REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS. PUBLIC Worship, like every divine institution, is a rational service. Even the temple-worship under the law, was adapted to maintain the fear of God, and to encourage the hope of salvation; much more the preaching of the gospel. It may be doubted, whether the long-established mode of making a single text, instead of a larger portion of Scripture, the subject of each public discourse, be the most useful for the instruction of hearers; but it affords scope for popular address, and opportunity of impressing their consciences with distinct, though detached, truths of revelation. The publication of sermons, however, is likely to do little good, except of such as are suited to particular occasions, or to social and domestic edification. On the utility of these, Mr. Jay suggests the following reflections, in his Preface to these volumes: "We have commentators; but expositions are designed to be consulted rather than read; and are calculated to aid sacred criticism, and promote a general knowledge of the Scriptures rather than to enliven the exercises of social piety. We have also paraphrases; but these too often consist of a mere languid redundancy of words, which, by pretending to illustrate, only oppresses and incumbers the sense, and generally serves no other purpose than to destroy the simplicity, weaken the force, and diminish the effect of the word of truth. "In the very best compositions of this kind," says a judicious writer," the gospel may be compared to a rich wine of high flavour, diluted in such a quantity of water as renders it extremely vapid." Paraphrase is useful only in cases of obScurity; but the word of God, generally considered, is not hard to be understood. We do not apply the same censure to the reflections which are found at the end of the chapters or paragraphs, and which sum up their contents. These are often exceedingly valuable and useful; but it is easy to see that they are not very well adapted to the design before us. They are necessarily too refined in their coherence, too extensive in their review, too general in their remark, to leave a forciXIV. ble impression on the minds of common readers or hearers." "Sermons have been often employed, and many discourses have been published professedly for the use of families: but it has been remarked, "That these discourses have not been distinguished from others, either in their length, their style, or their subjects." It has been asked, 'Is there no difference in circumstances between public worship and domestic devotion?' It has been said," Let a minister place himself in a private family, and lead the morning or evening devotion, and he will soon find how unsuitable it would be to deliver in a parlour, a sermon which he had prepared for the pulpit." To most of these remarks, we implicitly subscribe; but we do not think that the censure which is passed on summary meditations is applicable to what Dr. Doddridge calls" The Improvement," in the sections of his Family Expositor. It appears to us to form, with his translation of the text (omitting the paraphrase) more proper matter for stated domestic instruction, than any that has been, or probably can be, digested into sermons, however judiciously they may be accommodated to the use of families. say for stated use; because, on a Lord's Day evening, or at other times, as leisure admits, or as peculiar occasion offers, the reading of a sermon to a numerous domestic circle may be more profitable than any kind of exposition. We The author proceeds to lay down some good rules for the composition of sermons designed for this purpose: but in limiting their extent to ten mi nutes, or a quarter of an hour at farthest, we presume that he had a view to their constant use. We are glad that, in consequence of good advice, he has given greater length to many of his discourses. When not more than ten minutes can be spared, the time, in our judgment, would be better employed in reading the word of God, than on any human composition. pit and the press, are so well known. Mr. Jay's talents, both for the puland, we doubt not, so highly esteemed by most of our readers, as to stand in little need of encomium from us; but this circumstance renders it the more necessary for us to point out a few particulars, in which we think his obserS vations questionable, or his patterir improper to be followed. "The work has been finished in a short space of time, under frequent indispositions, and many interruptions. It might have been much better executed: but all human productions are susceptible of endless improvement; and were an author to wait till his own mind is completely satisfied, he may linger in idle hope, till Death, every moment hastening on, deprives him of all opportunity to serve his generation. The grand point at which we should aim is, "to work while it is called To-day, knowing that the night cometh wherein no man can work ;" and to gain from the Master, the sentence with which he defended and applauded Mary:"Let her alone; she hath done what she could." We This mode of reasoning will not stand the test of critical investigation. If our younger brethren in the ministry act upon it, it will be to their cost, and of little profit to anybody. advise them to be "swift to hear" and to read; but "slow to speak ;” słower still to write, and much, very much slower, to print. Why should we suppose our performances of such mighty consequence to the public, that it cannot wait till we have made them correet and solid? Short pieces, especially, may and should be brought to the greatest perfection. Allowances must be made for imperfections in extensive works. We would also present our caveat against an abuse of the following remark: Paul, in his noble energy, adds the comparative degree to the superlative; and calls himself less than the least of all saints. He invented new words, and used quaint ones." We do not recollect any expression of the apostle Paul, that can justly be