ART. XLV. The Importance of Education to the Christian Minister: a Sermon, preached at George's Meeting-House, Exeter, June 17th, 1804, in recommendation of the Academical Institution in that City. By JonN KENTISH. 8vo. pp. 31. IN this very sensible and well written discourse, from Matt. xiii. 52. Mr. Kentish shews that the knowledge essential to the christian teacher, will be procured with most advantage by means of education; and that education is most important to him, as it will aid him in communicating information. The importance of education to the minister of religion is further proved by the case of the first preachers of the gospel, and by the history of the christian church; the preceding reasoning is then applied to the circumstances of protestant dissenters: and the academical institution at Exeter, for the preparation of young men for the dissenting ministry, is strenuously recommended to the patronage of the audience. ART. XLVI. The Influence of a Love of Religious Truth upon the Christian Minister : a Serman, prenched at the New Meeting House, in Birmingham, Sept. 9, 1804, on ccasion of the Death of the Rev. T. Kenrick. By Joux KENTISH. BY the unexpected death of Mr. Kenrick, the academical institution at Exeter, for the benefit of which the preceding discourse was delivered, appears to have sustained the loss of a very able and zealous tutor, and the unitarian cause a very steady supporter. The whole of this discourse is an eulogy upon the deceased friend of the preacher, interspersed with many judicious and important 8vo. pp. 41. general observations. "The feelings of friendship," says Mr. Kentish," are expressed in this discourse; yet I am conscious of having expressed them in no language but that of truth." Mr. Kenrick's death then must be deeply regret. ted by that body of christians to whom he belonged, and amongst whom he was so actively employed. ART. XLVII. Lectures on Preaching, and the several Branches of the Ministerial Office: including the Characters of the most celebrated Ministers among Dissenters, and in the Establishment. By the Rev. P. Doddridge, D. D. 12mo. pp. 126. THESE lectures, though they have for half a century been circulated in manuscript among the pupils of Dr. Doddridge, or their descendants, were not known to the public till they appear ed in the late edition of his works. They contain a very good account of the dif ferent preachers of name, whose sermons had been published before the death of Dr. Doddridge; and some useful advice to those who fill the station of ministers among the dissenters. They may also be read with advantage by the clergy of the established church. By JOSHUA TOULMIN, D. D. 12mo. ART. XLVIII. Addresses to Young Men. "THESE addresses, except the two last, the author observes, have lain by him some years. An anxious concern for the future conduct and happiness of several young gentlemen, on removing from under his tuition, suggested the composition of the first of them. This gave birth to those which follow. They are now printed from an earnest desire to serve the rising generation; and, with this view, are submitted to the candour of the public, especially of young men, to whom we look up as to the pillars of society, and with ardent hope that they will shew themselves examples and pa trons of truth, righteousness, and piety." This little volume contains eight addresses: on self-mindedness; on religion, in two parts; on the pursuit of knowledge; on company; on conversation; on sympathy towards the sex and mar-, riage; on application to trade, or a profession. The subjects are of great importance; and they are treated in a very judicious and impressive manner. The rising generation cannot do better, either for themselves or for society, than to attend to the salutary advice which is here af fectionately imparted. ART. XLIX. A Manual of Religious Knowledge; for the Use of Sunday Schools, and of the Poor in general. By the Rev. J. GRANT. Second Edition, greatly enlarged, 12mo. IN the Sunday schools, or amongst the poor belonging to the establishment, this tract will be very useful. ART. L. The Fashionable World displayed. By THEOPHILUS CHRISTIAN, Esq. Small 8vo. pp. 81. THIS is an ingenious satyrical tract, the design of which is to point out the absurdities and inconsistencies of a professedly fashionable life; and, if possible, to bring to reason and reflection those who are engaged in it. As a specimen of our author's manner (whose book, at least, appears to be in some danger of becoming itself fashionable) we subjoin the following: "The rage for amusements is so strong in this people, that it seems to supersede all exercise of judgment in the choice and the conduct of them. To go every where, see every thing, and know every body, are, in their estimation, objects of such importance, that, in order to accomplish them, they put themselves to the greatest inconveniences, and commit the very