THE CHURCH A FAMILY. * THIS volume contains twelve sermons, preached

by Professor Mau- rice at Lincoln's Inn Chapel, on certain Sundays that seemed the most appropriate to his theme. That theme was ostensibly the oc- casional services of the Prayer-book from baptism to burial, applied to the preacher's object in considering the church " as a family." In reality, however, he goes much deeper than might be gather- ed from the mere words of the titlepage. To look upon all mankind as brethren, and God as a common father, and to incul- cate the feelings and duties that so large a view of the human and divine relations requires, is a well-worn subject ; it has been hand- led ever since preaching began, without much practical effect. The leading idea of Professor Maurice is, as we have said, deeper if not larger than this. It is Christian, not so much in the sense of doctrine, duty, or affection, as in the the of Christianity itself. The spiritual as opposed to the natural creature, the effects springing from the mercy of God, the human nature and vicarious sacrifice of Christ, and the influence of the Holy Ghost, With the privileges of men as men, and their relations to each other, form the fundamental theme Of the preacher. These things, however, are not treated abstractly or rhetorically ; they are dealt • The Church a Family ; Twelve Sermons on the Occasional Services of the Prayer- book. Preached in the Chapel of Lincoln's Inn.ByFrederick Denison Maurice, M.A., Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn, and Professor of Divinity in King's College, Lon- don. Published by John W. Parker.

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,nf‘,I (MTV tititaktekti -rin infant born 'of hUman parents and ;itayu. jaAntsre aidow peoniseionce is uttairshockettand rei-oltekrif do°1 am certain that the conscience of every man, : if lie fairly stateathe' skim to himself, is revolted by it. And not merely my conscience, my experience- and observation, are outraged by such an assertion. Sling r 4 will do from the verrfirst manifest themselves in the child. You fl..laitUre that that is to be its characteristical mark among all creatures; that'What: ever else it has not, unless it is hopelessly idiotic, this it must hava."1' VPe have read of the American girl who was from her birth deficient in'llitee senses, who had only one in any strength. That girl, before a singlet:tine Of her faculties had been awakened by her benevolent and devoted guardian, gave manifest tokens of a will. She was a spirit, though nearly all the avenues by which the spirit converses with the external world were closed. The teacher acted in the faith that she was one, and his faith did not de- ceive him. Consciousness, then, is not the ground of our spiritual being, but our spiritual being is the ground of our consciousness. It is utter inversion and confusion to change this relationto suppose that we are made spirits when we begin to exercise the powers which we could not exercise if we were not spirits. No doubt, there is a deep mystery in this subject ; how can any- thing that concerns the will not be mysterious ? It is the mystery of all mysteries. Every ancient philosopher acknowledged it to be so : if modern philosophers do not, it is only because they are less honest, less conversant with realities, more ready to suppose that they have got rid of a difficalty when they have found a formula in which they can express it. But does the difficulty become greater, does the mystery look more like a practical con- tradiction, because I believe that God has not formed this will, this spiritual being, and left it to unfold itself unnurtured, untended, the sport of all accidents which it is meant to govern, of all powers which are threatening to destroy it ? Is it so absolutely necessary to your reason and conscience to believe that the will must grow up in a condition of slavery, [that is, slavery to the world—to sin,] that is to say, in a condition in which all its acts are anomalous and monstrous ? Is it a frightful outrage upon all your notions of Divine order, that He should have redeemed this spirit out of its natural slavery; that He should have said, ' It is mine' ? Does it make you shudder and turn pale if you are asked to believe that He has done this, not for a picked spirit here and there, but for that race which he had formed in His own image ?"

In like manner, the Burial service is defended, not perhaps with more logical conclusion, or more convincingly to opponents or sceptics, but on the same broad general grounds of the dealings of God and of the nature of man, as well as with a reference to the criticizing spirit of the age. ,

"I do not think any one has ever laid a friend in the earth without feel- ing that the very first words of our service carried him beyond the ordinary and customary topics of consolation into quite another region : I am the Resurrection and the Life.' With what a mighty power have these sounds sometimes struck upon the heart which had been fixed in the most confirmed dullness and hardness. What a witness they seem to bear of a quickening energy near us, and near the. whole creation, which can speak to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, as well as to those who are in their graves t. And these words are the key-note to the whole service ; when the inward ear has listened to them, the rest of it comes to us with the most living evidence of its truth and seasonableness. No service of our Church, you all know, has provoked so many censures ; none has cheered so many broken and contrite hearts—broken and contrite for others as well as themselves. Doyou won- der that we find fault with it when every passage of it affronts that indi- vidualizing temper which has become so characteristic of us all ? Do you wonder that, for that very reason, it should cheer the weary and heavy-la- den, because it assumes us to be real members of a brotherhood, and that he whose dust we are about to give to dust is a member of it too ? Throughout we claim that title for him as well as ourselves. Throughout we speak as if we believed that Christ died for hint and for us, and for the universe. The expression of that belief has caused the great scandal of our service. For though the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life stands in direct and formal contrast to the hope that our brother sleeps in Christ, though every real mourner feels keenly the difference of the expressions, and yet feels the deep comfort of both,—the critic cannot perceive any important practical distinction. For What, he says, signifies a belief in the resurrection, except as it involves a belief in the safety of some individual man ? We could not ask a more startling test of the state Of mind into which we have fallen than such a question furnishes. Everything is reduced into a eaten- laden about safety. The belief in a great redemption effected for humanity is nothing. There is no help or satisfaction in that. So says the verbal com- mentator. But those who really need help feel that it is all there," Besides the four subjects we have mentioned, and an introduc- tory sermon, the topics of " Nature, Law, and Education," are con- sidered in the discourse on the Catechism. Marriage, greatly in opposition to Romish views, is handled under the service of Matri- mony; the necessity and kindly use of chastiseMents, in the Visita- tion of the Sick. In three sermons on Ordination, Deacons and Priests, and the Consecration of Bishops, the author strenuously supports the economy of his own church ; and advances high claims for the minister as minister. The last sermon is on the Commina- tion Service ; which is defended on the ground of its necessity,as a truth and a requirement, and by a verbal explanation. " We at- tach," says the preacher, "a certain vague mysterious notion-to the word curse. Its real meaning is much more tremendous than this notion; and yet the first statement of it might seem like a relief to our minds, as if the alarm with which it inspired us had been ex- aggerated. A curse means a separation or a cutting off." The direct defence, however, is brief or incidental : the sermon consists of a survey of history to trace the consequences of national sins. It is elaborate as regards Jewish history, especially in relation to the, chisi6giWitiod,1wheia formalism -was 'it WA t; brief aii4e- prileignatasiiistoryp.but with_ a glance tit ihti( /tini43,ltinq eflgiffbilie•Wilaliwtunfitheal withithe paetb:rSsislsib ''''i IIMIE '-(1.1g'i -111.f1A ill#P4MAIPV, isimbelf. Id aperitherfebelhictiorif h•Wis Intaellibil

