to these; and an example of the ancient saying, "The man is terrible who minds one thing." If it be asked, Where are his monuments?-the answer is, In the London Orphan Asylum, the Infant Orphan Asylum, Wanstead,-the Asylum for Fatherless Children, Reedham,-the Asylum for Idiots, Earlswood,—the Royal Hospital for Incurables, Putney. Nothing can add to the impressiveness of this simple statement. Nothing can surpass the title, The Friend of the Orphan, and of the Helpless.

On page 162 there is an error, which shows the danger-to which we are all liable-of confining a writer's view within his own denominational bounds. It is there asserted, that "the churches of the Independent denomination had the honour of being the first Christian community to send emissaries of love to the churches of the United States." Not 60. Ten years before that date, Messrs. Reece and Hannah had been delegated on a like errand by the Methodist Conference.

But many a reader will thank us, if. in place of comment and criticism, we take from the volume a few sentences, which all may warmly commend. They shall be culled, in the main, from the chapters relating to the inner life and the pastoral usefulness of Dr. Reed.

"I have been able," he writes, on the 18th of May, 1814, "to attend the Missionary Meetings of the past week. I shall not forget, while memory is mine, the meeting at Surrey Chapel, on Thursday evening. Old and young, wise and illiterate, tender and callous, all were melted. I held up my hand on the Thursday, and took the cup on Friday, (at what was called the Missionary Communion,) in pledge of my everlasting adherence to the Missionary cause." (Pp. 51, 52.)

"I had many regrets in quitting the old place [New-road chapel].

It will always be a memorable spot to me. I went thither when but twelve years of age; I joined the church there when eighteen ; and, when twenty-four, I became its pastor. I laboured there, as probationer and pastor, exactly twenty years. There all the members of my father's family became members of my own church; and there I received about eight hundred persons into church-fellowship. May the glory of the latter house exceed that of the former!" (P. 152.)

The [American] camp-meetings having been made unfavourably notorious by Mrs. Trollope's caricature, Mr. Reed was resolved to see one for himself. He was deeply interested, and took an active part in the proceedings, which he characterizes as "the most remarkable religious service I ever attended. I left the place as a place where God had been, and the people as a people whom God had blessed." (P. 172.)

"Last Saturday," he writes on October 16th, 1838, 66 was to me a memorable day. In the morning I was preparing for my first lecture, with something of a heavy heart. .........While reading, my eye was struck with that passage, 'No man saith, What have I done?' 'A good text,' I said to myself, for my people on some future occasion;' and I noted it down. No sooner was this done, than conscience added, A good text for my people! Alas! it is ever thus-ever losing personal interest in my official duties.' I was touched. I closed my books. rose, and walked my study. What have I done?' I said many times. A sense of my exceeding sinfulness, ingratitude, and unprofitableness,—a sense of the forbearance, pity, and goodness of God,-were present to me. My heart was softened, and I wept. I was surprised. A state of perception and feeling which had not been mine for months and years had come over me. I began to hope

I

that the salvation I had almost despaired of was coming. I seemed on the verge of a better state of life and action. I trembled lest anything should prevent. I bolted the door, and cast myself at the mercy-seat, exclaiming, I cannot go on without God; I must surmount every obstacle, I must wrestle for the blessing! I thought I wept-I offered broken prayer. I placed myself in the hands of God. I submitted to His righteousness, felt I was the very chief of sinners, and confessed that the most extreme state of punishment was my desert.

"I looked to His mercy-His in finite and covenanted mercy, and entreated Him, in mercy, to look down on me. The solemn awe produced by the Divine presence and holiness gave ine a yet deeper sense of my vileness; and my heart sank within me almost to despair. 'I see it-I feel it!' I exclaimed; 'I would not be the hateful thing, in Thy sight, that sin has made me. I would not-I would not! If it be possible, purify me-save me-bless me !'

"My doubt and fear were met by the suggestion of that passage, 'Is anything too hard for the Lord?' 'No-no!' I was forced to say; 'nothing is too hard for the Lord. If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me whole.' My salvation seemed within the limit of Omnipotence, and nothing more.

"I rose, and restrained myself, lest I should be physically unfit for the duties of the Sabbath; but I could not pursue my studies. I trembled to do anything which might divert my mind, when God seemed so near. I walked my room. I read the Scriptures, to feed thought and prayer; particularly Jer. xxxii., Isai. vi., and Psalm xl. I omitted my usual walk that morning; I sought only to walk with God. I felt as if the approach of my dearest

friend would be interruption; and, happily, I suffered none all that morning. My studies were interrupted; but it was a blessed interruption. My mind remained tearful, though not sorrowful, through that day, the following night, and the Sabbath.

