called "the Evangelical Clergy" ought not in fairness to be visited with the faults or absurdities of these erratic illuminati.

From Mr. Irving, this sort of accusation comes with a peculiarly bad grace, and he is one of the last persons who ought to have made it. Possessing, as he does, the oppor tunity to be better informed, he ought to have known that the assertion could not be supported. The other accusers, who suppose every man whom they find it convenient to brand as Evangelical to be a Calvinist of course, have, on the whole subject, a plea of ignorance which will hardly avail the minister of "the Caledonian Church." They have persuaded each other that the Evangelical preachers are their natural enemies. Mr. Irving ought to know, that if the principles of Divine truth which he labours to inculcate are held and enforced by any members of the Church of England, they are taught by the very class "whom he loves so well," but whom he has, nevertheless, so strangely misunderstood. The accusers noticed above have a great object in traducing the so-called "Evangelicals;" for, if successful in their schemes, they will not only be delivered from doctrines which they would not willingly tolerate, but they will secure, as they think, the stability of that church which those teachers are so wickedly undermining, These men, therefore, however ignorant on the subject of their affirmation, have, according to their own notions at least, a reason for their conduct. Mr. Irving can have none; and by discrediting on such grounds the preachers stigmatized as Evangelical, he not only violates truth and justice, but does injury to the cause of genuine religion.

In stating that Mr. Irving can have no reason for the charge, which with so much labour he connects with the Evangelical preachers, we must be understood to speak of them under a general view. The probability is, that he

has, in some particular instance, had just ground of offence, and has somewhat hastily visited it upon the whole body-a class of persons, we are happy to say, very numerous, and daily increasing; and which comprises some of the most learned, zealous, prudent, and useful ministers in the Christian church. "Oh!” says Mr. Irving, adverting still to the same class, "I hate such ignorant prating, because it taketh the high airs of orthodoxy, and would blast me as a heretical liar, if I go to teach the people that the word of God is a well-spring of life, unto which they have but to stoop their lips in order to taste its sweet and refreshing waters, and be nourished unto life eternal. But these high airs and pitiful pelting words are very trifling to me," &c. &c. We hope they are: but who has assumed them? Some ignorant enthusiast, whom party spirit, with its usual talent for discrimination, has designated as "evangelical?" That Mr. Irving has met with such treatment we doubt not: but let him visit the injury upon the head of the delinquent; and not, after holding up some individuals of this class as men who would grace a mitre, then speak, almost in the same breath, of the whole body, with hatred of their ignorant prating, and their airs of insolent orthodoxy.

We are not friendly to the language of challenge and defiance in religious controversy: it seems to us sadly out of place and yet there is something in the decisive and unhesitating tone of Mr. Irving on this point, which induces us to call upon him, as he values his character for discernment, either to retract his accusations, or to produce the instances, from among the accredited writers of the Evangelical school, on which they are founded. We have turned, without anxiety indeed, to the works of many of them; and among them, to those of the elder Venn, and especially to his Whole Duty of Man, and to the Sermons of his revered son; to the Essays

and the Commentary and the Sermons of Thomas Scott; to the writings of Gisborne; to the works of Newton; to the discourses of Cooper, of the two Milners, of Wilson, and Cecil, and Cunningham, and Hoare, and Robinson, and many others dead and living; and we have not only not discovered in them any statements calculated to substantiate such a charge, but we could produce from every one of them the most triumphant evidence of its injustice.

