responsible office, she may reasonably hope to derive great and permanent benefit.

(From the same.)

Review of Sermons, by the late very Rev. Isaac Milner, D. D. F. R. S. & F.A. S. Dean of Carlisle; President of Queen's College, Cambridge, and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in that University. 2 Vols. 8vo. Price £1 1s. Cadell, 1820. THE avowed object of the editor of these sermons is to serve the interests of a party, by representing the late Dean of Carlisle as one of its strenuous adherents. He does not conceal his own conviction, that the Sermons he has selected will not add to the literary reputation of their author. He is fully aware, that they were none of them prepared by him for publication. He detects in them an obvious carelessness of style, and evident marks of hasty composition; and yet, in his blind zeal to serve "that body of the Clergy which is called Evangelical," by enrolling the name of Dr. Milner among those who have "maintained the doctrines which distinguish this part of the community," he rudely levies contributions upon his manuscripts, forgetful alike of what was due to the character of the deceased, and to the Church and University in which he held so distinguished a station. It is unfortunately notorious, that a body of the Clergy have, to a certain degree, separated themselves from the rest of their brethren; and have assumed, if not exclusively, at least par excellence the title of "Preachers of the Gospel." The editor asserts, that the Dean of Carlisle is well known to have been a supporter of that body. It may be so; we are ourselves possessed of no means of refuting or confirming his testimony, and we must leave it as we find it. Nor shall we now inquire, how far it became a dignitary of the Church of England to connect himself with a party within her bosom. This we shall leave those to determine, who, to serve that party, have thus publicly connected the name of the deceased Dean with its interests and its peculiarities. Assuming the fact

.

to be as it is stated; and admitting, for the sake of argument, that the editor is able to justify the preference which he asserts that Dr. Milner exhibited ; we are at a loss to discover how the advanced by the publication before us; cause of the evangelical party can be or in what manner it will contribute to "enroll his name among those who have ably and successfully maintained the doctrines which distinguish this part of the community." If we understand the editor aright, such was the especial object which he had in view, when he determined to print this selection from the late Dean's manuscript Sermons. "been

"There have not," he says, wanting men ready to assert, that pure and vital godliness has not ranked among its advocates many who have been distinguished for the strength of their minds, and their intellectual superiority. It seems, therefore, desir able, when a bright instance occurs to the contrary, that his religious sentiments should be handed down to posterity."

We presume that, by "the advocates of pure and vital godliness," the editor means those whom he immediately after designates as "the Clergy called Evangelical;" for this pharisaical assumption of superiority is the very mark of the party: and it is doubtless true that strength of mind and superiority of intellect have not been considered as its general characteristics. On this account it will not be thought surprising, that a zealous partizan of this portion of the Clergy should be anxious to reckon any man of literary character among its adherents; and we readily allow that, in this particular, the late Dean of Carlisle had attained a name which it might be desirable to enlist as a shining exception to general mediocrity of talent. But, as in the opinion of the editor himself, these Sermons "will not add to his reputation as a writer;" we do not understand how they are to prove, that an Evangelical Clergyman may be possessed of a strong mind and a superior intellect. In many of them, we are told, that "there is an obvious carelessness of style, and there may be

discovered marks of hasty composition:" the Dean of Carlisle does not appear in them as "the profound logician, or the able mathematician;" nor do they contain any "nice disquisitions on controversial points in divinity" how then are they to furnish evidence in support of the position which the editor is so anxious to establish, and to furnish a bright example of intellectual superiority? So obvious indeed do the literary defects of these Sermons appear to the editor, that he occupies a considerable portion of his short preface in apologizing for them. The Dean, we are told, " was always more bent on things than words ;"❝his grand object was to administer to the spiritual necessities of his hearers;" and his discourses "were chiefly of a practical nature, and addressed to the hearts and consciences of his audience." These are doubtless valuable qualities; and Sermons so composed will be more generally useful than the most skilful disquisitions on controversial questions, or the most acute defence of the peculiar tenets of Calvin or Arminius. But we trust that it is not very uncommon to hear such Sermons from the pulpits of the Church of England; not from those only which are occupied by "the Clergy who are called Evangelical;" but those also which are yet retained by preachers who, like the Dean of Carlisle, being bent on things rather than words, are more careful to perform the work of an Evangelist, than to arrogate to themselves an exclusive claim to the title. We are at a loss then to know how the publication of such Sermons as these, with all the imperfections inseparable from careless and hasty composition religiously retained, can raise the literary character of that body of men, to whom we are to suppose that Dr. Milner was attached. The same extraordinary want of judgment which has induced the editor to hazard the reputation of Dr. Milner as an author, by bringing forward his crude, hasty, and inaccurate compositions, as proofs that he had "ably and successfully maintained" the peculiar doctrines of the Evangelical Clergy; has directed him in the performance of that duty, which, as editor of a post

humous work, he had voluntarily undertaken.

