but when, with much timidity, they have ventured partially to express those feelings with which their hearts are burning, it not unfrequently happens, that instead of having the right hand of Christian fellowship extended to them; instead of being anticipated, and sympathized with, in that which they would say; the bud which is ready to expand under the influence of the bright beams of the "Sun of Righteousness" is nipped by a cold, and chilling, and distant demeanour. Oh! how often by such conduct is that spark, which might have been fanned into a bright and lovely flame, kept still smothered amidst the embers of corruption !-Have not Christians a duty to perform towards their weaker brethren-to see that they

offend them not?

But, again, how much might believers contribute to the happiness of one another, if they were more ready to communicate and receive of the things connected with their everlasting welfare— "Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Prov. xxvii. 17. How frequently has it happened that the tried and afflicted saint, has been

filled with the "oil of gladness". by "a word in season" from his Christian brother. How often has he who was "ready to die," been restored to his "first love" by the blessing of God on such means.— Surely experimental converse is not only a duty, but one of our highest privileges: and no true child of God can engage in such reciprocal exchange of experience, without feeling that it is "good to be here," without realizing more warmth of heart, and more quickening of his affections, to do the will of his Father which is in heaven.—He may also be assured that his reconciled Father in Christ will bow down his ear, and hear " the feeblest effort of the feeblest believer to glorify His name. "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name, and they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son, that serveth him." Mal. iii. 16, 17.

Ελαχιστότερος.

CLINI

FEB. 1831.

A Sermon preached in Trinity Church, New York, at the Funeral of the Right Reverend John Henry Hobart, D. D. Bishop of the Diocese of New York, and Rector of the said Church, on September 16, 1830. By B. T. Onderdonk, D.D. Assistant Minister of Trinity Church, and Professor of the Nature, Ministry, and Polity of the Church, in the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. New York, Printed at the Protestant Episcopal Press, 1830. Pp. 88.

THE state of the Episcopal Church in America, separated as it is from the Established Church of England merely by the different forms of national polity, can never cease to be an object of the deepest interest to the real friends of true religion: especially as upon the stability of this branch, if we may so call it, of the parent tree of Protestantism, planted at the reformation, depends, under providence, the propagation of the gracious principles of the Christian dispensation, in the vast territories of the United States. We are speaking advisedly, when we say, that within the last few years, the papists in that quarter of the globe have made many proselytes, and that the faithful servants of the cross have viewed with dismay the backslidings of some portion of their congregations.

At such a crisis the death of Bishop Hobart, must be looked upon not merely as a local, but a general loss. Many of our readers, we have no doubt, remember the visit of that truly excellent prelate and pious Christian to this country in 1823-4, when he was received in a most fraternal manner, and gained the affection and esteem of all who had the pleasure of making his acquaintance.

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Bishop Hobart was born in Philadelphia on the 14th of September in the year 1775. From his earliest youth he displayed an extraordinary activity of mind, and great energy of character; so much so indeed, that at a very early age he attracted the particular attention of the Right Reverend Dr. White, Bishop of Pennsylvania, now in his eightyfirst year, and presiding Bishop of the American Episcopal Church. And it is worthy of observation, that the feeling of admiration and attachment thus casually excited, was cherished and perpetuated for the long period of fifty years, Bishop White in reply to the letter announcing the melancholy event, says, "During my long life, I have not known any work of death, exterior to the circle of my own family, so afflictive to me as the present. I have known, and have had occasion to remark, the character of my now deceased friend, from his very early boyhood; and I can truly say, that I have never known any man on whose integrity and conscientiousness of conduct I had more full reliance than on his. In contemplating what must be the brevity of my stay in this valley of tears, it has been a gratification to me to expect that I should leave behind me a brother, whose past zeal and labours were a pledge that he I would not cease to be efficient in extending our church, and in the preservation of his integrity. But a higher disposal has forbidden the accomplishment of accomplishment of my wishes ; much as I verily believe to his gain, though greatly to our loss, and to that of the church."

