Among the Advantages of Christianity, the following benefits are justly remarked: How greatly has the prevalence of idolatry been diminished in the world by christianity, and how many regions of it are freed from the tyrannical sway of superstition, and from the iron sceptre of crafty and self interested priests! And what slavish notions, what tormenting uncertainty, what fears, what terrors, what childish sentiments, what empty hopes and frivolous joys, must debase and perplex mankind, where the abominations of idolatry prevail! Calamities and horrors, from which christianity has delivered millions of human creatures, and ourselves among them; and by their abolition has prepared the way for millions of mankind, and for us among them, to liberty, to peace of mind, to firm and generous principles ! That we are now no longer terrified at every unusual appearance in nature; that we no longer perceive, at every step we take, the harbingers and signs of imiminent misfortune or approaching danger; that we are not continually obliged to be contriving new forms of sacrifice and new modes of expiation; that we are no longer in dread of the casual neglect or imperfect observance of numberless rites and ceremonies; that we do not take every adverse event that' befalls us for the vengeance of a wrathful deity; that we do not allow ourselves implicity to be led by others, but dare to follow our own perceptions and feelings for all these privileges and blessings, we are indebted to the abolition of idolatry, and therefore to christianity. Though many superstitions may still prevail among christians, and formerly many more may have prevailed than at present, yet we, and with us many thousands of our brethren, are freed from them by the influence of christianity, and in it lie the fruitful means for the total eradication of it from among its confessors; means which are continually coming forth into practice, and allow us to hope for still more glorious effects." This sermon (xvnth), which was preached on Christmas day, is throughout replete with liberal, sensible, and moral observations. In discoursing on the Value of the Human Soul, the author's pathetic address to sensual men is worthy of himself: · • Oh, how much to be pitied are sensual and earthly-minded men, who never rise above visible things, never seriously reflect on the pri vileges granted them by God, on the perfection and glory to which he has called them; who are insensible to their noblest powers, or misapply them to voluptuousness, to iniquity, to sin; who are as it were all matter, and think they live for no other purpose than to satisfy their corporeal wants, to abandon themselves to sensual gratifications, or to accumulate unprofitable treasures! How can they imagine that, for this end, God has so far exalted them above the beasts of the earth, that to this end he has used so many extraor dinary means for their deliverance and their salvation, or that in these pursuits they shall attain the end for which they were created! How can they boast of, what is indeed the highest boast of man, that they are are honoured with the image of God, and that they may be con-, stantly drawing nearer to that glorious being, and ever gaining a closer resemblance to him! No; they belie their nobility; they de base themselves to an inferior class of beings; they defeat the great designs their maker has upon them; they prefer darkness to light, bondage to freedom, a merely sensual and animal life to one that is heavenly and divine. The exalted, the everlasting felicity of which their nature is capable, they spurn from them with contempt. Yet this is not all they thus are preparing for themselves punishments, which will be so much the heavier as the talents are more excellent which God has committed to them, and which they abuse. This ye may do, O foolish men; ye may weaken, deprave, disgrace your soul, by folly and vice; ye may render it totally incapable of the favour of God and the bliss of the future world; ye may beguile it, and hide your shame and your misery from yourselves. But kill it you cannot. It is immortal. It will live for ever. It will awake from its illusions in another state; and then will it feel the whole weight of the shame and misery that lies upon it. Then will you experience, to your extreme affright, the truth of what the Saviour says, that it will profit a man nothing to have gained the whole world, if he lose his own soul; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Lamentable prospects! dreadful expectations! Oh, strive to put your soul into a better frame, ere that great day arrive which shall decide your future lot. Raise yourselves from the earth; rend yourselves from the dominion of sordid pleasures. Avail yourselves of the gracious dispositions of God through Christ, for the deliverance of our souls. Seck of him and his doctrine that light which can enlighten you, that power which can amend and sanctify you, that grace which can console and bless you. Accustom your selves to consider and to judge of every thing by its analogy with the futurity that awaits you, and pursue such a course as is suitable to the excellency of your nature.' The concluding sermon of this first volume, on Spiritual Experiences, explains, in a more rational and philosophical manner than enthusiasts are accustomed to employ, those sensations of elevation or depression of spirits, which result from the state of health, and various outward or physical causes, acting on the fibres of the constitution. We have now given such copious extracts from these sermons, that we must satisfy ourselves with merely enumerating the contents of the second volume, without allowing any farther quotations. It includes 26 discourses; on The Value of Social and Public Worship of Solitude;-of Social Life (two sermons); of a Busy Life ;-of Commerce of a Country Life, or the Edifying Sojourn in the Coutry of Domestic Happiness; -of Friendship-of Civil and Religious Liberty;-of Learn ing-of more Enlightened Times-of Afflictions and Tribula. tions ;—of a Good Reputation; fon Conversion from a Bad Course of of Life the Blessedness of Beneficence; the Value of Human From the nature of several of these subjects, the reader will at once perceive that the ad vol. promises to be as interesting as the first; and we are well convinced that, if he has any taste for writings of a moral and religious cast, he will not regret the time which he may devote to the perusal of these dis courses. There are many persons, probably, to whom the volumes will appear materially defective, as not containing what they esteem the grand requisites of good sermons,doctrinal points investigated, and Scriptural passages interspersed and explained. In these respects, Mr. Zollikofer is certainly surpassed by many of our English divines; and though his moral