believe, pretty commonly entertained, that sermons of the class to which these belong, are calculated, even more than others, to promote gene ral good. The value of a compilation of plain, practical discourses, adapted to the understandings and circumstances of the lower orders of society, will be fully appreciated, perhaps, by those only who, feeling a tender solicitude about the eternal interests of their servants and other dependants, are anxious to supply to them, in the best manner possible, those means of spiritual instruction which may not be afforded them in public. That such a deficiency as that here adverted to exists, owing to causes which it is not necessary to specify, and that a proportionable want of familiar sermons has been felt by conscientious individuals, is a well-known fact. It is not, however, that we forget or undervalue the treasures of this kind which we possess. We are indebted to many excellent divines, some of whom are still labouring in the sacred vineyard, others reaping the fruits of their labours, for discourses which cannot be read or heard, if read and heard attentively, without improvement, though possessing different degrees of comparative as well as of positive excellence. We need scarcely mention the names of Walker of Truro, and Milner; and (though, perhaps, they are more especially calculated for the higher orders) of Gisborne and Venn. Still less will our readers need to be reminded that the volume now under review has been preceded by two others from the same author, particularly directed, like the present, to the purposes of domestic and parochial instruction. But this sup. ply, great as it is, by no means meets the demand. And this deficiency we conceive to arise, in part, from the difficulty of providing this supply. The composition of sermons adapted to the lower classes of the community is a work, for the suc cessful performance of which several qualifications of no ordinary kind are requisite. One of primary importance is, that the writer have clear ideas on the subject of which he treats. This, indeed, should be common to all who wish to convey instruction to others, whether by speak ing or writing. But it is more in. dispensable in those who undertake to instruct the poor and uninformed; on this account, that hearers of this class are less able to supply, by the exercise of their own understandings, the want of clear conception in the instructer. It is not, by any means, that we entertain degrading notions of the capacities of the lower orders; on the contrary, we think it undeniable that they are endued with understandings which are naturally no less capable of improvement than those of their superiors. It is equal ly certain, however, that from the circumstances of their situation in life, and particularly from their early habits, their minds become less quick of apprehension, and less capable of distinguishing, comparing, combin ing, and disposing the ideas which are presented to them than those that are more habituated to those exercises. And it is this which ren ders a clear and distinct conception, with its natural concomitants, luminous and orderly arragement, and perspicuity of style, so peculiarly important in one who composes ser mons more immediately for the lower classes of society-To this it is extremely desirable that he should add warmth of feeling. Earnest appeals, affectionate admonitions and exhortations, and tender expostulations, have a peculiar efficacy on the minds of the poor and unlearned, and are frequent. ly instrumental in lodging a salutary and abiding impression, when an argumentative and less animated address would fail of exciting at tention. We may, perhaps, be thought to indulge somewhat of a love of fiction, when we state a vivid imagination to be, in our opinion, another important qualification in a writer of sermons of the class now under consideration. We do not, of course, mean that he should embellish his discourses with poetical imagery and splendid descriptions; but we apprehend that nothing is of greater use to uneducated minds than apt and forcible illustrations borrowed from familiar subjects: and it will not be denied that a prea. cher of a ready fancy, and one naturally inclined to seize on every object which presents itself to his mind, will have the advantage, in this respect, over one who is of a less excursive habit. There is still another particular, which we regard as, if possible, still more requisite in the instructer of the lower classes; and that is, a familiar acquaintance with their habits of thinking and feel ing with their common notions, prepossessions, and prejudices; with their mode's of judging and reasoning. However incompetent they may be to pursue a long train of thought, or to employ or estimate the aids of artificial reason, they are in general by no means deficient in the use of what is termed natural logic. Numbers of them are persons of excellent plain common sense, and the simplicity and honesty of their minds give them no small advantage over many of their more refined and sophisticated superiors. Much good may be expected, through the Divine blessing, from plain, simple appeals to their consciences; from laying open before them the secrets of their minds, and exposing the particular errors in opinion and practice which actually prevail amongst them. The preacher will be much assisted in his attempts to awaken conviction in their hearts, if he can, as it were, make them their own judges, by reminding them of the principles and maxims by which they are governed in the ordinary affairs of life, and thus, by forcible contrasts and familiar com. parisons, leading them to pass sentence on themselves in matters of religion. In order to secure these and other similar advantages to his ministry, it is manifest that he must himself be intimately conversant with their peculiar habits of