pressive strain of eloquent solemnity, Nothing could be more appropriate or striking, especially considering the Preacher's audience, than the whole tenor of the fourth sermon. The text is Prov. xiv. 9." Fools make a mock at sin." We transcribe the close of the discourse, o

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This caution is the more indispensable, because, in the earlier periods of life, the detestable effects of sin are seldom brought home to the conviction by personal observation and experience. youthful mind is, generally, ignorant of the havoc which profligacy and ungodliness are hourly making with the peace of mankind. Wickedness, we know, is the parent of misery; but with misery, youth is but little conversant. Sin, therefore, unless it appear in the shape of some atrocious enormity, some act of open hostility against the established order of human society, is too apt to strike rike young persons as nothing more than a pardonable compliance with the incli nations of a nature which rejects all moral perfection as chimerical. They are consequently tempted to believe that the exact measure of indulgence can never be so important a matter as they find it represented in systems of religion and morality. They suspect that the censures of grave and pious men are dictated by a spirit of uncharitable exaggeration. Where a soul, long familiar with heavenly things, perceives a deadly provocation of the Divine Lawgiver, they see little d but the venial lapses of human frailty. This want of solemn impression, unhappily, leaves the mind sufficiently disengaged to seek amusement in all the grotesque distortions of the human character; in all the curious doublings and mazes of its deviation from rectitude; in b the thousand ludicrous accompaniments which so frequently relieve I the most odious forms of transgression, converting the world into motley assemblage, and imparting to life a sort of dramatic effect and. fect and variety. Hence, the very excesses of vice are, to them, fruitful mirth and diversion. The worst obliquities of character may perhaps excite cite their contempt, but can scarcely ever awaken their sorrow. They are able to extract merriment from almost every infraction of 19 morality, that does not entail positive infamy, or produce immediate and calamitous results. In short, they consider wickedness chiefly ins its fantastic and extravagant exhibitions; seldom in its character and penal consequences. Such is the levity natural to characters as yet untutored by reflection, experience, or suffering! How awful then must be the danger of suffering it to remain uncorrected! To whatį a condition must that mind be hastening, which has never beheld sin in a formidable, or even serious shape: which has remained a stranger to its deformity, has been accustomed to treat it as a laughable wit weakness, and to scoff at all anxiety for its extirpation By persebay a course of pernicious trifling, a man may sooner or later deprive all solemn motives of any hold upon his conscience.!!! He may utterly cut off all retreat from the dwellings of ungodliness to the peace and joy of the kingdom of heaven. He may even destroy within himself every wish for deliverance from his wretched captivity: and when this is the case, to all human apprehension the man is lost; don as braquim bem o 819 bio 27 IVZX 67

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and nothing can recover him but the mighty and especial working of God's Holy Spirit.

J. And where, under heaven, can be found a sight more dreadful than that of an immortal soul approaching the confines of eternity in this state of alienation from the love or fear of God? Let those who in early life are tempted to treat sacred things with derision, consider well the extremity to which the habit may lead them. Let them contemplate the aged scorner, that most hateful of fools, who, having survived his lusts, still cherishes the memory of their dominion whose imagination still clings to evil, till at last he becomes a fanatic in the cause of licentiousness and irreligion, and delights to stifle, with fiend-like mockery, the scruples of hesitating and unpractised vice. This is a spectacle which even youth itself can scarcely look upon without loathing and contempt. There is in that age an instinct which, in the wildest delirium of pleasure, still perceives that gravity and holiness are the appropriate ornaments of the old; and that "the hoary head is a crown of glory," only" if found in the way of righteousness." The loosest votary of youthful indulgence feels, that irreverent sarcasm is odious in the mouth of decrepitude: he shrinks from the exhibition as from something monstrous and unnatural. Let him then remember that he has before him an exact picture of the degradation that must ultimately await him, unless he seasonably bursts the spell of this unhallowed folly. He may see his own future shane portrayed in the person of one, whose boast it is that, on the verge of the grave, at the very threshold of eternity, he can occupy, unconcerned, the seat of the scornful." The spectacle of such depravity is well fitted to awaken the soul to "the terrors of the Lord," who hath prepared judgements for scorners, and stripes for the backs of fools: Is" and thus, by their dreadful example, even the reprobate themselves may be compelled to minister to his glory."

pp. 86-90.

