prevailing system of belief, must be productive of what is generally understood among pious Christians, by experience. A wide field of illustration and argument presents itself in those analogies which are furnished by every department of our intellectual and moral constitution. Science also gives abundant countenance to the principle in question. The philosophy which is founded on experience, is the only philosophy, which, in the present age, we are allowed to value. The highest attainments are not possessed at once, and excellence, in any intellectual operation, is most usually the result of experience and habit. Is there then experience in every thing but religion? In intellectual, and natural, and political philosophy, is experience so valuable, and must it be rejected from religion? Is there here nothing to feel, nothing to learn, nothing to enjoy, by experience? Does creation, in all its various departments, and almost infinite details, afford so many illustrations of the power and wisdom of the Supreme Being, and shall the heart of man, which every consistent theist must view as equally subject to Divine control, with every part of material nature, be exempted from the exercise of that moral power, or those spiritual agencies, which in the economy of the world, must be supposed to belong to the great Lord and Head of the system? Have the natural attributes of the Deity their appropriate spheres of operation, and is he either destitute of moral perfections, or have they no appropriate sphere or system of purely moral and spiritual subjects in which they exert their influence, and rule in all the glory of moral supremacy? If, in the human mind, the passions and the will are the secret springs of action, have we not every reason to conclude, that he who formed this mysterious and complex machine, retains in his own hand the power of regulating and touching these springs, at his pleasure?-that he is most likely to operate upon these powers of man by means suited to their na¬ ture, that is, by intellectual means?-and that he no more disdains to let his power, and wisdom, and goodness, be seen in this part of his own works, than in the most minute or most majestic operations of the material world?

But we are not disposed to rest the whole argument here, The doctrine of religious experience is inseparable from the

compound character of man, as an intellectual and moral being; a creature both of reason and affection, and thus capable of moral discipline. He is not wholly affection; for then he would be the mere slave of impulse, and, consequently, could not be accountable, nor in any sense the subject of moral government. His affection would be nothing better than instinct, and its motions involuntary. Neither is he wholly judgement or reason: for then he would be but an intellectual machine, moving with all the certainty and all the sameness of mechanism in this case he would be incapable of either virtue or vice, and incapable of being the subject of a system either of rewards or punishments. But he is made up both of reason and affection; and, admitting him to be an apostate creature, it necessarily follows, that when he is brought under the influence of a sound judgement, it will be at this very point of conjunction between reason and feeling, that a contention will be exhibited: "the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spi"rit against the flesh." It is at this very point, too, that, more or less, all men are conscious of an internal wrestling or striving. And what is religious experience but this very same contention, carried on, not indeed under the mere influence of natural conscience, but with the powerful weapons of a spiritual warfare, and by the mighty aids of Divine grace? Experience is but the variation of the state of the mind, under the influence of external circumstances, in conjunction with the aids of religion. It is the history of the spiritual affections, or of the internal warfare which must exist when an enlightened and sanctified reason has to contend with vicious habits and sensual passions. This state of internal contention is delineated in the Scripture, with a force of imagery and copiousness of illustration, interwoven with the whole texture of Divine truth, abundantly sufficient to convince and instruct those that oppose themselves to the truth. Here, the Christian is a soldier fighting; a scholar learning; a pilgrim travelling; a child advancing to youth, the youth to manhood, the man to old age; all of these images, at once, of change and progression; and referrible, exclusively, to that growth of the principles of Christian belief and feeling, which comes by exercise: this is experience in the sense of Scripture and of every judicious theological writer.

An additional source of argument might be found in the pri mary design and actual constitution of the Gospel. This design is two-fold. The one part is accomplished without our concurrence; the other cannot be. The one part consists in the alteration of our legal condition, the other is the renovation of our personal character. The one part of Christianity,

