attention which its intrinsic importance deserves. The very spirit in which it is written is calculated to do infinite service in these days of party virulence, bitter recrimination, and unchristian malevolence. It cannot be read without awakening a truly, and even fearful interest in what is passing around us; without making a deep impression on the mind of the Christian and the patriot with respect to the peculiar duties which his religion and his country require at his hand. Among persons of this class it will doubtless find readers, but they are just the class of persons by whom the warning is less needed; and to suppose that the reckless agitators of the day would take it up, except, as they do their Bibles, to sneer and to blaspheme, would be but an idle dream. We are far from espousing all the religious views of the writer; but the temperate and unpresuming manner in which they are expressed, and sometimes scarcely hazarded, speaks the very language of christian love. On the subject of the Millenium, for instance, the prophecies adduced have not perhaps the slightest connexion with that inexplicable period; but the whole question is treated without a spark of that impassioned and declamatory fervour, with which it is usually approached. Messiah's personal reign, we suspect, he advocates; but he has not spoken decisively on the point. Moderation and meekness pervade the volume; and the adoption of its salutary counsels could not fail to be productive of incalculable good. Marriage.-Two Sermons upon Marriage; showing the Divine Origin of that Institution, and the absolute necessity of it being sanctified by the performance of a Religious Service: preached at St. John's Chapel, St. John's Wood, St. Mary-le-Bone, on Sunday, Oct. 8, 1837. By the Rev. EDWARD THOMPSON, M.A. Assistant Minister at St. John's, St. Mary-lebone. London: Hatchard. 1837. 8vo. Pp. 42. MARRIAGE has of late been necessarily a prominent theme of pulpit instruc tion. It is to be feared that some of our legislators are not often present upon such occasions. We would recommend these two Sermons, among others which have been published on the same subject, to the especial attention of Lord John Russell. He will learn something from their perusal. Delivered A Second Annual Address. at the Examination of the Children of the Infant School, Dorking, December 1837. By the Rev. S. ISAACSON, M.A. Curate of that Parish. Dorking: Ede. London: Simpkin and Marshall. 1838. Pp. 14. WE last year introduced to the notice of our readers, an admirable address delivered by Mr. Isaacson, to the children and parents connected with the Infant School at Dorking: and it now gives us pleasure to add, that the present is in but one way second to its predecessor. Sound sense and religious feeling pervade every page. Notes on Nets; or, The Quincunx practically considered. To which are added, Miscellaneous Memoranda. By the Hon. and Rev. CHARLES BATHURST, LL.D., Late Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford. London: Van Voorst. 1837. 12mo. Pp. xiv. 183. ALLUDING to our Lord's Parable of the Net, the Hon. and Rev. author of these "Notes" observes that "the Net has from that time been invested with somewhat of a sacred character." Under this impression we suppose that a copy was duly sent to the CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER; and we shall shelter ourselves under the many truly christian remarks which are scattered through the book, to announce it to the curious in the art of which it treats. What old Isaac was among anglers, the worthy Doctor is among netmakers. He is quite at home at knotting, netting, and reticulating, in spite of Dr. Johnson's anathema, both against nets, and those who use them. For ourselves, we found more attractive sport in the Memoranda, which are worth preserving. The Responsibilities and Prospects of the Church of England, with a short Appeal on Behalf of the Society for Promoting the Employment of Additional Curates. A Sermon, preached in the Collegiate and Parish Church of Manchester, on Sunday, November 26, 1837. By the Rev. OSWALD SERGEANT, M. Ă. Fellow. Manchester: Towler. London: Rivington. 1837. 8vo. Pp. 19. WE could desire no better test of the comparative excellence of two Societies, and of the purity of their designs, than the manner in which the cause of that for promoting Additional Curates is advocated in the admirable Sermon before us, contrasted with the reckless intemperance displayed on the part of the "London Mission," on which we were recently called upon to animadvert. Such intrusive speculations can only impede the good which a legitimate Church Society is calculated to produce; and we sincerely trust that even the Pastoral Aid Society, whose motives at least are above suspicion, may be induced to co-operate with the sister institution, instead of proceeding upon the very questionable basis of lay-instruction. With respect to Mr. Sergeant's appeal, it is short indeed, but earnest and argumentative; arising naturally and appropriately out of the all-absorbing considerations, which form the body of the discourse. Questions Illustrating the Catechism of the Church of England. By the Rev. J. SINCLAIR, A. M. Minister of St. Paul's Episcopal Chapel, Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Bell and Bradfute. London: Rivingtons. 