and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the world began. Let not these inspired testimonies be hastily passed over, but let them be reverently thought upon, and their grave import be laid to heart, in view of the hastening retributions of eternity. The character and irreversible destinies of man depend upon the will which gave creation existence, and controuls all its changes and movements and operations. Man's free-agency and accountability-the riches of the divine compassion toward him and his natural competency to avail himself of them, and all the earnestness and urgency with which he is entreated to exert his powers in his soul's behalf, and the absolute necessity of his exerting them, leave it still a trutha truth which cannot and should not be concealed or evaded, that if any man be saved, he is saved from first to last, of the mere good pleasure of God. Not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God who showeth mercy. The fact that our Saviour himself, on so many occasions, and so boldly, announced this great truth, and that he has formally given a vindication of it in this parable, is sufficient proof that it ought not to disappear from the creed, or the preaching, or the standing confessions and apologies of his servants.

It may be that the reader finds little complacency in this doctrine. It surely concerns him however to be on the side of truth, and especially of a truth so solemn in its bearings on his own eternity. If he has any difficulties with the subject, he should wish to have them taken out of his way. Let him remember that his having difficulties with it, so far from making aught against this object of his dislike, is rather proof to him that he is contending with the divine counsel, since the parable itself presupposes a peculiar obnoxiousness in its lesson, to the contradiction of mankind. Why are the complaining labourers introduced to distinct notice, but to set forth the spirit of the world as exercised with this subject?

If it be an unwelcome subject to the reader, let him consider whether it should, or whether in reason and soberness, it can be so. Many things might be urged against his distaste of it. It might be shown from a consideration of the character and spirit of mankind, that if any of the race be saved, it must, of necessity, be in an exercise of God's mere and self-moved mercy. If God be influenced at all by what

men themselves, in a moral respect, are or do, he would be influenced not to save, but to destroy them. In his pure sight, all men are sinners; and their works, even the best of their works, are sin. If any repent, he gives them repentance; if any come to Christ, it is because of the secret attractions of his Spirit; if any are saved, it is by their being first conquered and subdued to the dominion of holiness and truth. But not to insist on this and many other considerations, let the objector think within himself, whether he has any more cause for being disaffected toward the perfect sovereignty of God's saving mercy, than the labourers in the parable had to complain against the householder, for his generosity to their fellow labourers. Let him reflect again on the spirit of those complainers, and ask himself whether he has a better spirit toward God and goodness, than they are represented to have had toward their employer.

often said that our subject is inexplicable; and that it is hence needless to employ one's thoughts about it. No satisfaction is to be expected; no consistent solution of the matter can be given. For what purpose, then, did Christ speak this parable? Is there no force, no pertinency, no conclusiveness, no intelligibleness, in the reasons by which he would here silence the murmurs of mankind? Does not the subject, as here set forth, commend itself to reason, to conscience, to whatever is intellectual and true in man? However unsatisfactory may be the explanations of others, shall that of our Saviour be held insufficient? Is it not simplicity itself? He has no deep theory, no subtle discriminations, no elaborate reasoning; but makes his appeals to man's common sense, and makes them in such a manner, that common sense in a child, can neither misapprehend or resist them. Let it not be again said, that the subject is mysteriIf there be mystery here, it is not the mystery of the subject, but of a perverse and unteachable heart.

ous.

ART. VII. REVIEW OF THE MEMOIRS OF MATTHEW

HENRY.

By Rev. WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D., Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Albany, New-York.

Memoirs of the Life, Character, and Writings, of the Rev. Matthew Henry, By I. B. Williams, L. L. D. F. S. A. First American from the third London Edition.

THERE are some names that die, in spite of all that can be done to keep them alive; there are others that live, whoever may combine to blot them out of existence. Be it that no monument tells where their ashes repose; that no orator commemorates their fame; that no memoir proclaims to the world their character or their doings; yet let them, by the greatness of their intellectual efforts or public services, identify themselves with the character of the age in which they live, and it were scarcely a more hopeless task to undertake to pluck a star from the heavens, than to quench the lustre of their names, or to limit the usefulness of their lives.

It will hardly be questioned at this day, that the name of Matthew Henry belongs somewhere on the comparatively small list of names, which are not destined to lose their lustre with the lapse of ages. Passing by all the other important services which he rendered to the great cause of truth and piety, his commentary is an imperishable monument both of his greatness and his goodness.

