neceffary, but as giving importance to clubs avowedly feditious. He embraces this opportunity of making a warm profeffion of his own loyalty, and of declaring his opinion, that the number of the difaffected among us is extremely contemptible. The affociations unquestionably made it appear, that the number of the difaffected was extremely contemptible. ART. 30. Thoughts on the Causes of the prefent Failures. 6d. Johnson. Whatever were the real caufes of the numerous failures which unfortunately took place at the commencement of the prefent war, the evil is unquestionably checked in its progtefs. This writer imputes the calamity altogether to the extenfive circulation of paper, to the duration of a fyftem of which kind peace is indifpenfibly neceffary. He is of opinion, that the directors of the Bank fhould have stepped forward, and placed a confidence in the resources of the Nation; and that their example would have been followed by others: he thinks the reftoration of peace would alone reftore commercial credit, and is, confequently, an enemy to the continuance of the war. This is, certainly, a fenfible pamphlet; and although we are not converts to the reafoning which it involves, we willingly allow it the credit of manly and dif paffionate argument. DIVINITY. ART. 31. The Duty of Relieving the French Refugee Clergy flated and recommended. A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of Droxford, Hants, on Sunday May 26th, 1793. By James Chelfum, D. D. Rector of Droxford, and Chaplain to the Honourable and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Winchester. Published for the Benefit of the French Refugee Clergy, Winchester printed. Rivingtons. This very judicious and interefting fermon is dedicated, with great propriety to John Wilmot, Efq. the active and principal patron of thofe diftreffed worthy men whofe caufe it attempts to ferve. It is a difcourfe on Matt. xxv. 36. "I was a ftranger, and ye took me in," in which the learned and benevolent author, after enforcing the duty of charity to the ftranger on chriftian confiderations, with a particular application to the circumftances of the French Clergy, compelled by fevere neceffity for confcience fake, to fly from France, urges, by a very forcible reprefentation, their claim to our affiftance. Among other arguments the author obferves, that thefe perfecuted fufferers have endeavoured, as far as possible, not to be chargeable to others, but have reduced their neceffary expences by their own rigid and laboured economy to the lowest level; and have fpared and preferved,even to the latest moment, the liberal and willing contributions of our countrymen ; a ftrong proof of this he fubjoins in a note. The Author combats the illiberal objections that have been made against this bounty, by feveral ftrong and pertinent obfervations, and endeavours to overcome the national prejudices which contract the limits of Chriftian benevolence; and obferves, that we may well perfuade ourselves, that this intercourfe in the hour of need shall prove a Ii3 bond bond of future amity and peace between two great and powerful nations. The whole difcourfe is well worthy of attention; the arguments are very full, and the exhortations animated. We are glad to find the fentiments of benevolence and compaffion for these fufferers prevailing fo ftrongly in a country where fo many of them refide. ART. 32. A Sermon preached before the Rev. the Archdeacon and Clergy of the Archdeaconry of London, at the Vifitation held in the Parifh of Chrift Church, April 27, 1793: and published by Request of the Rev. the Archdeacon, aud others of the Clergy prefent. By Jofeph Holden Pott A. M. Vicar of St. Olave, Old Jewry, and St. Martin's, Iren-monger Lane, and Archaeacon of St. Albans. 4to. 1s. Rivingtons. The advantage of order is the topic of this difcourfe, on Joel i. 14. "call a folemn affembly." The arguments by which it is recommended are fuch as cannot eafily be controverted; and it is particularly pointed out, that in feparating from the Romish communion our church did not attempt to be independent of the general body of Chrift, except in fuch matters as concerned its private liberty of felfgovernment. ART. 33. This is a moft rancorous and virulent attack on Mr. Romaine and Mrs. H. More, for their laudable exertions in favour of the exiled Romish Clergy. Violent fanaticism and bitter invective are fubftituted for found argument, and Chriftian charity. We are forry to fee the holy fcriptures thus perverted; and cannot but lament, that the direct tendency of this pamphlet is to excite malignant paffions, and to roufe the mob in our streets, to infult and abuse the unfortunate emigrants. Let any one compare this with Mrs. H. More's remarks, which this bigotted writer defpifes. In the publication of Mrs. More, he will fee wifdom and compaffion ennobling the heart, and pleading the cause of the unfortunate; while in that of this defpifer, appears rancorous hatred, breathing abufe, and exciting violence and perfecution. FAST SERMON S. ART. 34. Dr. Maclaine's, at the Hague; entitled Religion a Prefervative against Barharifm and Anarchy. 