Page images
PDF
EPUB

visitor in a sick room. On this account we could much desire to see something from his pen, for the especial use of the Clergyto give directions and encouragement to his brethren in the performance of this part of their sacred duties; a part, in which they may not sometimes exert their full powers, not so much from reluctance as from awkwardness, from an unwillingness to intrude, and from not knowing the best way of accomplishing their own wishes. They thus fail of satisfying their own minds, and of giving that comfort to others which they might and ought to afford. We are well assured that a few hints from one so conversant in such scenes, and who possesses so much of gentleness, devotion, and good sense, would be acceptable to great numbers. Mr. Coleridge has indeed ventured upon giving one hint; it is contained in the following note.

"My younger brethren in the ministry will not, I trust, deem me presumptuous, in here mentioning a practice which I have uniformly observed for many years, and which I will venture confidently to recommend as a very useful assistant in the discharge of their duty, that of committing to paper every evening, the chief parts at least of the several conversations that have passed in the day between the sick persons and themselves. This, by enabling them to take up their examination or discourse where they left off, renders every visit connected as it were with the one before, and thus makes the work of visitation progressive. In the same book may be kept an account of the communion money, and other alms." P. 6.

The Spirit of Prayer. By HANNAH MORE. Selected and Compiled by herself, from various Portions exclusively on that Subject, in her published Volumes. 12mo. Pp. 216. 6s. 2nd Ed. London. Cadell. 1825.

THE name of Mrs. Hannah More has been connected with the literature of her country for half a century; and of the various writings, which during that long space of time she has given to the public, it may with truth be said, that they all agree in aiming at one common end-the improvement of the age in which she has lived. The first efforts of her genius were called forth and seconded by the encouragement of Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and other eminent individuals of both sexes, who formed the literary circle of the metropolis, in which Mrs. More enjoyed the privilege of living. As life advanced, she withdrew her attention from the more fascinating pursuits

of polite literature and poetry, and applied herself to the task of examining the system of female education, and of suggesting many valuable hints for its improvement. Whilst her mind and her pen were ably employed on this important subject, she was at the same time practically engaged in instructing and training the children of the poor in the villages around her neighbourhood.

In the awful years of the French Revolution, when the agents of evil were striving, in all possible ways, and by the most insidious means, to poison the minds of the people of this country, Mrs. More sent forth from her retirement a series of Tracts, of uncommon excellence, which were widely circulated, and eagerly read amongst the lower orders; and which must have had a powerful effect in checking the progress of mischief, and in recalling to a right sense of duty many who had been in some degree misled. It is the highest merit of these tracts that they are interesting, without being romanticthat they delight the humble reader, and insinuate instruction and reproof into his mind, without encouraging any morbid feeling, or producing any unruly excitement of imagination.

After this service had been rendered to her country, Mrs. More was soon occupied in one of a very opposite kind. She became, through her "Hints for the Education of a Princess," the voluntary, yet modest and unassuming preceptress of the Princess Charlotte of Wales. This work may be considered the chef-d'œuvre of its excellent Author:-it will remain a lasting monument of her talents, information, and piety. Since its publication Mrs. More has frequently appeared as a writer, and has always met with a welcome reception.

It is now some time ago, when in the Preface to one of her later works, she began to inquire, after the example, and in the words of her early friend Dr. Johnson, "Where is the world, into which we were born?" In the little work, the title of which stands at the head of this article, she seems to address her readers in the spirit, and almost in the terms of the admirable Hooker, who, on his death-bed, and the day before his 'dissolution, is reported to have uttered the following striking words: I have lived to see this world is made up of perturbations; and I have been long preparing to leave it, and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of making my account with God, which I now apprehend to be near." In like manner, Mrs. More, from what she calls "a sick, and in all human probability, a dying bed," avows an anxiety to recommend to all, who respect her name, the practice and the spirit of prayer, as the best means of comfort and support under the difficulties of

life, and as the best preparation for eternity. She states that, having been often importuned to publish a work expressly on Prayer, she has chosen rather to select from her already published volumes, such passages as refer to this "all-important subject." She appears in so doing to have acted judiciously; for she has thus formed, for those previously conversant with her works, an acceptable collection of favourite chapters; whilst for others she has afforded a fair specimen of her style and sentiments, which may excite them to form a farther acquaintance with her writings. It is at all events convenient to have at hand, in so small a compass, whatever Mrs. More has written on one prominent religious subject: since to this volume a ready appeal will hereafter lie, whenever it is necessary to vindicate her from the charge of enthusiasm, and of disaffection to the Church of England. This charge is best refuted by a reference to such of her writings as are strictly and professedly religious. Let these be fully and candidly examined; and the result will not fail to be a conviction that the spirit of piety, which they breathe, and which they are calculated to cherish in others, is fervent, indeed, but pure and sober;-that the temper of mind, which they exhibit in their author, and which they have a tendency to form in her readers, is a temper in strict harmony with the formularies of the Church, of which she has been, through her long life, a member and an ornament. Because her writings have taken a wide range, and have for the most part been concerned with subjects of universal interest, they have undoubtedly been popular amongst readers of all parties, and of all descriptions: hence her name has been used, and her authority alleged by persons differing widely from each other, and differing as widely, on many important points, from herself. Her alliance has been claimed sometimes, it is to be feared, by those who have wilfully misrepresented her meaning; and still oftener by those, who have not taken pains to inform themselves of her real sentiments and predilections. It is true, that she has seldom had an opportunity of defending, professedly, the cause of the Church of England against the Dissenters: still, when the fit occasion presents itself, she does not shrink from an avowal of decided attachment to the former; and she has evidently always written with a tacit reference to the deliberate conclusions of her own mind on the same side. Throughout her works, she has given ample proof that the school in which she has delighted most to study Theology, is that whose masters are the judicious Hooker, the eloquent Jeremy Taylor, Dr. Isaac Barrow, and Bp. Butler: and who will deny to the disci