To speak fairly our sentiments on these matters: we are very sorry to observe the tone which is frequently adopted in this volume against persons of religious character and religious profession. We have as little respect as our author himself entertains, for party spirit, and dogmatizing shibboleths, and refined and finical creeds; but we like not the contemptuous way in which religious men are often held up in these pages to derision and contempt. Is it true, that the pious have foresworn all interest in civil affairs (p. 245); that there is a constant demand on the part of the religious world for the preaching of faith and forgive ness, and that they are constantly kicking against the preaching of Christ's morals (p. 363); that their appetite is only for mercy, whilst they disrelish righteousness and judgment; or if righteousness, that the constant demand is, that it should be the imputed righteousness of Christ, not our own personal righteousness? Are these indeed "the features of the evangelical part of men?" Is it their custom to "lay asleep the active spirit of man, by the constant charm of a few words sounded and sounded and eternally sounded about Christ's sufficiency to save?" (p.364). And is it Mr. Irving's misfortune -the consequence of his being cast amongst "the degenerate spirits of this groveling age"-to listen to the monotonous, unimaginative dogmatizings of modern saints (p. 246); to hear the constant babbling about simple reliance and simple dependCHRIST. OBSERV. No. 261.

ence upon Christ, instead of more scriptural and sound-minded calls to activity and perseverance after perfection? (p. 365.) He has, doubtless, met with some such characters, and heard this species of disquisition : but to say that such are the features of "the evangelical part of men," or to ascribe to them generally such a mode of teaching, is only to place in a very questionable light his own knowledge or his candour. Is it fair, or reasonable, that those learned, zealous, pious, and most valuable men, who preach the truth in the love of it, and conform their lives to the rule of the Gospel, and submit, without a murmur, to every sort of proscription which can take place under a free government, in order to circulate the Scriptures;-is it reasonable, we ask, to include them. all in one sweeping and undiscriminating sentence, because some babbler, some tyro, furnished perhaps with eighty-seven questions and eighty-seven answers, and utterly unable to stir a step beyond that horn-book of orthodoxy, has offended Mr. Irving?

It is one great fault of this writer a great fault, amidst many redeeming excellencies-that he gives so freely, and without apparent suspicion, the reins to his imagination; and that, even on questions of grave and serious discussion, in which it is impossible to proceed with steps too cautious and reverent, he deals in theories which are sometimes, to say the least, of a very doubtful description. We advert more particularly to his sentiments, previously noticed, about the intermediate state. His discussion on this subject is not only, to our minds, a gratuitous prying into things withheld from mortal inquisition, a hazardous attempt to be wise above what is written; but in its effect on the mind, as far as any effect is likely to be produced by it, far more injurious than useful. But our limits absolutely forbid us to enter at present on this wide field of remark.

Had we not already extended

4 H

this article to an unusual length, we should have added a few remarks

:

upon Mr. Irving's notions about the former Arcadian simplicity of our countrymen about the condition, as respects the future world, of virtuous heathens, and of the brute creation; and should especially have noticed a subject, to which we have already very briefly adverted, the use of religious ministrations to the sick, and the efficacy of a deathbed repentance. Upon this last question our author expresses himself in very strong terms towards the close of the volume. His object is most laudable, to warn men of the mischief of putting off to a period of sickness the momentous concerns of eternity but if all his observations were to be literally understood, and to be generally admitted as correct, their tendency, as we apprehend, would be, to dishearten ministers in the prosecution of a most important duty, and drive the trembling sinner to despair. If the If the author would qualify a few of his assertions on this point, he might, without detracting in any notable degree from the force of his argument, speak in terms more accordant, not only with the word of God, but with the suggestions of Christian hope, and the testimony of at least occasional experience. Into these topics, however, we shall not enter: for it is time to bring this article to a close.

If we be correct in supposing that this volume furnishes not an unfair view of Mr. Irving's powerful and impressive manner of preaching (although it comprises several digressions, and several points of discussion, such as that about the value of the press, the excellence of words, &c. &c. which could scarcely find a commodious place in an ordinary sermen)-we are surprised neither at his alleged popularity, nor at the class of persons who frequent his chapel. That his discourses are not adapted to the poor, is obvious: to the poor man they must be absolutely in an unknown tongue. We

