medium by which it was conveyed, and, therefore, if there is to be found truly recorded in the pages of any volume the history of a mind which, amidst all the weakness, and all the corruptions of its natural state, is yet holding itself attentive to the renewing education of the "Father of Spirits," and habitually feeling

that

"its great affair

Is with the Deity, his grace or frown," we cannot admit the wisdom or the fairness of turning away from that in which we may gather the materials of much nobler science than

all the labours of human wisdom can teach. If the mind or soul of man be in all its aspects a most curious and engaging subject of observation, it must be peculiarly so in that aspect on which its destiny throughout eternity depends; but it is not as affording subjects of curious moral speculation, that the works of which we speak are chiefly valuable; they have a stronger and a nearer interest to us, for they contain in them a most important part of that chain of evidence which attests the truth of Christianity. They contain in fact the history of the church of Christ. We read books which treat of the divine origin of our religion, and dwell on its benefits and blessings, and our time is well spent in doing so-they tend to establish our faith, and to exalt our hope, but have not many of us felt, in turning from these to look on the world, that the prospect is desolate;-are we not almost tempted to doubt whether the sun of righteousness has arisen, so many are the clouds that intercept his beams,-so little are there ripened here the fruits "meet for immortality" hereafter? If we would be preserved from doubting the power or the practical efficacy of the religion of Christ, we must acquaint ourselves with the characters of those who have received it in simplicity and truth. It is by no means unfair to judge of the greatness of a cause from the correspondent degree of its effect, only let us be certain that the cause has had an actual field of operation. Now if we take the Gospel as a cause, of which holiness should be the effect, it is not fair to judge of its power by the general aspect of the Christian world, because among the numbers who receive it nominally, how few are there who receive it really. This declaration of great mercy, this "manifestation of the character of God" is not written in the heavens that it may be seen by the bodily eyes of all who walk on the earth,-it is written in the Bible that it may be transcribed on the hearts of those who read and believe; and as we value the original, so should we rejoice in looking at the transcript.

It is thought indeed by some that in the very publication of papers, written only for private use, there is a violation of the sacredness which should attach to such memorials, and the opinion is certainly entitled to respect, but we think it worth examining whether it be quite just, because it would, if acted on, deprive us of those parts of religious memoirs, on which their chief interest and usefulness are to be found. We do not ask how such publication

while still alive on the earth, for we e understand the shrinking sensibility tha forbid the exposure of that "bitterness' the "heart only knoweth," or that j which a stranger "intermeddleth not; it not one of our imperfections here do so far feel strangers to one another, our communications are so often restra feelings allied to selfishness or distrust removed to a higher state, may we n that it will be otherwise? and if the f of Christ are raised to partake not onl happiness, but of the benevolence of records respecting themselves which we cannot imagine that the diffusion to inform or influence a single child great Father's family on earth shoul degree offend the spirits of those "j perfect."

But there is an objection sometimes the published memoirs of devout C which if well grounded would indeed lancholy in which their private medit strong one, and this is, that by the to often expressed, they tend rather to d prospect of a religious life than to in pursuit, and by the continued severi self condemnation, they scarcely al mark the progress of that sanctify which we are assured, the Holy S indeed carry on in the heart of a bel to degrees of cheerfulness or the re our views, much depends on the con frame of the mind and spirits; gener ing, we believe, the strongest imp religious truth are to be found in are grave rather than gay by nature ment, but even if this should not still it must be remembered that s

tion is, by its very nature, anxious hensive concerning the approbatio ject; the deeper the sensibility of the less is its love allied with con the more susceptible is it of alarm be the case even with respect to hu of attachment, how infinitely more so when the mind has fixed its gards upon Him whose "loving better than life." From the same in close connexion with this feelin self-condemnation of which we h it is the unfailing result of a self e recorded with truth, and painful quiries when they are made in s it can appear strange to those o

accustomed to "measure themsel selves," and not by the standard of of God. When we find Sir Isaa menting the smallness of his at natural philosophy, and compari

a child who passes its hours i pebbles on the shore while the knowledge lay unexplored before not less admire his genius or es tainments, we venerate his hun ceive from thence an enlarged id nity and difficulty of his objects o must not refuse to the self-cond

