LINES FOR AN ALBUM.
"When thinking on the ways of man, This little rule did rise,— That he who lives without a plan, Will die without a prize.
Reflection still to those who hear This further guide hath given,— That the best plan is godly fear, And the best prize is heaven."
The Sacred Classics. Expositions on the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments; with Two Discourses on Matthew xxii. 37-39, and Hebrews iii. 10. To which are added Expository Lectures on Psalm xxxix. By Robert Leighton, D.D., Archbishop of Glasgow. With an Introductory Essay, by John Pye Smith, D.D., pp. 292. Hatchard.
The distinguished names inscribed on the title-page of this volume of the "Sacred Classics" cannot be rendered more eminent by our commendation. The praise both of the deceased and the surviving is in all our churches; and their works, we doubt not, will continue to edify and adorn the human mind from generation to generation.
BRIEF NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
The Works of William Cowper, his Life and Letters, by William Hayley, Esq., now first completed by the Introduction of Cowper's Private Correspondence; Edited by the Rev. T. S. Grimshawe, A.M., Rector of Burton, Northamptonshire, and Vicar of Biddenham, Bedfordshire; Author of the Life of the Rev. Legh Richmond. Saunders and Otley.—We have received the early volumes of this admirable publication. The manner in which it is brought out is highly creditable to all the parties concerned in the undertaking; and we have no doubt of its being in very extensive demand by readers of almost every description. It is our purpose to watch its progress, and, at the close, to present our readers with a more enlarged account of its peculiar claims to their attention.
The Posthumous Letters of the Rev. Rabshakeh Gathercoal, late Vicar of Tuddington; now first published, with Explanatory Notes, and dedicated to the Lord Bishop of London. p. 288. Westley.—There are many passages in these letters which, in the keenness of their satire, and the pungency of their wit, cannot be exceeded by any thing in the writings of Butler, South, or Swift; with this further commendation, that their edge and point are directed exclusively against error and arrogance. On the subject of dissent we have seen no recent publication which can be compared with this in clearness, copiousness, and power; combining so many important facts of history with so much of interesting and practical influence. In the presence of such a writer the advocates of superstition and intolerance must quail; but the admirers of the uncorrupted Christianity of the New Testament, of every denomination, will hail him, in this labour of his hands, as the intrepid friend of freedom and religion.
After all, we are praying and anxiously looking for a period, when works of this description shall have become obsolete; when ignorance shall be entirely dissipated, and the "true light" universally shine: for the knowledge of the Lord shall have covered the earth, as the waters cover the sea; and man shall no longer say to his neighbour, Know ye the Lord: for then, all shall know him, from the least to the greatest.