Dr. Brown, who has preserved the body while he has removed some of the excrescences from the original; and also a most valuable addition in the excellent and affecting essay prefixed to it by Mr. Wilson. We know not how others feel, but we confess ourselves exceedingly interested, when we see an experienced minister of Christ, one who for many years has been a standard bearer, and to whose labour the Lord has given much success, to see him after thirty or forty years exertion in the cause of his Redeemer, coming forward to confess his own insufficiency, his own forgetfulness, nay, at the close of his ministry, to bear his experimental testimony to the truth of all he had been teaching, while he calls upon his brethren with him to weep between "the porch and the altar," to examine their own hearts and consciences, and to seek an outpouring from the Spirit upon their ministration and labours. Mr. Wilson imitates his predecessor Baxter, in faithfulness and affection;-he spares not himself, his brethren, or his church, but he also brings forward many grounds of hope, and directs attention to many points of duty. He does not deal in generals, but presses individuals with individual instances of failure; brings before them their own state, when they "rushed into the vineyard without any of those views or feelings most essentially required, with their love to Christ how faint, their knowledge, and faith, and zeal, how limited, their devotedness, how imperfect." He traces the minister through his public and his private walk, his preaching, his visiting, his pastoral duties, his general walk, and proposes with regard to all deep and heart-searching questions, and to the deficiency discovered by the conscientious answers to such inquiries, he refers the errors that have sprung up in the spiritual Church; to the bitter controversies and disputes that have alienated even believers from their brethren, the general want of spiritual success. We quote a passage, as it shows the clear. sightedness and faithfulness with which he surveys the peculiarities of doctrine and proneness to novelty, that characterise the present day; and we regret that he might have even added to the list "On the one hand, how much has been written and preached, to weaken the doctrine of the fall; of the grace of Christ; of the merciful will of our heavenly Father, as the first source of our salvation; of the "righteousness of God, which is faith of Jesus Christ, upon all and unto all them that believe;" of the operations of the Holy Spirit; of the promises of persevering grace; of the spirituality and extent of Christian obedience; of the joy and delight of communion with God, and the anticipations of heaven! God knows how we have erred, many of us, in these respects! For example, on the one doctrine of regeneration and the new creation by the Holy Spirit, how much error has infected the Protestant Churches! Can we wonder that the Holy Spirit has withdrawn from us, when his gracious work has been explained away, denied, opposed by unscriptural statements on the nature and efficacy of the sacraments? And have not many fatal misapprehensions and mis-statements appeared, verging, on the other hand, towards Antinomian licentiousness, and the abuse of the grace of Christ? Have not frightful over-statements respecting the decrees of God been made? Have not omissions almost as fatal, of practical exhortations, and direct appeals to the consciences of sinners, enervated the whole force of the Gospel? Have not writings been pub fished on prophecy, and the doctrine of assurance, which directly lead to spiritual presumption? Have not errors appeared on the doctrine of pardon, and on the immediate blessedness of the believer after death? O brethren! humiliation before God indeed becomes us in such a time as this!"-p. xvi. Mr. Wilson, though he deems such results to be a cause of deep and heartfelt humiliation, yet does not countenance the gloomy language or the sentiments that pervade the speeches and writings of one class of our modern divines; language and sentiments evidently adopted to suit an hypothesis, which we believe to be unscriptural, and which seem calculated rather to express a state of morbid and sentimental depression, and to paralyse and weaken exertion, than either to strengthen the hands of God's servants, or to suit the feelings of genuine contrition. Mr. Wilson looks abroad, and sees much to encourage him in the progress of divine grace; he looks to the scriptural instruments for effecting the regeneration of the world, the word of God, and the ministers of that word, and he relies upon the promises of God; he finds comfort in the religious agitation that pervades the world, and the favour or toleration afforded at home and abroad to spiritual religion, in spite of the hostility of the world, the raging of infidelity, the corruption of the public press ;* he finds comfort in the extent and operation of the religious associations that circulate the Scriptures, educate the poor, erect churches, and preach the Gospel to Jew and Gentile; he takes comfort from the wide-spread dissemination of the Word of Life, as preparatory "to a return to the simple and com-. manding doctrines of a crucified Saviour," from the gradual experience of the Church by which the temptations of Satan are laid bare, from the spirit of prayer, that has been generally poured out upon the Church, from the revivals of religion in answer to supplications and from the general prospect of the world as compared with the word of prophecy, "indicating the near accomplishment of all the glorious predictions of the divine mercy and grace." In these things this excellent minister finds ground not for confidence or boasting; no, but in Mr. Wilson's language→→→ “Such a time encourages the Church to examine herself, and lie before ber God in dust and ashes; to separate from what provokes the Lord, and prepare for his further blessings."