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motive in sending this sermon to the press: but will it serve his purpose? Though creditable to him as a composition, as a funeral sermon it is not adapted to harmonize with the feelings of an audience assembled to pay their public respect to the memory of a deceased pastor. We acquit Dr. L. of being in the smallest degree actuated by an envious spirit, a crime falsely laid to his charge: but, granting his strictures on the late Mr. Worthington's style of preaching and mode of conducting public devotion to be just, they are rather out of place in an address to the mourning society at Salter's-Hall. He doubtless meant to compliment Mr. W. when he remarked that the aim of his preaching was to teach moderate sentiments:' but this, at best, is very vague and indeterminate praise; if it be any praise. Nearly in the same indefinite way, Dr. L. describes Mr. W.'s eloquence; observing that, in his style and manner, there was a striking peculiarity, a nameless something? while the value of this nameless something is deteriorated by this remark, that other preachers we may have known endowed with minds of a higher order, exhibiting in their public exercises a wider range of thought, and with more varied and brilliant powers of fancy and illustration. In short, the popularity of the late Mr. Worthington is left to rest almost entirely on a nameless something; and, after the comment on the familiarity and deficient solemnity of his devotional exercises, the general praise which is subsequently bestowed will not be called in question:

To affirm that he possessed great general worth as an individual, great excellencies as a public teacher of religion, great zeal in promoting the best interests of this Society, and that his labours among you give his memory the highest claim to your gratitude and respect, is doing to him no more than justice requires, and asking from you no other tribute than of your own accord you are forward to pay.'

We are informed by Dr. L. that the religious sentiments of the deceased were very nearly, if not altogether the same with the preacher's own :' but what his own sentiments are we are not told, so that here again we are left in the dark, being only furnished with the epithet moderate as "the lanthorn to our steps." A tirade against systems is furnished in the notes; though we cannot perceive in what repect systems, as systems, are objectionable. Erroneous systems, or systems tyrannically imposed, are to be reprobated: but the clear exhibition and arrangement of true principles or doctrines must always

be desirable.

Art. 38. Usefulness the great Object of the Christian Ministry :preached at Worship-street, Finsbury-Square, August 15th, 1813, on the Decease of the Rev. Hugh Worthington. With a complete List of the Subjects discussed at the Wednesday Evening Lecture, held at Salter's Hall, for Fifteen succeeding Winters. By John Evans, A.M. 8vo. 28. Sherwood and Co.

This sermon, which is certainly written in a different style from the preceding on the same occasion, has the singular feature of relating the death and funeral of Mr. Worthington, before it gives any trait of his life and labours; and so minute is Mr. E. in his account of

the

the funeral, that he tells the audience that eighteen mourning coaches and nine gentlemen's carriages attended :' even the names of the pall-bearers are not forgotten. More facts relative to Mr. Worthington, both as a man and as a minister, are also collected in this sermon than are to be found in Mr. Carpenter's memoir. Mr. Evans thus delineates his deceased friend:

As a man he was intelligent, social, and friendly:- he possessed from nature a quick intelligent mind, enriched and expanded by a judicious education; his pulpit-labours had a peculiarity attached to them not easily to be characterized ;—his prayers were original;—his style was the crystal stream, where we saw to the bottom; his subjects were practical; his delivery was singularly striking; and in the best sense of the word he was a popular preacher.'

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That he was not an idle preacher is evident, since he left behind him fifteen hundred sermons. Mr. Worthington's religious sentiments are clearly stated by Mr. Evans, and not vaguely characterized as moderate; and it appears that, like the late Dr. Richard Price, he was an Arian, believing in the pre-existent dignity of Christ, but not in his absolute divinity. By the extracts here given from the discourses of the deceased, it is manifest that Mr. W. was a very animated, impressive, and useful preacher. Mr. Evans also mentions his sensibility of heart, and specifies two amiable traits in his character; viz. his attention to the rising generation, and the encouragement which he gave to young men educating for the ministry. In short, the preacher has manifested his friendship by placing the character of Mr. W. in the most advantageous point of view, and his sermon must have given general satisfaction.

Art. 39. For the 13th January, 1814, being the Day appointed for a General Thanksgiving. By the Rev. L. Blakeney, A. M., Curate of Lechlade. 4to. 28. Wilson.

The preacher here enumerates, as incentives to gratitude, the peculiar advantages and blessings which Great Britain enjoys; and he then exhorts us, as the only means of securing the enjoyment of the inestimable privileges which distinguish our land, to have the Lord for our God.

Art. 40. Preached at the Church of Kibworth, Leicestershire, on the 13th of January 1814, being the Day appointed for a General Thanksgiving. By the Rev. James Beresford, M.A., Rector of Kibworth, &c. 4to. Is. Hatchard.

Mr. Beresford first considers the fallen enemy as an instrument of God's judgments, and next as a chosen vessel of his wrath; and, if the degraded French Emperor resembled the portrait as delineated by Mr. B., he might have been the latter, though we should not have expected him to be selected by Omnipotence for the former. What a string of vices uniting in one man has Mr. B. here formed! - Cruelty - pride-insolence injustice-oppression-meanness—malicetreachery-cowardice ingratitude-hypocrisy- falsehood-calumny-theft-murder-perjury-blasphemy-and selfishness, are the hideous features of his character.' Then who will not say, "It is well that he has fallen"?