1838. 24mo. Pp. 99. THIS forms a little body of Divinity, where the young need not be the only learners. We recommend it for general use as giving a sound exposition, both of Church doctrine and of Church discipline. The Christian Duty of Family Worship. The Rector's Christmas Offering, for 1836, being a third Pastoral The Reign of Humbug: a Satire. Second Edition. London Richardson. WHEN we say the principles are Conservative, the satire keen, the versification generally good, and the whole worth reading, our friends will ask no further recommendation of this volume. We must, however, quote the following: 'Twas on that classic soil, where once around Huge heaps of dung and cinders strew'd the ground, And pigs and donkeys made their glad abode, From Gray's-Inn-lane to Tottenhamcourt's high road; But now, so will the Fates,- -a fabric stands, And looks sublime o'er all the neighbouring lands. Fair temple built with rarest art, it shows How wondrous far a little science goes; How with hard names, urg'd o'er and o'er again, A fame for skill each soulless block may gain, A huge vast portico,-but, wondrous taste, High, at the first-floor window, see 'tis plac'd! Stolen from Greece, like many a fine quotation, 'Tis only ruin'd by its situation. The front, a wall with meagre rustics scor'd, And thin pilasters, much resembling board, While congrous cupolas, from modern Rome, Form a fit crown to modern learning's dome.-Pp. 5-7. A SERMON ON THE DUTY OF RECEIVING THE HOLY COMMUNION. MATT. XXVI. 26-28. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. BRETHREN, there have been, in all ages of the world, men who desired to make the worship of God so entirely spiritual as to exclude every thing outward and external from that worship, and to make it consist entirely, or nearly so, in the mere spiritual contemplations of the soul, and in mental approaches to the Deity. This, however, is not the way of worship adopted in revelation. Even at the first, when God created man in a state of innocency, he did not leave him entirely to spiritual worship, but gave him ordinances of religion. In Paradise, the Almighty gave to our first parents the ordinance of the seventh-day, -the ordinances of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and of the tree of life. This tree of life was, as it were, the standing and perpetual sacrament of Paradise, that man might eat of it, and live for ever. Even therefore in Paradise, in the time of man's innocency, there were outward ordinances and sacraments of worship; and if they were necessary even then, how much more so are they now! Then God himself walked and conversed with man; man had direct and immediate communion with the angels of God and with God himself. Yet even then there were ordinances and sacraments; and if they were necessary then, how much more since! Man is no longer innocent; a great change has passed within him. I pause not to inquire how this is; I enter not into the difficulties of the question; yet the fact is undeniable. Men's passions are stronger than their reason, and their reason itself perverted and weak. Our hopes and our fears, our joys and our sorrows, our loves and our aversions, are often called forth on improper occasions, fixed upon improper objects, and exercised in a degree and measure most highly sinful, being usually either much greater or much less than they ought to be. Here therefore is a wonderful disorder introduced within us that which we should most passionately love, to that, alas! we frequently feel no adequate sense of affection; nay, even sometimes we feel aversion and disgust: that which we should most anxiously avoid, to that we are drawn by the strongest sympathies of passion and attachWe believe, and take for granted, where we ought to pause, and reason; we reason, and pause, where we ought implicitly to believe; we are guided by our own wills and inclinations, and set them ment. up (at least, practically) as our guides and instructors, as if they were still innocent, and still unperverted. Here therefore is a proof of our fallen nature; a proof of some wonderful disorder introduced into our whole spiritual frame. And if this is the state of men, even of the best of men, surely they cannot dispense with those outward ordinances of divine worship and sacraments, which were deemed fitting for them before this wonderful change had passed over their souls! And, accordingly, no sooner had man fallen, than the Almighty again gave him outward ordinances and sacraments of worship, for his cure, and restoration to the divine favour. To our first parents, immediately after their fall, he instituted the solemn rite of sacrifice; as a visible sign, a mystical representation of the great promise made in Paradise of the redemption of man by the seed of the woman; who, though he was to bruise the serpent's head, was himself to suffer shame, and sorrow, and humiliation, and even death itself, in that the serpent, the author of human misery and death, was to bruise his heel. This promise was mystically represented in the death of the innocent victim at the altar of Jehovah. The awful rite of sacrifice, as it were, embodied, and perpetuated, and applied this promise. It was, to the ancient world, the great