weakened, though they never can efface, the impressions made upon them by the sermons when they heard them from the pulpit. Thus we look with pleasure on the portrait of a deceased friend, after time has mellowed the severity of the bereavement; though at first, it only revived the poignancy of our grief, by awakening the recollection of our loss.

It was our happiness to know Mr. Summerfield, and to attend upon his ministry; and since time has, in some degree, removed the spell of enchantment which his eloquence threw around us, we have endeavoured to analyze his discourses, yet fresh in our recollection, in order to discover what it was that gave such unexampled power over the mind and heart to one so young, and, consequently, immature in judgment and experience; but we have not been satisfied with our success.

It could not be said that he exceeded many whom we have known, in either learning or knowledge, though his attainments in these respects were very respectable; nor was he superior to hundreds of the preachers of his day, in reasoning or argumentative powers. His voice, though sweet and rich in its tones, had no great compass. His discourses did not strike one by the novelty of his opinions, or by the erudition they displayed. There were, it is true, in all his sermons, "thoughts that breathed and words that burned;" but, for the most part, they presented only "what oft was thought, though ne'er so well express'd." What, then, was the irresistible charm in his preaching? We honestly confess we cannot say. We have some vague idea of it, but cannot imbody it in words. There was, however, one peculiarity which could not fail to strike the hearer: it was what is called, by common consent, simplicity. The truths he dwelt upon had been felt in all their power by the preacher, and he presented them in the simple, chaste, and forcible language of unsophisticated feeling. The hearer who participated in his religious enjoyments, responded instinctively to every feeling of the preacher; and one who knew nothing of such experience, felt that it was the most important want of his nature, and his whole soul went out in cravings for the possession. It was this simplicity of style which never failed to make its way to the heart, as certainly as pompous diction, and parade of language and learning shuts up every avenue to the feelings.

But, though there was much in the clear perception, and the personal experience of the truths presented, and much, too, in the simplicity of the style and language in which they were clothed, it must be admitted that there was something in the manner of

the preacher, which greatly added to the effect of his preachmg But who can describe this manner? It was not the gracefulness of his attitudes and action, though these were perfect. Every movement, whether of body or members, was not only exactly correct, but intuitively expressive of thought or feeling, appearing to obey some immediate impulse of the soul. There was nothing theatrical, nothing studied, nothing which gave the slightest suspicion that it was done for effect. All seemed to come un sought, the immediate, spontaneous sympathy of a body, which lived and acted in obedience to the promptings of the soul within it. Yet this was not the peculiar charm, however important an auxiliary it might be. It was not even the first, or the strongest impression made on the auditory, though it could not fail to be taken into the account. But that which we remember to have struck us most forcibly in the manner of Mr. Summerfield was the meekness, the humility, the lowliness of heart which appeared in his whole deportment, bringing forcibly to the mind, the language and the example of Him who said, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart." Every one saw personified, the Saviour of men in the act of washing the feet of his disciples, and the soul clave to the minister who bore the image and superscription of his Lord. It was this that so prepossessed you as to subdue, and shame, every previously-formed intention to criticise the coming sermon. The affections were surrendered at once, and the decisions of the judgment were anticipated by the suffrage of the heart.

These selections from Mr. Summerfield's manuscripts are entitled "Sermons and Sketches of Sermons," because many of them are really sermons, having not only the outlines of regular discourses, but the filling up is nearly perfect. Yet it is not intended that the reader should suppose they are here found as they were delivered. The elements of the structure, in all its parts, are entire, but the painting is hardly anywhere visible. Indeed, this was often the inspiration of the moment, when his fertile though sanctified imagination, was kindled by the holy fire with which the angel touched the lips of the prophet, delivering a message from heaven. He seemed to have as little warning of these touches as his hearers, and hence we could not expect to find them in his closet preparations.

Those who may be disappointed at finding in these sermons, less than they hoped for, of that peculiar, impressive eloquence which they admired in Mr. Summerfield, ought to remember too, as we have before hinted, how much they were impressed by the deliv

ery of the sermons. They will recollect that when he read a hymn, or a chapter in the Bible, we wondered how we could have overlooked the many beauties and excellences in the composition, which then, for the first time, presented themselves. If this was owing to his manner of reading the hymn, or the chapter, how much more were his sermons indebted to the manner of their de livery.

During the sixteen years which have elapsed since the death of the lamented author of these sermons, the relative into whose possession his manuscripts came, has submitted them to several friends whose opinions he values highly, and they have all strongly urged him to publish at least a selection from the voluminous manuscripts containing the preparations for the pulpit, notwithstanding the unfinished state in which they were left. His own convictions of their value, and of the extensive good they were calculated to do, being thus corroborated, he has at length ventured upon the publication. In doing this, he has adhered faithfully to the manuscripts, giving nothing but what is the author's own; except, that the quotations from the Scriptures which are referred to have been supplied.

