world's Saviour, its exemplar, and atoning victim; its mediator, prophet, priest, and king: above all their monarchs, however great; their priests, however holy; their prophets, however true; above all the Jewish people in the grandeur and momentousness of his saving work; in the untainted purity of his nature and pre-eminent holiness of his life; in the wondrous miracles he wrought, and benevolent actions he performed. And may we not say above them all in the benign and holy influences of that religion he purchased by his blood, which changes man from the sinful to the pure, from the bad to the good, and which eventually will transform the moral wilderness of earth into the garden of the Lord, making it an Eden of light, purity, and unspeakable joy-a type of the heavenly? Thus above all Jews, however eminent in official character, bright in intellect, pure in morals, high in religious devotion, or devoted to human good, the figurative position of Christ in the cedar symbolizing the Jewish nation was the most elevated. In the truest and fullest sense, he was the highest Branch of the high cedar.

The pre-eminence of Christ is the grand primal truth of Christianity, the central sun around which all other truths of our Divine faith revolve. Christ is head over all. In all things he has the pre-eminence. This is gratefully acknowledged by the Lord's people; and though the Jews, wanderers on earth because they rejected Jesus Christ as their promised Messiah, and criminally crucified the Prince of Peace, having yet upon their minds the veil of a bigoted prejudice against Christ, may refuse to acknowledge the Divine Jesus as their true Messiah, as the highest Branch of their high and goodly cedar, yet, eventually, when the veil is removed, they will regard him otherwise. As in the light of a sunbeam, they will see his legitimate claim to the Messianic character and dignity, that he is indeed the highest Branch of their national cedar; and, gladly recognizing the once despised Nazarene as their true deliverer and Saviour, they will cheerfully render unto him the high homage unto which he is justly entitled, and in reference to the Divine Jesus they will gratefully exclaim, "Lo! this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad

and rejoice in his salvation." In that high day of illumination to the Jews, Israel will acknowledge Christ to be her Saviour king; her harp, hung on the willows and silent so long, will be taken off, retuned, and swept to celebrate his praise. Jewish palms again will wave before the Saviour, and Jewish voices again will cry, "Hosannah to the son of David; Hosannah in the highest blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

We borrow the image of the cedar for a larger interpretation, to set forth in figure the numberless mass of earth's children of all times and nations ;-we ask, then, which branch of the great human tree stands the highest? Who is truly the greatest being ever found on earth? The Bible, and saints, and the truly intelligent, as with one voice, unhesitatingly exclaim-Christ! Yes; the man Christ Jesus towers above

all men. No equal-no peer has he. Bring your princes and nobles, your warriors and statesmen, your philoso phers and poets, your moralists and philanthropists, your master-minds, your choice spirits, your world-leaders, those that the world most reveres and honours, whom she has elevated to her highest pedestals of greatness, and laurelled with her choicest wreaths, and the very best of them, entitled though they may be to high distinction and honour, how immeasurably inferior to Christ! Their nature, how inferior! their lives, how inferior! their teachings, how inferior! their morals, how inferior! their influence for human improvement, elevation, and good, how inferior! Be it also remembered, that Jesus Christ stands forth invested with the unique attributes of the world's spiritual Saviour, saving the soul, purifying the soul, filling the soul with God, and finally raising it to all the sublime satisfactions, entrancing joys, and ineffable glories of heaven. Yes, much as we may honour earth's children worthy of being honoured, much as we may delight to think of them, and to proclaim them worthy of human thought and admiration, they must all retire before Christ-perfection incarnate!-like the starlight before the rising sun. In all things great, and wise, and good, and beneficial to our world, he must have the pre-eminence. In the great human cedar tree, the best specimens of humanity may be conspicuous, and important, and beautiful branches,

having foliage most lovely, and exciting our admiration; but the Saviour Jesus is confessedly the highest branch of the tree, clothed with a lovelier foliage of moral excellence. And what admiration our entranced souls accord to him! an admiration most intense and glowing, increasing with every gaze!

Amplify the figure still more to its utmost-regarding it as not only including the mass of humanity, but also all orders of created intelligences in the universe, from the lowest in the lowest rank of angelic beings, through all the ascending series of heaven's bright and noble ones, to the highest archangel, who stands on the highest platform of created greatness, dwelling nearest the eternal throne, and in the brightest halo of the Uncreated and Infinite; and then, in the grander and sublimer tree of the universe's intelligent ones, Jesus is the highest branch, sustains the most elevated and glorious position. As Divine, he is above all created beings; and at his feet the highest ranks of heaven lay their bright glories down, gratefully and adoringly acknowledging him to be their sovereign head, their great supreme.