4to. 1. 6d. Cadell. If the name of Dr. A. Maclaine, the learned translator of Mosheim, the judicious corrector of Soame Jenyns, prefixed to any publication, excite, as naturally it muft, expectations of found fenfe and rational piety, thofe expectations cannot fail to be gratified on the perufal of this fermon. It should be recollected that it was written during the temporary fuccefs of the romantic exploits of France," while the fate fate of Holland was yet uncertain, and its internal divifions increafed by the temptations held out to the malevolent, and the terrors that overhung the weak; and it will be found most admirably calculated to produce the beft effects. The folemn warning of Jeremiah to the Ifraelites, (xiii. 16.) is well applied to Holland in that state of alarm; and the preacher confiders, first, the time, in which trying fcenes of calamity were to be apprehended. zdly, The Duty of the Day. With respect to the time, he points out the three plagues of Europe, originating from the pretended philofophy of France. 1. The fpirit of irreligion. 2. The fpirit of popular commotion, and inteftine difcord. 3. The plague of war. With respect to the duties of the day, he recommends acknowledgement of the fupreme power of God, gratitude, contrition, and refolutions of amendment. The part that chiefly applies to the prefixed title is the firft divifion of the first head. On the fubject of their internal divifions Dr. M. very vigorously recals to the memory of the Hollanders the virtuous union of their ancestors, and its glorious effects; and, what is very animating to us, he excites them alfo to that patriotic junction of hearts by the recent example of this country. He fays: "We have lately feen a noble and animating proof of this in the British Isles. They are not without their portion of party-fpirit and political diffenfion. But when the profpect of common danger called for their union; when they faw a plan, equally abfurd and portentous, formed by the diftracted regicides of our day, to overturn thrones, to extirpate fovereigns, and to propagate univerfal diforder and anarchy; what happened? They forgot their divifions; they fufpended the execution of unfeafonable projects; they united, as in a phalanx, in fupport of their liberty, their laws, their conftitution, and their country, and (with few exceptions) rofe in one virtuous and majestic body, under the ftandard of their pious monarch, to play the man for the falvation of their Ifrael and the cities of their God." P. 22, France Dr. M. justly confiders as the most corrupt nation in Europe, and the corruptor of all the reft; particularly of Holland, The Dr. is certainly a correct and able writer, yet fo inveterate are early habits, that the Scotticifm of would for should occurs three times in the 29th page. All writers of English, not educated in England, fhould recollect that would, joined with the first perfon, implies the will of the agent, and fuppofes the matter in queftion to be within his choice. We give this obfervation for the ufe of writers fo circumstanced, not by way of cavil on the fermon, which, on all accounts, we most ftrongly recommend. ART. 35. By Jofeph Priestly, L. L. D, F. R. S. &c. at the GravelPit Meeting in Hackney. 8vo. 1s. Johnson. Certainly a very moderate, and rational difcourfe; O fi fic omnia! the doctor in allufion to his text, Pf. xlvi. i. God is our refuge and Arength, Ii 4 firength, a very prefent help in trouble." directs his auditors to confider war as an inftrument in the hand of God, for the moral government of men, and to fix their eyes upon him, and their own hearts, rather than to fcrutinize too rigidly the actionsof others. We cannot but object, however, to the falfe reafoning of his conclufion in p. 27. that because the establishment of a corrupt religion in France was prejudicial to the cause of christianity, therefore no establishment fhould any where exift. The doctor profeffes his expectation, that the prefent calamities will turn out to be thofe, which,according to the prophecies, are to precede the restoration of the Jews, and the happy ftate of chriftianity, and he cites Dr. Hartley in fupport of his opinion. In his preface, he complains, that Mr. Burke treated him injuriously, in calling him an enerny to the conftitution. ART. 