ciled to God Here, I regret to say," observes Mr. Pearson, "this interesting and va fable Farewell Address from your late beloved Pastor, ends. It bears upon it striking marks of his characteristic hu mility, faithfulness, and concern for the spiritual and eternal welfare of his flock; and I cannot doubt, that its simple, affectionate, and weighty import will make a deep and lasting impression upon your minds. The long and uniform tenor of his preaching may enable you to conjecture what would probably have been the substance of his advice and exhortation, had he been permitted to have completed this parting address. He would doubtless have repeated, what he had so fre quently declared, and on which he had been accustomed so copiously and ably to enlarge;-that the deliverance of fallen, sinful man, was to be sought by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, as the only and all-sufficient Saviour; and by the renewing and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, to be obtained by fervent and persevering prayer." pp. The sermons before us, as it further appears from the preface, are a selection from his manuscripts by his friends; one of whom he addressed in the following terms a few months before he died: *I request you to point out from recollection, as well as you can, those sermons of mine which you may think to be the least unworthy of the public eye. I must further trast to your kindness in taking a share in giving them that correc: tion which is absolutely necessary for their publication, leaving as much as you can unaltered, &c." It is but justice to say, that the friends of Mr. Venn appear to have correctly as well as ably fulfilled this interesting request. Judging from internal evidence, we see an the character of the original writer uniformity of style, which shews to have been, on the whole, though perhaps with some exceptions, carefully maintained: whilst, at the same time, it has not happened to us to find many instances of haste or obscurity, such as might have been expected from an author not writing for publication, or an edi tor not correcting for personal reputation. The subjects of the sermons will be found highly interesting; though we are not able to state that any particular order seems to have been observed in their arrangement. We shall first give all the subjects or titles of the sermons in the two volumes dis tinctly: we shall then give a few such extracts as may serve to illu minate their author's views upon some of the leading doctrines of the Gospel, which will include a notice of some expository dis courses; then such as may direct us to his standard of practical piety; and, finally, such as may give some idea of the sublime conceptions and flights of devotion with which his mind continually teemed. We may offer some concluding observations on the general result. The Sermons in the First Volume are "I. The Importance and Difficulties of the Christian Ministry, from 1 Cor. ii. 3. --II. On Preaching the Gospel, Mark xvi. 15.-III. The Glory of God, Exod. 24.-V. The Prayer of St. Paul for xxxiii, 18.-IV. On, Good Works, Jam. the Ephesians, Ephes. iii. 14—19.-VI. State of the Saints above contrasted with their former Condition below, Rev. vii. 9-17.-VII. The great Mystery of Godliness, 1 Tim. iii. 14-16.-VIII. On the Doctrine of the Trinity, Matt. xxviii, 19.—IX. How Abraham saw the Day of Christ; and in what Manner the Types in the Old Testament referred to Christ, John viii. 56.-X. Difference between the Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian Dispensations, Luke x. 23.XI. On the Communion of Saints, from the doctrinal sermons: one of which meets us appropriately in the second, on Preaching the Gospel; the first and most awful subject of consideration to the Christian minister. In resolving this question, a very clear statement of Gospel-truth is propounded; after which the following negative series of illustrations is offered, which we shall give entire. "I shall proceed to shew what it is not to preach the Gospel. "We do not preach the Gospel,' if we represent man as in a state different "I. On the Condescension and Goodness of God to Man, from Psak viii. 4. II. Jacob and Esau, Gen. xxvii. 35. III. On Divine Grace and Human Agency, Phil. ii. 12, 13.-IV. The Hap piness of Heaven, Rev. xxi. 3-5. V. The Nature and Character of John the Baptist's Office and Preaching, as compared with those of the Apostles and Prophets, Matt. xi. 7-15.-VI. On the Nature and End of Life, James iv, 14.VII. Deficiency of the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, Matt. v. 20. VIII. Comparison of the Jewish and Christian Dispensations, Heb. xii. 22 24.-IX. On the Way of Acceptance with God, John xiv, 6.