He found the Sermons imperfect, and evidently not prepared for publication: they were hastily and carelessly composed, inaccurate in style and in quotation: yet he has "judged it advisable to lay them before the public in nearly the same state in which they were written." In other words, he has not ventured to correct even a verbal or grammatical error, or to restore the true reading of a text of Scripture; and he seems to have imagined, that his task was completed when he had transmitted to the publisher a sufficient quantity of copy to form two decent octavos, and had superintended the correction of the sheets as they passed through the press. He has not informed us by what rules he was governed in the selection of these Discourses; but as he seems to have been capable of detecting inaccuracies of style, though unwilling to amend them, we presume that he has so far consulted the author's reputation as to make choice of the least inaccurate and clareless of his compositions. But, in the arrangement of those which he has chosen, he has clearly adhered to no rule whatever: they are thrown together with as little method as they seem to have been written; and the quantum series juncturaque pollet of the Roman poet, seems to have been a canon equally disregarded by the author and his editor. If, in contempt of the well known adage, that no man is a hero to his valet, this zealous advocate of the Evangelical Clergy thought that their interests would be served by exhibiting the deceased Dean of Carlisle to the prying gaze of the public in his nightgown and slippers, at least if it became him to take care that the dishabille should be

decently disposed: if he did not deem it necessary to deck him in the imposing costume of his dignified station, he should have concealed the rents and patches of his ordinary attire. He might have dispensed with the pomp of literary preparation, without making a parade of negligence and inaccuracy. The public might not have expected to trace the profound logician, or the able mathematician, in the popular dis

courses even of the Lucasian Professor and President of Queen's College; but they will be disappointed when they find, that such a personage was careless of grammar, as well as logic; that he suffered his thoughts to flow at random, bewildering himself and his hearers, without attention even to the commonest rules of arrangement, by which the chain of reasoning is preserved, and useful conclusions are deduced from premises carefully and accurately stated.

We have felt it our duty thus to speak without reserve of a publication, which, in its present shape, is injurious to the reputation of the dead, as well as an insult to the judgment, and a fraud on the expectations of the liv ing. We doubt not that Dr. Milner, if he had been so inclined, might have left behind him materials for many volumes of Sermons, which would not have detracted from his character as a scholar and a divine. But, as he purposely abstained from so doing, we conceive that the common feelings of delicacy, and a due respect for the memory of a distinguished personage, should have deterred those on whom the care of his manuscripts devolved, from exposing such unfinished productions as these to the sneer of the scoffer, or the censure of the malevolent. Or, if the suggestions of party zeal were suffered to silence the feelings of personal regard, policy should have dictated the necessity of carefully editing papers, which had not passed under the revision of their author. They should have been purified from grammatical errors, and defective quotation; and they should have been so selected and arranged, as at once to exhibit the powers of the author in a manner most creditable to himself, and most advantageous to his readers. All these obvious duties have been neglected; and, in justice to Dr. Milner's fame as a writer, as well as to those who might otherwise be induced by the celebrity which he had obtained, to possess themselves of these volumes, we have conceived it right thus to 'warn them, that they are not invited to sit down to a literary banquet prepared by the skill of a Dean, a Presi

dent, and a Professor; but to mortify their appetites with the crumbs which have fallen from a rich man's table, served up a la hotch-potch, by some underling of the kitchen.

The editor having, on the part of his author, surrendered all pretensions to those characteristics, which the Sermons of a Divine who bore so high a rank in our Church, and filled so responsible an office in one of our Universities, might be supposed to possess.; having taught us, that we must not look into them for specimens of style, for controversial disquisition, or close and powerful reasoning; comforts us with a hope, that, "in the more important properties of a Sermon," in "soundness of doctrine, and in an affectionate earnestness and zeal for the edification of his hearers," they will "not be found defective."

