Debates and discussions take the place of sermons. The "order" of the ministry ceases. A president superintends the church, and various and temporary teachers are chosen according to their gifts. This is presented as the Apostolic plan; and all sorts of agreeable results are to follow the adoption of it. We do not know what the Dissenting friends of Mr. Miall will think of so sweeping a Reformer. Perhaps they will be glad that he is furnished with a pen rather than a scythe; and will be inclined to consider that a "Nonconformist" who stands opposed, not only to the Established Church, but, as far as we can see, to all modes of faith and worship except his own, is to be regarded as labouring under a sort of idiosyncracy for which it might be well to "take advice." For our own part, we can predict nothing from the adoption of the Author's plans, but the conversion of religious into "socialist" communities-in which truth would become every day more vague, shifting, and powerless; and of which the only good result could be, the translation of large numbers of thoughtful and earnest men from the scattered ranks of Dissent, to the quiet camp of the Established Church. There we shall gladly welcome not only such persons, but Mr. Miall himself, when he has learned that even our mode of worship is better than none at all.

Baptism; or the Ministration of Public Baptism of Infants to be used in the Church. By the Ven. C. J. Hoare, Archdeacon of Surrey. Hatchard.

THIS work is of less recent date than those to which we could ordinarily wish to direct the attention of our readers. But it is a work of so much ability, candour, and piety, and breathes through every page of it so ardent a desire honestly to expound and commend the services of that Church, of which the Author is so distinguished a member, that we cannot but think it entitled to the calm and respectful consideration of all sound churchmen. The conviction of Mr. Hoare is, that grace is always imparted in baptism: but that the grace so imparted is that of admission into the Church of Christ, of into the fellowship of Christ's religion; that where it is said with respect to the baptized child, "Seeing now that this child is regenerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's Church," &c., all that is meant by the expression is that which is implied in the language of the Apostle, "Ye are no longer foreigners, but fellow-citizens, builded together for an habitation of God, through the Spirit." So moderate an opinion on a most difficult subject might not have been expected to draw down the flashes of Tractarian wrath on the Author; but in one of the chief periodicals of that body, the charges of incapacity, and even of dishonesty, are showered down upon him as thick as hailstones. It is painful to see to what an extent party spirit closes the eyes and lets loose the tongue. And it is impossible, we think, not to feel strong indignation at assaults such as these referred to upon a writer distinguished by the highest University honours, by his amiable spirit, his vigorous discharge of his duties as a pastor and as the Archdeacon of a most important district. That "regeneration" must, at all events, be very incomplete, which leaves men with so little disposition to do justice to their brethren in Christ,

A Treatise on the Special Providence of God. Also, Two Dissertations : 1. On Prophecy; 2. On Inspiration. By the late Rev. Edmund Dewdney, M.A., Minister of St. John's, Portsea. With a Biographical Preface, by Rev. J. B. Marsden, M.A., &c. THIS is a small volume, but full of thought, substance, and piety. The author appears to have composed the various Dissertations, &c. while absent from his flock, in Italy, exhausted by ministerial labour, and indeed already upon the verge of an eternal state. The volume has all the solemn earnestness which such a state of health is calculated to produce, but no trace of decaying mental vigour. The Essay on the "Inspiration of Scripture" ought to be read by every one whose mind is disturbed, or whose province it is to "minister to minds" disturbed, upon a subject now again brought under discussion. Mr. Dewdney's method of dealing with the subject is, like most of his writings, in a high sense of the word, original, but without the smallest tinge of an affectation of originality. The antecedent probability that God should have given a revelation is, as he justly argues, very strong; and yet, if the Bible be not an inspired book, no such revelation exists; for no one in his senses will contend for the Divine authority of any other book except the Bible. Then arises the question, "What is the extent of this inspiration? Does it extend to the suggestion of the very words of the sacred record; or merely to such a control over the minds of the writers as prevented the admixture of error, or the omission of truth? And if the latter, does it amount to the exclusion of all error, and the expression of all truth; or only of such error as, if not excluded, and of such truth as, if not expressed, would be prejudicial to the purpose for which the revelation was given?" Such are the difficulties to which Mr. Dewdney applied his powerful mind; and we can safely say that we know not where, in a short compass, the thoughtful reader who is anxious for assistance on these points, will find so much, with God's blessing, to satisfy his mind.

