and have the art of pleasing, and have no compunction at following a multitude to do evil," rather than be reproached for sin gularity; in the circles where birth or wealth are rather the titles to admission, than integrity, virtue, and good sense; we can scarcely expect to find any rigid attention to the distinctions between good and evil, or rather we must look to see these distinctions reversed. And if it require great caution in those advanced some way in life; to mix in such society without contamination; it will surely call for more than ordinary prudence, and reserve, and resolution, in a young person to escape uninjured. Is it reasonable to expect that he will preserve his esteem for virtue, and resist with fortitude, the allurements which beset him, when he sees, that modesty, temperance and discretion, may be violated with impunity, and that he may be vicious without being disgraced? Will he be encouraged to retain and practise the good lessons of humility, benevolence and forgiveness, which were once impressed upon him, when he becomes acquainted with the code of fashion; and is taught to consider high-mindedness and resentment, as the disposition he must cultivate, if he would be esteemed; and to despise the meek and patient virtues of the gospel? Will he learn honesty and fair dealing, from the amusements, if amusements they can be called, of fraud and avarice, where every man seeketh to" go beyond his brother?" Will the luxurious teach him self-denial, and the extravagant, prudence? Will they who be stow all their thoughts and anxiety upon ART. XXXVII. Sermons on various Subjects. By the Rev. T. BASELEY, A. M. Chaplain to the Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Lincoln; and Proprietor of Grosvenor Chapel, Grosvenor Square. 8vo. pp. 270. THIS volume, dedicated to the Bishop of Lincoln, contains twelve sermons, which, though they may not rank with the highest, are yet much above the lowest class of compositions of this nature. The two first discourses are on the belief in God, and the works that should follow it. The third treats on the law to which our first parents were subject in paradise; and is designed to vindicate what is usually imagined to have been a test of their obedience, and for the violation of which they were driven from the garden of Eden. This suggests the subject of the fourth and fifth discourses, which the author has entitled, On liberty and necessity; but which are nothing more than superficial essays on the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination. The following passage, selected from many of the same kind, prove that the author has but a very imperfect knowledge of the principle of philosophical necessity : "Farther, that we have reason and conscience, every one will allow. But to what end were these distinguishing faculties bestowed upon us, if we have no power to follow their dictates, and if they cannot influence our conduct? Was the eve of intellectual excellence given us to discern the beauty of virtue and the deformity of vice; and flee from the other? Was the sense of and have we no power to discern the one moral rectitude given only to torment us? to make us feel the force of every social virtue; and yet must our minds be always impressed with the painful and gloomy reflection, that we are unable to practise it? Have we power within ourselves, that teaches God; no power to exercise it; and yet must us the duty we owe our neighbour and our we be punished for our neglect? We may as well wreak our vengeange upon the ma * Wisdom of Solomon, ch. v. 7. chine that moves only from the power which we ourselves have communicated to it; or punish the poor wretch for trembling, who is agitated with a palsy." The sixth sermon, from the Inters polated verse of John's first epistle, ch. v. 7. is an argumentum ad ignorantiam upon the doctrine of the Trinity. "The chief intention of what has been said," the preacher observes, p. 132, "on a subject calculated to expose the weakness of the human understanding, rather than to display its powers, is to shew, by reasoning from analogy, that though the sublime mysteries of the Holy Trinity, and other doctrines, may not be within our comprehension, yet this is no argument for our not be lieving them if they are clearly and expressly revealed." The revelation of these mysteries is the very point in debate; and so far as we are acquainted with the principles of Unitarians, we have reason to believe they would not desert the standard of orthodoxy-if Mr. B. or any other theologian could convince them that these holy doctrines are contained in scripture. They have repeatedly asserted, and we have no right to question their sincerity, that their rejection of these mysteries arises not from their being incomprehensible by the powers of the human mind, but from their being contrary, as they conceive, to the plain dictates of the word of God. Their opponents, therefore, instead of continuing to assign motives of their