Human Authority,—in the first instance, as incorporated in the Church; in the last instance, as individualized in the solitary student.

So in the great movement, welling out from the great English University of Oxford, a similar parallel divergence was exhibited. The lof tiest intellect among the leaders of it, John H. Newman, on the current of Human Authority-the authority of the early fathers of the Church, developing in them and from out them-was swept into the Roman communion. His own brother, Francis W. Newman, upon another branch of the same stream, another bough of the same crotch-holding also the power of Human Authority, but in the shape of the reason developing out of the individual man-finds his way forth into the boldest, blankest Rationalism, denying the perfection of the moral character even of Jesus. In the same movement, another pair of brothers illustrated the same forkings of the road of Human Authority. Froude, whose diary, published after his death, was the first bold proclamation of the Romeward longings of the Oxford Tractarians, has left a brother who has turned along the same pathway into the other bifurcation; and Human Authority, in the shape of the individual reason, makes this latter brother intensely skeptical. The Absolute Reason of the Pantheist, and the Absolute Church of the Ultramontane Romanist, are, after all, sustained on the same common trunk of Human Authority. It is easy to migrate, with La Mennais, from Romanism to Rationalism. So had Gibbon done, and so Bayle, long before. Or, on the other hand, a man begins to credit the Church rather than the Head of the Church, and soon he believes in the melting blood of Saint Januarius, the migrating house of Loretto, and the Holy Coat of Trèves, as well as in the Gospels or the Sacraments. And so a man who indulged but lately in vaunts of skepticism may become, by no very tedious process, a devotee of the winking Madonna, like the Abbe Ratisbon. He who doubted of God may come to adore the bread wafer. An implicit faith in Voltaire may be changed, as easily as the garment of a by-gone fashion, for a faith as implicit in the Vatican. What, then, are our auguries? They are simply these: JESUS CHRIST, the very God incarnate in our human nature, YET LIVES, Ruler of the centuries, nations, and schools, and Head over all things to His own spiritual Church. Our faith is not in the Church, but in Him, its Life, its Light, its Might-ever present, almighty, and unchanging. This Christ will outlive the Superstitions that would cover Him over, and the Skepticism that would fain thrust Him out. Just as His prophet Isaiah will, in his writings, survive all the Rabbinic commentaries that overlay the seer, and all the Rationalistic interpreters that would wash ut his visions; so the Great Redeemer, Isaiah's theme and Lord, will outlast the Decretals that supplant, and the oracles of Reason that contradict Him.

In God's having reserved to our own times the key to the hieroglyphics of the land of the Nile, and of the arrow-headed inscriptions of Bab

ylon and Nineveh, has he not been keeping back to the needful hour, as it were, a whole shelf of the library of Scripture evidences? Has he not similar designs for each new outbreak of the old abysses of unbelief in the human heart? Man excogitates new cavils, and recasts into new missiles the old spent bombs of an exploded philosophy. But God's truth and cause tower serenely on, adequate and ready to repel, with ever-growing strength, the renewed onset. God's providence is interpaging, with each new scrawling of unbelief, some new leaf of testimony. It is our personal privilege-our personal duty-our interest, and our security, and our glory, to become for ourselves, individually, the converts and epistles of this Unchanging Saviour, and of his Unwearying Spirit. Nought else will save the world-nought else will save our own souls. Then, "TAUGHT OF THE LORD," we shall be, like the old Immortal Legion, fit, not only to stand in the evil day, but to roll back, in our wedge-like position, the bands of a credulous apostacy, that believe every thing, and the bands of an Infidel apostacy, that believe nothing. To their common ground of error, the paramount claims of Human Authority-in the school or in the Vatican, or in the isolated consciousness-let us oppose, undauntedly, the more scriptural and the more rational position, the Need and Force of Divine Authority, individually consulted in the open Scripture, individually invoked in the Descending Spirit, individually experienced in the regenerate heart. "LET GOD BE TRUE AND EVERY MAN LIAR!" The wedge, thus resting on the immutability and veracity of God, shall not be broken. From its serried flanks shall recede, baffled and discomfited, on either hand, the throngs of the Traditionist and the Rationalist. The generations pass, and their philosophies and their celebrities drop with them; but the faith of the churches, God-warranted, soars above those changes, indefectible, immutable, and invincible. "THE GRASS WITHERETH, AND THE FLOWER FADETH. SURELY THE PEOPLE IS GRASS. BUT THE word of our God SHALL STAND FOREVER.”

DISCOURSE XIX.

ALBERT BARNES.

THE remark that God never endows a man with the gift of doing more than one thing well, receives a striking refutation in the history of Mr. Barnes. It were dif ficult to determine whether he excels as preacher or expositor—whether he is more the plodding student or the pulpit orator-the successful pastor of a particular flock, or the theological writer and commentator for the people. Of his adaptedness for the one position, a pastorate of more than a quarter of a century with a large and influential church, is a sufficient evidence, and that he is not less skillful as the annotator and biblical critic, is evinced by the wide and increasing circulation of his "Notes" and publications of various kinds.

