original rights to the clergy. It was not till the reign of Queen Anne, that any decisive steps were taken, even to mitigate the hardships under which they laboured. The fund which she established, increased by some private donations, and by some late liberal parliamentary grants, for the augmentation of poor livings, is all which has hitherto been done, in reduction of the spoliation which they suffered at the dissolution of the monasteries. And the melancholy conclusion from the whole is, that notwithstanding the salutary operation of this fund,

"The accomplishment of that most desirable object, that every clergyman should have an income, not only competent to the maintenance of himself and family, but such as might enable him to make a decent provision for his wife and children, and to leave them at his decease above the reach of want, is as yet far distant."

Whether this state of things be absolutely inevitable in a country which is able, if necessary, to spend one hundred millions of money in a single year of warfare, we leave to the consideration of all those whom it may concern to think about it.

We will now redeem our promise of saying a few words upon another topic, which we presume gave occasion for the republishing of this interesting pamphlet. We allude to the complaints which are so frequently made of the hardships of tithes, and of the immoderate value of certain ecclesiastical preferments: now, premising our wish that the clergy should do all in their power, consistently with their duty to their families, to live upon the best terms with their parishioners, and our belief that in general they do so we must say broadly, that both these complaints are absolutely groundless. Whatever may be the value of tithes, or rectories, or bishoprics, the title to them is at least as good as that of the king to his crown, or of the landlord to his estate: namely, the ancient and indisputable law of the land. But we will go much farther, and contend, that if it were to be done again, no valid objection could be raised against it. For, even putting for a moment religion out of the question, let us suppose, that this country were a country for the first time about to be settled, and the lands about to be distributed in the manner the best adapted to the public good; would it be preferable that the whole should be given to certain individuals and their descendants for ever, upon the condition of military service, or of no service whatever; or that a portion of them, or a certain interest in them, should be set apart as the reward of civil services; such as residence upon them, the instruction of the people in morality, and the affording them examples of good conduct: and these to be life interests merely,

and open to the acquisition by turns of almost every family in the kingdom. Can any man maintain that this would be an unwise, or an inequitable order of things? And if not, how much stronger is the case of the clergy! who can plead a divine origin for their rights, confirmed by almost universal practice wherever history can reach; who hold their life-estates not merely by such civil services as have been mentioned, important as they would be; but upon the maintenance and the diffusion of an holy and pure religion, upon which depends the welfare of society here, and the eternal condition of every individual hereafter.

We are happy to be able to confirm this opinion, by that of so able and competent a judge as the late Mr. Burke. He is speaking, it is true, of the French clergy; but that can make no difference whatever in the argument.

"With regard to the estates, possessed by bishops, and canons, and commendatory abbots, I cannot find out for what reason some landed estates may not be held otherwise than by inheritance. Can any philo. sophic spoiler undertake to demonstrate the positive or the comparative evil, of having a certain, and that too a large portion of landed property, passing in succession through persons whose title to it is, always in theory, and often in fact, an eminent degree of piety, morals, and learning; a property which, by its destination in their turn, and on the score of merit, gives to the noblest families renovation and support, to the lowest the means of dignity and elevation; a property, the tenure of which is the performance of some duty, (whatever value you may choose to set on that duty,) and the character of whose proprietors demands at least an exterior decorum and gravity of manners; who are to exercise a generous but temperate hospitality; part of whose income they are to consider as a trust for charity; and who, even when they fail in their trust, when they slide from their character, and degenerate into a mere common secular nobleman or gentleman, are in no respect worse than those who may succeed them in their forfeited possessions? Is it better that estates should be held by those who have no duty than by those who have one?-by those whose character and destination point to virtues, than by those who have no rule and direction in the expenditure of their estates, but their own will and appetite? Nor are these estates held altogether in the character or with the evils supposed inherent in mortmain. They pass from hand to hand with a more rapid circulation than any other. No excess is good; and therefore too great a proportion of landed property may be held officially for life; but it does not seem to me of material injury to any commonwealth, that there should exist some estates that have a chance of being acquired by other means than the previous acquisition of money*."

Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. P. 216.

. When these observations are satisfactorily answered, then, and not till then, we shall think the case of the landed proprietor, or the lay impropriator, better than that of the clerical incumbent; and admit, that tithes are a greater hardship than rents.

Sermons on the Principal Events and Truths of Redemption. To which are annexed, an Address and Dissertation on the State of the Departed, and the Descent into Hell. By JOHN HENRY HOBART, D.D. Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the State of New York, Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pulpit Eloquence in the General Theological Seminary, and Rector of Trinity Church, and St. Paul's and St. John's Chapels, in the City of New York. 2 vols. 8vo. 17. 1s. Rivingtons. 1824.

THESE sermons are published under circumstances calculated to excite a lively interest, and, perhaps, a little jealous curiosity. They are the work of an American Protestant Bishop, of a Bishop laboriously performing the duties of a Parish Priest, of a Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pulpit Eloquence, of a minister of Christ eminent for his active and successful exertions in the service of the church, and lastly of a stranger, compelled for the recovery of his health, to leave his own shores, and received as a welcome guest on ours.