hope, therefore, that we shall never see this style, even if it were otherwise faultless, adopted in those churches and chapels which are attended by mixed congregations: but in the particular case of Mr. Irving, we know too little of his congregation to offer on this head any very pointed objection. If he can reach the dignified classes of society, and bring to Hatton Garden the intellectual sinners and infidels of the West; and impart a due sense of the value of true religion to persons who, from some unhappy circumstances attendant upon rank, suffer in this respect all the mischiefs of extreme degradation in society; he will have rendered a great service, both to the individuals themselves, and to the cause of truth. He pleads, for instance, for the promotion to ecclesiastical places of trust and authority of such men as our Newtons and our Scotts. If he can prevail upon the dispensers of this sort of patronage to attend to the interests of religion; if he can induce them to inform their minds upon this most grave and serious subject; can persuade them that they are deeply responsible for the sacred trust committed to them; and that they must render an account an account, in this case, above most others, tremendously awful;-it is difficult to say how great may be the benefit conferred upon society at large. We will hope the best; and would therefore, in this particular instance, object nothing to the preacher on the ground of his discourses being above the level of vulgar apprehension. But we are not sure that they may not be rendered yet more useful, even to the great, by cultivating a purer taste and a milder temper. We are not sure, although Mr. Irving urges, and most impressively urges, when he sees occasion, the great truths of the Gospel, that he is not too much under the guidance of the ignis fatuus of human intellect, and that he does not walk too much by this light; and we should deprecate

it as a serious evil, if the doctrines of the Gospel of Christ were in any way to be rendered less prominent in his sermons, or be less likely to gain attention, on account of his love of ranging in the fields of mere intellectual speculation. We will not adopt Mr. Irving's rather singular image, introduced by him on another occasion, and call intellect the night-mare of religion: but we are not without apprehension, lest many of his fashionable hearers should be caught rather by the tinsel decorations of the truth than by the truth itself; should be delighted with the impressive eloquence of the preacher, rather than instructed and really moved by his doctrines should revel in an intellectual banquet, while their understandings are, in reference to true religion, as dark as before, their hearts unaffected, their consciences at ease and asleep. We say not this to discourage Mr. Irving, but in the way of friendly admonition. His object, we are persuaded, is, not to please the imagination, but to bring home to the bosons and consciences of men the things which belong unto their peace; and this object, we trust, he will keep steadily in view, as the one paramount end of his ministerial labours. If it ever has happened, that "those who came to scoff remained to pray," it may likewise happen that persons who come in the first instance to be gratified with the display of talent, may be made partakers of that wisdom about which they neither cared nor thought; and, standing,

as they do, in their elevated places, like the lights and beacons of a dreary world, like "cities get on a hill, which cannot be hid," may, both by their influence and example, impart essential benefit to others.

To conclude: Mr. Irving, it must be admitted, is placed in a situation of great difficulty, both as it respects friends and foes; assailed on the one hand by intemperate hostility, and caressed and flattered, on the other, beyond any example of modern times. We certainly hope to see him stand his ground, unaffected alike by malignant censure, or by misjudging praise. Calumny will, ere long, find some other object of attack; and the tide of popularity, which at present sets in so strongly toward Hatton Garden, will cease to flow, and a reflux may be expected to commence. Our author will then find his proper level, and it will not be a low one. If he avail himself of the benefit to be derived from friendly criticism, and, retaining his zeal in enforcing the great truths of religion, continue to put forth his whole strength in the cause, unmoved by the frowns or the flattery of any human being, he will probably become, under the Divine blessing, an instrument of extensive good; and find, in the success of his Christian labours, a reward, in comparison with which all earthly honours and distinctions, the praise of eloquence, the reputation of talent, and the caresses of the great and the noble, are lighter than dust in the balance.

GREAT BRITAIN. PREPARING for publication :-Hora Cravenæ; or, the Craven Dialect éxemplified;-Suggestions on Christian Education, by the late Amos Green.

In the press :-The Koromantyn Slaves,

or West-Indian Sketchings ;-The Star in the East, and other Poems, by Josiah Conder;-The Young Naturalist, by Alicia Mant;-Life of Salvator Rosa, by Lady Morgan.

