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We shall not have justice done us, if it shall be supposed that in making the foregoing statement of the malversation in office of the last Moderator of the Assembly, we have, in any degree, been gratifying a private pique. Between us and the Moderator there has been, at no time, any personal altercation, nor, on our part, any special cause of alienation whatsoever; and in the last Assembly, he treated us as respectfully as he did any other member with whom we thought and acted. He was, we verily think, entirely impartial, in dealing out his hard measures to us all alike, without frowning upon, or favouring one, more than another. No, truly, we have felt no gratification of any kind; nothing but the most sensible pain and mortification, in

indulgence asked was one which had been conceded to some former moderators, and among the rest to the present

writer, who was really disposed to rise and plead for its extension to the existing Moderator, but was restrained by the consideration, that it was more than an equitable allowance, that the Moderator should plead his cause out of the chair, after favouring it so much before he left

his seat.

making the statement which we are now closing. Nor would we ever have made it, if the Moderator alone had been responsible for the devious course he pursued-objectionable and offensive in the extreme, as it certainly was. But he was, in our view, the fair representative of the majority of the Assembly, deliberately and by preconcert chosen, for the very purpose of doing what he did. A conviction that such was the fact, prevented many appeals, which the minority would otherwise have made from his decisions to the house; but from the house they knew they were to look for no relief. The statement, therefore, made in this number of our series, we consider as part of a true representation of the present state of the Presbyterian Church-a deplorable state, in which a moderator could be at first elected, and afterwards sustained, to do what we have shown was actually done— a state, painful and mortifying, we repeat, for us to exhibit, but necessary to be known, that haply when known by the church at large, a change for the better may yet be

effected.

Reviews.

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worthy to be circulated still more widely. We take occasion, from a new Edition of his works having been lately published in this country, to give a condensed view of their merits and defects. Perhaps. the best mark of the value to be set on any intellectual effort, is to answer the question, will it last? There is something ephemeral in the writings of Divines, as well as in the productions of superficial authors. The style of Tillotson and Blair was once extravagantly admired; but it is now justly considered dull. Except a few volumes, the writings of Baxter have perished. Many folios on Theology are

literally mingling with the dust; but the pilgrim of Bunyan still holds on its way, occasionally greeted by the rich, and always welcomed by the poor. In the midst of that decay of reputation which is the lot of ordinary men, the reputation of Chalmers will be durable, and the productions of his mind will increase, rather than diminish in circulation. They are addressed, principally, to men of a cultivated order of intellect; and by this class of men they will always be duly appreciated.

A flippant mode of writing is sometimes used about this giant in theological science-We notice the following inaccurate statement. Carter, in his Travels, mentions that Chalmers belongs to no particular denomination of Christians. For the subversion of this statement, it is only necessary to say,that we are in possession of his recorded speeches in the General Assembly of the Scottish Church, and that he is the present occupant of the Divinity Chair of Edinburgh. Chalmers wisely judges that more harmony results from division lines among bodies of men, than from blotting out those lines; unless men could unite in opinion as well as in feeling. Nor is this sentiment inconsistent with the largest charity. Each religionist has a right to his own opinions; but his opponent is equally entitled to the right of deciding whether he will mix with those who hold sentiments so much at variance with his own.

A suspicion has been originated in the public mind that Chalmers was not a pious man, until many years after he assumed the clerical office. This statement is denied by his biographer; but the reasoning employed is scarcely sufficient to destroy the suspicion. The biographer thinks that as the father of Chalmers was a pious man, the son must have been equally pious. Immense good or evil may be connected with the character of our

ancestry. Still facts prove but too conclusively, that a patriot may be the sire of a traitor, and that the man of science may be frequently mortified by the ignorance of his son. That Chalmers was too much absorbed, in the beginning of his ministry, in pursuits remote from the duties of a pastor, is clear from his own acknowledgment. Mathematical truth, and researches into Natural History, too exclusively engaged his attention, as he implíedly confesses, in his speech before the General Assembly, on the subject of Pluralities. Such studies are, indeed, more becoming the preacher than the studies of Churchill and Parnell; but a flock cannot be kept alive on diagrams. Chalmers is himself, we conceive, the originator of this suspicion, and if injustice be done to him by its influence, he alone is responsible. Scott preached many years without even the semblance of piety. When the forms of religion become blended with the machinery of the State, men are too apt to assume the ministerial office without correct motives. Milton, in his Lycidas, speaks thus of some of the ministers of his day—

of other care they little reck'ning make Than how to scramble, at the shearers' feast,

