ART. IX. SERMONS ON CHRISTIAN COMMUNION.*

THE reading of sermons seems to hold much the same relation to the hearing of them at church, that the solitary meal bears to the social. The spiritual, like the material food, partaken of in solitude, becomes comparatively insipid ; its zest and relish are gone; the keen enjoyment, the quickened sensibility, the refreshment and animation, that come from sympathy and social participation, are lost. The analogy holds with special strength in regard to sermons, because they are designed for social edification. To enjoy them fully, to comprehend their meaning and force, and have that meaning and force enter into our souls, they must be listened to with others; they must be preached to us, not read by us. The printed sermon, which we read in the closet, seldom, almost never, has the power, makes the strong impression, that the same sermon does or would, if heard with an assembled audience and all the surrounding influences and associations of public worship. To this source is to be traced the fact, that sermons are rarely the most attractive and interesting kind of religious reading, even to the devout and spirituallyminded; and that in the markets they are dreaded by booksellers as "a drug." However good a sermon may be, or however much it may have impressed us when delivered, we can seldom read it with the same interest, or derive from it the same improvement or satisfaction, that we received in listening to it.

These remarks have been suggested by the "Sermons on Christian Communion." To pronounce this volume a failure would be an unjust and sweeping criticism. On the other hand, to say that it is eminently successful, that its contents. correspond exactly with its title, that it fulfils all the expectations which its announcement excited, would be a declaration to which, probably, the feelings of no careful reader would permit him to subscribe. We fear that many who have read the book through in course, or the greater part of it, have laid it down with something like disappointment; not because it is not a good book, full of wisdom and truth, often earnestly and eloquently uttered, but because it does not an

* Sermons on Christian Communion, designed to promote the Growth of the Religious Affections. By LIVING MINISTERS. Edited by T. R. SULLIVAN. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1848. 12mo. pp. 391.

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swer their expectations, does not make the impression, does not produce the state of mind and heart, which they supposed it was intended and would have the power to produce.

When Mr. Sullivan first informed us of his plan, we thought most favorably of it, and gladly complied with his request to aid in its execution. That execution, as presented in the volume before us, shows either that we misconceived his plan, or that he subsequently modified and enlarged it. The title of the volume, in our judgment, will be likely to beget a similar misconception in the minds of others, -a misconception which his Preface will but slightly remove, and which will interfere with the effect of the sermons. "Christian Communion" suggests ideas as to the character of the discourses, which one does not find till more than half way through the book. We supposed that it was the purpose of the editor to make a collection of sermons relating almost exclusively, at least very directly, to the Christian rite of Communion,-to the Lord's Supper, and the topics closely kindred to that rite, suggested by it, growing out of it, so arranged, as that these topics should be treated of in their proper order and logical connection with each other, and thus the volume have the excellence of a systematic completeness, with the life and power of various minds possessing various gifts and talents. We supposed that it would begin with some sermon or sermons setting forth the general value and importance of religious forms and rites, their necessity even in the most spiritual religion, that is to be administered to men and impressed upon the human heart and conscience; that the simple and beautiful commemorative rite, which is so seldom observed with that loving spirit which our Saviour meant should characterize it, would then be brought into view, its obligation enforced, its nature, design, efficacy, and influence unfolded, its connection with the life and character, the death and resurrection, of Christ illustrated, in several sermons in which these topics would be variously handled, and presented in forms adapted alike to instruct the understanding, invigorate the conscience, and move the heart. This, we supposed, would be the most interesting and valuable portion of the volume. Here we expected to find the relation of Christ's sufferings to human salvation, the attractive and reconciling power of his cross, the depth and persuasive disinterestedness of his love as exhibited in his life, as well as in his death, the connection between his life and

his death and between his death and his resurrection, and the influence of all these in producing that spiritual renovation of the soul which it is the purpose of his Gospel to effect, these great themes, so closely connected with the commemorative rite, we expected to find treated of in various ways, with varied power, but with a clearness, force, and earnestness that it would be difficult to resist. We supposed that then would follow discourses rebuking the neglect and exciting to the observance of the appointed ordinance of commemoration, setting forth the weakness of the excuses for the one, and urging the commanding motives that prompt to the other. Lastly, we supposed the volume would close with sermons on the duties involved in the observance of the Communion as a means of spiritual life and progress, and illustrating the operation of the spirit of Christian love, sympathy, and fellowship, the various ways in which they who are members of one body in Christ might "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Thus we supposed a work would be produced that would have a general unity, though its parts were the contributions of many minds, a work specially designed and adapted to direct attention to "the Communion," to strengthen our churches by adding to the number and invigorating the spiritual life of their members.

