weak is the highest mind, and how easily depressed and paralyzed, if God sees fit to let loose upon him the agency of invisible powers, to act through the defects of Christians, and the depraved passions of the world. No man, whatever his natural powers or attainments, not even a Paul, can for a moment contend with the elements of odium, misunderstanding, unpopularity, and hatred, which God can, through Satanic agencies, in a thousand ways, let loose upon him. The power of a swimmer may be great, but of how little avail would it be against a steady and overpowering current. Eminent men, and successful ministers, of devoted piety, have been for years paralyzed and depressed by undermining suspicions and plots, or by open charges of heresy; and God can easily send on any man domestic trials, or spiritual sufferings too heavy to be endured.

If, then, any are strong, popular, influential, and happy, let them realize that these things are the gift of that

od, whose restraining power dykes out, as it were, the ocean of Satanic hatred that rolls around them, and not be lifted up with a vain conceit of their own energies. It is by the favour of God that their mountain stands strong; if he hides his face, they shall be troubled; if he frowns, they shall faint and fail.

SCRIPTURE READING IN PUBLIC.

SIR,-You have, at times, pointedly referred to, and strongly recommended, the public exposition of the Sacred Scriptures, and have once and again recognised the importance of the good reading, which you have pronounced "better than a bad comment." But I have no recollection of your ever saying anything about the public reading of the Sacred Volume. I take it upon me, therefore, to trouble you with a few thoughts, which have long been in my mind. As to good reading-that is, true reading-the reading which not only impresses the obvious, but which brings fully out the hidden meaning of the inspired Page-there cannot, I presume, be two opinions; it is not of that, however, I would now wish to speak, but of the amount of Scripture reading in the public services of Dissenting Worship. My conviction, then, from a

very careful and prolonged consideration of the subject, is, that the Nonconformist body, as a whole, is, in this point, much at fault. I believe, as a rule, a single chapter, or portion, at each Service, is all that is read. There are exceptions; such, for example, as that of the Rev. John Burnet, of Camberwell, who has seven times gone through the New Testament, with a running exposition, and whose custom it has been to read in both Testaments with such comments. Such teaching as this is, in reality, a process of digging into the mines of Scripture; and the results are, or ought to be, that his congregation is one of the best instructed in Divine things anywhere to be found. I believe, as a rule, amongst us, the reading is without a word of passing comment-a thing of great value, where wisely and competently done. Matthew Henry was wont to call it, "cracking the nuts for the children." Now this I look upon as most unsatisfactory-little more, indeed, than an apology for the neglect of a great duty; just something better than not reading them at all. I need not remind you that nothing can be more unlike primitive worship. The literature of the early Church, as its remaining relics demonstrate, most abundantly illustrates the variety and the copiousness of the primitive readings of the Scriptures. That, indeed, and the Lord's Supper, constituted the great business of each gathering of the faithful. The sermon, or address, was but an accompaniment of these; but in modern times it has become the chief thing. This plan, you will recollect, obtained, and was continued for many generations; and was only broken down when religion became corrupt, and true piety began to decline. The Sacred Scriptures only disappeared when the Christianity of the Apostles died out. The primitive example, then, I submit, has all the force of a rule; what was good, profitable, and necessary then, is so still.

But passing over the night known as the Middle Ages, when the Word of God was not merely ignored, but lost, and the offspring of heathen philosophy placed in its stead, till we reach the happy era of the Reformation, what do we behold? Everywhere unbounded reverence for the Word of God, and the copious reading in public worship of both the Old and the New

I

Testament Scriptures. We may take the Church of England as a fair example. The course of reading provided by the Book of Common Prayer is the most splendid and incontrovertible illustration that can be furnished of the light in which this subject was viewed by the great and holy men of the Reformation period, the Fathers of the English Church. speak only in general terms, and would not be understood as considering it a perfect model. On the contrary, I think it admits of great improvement; I think it might even be recast with advantage. Many of the readings are too long, and the Psalms might be differently arranged, with special benefit to the worshippers. But I speak generally as to quantity; and, with regard to this, I think the Church of England has greatly the advantage of Dissenters of all Denominations. All departments of the mighty storehouse of Inspiration are regularly opened History, Prophecy, Gospel, Epistle, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual songsall are brought forward; and not the least distinguished feature is the fact, that provision is made for the reading of that inexhaustible source of consolation to the faithful, the Book of Psalms, twelve times every year!

