ber to change my clothes; which having been accomplished, as the hour for service was at hand, I went to the bottom of my trunk, in search for my package of sermons, when, behold, it was not to be found!.... Under such unfortunate circumstances, I would willingly have declined all service, and have returned home; but I thought myself condemned to the mortification of addressing the congregation at Batavia wholly without preparation, for the time, admitted of none. I did so; and although my young friend Bolles was pleased to solace my feelings when I had done, by saying that my loss was their gain, yet I was enough chagrined and dissatisfied with my performance to rob me of the comfort of sleep."-P. 508.

Doubtless his young friend spoke the truth; and the extemporaneous remarks at Batavia, although possibly lacking that smoothness of style for which the written sermons were distinguished, were quite as well calculated to effect the object for which Dr. Milnor laboured, -the spiritual improvement of his hearers. He, however, could not be persuaded of this, hence a sleepless night ensued; and his feelings of mortification, still increasing as he journeyed onward, reached their climax on his arrival at Cleveland, where were assembled many of his brother ministers, eagerly anticipating the pleasure of hearing the distinguished stranger from the East. "Providentially it happened," he continues, “that I had with me one sermon, that which I preached last Sunday morning at Saint George's, and which, on account of its being in the velvet cover, I threw into the top of my trunk, just before it was closed." Of course he used that, and declining repeated invitations to preach, confined himself to a few extemporaneous addresses, and hurried homeward.

There can be no doubt of Dr. Milnor's ability to have preached without being confined to his manuscripts; and none, we think, that he would have been more impressive, and produced greater effects upon the mass of his hearers, if he had cultivated that talent, and occasionally, at least, given them unwritten thoughts gushing warmly from the heart. His ministry was, nevertheless, far from being without fruit, and God gave him many souls for his hire. Accessions were constantly made to the Church; and one or two instances of lasting good, resulting from single discourses, are mentioned in the volume before us.

Dr. Milnor was, of course, a "low Churchman," that being the phrase by which it is customary to style the more evangelical Protestant Episcopalians. He believed and preached the necessity of faith in Christ, the doctrine of assurance, the unity of all followers of the Lamb, in whatever denominational fold, as constituting the Church of Christ on earth. He had faith in revivals, rejoicing at their appearance among Christians of every name; labouring, hoping, praying for them in his own Church, where, in defiance of his bishop,

and to the great scandal of his Puseyistic brethren, he encouraged -prayer-meetings.

"One evening, while the prayer-meeting was in session, the bishop came to his house, and, after the usual statement of objections, desired Dr. Milnor to go and dismiss the assembly. The answer which he returned was, in substance, this: Bishop, I dare not prevent my parishioners from meeting for prayer; but, if you are willing to take the responsibility of dismissing them, you have my permission.' Of course the praying members of Saint George's remained undisturbed.”—P. 631.

Why should a Christian bishop object to prayer-meetings among those over whom, in God's providence, he had the chief pastoral oversight? Truly, we cannot answer that question. We find no precedent for such conduct in the history of Paul, or his son Timothy, whose legitimate and only successors these mitre-wearers claim to be. We rather regret that our author did not spread out on his paper what he calls the "usual objections." Possibly, after all, there might be something in them. But not much, else had the right reverend prelate, in the plenitude of his zeal, gone into the room and dispersed the assembly; more especially as his contumacious son in the gospel had virtually dared him to do it. To us it seems, but this may be owing to our ignorance, that the prayer-meetings on week evenings in the vestry of Saint George's were either right or wrong. If right, the bishop had certainly no right to "desire Dr. Milnor to go and dismiss the assembly." If wrong, he ought to have done it himself, when the rector refused to comply with his "desire." So, too, the bishop was very much opposed to Dr. Milnor's Friday evening lecture, which he commenced soon after his induction to the parish, and continued to the close of his life. We can bear personal testimony to the eloquence and beauty of his week-evening lectures; those being the only occasions on which we had the opportunity of hearing the rector of Saint George's. They were calculated to do good; they did good; and if any of his large congregation went away unprofited, we have no hesitation in saying the fault was their own. But the week-evening lecture did not please the bishop. He