The Dissertation on a Special Providence is no less important, though the subject is happily less controverted. The biographical part of the volume, by Mr. Marsden, is executed with much feeling and ability; and both porch and temple are well worthy of a visit by those who wish to see what is going on in the studies of our English Clergy.

OBITUARY.

THE REV. E. BICKERSTETH.

Our last Number contained an Obituary of the Rev. Spencer Thornton, a beloved and faithful minister of Christ, who was cut off suddenly in the midst of his years, and whose course had been marked by simple and consistent zeal in his Master's service. That brief notice has now acquired a deeper interest. It was, in part, the latest work of one still more widely known to the Church for a long course of eminent usefulness, for his labours in the Missionary cause, his untiring zeal and fervent love. The Rev. E. Bickersteth is gone to his rest. He had scarcely finished that little tribute of affection to the memory of a beloved son in the ministry, when he was visited by the fatal illness, which has removed him also to the bosom of the Saviour. The loss is indeed great, almost irreparable, not only to his sorrowing fa

mily, but to the Church of England, of which he was one of the brightest ornaments, and to all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, to whom he was justly dear from his Catholic spirit, and his abundant labours of Christian love.

The Rev. Edward Bickersteth was born at Kirby Lonsdale, March 19, 1786. He was the fourth of five brothers, the eldest of whom died abroad in early youth, but the others still survive: the Rev. John Bickersteth, late of Acton, Suffolk, and now of Sapcote, Leicestershire; the present Master of the Rolls, Baron Langdale; and Robert Bickersteth, Esq., of Liverpool, hardly less eminent in the medical profession. Edward, the fourth son, received his education in the grammar-school of Kirby Lonsdale. At the age of fourteen he was sent to London, to enter on the business of practical life, and became a clerk in the General Post Office, where he soon rose to a confidential situation. At this period those religious convictions were formed which ripened afterwards into such increase of Christian grace and holiness. The chief occasion of this important change was the sermons of Henry Martyn, when he was about to leave England for India, to enter there on his missionary labours. Soon after, he was articled to Messrs. Blensdale and Alexander, solicitors, of London, and continued in the same post for several years, during which he secured the favour and confidence of his employers by peculiar diligence and faithfulness in his work. In 1812 he removed to Norwich, and began to practise as a solicitor, in partnership with Thomas Bignold, Esq., of that city, to whose sister he was united in marriage the same year. Here his diligence and ability gave him every prospect of increasing success and reputation. But his affections were drawn more and more to the great interests of the kingdom of Christ. He was an early member of the Bible and Church Missionary Societies, which were then only in their first infancy, and a frequent advocate of their claims before the Christian public. It was a speech at a Meeting of the Norwich Auxiliary to the Bible Society, in 1813, which gave rise to his earliest publication, "the Scripture Help," a work since translated into many languages, and honoured with extensive usefulness in the Church of Christ. At length, in 1815, the growing desire of his own mind, and the persuasion of his friend Mr. Pratt, who longed for the benefit of his aid in the cause of missions, led him to renounce the profession of the law, and seek admission to the office of the sacred ministry. In December of that year he was successively ordained deacon and priest, by Bishop Bathurst, at Norwich, and Bishop - -; and set out a few days after, for Western Africa, on a special mission to the stations of the Church Missionary Society in the Sierra Leone colony. The purpose of this voyage was fully answered, and a new impulse given by it to the cause of missions, not only in the colony itself, but in the Church at home after his return. He became at once associated with his dear friend Mr. Pratt both as minister at Wheler Chapel, and On secretary to the Society; and laboured long and zealously in its cause. the retirement of Mr. Pratt, Mr. Woodrooffe became associated with him as joint secretary. He continued in this important office till 1830, when he was presented by Abel Smith, Esq., M.P., to the living of Watton, five miles from Hertford. Here he remained for nearly twenty years, combining the labours of a parochial minister with those of a diligent writer and public labourer in various works of love, until his lamented death, February 28 of this year, removed him, as a shock of corn fully ripe, to his heavenly rest.

