children in holiness still;-still tottering in the weakness and helplessness of spiritual infancy. They have never duly cherished and improved the means of growing in grace, and so have never attained unto the perfect man, or reached the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. For the seed of holiness, that is sown in our hearts in baptism, may so decay, or die for want of cultivation, as either to bring forth no fruit at all, or no fruit unto perfection. Examine therefore yourselves brethren, whether, after having been born unto God, ye live unto God; whether, the Spirit having been given you to profit withal, ye, according to the measure of that Spirit, have worked withal. The Spirit indeed worketh when and how it listeth, and we know not when or how. But we know its power, and we know its effects. We refer you not therefore to feelings, but to facts, in order to learn whether ye are continuing, as ye ought to do, to shew forth in your lives the evidences of your regeneration. The works of the workings of the Spirit are these: peace, and faith, and love, and every virtue ; and every virtue proceeding out of a good and honest heart, and unfeigned sincerity of obedience to the will of God. If these things then be in you and abound, blessed are ye; for then ye are the sons of God, led by his Spirit, and the heirs, through perseverance, of everlasting glory. But, if these things be in you only imperfectly, or casually, or feebly, all hope indeed is not departed for ever; but it may well become you to remember, to stir up the gift of God which is in you,' through baptism, and by temperance, sobriety, and chastity; by meditation, and piety, and prayer; by every common virtue, which obtains the praise of man; and much more by the practice of every uncommon duty, which is despised and neglected of men, to seek after the praise of God, and labour to restore the health, and preserve the life of your souls; lest the angel of death should come, and ye should be found wicked or wanting. But if none of these things be in you, or remain in you at all; if seeking for goodness in your hearts, ye can find none; if there be in you the powers of reasoning, without the effects of righteousness; the labour of learning, without learning to do well in any measure or degree; if there be in you the excellency of speech, and the barren glories of understanding and knowledge, without any of the real and the eternal excellencies of purity and godliness; the truth must be spoken, though with tears; if ye have utterly quenched, and are altogether dead to the Spirit, it is impossible, says the Apostle, for those who were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift; if they should fall away, to renew them again unto repentance.' (P. 104-108.)

We shall allude, and even that transiently, to but one topic more, which is introduced to our notice by the present workswe mean that fatal error to which, in avoiding a contrary extreme, not a few individuals in the present day have reverted, or appear inclined to revert. We cannot open the subject better than with the remarks of Mr. Simeon:

"From the passage before us, we may, in the next place, offer a

reproof to those who would abuse the gospel. We have already acknowledged, and with deep grief we confess it, that there are some persons professedly of Antinomian principles, who are so occupied with contemplating what Christ has wrought out for them, that they cannot bestow a thought on what he has engaged to work in them. To speak of holiness, or any point of duty, they account low, and legal: yea, they think that Christ has by his own obedience to the law superseded the necessity of holiness in us; and that the whole work of salvation is so finished by him, that there remains nothing to be done by us, nothing of repentance for sin, nothing of obedience to God's commands, but solely to maintain confidence in the provisions of God's everlasting covenant, and to rejoice in God as our God and portion.

"Shocking as these sentiments are, they have been professed of late to a great extent; and many have been deceived by them: but, to show how unscriptural they are, we need only refer to the character of David, as drawn in the words of our text: Does he discard the law as a rule of life? Does he pour contempt upon the precepts of God as unworthy of his notice? No: throughout all his Psalms he speaks of them as objects of his supreme delight: 'O how I love thy law! all the day long is my study in it.' I love thy precepts above gold; they are sweeter to me than honey and the honey-comb.' To the same effect St. Paul also speaks: I consent unto the law that it is good and again, I delight in the law of God after the inward man!' He does, it is true, speak of himself as 'dead to the law;' and of the law as dead with respect to him; and from thence, that the marriage bonds, by which the law and we were formerly united, are for ever dissolved. But what use does he teach us to make of this liberty? Does he speak of it as freeing us from all moral restrictions? No; but as a reason for our giving up ourselves henceforth in a marriage union to Christ, as our second husband, that we may bring forth fruit unto God. Now then, we would ask, Were David and Paul right? If so, what must we think of the sentiments of these deluded people? Are they more spiritual than David? Or have they a deeper insight into the gospel than Paul? The very circumstance of their discarding all the exhortations of St. Paul, and casting behind them all his practical instructions, demonstrates, that they are, for the present at least, given up to a delusion, to believe a lie.' Some of them, we trust, do not practically live according to these principles; and, where this is the case, we hope that God, in his mercy, will sooner or later give them to see their errors: but, if they practically carry into effect their principles, they will have reason to curse the day that ever they were born.

"To the younger part of our audience we will beg permission to suggest a few hints on this important subject.

66

You, when you go into the world, will be in danger of being ensnared by people of this stamp. There is something very imposing in the idea of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, and of making him all in all.' The devout mind is delighted with this thought; and is easily induced to regard with jealousy any thing that may be supposed to

interfere with it. But be not wise above that which is written; and let nothing tempt you to imagine that you can honour Christ by setting aside any of his commandments. It is by your love to his commandments that you are to approve yourselves his disciples; and, however delighted you may be with the visions of Mount Tabor, you must never forget that you have work also to do in the plain. We are far from wishing any one to be working from self-righteous principles, or in a legal spirit: nor would we utter a word that should discourage the fullest confidence in God. It is our privilege, doubtless, to trace all our mercies up to his everlasting love, and to view them all as secured to us by Covenant and by oath: but then it is no less our privilege to fulfil God's will, and to resemble the holy angels, of whom it is said, that they do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word.' Beware then lest ye ever be led off from his ground. Rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the propitiation for your sins, as your all-prevailing Advocate, and as your living Head: but, whilst you believe in him, and love him, and rejoice in him, let your faith, and love, and joy, stimulate you to a holy and unreserved obedience. If he has set your heart at liberty,' let the effect be to make you run with more enlargement the way of his commandments." (P. 18-22.)

