nations, and on one of the plates was deposited a brooch of considerable value. This speaks more for the persuasive eloquence of the preacher, than any feeble effort of ours; and most cordially do we record it.

The services of the morning were conducted by the Rev. Mr. Hincks, who demands from us a passing observation. He has been transplanted to another soil, and is about to transfer thither those high and sacred duties which for years he has affectionately ministered among us; but their remembrance is sweet, and the recollection of them shall not perish. Mr. M'Neile's text was taken from the 4th and 5th verses of the 1st chapter of the Prophet Jonah: "But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them; but Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep."

The preacher introduced the discussion of his subject with a beautiful description of the effect produced on the mind by contemplating the works of nature, particularly the grandeur of the sea when tossed by the raging tempest. These impressions, however, were, he contended, but temporary and evanescent; they excited, but altered not, they aroused whatever of good the heart or mind contained, but implanted no new impulse. Conscience might and would be stirred up, but the heart still remained unconverted. He then went to show the earnestness with which the sailors in the text discharged their duty, their indefatigable working, and the means had recourse to, to save themselves and the ship, as exemplified in committing to the deep what next in life they most valued their cargo. From all these premises he argued with consummate ability.

First. That natural religion, or those feelings which are momentarily drawn from contemplating the beautiful or stupendous works of God, never will convert the heart.

Secondly. That the conscience, however excited, or stirred up, never can make so important a change.

Thirdly. That" earnestness," even to parting with all we

hold dear under the impulse of such feeling, will not teach Christ and him crucified.

The se

"The

This formed the first branch of the sermon. cond was an explanation of the words of the text. mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his God." These mariners were idolaters, and each had a God of his own imagining, possessing such peculiar attributes as his fancy suggested. "Each cried to his' God." The application of this part of the subject to the present state of man, as unconverted to God, was the noblest and happiest effort of the whole sermon. He described the various views persons of different religious denominations had of God. One, for instance, imagined that he was a being all merciful, and that only a few of the worst and most depraved outcasts would be eternally punished; another, that a strict line of moral conduct and caution would of itself secure heaven; a third, that penance or bodily suffering would wipe away transgression, and so on; thus making our conceptions of God as vague and undefined as were those of the poor idolaters. Then came the hour of trial, the moment of death, or the day of shipwreck; and how much it was to be dreaded, that many in this unprepared state would be found each crying to "his" God. Next followed the source from which the knowledge was to be obtained, the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the conviction, firm and deep rooted in the heart, that through his atoning death and blood could we alone hope for salvation. This doctrine of justification by faith was beautifully explained. The confidence it inspired in the moment of peril was affectingly dwelt upon; and the death by shipwreck of a poor follower of Christ, as contrasted with the idolatrous sailor's death, was the most touching and truly eloquent thing we ever heard. How then came this knowledge? Their gods, through the instrumentality of "preaching ;"—this was the furniture, the commodities, the cargo with which we might safely go to sea, and encounter all the perils of the mighty deep. Its buoyancy would support and bid defiance to all the dangers of shipwreck. Then came the people to send the "preacher" to these poor tempest-tossed mariners, for whose eternal interest we were this day combating.

At the conclusion of the sermon Mr. M'Neile alluded to the license given by the bishop to all the clergy of his diocese, to preach in this new seaman's chapel. He said this was a proud announcement, and came in a Christian spirit. It enabled them to meet their brethren of the church of Scotland at the same altar; who dissented, not on account of doctrine, for their tenets were the same, but on account of episcopacy or church government. There was nothing in the articles of the Church of England which prohibited this union; and these were times in which no petty jealousies should exist. It was our common duty to unite with good men, in making common cause against a common enemy. One only limitation was made in the grant of the ground, that the trustees to it should never fall into the hands of any sect of Christians who refused to subscribe to the Articles of the Church of England, or Westminster Confession of Faith; and provision being inserted, that, should such event take place, the grant must revert back to the owners of the soil.

The collection amounted to 1221. 15s., including sums sent from persons not present. We really feel that an apology is due for the attempt to give even a brief outline of this excellent discourse; for we are fully convinced of our inadequacy to do justice to so important a subject.— From the Liverpool Mail, Saturday, September 2, 1837.

"THE GLADNESS WITH WHICH THE COMMON PEOPLE HEARD CHRIST'S PREACHING."

A SERMON

Preached at Camden Chapel, Camberwell, Oct. 23, 1836.

BY THE

REV. HENRY MELVILL, B. D.

MINISTER OF THE SAID CHAPEL.

TEXT.—" And the common people heard him gladly.”—Mark,

xii. 37.

You will find that many writers on the evidences of Christianity, draw an argument in favour of the divine mission of Jesus from the character of his preaching; and the argument appears to us forcible and conclusive. We can conceive nothing more unlike the preaching of an enthusiast or impostor, than the preaching of Jesus. The complete absence of extravagance, and of all appeal to the passions of his hearers; the extraordinary sobriety and simplicity which marked all his discourses; the perfect fairness of his arguments, and at the same time the boldness of his statements, these are such proofs of his having been what he professed himself, as of themselves should strike conviction in every candid inquirer. We must all know what kind of preaching might be expected from one who had assumed a false character; we should have an inflated style, exaggerated terms, high-wrought figures, and all that vehemence of protestation which marks the consciousness of being suspected, and that too with justice. There would be harangues which addressed themselves altogether to the feelings, and by this means tend to hamper the judgment; and nothing would be more evident to those who, in aftertimes, came to decide on the pretensions of the individual, than that the want of all calmness, the adroit accommodation of his discourses to the prejudices

of his hearers, and the evident effort to perplex their understanding by sophistry, and to deceive their imagination by rhetorical flourishes, marked the ambitious and artful deceiver, rather than the true prophet who knew himself charged with a commission from above. But the more you examine the preaching of Jesus, the more will you admit, that the evidence which it furnishes is of just the opposite kind. So dignified, and yet so unadorned is this preaching-so intrepid, and yet so gentle-so void of art, and yet so full of power-so free from all effort at working on the passions, and, nevertheless, often so exquisitely touching and pathetic-so uncompromising wherever truth was to be upheld, and yet so eloquent with tenderness and passion, that I could believe Christ an enthusiast only, if sobriety were a mark of fanaticism; an impostor only, if fairness were the characteristic of deceit.

It was one peculiar feature of Christ's preaching, that it was equally adapted for all classes of hearers; it was so simple that the least educated could understand, and yet so polished that the best informed might admire it. There is nothing which appears to us more surprising than this. Christ never seems to have had any difficulty in accommodating his discourses to the comprehension of the very meanest; and yet he always so spoke that there was nothing in his style to which the most fastidious of hearers could object. This it is to which other instructors find it impossible to attain. If they speak to the uneducated, they use a homeliness of phrase at which the educated take offence; and if they address themselves to the educated, they use language which is almost as a foreign tongue to the uneducated. We do not charge this as a fault upon the teachers. There may be a degree, and there may be cases, in which they are to blame; but we regard it as altogether an evidence of supernatural power, that Christ could so preach as to address himself equally to every class of his hearers; choosing such terms, and employing such illustrations, as made his meaning intelligible to the poorest, and yet riveted the attention, and even commanded the admiration, of the most learned of his audience.

But we have to go yet further than this; for not only was Christ's preaching adapted to the poor, it seems to