inclined to think sufficient importance is not attached to such attendance either by Christian parents in general, or the conductors of places of education in particular. I have indeed already adverted to this, but its vast importance both to the right improvement of the Lord's Day, and the individual benefit of your pupils, may allow a few additional remarks. If we believe the declarations of God's word, we must expect a peculiar blessing to rest upon us in attending on the ordinances of his house; and as the divine promises are not confined to any age, we may reasonably conclude his blessing will be given to the young as well as the old. I always, therefore, deeply regret when young persons are allowed on trifling occasions to absent themselves from public worship; and I should earnestly recommend that your pupils should regularly be habituated to attend both morning and evening. I do not say I would have them go when the snow is lying three feet deep on the ground, or when the rain is pouring in torrents from the skies; but I would not allow of any excuse for staying from God's house which would not be deemed a sufficient reason for declining a Christmas visit, or a party of pleasure. I have accustomed my young people when the weather is bad, to dress themselves cordingly, and with the help of great coats, clokes, and umbrellas, we manage to reach our regular place with very few exceptions all the year round. You indeed have a little difficulty which I have not, for weak or irreligious parents may perhaps bring forward objections on the ground of colds, &c. arising from exposure to weather, &c. forgetting that those who shut themselves up in the house whenever the weather is uncomfortable, very often so enfeeble their constitutions, as to be unable to sustain the common changes of our variable climate; and thus lay the

ac

foundation of very severe complaints in after life. When your young people go out of an evening especially make them wrap up well. If they like to take off the shawl or the cloke, &c, when at church, be it so; but in going and returning let them be well clad, and there will, usually speaking, be very little danger of cold. Of course, where the lungs are peculiarly delicate, or in all similar cases, exceptions must be made: but I should always consider attendance as the rule, and absence as the exception. I would just add, that I have, generally speaking, observed that the evening sermons of most ministers are more appropriate and more interesting to young persons than their morning discourses; and this, I suppose, partly arises from their being more commonly composed with a view to the lower classes of society.

It will be very proper to converse with your older pupils about the sermons they have just heard; and if this is done at meals, the younger children and perhaps the servants may collect useful hints. The great · difficulty in talking about sermons is, to avoid indiscriminate approbation or censure, though the last is especially dangerous in undermining the minister's influence and authority. Nothing is in general easier than to find fault with a sermon; and few, I apprehend, have any idea of the labour which is necessary to provide a regular succession of even tolerable sermons during a course of years. I have heard ministers speak very feelingly upon this subject, and have known excellent men pained and grieved by the very unkind remarks of persons who have thought themselves justified in adopting strong language on subjects of which they have had no experience; for I believe none but ministers can tell the difficulty of preaching well; and that the best of them will ever say, we have no sufficiency of ourselves to think any

thing as of ourselves. I should therefore check very early an indiscriminate spirit of censure; but at the same time this should be done so as not to discourage or repress moderate remark and criticism.

You may well inquire as to the text the divisions--the subdivisions, if any-the leading proofs -the part which appeared most striking, &c. If any should censure, you may mildly ask their reasons; you may sometimes draw them on to suggest how a defect might have been supplied; you may perhaps occasionally call to their recollection a discourse of the same preacher, wherein a part objected to has been more fully and happily stated: You may touch on the necessity which exists for a minister speaking at one time more fully on one point, and passing over more lightly other points; of directing his discourse more at one time to the believer, and at another to the sinner; and may not unfrequently show that the very parts of a discourse, which appear at present less applicable to your own young people, may, in after life, when they have arrived at riper years, and are placed in different situations, be most suitable; and may strongly recommend their recording such ideas in their memories or commonplace book. This kind of conversation, though it will require some exertion and much wise forbearance and temper on your part, may be rendered most instructive to your young people; and a remark addressed to the elder of them will very often be remembered by little Miss at the bottom of the table. Your young folks will sometimes point out provincialisms and little errors in grammar, action, &c. and you may well improve such observations, by showing how trifling these defects are in themselves, in comparison with the grand subjects of a discourse, and yet how important

it is in early life to correct all these little faults, on which many are apt to fasten, to the neglect of most instructive and useful observations.