Independently of the immediate evil effects of the Antinomianism which Mr. Simeon exposes, it is greatly to be dreaded on account of the unfounded jealousies to which it often gives rise, respecting the tendency of what is called evangelical preaching; which, though as far as possible removed from the errors in question, may easily be represented to the unthinking part of the world, as in intimate connexion with them. The style of preaching which Mr. Simeon censures, consists almost exclusively in the application of stimuli. Its object is to animate and comfort the dejected Christian; but even supposing, what is not always the case, that the methods taken to produce this effect were quite right and scriptural, still, comforting men is but one part of the ministerial function, and ought not to supersede all the rest. We need to be instructed, and corrected, and warned; to be excited to what is right, and deterred from what is wrong. The proportion of those in an ordinary congregation whose case demands what these divines would denominate "a comforting sermon" is very small, compared with those who need to be taught the first elements of religion, those who require to be aroused from carelessness, those whose prejudices want correcting, whose hearts want exciting, whose consciences are secure, and who need all the most powerful warnings and sanctions of revelation to awaken them even to the slightest degree of spiritual impression. The varieties of the moral constitution are not studied in this mode of preaching. Instead of reserving "strong drink for them that are ready to perish, and wine for those that are of a heavy

heart," the same stimulating diet is administered to all, whatever be their cases; so that while perhaps a few dejected persons derive what they imagine particularly suits their frame of mind, the great body of persons present must either remain uninterested spectators, or indulge in feelings which, in their present state of character, would be positively, and perhaps irreparably, injurious.

This result would, in some measure occur, even supposing that the error in question arose only from an indiscreet selection and undue preponderance of a few topics, in themselves not inconsistent with revelation, but which formed only one among many aspects in which religious truth might be contemplated. In the same manner as a too frequent and harsh statement of the awful threatenings of Scripture, to the exclusion of its promises and invitations, might drive a penitent to despair, the contrary error would probably lead to false security and presumption. But how much more must this be the case when, as in the instances which we are contemplating, the stimulants employed are not only used in undue quantities, but are of a positively injurious quality. This we conceive to be the case with the sermons of Antinomian ministers, and, in a slighter degree, of all those who tread, though at some distance, in their steps. The mode in which they speak of self-examination, and their contempt for every thing like a sober, and rational, and scriptural estimate of the heart by the conduct, of the faith by the works, must necessarily lead to the most evil consequences. To affect to connect the body of the evangelical clergy with men of this description is eminently unfair. Indeed, neither the term evangelical," nor that of "orthodox," nor any similar appellation, can be considered as describing an exact and well-defined species of character. We must judge of ministers and their doctrines individually, and not by a reference to some party standard, to which they are supposed to belong. We must not be deterred or frightened by a few hard words on either side: truth in religion is of too much importance to be sacrificed to names or parties; and wherever it is found ought to be hailed by every good man, whatever may be the class of persons among whom it may have taken up its residence.

ART. IV.-Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand, performed in the Years 1814 and 1815, in Company with the Rev. Samuel Marsden, principal Chaplain of New South Wales. By John Liddiard Nicholas, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 828. Black and Son.

London, 1817.

IN perusing the works that come before us in the shape of voyages, travels, and personal narratives, we have often attempt

ed, but in vain, to renew the keen delight and enthusiasm of those early periods of existence, in which every thing was in its vernal dress. For the opening mind, writings of this kind have a nameless charm, which they soon lose in after life. The habit also of reading much and superficially, a habit now universal throughout the educated part of the community, accelerates the decay of that peculiar zest, which usually accompanies the first willing efforts of childhood and youth. Readers who enter with deep enthusiasm into their subject, are amongst those chiefly who read comparatively little. It is impossible for either the mind or the body exquisitely to enjoy a feast every day. The most attentive care to avoid literary repletion will not give to maturer years some of those peculiar delights which we remember to have felt in childhood, but the traces of which we find it impossible to recover.

In perusing, for instance, a narrative like that before us, interested as we certainly have been, we cannot feel again the exact sensations with which we read in infancy the voyages of Capt. Cook, or other navigators or circumnavigators to the same country. We have heard and read of too many savages to realize those feelings of awe, and astonishment, and curiosity, and pleasing terror, which we once experienced, but have now for ever lost, and which our children are now experiencing to lose it in their turn.

But though, in point of mere sensation, a narrative of voyages or travels necessarily parts with its power, in proportion as the mind is matured and knowledge enlarged, there are other views in which it is rendered even more interesting than it would have been in all the simplicity and raciness of early youth. The fact is, that it furnishes important materials for thinking; which is as much the delight of the advanced mind as feeling is our delight in the earlier stages of knowledge and experience. If the mere difference of colour, or climate, or modes of life, cannot again excite any of those youthful emotions of wonder, or contempt, or abhorrence, to which they once gave rise; yet the moral and physical varieties of the species will still furnish subjects of contemplation and profound delight.

Now in both these points of view the volumes before us deserve notice. They contain, on the one hand, a very interesting and apparently faithful delineation of savage life in one of its lowest and most degrading, yet one of its most energetic and manly forms, and amongst a nation hitherto comparatively but little known. They cannot, therefore, fail to interest even the younger members of the family party; while at the same time, by opening new worlds to our view, by furnishing fresh materials for speculation, by throwing new light upon the history and habits of the species, they commend themselves to the notice of the philosopher and