There is a very striking sermon against profaneness, founded on Deut. xxviii. 58, 9., in the course of which the Preacher remarks, that numbers may trace the subversion of their principles to that unblest license of tongue which gradually robs every thing serious and holy of its command over the affec⚫tions. And he places this sin in a very awful but not less just point of view, when he suggests the reflection, whether there is not some alliance between this practice of degrading a the Majesty of Heaven by trifling and irreverent allusion, and sai that sin which has been pronounced by our Lord himself be 03 yond all hope of pardon. Equally solemn and impressive is the next discourse, on the danger of an imperfect repentance, illustrated by the allegory of the demoniac, Matt. xii. 45. all Professor Le Bas rejects the usual interpretation of the parable which applies it to the Jewish nation as a body, as not corres ponding to the fact, as not likely to be understood by ours be Lord's hearers in so refined a meaning, and as incumbered VOL. XXVI. N.S.

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with other difficulties. His exposition of the passage will, we think, strongly incline the reader to the same opinion. Sermon XI. has for its object, to inculcate the principle of a religious "patriotism' on those who have before them the prospect of re moval to a distant country: it is founded on Psalm exxii. 6— 9., and is altogether a beautiful application of the passage. In Sermon XIII., on the office of the Divine Paraclete, the Author, without any parade of criticism, shews himself to be an able and judicious expositor, and at the same time, in the practical use which he makes of the subject, not less the faithful and evangelical minister. Towards the close of the discourse, after shewing that the language in which the agency of the Holy Spirit is spoken of, is utterly incompatible with the notion that it formed only a temporary and perishable part of the Christian dispensation, the Preacher proceeds:→→→

We may, then, rest safely in the assurance that, as mankind have still in heaven an intercessor to plead for them with the Divine Majesty, even the everlasting Son of God; so has the cause and the doctrine of the Redeemer still an advocate on earth, even the Spirit of grace and consolation, who shall maintain and defend the truth against the "prince of this world" unto the end of time.

If, then, these things be so; if the eternal and infinite Spirit, with mysterious condescension, still vouchsafes to plead with sinful men, and to sustain the office of working their conviction as to those things which belong to their peace; with what grateful humility should we surrender ourselves to his guidance! If we sincerely desire to enjoy the benefits of his blessed ministry, we must be careful to maintain a temper and a deportment suited to the majestic character and presence of that heavenly agent. They only are the sons of God, and heirs of his kingdom, who are led by the Spirit of God; who give themselves up to his direction, and obey his holy impulses; for, that the power to disobey those impulses is left us, appears from the urgent exhortations which we find in Scripture to avoid the guilt and danger of resisting and grieving the Spirit of God, by which we are sealed to the day of redemption.'

How should we tremble lest the temple should become desecrated, and should finally be abandoned by its heavenly inhabitant! It is impossible to imagine a more awful incitement to vigilance against the first access of sinful purposes, than t the reflection that we are thus doing despite to the Spirit of grace; that we may thus, at last, provoke him to desert for ever the contaminated abode; to sur. render it to abominations wilfully contracted; and to convert it, from a favoured sanctuary, into a monument of wrath! Let us, then, jealously maintain and fortify all those sacred principles of right, which are appointed to guard the avenues of the heart, and to repel the invasion of evil. If ever it should, by stealth, or sudden as sault, gain admittance, and commence its unholy solicitings, let us remember that the Divine Advocate is at hand to rebuke and to deloed' beunto14 10 2918SUP

feat them. He will not fail us, if we are but true to Him and to ourselves. Let us therefore, on such occasions, instantly turn our attention to those unutterable pleadings, with which He is ready, at all times, to convince us of the evil and danger of sin. He will speak to us in the accents of conscience; he will bring the words of Divine truth to our remembrance; he will quicken and illuminate our understandings; he will, by some mode or other, so work in us, as to make us inexcusable if he works in vain. It is for us, therefore, having such promises, to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." It is ours to watch and pray incessantly, that so we may lose no portion of the sanctifying virtue, and that we may escape the danger of vexing the Holy Spirit, and of converting that mighty vindicator of the truth into an adversary against us. For it must be remembered, that should he in vain convince us of sin, that is, if our conviction should be without reformation, the controversy must end in our being "convinced of judgement," and made partakers of that condemnation which is decreed against the prince of this world.' pp. 313-18.

