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REVIEWS AND BRIEF NOTICES.

Per

Brief Memorials of William Hurn, late a period of forty years. It was not until Minister of the Chapel, Woodbridge; he had arrived at the advanced age of formerly Vicar of Debenham, Suffolk, sixty-eight that he practically became a and Chaplain to the late Duchess Dowager of Chandos. By ESTHER COOKE Dissenter; but his judgment and conand ELLEN ROUSE, pp. 335.-Long- duct, in relation to this event, have already been presented to the Christian world; to which Narrative, for further MEMORIALS of eminent piety appear to information on this point, the reader must us to tell so directly, and with so much be referred. He afterwards accepted force, on the interests of real religion, that an invitation to preach to a congregation no department of our critical superin in Woodbridge; where he appears to tendence is more welcome to ourselves, have laboured with much acceptance and than to inspect their records, and recom- success, somewhat more than seven years. mend their perusal. Our readers are not This, venerable and devoted servant of entirely unacquainted with the late Mr. Jesus Christ fell asleep in him, October Hurn, but these "Memorials" of him will 9, 1829, in the seventy-fifth year of his have the effect of considerably enlarging age, and the forty-eighth of his ministry. their acquaintance, and raising their es- Two pious nieces, who were long domesteem. He was admitted to what are ticated with their revered uncle, have called “Holy Orders," in the Church of prepared and published this volume, and England,in 1781; and there is some rea-purpose, should any profits arise from its son to suppose that he officiated in the sale, to contribute them to the London Christian ministry several years before his and Baptist Missionary Societies. conversion. Alas! such is the course pur-haps some may be of opinion that the sued in that church, in introducing per- work might have been advantageously sons to the ministry, that besides those who have made similar acknowledgments, to what an astounding amount would the number be increased, were all who thus become curates, vicars, rectors, bishops, and archbishops, to experience the Divine change. After he was illuminated," Mr. H. applied himself, with inextinguish able ardour and perseverance, to the duties of his office. He soon found, how-be ever, that the regulations of his church hung upon the wheels of his pious zeal, As we are anxious that this work should and threatened to impede his usefulness; receive enlarged attention, did we know and his determination to comply with the what extract would be most likely to prodictates of his conscience, and the calls mote its circulation, it should be inserted; of Providence, brought him into repeated but, in the absence of this knowledge, we collision with slumbering and envious give entire the following letter, written in neighbours, whose exaggerated represent-1810, to a young man going to the Uniations called forth, at length, into reluctant versity, in prospect of entering upon the exercise, episcopal authority. With work of the ministry. difficulties of this description, as well as others, this man of God struggled, till the dissolution of his union with the Established Church; extending through

abridged; be that as it may, we congratulate these Christian females on the affectionate and ample testimony they have been thus enabled to give to the moral worth, the spiritual eminence, and the ministerial usefulness of their departed relative; and sincerely hope that their labour, which, we doubt not, was mournfully pleasant to themselves, may abundantly rewarded by the nature and extent of its influence.

"Since the last summer, when I was informed that you intended going into the ministry, I have felt a degree of interest and

concern respecting you, which has prompted me to write to you on the subject. The determination you have made is, I hope, of the Lord, and that you have viewed the matter on all sides, and are actuated by the best motives. What I mean by the best motives is, that you are influenced by compassion for the souls of your fellow-creatures, and that you desire to consecrate your talents and strength to the Redeemer's service, in labouring to bring them, through his grace, to the obedience of the Gospel. There is great want of faithful ministers; thousands are perishing for lack of knowledge; and you may conceive the Lord asking, in his providence, Who will go to warn them of their danger, and to proclaim to them the glad tidings of my salvation? If you can answer as the prophet did, with humble devotedness of heart, Here am I, send me;' then go, and the Lord make your way prosperous, and give you abundant success. But to be in the ministry, and not to preach Christ, nor to love the souls which he has purchased with his blood, is, I conceive one of the most deplorable and dishonourable conditions a man can be in. And permit me also to remark, that if you preach Christ, you will have to encounter the opposition of that world which crucified him. Neither your learning, nor your labours of love, nor your good conduct, will exempt you altogether from this cross. I do not make the observation to discourage you; but because our Lord acted in this manner with his disciples, and admonished them to count the cost, for no man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the king

