delightful acquiescence in the dispensations of a wise and gracious Providence ; no cheering views of the goodness and mercy that surround us; no resting place upon the bosom of a Father's love. Wretched, indeed, is the state of such a mind! It is, like the bark which has lost its anchors and its helm, the sport of changing winds and waves; tossed here and there on a vast and trackless ocean, yet never approaching the haven it desires :---while he who firmly trusts in God, is like one sitting securely on the summit of a rock, where he beholds unmoved the swelling of the billows and the fury of the tempest which rages at his feet in vain." Vol. ii. pp. 374-376. We conclude with a very few general remarks, first addressed to the Editors of these sermons, and then respecting their lamented author. The Editors we sincerely thank for the task which they have so kindly undertaken and so well fulfilled, of gratifying and instructing the public with these sermons; and we cannot but indulge a wish that this publication might only be the earnest of some plan even larger and more comprehensive. Some inequalities and inaccuracies of style doubtless appear in the present work, sufficient to convince us that much labour and care may be necessary to prepare for the press sermons never written for publication, and perhaps more inaccurate than those which have been now corrected. But we think much should be undertaken, ́ even as a duty, where the profit of mankind is at stake: and sermons like the present, so well calculated for general perusal; so strictly according to the unearthly spirit of Christ's religion, and yet so measured and judicious; in a word, so instructive, yet so taking; we think should by no means, on any principle, " be hid from the great congregation." It is obvious that a large void is still left in the present publication. Many of the most important doctrines of Christianity remain to be discussed. Much on practical subjects, and many valuable developments of church principles, must have occurred in the course of so long and judicious a ministry as that of Mr. Venn, which on the authority of such a name will command a more than ordinary degree of respect and of usefulness.* We quit a solemn duty in making these observations, which we cannot help feeling a conviction will be justified by the reception we anticipate for the present volumes. But we cannot conclude also without erecting some feeble monument of respect to the Author of these excellent sermons, and "discharging" a pleasing though "empty office," whilst we trace for a few moments the lineaments apparent in them of a mind we are sure not now lost to existence, but only removed from a lower stage of it to another more suited to its feelings and devout aspirations. We observe, then, in these sermons, the traces, 1. of an amiable mind.-Feeling for the wants and frailties of his fellow-men, the Author never seems to lose sight of that happiness to which he is inviting them when calling them to religion : he strives to make them holy, that he may make them happy; and ap-. pears to "long after them all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." We do not know whether this feeling towards his flock may in any degree have deprived his ordinary style of preaching of that closeness and pointedness of application which tend to alarm rather than console, and even to harrow up the soil which it is intended to sow. If So, his leni ence would doubtless be a fault : for the most affectionate should also be occasionally the most severe. Often, however, it is the property of minds so finely constructed as Mr. Venn's, and we may add nursed in the lap of religious parentage, and early * We understand that Mr. Venn has left twelve hundred sermons behind him. turned to God, not to conceive so strongly as others of the active crime at work in every man's heart by nature; rather to judge others by itself, and to exhibit instinctively more of that charity which "hopeth all things," than of that quick and experimental intuition into character which detects and drags forth to light the lurking principle of evil in all its native blackness and malignity. We 2. We see in them traces of a remarkably fair and upright mind. We recollect the ascription of " fidelity" to his interpretations of Scripture in the preface: we call to mind his own declaration on the subject: and we must say, both are fully veri fied in the volumes before us. see nothing like prejudice; nothing like perversion; whether to answer the purpose of some favourite doctrine, or to gratify the still more captivating but more guilty love of novelty and display. If Scripture does not always consecrate his page, as we see in many other divines (an appearance, however, somewhat increased by the frequent omission of the marks of quotation in the letterpress), it arises from a fear lest his page should desecrate Scripture by an improper application of it. He ever displays the profoundest know ledge, and makes the best use of it. He has "the power of art," that best of theological arts, "without the shew." Hence, as might be expected, his expository sermons are amongst the best and most able of his productions. He meets his pas sage, whatever it may be, fully and fairly; as we may see exemplified in the sermons on David, on Jacob and Esau, on Good Works, &c. &c. And occasionally he can pour forth all the stores of the Sacred Volume at his feet, as particularly appears in the sermon on the Communion of Angeis. His earnest prayer seems ever to have been " to have a right judgment in all things;" his constant That she may see and tell 3. We perceive strong marks of an originality of mind in these sermons: not an affected or ambitious, but a real and essential originality; the fruit, perhaps, of the quality before mentioned, aided by much serious and deliberate application of thought to his subject.