occupied in correcting Mr. Paine's notions of redemption, and giving à more rational idea of the nature of the chriftian religion, and of the reafon why Chrift died upon the crofs; in expreffing his contempt for Thomas Paine's judgment concerning the value of ancient learning; and in appealing from his opinion concerning revelation, to the most diftinguished mathematicians of our own country, Bacon, Boyle, Newton, Locke, Barrow, and Hartley, who were firm believers in the chriftian revelation. Of Newton he relates, from the life of Emlyn, the following pointed reply to Dr. Halley : P. 54. Dr. Halley," fays he, I am always glad to hear you when you speak about afronomy, or other parts of mathematics, because that is a fubject you have ftudied, and well understand; but you should not talk of christianity, for you have not ftudied it; I have, and know you know nothing of the matter.' Mr. W. might have fpared his conceffion to Mr. Paine of the story of Jonah and the whale, and his addition to Mr. Paine's merriment on the fubject, of his little black-boy, who cat his bread and cheese in perfect fecurity within the belly of a fhark. There is a difference between a miracle and an impoffibility; the whale (or fhark) might swallow Jonah, but Jonah could not fwallow the whale. Mr. W. has written, as ufual, with ability and spirit; and has certainly done much towards the refutation of Mr. P.: fomething, however, he has left to be done by his fucceffors in this controversy. A more particular statement of the evidence for the genuineness of the books of fcripture, and a more diftinct notice of Mr. Paine's general obfer vations on prophecy and miracles, would have rendered the reply more complete. Faft Sermons. ART. XII. Equality: a Sermon. To which is added, a Sermon preached on Friday, February 28, 1794, the Day appointed for a General Faft. By the Rev. James Hurdis, B. D. Profeffor of Poetry in the Univerfity of Oxford. 8vo. 63 pages. Price is 6d. Johnson. 1794. In the first of thefe difcourfes, the bugbear equality, which has of late occafioned fo much needlefs alarm, is attacked by the weapons of rhetoric. The profeffor of poetry preferring, as might be expected, the light fkirmishing of oratory, to the clofe fighting of logic, fetches his arguments from analogical topics; he fhows that, as the members of the body cannot fubfift without the head; a fhip of war without it's captain and fubordinate officers; a fleet without it's admiral; an army without it's general and inferiour commanders; a family without it's lord and mafter; a hive of bees without their queen; the folar fyftem without a ruling fun and planets of different magnitudes; or even the invisible heavens without various orders of angels and archangels, cherubim and feraphim; fo neither can human fociety fubfift without different ranks of men, and degrees of power, held together and directed by one fupreme ruler. The prefent fate of Great Britain is compared with thofe times in which the country was dillracted by civil commotions; and it is on the whole concluded, that there has been no period in which the condition of thofe kingdoms has been preferable to that of the prefent; and confequently, that it is unreafonable to indulge chimerical notions of national reform, reform, and to attend to baneful and feditious publications. The writer's zeal for monarchical government carries him fo far, as to affert, what he will not eafily reconcile with the hory of the greek and roman republics, that regal government has been fanctioned by the approbation and concurrence of the wifeft ages of the world. The general doctrine of this fermon is fupported by a detail, in an annexed note, of the mifchiefs produced by the equalizing attempts of Wat Tyler, and Jack Straw, and of the levellers in the period of the commonwealth, to which is added, an elaborate comparison of the character of Mr. Paine, with that of Therfites in Homer. The faft fermon is a general difcourfe on the importance of righte oufnefs to national happinefs: in which this doctrine is illuftrated by an appeal both to facred and profane hiftory, and applied to the prefent times in an earnest exhortation to repentance and amendment. Both thefe difcourfes are, in point of ftyle, handsomely written; and if they be not remarkable for depth of argument, neither are they diftinguished by vehemence of invective. 16 pages. ART. XIII. The Judgments of God in the Earth are calls for us to learn Righte ufnefs. A Serman preached at St. George's Church, Botolphlane, London, on Friday, February 28, 1794; being the Day appointed by Proclamation, for a General Faft and Humiliation before Almighty God, for obtaining Pardon of our Sins, and for averting thofe heavy Judgments which our manifold Provocations have most justly deferved. By William Reid, м. A. Vicar of Takely in Effex, Chaplain to the Right Hon. Jane Countefs Dowager of Rothes, and Curate of the faid Church of St. George, Botolph-lane. Published by Defire Price 1s. Rivingtons. of the Congregation. 