sible of the importance and advantages of such a work, he has been induced to submit a new series of Sermons, under the name of the Scottish Pulpit;' and he is proud in having it in his power to present names of the greatest eminence, weight, and respectability." Relying on the support of the public, and the the assistance of his clerical friends, Mr. Gillan intends to carry forward the series, and thereby to furnish to his countrymen that which we are sorry to find is still a desideratum in Scotland, "a rational system of doctrinal and practical religion."

To secure the good opinion of his readers, Mr, Gillan sets out by telling them that "there is perhaps no Church where the officiating members possess greater learning than that of Scotland." Of this ill-written sentence we understand the meaning to be, that the clergy north of the Tweed are a very learned body of men; an assertion which has not hitherto been verified by works on professional subjects, nor at all supported by the general opinion of Christendom. That they are highly respectable for their moral qualities, as well as for the assiduous discharge of their parochial duties, we have always heard, and are ready to believe; but that the ministers of Scotland are distinguished by professional learning, we mean an accurate and extensive knowledge of the ancient languages and of the principles of Biblical criticism, by deep reading in systematic theology, in the history of religious opinions, church discipline, ritual usages, and the object and import of rival creeds, has not yet been made manifest to the conviction of the learned in other countries. The ecclesiastical model of the Scottish establishment, however well contrived to meet the taste and circumstances of the people, has not been regarded even by those who approve the principles on which it rests, as affording an active stimulus to literary exertion. Dr. Irving, in his Dissertation on the Literary History of Scotland, prefixed to the Lives of the Poets, closes his remarks by observing that, "Of the learned ecclesiastics who have been found entitled to our approbation, a very inconsiderable number was of the Presbyterian persuasion. Under the auspices of the Genevan discipline, literature has rarely made any rapid advances. During the violence of the struggles between the Papists and Protestants, and between the Episcopalians and Presbyterians, the schools of learning were in a great measure deserted by all parties: and when they at length fell under the jurisdiction of the Presbyterians, elegant and useful knowledge seemed to languish in a state of hopeless decay."

Of the fifteen Sermons contained in this volume, the first

in order is contributed by Dr. Lamont, the "present Moderator" of the Church of Scotland, and the same gentleman, we presume, who had the honour of preaching before his Majesty on his late visit to that part of the United Kingdom. Considered as an every-day discourse, written on a Saturday after tea, it might pass without note or comment in most congregations; but received as a select specimen of the author's style, and as meant to do honour to the Church, we cannot bestow any praise either upon his taste or ability. The language is unpolished and bombastic. He talks of our being "enamoured of the attributes of the adorable Creator:" and pronounces it an error to suppose that "the great and eternal God can ever be the object of a passionate and ani mal attachment." He thinks it necessary to remind his hearers that in God "there is nothing on which our bodily propensities can rest: nor in his immaterial and incorporeal essence is there any thing from which they can derive the smallest gratification." Hence, the love of God is " a divine and intellectual attachment, entirely free from the tumultuous transports and feverish burnings of the passions. It is a pure flame which soars above the noxious vapours of flesh and blood, and rises high above those clouds of smoke and sulphur in which our grovelling appetites are perpetually involved." The Doctor thinks all this sublime: we think it coarse, indelicate, and nasty. With this impression on our minds, we beg leave to recommend to him one of his own precepts to be found at page 6 of his Sermon: "Suffer not yourselves, then, to be deceived with visionary phantoms, or to be captivated by the glare of romantic images." In return for this advice, however, we crave a little information from the learned Doctor. We want to know what is meant by an "altar of justice" in heaven; because, being somewhat in the dark as to this point, we lose all the fine effect of the following sentence in which the eloquent author winds up his peroration. "Thus shall the tears of the widow and the orphan bedew the ashes of your tomb. Thus shall the prayers of the fatherless and the destitute ascend to heaven, and there presenting the sacred memorial of your benevolent deeds, shall secretly perfume the altar of justice with the odour of compassion!"

The second Sermon is by the venerable Dr. Charteris, whose volumes have so long instructed and delighted the pious reader. But not being original, we shall not make it the subject of criticism farther than to say, that it is characterized by the peculiar style which pervades all the Doctor's works, and variegated at the same time with a species of

allegretto disquisition which amuses the fancy, and sometimes casts a gleam of new light on the dark places of a text. Dr. Somerville, of Jedburgh, the well known author of the History of Queen Anne's Reign, holds the third place in this Scottish Pulpit. The discourse which he supplies was preached before the Judges at the Circuit Court, and has for its subject the very appropriate topic of reverence for an oath. It is remarkable for good sense and seriousness; impressive, without being positively eloquent; familiar, without being trite. The lessons which it conveys are extremely important; whilst the faults which it condemns, and the negligences which it censures, are such, particularly in the administration of justice, and in the transactions of the public revenue, as every conscientious and pious Christian would be happy to see removed.

Next comes Dr. William L. Brown of Aberdeen, who seems by his many tokens of plurality to set at defiance the self-denying regimen of his Church. He is Principal of a College, Professor of Divinity, Minister of a Kirk, and Dean of the Chapel Royal. Be still, ye insulted Manes of Knox, Wadrow, and Melville!