-X. On Instability in Religion, Gen. xlix. 4.-XI. The Knowledge of Sin necessary to Repentance, 1 John iii. 4.-XII. The Reasons why Men do not come to Christ, John v. 40.-XIII. On the Proper Ef fects of the Hope of Heaven, 2 Peter iii. 12.-XIV. Godliness profitable for all Things, 1 Tim. iv. 8.-XV. Meetness for Heaven, wherein it consists, Coloss. i. 12-16.-XVI. Walking in the Spirit, the Preservative from the Lusts of the Flesh, Gal. v. 16.-XVII. Regard to God, the great Preservative from Sin, Gen. xxxix. ix.-XVIII. The Work of Christ, Luke iv. 18, 19.-XIX. The Duty of Glorifying God, 1 Cor. x. 31.XX. Proofs and Reasons of the Suffer ings of the Son of God, Isa. liii. 3-6.XXI. On the Peace arising from Trust in God, Isa. xxvi. 3.-XXII. On Bearing the Cross, and following Christ, If we do not describe him as fallen and "Again: If, allowing the corrupt state "Further: If we so exalt the merit of any righteous acts which man can perform, as to suppose them sufficient to counterbalance his trangressions, and to render him acceptable in the sight of God; we do not preach the Gospel for thus also we make the cross of Christ of none effect. This was the error of the Jews: they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; for being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God.' 66 only an example to mankind, and not Again: If we represent Christ as as making atonement by his blood for the only begotten Son of God, who sin; as being a mere man, and not as came down from heaven to become our Redeemer; we do not preach the Our first set of extracts will be godliness-that is, of the GospelGospel. For great is the mystery of Luke xiv. 27.-XXIII. How to use the World so as not to abuse it, 1.Cor. vii. 29-31." 版 God was manifest in the flesh, seen of angels, received up into glory.” "In like manner, if we do not insist that the great end of Christ's coming in the flesh was to purchase to himself a holy people who should be zealous of good works, to enable them to escape the corruptions of the world, and make them partakers of a Divine nature; we do not preach the Gospel: for we overlook the very design of Christ in coming upon earth. "In a word, if we represent man as in no need of a Saviour, or if we ascribe to him the ability to deliver himself; if we leave Christ out of our view, or substitute any thing in the place of his meritorious death, perfect righteous. Bess, and prevailing intercession; or if we do not insist on the necessity of the sanctifying influence of the Spirit; we evidently do not preach the Gospel; we do not glorify Christ, or exalt his Spirit as we ought; we give false views of the state of man, and therefore fail in rightly preparing him for eternity," Vol. i. P pp. 19-21. In Sermon. IV. " on Good Works," the delicate task is under taken of reconciling St. James's second chapter with the Epistles of St. Paul. The discussion is very impartial, and, after Mr. Venn's usual method of exposition, takes a wide view of the whole chapter; and, we think, clears with admirable skill the doctrine of justification by faith from the difficulties arising from a partial view of this passage. The following remark on the 17th verse much struck us: faith, and I have works; shew me thy faith' (to which thou pretendest) with out thy works,' if thou art able. For my part, I will prove the superiority of that faith which thou despisest; because I will shew thee my faith by my works." "Thou believest that there is one God. Thon (in this) dost well;' but if this faith has no influence upon thy conduct, what is it more than the devils' possess? The devils believe' in the power of God, and their faith has some influence upon them; for they tremble.' Can thy pretended faith, which has less influence on thee than even that of the devils, save thee?" Vol. i. pp. 57, 58. We cannot but apprehend some error to have crept into this passage, which makes the first paragraph wholly unintelligible to us. The obscurity arises from no notice being given how far the objection of the "opposer" goes, or where the Apostle resumes. With the exception of this passage, we think the whole a luminous, convincing, and highly useful and important discussion of this much-controverted text of St. James. "What, then," he argues, "is the object of St. James? In producing this example of Abraham, did he wish to contradict the Old Testament;-to contradict it also in that part which was used as an important he mean to assert, in contradiction to bulwark of the Christain Church? Did Moses, that Abraham was not justified by faith, but by his works? If he did, why quote the very Scripture which makes "You do not condemn the quality of against him; and why speak of its being. Christian love, because a pretender to fulfilled, but upon the supposition that it will suffer his brother to starve; but the object of the Apostle, in the precedyou justly condemn the man, and denying verses, is what I have shewn it to be? that he possesses this love. Even so, when a man says he has faith, but has Do works to demonstrate it; you would not condemn faith, but this pretender to faith, and reprove him by saying, that faith without works is dead." Vol. i. p. 57. The next two paragraphs, we must own, are not quite so clear. "We now come to the eighteenth Verse. 