I should very much recommend your using your young people to write short notes of sermons, either at church or when they return home. The latter tends more immediately to strengthen the memory, though the former has its peculiar advantages. The younger children may very properly be required to show you their notes at some convenient time; only it will here, as I have before intimated, be very necessary to guard against requiring so much as might be painful, or be considered as a task. You will find a very great difference indeed in the powers of children of the same age, as to the quantity they can remember or write down. Let your demand, therefore, be very small, and your approbation of those who exceed the requirement be clearly marked; nor should I be very eagle-eyed in detecting any help which the older pupils may afford the younger in this exercise.

I hope, my dear friend, these few ideas assist you may with reference to the employment of the Lord's Day among your children. Private, family, and public worship-the reading of the Holy Scriptures aloud the singing of Hymns in the family-the reading and thinking upon good books-the making notes and memorandums of sermons, will pretty well fill up the whole day, and will gradually accustom your charge to quiet and contemplative habits, which are of immense importance to those who are called upon to live in a world which, after all, is made up of perturbations. Should it, be in my power to communicate any farther hints it would give me very great pleasure.

EUSEBIUS.

A Sermon preached at the Parish Church of St. Paul, Covent Garden, before the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews. By the Rev. Hugh M'Neile, A. M. Pp. 31. Hatchards.

WE embrace the earliest opportunity of calling the attention of our readers to this Sermon, both on account of its importance, and because of the various communications received from different correspondents, animadverting on the statements made in a paper signed RUSTICUs, which appeared in our Number for June. indeed an apology to OLD ORTHODOX, AGNOSTOS, A. B. CORRECTOR, V. N. &c. for the seeming neglect with which they have been treated; but the different views entertained by them and Rusticus of the same discourse, determined us to wait until the Sermon itself should appear.

We owe

The text selected by Mr. M'Neile is John i. 49; and after a suitable introduction, in which he commends Mr. Faber's sermon before the Society in 1822; * and adverts to the importance of using means, he proceeds more especially to state his own views.

Here, then, is what I wish to submit to the Society. The true mean to be used for the conversion of the Jews to Christianity, is the preaching, not of the atoning work only, but of the divine person also of Messiah; not only of the sufferings of Christ, but also of the glory that shall follow: not only of the first coming of the Son of Man in great humility, but also of his second coming in glorious Majesty; not only of his presiding in judgment over all nations, but also of his restoring the kingdom of the nations unto Israel. These are important topics; they form leading features in the Gospel, as preached by the Prophets, and by the Saviour himself, and no partial declaration of that Gospel can

* See Christian Guardian for June 1822, p. 225.

reasonably be expected to gain a favourable hearing from the Jews. Least of all can we expect them to attend with patience to such a declaration, as spends its entire strength on that which they despise, and wholly omits that which they delight in.

If they were possessed with a strong prejudice in favour of something, altogether unconnected with the Gospel, but in itself not criminal, it would be our duty, in reference to that negative something, to the Jews to become as Jews, that we might gain the Jews. How much more then when their fostered prejudice, so far from being criminal, or even negative, is indeed part, and a most essential part too, of the glorious Gospel of the grace of God? Shall we refuse to mingle their bitter herbs with lawful scriptural honey out of the stony rock? Shall we refuse to cast the gem of hope into their cup of penitence? Shall we present to Zion a sun shorn of his beams, and expect that her languishing fig-tree will again put forth its strength; that her vine, wasted, and barked, and clean bare, will again bud, and blossom, and yield her fruit? Shall we preach the humiliation, sufferings, and death of Messiah, and refuse to present in their attractive splendour his coming glory, and the glory of his people Israel? No, my brethren, let us deal more fairly, as well as more kindly by the Jews. Let our speech and our preaching to them be more in unison with their own wellgrounded expectations. For, supposing them to believe Moses and the Prophets, what have they good reason to expect?

