Schoolmaster,' was preached by Mr. Binney at the opening of the Tower Church, and that the three others were preached, in the same church, after the special meetings of the Evangelical Alliance had been held in London last year. Of these three, the first is by A. Monod, and was delivered in French; the second by Dr. Krummacher, and was delivered in German. These have been translated into English for the volume before us. The remaining discourse, Salvation by Fire, and Salvation in Fulness,' was preached by Mr. Binney on the same interesting occasion.

Both Mr. Binney's sermons have been written since they were preached, and have been also very much enlarged. They fill 200 out of the 275 pages which this volume contains.

We do not wish to disparage the sermons, by our foreign brethren, here presented to us in such goodly fellowship, but shall pass at once to Mr. Binney's discourses, which we are especially desirous of bringing before our readers. We do not know his own estimate of them; but they contain so many indications of having been written both carefully and with delight in themes felt to be congenial to his mind and heart, that we should not wonder to hear him say,- If any one wishes to know me as a preacher, it is by these sermons I should prefer to be judged.' Originally they were spoken with the noble freedom which, as we think, becomes the Christian preacher incomparably better than the slavery to the manuscript to which we lament to see so many nonconformist ministers submitting themselves. When the preacher began to recall his trains of thought, and to give suitable written expression to them, his interest in them increased. He saw in them a special adaptation to the Christian young men of the present day. In the one, The Law our Schoolmaster,' he addresses almost exclusively the intellect, endeavouring to aid his youthful readers especially in their acquisition of Christian truth. In the other discourse he addresses the conscience and the heart, seeking to aid his readers in their efforts after practical excellence. The one is a specimen of the argumentative, the other of the hortative, sermon.

The text of the first sermon is Gal. iii. 24 and 25; its subject Judaism preparatory to Christianity, and spiritually developed in the Gospel.' This sermon is constructed on a plan which is applicable to almost every argumentative discourse; and it has not, therefore, the charm which is felt when everything in a discourse is seen to belong to its own text, and to no other. The preacher purposes to explain and illustrate the apostle's statement, and to add to the exposition such

general concluding remarks as the subject may seem appropriately to suggest.'

We shall not attempt an analysis of this discourse. It is characterised by exceedingly close thinking and concise expression, and cannot be abridged except by being mutilated. Many of its sentences might be expanded into volumes. They will be to many readers the seeds of thought.

Our purpose may, perhaps, be best accomplished by indicating very briefly the end which the preacher has in view,--the questions which he helps his readers' to study,' that they may make progress towards the satisfactory solution of them. These questions relate to points of moral and religious truth, which thoughtful students of scripture have long felt to be of much difficulty, and yet of great importance. They arise as we compare with each other the Old Testament and the New, the ceremonies and emblems of Judaism and the facts and truths of Christianity. It is difficult to give definite explanations (except so far as the Epistle to the Hebrews guides us) of the relations between those ceremonies and these facts, those emblems and these truths. It is more difficult to throw ourselves back into the intellect and heart of the church in the wilderness,' and to show how far the devout Jew read Christian truths in Mosaic emblems, how far, even, these emblems were intended to be understood by him, and in what precise way these emblems are to instruct and benefit ourselves.

The preacher's answers to these questions are given with the caution of one who has felt their difficulty, but with the clearness of one who has distinguished accurately between those parts of his subject which must remain doubtful, and those parts of it in which certainty is the recompence of patient and devout inquiry. Light is poured upon the whole theme. We feel as if an accomplished and spiritually enlightened priest were our guide through the Jewish temple, and were disclosing to us the hopes and wishes, the throbbings and searchings of heart,' the 'passionate longings after a higher life and more spiritual conceptions,' which arose with him as, in favoured seasons, he ministered at the altar and inquired in the temple.' We are thus prepared to recognise in the gospel 'Judaism spiritually developed.'

The tabernacle and temple seem to enlarge their proportions. The earth is the court in which death is inflicted; the overhanging sky is the mysterious veil; and high heaven, the dwelling-place of God, is the holy of holies. The one only sacrifice is understood to be that of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; the virtue of those sacrifices which sanctified only to the purifying of the flesh, or to the conferring of an external and ritual absolution, is seen to typify the blood that cleanseth from all

sin'—which purges the conscience, and literally reconciles man to God.' -pp. 100, 101.

The first aim of this discourse is the explanation of Scripture to the believing and docile inquirer; the next is the refutation of superstitious corruptions of Christianity, and of sceptical objections against it.

The Scriptural principles which are established in the expository part of the sermon, are applied, directly or analogically, to the prominent questions and controversies of our own time. This is done with most fulness and strength with reference to prevailing errors regarding sin and forgiveness. Of this argument, Mr. Binney says in a note, that it is professedly a mere outline,'quite fragmental,' and that instead of being referred to in one division of a discourse, the subject requires a whole discourse to itself, and may, perhaps, some day have one.' Compared with a treatise on sin and pardon, such as, with health and leisure, Mr. Binney could produce were he to apply his highest energy, and bring all his resources to the noble task, this argument is, of course, truly a fragment;' yet, as an outline, it is singularly complete and satisfactory. The principle that 'future punishment is not an infliction, but a result; not a thing added to sin by external power, but flowing out of it, by inevitable necessity,' shows at once and decisively the folly of the sentimental notion that sin need not awaken any deep emotion, since forgiveness is easily obtained. The same principle, taken in connexion with the revealed fact of a supernatural redemption, affords a confutation of the conclusion which is drawn by certain more patient and logical thinkers, that there can be no forgiveness of sin at all.' In this part of the sermon, evangelical truths are shown to be the explanations of sceptical difficulties,-the solutions of sceptical doubts,-in way that pours on our minds the self-evidencing light of Scripture, and will, we trust, lead many minds to the truth-and to peace in believing.

