"Ah! I see you can't prove it," exclaimed the Serjeant, "but I will give you a proof on my side," turning over the leaves of his book, with the quickness of one well accustomed to its perusal, and reading aloud, 1 Thessal. v. 21- Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.' 1 Pet. iii. 15, be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.'

"Well, well, Mr. Serjeant," said the priest, "you know I am ready to waive any difficulties which might arise on this head, so let us proceed at once to business without any more quotations.

"It is you, Sir," replied Abbot, "who have to begin. It lies on you to show the propriety of worshipping pictures and images." "We do not worship them," rejoined the Priest," and it is a calumny of Protestant invention, the saying that we do. We consider them merely as helps to religion, and as such, deserving of religious veneration and respect."

"Well," said the Serjeant, "take it according to your own view, and let us hear what can be said in favour of it.'

"I wish to mention beforehand," said the Priest," that the views which the Church of Rome entertains of religion, are very different from those of the Protestants. That Church, our great and tender mother, knowing her children to be frail and weak, too apt to turn aside from a steady devotedness in religious worship, prone to wandering thoughts and cold affections, wishes to afford every thing which might help and strengthen them. With this view she places before the bodily eye sensible representations wherewith to kindle pious feeling, and having thus animated the cold and awakened the attention of the careless to direct the newly borne aspirations of the soul towards heaven. Is not this a wise and good provision? or could any one who was not disposed to misrepresent the truth or to despise it, say any other of it? If I go into a chapel and see a representation of holy St. Peter, of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God, or of my Saviour himself, do I not feel myself moved-nay, would you not be moved yourself, Serjeant Abbot? You would I know I say I know it, for I have seen that you can use pictures to stir up your feelings as a soldier. Have I not seen you look upon the print of General Wolfe, which is over your chimney-piece, till the tears stood in your eyes-but I never said that you worshipped that picture."

"The tears stood in my eyes, Father Remigius, at the recollection of that great man's glorious death. He was my colonel for some years, and I served under him as general, when he fell upon the bloody heights of Abraham. I was describing to you, you may remember, the particulars of the general's last moments. happened then that looking upon the print, he was brought so strongly to my recollection, that I could not refrain from shedding a tear, and I never will be ashamed to say that I have often done it."

It

"See there," cried out his Reverence, "there is an admission of the whole matter. You confess that the picture of a soldier stirred up your loyalty, your attachment to your king and country, you

remembrance of a great and good man. Well then, all I say is, that the picture of a saint may stir up my loyalty and attachment to my God, and by bringing to my mind the remembrance of one who lived and died gloriously in the faith, kindle in me a lively emulation and warmth of heart. In fact, Serjeant, you have yourself established the very principle I have been contending for, and I believe my friends, added he, looking round upon the company triumphantly, there is no need of farther discussion upon this point.'

"

"Halt a bit," cried the Serjeant, "not so fast if you please. I said I was moved by the print of General Wolfe, because why? I know it to be an excellent likeness of him-1 have seen the man ten thousand times, and there is not any thing which could more accurately represent him, it is himself in short. But sure, my good Sir, you don't mean to say that the things which are stuck up in your chapels are likenesses. There is a picture down below in the chapel, for instance, who is it the picture of?"

"It is the picture of blessed St. Mark, the Evangelist," said the Priest."

"Pray now," said the Serjeant, "is it a likeness of St. Mark's mind-does it set before you the patience, the temperance, the faith, the love, and so forth, which were in that saint ?"

"Certainly not," said the Priest.

"Is it then a likeness of his body-does it represent the limbs, the features, the outward appearance, just as St. Mark looked when upon earth?"

"I could not take upon me to say that," said the Priest.

"Well then, if it give no likeness of the saint's mind or of his body, how can it bring St. Mark to your mind, would you tell me?" cried the Serjeant.

At this question his Reverence was not a little confounded, he shifted on his seat, he took snuff, he stuck his whip into his boot, and pulled it out again—at length, after a long pause, he said, “I dont see it is necessary we should be able to prove the likeness."

