hope which it excites and the morals which it inculcates, will value these discourses; since they breathe a most benevolent and charitable spirit, and glow with piety and the love of virtue. Depraved indeed must be that man, or perverted to a most unhappy degree, who does not rise from the perusal of them wiser and better. The author's views of the subjects on which he treats, are correct; and, as compostions, the sermons are methodical, judicious, neat, and animated. If they present no profound researches, if they contain no elaborate disquisitions, if they boast of no high strains of cloquence, they are the productions of a well-informed mind, of one whose heart beats high with the love of all that promotes the temporal and eternal welfare of man. Yet, while sermons of high merit, in our own language, lie neglected and unknown, we cannot expect that foreign performances of the same kind will attract the attention of the English public.

In the balance of orthodoxy, M. REYBAZ may perhaps be found deficient; and he may be charged with not having sufficiently displayed his powers on the tenets of the Trinity, the incarnation, the vicarious sacrifice, original sin, and justification by faith. He does not indeed directly negative these doctrines: but we suspect that, in the judgment of the sound churchman of the present day, silence on these points convicts of heretical pravity; and that the man, who confines himself to such phraseology as the fraternity of Cracow would use, will be suspected of not extending his belief beyond what has been called Christian Deism, or Unitarianism.

We shall offer to our readers a few specimens of the author's style and manner of inculcation.-From his discourse on the Respect due to Old Age, we select the following apostrophe:

O thou! who vauntest thyself on thy youth, thy person, and thy strength, observe that old man; this is thine own image, which nature places before thine eyes: every day approximates thee to it by imperceptible degrees, and at length the likeness will become complete :-except, perhaps, that one day will see thee more reduced than he is now, an object of greater compassion, and beset by more infirmities. Then wilt thou look about in vain for what thy indifference refuses to him; and undisciplined and disdainful youth will repay thee, with usury, the indifference and contempt with which thou treatest him.'

The succeeding passages, we think, highly merit attention:

Alas! my brethren, what shall we say of those institutions, so much boasted in this world as the schools of urbanity and manners, as the lyceums in which our youth are formed to good breeding; in which the finest geniuses appear rivals in the art of introducing the purest morals into practice, of rendering pleasure itself subservient to

virtue,

virtue, but in which, nevertheless, is effected the extinction of those respectful sentiments, which we preach to you? I speak of the Theatres.

Go to this pretended school of virtue and good breeding. Attend to those whom the public voice has long proclaimed to be the first masters in this celebrated career: what do you expect to see there? examples of respect and reverence towards age? Quite the reverse; you will there see, by the side of fathers who are always represented as foolish and contemptible, children who mock them, and expose them to ridicule. On one side, old men who display all that is ridiculous in old age, old fashioned taste, silly pretensions, and sordid passions; on the other, young persons who insolently league together to deceive them, and who labour openly to betray

them.

Thus is age held out to scorn, by associating it with conduct and manners that degrade; in like manner as, formerly, vile slaves were made drunk, in order to furnish diversion to youth.

What follows? Young persons, accustomed to see in age nought but delirium and extravagance, carry into society the opinion which they derive from these unnatural exhibitions, the just colouring and fidelity of which it is so much the fashion to extol. Behold the lessons which the theatre inculcates on youth;-how it forms it to filial veneration, and a due regard to the claims of age!'

In the sermon on Religious Sensibility, we meet with these remarks:

Of all the perversions of human sensibility, the greatest and the most dangerous is that which consists in limiting its operation to our own persons; in placing ourselves like the insect in his web, in the centre of all, in order to appropriate to ourselves whatever comes within our reach.

This vice is, without doubt, antient : but it was reserved to our age to give it complete culture; to make it one of its distinct cha racteristics; to force moralists to create a new term in order to designate a vice which is peculiar to us, and to consign it to public contempt.

Let, then, this monstrous vice go down to our posterity under the tarnished name of Egotism; let it inform them that this age abounded more than any other in those men of exterior polish, whose morality consisted in the speculations of selfishness, and the refinements of mean private interest: let it inform our posterity that, in this age, renowned for politeness and humanity, politeness is the art of disguising, by specious appearances, an unwearied self-advancement; and that the fashionable humanity is a mere name.'

The preacher next considers the vain and the effeminate egotist, and then proceeds thus to describe the hardened and frigid egotist;

He regards sensibility as a weakness, and its dictates as folly. Fair in appearance towards his associates, he labours in fact solely for himself. To derive from society the greatest advantages at the

L13

least

least expence, this is his principle, this the aim and study of his life!

Every where we meet these caustic calculators, who weigh all things in the vile balance of individual interest; who occupy, in their own estimation, the place of the whole world itself; and who regard other Beings as existing for their sole use. Terrific vice! because

it is the parent of all other vices; it leads men to the last degree of social corruption, to the highest pitch of barbarism; it is a vice which ought to be considered as the disgrace of society, of which it is sure to prove the ruin.'

We shall add one more extract, which the tongue of Massillon might have pronounced, taken from the sermon on the Efficacy of the Divine Word:

Finally, religion elevates us above terrestrial objects. What, my brethren, is the object of all our occupations here below? Follow men to the Bar, to the Council Board, to the public or private assemblies, wherever they meet, and hold intercourse together. Human interests, human views, projects often frivolous, always limited, always perishable; lo, these are the eternal subjects of our discussions and pursuits.