'Yea, a man' (an opposer of the Christian faith, as a Jew, for instance) may say to such an empty pretender faith, Thou boastest that thou hast There he quotes the example of Abraham, as a case full in point, to strengthen the assertion just made, that a faith not productive of works is useless or dead, and therefore will not justify. On this supposition the example he produces is important, and the declaration of Scripeffect. Abraham was justified by faith. ture in harmony with it. It is to this But consider the character of his faith. Was it not so powerful and active.a principle, that, under the most trying circumstances, he stood ready to saerifice his child to God? Was he, therefore, justified, by a fruitless faith? Or by a faith which produced works? Seest Jewish dispensation. them; and that thus his faith was com pleted, was rendered perfect, by his works? Thus the Scripture was fulfilled which said, 'Abraham believed in God, and his faith was imputed to him for righteousness;'-and thus, on account of his faith, so manifested by works, he was called the friend of God, Vol. i. pp. 59, 60. Sermons VII. and VIII. contain admirable discussions of the great Mystery of Godliness, and the Trinity; as Sermons IX, and X. do of "the Types of the Old Testament," and "the Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian Dispensations." His mode of treating the doctrine of the Trinity reminds us much of the admirable sermon of Dean Swift's, on that subject; which, however, we presume to think, it surpasses in method and fulness, as well as felicity of illustration. In simplicity of style and clearness, as well as prudence in developing the most mysterious of doctrines, we are only willing to place them on the same level. In his discussions of the different dispensations, we clearly see the hand of a master. He had intimately studied them, and he descends to the very foundations of those Divine systems, with every light which reason or revelation affords for their inspection. Like the man seen by the prophet in vision, he seems to have measured the "height" and the "breadth," the parts," the " chambers," the very "ornaments" of the temple. We should willingly give extracts, but forbear. The temple will scarcely bear division: it must be viewed as a whole.-Our author's deep acquaintance with the Jewish econo my, has led to a very ingenious, and to us new, exposition, in the first of these four sermons, viz. on the Mystery of Godliness. He considers the passage in 1 Tim. iii. 14-16. to contain a lengthened, though obscure, allusion to the This idea, having thus taken possession of the mind of the Apostle, he continues, in his usual manner, to dwell upon it; institut ing a comparison or analogy between the presence of God formerly displayed, and the presence of Christ as vouch safed to the Christian church. In this parallel,however, from the usual rapidity of his ideas and conciseness of his man. ner, he leaves the points of resemblance to be in part supplied by the reader. Contemplating the similarity of the type and the antitype, he observes, and great, without controversy, is the mystery of godliness, or of the Christian dispensation. The mystery of the ap pearance of God in the pillar and cloud to the Jews, was confessedly great; but, says the Apostle, the mystery of his being manifested in the flesh, is without doubt great also. If, in the wilderness, God was justified, or his Divine presence, and his truth were vindicated, by miraculous signs; so, in the Christian church, Christ was justipretensions vindicated by the miracu fied,' or the truth and authority of his lous operations of the Spirit.-If, in the wilderness, the Divine prosence was beheld by angels,' who, on Sinai, attended the delivery of the Law, and who were represented as stooping over the ark, desiring to look into the things shadowed out by it; thus, in the new dispensation, Christ was the object of wonder and adoration to angels: he was host,' as he lay at his birth in a manger; seen by a multitude of the heavenly he was seen of angels,' when he was tempted in the wilderness; he was 'seen of angels,' whilst in agony in the gar den of Gethsemane; he was 6 seen of angels, while lying in the sepulchre, and when he rose from the dead and as ended into heaven. In the wilderness, God delivered the Law to the Jews to the Jew and Gentile also.