thinking and acting. In the particulars to which we have here adverted, as constituting, in our opinion, qualifications espe cially important in the instructer of those who occupy the humbler stations of life, Mr. Cooper appears to us, perhaps with a single excep tion, we mean the liveliness of ima. gination, greatly to excel. The plainness and perspicuity of his style, together with the easy flow and natural arrangement of his ideas, shew him to be very clear and distinct in his conceptions of the great subjects of which he treats. His sermons seem to be composed with the freedom and unstudied eloquence with which a man converses on a subject of which he is perfect master. They are, for the most part, animated also with an affectionate earnestness, which discovers much tenderness of disposition. He seems to make the case and situation of his hearers his own; to intercede, as it were, with them in their own behalf; to marshall before them the terrors of God's justice, and display the riches of his grace, with an importunity and wakeful solicitude, like that of a parent yearning over a beloved child in a season of danger. In the delineation of character-in the development of feelings-in analyzing and laying open the secret workings of the mind, and the hidden springs of action-he displays an energy and spirit which at the same time evince the activity of his own mind, and give such a reality and life to the images which he presents to the minds of others, that they can scarcely fail of discovering intuitively their own resemblance in them. Nor let แบบง WHICH པ, པས་ པལ, ལལཝ a unelaborate and unartificial.' Mr. in which the words Cooper's sermons, which are what the Israelitish delivere they profess to be, familiar and the king of Moab (Jud simple, are nevertheless the produc- are considered as applica tions of a mind capable of considera- minister of the Gospel ble efforts; and furnish, in our esti. vidual in his congregatio mation, a striking testimony to the to explain and justify thi truth of a sometimes disputed posi- of the passage, Mr. Coop tion, that superiority is often most that the ministers of the conspicuous in the masterly execu- God's messengers in a c tion of comparatively easy perform though not in the sam ances. Of the last qualification which Ehud, the Prophe which we mentioned as peculiarly tles, or the first Christia desirable in sermons of this class; were; that they are und viz. a familiar acquaintance with the solemn obligations to b modes of thinking, the feelings, delivering this message habits, and prejudices of the lower natural inference from t orders, Mr. Cooper's sermons afford going observations, that the most abundant indications; and fuse to attend to the m this circumstance alone would, in delivered, it is at their our judgment, confer a high value On the ground thus la on them. And when in addition to proceeds to a direct an these characters of excellence, which application of his text, we have stated as in some measure given a compendious appropriate to familiar discourses, the substance of the Gosp we remark that they possess, in no and well remarked that th less a degree, those other qualities though general in substan so essential to sermons of every into a variety of particula description, a sound and explicit be distinctly addressed statement of the leading doctrines of classes of men, in orde the Gospel, connected with an ample fitable to any. It is th exposition of evangelical principles application of the gener and duties an impartial exhibition Scripture which constitu of every part of revealed truth, with- tinguishing excellence o out any accommodation of Scripture per's sermons. On the pi to peculiar religious views-a sober sion, he urges the importa and judicious interpretation of the with which he is entrust sacred text according to the analogy careless and thoughtless p of faith-and the faithful and forcible on the ungodly and prof application of subjects to the con- the humble and serious in sciences of the hearers; we assign Divine truth; 4th, on dec what we think will be deemed a fessors of godliness; 5th, sufficient reason for the value we vinced and self-condemni attach to the volume before us. and, 6th, on the establis is time, however, that we lay before tian: and the suitableness our readers a slight sketch of its dresses to these different contents, together with a few extracts furnishes, in common which may enable them to form, others of his sermons, an for themselves, a judgment of its illustration of St. Paul' merits. tion to Timothy, that " It ture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." The Second Sermon is from Acts viii. 35, and is entitled "Jesus the great Subject of Christian Preaching." In the opening of this sermon the writer draws an instructive outline of the discourse in which Philip may be supposed to have initiated the Ethiopian eunuch in the fundamental truths of the Christian Religion. Sermon III. on "The broad and the narrow Way," from Matt. vii. 13, 14, is a peculiarly useful discourse. Sermon IV. professes to state and illustrate "The real Cause of Men's Rejection of the Gospel," as expressed in the words of Christ, John v. 40, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life;" or as more fully set forth in the following passage, with which the sermon opens: "There is no truth more plainly taught in Scripture than this, that while man's salvation is entirely of God's grace and mercy, his ruin is altogether of himself. If he perish, it will be his own fault, and he will have no one but himself to blame. Wherever the Gospel of Christ comes, it freely invites all to accept the blessings which it brings. Whether men will be the better for the invitation, depends on the reception which they give to it. It they are willing to receive it, and consent to the terms proposed, the blessing will be theirs; but if