And shove away the worthy bidden guest,

The work from the pen of Chalmers which first challenged public attention, was his farewell address to the parish of Kilmany. This address presses home, on the conscience of his parishioners, an immediate attention to the duties of Christianity. We need not say that it was favourably noticed by the religious journals of the day, and it met the approbation of Scott. We can conceive of no local event more interesting in its nature, than the separation of a Pastor from his charge. But such an occasion has been often perverted. It has been used by some to prolong or engender strife, and by others, merely to

awaken the tender sympathies of our nature. But Chalmers was influenced by elevated considerations; and in this address he disburdens his mind of its immense anxieties about the immortal interests of his flock. That production of Chalmers which is most replete with argument, is his "Evidence and Authority of Revelation." The evidences of Christianity have engaged the attention of many powerful minds. This controversy has brought into the field a host of learned clergymen, but the testimony of laymen may be considered as more disinterested. Beattie, Addison, Lyttleton, Bonnet and Erskine, have employ ed their talents in illustrating the proofs of the authenticity of the Scriptures. Locke has analysed the subject, in his Reasonableness of Christianity, and Sir Robert Boyle felt a deep conviction of the necessity of defending the truth of Revelation. But Chalmers has placed Christianity on most imposing ground, making the system to lean on its external props. These props, unquestionably, are Prophecy and Miracles. If we prove the one to have been wrought, and the other to have been fulfilled and fulfilling, we prove all that is necessary to establish a Divine Revelation. But Chalmers has been censured for totally discarding the internal evidences of the Scriptures. This is a mistake. He considers that the internal evidences answer important ends, in building up those who believe. It may be said that Soame Jenyns was convinced by simply reading the Scriptures. Soame Jenyns resolved to read them, but this resolution was taken under circumstances which placed him on the ground of an enquirer after truth. Rousseau states, in his Confessions, that he read through the New Testament six times; still he was unconvinced. But what would this Genevese infidel have thought, if the writers of the New

Testament had wrought miracles before his eyes ?

After publishing the above named work, Chalmers changed his location in the church; but we are not so much concerned about the removal of his person, as about the progress and development of his mind. Some preachers seem to suppose that the station they occupy, ought to adorn them; whereas, it is becoming that they should adorn the station. It was a matter, however, of some importance, when Chalmers exchanged a life of studious retirement for the hum of a populous city. It is probable that even his capacious mind became more enlarged, in contemplating the future destiny of the thousands that waited on his ministry. He soon gave proofs of this by his Discourses on the connexions of Christianity with the modern astronomy. It is universally conceded that the heavenly bodies must have early drawn the attention of men. From the plains of Chaldea, and from the summits of the Egyptian pyramids, the curious eye of science must have watched the planets in their circuits. Ancient poets have swept the impassioned lyre, in praise of the graceful arches, into which the heavens are bent. Job, and the herdsmen of Tekoah, contemplate the divine power as displayed in the constellations. But notwithstanding the intense activity of the human mind, much darkness has been dispelled by the ingenuity of Galileo, and the researches of Newton. Under modern discoveries, the planets, with their belts and rings, wear an aspect of intense interest, not only in the eye of the Philosopher, but in that of the Christian Divine. That man must be blind to the nature of his own endowments who feels no kindling emotions, as the first twilight star glides along, on the current of evening, alternately trickling its beams in a sea of purple, or olive coloured clouds. To lofty musings

on creation the powers of Chal-
mers were attuned, and his mind
gushed forth into strains of impetu-
ous eloquence. In this work, he is
combatting the objection which in
fidelity makes to Christianity,
based on the vastness of creation
an objection partially answered by
Fuller. It has been urged that this
work was needless, inasmuch as in-
fidels do not frequently use this
argument. This may be, but infi-
delity clandestinely entrenches it-
self in this objection, and Chal-
mers has dared to look at it in the
light of philosophy.

