the heart, and in this way lead it to religion. But, if you do not also employ your reason, you may be induced to consider that observance as a sufficient pretext for begging or borrowing the outlay it involves; nay, you might even thus find an excuse for dishonesty, when, in fact, it would be better even to make the day of the festival a day of work for honest maintenance, than thus render religion a pretext for a recourse to fraud. In short, if you do not employ these means according to reason, error cannot be avoided, and you will lose much more than you appear to gain. (Isaiah i. and lviii.) Do not place too high a value on such aids to virtue; they are the means and not the end. There ever were, and are yet, many individuals in Israel, who imagine themselves to be pious and better than the rest, because they observe a vast number of ceremonies, whose whole meaning has long been forgotten; because they keep many fast days, utter many prayers, read much and often in the sacred writings, as if the dead letter could open heaven to them. And these things are held to be religion, while religion itself is disregarded. O, it is a grievous disease, from which ye suffer much, ye children of my people! Thence there arise so many pretended saints, who form such imperfect and pernicious conceptions of a godly life, which consists really in the most exact fulfilment of our duties. Thence the ridiculous blindness, with which so many look down with contempt on such as think differently and more justly. Pride is concealed beneath their tatters. Thence the blind zeal with which they oppose all institutions that agree not with their ideas. Thence it is that important objects are neglected, because they are occupied with minor matters. They have written those words on the hand, the brow, the door-posts, 'Love the Lord, serve him with all your heart, worship not idols, dedicate your children to virtue;' but they are but lifeless tokens, they sustain not life in life, dead letters and words they remain. O deluded ones! they hope to be healed, merely because they read the prescription of their physician, and frequently comprehend not the language in which that prescription is written. No! to over-value these means is just as sinful as to neglect their use altogether, and perhaps more so, because we may at last persuade ourselves that they are in themselves religion, whereas they can only lead man to religion."

We do not know when we have been more edified and delighted, than by the perusal of these high-toned and elegant. Discourses of the Hamburgh Israelitish Pastor. They do not exhibit the vehemence and impassioned eloquence of the French prelates of the time of Louis XIV., but they have all the unction and earnestness displayed by the best German divines of that and a subsequent era. We are strongly reminded, when reading them, of Zollikoffer. There is the same earnest tone of expostulation, as in the discourses of that distinguished divine, the same masculine good sense, the same indifference to formality, the same respect for heart worship, and equal devotional feeling, clothed in a style of

even greater power, freedom and beauty. In his deep and thrilling tones, we almost seem to hear another Moses speaking to the world, and announcing the everlasting truths of religion in the spirit of the ancient prophet, and in language scarcely less sublime and moving. We are glad, inasmuch as the Reformed Israelites have determined to introduce pulpit exercises into their forms of worship, that they have so perfect a model of pulpit oratory as these Discourses furnish to the Jewish student of theology,-nor can we envy the feelings of the Christian, who can rise up from the perusal of them without an increased respect for those great truths of religion which they so powerfully and eloquently enforce.

In conclusion we would remark, that the eyes and ears of Christendom are open to the movements of the Reformed Israelites, in all parts of the world. The tie that connects Jew and Christian is very intimate, although it may not have been, in times past, of the most tender and endearing character. The Founder of the Christian Religion was by birth a Jew. So were his Apostles Jews. Judaism-that of the Old Testament-receives its full development in Christianity. They both form parts of one and the same system, though the connecting links are not recognized by the Jew, nor, perhaps, as fully understood, as they some day will be, by the Christian. The enlightened Israelite, witnessing the sad corruptions into which primitive Judaism has run, insists upon Reform. Probably the Christian world stands equally in need of it at present;-probably the vaunted triumphs of Christianity during the Reformation of the sixteenth century, were only the first important steps in a still greater revolution that the world is yet to witness. Will any one who reflects for a moment on the bitter wars of churchmen, and the mischievous quarrels of the numberless sects into which Christendom is divided, venture to assert, that Christendom is not corrupt,-foully so,-and that a miserable and fatal disease-the disease of party spirit, engendering the worst and basest of passions, is not at this moment preying upon her vitals and mingling the springs of life with a deadly poison? The Jews are to have their golden age. They are all some day to take down their harps from the willows, and chaunt the song of God in a new Jerusalem. But when?— where? Now-every where--if it so please God, and they are so disposed themselves. Religion is the same immutable