Sir, backbone Dissenter as I am, I view this system, as a whole, with great admiration. It appears to me, in a measure, to embody the mind of the Most High in this matter; since it is, undoubtedly, an approach to a state of things inaugurated by the inspired Apostles themselves in setting up the kingdom of heaven amongst men. Here God himself is, upon all occasions, the chief speaker to his own people. With the accompaniments of praise and prayer, and the Lord's Supper, the mere Scripture Reading of the Church of England-preaching altogether apart-would constitute a great spiritual feast. Good preaching would, indeed, be a most important addition, both as a means of edification to the church and of conversion to the world. It is God's own plan for both. As a rule, the former would advance but slowly without it, and the latter scarcely at all. It is not, therefore, that I wish to set aside preaching for the Scriptures; I rejoice in the one, and only desire the other.

But there need be no comparison here, and no contention among the

people of God. Unison, not antagonism-mutual support, not depreciation-is the idea suggested by these exercises. They are parts of a great whole. Few, I believe, prize good preaching more than myself; but still more do I prize the words of the Holy Ghost. The subject in relation to him acquires a magnitude of importance altogether incalculable. One of the first tenets of the wisdom of heaven is the duty of honouring the Divine Spirit. Now I must say, it appears to me impossible to neglect his Word, and yet to honour himself. I cannot separate his Word from his Person; and must say, that to use his wonderful treasury, given for the guidance of the church, as a mere text-book, is not the way to glorify him. But while I feel that I have only entered upon the subject, I perceive that, at present, I must no further trench upon your columns. Hoping, therefore, that these few imperfect utterances may not be wholly without use, I remain,

October, 1855.

AN OLD PASTOR.

READING SERMONS. DEAR SIR,-I trust the practice of reading sermons, referred to by your correspondents in THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS for September, does not obtain to any serious extent among the ministers of our denomination. At least I can speak for all the ministers of the South Staffordshire Association, whom I had the privilege of hearing this summer, that in no case did they trouble us with paper performances.

It is true, indeed, that circumstances were not favourable to reading the Gospel. They preached in what is called “the black country," including Oldbury, Greatbridge, Walsall, Tipton, Gornal, Wolverhampton, and Bilston, where, it must be allowed, are many black places and black faces. They preached where it seemed likely the greatest number of the worst characters would assemble; and it was pleasing to see many stand by the hour in the rain, listening attentively, while wisdom uttered her voice in the streets and chief places of concourse, as the race-ground and market hill.

Now, Sir, I do not know whether or not any of the said ministers" gradually slipped into" reading their sermons after ordination; but, if they

did, I should think by this time they have slipped out again. Let your complainants try the experiment on a reading minister; persuade him to turn out into the streets and lanes occasionally, rally round him, encouraging him by their cheerful faces and voices, and it is possible that he may "get on" almost as well as a "Primitive Methodist or Bryanite," even "without book."

One of the Primitive Methodist preachers, by the way, told some of the Independent ministers, when entering upon their late summer campaign, that out-door preaching would do them good, "body and soul." It has, Sir; it has done good to their own churches and congregations, who nobly sustained these extra ministrations; and how much good it has done beside the great day will reveal.

Your correspondent asks if Primitive Methodists are better taught in their colleges. The camp meetings are their colleges, Sir; and most Independent ministers would be better preachers, perhaps, for graduating there; at least, in the estimation of those who want burning as well as shining lights. Let the Independent churches bring their ministers into frequent contact with the perishing masses around them, and there is no immediate danger of our denomination coming" to the dogs," as your correspondent intimates. At any rate, the supply is regulated by the demand, and ministers are very much what the churches make them. Do we not want a better church to make a better ministry? Yours truly,

Cannock, September 5th.

