could speak of nothing but mercy. Another time, when repeating Toplady's hymn,

'Rock of Ages, cleft for me,'

the words 'for me' caused a gush of feeling which stopped all

utterance.

His admiration of natural scenery and enthusiastic love of the country form a trait of his character which his biographer has taken frequent occasion to illustrate, and in our opinion most judiciously. His occasional sojourn in the most romantic districts of his own country, and his visit in the latter part of his life to the region of the Alps, gave him ample opportunity for indulging in these delightful emotions. We must select a few passages from his journals by way of illustration. In the beginning of September, 1827, he visited Aberdeen, by the route of the Caledonian Canal and Inverness, and thus writes to Mrs. Heugh:

'I have been in the midst of a succession of objects so varied, so beautiful, and so magnificent, that in reality I should hardly know either where to begin or where to end. Besides, I have kept a sort of journal, and finished it as far as the wonderful Ben-Nevis, on which, in spite of all that has been said to its discredit as the monarch among the mountain grandees of Scotland, and on the enormous masses around it-I could have gazed for a week. Many a score times 1 thought, Oh, if you had been with me! Of all the scenes I ever looked on, the one which commences with Loch Crinan and extends through the Hebrides, is the most amazing. Hardly a breath stirred; the sea was like molten silver; island after island, rocks, woods, glens, lochs, &c. &c., came upon us with a rapidity and effect which the imagination might fancy, but which I never expected to see in real nature. It is absolutely a crime to have it in one's power to see such manifestations of God, and not to go and observe and admire them.'

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About twelve months after he thus writes from Inverary :

I am lost in astonishment at this place. Its beauty grows upon me daily, and God has been adorning it with his sunlight and his moonlight, and all the glory of a cloudless azure. I feel as if I inhale health at every step, and I think it has given new tone to my mind as well as to my body. There are points in this ducal park which seem to me unsurpassable. About the centre of it you see its undulating surface, perfectly verdant, with its fine trees, singly, in clumps, and in lines the wooded brow, on the one side, stretching full two miles, and terminating at both ends in Trosach-like scenery. At the one end of the park, Duniquoich, one mass of variegated foliage almost to its summit, and the castle at its base, half buried in wood, with all autumnal tints the loch quite alive with herring-barges seen in peeps betwixt the lawn and the lower branches; and finally, mountain-tops everywhere, Ben Cruachan, Ben Loy, and Bens and Cobblers of every

shape

shape and size; all this varying at every step; this is Inverary as it now is.'-p. 352.

In the autumn of 1843, his health requiring relaxation, he repaired to Geneva, taking in his way Paris, Bâle, and Berne. In company with the Rev. Dr. Baird and other American friends he visited Chamouni.

เ

The Alpine pass through which we advanced,' he writes, was one perpetual colossal Trosach, and absolutely exhausted the mind with delight and wonder. But when Mont Blanc himself burst upon us, I felt, I suppose, somewhat like the Queen of Sheba. Whoever has seen Versailles may be satisfied with palaces, sure that he never can see the like again; and whoever has traversed Chamouni, and gazed on Mont Blanc, with its rocks and snows and glorious glaciers, may be sure he never can again behold such physical magnificence. What do you think? I rode five hours on a mule, a guide walking beside me, and holding the beast by the bridle, till I was more than six thousand feet above the level of the sea, ascending often by paths so precipitous that the animal seemed to be perpetually rearing, while the road was sometimes so rugged that he needed rather to jump than walk, and so narrow as that guide and mule could hardly walk abreast, and while the descent on the one side was so abrupt that, had the ground slipped, mule and minister must have descended full 3000 feet! But what think you of riding down again? This was indispensable, unless we had resolved to ride aloft. Yes, and I looked upon and walked upon that mysterious Mer de Glace-sea of ice-about two miles broadwhere we saw it stretching far away full fifty miles, and environed with countless rocky pinnacles, one of which, right before us, rose 7000 feet above where we stood, being 13,000 above the level of the sea. After a day of cloudless serenity, all became enveloped at night, torrents fell, lightning flashed for hours, and the whole valley and mountains reverberated with Alpine thunders.'

In another letter he says,

'It would have been wickedness not to visit the glorious Chamouni, which, having once seen, you have no power to forget afterwards.'

In 1831 Mr. Heugh received the diploma of D.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In writing to a friend some years after, he pithily expressed his opinion of all such titles, that they are a mere tinsel shoulder-knot, neither helmet, sword, nor shield, much less brawny arm or valorous soul." About the same time he became engaged in what is generally known as the Voluntary Question,' and a few years later in a controversy respecting additional endowments to the Church of Scotland. Such questions do not come within the scope of this Journal; but it is only justice to Dr. Heugh's memory to say, that judging from the evidence in the volume before us, he was

6

remarkably

remarkably free from those faults which so generally attach to combatants on either side. Nothing can be conceived more courteous, dignified, and temperate, than the language he employed on subjects which have too often been debated with bitterness and acrimony. It is with much pleasure we quote the statement of his biographer, that—

'the character in which his people knew him, was that of an earnest Pastor, never feeding the flock on the husks of controversy, but ever preaching Christ crucified; neglecting no congregational interest, relinquishing no pastoral duty, and forsaking no service fitted to diffuse the Gospel, even during those seasons of his public life when his name and his labours were known by many only in alliance with the controverted question of Establishments. . . . Among the other topics of his preaching during some of the months of 1835, when he was most busily engaged in controversial discussion, on the platform, and in the press, the following may be noted:-the Incarnation of Christ-His name Immanuel-His name Jesus-Saving Faith-Prayer Meetings— the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ-Christian Missions-the glorious prospects before the Church-the necessity of Divine Influence Spiritual Dejection, its causes and remedy. These themes were interspersed with expositions bearing on those practical subjects on which St. Paul touches in the 12th and 13th chapters of his Epistle to the Romans.'-p. 302.

