of which it is necessary all those who may be induced to read them (and we trust there will be many) should be aware, which is, that he uses his words in their true and derivative sense, not in their loose and conventional sense. This gives at first, to superficial readers, an impression of obscurity; which arises simply from their being too indolent to annex accurate ideas to particular terms. But the extreme accuracy of his language, and the mathematical precision of his style, is not to be surpassed, and in some instances we doubt if it has been ever equalled; a beauty which is perceived by the reader in exact proportion as he is able to comprehend the idea which is intended to be expressed. His talent for pursuing the thread of an argument through every maze and intricacy of his subject is perfectly unrivalled. Collateral topics are noticed as they occur, and disposed of to the right hand and to the left, without ever allowing them to obstruct the point to which his observations are tending, or to seduce him into a discursive episode foreign to the main object which he has before him. Sometimes, where the subject admits of it, without departing from his characteristic accuracy, his sentences flow in the most harmonious rhythm and commanding energy. We subjoin, as a specimen, the conclusion of his letter to the Town-clerk of Leicester, in defence of his Sermon entitled "Cæsar and God," concerning which he had been maligned.

I must request you then, sir, to be my interpreter to your venerable body. I can trust you for the fidelity with which you will convey my meaning, nothing robbed of the affection with which it is both uttered and conceived. I believe you 'to be one of those who think of me as entertaining a solid and principled regard for the community of which the Great King has made me his under-shepherd; which, though not breathing ⚫ itself in frequent or unmeasured profession, is yet strong enough "to" endure hardness," if it might thereby add a single jot to 'their well-being or well-doing You do not doubt, sir, that the 'same disposition actuates me in the important relation which I 'sustain, as the stated theological instructor of our provincial Cæsar. Sir, I count it no light thing when I open the spring ' of benediction, of which my Master has committed to me the 'key; I bless in his name: and I venture to charge you, sir, 'with a message of blessing to the assembly of which you are 'at once the counsellor, the minister, and the organ....... Tell them, sir, that as their angel I am charged to warn them of 'continued conflicts: they live in the era of Judgment; Who ' has exhausted many of her plagues, but has a vial yet to pour. Tell them to be afraid for their country, for their town, for their own household. Tell them, that as their angel I am charged to warn them of their obligations. Every member of

his Cæsar is one from whom the Lord, THE THIEF, expecteth "much, because one to whom he hath committed much. Tell them then, that, as their angel, I stretch out my hands towards 'the poor, whom they have never forgotten, and say, Remember "them still! Tell them, that, as their angel, I look down upon 'their streets, and say, Does the harlot still linger here? I look 'narrowly into their houses of entertainment, and say, Banish 'all lewd sports, all riot, all excess, all profane words hence let not that which ought to be only the stranger's resting-place, become the native's snare and pest! I look at their theatres, their 'horsecourses, and their masques; and say, Must these things 'be? Tell them, that, as their angel, I have an eye especially upon 'their temples; and say, Are these honoured? Is the due differ'ence made between the tolerated and the authorized? Cæsar 'knows no foundation but that of Apostles and Prophets, on 'which he is himself built; and knows where that foundation is 'alone to be found. He honours conscience, though he may often wish she were better informed: but conscience asks only licence 'to speak, and not to speak. He gives not what she asks not; 'much less what a pretender asks in her name. Tenacious of the FORM of truth for its own sake, and for the substance' sake 'which it covers and protects, his countenance is exclusive. And 'O tell them, sir, that, as their angel, I desire evermore to lead them into the very centre of the centre of that substance, that 'they may be immersed in God, and may know whom they be'lieve. Tell them, that, as their angel, I point my finger with 'tenfold energy to their schools. Not every neat and trim building is a Christian pedagogue; not every phalanx of de'cently attired children is a seed-bed of Christ. Teil them 'therefore, that, as their angel, I require them to ascertain the 'doctrine in which the children they educate are trained up: 'whether they be taught God, the Bible's God, the God and 'Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," in the mouth of their way: " and whether they be taught this God sufficiently. Tell them, I know that the Church teaches Him to her children, in her ' ordinances and in her Book of Common Prayer, in her bap'tismal office, in her confirmation office, in her Catechism, in her ' communion office, in her every day's and Lord's-day's services: 'she has forms of sound instruction, she has superintendants of sound instruction, she has seasons and places of sound instruction. Tell them, sir, that this is EDUCATION: what THE MASTER requires every parent to give to his child, either by his own teachings, or, if that be impossible, by those of others. Tell them, that it is theirs especially to look at those others; whether it be a grammar-school, of which they are the con⚫stituted guardian; or a mere writing school. Tell them, that the danger is not lest children should be taught too much;

'but lest, under the name and with the smattering of some instruction, they receive what is as inefficient, and even more 'injurious than none. Tell them, then, that their angel says, Watch! be not led away by sounds! know what you are going to teach! assure yourselves, before you pull out your 'dollars, that it is for money's worth!

And what does their angel say more? He strikes the first notes of the hallelujah of "the sea of glass;" and says, 'Surely your Lord cometh quickly.'

Another heresy which has been long engendering, which has at last arrived at a most fearful height, and which Mr. Vaughan was most useful in stemming, is that relating to the Authority of the Church. The Papists having placed the church above the written word, the Protestants of late years have met this error by its converse of equal magnitude, which is, to deny the authority of the church altogether. The written word is not of itself sufficient without a church-that is, without a living body of witnesses and preachers of the truth. This is the great error which Bible Societies have been the means of promulgating. There is in all these self-constituted societies an error at their root, which is, that they are schismatic in their very essence. They are not ordinances of God's appointment; they are not under the controul or management of any authority of his. Those who call themselves Christian societies, are as essentially schismatic as the rest: they are not instituted by the ecclesiastical superiors of the church: if bishops belong to them, their membership is in virtue of an annual guinea paid, not in virtue of their office in the church. The good that is done by them, and the propriety of circulating printed books and of sending out missionaries, is another question.