-p. xxi. And on this he builds an exhortation to more fervent personal piety, the setting apart solemn seasons for the much neglected duty of fasting and prayer, the conceiving higher views of the ministerial office, the deeper study of the Sacred Scriptures, the import- * ance of individual catechetical instruction, and a decided superiority to the world, and all secular considerations dinge volt sat je n "In two ways is all the mischief of the world increased ten-fold. It seduces under the guise of lawful things. It assumes the garb of prudence and foresight. T The public press is an instrument of incalculable mischief in various ways, especially that part of it, which is known by a name-itself a reproach to a Christian people-the Sunday Press. p. xx. ་ ས། ་ 2 It hides itself under the mask of benevolence. It appears, as the management o our concerns, as living on terms of friendly intercourse, the relaxation and cheerfu! society which our severer studies demand, the attention to our friends and patrons, the care of our health, the seizing of opportunities for doing good and removing prejudice.... Another peculiar danger of the world, arises from its debauching the understanding, and biasing the decisions of the judgment. The maxims which ap peared to us the most clear, become doubtful. The practices which we loudly condemned, are tolerated, excused, defended....If a revival of religion is our object and our desire, we must begin at home; we must cultivate a spiritual, a retired, a heavenly religion. Never can we call our people to leave the world, to which we are looking back ourselves."-pp. li. liii. Mr. Wilson closes his excellent address by appealing directly to various classes of his brethren in the ministry, and brings home the importance of the subjects on which he has been treating, with deep spirituality and much affection. We can find room but for : part of his address to the literary divine :- "Let us repose in the might of the Captain of our salvation. Let us draw close the bonds of mutual love. Let us be prepared to ascribe all the glory to Him who hath done all things for us; and we need not fear discomfiture. The power of Christ will rest upon us-the tie of united affection will bring us near to each other for aid and succour-the high aim of the glory of God will engage all the divine attributes in our behalf....The strength of Christ for the combat with Satan-the temper of love for the efforts of the Church-the glory of God for the ultimate end of all, form a combination which will conduct to the greatest results-for they agree, and are identified, with the very song which angels chaunted at the birth of the Saviour, "Glory to God on the highest, on earth peace, good-will towards men."-pp. lix. Ix. We trust the admonition of this excellent and eloquent address will be blessed, and that the Christian temper and solicitude displayed in it, may bring home the all-important, but in some instances, unpalatable truths it contains. We now turn to a more extensive work upon the same, or a kindred subject, "Mr. Bridges's Christian Ministry," and when we say that we deem it a book worthy of standing beside the Country Parson of Herbert, the Pastoral Care of Burnet, and the work we have just introduced to our readers, we scarcely know any higher eulogium we could pass upon it. It is, indeed, what Mr. Wilson in his preface wished for, a first-rate book upon the subject, and while in deep piety, in persuasive exhortation, in tenderness of feeling, it is not inferior to any of the works we have mentioned, it is, perhaps, superior in the exquisite adaptation of Scripture and Scriptural language, and in the rich and varied stores of spiritual reading which are brought to bear upon the subject of the treatise. Its author is well known in England, as a laborious, and most useful Parish Minister, and in this country principally by his commentary on the cxix psalm, a little work in which the same sweet spirit of experimental piety, the same intense interest in the spiritual welfare of his fellow-creatures, and the same deep knowledge of the Scriptures are manifest. We have not, during the course of our theological reading, met with a more sweetly awakening appeal to the hearts and consciences of the ministry, or one which betokens more of the due knowledge of the human heart, and the means afforded and employed by Providence in converting and renewing it. The work is divided into six parts, of which the first takes a general view of the Christian Ministry, its dignity, its necessity, its consolations, the qualifications necessary to make it available, and the preparation. for it the three succeeding parts go at large into the causes of the want of success, as it arises from the withholding of the Holy Spirit and the enmity of the