lips. This spirit of humble watchfulness and longing desire should be kept up, whether we join in a common prescribed form, or in extemporaneous prayers. Human infirmities will cleave to us in either

case.

Here

The advantages attending a regular form, are very considerable. The prayers are always before us, we can instantly join in the use of them, and can pour out our hearts before God in a full flow of devout affection. I here take it for granted, that the prayers in which we join, are truly sound and scriptural, and tend to the edification and comfort of all those who use them. they know what is to come; they can go along with their minister in humble confession, in earnest supplication, in devout acknowledgment of God's power and goodness, and in thankful praise for all his blessings, both in creation and redemption, and can conclude the whole with a full and solemn Amen; and all this with readiness, with ease, and with gladness of heart. In this case there is not so much room for the coldness of hesitation, for the restlessness of curiosity, for the wanderings of imagination, and for the wildness of enthusiasm.

The public prayers of the church in this country are confessed, even by those who prefer another mode, to be really spiritual and excellent. Objections have been raised against a few expressions in them, which are easily answered; nor shall I here attempt to point out the beauty and richness, the copiousness and fervency of the English Liturgy; this has often been done by men of the greatest learning and piety. Many of these prayers are of ancient date, and breathe the piety and fervour of the Apostolic age. They are founded on the great doctrines of the Gospel of Christ, and are usually concluded in his prevailing name. We there recognize, in very clear

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and expressive language, the trinity of persons in the eternal Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in whose name we are baptized, and we are taught to worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity." We there see the divine attributes and perfections in the most engaging light. We may there learn our present condition, our guilt and sinfulness, our wants and misery, our need of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, and of the renewing and consoling influence of the Holy Spirit. In these admirable prayers, we are brought low, yet are lifted up; we bewail our helplessness, but we are not left in abject despondency; we are bowed down in humble adoration of the Divine Majesty, but are raised up again to set forth the praises of God, in language that has been used by saints and angels, by thousands that are now glorified among the spirits of just men made perfect in the land of everlasting life.

In the regular use of these prayers, the ignorant may be enlightened, the dejected may receive comfort, the feeble may be strengthened, the poor and needy may be enriched, and "they who hunger and thirst after righteousness," may be abundantly filled, being brought near unto Him whose stores are unbounded, whose mercies are everlasting, and who opens to us the fountain of everlasting joy and peace. We may thus draw near to the throne of grace, and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, and, by the eye of faith, may behold the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, and may joyfully say,

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It is good for us to be here," for "this is the house of God," and here we find "the gate of heaven."

With regard to the public Liturgy of our Church, I would observe that this mode of worship has prevailed in the Churches of Christ from the earliest ages. Liturgies were certainly composed by the

Fathers, as they are called, that is, by eminent Divines, who lived in the first centuries of the Christian era.

On

The word Liturgy signifies a public and mutual service, in which every person may contribute his share towards the carrying on of some common object. Now this plan is advantageously adopted in our common or mutual prayers, the minister taking a leading part, the congregation responds in such a way as to keep up the attention, and to make the service one general concern. When this is properly and devoutly done, there is a mighty energy and life preserved, which can never be so well preserved by any other mode. this ground, examine what is called the Litany of the Established Church, how sound and orthodox ; how full and expressive; how comprehensive and particular; how pathetic and moving; how consoling and exalting; how suitable to the Majesty of heaven, and to the present condition of the human race! Examine also the Collects appointed for every week of the year, and for the recurring festivals of the Christian church. Here we have a constant and beautiful variety of prayers in the language of the scriptures, or in language corresponding to the scriptures, in which the sinner pours forth his earnest supplications for mercy and grace, and in which the pious followers of Christ express their continual wants, and earnestly seek a constant supply of wisdom, strength, and might, from their heavenly Father, "the author and giver of all good things."

In using these admirable prayers, the pious Christian feels no deficiency. He takes them as his ground-work and sublime directory, and enlarges upon them, according to his own peculiar wants, the circumstances and difficulties with which he is encompassed. He never feels himself fettered, nor asks the pity and condolence of

others, but draws near with holy confidence, and experiences many delightful foretastes of his heavenly inheritance.

Perhaps, however, it may be said that it is not the use of a form, whether printed or written, that is so much opposed as the authorized prescription of a form; that we are not allowed to pray in public in any other way. Now with regard to this point, you may observe that many clergymen make use of extemporaneous prayers, both before and after sermons, and conceive that they are not restricted from doing this by the rules of our church. As to the formidable objection, or hardship, as it is thought, of being obliged to pray in a fixed and prescribed manner, there is really no hardship at all in the case, if we believe that the form is good, and that it is well to use a regular form. We are not compelled to take orders, and to minister in the Established Church; but we know full well, that wherever we go, in the present state of things, we shall find imperfection and human infirmities, and probably as many hardships and difficulties, as those which now meet us within the pale of our excellent Established Church. With regard to our congregations, I have shown, I trust, that they possess many advantages in having a regular and prescribed form of public prayer.

