still we may be much better than we are, we may be going on gradually towards perfection, though we cannot hope finally to attain it, until we enter upon another and better state of existence; and to supply the deficiencies of our own weak endeavours, (and deficiencies we shall always find,) we are promised the gracious assistance of the Holy Spirit, if we seek it as we ought, in sincerity and TRUTH.

Let us, in the second place, reflect upon the blessings which result from such repentance. They are, the forgiveness of our sins, and reconciliation with God. "Let the wicked forsake his way," saith the prophet Isaiah," and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." And St. John, when he declares, "If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," adds, "but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'

Now these blessings are not only a source of comfort to the sinner here, but an assurance of an immortality of bliss hereafter. When a man, who has been living without God in the world, is suddenly awakened to a sense of his danger by some temporal affliction, by sickness, a narrow escape from death, the loss of worldly possessions, or any infirmity to which human nature is liable, what a dreadful prospect does the review of his past life present to his mind! He now feels in its full force the truth of that declaration of the Preacher, "All is vanity and vexation of spirit." He finds by bitter experience how widely he has erred in putting his trust for happiness in man, when he should alone have relied upon God. He deplores, in the anguish of his soul, the malignancy of those bad passions which he has allowed to plunge him into vice, and the neglect of those religious duties, which would have checked him in his sinful career. He sees the just sentence upon sin hanging over his head, and he is overwhelmed with fear lest he should be summoned before the presence of an offended God, ere he can have time to make his reconciliation with him. Where, in such a situation as this (and this is no fancied picture, as those who are in the habit of witnessing the death-beds of their fellow-creatures can sufficiently attest), where, I repeat, in such a situation as this, is the sinner to look for relief, for hope, for comfort? He must apply to that fountain of living waters, the gospel of Christ he will there find that comfort of which he stands so much in need he will there find that he may make the atonement of his Saviour applicable to himself, if he do but earnestly repent, and resolve upon a life of holiness and virtue. The veil which had before obscured his mental sight, will then be drawn aside by the enlivening influences of religion, and the glories of immortality will gradually unfold themselves to his view as he continues on his christian course; and if he be but faithful unto death, he has the assurance of Him who cannot err, who is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," that he shall inherit a crown of life, "incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away." And when we reflect for a moment on these inestimable blessings promised in the inspired writings to those who act thus, through faith in Christ, surely we cannot be such enemies to our present and future welfare as to delay the important work.

In the third and last place I proposed to point out the exceeding great love sinners should evince in their conduct towards God for such unbounded mercy. If man, in a state of innocence, had no right to an immortality of happiness hereafter, much less can the descendant of a fallen man, himself also guilty of actual transgression, lay any claim to the rewards of heaven. Our salvation is the free gift of God in Jesus Christ, and nothing that man could do of himself could ever entitle him, as a matter of right, to everlasting life. This it is which should operate with us to testify our gratitude to God for this invaluable gift, and to shew it forth not only with our lips, but in our lives; for though we are not to presume upon our own merits, being, after all that we can do, but unprofitable servants, still we must never lose sight of the conditions,-repentance, faith, and obedience,—by which we can alone make these inestimable mercies of service to ourselves. How unspeakably vast and precious are the blessings of redemption! How insignificant and trifling do all the pleasures of time and sense appear, when compared with the joys of eternity! Worldly enjoyments are but temporary, fleeting, and uncertain. Wealth, honours, and distinctions we must soon part with, for they cannot follow us into the grave whither we are going, that narrow house appointed for all living: and were they even considered in the utmost latitude of enjoyment; if a man could, during his life-time, be in the full possession of them, without any alloy, still the smallest atom in the universe would bear a greater proportion to the whole, than they, multiplied ever so often, could to the riches of God's grace, and the never-fading wreaths of glory which the righteous will obtain in the heavenly mansions of eternity. Eternity! how far beyond the finite capacity of man to comprehend! "The days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow: so soon passeth it away, and we are gone." We can easily compute time; but who shall fathom the immeasurable depths of eternity! And when we consider that our portion through endless ages will be either eternal misery or eternal happiness, ought we not to pour forth our hearts in gratitude and thanksgiving to our Almighty Creator, who has mercifully pointed out to us, in the gospel of his Son, a way by which we may avoid the one, and obtain the other! If we possess the proper feelings of our nature, we should never lose sight of the gratitude we owe to a kind benefactor, or allow ourselves to neglect any opportunity of manifesting it towards him. If, then, such feelings as these would animate our hearts towards him who may have afforded us relief from temporal distresses, what ought to be our conduct towards that Almighty Being, who has freed us from the burden of eternal woe? Can the remains of a short life, uncertain as the wind, and perhaps nearly at a close with the youngest and strongest of us; can the remainder of our days, spent in offering up our grateful hymns and sacrifice of praise to the throne of grace, be deemed a hard service for endless felicity hereafter?

