ourselves whenever we happen to fall into a serious mood of thinking, or begin to grow melancholy at the prospect of death. To go to heaven, and then it would appear that nothing, nothing more was wanting to complete our happiness. "And yet there is one very simple question, that is quite surprising we so seldom think of asking; and that is'What kind of place we should find it if we went there?' That heaven is a scene of unbounded happiness and everlasting delight, there is no doubt whatever; but should we find it so, is quite another question. We know that a deaf man might be surrounded with the sweetest music and the most enchanting harmony, and to him it would be all dead silence; and a beautiful portrait of a lovely landscape would be nothing but darkness to a blind man's eye. "But to come still nearer to the point; we know that the same company that would be enjoyed by a man of one description would be actually insupportable to another; and that there are many situations in which one man would find himself perfectly happy, that would make another utterly miserable. Now, to decide the question at once, only conceive for a moment that every man was allowed to choose for himself in this particular, and that heaven was to be just what every man pleases; and what would be the result? Only look back upon your life, and observe the scenes, in which you felt yourself most at home -the things in which your soul has most delighted where your heart was most interested and engaged; and that would be your heaven. Fix your eye upon those scenes of your keenest enjoyment-mark them well, dwell upon the circumstances by which they are characterised, and you have the kind of heaven that you would choose,-where your treasure is, there would your heart be also. "With some men heaven would bewhat we will not dare to name: we must draw a curtain over it ;—we might mistake it for a scene that bears another superadded, and a certain number of dangers and inconveniences removed. "Now, is it not probable that to such men as these heaven would be a state either of languor or of misery? Heaven is not a theatre, that shifts the scene to suit itself to every foolish fancy and every silly humour of the spectators. It has, indeed its fulness of joy and its pleasures for evermore: but the question is, have we the power and the relish to enjoy them? We will suppose, for a moment, that our hope of going to heaven is, some way or other, fulfilled, and that (God knows how) we have passed the fearful account that we shall have to render,-of sins committed, of duties neglected, of blessings abused, of time squandered away, we will suppose that we have found our way into that heaven that is the object of our hopes :-what have we to promise ourselves? We know at least what we shall not find there; we know that "naked as we came into this world, naked shall we go out of it;" that the body which held us and the earth together is laid in the dust from which it was taken; and the bond that united us to this lower world is snapped, and the channel through which we communicated with it withdrawn; and this busy stage, upon which our affections have been running to and fro, seeking rest and finding none, is at once concealed from our view, and becomes to us a dead blank. Alas! alas! what objects shall we fasten upon to fill up the dreary vacancy which was once occupied by our busy pursuits and our dear pleasures upon earth? For the gold and the silver are gone, and the pipe, and the viol, and the tabret, have died away in silence. What shall we seize upon to employ our minds, or to interest our hearts, or to excite our desires, or to fill up our conversation? Alas! where is the buying and selling, the bustle of business, or the enthusiasm of enterprise, that supplied us at once with our cares and our hopes? Where is the flowing goblet, and the wild and wanton merriment that used to set the table in a roar? Alas! alas! what shall we do for the delightful trifles by which we contrived, while we were upon the earth, to get rid of time, and forget that it was rolling over our heads? What shall we do for those wild pursuits by which we made ourselves mad for a time, and hunted eternity out of our minds? What shall we do for conversation; upon what subjects shall we converse? And then-to go on in this way for ever! and for ever! and for ever! We cannot sit thus dreaming through eternity. If this be Heaven, would to God he had left us still upon our beloved earth! Wherefore have ye brought us out of Egypt, where we ate and drank and were merry, and have left us here to perish in the wilderness? Better would it have been for us to have still our interchanges of hope and fear, of pleasure and pain, of repose and fatigue, of joy and sorrow, than to endure this dismal serenity, than to say in the morning, "would God it were evening; and in the evening, would God it were morning." really, are our greatest pleasures those with which God has least to do?-and does it appear strange to us that there should be such a luxury in knowing God? Perhaps there are some to whom it conveys a very dead and very cheerless idea. To know God! to be engaged in celebrating his praises to all eternity! How long could we endure such a labour upon earth? Alas! alas! how heavy and monotonous would it appear! and what a release would it be to our spirits to launch again from the austerity of his society into the gay varieties of life! Then what becomes of your hopes of Heaven? must it not miserably disappoint you? What would become of you, a forlorn and bewildered stranger among the saints that rest not day and night, saying, Holy! holy! holy? What would you do?