Much as we have been indebted in this country, to the bench of Bishops, from the time of the Reformation to the present day, for able assistance in various branches of theology; yet we have not had many Prelates, since Taylor and Tillotson, who have paid especial attention to the oratory of the pulpit; and, per haps, not any who have pursued it as a distinct object in sacred. science. When Bishop Hobart, therefore, presents himself to English divines as the " Professor of Pulpit Eloquence," in the general seminary in which the Episcopalian Clergy of America are chiefly educated, he must be aware that he subjects himself to a rigorous scrutiny. The question which naturally enough suggests itself on first opening the Bishop's book is this: will the decided superiority of these sermons justify us in regretting: that we have not, on this side of the Atlantic, adopted the measure of our younger sister on the other side, and required the regular training of a professor of pulpit eloquence to qualify our candidates for their admission into Holy orders? And this is a fair question: for he who is publicly recognized as a teacher in

any particular line, may justly be expected to give proof of his own competency in it. And if he be found deficient, little be nefit can be expected from his instructions. Still we must admit that our amour propre, not to say our prejudices and attachment to old habits, is against our coming to a decision which must in some degree condemn ourselves. We are scarcely, it may be said, impartial judges in this case; though few among us, we think, would be hardy enough to deny that there is room for improvement in the mode of preaching generally deemed sufficient by the English clergy; and that considerable benefit might accrue both to the ministers and to the laity of the Established Church if unexceptionable means could be found to encourage the cultivation of sacred oratory. But on this wide field of speculation we cannot at present enter: our object is rather to exhibit, in the small space at our disposal, as clear a view as we can of the spiritual and impressive manner in which Bishop Hobart addresses his flock when in the exercise of his ministerial functions, and to shew, by enumerating the subjects and sometimes by concentrating the substance of his discourses, how undeservedly an imputation has been cast upon him of neglecting the distinguishing doctrines and most sublime topics of Christianity.

Considering these sermons not as put forth ex cathedrâ, or as finished specimens of rhetoric, or as a work de ratione concionandi, but simply as a selection from a much greater number delivered to a mixed congregation, we shall not go minutely into a consideration of their merit or demerit as compositions, though the balance would be largely in favour of their Author. It is but bare justice, however, to say, that there is a cordiality as well as a freshness and a vigour about them, which is singularly engaging, and indeed rivets the attention of the reader who desires to be improved. We should be extremely gratified if Bishop Hobart would give us an opportunity of discussing the subject of pulpit eloquence more at large, and of comparing what he would deliver as a model for the young divines whose style he is to form, with the received canons of the art of rhetoric, and with the pro-, ductions of the most eminent preachers in our own and other churches. He will feel assured that in offering this challenge, as we do with the most sincere respect for his truly estimable character and well earned ecclesiastical rank, we have no end in view but one which he has not less at heart than ourselves, the promotion of every sort of knowledge which may augment the credit and extend the usefulness of the clergy, in the two closely allied churches to which we severally belong.

In the volumes, of which we are now to give some account, the

superstructure of Christian morals is wisely built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; and the chief truths of Christianity are successively brought under notice and satisfactorily discussed in the course of sermons connected with the several services of the Church between Advent and Trinity Sundays.

The first volume opens with an Advent sermon from the text, "The day is at hand:" the subject is that of our Lord's first and second coming;-in the mode of treating which nothing remarkable occurs to be noted. The style of this sermon is somewhat abrupt and not so pleasing on account partly of the too frequent repetition of the text, as many of the other discourses. It labours, more evidently, under the disadvantage of having been intended to be heard rather than to be read. The following quotation will illustrate our meaning. Speaking of the second Advent of the Son of God, the Bishop says,

"Yes, it will be the day, when the trump of the Archangel shall pronounce, time shall be no longer; when the Son of Man shall descend from Heaven with the glory of his Father and the Holy Angels: thousand thousands standing before him, and ten thousand times ten thousand ministering unto him, the heavens pass away, the elements melt, the earth reels to and fro amidst the burning flame, the Son of Man takes the judgment seat, he opens the books, wakes the sleeping nations, summons the living world, every heart is laid open, every secret thing brought to light, and the sentence pronounced, happiness, or woe; happiness unspeakable, woe intolerable; happiness eternal, woe that never ends."

In the following discourse the uncertainty of the time of our Lord's coming, regarded as the summons of death to each individual, is more particularly dwelt upon; and thence is urged the folly of being occupied solely with the pursuits of this transitory life, as well as the necessity of immediate attention to the concerns of eternity, and the importance of diligence, zeal, and fidelity, in the service of Christianity whilst we have the light, lest darkness come upon us wherein no man can work.

As a beautiful specimen of a very different style from that of the last extract, we cannot help transcribing this one passage.

"It is this uncertainty, my brethren, of the period when death will arrest us, which, in the most forcible manner, admonishes us of the folly of a supreme devotion to the things of the world. Against his approach we can present no barrier. Riches cannot purchase, from this inexorable tyrant, a moment's respite. The sceptre that rules the empire of the world cannot awe the destroyer of our race. Pleasure cannot divert from his purpose the spoiler of human joys.

Liable