When the philosopher says, and says 'possibly with sadness and tears, tears wrung from him by the force of his relentless logic, I see no hope of the forgiveness of sin; properly understood it would involve a miracle-nothing less; a supernatural interference with established law. I can see no ground for expecting that. Christianity replies, but I can and I do; I come to announce exactly that thing which you feel to be necessary. It is, then, my office to make known the divine fact, the miraculous interposition, which your philosophy tells you is required, but of which, instead of showing the possibility, it can only teach you to despair.'-pp. 144, 146.

The sermon on 'Salvation by fire and salvation in fulness-the

Christian doctrine of warning and reward,' will probably be preferred by very many readers to the preceding discourse. It taxes the attention much less, and interests more the imagination and the feelings. Two texts are taken (1 Corinthians, iii. 15, and 2 Peter, i. 10, 11.) In a very few introductory sentences the pith of these texts is placed before us. The central subject is Salvation. Two sides of it are exhibited,-in the allegory addressed to the Church at Corinth, salvation with difficulty,' so as by fire;'-in the beautiful exhortation of St. Peter, salvation in fulness, 'an abundant entrance' into Christ's everlasting kingdom. The whole subject is illustrated and enforced by 'going over the previous trains of thought with which each text is connected,' rather than by preaching from the two texts themselves. Hence we have full expositions of two of the most important passages in the New Testament, expositions which deserve the careful and repeated study of all who wish to understand the Scriptures, and especially of those who wish to acquire or to cultivate the invaluable talent of pulpit exposition. The meaning is brought out vividly and forcibly. Conviction is produced, not so much by proving the interpretation to be correct, as by the clear statement, to which the mind responds as the statement of that which must be true. In the first exposition we seem to see-the builders engaged in their work-to witness the trial and its issues. We triumph with the builder whose work abides, who receives a reward,' and then shudder, as if we were ourselves almost consumed with the builder whose work is burned, and who himself is 'scarcely saved.' The other exposition is of a very different character; it is less impressive, but much more beautiful. The principle of the metaphor, employed in the first passage, affords a key to the interpretation of the second. Each Christian is a temple. The virtues which the apostle commends are the gold, silver, and precious stones,' which are to be built upon faith, the foundation grace. Each of these virtues is clearly described, and accurately distinguished from the rest; and the fair proportion and harmony of the whole of these graces, in the character of the mature Christian, are portrayed before us. And then comes

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a description of the abundant entrance' of such a saint into his Saviour's kingdom, to hear which must have been like standing with Bunyan's pilgrim in sight of the gates of Paradise. The imagery employed is almost hackneyed. It the more required genius to give to it freshness and force.

'You may take another illustration from a vessel returning after a long voyage, and being received and welcomed by expectant friends. She has been, let us suppose, absent for years; has been toiling and trafficking in every sea, touching in the ports and trading in the markets of many lands; she is approaching at last her "desired haven," the harbour from which

she set out, whence loving thoughts went with her as she started on her perilous way, and where anxious hearts are now wishing and waiting for her return. She is descried in the distance; the news spreads; all is excitement; multitudes assemble; pier and quay, beach and bank, are crowded with spectators, as the little craft pushes on, and every moment nears her destination. There she is! wind and weather-beaten it is true, covered with the indications of sore travail and long service, and with many signs of her having encountered both battle and breeze. But all is safe. Her goodly freight is secure and uninjured; her profits have been large; the merchandize she brings is both rich and rare; she is coming along over a sunny sea, leaping and dancing as if she were alive; her crew are on the deck, and, with straining eyes and palpitating hearts, are looking towards the shore. A soft wind swells the sails; the blue heavens are bending over the bark as if smiling on her course, while the very waves seem to run before her, turning themselves about as with conscious joy, clapping their hands, and murmuring welcome! How she bounds forward! she is over the bar! she is gliding now in smooth water; is passing into port; and is preparing to moor and to drop her anchor for the last time! While she does so, there comes a shout from the assembled spectators-the crowds that witness and welcome her approach-loud as thunder, musical as the sea.'-pp. 224-226.

This is the preacher's illustration of salvation in fulness.' For beauty and nobleness it is a passage rarely equalled, and scarcely ever surpassed.

The practical inferences and appeals which conclude this discourse, invite quotation and remark, but our space will permit only one observation. In a way that must have been startling to hearers accustomed only to the technicalities of systematic theology, Mr. Binney insists upon excellence of character as indispensable, not, indeed, to salvation itself, but to salvation in fulness.' There is a prize of our high calling as well as a gift of eternal life. Only by eminent personal virtue can that prize be won. The statements and appeals to which we now refer deserve to be deeply pondered, especially by all who are engaged in Christian teaching. One objector might allege that the preacher is legal, and complain that he demands good works with an urgency inconsistent with the doctrines of grace.' Another objector might take advantage of the strong requirement of purity as the meetness for heaven, to infer that there must be a purgatory in which this indispensable purity may be acquired. The preacher is not careful to answer either class of objectors, except by falling back on obvious scripture declarations, the truths which are taught by inspired men, and which, because so taught, must be in harmony with each other and with all truth, whether we can perceive the harmony or not.

We must refrain from specifying various characteristics of Mr. Binney's preaching, which are prominent in these dis