D. GRIFFITHS,

The

THE readers of the "Pre-Adamite Earth," and "Man Primæval," were in some measure prepared for the volume now before us. Man Primæval aspires at tracing the constitution and probation of individual man. family is the unfolding of the individual, the development of social man; and in the present work, it is the object of Dr. Harris to exhibit the family in its constitutional probation. The theme is incomparably great. Of the many appearances which the gifted writer has made, there has been none in which the entire human race is so deeply interested. The book is not one of a class; it is adapted to every family in England, and not only so, but of Europe and the world itself.

The work is divided into parts; in the first, we have the Divine Method, which is discussed at great length, as constituting the foundation of the noble pile of thought here collected and built up into a sort of pyramid. Although the patriarchal character of the antediluvian community, as a form of government, and as a dispensation, is never lost sight of, yet as the constitution of the family itself is as fixed as that of the individual, all that is

It is

here advanced on the subject of marriage, domestic government, and education, is of permanent and perpetual application. This is one of the peculiarities of the undertaking-its_universality and its permanency. not amongst the things which are old, or ever will be "old, and ready to vanish away," until the last generation of man shall have appeared, and the earth shall be swept of its present inhabitants.

The second part of the work is comparatively brief, but far from unimportant. It delineates stages and modifications through which the patriarchal community may have passed in the course of its probationary history. Owing to the permanent character of the domestic constitution, its post-diluvian history at the present day supplies ample data, in the view of Dr. Harris, for indicating all the probabilities of that primitive period, concerning which we have little direct communication. The distinctive and decisive language of the Divine Historian, respecting the fulness of the trial, in the author's view, justifies the inference, that not one of all the probabilities was unknown to that ancient commu

nity, so far as it was necessary to make their probation complete. This view so stands to reason, that to dispute it is to trench upon their responsibility, by diminishing the conditions on which alone it can rest.

The third part expatiates on the reason of the method and the history. The author here deals with the reason which belongs to man's constitution, and is involved in his well-being. The law is of a peculiarly comprehensive character, The author shows that all the laws of method are present in the family, and that hence, the well-being of it is possible. Here the questions of education, property, civilization, social ethics, all turn up, and are dealt with in a brief but satisfactory manner. According to Dr. Harris, patriarchy itself was by no means suited for a permanence; but though failing of its high end, that failure was far from entire, as it prepared for post-diluvian man an unknown amount of material civilization, with which to begin the New World. It developed much of the real nature of good and evil, placing them in impressive contrast. It clearly demonstrated the insufficiency of nature for man, even when it was yet all but paradisaical, and it exhausted one class of impossibilities in man's great experiment to do without God.

Part the fourth becomes increasingly interesting; here, the ultimate end of the family probation and economy as a means of Divine manifestation, is developed with great and impressive fulness. It is shown that patriarchy, though failing as a dispensation, calculated to be a manifestation of God by man, was not less a manifestation of God to man; not only was it based on a scheme of mercy-an aspect of the Divine character before unknown-it placed the sufficiency of the Divine long-suffering in a light so strong, that the finger of inspiration points to it as a fact settled for all time. The discussion, here turning on power, wisdom, goodness, holiness, mercy, and longsuffering, is very lofty, very comprehensive, and every way ennobling and animating.

As a work, then, touching God the Father of all, in his attributes and character, as revealed by creation, providence, and redemption touching man the individual, man in the married state, and the family-education for

eternity, and a multitude of minor, but still important points, the volume is one fraught with the richest treasure. Had space permitted, we had marked a multitude of passages of great beauty and great power, which would have served most materially to have recommended the volume; but after all, Dr. Harris is so thoroughly known, and so generally admired, that it would be almost a work of supererogation. It is proper to state, however, that there are some points and positions in the work, which we should be disposed to question. They are nevertheless of only secondary importance.

Intellect the Emotions and the Moral Nature. By the Rev. WILLIAM LYALL. Constable and Co., Edinburgh; Hamilton and Co., London. Few of our Southern Philosophers will be prepared to find a volume of such magnitude and pretensions, on a theme so peculiarly arduous, issuing from Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is just possible that there will be those disposed to cite the ancient judgment, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" To all such, we have only to say, "Come and see.'

