bar amongst others; and am guilty of felony in this kind; habes confitentem reum, I am content to be pressed with the rest." It has struck me that there may be a mental question, as to why I have prefixed to each sermon the words Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori !—Christian reader! there is more vanity in us than we like to acknowledge, and, as Luther said, Each one carries Pope Self about with him! I will therefore transcribe two passages which are continually before me,-in my mind's eye at least. "One day when he," John Bunyan, " preached with peculiar warmth and enlargement, some of his friends came to shake hands with him after the service, and observed to him what a sweet sermon he had delivered. 6 · Ay! he replied, you need not remind me of that; for the devil told me of it before I was out of the pulpit.' This anecdote authenticates itself," says Southey', in his beautiful Biographical Sketch pre 1 66 It was the wish of this good man, six years ago, that I should publish a Christian ripe for heaven if ever one was! In every sense his works do follow him! "His life was gentle; and the elements So mix'd in him, that nature might stand up Julius Cæsar. One need not scruple to say, in the memorable lines of Massinger on the death of Charles Lord Herbert, "HIS OBSEQUIES EXACT THE MOURNING OF ALL HEARTS AND EYES THAT KNEW HIM, OR LOVED VIRTUE!" Many's the pilgrimage will hereafter be made to Keswick in search fixed to the Pilgrim's Progress;-a book, of which he used to say in playful mood, "I hope those who have never read it will be forgiven!" The other passage is from Jeremy Taylor's advice to his Clergy: "Let no man preach for the praise of men; but if you meet it, instantly watch and stand upon your guard, and pray against your vanity; and by an express act of acknowledgement and adoration return the praise to God. Remember that Herod was for the omission of this smitten by an Angel, and do thou tremble, fearing lest the judgment of God be otherwise than the sentence of the people." -Methinks none will now question more! "Tis even as Elijah said, as he sat him down in sorrow beneath the juniper,-" I am not better than my fathers ?!" No disputed points have been introduced into these volumes. Deep disputings," it has been 66 of the Poet's tomb! For the better part of half a century, as he woke their echoes the mountains knew his voice and footsteps, and the lakes his shadow! "Oderat hic urbes, nitidâque remotus ab aulâ, Secretos montes, et inambitiosa colebat Rura; nec Iliacos cœtus, nisi rarus, adibat." Ovid. Met. xi. 765. Mr. H. Taylor has published a drama called "Edwin the Fair." His chief subjects were suggested to him, and his matter supplied, by the lamented Southey. I will recommend his lines (doubtless impressed upon himself), to all ; "The heavenliest lot that earthly natures know Is to be affluent in gratitude. Be grateful and be happy! * 1 Kings xix. 4. observed, " yield but shallow comforts." Plain points of duty and doctrine have been laid open in plain language, and, it is hoped, with an attendant blessing. The great and solemn and mysterious heads of our holy faith are taken for granted.-Many of the Sermons have been used more than once,-not verbatim, but improved upon as I might, following the example of Barrow. I never could accede to the custom of, used once, and done with ;-though, perhaps, after all, a text is more frequently changed than a sermon. Should any in the land of the stranger,-where I met with so much kindness and attention, not for mine own, but, I trust, for mine office sake,―remember any parts of these discourses,-let them be assured I have never forgotten them in my prayers, and that I have grieved over my poor services, and repented me of my short comings and inefficiency, whether in life or doctrine! And thus much for the congregation committed to my then charge. Were it not invidious, I would (next to the poor of Christ's flock) express my obligations to Sir Henry Wynn, personally; to the single-hearted Peter Browne, Secretary of Legation; to others of his name, though not of his lineage,-warm and kind-hearted ones, --sometime of Kokkedal and Görre, but now of the stranger-land of Australia, setting a good example, and liberal beyond their means:-to divers nameless, and last not least, to George Ryan,-Merchant and Banker,-one, if we meet not on earth, whom I hope to meet in heaven! As regards the Dane, his hospitality and his courtesy, his willingness to impart information, and his ability to do it,— when I forget that, may my right hand forget her cunning!—A bust of P. Erasmus Müller is now before me,-forwarded by his son, who knew my regard for that excellent Bishop. When I look upon it, I bethink me with gratitude on the years I spent in Copenhagen, as Chaplain to the British Embassy. -I say nothing of the northern lore I was enabled to lay by. The lamented Professor Rask-whom I attended to the grave,-was ever ready to pour forth to me his unbounded stores; and no one ever applied for information to Professor Schlegel, Rafn, and that astonishing Icelander, Finn Magnusen, the editor of the Edda, without being abundantly gratified. Neither must I omit to mention the readiness with which I was supplied with books out of the Royal Library, (a splendid collection!) from the ponderous tomes of Theophylact, down to the small and curious octavos of Stehelin's Traditions of the Jews. "You cannot speak of reason to the Dane, And lose your voice 3 !" It will be observed, that in one Sermon, On the Building of Churches, several extracts have been given from the British Critic. They are left because 3 Hamlet, Act i. sc. ii. From the time of Niebuhr to the present day, Denmark has ever been the munificent patron of learning and learned men. It is humiliating to think how little our own nation has done in this way! they are forcible and true. At the same time, none can regret more than I do the evident Romanist tendency that publication has taken of late years. The admissions made in the latter numbers are such as will I think turn to our hurt. Why go down "to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock," when there are smiths enough in our own land 5? And with this I had purposed to have concluded. But a point has forced itself on my observation, and I would say one word upon it, and corroborate it by a racy passage from old Fuller's Holy Living. The subject I allude to is what is commonly called preaching at people, and it is often (in their ignorance) mooted amongst country-folk, dilated on by silly women and pestilent fellows, who are never seen at Church except to wrangle at a vestry, and believed by those blockheads who have a peculiar and deep-rooted antipathy, not to brains only, but to Christian charity. The truth is, it will at once be acknowledged that no faithful Minister preaches at people,-but as every faithful Minister is, in his vocation of Parish Priest, well acquainted with his parishioners, their sins,-their weaknesses, their peculiarities, he will naturally frame his discourses to their amendment, he will 1 Sam. xiii. 20. This Preface was written previously to the discontinuance of that periodical, and the appearance of the Rev. William Palmer's "Narrative of Events connected with the publication of the Tracts for the Times, with Reflections on existing tendencies to Romanism." I beg to refer the reader to it, as expressing my own sentiments on this momentous subject. |