be a Christian; and in a Missionary especially, who has to enter upon many untried scenes of difficulties, and who cannot tell what shall be fal him, there must be no compromise between the calls of duty and the attractions of the world. By the very nature of his calling he abandons all claim to worldly 'greatness, and is content with the approbation of a good conscience and the honour that cometh from God alone. The next qualification is the spirit of faith. By this term he does not intend merely a cordial belief of the truth, but a firm persuasion of the promises of God respecting the enlargement of his kingdom. "It is impossible," he observes," that the mind of a Missionary should be too much impressed with the beauty, glory, and grandeur of the kingdom of Christ, as it is unfolded in the oracles of the Old and New Testament; nor with the certainty of the final accomplishment of those oracles, founded on the faithfulness and omnipotence of their Author. To those parts of Scripture his attention should be especially directed, in which the Holy Ghost employs and exhausts, so to speak, the whole force and splendour of inspiration in depicting the future reign of the Messiah, together with that astonishing spectacle of dignity, purity, and peace which his church will exhibit, when" having the glory of God," her bounds shall be commensurate with those of the habitable globe; when every object on which the eye shall rest, will remind the spectator of the commencement of a new age, in which the tabernacle of God is with men, and he dwells amongst them. His spirit should be imbued with that sweet and tender awe which such an. ticipations will infallibly produce, whence will spring a generous contempt of the world, and an ardour bordering on impa. tience to be employed, though in the hum blest sphere, as the instrument of accelerating such a period. For compared to this destiny in reserve for the children of men; compared to this glory, invisible at present, and hid behind the clouds which envelope this dark and troubled scene, the brightest day that has hitherto shone upon the world, is midnight, and the highest splendours that have invested it, the shadow of death." pp 9, 10 The very striking description which is given of idolatry in a suc ceeding page, would go far to prove, that, without this powerful belief in the Divine promises, a Christian Missionary would be led to despair of success; as without the promises themselves," the idea of converting Pagan Nations to the Christian faith must appear chimerical." The remarks are made with a particular application to India. The system of false worship, which generally prevails in that country, is peculiarly calculated for duration. "Scarce a day or an hour passes with an Hindoo, in which, by the abstinences it enjoins, and the ceremonies it prescribes, he is not reminded of his religion. It meets him at every turn, presses like the atmosphere on all sides, and holds him by a thousand invisible chains. By incessantly admonishing him of something which he must do, or something which he must forbear, it becomes the strongest of his active habits: while the multiplicity of objects of worship, distinguished by an infinite variety in their character and exploits, is sufficient to fill the whole sphere of his imagination. In the indolent repose which his constitution and climate incline him to indulge, he suf fers his fancy to wander without limit, amidst scenes of voluptuous enjoyment, or objects of terror and dismay; while revolving the history of his gods, he conceives himself absorbed in holy contemplations. There is not a vicious passion he can be disposed to cherish, not a crime he can be tempted to commit, for which he may not find a sanction and an example in the legends of his gods." pp. 11, 12. But the conversion of men from the worship of many gods to the acknowledgment of one Supreme Being, is only a small part of the effect which the preaching of the Gospel is expected to produce. The ob ject to which the Missionary must look forward, is the conversion of the soul from sin to holiness. How great and arduous is the work! and how absolutely necessary, for him who labours in such a cause, is a vigorous faith in the promises of God! "Faith, considered as a mere speculative assent to the truth of a divine testimony, may be looked upon as uniform or station arys but when we consider it as a practi cat principle, as one of the graces of the Spirit, we perceive it to be in common with others susceptible of continual enlargement and increase. In the degree of power which future and invisible realities exert over the mind, in the practical energy of what men profess to believe, in the promp fitude and certainty with which it determines them to a correspondent, conduct there is the utmost diversity even among those who believe with the heart. The faith to which the Scriptures attach such momentous consequences, and ascribe such glorious exploits, is a practical habit, which, nike every other, is strengthened and increased by continual exercise. It is nourished by meditation, by prayer, and the devout, perusal of the Scriptures; and the light which it diffuses becomes stronger and clearer by an unintercepted converse with its object, and a faithful