POETRY. ་་་་་་་་་་་་་ (To the Editors.) GENTLEMEN,-The following antiquated poem is from the pen of the excellent Thomas Toller, who was a puritan vicar of Sheffield, in the early part of the seventeenth century. The Rev. J. Hunter has preserved it, in his elegant History of Hallamshire, which being an expensive work, and of local interest, is not likely to be read by many persons out of Sheffield, or its vicinity. I have, therefore, transcribed it, and shall feel happy to see it inserted in your valuable miscellany. J. B. THE PERPETUAL SACRIFICE. 1. If any in distresse desire to gather Trewe comforte, let him seeke it of Our Father: 2. For wee of hope and helpe are all bereaven, Except thou ayde us, Lorde, 3. For thou doest ayde us, therefore, for the same We prayse thee, singing 4. Of all our miseries caste up the summe; Shewe us the joyes, and let 5. Thou doest dispose of us even from our birth; What can we wishe 6. Thine is the earth; as are the planetts seaven, Thi name be blessed heere, 7. Nothing is ours, eyther to use or paye, But what thou gevest, Lord; 8. Wherewith to cloath us, wherwith to feede; For without thee we wante which art in Heaven: hallowed bee thi name. thi kingdom come. thi will be done in earthe, as it is in Heaven. Give us this daye our daylie brcade. 9. But wante no faults, no daye without sinne passes; Pardon us good Lorde, 10. No man from synning free did ever lyve; Forgeve us, Lord, our synnes, 11. If we forgeve not one another, thou disdaynist us: We pardon 12. Forgive us what is paste, a newe path treade us : Direct us alwayes in thi faith, 13. As thine own people, and thi chosen nacion, Into all trewth; but 14. Thou that of all good graces art the gever, Suffer us not to wander, 15. Us from the daungers of the worlde, the fleshe, and the Devill, So shalt thou free all us 16. To these petycions let all church and leymen, With one consent of harte and voyce, saye to it and forgeve us our trespasses. as we forgeve them that trespasse against us. and leade us not into temptacion. but us delyver from all evill. Amen. REVIEW OF BOOKS. The Imitation of Christ; in Three Books. By Thomas à Kempis. Translated from the Latin, by John Payne. With an Introductory Essay, by Thomas Chalmers, D.D. 12mo. 3s. 6d. Glasgow, Chalmers and Collins. 1822. It is a strange thing that the authorship of this popular composition should remain an unsettled question to this day. By some it has been, apparently on very slender grounds, attributed to the celebrated Gersen; and the Abbé Vallart, in an edition published by ⚫him in 1758, endeavoured to prove that it was the production of an ecclesiastic of a nearly similar name, Jean Gersen, Abbot of Verceil, a Benedictine monk, who lived in the thirteenth century, the friend of St. Francis d'Assisi, and the spiritual director of St. Antony, of Padua. He rested his opinion on the fact, that this name had been found in several manuscripts, and that, in one of great antiquity, it was repeated five times. These arguments do not appear to have been thought satisfactory; the less so, as it is by no means ascertained that Gersen was any thing more than an imaginary author. If, however, Vallart be correct, in asserting that a transla tion of the de Imitatione was in ex Dom istence before 1330, this circumstance must be fatal to the claims of à Kempis, whether those of Gersen be well or ill founded. In the preceding century, the controversy on this subject had been carried to great lengths. Tarisse, the principal of the Benedictines of St. Maur, had prepared an edition of the work in question, in which he ascribed it, on the authority of four ancient manuscripts, preserved at Rome, to Gersen. Cardinal Richelieu em ployed Naudé, a Frenchman of literary celebrity, then residing at Rome, to examine the manuscripts, and he stated his conviction, that the signature which appeared on their title was in a hand-writing more recent than the rest of the work. Naudé, at the same time, assigned other reasons for his ge neral conclusion that Gersen was not the author. This paper came into the hands of Fronteau, a canon of St. Genevieve, who immediately published an edition of the disputed treatise, under the name of à Kempis, and triumphantly cited, in his favour, the testimony of Naudé. This seems to have put the Benedictines into a towering passion; they drew their pens forthwith, and the unfortunate examinant was overwhelmed with charges of bad faith, forgery, and venality. Naudé carried the affair into the courts of law, and after the business had furnished infinite amusement to the bar and bench, it was decreed, in due form, and with all possible gravity, that the work should thereafter be printed only under the name of Thomas à Kempis. It would have been an improvement, in the edition before us, if a sketch of the history of the,original had been given, including the detail which we have here given from a different quarter. It ought also to have contained a more ample life of the reputed author, than the brief statement drawn up by Walter Harte. With these slight exceptions, the book is excellently got up; it contains the eloquent essay, by Dr. Chalmers, the introduction by Payne, the translator, and the following memoir of Thomas à Kempis. "All that I have been able to learn, in Germany, upon good authority, con cerning Thomas à Kempis, is as follows: he was born at Kempis, or Kempen, a small walled town, in the Duchy of Cleves, and diocese of Cologn. His family name was Hamerlein, which signifies, in the German language, a little hammer.' We find also, that his parents were named John and Gertrude Hamerlein. He lived chiefly in the monastery of Mount St. Agnes, where his effigy, together with a prospect of the monastery, was engraven, on a plate of copper, that lies over his body. The said monastery is now called Bergh-Clooster; or, as we might say, in English, Hill-Cloyster : many strangers, in their travels, visit it. "Kempis was certainly one of the best and greatest men since the primitive ages. His book Of the Imitation of Christ,' has seen