gumentation, which, though useful in its place, and not always uninstructive, is not at all times well understood, and can but seldom be generally attractive. They allure the reader to a wholesome repast, which combines virtuous feeling with the decorations of style, and with an infinite respect for religious truth, indicates no small intimacy with several sources of human learning. Indeed we cheerfully give our approbation to the spirit, and style, and knowledge for which this book is distinguished.

The author has given to these compositions the title of Lectures, but it is necessary to know that they do not come well under that denomination; and the text which is placed at the head of each discourse is rather a key to a knowledge of its general spirit, than the particular subject on which the writer speaks. This is somewhat of a novel way of treating religious matters, and is no doubt attended with circumstances that may be held as advantageous, and with others of an opposite nature. It may give free scope to the development of individual talent in the way of good writing, and allow of the concentration of a greater variety of facts and ideas for illustration or for ornament; though, on the other hand, it may fail of the interest that is naturally generated by unity of subject, and a close discussion of any par.icular point.

As we have already stated, we value highly the religious truths and devotional feelings with which this creditable volume is replenish ed; and we cannot think but with pleasure on that happy and peaceful frame of mind which a study of it is fitted to induce, that moral culture which enlivens and purifies our sympathies, and that divine instruction which elevates our prospects, and strengthens equally our wishes and our hopes. Composi

tions such as this, such as are solicitous mainly for the establishment in the minds of men of sound morals and heavenly truth, while they disdain not to employ the inferior, but sometimes not less necessary accompaniment of rhetorical beauty and laboured periods, are much wanted. It is only thus, by making useful knowledge wear those colours that are apt to strike gay and thoughtless youth, or to arrest the attention of riper minds, whose habits of thought have been perverted by a course of pernicious reading, that many unthinking individuals may be awakened to a knowledge of their unhappy state.

The Pleasures of Religion have been divided into twelve Lectures, the contents of which are, "The pleasures which constitute true happiness; the pleasures of a good conscience; the pleasures of an enlightened intellect; the pleasures arising from the exercise of the affections in religion; the pleasures of obedience to the will of God; the pleasures of prayer and of praise; the pleasures of the Sabbath; the pleasures arising from the doctrine of divine providence; the pleasures of hope; the pleasures of doing good; the pleasures of the heavenly state; the pleasures of early piety."

These various heads constitute admirable topics either for the display of literary talent, or for the application of those divine admonitions, and that powerfully descriptive language, which paint the joys of paradise, and warn men of incurring the pains of hell. The stupendous scenes of happiness and woe, which revelation discloses to the mind of man, provide ample scope for those magic charins of language and of thought which, beyond all others, overwhelm or enrapture the imagination. There is perhaps no kind of writing more rich than this in the sources of li

terary beauty and sublimity, where the heart may be gained by the most soothing expostulations, and the understanding won over by arguments the most impressive and the most convincing. But the reader himself shall judge that our remarks on this head have very strong grounds on which to rest. The taste and talents of the writer also will be made known by the few extracts which follow.

The following passage, taken from "the pleasures which constitute true happiness," we consider as conducted in a manner extremely judicious, and the style and language of the piece we look on as at once lively and engaging. The remarks are derived from a view of the sensitive nature of man.

"With regard to the pleasures of the senses, two of the most celebrated sects of Grecian philosophers-the Epicureans and the Stoics-maintained opinions directly at variance with each other, while both were

