sound to fill a large church, than is generally supposed; and the loudest speakers are often not understood from inattention to this fact. It is true that the public requires a more animated and impassioned style of speaking than formerly, and no man can aspire to popularity whose eloquence is not of a bold and fervid kind; but the penalty is often a speedy prostration of the physical powers, and perhaps an untimely death. The fate of a Summerfield, a Larned, a Henry, a Cornelius, a Griffin, and a host of others, will testify to the truth of this remark. But this style of eloquence is not necessarily destructive to health, and would not prove so, if the discourse were confined within moderate limits and proper attention paid to exercise, diet, &c. But an harrangue of an hour or more, and perhaps three times repeated in the course of one day, is sufficient to break down the vocal organs, if not the constitution of most clergymen, especially when aided by half a dozen evening lectures weekly.

Churches are often constructed with little or no attention to the laws of acoustics. The convenience and health of the preacher is as little consulted, as if he were an automaton trumpeter, or Maelzael's chess player. It is expected that he can "hold forth" in one of these huge structures, with as much ease, as he can converse in his own parlour. He is literally to "cry aloud and spare not" and lift up his voice like a trumpet." This, then, is another cause of the disease under consideration. Again, speaking in damp basements, where there are few or no facilities for ventilation, is another exciting cause of laryngitis. Some suppose that speaking with the head thrown back, thus producing an unnatural tension and contraction of the muscles of the larnyx, has an unfavourable effect upon the organs of speech. This is doubtless an unnatural position, and more injurious in its consequences, than one more easy and less constrained. Preaching when under the influence of a cold, and especially if hoarseness be present, ought by all means to be avoided. This form of laryngitis, it has been contended, is merely symptomatic of dyspepsy and not of idiopathic affection. This opinion, however, is entirely erroneous and unsupported by proof. It is, however, like every other disease, aggravated by a disordered condition of the digestive organs, and alleviated by remedying the same. Some have attempted to trace this disease to No. III.

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the use of anthracite coal, as its prevalence, they say, was contemporaneous with the general introduction of this species of fuel. It is a sufficient reply to this, to state that it attacks indiscriminately those who do, and those who do not use this article of fuel. We know at least six country clergymen, who have laboured under this affection, and who have never used anthracite coal at all. Moreover the disease prevails as extensively in the South, where this coal has never been introduced, as in Philadelphia, New York, or any of the northern States.

The custom of performing funeral services at the grave, with the head uncovered, as practiced extensively in our large cities, is extremely detrimental to health, and often the apparent exciting cause of laryngitis. Burying grounds are generally damp and unwholesome, and the time of day also, at which funerals are mostly attended, is calculated to give this cause a fatal efficiency.

We have already alluded to exposure to evening air, after the excitement of public exercises, and while probably in a state of perspiration, as another frequent cause of clerical disease. We can recollect more than one instance where an attack of acute laryngitis was induced by such exposure, and where the penalty was protracted suffering terminating in death.

With respect to the treatment of chronic laryngitis, it is not our design to discuss the subject at length, neither is it possible to point out a course which will apply to every individual case. This is a disease, to which the old adage holds pre-eminently true, " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." We are inclined to believe, in the first place, that absolute rest of the organs is indispensable to a cure; and in the next place, few cases can be so effectually cured, but that the disease will return, by exposure to causes similar to those which produced it. Owing to the extremely delicate structure of the organs concerned, there is as great danger of this result, as there is of putting a delicate musical instrument out of tune, by roughly handling it. Pure air, travelling, and a mild, but nourishing diet, have proved eminently beneficial in most cases that have come under our notice; and we have also found leeching, followed by an issue at the lower part of the neck, afford great relief. An attention to the digestive organs is highly important. Gargles of a demulcent kind may by used to advan

tage, and also at an advanced stage of the disease, those of a stimulating nature, such as a weak solution of the sulphates of zinc or copper, or what is still better, the nitrate of silver, of the strength of six or eight grains to an ounce of water. Some cases have been cured by a residence in a warm climate, and others, by making the tour of Europe. This last is a fashionable prescription, and for the most part a useful one; but the tour of the United States would probably prove as beneficial and less expensive. The body should be well guarded by flannels worn next to the skin, and warm bathing and the flesh brush are useful auxiliaries. Walking, and riding on horseback, are the best species of exercise, and they should be persevered in till the disease is found to yield. This course will generally prove successful, if commenced before the disease has made much progress. With respect to other diseases to which clergymen are particularly liable, they are to be prevented, by avoiding those causes, which we have already pointed out. Attention to a few simple rules, will generally ensure health, usefulness, personal enjoyment, and long life.

