and the antitype. The kingdom of Israel, for instance, being a figure of the king dom of Christ, the glory of the latter is prophesied of in language taken from the visible glory of the former; and the spiritual glory of the truc tabernacle,' is deseribed by allusions to the pomp and magnificence of the earthly temple. Now, as the Jews, rigidly adhering to the letter, to the neglect of the spirit, formed the most mistaken notions of the character and reign of the Messiah; so the disciples

of Christ, forgetting the typical design of the Levitical economy, are sometimes apt to adopt means for the embellishment of his worship, and the extension of his cause, which are greatly at variance with the genius of a spiritual kingdom.

This is an unscriptural use of the ancient dispensation, and is to return, as it were, to its beggarly elements,' instead of being led by them, as we ought, to'go on to perfection.' And the proneness of men to this error, accounts for the fact, that much of apostolic teaching is occupied with admonitions against it. The glory of the church of God is of a spiritual nature; and it is extended only by subjecting the consciences of men to his word, purifying their hearts, and renovating their character. Attempts to extend and adorn it by other means are inconsistent with its nature, and are but rude efforts to lacker the diamond."-pp. x--xii.

In the justice of these views, we are sure all our readers will accord; and though the author enters most minutely into the various institutions of the old economy, he never loses sight of his own principles. This volume is divided into four chapters. In the first he makes some observation on the divine covenants, particularly those of the patriarchal ages. In the second, he treats of the promises and general structure of the Old and New Covenants. In the third, the Levitical system, as illustrative of the New Covenant, is particularly considered. The last contains a general view of the laws and administration of the Christian economy.

The wide and interesting field which is here opened, must render itobviously impossible for us to give any fair representation of the manner in which it is occupied. If, at times, we think the illustration is carried too far, and the symNEW SERIES, No. 19.

bolical design too minutely dissected, we are pleased with. the ingenuity and modesty of the writer, and with the extent and variety of his scriptural knowledge. He never takes advantage of the principle of accommodation, and never deals out the vagaries of vicious undisciplined fancy. The following specimen of his manner of treating the ancient tabernacle, will show how nicely, and at the same time how soberly, Mr. Russell expounds.

"It is of importance to remember, that as in a parable, many circumstances are introduced by way of drapery to the principal figures,--by way of ornament and connexion, and to give a finish to the whole, which it would be wrong to dwell upon, or to draw arguments from, in support of any doctrine; so in the ancient tabernacle, many things were introduced merely for the sake of the general effect, and not to prefigure particular facts, or to teach particular ideas. Certain parts of that structure had, as we shall afterwards see, a special signification; but others were merely designed to contribute in their place to the general effect. It is true, that the most minute and circumstantial directions were given in regard to the very least particulars; but this does not in the least militate against what has been now

stated. If a man intends to erect a structure which shall be distinguished for its symmetry and beauty, its grandeur and accommodation, he must specify most distinctly to the builder, what is to be its height, and breadth, and length ;--he must describe what kinds of ornaments he wishes to adorn it,--where, and in what proportions they shall be used,--the number and situation of apartments must be mentioned,--the number and situation of doors and windows must be stated, and also their different sizes,--the nature and form of the roof, of the porch, and of the connected walls and buildings; and in a word, every particular connected with the whole, must be distinctly specified. Now in all this, there is an eye to the general effect which it is wished to be produced; and the importance attached to the various particujars arises, not from some separate purpose which they are severally designed to answer, but from their relation to the whole, and from each being calculated in

its place to assist in producing the effect

desired

designed to be the residence of God, as "In like manner, as the tabernacle was the King of Israel; it was becoming, that it should be a residence worthy, as it were, 3 B

of his character as à Sovereign. And as pure and fine linen is the emblem of moral purity and rectitude; and as blue, and

purple, and scarlet, were anciently all princely colours. (Esther, i. 6; Ézek. xxiii 6; xxvii. 7, 14, Dan, v. 7, 29; Esther, viii. 15; Matt. xxvii. 28; John, xix. 2) the curtains of the sanctuary were made of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet. Exodus, xxvi. 1-6. God thus revealed himself as the King of his people Israel. The seat of his residence was a royal palace, as well as a temple. Hence, the very splendid furniture, and the rich ornaments of the sanctuary; and hence, the ample retinue, and the magnificent equipage of what may be called the domestic establishment of the King We are reminded by all this of the kingdom of Christ. But they were in themselves but beggarly elements of know ledge, when compared with the spiritual glory of Him who had not where to lay his head, with the heavenly grandeur which now adorns him, and with the spiritual excellence, and the heavenly dignity of his subjects, who collectively considered, are a royal priesthood, and are individually kings and priests unto God, even his Father."- pp. 228--230.