tian the same honour

170

surrounds him, the more distinct will be his view of his own imperfections. If it were not thus-if the assurance which a believer is authorized to feel of the love of God towards him were in no degree subject to be disturbed by his want of conformity to the perfect law of God, or if he were ever permitted to feel his desires after personal holiness fully satisfied in this world, we have reason to fear that he might be hushed into a security very fatal to his spiritual advancement, and he would at all events be deprived of the natural, and necessary training which is every day preparing him for a fuller enjoyment of the happiness of Heaven. The search which the mind of man is constantly making after "things not seen," and its unceasing desire for greater satisfaction than can be obtained here, is the foundation on which the very idea of Heaven is built, while the aspect or form of future blessedness must vary (according to the spiritual condition of the mind that desires it) from the degrading expectation of a Mahommedan Paradise, to the pure, and enlightened hope of a place or state whose bright mark of distinction from the earth we inhabit is that therein "dwelleth righteousness."-Such is the heaven promised in the Bible, a state of entire moral health, with the capacity to behold "as he is," and to praise, as we desire to do, the good Physician who hath healed us ;-just in as much, therefore, as the Christian knows and laments the disease of his moral nature, will such an anticipation be precious to him, and its fulfilment glorious.

When the ardent reformer exclaimed in his disappointment that "the old Adam was too strong for the young Melancthon," he had only made a discovery respecting others, which every one who enters on the course of a Christian life with too sanguine expectations of a sensible and unfaltering progess in it will sooner or later make with far deeper disappointment respecting himself, not because he has overrated the power of religious motives, but because he has under-rated the strength and variety of the influences that oppose them. This is a species of information that can be but imperfectly obtained from any professed treatise on a religious subject however eloquent, but we find in it marked and expressive distinctness in the simplest record of a religious life. We hold it to be in truth among the most important benefits to be derived, from the class of books of which we now speak, that they tend to correct those too abstract representations of religion, which prevail in the pages of some very excellent writers on the subject, and that they exhibit Christianity to us not merely as an object of admiring regard, perfect in its plan, as coming from the hands of an Almighty Author, but as it exists in visible application to the wants of our brethren of mankind—as it appears (to use the words of an old sacred poet of England*) when

"Meeting sin's force and art."

And if the picture which a devoutly contemplative imagination delights to paint, should be

rendered much more familiar, and its effect therefore must be more usefully felt. But in saying that the representations of Christianity, given by divines in general, are of too abstract a kind, we have not stated the only or (as it appears to us) the chief defect that exists in their writings, when we look into them for practically useful information. In these we have often been struck with a disposition to magnify some one doctrine of Christianity to the neglect, if not at the expense of others, and as we cannot help thinking that this results from a habit of considering the subject apart from its intimate adaptation to the varieties of the human character, so we can imagine no means so likely to assist in restoring and settling the just balance of Christian truth, as to consult the personal records of Christian experience. If we are right in attributing such utility to this practice in the rectifying of our faith, we cannot be less so in saying that it may be made of great use in the enlargement of our charity. These two graces of the Christian life, are indeed so linked together in the New Testament, that when we meet them in the world in a state of separation from one another, we may well doubt whether it is the very faith and charity of the Gospel that we behold, or only some false resemblances placed in their stead by the passion or the indolence of men, but of no account with Him who searcheth the heart. To feel bound together by a common belief in the great doctrines of Christianity, is the way in which the disciples of Christ will best fulfil the "new commandment" of their holy Master "to love one another."-We cannot doubt therefore that the charity, proceeding from a "pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned," will find a blessed exercise and a useful cultivation in tracing the "unity of the spirit" through every variety of external profession, for it will delight to acknowledge brotherhood in Christ, with all who have come unto him "weary and heavy laden," and seeking have found "rest unto their souls."

a

To those who have been accustomed to make the reading of religious memoirs a part of their employment, we have already said more than may seem necessary, but as our object is to influence to a more favourable regard for them, those who have not been in the habit of seeking in such works for religious knowledge, we cannot conclude without reminding the latter that the plan adopted, in describing the divine communications to man, contained in the holy Scriptures, is at once a warrant for this practice and a pledge of its usefulness. Turning first to the Old Testament we need hardly say, to any one conversant with its contents, how much their interest to us depends on the minute knowledge of human nature (from individual instances), that is there conveyed to us, for in nothing does even the historical part of the Old Testament differ from other histories more than in this, that it calls the attention of the reader not so much to the external narrative of its won. derful eve...