at variance with the truth. The Epicu. reans taught, that happiness consists primarily in the pleasures of the senses; the Stoics contended, that to the pleasures of the senses we ought to cherish the most perfect indifference that sensitive pleasure is not in the least a good, and that the feel. ing of pain is not in itself an evil. Both these systems are radically false; and it has been well observed, that if the philosophy of Epicurus err more grossly, the philosophy of the Stoical school, though it err more sublimely, is still but a sublime error.' To require us to be alike indifferent to pleasure and to pain, is to proceed on entire ignorance of the very constitution of human nature, and of the benevolent design of its Author. Do we not derive a most powerful argument in proof of the benevolence of the Deity, from the admirable adaptation of the world around us, to the structure of our corporeal frame, and especially to the delicate and susceptible organs of sensation? Had not God designed, by this arrangement, to promote even our sensitive gratification, as Dr. Paley justly observes, he might have made every thing we tasted bitter, every thing we saw loathsome, every thing we touched a sting, every smell offensive, and every sound a discord.' Since, on the contrary, in the exuberance of his goodness, he has rendered every organ of sensation an inlet to delight, it

would betray culpable ingratitude, as well as pitiable delusion, to cherish a spirit of Stoical apathy and indifference. • He who has lavished on us so many means of delight, as to make it impossible for us, in the ordinary circumstances of life, not to be sensitively happy in some greater or less degree, has not made nature so full of beauty that we should not admire it. He has not poured fragrance and music around us, and strewed with flowers the very turf on which we tread, that our heart may not rejoice, as we move along-that we may walk through this world of loveliness with which we should have traversed unwith the same dull eye and indifferent soul, varied scenes, without a colour, or an odour, or a song.'

"Since, however, the pleasures of the senses are, by the majority of mankind, pursued with undue ardour, and indulged

to criminal excess, it is important to keep

in mind the limitations, within which alone they can be legitimately enjoyed, and within which alone they can be conducive to our happiness. They are contributory to our happiness, only when they are not purchased at the expense of health, or peace, or principle; when they are enjoyed with a temperance and moderation, which will guard against the danger of impairing our capacity for nobler pleasures; when they of heart to the bounteous Giver of all good; are the occasion of calling forth gratitude and when we are prepared to resign them at his call, and, without hesitation or repining, to practise self-denial in every instance which conscience and duty may demand."

The next extract that follows turns upon feelings which all, we believe, have experienced in those days of infant hope and balmy joy, when their nature had not been degraded by any impure wish, and when every prospect in life seemed to be so calm and lovely. How many have looked back, with hearts swelling with emotions of painful pleasure, at the remembrance of those happy days, when as yet they knew not of the storms to overwhelm them that passion might produce, and when disappointment and vexation had not blasted their hopes and broken their spirits! And, above all, how delightful was the Sabbath then! The aspirations of gratitude which rose to heaven on

the morning of that holy day were not repressed by a heart cold with indifference, or a conscience scared with crime; and the very skies and light were purer, the air more refreshing, and the earth enjoyed a stiller repose. These are images that cling to the memory of the unfortunate, and embitter, while they sooth their recollections, when all is darkening around, and crime and sorrow sinking them to the grave,

"The Sabbath invites us to a pleasurable contemplation of those grand events which it is the design of the day to com. memorate.

“The reason assigned for the original institution of the Sabbath is in these words: In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.' Do you wonder that the Sabbath should have been appointed, in special commemoration of a work so stupendous and so glorious? Think of the power of him whose will to create effected the work of creation; who out of non-existing materials produced the globe which we inhabit, and the globes by which we are surrounded; who spake and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast.' Think of the goodness of him whose tender mercies are over all his works; and say, whether such transcendent and exuberant goodness in alliance with such power, demand not a frequent and a grateful commemoration? Say, whether a day, appropriated to this express purpose, should not be, on its every return, welcome and pleasurable? Should it not be our delight thus to acknowledge, that the world in which we dwell is his world, that we our selves are not so much our own as his, and that the services which on this day he justly claims, it is our high delight to render? Should there not be ever springing up within us a feeling in full accordance with the emotions of him, who called upon all nature to become vocal in Jehovah's praise? • Praise ye him, all his angels; praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon; praise him, all ye stars of light. Let them praise the name of the Lord; for he commanded, and they were created. Let them praise the name of the Lord; for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heavens !'