But as it cannot be denied that some have more grievously sinned than others, and that consequently they will have more to be forgiven, their gratitude to God should be as unlimited as the mercy

ART. IV. A Sermon, preached at Great St. Mary's Church, Cambridge, on Commencement Sunday, July 4, 1830. To which is added, an Appendix, stating more fully the Author's Proposal for shortening the Residence of the Undergraduates, and obliging the Clerical Bachelors to reside and study Divinity. By the Rev. R. N. ADAMS, D. D. Fellow of Sidney Sussex College. Cambridge: Deightons. London: Rivingtons. 1830. P. 31. Price 2s.

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DR. ADAMS has availed himself of the latitude allowed to University preaching, and more especially on occasions like the present, to call the attention of the University of Cambridge, and the public in general, to the instruction provided for candidates for Holy Orders in the Church of England. The subject has been agitated before; its importance ought to command a hearing for every educated man who makes it his study and his theme; to procure a calm and respectful reception for propositions which may not always be conceded; and to obtain a full, free, and temperate discussion from those who are competent to enter into its merits. Dr. Adams expresses an earnest hope, that no one who peruses these pages will suffer his mind to be prejudiced against the utility of the general plan, by any defects, however glaring, which he may perceive in the proposed details." In this hope we participate, and wish to act accordingly. We do not indeed discover any "glaring" defects in the Doctor's outline; but that on such a subject any two persons should be wholly agreed, or any one minutely satisfied, is what, we conceive, our respected author scarcely anticipated. It is certain that many men whose piety, learning, and attachment to the Church are beyond all question, think some additional public preparation for orders necessary; that many more hold it advisable; and that therefore the rest, even though they should be correct in opinion, are bound to hear what the dissentients have to

say.

Dr. Adams, we are sure, is too good a friend of his Church, to have uttered intentionally a sentence reflecting on her character; and therefore, it is with the most friendly disposition that we would call his attention to a passage, which is but too capable of sinister construction, and may probably have been already transferred to the portfolio of some collector of "confessions." After specifying the anomaly of laying a durable and stately foundation, and then erecting no superstructure, under which figure he characterises the solid and liberal apparatus of academical learning, followed up by no theological plan, we read these remarks :

If the Church thus constructed has hitherto stood unmoved, it may be well to consider, whether it has not been indebted for its support more to the props and buttresses, which the arm of the civil power has raised around it on all sides,

rather than to its own strength. It may be well to consider, whether these props and buttresses may not have some tendency to slide away and crumble into dust; and whether the armies of the papal power, which were once vanquished, may not again awake from their long slumber, and, reinforced by the troops of those who regard conformity as a sin, unfurl their banners and erect the standard of defiance, and, advancing with the suddenness and swiftness of the lightning, shake at least to its foundations, if not utterly overthrow the venerable structure, weak only through its own fancied security.-P. 17.