who were concerned in them. It is not thought

the preservation of his chosen people, we are admitted to a nearer and more interesting view still of His divine government, in the records of its felt effects on the hearts of those who dwelt in a conscious nearness to Him as a Father and a friend. Passing over all that might be urged on this subject from earlier parts of the Bible, we find in the book of Psalms, a full and perfect illustration of what we mean.From the earliest time at which religion becomes to any mind needful or attractive, to the latest hour of the Christian's earthly pilgrimage, he finds in some portions of that book his chosen comfort in sorrow, and, in others, the expressive organ of his heart's gratitude and joy. It cannot be to the often deep and mystical sense which the learned have found in them, that we are to attribute this, nor even to their plainer prophetic intimations; not even to the delicious sweetness of pastoral imagery, or the incomparable sublimity of thought and diction with which the Psalms abound;-they have a source of interest to us more endearing than all these, which is, that their words are spoken out of the fulness of the heart.-We know from them what the writers personally experienced and felt.-We have the veil of ceremony drawn aside which commonly obscures the communication of thought between one man and another, and we see the soul itself, abased in penitence, or seeking shelter from danger or affliction, or rejoicing with childlike confidingness in the presence of God. We should be guilty of very bad taste, as well as of irreverence, if we proceeded to compare any uninspired compositions with these in their degree of value or of interest, but if we are right in what has been mentioned as giving to the Psalms their peculiar interest, the same principle of moral taste (we should rather perhaps say of moral sympathy,) ought, we think, to be applied to other writings which possess, in however inferior a degree, the same claim to our regard.

When we turn to the New Testament, and study the greater, and "better covenant," wherein indeed we find the "substance of things hoped for," and gain "the evidence of things not seen," we find that by Evangelists and Apostles, the same principle of interest is understood and confessed. The writers of the Gospels are scarcely more faithful in reporting the words of their Divine Master, or the facts of his miraculous interposition, than they are in showing us what were the effects produced on the minds of those who listened to his voice, or who had felt, or desired to feel, the personal benefit of his saving power. "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind now I see," (words which closed a repeated confession made in the face of danger and obloquy by the man whose eyes had been opened) show us with the energy of living evidence a state of mind well pleasing to the God of truth; and to such, we are told in the account that follows, Christ will further reveal himself.*" Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief" were the simple words in which an afflicted father" cried out with tears," when looking to his Saviour for the restoration of his son, and surely no description of the feel

ings of an oppressed heart, when it is sited by the hope that infinite powe with infinite goodness, are concerned relief, could convey a picture to our m so intelligible or affecting.-When that "the Lord turned and looked upon and that "Peter went out and wept we do not require even words to tell severe is the remorse of an erring when he has in any instance suffered or the love of the world, to prevail in over the love of Christ. We need not such instances from the Gospels, many, and not one of them is likely gotten. In the Apostolic writings, principle is applied to excite the inte attention of those who read them, and not done in vain, is proved by the p deep feeling with which all, who have in earnest on the Christian warfare, r passages as this." For to will is pres me; but how to perform that which find not. For the good that I would, but the evil which I would not, that This is more than eloquence, it is the of heart-felt experience; all the syn our moral disorder are here recounted in the tone of a teacher, but in that of sufferer, and when at the close of th choly reckoning he asks, "Who sha me from the body of this death?" we prepared to rejoice with him in the a thank God through Jesus Christ our L is from himself also, that St. Paul dra ture of Christian perseverance—(une the energy of its expression, yet not culated to repress arrogance than it is the devout confidence that is needfu to the pursuit he describes)—when he his Philippian converts he says, "B count not myself to have apprehende one thing I do, forgetting those thi are behind, and reaching forth to the which are before, I press toward the the prize of the high calling of God Jesus."-These are but two among instances in which the great Apost same means, does not only throw warmth into his teaching, which it otherwise have possessed, but seem by a reference to his own personal on religious subjects, to correct ar mistake or abuse of the doctrines when stated in their more abstract form. The strength of the testi afforded to his integrity is too oby here insisted on. We urge St. Pau in the present case chiefly to show while holding, as he did, the lofty of an inspired "ambassador for yet knew no better means of convey import of his Master's message to t others than by declaring the effect ception of the same great truths on He does this as a simple disciple, not therefore warranted in saying ever a sincere follower of the same recorded his progress in the same s must be benefit to those who seek fo ing the record?--That the degree!