-In the alone; but Christ 'preached' kis Gospel wilderness, only one nation believed in God, and even they continually gave way to unbelief; but the Gospel of Christ was preached throughout the world, and throughout the world was his name honoured-In the wilderness, the cloud, the visible symbol of the Divine presence, often mounted up towards heaven, the seat of the Most High; and, in like manner, Christ proved his inter course with Heaven, by being, in the presence of many witnesses, 'received ver us out of the hand of these mighty up into glory.'" Vol. i. pp. 105, 106. In the Second Volume, under the head of doctrine and doctrinal exposition, we shall confine ourselves to the mention of a most important sermon, the third, "on Divine Grace and Human Agency," and the ninth, eighteenth, and twentieth, on what may be truly called "the Doctrine of Christ." In this sermon, which is from Phil. ii. 12, 13. " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you, &c." Mr. V. does not labour so much to establish any particular views of doctrine founded on that text, as he does to shew the clearness with which the two comending doctrines of grace and free agency are revealed in Scripture." Without aiming to shew, that they do not clash, or to explain the precise way in which they are to be reconciled," he justly observes, "the sacred writers assert both......In like manner will every truly humble Christian, who acts rather than disputes, unite in his practice these two doctrines." "If either doctrine had been revealed in Scripture without the other, it is evident there would have been a set of duties on the part of man in some measure different from what are now required of him. If God, for instance, had merely proclaimed his own grace without issuing any commands to mankind, it would have been our duty to have used no efforts: our case would then have resembled that of the Israelites upon the banks of the Red Sea, when the injunction given to them was;--'Fear ye not: stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew you this day; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace-If, again, practical exhortations had been isued without any revelation of the grace of God, it would: have been our duty to encourage ourselves to exertion with such arguments, as the Philistines used when the ark of God was brought into the camp of Israel. And the Philistines were afraid. And they said, Woe unto us! who shall deliCHRIST. OBSERV, No. 157. Gods? Be strong, and quit yourselves like, men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Quit yourselves like men, and fight.' But, on the other hand--unite the two doctrines, and the sentiments and feelings of a Christian become like those of Hezekiah, when he gathered the captains of war together, and spake comfortably to them, saying; Be strong and courageous: be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of with him; for there are more with us Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is than with him: with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our bat tles." Vol. ii. pp. 33-35. After this he observes, with much depth of thought, that "if either doctrine be removed, not only the duties and graces are injured resulting from that, but those also which appear wholly derived from the other." The sermon is then devoted to shew how the doctrine of the grace of God tends to quicken, to direct, to humble us, to influence our gratitude and encourage our exertions in the path of life. On this last topic he ob serves: "When a person begins in sincerity to serve God, he will dwell chiefly upon the duties and powers of man; but when he has had much experience of his own heart, he will fix his attention and rest his hopes upon the grace of God. Nofor a time, to make him earnest to velty, terror, and hope, may combine, work out his salvation;' but soon these will cease to affect the mind. Then the only resource (but, blessed be God, it is both a sure and abiding resource) is in the grace of God. Here is the encouragement of a Christian. We labour, not from any high opinion of our own powers, but because we trust in that God who inspires us with desire, and whose grace and goodness are im measurably great, and who has promised not to forsake those who call upon him. Thus, with the Psalmist, when the Lord says, Seek ye my face,' our hearts reply, Thy face, Lord, will we seek?" Vol. ii. p. 43. 6 From the three sermons abovementioned, one on the Mediation of Christ, from Jolm xiv. 6; the other F |