Mr.

It is proper, at the outset, however, to say that this magnificent work is not to be viewed as of colonial origin. Mr. Lyall is professor in the Free College of that important colony, an office for which, and for something far higher, this volume shows how admirably he is qualified. We have often had occasion of late, to cite our settled opinion, that other things being equal, Christian men have an incalculable advantage over men of another stamp. Lyall, we presume, is a Scotchman who has enjoyed a Scottish University education, for throughout he betrays an acquaintance with the North, and its philosophers, which bespeaks a man perfectly at home. It is not saying more than truth warrants, and justice requires, to affirm that since the issue of the lectures of the late Dr. Brown, of Edinburgh, no such work as this has appeared. It is philosophy perfected by revelation. Poor Brown,- poor amidst all his intellectual opulence,makes but a sorry figure in the company of the present writer, who finely closes his splendid production with the observation: "Philosophy may spe

culate; the Bible reveals-not the mode or nature of the change, but the circumstances of the change. The great fact is told; the modus of it is left unexplained. The Redeemer comes upon the scene; and regeneration—the creation of fallen man anew-is the grand doctrine of Scripture-the implantation of a new will, new motives, a new emotional nature, the susceptibility of holy emotions, desires, and the power of again willing what is right."

How forcible are right words! and these few words suffice to show of what spirit the man is. Thus tested, our

author will be approached with confidence, and throughout it will be found that it will everywhere be abundantly sustained.

The first part of the work, which comprises about two-thirds of the volume, is devoted to the subject of intellect; and here, we are presented with one of the most masterly disquisitions that has ever come to our hands. The criticism is in a great degree expository; it is a digest of the systems of preceding authors. Dr. Brown, as might be supposed, with Reid, Beattie, Locke, Samuel Clarke, Cousin, Malebranche, Barrow, Hobbes, Butler, Berkeley, Hume, and the French philosophers, all figure with great promi

nence.

Mr. Lyall may be considered as a philosophical commentator, and a careful study of the present work, prior to the commencement of metaphysical pursuits at all, would very materially contribute to an enlightened and profitable consideration of the elder writers. He who shall go through these 400 pages, and thoroughly con them, will be no mean philosopher. But having done this, if he will then proceed successively with their principal works, and having finished, once more return to Mr. Lyall, going carefully through, and endeavouring all along to arbitrate between him and his predecessors, the result will be a measure of attainment on this great subject, which has fallen to the lot of very few.

The last part of the volume deals somewhat copiously with the philosophy of the moral nature; and here we have a dissertation of great ability and worth, and all the more, forasmuch as it is pervaded by a vein of Christian sentiment. Dr. Chalmers himself was not more thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Christian philosophy than is our author. It is, indeed, some such piece as Adam Smith would have produced, provided he had drank at the same celestial stream with Mr. Lyall. The cast of thought, and we might say, the mode of expression, will frequently put the reader in mind of Smith's brilliant and captivating, though very defective, Book on Moral Sentiments.

We need add nothing further. Let this suffice for a general, and we may add, a most truthful account of the volume. To the studious men, who desire to look beyond the surface of things, and to sound the depths of our intellectual and moral nature, we commend the volume with the utmost cordiality, confident that we shall receive thanks for so doing, from all who take our advice.

THIS is every way a book of beauty, surpassing everything that has yet issued from the Commonwealth of Wesleyan Methodism; beautiful in sentiment, beautiful in style, beautiful in typography, and beautiful in illustration. Mr. Jobson has here performed a great service, not only to his own community, but to the general church. Rightly conceiving that the religious world had never greater need than now to be reminded that it is personal usefulness that should be cultivated and practised, he has adopted one of the best methods to illustrate the nature and power of personal piety. Anxious to impress on his readers a conviction that undivided exertion is necessary in the cause of Christ, and that it was never intended that any of his followers should serve by proxy, he brings forward specimens of this feeling, exerting itself in furtherance of the glory of Christ. The volume clearly shows that the subject of the memoir, while ever ready to support evangelical and benevolent institutions,