Jesus, the highest one of the Jewish nation, of the human race, of all intelligent beings, the highest in the Church militant and triumphant, and the highest in heaven, ought to be the highest thought in the believer's mind, the highest object of the believer's heart. The Christian cannot think of Christ too much, nor love and adore him too much. Earth, blinded by sin, does not yet acknowledge the supre

macy of Christ. In not doing so, how great its crime! and its loss too! But eventually the blindness will be removed, and the last scene of the mysterious and grand drama of human probation will present the Saviour as the gratefully and adoringly acknowledged highest one of earth the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He alone will be exalted in that day. The world's knee, bowing in reverential and adoring homage to him; the world's mind, thinking of him; the world's heart, beating in love to him; the world's voice, rising in choral symphony to him, in celebrating his supremacy, and majesty, and glory, whilst the whole universe, gazing on the scene, will joyfully join in acknowledging him to be the highest, the pre-eminent, the supreme one.

As Jesus is the highest, let him be elevated! Perish the faith that would lower him, that would place him on any platform of inferiority, robbing him of his pre-eminent greatness, majesty, and glory, or that would elevate mere religious forms and ceremonies above Christ! Christ must be highly exalted. Exalt him, believers, in your individual and collective spheres. Exalt him, teachers, in your classes and addresses. Exalt him, ministers, on your platforms and pulpit. Church of the living God, more and more elevate Christ; in the truest and fullest signification, exalt Christ; and then the world will be awed, charmed, saved; the Father will be glorified; and all heaven will rejoice.

WILLIAM BERESFORD.

that will not be cheerfully made, to further the one great cause. Within the last year or two we have had four or five pieces of Methodistic biography, all of which exemplify the allegations now made. The volume before us is no exception; although small in magnitude, it is yet full of matter, and that matter full of fire. Mr. Job, the hero of the volume, appears to have been one of the most noble-minded of

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men, such a man as would have met the approbation of Wesley. Miss Farmer, who has performed her office efficiently and judiciously, has not failed to point out the great and distinguishing qualities of his character. She tells us he was not what is popularly called one of the great men; he never travelled in any of the large circuits of Methodism; his face was not familiar to the crowded congregations gathered at anniversary festivals, nor was he among those whom other communions delight to honour. His lot was cast in lonely valleys and quiet places, and there his light shone with a steady and pure lustre. No matter; Mr. Job was great in the light of his Master, and wherever he laboured he was useful and beloved, and, in many places, he has left behind him the fruits of a pains-taking ministry.

The work will give the common reader, who is not conversant with the machinery and the movements of Methodism, a very correct idea of the system. The Diary or Journal is the most interesting part of the book, as most strikingly illustrative of the true character of the man. To the minister of the Gospel there is a good deal in this unpretending and very modest volume that will be suggestive, such as the table appended to the volume, containing subjects for addresses at society, or, as Independents would say, "church meetings." Amongst these are the following:

I. GETTING GOOD, OR PERSONAL PIETY. 1. Pardon; faith; witness of the Spirit; new birth.

2. Entire purity.

3. Means: Private prayer; Mental prayer; Self-examination; Scriptures; Prayer-meetings; Class; Lord's Supper; Earnestness; Faith.

II. DOING GOOD, OR ACTIVE USEFUL

NESS.

1. Advancement of Religion: (1.) Pulpit. Sustain it by Prayer, Reproving Sin, Conversing about Religion, Example, Invitations to the house of God; Speaking to those under good impressions. (2) Giving the Poor; Support of Christian ministry; Connexional Funds-(explain their design); Proportion and system. (3). Bible-classes. (4.) Tracts. (5.) Schools. (6.) Singing.

2. Morals: Sabbath; Company; Marriages with the Ungodly; Religion in Business; Family Religion-Family Prayer, Instruction, Order; Drinking; Tobacco.

III. CLASSES OF PERSONS.

1. Young. 2. Awakened. 3. Masters. 4. Servants. 5. Husbands and Wives. 6. Parents. 7. Children. 8. Sunday-school Teachers. 9. Tract Distributors.

Millennial Studies; or, What saith the Scripture concerning the Kingdom and Advent of Christ? By the Rev. W. P. LYON, B.A., Tunbridge Wells. Ward and Co.