We could have wished that the concluding chapter on the administration of the New Covenant, had been longer. It is all excellent, but the extensive foundation previously laid, prepared us for a more elaborate superstructure. Every thing in the ages which preceded, was intended to prepare the way for the administration of the kingdom of heaven, and to advance its glory. The application of the atonement, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the perpetual and efficient mediation of the great High Priest, and all the blessings and glories of the eternal inheritance, belong to that administration. In justice, however, to Mr. Russell, we must say that all these topics are presented in a great variety of lights, in several parts of these interesting volumes.

One of the most valuable traits in the character of the works, is the high practical nature of every discussion; they are replete with evangelical truth, but they are no less charged with practical piety.

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It is continually presented before the mind, not as an inference or deduction, or improvement from the preceding argument, but as an essential part of the design and frame-work of the whole plan of God.

He leaves no possibility of escape to the speculatist or the antinomian. Like his valuable letters, they are no less “ "practical" than they are "consolatory."

One or two remarks we submit to the consideration of the author. His style obviously admits of much improvement. Ideas, rather than the mode of communicating them, have chiefly occupied his attention. There are occasional inaccuracies, and considerable redundances of language. The latter enfeeble, and even sometimes obscure the admirable sentiments which they are designed to convey. The petition and amplification are more tolerable in speaking than in writing. We have sometimes also observed what we have thought an occasional want of arrangement. A more logical method of treating the subject might sometimes have been adopted; by which a recurrence of the same topic would have been prevented, and the whole of the argument would have borne more powerfully on the leading points in discussion.

With these trifling exceptions, we must again repeat the very high satisfaction which both these volumes have afforded us. We have seldom met with so large a mass of instructive theological argument, on so many profound and difficult topics; and in which we have discovered so little with which we have been disposed to quarrel. They are calculated to interest the weakest Christian, and to engage and instruct the first class of theological inquirers. The minister who does not avail himself of the advantage which their perusal may afford him, is doing justice neither to himself nor his flock; as they

are calculated in no common degree to qualify the man of God for his work, by making him an able minister of the New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. We take our leave of the author with our most cordial thanks, by quoting the concluding observations of his second volume.

"How delightful to pass the boundaries of this vain and evil world, and to enlarge our views with the contemplation of future glory! What a noble inheritance presents itself! There dwells the King in his beauty,' even he who was once a man of sorrows, and whose visage was more marred than any man;' but who is now arrayed in all the splendour of the celestial temple. There his redeeming love is the very element of life and of blessedness. And how extensive is the heavenly Canaan; it is, indeed, a land which extends a 6 very far off.' But great as it is, the believer is called to arise and to walk throughout it, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it;' for the promise of his God and Father is, I will give it unto thee.' What is a land flowing with milk and money, the glory of Israel's portion, compared with a country where there are rivers of pleasures, and joys for evermore? Here no sorrow can imbitter, no enemies interrupt, no lapse of time exhaust the joy of its blest inhabitants. Here is an eternal Sabbath, an uninterrupted state of repose.'--' Ah! what are now the little busy scenes of earth, that perplex the mind, and engross so much time and thought? Or what the gilded trifles of the world, riches, honours, and

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pleasures? They all die away and disappear, absorbed in this delightful prospect, as stars that vanish before the mid-day sun.'- What a heaven will it be to be holy, as God is holy,--to enjoy the presence of Christ, and his people,--to unite with the whole hosts of the celestial kingdom in its exalted worship, and to have the closest fellowship with God, as our own God and Father! Truly this is a heaven worth dying for!"--p. 431.

On Cruelty to Animals: A Sermon preached in Edinburgh, on the 5th of March, 1826, by Thomas Chalmers, D.D. of St. Andrew's. Second Edition.

THE remedial character of the Gospel is a powerful motive for its extension, as it is certain that the more widely its benevolent principles are diffused, the nearer

shall we approximate to that period when "violence shall no more be heard in the land; wasting nor destruction in its borders."