There are indeed, we grieve to say, many, very many among them, who have openly rejected those sacred records; and there are many more, who while they profess to believe them, are manifestly ignorant, as well as regardless of their contents. In reference to these, your Missionaries should be expert in faithful appeals to the natural consciences of men, in the evidences internal and external of the divine mission of Moses, in quick discrimination between the form and the power of religion, in plain unfettered statements of full and free forgiveness of sin by vicarious sacrifice, and by nothing else; and in all the other weapons which have been successfully wielded at all times against deists and pharisees. They

should be men who have not been satisfied with admitting the authenticity of revelation as a mere hereditary acknowledgment, or geographical matter of course, but who have personally and patiently examined the grounds on which it stands attested; men, who while they are enabled to hope for themselves, are also instructed to give to others a reason for the hope that is in them: and yet, they should be men who are characterized more by an affectionate concern for the salvation of sinners, than by any acuteness, however valuable, in Hebrew criticism, or any erudition, however imposing, in the legends of the Talmuds. -What then have those Jews, who believe the ancient Scriptures, reason to expect?

In answer to this inquiry, Mr. M'N. quotes various passages at length, and comments upon them as he proceeds.

1. Numbers xxiv. 18-19. The Jews believe that the individual here foretold is Messiah. But it has been asserted, that the conquests of the Israelites under David formed the subject of this prophecy, and that, consequently, any further expectation of triumph to Israel grounded upon it, must be delusive. It is not to be denied, that the history of David seems to supply a remarkable fulfilment of a part of this prediction. -But still we must deny, that the whole passage can be fairly applied to that history:-at a period long subsequent to the victories and dominion of David, another prophet, anticipating by the Holy Ghost the second glorious coming of the Messiah, speaks of him under this same figure of conqueror of Edom. "Who is he that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosrah?" The answer is unequivocal. "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to

save.

Thus, then, we have better authority than a Jewish Targum, for applying this prophecy of Balaam to Messiah: but no such events as those here foretold have ever yet taken place under Messiah. On the contrary, Israel is without a king; her enemies triumph over her on every side; and instead of doing valiantly, she is enslaved and oppressed to the uttermost.

The prophecy, however, shall be fulfilled, though it tarry; and, unquestionably, it is calculated to excite in Israel the most exulting anticipations. Conquest, triumph, and enlarged dominions

await her when her King cometh. The revolutions of states are great matters, and occupy the attention of the greatest men. Here will be the greatest of revolutions! A people who are as beggars upon a dunghill, shall be lifted up, and made princes in all lands; and they who are despised and trodden under foot of servants, shall have rule over the kings of the earth. Then, woe to those Gentile conquerors and statesmen who have oppressed Israel. Isa. xlix. 26. li. 22, 23.—But blessed shall they be among the nations, who have had pleasure in the prosperity of Zion, who have prayed for the peace of Jerusalem, and loved and longed for the appearing of her King. Numb. xxiii. 23. xxiv. 9. and Deut. xxxiii. 29.-Pp. 13-16.

2. Psalm xlv. 3-16. Here Messiah is spoken of as a Royal Conqueror, and also as the Husband and Father of his church. And the singular honour and beauty of his Queen and daughters, are celebrated in imagery taken from the splendour of an eastern court. By the Queen in this Psalm, Bishop Horsley understands the Jewish Church, exalted into pre-eminence above all the happy daughters gathered from the Gentiles. What commercial nation in the last days may be meant by the daughter of Tyre, or how near to our own home the right interpretation may lie, I will not venture to conjecture. Certain it is, that a nation accustomed to send ambassadors by sea, is described by a prophet as sending messengers to a people scattered and peeled, and bringing and presenting that people as a gift to the Lord of Hosts, to the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts, the Mount Zion. Certain it is, that we, of this nation, are accustomed to send messengers by sea: certain it is also, that now within the last few years, we have sent ambassadors for Christ to the Jews, a people scattered and peeled, and have invited them to return to their King; but whether the distinguished honour of presenting them to the Lord of Hosts, on Mount Zion, is reserved for us or not, I dare not say. But for whatever maritime nation this honour may be reserved, the expectation of the Jews in the interm remains the same.-Pp. 17,

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3. Psalm lxxii. 4-17. Here again royal dignity, and universal dominion are ascribed to Messiah.-P. 19.