Dean Brown's discourse is on the "Blessings of Peace:" but as peace would be nothing without a brisk war before it, the learned principal thinks it expedient to describe a fight in the best style he may. In this undertaking, so little consentaneous with the ordinary pursuits of a Divinity Professor, we willingly allow him the full use of all Dr. Lamont's "clouds of smoke and sulphur;" which, by the bye, were sadly out of place in a description of the love of God, connected, though it may sometimes be with the "noxious. vapours of flesh and blood." Having then announced his text, and told his folks that "contrast has a powerful effect in heightening whatever is delightful on the one hand, or shocking on the other," he exclaims, "I must encounter the complicated.calamities and horrors of war!" And where does the doughty Dean resolve to try his maiden arms? At Waterloo!" Behold, cries he, hundreds of thousands of human beings arrayed on opposite sides (of course) thirsting for each others blood, and determined on each others destruction! Behold their fierce and savage countenances-the gleam of their arms-the terrors of their mutual approach! The ground groans with the tread of their feet!--the cannons roar-the earth trembles-the mountains re-echo to the thunder-the air is inflamed by the flashes that issue from their mouths of fire. At every discharge they vomit death or wounds to thousands (vomit wounds!) Hear the clash of

arms, and see the havoc of the bayonet, the sabre and the spear! Entire ranks are mowed down like the grass before the scythe. To these others succeed who are cut down in their turn. The field is drenched in blood, and strewed with carnage. Hear the groans of the dying and the wounded, many of them supplicating death to finish their agony! Men and horses drive over heaps of slain and of mangled bodies! -human limbs and carcases are scattered on every side!— every foot of man and horse is crimsoned with human gore! Hark! these are the shouts, &c."

After quitting the field, where he leaves pestilence and contagion at work upon the "putridity of carnage," he shouts "Follow me still farther!" He takes us to a hospital and shows us "What horrible operations are there performed!" "And farther," says he, " on this melancholy head, consider the oppressive taxes which war entails," clogging our industry, and devolving heavy debts. Next, he advances to a knotty question, which he solves with all the authority of a principal, and with all the learning of a theological professor. "If such, says he, be the form and complexion of warfare, and if its effects be so dismal and appalling, it may be asked how comes it to pass that under the administration of the Almighty Governor of the world, the history of mankind should rarely exhibit any other spectacle but this monstrous state. The answer is obvious. "God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.' One of the most diabolical of human inventions is war."

In this sublime manner of describing and reasoning, does Dean Brown get over all the difficulties of a battle, and of the origin of evil!

Having finished his campaign, he forthwith proceeds to chaunt the blessings of the pacification, January the 18th, A.D. 1816. "O Blessed Peace! Had 1 the tongue of a Seraph, I would display all thy blessings in such a manner, &c. Blessed Peace! say I. Blessed Peace! be the re sponse which you make." And from this high strain he immediately comes down to consider the state of the commercial embarrassments at Aberdeen, and the Protestant quarrels in the South of France.

All, whose duty it is to preach, know what it is to get up a discourse for a state fast or a national thanksgiving; and we are therefore ready to make allowance for the verba sesquipedalia, which it may be expedient to use on such occa sions. But when the principal of a college, a professor of divinity, a dean of the chapel royal puts forth, after having had seven years to cool down towards common sense and

feeling, a piece of rank fustian that would disgrace the first essay of a lad of sixteen, we know not where to look for an apology. Is it in this way that our brethren in Scotland are to be furnished with a "rational system of doctrinal and practical religion!"

The fifth sermon is one of a very different character; being chastely and even elegantly written, full of powerful argument, and raised in some places even to sublimity by the inspiration of a natural and ardent eloquence. The author, Dr. Mearns, is likewise a Divinity Professor at Aberdeen; and his discourse we are informed in a note, was preached for the benefit of the shipwrecked seaman's fund in that city. Alluding to an accident which had recently befallen some fishermen on the coast, he describes the condition of the surviving relatives in terms which Dr. Brown would think tame and destitute of sound, but which most other persons will esteem beautiful and affecting. Perhaps the language and tone in which their terrors and their anguish were expressed, were harsh and uncouth-but it was the voice of our common nature which spoke, and of nature in her utmost agony. "The clamourous cry, and sullen groan sent forth from the shore, when the fishing bark is whelmed beneath the waters, may be much less fitted to captivate the fastidious ear than expressions of grief uttered by those who are clothed in soft raiment, and dwell in courtly palaces; but the bursting of those domestic ties which have bound together hearts separated at that moment for ever, is not therefore the less rending to the frame of the sufferer nor less unsupportable, that sickness under which the spirit sinks, when suddenly severed from all it holds most dear! Effectually to heal the wounds inflicted by such calamities, or to compensate the sufferings they create, by rendering them the means of leading to happiness, which no accident shall destroy, is not, my brethren, within your power, it belongs to Him without whose knowledge not a sparrow falleth to the ground, who healeth the broken heart, and causeth those who sow in tears to reap in joy. But it is in your power to alleviate the weight of this calamity, by removing one part, at least, of the load which presses on the sufferers who are thus bereaved. It is in your power to deliver them from the apprehension of want from the dread which now mingles itself with their lamentations for those who lie buried in the deep, that they themselves may spend their old age in penury, or that their children may be seen begging their bread. Relieve them, I -beseech you, from these sad apprehensions. And in that awful hour when all the uncertainties of human condition