Besides the heresy of inculcating that the written word is sufficient without a preaching, living church, another has run pari passu with it; which is, that God's blessings are scattered promiscuously; whereas the reverse of this is the case. The ordinances which God has ordained for the government of mankind, whether in the social relationships of sovereign and subject, pastor and flock, parent and child, master and servant, are not results of arbitrary arrangement, any more than the other decrees of God, to which we alluded in the commencement of these remarks: they are ordinances which set forth spiritual, that is, essential, invisible truths. They are given in order that men may know the paths which conduct to happiness in their several kinds, and may know that every other pass leads to the reverse. The path does not make the happiness; but he who walks in it is kept from the reverse. What those truths are which all the ordinances of God's appointment do manifest, we do not at present mean to discuss; but simply to observe the

fact, in order to shew how that contempt for church ordinances and authority, which is now so universal, must engender a leanness of soul in its members: and hence to point out the value of Mr. Vaughan's labours in asserting, upon all proper occasions, the danger of schism, and the due place for the authority of the church.

This question of schism is assuming a more important feature every day; and there is no end to the heresies which may not be expected to arise from among the separatists and schismatics. The written word of God is not a sufficient defence against them; for every Muggletonian, Socinian, and other heretic, quotes Scripture to justify his abomination. The word is the proper weapon with which to contend against them that are without the church; but it is not sufficient against them that are within. The disagreements which arise within the body are desired by our Lord to be referred, not to Moses and the Prophets, but to the Church; and they who will not hear the church, are to be counted as heathen men and as publicans. The inefficiency of the written word alone, was proved at the Council of Nice, where the Arians agreed to every term taken from Scripture that the Orthodox could employ; whence it was rendered necessary to embody the intended meaning of the terms in the symbol which was then drawn up. The schismatics may hold some points of truth-and we trust that many will be found to do so at the approaching coming of the Lord;-but they will unquestionably be given over to a spirit of heresy, if they pertinaciously refuse to submit to the church. They now prevail to such an extent, that we must expect heresies of every kind to prevail also for the heretics are out of the reach of the only remedy which is appointed for their disorder-namely, the authority of the church.

The delusion which has got into many men's minds, and thereby greatly tended to increase the schismatic spirit, is, that established churches are "Babylon :" this is not sufficient for the Baptists, and they separate themselves from the Non-conformists; and so on ad infinitum. Now, it is a pity that these worthies will not all remember that which, though Churchmen, we desire to bear in mind ourselves-namely, that all Christendom is alike Babylon. These gentlemen change their lodgings in Babel, and dream that they have left the city altogether! Some lived once in Episcopal Square, or Presbyterian Street, who have now taken up their abode in Independant Lane, or Strict-Communion Close, and they verily flatter themselves they are living on Mount Zion! and not only this, but they snarl and growl at all who pass by, for preferring to dwell in the highways which they have left, instead of the narrow alleys to which they have now betaken themselves.

Mr. Vaughan saw plainly the evil of schism, and the train of

heresies which must necessarily spring up from it, and against this he directed, too, a portion of his valuable labours.

Another evil, which has greatly increased, if not entirely arisen, within the last century, met a decided rebuke in Mr. Vaughan's practice-namely, the abandonment by parents of the education of their children into the hands of hirelings, often at the distance of hundreds of miles from their paternal roof. Though blessed with a numerous offspring (which, from their anxiety to get rid of them, many seem to think a curse), he educated them all himself. It is imposssible to estimate the extent of mischief which has been introduced by the violation of this ordinance of God. Reverence to parental authority, that mixture of love and fear, which is the habit of a child's mind towards its parents, never being called into exercise in its tenderest years, seems to be in the greater part of men, when arrived at years of discretion, an extinct faculty: it cannot be excited towards God, towards the church, towards the king, towards their country; for there is nothing to excite. Thus all natural bonds are destroyed: and then men, when they find their insulated helplessness, form other bonds, and sectarian parties; in which they lose their individuality, and become not even insulated machines, but only wheels or cogs of some greater machine. But, to return to Mr. Vaughan

If authority was ever placed by man in the hands most competent to use it, the rank of Mr. Vaughan in the church would have been the highest that earthly power could bestow. But he had a higher destiny still. "The greatest

preferment, under heaven," says Whitefield to his friend Winter, "is to be an able, painful, faithful, successful, suffering, castout minister of the New Testament." This was Mr. Vaughan's dignity, and therefore he was neither a Dean, a Chancellor, nor a Bishop.

We observed, that his method of composition was generally to state early the conclusion at which he meant to arrive, and afterwards to justify the grounds upon which he had formed it. The objection to this mode arises from the irritation which is apt to be excited in the minds of the hearers: this, added to the depth of the subjects on which he discoursed, made his sermons unpalatable to all flippant, ignorant, and self-sufficient persons, who compose the majority of all congregations. It would not have afforded any surprise, therefore, to find that Mr. Vaughan had been unpopular with the principal inhabitants of the town in which he resided; and we think it impossible that he should have drawn crowds of ill-instructed hearers. But such was the high unbending integrity and conscientiousness with which he discharged every branch of the pastoral office, that he commanded the respect, and even the affection, voluntary on the part of those who could duly appreciate his value, and involuntary from