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whose praise is in the Gospel, in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless *.

"The second petition in the Lord's Prayer is, THY KINGDOM COME.

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come,

In one sense God's kingdom is already inasmuch as he is the great King over all the earth, whose kingdom ruleth over all, who doeth whatsoever pleaseth him in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. In this sense, therefore, we do not pray that his kingdom may come, since it is established already. What we pray for is, the establishment of God's kingdom of grace; and after that for the coming of his kingdom of glory.

"By the establishment of God's kingdom of grace, I mean, the general prevalence of the religion of Christ; that we and all who have been baptized and pretend to be Christians, may shew ourselves to be such not in name only, but in deed and in truth, by the holiness and religiousness of our lives; that all who profess and call themselves Christians, may hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. And farther, that those who still are in ignorance and darkness, may be brought to the knowledge of God and of the Gospel of his Son; that his ways may generally be known upon earth, his saving health among all nations. We also pray, when all who are not utterly past hope, have from their hearts embraced the religion of Christ, for the coming of his kingdom of glory, and for admission into it, through the blood of Christ, for all his faithful servants. P. 76.

"We next offer our supplication to him, in whom we live, and move, and have our being, for the supply of our necessities. GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD. By the expression DAILY BREAD, is generally understood all that is really necessary for the support of the animal life, such as food, and raiment, and a dwelling to shelter us from the inclemency of the weather. It may be considered as synonymous with that in the prayer of Agar, feed me with food convenient for me ↑. In this petition we pray, not for much goods laid up for many years, but only for the supply of our present wants. As we continually depend for every thing upon the bounty of God, so each day we ask from him only what is sufficient for the day that is passing over us, and must every day renew our supplications.

"I would observe, that the petition for DAILY BREAD, may be understood as bearing also a spiritual meaning, as praying

Luke i. 6.

for a constant interest in Christ *, who is called the bread of life-the bread that came down from heavent; and also for continual supplies of that grace which is necessary for the strengthening and refreshing of our souls. Accordingly, the explanation in the Catechism considers us, as in this petition, PRAYING UNTO GOD,

THAT HE WILL SEND US ALL THINGS THAT BE NEEDFUL BOTH FOR OUR SOULS AND BODIES." P. 79.

FOR THE

"After the petitions in the Lord's Prayer, follows an act of praise. THINE IS THE KINGDOM,, AND POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOR EVER AND EVER. This is called the doxology, from a Greek word signifying the giving of glory and praise, and is a devout acknowledgment of the greatness and majesty of God. THINE IS THE KINGDOM. Thou art the great King over all the universe, to whom, not only those who dwell in this lower world, but the blessed inhabitauts of heaven and the spirits of hell are all subject. THINE IS THE POWER. Thou art possessed of power which nothing can control, power to do whatever pleaseth thee after the counsel of thine own will THINE IS THE GLORY. Glory infinitely beyond our weak mortal conceptions, glory uncreated and inaccessible; and these are thine FOR EVER AND EVER. They were thine before the foundation of the world, and will continue thine to all eternity.

"The consideration of God's greatness may satisfy us, that he is able to grant our petitions; and we trust that he will grant them FROM HIS MERCY AND GOODNESS, and therefore we say, AMEN. AMEN is a Hebrew word, implying in general truth and certainty. When used after a confession of faith, or expression of praise, it signifies our assent. When used after a prayer, as it is used here, it signifies SO BE IT, or so LET IT BE, and is a repetition of all the preceding petitions; and therefore ought to be uttered with seriousness and devotion.

"Thus have I endeavoured, however imperfectly, to fix upon your minds the full meaning of this divine prayer, which our Lord himself bath taught us. It is the direction of our Lord that we should worship God in spirit and in truth; and that of St. Paul, that we should pray with the spirit, and pray with the understanding also; and it must be evident to you

* We should have preferred a simple and less abused expression.

+ John vi. 48 and 50. +1 Cor. xiv. 15.

all, of how much importance it is, that every one should understand the meaning of the petitions which he addresses to God. It is greatly desirable that you should comprehend the purport of all the prayers in which you join, but not to wish and endeavour to understand the Lord's Prayer, which in itself is so excellent and important, and which is so constantly used, is surely inexcusable.