The race of glory is delightful, But won, it brings disquiet. From the time that poetry became an art, the poets have been lavish of their plaintive strains about the decay of human happiness. Horace, Tibullus and Anacreon, may celebrate the joys of life, but they connect with its joys, neutralising thoughts of the flight of time. Men of talents cannot escape disappointment. It is a popular tradition that Homer begged his bread. Ovid was banished to the shores of the Black Sea. Cicero, Demosthenes and Æschines were exiles. The phiChalmers subsequently published losophy of Seneca and the genius a volume of Discourses, illustrating of Lucan, could not save the one or the total depravity of man in the the other from the fury of a despot. higher circles of society. We Socrates became the victim of the shall notice them only so far as to people whom he had enlightened, animadvert on a remark of Bishop and Sophocles stripped Eschylus Hobart, in reference to these dis- of his laurels. Seeing, then, that courses. He says that Chalmers ambition is often fruitless, and that allows something naturally good in man is the subject of restiveness, man. It is not much to the credit what is the reason that men seek of this Diocesan's sagacity, that he not a better world? Chalmers anhas so completely misunderstood swers, that it is owing to the want Chalmers. The sentiment which of a new affection to expel the the discourses maintain is this, that supreme love of present scenes; or depravity has its seat in the moral in other words, the dim light of the powers, but that the mental powers present world can be eclipsed only are the source of actions intellec- by the superior light of the world tually good; and it is evinced in to come. His meaning may be ilthe struggles of patriotism, in the lustrated in this way. A man sailefforts of philanthropy, in the toils ing in a crazy, moth eaten bark, of science, that man may be in- may be unwilling to leave it until tellectually noble, whilst morally a well built stately ship come in he is the subject of total depravity. sight; or he may like a naked rock The above work was soon follow- till you show him some island filled ed by the publication of à volume with aromatic herbs. But Chalof discourses on miscellaneous sub-mers, not satisfied with illustration jects. The most ingenious discourse in this collection, is the one entitled "the expulsive power of a new affection." The reader has doubtless noticed that all men complain of the unsatisfying nature of earthly enjoyments. Whatever their wealth or fame may be, their feelings will be analogous to those which Cowper expresses when he says that the possession of fame only served to fill him with uneasy

sensations.

from any thing in this world, imagines a man standing on the margin of some superior orb. He is content to stay, but if some orb more picturesque and inviting were to glide by, a new affection would expel the love of his present accommodations, and incline him to commit himself to accommodations every way superior.

The next publication of Chalmers is his Series of Commercial Discourses. It would be doing him

injustice to suppose that he could be settled in a large city and be an inattentive spectator of the thousands employed in lucrative traffic. Men engaged in commercial speculations need all the guards of Christianity. They are often visited by unexpected reverses, and therefore need all its consolations. The prophets denounce woes on the merchants of Tyre, and those denunciations are in full force at this hour, against all who lay hold on ill-gotten treasure. No person of serious reflection can survey the pursuits in which the people of a city engage, without feeling a desire that all who are drawn into such a vortex may apply to themselves the searching tests, and the luminous morals of the scriptures. Renowned and gorgeous cities have bidden adieu to their own opulence. Dyer has described the ruins of Rome, but there are cities far more reduced than Rome. Under views of this kind, Chalmers lifts up his monitory voice, and every merchant who will dispassionately read his appeal, must be convinced that it is no small offence to deal unjustly. The reasonings of these discourses seem at first sight rather to recede than draw nigh to the point. But Chalmers is here only acting the part of a skilful commander, who throws his platoons into apparent confusion, till he present them in a compact and unbroken phalanx.

Chalmers has thus performed a signal service for commercial men. It is to be regretted that he has not performed the same service for men engaged in the occupations of rural life. Bates, Flavel, and Brown in his Christian's Journal, have partially attempted what Chalmers ought to execute on a larger scale. Whilst the incumbent of a retired parish, his mind must have laid in the stock of information requisite for such a work. Channing has denied to Johnson an adequacy to measure the powers of Milton, beVOL. IX. Ch. Adv.

cause a city was the usual abode of Johnson. But this is fanciful. Johnson wrote his criticism on Milton in the close of his life, and his Tour to the Hebrides must have brought him acquainted with Nature in some of her boldest forms. In his Rasselas, Johnson has drawn pictures of pastoral and rural life, which fill the imagination as perfectly as the opening stanzas of the Castle of Indolence. In addition to this, the author of the Lives of the British Poets has done justice to Milton. He substantially pronounces him the first of epic writers, and what more could the warmest admirer of Milton ask? But there can be no doubt that Chalmers has been observant of Nature, and though he might not indulge in high wrought descriptions, addressed to the imaginative faculty of his readers, we will venture to say that he would deal out loud appeals to the conscience. The execution of such a work would require from him an indulgence, for a time at least, in a species of reading with which, we suspect, at present he is not familiar. But it would be an easy task for a man of his Herculean powers, to run through all that Greek, Latin and English poets have written of rural life. Then would

He know each lane and every alley green,
Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood,
And every bosky bourne, from side to
side.

Besides the above mentioned works, Chalmers has published a number of miscellaneous discourses, and his Civic Economy of Large Towns. His Civic Economy is, incomparably, the best effort of his mind. In such a brief estimate, it can scarcely be expected that we should go into details of a work which would require a volume to do it justice. We only take occasion to remark that the sentiment is gaining ground, that the mind of a minister should be insulated to one subject. Had this sentiment

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