called quaint: nor are we certain that he invented the term sorapos. He wrote to Hellenistic Jews; and to those who were conversant with them: his style, therefore, is not to be tried by the rules of classic purity; but we are greatly mistaken, if, in writing Euglish, he would have used such phrases as ** quartering upon him an old woman for life" (Vol. 1. p. 142, applied, we think, very improperly to our Lord's Dying Address to John) or "let us drop Manoah and his wife" (p.201) with some other expressions, which we should not, perhaps, have noticed in an author of less celebrity. Next to the Preface, follows a striking and impressive Address to Masters of Families, on the subject of domestic duty. It would gratify us to extract much of it; but we must restrict ourselves to two paragraphs, near the close. "There is another thing which, because it has a relation to the subject before us, I notice. Of late years a considerable number of persons, not in the ministry, have been stimulated to go of a Saturday evening, or a Sunday morning into the towns and villages as occasional preachers. The motive was laudable; but it has also contributed to the effect we have deplored: families are thus frequently bereaved of their head on the Sabbath; and who knows not that the Sabbath is the principal day in which men of business can be much in a religious sense with their families? I hardly know how to censure this; and I do not in every instance. But it may be well to ask, Whether God ever catis us to a course which requires us to neglect or violate those duites which he has enjoined in his word: In a general way, the ministry requires a man's whole attention; and when Providence has furnished the means of a respectable introduction into the office by institutions for improvement, it is a duty to avail ourselves of them." We deplore the omission of familyworship, on whatever accoun'; but we confess, that if poor ignorant villagers, and children, perishing for lack of knowledge, cannot he guided into the way of peace, without such a sa crifice being sometimes made, we would rather that it should be made. We say sometimes made," because we do not think that it needs, or ought to be made constantly. In most places, we believe, private Christians engage by turns in their villageservices; and those who remain at home, would surely admit the families of their brethren, so far as it could be made convenient, to share the benefit of their domestic worship. As The number of Sermons in these volumes, is fifty-three. The subjects are mostly appropriate to the leading design of the work; and they are discussed with adequate simplicity and familiarity. They often present beautiful delineations of the Christian temper, conduct, and experience. they are not methodically arranged, an Index of the principal topics introduced, would form a valuable addition to each volante; for the mere lists of texts that are prefixed are far from being sufficient. We could have wished for more direct and distinct addresses on relative domestic duties, in a work REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS. of this kind; and our pleasure, in what is given of that description, would have been more complete, if the highly evangelical strain in which the inspired writers enforce these subjects had been more closely imitated: but we are thankful to the anthor for what he has done; and especially for the striking and connected view in which he usually displays the holiness and the happiness of genuine religion. With the exceptions which we have thought it our duty to su gest, we strongly recommend his present work, both to the family lec Ture, and to private perusal. The few discourses whieh we think unfit for the former purpose, may be acceptable and useful for the latter; as those compositions which we should hesitate to call Evangelical Sermons, have eminent merit as practical essays. We took notice, with pleasure, of the first volume of this work, in our Number for Junc, 1804: the second has been published some months; but we had not, till now, opportunity to give it a place in our Review. We copy from Mr. C.'s preface the following account of it: "The Second Volume of Fugitive Pieces is at length, after much delay occasioned by long indisposition, submitted to the Public with the same diffidence with which the first volume was issued. Placed over a congregation comprising, in schools only, 250 children, the author has felt it his duty to attend closely to the best interests of young persons. He is happy to know that his labours, among his own immediate connections,, have not altogether failed. Urged by the partiality of friendship from his own people, he was persuaded to present some part of his efforts, to instruct and amuse the youth of his congregation, to the world. impression of tooo copies was sold, and a second edition called for; which has been some months in circulation. Having given his promise of a second volume, should the first be sanctioned, he feels himself bound to discharge that engagement by the publication of the present little Work. He has neither in this, nor in the former, sought literary fame; but has simply aimed at engaging the attention, and reac.ing the heart of young persons; and his highest ambition is, to be made happily instrumental in feading them to that glorious An 131 Being, who has declared himself, in relation to them especially, possessed of paternal feelings. Some Pieces yet remain, which, if the present publication meet with the encouragement and patronage afforded the preceding one, may form a third volume, which will conclude the author's Fugitive Effusions." The first article of this volume, and which occupies 59.pages out of 106, is a Moral Tale, entitled Charles Clifford, in which are introduced some pretty pieces of poetry. The simple outline of this narrative is, that religion is a source of happiness, and not of gloom; that a religious education is a most powerful barrier against misery; and that, if its influence