grossest absurdities. Hence they will rush in crowds, to shine where they cannot be seen, to dance where they cannot move, and to converse with friends whom they cannot approach; and, what is more, though they cannot breathe for the pressure, and can scarcely live for the heat, yet they call this-enjoyment. Nor does this passion suffer any material abatement by the progress of time. Many veterans visit, to the last, the haunts of polite dissipation; they lend their countenance to those dramas of vanity in which they can no longer act a part, and show their incurable attachment to the pleasures of this world, by their unwillingness to decline them. The infirmities which attend upon the close of life are certainly designed to produce other habits; and it should seem that when every thing announces an approaching dissolution, the amusements of the drawing-room might give place to the employments of the closet. Persons, however, of this description are of another mind; and as every difficulty on the score of teeth, hoariness, and wrinkles, can be removed by the happy expedients of ivory, hair-caps, and cosmetics, there is certainly no physical objection to their continuing among their fashionable acquaintance till they are wanted in another world. "I cannot illustrate this part of my subject better than by presenting my readers with the man of fashion; it expresses, with so much following Ode on the Spring, written by a exactness, the sentiments and taste of that extraordinary people, that it will stand in the place of a thousand observations upon their character. ODE ON THE SPRING. The opera-warbler pours her throat, While, beaming pleasure as they fly, Perspire through ev'ry pore: How happy are the great! Still is the toiling hand of Care, The drays and hacks repose; Thro' streets and squares pursue their fun; To dissipation's playful eye, Such is the life for man, And they that halt and they that fly Methinks I hear, in accents low, Thy choice nor health nor nature greets, Enslav'd by noise, and dress, and play : Ere thou art to the country flown, The sun will scorch, the spring be gone, Then leave the town in May." ART. LI. A Sermon, preached at the Parish Church of St. Andrew by the Wardrobe and St. Anne, Blackfriars, on Tuesday in Whitsun Week, May 22, 1804, before the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, instituted by Members of the Established Church, being their fourth Anniversary. By the Rev. THOMAS T. BIDDULPH, M. A. Minister of St. James's, Bristol, and Chaplain to the Right Hon. the Dowager Lady Bagot Also the Report of the Committee to the Annual Meeting, held on the same Day; and a List of Subscribers and Benefactors. Printed by Order of the General Meeting. 8vo. PP. 113. THE missionary society, instituted by members of the established church, has at length succeeded in obtaining missionaries, and two Germans, Melchior Renner, and Peter Hartwig, educated for the purpose, at Berlin, under the care of the Rev. John Jaenicke, sailed for Sierra Leone in the beginning of the year 1804. Before this time they have entered upon their labours, and we look with impatience to the next annual report for an account of their success. "Of all the nations which inhabit the vicinity of Sierra Leone, we have determined to make our first attempt among the Susoos; and to this determination we have been led by several considerations. The Rev. Mr. Brunton, having acquired some knowledge of the languages of that people, during his residence among them, has printed, by desire and at the expence of this society, several books of religious instruction, &c. in that tongue; which is the first of all the native languages of Western Africa, which bas been reduced to fixed principles." "The circumstance of its having been in our power to print books in the Susoo tongue might, of itself, seein sufficient to direct our first attention to that nation: our determination has, however, been strengthened by other considerations. The Susoo language spoken not only through a considerable space approaching the coast, but over the extensive country which Mr. Park distinguishes by the name of Jallonkadoo, and is also frequently used by the Timmanees, Bulloms, and Mandingos, and by almost all the trading Foolas. Dr. White informs us, (l. 1. p. 10.) that it excells all the native languages in this quarter, and that in softTess it approaches the Italian. He tells us, (ib. p. 5.) that the Susoos extend from the river Kissee stretching across the Rio Pongas, nearly as far as the Rio Nunez This na tion, therefore, appears to open the widest field for missionary labours within an equal distance from the colony; and though it is more grossly superstitious than its neighbours, the Foolas and Mandingos, in conse siderable light from Mahometanism, yet in quence of these nations having received consome points of view it opposes fewer obstacles to the gospel." It appears from the annual