cording to the resemblance between him and the reader in the general character of their minds, is very evident, for upon this depends the influence that any book, whether of argument, or feeling, has on the mind of any reader. -In the character of the writings of which we speak, we need hardly say that truth is the one thing needful. It bears a stamp that is not easy to counterfeit, and where this exists, we should guard against too fastidious a concern about the mode in which the writers express themselves, remembering that the object for which we consult them is something much higher than a gratification of literary taste,-it is, that we may gain assistance in knowing ourselves and our relation to God, and in maintaining within us a sense of the religion of Christ in all its reality and all its tenderness.

M. F.

Is turning our thoughts to that great revolution of the sixteenth century, the Reformation, we are very apt to confine our view to Germany, to England and Scotland, to Denmark and Sweden; to the countries in which the Reformed faith obtained an actual establishment, and became predominant; and to regard the effect produced as restricted to those countries. But the changes then introduced exerted a powerful influence far beyond the places which were the immediate and permanent scenes of their operation; so much so, that among the means which eventually stopped the progress of the Reformation has been reckoned the improvement which it forced upon the Romish church herself, at least in many of her dependencies. Evils which had reigned without control amidst the darkness that had prevailed, were compelled to retire before the light now let in upon them, and the Romish clergy felt themselves constrained to observe many duties and decencies which they had before neglected.

Nor was this all; for it appears that the doctrines and principles of the Reformation itself gained a footing, much beyond what is commonly apprehended, and for a considerable time maintained it, in countries from which they were finally expelled, and their very memory obliterated, by the unrelenting tyranny of

Rome and the merciless hand of the Inquisi

them accessible to but few readers, details respecting the progress--and, alas! we must add, the final suppression-of the Reformation in Italy, which will in many parts gratify, and in all powerfully affect, every one who has the cause of genuine Christianity at heart. It is, indeed, comparatively "a blank in the history of the Reformation," as that history has hitherto been recorded, which he has laboured to fill up; and we have great pleasure in announcing, that the public may soon expect a similar volume from his pen relative to Spain.

In the opening chapter of his work, Dr. M'Crie, after slightly glancing at the earlier history of the church in Italy, from which it appears "that the supremacy claimed by the Bishop of Rome was resisted in that country after it had been submitted to by the most remote churches of the West," and that "it was not till the eleventh century that the popes succeeded in establishing their authority at Milan," comes to the period of the revival of learning in the fifteenth century. The details in this and the following chapters are learned and curious; but the general reader will perhaps feel a greater tendency to weariness in From the earliest dawn of letters in Italy, rethis than in any subsequent part of the volume. marks our author, the corruptions of the Rom ish church had been discovered by persons who entertained no thought of renouncing her communion; and besides Laurentius Valla (whom Bellarmine afterwards called, not without reason, the precursor of the Lutherans, pp. 15, 48), and Poggio Bracciolini, and Jerome Savonarola, and Egidio of Viterbo, and John Francis Pico of Mirandula, Dante, Bocaccio, Petrarch, and Guicciardini, in their several ways, lashed the vices of the clergy, or denounced with singular freedom and boldness the abuses which threatened the ruin of the church and the utter extinction of religion.

Some striking reflections are offered by Dr. M Crie on the state of religion in Italy: and it is chiefly for the sake of introducing them that we dwell longer on this portion of the history.

"The Italians could not, indeed, be said to feel at this period a superstitious devotion to the see of Rome. This did not originally form a discriminating feature of their national character: it was superinduced; and the formation of it can be distinctly traced to causes which produced their full effect subsequently to the era of the Reformation. The republics of Italy in the middle ages gave many proofs of religious independence, and singly braved the menaces and excommunications of the Vatican, at a time when all Europe trembled at the sound of its thunder. That quick-sighted and ingenious people had, at an early period, penetrated the mystery by which the emptiness of

the nonal alaima was voiled while the onnorta