principle in every age, and among all nations-true religion, we mean. What is it? Opinion, certainly,—or rather principle, but less opinion than feeling, less feeling than practice, in which the opinion should be sound, the feeling kind and correct, and the practice good. If Judaism, rightly understood,-if the moral law, properly interpreted, be love to God and love to the human race, imbuing and controlling the thoughts, feelings, motives, actions and lives. of individuals, Christianity, we hope, is nothing less, for if it be, it is worthless, since these two elements comprise the sum and substance of religion, whether it be called by one name or by another. It is idle to look for any improvement or any reform, where these principles are not fully recog nized and acted upon. They are the golden links that are yet to bind all the nations of the earth and all the tribes of men together. Then will there be one kingdom, of which God alone shall be sovereign,--and one brotherhood, of which all good men shall be members! The theocracy of the Jews, which, in an evil hour, they abandoned, will then be restored, not for them alone, but for the race of mankind, a thing at which, in our folly, we now smile; and it will then at length be discovered, after ages of pride, usurpation and misrule, that men are not fit to govern men, or even to govern themselves, without the intervention of a higher and controlling Power, which is to be constantly exerted, and perpetually acknowledged with deep homage and reverential awe.

ART. III.-AMERICAN ORATORY.

1. Speeches of John C. Calhoun. Delivered in the Congress of the United States, from 1811 to the present time. New-York: Harper & Brothers, 82 Cliff-street. 1843. 2. The Life and Speeches of Henry Clay. 2 vols. NewYork: Greely & McElrath, Tribune Buildings. 1843.

AN opportunity has been afforded the reading portion of the people of the United States, in the publication of the works prefixed to this article, of becoming acquainted with the public lives of two of the most distinguished statesmen of their age and country. Justly celebrated as they are, by common consent, above most of those who are with them on the stage of life, these volumes tell the tale of their history in a way that is both instructive and authentic. Each narrates his own story,-each is the witness and advocate in his own case. If, therefore, the proof be wanting, or the argument fecble, the conclusions that are fairly drawn are just results, and even the parties to be affected have no right to complain. These volumes, also, have the undoubted and most desirable quality of being considered accurate on every question that can arise of a public nature, in relation to these distinguished men. Biography, although the most delightful mode in which information can be communicated, is too often affected by the passions and prejudices of the writer, to come to us with the strong recommendation it should possess. And the zeal of friendship, the selfishness of enmity, or some other circumstance, too often makes it the distorted medium through which we contemplate the passion of the writer, and not the character of the subject. From all these objections, the materials before us are free. The parties have spoken for themselves, and out of their own mouths, if there is conviction, will it be rendered.

Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun have now passed through life's most eventful scenes. Each, endowed with mental gifts of the highest order, has found, in the circumstances of his own times, a wide sea on which to launch the bark of enterprize; and, in the affections of a large portion of their countrymen, a gale that has wafted that bark to a haven of high renown. Neither found, in birth, the adventitious aid which so often calls on the descendant of an illustrious sire to perpetuate, but not to create, the character that consecrates his VOL. V.-No. 10.

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name. Each sprung from an origin, respectable though humble. The one by birth was entitled to a small patrimony, the other had not even this advantage. Each studied law, intending to pursue it as the means of livelihood. Each has found in it a system of logic, admirable in the advantages it has afforded. The one soon relinquished its active duties for the more noisy contest of a legislative hall; the other has, to this day, bowed an obedient head to the call of his first and favoring mistress, and has obtained a name as imperishable in the Forum, as in the wider theatre of the Senate Chamber of this country. On some few occasions they have been united, and then the result of such an union of strength could only be in triumphant victory. But, throughout a long life, they have found in each other worthy foemen, and allowing to both the merit of honesty in the opinions they have formed, we may yet conclude that the natural jealousy which is implanted in the bosom of man, has made each look to the other, as a rival to be overcome; and contemplate the glory of that conquest, as the highest reward of the most lofty ambition.

Each is identified with some of the most prominent and useful acts of legislation, that are recorded in the statute book of the land. Nor is it only in matters of public utility, where the proposer could be secure in looking to the immediate support of the people, that these distinguished men have alone been concerned. Each has given evidence of a higher devotion on more than one occasion; each has risen superior to the narrow calculations which limit and confine the sphere of action, and exhibited a willing and high zeal in the cause of the public good, that emulates the brightest stories of Grecian patriotism or Roman firmness. Rome, in her palmiest day, has no brighter instance of chivalrous devotion, than is found in the opposition of Mr. Calhoun to the progress of imperial sway under the rule of President Jackson, in the early contest with his Cabinet; and the disgraceful scenes which marked that period of politico-domestic history. And illustriously as his patriotism shone forth on that occasion, it pales before the more noble and high purpose with which, throwing aside all considerations of private gain, in the war of Nullification, he made his duty superior to his place, and, like the far-famed soldier of a former day, stood exposed to the fire of a whole army, sooner than be secure, where the faintest tinge of dishonor would attach