reports, that the society have had great difficulty in meeting with persons willing and able to undertake the laborious and hazardous employment of completing the object of their association, and carrying the ti dings of the gospel to the benighted Africans. They have been obliged to apply to the Lutheran church, and still look thither for a succession of zealous men. Four students are now preparing themselves at Berlin, to aid or to succeed the worthy missionaries already entered upon their labours; and if heresy do not infect them, as it has lately infected one of their companions, who has, in consequence, been dismissed from the seminary, we suppose they will be soon ready to engage in their work of benevolence." There is a good prospect, we are informed, of one or two zealous and devoted members of our own church coming forward, after due preparation, in this great cause." It has justly excited surprise, if not regret, that such have not appeared before; but, that while the Baptist and Methodist societies have been able to send to the East Indies, and the islands of the Pacific Ocean, zealous and disinterested missionaries, the members of the established church have been compelled to have recourse to a foreign seminary, and to employ those who are beyond the pale of her communion. The address to the missionaries now engaged, is drawn up with great ability, and is much to be commended for its prudent and truly christian spirit. The directions concerning the slave trade are very judicious. ance. "While the slave trade continues, it will throw great difficulties in the way of all attempts to civilize and evangelize the nations upon the coast, as most of the head men think themselves interested in its continuYet you may avail yourselves of this trade, to illustrate the benevolence of those views with which you visit Africa; and, we may hope, not without effect, as "the natives," we are told, (Winterbottom's Account, c. vol. 1. p. 209.) "possess sufficient penetration to distinguish men of merit from the common herd of traders who infest that part." "You will take all prudent occasions of weaning the native chiefs from this traffic, by depicting its criminality, the miseries whic are connected with this trade; You will Of the sermon prefixed to the report and address, we have only to say, that it is plain and suitable to the occasion of its delivery. ART. LII. A General History of the Christian Church to the present Time. By Josera PRIESTLEY, LL. D. F. R. S. &c. In 6 vols. 8vo. it may be, place them in such a point of view as to excite the very reflexions which he has been careful not to deduce. It is therefore much better for every historian honestly to avow, as Dr. Priestley has done, the principles upon which his work is composed. The writer thus earns the praise of honesty, and the reader is put upon his guard. IT has been commonly regarded as a necessary qualification in an historian, that his mind should be perfectly free from every party or sectarian bias; and in deference to this opinion, they who have claimed the notice of the public in that character, have, in general, ap. peared anxious to avow themselves, and eager to persude others that they really are, impartial. Such professions are not deserving of full credit. They are either absolutely and designedly false, intended to mislead; or they result, on the part of those who make them, from a total ignorance of themselves. It is not possible for any one who possesses the ordinary powers of judgment, and who is accustomed to exercise them, to feel indifferent with respect to many of the interesting subjects which occur both in civil and ecclesiastical history. The influence of education, and of number. less circumstances in the succeeding years of life, will inevitably give some bias to the mind in the judgment it forms of important events, and cause the same transactions to appear to different persons under very different aspects. The political or the religious principles which an historian has adopted, will be seen "Notwithstanding what will be called un even in a bare detail of occurrences; peculiar sentiments, and of course my biz in favour of them, I hope that the most pr and though he may not draw one con- judiced of my readers will not think me de clusion from the facts which he under-tute of candour, even with respect to the e takes to state, he will, unintentionally who differ from me in the most important 1 Being an unitarian, and all the pre ceding general ecclesiastical historians hav ing been trinitarians, it was impossible but that I should see many things in a very different light from them, and therefore our re presentations of them will be very different, when there is no dispute about the facts Characters of men, and of times, must vary with the sentiments of the writers on subjects of such importance as those in which I differ from my predecessors. Of this the reader will easily