We will venture to guess at the meaning of the Doctor's position ;that the present state of university education opens the Church to this objection on the part of her enemies; yet it surely requires explanation. In fact, were we desirous of combating the Doctor's recommendation, (which is far from the case) we should argue against its necessity on the very ground, that the Church does stand solely by her own strength, by the orthodoxy of her theology, the mild, temperate, devotional character of her liturgy, and the learning and assiduity of her Clergy. If these be not her "props and buttresses," how has she survived the dissolution of her keystone, the Convocation, the vitiation of her once comely and substantial pillar-the Parliament ? How does she yet resist the artillery of her godless enemies, the treachery of her hypocritical friends? But while we admit the high reputation of our national Clergy in all that can dignify and adorn the ministerial character, we are far from arguing, that their preparatory studies might not be conducted on an improved method. Even were no other advantage obtained by the proposed alteration, a plausible objection would be taken from the enemies of the Church; and the importance of this alone in the present posture of our ecclesiastical concerns, can scarcely be too highly esteemed. An argument was formerly employed against the method of education at Cambridge, the force of which was never eluded until the arrangement of study was altered. It was said that the University required no classical knowledge for a degree. Now, the objection was true in terms, but it implied a great mistake. The university examination, indeed, took no cognizance of classical learning; but then it was understood (which the objectors never subjoined) that none were sent into the SenateHouse without an examined and approved proficiency in classical scholarship, ascertained in their several colleges. The objection, however, was more notorious than the explanation, and the University wisely abandoned their former course. In so doing it has been found that they have not only removed an objection, but actually improved the system. The present case of students for the ministry is analogous. It is said that they enter on their office without special preparation. It is true that no peculiar course of academical study distinguishes the candidate for Orders; yet it would be a fallacy to pretend therefore, that, by the constitution of the Church, the sacred

function can be exercised by persons of incompetent learning. It is forgotten how essential a portion of ordinary academical study consists in theology; so considerable, that very few of the liberally educated laity, who have not had the advantage of university education, can at all compete on this subject with university men. The examination before the Bishop, moreover, insures competency somewhere attained; and many Bishops lay down plans of reading for their candidates, which also afford guidance and secure method. Sufficient preparation is by these means provided for. Yet it does not follow hence that a great specific plan of theological study, under the immediate conduct of our Universities, would not be highly beneficial, not only in neutralising a hostile objection, but in really advancing the spiritual interests of Christ's mystical body.

There can be no doubt that the present practice of passing almost immediately from the B. A. degree to Deacon's orders is a violation of the ancient principle, which provided for such an initiatory course as that contended for by Dr. Adams. We cannot, without unjust violence to the usages of modern society, insist on fourteen or fifteen years as the maximum age for matriculation: but we can do what shall answer the same purpose; we can require that, after the regular proceedings to the B. A. degree, an express discipline shall be passed by theological students, before their admission to the Bishop's examination. What shall be the extent of this probationary residence, what the character of the studies, &c. are questions not at all affecting the main principle in view. We shall quote at length Dr. Adams's plan, leaving all those considerations to our readers, among whom there will, probably, be many opinions. The Doctor has been wisely jealous of the mathematical examination, a point which must always be treated with respect and delicacy in a Cambridge auditory. He would not augment the sum even of theological study, until this has been passed. He would not grant an honour to a divinity student whose name had not appeared on the mathematical tripos. Indeed, whatever opinions may exist on the merit of the Doctor's plan, there can be but one on the moderate, humble, and truly Christian spirit in which he endeavours to conciliate all prepossessions, while he modestly presents his sentiments to the learned body on whose decision the realization of his scheme depends.

The suggestions of our author are as follow:

I. That the Previous Examination be made more important by a division of the names into three or more classes.

II. That the time of passing the Previous Examination, and also that of passing the Examination for the B. A. Degree, be both altered.

III. That, calling the Michaelmas Term, in which a student commences residence, his first term, and assuming that he proceeds regularly, he shall pass