they refuse and are disobedient, it will be justly withheld from them." P. 47. We wish that all who speak and write on this important subject, thought and expressed their thoughts with the same faithful adherence to the plain declarations of Holy Writ which Mr. Cooper manifests through the whole of this discourse. Though he has shewn in his two volumes of doctrinal sermons that his sentiments are what Arminians would term Calvinistic, yet he no where Christ. Observ. No. 161. departs from the genuine, simple sense of Scripture, in order to support any favourite system of theology. Without perplexing himself or his hearers with any impertinent disquisitions respecting the decrees of God, the freedom or impotency of the will, he is content to state the matter simply as he finds it in the sacred text. He affirms the want of willingness to be the obstacle, the only obstacle, which prevents men from coming to Christ; that is (as he explains this term,) from sharing the blessed consequences which are derived by faith from Christ, in this life and that which is to come. illustrates this position by a reference to several cases, recorded in Scripture, of persons destitute of true religion; and concludes with a brief consideration of the misery and sin of not coming to Christ. He The Fifth Sermon, on the "Divine Forbearance towards Sinners," furnishes one among many instances of Mr. Cooper's happy accommodation of particular texts to the purposes of text is general instruction. His Hosea xi. 8,9; in which Jehovah, in gracious condescension to our capacities, represents himself as sustaining a mental conflict between the contending claims of justice and merCy, in respect of his chosen people Israel. In unfolding the primary signification of the passage, Mr. Cooper depicts in a very striking manner, with boldness, yet with reverence, the debate conceived to take place in the Divine mind-the determination of that debate in favour of mercy-and the ground of this determination expressed in the words, "For I am God and not man,” Sermon VI, considers, from Matt. xii. 50, the description of Christ's disciples, and the dignity conferred on them. On the first of these heads Mr. Cooper very usefully remarks, that there is a plain reason why 2 T "doing the will of God" should be insisted on in Scripture as the distinguishing mark of Christ's true disciples, since it is "the great end of Christianity to bring our wills into a cordial agreement with the will of God;" and because, until this union is effected, we labour under a moral incapacity of enjoying heaven, even supposing we could be admitted into it, the happiness of that state consisting summarily in a conformity to the mind and will of God. And he further observes that the propriety of thus characterising Christ's disciples is illustrated by considering what is meant by doing God's will; under which term far more is comprehended than any man is able to perform, until he has been made a child of God and a partaker of the Divine nature, through the exercise of that faith in Christ which alone constitutes him one of his true disciples. And in this part of his discourse we cannot but remark how usefully Mr. Cooper exhibits, in their just and natural connection, the fundamental principles and practical effects of the religion of Christ. He reminds his hearers that a primary part of the will of God (the same which is emphatically styled "the work" and "the commandment of God,") is, that we believe on his Son Jesus Christ; that this belief implies a cordial reception of him in the character and for the purposes for which he was sent into the world, and pre-supposes a deep conviction of our sinfulness, and an entire renunciation of our own righ teousness; and that, as a necessary accompaniment of this faith, we are required also to repent and walk in newness of life. If the excellent example which Mr. Cooper furnishes in this, as indeed he does in almost every other, sermon, were generally imitated, we should not have so much reason to complain of barren systems of unchristianized morality, on the one hand; or of the unmoralized-we had almost said immoralizing-exposition of Christian doctrine, on the other. In Sermon VII. (2 Thess. iii. 13.) on "The Tendency to Weariness in Well-doing," the author considers the principal causes of the tendency in question to be, fickleness; the want of success in our efforts to do good; and the unkind and injurious treatment to which our benevolent endeavours may not unfrequently expose us. With a view to oppose the tendency to weariness resulting from these causes, he advises that we should consider, 1st, The recorded example of Jesus Christ; 2d, His conduct towards ourselves; and, 3dly, The express promise given to perseverance in well-doing, which may be attended with success even in this life, and will certainly be rewarded with a gracious recompense in the life to come. In Sermon VIII. Mr. Cooper takes occasion, from Isa. li. 7, 8, to encourage Christians against the Fear of Man"-judging himself autho rized, as well by the general tenor and spirit of the New Testament, as by many particular passages of it, to consider the words of his text as ad dressed by Christ to his people. We are not disposed to question the propriety of this exposition; being entirely of the author's opinion, that "there is no interpreter of the Bible so good as the Bible itself," and par ticularly that the promises and con solations with which the prophetical Scriptures of the Old Testament abound, can be understood and applied only by a reference to the writ ings of the Evangelists and Apostles. On this principle, Mr. Cooper views the words, " ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law," as a strictly evangelical description of true Christians; the former clause being expressive of their inward and experimental acquaintance with the great doctrine |