Let eloquence exhaust its art, and paint these vanities in deceitful colours; let our inclinations concur with it in seducing us. Precarious, fleeting happiness! Illusion of short duration! I know not what secret languor moves along with us in this confined sphere. A sentiment of satiety and disgust attaches itself to the return of these vain objects. We feel that we are not made to be always busied about this world; and that the pleasures which we here taste are only introductory to others. Our thoughts require subjects more vast to occupy them, our affections demand objects more noble to fix them. It is to religion that we must look for them. It is at the foot of the altars raised in our temples to its honour, that man, throwing aside the burden of human things, and extricating himself from cold occupations, from groveling interests, and from puerile attachments, bears a voice which exalts, elevates, and rejoices

bis soul.

All is magnificent in the objects of Religion. All her views comport with the highest faculties of our nature. Her features awaken our most lively sensibility. Delicious sentiments mingle themselves with the grand thoughts which she inspires. She displays her celestial origin, her celestial destination.It is not to small portions of time, a few years, a few generations, a few ages, that our speculations are here limited; they embrace eternity. They are not finite Beings like ourselves with whom we hold intercourse: it is with a Being who has for attributes, absolute perfection; for limits, immensity itself. It is no longer the assemblage of a few objects, frivolous, uncertain, and of dubious quality, that we seck; it is happiness complete, solid, perfect in its nature, and infinite in dura. tion like God himself.

To this disengagement from objects of sense, on this contemplation of immortal good, (who among the faithful, my brethren,

has

has not experienced it?) what feelings of joy, what pure and lively ravishment of soul, are attached? I am not afraid to say that, were it possible that religion was not the work of God, it would be at least the most admirable work of man; and this sublime chimera would afford us more worthy occupation, than all the brilliant realities of human life!'

It will appear from these extracts that M. REYBAZ prefers the discussion of moral subjects to those which are purely theological and polemical; and the enumeration of the Contents of these volumes will farther exemplify this statement. They treat of,-The Glory of God as declared by the visible Heavens. -The Respect due to Old Age.-God no Respecter of Persons, but every where the Friend of the Righteous.-Religious Sensibility. Advantages of Moderation in our Desires.-The Deceitfulness of the Wicked.-Peace in all its Relations.-Efficacy of the Divine Word.-The Blessedness of the Faithful in the Hour of Death.-The Littleness and Dignity of Man. -The Love of God in the Redemption.-Our Dependance on God in Life and Death.-The Blessedness of the Pure in Heart. The false Confidence which Prosperity inspires.-Rash. Judgments.-Christian Liberty, (If Christ shall make you free, John, viii. 36.).

In the introductory essay on the Art of Preaching, the author mentions that few professions so much require the union of great talents as that of the sacred ministry; which demands all the gifts of the mind, all the faculties of the soul, and all the powers of the body.-The sequel of this letter explains the manner in which young men must proceed to qualify themselves for discharging with propriety the duties of this high vocation: but, as we suspect that the writer's lessons would not be altogether consonant to the ideas of preaching which prevail in this country, we shall not enlarge on this part of the work.

T

ART. XI. Annales de Chimie; i. e. Chemical Annals, Nos. 124128. 8vo. Paris. 1802. Imported by De Boffe, London. HE first paper in these Numbers, of which we are now to give an account, relates Experiments on Galvanism, by M. SIMON. Various experiments were made with Volta's Electrical Pile, principally with the intention of ascertaining the phænomena and effects of the sparks on different metals. The author also notices the changes produced by rarefied air and oxygen gas. The greater part of these experiments, however, have already been anticipated in this country, and therefore we shall not troubię our readers with the particulars..

L14

May.

Jo.

Report

T

Report made by M. GUYTON on an Instrument intended to indicate the Quality of Gold Coin.-This instrument is an im provement on the hydrometers of Fahrenheit and Nichol son, which ascertains the quality of the metal by its specific gravity.

On the Hydra-Sulphuret of Potash; by M. VAUQUELIN.— In a former number of the Annals, this chemist gave some account of the hydro-sulphuret of soda, and in like manner he now describes the characteristic properties of hydro-sulphuret of potash. This salt is white and transparent:-it crystallizes in the form of prisms terminated by pyramids, each having commonly four but sometimes six faces:-the flavour of it at first is alkaline, but afterward extremely bitter :-it deliquesces in the air, and becomes a thick liquor like syrup :-as it melts, it tinges paper, wood, ivory, the skin, and the nails, with a green colour, which however speedily disappears-it dissolves in water and alcohol, and produces cold; and it acts on metallic solutions exactly like hydro-sulphuret of soda, but may easily be distinguished from the latter, by the crystals of alum which are immediately formed when a few drops of solution of hydro-sulphuret of potash are added to a solution of alumine in sulphuric acid.

Observations and Experiments on the Use of Oxygen in the Cure of Tetanus; by M. SARASIN.-The author here relates several cases in which nitric acid was given internally, and oxygenated lard applied externally, with the most beneficial effects.

On the Efflorescence of Sulphate of Magnesia observed in the Quarries of Montmartre; by M. SOCQUET.-From the circumstances which attend this efflorescence, from the laws of affinity, and from some experiments purposely made, M. SOCQUET is of opinion that sulphate of magnesia may be obtained in great abundance, and at very little expence, by mixing earthy substances containing magnesia with sulphate of lime well pulverized, and oxide of iron; to which may be added some animal or vegetable substance, which, by fermentation, may afford the carbonic acid requisite to effect a double decomposition. The same may also be obtained with still more economy and facility, by roasting a large quantity of pyrites with magnesian substances; which, by subsequent washing, evaporation, and cooling, would furnish sulphate of magnesia in very considerable quantities.

Objections to a Proposition of Lavoisier on the Evaporation of Fluids; by Dr. CARRADORI.-M. Lavoisier has established as a fact, that the same body may be solid, liquid, or aëriform, ac

cording