compliance with its dictates; as, on the contrary, it is weakened and obscured by whatever wounds the conscience, or impairs the purity and spirituality of the mind. This is the shield which will cover you from every assault; the chief part of that defensive armour which it behoves you to put on. Reposing on the word of him with whom all things are possible, of hina who cannot lie; in the formidable bulwarks of idolatry, in the invincible rampart of prejudice and superstition, which the great adversary of mankind has cast up to obstruct the progress of truth, you will see nothing to appal you: you will feel the battle not to be yours, but the Lord's, who, determined to subdue his enemies under his feet, condescends to employ you as an humble instrument of his victories; and instead of sinking under the consciousness of Weakness, you will glory in your infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon you." pp. 15-17. The remaining part of the pamphlet consist chiefly of admonitions with respect to the character to be maintained, and the conduct to be observed, by those who go forth to instruct heathen nations in the prin ciples of Christianity. It is particularly recommended to the Missionary to cultivate a mild, conciliatory, affectionate temper in the discharge of his office (p.17): to combine conciliation with prudence (p. 20), and the diligent study, meet with of human nature: to be strong in the grace of the Lord Jesus (p. 26): and to enforce the great doctrines of Revelation with plainness and per spicuity. On all these points we many observations, urged with great effect, and in admirable language. The description of the task which a missionary is called to perform, and of the difficulties which he may expect to encounter (pp. 23, 24), is particularly striking; but we are sorry that our limits will not allow us to transcribe it. struction, the preacher is enjoined to With respect to the mode of inspeak as if delivering a testimony: "testifying repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." "After reminding them of their state as guilty and polluted creatures, which the ceremonies of their religion teach them to confess, exhibit to the inhabitants of Hindostan the cross of Christ as their only refuge. Acquaint them with his incarnation, his character as the Son of God and the Son of man, his offices, and the design of his appearance; not with the air of a disputer of this world, but of him who is conscious to himself of his possessing the medicine of life, the treasure of immortality, which he is auxious to impart to guilty men. Insist fearlessly on the futility and vanity of all human methods of expiation, on the impotence of idols, and the command of God to all pen every where to repent, inasmuch as he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness." Display the sufferings of Christ like one who was an eye-witness of those sufferings, and hold up the blood, the precious blood of atonement, as issuing warm from the cross. It is a peculiar excellence of the Gospel, that in its wonderful adaptation to the state and condition of mankind as fallen creatures, it bears intrinsic marks of its divinity, and is supported not less by internal than by external evidence. By a powerful appeal to the conscience, by a faithful delineation of man in his grandeur, and in his weakness, in his original capacity for happiness, and his present misery and guilt, present this branch of its evidence in all its force. Seize on every occasion those features of Christianity which render it interesting, and by awakene ing the fears, and exciting the hopes, of your hearers, endeavour to annihilate every other object, and make it appear what it really is the pearl of great price, the so vereign balm,, the cure of every ill, the antidote of death, the precursor of immortality. In such a ministry, fear not to give loose to all the ardour of your soul, to call into action every emotion and every faculty which can exalt or adorn it. You will find ample scope for all its force and tenderness; and should you be called to pour your life as a libation on the offering of the Gentiles, you will only have the more occasion to exult and rejoice." pp.33-35. Mr. Hall proceeds (p. 35) to recommend an acquaintance with the doctrines of Christianity in their full extent, but to avoid all minor subjects of controversial disputation: and he anticipates much benefit to the missionary bimself, from the circumstance of his living at a distance from the scene of debate. He will have to preach to persons of the same class with those whom the Apostles addressed, and placed under similar circumstances. He will, on this account, be led in some measure to imbibe the spirit of the apostles, and to derive hissentiments more correctly and more purely from the sacred oracles, than if he had attached himself to the party of some modern reformer. This situation is adapted to remove his prejudices, and to give him liberal and enlarged conceptions. To this cause, perhaps, it is owing, that Missionaries in India seem to be men of no cast: although belonging to different denominations of Christians, they preserve harmony of doctrine, and live in the intercourse of Christian charity. of existence; a religion which, by