sacrament of man's redemption. In the suffering of the bleeding victim, in its death, and the sprinkling of its blood, they saw the heinous nature of sin, the impossibility of man's redemption by any efforts of his own, and the awful nature of that God they had offended. In the promise of pardon and acceptance annexed to the rite of sacrifice, they saw their acceptance and pardon depending on something out of and beyond themselves, and that by faith only they might attain these inestimable blessings. Such was the end and design of the religion delivered from heaven to fallen man at the first; and when the world had utterly apostatized from the true God, and it was necessary to choose one nation from all the rest, and to make them the depositories of his revelation, and the preservers of his worship; how large a portion of that worship, and of the gracious promises of revelation, was grounded on this very rite of sacrifice! The altars of Jehovah were ever red with blood; and, in the emphatic language of holy writ, "without shedding of blood there was no remission of sins." Thus we see, even in the time of man's innocency, and in Paradise itself, there were outward ordinances of religion, and sacraments. Again, the most essential part of divine worship, as given by God himself to man after his fall, consisted in ordinances and sacraments; and, yet again, in the Jewish dispensation, they constituted the very glory and perfection of the law of God's worship. When the Jewish law was about to be abolished for ever, and the true worshippers were thenceforth to worship the Father in spirit and in truth, we might, perhaps, have been prepared to suppose that all outward ordinances and mystical worship would have been for ever done away. But, no! the very same mode of worship was again enjoined, even under the spiritual religion of the gospel; for, as the great Author of the new dispensation, the Only-begotten of the Father, He who even while on earth was still by his divine nature and glory at the very same time in the highest heavens; as Jesus the Mediator of the new testament was about to take leave of his disciples, to go unto his Father, unto that glory which he had before the foundation of the world, we learn that he also instituted a solemn ordinance for his disciples; one, whereby they were to show forth his death, till he should come again; yea, more, one, whereby they were to be united unto himself and made one with him, and he with them ;-one, wherein the cup of blessing which they should bless, should be the communion of the blood of Christ; the bread which they should break, should be the communion of the body of Christ; and they, howsoever many they might be, should still be but one body, because they should all be partakers of that one bread. For we read, that, as they were eating, Jesus took bread," &c. Here therefore we see the great dignity of this sacrament; not only that it was to be the standing and perpetual memorial of man's redemption; but the great means of conveying to man the benefits, for which Christ died that he might bestow them on him; the means of uniting them by the closest ties, and the most holy obligations, and by the most direct acts of union with himself, and through him to his Father which is in heaven, our reconciled God. Hence it is the crown, and glory, and perfection of all christian worship; it is a mystical representation,—a sacramental action,—a doing, as far as such imperfect creatures as we can do it, the very same thing on earth, which Christ is doing for us in the sanctuary of heaven. In the sanctuary of heaven Christ pleads for us; ever maketh intercession for us. He presents there on the throne of God his crucified body, and pleads the merits of his death and passion in reality and truth; and we do the very same thing on earth (not indeed in reality, but still) mystically, and after the manner of sacraments. We, as it were, perpetuate, and continue, and apply to our own souls by faith, even upon earth, his death and passion, the power of his resurrection, and the all-saving efficacy of his mighty intercession. We see him in the mystery of the altar by the eye of faith; seeing him, we believe in him; believing in him, we love him with an unfeigned love; yea, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us. Such is the high mystery and power of this sacrament; it is, as it were, the compendium of our duty and our obligation; and the visible embodying of all the great facts and blessings of man's redemption. For all our hopes of acceptance are centred on the one great sacrifice of Christ once offered on Calvary. This is the great centre of the whole system of God's dealings with us, and the only foundation of our hopes. All the sacrifices which went before, pointed to this, and centred in it by anticipation; all the acts of our worship must look backward to it, and ultimately rest upon it also; and this one act of communion, which gathers up, as it were, all the other scattered acts of our adoration and worship, and binds them together, and presents them with the memorial of the dying, the risen, and the glorified Redeemer, to the heavenly Father, -has ever been regarded by the universal Church of Christ, as the crown, the glory, and the perfection of christian worship.. |