"May our Father, which is in Heaven, in this and all other instances pour into your hearts the spirit of wisdom and understanding, as well as the spirit of grace and supplication; may he lead you to worship him constantly; and when you do worship him, may be enable you to worship him acceptably, to worship him in spirit and in truth."-Lecture on the Lord's Prayer. Page 82.

"To conclude, I will bring together, in one view, the several arguments for partaking of the Lord's Supper, which are suggested to us in the part of the Catechism, which we have been considering,

"First then, you acknowledge the Sacrament of Baptism to be generally necessary to salvation. And doubtless it is so, for our Saviour directed all men to be baptized. Why then should you think the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper less necessary, since this also rests upon the same foundation, this also was ordained by Christ himself. Christ himself commanded the bread and wine to be received.

"In the second place, consider that this holy rite was instituted for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby. Do not by refusing to partake of it, risk the loss of the benefits purchased for you by that sacrifice, even the remission of your sins, and your admission to eternal life.

"This holy feast was appointed, for the strengthening and refreshing of your souls. Do not, by withdrawing from it, act as if you set at nought the assistance of heaven, and were ready to do despite to the Spirit of his grace.

"Finally, this Sacrament was instituted by our Lord in the same night in which he was betrayed-in which he was betrayed to death, to save you from the destruction of body and soul in hell :-do not then neglect to obey the last command of your divine Master, do not unthankfully refuse to comply with the last, the dying request, of your kindest Friend and greatest Benefactor." Lecture on the Lord's Supper. P.97.

There are only two passages throughout that we could wish to

have altered, and we are satisfied that Mr. Berens will thank us for mentioning them.

We think that in p. 15, where he is describing the condition of those who live and die in wilful sin, he has suffered himself (which is very unusual with him) to be carried away by the antithesis, and has expressed himself much too strongly. In p. 80, we confess we should have liked a simpler and more intelligible and less abused expression, than "a constant interest in Christ." With the exception of these two passages we have observed nothing that does not deserve our hearty thanks, and most unqualified praise.

A brief Memoir of the late Thomas Bateman, M.D. Physician to the Public Dispensary, Carey-street, and to the Fever Institution, Gray's-inn-lane, London; who died 9th April, 1821. Thirteenth Edition, with an Appendix. pp. 40. Butterworth. 1823.

has already run through thirteen THIS is a small pamphlet, which editions. It is styled in the Introduction, an interesting and useful memoir. Of the propriety of this last epithet, we have our doubts.

Dr. Bateman's history, as we gather from the Memoir, is simply this. He was a physician of considerable eminence, and a man of scientific and literary pursuits, powerful, and highly esteemed as a medical writer, but sceptical to the last degree on the subject of religion; in one word, a materialist and an infidel.

In the summer of 1815, his health began to decline, and in the following year a complaint in his eyes came on, which threatened loss of sight, and precluded him from all his accustomed sources of occupation and amusement. Under these circumstances, the writer of this Memoir became his constant com

panion and attendant: and for four years had the misery of witnessing his total estrangement from God and religion; and strange and la. mentable to think, without any attempt on the part of this constant companion and attendant, either by himself, or what had been no unprecedented step to have taken, by the intervention of the clergyman of the parish, to open his eyes to the truth.

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Religion, (he says) was a subject which, for many reasons, had never been discussed between us!! Though the tenor of his life had made me but too well acquainted with the state of his mind," "he had always avoided any declaration of his opinions, knowing the pain it would give me to hear them. He was habitually fond of argument, and skilled in it; and I knew that I was quite incompetent to argue with him" (then wherefore not have called in, we would ask, a person more competent?)" I considered too that the habit of disputing in favour of any opinion, only serves, in general, to rivet it more firmly in the mind;" (but wherefore dispute at all? and is nothing to be expected on such occasions from God's good blessing, where the truth is mildly, and seriously, and fully, and judiciously unfolded?)" and, above all, I knew that this was a case in which mere argument must be always insufficient"-but not therefore wholly to be neglected. Does not God act by secondary causes? 'faith,' says an Apostle, 'cometh by hearing.'

In this wretched state matters continued, without any endeavour on the part of his friend to call in the aid of God's minister, till a severe attack of languor, in the spring of 1820, reduced Dr. Bateman so low, that he even believed that the exhaustion which could be produced by the effort of walking across a room, might prove fatal.