instructions are built on the same foundation with theirs, he does not so often make his appeal to the immediate text on which they rest. His compositions partake, it may be said, according to the common acceptation of the words, of the nature of moral essays rather than of that of sermons, and are to be characterized as rather declamatory than argumentive: but this consideration may be an inducement with those who revolt at the name of sermon, or at the idea of tedious ratiocination, to examine their contents. In one word, then, we recommend them to this and to every description of readers; since, whether they may be denominated more properly moral essays or religious discourses, they have this merit that, without any profound discussion or metaphysical research, they contain the pure and undisguised morals of the Gospel, arrayed in an easy and attractive garb. With regard to the merit of the translation, we need not day much, because it will appear from the quotations which ve have made. We shall only observe, in general, that it deserves considerable praise, but that the language is not always purified from foreign idium, nor elegantly correct in its con struction. Mans ART. ART. XIII. Political Papers, chiefly respecting the Attempt of the County of York, and other considerable Districts, commenced in 1779, and continued during several subsequent Years, to. effect a Reformation of the Parliament of Great Britain: Collected by the Rev. Christopher Wyvill, Chairman of the late Committee of Association of the County of York. Vol. IV. 8vo. pp. 576. 7s. Boards. Johnson. T to the former volumes of this important and interesting collection, we paid our sincere tribute of attention and applause. We honour and esteem its highly respectable editor, and his fellow-labourers. We consider them as the manly, disinterested, and truly noble leaders of that virtuous band which has existed in this island from the first dawn of its liberty to the present period; subject to various fate, indeed, at times having only the opportunity of bearing patiently and suffering firmly; and at other times holding the reins of government, beneficially guiding its measures and acts:-its superiority producing those glorious and happy æras which occur in the history of our country, and the days of its obscurity being days of disgrace and peril to Britain abroad, and of danger to its dearest internal privileges and distinctions. It is true that the hours of its prosperity may be reproached with some sins and errors: but we maintain that, on the whole, it has been the steady unshaken adversary of arbitrary rule, the undaunted impugner of corruption and venality; and that to this phalanx the empire owes its liberty, its prosperity, its consideration, and its power. If, in the awful visitation which Europe has experienced in our days, any of this party deserted for a time their sound practical hereditary principles, let them not, in the moment of cool reflection, abjure the sacred cause of freedom; let us not see them take the side of despotic sway, court the post of its indications, and be forward to appear its servile drudges! There is a chill in arbitrary principles which blights the fairest produce of Britannia's isle; and when the supporters of them possess the ascendancy, she never thrives, but betrays the indications of weakness and the symptoms of decline. Let, then, ingenuous upright minds recur to the free principles of the British Constitution; the principles of Hampden, Russel, Sydney, and Locke; the principles of the Revolution; the principles on which the reigning family were brought to the throne of this empire. To the papers which form this collection, we wish the most extensive diffusion; because they contain the true doctrines of * See Rev. Vol. xvi. N. S. p. 262. our free constitution, breathe the wholesome conservative spirit of liberty, and cherish a temper which ought to be inseparable from the inheritance of country and of rights. - Of the contents of the present volume, we have this account in the preface: It chiefly consists of the Editor's Correspondence with Persons in different parts of the Kingdom, on the subject of Political Reformation, some of whom are dead, and some are still living; many of them honourable men in private stations; many of them distinguished among the most eminent men of the age for their literary ability; and some of them Statesmen who have a just claim to the gratitude of their Country, for their exertions in the Cause of INTEGRITY and FREEDOM.'' Errors such as rational men might fall into, faults such as sincere patriots might commit, may here be found. But the Editor relies with confidence, that Enmity itself can point out no passage in this volume which can be justly thought injurious to good morals, offensive to the Laws, or hostile to the Constitution of our Country.' The letters embrace the correspondence between Mr. Wyvill and Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Earl Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Shelburne, (now Marquis of Lansdowne,) Earl Stanhope, Mr. Dunning, Dr. John Jebb, the Earl of Surrey, (now Duke of Norfolk), Bps Shipley and Watson, Mr. Mason, the Earl of Buchan, Sir Cecil Wray, Sir Geo. Saville, and many other distinguished characters. Parts of the account which the editor gives of himself, and of the statements by which he vindicates his conduct, must be deemed highly interesting: particularly Paper 21, in No. xxix. intitled The Case of the Rev. C. Wyvill, respecting the Right Hon. William Pitt,' and Paper 2. of No. xxx. Heads of a bill, or bills, for amending the representation; the whole of which well deserves perusal;-and from all of which it is clearly manifest that Mr. W.'s conduct has been guided not only by a just sense of duty, but that he has given its full weight to every consideration of delicacy towards the ex-minister. The following passage states the intercourse which has subsisted between Mr. Wyvill and Mr. Pitt: ... After the rejection of the motion by Parliament in 1785, the same personal intercourse continued for some time; till at last, in 1787, the nation had become indifferent to all questions of Reform, and the hope of success, in that temper of the public, was quite extinguished. After this period, Mr. Wyvill ceased to hold any per.. sonal intercourse with Mr. Pitt; but their political connection remained unbroken till the beginning of 1793. It had been commenced in 1780, from a similarity of political opinion; it became intimate' and unreserved during Mr. Pitt's struggle to effect a Reformation of Parliament; and it ceased when his hostility to his own former measures appeared to Mr. Wyvill, in 1793, to be no longer questionable. It is true, that during this connection, much personal esteem and attachment to Mr. Pitt were mixed with the political confidence |