-Our Author seems to have been, in the strictest sense of the word, a contemplatist. Perhaps we might, if aiming at a distinction, say, that he seems to owe his ideas rather to contemplation than investigation; and that the result might be more properly called originality than profundity. Profound, however, he certainly is, if much occasional depth of observation demands that name; but the effort of mind by which he obtains it, seems to have been that of calm and steady contemplation; silent and unbroken meditation." And the result has been, what it ever will be of such a course, that he has illustrated every subject he has touched; and has said, apparently without intending it, what has not been said, or not so well said, before him. He rejects nothing that has been said before him, on that account. His humility would rather lead him to prefer it. We can fancy he always sets out with a wish to adopt it. But new lights break in upon him as he proceeds: he scatters fresh scintillations around him; and we follow his calm and steady march, at once pleased with the discoveries he makes, and soothed with the mild lustre of his rays. 4. If we were to allude to one quality apparent in these sermons, of what some would deem dubious praise, we should add in this place the symptoms of caution which we discover. We do not find our author grappling with very difficult subjects, or taking very strong and positive views on points which may be overstrained. Whether he saw the little good or the much harm which has in all ages of the world arisen from recondite speculations and "doubtful disputations ;"-whether he felt how few could follow aright where the mere theorist or dogmatist led the way;-or whether, perhaps, a little degree of indolence, with a great degree of feeling easily suggested the popular and most engaging views of the subjects which he did undertake,-certainly we find "the plain path" of remark and illustration the favourite choice of our divine. We trace him, for the most part, in that middle way which will generally result from a view of Scripture as a whole, and which might fancifully be illustrated by that luminous track in the heaven in contradistinction to the telescopic appearance of individual constella tions. 5. We must be satisfied with barely hinting at a fifth quality of mind which appears in these sermons, that of loftiness and sublimity. -We have already noticed this excellence in the body of our Review so fully, as to render a large mention of it in this place unnecessary. Suf. fice it to say, that with much of the plainness and perspicuity of some of our best writers, at the head of whom we would place Archdeacon Paley, we see in him a quality of mind to which many divines of that style were wholly strangers. There is nothing cold-blooded in the occasionally profound and moral reasonings of Mr. Venn. There is, withal, an elevation of tone, a depth of feeling, a towering imagination which seems to indicate from whence these reasonings flowed. He seems to spurn at "ought of sordid or debasing mould." His mind, in its natural, we should say its regenerated, tendency, like the pure flame, mounts upwards. His usual and most de lighted walk seems by anticipation "high in salvation and the climes of bliss:" or in the beautiful language of our Liturgy, whose spirit he had deeply imbibed, "thither" where his Saviour ascended had he “in heart and mind ascended also; and with him continually dwelt." 6. We need not, in conclusion, add to other qualities of no doubtful order, that of pure and unaffected devotion.-Nearly every remark hitherto made has afforded an illustration of this point: and those who are at all versed, or have any belief in the physiognomy of style, we can have no doubt will have long since collected from these sermons nearly every expression and lineament of the most pious and devout frame. If profound humility; if the utmost sincerity; if the warmest feelings of affection to man; if the most reverential awe of the Divine Being, with the most rapturous survey of his adorable perfections; if the uni form reference to the great Author and Finisher of our faith, and the avowal of Jesus Christ as the great Head of the church, as the source of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, as the All in All to true Christians; if the constant appeal to the conscience and heart, in connection with the fearful difference in lot between the righteous and the unrighteous hereafter, corresponding to the no-less. certain, if not always marked, differ. ence in their character here;—if all these taken together, and, we may say, constituting the main body of his divinity, the ruling genius of all his instructions, speak for the devo tional feelings of the instructer; then do these volumes afford a lasting monument to the devotion and piety of Mr. Venn: and the sayings they record, more durable than any stone or brass on which it would be possible to inscribe them, we trust are deeply registered in the bosom of God, as a true evidence of his faith and hope,-a "hope that maketh not ashamed," faith by which he "pleased God:"-whilst in the earthly recollection of these lessons of wisdom, many, we be lieve, will long survive to honour the man who uttered them, and to write with affectionate veneration on his tomb, "The memory of the just is blessed." Eight Sermons, preached before the University of Oxford; together with a Sermon, delivered at an Ordination, holden at Christ Church, by the Bishop of Durham, on Trinity Sunday, in the Year of our Lord, 1810. By EDWARD GARRARD MARSH. OX ford, at the University Press, for the Author: Sold by J. Parker; and by Rivingtons, London. 