near forty editions, in the original Latin, and above sixty translations have been made from it into modern languages. "Our author died August 8, 1471, aged ninety-two years. He had no mani fest infirmities of old age, and retained his eye-sight perfect to the last. In the engraving on copper, above mentioned, and lying over his grave, is represented, a person respectfully presenting to him a label, on which is writ ten, a verse to this effect: O! where is peace? for thou its paths hast trod.' "To which Kempis returns another label, inscribed as follows: In poverty, retirement, and with God.' "He was a canon regular of Augustines, and sub-prior of Mount St. Agnes' Monastery. He composed his treatise, Of the Imitation of Christ,' in the sixty-first year of his age, as appears from a note of his own writing, in the library of his convent." If we are to take implicitly the assurance of the editor of the original, as published by Barbou, in 1788, this work is to be held in equal, or nearly equal, reverence with the sacred volume itself. In support of this sagacious and discriminating criticism, he cites the authorities of Pius V., St. Charles Borromeo, St. Philip Neri, St. Francis de Sales, St. Ignatius Loyola, and the Emperor of Morocco ! who had this treatise, as he gravely informs us, translated into Turkish, and gave it a decided preference to all the productions of the Mohammedan doctors. Extravagance like this defeats its own purpose, and, instead of attracting, repels. The pious Augustinian was much more perfect as an ascetic than as a writer, and his sentiments are far more edifying, than his composition is refined, or correct. His Latin style is disfigured by barbarisms, and by puerile antitheses, which disappear in the very excellent version before us. In fact, Mr. Payne seems to have executed his task con amore, and by judicious retrenchments, leaving out occasionally a redundant clause, or an overwrought phrase, has much improved the effect and character of the whole. In its present state, it forms a very interesting volume, and will, we have no doubt, through the recommendation of Dr. Chalmers, experience a revival of its popularity. The fourth book, de Sacramento, is entirely, and advantageously left out; it contains much that is excellent, and impressive, but it is, of course, tinctured with the peculiarities of the writer's creed, and describes the Redeemer as contained whole (integer) under the appearances of bread and wine, and as eaten by the communicant, without being consumed. It has, too, something of that bad taste, which, in a less offensive form, is occasionally met with in the other books, but which, consisting chiefly in the recurrence of similar sounds, words, and phrases, is not obvious in the translation. On the substantial merits of the whole work, as here presented to the English reader, Dr. Chalmers gives the following opinion. "We like not that author to be violently alleged against, who expounds, and expounds truly, the amount of Christian holiness, because he says not enough, it is thought, of the warrants and securities that are provided in the Gospel for Christian hope. We think, that to shed a luminousness over one portion of the divine testimony, is to reflect, at least, if not immediately to shed, a light on all the other portions of it. The doctrine of our acceptance, by faith in the merits and propitiation of Christ, is worthy of many a treatise, and many are the precious treatises upon it which have been offered to the world. But the doctrine of regeneration by the Spirit of Christ, equally demands the homage of a separate lucubration-which may proceed on the truth of the former, and, by the incidental recognition of it, when it comes naturally in the way of the author's attention, marks the soundness and the settlement of his mind thereupon, more decisively than by the dogmatic, and ostentatious, and often misplaced asseverations of an ultra orthodoxy. And the clearer revelation to the eye of faith of one article, will never darken or diminish, but will, in fact, throw back the light of an augmented evidence on every other article. Like any object that is made up of parts, which we have frequently looked to in their connection, and as making up a whole the more distinctly one part of it is made manifest, the more forcibly will all the other parts of it be suggested to the mind. And thus it is, that when pressing home the necessity of one's own holiness, as his indispensable preparation for heaven, we do not dissever his mind from the atonement of Christ, but in reality do we fasten it more closely than ever on the necessity of another's righteousness, as his indispensable plea for heaven. "Such we apprehend to be the genuine influence of a treatise that is now sub'mitted anew to the Christian public. It certainly does not abound in formal and direct avowals of the righteousness which is by faith, and on this account we have heard it excepted against. But we know of no reading that is more powerfully calculated to shut us up unto the faith -none more fitted to deepen and to strengthen the basis of a sinner's humility, and so reconcile him to the doctrine of salvation in all its parts, by grace alone-none that, by exhibiting the height and perfection of Christian attainments, can better serve the end of prostrating the inquirer into the veriest depths of self-abasement, when, on the humbling comparison of what he is, with what he ought to be, he is touched and penetrated by a sense of his manifold deficiencies. It is on this account that the author of such a work may, instrumentally speaking, do the office of a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ: nor do we know at what other time it is, than when eyeing from afar the lofty track of spiritual and seraphic piety which is here delineated, that we more feel our need of the great High Priest, or that his peace-speaking blood and his perfect righteousness are more prized by us." CONG. MAG. No. 73. While we are quite willing to express our general acquiescence in this criticism, we