-how would you dispose of yourself after the first glow of adoration had subsided, and the first swell of the anthem had died away upon your ears? Their joys would be lost to you for it is no stupid and senseless worship in which they are engaged;_no idle clamour, no servile adulation. But they "sing with the Spirit, and they sing with the understanding: they know wherefore they praise him; it is because they are becoming more and more acquainted with him who only is inexhaustible. Every other subject of thought would be drained by eternity: but him, boundless, and unfathomable, they learn, and study, and adore for ever and ever: for it is inexhaustible as the works of creation itself. New beauties are discovered at every view. Effects which perhaps never occurred to the human imagination, may be developed from time to time; and at every new discovery of love the whole heavenly host brighten with immortal gratitude, and lay down their golden crowns before the throne, saying, Holy! holy! holy!" (Pp. 339-348.) "Such is what we shall not find in heaven. But what is it that is there? What vast fund of unexampled enjoyment, what crowd of fresh delights? What is there to interest our affections and to fill our thoughts? "Even He that filleth all things;" the only Being that can satisfy our immortal spirit; "whom to know is life eternal," for "this is life eternal to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." All the blessings and delights of heaven are described as flowing from him. "In thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.' To see his face; to rejoice in the light of his countenance; to awake and behold his glory,-are the strongest and loveliest ideas of happiness, that even the language of inspiration, and "lips touched with fire,' have been able to convey. "I beseech thee," said the prophet of old, "shew me thy glory." If thy presence go not up with me, carry me not up out of this wilderness; I will stay here in the desert with thee; for what is the land flowing with milk and honey without thee?" But the everlasting employment of the blessed spirits is praise, and adoration, and hallelujahs :-they are for ever before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy! holy! holy!' "Now it may be well to ask ourselves soberly the question-how much of our present happiness consists in this which we find is to be the happiness of heaven to all eternity? really, does it suit our ideas of happiness? Is it the happiness that we have been enjoying for our past life? As God liveth! have we been most happy when he was nearest to us, or farthest from us? Have we most enjoyed ourselves when he was most in our thoughts, or least in our thoughts? We could wish to give our readers another specimen or two of this admirable simplicity, but our limits forbid. We must therefore conclude with the brief and hasty expression of our opinion of the work, as unquestionably the most interesting volume of its class which has appeared since the publication of the " Remains of Kirke White.” Two Letters addressed to the Rev. G. C. Gorham, on some points of his statement on the Apocryphal Books, and on some of the alleged doctrines of the Romish Church. By Leander Van Ess, D. D. with a Reply by G. C. Gorham, B.D. Pp. viii. and 120. Seeleys. THE Controversy on the distribution of the Apocrypha, by the Bible Society, has been attended with results which were not at first anticipated, and which may very possibly lead to still more important consequences. It has already excited a degree of attention to the grand protestant principle of simple and exclusive adherence to the sacred volume, which had not previously existed and is compelling some of the most conscientious members of the Romish church to consider with increasing care, the leading positions to which we as Protestants object. To this circumstance we are indebted for the present pamphlet, containing two letters from Professor Van Ess, to Mr. Gorham, with an amicable reply from the latter gentleman, and an appendix stating and commenting on the very extraordinary conduct of Mr. Josiah Conder. The Professor's letters are not easily reducible to any very exact arrangement. It may therefore be more convenient to follow the order in which Mr. Gorham has noticed the several points. The Professor conceives that the objections to the Apocrypha may be removed;-by restoring the Prologues of St. Jerome to the head of each book. This, however, Mr. G. states, would be inconsistent with the fundamental law of the Bible Society, by which notes and comments are excluded:-with the re solution (since confirmed at the General Meeting) not to assist in any way in the distribution of the Apocrypha, and with the change which has taken place in Mr. G's own mind during the progress of this discussion. The affirmation that the Romanists have changed the form of the biblical volume, with a view to raise the authority of the apocryphal writings, is next maintained by a course of reasoning highly interesting to the biblical student, and evincing great industry and acumen on the part of Mr. G. who refers to nearly two hundred editions of the Vulgate. The conclusion is summed up as follows: I will briefly recapitulate the points which I consider myself to have established. They are these:-1st, that in the "ancient form" of the Bible, from Century IV. till the Reformation, the Inspired and the Apocryphal Writings, though intermingled, were invariably distinguished from each other by the Prefaces, or notices of interpolation, connected with each Book.-2ndly, that, subsequently to the Reformation, a new form was introduced, and these Scriptural barriers were removed; at first cautiously and rarely; then, after the Decree of the Council of Trent, more freely and frequently; and at last, under Papal sanction, boldly and almost universally.-3dly, that this change of form was intended to advance the credit of the Apocryphal Books, and to obtain for them the estimation of 66 Inspired Writings; by removing these impediments to the acknowledgment of their Canonicity. The "dates and facts" which I have produced above, justify me in the imputation of such a motive; especially when I consider that the members of your Church, as a body, strenuously maintain the Divine authority of these Books ;-and the Council of Trent has so plainly declared it.