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ispsvery,, reggae inhooks--,thevery.:Sameavhich have' led other nations to actual de- ar, 606934,.end have Niten -brought our dwa'to the brink of it. We give these srita other.names; Jthe.tzome in as necessary parts of our scheme of the universe/al To.ustinvery . w art for the sake of making ourselves appear somethini,elseithau memo, or et makingsour 'brethren appear more black than'theyiertilis not lying ; it is only the iattind wish in each man to look welt in-the eyes of his:fellowssi or-the earnestness and zeal of a man strongly, impressed with-.a-conviction to cheek sthe dangerous tendencies of his opponents. To givssthose who sieve for us= that whieh is not enough to preserve them from-starvation:op oritne--to-treat them as if they were ma- chines and not humaa-beingss,this is :not oppression ; it is the law of com- petition, wivish do one has a rightibs violate, so sacred and venerable a power is it. -Obscitis ;/13atisfaction:With the :world's abominations, this quick discovery et somas:el:Minn-which qtiite adequate for every one, and which 113-11, warrant for leaving it undisturbed—this, this is the curse of our time, whisk should make every one of us fear lest the curse of all curses shmulii.IWtc0111111g upon us; the utter disbelief in God' as our Lord, the 1/n- 1170qm-that thus Dot has:gotten the victory, and has established for ever his slilitennicy.,-3,§tioh:a. curse, may bafal a country where thereis the loudest religious prefession—perhaps hainever fallen in its fulness upon any other. Where the name ef.God is pronounced so continually by lips which can pour forth falsehoods:against those who ,reinHis image—where religious arg,u- inehts arttnacato convince us-that we Should be content with acts and mea- sures whieh.ours consciences declare to be unrighteous—where adherence to party with all its incredible meannesses, oompromises, and falsehoods, is de- clare&toobe the, selfsame..thing as adherence to principle—where religious duties are performed without any-evidence being given that they have the least influence upon the common dutiesof human beings to each other,—then Surely, godlessness, yes, and atheism, will be waxing stronger and stronger, and will be-Toady to come;forth Ma mose,portenthaform than it could take in a eounfiy where holy names bad been less familiarly trifled with and pro- faned."

• 'Considered as a clearand convincing exposition of a proposed subjeciti'4AVehtirch a Podia% 'id' a very conclusive piece of aument. The purpose of the author, by treating of the services of the Church of England, gives a unity and bearing to the entire series of discourses, very rarely found in a volume and not always in a set of sermons; but the exposition is logically not clear either in the principal or subordinate portions. We are not im- pressed with the proof of the Church being a family. Indeed, we do not realize the idea, further than we all, from religious com- mon laces, can vagnely realize it beforehand: the elevation of man s nature through Christ, is as much a separation from the world as an introduction to a family, otherwise than as any number of persons with the "idcm velle et idem nolle " may be said to form a family. We have quoted the strongest ar- gument in favour of "sacramental grace" in baptism; but it does not meet the question how grace operates, or to what extent, nor answer other obvious objections. It is not, however,, as an argument, or an allegory, or as d-well-plaaned series of sermons, that this volume is to be considered. Its excellence is of a more general and spiritual character. Occasionally the arguments may be needlessly expanded, or the idea reiterated,.as is generally the case in sermons, but the reader always feels himself in the presence of "a superior man." The work contains the quintessence of learning, guided; sharpened, and animated by worldly observation, so that a single', page will often illuminate dark points of history both religions and secular. It exhibits that large regard for Christi- anity as part and parcel of our huSiness and being, which in words and theory at least is found more commonly among Dissenters, Triiotariails, and Romanists, than in the body of the Episcopal Church: but there is nothing of the sourness of the conventicle or the arrogance of the priest about the Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn. He has as much geniality as either of the Isiewmans, or as the author of Alton Locke, controlled by a sterner will, or perhaps regulated by a sounder judgment. He is as much opposed as Car- lyle himself to the conventionalisms and " shams " of society ; but he utters hiS indignation with a more measured tone and under the guidance of'a better taste. He has a penetrating earnestness by no means common among clergymen of the Established Church; and he is an advocate for tbe.:igoo-ress of society, but by the advance of Christian principlei' 'hlinb o- a brotherhood among Mankind.

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