conduct which they solemnly disavow, should study chiefly to obviate the difficulties which prevent their confessing the common creed, and prove that the language of scripture is not at variance with the mysterious doctrines which are maintained by the great body of Christians. The seventh sermon is on the Jews' reproach of our Saviour and on John the Baptist: Luke vii. 33, 34. From this sermon we select a passage which serves as a specimen of the rest: "The government of the tongue, and, what is more essential, the government of the heart (which should precede it), will always be one of the first duties of every human being. Truth, indeed, must flow from an exalted sense of justice, and candour must be the offspring of true charity; otherwise they can make no approach to the perfection of Christian morality; and therefore cannot be acceptable in the sight of God. There are many that would shrink from the more open and notorious vices of "Let me appeal to your experience and knowledge of the world. Have you not sometimes known the duty of abstinence, and the needful exercises of self-denial, scandalized by men who were not Pharisees, under the contemptuous appellation of folly, have you not sometimes observed the conor superstition? And, on the contrary, duct of those who cheerfully enjoy the blessings of Providence, without being guilty of excess, censured by the morose, as intemperate, or luxurious? If the sanctity of John the Baptist, and the heavenly example which our blessed Lord's life afforded, could not escape the perversion of sin, and the rior beings expect from the perverseness of malice of detraction, what might not infesin, and the ill-will of their fellow creatures? There is not a virtue, there is not an attainment, however excellent and meritorious, that may not be thus vilified and disparaged. Observe how the serious piety of one man is deemed bigotry by another! See how generosity is made to wear the form of extravagance and folly; how charity is associated with weakness, or ostentation; fru gality with meanness; learning with pedantry and pride; and even the scruples of conscience with prejudice or pusillanimity!" The eighth sermon treats of " Pilate's question, What is truth?"" and was intended by the preacher to guard his hearers against scepticism. We have always been accustomed to regard the character of Pilate in a very different light from that in which it is represented by Mr. Baseley. "The character of Pontius Pilate was marked with that weakness and imbecility which results from a wavering and irresolute mind, rather than stained by any wilful errors, or atrocious crimes. Whenever he acted wrong, it appears to have been against his inclination, and in opposition to his have been firm: he temporized, when he conscience: he yielded, when he should should have taken a decided part.” From Philo, quoted by Dr. Lardner, we learn that Pilate, on the contrary, He took bribes, he practised extortion, was guilty of the most atrocious crimes.. murdered innocent and uncondemned persons, and committed many other acts of cruelty and oppression. And at last being displaced from his govern ment, he chose to die by his own hands, rather than endure the disgrace which his abuse of power had occasioned. The remaining discourses are: On fearing the reproach of men; on the duty of mercifulness; on the judg ment to come; and on peace with God. proposed, and what effect this public answer produced, we are not informed. These sermons are written with great plainness; and will prove acceptable to those who have embraced the same views of religion with this well-known author. ART. XXXVIII. Four Sermons on, i. Repentance unto Life. ii. The Evil of Sin, as committed against God. iii. Christ's Love to Penitent Sinners. iv. The Promise of the Holy Spirit. Lately preached at the Lock Chapel, and published by particular Request. By THOMAS SCOTT, A. M. Chaplain to the Lock Hospital. 8vo. pp. 110. THESE sermons appear to have been delivered" in consequence of a letter which the preacher received from an unknown correspondent, and desiring a public answer to several interesting questions on the subject of repentance." With what view these questions were ART. XXXIX. Helps to Composition; or, Five Hundred Skeletons of Sermens, several being the Substance of Sermons preached before the University. By the Rev. CHARLES SIMEON, M. A. Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Vol. II. Parts I. and II. pp. 780. our pulpit-compositions is now distin guished. We will venture to recommend to our young preachers a practice very different from that which Mr. Simeon would have them follow. Let them occasionally select a sermon from one of our most approved and eloquent writers; and when, by a very careful perusal of it, they shall have entered fully into its spirit, and brought their minds into a state similar to that in which the author composed his discourses (which may in general be easily effected), let them undertake the same subject. They will thus be preserved from the difficulty, and we may add the danger, of too early and too frequent composition. Their discourses will not be barren of sentiment, or rendered displeasing by crude and juvenile thoughts. They will have more leisure to study accuracy and elegance of style; and they will be continually increasing their fund of religious and moral sentiments. This practice has been adopted by some of our best writers, and is sanctioned by their success. The careful reading of the best French preachers will also conduce to form an eloquent and impressive style. MORE than three hundred of these skeletons have been sent into the world already, and to the great annoyance of the nervous and the timid have, we fear, been obtruded into our pulpits. Skeletons are to most persons frightful and disgusting objects; and however artfully they may be adorned, present a loathsome appearance. No art or device of man can ever effectually conceal them. Who will not be able to detect the artificial eye, or the false and painted cheek? Who will fail to discover the borrowed muscular appearance of the limb, or the wiry joint? Can any thing less than a miracle cause dry bones to live? But to be serious. We cannot express too strongly our disapprobation of the skeleton helps to composition, which Mr. Simeon has prepared for our younger divines. The eloquence of the English pulpit has long been defective; and if the publication now before us should come into general use, it will be utterly destroyed. Our sermons will lose every portion even of the excellence they now possess; they will be destitute of vigour of thought, as well as elegance of language; and a cold, dry, uninteresting style, will usurp the place even of that little energy by which the majority of ART. XL. Four Sermons preached in London at the Eighth General Meeting of the Missionary Society, May 12, 13, 14, 1802. By the Rev. S. LOWELL, Bristol; Rev. G. TOWNSEND, Ramsgate; Rev. J. M. MASON, A. M. New York; Rev. R. HAWKER, D. D. Plymouth. Also the Report of the Directors, and a List of Subscribers. Published for the Benefit of the Society. 8vo. pp. 148. We have seldom been more highly gratified than by the perusal of the first ANN. REV. VOL. I. of these discourses, entitled, “The Triumphs of the Messiah;" which is at once pious, eloquent, and rational. Our read- But it will perhaps be asked, Whether, sthenes. Every power of the human soul; avarice excepted, yielded to the just demand; -but avarice, accursed avarice, opposed, and all the precepts of religion. This opposition to this hour successfully resists, all the dictates of reason, all the claims of justice, and argument against the wisdom, the equity, or is not, however, regarded as affording any benevolence of such efforts; but is considered as so much additional evidence of that deep depravity of heart, by which the human race is ensnared, degraded, and lost." below mediocrity and if, in point of The two succeeding discourses are composition, the fourth, entitled, "The Work of the Holy Ghost," may have preting scripture which the preacher has some claim to praises the mode of interadopted, and the positions which he has endeavoured to establish, are but ill adapted to obtain belief, or ensure respect. discouraged in the prosecution of their We rejoice that the directors are not plan of benevolence, by the obstacles they have met with in its progress; being fully persuaded that wherever the divine spirit of piety to God, and good will towards men, which appears in the character of Christ, together with the history of his miracles, death, and resurrection, as recorded in the New Testament, are clearly made known, the happiest effects will eventually follow, howbe corrupted by error, or perverted by ever for a time these simple truths may the bigotry or the enthusiasm of some who undertake to preach them. ART XLI. A Sermon preached at the Parish Church of St. Andrew by the Wardrobe and St. Anne, Blackfriars, on Tuesday in Whitsun Wick, June 8, 1802, before the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, instituted by Members of the Established Church, being their Second Anniversary. By the Rev. CHARLES SIMEON, M. A. Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. 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 Mecting. 