—(Pp. 73, 74.) Mr. G. then proceeds to show that the divine authority of the Apocrypha is enjoined as an article of faith by the council of Trent. This he maintains by referring to the language of the Trentine decree itself to that of the most learned members of the Romish communion with reference to this decree-and to the practice of the Romish church altogether. The argument is thus summed up: On the whole, my dear Sir, I am constrained to conclude that the dread ful Decree of the Council of Trent, Mr. G. lastly notices the Professor's remarks on the objections of Protestants to circulate an inter mingled Apocrypha, on the ground of its giving support to error. Here he observes on the general question, We do not object to the circulation of the Apocrypha merely because it is "misused" or appealed to in confirmation of error. No! The point of the great Protestant objection,-to which we would earnestly invite the attention of Romanists-is this: ..... that, while the Apocrypha is made the ground of false doctrine, it does contain ACTUAL error; and that while it is thus appealed to, as Divine authority, it is in fact ONLY HUMAN testimony. How different are the circumstances of the Sacred Code! True, alas! it is, that corrupt doctrines are also professedly derived even from the Holy Volume itself: but though perverted men may attempt to ground heresy on the Bible, it contains actually NO error, for, "it is in truth THE WORD OF GOD." Mr. G. ably proves that Purgatory is not only a dogma of the Romish We The first is that this is not so much an apocryphal disquisition as a discussion of some fundamental points at issue between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Professor Van Ess has obviously fallen into the common error of mistaking the sentiments of particular individuals for the authorized sentiments of the church to which they belong. In this way we conceive many pious individuals continue in communion with the corrupt and idolatrous Church of Rome, not being aware of the real nature and extent of her abominations. The second remark is, The importance in all controversial discussions, of uniting Christian meekness and affection with Christian firmness. Mr. Gorham has here given a most admirable specimen of the affection and benevolence with which opponents should be treated. His industry and his talents deserve high praise, but his speaking the truth in love is what especially calls for our acknowledgments. He is firm as a rock, and yields not a single Protestant point; but he is every where mild, gentle, and conciliating, and affords a most striking contrast to that unhappy individual whose misconduct he has felt it necessary, in justice to himself, to expose in the Appendix. 225 INTELLIGENCE. ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. THE large church of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, was as usual completely crowded with a highly respectable assemblage to hear the Annual Sermon before this Society, which was preached by the Rev. Edward Cooper, M. A. on Monday, May 1, from Mark xvi. 15. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Mr. C. stated, that when our Lord delivered these words he laid the foun-` dation of all missionary exertion. He had before taught his Apostles the spirit they should exercise, the opposition they would meet with, and the support which should be given; but that mission was confined to the people of Israel; the commission they now received directs them to include the Gentiles also, among whom they were to be actuated by the same spirit, assailed with the same opposition, and dependent on the same support. They were now to go forth entrusted with the treasure of the Gospel to declare the glad tidings of salvation, a message designed for universal diffusion; necessary and sufficient for all. This injunction is binding on the church in every succeeding age: the treasure is the same-the purpose the same-the necessity the same: so long as a corner of the world remains in darkness, so long as an individual is in ignorance, so long must it be the duty of the Church to go and preach the Gospel to every creature. On these grounds we must maintain the duty of missionary exertions as binding on every church, and, according to his ability, on every member of that church. There may, however, be some nations so peculiarly situated, and some seasons so especially favourable, that not to improve them would be a gross dereliction of duty-such are the circumstances of this country. To England is appointed the distinguished office of evangelizing the world; not indeed exclusively, but in a very preeminent degree. She indeed is placed under a peculiar responsibility. We may consider, First, The momentous commission delegated to England. This appears, 1. From the large portion of Gospel treasure which England herself possesses. This country has been distinguished for three hundred years with evangelical light and truth and alJUNE 1826. though human corruption has interposed, yet a gracious season of refreshing has been vouchsafed. The light of the Gospel never shone more clearly than at present; the press and the pulpit both unite their efforts; while education contributes to its rapid progress. If it is the maxim of religion, that they who have freely received should freely give, then our obligation to dispense the Gospel is most clear. 2. From the distinct and impressive manner in which the state of the heathen world and their need of the Gospel is placed in view. We see in the clearest manner, the darkness, wickedness, and misery which prevail in heathen lands; we know the Gospel is the only remedy for these evils, the only instrument which can elevate the nations from their abject state. The cry, Come over and help us,' was always lifted up in some degree, but never so loud and clear as at the present moment-it was not till lately that the mystery of iniquity was so fully exposed. Our extensive empire in the East has brought these things under our immediate inspection; so that God in his providence seems to say, Arise and help these poor idolaters; see in their state the state of all the heathen world. 3. The peculiar facilities which England now possesses for fulfilling this high commission, arising from our ready access to and frequent and familiar intercourse with the heathen. Obstacles which formerly existed, seem almost entirely removed, and an open door is set before us. Has God merely opened this that we may enrich ourselves, or is it not rather intended as a means of communicating to others that treasure which we so abundantly possess? God seems in his providence to say, a great door and effectual is set before thee, make full proof of that ministry with which thou art intrusted. 4. The great political ascendency which England possesses by means of her numerous Colonies imposes on us a peculiar weight of responsibility. America possesses somewhat of the same advantages, but is not so closely connected with the heathen world as we ourselves are; through our system of colonization, two millions of heathens are placed under our control. 2 G |