The latter property they certainly appear to possess. It seems indeed to be their chief recommendation: it is that which perhaps contributed principally to their effect when delivered from the pulpit; and which, if any thing can, will redeem them from the neglect, to which their various deficiencies might otherwise speedily consign them. Of their doctrine we have one general remark to make; that those who may expect to find in these Discourses any decided expression of adherence to the peculiarities of the Evangelical School; any vigorous ef fort to maintain the opinions which distinguish its disciples, will be somewhat disappointed.

We can perceive, indeed, that the Dean was partial to a phraseology, in which this class of Divines have been supposed peculiarly prone to indulge; and that there are certain favourite topics of exhortation, into which he soon falls, whatever may be the subject that he has undertaken to discuss: and hence the reader who peruses several of these Sermons in connexion with each other, may find in them a wearisome sameness both of thought and expression, which may not have been perceptible to their hearers. These may perhaps be the marks, by which the editor has recognized the Dean's predilections: but, in other respects, if he

tion of a fluent extemporaneous speaker, than to the premeditated discourses of a cultivated and well regulated mind.

Abstract of the Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Convention of the Diocess of Pennsylvania, held in St. James's Church, Philadelphia, on Tuesday, May 1st, and Wednes day, May 2d, 1821.

THERE were present the Right Rev. Bishop White, 14 Presbyters, and Lay-Delegates from 21 congregations. The Rev. George Boyd was chosen Secretary.

The Convention having organized on the first day, adjourned until the second, when the business was opened by Divine Service, conducted by the Rev. Levi Bull, Rector of St. Gabriel's, Berks county, St. Mary's, Chester county, and Bangor Church, Churchtown; and a Sermon, preached by the Rev. George Sheets, Rector of Trinity Church, Oxford, and All-Saints, Lower Dublin.

In compliance with the 45th Canon of the General Convention, the Right Rev. Bishop White delivered the following address:

Brethren, the Clergy and the

Lay-Deputies of this Convention, On the 5th of June last, I preached and confirmed in Wilmington, in the State of Delaware. In the afternoon and the evening of the same day, I preached twice in the church in Newcastle, in the same state; and, the next day, I preached and confirmed in St. John's Church, New-London, in Chester county, in this state. On the 28th of July, I preached and confirmed in St. David's Church, Radnor, Chester county. October 15th, I preached in St. James's Church, in the city of Lancaster; and, on the same day, I consecrated the said church, erected on the site of a former church. On the next day I held a confirmation in the same, and ordained to the Priesthood the Rev. Charles G. Snowden. On the next day I held a confirmation in Christ Church, Leacock township, of the same county; and, on the next day, I

did the same in St. John's Church, Pequa, in the same county.

On the 29th of the same month I preached in and consecrated Trinity Church, in the borough of Easton, and mation. And, on the next day, I oradministered the holy office of confir

dained to the office of Priest the Rev.

John Rodney, the Rector of the said Church.

Besides the ordinations already noticed, on the 8th day of June, I ordained to the holy office of Priests, the Rev. Samuel C. Brinkle, and, to the holy office of Deacons, Charles P. M'Ilvaine. And, on the 24th day of December, I ordained to the holy office of Priests, the Rev. Manning B. Roche.

During the last year, there have been entered as candidates for the ministry, Mr. Henry Mason, Mr. J. R. Goodman, and Mr. Matthew Matthews.

The number confirmed within the last year is 218.

The Rev. Jacob M. Douglas has removed from this diocess to that of Jersey. The Rev. George Woodruff, late of the diocess of New-Jersey, has lately taken charge of the church in Carlisle. The Rev. Charles P. McIlvaine, soon after his ordination, removed to the diocess of Maryland. Since the last Convention, the Rev. Charles Snowden has removed from his former connexion, to Huntingdon, on the Juniata.

It is painful to me to record, that within these few days, I have received information of the decease of the Rev. Elijah G. Plumb, of Northumberland.

On the 25th of last month, I laid the corner stone of a new church in Southwark, to be known by the name of Trinity Church.

It is much to be regretted, that the Society for the Advancement of Christianity has materially felt the pressure of the times. They, however, persevere to the extent of the encouragement bestowed. In the ensuing season, their exertions will be on a smaller scale than heretofore; but the hope is cherished, that there will not be abandoned this charitable expedient for the sending of occasional aid to vicinities, in which the members of our communion are too few or too poor to provide