natural heart, from a deficiency in the personal character of the minister, his want of devotedness and his conformity to the world, or from his public ministry and pulpit exercises; the fifth touches upon the pastoral work, as it concerns the sick, the young, the sacraments, and the due enforcement of church communion, and in the sixth under the head of Recollections of the Christian Ministry, the lessons connected with these important subjects are pressed home in the form of question, and illustration, and appeal, in a manner equally powerful and affectionate. We scarcely know how to bring this interesting treatise before our readers, for if our space admitted it, we would wish to quote many passages, but we shall endeavour very briefly to enable them to judge whether the high character we have given of it, is not strictly just. Mr. Bridges's estimate of the dignity of the ministry is very high, as he beautifully remarks: "The subject also affords a striking proof of the Unity of Will and Purpose with which the Sacred Persons in the Godhead administer the government of the Church. To each of them is this holy office traced as its fountain head; "All things are of God, who hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." Yet was it at the same time, as we have seen, the gift of his exalted Son, promised to his Church before his departure from the earth, and communicated as the very first act of his glorious power in filling all things, and sealed in every instance by his commission jointly with his Father-at the same time the character of this office is emphatically "ministration of the Spirit." It is his authority that calls to the work, his guidance that directs in it, and his influence that supplies the needful furniture of gifts and graces. Thus are the institutions of the Gospel illustrative of its deeper and more mysterious doctrines.....The order of ministers is by the sovereign pleasure of God, the first link of means in the chain of salvation, that without it there would be no ministry-consequently, no hearing of the word -no faith in the only Saviour of whom it speaks-no calling upon his name- no salvation. The destitution therefore of the ministry of the word is the dark sign of the departure of the Divine presence from his Church....The Christian ministry is therefore the ordained means of conversion, and of subsequent establishment in every stage of the Christian life; and its necessity must continue, while there is a single sinner to be brought into the family of God, or a single grace in the saint to advance to perfection."-pp. 6— 13, 14. And he uses this honor put upon the minister to enforce “a deeper tone of decision in the ministration," Thess. ii. 4; and to impress the deeper, the responsible obligation it contains. It is, indeed, impossible to add aught to the Apostle's character of the ministry, "fellow workers with God," and "ambassadors in Christ's name," and if students considered seriously the awful nature of that office to which they aspire, we would not have so many rushing into the sacred office, "for a morsel of bread;" and if ministers had it constantly before their eyes, they would exhibit in a more marked and sanctified manner their devotedness to their office. True, the office from its very elevation and responsibility is surrounded with difficulties* arising from the work itself, from the enmity of the world, from the friendship of the world, from our own selves; such difficulties that every faithful minister has repeated cause to bless God, that in mercy they were concealed from him, or he would have shrunk from the encounter, yet the encouragements are proportionate, and the remembrance of him who has said, "Who art thou, oh, great mountain, before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain," supports his servants, while the sympathy of Christian friends, the increase of personal spiritual religion, the information of faith and the prospects of eternity form a subordinate, buta most interesting consummation of the encouragements of the minister.Some of them, however, possess an awful tendency to evil, and while the responsibility of him who is employed in the business of the Temple becomes peculiarly great, that he who calls others to vital religion, should grow in grace and the knowledge of divine things; there is a tendency in the human mind, from the very frequency and similarity of these things, and the mechanical order in which every office of the Church is to be performed, to become deadened and insensible to their influence and power; Mr. Bridges asks, "Do we not sufficiently consider how much our personal religion is endangered * " I saw on the Sabbath four evils which attend me in my ministery. First, either the devil treads me down by discouragement and shame; from the sense of the meanness of what I have provided in private meditations. Or, secondly, carelessness possesses me; arising because I have done well, and been enlarged, and been respected formerly; hence it is not such great matter, though I be not always alike. Thirdly, infirmities and weakness, as want of light, want of life, want of a spirit of power to deliver what I am affected with for Christ; and hence I saw many souls not set forward, nor God felt in my ministry. Fourth, want of success, when I have done my best."-p. 21.-Math. New England, book iii. p. 91. |