4to. THE Confidence with which many, who profefs to teach the mild and merciful religion of the gofpel, denounce the judgments of heaven upon their brethren, is aftonishing. The prefent calamities of France are in this fermon declared to be the judgments of heaven upon a nation, who are given over to a reprobate mind. A judicial madness is faid to have come upon them; and they are fpoken of as the cutcafts of the kingdoms of the earth, abandoned by all men, and what is worfe, abandoned by Almighty God, on account of the enormities of their unrighteoufnefs, their crying fies, and all manner of wickedness. Much more, to the fame purport, will be found in this fermon, which is a violent piece of declamation, tending more to excite indignation ourfelves. against our enemies, than to promote reformation among ART. XIV. A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of Hackney, on Friday, February 28, 1794; the Day appointed for a General Faft. By the Rev. J. Symons, B. D. Published at the Kequeft of the ConRobinfons. 1594. gregation. 8vo. 32 pages. Price is. TOWARDS the clofe of this fermon, the preacher acknowledges it to be one part of the defign of a fait day, to cultivate thofe difpofitions which make for peace. He appears, however, to have paid little regard to this object in drawing up his difcourfe, which is written in a tyle rather adapted to fan, than to quench, the flames of political animofity. An extravagant picture is drawn of the depraved character and ftate of the french nation. They are faid to exhibit to the world an 1 an awful fpectacle of the havoc that may be made amongst the finest works of human policy (meaning doubtlefs, the late happy civil and ecclefiaftical eftablishment in France), and deftruction amongst mankind, by the puerile projects of men, profeffing themfelves wife. They are afferted to be not only without religion, but without law, and, without adverting to the external caufes of their calamity, their impiety and wickedness are confidently pronounced to have brought upon them the judgment of heaven. To fhow them the vanity of their projects and fchemes, Ged, it is faid, has been pleafed to leave them to themfelves, to become the inftruments of their own ruin. If heaven bath feen fit thus judicially to leave them to themfelves, why, it may be asked, have other nations prefumed to intermeddle with this work of vengeance? With refpect to our own country, the preacher echoes the alarm again principles that threaten to overturn all regular government, unhinge all order, break the ties of fociety, confound property and condition, and deluge the land with blood. What thefe principles are, or where they are to be found, we are not explicitly told, but fome conjecture may be formed from the following pathetic interrogation. Is there not fomething of this fame philofophy, fomething like natural religion creeping in among us?-Moft lamentable! What mifchiefs are we not to apprehend, from the intrufion of fuch dreadful enemies to our happiness, as philofophy, and natural religion! ART. XV. The Duty of Mar, in perilous Times: A Sermon in Two Parts. For the Foft Day, February 28, 1794. By Alexander Hewat, D.D. 8vo. 49 pages. Price 1s. 6d. Cadell. 1794. THE burden of this preacher's fong is, the days are evil;' and the proofs, which he brings of the depravity and wretchednefs of the times, are fuch as thefe; that God is excluded from men's thoughts and public councils; that infidelity does not meet with fo much deteftation as in former ages; that free thinkers are openly careffed and patronized by men of rank and fashion, and that their works are still fought after, by the vain and halfwitted part of mankind, with much ardour, and read and received with much triumph and admiration. • Fallen in such evil times,' he exhorts his fellow-citizens to guard against the infection of licentious principles and ftrange doctrines, and warns them of the danger, efpecially at the prefent time, of attempting innovation. Nevertheless he admits, that our conftitution in church and state is capable of improvement, and has, in fact, undergone many alterations and improvements, as occafions offered and circumitances required, and that the legal ways and means of making further amendments are well known. With refpect to perfonal vices, immediate repentance and reformation are carneftly recommended; but for the fins of the itate, the correction of these mustdoubtles for good reafons of ftate-be poftponed to a more convenient feafon. ART. XVI. A Sermon preached at Aughton, near Ormskirk, in the THE THE duty of religious affiance or truft in God, in feafons of public calamity, is the fubject of this difcourfe. It is treated in a plain way, without any peculiar depth of thought, or brilliancy of language; but the writer difcovers a liberal fpirit, not only by cautiously avoiding thefe invectives, which are too frequently admitted into difcourfes of this kind, but by protesting againft perfecution, as hateful under every denomination, and by recommending a peaceable difpofition towards all mankind, and candid fentiments towards all good perfons, who may differ from us in opinion. ART. XVII. A Sermon, preached in the Chapel of the Royal Hofpital for Seamen, at Greenwich, on Friday, February 28, 1794, being the Day appointed for a General Faft. By the Rev. J. Maule, B. A. of Merton College, Oxford. 8vo. 19 pages. Price 6d. Rivingtons. 