Not less than thirty small weekly miscellanies have been started within these few months, and some of them have attained a large extent of circulation. Not coming under the direct regulations of stamp duty, they are afforded at the low price of two-pence, and some even at a penny, each. They shew the great demand for supplies of reading, arising from the wide extension of education. Many of them, however, we fear, are not of a character to turn the faculty of reading to much profit; though some of them appear to be of a higher character.

As we did not announce the commencement of a periodical work entitled "The Liberal," a work devoted to the cause of obscenity, radicalism, and infidelity, we scarcely know whether it is worth while to state that it is now defunct. Four numbers only have satiated or disgusted the public; and it is pleasing to find that not even the pen of Lord Byron has been able to gain a sale for a work of such disgracefully bad principles, and equally bad

taste.

Recent sales of valuable pictures in London, would not seem to indicate in our countrymen either a want of money, or of taste for the fine arts. Garrick's Pictures, lately sold, produced nearly 4000l. The four "Election" pictures, by Hogarth, fetched 1,650 guineas.-Mr. W. Taylor's collection, lately sold, produced 25,000. The following are a few items: The Vision of St. Jerome, by Parmegiano, 3050 guineas; Landscape, by Rubens, 2603 guineas; two Landscapes, by Hobbima, 1750 guineas; Cattle, by Paul Potter, 1210 guineas; Mrs. Siddons, as the Tragic Muse, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1750 guineas. The sale of the late Mr. Nollekins's Statuary produced such prices as the following: A Bust of Sterne, by Nollekins, 60.; four Terra-cottas, by John of Boulogne, 531.; Venus pouring Ambrosia, by Nollekins, 2317.; an antique Minerva, 162.; Bust of Commodus, 336.; Mercury, 147.

The Library of Bonaparte has lately been sold by auction in London. Many of the books had marginal notes in the hand-writing of the owner. They did not, however, rise to such high prices as might have been expected. Several letters, signed by Bonaparte, fetched sums not exceeding 1. 16s. each. His walking-stick, formed of tortoise-shell, with a musical-head, sold for 381.

It is stated that a gentleman of the Royal Institution has exhibited, in a liquid form, limpid and colourless like water,

various aëriform substances, namely, nitrous oxide, carbonic acid, sulphurous acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, and cyanogen. The gases are caused to be evolved from substances containing them in sealed glass tubes, when the pressure of the evolved gas occasions its condensation into a fluid. The same thing, it is stated, has been effected by mechanically forcing the gases into a strong vessel immersed in a frigorific mixture.

The length of streets now lighted with gas in London extends over 215 miles; the main pipes belonging to the four companies reaching to this distance; and from these branch off smaller pipes, conveying the light to shops, private dwellings, &c., which may be calculated at a distance greater than the length of the mains. The quantity of coal used for supplying gas amounts yearly to between thirty and forty thousand chaldrons.

IRELAND.

A circumstance scarcely credible has transpired before the Commissioners of Government respecting Ireland, which casts great light on the state of that unhappy country, and proves at least that education and literature are not among the causes of its maladies;-it is, that in eleven counties there is not a single bookseller's shop! Those who argue that education tends to excite a spirit of discontent and insubordination among the poor, will find it somewhat difficult to apply their theory to the actual state of Ireland. The friends of education, on the contrary, will feel themselves encouraged to renewed zeal and exertion in diffusing this invaluable boon, from every new proof either of the evils which result from its absence, or of the blessings which, when rightly directed, it invariably confers.

The rotation in which the Irish Prelates sit in Parliament is according to a double cycle; the one consisting of the four Archbishops, and the other of the eighteen Bishops. The cycle of the Archbishops is completed in four sessions; that of the Bishops in six, there being three Bishops in rotation every session. The two cycles commenced together the first session after the Union. At the end of twelve sessions they again commence together, and will constantly continue so to do at the end of twelve sessions. The following list, which completes the whole of twelve sessions, may be useful for reference:

1. Primate, Meath, Kildare, Derry.