IT is somewhat remarkable, that zeal is in the inverse ratio of truth. This principle applies largely to both the secular and the religious kingdom. In the former we have quite a brotherhood of men, each having his crotchet, on which he never tires of talking, lecturing, and, if the public demand check him not, of printing and publishing; in the latter, the illustrations are still more numerous, varied, and copious. A collection of the illustrations which the last fifty years have supplied would constitute a large library. Among these the Millenarians, so called, would hold a chief place. No class of theologians has done so much to occupy the paper-maker and the printer, and to stock the shelves of the bookseller. On the other, which we deem the true side of the question, all has not been a blank; a considerable number of books, of various merits and magnitudes, have appeared, all testifying, in their several measures, to what we hold to be the truth of the Sacred Scriptures. Amongst these, the last, but certainly not the least, is the work of Mr. Lyon, who has made a large and a valuable contribution to the cause of enlightened exposition.

The present volume originated in a series of Papers on Millenarianism, which appeared during the last two or three years in the Evangelical Magazine. If such a mode of publication has some drawbacks, the advantages we consider much greater. The composition in that case is at once regular and compulsory, and yet carried on leisurely. Abundant time from one period to another is given for the elaborate preparation of all that is admissible in a given Number; and it will be the writer's own blame if, when the series is completed, it be not a superior performance. Men who write without any such arrangement and consequent pressure will probably carry on their work by fits and starts; and it is well if they do not lag as they reach the latter stages of their journey, illustrating the remarkable "Rambler" of Johnson, headed, "Diligence too soon Relaxed."

For popular purposes we consider the work of Mr. Lyon quite sufficient.

It is clear, candid, well-informed, and carefully written. The Author, had he thought proper, might easily have presented a more imposing array of authorities, with a vain show of unproductive and useless learning. His good sense and modesty, however, have prevented such folly. It is difficult to conceive of a volume less stained by efforts at any sort of display, and more uniformly stamped by good faith with the truth of God. Self is everywhere ignored, whilst the highest prominence is given to Inspiration. We very cordially commend the volume, as eminently adapted to be useful.

Political Economy in Connection with the Moral Aspects of Society. With Essays on Cognate Subjects. By THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D. Constable and Co., Edinburgh; Hamilton and Co., London.

OTHER things being equal, the man who understands Christianity has always the advantage. In modern times this has been nowhere so vividly exemplified as in the case of Dr. Chalmers. Politicians not a few had tried their hand before he opened up the Civic Economy of great towns; but none ever approached him for depth, truth, and practical suggestions, and a thorough acquaintance with the workings of human nature. When this publication originally appeared, the Edinburgh Reviewers pounced upon it, and put forth their might to prove the Doctor a miscalculating enthusiast. The result was a reply, which sufficed not only to overthrow, but in a measure to crush the critic. Nor was this all; it also served still further to elucidate the arduous, complicated, and important subject.

The genius of Dr. Chalmers from an early day prompted him to economical speculations beyond any other theologian of his time. Adam Smith became early a favourite, and the " Wealth of Nations" a manual with the youthful Chalmers. His addictedness to science, and even to theology, never thoroughly weaned him from these noble pursuits, which, in a mind like his, assumed a highly religious aspect, forasmuch as the eloquent philosopher beheld God in man as well as God in the stellar system, and could separate religion from nothing which entered into the

economy of a nation. On such a theme as that of the present volume, there is abundant room for diversity of judg ment and polemical discussion; but in proportion as the reader is enlightened by the light of the Sacred Page will he sympathise with the views of Dr. Chalmers. The volume discusses the questions of Food, Employment, Capital, Population, Production, Tithes, Primogeniture, Emigration, Poor-laws, and Education, with great eloquence.

The Essays on Cognate Subjects are all intimately connected with the body of the volume; and while in themselves ably treated as useful and important questions, they are in every sense entirely cognate to the leading theme.

Lessons from the Great Biography. By JAMES HAMILTON, D.D., F.L.S. Nisbet and Co.

NOT a few will, with ourselves, be right glad to meet Dr. Hamilton once more, in this brilliant, pathetic, instructive, and edifying volume. For a considerable time that captivating writer has, to the public eye, seemed to be staying his hand; but it now turns out that he has not been idle. The subject is one on which hundreds, if not thousands, have written; but nothing is hackneyed to an active genius; and in the ages to come, when thousands more shall have added their labours to the present work and all its predecessors, it will still admit of fresh treatment. We do, however, most cordially congratulate our contemporaries on the appearance of this volume, which cannot fail to command extensive favour from its intrinsic merit, to say nothing of the reputation of the writer. Dr. Hamilton is a poet in prose-the Hervey of the nineteenth century. He is one of our successful authors who have had the good sense not to write themselves down. This is all the more remarkable from the author's all but unexampled popula rity. His "Life in Earnest" is actually in the eightieth thousand! his "Mount of Olives" in the seventyninth thousand! the "Emblems from Eden" in the eighth thousand! and some of his other publications in the third and fourth edition. Need more be said to testify the acceptation of the writer? The present publication, however, in point of magnitude, with one exception, is the greatest he has

yet sent forth; and we have no doubt that the public will place upon it the same stamp as upon its predecessors.