"But there has been achieved a work of still greater magnitude and still greater glory, than even that which it was the original design of the Sabbath to keep in com

memoration.

Behold,' saith Jehovah,

I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice in that which I create; for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.' The renewal and recovery of a world of immaterial and immortal souls is a work still more glorious in its nature, and far more momentous and joyous and permanent, in its results, than the creation of the material universe. At the first erection of the fair and beauteous fabric of nature, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.' With exulting and adoring delight, they beheld the heavens displaying the glory of their Lord, and the firmament showing forth the work of his hands. Ever since has it been their pleasurable employ to contemplate the works and ways of him, whose they are and whom they serve. With their intellectual energies, and their unbounded field of contemplation, and their

nearness of access to the uncreated source of wisdom, how splendid and how blissinspiring must have been, even at an early period of their existence, their attainments in knowledge: but now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places is to be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.'-Be astonished, O ye heavens; wonder, O earth; He who formed our world came and dwelt in it; he who created man, himself became man; he who breathed into man the breath of life, himself expired in the agonies of death; he who, when standing on the side of the tomb, said, with commanding and lifegiving energy, to him who had been dead four days, Come forth!' was himself laid in the sepulchre. But in the sepulchre he could not be long detained. In full triumph over death, and him that had the power of death, he rose on the morning of the first day of the week, thus giving full evidence that his atoning sacrifice was accepted by God the Father, and that, by the blood of his cross, he had obtained eternal redemption for us.' Well might the first day of the week receive, from that most glorious of events, a new and appropriate designation; well might the Lord's day' be elevated to the distinction of the Christian Sabbath. This is the day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad therein.' This is the day which the primitive Christians, guided by apostolic example, and animated by every grateful and joyous impulse of the heart, consecrated to the honour of their risen and glorified Lord. This is the day on which the Holy Spirit descended, with all his wonder-working powers, on the assembly of the worshipping and expecting disciples. This is

the day on which his enlightening, convincing, and renovating influence has in every age been most abundantly enjoyed, when even two or three have agreed together to implore, in the name of the exalted Saviour, this heavenly gift. This is the day on which the work of the new creation has been carried on with the most rapid and most signal advancement. This is the day on which benignant angels, who rejoice in the repentance of a sinner, have had most frequent and abundant occasions of delight and praise. Then, Oh my Christian friends, let the Sabbath of the Lord,let the day sacred to the honour of the Saviour-be ever to you a day of holy rejoicing. Let it be the utterance of your habitual feelings, when you call the Sabbath a delight.' Let your very first moments, on the morning of this holy day, be moments of pleasurable anticipation and grateful praise; so that with your inmost soul you may be prepared to sing,

around him surpassed in beauty every poetic vision of Elysian fields. The ground produced, without the necessity of toil, an abundant supply of agreeable and nutritious fruit. Innumerable diversities of colours, of odours, of flavours, and of sounds, were fitted to regale every sense, and to render every object conducive to delight. Characteristically different, and incompa. rably superior, may we suppose to be the happiness provided in the world above for disembodied spirits of the human race, and for angelic spirits never designed for a dwelling place of flesh and blood. Vain would be, on our part, the attempt to conceive distinctly of a world adapted to orders of spiritual intelligences, whose modes of perception and communication and enjoyment are perfectly independent of corporeal organs. But the world which is prepared for the future and eternal abode of the redeemed of our race, the world on which they shall enter when the invitation of the text shall be pronounced, must be a world adapted for the blessedness of glorified spirits, inhabiting glorified bodies. • When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall the trumpet sound, and the dead shall be raised, incorruptible, and the living shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality, since flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.-It is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual

"To the glory of that world, which is to be the scene of future blessedness.