I shall not at present attempt to show the benefits which arise from an established mode of worship, or an Established Church like ours, in a national view, built as our's confessedly is, upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; this has frequently been done by able and pious men, in the most convincing manner : nor shall I point out the dangers and evils attending schisms and divisions: these are stronlgy depicted by the Apostles of Christ. J. B. C.

SIR, One of your correspondents has recently complained of the want of missionaries, and, judging by the few candidates for that important office, affirms that the numbers must decrease. Many reasons have been assigned for this lamentable fact, but there is one which has by no means been sufficiently considered. There is something I fear in the very constitution of our Societies which has an unfavourable effect. The Committees who have the superintending power are from various causes chiefly composed of Laymen, and these are for the most part persons of commercial habits, who, though honest in their intentions and evangelical in their views of religion, are not men of enlarged minds, or very deeply embued with that spirit of HEAVENLY LOVE which the Scriptures inculcate. Clothed with an authority from which there is scarcely an appeal, their natural love of power is insensibly fostered, and they are often tempted to wield it in a way not quite consistent with the spirit of the Gospel. The respect and honour due to the ministerial office is sometimes forgotten, and valuing themselves on their superior knowledge of business, they are apt to undervalue the opinions and counsels of their clerical coadjutors, In this way I believe much mischief has accrued to the church of God both as it respects clergy and laity. I am far from wishing to undervalue the services of the laity in their place, but when the clergy act with them, and under them, laymen are placed in a very delicate relationship, and if they have not spiritual wisdom to guide them, incalculable evils may be the result both to themselves and to their clerical brethren. Now this being the case as it respects the ministers of religion, who act on Committees and in official situations in Societies, we

need not wonder it should produce great effect in the treatment of missionaries. They are by no means regarded with the honour which their office demands. I speak not of the men, but of their office. If they are not what they ought to be, receive them not, or dismiss them; but if they are, their office is to be highly honoured. The late venerable Bishop Hurd has a beautiful passage in his writings on this subject, in which he declares he was ready to bow down at the feet of a faithful and zealous missionary. Now the persons who form the efficient actors in Committees are often incapable from their peculiar habits, of knowing what this feeling means.

Mission

aries are persons receiving salaries from them, and as such they look on them as little better than their servants, and their treatment of them accords with this feeling. I could mention facts corroborative of this which would astonish many contributors to our Societies, who love and reverence the missionary character and office. But I forbear. I will only add, that while candidates for the missionary work have such a prospect before them, I fear they will be few. I am not arraigning the motives or piety of the persons to whom I have alluded. Their unfitness for this part of the work is inseparable from their condition and habits of mind. They would be highly useful as a constituent part of the directors of a Society, doing their own particular work, but they are wholly incompetent to be the predominant part. A remedy might perhaps be found in the attendance of a greater number of the clergy on our Committees, and their taking a more active and decided part in the spiritual affairs of the Societies.

V. N.

Popular Lectures on the Prophecies relative to the Jewish Nation. By the Rev. Hugh M'Neile, M..A. 8vo. Pp. xxiv. 212. Hatchards. 1830.

THE prophecies relating to the Jewish nation have for some years occupied a considerable degree of attention; and every believer in divine revelation must deeply feel their importance at the present period. "The earth," we are assured "shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea;" but how shall this blessed consummation be effected? Is it to be the result of the divine blessing on the labours of Missionary, Bibie, and School Societies? Are the members of Christian churches to go forth in a holy crusade against blind idolaters, corrupt and licentious Mahometans, unbelieving Jews, depraved and superstitious professors of the Greek and Latin Churches ? or, Is this great work to be accomplished by the previous conversion of the Jews and the sending them forth as Christian missionaries to the Gentiles? If once these questions be determined, it will become our duty to exert ourselves to the utmost in the path thus pointed out; but so long as we have no precise information as to the exact means and instruments which God will condescend to employ-so long as the divine blessing is clearly seen to accompany different measures, it is our duty to go on aiding, and encouraging all who in any way are striving to extend the Redeemer's kingdom.