"It was on Sunday, the 9th of April, (continues the writer of this Memoir) that he first spoke to me on the subject of religion. He had passed the whole of the day

in a state of extraordinary suffering, from languor, and a variety of nervous feelings, which he always said it was impossible to describe, farther than that they were inconceivably painful and distressing; and he went to bed at night with a firm persuasion that he should never again quit it; and, in fact, he did confine himself to it for the following three weeks, from the mere apprehension of the consequences of exertion."

"On the evening of the day I have mentioned, Dr. Bateman had been ex

pressing to me his conviction that he could not live much longer, and complaining of

the dreadful nervous sensations which continually harassed him; and then he added, But all these sufferings are a just punishment for my long scepticism, and neglect of God and religion.' This led to a conversation, in the course of which he observed, that medical men were very generally sceptical; and that the mischief arose from what he considered a natural tendency of some of their studies to lead to materialism. I replied, that the mischief appeared to me to originate rather in their neglect to examine into the evidences of the truth of the Bible, as an

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actual revelation from God; because, if a firm conviction of that were once established, the authority of the Scriptures must be paramount; and the tendency of all inferior studies, in opposition to their declarations, could have no weight. He said, he believed I was right, and that he had in fact been intending to examine fully into the subject, when the complaint in his eyes came on, and shut him out from reading. Our conversation ended in his permitting me to read to him the first of Scott's Essays on the most important Subjects in Religion,' which treats of The Divine Inspiration of the Scriptares.' He listened with intense earnestness; and when it was concluded, exclaimed, This is demonstration! complete demonstration!' He then asked me to read to him the acconut given in the New Testament of the resurrection of our Saviour which I did from all the four Evangelists. I read also many other passages of Scripture, with some of which he was extremely struck; especially with that declaration, that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' 1 Cor, ii. 14.

"For two or three days he shewed increasing interest in the subject of religion; and I read to him continually the Scriptures, and other books which seemed to

me best calculated to give him the information he thirsted for. When I went into his room a few mornings after, he said, It is quite impossible to describe to you the change which has taken place in my mind: I feel as if a new world was opened to me, and all the interests and pursuits of this have faded into nothing in comparison with it. They seem so mean, and paltry, and insignificant, that my blindness, in living so long immersed in them, and devoted to them, is quite inconceivable and astonishing to myself.' He often expressed in the strongest terms, and with many tears, his deep repentance, and his abhorrence of himself for his former sinful life and rebellion against God; but he seemed to have from the first so clear a view of the all-sufficiency of the Saviour's atonement, and of the Christian scheme of salvation, as freed him at once from that distrust of forgiveness which is so apt to afflict persons at the first sight of their sins, and of the purity and holiness of Him with whom they have to do. The self-abasing views which he entertained of himself necessarily enhanced his sense of the pardoning love and mercy of God in Christ Jesus, thus graciously extended to him and which he felt so strongly, that he was filled with the liveliest emotions of gratitude and joy, and in this happy state continued for several days.

"He soon, however, experienced an afflicting reverse of feeling. One evening I left him to visit a near relative, at that time confined to her room in a precarious state of health; and his mother, who had been in attendance upon her, took my place at the bed-side of her son. Dr. Bateman told her, that I had been reading to him various detached portions of Scripture, and that he now wished to hear the New Testament read regularly through from the beginning. She consequently began to read, and had proceeded as far as the tenth chapter of St. Matthew, when he suddenly exclaimed, that he could not believe in the miracles of the Saviour, and that therefore he must perish for ever, This suggestion of his spiritual enemy threw him into a state of the most dreadful anguish, and I was immediately sent for to his bed-side. Feeling ourselves to be very inadequate guides and comforters in these afflicting circumstances, we gladly adopted a suggestion of a friend, that we should request a neighbouring clergyman of piety and judgment to visit him. Dr. Bateman himself grasped eagerly at the proposal, and I wrote immediately to the clergyman in question; but he was from REMEMBRANCEr, No. 61.

home, and was not expected to return for two or three weeks.

"These paroxysms of distress and conflict, which sometimes lasted many hours, he continned subject to for about a fortnight; but they gradually became less long and violent, and he experienced increasingly great relief from prayer during their continuance; till at length they subsided entirely, and left his mind satisfied on all those points which had before presented so many obstacles to his belief.