1814. Price 7s. 6d. A FEW years since, a considerable and important alteration was made both at Oxford and Cambridge, and nearly we believe at the same time, in the arrangement respecting the Preachers before the Universities. This branch of academical duty, for the most part, regularly devolves on the Senior Graduates of the University, in chronological succession: But as many of them are non-resident, and either unwilling, or, from various circumstances, unable to perform it, and some even among the resident members are equally indisposed to this service, it was for many years customary to assign it to substitutes, who were but too frequently ill qualified to address those learned bodies in a dignified and instructive manner. The evil had long been felt and lamented; and at length a remedy was applied, which has certainly been attended with consider able success. The ancient order of preachers remained as before; but it was determined, that whenever any Graduate of the University, upon whom the duty of preaching at St. Mary's devolved during term, should decline a personal appearance, his place should be supplied, not, as it had previously been, by an arbitrary substitute, but by one of a certain number of select preachers, appointed annually by the University for two years, in succession. The conse quence of this new system, we speak now more particularly of Oxford, has been, with some exceptions which must ever attend all human attempts of the University Pulpit. Many at reformation, a very improved state learned, elaborate, and excellent discourses have been the result of it; a few of which have obtained, by means of the press, a wider sphere of influence than even the venerable walls of St. Mary's could afford. It is to the arrangement which we have thus briefly noticed, that we are indebted for the volume to which we are about to direct the attention of our readers; and we have been the rather induced to mention it, from the silence of its learned author as to this circumstance. Mr. Marsh does, indeed, announce eight out of the nine sermons of which his volume is composed, as having been preached before the University of Oxford; but he does not state, what we happen to know is the fact, that they were delivered in the discharge of his duty as one of the select prea chers during the two last years, and were admired and esteemed, by very competent and various judges, as they deserve. We proceed, however, to enable our readers to form their own judgment of this able and interesting volume. The sermons preached before the University are preceded by one delivered at an Ordination holden at Christ Church, by the venerable Bishop of Durham. The subject of it is the very appropriate one of "the love of Christ," from the affecting question addressed by our Lord to St. Peter, after his resurrection. The two maxims which form the basis of this sermon are, first, that for those who would feed the flock of Christ, the chief and most necessary qualification is to love Christ more than they love their dearest earthly connexions; secondly, that those who so love Christ cannot display their love of him more acceptably than by feeding his sheep. The truth and importance of these two maxims cannot certainly be questioned; but we must be allowed to doubt the correctness of the inference of the first, from the question of our Lord in the text; “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these ?" The ambiguity of the latter clause is obvious, and has been frequently noticed, as well as the three meanings of which it is susceptible; but we cannot avoid observing, that Mr. Marsh does not appear to us to have preferred the most probable of the three. He dismisses, and we think justly, the interpretation which could explain the question, as if it meant," Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these fishing-nets and implements of thy trade? Lovest thou me more than thou lovest thy secular gains and employments?" though something plausible may be urged in defence of this paraphrase, and it conveys an important admonition. He objects, also, to the follow. ing more general explanation of the question:-"Lovest thou me more than these other disciples love me?" -upon the grounds, that this was a question which St. Peter could not answer, and which our Saviour, from its apparent tendency to excite jea. lousies among his disciples, cannot be very readily believed to have asked. To this objection, however, it' may, we think, be satisfactorily replied, first, that the question was not addressed by our Lord to the knowledge, but to the opinion, of St. Peter; with a tacit, but pretty intelligible reference to the former confidence of his zealous but presumptuous Apostle, and his well-known declaration of fancied superiority over his brethren in affection to their Lord,-" Though all shall be offended, yet will not I." Accordingly, it may be observed, that in his reply, the now humbled and penitent Apostle does not, as before, profess his more warm and animated attachment; but simply yet powerfully appeals to his Saviour, as the Searcher of his heart, that he who "knew all things," and who was intimately acquainted both with his sincerity and his frailty, knew that he loved him. The preceding remark is equally applicable to that part of the objection which respects the supposed tendency of the question, thus interpreted, to excite jealousies among the Apostles. The question was doubtless intended to convey a most interesting suggestion to them all; but its peculiar application to St. Peter, under the affecting circumstances in which his denial and recovery had placed him, was so obvious, as to prevent any such idea as that of jealousy from occurring to the rest of the disciples. It was a question, which was so far from ad. ministering to the self.love of the warm-hearted Apostle, that it evidently grieved and distressed him; and instead of conferring on him any distinction above his brethren, only imposed upon him, what, indeed, in the estimation of every truly Christian mind will ever be esteemed a distinction, a superior and additional obligation to devoted and self-denying service. But Mr. Marsh is satisfied, that the more natural and pertinent inquiry of our Lord from St. Peter, was to this effect: "Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these Apostles?" an interpretation which ac. cords perfectly with one of the main principles asserted in the Ordination Sermon, but which for the following brief reasons, we do not think deducible from the question in the text, For, in the first place, had this been the meaning of our Lord, St. Peter |