Mr. Barnes, like most men of mark, had his origin in humble life. He was born the son of a tanner, in the township of Rome, New York, December 1st, 1798; and in early life assisted his father at his trade, and at the same time, by application to reading and study, laid the basis of a solid education. It was not until he had reached the age of twenty-two years, that he was led to a saving knowledge of Christ, when he united with the church in his native village. This was the same year (1820) that he graduated at Hamilton College, having pursued his studies there only in connection with the senior class. In November of that year he entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, where, after a three years' course, he spent another year as resident graduate. He was licensed to preach, in April, 1824, and on the twenty-fifth day of the following February, ordained and installed as pastor of the Presbyterian church, Morristown, New Jersey. His ministry in this place, which was one of zeal and efficiency, continued for five years; when he accepted, much against the wishes of his people, a call from the First Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, and entered upon the duties of his new field, June 25th, 1830; a position which he continues to fill to this day.

Mr. Barnes has, thus far, led a life of active and laborious toil. The labor which he has performed—a large part of it in the early morn, while other men are asleep —would seem to be enough to crush any constitution but one of iron. It is not strange that for a while, of late years, he was deprived of all use of his eyes, and in other respects almost unfitted for service. His Commentaries alone, in some sixteen or eighteen volumes, are a monument of unremitting industry. It must be peculiarly gratifying to their author to witness the general favor with which they have been and are received. It is stated that not less than twenty-eight thousand volumes of the "Notes" were printed in the year ending with December, 1856: at which time it was estimated that the circulation had reached, in the aggregate, nearly four hundred thousand copies. Some of them have been translated into several languages

Besides these, he has published a great number of volumes of essays, reviews, sermons, addresses, etc., of a practical or dogmatical character. Taken together, it was estimated at the time referred to, that the circulation of all his works had amounted to five hundred thousand volumes. His "Commentaries," as indeed all his works, are of a popular cast, without any great display of learning, but meeting a difficulty fairly, and penetrating at once into the core of the subject, and opening it up to the comprehension of every mind.

As a preacher, Mr. Barnes belongs to the first rank of American divines. His style is perfectly neat and transparent, and his fresh and weighty thoughts are uttered with the various essentials of true effectiveness. His pulpit eloquence is of the character of a quiet, deep, wide, and fertilizing river, rather than of a rapid and rushing cataract. He enters the sanctuary with a humble and subdued air, and ascends the pulpit apparently unconscious of the presence of a congregation. While waiting the hour of service, he sits as if in meditation or prayer, with his head leaning upon his hand; and reads the Scriptures and the hymn, and leads in prayer, with careful propriety and dignified simplicity. Of late years he does not often preach from a manuscript, and, except while referring to a text in the Bible, his eyes are directed toward the congregation. It is said that the same elaborate research, the same clear apprehension and statement, the same purity, elevation, and strength of language, the same felicity of illustration which have commended his various works to popular favor, characterize his ministrations.

We are happy in being able to lay before the readers of this volume, a sermon which has not before been printed, and which we are sure will be read with interest and profit. The theme is novel, and it is handled with a master's skill.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE GOSPEL ON THE IMAGINATION.

"Casting down imaginations, and every high thought that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." -2 CORINTHIANS, X. 5.

THIS is to be done, according to the context, by the weapons of spiritual warfare with which the gospel furnishes us. It is not by carnal weapons, not by military force; but by an armor which the gospel supplies. The war is to be made on wrong opinions, on false philosophy, on reasonings or imaginations which tend to inflate the mind, and to corrupt the heart-the strongholds of sin. The object of the gospel is to achieve complete victory over the whole realm of mind and heart; to lead every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, or to subdue all to him. The sentiment of the text then is, that it is the design of the gospel to make war on the prevailing opinions, doctrines, sentiments, philosophy, and imaginings, in the world, which stand up against the dominion of Christ over the human soul.

From the wide range of thought into which we might be led by the text thus explained, I propose to select one single department, in order

to illustrate the effects of conversion. It is its power of the imagina tion, or its influence in promoting a pure fancy. We shall consider,

I. The influence of this faculty of mind upon the formation of charac ter; and

II. The power which the gospel exerts in making it pure.

I. The influence of the imagination in the formation of character. 1. In illustrating this head, my first remark is, that it is prob able that in numerous cases, if not in all, the imagination has more to do with the formation of character than any other faculty of the mind. It is constantly operating in bringing various objects before ; in giving them their peculiar color and attractiveness; and in seizing upon the affections of the heart. It takes us away from the cold, dull, tame realities of life, where there may be little to interest or attract us, or where there is much to pain us, to ideal scenes, which we may make just what we please. Its operations, either for good or bad, are constant and almost incessant, and almost omnipotent. The conscience acts comparatively rarely, and on great occasions. The reason and the judgment with most persons are allowed much less influence in forming their opinions than prejudice, and passion, and feeling. The memory has less influence in forming the character than the imagination-for there are, with us all, fewer things that we delight to remember, than that we hope to enjoy. Could we take our characters to pieces as we may a watch, and look at all the secret springs and influences that have gone to mola our views, we should probably be surprised to find how much the influ ence of the imagination has had to do with making us what we are. This remark in regard to the constancy of its operations, has peculiar importance in relation to the young. It is then that the character is formed; and it is then that the fancy is most vivid and controlling. The young have little to dwell upon in the past, for memory has, as yet, left few traces in their souls; they have not learned to look with distrust on the bright picturings of the future; for their anticipations have not been sobered by the disappointments and sadness of life; they are not often placed in circumstances which demand the stern application of the decisions of conscience and reason, and they allow visions of fancy to float before the eye of the soul, and the mind to be molded by their small, but fascinating forms. The characters of not a few persons are made up of mere imagination.