members of the household of faith, are forbidden to live always here What charms can the music and the poetry of the earth have for beings invited to hear the hymns and the harps of heaven? What comparison can be made between the tenderest friendship which entwines one human heart with another, and "the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge;" or between the accumulation of all which mortals, formed into one vast confederacy on your behalf, can bestow, and the everlasting vision of " Him who is able to do exceeding abun dantly above all that we ask or think?" You may easily dispense with terrestrial riches, dignities, and indulgences, when the great inhabitant of eternity says, "Come up hither." And with your last breathings, you may bid a calm farewell to the saints that weep in your chamber-those kindred spirits whom you will soon rejoin above; and it will be yours to welcome the roaring of the floods and the tempests which shall but hurry you forward into "glory, honour, and immortality." pp. 30, 31.

Mr. Cunningham's Sermon, although of a rather more decidedly political complexion, is of an impressive and useful character, and not unworthy of the Author's high reputation. His loyalty, however, in some passages carries him to the very confines of poetry. Speaking of the decease of the King, be says: There is scarcely any man who does not feel that a void is created in his own heart, which he cannot easily fill.' Although warned of the event by a succession of sad circumstances, yet, he adds, we were still unprepared for it.'

We part with the sovereign of our hearts, and the friend of our youth reluctantly; and, even in his upward flight, like the prophet watching the ascent of his brother prophet, we cannot resist exclaiming, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!"

We will not say any thing more of this accommodation of Scripture, than that it is in bad taste. The Preacher proceeds to offer some observations, (1) on the personal character of our deceased sovereign; (2) on the influence of his character on the moral state of the country; and (3) on the duties connected with the present crisis.

Mr. Cunningham justly remarks that few British sovereigns ever engaged so large a share of the affections of the people as his late Majesty, and he attributes this popularity to the circumstance of his possessing a character so essentially and minutely British. He was, in the first place, eminently simple in his pursuits; he was conspicuous for his sincerity, for his constancy and fidelity to his friends, and not less so for personal decision and magnanimity; he was in the highest degree domestic in his character; and, with regard to the moral qualities of his mind, deeply conscientious, and a man of scriptural, habitual, 'practical piety.'

With regard to the conscientiousness of our venerable sovoreign, Mr. Cuvningham is fully borne out in the strongest language he employs.

• He is well known, for instance, to have declared with regard to certain political concessions demanded of him, that “ he would rather lay his head on the block, than concede that which he con. ceived himself bound by his oath to his country to refuse.” And on the spirit of this splendid declaration, he appears habitually to have acted. Where is the solitary instance in which he sacrificed conscience to interest, to terror, or to persuasion ? When did he trifle with his oath to God, or his pledges to the country? Politicians may differ as to the decisions to which his conscience conducted him; but none are rash or wicked enough to charge him with evasion with a spirit of compromise ---with a surrender of right to expedience-with giving his conscience into the keeping of his interestwith endeavouring to twist the straight letter of the word of God, or the stubborn maxims of common equity into all the crooks and windings of state policy.' p. 13.

Under the second division of his subject, Mr. Cunningham introduces the following gratulatory reference to the progress which has been made in the moral feelings and energies of the iniddle and lower classes. Whether he quite makes out his point as to this advancement being mainly attributable to the example and influence of our late Sovereign,' next to the grace

and power of the Holy Spirit,' we will not too nicely scrutinize, lest we should seem to be insensible to the bigh importance of his exemplary privale character, which we are far from undervaluing. We are glad to receive from Mr. Cunningham such a testimony to the improved disposition of the poor.

I shall next direct your attention to the middle classes of society. The existence of a large body of individuals, occupying a central point between the extreme ranks of society, is one of the valuoble peculiarities in our national condition. And the moral state of the country is in a great degree determined by the condition of this particular body. But it may be confidently affirmed, that at no period did this class comprehend as large a number of devout, intelligent, and benevolent men, as at the present moment. It is by this class of individuals that our churches are filled, that our charitable institutions are chiefly managed, that those funds are mainly sustained. There is also this new feature in the moral state of the nation : Formerly, if some wise or benevolent individual projected a scheme for improving the religious or moral condition of society, it perished, with its projector, for want of some atmosphere in the nation at large suited to its development. Now, the inventor of any such scheme finds his agents ' and abettors every where-ample funds at his disposal ; and the pube lic mind almost anticipating his most sanguine desires. The recent reform in Newgate and other prisons, if it owe much to the distinguished individuals who projecied it, stands also deeply indebted to general sympathy, to a concurrent feeling in the great mass of the

people, to that enger spirit of philanthropy which characterizes the improved period in which we live. No fact can more decisively mark the progress of national character.

• Nor have the poor of our country fallen behind in the race of general improvement. I am not speaking as though crime were extinct, or as though a real and deep feeling of religion generally prerailed. But our schools and our places of worship are more crowded; and the haunts of profligacy are less frequented. And, if the pressure of the last few years, by throwing a large number of individuals out of em. ployment, has increased for a time the number of petty offences; if the devilish arts of popular demagogues has succeeded in seducing a few from the banner of sound religion and loyalty, yet the number of ferocious crimes has considerably diminished, sin has assumed a less hideous form, and the great mass of the community has never, pero haps, been so strongly impregnated with a spirit of genuine religion as at the present moment. God has given the word, and great is the number of those who proclaim the principles of truth : vast also is the multitude who welcome the “glad tidings,” who bring their sins and their sorrows to the cross of a compassionate Redeemer, and who, consecrated to his holy happy service, break from the bondage of corruption, and rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free. The progress of religion and of morals among the poor, within the last half century, is, I believe, a matter of astonishment and gratitude to those, who, by their age and circumstances, have been best able to measure it. Religion has stretched the cords and widened the stakes of her tent. And, struck with the unusual progress, not a few ardent spirits are tempted to conceive that the pledges of prophecy are about instantly to be fulfilled, and her golden visions realized and that soon this worn-out world shall be swept away, and that “ new heaven and new earth” created, “ wherein dwelleth righteousness.” It is sufficient for the calmer observer to watch the present advancement with delight and gratitude to the Great Author of it, without venturing to predict any thing as to the future.'

pp. 20–93.

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