"On the Sabbath night, while awake, admiring thoughts of God, low and penitent thoughts of myself, and breathing desires after the Spirit of God, as the Spirit of 'power, love, and a sound mind,' possessed me. Jealousy of myself disinclined me from any particular resolution; but my feeling was one of hope that God might make this the beginning of days' to me. I was ready to say to everything earthly, 'Touch me not -I am God's.'" (Pages 301-303.)

Having attained (November, 1844) the fifty-seventh year of his age, and the thirty-third of his pastorate, he indulges in an elaborate and careful retrospect.*

"Began another year," he writes, "in sickness and weakness. It is a period of review.

"I. The first sentiment is thankfulness:

"1. That I live, while so many have fallen around me.

"2. That so much of life is left at fifty-seven.

"3. That I was blessed with pious parents and education.

"4. That I was early the subject of religious conversion.

"5. That my tastes have been awakened, chiefly by religion, for the beautiful, the good, and the great, in nature, life, and redemption.

"6. That all the members of my father's family, and of my own, are united either to the church in heaven or to the church on earth.

"7. That I have been permitted to utter the Gospel, and to sustain the pastoral relation.

"8. That I have been mostly preserved at work, so that I have not been absent from the Lord's table, or from a church-meeting, except when in America.

"9. That I have never had one angry word with any of my charge, from the lowest to the highest.

"10. That we have never had a church-meeting without admissions; and that God has been pleased so mercifully to visit His people, that I suppose about two thousand five hundred have been admitted by my hand into fellowship. Of these, three hundred perhaps were by certificate from other churches.

"11. That my people have not quarrelled with that style of ministry which I greatly connect with this work of grace......If I had laboured to preach great sermons, I had doubtless had my reward; but a very different one it would have been.

"12. That so much of my life has been made happy to me, especially by my early engagement in the interests of benevolence, and in the utterance of the Gospel.

"13. That I have been permitted to do something, by labour and by authorship, for the good of the church universal.

a second conversion to raise them to eminent piety.

"7. Religion is lower, I think, around me, and in the churches of the metropolis, than it was five years ago. When all is cold about us, we must take care not to catch cold." (Pages 365-368.)

"February 16, 1846.—Why have I been so sorely tried? Did I encourage the pride of my heart, by referring more distinctly than ever before to any good I had been permitted to do? I was, indeed, somewhat surprised; yet, I trust, not elated......O Thou most holy One! remember Thy mercy, and look on me in my weakness, errors, and tears. Enter not into judgment with Thy servant. Whoever pleads at Thy bar, I am dumb. I will not ask for less trouble; only, my Saviour, let it be light towards heaven."

"III. What, then, remains for my remnant of life? Dedication, if such a being may speak of it. Yes, dedication; and, though I should fail a thousand times, a thousand times it must be repeated......

"Let me remember,

"1. I have done almost nothing. "2. My time is short.

"3. There is much to be done in my church and neighbourhood.

"4. Some five hundred yet to be converted.

"5. My active people need to be renewed.

"6. Many of the pious young need

markable; one a child of ten years, a grandchild of Dr. Philip. I think she must have been pious at the age of seven. She had been kept back from fellowship, because of her youth. When she came into our neighbourhood, her first inquiry was, 'Papa, are there any churches here which receive little children?' I was glad to think that ours did, joyfully. This is the youngest I have admitted. I do not write this apologetically; far from it.-The other admission was that of a person whose conversion was owing to a dream. He was accustomed to go nowhere to worship, and had never been to a Dissenting chapel. He dreamt that

The

he came to ours. Everything rested on his memory, and he resolved to see if he could realize the images on his mind. He sought the chapel, and knew it instantly. He entered. 'The very place!' he said. He raised his eyes to the pulpit. very man!' he said. He was amazed, heard everything as if from God, and became a new creature by the faith of Christ. Many such things are with Him.”—“O Lord, revive Thy work!' I have been trying to prepare a tract on this motto, but time fails me. I must do one thing. One thing I wait for, and am jealous of everything else. When shall it come? There is the sound as of abundance of rain; but where is the rain? There is the promise of the Spirit; but where is the Spirit? Christ is passing by; but Hemaketh as if He would go further. My heart trembles with fear and hope, and my desires consume me. O, when wilt Thou come unto me?""

Shortly after these yearning prayers, he says:-"Above a hundred and seventy persons have seen me, under concern for their salvation; and many are delightful cases. Last Friday, thirty-three were proposed for fellowship. There is just Low a pause; and the question is, whether the standard is to advance or to retrograde. That pause seems to call for prayer. We must take hold of the arm of God. He will not forsake us, if we cleave to Him. O may my people have a heart

to test His faithfulness and His power!" (Pages 370, 371.)