To the friendship of this venerable prelate may possibly be attributed some portion of the early bias of Dr. Hobart in favour of the ministry; no doubt his emulation was excited by the patronage of so distinguished an individual. Nor

did he disappoint the expectations of his friends, for in his eighteenth year he received the highest honours of his class in Princeton College, and was appointed Tutor in the same venerable seat of science. At the age of twenty-four he was admitted into Deacon's orders in his native city, by Bishop White. He officiated for a short period in Trinity church Oxford, and All Saints, Lower Dublin, Pennsylvania; and afterwards in Christ Church, New Brunswick, N. J. He took charge of St. George's church, Hampstead, Long Island, in the year 1800; and in the later part of the same year, removed to New York as assistant preacher of Trinity church, and was ordained priest by Bishop Provost. In 1807 he received the degree of D. D. from Union College, Schenectady. At a special convention of this diocese, in May 1811, called by the late Right Rev. Bishop Moore, in consequence of his inability to continue in full charge of the diocese, Dr. Hobart was elected assistant bishop, and was consecrated, in the same month, in Trinity church in this city, by the Bishop of Pennsylvania, Bishops Provost and Jarvis being present and assisting. In 1813 he was appointed assistant Rector of Trinity church. And upon the death of Bishop Moore in 1816, became the Diocesan and Rector of the same. And from this period to the day of his death, he was "instant in season and out of season," in the discharge of his episcopal duties.

For with the exception of his visit to Europe in 1823, for the benefit of his declin. ing health, he never for a moment was absent from his flock.

As a preacher, he was devout, earnest, and solemn. His delivery was peculiarly dignified, and his expositions, his expostulations, his appeals to the heart, and his general discourses were founded upon the best models of those great men, who have declared, in our own

tongue, the wonderful works of God. He had an especial delight in the works of Hooker, Barrow, Hall, Horsley, and other kindred Spirits. He breathed much of their devotion in the exercises of the pulpit; and in his polemical controversies, from the same quiver, which supplied them with shafts he drew his powerful weapons. Evangelical piety and apostolic order' was his motto.

In many points of his character he resembled the Universal Prelate,' the lamented Heber. Over the largest of the American dioceses, he has scattered memorials of his episcopal labours, which can never be forgotten. The church,' he said in one of his most popular discourses, the church, in her faith, her ministry, her order, her worship, in all her great distinctive principles-maintain HER at all hazards. For amidst the agitations and tumults of error and enthusiasm, SHE is the asylum of the great and good; amidst the conflicts of heresy and schism, SHE is the safeguard of the truth as it is in JESUS--of all that he and his apostles ordained, to advance the salvation of a lost world.'

In his private intercourse he combined many of the most admirable qualities. He was embarrassed in no circle where he appeared. He was polite, conciliatory, affable; with a retentive memory and lively imagination. Abroad he was a cheerful guest; at home he entertained with an unbounded hospitality. The rich and poor have lost in him a noble, generous friend.

The immediate cause of his death was a bilious attack. He had left New York on the fifth of August, on a visitation to the churches in the western part of his diocese ; and whilst at Auburn, he was seized with the disorder which finally terminated his life, at the house of the Rev. Dr. Rudd, from whom he received every kindness and attention that affection could procure or

skill bestow. We are sure we have already said enough to induce every one of our readers to participate in the grief with which the Protestant Church in the United States is overwhelmed, at the premature decease of so indefatigable a servant of the cross. But we have great hopes that the amiable and learned individual (Dr. Onderdonk, the author of this discourse), who has succeeded to the mitre of New York, will, by a continuance of those ministerial labours in which he has so long and so beneficially been employed, deaden the weight of the blow, and become, in the language of his own text, burning and a shining light." We shall conclude our observations by an extract or two from the discourse before us; in which we know not, whether most to admire the pure spirit of piety which breathes in every line, or the depth of feeling

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wherewith its author bewails the common loss.

The text is taken from St. John

v. 35. " He was a burning and a shining light; and ye were willing, for a season, to rejoice in his light.' After a few introductory words, the cause of that extensively prevailing grief, which had already found a vent in the journals of the day, and been expressed in resolutions of condolence, forwarded to his widow and family from the majority of the Episcopalians in all parts of the States, is thus beautifully and energetically declared,

We weep not for the father and the friend, who has rested from his toils, his anxieties, and his sorrows.

We

weep not that a good and faithful servant has been called to the joy of his Lord. We weep not at heaven's gain: but oh! we do weep at our loss. We weep, because a "burning and a shining light," in which we had so long been wont to rejoice, has been taken from us. Sorrow fills the hearts of many who remember how that light shone upon their path, to direct in the way they should go the steps of their children and their youth. Many a penitent weeps when he remembers how, from the

ministrations of the beloved and venerated one, who lies before us, light has flashed conviction of sin upon his mind, laid open the recesses of his corrupt and guilty heart, and led him for refuge to the grace of an all-sufficient Saviour, where he has found mercy, whence peace and comfort have been derived, and in the guidance and strength of which he now 66 goes on his way rejoicing." The bitter tear of bereavement is shed over these dear remains by many, who, in the trials and afflictions of life, have been soothed and cheered by the light of heavenly consolation, emanating from the friendly and pastoral offices so congenial with the kind and benevolent nature of the good man whose loss we now deplore. The confirmed Christian laments that he is never more to be blessed with his instructions, who so well conducted him in the ways of truth and holiness. The anxious inquirer respecting the things that belong to his everlasting peace, weeps sorely that that voice is hushed, whence he has derived so much clear