During the fourteen years of his official connexion with the Church Missionary Society, our departed friend was rising continually to greater eminence among the ministers of our Church, and a higher and higher place in the esteem of all faithful Christians. Besides his quiet and steady labours in the Church Missionary House, which brought him into profitable and delightful intercourse with nearly all the missionaries employed in the Lord's work among the heathen, much of his time was employed in travelling for the Society; and there is perhaps no one person who had a greater share in reviving a missionary spirit throughout the Church of England. His actual visit to Africa, his official intimacy with the work of Missions, and above all, his simple, hearty zeal, his fervent, cheerful spirit, and the animating tone of his CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 148.

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public addresses, rendered him one of the most effective advocates of the Society, and gave a growing power to his labours, in arousing the Church from the grievous lethargy of former years. In the course of his many journeys, he preached in more than seven hundred, probably in nearly a thousand, churches; and the blessed effects of his earnest, simple appeals to the heart and conscience of his countless hearers, will be known only at the great day. Without any pretension to what the world denominates as oratory, his preaching was unusually effective from its simplicity, its earnestness, and its free and full proclamation of the grace of Christ. It was the mouth speaking out of the abundance of the heart. Meanwhile he contrived to combine the diligence of a student with these public labours. His delight in the acquisition of divine knowledge was exceeded only by his zeal in diffusing it; and a library, gradually collected, and amounting to more than ten thousand volumes at the time of his death, bears witness to his studious habits and the extent of his own reading. But reading was not pursued by him as a personal luxury. He studied himself that he might be more able to instruct others. It was during these years, while he was laboriously occupied in the office, or in the work of the Missionary Society, that several of his most popular writings were composed. The "Treatise on Prayer" appeared in 1819, and was followed by the "Treatise on the Lord's Supper," and, in 1826, by his most laborious work, the "Christian Student;" while several others, as the "Memoir of the Rev. Mr. Simeon," the "Chief Concerns of Man," and the "Christian Hearer," belong to the same period. It is needless to speak of the acceptance of these works. His name is known by them to thousands, as a spiritual instructor and guide, who never saw his face or heard his voice. Three of them alone, the "Scripture Help," the "Treatise on Prayer," and "On the Lord's Supper," have together passed through fifty editions in our own country, besides reprints in other countries, and the abridged editions, which perhaps had a still wider sale. Their great attraction was the simplicity of Gospel truth, fresh from the heart, and presented in a style plain, clear, and unadorned. Those who sought only for novelty, for the glitter of rhetoric, or the brilliance of declamation, or the dreams of a sentimental religion, would have to look elsewhere; but those who desired the "sincere milk of the word" of Christ, to " grow thereby" in grace and holiness, would not be disappointed. The glow and fervour of love which marked his writings commended the truth to the conscience, and made it sink deep into the reader's heart. The "Christian Student" was a work of great labour, and though less widely popular, from its very nature, has been blessed very extensively in guiding a large class of Christians in their choice of works for their own reading, and in the formation of private and parochial libraries. It has helped to train many, who have become in their turn the instructors of multitudes, and to render themselves well instructed to the kingdom of God.