At various times Dr. Heugh was deputed to London on important public questions. For such services he was admirably qualified by his complete mastery of the subjects of discussion, his power of lucid and pointed reasoning, his self-possession, and his union of firmness and courtesy. His journals contain some lively notices of the political characters with whom he thus became acquainted; we present a few of them :

'Feb. 26, (1838.) Called for Mr. O'Connell-his appearance—his frank, manly, kind manners. Feelings with which we looked on a man who has been, and is, such an instrument in the hand of Providence. He avowed our principles. Said he would divide on the question of principle--said he was flattered by our visit, and wished to see us again, and to give all information.

'Lord Brougham.-His easy introduction. His great attention to Dr. Wardlaw. Affectation of perfect knowledge of our case. Great activity and power of mind. Evident hostility to Ministers. No great moral bearing.

'Lord Bentinck.-Beautiful manners. Fine specimen of an old nobleman, polite, affable, benevolent, obliging. Decided against additional endowments, and in favour of dividing on the principle in the first instance.

'March 3. Met

Clever, racy; very sound on the principle, but quite ignorant as to facts. His admission that he was a man of no weight. "I may speak of religion, but they know me."

'Dinner

'Dinner at Bearing of O'Connell. What he said in regard to Ireland. Said they were inflammable, and it was dangerous to work in a place full of gunpowder.

' March 17.-On Wednesday last we were at court, presented by Lord John Russell to the Queen. The pageant was very imposing, but very soon over. The littleness and youth of her Majesty, the mixture of seeming mildness and intelligence, with suppressed emotion in her look and manner, the innocent, helpless-like way in which she holds out her hand for the salute, and the associations that the sight of her call up, so engrossed me for the instant that I really saw no one but the Queen. We had a nobler spectacle in the morning-another great Anti-slavery Meeting at Exeter Hall, Brougham in the chair. The assemblage was stupendous, and more went away than got in. They were under the necessity of meeting next day; and never, even in his prime, was the eloquence of Brougham more versatile or imposing. He is playing a new card. He means again to embark on the wave of popular support, and he is at present spreading every sail, and careering right gloriously. But I fear he wants ballast-principle, religious, moral.'

Eighteen years before, on returning from another visit to the metropolis, he stayed a short time at Leicester, where he had the happiness,' he told his friend Dr. Stark, to hear Robert Hall, and the folly to preach before him.'

'In conversation,' he added, he is the most profound, intellectual, and eloquent man I ever met with. As Dr. Chalmers said of him, "he is quite Johnsonian," but he might have added, that he has none of Johnson's rudeness or arrogance, and a great deal more of piety.'

To another friend he says

'I had the happiness of spending nearly two days with Mr. Hall, of Leicester, whom I found to be quite as extraordinary a man, in conversation especially, as I had been taught to expect; full of intelligence, a critic, a moralist, a theologian, a politician, and pouring forth his stores without ostentation, but with a conversational eloquence which I never heard equalled. The simplicity, fervour, and humility of his prayers struck me as much as anything else about him.'-p. 178.

But we must bring to a close our notice of this most valuable biography, leaving untouched many topics of equal interest with those we have adverted to. The last chapter but one, which opens with Dr. Heugh's presentiment of his approaching death, is a very touching and yet delightful narrative, with the exception of one painful occurrence, which for a brief season was allowed to agitate this good man's latter days. For ourselves, there is no portion of the volume which we are more disposed to muse upon, and so loth to quit, acquiring as it does an accumulation of interest from all that precedes. The recollection of the beneficent radiance emitted so long by this burning and shining light, makes

VOL. VI.NO. XII.

2 F

us

us watch with more intense emotion the last gleams it sheds over the dark valley, while we are animated by the sure and certain hope of its reappearance in unclouded lustre, when the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

Of the volume of Discourses which accompanies the Life, we can only offer a general opinion formed from a partial examination. We doubt not that by Dr. Heugh's own connection, and far beyond that circle, it will be prized as a valuable and not unworthy memorial of a man so justly esteemed and beloved. Yet, without underrating its merits, we may be allowed to express a wish that the Life, in the event of a second edition, may be published separately, to ensure its wider circulation among those who for economical reasons might otherwise be unable to possess it. To the Ministers of the Gospel it is of inestimable value; but for private Christians it is replete with instruction; it is worthy of being placed by the side of the Memoirs of Arnold, and of Dr. Heugh's great contemporary and countryman, Chalmers. J. R.

RECONSIDERED TEXTS.

REMARKS UPON THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.a

IF the explanation proposed in the tenth Number of this Journal (p. 495), with reference to the expression from Christ,' (occurring in the assertion of St. Paul (Rom. ix. 3), that 'for his brethren he could even wish to be accursed') be correct, we are furnished thereby not only with an additional scriptural proof of the doctrine of a superintending and directing Providence, which heretofore had been concealed from us, but with one also which (as it refers to the will of God, or, to keep more closely to the Apostolic phrase, regards as 'from Christ,' even such of our sufferings and sorrows as may seem to arise wholly from the malice or unkindness of a fellow-man) is well calculated to teach us to be and to show ourselves superior to any unmerited ill usage that may possibly befall us.

For if the phrase in question be (as supposed) a recognition on the part of the Apostle of the dependence of all things upon the will of Christ-evil, no less than good-it was clearly his belief, that nothing whatever could befall him through any indifference on the part of Christ or of God as to what shall be, and what

a In continuation of RECONSIDERED TEXTS, No. 1.

shall