dom of God.' Luke ix. 62. I commend your endeavours to improve the present opportunities by a diligent application to the languages and to science; it may be useful in strengthening and preparing the mind for more important exertions, and may make your way more easy among some classes; but never forget, my dear friend, that this very learning would prove ruinous, should you make it your chief aim, and should it seduce you into a vain and self-important spirit. Read with care the first three chapters of 1 Corinthians; they may enable you to form a proper estimate of what are called honours at Universities, and to guard against the danger. The honour we receive from man will not hurt us, if we are not lifted up thereby above our brethren, but reflect it from ourselves to the Source of all excellency. Our Lord has taught us, that we

cannot be true believers while we receive

honour one of another, and seek not that honour which cometh from God only.' John v. 44. The most needful and important

learning for a minister is, a thorough and solid acquaintance with those precious oracles of truth which he is constantly to preach and expound to the people. To enter upon the work of the ministry without some preparation of this kind, would be like attempting to sail round the world without chart or compass, or a knowledge of navigation. I would, therefore, advise you to devote a part of your time, daily, to these sacred records; and I cannot do it better than in the language of Scripture itself: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,' and 'let his testimonies be your delight and your counsellors.' Col. iii. 16; Psalm cxix. 24.

"When you go to College, which I understand is to be in the spring, you will there find yourself in the midst of new scenes, and exposed to new difficulties, trials, and dan gers; so that you will, yourself, stand in constant need of this infallible guide for your direction and defence, that you may at last say, with that happy king, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.' Psalm xvii. 4. Several other important considerations might be noticed, but I perceive that I am drawing to the end of the third page, and must, therefore, take my leave.-W. HURN." p. 208.

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Objections to the Church of England Catechism, as a School Book; or Manual of Elementary Christian Instruction, particularly in the existing circumstances of the Church: in Four Letters to a Lady. By a PRESBYTER of the Church in England. pp. 67.—Highham.

It is highly instructive and admonitory to observe, how frequently an ill-judged pertinacity has wrought the ruin of the system it was intended to uphold. We dare not, indeed, thank those clerical friends whose zeal for the forms of the national church induced them to elevate its sectarian catechism into a term of communion in a "proprietary school;" but we tender our most cordial thanks to the author of these sensible and pungent letters, which, however, but for the instance of uncandid requirement alluded to, it is highly probable would not have been written. How far the party addressed, or the persons who occasioned this publication, have received advantage by its perspicuous statements, and powerful appeals, we may be unable to ascertain; but, that these "objections to the Church of England Catechism" admit of no satisfactory reply, we have the most complete and abiding conviction; and though the writer, for reasons which, to Lim, no doubt, appeared to be sufficient, has thought proper to conceal himself, it shall be no fault of ours if his valuable pamphlet attain not to an extent of circulation equal to the importance of its subjeet, and which may encourage him to perform, with no less ability, those other services for the Christian community towards which a passage in his advertisement has conducted our anticipation, Our author commences by adverting generally to the formularies of the Church of England; concerning which he says,—

bound as in fetters of iron to the decisions of a haughty female Tudor; or of the courtly bishops that surrounded the last and worst Charles. One every where feels the men of power and of no religion, overruling the men of weak religion, and compromising the reformation. The writer feels prepared to vindicate every allegation thus made, but his more immediate attention has been, by personal circumstances, directed to the first of the church formularies above-named." p. 4. In the first letter, which is professedly introductory, the author says,

"While other objections to the church catechism appear to me of great moment this weighs with me more than all others, in rejecting it as a book of elementary Christian instruction, the manner in which it overlooks the important station of the Christian parent in the business of education; and would substitute a novel and incompetent intruder (I mean the sponsor, male or female, of the catechism) in that parent's place: this is the nucleus of its strange, its anomalous system." p. 10.