After a series of lectures on Early Incidents, we are introduced to the Miracles, followed by the Discourses, the Interviews of the Lord, and the Final Glimpses of him up to the resurrection. We have, we are sure, said enough in simply stating the fact of the appearance of the work, to draw forth orders from at least a thousand families.

The English Bread Book, for Domestic Use. Adapted to Families of every Grade; containing the plainest and most minute Instructions to the Learner; practical Receipts for many Varieties of Bread; with Notices of the present System of Adulteration, and its Consequences; and of the improved Baking Processes and Institutions established Abroad. By ELIZA ACTON. Longman and Co. THERE is no end of authorship; in the hands of skill and ingenuity there is no subject on which a book may not be written. The genius of Swift was never more exemplified than in his cclebrated "Meditations upon a Broomstick," which, but for the impious origin of the thing, would have done the wit great credit. The present volume is one which will be duly prized by British families. There is no such book yet in print. The subject is referred to, indeed, in many publications, but nowhere is it discussed with such amplitude, variety, interest, and satisfaction.

The Song of Songs: an Exposition of the Song of Solomon. By the Rev. A. MOODY STEWART. Nisbet and Co.

WE are right glad to find a man of the spirit, principles, and talents of Mr. Moody Stewart embarking in an exposition of this remarkable portion of Scripture. Beyond some small and feeble attempts, nothing has been done from the press, for three generations, to illustrate the Song of Songs. It so happens, somehow, that most ministers have shrunk even from dealing with it in the pulpit, as if deeming it more suitable to a class of divines known as "spicy and luscious," with whom men of manly sense have no desire to be identified, than to the ministers of a practical Christianity. Mr. Stewart himself seems to have thought so, for he frankly tells us he had been nearly twenty years in the ministry "before he ventured to select a single text from these mysterious communings between

the Lord and his people, and that when his friend, the late and long-to-be-remembered M'Cheyne, with his own singular unction and sweetness, was often preaching in his pulpit from the Song of Solomon, he was standing, meanwhile, in what the Jews termed the outer court of the temple, and lecturing through the Book of Proverbs."

Now it strikes us that both preachers did well: would that the Book of Proverbs were ably lectured on through all the land, as well as the Song of Songs! As illustrative of the morality of the Gospel it would most materially contribute to the furtherance of practical godliness. It is one error to deal with religion as exclusively a thing of warm affection, and another as exclusively a thing of cold morality. God has given us both the books, and it is the right of the church to enjoy to the full the benefits which both are calculated to impart.

Laws from Heaven, for Life and Earth. Illustrations of the Book of Proverbs. By the Rev. W. ARNOTT. Nelson and Sons.

IT is not a little curious that two Scottish ministers should, at the same moment, have published, the one "An Exposition of the Song of Solomon," and the other of the "Book of Proverbs." Matthew Henry on the Proverbs is a ripe and racy production; and several more, both before and since his day, have deserved well by their lucubrations on that book. But we cannot always live on old fruits. The longings of nature are strong for something new, and it is proper to gratify them. Multitudes, we doubt not, will read the volume of Mr. Arnott who never saw the work to which we have referred, or, perhaps, any book of exposition on the great treasury of knowledge.

Our readers are to understand, that the present volume is not one of lectures, or sermons, but of terse and pointed exposition; always brief, and yet generally sufficient to explicate the idea. A principle of unity runs through the whole; the writer's object is, to lay the Christian system along the surface of common life without removing it from its foundation in the doctrines of grace. To this end, the authority of the instructions must be Divine, while the form is transparently human. Mr. Arnott very properly judges that, although Evangelical doctrine be consistently maintained throughout a course of public instruction, the teaching will come short of its purpose unless it go right into every crevice of the human heart, and double every turning of the crooked path. Without the love wherewith God has loved us as a motive power, we cannot reach for healing any of the deeper ailments of the world.

The volume may be designated moral philosophy of the highest order. We should like for it a place in every family, and an earnest perusal by every inhabitant, of the land. It is a great and valuable contribution to the vast stores of exposition.

The Last Judgment. A Poem in Twelve
Books. Longman and Co.

POEMS in twelve books now-a-days are
things of rare appearance. It would seem