to the system of priestcraft; and instances are not wanting, so late as the period of the Reformation, even of ministers of religion who knew nothing of the New Testament.

In stating that the practice of the Roman-Catholic Church had travelled beyond the principles to which Mr. Butler appeals as a summary of faith, we can by no means consent to speak of those principles in other terms than those of decisive reprobation. Take, for instance, the creed of Pius IV., as given by Mr. Butler, page 5, addressed in the form of a Bull, to all the faithful in Christ; and acknowledged throughout the universal Roman-Catholic Church as an explicit summary of their faith. It was published in 1564: but, as the Roman-Catholic religion is stated to be unchangeable, it may be taken for the creed of that church, according to the suffrage of its advocates, from the earliest period. To this creed, every non-Catholic, on his admission into the Romish Church, is required to testify his assent without restriction or qualification. The following is the purport of some of its articles.

"I most firmly admit and embrace apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all constitutions and observances of the same church.

"I also admit the sacred Scriptures, according to the sense which the holy mother church has held, and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures : nor will I ever take or interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the fathers.

"I profess also that there are truly and properly seven sacraments of the new law, &c.; namely, baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, order, and matrimony; and that they confer grace.

"I receive and embrace all and every one of the things which have been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent, concerning original sin and justification.

"I profess likewise, that in the

mass is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead." The remaining part of this clause affirms transubstantion.

"I confess also, that under either kind alone, whole and entire Christ and a true sacrament is received."

The next articles affirm, "that there is a purgatory; that the saints are to be honoured and invoked, that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated; that due honour and veneration are to be paid to the images of Christ, and of the mother of God, ever virgin, and also of the other saints."

"I also affirm, that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people."

"I acknowledge the holy Catholic and Apostolical Church, the mother and mistress of all churches: and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman Bishop, the successor of St. Peter, the prince of the Apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ.

"I also profess and undoubtedly receive all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons, and general councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent: and likewise I do condemn, reject, and anathematize al! things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever condemned and anathematized by the church.

"This true Catholic faith, out of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, I, N., promise, vow, and swear most constantly to hold and profess the same whole and entire, with God's assistance to the end of my life. Amen."

Such is the Roman-Catholic religion, according to the statement of one of its most able and enlightened advocates: can we wonder at the corruptions to which it gave birth?

(To be continued.)

Sermons. By the Rev. J. W. CUNNINGHAM, A. M. Vicar of Harrow, &c. Vol. II. London Hatchard. pp. 435.

It was the remark of one who was as distinguished for his fidelity as a minister as for his acuteness as a critical observer of mankind, that "a wise minister stands between practical atheism and religious enthusiasm." And we scarcely know a better exemplification of the force of this remark than in the volume of sermons now before us. Atheism and enthusiasm are two monsters against whom every voice throughout the country is constantly lifted up. The outcry is as universal as it is vehement. They are evils, however, of a totally opposite character; and, in the estimation of the complainants, indicate, the one an utter absence of all religion, the other a superabundance or perversion of it. There is also this remarkable distinction between them--that whereas the former is considered as so rare that its existence might almost be questioned, the latter, in the sense in which it is inveighed against by the world, is in precisely the same proportion common; and every individual who displays a concern in religious matters, raised but in the smallest degree above the average indifference of the world around him, is exposed to the charge of this exciting ingredient in the human character, and branded with it as a term of reproach. Very signal misconceptions appear in the general impression and popular clamour on both these points; and a due examination of the moral appearances of society will readily convince any man who is open to the conviction, that both atheism and enthusiasm, in the chief sense in which it is of importance to deal with them, are to be met with in a ratio the very reverse of that which is so often blazoned forth to our regard. We allude to the kind and degree of influence which they prac tically acquire over the heart and

conduct of the individual who either puts himself forth, or is put forth by others, as their depository and defender. In our present considerations, we pass by the abstract theories which reside only in the cold brain which gave them birth: nor shall we dwell upon that warmth of constitutional temperament or eccentricity of character which may lead its possessor to a few fancies, which have in them nothing essentially pernicious in their practical effect. It is with atheism, as developing itself in the actual purposes and pursuits of the life and the tastes and delights of the soul, that we are at present concerned; and this practical atheism is far more prevalent than is currently imagined. With respect also to the alleged enthusiasm, against which the shafts of the world are directed, we apprehend from it no such mischief as is habitually and dolefully predicted. There is, however, an enthusiasm which ought to receive a check from the experience of those whom wisdom has long matured in the paths of piety and Christian zeal; we mean that enthusiasm which, in an absorbing view of one duty or one class of obligations, loses sight of some of the more obvious relative obligations, and those particularly of a quiet and unobtrusive but nevertheless an important character. It is the enthusiasm which is "ever following," not "that which is good," but that which is in its estimation "great," which catches at every ray of new light, not because it is light, but because it is new, and which "doth sit by itself," and " is not lowly in its own eyes,' nor "maketh much of them that fear the Lord."