The conclusion of this letter states distinctly the objections whose consideration is to occupy the succeeding letters; which amount to five, and are as follows:

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1. Its dangerous ambiguities on points of great moment to our salvation. 2. Its su perstitious and unscriptural estimate of the nature and value of the outward sacraments. 3. Its formal recognition and approval of a proxy religion, and of rash and impracticable vows in religion. 4. Its perplexing selfcontradictions. p. 14.

5. Its gross deficiencies."

It must, indeed, be confessed, that these objections involve grave charges against that initiatory manual, from which millions of the British empire are continually receiving their earliest views, and their first impressions of the Christian religion. And, just for this reason, which, to ourselves, appears to be of incalculable im portance, are we earnestly desirous that these admirable letters should be in the hands of all but especially of those whom Providence has constituted the natural guardians of beings destined to immortality.

They are formed, in fact, on the monstrous principle of legislating with a sweep of the pen, for entire uniformity of religious profession among intelligent millions--and that, whether the greater portion be at all seriously disposed to imbibe any deliberate opinion on religious matters or not."—" The accredited confessions and services of the Established Church (he adds), are, in most The second letter ably animadverts on parts, semi-popish; and while the intellect of the answers given to the second, third, and the country has received an impulse of ex-fourth questions in the catechism: of pansion in every other direction, here is it which the first relates to the worse than VOL. VII. 3d Series.

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In adverting to that part of the answer, to the second question, which says, "Wherein I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven;" it is forcibly remarked,

"This and similar portions of the catechism are held by the majority of the clergy to teach the doctrine of an actual regeneration by baptism; and thus it has become a main pillar of schism in the Church of England." It is the doctrine of our church, says the late Bishop of Winchester,) that baptism duly administered confers justification on its subjects.-The original guilt which they brought into the world is mystically wiped away, and they receive forgiveness of the actual sins they may have themselves committed, they become reconciled to God, partakers of the Holy Ghost, and heirs of eternal happiness."" p. 19.

On the answer to the third question, "What did your godfathers and godmothers then for you?" The reasoning is most cogent and impressive. The ineffable absurdity of the engagements, the utter impossibility of their accomplishment, and the almost universal indifference with

which they are treated, are much more
strikingly represented than we recollect to
Well, indeed,
have ever previously seen.
is it said,-

"Regarding the 'vows' made in detail,
never, on another occasion, surely, shall we
find a human being, parent or not, entering
advisedly and honestly, into such a series of
engagements for another." 26.
p.

Reluctantly passing over much that we would gladly transcribe, we shall present our readers with the last paragraph, on this part of the subject.

"If respecting the presumptuous character of these sponsorial vows, our statement is thought strong, let the commentator who may be favourable to them, inform us why even a simple promise has not been thought sufficiently binding by the church, either on the sponsors or the child? But the former are to 'promise and vow' what it is demonstrable (as far as human character is ever in this life demonstrable) they cannot expect to see performed. 'A vow,' says our standard lexicographer, is a promise made to a Divine power.' It involves, therefore, an immediate appeal to the heart-searching God for the truth and seriousness of our intentions. These vows are offered in Divine worship; they can differ nothing, as it seems to us, from the most solemn oath. If they It is admitted that M. Biddulph and do, let the casuists of the church say in what, others acknowledge, that the doctrine of for synonymous with a vow unto God," is, the prelate is "FULL OF DANGER TO in Scripture, the comprehensive phrase, THE SOULS OF MEN," and they contend, swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, that such a view of "baptismal regene- (see Numb. xxx. 2); and because of' such ration, is not the doctrine of the Church'swearing,' as we believe, such vows, lightly entered into, ordinarily, and impossible to be of England." But we perfectly agree fulfilled, the land mourneth.'"' p. 31. with our author, who, after some most pertinent observations on this point,

says,-

"Here is either an ambiguity, altogether hopeless for young and plain minds to attempt to remove, or these most important spiritual (and impossible) blessings are attributed by this formulary, to the physical act and ceremony of baptism. The scripturally wrong are the ecclesiastically right, all plain men, unconnected with the church, being judges." p. 21.