8vo. THIS, though a single sermon, we place in this part of our work, on account of the similarity of its object to that of the preceding discourses. these two publications it appears, that From while the Missionaries, supported chiefly by the Calvinistic Dissenters, are extending the knowledge of the gospel through the islands of the great Pacific Ocean, some zealous members of the Establishment are preparing to diffuse the same knowledge through Africa and the East. How far the discourse before us, which is confined to considerations suffering death to appease the wrath of on the importance of faith in Christ, as God, may promote this benevolent plan, be proper, however, to give our readers we will not venture to decide. It may poor savages of Africa are to be taught. a specimen of the theology which the been the state of the whole world, if the same mind had been in Christ that is in us? Had he "Consider then first, what would have been as indisposed to effect the salvation of mankind, as we are to promote that of the heathen, would he have left his glory for then, would he have relinquished all the blessedness which he enjoyed in the bosom of his Father? Would he have debased him self to such a degree, as to take upon him self their fallen nature? Would he have substituted himself in their place, and borne all their iniquities in his own person, and have become a curse for them? For them who, he knew beforehand, would murder him as soon as they should have it in their power? No-Then where would Adam, and all the generations that have passed in snecession to the present hour, have been at this moment? They would all, without one single exception, have been wailing and gnashing their teeth in hell: and all future generations, to the end of time, would have lived only to fill up the measure of their iniquities, and to receive at last their tremendous doom." We find, from the report annexed to this discourse, that no Missionaries are yet engaged by the Society; but that the Committee have received informa tion of an institution at Berlin, by means of which it is probable the wants of the Society may hereafter be more readily supplied, and that many useful works have been printed in the Susoo language, which extends over a very considerable part of Africa. In an appendix we are told," that the Mahommedan religion has tended very much to civilize the Africans wherever it has been introducedthat no people can be more temperate with regard to strong liquors, nor more grave and decorous in their deportment than the Foulatis and Mandingos;" and that "in many respects they are sagacious and discerning:" it is nevertheless lamented that the Susoos "shew a great dislike to true religion." If by true religion such doctrines as this sermon contains be meant, we are not surprised; and we beg leave to suggest the propriety of first attempting to inculcate something more simple. It cannot be expected that their untutored minds should be able to receive at once all those sacred mysteries, at which more cultivated understandings have sometimes revolted. And as there appears to be some danger that if these be made a necessary part of their creed they will reject Christianity altogether, let the experiment be first tried with such truths as are level to every comprehension, and which the earliest preachers of the gospel were content to require their converts to believe. See the Acts of the Apostles, passim; and Rom. x. 9. ART. XLII. Tavo Sermons preached at Dominica, on the 11th and 13th of April 1800, and officially noticed by his Majesty's Privy Council in that Island. To which is added en Appendix, containing Minutes of the Three Trials which occurred at Roseau in the Spring of the preceding Year; together with Remarks and Strictures on the Issue of these Trials, as well as on the Slave Trade, and the Condition of Slaves in general in our West Indian Colonies. By the Rev. C. PETERS, A. M. Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, and late Rector of St. George's and Roseau, in the Island of Dominica. 8vo. pp. 82. FREQUENTLY have our feelings been outraged by accounts of the horrid barbarities inflicted upon the suffering African by the avaricious slave purchaser, the cruel overseer, and the brutal negro-driver, emphatically so called; but we do not remember that we ever felt more forcibly the dreadful effects of the system of slavery, than while perusing the interesting publication now before us. The text chosen for the two discourses which form a part of this publication, is Coloss. iv. 1. "Masters, give unto your scrcants that which is just and equal, knowag that ye alfo have also a master in heaven." The relation of master and servant, the preacher observes, has its foundation in the diversity of talents, degrees of industry, and varied circumstances of the members of civil society; and he pro ceeds to state some of the leading particulars which the admonition of the apostle includes in it, in a country where the labourer is not only the servant, but the property of his master. These he states to be, the providing of a comfortable subsistence, and the exaction only of such a portion of labour from his slave, as his natural powers are equal to perform. In this discourse he examines the comparative condition of our labouring poor, and of West-Indian slaves, and ably proves that the hardships frequently inflicted upon the latter, cannot be justi. fied by any arguments drawn from the circumstances of the former. In the second discourse, the preacher calls the attention of his audience to the extraordinary mortality which prevails amongst those unfortunate slaves who are em |