Though much more than a century has passed since he was gathered to his fathers, yet his name is as fragrant in the church as ever; and perhaps it is scarcely too much to say that, by his writings, which may now be considered as the representative of his person on earth, he is actually accomplishing more at this day for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ, than he did during the period in which he lived by the diversified influence of his unremitting personal exertions. It must be left for the ages of eternity to reveal the amount of blessing which his writings will have been instrumental in securing to each successive generation; and no doubt there are multitudes now around the throne, whom he never saw in the flesh, who have already recognised him as the instrument by which their minds were first brought in contact with the light of heavenly truth, and their

faith confirmed in the gracious promises of God, and their goings established in the ways of holiness, until by grace they have reached their destined home.

Several of the most eminent men of his day, preached and published sermons in reference to his death; some of which are preserved in the volume containing his miscellaneous works, and are alike creditable to the authors and the character they are designed to commemorate. A memoir of his life also was published not long after his death, written by his intimate friend, the Reverend W. Tong; which, though it contained much that must always be deeply interesting, seems never to have been considered as a happy delineation of Mr. Henry's character. A memoir that should do full justice to this extraordinary man, has always been a desideratum in the church until within the last few years; and the honour of supplying this deficiency in a manner which the Christian public has pronounced entirely satisfactory, has been reserved to a gentleman whose literary and religious character eminently qualified him for this work, who came to it with every advantage which could be furnished by a ready access to all the family manuscripts, and who has also, if we mistake not, a portion of the blood of this great and good man flowing in his veins. Doctor Williams, the author of this memoir, is a nephew of the late Rev. Dr. Edward Williams, whose character is well known in this country. He is a lawyer of great distinction in Shrewsbury; and is well known in England, not only for his professional eminence, but for his zealous attachment to the interests of literature and religion. Besides the work which forms the subject of this article, he has published a volume containing memoirs of Mrs. Savage and Mrs. Hulton, sisters of Matthew Henry, and has also given the world an enlarged and improved edition of his works, including the Biography of his father, Philip Henry, and many of the outlines of his father's discourses. In all these works, as they now appear, Doctor Williams is entitled to the gratitude not only of the present generation, but of posterity; and it is a circumstance in which the good providence of God should be devoutly acknowledged, that, at a period so remote from that in which these illustrious men and women lived, there should be found a descendant of the same family to erect so worthy and noble a monument to the distinguished ability and excellence of his

We shall limit ourselves in this article to a brief outline of the life and character of Mr. Henry, in the hope of directing the attention of all our readers to the invaluable work in which this great man is so fully and faithfully exhibited.

Matthew Henry was the second son of the Reverend Philip Henry and of Katharine his wife, and was born at Broad Oak, in Flintshire, Oct. 12, 1662; the year which was rendered memorable in the ecclesiastical history of England by the exclusion of about two thousand of the best ministers with which any country has ever been blessed, from the duties of the sacred office.

Though the name of Philip Henry is less known, in this country at least, than that of Matthew, from the fact that the published works of the latter are much the most extensive, yet we are inclined to think, from the biography of the father, and from the few of his writings that have come down to us, that he was in every respect equal, perhaps in most superiour, to the son. There seems indeed to have been a surprising resemblance of character between them; owing, no doubt, in a great measure to the forming influence of parental instruction and example. Both were remarkable for their humility, benevolence, self-denial, and cheerful submission to the will of God. Both were distinguished for an ardent thirst for knowledge, for high intellectual powers, for originality of conception, and for a style of singular quaintness, and yet uncommon beauty. And we may add, both were trained in an unusual degree in the school of adversity; though in this latter particular the lot of the father was more eminently distinguished than that of the son, as he was subject, during a considerable part of his ministry, to the complicated inconveniences and trials of a most malignant persecution. It would rather appear also that the father had the advantage in respect both to original genius and intellectual culture; for his opportunities at the university were probably better in some respects, than those which his son enjoyed, even under his own instruction; and a comparison of the writings of the two is fitted to leave the impression that, while both minds are cast substantially in the same mould, and are gifted with uncommon powers, yet, to a certain extent, the one is to be considered as sustaining to the other the relation of a splendid copy to a splendid original. In confirmation of this sentiment, we may cite the fact that the son gratefully acknowledges himself indebted to the father