cannot fail to affect his heart when he contemplates the numbers who plainly manifest that the offence of the cross has not ceased.'”—(pp. v. vii.) We need not describe Mr. V.'s sermons. Written in this spirit, our readers may feel sure that they will find in them admirable specimens of pastoral faithful preaching. We give a single extract. The preacher is describing the CHRISTIAN'S RESOURCE. He says: "The world, my brethren, has many resources. The Christian has but one. But that one is of infinitely greater worth than all those possessed by an unconverted and ungodly world. The mere professor of religion attempts to serve two masters. He thinks that he can reconcile this to his conscience. He pleads for the world-declares that serving the world is a duty. He sets against any defilement he may contract therein, the observance of certain external ordinances, and then builds himself up in the hope, that though he may be wrong, yet that it is probable all may be well in the end. The Christian has no such rash hope. The world may turn to its frivolities and gaieties, but these must pass away with the using. The believer knows that there is a solid foundation upon which he may build in perfect security. He adopts as his own the language of the poet : 'Other refuge have I none : Hangs my helpless soul on thee.' He looks to Jesus, and in him he sees 'a living stone; disallowed, indeed, of men, but chosen of God, and precious.' He knows that he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. "Bear with me then for a short time, while I point out to you, that in every case in which I have described the Christian in distress, Jesus is the sure and grand resource. "1. I spoke of a young man entering upon the duties of life, and afraid lest he should yield to temptation, and forsake his Redeemer. But as a Christian, he has recourse to that word which speaks of Jesus, and reads his Saviour's own intercession, John xvii. I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.' 'Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are.' He knows the value of a Saviour's intercession. He is confident that Christ will undertake for him, and that he will be kept even unto the very end. "2. We consider the young man beginning his Christian course. Knowing his own weakness and the deceitfulness of his heart, he looks to Jesus as that One who is mighty to save. He opens the sacred volume, and reads that his Saviour God is a refuge and strength, and often cries to his Lord to undertake for him. He hears the still small voice of the Holy Spirit whispering behind him, bidding him be of good cheer; and boldly affirms, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.' "3. Is the believer perplexed in the path of duty? He looks to Jesus, and finds that though absent in the body, the Saviour is present in Spirit. He at once commits his way to the Lord, and finds the promise fulfilled that his thoughts shall be established.' He finds one who can cheer him when most opposed, who can calm him when most agitated, and who is not ashamed to welcome the rejected of men and call him brother. "4. We examined the case of the weak brother convinced of sin,-and what resource has he? Will he find peace in defective views of God's holiness and justice? Will he find relief in adding sin to sin? No, my brethren, but he beholds the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Sinner as he is, of scarlet hue, he feels that Jesus has undertaken for him; and that his robes are now washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. In Jesus he sees that, as on the head of the scape-goat of old, his sins are all laid, and they are borne away for ever and ever. In confident assurance of this, he experiences peace with God through Jesus Christ. 5. Is the Christian in grief. He feels no relief in refusing to reflect on its cause. He finds no consolation in the excitement of the novel or the bitterness of political strife. To these he cries, Miserable comforters are ye all!' but in faith he turns to Jesus, the sinner's friend. He knows that he has not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of his infirmities, but that Jesus, in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, is able to succour them that are tempted.' (Heb. iv. 15, and ii. 18.) Then does the believer find the Saviour saying, In all thine afflictions I am afflicted.' 'Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Yes, my friends, Jesus is the brother born for adversity. He never will send one poor sorrowing Christian empty away. "6. At the hour of death, too, the believer still finds his resource in Jesus. Unlike those godless people, who would fain keep away all thoughts of eternity until a poor sinner wakes up in the midst of the fire which shall never be quenched, the believer looks to Jesus as the good Shepherd, whose rod and whose staff shall comfort him as he passes through the dark valley of the shadow of death. He cries to Jesus, and hears him answer, Be of good cheer, I have gone to prepare a place for you. I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am there you may be also. 7. If, once more, you will carry your minds forward to the great day of the Lord's appearing, then the law may stand forth and say, I have been broken by thee;' Satan may venture boldly forward, and say, 'Thou art also one of us;' but Jesus is nigh, and as Paul said to Philemon, so will He interfere, as each charge against us is made, and say, 'Put that to mine account. Then will the Lord pronounce his people free, proclaiming that he has found a ransom for us. 66 "Am I not justified then in saying, Christ Jesus is the believer's grand and sure resource? Surely, brethren, the name of the Lord is a strong tower ; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.'”