By Abraham, our father! by the Twelve,
The Patriarch sons of Jacob! by the Law,
In thunder spoken! by the untouch'd Ark!
By David and the Anointed race of Kings!
By great Elias, and the gifted Prophets !
I here demand a sign.

'Tis there-I see it

The fire that rends the Veil !

We are then of thee

Abandon'd--not abandon'd of ourselves.
Heap woes upon us, scatter us abroad,
Earth's scorn and hissing; to the race of men
A loathsome proverb; spurn'd by every foot,
And curs'd by every tongue; our heritage
And birthright bondage; and our very brows
Bearing, like Cain's, the outcast mark of hate:
Israel will still be Israel, still will boast
Her fallen temple, her departed glory;
And, wrapt in conscious righteousness, defy

Earth's utmost hate, and answer scorn with scorn.'

With this speech the drama ought perhaps to have closed, but for the Hymn which is assigned to Javan, who re-appears with Miriam in the concluding scene. He, it seems, was the soldier who bore her off; and he has now brought her to the Fountain of Siloe, where he discovers himself. From that endeared spot, they witness the conflagration of the Temple; and a transition is very naturally made to the destruction of the more glorious Temple of the Universe.

Even thus amid thy pride and luxury,

Oh Earth! shall that last coming burst on thee,
That secret coming of the Son of Man.
When all the cherub-throning clouds shall shine,
Irradiate with his bright advancing sign:

When that Great Husbandman shall wave his fan,
Sweeping, like chaff, thy wealth and pomp away:
Still to the noontide of that nightless day,

Shalt thou thy wonted dissolute course maintain.
Along the busy mart and crowded street,

The buyer and the seller still shall meet,

And marriage feasts begin their jocund strain:

Still to the pouring out the Cup of Woe;

Till Earth, a drunkard, reeling to and fro,

And mountains molten by his burning feet,

And Heaven his presence own, all red with furnace heat.

The hundred-gated Cities then,

The Towers and Temples, nam'd of men

Eternal, and the Thrones of Kings;

The gilded Summer Palaces,

The courtly bowers of love and ease

Where still the Bird of Pleasure sings;

Ask ye the destiny of them?

Go gaze on fallen Jerusalem.

Yea, mightier names are in the fatal roll;

'Gainst earth and heaven God's standard is unfurl'd,
The skies are shrivell'd like a burning scroll,

And the vast common doom ensepulchres the world.
Oh! who shall then survive?

Oh! who shall stand and live?

When all that hath been, is no more :
When for the round earth hung in air,
With all its constellations fair

In the sky's azure canopy;

When for the breathing Earth, and sparkling Sea,
Is but a fiery deluge without shore,

Heaving along the abyss profound and dark,
A fiery deluge, and without an Ark.

'Lord of all power, when thou art there alone
On thy eternal fiery-wheeled throne,
That in its high meridian noon

Needs not the perished sun nor moon:

When thou art there in thy presiding state,
Wide-sceptred Monarch o'er the realm of doom:
When from the sea-depths, from earth's darkest womb,
The dead of all the ages round thee wait:

And when the tribes of wickedness are strewn
Like forest leaves in the autumn of thine ire :
Faithful and True! thou still wilt save thine own!
The Saints shall dwell within th' unharming fire,
Each white robe spotless, blooming every palm.
Even safe as we, by this still fountain side,
So shall the Church, thy bright and mystic Bride,
Sit on the stormy gulf a halcyon bird of calm.
Yes, 'mid yon angry and destroying signs,
O'er us the rainbow of thy mercy shines,
We hail, we bless the covenant of its beam,
Almighty to avenge, Almightiest to redeem.'

Abundant nonsense has been uttered, in echo of Dr. Johnson's superficial condemnation of devotional poetry: as if the highest topics were not the best adapted to the highest style of language; as if, too, the language which the Divine Spirit has condescended to employ in a very large proportion of the volume of Inspiration, was not the language of poetry! It is not the fault of the subject, that excellence in lyrical productions of a sacred character has been so rarely attained. Mr. Milman's talents are, assuredly, of no inferior order, but they appear to the greatest advantage when employed on these sublimest of all

themes.

The dramatic merit of the poem is very considerable. The character of Simon is strongly conceived, and ably developed, VOL. XIV. N.S.

I

and on him the eye rests as the centre figure of the groupe. The Author, we suspect, designed that Miriam should engross the chief place in the reader's interest as the heroine of the tale; but that of her father stands out in the boldest relief, and we think that, had it been made still more prominent, had a larger portion of the drama been assigned to him as the chief historic personage, it would have redounded to the credit of our Author's judgement. Miss Baillie would, we make no doubt, have succeeded by this means in considerably heightening the dramatic effect of the poem, while its tragic interest might very advantageously have been deepened by bringing more distinctly before the reader, the horrors of the siege. But Mr. Milman has apparently aimed at exciting in the mind emotions of a more tranquilly pensive, and perhaps more elevated character; consalting in this choice, not more his taste than the competent range of his own peculiar powers. Of those powers, it is unnecessary to add, we think very highly; and we have no doubt that the extracts we have given from the poem now under con sideration, will lead our readers adequately to appreciate then.