"About this time he was prevailed upon to leave his bed, and in a very few days was able to be some hours daily in the open air, and to take considerable exer. cise; and it is remarkable, that from this time he had no return of languor after fatigue, except in one instance. Thus was he delivered, by the gracious providence of God, from those overwhelming apprehensions of immediate death which had been so instrumental in bringing him to Christ, as soon as they had effected that blessed purpose." P. 14.

"He now rarely spoke of the state of his mind and feelings; for such was the extreme reserve of his character, that it could only be overcome by deep and pow. erful emotions; and when no longer agi. tated by these, he returned to his natural habits, and was silent on the subject that most deeply interested him. Still it was abundantly evident that it did interest him. The avidity with which he listened to the word of God-his eagerness to at tend public worship (which for many years he had entirely neglected,) and the heartfelt and devout interest which he obvi ously took in the service-his enlarged and active benevolence the change which had taken place in his tastes, inclinations, and pursuits-all testified that he was indeed brought out of darkness into marvellous light :''old things bad passed away, and all things had become new.'"

"His health continued in much the same state till a short time before Christmas, when a walk, rather longer than usnal, again produced increased fever and debility; and from that period his strength and appetite visibly declined, while his spirit was as visibly ripening for heaven. His faith and patience were strengthened; his hope was increased; his charity enlarged; yet he was naturally so extremely reserved in the expression of his feelings, that he rarely spoke of them till within the last month of his life, when he rejoiced with a joy unspeakable and full of glory, which bore down all opposition.”

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"I once remarked to him, that he ap H

expressly suited to the purpose. The Society, if we rightly understand their objects, do not pretend that what they have hitherto selected are the very best that could be procured, but only the best that have as yet come in their way. It has been obviously their endeavour to avoid as much as possible on the ́one hand every thing objectionable, and on the other to collect from works already before the public, much that is pleasing and useful.

By a reference to our Monthly Register, it will be seen that they are still adding to their list; and we are happy in being able to assure our readers that there is every disposition on the part of the Society to keep pace with the increasing applications of their Mem. bers. Their Supplemental Catalogue, in which these works of a more general kind are placed, may be considered to have been

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as

yet but a trial-it has succeeded the demand for the books so selected is daily increasing, and increasing from a cause which our readers will be no less happy to hear the increase of parochial libraries.

The establishment of these libraries is another of the recent measures of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, that promises most essential benefit. A parochial library well selected, with a due regard to the local wants of the parish, may be considered as a storehouse of good and wholesome food, whence the poor may be seasonably supplied, instead of taking up with the poi. sonous trash which is so industriously circulated through the remotest corners of the kingdom. There will thus be no excuse, and less inclination for reading what is bad, when what is at once good, instructive and amusing, is to be obtained for the asking. Instead of wasting his time and his hard earnings, as is now but too often the case, in the noise and dissipation of the alehouse, we may look to find the la

bourer sitting over his frugal meal, in the bosom of his family, listening to some pious discourse, or instructive and entertaining history, hearing nothing that is bad, and occasionally gathering much that is good and useful. We could hazard more anticipations of the same pleasing kind, anticipations that, we trust, will prove to have been not more the wishes of an ardent mind, eager for the welfare of the poor, than the result of cool calculation, and reasonable expectancy. Enough however has been said, to shew how deeply we feel the importance of establishing parochial libraries in every parish. If means are wanting, the Society are never slack in rendering assistance; and when there is no want of means, we are satisfied that the Clergy will not be slack on their part in availing themselves of them.

With these impressions, then, it will be no wonder that we should look on a writer such as Mr. Berens with no common interest. We are happy to learn that already his sermons have been placed on the Supplemental Catalogue of the Society: and we trust that the present Lectures, with others of his works, will be deemed worthy of the same ¡distinction. Mr. Berens, however, must not stay his pen-there is yet much to be done; and we really know no person that can do it so well as himself. We should like much, for instance, to see the Liturgy of our Church set forth in all its native beauty and fitness, after his own easy and simple manner, and in his own language. Waldo's essay may be excellent, and we have no doubt that it has received considerable improvement by having been broken by Mr. Berens into the form of lectures; but it is no compliment to him to say that he would have produced a much better work himself. Where a writer is so rich in his own original stores, we cannot suffer him to waste his time in furbishing up the more antiquated and less popular materials of

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