light of satisfaction and of comfort. The

lover of truth laments that the fearless champion has sunk in death, who was ever its ready, enlightened, and valiant advocate and defender, who set his eye and his mind immovably on what his conscience told him was the right and the truth, and thither directed all the powers of an extraordinarily clear and vigorous intellect, unbiassed by minor and collateral considerations, undaunted by what, to the self-interested, would be appalling difficulties, rising above all motives unconnected with principle and moral obligation, and going right onward, generally to a successful issue, always to the firm establishment of a claim to the testimony of a good conscience, that he had well and faithfully performed what he was honestly convinced was his bounden duty. The good member of society, devoted to its best interests, and justly appreciating whatever can tend to render social intercourse happy and delightful, laments the removal of one of its brightest ornaments, and a most interesting exhibition of the highest virtues of the kindest and most conciliatory deportment; of frankness which passed by with contempt all guile, artifice, and deception; of cheerfulness which diffused joy all around it; of powers of conversation, which ever delighted and instructed; and in short, of a combination of the best social properties, which has rarely,

indeed been met with in others. The scholar and friend of science weeps over the remains of one in whom a liberal education produced its most interesting and valuable fruits, and one of the most conspicuous of the talented band, who put to shame the unnatural and truly unphilosophical perversion of learning, which brings it into disgraceful union with infidelity and impiety.

The new Bishop at the close of this eloquent sermon, addresses himself particularly to his reverend brethren of the diocese, and calls upon them to treasure up in their hearts for ensample, the life and character of their deceased Prelate:

We are all witnesses, with what fidelity he fulfilled the weighty trusts of his high office; what a glorious pattern of earnestness and devotion he set before us; how well he knew, and how zealously he advocated and vindicated, the principles of our holy church; and how successfully he pursued, in her behalf, what his well-informed and wellregulated judgment satisfied him was the policy most accordant with her interests, and with the interests of the ever-blessed Gospel, on whose account he loved her so much, cherished her so faithfully, defended her so valiantly, and laboured so industriously in her cause.

Oh! we have had privileges and blessings in our connexion with our spiritual father, of the choicest and most elevated character. Forget we not, therefore, that we have correspondent weighty obligations resting upon us. Be not ours the guilt of godly counsels neglected, and a godly example unfollowed. Under the softening and chastening influence of the affliction which now fills our heart, it will be well to renew our vows of ministerial duty, and to devote ourselves, with fresh vigor, to the work whereunto we have been called.

Here we must lay down our pen, feeling that we should not have done our duty to so valuable and important a part of the Catholic Church of Christ, had we neglected to call the attention of the English public to the state of ecclesiastical affairs in America on so promising though melancholy an occasion. Melancholy, from the record of the great loss the church at large has sustained in the death of Dr. Hobart-promising, from the circumstance that his successor appears so eminently qualified to temper the poignancy of that loss.

The Divine Authority and Perpetual Obligation of the Lord's Day, asserted in Seven Sermons, delivered at the Parish Church of St. Mary, Islington, in the months of July and August, 1830, and now published at the request of the Parishioners. By Daniel Wilson, M.A. Vicar. 12mo. Pp. xxxiv. and 266. Wilson.

THIS is a very cheap and valuable summary of the argument on the Lord's Day, every way deserving of the most serious perusal and extensive circulation; especially in the present day, when some lax, speculative, and dangerous notions have received unlookedfor support in quarters where better things might have been expected.

A Letter to his Parishioners on being laid aside from his ministerial work. By Dawson Warren, A. M. Vicar of Edmonton. 12mo. Pp. 96. Seeleys.

A Father's Tribute to the memory of a beloved daughter, with Extracts from the Diary of Miss Elizabeth Turner, who died April 7, 1830, in the 24th year of her age. 18mo. Pp. iv. and 206. Seeleys. 1830.

SOME account of this interesting young person was inserted in our last Volume, page 339.-The present volume has been compiled by her Father from her papers, with the hope that it may be made useful and instructive to many, especially the young.

The Infant's Daily Sacrifice; a Book of Short Hymns for Children, with Plates. Square 12mo. Pp. xx. and 67. Hatchards. 1831.

THIS is a very pleasing production. The plates will prove highly instructive to the young-while the poetry is calculated to instruct many of riper years. The following is a specimen :