4. Isaiah lx. 4-17. Is it possible for language to declare more distinctly the

firmed their expectations as to the fact, that the kingdom should, in the Father's appointed time, be restored to Israel,

restoration of the children of Zion to their own land, and the dominion over the Gentiles, which shall be given to them under their great King, their Saviour, the Holy One of Israel.-Time would fail me to tell of Jeremiah, and of Ezekiel, and of Daniel, and of Hosea; of Joel also, and Zechariah, and all the Prophets who have testified of these things who have pierced the thick clouds which hang over Israel, and discovered in the distance a Star of Hope, so bright, so brilliant; that we should not be surprised, if those who are privileged to behold and appropriate the glorious vision, were to turn away with disgust from every intermediate object which would veil it from their view.

It is true, indeed, that those same Prophets describe that Star as leaving the brightness of his glory, and dwelling for a season in great obscurity. It is true, that Moses delineates in types and shadows, the details and the efficacy of that earthly sojourn. This is the only resting-place for acceptance with God, to both Jews and Gentiles. This must never be forgotten; and if I do not now dwell upon this, as upon the other branch of our great subject, it is not (I desire to be distinctly understood, it is not) because I undervalue it, or think, that it should be withheld in preaching to the Jews, Jesus crucified is the foundation of all but, because there is not time to discuss the whole subject; and I have chosen that branch of it which is usually neglected. It is true, the Jews ought to have attended to the whole subject. It is true, that if they had attended to it, and traced with impartiality the steps of Jesus, they would have discovered unequivocal testimonies of his power, his glory, his Godhead. It was in the full conviction which flashed upon Nathanael's mind, under one of those testimonies, that he exclaimed, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel!" Few, however, perceived his glory accustomed for ages to anticipate with joy and pride the full disk of a meridian sun; they naturally turned in disappointment from so deep and lasting an eclipse. Some doubted, and asked him, if he would at that time restore the kingdom to Israel. Had he done that, they would at once have recognized him as Messiah; he would have worn the features which they were accustomed fondly to anticipate: but he checked their impatience, he refused to gratify their curiosity; yet, even then, while he concealed the time, he con

Thus, then, we see what great things the Jews have reason to expect, a King and a kingdom. Many passages of Scripture which demand a literal interpretation, have been spiritualized into nothing. And yet many passages must in all fairness be acknowledged to be only figurative, even by the warmest advocates of the literal interpretation. Where to draw the line, and how to determine what is literal, and what is not, requires undoubtedly a deliberate investigation. This much in general is very clear the children of Israel shall have dominion over the nations; kings and potentates of the Gentiles shall bow submissive to their authority; and the everlasting Son of the Most High God shall be their king.-Pp. 21-24.

After noticing Luke i. 32. and Mark xiv. 62. Mr. M'N. proceeds:

Other similar expressions, in reference both to his personal coming, and his reigning over Israel, might be added. But enough has been said to establish the point before us. And we must therefore repeat that as the Jews have good reason to expect their Messiah in power, and dominion, and royal splendour; we have no reason to expect, that they will receive Jesus as the Messiah, if he be presented to them merely in his humiliation.

This leads us finally, and it must be briefly, to consider the good effects which may be anticipated, from setting these things fairly before the Jews.

The preaching of these things to the Jews, then, will, in the first place, silence the chief objections which they now urge against your Missionaries. They say to them, That Jesus whom you preach, has not fulfilled the prophecies. This is true; for they preach only his humiliation, or at the farthest his resurrection from the dead. It is obvious, without any lengthened explanation, that the course I have been recommending would effectually meet this, and turn the objection against the objector. Secondly, the preaching of these things to the Jews would conciliate their favourable regards towards the New Testament. Seeing that the disciples of the New Testament were willing to acknowledge, and even joyfully to maintain, the coming glories of the house of Israel, their hostility towards the book, on which such views