In his old age, in Patmos' lonely isle,
Musing on him that he had served in youth,-
Oh! then, I ween, the awe-struck villagers
Could scarce sustain his tones so deeply charged
With hope, and faith, and gratitude, and joy.
But when they gazed!-in the mild lineaments
Of his majestic visage, they beheld
How beautiful is holiness, and deemed
That sure he was some spirit sent by God
To teach the way to Heaven!

'And yet his voice
Was oft times sadder, than as they conceived

An Angel's voice would be, and though to sooth
The sorrows of all others ever seemed

His only end in life, perhaps he had

Griefs of his own of which he nothing spake ;
Else were his locks more grey, more pale his cheek,
Than one had thought who only saw his form
So stately and so tall.-

Once did they speak
To him of that most miserable man
Who here himself had slain-and then his eye
Was glazed with stern compassion, and a tear,
It was the first they e'er had seen him shed,
Though mercy was the attribute he loved
Dearest in God's own Son,-bedimm'd its light
For a short moment; yea, that hermit old
Wept, and his sadden'd face angelical

Veil'd with his withered hands, then on their knees
He bade his children (sc he loved to call
The villagers) kneel down; and unto God
Pray for his brother's soul.-

•Amid the dust
The hermit long hath slept, and every one
That listen'd to the saint's delightful voice.
In yonder church-yard, near the eastern porch,
Close to the altar-wall, a little mound
As if by nature shaped, and strewn by her
With every tender flower that sorrow loves,
Tradition calls his grave.' pp. 227---9.

The next is from Loughrig Tarn,

This is the solitude that reason loves!
Even he who yearns for human sympathies,
And hears a music in the breath of man,
Dearer than voice of mountain or of flood,

Might live a hermit here, and mark the sun

Rising or setting 'mid the beauteous calm,

Devoutly blending in his happy soul

Thoughts both of earth and heaven!-Yon mountain-side,

Rejoicing in its clustering cottages,
Appears to me a paradise preserved

From guilt by Nature's hand, and every wreath

Of smoke, that from these hamlets mounts to heaven,
In its straight silence holy as a spire

Rear'd o'er the house of God.

Thy sanctity

Time yet hath reverenced; and I deeply feel
That innocence her shrine shall here preserve
For ever. The wild vale that lies beyond
Circled by mountains trod but by the feet
Of venturous shepherd, from all visitants,
Save the free tempests and the fowls of heaven,
Guards thee;-and wooded knolls fantastical
Seclude thy image from the gentler dale,
That by the Brathay's often-varied voice
Chear'd as it winds along, in beauty fades

'Mid the green banks of joyful Windermere !' pp. 336-7.

There is much good poetry in the Hymn to Spring; we select the following.

VOL IX.

Oh! gracious Power! for thy beloved approach

The expecting earth lay wrapt in kindling smiles,
Struggling with tears, and often overcome.
A blessing sent before thee from the heavens,
A balmy spirit breathing tenderness,
Prepared thy way, and all created things
Felt that the angel of delight was near.
Thou camest at last, and such a heavenly smile
Shone round thee, as beseem'd the eldest-born
Of Nature's guardian spirits. The great Sun,
Scattering the clouds with a resistless smile,
Came forth to do thee homage; a sweet hymn
Was by the low Winds chaunted in the sky;
And when thy feet descended on the earth,
Scarce could they move amid the clustering flowers
By Nature strewn o'er valley, hill, and field,
To hail her blest deliverer!-Ye fair Trees,
How are ye changed, and changing while I gaze!
It seems as if some gleam of verdant light
Fell on you from a rainbow; but it lives
Amid your tendrils, brightening every hour
Into a deeper radiance. Ye sweet Birds,
Were you asleep through all the wintry hours,
Beneath the waters, or in mossy caves?
There are, 'tis said, birds that pursue the spring,
Where'er she flies, or else in death-like sleep
Abide her annual reign, when forth they come
With freshen'd plumage and enraptured song,
As ye
do now, unwearied choristers,

D

Till the land ring with joy. Yet are ye not,
Sporting in tree and air, more beautiful
Than the young lambs, that from the valley-side
Send a soft bleating like an infant's voice,
Half happy, half afraid! O blessed things!
At sight of this your perfect innocence,
The sterner thoughts of manhood melt
Into a mood as mild as woman's dreams.
The strife of working intellect, the stir
Of hopes ambitious; the disturbing sound
Of fame, and all that worshipp'd pageantry
That ardent spirits burn for in their pride,
Fly like disparting clouds, and leave the soul

away

Pure and serene as the blue depths of heaven.' pp. 248-50.

We could with pleasure multiply quotations from these and the other blank-verse pieces, but what we have given will be sufficient to excite in our readers an affection for the author, and to shew how well he is qualified to succeed in the description of external nature, and the delineation of true and simple feeling.

Art. III. The Legislative Authority of Revealed Grace: an Essay on the Gospel Dispensation, considered in connection with God's moral Government of Men. Second Edition, carefully revised and enlarged. With an Appendix, containing Strictures on the Atonement, and the nature of Regeneration. By William Bennet, 8vo. pp. xxiv, 321. Price 78. Black, Parry and Co. &c. 1812.