We have read the proof-sheets of these "sermons and sketch es," as well as many of them in manuscript, and we are gratified to find them more perfect than could have been expected of an extemporaneous preacher. It was the author's practice to prepare first a brief outline of his sermon, and, as soon after having delivered it as possible, to commit it to writing at greater length, from his recollection of the course he had taken when in the pulpit. His recommendation to a friend, then a student, but now an eminent minister of Christ, in reference to sermonizing, will give the best. idea of his own method of study and preparation for the pulpit. "In reply to your remarks on extemporary discourses," he says, "I am glad to find your own soul in such perfect harmony with mine. You very much magnify the difficulty of it, but you have not yet been called to grapple with it; and I am fully persuaded that, even in your infancy as a minister of Christ Jesus, you will strangle the serpents: such is my decided impression, from the views you have already taken of the subject; and yet you cry, 'Hic labor, hoc opus est!' I do not know that anything I could suggest would be applicable to your circumstances, because the mode of training for the ministry in our church, differs so totally from yours.

"In your case I would recommend the choice of a companion or two, with whom you could accustom yourself to open and am

plify your thoughts on a portion of the Word of God in the way of lecture; choose a copious subject, and be not anxious to say all that might be said; let your efforts be aimed at giving a strong outline; the filling up will be much more easily attained. Prepare a skeleton of your leading ideas, branching them off into their secondary relations: this you may have before you. Digest well the subject, but be not careful to choose your words previous to your delivery. Follow out the idea in such language as may offer at the moment. Don't be discouraged if you fall down a hundred times; for, though you fall, you shall rise again; and cheer yourself with the prophet's challenge, 'Who hath despised the day of small things?'

"To be a correct extemporaneous preacher, you will need to write a good deal, in order to correct style, and prune off the exuberance of language; but I would not advise you to write on the subject upon which you intend to preach. If you fill up on paper the matter of your text, you will contract a slavish habit of cumbering your mind with the words of your previous composition. Write on other subjects, and leave your words free and spontaneous for pulpit exercises. I never preach without having prepared an outline, but I never write a sermon out at length."

The author possessed extraordinary powers in the use of the pen; he wrote with a facility and accuracy that was truly astonishing; apparently, with as much ease and facility as he spoke. He has left seven post octavo volumes of pulpit preparations, containing between three and four hundred sermons and skeletons of sermons. They are written in a style of elegance hardly to be surpassed; an erasure or an interlineation is rarely to be found in his voluminous manuscripts. His indefatigable application to the study of the Holy Scriptures must have been with pen in hand, as he has also left two large books, one a counting-house leger, containing a vast amount of notes or comments on the Scriptures, written so extremely fine, and the words so abbreviated, that it is difficult to decipher them without a glass; and, what is remarkable, an immense amount of these notes are written with a fine lead-pencil. Doubtless he discovered that he could make the pencil move faster than the pen. It is supposed, from the arrangement and the character of this labour, he must have contemplated writing a commentary on the Bible.

That the author studied the Bible thoroughly is evident from the knowledge of it he acquired, and which is so manifest in all his sermons. That he searched the Scriptures for himself, and searched deeply, is also clear, from the nature of the innumerable

notes contained in these large volumes. He did not rely implicitly on commentators, nor on the opinions of others; he laboured to open the mine himself, and to search for hidden treasures; and he laboured successfully. Very early in life, and long before he thought seriously of the Christian ministry, he was in the habit of closeting himself, week after week without intermission, from 4 o'clock in the morning until 8 in the evening, sixteen hours a day! Let the author himself speak in reference to commentators from whom he differed, as well as from the popular opinion on some points. "Names," says he, "are only entitled to the respect due to individuals. There is a certain independence of mind which spurns the trammels of hereditary knowledge, and seeks for knowledge itself. Our natural sluggishness, and mental apathy is the great reason why we bow implicitly to the opinions of great and good men ; we do not bestir ourselves. I admire the man who does examine the opinion of another man, without bowing to his ipse dixit. Yet the world owes much to ancestral intellect.

"This independence of mind is quite different from that little pride which knowledge puffeth up; it is found, in the Christian, connected with the deepest self-abasement and humility before God, at whose feet he has laid both his ignorance and his knowledge."

When we take into the account, that the author commenced preaching before he reached the age of twenty years-that he was of a frail body and delicate constitution; and reflect on his abundant labours-that "he moved with the speed of a chariot-wheel down hill, till the axle catches fire"-preaching five, seven, and ten times a week, amounting to four hundred sermons in the first eighteen months of his ministry, besides delivering addresses on various occasions, we are filled with astonishment. His whole soul was bent upon "doing the work of an evangelist, and giving full proof of his ministry." To restrain him was impossible. If his friends remonstrated with him on his excessive labours, he was always ready with a reply, such as "The love of Christ constraineth me ;" or "My time is short, I must be about my Father's business."

It is important to bear in mind that a number of the following discourses, especially some of the most extended, were delivered during the early part of the author's ministry, when he was comparatively a mere youth; and that the whole are, as nearly as possible, a transcript of the manuscripts as they were left, and which were not intended for publication. Under these circumstances,