affording the most just and sublime conceptions of the Deity, and of the moral relations of man, has given birth at once to the loftiest specu❤ lation and the most child-like humility, uniting the inhabitants of the globe into one family, and in the bonds of a common salvation. It is this religion which, rising upon us like a finer sun, has quickened moral vegetation, and replenished Europe with talents, virtues and exploits, which, in spite of its physical disadvantages, have rendered it a paradise, the delight and wonder of the world. An attempt to propagate this religion among the natives of Hindostan may, perhaps, be stigmatised as visionary and romantic; but to enter the lists of controversy with those who would deny it to be great and noble, would be a degradation_to_rea son." pp. 41, 42. The measure recently adopted by the legislature to facilitate the communication of Christian knowledge to our subjects in the East, is noticed with gratitude, and stated to be a measure of great political expediency. But the missionary is reminded, that he is to form projects for eternity; that his aim is not merely to improve the condition of of life, but the conquest of death, and the achievement of immortality. The influence of religion is felt in this world, only while she is pre paring its inhabitants for a better. "Preach it then, my dear brother, says this animated writer," with a constant recollection that such is its charac ter and aim. Preach it with a perpetual view to eternity; and with the simplicity and affection with which you would address your dearest friends, were they assembled round In stating the advantages which tious to form the citizen of earth, be it yours your dying bed. While others are ambi result from conversing with great to train him for heaven, to raise up the temobjects, and engaging in great pur-ple of God from among the ancient desolas suits, our author affirms, that the superiority of Europe over Asia and Africa is chiefly to be ascribed to this cause. "It is the possession of a religion which comprehends the seeds of endless improvement, which maintains an incessant struggle with whatever is barbarous, selfish, or inhuman, which by unveiling futurity, clothes morality with the sanction of a Divine law, and harmonises utility and virtue in every combination of events, and in every stage CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 152. tions, to contribute your part towards the and order when all human associations shall, After the extracts which have now been presented from this work, we consider it as quite unnecessary to hold the language of commendation. No man can peruse them without admitting their force and beauty: 3 X and whoever reads them with attention, will feel himself almost irresistibly impelled to peruse the entire Address. It abounds in fine thoughts, and is warm with the energy of a zealous and powerful mind. Eloquence is never employ ed to better advantage, than when it appears as the bandmaid of religion: it may adorn the cause which it cannot ennoble. To many persons, truth itself is greatly recommended by the charms of diction; and it is the appropriate excellence of this Address, that it is not less suited to the man of taste by its chaste and dignified composition, than to the man of piety by its scriptural views and its lessons of practical wisdom. Sermons. By WILLIAM MOODIE, D. D. F.R.S., one of the Ministers of St. Andrew's Church, and Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages in the University, of Edinburgh. To which is prefixed a Short Account of the Life and Character of the Author. 2d edit. Edinburgh: Bathgate. London: Underwood. 1814. 8vo. pp. xlii. and 460. Price 10s. 6d. WE have been greatly struck with the intrinsic difference between the little work of Mr. Hall which we have just noticed, and that which is the subject of the present article; and we have found it difficult to conceive that the authors should have professed the same faith, or should have studied the same Scriptures. In the pages of Mr. Hall we recognise the sublime and elevating, and at the same time humbling, doctrines of Christ and his Apostles, exhibited in all their native energy. The discourses of Dr. Moodie either keep those doctrines entirely out of view, or adapt them to the low, grovel ling, and selfish apprehensions formed of Christianity, its obligations and its privileges, by a world, that "through wisdom knows not God." Dr. Moodie was a man of very considerable literary acquirements. For twenty-five years he filled the pulpit of St. Andrew's church, in the New Town of Edinburgh. His audience was almost entirely composed of the higher classes of so-, ciety. He was attended chiefly by the fashionable and the gay, the wealthy and the learned; and he succeeded in obtaining, what appears to have been the object of his ambition, their applause and admiration of his discourses. Nor do we mean to deny, judging from the specimens before us, that they were well adapted to such a purpose. They contain little to disturb the self-complacency of the hearer. And if we can suppose, that the attacliment of a congregation to their pastor' was likely to grow in proportion as he taught them to be pleased and satisfied with themselves, it