This is the practical atheism, and this the religious enthusiasm of which we speak. He is the practical atheist, not who in the processes of his unintelligible and inconclusive reasoning, has travelled to the mysterious conclusion that "there is no God," but he who, in the entire possession of a self-gratulat

ing scorn for that hardihood of spirit which can question the existence of the Creator, can yet frame his plans of business and of pleasure, and accomplish his secret gains, and enjoy his sensual delights with a determination of habit as irrespective of the laws and the will and the glory of that Creator as if he too disbelieved his being, or at least doubted his authority. Many are the men who live daily in that frame of spirit. "God is not in all their thoughts." The whole of their recognition of the Divine nature is limited to an occasional repetition of the first four words of the creed, while they evince an absolute oblivion of the comprehensive duty of acknowledging God in all their ways. This is practical atheism, that most common and universal of the errors and infidelities of the day. Now, between these two classes of error, the author of the volume before us seems to delight to take his stand; and the subjects which he has selected are generally of a character calculated to assail these two forms of evil.

In our remarks on Mr. Cunningham's former volume, we contrasted the style and character of his earlier productions with the more appropriate garb in which he appeared as a writer of sermons; and we expressed a hope, which we are glad to find now realized, that he would be spared to prepare and present an additional volume to the world. Mr. Cunningham modestly calls the sermons which his volume contains, "plain and unpretending discourses;" and in reply to a request which had been made to him, in the strictures of a contemporary critic, that any future sermons which he might write might be of a more elaborate nature, he remarks, that, even if he should suppose himself capable of satisfying this wish, he should doubt, in this species of composition, the lawfulness of labouring to gratify the few at the expense of the many. We quite agree with him, that the test of the

excellence of a sermon is the degree of its approach to the Scriptural model; and that it may be confidently affirmed of the New Testament, that it is the simplest of all books, and of the Saviour of the world that He is the plainest of all teachers. We may observe also, that that eminent Apostle St. Paul made it his boast, that, in all his communications and addresses to the churches, he had used “ great plainness of speech." We have often to regret, both in reading and hearing sermons, but particularly the latter, where many of our fellow-listeners are persons whose circumstances have deprived them of the benefit of a liberal education, the occurrence of terms, allusions, and ideas, of a very complicated character, which demand a secret movement of the educated mind to analyse, and which must therefore be wholly unintelligible to the greater part of the auditors. How much more noble than this ostentatious parade was the resolution of a minister, celebrated both for his learning and his piety, never to employ a difficult word, if he could find an easy one; because a poor but pious hearer once inquired of him who those primitive Christians were, of whom he had said so much, and was quite astonished to find that they were only those who lived nearest to the time of our Lord. He ever afterwards called them the first Christians.

But it is time to examine more particularly the volume before us. It consists of twenty-five discourses, none of them long; all of them arranged with a clearness of method and distinguished by a light and ornamental style which are characteristic of our author, and occasionally animated by a fervour which the subject has evidently kindled as the writer's meditations have rested upon it. Mr. Cunningham cannot write without embellishment, even in a sermon; but, in general, his embellishments in these discourses are of so chaste and cor

rect a character, that the graver parts of the composition cannot frown upon them. Antithesis and point are at times as useful in a moral, as they are necessary in an épigram, provided they thrust out nothing of a better stamp. In several of the discourses in the present volume, texts are selected more as mottos to a particular discussion, than as integral parts of an expository address; which last is clearly the most generally useful style. The other, however, is not without its occasional advantages.

There is a certain class of texts of Scripture which the world seems to have claimed as its own, and, by a sort of prescriptive and immemorial misapplication, to have arrayed in its own ranks against the truth. We allude to such as, Charity covereth a multitude of sins;" "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged;" and, "Be not righteous overmuch;" which, in the popular application of them, are made to mean any thing rather than what the Divine Spirit intended.

With a sermon on the last of these texts the volume before us opens. We should have been glad had Mr. Cunningham imparted his own view of the meaning of this equivocal passage, (we use the word in reference only to its application); but he does not intimate an opinion whether it is to be considered as the counsel of one who objects to the strict life of the godly man, or as the admonition of the inspired penman himself; and he escapes from fixing its signification to apply the caution it contains to various classes of characters who may be considered as needing it, and then details several others to whom it is not applicable; and these last happen to be the very persons to whom it is habitually directed. This latter part of the sermon develops probably the object of the author in the selection of the subject. The former part is a direct assault on that "religious enthusiasm❞ on which we remarked in the commencement of our review; and CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 277.

