but a poor tribute of affection to love Jesus Christ more than father and mother, and brother, and husband, and wife, if these several relations be not first affectionately beloved, (p. 53.)

From the preceding observations we may derive a true estimate of Christian liberality. We must not cast off the ties of nature except on some most urgent necessity, nor even deem lightly of the bonds of early friendship, though formed on other principles than those which now actuate our conduct. In these we are to be doubly anxious to believe all things and to hope all things. But in forming new friendships, and extending the circle of our acquaintance, we may exercise discretion and wisdom in the furtherance of our main object.

"Without judging harshly or pronouncing sentence on any person, we may judge favourably, as far as we can judge at all, of those whom we select for our friends; we may pass by as unsuitable companions those who, according to human appearances, are least likely to be helpmates in our Christian course, we may choose and prefer those whose conversation, pursuits and inclinations appear most to agree with our own in the most essential point of human character." P. 59.

Sermon VI. touches "on Scandals," (Rom. xiv. 16, 17.) The question was raised amongst the early Christians whether or no it were lawful to eat meats which had been offered to idols; the principle upon which the Apostle proceeds in the solution of the doubt is worthy of attention as assisting our present enquiry. He assures them that these matters are of much less importance than they would attach to them. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink." To conceive that it is of any vital importance what food we eat or wherewithal we are clothed, is a mistaken view of the essence of our holy reli gion. On the same principle we may solve many questions prevalent in the present day, with respect to the lawfulness of particular employments or amusements. The kingdom of God does not consist in those things about which such anxiety is manifested; but in the internal principles of "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." This, however, is true only of those employments and amusements which are really matters of indifference.

"It is not a matter of indifference to live in such a round of society as to dissipate the attention from all serious thoughts. It is not a matter of indifference to frequent places of amusement, which, owing to the corruption of the world, have become scenes of vice, instead of helps to intellectual relaxation. It is not a matter of indifference to

join in ill-natured conversation, in censure of others, either for natural defects or faults of their own infirmity." P. 81.

The following passage contains a just account of the regard due to the sympathies of our nature:

"Human beings ought to communicate with one another their cheerful as well as their serious feelings, and there is not a more pleasing sight to a reflecting mind, than to see a whole party happily employed in enlivening conversation, or in any amusement which tends to promote kindly feelings and temporary good spirits. We have all many things to mourn for, many things to make us serious; but He who has formed us subject to such strange influences of sympathy, has I doubt not, intended that we should feel them in pleasure as well as in pain, and takes delight in beholding them exerted for the diffusion of social and cheerful enjoyment. I conclude, therefore, that it is a positive duty to enter into society, and to contribute towards its agreeableness according to the powers of pleasing and being pleased with which we are endowed." P. 83.

With regard to particular cases, it is remarked, that as it is a positive duty to enter into the cheerfulness of society, so there are many ways of doing it, which are in themselves indifferent;

"The same object is promoted by the boisterous mirth of the peasant, and the refined conversation of the educated; by the healthful sports of the village green, and the more gentle exercises of the sheltered mansion; by poetry, by music, and in some cases by dancing. ..... It matters little, when people meet for the purposes of relaxation, whether they talk, or play, or sing, or dance, or enjoy each amusement in agreeable succession; each may derive pleasure according to his taste. But it matters much whether they are envious, malicious, selfish, proud, and worldly-minded, and these are qualities not formed at the party assembled, but brought thither; not to be cured by staying away, but by inward struggles when there, and earnest prayer in retirement." P. 84.

The Sermon concludes with a spirited sketch of a Christian family in their cheerful though unfashionable retirement, and a caution concerning the necessity of exchanging some of our indifferent amusements for others, if we find that those we have been in the habit of using cause our weak brethren to offend.

Our limits have not permitted us to notice the third Sermon "On Charity;" the fifth "On the Communion of Saints;" or the seventh" On Humility." If our author has reason to believe that these discourses have been effectual, towards the attainment of the object proposed (see note 5,) he must enjoy

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a satisfaction far greater than could be afforded by any commendation of ours. Had we not been confronted with this: gratifying fact, we might have been inclined to express an opinion that the style was perhaps somewhat more didactic than would be likely to obtain influence with a mind in the peculiar state of that to which they were addressed. Thought, deep, intense, and involved, proceeding in neglect of some fundamental truth, is the character of a diseased and melancholy mind. Laborious minuteness of investigation wasted upon small portions and subdivisions of truth, is the error of a mind naturally feeble or weakened by morbid habits. The greater part of the truths propounded in these discourses, are, if we mistake not, too large and too important for such a mind at once to admit or to work upon: a friend, however, who would supply by word of mouth those minor trains of reasoning which must have been often called for, would in a great measure remove the inconvenience; and it is probable that such a friend was at hand. The framework of the discourses is sound and substantial; the views which they develope we believe to be correct and scriptural; and should they be the means of turning but one Christian soul from a state of inactive devotion to habits of useful and salutary exertion, their effect will surely be acceptable to the great Master, by whom certain talents have been entrusted to us for increase and improvement.