The ensuing, sermon, on the testimony of St. Paul, is one of the most eloquent and beautiful in the volume. To persons who, like the Galatian teachers, have taken up disparaging notions respecting the character and Divine mission of that wonderful man, as Professor Le Bas justly styles him, this masterly vindication of the validity and force of his testimony may be strongly recommended, as adapted to satisfy every ingenuous inquirer. It will not admit, however, of any detached extract. Sermons xv. and xvi. on Psalm cx. 4. and Heb. iv. 14, 15. were preached before the University of Cambridge: they will be read with interest as an instructive and highly practical exposition of the doctrine of the priestly office of Christ. The extracts we have given will, however, sufficiently recommend the volume. As compositions, these Sermons will be seen to rank very far above th eaverage level: they are worthy of the scholar, and equally creditable to the Author as a divine. They read well, and interest in the perusal. To young men, especially to those who are leaving the country, no sermons could be more appropriate.

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Mr. M'Neile's volume bears the stamp of native eloquence of a different kind, his style is more impassioned, fervent, and declamatory. These Sermons must have been highly impressive, we make no doubt, in the delivery; the more so, from the colloquial freedom by which they are characterized, and for which, in a general way, we are well content to sacrifice some of the appropriate graces and finish of written composition. They are designed to be plain and popular, and they are bold, uncompromising, and faithful, without aiming at the severer qualities of profound theological knowledge or critical research."

They are, as might be expected, unequal, and the phraseology is sometimes peculiar; but the deep-toned and affectionate earnestness of the preacher, added to the evangelical purity of his sentiments, will secure for the volume the warm approbation of the religious public. The following specimen, taken nearly at random, will give our readers a fair idea of its merits.“****

My dear friends, the days of the years of your lives are few : I counsel you to seize upon the life-boat, now while it is called to-day; now while the gospel is preached in your ears; now while the Saviour waits and knocks for admittance to your hearts. "Behold now is the appointed time: behold now is the day of salvation. To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." You have provoked God, who can tell how often? Awake memory, conscience awake, open the book of your past life once again, look, read: you had many advantages and opportunities; you had the Holy Scriptures since your childhood; you received many warnings by sickness, by the death of friends, by the loss of property; you felt and stifled the reproving voice of conscience a thousand and a thousand times; you have profaned the holy temple of the Lord of Hosts, attending it for form sake, or custom sake, or curiosity sake, instead of devotion, sitting in it as a self-complacent critic, instead of a self-condemned sinner; you have disgraced the holy sabbath of the Lord of Hosts doing your own works, writing your own letters, settling your own accounts; some of you absenting yourselves from his worship and joining with your wicked companions to take advantage of that time of rest to work uncleanness with greediness; and whereas the lawful occupations of the week prove some restraint upon you, it may truly be said, that the sabbath, instead of God's day, has been in a peculiar degree, the devil's day with your souls; you have harboured, indulged, recalled impure and licentious imaginations; you have joined in idle, yea, foul conversation; you have sung obscene songs, you have outraged female delicacy; nay, some of you have gloried in your shame, making a boast of your adulteries and fornications; these things have been your delight: again and again, before you retired to rest at the time you should have been reading your Bibles or on your knees before God, you have been like true brethren of Belial busy in your father Beelzebub's work of lust; you have dishonoured your parents and superiors; you have deceived, and defrauded, and slandered your neighbours; all this you have done through the evil days of the years of your lives, and God is a' just God, and God is angry with the wicked every day, God is also a powerful God, able in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye to ex ecute his just judgements against his enemies, None can stay his hand.", Proud hardened sinners live and speak as though they defied God, they harden their necks, they rush as Eliphaz the Tema nite describes them, upon the thick bosses of the Almighty's buckler. But what are they like? They are like heaps of chaff preparing to stand against the whirlwind: they are like nests of ants one upon another into a pile to resist the progress of a waggon