The progressive advancement of christian philanthropy during the last half century, confirms this remark; for during that period christian principles have, like some fertilizing rivulet, wound their way through many classes of society; and though, like the meandering stream, they have been hid from sight, yet their

has presence been attested by the living verdure and the abundant fertility which have attended their course. Hence that compassion for the sufferings of captured Africans, that solicitude for outcast aborigines, that desire for the emancipation of enslaved negroes, and that disposition to promote universal peace, which have been so happily apparent in the public mind. The genius of Christianity has asked, concerning every sufferer, "is he not a man and a brother?" and at her calm rebuke whole nations have shaken off that heartless indifference to human woes, which too long marked them as the descendants of the first murderer, who said, "Am I my brother's keepe? And is the stream of christian benevolence to terminate with care of our own species? "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast," and christian compassion must therefore flow to the whole inferior creation, "groaning and travailing in pain," until the lower animals participate with their fallen master in the blessings of that heaven-descended system which shall remove the curse of

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his great apostacy, and introduce a state of " harmony and family accord," the blissful dawning of the millennial day,

The admirable sermon of Dr. Chalmers, now before us, is, we believe, the first annual discourse which has been preached, in consequence of the appropriation of

£200. by a benevolent lady, Mrs. Gibson, for the endowment of a yearly lecture, to be delivered in Edinburgh against cruelty to animals. The good Doctor dwells, with marked complacency,upon this expedient, and doubtless some of the well paid drowsy lecturers of the South will smile at his simplicity, in anticipating that similar endowments will quicken the energies of the northern establishment, which have acted so often as a sedative to their own.

"An endowment for an annual discourse upon a given theme, is, we believe, a novelty in Scotland; though it is to similar institutions that much of the best, sacred, and theological literature of our sister country is owing. We should rejoice if, in this our comparatively meagre and unbeneficed land, both these themes and these endowments were multiplied. We recommend this as a fit species of charity, for the munificence of wealthy individuals. Whatever their selected argument shall be, whether that of cruelty to animals, or some one evidence of our faith, or the defence and illustration of a doctrine, or any distinct method of christian philanthropy for the moral regeneration of our species, or aught else of those innumerable topics that lie situated within the rich and ample domain of that revelation which God has made to our world-we feel assured that such a movement must be responded to with beneficial effects, both by the gifted pastors of our church, and by the aspiring youths of greatest power or greatest promise among its candidates. Such institutions as these would help to quicken the energies of our establishment; and, through means of a sustained and reiterated effort, directed to some one great lesson, whether in theology or morals, they might impress, and that more deeply every year, some specific and most salutary amelioration on the principles or the practices of general society."-p. 32.

The discourse is founded on Prov. xii. 10. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast," and it opens with noticing the twofold signification of the word regard. In the one application, the intellectual, it is the regard of attention. In the other, the moral, it is the regard of sympathy and kindness." On this distinction the discourse is founded, and the Doctor very eloquently contends, that

in the sports of the field and of the ring, and even in the experiments made on living animals, by "Science's enamoured worshippers;" the cruelties which are perpetrated result not from a fiendish delight in the agonies of sentient creatures, but from the absence of that" regard" which a good man will uniformly display towards them. Our readers would be much gratified by extracts from the descriptive passages in this part of the discourse, which we can assure them are in Dr. Chalmer's happiest manner, but we prefer to quote the following defence of his position, because it combines sentiments which merit the regard of every accountable mind.

"In the views that we have now given, and which we deem of advantage for the right practical treatment of our question, it may be conceived that we palliate the atrociousness of cruelty. It is forgotten, that a charge of foulest delinquency may be made up altogether of wants or of ne gatives; and, just as the human face, by the mere want of some of its features, although there should not be any inversion of them, might be an object of utter loathsomeness to beholders, so the human character, by the mere absence of certain habits, or certain sensibilities, which belong ordinarily and constitutionally to our species, may be an object of utter abomination in society. The want of natural affection forms one article of the Apostle's indictment against our world; and certain it is, that the total want of it were stigma enough for the designation of a monster. The mere want of religion, or irreligion, is enough to make man an outcast from his God. Even to the most barbarous of our kind you apply, not the term of antihumanity, but of inhumanity--not the term of antisensibility: and you hold it enough for the purpose of branding him for general execration, that you convicted him

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of complete and total insensibility. He is regaled, it is true, by a spectacle of agony -but not because of the agony. something else, therewith associated, which regales him. But still he is rightfully the subject of most emphatic denunciation, not because regaled by, but because regardless of, the agony. We do not feel ourselves to be vindicating the cruel man, when we affirm it to be not altogether certain, whether he rejoices in the extinction of life; for we count it a deep atrocity, that, unlike