ple of this noble school, the character of a genuine member of the pure and Apostolical Church of England?

As the nature of the work before us forbids any attempt at Analysis, we shall content ourselves with extracting, for the gratification of our readers, the following passage, taken from the Chapter on "The Consolations of Prayer in Affliction, Sickness, and Death."

"The night also will be made, to the praying Christian, a season of heart searching thought, and spiritual consolation. Solitude and stillness completely shut out the world, its business, its cares, its impertinences. The mind is sobered, its passions are stilled: it seems to the watchful Christian as if there were in the universe only God and his own soul. It is an inexpressible consolation to him to feel that the one Being in the universe, who never slumbereth nor sleepeth, is the very Being to whom he has free access, even in the most unseasonable hours. The faculties of the mind may not, perhaps, be in their highest exercise; but the affections of the heart, from the exclusion of distracting objects, more readily ascend to their noblest object. Night and darkness are no parasites; conscience is more easily alarmed. It puts on fewer disguises. We appear to ourselves more what we really are. This detection is salutary. The glare which the cheerful day-light, business, pleasure, and company, had shed over all objects, is withdrawn. Schemes, which in the day had appeared plausible, now present objec tions. What had appeared safe, now, at least, seems to require deliberation. This silent season of self-examination is a keen detector of any latent sin, which, like the fly in the box of perfume, may corrupt much that is pure. When this communion with God can be maintained, it supplies deficiencies of devotion to those who have little leisure during the day; and by thus exercising these otherwise lost hours, it snatches time from oblivion, at once adds to the length of life, and weans from the love of it. If the wearied and restless body be tempted to exclaim, 'Would God it were morning!' the very term suggests the most consoling of all images. The quickened mind shoots forward beyond this vale of tears, beyond the dark valley of the shadow of death; it stretches onward to the joyful morning of the Resurrection; it anticipates that blessed state, where there is no more weeping, and no more night; no weeping, for God's own hand shall wipe away the tears; no night, for the Lamb himself shall be the light. If humbling doubts of his own state depress the real penitent, what comfort may he not derive from the assurance, that the acceptable sacrifice to the God of love, is the troubled spirit, and the broken and contrite heart.

"It is a further encouragement to prayer to the dejected spirit, that the Almighty was not contented to show his willingness to pardon by single declarations, however strong and full. He has heaped up words, he has crowded images, he has accumulated expressions, he has exhausted language, by all the variety of synonymes which ex

press love, mercy, pardon, and acceptance. They are graciously crowded together, that the trembling mourner who was not sufficiently assured by one, might be encouraged by another. And it is the consummation of the Divine goodness, that this message is not sent by his ambassador, but that the King of kings, the blessed and only Potentate, condescends Himself to pronounce this royal proclamation. "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin!" Forgiving, indeed, but in consonance with his just demand of repentance and reformation, who will by no means clear the guilty.' Refuse not then to take comfort from the promises of God, when, perhaps, you are easily satisfied with the assurance of pardon from a frail and sinful creature like yourself, whom you have offended. Why is God the only Being who is not believed,-who is not trusted? O Thou that hearest Prayer, why unto Thee will not all flesh come ?' P. 197-201.

[ocr errors]

An Appeal to Masters of Families on the necessity and advantages of Family Prayer. To which are added appropriate Forms of Family Prayer for Morning and Evening Devotion. By the Rev. CHARLES TRELAWNEY COLLINS, M.A. Fellow of Baliol College, Oxford, and late Lecturer of Pennycross Chapel. 8vo. pp. 138. Plymouth, Rowes. 1824.

AN entire neglect or a careless performance of the great duty of prayer will sufficiently account for the errors of many regular characters, and for the lamentable inconsistency of others who profess themselves Christians. The advantages of prayer appear to be imperfectly understood by the generality of mankind; the gracious privilege of communion with God to be often lightly valued. Mr. Collins, therefore, wisely prefaces his exhortation to family worship with a few observations on the nature and necessity of prayer in general, as deducible even from the light of nature, evidenced by the invariable practice of heathen nations; but expressly enjoined by the word of revelation, especially in the New Testament; where the object and mode of our worship, the obligations, and the usefulness of prayer are clearly taught. The New Testament also abounds with exhortations to frequency in this service. "Continue in prayer." "Pray without ceasing;" expressions implying, say Mr. Collins,

"Not that you are to spend your whole time in prayer; but that you are always to have your hearts in a praying posture-that you

« PreviousContinue »