, and the issues, I doubt not, must be for the good of man's soul,
for the cause of truth, for the glory of God.

THE REV. H. MELVILLE, M.A.

The great John Foster (who, by-the-bye, in his essay on 'Decision of
Character,' has much mischief to answer for, as every obstinate mule
quotes his authority when, against all advice and entreaty and common
sense, he persists in going wrong--poor Haydon always quoted Foster)
wrote one of his best essays, 'On the Aversion of Men of Taste to
Evangelical Religion.' The professors of Evangelical religion, I think,
scarcely forgave him. The sanctuary, it was thought, should have a
shibboleth of its own. In its peculiar terms and general formation it
should differ from the ordinary language of other men. If persons of
taste were kept away--if the men of intellect and science and learning
stood aloof--it mattered little; for the wisdom of the world was folly,
and it was ordained that it was to be brought to nought by the weak in
years and understanding--'out of the mouth of sucklings and babes.' The
religious, I fear, some of them with a certain kind of pride--for there
is a pride in the Church as well as in the world, and we all know whose

'Darling sin
Is the pride that apes humility'--

took pleasure in their cant terms, and sprinkled them as plentifully in
their sermons and prayers as ever did skilful cook in time-honoured
Christmas pudding. Wilberforce once took Pitt to hear Cecil. When they
came out, Wilberforce tells us he was surprised by Pitt telling him he
could not understand a word of the discourse. There was nothing
wonderful in that. Pitt had never been to hear an Evangelical preacher
before. His world had been a different one. He was a stranger amongst
strangers. Their language was not his, and conveyed no meaning to his
ear. Greek or Hebrew would have been as intelligible to him. Pitt's
case was a common one then, and is a common one now. Foster's Essay has
lost none of its point or power. There are still not unfrequently in the
services of our churches and chapels, in the peculiar phraseology of the
pulpit, some grounds for the aversion of men of taste to Evangelical
religion. However, there are illustrious exceptions: one of the most
illustrious of these is Henry Melville.

Would you hear him, reader, then for awhile you must leave the shop or
the counting-house, and penetrate with us to the very heart of our great
metropolis.