contemplates the man relatively as he is the subject of a moral dispensation, or as he is obnoxious to the Divine displeasure on account of sin; and from this state he is released by that sacrifice which is said to "redeem us from the curse of the law." But the other part of salvation contemplates man, individually, in his heart and character, in his moral, not his legal state; and it provides remedies, to effect his restoration; or means to "create him anew in Christ Jesus." It reasons, and entreats, and exhorts; it promises, and threatens, and in every respect treats him as a creature both of reason and feeling. In the adaptation of these means to his case, therefore, it evinces at once the most perfect knowledge of his constitution, and the design of proceeding in the work of renovation by the most reasonable and the most effectual methods; by manifestation of the truth to his conscience, and the application of suitable objects to his affections. This is the source of experience. The progressive manifestation of truth to the mind, in connexion with the influence of the objects of hope and fear, necessarily produces changes of feeling; and when these feelings are contemplated as further varied by prosperity or adversity, health or affliction, and all the circumstances of private, domestic, or public life, it will then be seen what is intended by religious experience, and that in fact it is inseparable from a cordial belief in Divine Revelation. To most of our readers these remarks may appear superfluous, especially when viewed in connexion with the truly pious and excellent little volume before us. But our apology for offering them, rests on the very exceptionable character of many publications which come before the world, which treat on religious experience. The one before us is not of the number. That our readers may judge for themselves of the merit of the performance, we make the following extract.

It is one great excellence of the Christian Scriptures, that they are so comprehensive and complete a rule of practice, that every social and relative duty is contained in them, and enforced by them by suitable and energetic motives. They are "a light to our feet and a lamp to our path." They are graciously intended and eminently calculated, not only to regulate practice, but to infuse principles; to direct the affections, to supply the most effective motives, and to form the character to a resemblance of that of their divine master; so that sincere and conscientious readers may find ample instruction in the "word of life," to enable them to conduct themselves in every relation and situation in life, in such a manner as to secure the confidence and esteem of the righteous, and bring honour to the truth and cause of Christ. They begin this moral renovation by first "making the tree good;" that is by renewing the heart; giving a new and right direction to the affections and volitions of the mind, and subduing all the powers of the soul to "the obedience of Christ." They make the glory of God paramount in the design and

aim of the Christian. They require that the will of God be done from the heart; love, grateful love, for pardon gratuitously bestowed, for peace, acceptance enjoyed, for life and hope begotten, for salvation begun, for eternal life promised, is the great exciting and stimulating principle. From hence flows an unconstrained and unreserved obedience. Let the Christian then bear in mind, that whatever relative duties he is required to perform, he must perform them in the fear of God, and for the sake of the Lord Jesus. pp. 34, 35.

Art. VIII. The Memoirs of Miss Emma Humphries, of Frome, Somersetshire, with a Series of Letters to Young Ladies on the In fluence of Religion in the Formation of their Moral and Intellec tual Character; and to Parents on the Religious Education- and the Bereavement of their Children. By T. East. 12mo. Price 5s, Bath. 1817.

WE have perused this little volume with considerable plea

sure. It is written in an easy, correct, and affectionate style; and may be recommended for its practical design and tendency. Had the Author extended his plan, and entered more fully, and in distinct treatises, into the important subjects before him, he would have pleased us, and profited his readers still more. He might for instance, in tracing the influence of religion in the formation of the intellectual and moral character, have pursued it in its effects upon the duties of domestic and social life. This would have presented a field at once so ample and so interesting, that he might safely have addressed one volume to his young readers, and formed his letters to parents, with additional addresses to those engaged in tuition, into another. This, in our opinion, would have been more judicious, than crowding into the small compass of two hundred and eighteen pages 'a Memoir,' a series of Letters to Young Ladies,' and another series to Parents.' As a specimen, however, of the instructive and pleasing manner in which the work is written, we give the following extract upon the pernicious influence of novel reading.

But our strongest objection to novels arises from the influence which they acquire over the heart; and the positive aversion which they produce to devotional exercises. Miss M- received a pious education, and bade fair to emulate the virtues of her mother. In visiting the sick, instructing the ignorant, and forming institutions för the relief of human misery, she appeared to be in her element. Her parents observed with peculiar delight the gradual development of principles, which they fondly expected would give permanent éxcellence to her character. But they were disappointed; the favourite authors were neglected; a little opposition to a proposal which was designed to display her own authority, became the ostensible reason for her relinquishing all her benevolent engagements; every trifling indisposition or occurrence in the family, was urged as an excuse to