We are aware that it would have been attended with difficulty and labor to have prepared such a volume by contributions from different minds. It might have been done, however, by a more specific understanding with each contributor as to the character of the sermon he was desired to furnish, and the precise point it was expected to unfold and enforce. In this way, some approximation to a volume such as we have described might have been made; at least a nearer approach to it than in the "Sermons on Christian Communion," which might with equal propriety, it seems to us, have been entitled "Sermons on Christianity," or "Miscellaneous Sermons." A large part of its contents have no particular connection, direct or indirect, with Christian communion, whether the word communion be understood as denoting the specific act of commemoration, the eating of bread and tasting of wine in remembrance of Christ, which in Apostolic phraseology is sometimes called "communion" (xowovia), or as signifying the more general "communion of Saints," the love, sympathy, fellowship, the union of

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heart and spirit, which should mark all Christian believers as one body in Christ. They are sermons on Christian truth and duty in general, on the Gospel in its varied applications to the burdens, cares, responsibilities, joys, and sorrows of life, -all of them good, many of them very beautiful, eloquent, impressive, none of them to be read without pleasure and profit; but they are not sermons on Christian communion especially; and when we close the book and look within, we find a void which the perusal has not filled, a want which it has not satisfied. We do not feel that we have been communing intimately with Jesus, sitting at his feet and learning of him who was "meek and lowly in heart." Our hearts do not "burn within as they should at the remembrance of Christ. They are not stirred with those deep and unutterable emotions which should crowd upon the soul, awakening love, reverence, gratitude, humility, penitence, faith, hope, peace, at the recollection of God's mercy and Christ's love, as exhibited in the Gospel.

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We have spoken of the volume as a whole, and of the impression it makes when read as a whole, keeping in view its title and purpose, "Sermons on Christian Communion, designed to promote the Growth of the Religious Affections." In this aspect of it, we are somewhat disappointed at its character and contents.

Turning from the compilation as a whole, or as possessing any supposed pervading unity of purpose, and regarding it merely as a miscellaneous collection of sermons, a specimen of the present Unitarian pulpit, it is full of interest, and suggests many thoughts, of which our limits will permit only a brief statement.

We suppose the volume may be regarded as a fair specimen of the average preaching in our denomination. It does not contain one of the best nor one of the poorest sermons of its several contributors ; not one of the best, because the writer would be unwilling to spare it; nor one of the poorest, because he would be unwilling to publish it ; — but one of his usual, average sermons, one that he was willing to spare and not unwilling to publish. And in some respects, certainly, we are not indisposed to have the power of the Unitarian pulpit, and the character of its services, judged of by this specimen. It presents gratifying evidence of the large measure of individuality and independence that prevail among our clergy. An independent spirit, a clear courage,

an earnest and untrammelled utterance of individual convictions, is an essential element of usefulness in the pulpit. By an independent and courageous spirit we do not mean an inconsiderate and undiscriminating spirit, which utterly disregards times and seasons, circumstances and conditions. The truth of God is, indeed, always one, yet the character and circumstances of those to whom it is addressed are immensely varied; and although the same truths belong to all, there must be a diversity in their treatment and presentation. What is daily bread, full of nourishment and comfort to the advanced Christian, would be neither intelligible nor digestible by the young and the weak. So various are men's tastes and circumstances, so differently does the same truth affect different minds, and even the same minds at different times, that it is a difficult matter rightly to "divide the word," and so illustrate and apply it as to give to every one his "meat in due season."

It is because there is this difficulty, this diversity of circumstances, and the consequent necessity of a diversity of means and modes of action, that every minister should be independent, guided by his own judgment, acting out and speaking out in his own sphere and place his own convictions of truth and duty. He must show that he has life in himself, and is not a machine in the hands of others. In his selection of topics, in his style of preaching and illustration, in the modes of operation and influence by which he strives to make his ministry effectual, he must not fashion himself after the model of others; he must not inconsiderately oppose, nor unwisely and unhesitatingly follow, any popular current; he must not suffer himself to be seduced by the flatteries, nor awed by the threats, of any man or body of men. He may not, and he need not, act upon the assumption of his own infallibility. He may and should keep his mind open to all suggestions, influences, considerations, that come from without, that come from others. But he may and should act upon the assumption, that his own judgment of his own. duty is likely to be his best guide, and that what he thinks and feels and his conscience bids him utter as God's truth and man's duty, that he must speak, fearlessly and frankly, though the whole world be up in arms against him. He is unworthy to be called a man, and unfit to be a minister, if he do not thus speak and act. His object is not to gather a mob, to sway a company of unreflecting persons who blindly