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Art. 41. Preached in the Parish Church of Mortlake, Surrey, on the 13th of January, 1814, being the Day appointed for a General Thanksgiving. By Edward Owen, B. A. 8vo. 1s. Hatchard. This animated preacher takes a review of the war from the period of the French Revolution, recounts the aggressions of the French and their strides to universal empire under their late Ruler, and congratulates our country on being a rallying point to the oppressed, and on the happy changes which, through our most energetic exertions, have taken place. He observes that, although war, with its attendant woes, has for years been raging around us in every direction, we have been preserved from that most dreadful of all its evils, that of having the field of battle in our own country;' and respecting the nations of the continent he says, we have only to compare the present state of Europe with its abject, degraded, and suffering state not two years back, to perceive cause indeed to excite our grati tude.'-Suitable exhortations follow; among which, the Naval and Military Bible Society is recommended to the liberal protection of the public applications from fifteen thousand of our defenders, for Bibles and Testaments, not having been granted, on account of the reduced state of the Society's Funds.

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Art. 42.

Divine Providence evidenced in the Causes, Consequences and Termination of the late War. Preached at St. James's Church, Bath, July 7, 1814, the Day appointed for a General Thanksgiving. By the Rev. Richard Warner. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Hatchard. After having maintained the doctrine of a Divine Providence superintending the affairs of men, Mr. Warner reviews, in connection with this principle, the long war which is now so happily terminated; and he offers reasons to induce us to consider that contest which, in fast-sermons, we have deplored as an evil, to be in its consequences productive of extensive good. The horrors and calamities of Europe have been great, but its sufferings have not been fruitless. Warner tells us that this infliction led to a revival of the religious spirit throughout Europe; (we wish that he could have said, to the extension of Protestantism, to the suppression of the Inquisition, and to the annihilation of the Papal power ;)—to the amelioration of the civil condition of millions ;- and to a conviction of the horrors of anarchy and the evils of tumultuous revolutions.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr.

The letter from St. Andrew's is received, but, from an incidental circumstance, we can make no reply to it in this Number.

We shall look farther into the matter stated in the letter which is desired to be considered as private, when we have an opportunity, which at present we have not.

Other letters remain for future attention.

The APPENDIX to this Volume of the Review will be published on the first of October, with the Number for September.

THE

APPENDIX

TO THE

SEVENTY-FOURTH VOLUME

OF THE

MONTHLY REVIEW

ENLARGED.

FOREIGN LITERATURE.

ART. I. Mélanges de Critique, &c.; i. e. Critical and Philological Miscellanies, by S. CHARDON DE LA ROCHETTE. 3 Vols. 8vo. Paris. 1812. Imported by De Boffe. Price 11. 16s.

THE

HE classical scholar is here presented with a very learned and amusing collection of essays: but, as the veteran author candidly (if not judiciously) intimates in one portion of his work, it is not a collection adapted for indiscriminate perusal. Many of the subjects are of too confined a nature for the entertainment of the general reader, and sundry passages in every volume are calculated only for the inspection of initiated eyes. To speak plainly, it is our opinion that, on some occasions, a little less learning and a little more reserve would have improved these miscellanies. It shall, however, be our business to render justice to their several attractions; to give a sufficient. though succinct account of their stores of information; and to dwell particularly on those divisions of the book which seem most curious, and most worthy of general attention.

In a concise preface, we are informed that a part of these essays has appeared in the periodical publications of France, but especially in that literary journal which bears the title of "Le Magasin Encyclopédique;" and which in its merit, and popularity on the continent, is stated to be the genuine successor of "Le Journal des Savans:”-nay, in the opinion of APP. REV. VOL. LXXIV.

G g

those

those among whom it circulates out of France, to be superior to its precursor. On these matters we shall be better able to form a judgment in England some time hence; when opportunity shall have been given us to profit by the present happy change in the state of the world; and we shall have renewed our old freedom of literary intercourse, as well as free communication of every kind, with the continent.-The portions of these miscellanies which had been already published are here corrected, and cast into a new form. They were well received at first, and the author hopes that they will deserve a continuation of public favour. The three leading articles, which introduce each volume, are now first printed: they are also the most interesting in the work, according to our judgment, and we shall therefore devote the best portion of our attention to them: but we shall previously state the contents of the whole collection to our readers, and notice some detached passages of curiosity or interest in the other essays.

An air of good humoured criticism pervades this publication, which, we confess, coincides with our ideas of what is correct and proper on such occasions. The authors, indeed, who are selected for criticism, are in general those whose reputation is established; and who, in the opinion of all readers, deserve a much ampler portion of praise than of censure. Still, when faults are necessarily to be found, there is room for a prodigious difference of manner in alleging those faults; and, however earnest or vehement the critic may be in defending his own favourite ideas against any who impugn them, it can only be the wilfully indiscriminating, or the impenetrably dull, who mistake this earnestness or vehemence for self-conceit, for illtemper, or for malignity. The marks of deliberate bitterness of spirit are, we think, so easily distinguishable from those which belong to an occasional burst of honest affection, or even of pardonable indignation,—such a coldness appears about the one, and such a warmth about the other,—that they can run no danger of being confounded, except by those who will mistake, or who cannot discern. M. CHARDON de la ROCHETTE is still less exposed to the chance of misrepresentation. He has the utmost tenderness for the reputation of others; and in truth, on most occasions, he offers a model of that well-bred style of criticism which, we grieve to say it, seems to be so little known, or at all events so little practised, in that family of scholars who by eminence, or by courtesy, (if their rivals please,) are intitled classical. We were induced to refer with approbation to an extract on this subject from a preface of Markland, inserted by Dr. Butler in the notice prefixed to his

II

Eschylus;

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