will be easy to account for the popularity which Dr. Moodie acquired among those who formed the bulk of his congregation. We should, however, be unjust to Dr. Moodie, if we did not admit that His he had other claims to admiration besides the smoothness and courtliness of bis pulpit addresses. style is generally attractive; his language is always correct, and occasionally elegant; and the marks of good taste and varied learning are visible in his composition. A general appearance of seriousness, also, pervades his sermons; which, when combined with the impressive manner attributed to him by his biographer, must have added greatly to the estimation in which he appears to have been held as a preacher. We could produce numerous passages which would justify the commendation we have bestowed on Dr. Moodie's style; but it would be difficult for us to extract many of these, which would not involve defects, if not errors, of a graver kind than such as respect the choice of words or the collocation of sentences. The few passages we have selected, as specimens of his skill as a writer, are such, we apprehend, as will be found tolerably free from any erroneous sentiment. The first is taken from a sermon on the Omnipresence of God; in which the preacher endeavours to shew, that this doctrine affords a ground of trust and security to the righteous. "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the earth, to show himself strong in behalf of the upright.' Fear not, then, ye righteous, amidst the disasters of life. You have an Almighty Friend continually at hand to pity, to support, to defend, and to relieve you. "Where can you be placed beyond the reach of his power? Though you be left to Janguish in a foreign land, without the eye of a friend to pity your misery, without the hand of a friend to mitigate your pain, without the words of a friend to solace your sorrows; even there you can have recourse to your Father in heaven; in his faithful bosom you can deposit your cares, and in the arms of his providence you can rest secure. Though you be called to mingle in the scene of destruction;-though noise, and confusion, and death surround you; though thousands fall on every side;-in the midst of the confusion the Almighty dwells. His hand directs the thunder of war; and, while his gracious providence is the shield of your defence, no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper.' Though in the midst of the ocean the tempest arise; though the waters roar and be troubled;' -though you mount up to heaven ou the 'swelling wave, and descend again into the depths of the sea;-under the protection of the Almighty you are secure. The Lord sitteth on the flood. The Lord is King for ever. He uttereth, his voice to the deep. He commandeth the storm, and it is still.' Over the earthquake and the pestilence his providence presides. The lightning wasteth not till he give it the charge. "In no situation can the righteous be placed in which the eye of their Father is not present to pity; in which the band of their Father is not present to save. The injustice of the world may withhold from them the approbation which is due to their virtues; the tongue of slander may misrepresent their conduct, and load their characters with unmerited reproach; but they resort to that God who seeth in secret;' to his righteous judgment they commit their cause, and from the sense of his favour they derive a joy over which the world hath no power. "From the bed of sickness they call on the Lord; and when the aid of every earthly friend is vain, they find in the Almighty "s In a sermon intended to recommend the of Humility, we have grace the following striking passage. Frailty and dependence are characters strongly impressed on the nature and the condition, of man. Whether we consider him in the commencement, in the progress, or in the conclusion of his present existence, he appears to be a forlorn and helpless being. While nature clothes the inferior creatures with a parent's hand, man comes into the world naked and defenceless. His feeble life would perish in its commencement, were it not for the care of those to whom his infancy is intrusted. While he hangs dependent on the affection of his mother, the first efforts of his voice are heard in the cries of want and suffering. For a long pe riod of years, incapable either of procuring his subsistence, or directing his conduct, he leans on the bounty and wisdom of others for nourishment and guidance. By them he is taught to obtain the comforts which he is formed to desire, or to lessen the miseries which he is born to suffer. Even at his best estate, he is altogether vanity. Fed by the fruits of the earth which he inha bits; cherished by the influences of the heavens which cover him; dependent on the aid of others for almost all the accommodations and comforts of life; in himself he possesses not the means of his happiness. Subject to miseries which he hath not power, to avert; affected by all the vicissitudes of the seasons; the sport of a thousand accidents, and the victim of a thousand cares; he finds not rest nor se curity on earth. Placed in a world in which he is surrounded by wonders; ignorant of the cause of almost all that he beholds; lost in the contemplation of h |