must be permitted to attach a higher importance to an explicit recognition of the foundation-truths of the Gospel, and a stronger doubt of the expediency of insulated views of Christian doctrine. While it is true that without holiness no man can see the Lord, and while we are commanded to crucify the flesh, and to mortify the deeds of the body, it is also true that without adequate motive and preparation we shall be unable to obey the injunction, and that nothing can supply those motives but a cordial and prevailing belief of the great verities concerning the sacrifice and righteousness of Christ. Still, after every deduction has been made, the "Imitation of Christ," will be held in high esteem by all who love the Redeemer and desire to devote themselves, in body, soul, and spirit, to his work and service. Sir John Hawkins, in his Life of Dr. Johnson, states of that great man, that having taken up the treatise of à Kempis, he soon "laid it aside, saying that the main design of it was to promote monastic piety, and inculcate ecclesiastical obedience." It is clear that he had "laid it aside" before he had made himself master of its contents; he might, indeed, soon find that it was too severe in its requisitions to gratify the inclinations of one whose principal delights were those which result from intercourse with the world, the pursuits of literature, and the exercise of intellectual superiority. The following observations on "solitude and silence," would hardly be acceptable to the man who fled to crowds for refuge from the bitterness of reflexion and the rebukes of conscience; and who preferred to the retirement of his closet and his study, the conversazzione, and the club. E "Appropriate a convenient part of time to retirement and self-converse, and frequently meditate on the wonderful love of God in the redemption of man. Reject all studies that are merely curious; and read only what will rather penetrate the heart with holy compunction, than exercise the brain with useless speculations. "If thou canst refrain from unnecessary conversation and idle visits, and suppress the desire of hearing and telling some new thing;' thou wilt find not only abundant leisure, but convenient opportunity for holy and useful meditation. The most eminent saints, where Providence has permitted it, have shunned all intercourse with men, and chosen to live wholly to God in retirement and solitude. "It is the declaration of Seneca, that as often as he mingled in the company of men, he came out of it less a man than he went in;' and to the truth of this, our own experience, after much free conversation, bears testimony; for it is much easier to keep concealed at home, than to preserve ourselves from sin abroad; he, therefore, that presseth forward to the perfection of the internal and spiritual life, must, with Jesus, withdraw himself from the multitude.' "No man can safely go abroad, that does not love to stay at home; no man can safely speak, that does not willingly hold his tongue; no man can safely govern, that would not cheerfully become subject; no man can safely command that has not truly learned to obey; and no man can safely rejoice, but he that has the testimony of a good conscience. "O that man would never seek after transitory joy, would never busy himself with the trifling affairs of a perishing world; how pure a conscience might he maintain! O that he could divorce his spirit from all vain solicitude; and devoting it to the contemplation of God and the truths of salvation, place all his confidence in the divine mercy; in what profound tranquillity and peace would he possess his soul ! "No man is worthy of heavenly consolation, unless he hath been diligently exercised in holy compunction. If thou desirest true compunction, enter into thy closet, and, excluding the tumults of the world, according to the advice of the Psalmist, " commune with thy heart, and be still,' that thou mayest feel regret and horror for sin. Thou wilt find in the closet, that which thou often losest abroad. The closet long continued in, becomes delightful; but, when seldom visited, it is beheld with reluctance, weariness, and disgust. If, in the beginning of thy conversion, thou canst keep close to it, and cultivate the advantages it is capable of yielding, it will be ever after desirable as a beloved friend, and become the seat of true consolation. "In solitude and silence the holy soul advances with speedy steps, and learns the hidden truths of the oracles of God. There she finds the fountain of tears, in which she bathes and purifies herself every night there she rises to a more intimate union with her Creator, in proportion as she leaves the darkness, impurity, and tumult of the world. To him who withdraws himself from his friends and acquaintance to seek after God, will God draw near with his holy angels." A book which has been read for centuries with interest and edification, must have strong claims on public attention, and those claims are unquestionably increased by the judicious manner in which this edition is got up. : A Narrative of the Establishment and Progress of the Mission to Ceylon and India, under the Direction of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference. Including Notices of Bombay and Ceylon. By W. M. Harvard. 8vo. 9s. London Blanshard, 1823. An Account of the Captivity and Escape of Captain Robert Knox, who was treacherously detained, nearly Twenty Years, in the Kingdom of Candy. Re-published, with Preface and Notes, by W. M. Harvard, late Missionary in Ceylon. 12mo. 3s. 6d. London: Blanshard, 1823. (Concluded from page 646.) SUCH is the moral field which the Missionaries of England and America are endeavouring to plant with the peaceable fruits of righteousness; and, in the midst of many discouragements, they have met with much support, and with satisfactory indications of ultimate success. It has been no trifling object gained, to secure an undisturbed residence in a quarter, which was fenced and fortified against the entrance of the Gospel by so many political prejudices, |