1794. A BRIEF and general harangue, in praife of religion and the british conftitution, in which the author introduces a pathetic lamentation over the fallen monarchy of France. ART. XVIII. Two Sermons preached on the Public Fafts of April 1793, and February 1794. By the Rev. J. H. Williams, Vicar of Welfbourn, Warwickshire. 8vo. 64 pages. Pr. 1s. 6d. Robinfoas. 1794. THE former of thefe two fermons paft under our notice in our Review for feptember 1793. See Vol. xv11, p. 55. It is with pleasure we announce the republication of a difcourfe fo ably written, and which breathes fo liberal a fpirit. The fecond fermon is an excellent counterpart to the first. It is written with equal energy, and abounds with manly, and philanthropic fentiments. The fubject is, the bleednefs of the peace-makers. The preacher, to expofe the mischievous effects of war, infifts upon it's incompatibility with a fpirit of piety; it's tendency to fofter a spirit of hatred; and it's unfavourable inflaence with refpect even to the cause of loyalty. In the conclufion, as the only effectual prefervative of public peace, the nations are called upon to learn righteoufnefs. P. 63. Let their public declarations correfpond fo fairly with their private policy, as may proclaim aloud that they are chriftians in deed, and not in word only; and that they believe that faith which they affect to fupport and to defend. Let them learn to diftinguish between the fober colle&ed firmness of chriftian felf-defence and the ferocious incurfive outrages of heathenith depredation. Let them learn to confult their national SAFETY; but leave their national DIGNITY to be afcertained by that relative importance, which their fafety, their independency, and their induftry will effectually fecure. And lastly, let civil justice in every nation be feated FIRM and HIGH; above the hearing of clamour and of calumny, and beyond the reach of terror or of corruption. Let manacles reftrain the hands of violence, and prisons confine the malicious disturbers of order and of peace; but let men beware how they undertake fo finful or fo vain a task, as to combat the stream of opinion with the word, and, " with be-mocked-at ftabs, kill the fill clofing waters."-Lakitur & labetur. --The The fream will flow in fpite of fuch endeavours; and though the fullen ear of prejudice may be offended at it's murmurs, and may employ it's iron inftruments to rake away the pebbles which occafioned it, yet these very means will only ferve to render it more turbid, more deep, more filent, and perhaps more dangerous.' M. D. POETRY. ART. XIX. The Landscape, a didactic Poem. Addreffed to Uvedale Price, Efq. By R. P. Knight. Royal 4to. 77 pages elegantly printed, and three plates. Pr. 7s. 6d. fewed. Nicol. 1794. Ir poetry imply invention, it will not be eafy to maintain the right of the work before us to the title of a legitimate didactic poem: a feries of prec. pts, interfperfed with defultory obfervations, and detached tableaux, framed with metaphors, and forced into metre, may inftruct and delight, but can only be confidered as a rhapsody; it is a part of the materials that conftitute didactic fong. We rank ourfelves amongst those who have been emulous to atteft the wide range of the author's learning on a former occafion, and it would be injuftice to refuse our homage to many parts of the prefent work; we have been fometimes inftructed by it's precepts, and frequently delighted by it's imagery, reveries and numbers; but why should we dub the author with a title, which he, probably, defpifes, that of a poet or inventor? The fable indifpenfable in epic and dramatic poetry, conftitutes not indeed the tiffue of the didactic, more than the raptures of the ode: but precept not enforced, dignified, illuminated, and relieved by fiction, lofes it's energy and obtunds in spite of harmony or truth: • Nudus ara, fere nudus: habebis frigora, febrem.' It was not by delivering founder doctrine to the husbandman, or in verfe more dignified, figurative, and terfe than Hefiod, that Virgil claimed the honours of his model he obtained an equal rank by calling in, like him, the aid of fiction. To affert the claims of nature against the ufurpations of art, to affign it's place to ornament and it's office to drefs, Loco reddere convenientia cuique,' is the preceptive part of the poem: a theme as inftructive as fufceptible of poetic embellifhment. This our author has executed in a manner perhaps too negative, if that term be applicable to a plan in which pofitive precept bears not an equal propertion with cenfure; which oftener deftroys than establishes, and rather lops than refrains the hand of art. This perhaps was infeparable from the prefent ftate of the fubject: the meretricious taste of the age might deferve a cenfor not lefs rigid; and the author would be cont.dered as having done much, had he done no more than perfuaded us to recur to the fimple appearances of nature, before we likened to the hireling fuggeitions of art. Many of his precepts are intuitively juft, but, after all, time is the great fpecific for reobtaining in their former fimplicity the fhorn or fophifticated graces of nature; of this the two plates annexed of the fame fituation in it's natural and undreffed, and what the author IudicrouЛy Calls in it's dreffed and improved ftate, are a friking poof. Leave the 5 improved |