Mediatorial Sovereignty, the Mystery of Christ, and the Revelation of the Old and New Testaments. By George Steward. Two Vols. T. and T. Clark. We give a hearty welcome to this work, the latest and worthiest production of Mr. Steward's pen. His elaborate volumes remind us of the former and better

days of English theology, when divines conceived great plans, brooded over them long, matured them with painful care, and gave to the church, as the result, treatises deserving to live. The author has evidently employed some years of comparative retirement in pondering his grand theme, the entire Christology of both Testaments of Revelation, as interpreted by the fundamental principle of the mediatorial supremacy of the Redeemer in the history of mankind. A higher theme theology has not to offer to the ambition or the loyalty of the Christian student. It is one that challenges the whole mind and the whole heart. Mr. Steward has pursued his task in the spirit of a devoted subject and reverent worshipper of that LORD CHRIST whose sovereignty is the basis of all the relations of redeemed man to God.

The idea of making the Lordship of Christ the key to unlock the Scriptures of both Covenants is, of course, not new to Christian theology. This author's treatment of it is, nevertheless, peculiar to himself, -as a glance at the introductory pages will show. It is, indeed, strikingly original; and, in some parts, must pay the penalty of originality by encountering doubt or objection. In reading the successive chapters with some care, we have thought several arguments and illustrations unduly pressed; obscure allusions, here and there, made to yield a deeper meaning than even New-Testament light discovers in them. We have also been conscious of a feeling that the atoning death of Christ, as the crisis of His victory, and the source of His new dominion, is not brought out into all its supreme significance, or is not set in sufficient relief. Not that the author misses, even by a hair's breadth, the great evangelical truth: were that the case, his book would be a gigantic failure. He is perfectly faithful to

the Cross, and he sees the blood of atonement sprinkled on every institution of Scripture. But, on the whole, we cannot help thinking that in this treatise, viewed as a theological exposition, the bearings of the death of the Redeemer on all the processes of His government should have occupied a larger space. Having said this, we are bound to add, though at the risk of some repetition, that on all points of Gospel teaching Mr. Steward is thoroughly sound. He preaches the truth as it is in Jesus. While dwelling largely (to use his own somewhat archaic phraseology) on the "race-aspects" of the Mediatorial Sovereignty, he gives due prominence to the individual relations of every man to the Lord of all. He never softens down the sternness of evangelical truth; never makes its gentleness too tender. In short, wherever his speculations lead him, (and we have sometimes to watch him as he "sounds his perilous way," he never parts company with the orthodox.

This treatise we advise the reader to study, not so much for its Christological criticism or learning; not so much for its original views of old truth; not simply for its doctrinal teaching: but for the sake of that lofty, sustained, and dignified divinity with which it rebukes the flippancy of the present time, so much given to an unsettling and destructive treatment of the gravest questions. We recommend it, also, for its reverent submission to the word of God; for the vigour with which it traces the one glorious truth through all the institutions,

and hymns, and prophecies, and teachings of Scripture; and for its incidental but pervading exhibition of the internal evidences of the Book of revealed truth. Moreover, the reader will have the pleasure which following a vigorous thinker always affords,-a pleasure for the sake of which a large mind will pardon many minor defects. Some of these will require the tolerance which Mr. Steward's readers have always been required to exercise. Here and there, theory will be found pressed too far; occasionally, the phraseology will be thought too ornate, or too cumbrous; not seldom, a hazy indistinctness will disguise the meaning; and sometimes, as in the essays on Pleroma," and the gorgeous concluding chapters generally, the mystery of the Trinity will be thought to have exercised an undue fascination on the writer. But the steadfast strength of this work is such as to make all these faults venial. That man must have a torpid mind, and a cold heart, who can read these pages without having his loyalty to his Master confirmed, and his love for the good old theology, increased.

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The excellent treatise by the Rev. Peter M'Owan, entitled, “Practical Considerations on the Christian Sabbath," and published at the Conference Office, has reached a fifth edition. It is full, yet concise; and quite as seasonable now as when first published.-The touching" Memorials of Children of Wesleyan Ministers," most suitable for the juvenile library, also re-appear, in a fourth edition.

MILK.-Milk has been so often analyzed, that it would seem no further facts could be elicited regarding this important liquid Professor Boedecker, however, has just completed a series of

experiments conducted on quite a new principle. The question he proposed to himself was, whether milk obtained at any hour of the day always presented the same chymical composition or not; and he has