he seems enlightened and established in the most important parts of the Gospel, and will, I trust, prove an instrument of usefulness in Thy hand." (pp. 224, 225.)

And so he was afterwards allowed to fill the pulpit at Olney. "During the greater part of October Mr. Newton was in London; but he was not idle, for during that time he preached and expounded between thirty and forty times. He says 'Mr. Scott preached twice in my absence with much acceptance." (p. 225.)

"Mr. Newton mentions the case of the unhappy Dr. Dodd, and says how much it affected him. 'How downhill,' he observes, 'is the road of sin! How powerful Satan when the soul is once entangled! He once preached the truth and began to meet the cross, but, alas! the fear of man and the hope of preferment turned him aside. For awhile he appeared to succeed, obtained titles, livings, a prebend-was King's chaplain, and seemed near a bishopric. But he was publicly disgraced some years ago for an attempt to gain a living by money, and is now likely to lose his life by a public execution.' We find under a subsequent date, in a communication from Mr. Barham, that Mr. La Trobe had visited Dr. Dodd, and felt satisfied that he died a real penitent." (p. 223.)

At the beginning of the year 1777 it seemed probable that Mr. Newton might have been removed to Hull, but it was otherwise ordered. On his way to Birmingham, whither he had been invited by Mr. Ryland to preach his annual sermons, he preached not less than nineteen times. He was refused the pulpit at Lutterworth, which he would not have been by a former rector, John Wickliffe, four centuries back. He thus speaks of Mr. Cecil, whom he heard at St. Antholin's, in a pulpit from which a testimony like to Cecil's was for some years delivered by the lamented Dean Goode:

"He is a good speaker and a good preacher for a young manfor young men, not having had time to be duly acquainted with the depths of the heart and the depths of Satan, cannot ordinarily be expected to speak with so much feeling and experience as they who have been in many conflicts and exercises. I love young preachers, for they are sprightly, warm, and earnest. I love old preachers, for they are solid, savoury, and experimental. So I love them all, and am glad to hear all as occasion offers." (p. 225.)

If we give insertion here to two passages which we are unwilling to omit, it will be at the expense of much we would gladly introduce from the remaining portion of the work.

The first is about the Olney Hymns:

"Mr. Newton had been often requested to print his hymns and those of his friend Mr. Cowper. To these wishes he yielded, and the Olney Hymns were sent to the press in February of this year. We may here be allowed a few words on this now well-known and popular work. In the preface Mr. Newton says: A desire of promoting the faith and comfort of sincere Christians, though the

principal, was not the only motive of this undertaking. It was likewise intended as a monument to perpetuate the remembrance of an intimate and endeared friendship. . . .

"The total number of hymns contributed by Mr. Cowper was sixty-eight, so that Mr. Newton furnished not less than two hundred and eighty.

"In the introductory essay to Collins's edition of the hymns, by Montgomery, it is justly observed that, by enlisting Cowper as his coadjutor in the Olney Hymns, Newton gave to the poet's mind both the bias and the impulse which ever afterwards directed its course. In speaking of the comparative poetical merit of their several productions, the same writer observes, that it was no discredit to Newton to be distanced by Cowper in such a race. While he complains of the pulpit idioms, the bald phraseology, and the conversational cadence of his lines, he yet allows that even persons of superior discernment, who are at the same time spiritually-minded, will highly esteem the labours of Newton in this department. He goes on to say,The collection has become a standard book among devout readers of every evangelical denomination, and by the decision of posterity-for the present generation is posterity to the authors-this volume may now safely abide, whatever imperfections or offences against good taste may be found in its very numerous and very unequal compositions."" (pp. 233, 234.)

The merits and defects of the theological system of William Law are expressed in the following passage of a letter addressed by Mr. Newton to his friend Dr. Dixon :

"He speaks of his genius, and of the many striking passages to be found in his works, and tells his correspondent that he was once a great admirer of him. He then refers to the necessity of an atonement of something to be done for me as well as in me, and of holiness as utterly unattainable without that. The essence of that holiness I thirst after I conceive to be love and devotedness to God; but how can I love Him till I have hope that His anger is turned away from me, or at least till I can see a solid foundation for that hope? Here Mr. Law's scheme fails me, and the Gospel gives me relief.'" (p. 237.)

The

From Olney, and its loving people by their pastor equally beloved, Mr. Newton was in 1780 transferred, through the patronage of Mr. Thornton, to a sphere of service very different from that which he had held ever since his ordination. quietness of a little country town was exchanged for the throng of a parish in the very centre of London. But upon this new ground, unsought by himself, he entered with faith and cheerfulness. Twenty-seven years of most important work and influence were permitted to him as Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, throughout which "we still find him the same humble, devout, laborious, and useful man. He is not spoiled by the attentions of the great and good, by the many testimonies to the singular success of his labours, or by the appli

cation of persons in almost all circumstances to him for counsel or help. His largeness of heart seemed but to increase with the demands made upon it. To impart to others by every means in his power, or, in Scripture phrase, 'to do good to all men as he had opportunity,' was his daily occupation and his daily delight."

It is scarcely possible to overrate the effects, in giving an impulse to spiritual religion among Churchmen at that day, of Mr. Newton's ministrations as a London clergyman, both in his church, and in the circle of society in which he moved; and it must be regarded as an evidence of the appetite which existed for Gospel instruction, that his church was so soon fully and steadily attended by persons drawn from many parts, among whom were some of much note in the higher walks of political and social life. He enjoyed the friendship of Mr. Wilberforce, who (as we learn in his Life lately republished by his son) sought an interview with Mr. Newton at his church, which was the beginning of a friendship highly valued on either side.

