Then, not only shall the sinful and perverse influences which have operated on the heart be removed, but also the impeding causes which have clogged and hindered the healthful and active play of the intellect. Among these may be mentioned such as arise from the connection of the soul with an imperfect and corruptible body, all whose variations and maladies tell upon it. Another cause is to be found in the unhealthy state under which the mind itself so often labours; we are frequently so much engrossed with the cares and trials, or even the joys and hopes of this world, as to be unable to detach our thoughts from them, and to bring them to bear with anything like continuous and concentrated effort, on the subject which we wish to contemplate. These causes arising from the imperfection of the body on the one hand, and of the mind on the other, shall, at the period of which we have been speaking, have ceased for ever to exist.

Our limits compel us to draw our remarks to a close, but we must again, ere doing so, recommend the volume of Dr Edwards to our readers, promising them, that if they derive as much pleasure and profit from its perusal as we have done, they will be more than repaid. It is written with spirit, point, and power. The varied resources of an extensive reading, and a well furnished mind are apparent throughout it; and we may remark, that we derived especial pleasure from the curious and interesting information respecting literary characters, interspersed through the work in the way of illustration. One of its principal faults is to be found in a disposition occasionally manifested to dwell on some favourite topics longer than is necessary for their full explication and illustration. Its style is ornate, and though not unfrequently chargeable with being too ambitious, it abounds in passages of real earnest eloquence.

We regret that we can only subjoin one or two brief additional extracts, which we select from the concluding chapter:

"Can the reader believe that the conversion of one immortal mind is of more moment in itself, and of greater interest to the intelligent universe, than all the noble institutions of the land, all the events that now excite attention in the passing drama of the world, or that crowd the revolutions of bygone ages, and yet remain a mere spectator and theorist on spiritual duty, or can he be truly styled a Christian man, whilst we behold him an unfaithful trustee of the responsible trust assigned to him by God-a neuter or idler in the soul-stirring conflict now pending between the powers of darkness and the Prince of heaven?

"Consider the reward held out to those greatest and wisest of all human benefactors, who long, labour, and live for the conversion of men, their spiritual and recognised superiority to those who have not like them travailed in birth for souls. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars

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for ever and ever.' Reader! whatever, or wherever you are, ‘religion is the principal thing' Not a noble residence not a well furnished table—not a lovely exterior and graceful mien-not a long train of faithful friends and devoted admirers-not the dignities and emoluments of offices-not a flourishing profession or business-not a gorgeous equipage-not the diadem of princes-no, nor the endowments of genius; but wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom.' Let then the desire, pursuit, and love of wealth, ease, pleasure, influence, popularity, and learning, be kept subordinate to the desire, pursuit, and love of wisdom; let the inferior be rendered subservient to the superior; and let the former be constantly watched and suppressed, lest they prove the occasion of sin, and your soul should be stained with the guilt of spiritual idolatry.

"Reason, reflection, experience, conscience, the unerring dictates and sanctions of inspiration-the unspeakably solemn suasive testimony, and soul-thrilling incantations of the sinless suffering God-man on Calvary— the shortness and uncertainty, the vanity and misery of the present lifethe hollow and heartless pursuits and pleasures of this swiftly passing pageant world-the voices of the living, the voices of the dying, the voices of the dead, the raptures of the redeemed, and the torments of the damned, alike proclaim, wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom."

And what do the unending ages of eternity say? As with the solemn and thoughtful sound of the billow of the ocean, beating the voiceless and deep-pebbled shore, they utter the same response. For during that unreached, that unveiled, that long eternity, the wise shall inherit glory.'

ART. VII.-The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, D.D., late Head Master of Rugby School. By ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, M.A. 2 vols. London. 1845.

ARNOLD deserved a memoir; and this one, from the pen of Stanley, speaks well both for master and pupil. It may be questioned in general, whether one who sat but recently as an overawed scholar at the feet of the individual he wishes to delineate, and who has imbibed all the views of his instructor as paramount oracles, is likely to prove a discerning and discreet biographer. In the present instance, however, we are disposed to think that no serious disadvantage has accrued from this source. Our author evidently felt that his position was critical, for he alludes, in a tone of delicacy, if not misgiving, to the almost filial relation in which I stood towards him' of whom he writes; and, being fully alive to the snares that surrounded him, he has no doubt been more scrupulously on his guard.

Perhaps Mr Stanley had to encounter a more formidable difficulty than what we now have mentioned, in the extreme scantiness of materials out of which to compose his narrative; for in truth, all the facts of Dr Arnold's life may be thus briefly given. He was born in the Isle of Wight, 1795. As a boy, he was educated at Winchester, and subsequently, he studied at Oxford, as a member of Corpus Christi College. Having been ordained deacon in 1818, he settled at Laleham, and for nine years he there employed himself in preparing pupils for the University. In 1827, he was chosen head master of Rugby School, and greatly revived that establishment. Being chosen regius professor of modern history at Oxford, in 1841, he seemed to have entered on a wide sphere of usefulness, when, on the 11th of June 1842, and in the forty-seventh year of his age, God suddenly removed him. Such is all that can be told of Dr Arnold in the way of incident. Yet so great is the charm of an influential and fertile mind, even where there is no correspondingly eventful life, that these volumes of Mr Stanley possess extraordinary interest.