THE design of the Author, in this work, is two-fold;-first,

to shew that the whole of divine revelation, is addressed to men indefinitely, as free accountable agents, presenting to them rational motives, binding them to a due reception and improvement of its contents, and furnishing a moral test of the principles and dispositions of their hearts:-secondly, to prove the rational consistency of this indefinite plan, with the allowed doctrines of man's inability, and the necessity of divine influence.

That the former of these positions should ever have been disputed, must appear strange to such as have not attended to the process that has passed in the minds of those who oppose it, and who have not considered how far attachment to a favorite system is capable of warping the judgement; especially when the erroneous parts of that system appear to flow as necessary inferences from some highly valuable and well established truths. The persons referred to, have been accustomed to contemplate the blessings of the Gospel as privileges only; and to fix their attention, chiefly, on the insufficiency of man, as described in scripture, even "to think a good thought," much more to perform acceptable service. Of this moral

imbecility of the human race, so unequivocally and repeatedly asserted in the sacred records, they have had painful evidence in their own experience, and have been taught to acknowledge the full extent in which those who are saved are indebted to the free exercise of divine grace. This conviction respecting the weakness of man, and the bounty of God, so opposite to their former thoughts, has been attended, in some respects, with salutary effects on their own minds; and they justly deem it a matter of high importance, that others should entertain a similar belief. Whatever, therefore, to their confined apprehensions, seems to militate against a truth of which they are so fully convinced, and whose value they have ascertained, they naturally oppose. When you speak of duty, they say, you imply power: for a man without strength cannot be under obligation. This po sition, (true in one sense of power, and false in another,) appears to them plain and incontrovertible, for the sense in which it is true they perceive, while that in which it is false, entirely escapes their observation. Hence, that they should reject the notion of legislative authority being attached to the gospel-of indefinite offers made to all men-and of its being the duty of all to believe, ceases to be surprizing. It is clear, that, in controverting these positions, they do violence to reason, but then they think reason ought to yield to faith, however partial in its exercise: it is obvious, that they deprive the Deity of his essential character as moral governour, but it is much more delightful to their feelings. to view him only as a gracious sovereign: it is beyond a doubt that they limit his mercy, in not allowing to all an opportunity of returning to him, but still they imagine they glorify his justice in peremptorily rejecting those who had previously transgressed; or they even think of honouring his absolute supremacy, by awfully representing him as appointing to sin as well as to punishment: it cannot be denied, that they pass over a large portion of the sacred oracles, consisting of warnings, invitations, expostulations and overlook the conduct of our Lord and his apostles in their addresses to men; but they attend to other statements in the scriptures, as they think inconsistent with these, and they profess not to understand such addresses; they endeavour therefore to explain them away; and, as mistake must lie somewhere, they impute it to those who interpret such passages according to their plain, and most natural meaning. Thus it is, that for want of understanding how men, in one sense, unable to believe, should be required to believe, they dispute the right of that requirement; and, disputing the right, they

are led to deny the fact, however clear may be the evidence by which it is established.

We mean not to affirm, that these persons, mischievous as their creed must be allowed to be, are all bad men. We have no hesitation indeed in saying, that no good man, who perceived the inferences deducible from such a scheme, could be numbered among its advocates: but as a person cannot look opposite ways at once, and as the eyes of these religionists are never for a moment turned from their favourite principles, the whole of this unwelcome scene lies uncontemplated. To such, then, would they but attend to it, a judicious treatise on the rational consistency of the Gospel dispensation, as conducted in the form of general and indefinite addresses to sinners,' would be a present of no small value.

But besides these men, who, from their prejudices and habits, are not perhaps very likely to profit by it, there are others to whom such a work cannot fail of being acceptable individuals who acknowledge the facts, that men are morally impotent,-that grace is distinguishing,-and that all are morally bound to believe the gospel, but who, for want of perceiving the harmony of these things, are the subjects of painful conflicts, of hesitating fluctuations, who walk with trembling steps, as if surrounded by darkness, and on a road with which they are not acquainted. This appears to have been, for some time, the case with the Author work before us:

Having at different periods, [he informs us] suffered much disquietude of mind, from ill-digested views on this great subject, I was the rather induced to employ my years of retirement, since the state of my health ob liged me to decline the public exercises of my ministry, in closely examining the rational consistency of the gospel dispensation, as conducted in the form of general and indefinite addresses to sinners.'

There is still another class of persons, who, we trust, would be greatly benefited by just views on these points;—those, we mean, whose principal solicitude is about the external administration of the gospel. Regarding man only in the light of a moral accountable agent, they overlook his capacity to be the subject of supernatural influence. Hence they are apt to neglect a most important part of the great scheme of man's recovery to happiness and glory. They call sinners to repentance and faith, but do not sufficiently shew them, whence they are to derive moral strength for those holy exercises. They exhort the faithful to persevere, but neglect teaching them to trace the qualities which distinguish them from others, to their proper source. And the reason they thus act, as appears from their writings, is, that they