—(pp. 200—206.) III. In naming a second volume of Metropolitan Sermons, we are compelled to say that they do not meet our views of parochial preaching. What may be the peculiar character of the congregation assembling in St. Pancras' church we know not, and therefore we are not judges perhaps of the peculiar adaptation of the sermons in question: but of this we feel quite sure, that, if the congregation be one of a mixed parochial character, the preacher has greatly mistaken the requirements of such an audience; and, under any circumstances, greater plainness of speech, and a larger infusion of the simple elements of gospel truth, would, in our view, be more becoming the minister of Christ-" the legate of the skies!" "His theme divine, 1846. His office sacred, his credentials clear: Its thunders: and by him in strains as sweet 2 T Of heav'nly temper, furnishes with arms The sacramental host of God's elect." The following extract, which is the first paragraph of the volume, will hardly convey the idea that Mr. Drew is a very matured evangelist or theologian. This sermon is on the words-" For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." He thus opens his subject: "The word righteousness, as employed by the apostle in this verse, has been understood in two different senses. In one of these, it is held to represent that state of holiness into which the Christian will be certainly conducted by a genuine and an earnest faith. And, if this be the true sense of the word, as here employed, our text is equivalent to an assertion of the power of heartfelt faith to produce the piety and virtue which is acceptable to God. The apostle, then, must be held to affirm, that whenever our creed has an influence over our affections, we shall, of necessity, be distinguished by sanctity of life. In the other of the two senses which it has here received, the word righteousness is supposed to indicate that character which God, for the sake of Christ, is pleased to attribute to the act of belief considered in itself, and without reference to the fruits it may produce. And, if this be the correct explanation of the word, our text must be regarded as describing the nature of that faith which will procure our justification in the sight of God, and by means of which, therefore, our salvation will be secured. Now it is of no practical consequence whether we receive the one or the other of these interpretations." 46 And again, Whichever view of the apostle's language our judgment may incline us to select, is, as we have said, a matter of no practical importance."—(pp. 1, 2.) Happily, Mr. D.'s sermons are not textual, as our good old friend Mr. Simeon used to draw the distinction, but topical:"Heartfelt Faith-the Heavenly World-Christ at Nazareth-the Wondrous Works of God-the Office of Reason in Religious Inquiries-Peter following Christ afar off-Scripture Difficultiesthe Existence and Employment of Angels:" topics which we willingly acknowledge, the preacher has, in his way, handled with considerable power; nor would it be difficult to select passages of great merit. The entire volume, indeed, indicates high qualifications of a certain order, and we have no doubt the delivery of the sermons, if adequately sustained, would be very effective. We must however repeat that they appear to us lacking in simplicity, and in clear evangelical statement. The author says "He does not claim much, if indeed he may claim any, merit for his sermons, on the ground of originality in the ideas and the illustrations they contain: but at least he will venture to say, that they exhibit an honest attempt to employ a more efficient style of religious teaching than is now gene. rally adopted in the pulpit." ... Whether Mr. D. intends the dress or the matter of his teaching, we cannot say but in either case,-while we have no reason to question the honesty of his attempt,-we very much question the measure of his success. The biographer of Mr. Grylls, whose sermons we have just noticed, says of him-" What he was as a preacher in his own country church, the same he was, with singularly little difference, in the cathedral at Exeter. In the latter he put forth no extraordinary effort, no additional powers of thought, no greater refinement of language. . . . In the same cover now before me, there are two sermons, written consecutively by him, -one on the death of a parishioner, and the other preached in the church of the cathedral city-the third in this volume-which but for the special references in each, might without any violation of propriety, have changed places: the former delivered, and admirably suited to a village congregation, being not unworthy of the most cultivated audience; and the latter, though preached to crowds of intelligent hearers, not less adapted even to the wayfaring man." Such a preacher was Mr. Blunt. We may be allowed to quote the dead as examples : "Simple, grave, sincere: In doctrine uncorrupt: in language plain, Nor let the Prince of preachers be forgotten "Through all HE spoke a noble plainness ran— SHORT NOTICES. A THIRD AND CONCLUDING VOLUME OF POSTHUMOUS SERMONS, WITH PASTORAL LETTERS. By the Rev. H. BLUNT, Rector of Streatham. THE volume of Sermons, accompanied with Pastoral Letters, whose forthcoming we announced in our review of Mr. Blunt's Posthumous Sermons, has at length appeared. We need not say it fully sustains the character of the lamented author, whilst it exhibits him in a new character. The mass of those who were so fondly attached to his ministry recollect him as the admired preacher, surrounded by a listening crowd, placed solely by his own exertions in a position of much responsibility, where too he had every opportunity of professional distinction. We are too apt to attribute the unction and the zeal of one in these circumstances to the pressure from without: to the conviction that he has a position to sustain. So placed, ambition might prompt, vanity suggest, even interest stimulate exertion. But Mr. Blunt had not so learned Christ. At the zenith of his reputation he became the prey of an insidious disease, which for eight long years was alternately to flatter him with hopes of recovery, alternately to remind him that the seeds of death were sown too surely. Though at times attempting feebly to deliver his testimony, Mr. Blunt was never able entirely to resume the pulpit after his departure from Chelsea. For the last three years of his life he was entirely excluded from it. Yet the Lectures on the Pentateuch, these pastoral letters, the sermons which he revised for publication, show that he was well and fully employed. Most emphatically did he speak as a dying man to dying men. At times during these eight years he seems for a short period to have resumed his favourite employment, as the Lectures on Elisha testify; but this was rather a gleam of the setting sun than a token of its unabated radiance. But there is something eminently interesting in the volume before us; it shows that even on the bed of sickness a minister's career of usefulness is not closed: yea, perhaps because brought into close contact with death, does he speak with tenfold sincerity, as though he were realizing to the full the instructions he imparts to others. This volume, too, is valuable, because it accomplishes what we have often felt was needed. The writer addresses as a spiritual father those under his charge: he speaks |