"But I see it is quite necessary," said Abbot. "You said that I would make use of pictures when it served my turn, as well as any Roman Catholic. Granting this, the whole merit of the picture depends on its being a likeness. The picture or statue of a saint, or of the Saviour, can be of use only as it sets forth something to my judgment or to my feelings, something to instruct me or to warm me. Now you allow, Father Remigius, that the picture down below, shows nothing of St. Mark's mind, nothing, that could in the way of example improve me; you allow also, that it shows nothing of his real features or appearance-well then, if this be so, of what use is your picture to me or to any body? None whatever. To all intents and purposes, a man might as well say his prayers before that thing in the corner," pointing to a sweeping brush, which with a tin can upon the top of the handle, reclined modestly in a shady nook of Mr. Fagan's sitting apartment.

At this the whole company, his Reverence excepted, began to

grin and titter. But from behind the oak-leaved geranium, formerly mentioned, burst forth such an explosion of unsuppressed cachinnation as quite disconcerted the champion of Romanisin.

"Who is that outside there," he exclaimed, grasping his whip, "that is turning me and the blessed saints into ridicule, if I lay hold on him."

"Och, och, and sure it is only poor Jemmy boccagh," said the well known voice of a lame half-witted lad who lived in the village. "But how could I help it? Och, Serjeant, but you're a quare man any how, to talk of saying your prayers before a tin can; haw, haw, haw."

"If you don't get out of that, you blackguard, in a moment," cried his Reverence, who was evidently waxing very warm—“ I'll break every bone in your skin."

As Jemmy probably had some experience of what the Priest could do in this way, he took the hint, and vanished instanter; and order being in some measure restored, the Serjeant proceeded to enquire-"Is not the word of God expressly against the making of pictures and images to worship?”

"Certainly not," replied the Priest.

"Why, then, have you in many of your publications omitted the Second Commandment?

"This is not for me to say," said the Priest, "they who were wiser and better than I, did it; lest perhaps to the ignorant it might seem to forbid the use of what the Church allows; but this I know, that this very commandment does not in the least touch upon the matter. All that it forbids is the worshipping a graven image as though it was a God-this is idolatry; but I am sure you yourself do not imagine that I think the ivory crucifix which I brought home with me from the Continent is a God, or that the figure upon it is the very Saviour who died for us on Calvary, and is now in heaven ?"

Well, then," said the Serjeant, "if you can show that the figure is considered merely as a representation of Christ, and not as Christ himself, you think you run no risk of breaking the commandment?"

"Clearly so," said the Priest.

"Will you do me the favor to read out the words of the commandment?" said the Serjeant, handing him, at the same time, his well-known brass-clasped Bible.

"Perhaps you would be so good as to find the place for me," said his Reverence, as I am not quick at that small print ?"

66

By all means, Sir," said the Serjeant, opening the book, and pointing to the 20th chapter of Exodus, when the Priest read as follows: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them,'" &c. &c.

"Can a man suppose that a likeness of a thing is the thing itself?" said the Serjeant.

"Of course not," said the Priest.

"If you call the image on your crucifix a likeness of Christ, of course you cannot imagine it to be Christ himself?" said Abbot. "It is the very point I was establishing," said the Priest.

"But pray does not the commandment expressly speak against this very matter of making likenesses? Have you not made to yourself a likeness of Him who is in heaven above, and do you not bow down before it; and, in so doing, are you not a breaker of the commandment, even on your own showing?"

There was a dead pause. All waited anxiously for the Priest's answer, but he could give none. The very point under which his Church affected to shelter herself that she did not consider her images of wood and stone to be gods-was so manifestly provided against in the words of Scripture, forbidding the making likenesses, that he was utterly under the influence of the Psalmist's denunciation-" Confounded be all they who worship carved images." He had nothing for it, in short, but to retreat. Pulling out his watch, therefore, in a hasty manner, he exclaimed, "Why, bless me, how late it is, and I have to ride ten miles to visit a sick woman. I am sorry, Mr. Serjeant, to be obliged to break up our little discussion so abruptly, but I have a flock to look after. Paddy, bring out the mare. You will observe, my good people," said he, as he remarked them whispering to each other, "that I do not in the least assent to any thing which Serjeant Abbot may have stated. I must stick to the decrees and councils of the true Church, if I would be saved, and so must you. Go home at once, then, every one of you, and let me hear no more of this folly."