be apprised; and therefore he will make what allowance he shall thịnk be men of candour, they will shew it on this necessary on that account; and if my readers occasion. This all protestant writers do with respect to the writings of catholics, from whose histories they take facts of the greate importance, when they differ from them the most with respect to their judgment co cerning those facts." We willingly give our testimony to the truth of this declaration. The first part of this History, comprising the period which elapsed from the public ministry of Jesus to the fall of the western empire, was published in the year 1790, while the author was residing at Birmingham, and not long after the publication of the History of of Early Opinions. It was, indeed, by the attention which Dr. Priestley had at that time given to the ecclesiastical writers of the four or five first centuries, in order to determine what was the faith of the primitive church concerning the person of Christ, that the idea of writing the work now before us was first suggested. "Seeing that this opinion, and others connected with it, had been greatly misconceived, and misrepresented, by all the cccletastical historians, I was willing to exhibit the original doctrine, and the gradual devia tions from it, in a regular history of every thing relating to the christian church. For want of an ecclesiastical history written on these just principles, persons were under a necessity of forming wrong conceptions on this important subject from every history that could fall into their hands." It was also the author's wish to com pose an ecclesiastical history, that should neither be too voluminous to be generally read, nor so concise as to be of little use; which should not, like Mosheim's, be incumbered by an artificial and unnatural method; nor mistate, as Dr. Priestley conceived that work does, important facts; which, in the mere statement of facts, should supply an answer to Mr. Gibbon's artful insinuations; and by exhibiting the influence of christianity on the minds of those who first embraced it, demonstrate the value of the christian's hope. With such views Dr. Priestley composed the two first volumes, which were received with pleasure by those who were not adverse to the unitarian principles that pervade them; and read, not without interest, by the advocates of a more orthodox confession. Having at that time no reason to expect the disgraceful violence that was shortly ANN. REV. VOL. III. to interrupt his usual employments, and drive him from the country that ought to have acknowledged, what a grateful posterity will claim, the honour of numbering him amongst her sous, he was undetermined whether he should carry this history further. In bringing down the narrative to the fall of the western empire, he had executed what, he thought, was most particularly wanted, and given, as it appeared to him, a fairer account of the rise and progress of important opinions than was in any other history to be found He intimated, however, that if he should have leisure, he might be induced to continue his work to the reformation by Luther, and even to the present century. "This leisure (he remarks in the preface to the third volume, with that spirit of piety which so eminently distinguished him) it has pleased a kind providence to give me, and I have endeavoured to make a good use of it, both with respect to the continuation of this work, and the composition of several others, besides attending to the business of my laboratory. I cannot be too thankful to the sovereign disposer of all things for so great a happiness. What is life without employe ment? And most honourable is that employ ment the object of which is to benefit future generations, for whom writers naturally flatter themselves that they are labouring; and what benefits are of so high and im portant a kind, as those which relate to religion, and that future world to which I am now making a near approach?" The former part of this History was altogether composed from original wri ters; but, as the author justly observes, "With respect to the period which extends from the date in which that terminated to the present time, the works containing the original records are so numerous, and many of them so difficult to be procured, that it is not in the power of any man to do the same. The most industrious and the most fortunate historians can only collect their materials from a part of them; and all who write general histories, comprehending the result of the labours of those who have studied the particular parts, must neces sarily, in general, depend upon the fidelity of those who have preceded them; and they must use their best judgment with respect to the circumstances and prejudices of those on whose autho tity they rely." Fleury is the writer of whom Dr. Priestley has made the most frequent use, collecting all the additional light he was able from Gian |