The close of this letter is employed in pointing out the manifest impropriety of the answer put into the child's mouth to the fourth question: "Dost thou think that thou art bound to believe, and to do as they have promised for thee?"

"By the terms of this question, the obligation of the child to believe, seems to be rested wholly on the promise that he shall, Can any thing be more futile, or more calculated to prejudice the young mind against

"Of these five facts, four were probably as true of the malefactors who suffered with our Lord, as of that adorable Sufferer himself

the very objects to be kept primarily in view | Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and -the faith of the Gospel and its evidences? buried; he descended into hell" it is No human being, we contend, not even a observed,parent can shew a right thus to bind a child to his own conclusions on these topics. The latter, doubtless, is bound to believe all that the parent or any other human instructor or friend has believed of God's holy truth; but never because either that parent, or instructor, has believed it, or may have undertaken that he shall. This is, therefore, to substitute a dark and unfounded authority over the child's mind for the bright and inviting light of evidence; and the 'Yes, verily' of the answer, can express no possible conviction of his mind, unless he have arrived at a belief of the truth of the Gospel from very different sources to any which are here supplied."

p. 31.

In this close, serious, and energetic manner, the subject of proxy engagement is pursued through all its tortuosities. A part of the last paragraph in this letter

must not be omitted.

"The superstitions of the Romish church, so deeply rooted for ages in the whole soil of Christendom, have left traces of a delusion of this kind amongst various Protestant sects (though in none so rife and so unchecked, as in the Church of England): wherever it prevails, of course, it exalts the priest or administrator of the ceremony, and by so much it debases--it derationalizes the subject, the man, most deeply concerned (as far as men and women are concerned in these ceremonies), but it is one of the worst and most entirely unscriptural delusions ever practised by any priests on any people." p. 37.

and the last, in the usual acceptation of the terms (of which more anon) is clearly more applicable to the impenitent thief than to any other party. How different the language of a real APOSTLE'S CREED on these points; although incidentally, as it were, occurring at the end of a long letter. I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And, last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time here both the necessity and the fact of a real atonement for our sins' in the Saviour's death, is first of all,' and most clearly brought out. It is the Gospel' the apostles preached; and what the first Christians received-so as to keep in memory’— and in which they stood (see the earlier verses of 1 Cor. xv.); while the evidences of our Lord's resurrection, to the amount of upwards of five hundred unimpeachable testimonies, are placed before us with equal brevity, boldness, and felicity. How refreshing the contemplation of such a passage in the midst of our unsatisfactory examination." p. 39.

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Other claims upon our space will not allow us the pleasure of following the Letter the third, subjects to close ex-writer in his appropriate strictures on the amination the answers to the fifth, sixth, seventh, and thirteenth questions in the catechism. Among other judicious observations on the Creed, the author re marks

"To call a composition of this kind the Apostles', or even emphatically the creed, the articles of a Christian's belief, which omits

all the chief doctrines the apostles preached, and to which a guilty world have to look for acceptance and peace with God, as well as all the great motives to Christian conduct, has, to us, always appeared one of the most extraordinary tributes of ignorance, or neglect of God's word, to an ecclesiastical system, and the religion of our forefathers, that modern times can furnish."

deficiency of instruction in this formulary, in relation to the decalogue and the Lord's Prayer; but, if the reader will accept our counsel, and peruse these letters for himself, we are of opinion that he will be rather surprised at the brevity, than at the length of our extracts.

The fourth, and last letter in this spiritstirring pamphlet, is entitled, "Exposition of the Sacraments;" in which both words and things are so obviously measured and weighed by the standard of truth, and according to the principles of the soundest reason, that, if it should attain to a circulation as extensive as we earnestly desire, we are utterly unable to conceive how any Again, on the clause, "Suffered under person whose conscience is accessible to

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