At this moment the black mare, which used to carry the body of his Reverence from place to place, made her appearance at the door, led by James M Farlane, of laughing memory, who hoped thus to make his peace with the Priest. "Och, och, and sure I'm sorry for your Reverence," said the lad, bowing and smiling, "for I'm tould that the Serjeant was too smart upon ye entirely. Plase God, and ye'll give it him another day ?"

"Get out of my sight, you great oaf," said his Reverence, who, now fairly seated in the saddle, was in the very act of moving off"Get out of my sight, and take that along with you," making a stroke at him with his whip, but which, falling short of its object, lighted upon the neck of the mare in full force. Away went the beast in full action, while the assembled group, who witnessed the rapid vanishing away of their Pastor, retired to their separate houses, perfect iconoclasts.

449

REVIEW.

1. The Christian Student, designed to assist Christians in general in acquiring religious knowledge; -with a list of books adapted to the various classes of society. By the Rev. E. Bickersteth, Minister of Sir George Walker's Chapel, Spital Square, London.-Seeley and Sons, 1829.- pp. xii. 629.

2. The Reformed Pastor,-by Richard Baxter; revised and abridged by the Rev. William Brown, M. D.: with an Introductory Essay, by the Rev. Daniel Wilson, A. M., Vicar of Islington.-Glasgow, 1829-p. 290.

3. The Christian Ministry; with an inquiry into the causes of its inefficiency, and with an especial reference to the Ministry of the Establishment. By the Rev. Charles Bridge, B, A., Vicar of Old Newton, Suffolk, and author of "Exposition of Psalm cxix."--London, Seeley and Sons.-pp. xii. 511.

4. The Church in Danger from Herself, or the causes of her present declining state explained. Dedicated to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. By the Rev. John Acaster, Vicar of St. Helen's, York, and Domestic Chaplain to the Right Hon, the Earl of Mexborough. London, Seeley and Sons, 1829pp. x. 172.

(Concluded from page 372.)

Mr. Bridges proceeds to point out the impediments to ministerial success, that are connected with the preaching of the Word, and pastoral offices, and carries into the consideration of these subjects, the same decided and spiritual views which have shed such a charm upon the former part of his volume. We are not surprised that he has bestowed so much of his attention on the pulpit; as an ordained means of exhortation, as the work peculiarly connected with a promised blessing, aud itself almost as much the subject of revelation as the matter it euforces, as always connected with a high or a degraded state of religion, national prosperity, and an extension of scriptural knowledge-in all these points of view, preaching requires and it claims particular attention. Mr. Bridges bestows that attention on the subject; and in considering the necessity of serious preparation, he differs altogether from those who deem study to be an impeachment of the work of the Spirit, and think that " a Bible and Concordance, with a few sermon notes, and the gift of tolerable fluency, confer a sufficient qualification to stand up in the name of the great God." Pulpit preparation, he considers under the different heads of composition, meditation, and special prayer. On the first of these heads, Mr. Bridges remarks, that commentators are useful before our sermons are composed, but not before they are considered and arranged. This was Cecil's rule; and, like every rule of that wise and good man, commends itself to our judgment. We quote the following as an excellent hint to our young friends in the ministry:

"The custom of selecting texts merely as mottos for pulpit dissertations may be questioned. The occasion of the discursive inquiry is perhaps taken from the text, but the text itself is left untouched nearly in its own place, without any exposition of its component parts, or of its connexion with the preceding and subsequent context. Vitringa justly observes of this method, that though it may afford in some cases opportunities for useful discussion, yet that it is liable

VOL. IX.

3 N