After his removal to Watton, the labours of this honoured father in Christ were probably modified in their nature, but were equally abundant, and equally blessed by the great Lord of the harvest. About the year 1833, his intercourse with the late Mr. Cuninghame of Lainshaw, and his own studies, led him to change his previous views, in some important respects, with regard to the prospects of the Church, and he became, and continued till the hour of his death, a firm believer in the Premillennial Advent of our Lord, and his personal coming and reign, to complete the triumph of redeeming love here below. We feel that this is not the place to enter upon the discussion of this important subject, on which the opinions of good and holy men vary widely. But it is only just to remark that, at least in his case, these views were accompanied with no diminution, but rather an increase, of zeal in the missionary work. The motives for diligence which others found in the prospect of gradual and ever-widening success, he found in the shortness of the time for labour, the certainty of partial success, the danger lest the door of opportunity should be shut, and the assurance of a speedy approval and recompense by the Son of Man in the day of His appearing. recompense by At the same time, his catholic spirit of love hindered any breach of affection with those Christian friends and brethren from whom he differed in judgment. The steadiness of his Christian course, his unwavering zeal in every good work, disarmed suspicion where it was ready. to arise, and raised him higher and higher in the sympathy and esteem of all the faithful servants of Christ, both within and without the pale of the Established Church. His practical wisdom, which was prized most highly by those who knew him best, made his advice to be sought by thousands at home, and by foreign Christians, almost in every land, whenever questions arose involving the interests of pure and undefiled religion; and there is perhaps no Christian minister, in his own generation, whose correspondence, arising from such daily appeals to his judgment and entreaties for his counsel, ranged a wider sphere, or would yield more ample testimony to the presence of the wisdom from above, in every feature described by the Apostle, "first pure, then peaceable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."

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When the Tractarian school of doctrine arose in the bosom of our Church, Mr. Bickersteth took an early and decided part in resisting its progress and denouncing its dangerous tendency as a dark and ominous cloud in the spiritual firmament. Many of his later writings were occupied, more or less, with this important question, especially his "Remarks on the Progress of Popery," his "Divine Warning," his "Dangers of the Church," and several of his published Sermons. At the same time, his spirit of unfeigned love made him slow to believe the evils in particular cases, until the marks of its influence were apparent; and, perhaps, if his judgment were sometimes at fault, it was in the case which Milton has so well described, where "though wisdom wakes, suspicion sleeps at wisdom's door, and to simplicity resigns her charge." There can be little doubt, however, that this temper of mind, though it may involve the risk of occasional errors, so long as there is a stedfast adherence to the truth of the Gospel, is far more attractive in itself, more adapted to commend the Gospel to others, and to secure in the end a powerful witness for the truth, than the habit of excessive suspiciousness, equally ready to detect and forward to impute evils, which is apt to grow up in times of intense party strife, and to shield itself under the honest plea of a zeal for the truth. From this latter fault our departed friend was unusually free. His candour might, perhaps, be sometimes excessive, but his charity never failed; and whenever it was clear that a great principle was really involved, he was bold and unflinching in his adherence to the cause of Scriptural religion and the doctrine of Divine grace, as opposed to ecclesiastical assumptions and the traditions of men.

To mention all the works of love in which his later years were occupied, would be to epitomize the history of the Church of Christ during the same period. The Jews' Society, the Protestant and Reformation Societies, the Foreign Aid Society, the Bible Society, the Pastoral Aid Society Church Missions, all had a large share in his private advice and public advocacy; while he never slackened his warm and zealous interest in the Church Missionary Society, the object of his first love. It would be wrong to omit some reference to one of the latest objects of his special interest and exertions, the Evangelical Alliance. This was another subject on which many of his brethren, the Evangelical Clergy, differed from him in their practical judgment. But to waive the disputed question, whether such an organization was expedient, and likely to produce permanent benefit a question which the beloved friends who differed from him would feel it unseasonable to discuss at this moment, around the grave hardly yet closed over his honoured remainsno one would doubt that the motive which prompted his zeal was a deep and unfeigned desire, in simplicity and godly sincerity, to promote the work of all true Christians, and thus to fulfil, however imperfectly, the prayer of our Lord himself, that his people may become "perfect in one, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Without ever ceasing to be warmly attached to the Church of England, which he regarded as the sure witness for the truth of God on the earth, and the main bulwark against the national dominance of superstition and infidelity, his warm and loving heart rejoiced in opportunities for affectionate communion with those servants of Christ, at home and abroad, whose judgment differed from his own in secondary things Whatever affected the progress of the Gospel and the salvation of souls was near to his heart, and no one more deeply entered into, or more beautifully exemplified, the prayer