36. The Bleffings enjoyed by Englishmen; a Motive for their Repentance. A Sermon preached at Greenwich, by the Rev. Andrew Burnaby, D. D. 4to. Is. Payne. The text is from Romans ii. 4. The preacher first enters into a comprehenfive defcription of the natural bleffings which Englishmen enjoy. Thefe, it is piously urged, are so manifold and great, as to demand the warmeft tribute of our praife to the bountiful Giver of them. He next confiders our civil advantages; thofe he reprefents as fo ineftimable, that we cannot be too contrite and penitent for our fins and tranfgreffions. The contraft which France exhibits to all thefe examples of national happiness, is next introduced; and we are advised not to rifk the folid happiness we enjoy for a fhadow, a phantom, a chimera. It will be objected to this difcourfe by fome readers, that the arguments are too common and familiar; but the good fenfe and good intentions of the preacher cannot be difputed. ART. 37. At St. Mary Magdalen, Taunton. By the Rev. John Gardiner. 4to. Is. 6d. Stockdale, &c. From the fecret attempts made by the nations who were neighbours to the Jews, to prevent Nehemiah from rebuilding Jerufalem, Mr. Gardiner takes occafion to animadvert on the artifices and treachery of the Gallic nation, employed to accomplish that among us which they defpaired of effecting by more open and manly measures. There is much fpirit and energy in this difcourfe; the calamities of a neighbouring nation, and the comparative bleffings of our own, are pointed out and explained with a confiderable degree of elegance and anima tion. ART. 38. By the Rev. Septimus Hodjon, M. B. at the Afylum. 8vo. I S. Cadell. This fermon was published at the requeft of fo large and respectable a body, that it would be invidious in us to enter into any minute criticifms concerning it. The author very generously beftows the profits of its fale to the general purposes of the Afylum, and that those profits profits may be as large as poffible, he makes an apology to his friends for not diftributing any prefentation copies. The text is from Zachariah, ix. 10. ART. 39. At Portman Chapel, by the Rev. Servington Savery. 4to. IS. Robinson. That the judgments of the Lord are in the earth, and that the inhabitants of the world ought to learn righteousness, according to the affertion of the text, Ifaiah xxvi. 9. is the argument of this difcourse. The most original and ftriking part of it, confifts in the following comparison between what the democratic philofophers promised, and what they have done : "We heard much of the truth of their tenets and the purity of their principles. Human virtue and human wifdom were to be allfufficient, without the aid of religion, or any of its fanctions. Man was reprefented as the flave of bigotry and fuperftition, and almoft every crime and public calamity have been traced to religion by fome writers, or complicated with a sted faft belief in its doctrines, and an outrageous zeal for its duties. Under the aufpicious influence of reafon, uncorrupted and unimpeded by religious prejudice, we were to fee the golden age of human nature reftored. Perfect laws, fublime virtues, extended science, lafting peace, in short, wisdom, liberty and happiness, in every varied form, were to be the fruits of thefe philofophical teachers." P. 8. 66 The contraft is thus worked up: "Alas! thefe were the fruits of promife only." Instead of the myrtle-tree, briars are come up." They looked for judgment, "but behold oppreffion; for righteoufnefs but behold a cry." So far, indeed, are the vain and deceitful profpects of infidelity from being realized; that inftead of the wifdom, virtue, and happiness held forth to our imagination, we behold folly in all its guilty exceffes, vice in every disgusting shape, and mifery and oppreffion beyond all former example!" P. 10. ART. 40. An Estimate of the religious Character and State of Great Britain. By Thomas Scott, Chaplain of the Lock Hospital, &c. 8vo. 6d. Jordan. We are told that this fermon was not preached exactly as it is printed, at either of the two places (the Lock, and St. Mildred's Bread Street) in which it was delivered. It is probable that it was preached in both places from notes only, and had then much more of that pedestrian familiarity which ftill pervades it, but which, doubtless, has its effect upon fome auditors. We do not perceive that the estimate of our religious character is made with much precifion or much force; though evidently with abundance of good meaning. Some of our herefies and infidelities are indeed ftrongly touched; and it is faid, with reason, that these defections are here lefs excufeable than in France, where the religion forfaken was fo corrupt. ART. |