Believing that, under Providence, an efficient and faithful clergy is to be the grand instrument in the conversion of the world, and that it actually is at the present day the chief support and safe guard of all the social, civil and religious interests of man, these remarks are submitted, in the humble hope that they may be productive of good, and tend to the promotion of virtue, happiness and religion,

ART. IX. THE LAST EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY.

By Rev. THOMAS CURTIS, Pastor of the Baptist Church, Bangor, Maine.

"That they all may be one; as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe, that thou hast sent me."-John, xvii. 21.

To the Editor of the Lit. and Theol. Review.

BANGOR, AUG. 1836.

DEAR SIR-These are, in fact, words of prophecy; and, often as they have been quoted, may they not, to use a phrase of Lord Bacon's, contain "a germinant," meaning, reserved for the time of which they speak, to develope? It is certain, that the church and the world, have never yet sustained, towards each other, the relative positions here described. When she was one, "the whole world lay in wickedness." She was but moving forward to its partial conversion. When the Christian cause became extended in the world, to the widest circumference it ever reached, her apparent unity was no more.

The words, surely, have this meaning latent in them, which the commentators, so far as I have searched, have very generally overlooked. Our Saviour prays, first, distinctly, for his disciples then around, and contemporary with Him; next, for all those who should believe through their word; and, finally, for the perfect union of both. The union contemplated is not that of any two, or a few successive generations of Christ's followers. Much less are we to confine it to the most perfect of Christians throughout any one given age of the church. Desirable as this may be; indispensable as it would appear to be, in the latter days," to the final triumph of Christianity; elevating and gratifying as is the anticipation of such days, to all but the most drivelling sectarians; this, exclusively, is not the thing which Christ desired. It is far more than this. It is the union, in one SPIRIT, CHARACTER, and outward DEVELOPMENT of Christianity, of ALL the successive generations of the Church.

To the difficulties of realizing the limited idea, union in the present, or a succeeding generation of Christ's

followers, the attention of your readers has been seasonably, and ably called. Holding up, in the first instance, (Art. VIII. Sept. 1835.) the Good derived, you have, subsequently, pointed out both the evils which urge us to seek it, and the difficulties to be apprehended in our road (Art. X. Mar. 1836). Union, however, is conceivable in one generation: it has often been attempted, at the sacrifice of characteristic principles; principles meant divinely to combine and animate, and which shall yet be found to pervade the whole continuous body of the church. It may, then, be an union of profession in the bond of sacraments, diverting men from the union of the spirit in the bonds of Gospel peace. It may unduly depress the ordinances and forms of our spiritual religion; bring them down to the level of a worldly age, instead of aiming, as we should in every age, to direct upwards, and bring up, the views of worldly Christians, to the level of primitive Christianity. To something of this deteriorating process, allow me, in Christian freedom, to remark, the first article in your last number (June, 1836,) has appeared, to many of your subscribers, to tend.

Allow me, I. to attempt to deduce, from this language of our Saviour, uttered in the moment of his highest inspiration, a PRINCIPLE of redemption from all the evils and errours of the sectarian spirit. II. To suggest some practical efforts, which the state of parties in Christendom seems, even now, to demand at our hands.

I. Our Saviour's words grasp the whole truth of our Brotherhood. Christians are only so to attempt, or desire to be, one with each other, as, in all circumstances, to be and remain as one, with Christ and his apostles. His prayer is not, that the Christians of a remote, or of the remotest and most numerous generation, nor that those of the immediate generation to which he addressed himself, (and, perhaps, the first and last will be, each in their respective agencies, the most important and effective generation,) may be one;-but, that they ALL may be one." The busiest and latest age will never do its duty, or accomplish its high destiny, without a steady regard to "the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets ;"-to the truths, tempers, and lives of the very first age. The first age had never survived its hurricanes and earthquakes of difficulty, if its Catholic faith and hope had not been so strongly