The readers of this new Life of John Newton, (for it contains so much that is fresh in the Diary and Letters which Mr. Bull has supplied, that it is entitled to be spoken of as a distinct book from former biographies of this good man) must not fail to turn (in the thirteenth chapter) to the "Early history of Claudius Buchanan," who, as others had done to their great advantage, found out Mr. Newton, at St. Mary Woolnoth, "one Sunday," and to the interview he then had with him, and its consequences, owed under God the whole of his future important career.

"It appears that in early life Buchanan had been designed for the ministry. This purpose had still at times, in what he terms his 'unhappy years,' often recurred to him, and now it revived in all its fulness. His natural talents and acquirements were already considerable, and his piety unquestioned: Mr. Newton therefore felt quite justified in encouraging his wishes. His preferences were to the ministry in the Church of England, and the first thought was to seek ordination for him at once; and Mr. H. Thornton, who had become interested in his case, thought that object might be accomplished if he were willing to accept the chaplaincy of the colony of Sierra Leone. To this, under Mr. Newton's advice, he cordially assented. This design, however, was relinquished, and Mr. Buchanan became at first much depressed. But very soon all his fears were ended by the generous offer of Mr. Thornton to send him to the university at his own expense; and thus unexpectedly he became a student at Queen's College, Cambridge, on Michaelmas Term, 1791. Thus was Mr. Newton's heart cheered by being made an instrument of good, alike to a friendless but most worthy man, and through him to the Church of God." (p. 308.)

The last chapter of this volume is a "general review" of

Mr. Newton's life, character, and writings, in none of which
particulars has the writer exceeded what is due to the subject
of his critique. An ardent love of the Scriptures, the most
single-hearted devotedness to the work of the ministry, strong
natural sense, and something more than average abilities, were
united in rendering him a most important helper of the in-
terests of evangelical truth and godliness almost half a century
before they were boldly maintained in our own Church.

In different parts of the country, here and there in a pro-
vincial town or a remote village, was found a spiritually
minded clergyman, knowing and teaching evangelical truth;
but, in London, with the exception of Mr. Romaine, the full
and fearless proclamation of it was unknown, until John
Newton appeared "to testify the Gospel of the grace of God"
to which he himself owed so large a debt.

THE RELIGIOUS TENDENCIES OF THE TIMES.

The Religious Tendencies of the Times. By James Grant. Lon-
don: Macintosh. 1868.

THAT the times in which we are living are times of unusual
peril; times in which "there are false prophets among the
people," and in which "many are following their pernicious
ways," is, we apprehend, a fact which few will dispute. But
if so, then watchmen of all descriptions are needed; men who
can "take forth the precious from the vile," and thus be "as
the Lord's mouth to the people." (Jer. xv. 19.) We have seen
and heard several such watchmen within the last few years;
but no one among them all has taken so extensive a survey as
that which is contained in this important volume.

A large part of it is devoted to a single subject, of which we shall say something before we conclude; but we prefer, in the first instance, to avail ourselves of the comprehensive view of "the Existing Religious Crisis" which Mr. Grant takes in his preface, and in his concluding chapter. He is, by his position, better qualified than most men to give us a large and sufficient view of the Tendencies of our Times ;" and we avail ourselves the more willingly of the information which he has gathered, because, from his pen, it cannot be challenged by any one as prejudiced or partial. We ourselves should hesitate to say with Mr. Grant, that "It is one of the great characteristics of the warfare which is now carried on against the religion of the Gospel, that its most determined and most dangerous assailants

are those who profess to be its friends," (p. vi.); or that "Rationalism, in all its varied forms, is rife in our Nonconformist pulpits; and a disbelief in the endless duration of the misery of the wicked, where any future punishment is believed in at all, is an essential part of that semi-infidel system" (p. xv.) -not because we doubt the fact, but because, if issuing from our pen, such charges might be resented as dictated by partyspirit. Emanating from him, no one will even hint at such a motive.

That within the Church, and even among the ranks of its Ministers, we have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Ritualists, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Rationalists, no one doubts. It is here we find the cause of our more immediate peril; the peril, we mean, of the Church, as an Establishment. Tens of thousands of Churchmen, and hundreds of thousands of Wesleyans, are holding back now when the Church is assailed, because they have been thoroughly alarmed at the amount of Romish doctrine and Romish ritual which has been brought into the Church, and which that Church seems to have no power to cast out. Another large class of both clergymen and laymen are blindly following Mr. Gladstone; not knowing, perhaps scarcely caring, whither he is likely to lead them. They are looking forward to a "Church of the Future," and are quite ready, in order to pave the way for it, to get rid of the Church of the Past and Present." But Mr. Grant enlarges our view. He tells us, and we know that we can rely upon his statements, that the latter of these two diseases is not at all confined within the pale of the Church; but that (if we may liken the Church to a besieged city) the pestilence is as rife in the camp of the besiegers, as it is within the walls of the beleaguered fortress. We will copy one or two of his averments:—

"The Spectator, a few months back, challenged the English Independent, the recognized organ of the Congregationalists, to deny, if it could, the charge preferred against the great majority of their number, of belonging to the Rationalist school of theologians. That challenge was not accepted. The charge remains unanswered till the present hour. The tone and tendencies of several of the leading organs in the periodical literature of the Congregationalists compel us to come to the same conclusion." (p. xv.)

"Matters are no better in some of our Baptist colleges. I speak from the testimony of a young man of high character and eminent piety, who had been for a considerable time in one of these institutions, and who was compelled to leave, in obedience to the requirements of conscience, because of the abounding errors on vitally important subjects, the denial of the eternity of future punishment being among the number,-which prevail among the students in the college to which I refer." (pp. xvi., xvii.)

"There is not a single fundamental doctrine of the Gospel which