Two Discourses upon the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, preached in

the Parish Church of St. Luke, Chelsea. By the REV. H. BLUNT,

A.M. Curate of Chelsea, late Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Vicar of Clare, Suffolk. 12mo. Pp. 48. Price 1s. 6d. Rivingtons.

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We have reason to be pleased with this production. The subject has been often discussed, and many treatises are published upon it--but we know of none that supersedes the necessity of this attempt on the part of Mr. Blunt, to enforce attention to a duty than which none is more imperative, or more influential upon after conduct. The author writes like one, who has studied the Book of Life, and the tablet of the human heart. He reasons with all the force of a Christian divine, and makes his appeals in the affectionate and earnest language of a pious pa

rish priest. Had these pages been put together in the form of a tract, and not as sermons, we are of opinion that the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge would have done well to admit them in its catalogue.

The arrangement of the Sermons is as follows-The Institution of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper-Its obligation as a commemorative rite-And a mean of grace.

The first commences by shewing, that this Sacrament was instituted in the place of the Jewish Passover, which was indispensably binding upon all. It then explains the nature of the ordinance, and speaks of its simplicity and solemnity in the following passage.

"It is, indeed, impossible, my brethren, to imagine any thing more simple, and yet more solemn and affecting. The world we dwell in surrounds us with objects of sense; and so gross and material are we, even in our highest imaginations and finest feelings, that we require, even in Religion itself, something tangible, something that the eye may see, and the hands handle, and the thoughts rest upon, and the heart recur to, with accurate and well-defined feelings. This may account for the necessity of some "outward and visible sign;" and if any were necessary, none most certainly could better have supplied this necessity, than the institution before us; so simple, that nothing but the darkened imagination of the Papist could pervert and misunderstand it; and, at the same time, of such lofty import, that angels themselves might desire to look into its deep mysteries; and so affecting, that, notwithstanding its continual recurrence, the heart of the true worshipper will acknowledge that he has seldom partaken of these consecrated symbols of his Saviour's love, without a tear or a sigh." P. 11.

On the universality of its obligation Mr. Blunt delivers himself with equal effect.

It is in this light, as obligatory upon Christians, that, it appears to me, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is not sufficiently considered. We look at it as a privilege, or perhaps as a duty binding upon particular persons, and at particular seasons; but we do not look at it as that which the Gospel most certainly describes it to be, an universal, an absolute, an imperious command. The words of the text were spoken to all the disciples, all were admitted to his table (with perhaps the single exception of the traitor, and even that exception is questionable), though our Lord well knew that Peter would that very night deny Him, and that all would forsake Him, and fly. We have seen that this sacred Institution was to supply the place of the Jewish Passover: now let us for a moment observe the strictness with which an attendance upon that solemn feast was exacted. We read in the ninth chapter of Numbers-And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak

unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you, or of your posterity, shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover unto the Lord: but the man that is clean, and is not on a journey, and forbeareth to keep the Passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the Lord in His appointed season, that man shall bear his sín.' I trust I shall not be misunderstood, in referring to this instance of the severity of the Mosaic dispensation; I do not intend to apply it literally to the Sacrament; I do not mean to say that the cases are strictly analogous; that we are to compare the blessed liberty of the Gospel with the heavy bondage of the law; but I suggest it for your own reflection with this single observation: both these services were instituted by the same God, and the same God shall hereafter take cognizance of the intentional neglect of them. Surely, then, although the Jewish law was written in letters of blood, and the Christian dispensation is inscribed with the beams of mercy, the distance between them can scarcely be so immeasurable, that the wilful neglect of the one should be followed by death temporal and spiri tual (for the man who neglected the Passover was not only to be cut off, but to bear his sin), and yet the neglect of the other, though it may be wilful, intentional, and unrepented of, shall be overlooked in the great day of account, as too trifling to have excited the attention of the Almighty, and too venial to have deserved His displeasure. Upon thẹ subject of the obligation of this great duty, I shall only add one more observation, that in our Church Catechism we find no distinction whatever made between the necessity of the Lord's Supper. They are declared to be the only two Sacraments which Christ ordained in His Church; and both are, without distinction, pronounced to be generally necessary to salvation.'". P. 13..

The author is deeply impressive, when he touches upon the manner in which Christ is to be remembered.

"As earnestly then as we call upon you to present yourselves at the table of our Lord, so earnestly do we beseech you to come not thither without these feelings, or at least without a sincere and heartfelt desire to possess them; for if they are absent, the ordinance is deprived of its life, its soul, its benefits. Unless you can' thus remember Christ, it ceases, in fact, to be an ordinance specifically Christian. If for example, you remember Christ as a Prophet, there is nothing spe cifically Christian in this. The Mahometan could conscientiously join with you, and allow him a rank second to none but the Arabian imposs tor. If you remember Him as the greatest of all Prophets, as the Messiah, still even this does not exceed the limits to which the unscriptural Unitarian will readily accompany you ;-if you go beyond all this, and pronounce with your lips the great eternal truth, that you are willing to remember Him as Jesus, the Son of the most high God,' the devils themselves have been unable to close their eyes to this great