among the classes of the excessively scrupulous, the superstitious, the turbulent, and rashly zealous, and those also who, by their intense occupation with the direct employments of religion, are betrayed into a neglect of the ordinary duties of life, Mr. Cunningham finds features of that indiscretion and "weak heartedness" which he evidently considers as the utmost that can be deprecated in the text. Those individuals whose humility is often a main source of their extravagancies, he describes

as

"bowing too low before the throne of justice to discover the mercy-seat which is erected upon it." In describing, on the other hand, the individuals to whom the caution is not applicable, he takes particular care to rescue the passage from the use which is too often made of it; and we hardly know a better mode of combating the errors of the prejudiced than by thus meeting them on their own ground, and, after con.. ceding all that can be conceded with propriety, expelling them from all the fastnesses and "refuges of lies" in which they have long lain secure. After proving that the passage has no reference to those whose religious habits or opinions are found to rise above the level of opinion and practice in multitudes around, nor to those who carry their religion as a grand constraining principle into all the circumstances and habits of life, he shews, in an animated manner, that it has no bearing on the man who carries his affections into his religion. We subjoin the passage :

every

"Here, as before, it is to be observed, that an individual may receive as true letter of the word of God, or even exhibit a devout exterior in all the public offices of religion; and yet, so that his religion is characterized by a rigid exclusion of feeling, affection, sympathy, and zeal, he may escape the charge of over-righte ousness,' and may live and die the unmo, lested possessor of, what must nevertheless be regarded as, a heartless, useless, unscriptural faith. But if, estimating the great truths and promises of the Gospel at their real value; if, regarding with awe the edge of the precipice to which sin has

H

conducted him, and with astonishment and delight the rescue which the free grace

I

of the Son of God has provided; any person is prompted to speak and act under the deep impression of such feelings, and to call upon others, in language of suitable warmth, to participate in the joys of devotion and the triumphs of the cross,am I wrong in supposing that the affectionate, fervent, devoted expressions or actions of such a person will, in most instances, bring down upon him the charge of over-righteousness? But here again must be permitted to ask, whether a mind in the state which I have described is justly chargeable with excess? Have we any scriptural sanction for branding such warmth of feeling, vivacity of expression, and depth and strength of emotion, with the odious title of fanaticism? Does not Scripture, on the contrary, insist upon a religion of affection? Is it not the language of God himself, 'My son, give me thine heart?' Does not Christ say, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart?' And do not his Apostles hold a corresponding language? If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha.' And how strictly did the frame and character of the first and best servants of the Cross correspond with this language. They loved Him because he first loved them. He was precious' to 'them that believed.' Believing in him, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Is this the language of Scripture? Then is the conclusion inevitable,-the love of God is not excess, the love of Christ is not excess; the consecration of every feeling and affection to the great Author of them, and the ardent devotion of ourselves to all the duties, and the eager pursuits of all the pleasures, of religionthese dispositions and acts of the mind are not excess, are not enthusiasm, are not over-righteousness. Religion without love, is the carcase without the living soul by which it is to be animated. It is the perishable form, without that imperishable essence which will alone endure the trial

of the last day, and survive the tempest of eternal wrath." pp. 15-17.

In our remarks on Mr. Cunningham's former volume, we expressed our regret that some of the great doctrines of Christianity did not come more fully and in detail under his consideration; and we may transfer a portion of this regret to this second volume. There is, indeed, one sermon on "the Doctrines of the Cross;" but that is not a statement of what those doctrines in themselves are, but rather an historical argument of the power of those

doctrines when faithfully preached to effect the conversion of sinners, and the inefficacy of all other modes of address than such as find their materials in the Gospel of the Redeemer. The appeal is made to the well-known facts connected with the history of missions to the heathen; those sects which deny the doctrine of the atonement having rarely undertaken any mission, as if conscious of the inefficacy of their principles for the conversion of unbelievers; while the labours of the Moravian missionaries have been most successful, and the efforts of the Jesuits in China altogether as fruitless.

The following appeal in this sermon will be conclusive to such as can accompany the writer whilst he traces the effects of this doctrine when faithfully received in the heart of the Christian.

religion upon your own souls, in changing, "Tell us, you who feel the influence of improving, moralizing, and sanctifying the wrought by the power of these doctrines. character, whether this effect has not been Tell us whether the transformation was accomplished either by the mere maxims of morality, or by dry reasonings on the beauty of virtue. Tell us, whether it was not wrought by the tidings of your lost redemption purchased on the cross for a estate as sinners, and of the full and free lost world. Tell us, whether it was not

on the altar on which our Redeemer was down, your bad passions and tempers; offered that you laid down, if they are laid your selfishness and worldliness; your pride and covetousness; your dishonesty to the public, and your unkindness in your perience do not constrain you to exclaim, families. Tell us, if conviction and ex

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world!'-As the instructors of

others, have not some of us ascertained

the impotence of every other doctrine? As private Christians, have we not discovered, that, although a stumblingblock' to some, and 'foolishness' to others, this crucified Lord is, to 'those who believe, of God? If so, to us at least no demonChrist the wisdom of God and the power stration can be necessary of the wisdom of the Apostle's resolution to 'preach Christ crucified."" pp. 37, 38.

The Apostle Paul was willing to rest his case on this single ground,