Yet after all that has been written on the Jewish question in modern times, we are compelled to observe that comparatively speaking little additional light has been communicated. Many important positions are generally

assumed rather than clearly demonstrated, and we cannot therefore but wish that some of those who feel deeply on account of Israel's race would, laying aside as much as possible all preconceived ideas, and taking the volume of inspiration as their guide, and the records of history as a providential comment on that volume, strive to elicit clearer light and more determinate and satisfactory conclusions than have yet been obtained.

It were not reasonable to expect that popular lectures should thus enter deeply into the argument; but at the same time considering the positions which Mr. M'Neile undertook to illustrate, we might perhaps have been justified in re quiring more precise reasoning than is here displayed. After a brief introduction, in which our author adopts a line of argument similar to that of Leslie, we are presented with seven lectures, of which the following are the subjects :-" The Jews hitherto separate people," Numb. xxiii. 9.

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"The Jews continue a separate people till the end of the times of the Gentiles."-" The times of the Gentiles," Luke xxi. 24.-" The Jews shall be brought to a penitent state of mind, preparatory to their restoration," Lev. xxvi. 40--42.— "The Jews shall be restored to their own land," Ezek. xxxvii. 21, 22." The King of the Jews," Jer. xxiii. 5, 6." The Jews shall have national pre-eminence in the earth; and shall prove a blessing to all nations," Isaiah lii. 9, 10.

Here as on former occasions, Mr. M'Neile not unfrequently rests his argument on slight, and as we conceive, insufficient grounds, and adopts a hasty, and unsatisfactory conclusion. He deals rather in confident assertion and eloquent declamation, than in clear and convincing reasoning, and in some

instances ingeniously eludes instead of fairly meeting and grappling with a difficulty. At the same time these lectures contain many brilliant and instructive passages which well deserve to be impressed on the mind and treasured up in the memory. Where there is so much to approve and admire, we feel reluctant to censure, but we have a duty to discharge, and we have before us an important topic which demands, and will well repay serious investigation. To that topic we now proceed, and in order to excite our readers to the inquiry, shall, passing over the preceding lectures, call their attention to Mr. M'Neile's fifth lecture, entitled The Jews shall be restored to their own land. The text is Ezek. xxxvii. 21, 22. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone; and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.

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The summary of the argument is thus given:

Various interpretations which have been given of the text considered; 1st, the return of the Jews from Babylon; 2dly, the conversion and sanctification of the Christian church; 3dly, the mixture of the two; 4thly, the literal reoccupation of Palestine by the twelve tribes-The last proved to be the correct one, by its being the only one which is consistent throughout.-p. xxii.

The conclusion is as follows: IV. The interpretation, then, which remains to be considered, and which alone will be found to harmonize with all that the prophets have written, is that which makes the land always to mean Judæa literally; Judah always to mean the two tribes nationally, with their Israelitish companions; Israel always to mean the whole ten tribes nationally; restoration always to mean the actual return of the twelve tribes to Judæa; and David, their one king,

always to mean the King of the Jews, of the seed of David, Jesus Christ our Lord.

This interpretation holds good in every point. The present condition of the land of Palestine is well known to be one of extreme barrenness and deso→ lation; whereas it was a land of flocks and herds, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands. In this we recognize the literal fulfilment of that clause of the prophecy which predicts desolation; and from the next clause of the prophecy, we confidently anticipate a literal renovation to beauty and fertility, accompanied by a multiplication of beasts upon it, as well as men, for the consumption of its produce. In the present condition of the Jewish people, divided and dispersed, we recognize the literal fulfilment of those clauses in the prophecy which imply division, and predict dispersion; and from similar clauses, similarly interpreted, we confidently anticipate a similarly literal fulfilment of the promised restoration and reunion. But here it may, perhaps, be objected, that in order to be consistent throughout, we must maintain, that king David literally shall reign again over thetwelve tribes in Judæa, according to the terms of the prophecy. To which I answer, first, that if the prophecy stated this unequivocally, we should have no hesitation in believing and expecting it; neither should the apparent improbability, or even absurdity of it, interfere in the slightest degree with our faith. But, secondly, the Jewish people, who shall be re-assembled in the land, are not the identical individuals of whom the prophet speaks as being dispersed; but their literal, lineal descendants, who shall be found alive at the time appointed of God for their restoration. In like manner, the King of the Jews, who shall reign over the twelve tribes in the land, is not the identical David, or Solomon the son of David, or Rehoboam the grandson of David, who did reign over them before their division; but the literal, lineal descendant of David, the last of the line of Jewish kings who shall be found alive at the time appointed of God for their reunion into one kingdom. The last individual who was born King of the Jews, was Jesus of Nazareth, and he is still alive. He is the literal, lineal descendant of David; and the angel who announced his birth, informed his mother that the Lord God would give unto him the