In absence of any thing like a detailed narrative of his master's personal history, our author means that to a great extent we should derive the life' from the correspondence;' and, with this view, he has presented us with a collection of Dr Arnold's letters, amounting nearly to two-thirds of his publication. Few individuals could sustain such an illustration of their character with less injury than the head master of Rugby; for no one ever possessed a larger body of matured opinions than he, or could convey their meaning with such precision and transparency. At the same time, it must be felt by every reader, that the peculiar form which Mr Stanley has given to his memoir, and the anxiety he shows to make Dr Arnold develope his own mind, by means of his 'letters,' exhibit his friend and teacher as at variance with himself on several occasions, and make it a matter of no small difficulty to ascertain what ultimately were the conclusions to which he came on important subjects.

No man in our day has given a larger proportion of vigorous thought to the public than Dr Arnold. His publications cannot be fewer than five-and-twenty octavo volumes, and they relate to every branch of literature. But one of the most remarkable features which these works evince, is the minute accuracy with which they reflect the feelings and sentiments of their author. This is especially the case in regard to the 'Sermons' that he preached at Rugby; for, though they were written for his pupils, they uniformly embodied his most deliberate conceptions, and pourtrayed in every sentence the working of his mind. More than either matter or manner of his preaching,' says his biogra

pher, 'was the impression of himself. Even the mere readers of his sermons will derive from them the whole history of his mind, and of his whole management of the school.' Had we, therefore, been called to prepare a life of the distinguished individual whom Mr Stanley brings under our view, we should have been inclined to seek materials, neither from the recollections of his youthful admirers, nor from the files of a promiscuous Correspondence,' but chiefly from the far more authentic record of his published works; and in this manner, we are persuaded, we should have come nearer to a right estimate of him, in every relation, than we can at present. Our duty, however, is not to produce a biography of Dr Arnold, but merely to examine one that his friends. have placed in our hands, and, irrespective of all other sources of information, to consider anxiously what is the probable tendency of a life and character such as this memoir pourtrays.

And now, in passing from the biographer to the memoir, let us say, that, if we have dealt frankly with Mr Stanley, we must not be less explicit in our views of Dr Arnold; for his was a character of no equivocal influence, and his was a career that will give rise to permanent effects. Already there has emanated from the head master of Rugby an impulse, both religious and political, which has not been equalled in England since the days of Johnson, and the mere fact, that within a single year these volumes have reached their fifth edition, indicates the power they must be wielding. We cannot but feel it requisite, in those circumstances, to issue an admonition in regard to so popular a work, and review its merits with severe impartiality.

One of the first and deepest impressions made by the reading of Arnold's life unquestionably is, the independence of his mind, and the freshness of his thoughts. We may not get any thing that strictly can be designated original from him; but it is as true, that he gives us nothing at second hand. It is not easy to say, whether it arises more from his thorough reliance upon himself, or his haughty mistrust of others; but it is evident that he is little disposed to borrow assistance from those around him, and, like one who has got rid of all conventional ideas and hereditary feelings, he must think for himself, and feel for himself, and see for himself. Thus, whilst only a schoolboy at Winchester, and still ignorant of the very name of Niebuhr, he writes:

"I verily believe, that half at least of the Roman history is, if not totally false, at least scandalously exaggerated." Vol. i. p. 5.

And, on another occasion, when referring to a volume of his Sermons,' he subjoins,

"It is a great joy to me to think that it will not give offence. I have

no pleasure in writing what is unacceptable, though I confess, that the more I study any subject, the more it seems to me to require to be treated differently from the way in which it has been treated. It grieves me to think how much has been written about things with such imperfect knowledge, or with such narrow views, as leaves the whole thing to be done again. This makes the writings of a former age so unsatisfactory. In reading them, I never can feel satisfied that we have got to the bottom of a question." Vol. i. p. 441.

These passages clearly show what we meant by Arnold's fearless independence of thought; fearless at all times to heroismnot seldom even to temerity. He looked abroad on society, and said, let no one usurp my liberty, and make me the serf of opinion. He looked around on truth, and said, I will consult the oracle for myself; let no one persuade me that it is enough if she spoke to him. We suspect that this native tendency of his mind often hurried him beyond the mark of wisdom, and, by keeping himself much in the dark as to the views of other men, we apprehend that he retained himself at a level decidedly under what he might have reached, had he condescended to use the ladder of their speculations. Still we are satisfied that Dr Arnold did render an essential service to his age and country, by that intellectual enlargement and energy he asserted for himself. The very magnificence of our national literature does, in too many cases, operate rather as an incubus than a spur, and overshadows instead of animating native genius. On every subject we have an authorship; and it is enough with a large multitude if they have acquired the positions and judgments of men not superior to themselves. In regard even to history, and politics, and science, an idea has gone forth that the mines are exhausted, and that nothing now is left to be done but to admire and proclaim the skill of those who lived before us. Owing to these causes, the British mind was unquestionably lingering; and with all the elements of original discovery richly strewn around, it was lapsing into a supine, insipid, and recapitulatory state. Germany, though perhaps at too great a speed, was shooting far ahead; and France was also bestirring her intellectual energies in every department. England alone was not true to her resources-content to draw from the garnered stores of past ages. Arnold saw, and lamented this, and boldly resolved to set the example of something more free and intrinsic. He started into public life, an independent thinker-a thinker for himself A THINKER-and he summoned no contemptible band to gird themselves for the same struggle. For this we respect him. The man who has induced the generation in which he lives to think, has conferred a blessing on his fellows, and earned renown for himself far more imperishable than philosopher or poet.