"Made strong objections to it, calling it an irregular meeting, and using every effort to effect its discontinuance. But Dr. Milnor was unmoved. He had not adopted his course without prayerful consideration. He felt that he was in the path of duty, and nothing could make him swerve to the right or to the left. He finally ended the matter, after sufficient listening to objections, by telling the bishop, in that kind, but peculiarly firm and decided manner which he was capable of assuming, that his only proper and effectual course would be that prescribed by the canons, in case of their violation by a presby ter, specific charges and a trial; that his duty as a bishop was plain; and that, as a presbyter, whom the charges would affect, he was ready to meet them on their trial."-P. 631.

Here, as in the former case, the biographer leaves us to guess what were the specific objections of the diocesan. He tells us that these lectures were not contrary to any of the canons, and that consequently no charges were, or could be preferred against the lecturer. They were, indeed, always concluded by extemporaneous prayer, instead of the prescribed formulary of the liturgy; and possibly that was the gravamen of episcopal objection, and the reason why that functionary made "every effort to effect its discontinuance." He did not succeed, however, and multitudes, doubtless, thank God for it, as we do.

As the reader will have inferred, Dr. Milnor's position was, in many respects, far from pleasant. Intently bent on doing good, a zealous and successful servant of his Master, he had to contend, nevertheless, with the unceasing opposition of his superior in office, and to meet the frowns of a large majority of his fellow-labourers in that portion of God's vineyard in which his lot was cast. With talents of the highest order, fitting him eminently for any position in the Church, in the language of our author, he "held, virtually, no position" in the councils of his own diocese. The opponents of prayer-meetings and week-night lectures were an immense majority; and, with their bishop at their head, it pleased them to treat slightingly, and even contemptuously, the rector of Saint George's, the low Churchman, but the high Christian. He bore it, however, with patient meekness; and although "they kept him," to quote the language of one of his correspondents, "out of those chief places where prudence, and wisdom, and business habits were wanted, and only put him where he would seem to be honoured, but where he had no chance of being felt," yet he was felt; and no man of that persuasion exerted so large an influence upon the community around him; was more respected while living, or, dying, more lamented. He had the finger of scorn pointed at him from the "high," but God had "respect unto the lowly." He was, says Dr. Stone,

"At the centre of conflict between the evangelical and the anti-evangelical portions of our Church. Nay, for years he was, in his own person, the one point against which the most strenuous assaults of the latter were directed; and had he fallen, many others would have been unable to stand. From sympathy, as well as from respect and veneration, there was a rallying around him, as a sort of evangelic centre..... In a word, through the early training of his mind, the practical character of his pursuits, the finished amenity of his manners, the peculiar post of labour assigned him, and, above all, the eminently intelligent and elevated character of his piety, the providence of God gave him A POSITION which, during his life, was, on the whole, more commanding than that of any other evangelical clergyman of our Church."

In the discussion relative to the ordination of a young man, who boldly and honestly avowed his sympathy with the Tridentine docFOURTH SERIES, VOL. I.-28

trines of the Romish Church, Dr. Milnor, although not called upon to bear a conspicuous part, took a very deep interest. His heart and his judgment were with the dissenting presbyters, Messrs. Smith and Anthon. He grieved more at the injury inflicted upon the entire cause of Protestant Christianity, by the bishop's determination to ordain Mr. Carey, than at the convulsion arising in his own denomination, from that outrageously high-handed proceeding; -"a convulsion," says Dr. Stone, "altogether unprecedented." In a letter to Bishop Smith, a low-churchman, of course, Dr. Milnor says:

"We live in eventful times. The changes in opinion,-in too many instances, as I think, for the worse, that are continually occurring around us, are not a little alarming. Recent developments here afford reason to believe that, to a greater extent than we imagined, the Oxford heresy has invaded this diocese. The noxious influence of the -* has exceedingly corrupt

ed the minds of our younger clergy and candidates for orders; and, indeed, I am grieved to the heart to find such a tendency to Romanism as prevails among some of the more advanced in years and standing..... The evangelical doctrines which some of us have supposed were plainly taught in our articles, more fully explicated in our homilies, and embodied in their lifegiving spirit in our liturgy, are now to be superseded by the dogmas of the school at Oxford. The great principle of justification by faith is, by many, virtually abandoned, and that of baptismal justification adopted in its stead. God is impiously confined, in his communication of grace, to the channel of the sacraments; and a most unwarrantable denial of covenanted mercy to all but the members of a Church enjoying the Episcopal succession is insisted on. I confess I am grieved and alarmed beyond measure, and especially since our Convention, which has just adjourned, and in which the proceedings in the case of young Carey have been sustained by a large majority of the clergy, and by an unexpectedly large majority of the laity. You will, no doubt, in the secular papers of the past week, see the full details of our stormy session; particularly the melancholy exhibition of passion, on the part of our bishop, near its close."-Pp. 571-2.

Truly that was a "melancholy exhibition." The "secular papers" spread out its details with minute exactness, and many of them with commentaries well calculated to bring the religion of Christ into contempt. A scene of more painful interest soon followed; and the good rector of Saint George's passed through what was, beyond question, the deepest affliction of his ministerial life. In little more than a year after the above "melancholy exhibition," the bishop referred to was brought to trial, on charges of immorality and impurity, found guilty, and suspended. On this trial Dr. Milnor was summoned as a witness to an important transaction, in which he had borne a part. He obeyed the summons with unfeigned reluctance, whatever the friends of the accused may have insinuated to the contrary. He told his story with simple brevity. He was cross-exa* Qu.? Bishop? or P. E. Seminary?

mined by the lawyers, and by several of the bishops who composed the court, long and vexatiously. Attempts were made to shake his credibility as a witness, on the score of failing memory, or intentional misrepresentation. Unkind and cutting reflections were made upon the course of conduct which he felt under obligation to pursue. Two of the bench of bishops allowed themselves to indulge in sneering remarks relative to his testimony on the trial, and published opinions, in which the respect due to age and common courtesy were alike forgotten. Dr. Milnor, of course, felt these things keenly. He was strongly urged to reply publicly. He could have done so with most withering effect. He declined; and we regard it as the loveliest trait in his amiable character, that he chose to suffer in the tenderest point,-to be held up to the world as a false accuser, if not as a perjured witness, for all who testified on the trial were sworn, rather than to be the means of prolonging a controversy which was making the Church of Christ, and more especially that denomination to which he belonged, a hissing and a by-word.

But his record is on high. He has passed away from the toils and conflicts of earth; and, without adverting to his efficient labours in the cause of the American Bible Society, the Tract Society, and other benevolent institutions, we are compelled to bring this article to a close.

"Servant of God! well done!"

ART. V.-PLAN AND STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF

ECCLESIASTES.

SECOND PAPER.

[Modified from the German of VAIHINGER, in the " Theologische Studien und Kritiken" for July, 1848.]

THIRD DISCOURSE.*

THEME, (chap. vi, 1,—viii, 15,)—"Inasmuch, therefore, as the faults of others, or our own, often imbitter or destroy our enjoyment of the blessings God bestows, we should strive to avoid the common folly, and seek true enjoyment of life in a higher way, by the aid of true wisdom."-In three subdivisions :

Subdivision I., (vi, 1-12.) "Earthly blessings cannot afford the true happiness, since, for the most part, men are not even allowed to enjoy them."-In two strophes :-†

* Ewald continues the 3d Discourse up to vi, 9, commencing the third at vi, 10:Köster begins the 3d at vi, 13.

+ This subdivision, like III., (page 178,) has but two strophes.