Art. VIII. Exhortation to an Early Attendance upon, and Becoming Behaviour in, Religious Assemblies. By J. Renals, Author of the "Sick Man's Assistant." Svo. pp. 28. Price 1s. Kettering, 1819. THIS is a very homely and familiar, but exceedingly well

meant pastoral exhortation, on a subject which requires plainness of speech, and which is but too often overlooked. The points recommended to the reader as the matter of self inquiry, are-attending public worship in good time; entering the house of God with seriousness, and as silently as possible; proper conduct during the time of prayer; taking heed how we hear; and becoming deportment at the close of worship. We should imagine that this address, if printed in a cheaper form, might he circulated with advantage among many Dissenting congregations in the country,

A

Art. IX. Village Sermons; or Short and Plain Discourses, for the Use of Families, Schools, and Religious Societies. By George Burder. Vol. VIII. containing Ten Sermons; to which are added, One Hundred Collects, or Short Prayers, adapted to the whole Set of Discourses; with some General Prayers for Families, Schools, &c. 12mo. pp. 192. London. 1820.

THIS volume is designed to complete the series of highly

acceptable and useful village sermons for which the public are indebted to the venerable Author. It contains Sermons 91 to 100, which are on the following subjects: The Happy Be'liever. Luke i. 45. The Doctrine of Providence practically improved: Luke xii. 7. Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption, derived from Christ.' 1 Cor. i. 30. Samson's Riddle: Judges xiv. 14. The profitable Journey: Numbers x. 29. The Water and the Blood: 1 John v. 6. 'Jesus Christ, the object of Faith, of Love, and of Joy: 1 Peter i. 8. Sin odious to God:' Jerem. xliv. 4. God incomprehensible: Job xi. 7. The Great Harvest:' Matt. xiii. 39. Of the general style and merit of these sermons, it is superfluous for us to pronounce any opinion, after they have so extensively recommended themselves, both to clergymen within the Establishment, and lay-teachers not of the Established Church, as some of the very best adapted in all respects, but especially in point of plainness, to the minds of a village preacher's audience. Their fitness for this purpose is not a matter for critical decision: it can be ascertained only upon trial by the reader. And no one who has not made the trial, can, we will venture to say, be aware of the extreme difficulty of accom modating the phraseology of religious addresses to the feelings and capacities of the lower classes, so that it shall lay hold of their attention, or, as Dr. Chalmers would say, effect a conveyance of the truth into their minds. Admirably simple as these discourses are, and free, for the most part, from those theological technicalities which are so frequently to be heard from Dissenting pulpits, but to which we should always prefer a flight in the original Greek, as equally conducive to edification,-still, even in reading many passages of these aloud, there will occur expressions which, in addressing many congregations, the reader will feel it adviseable to simplify, in order to bring down the idea to the comprehension of children and servants. To be simple and intelligible is the first thing: it is not, however, every thing. Some preachers have been for rejecting the most essential doctrines of the Gospel from their sermons, because, as they imagine, those subjects do not comport with the requisite plainness of practical preaching. We need not inform our readers, that this cold, negative simplicity, with its inseparable qualities, baldness of style, and flatness of manner, is not the simplicity which these Sermons display. They are richly imbued

with doctrinal truth as connected with the wants and feelings of the heart, or what is termed experience; while there is so much judgement displayed in the exhibition of Scripture doctrines, that numbers of clerical functionaries who shudder at Calvinism, have, we believe, availed themselves of the Author's neat and portable volumes for their Sunday's duty, with entire satisfaction, And, as Sermons, they are also interesting. This is a great matter, especially in addresses which are to be read under all the disadvantages attendant upon reading the composition of another; disadvantages which constitute the material difference between speaking and reading a speech,-preaching and reading a sermon. It must not be concealed that there is a great deal of what is termed par excellence preaching, preaching without notes, which is very far from interesting: it is orthodox, academical, logical, but dry; or it is dry and vapid, without being either logical, academical, or characteristically orthodox.

Robert Robinson used to say, that the old women of his congregation taught him how to preach, by the questions they would put to him in their cottages. We believe that it is in the cottage, rather than in the academy, that the art of preaching is to be studied. Not that an uneducated man is likely to be on that account the more simple or the more interesting preacher. So far from it, that the best educated are often, in their style of address, the most plain, the most intelligible. There is a dignified familiarity of manner which marks the well-bred mind. But although the materials of public teaching must be obtained by means of study, the best mode of efficiently conveying instruction, is to be learned only by intercourse with those whom we wish to benefit. If we had more exemplary pastors, we should have more efficient preachers.

But we are insensibly straying into discussions foreign from our présent purpose. We have only to add, with regard to the Collects which form about a third of the present volume, that' they may be serviceable as specimens of the manner in which it seems always desirable to advert, in the concluding prayer, to the subject and leading ideas of the preceding discourse; and we' recommend their adoption to those persons whose long continued habits of adhering to a form of prayer, renders such assistance indispensable. But the term Collect, which seems to point out for what class they are primarily designed, may perhaps suggest a disadvantageous comparison. Praying and writing prayers, are processes of thought still more dissimilar' than preaching and writing sermons; and this may be the reason why, as we think, the Author's Sermons are superior to his Collects. Mr. Burder is not, we apprehend, much in the habit of writing prayers. And rather than hear recited the most finished composition, who would not hear a good man, although' in but indifferent language, pray?