That it will be admirably adapted to impart delight to those for whose residence it is designed, we may be assured from the emphatic language of the text, and from the interpretation arising out of the circumstances under which these words shall be pronounced: When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The paradise in which man was originally placed, was admirably adapted to every desire and every capacity of his corporeal constitution. The scenery

shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious body.' All that partakes of the nature or imperfection, incumbrance, and impediment, shall be no more; and the body, now spiritual, shall be so constituted as to facilitate the activities and to heighten the enjoyments of the perfected spirit. How glorious then must be the world fitted to be an appropriate and adequate sphere of pleasurable existence to human beings, now bearing resemblance to angels, and even displaying, in all its unsullied purity, the moral image of their God!

"On him who speaks in the text, and who speaks from the throne of his glory, devolved the mighty task both of preparing a world of blessedness for its destined inhabitants, and of preparing the inhabitants for the world of blessedness. Before l'aradise was lost-before Eden was planted - before the foundation of the world was laid,' the wondrous plan of human redemption was formed and matured in the counsels of heavenly wisdom and heavenly love. • Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us

with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.' Blessed be the Son of his love, who undertook the amazing and unrivalled enterprise of rescuing from deserved perdition, a multitude which no man can number of our apostate race, and of preparing for them a world worthy of the resources he possessed, the expectations he excited, the love he displayed, and the sufferings he endured. When about to quit the world which had been the scene of his voluntary sorrows, he said to his disconsolate follow ers, I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.' Who, my brethren, can tell by what marvellous and unparalleled process of power, of wisdom, and of love, he is now engaged, in the regions of glory, in carrying forwards to completeness that preparation! When 1 am directed to conceive of a course of pre

paration on the part of him, by whom all things were called into existence Who spake and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast'-when I consider that ⚫ in six days he created heaven and earth, and all that in them is,' and that now eighteen centuries have rolled away, since these words were spoken by the Saviour, and still the preparation is advancing; my mind is overwhelmed with the mingled emotions

of astonishment and delight, and with rapturous anticipations, would I be looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appear ing of the great God, even our Saviour, who shall at length address to the objects of his dying, and his reigning love, this invitation, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from

the foundation of the world.'

"And will not the blessedness of the kingdom prepared by the Son of God, bear a proportion to his own transcendent dignity and unparalleled merit, as our Redeemer, and our Lord? Had the progenitor of our race retained his integrity and persevered in obedience, would he not have secured to his latest posterity, in virtue of his federal relation, an inheritance of blessedness? Is it then possible to form too elevated an idea of that happiness which shall be provided for the heirs of salvation, in virtue of their relation to him who appoints to them a kingdom which is the recompense of his own obedience unto death? When, in reading the magnificent descriptions of the glory of that kingdom, we are almost apt to imagine the picture to be over-drawn; when we are ready to say of the representations of heavenly blessedness, this seems too much to expect too good

and too great to be realized by any of our race, when it appears almost presumptuous and unwarrantable to anticipate felicity so rapturous and so glorious; then, let us remember, that it is a happiness procured by the meritorious obedience and sufferings of the incarnate Son of God, and intended to be of such a character, that in respect of the blessedness, as well as of the multitude, of the redeemed, he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.' What shall we not venture to expect on reading such expressions as these, The glory which thou gavest me I have given them.

To him that overcometh, I will grant to sit down with me on my throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne.- All things are yours, for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.'

"

On the whole, we have much pleasure in recommending to the notice of the pious reader this excellent production, a perusal of which will evidently tend to confirm his faith, and give energy and character to his religious conduct.

Of the style and language we have already spoken in favourable terms, and their general merits ena ble us to do so. There are now and then, however, some expressions to be met with which we think are not in the best taste, and which the author will do well to pay some attention to. The word awful, for example, is sometimes employed to qualify nouns, which no classical use of it can at all justify and so on of other words. But criticisms like these may be considered as trifling where there is so much ex, cellence to admire.

The Duty of Stated and Select Fellowship briefly inculcated and directed. Paisley, 1823. Pref. i, Fp. 44.

In the preface to this most seasonable and well written little treatise, it is truly stated, that "as personal religion is the first requisitę