be for a time suspended, those who have received it, cannot sin with impunity; and there is hope of their restoration to the holy paths which they had forsaken. - Mr. Clifford's afflictions shew, that religion does not exempt a man from sufferings, but teaches him to bear them well; and will make up, in inward peace, all possible outward losses. In a word, we have endeavoured to illustrate and enforce these declarations of the Scriptures, -"The way of transgressors is hard; - The paths of religion are pleasantness and peace:" and to establish this general rule, → "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." The second principal piece in this volume is dramatic; and the subject is taken from the book of Ruth: a sub ject certainly well adapted to this species of writing, and which the author has treated with delicacy. The volume concludes with two poems: the Harp of Cowper, and the Harp of Ossian. As there are so few productions in which the charms of poetry, and the sallies of imagination, are directed to religious improvement, we gladly recommend these volumes to young persons of taste and piety. The unhappy Effects of Enthusiasm and FROM these words of St. Paul, 2 Tim. 1. 7. "God hath not given to us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind," Mr. Evans proposes to ascertain the nature of enthusiasm and superstition; and then fo shew the unhappy effects with which they are attended. He modestly describes enthusiasin in the words of Mr. Locke; and its distinguishing proper ties in a quotation from Dr. James Foster. He very justly remarks," that there is no enthusiasm in believing that God maintains a communication with the human mind; that he has disclosed his will at various times, and on various occasions, to the chiliren of men; calmly illuminating the understanding, and gradually purifying the heart." That the good Spirit of God, we may add, still continues, by the medium of the word of Christ dwelling in them, to enlighten the eyes of men's under standings, so that they know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches. of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding great1 ess of his power toward them who be lieve;-that God brings true Christians to final salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth; that Christ dwells in their hearts by faith; that he liveth in them; that their bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in them; that God purifies the hearts of the Gentiles by faith, and sanctifies them by his word, his truth; - these are Scriptural sentiments which no man of a sound mind will dispute. We constantly maintain, that the Holy Spirit of God moves man to nothing as his duty which was not his duty before, by the indissoluble authority of the divine law. We say that we have no other way of distinguishing his sacred in fluence, from the delusions of our own imaginations, and the irregular inclinations of our own hearts, but by trying its agreement with the infallible standard of truth and duty,-the word of God. The Spirit's agency we believe to be always and necessarily consonant to, and by the Holy Scriptures. He speaks not one thing in the heart of a believer, and another thing in the Bible. The mode of his operation our gross organs cannot distinctly perceive; but his presence and power we discover by the effects which he produces on the heart and life. "Superstition," Mr. E, observes, was applied by the ancients to those who entertained mean opinions of the gods, or did foolish things to obtain their favour. A mistaken idea of the moral attributes of God is at the bottom of all superstition. It always implies a blameable inattention to reason, or a credulity arising from indolence of understanding." The nature of superstition Mr. E. illustrates by references to the traditions of the ellers among the Jews, to the practice of augury among the Greeks and Romans, and to the excesses of bodily mortification in the early days of papal darkness. The unhappy efects which these two distempers of the human mind produce, are stated to be, especially, the following, a mean and servile' disposition, a spirit of timidity and irresolution, the destruction of love and charity, and a disorderly wildness and irregularity. In the application of the sermon Mr. E. recommends a careful inquiry into the religion of the Bible, and the cherishing of a rational and scriptural enthusiasm as entitled to our praise and admiration. We wish Mr. Evans had availed himself of the opportunity which his subject gave him, of applying his general description of enthusiasm and superstition, to the many wild and irrational emotions of an over-heated imagination, aud perhaps, a corrupt heart, by which, he must be very sensible, the fair face of primitive Christianity among us hath been much disfigured. He might, for instance, have found ample materials of illustration, not only among the ignorant Papists and illiterate Methodists, whose similarity his friend Bishop Lavington hath taken such wonderful pains in tracing, but among these illumined philosophers and rational divines, who, as Dr. Young (who was, in truth, himself an enthusiast, but of the old school) with his usual smartness says, "Spike up their inch of reason on the point Of philosophic wit, call'd Argument ; And then, exulting in their taper, cry, "Behold the sun," and, Indian like, adore." We cordially acquiesce in the propriety of Mr. E.'s exhortation: "that our religion, both as to faith and prac tice, should be a reasonable service." But, we trust, that Mr. Evans and other Christians of a sound mind, do not feel their reason degraded by implicitly believing their Creator, in matters which infinitely transcend their, limited faculties; and that they will readily admit that there is some degree of homage due, by the human understanding, to the Father of Lights, as well as of fealty, by the human will, to the Lord our Lawgiver. author, p. 37, "is a spiritual law, "The religion of Christ," saith our a law of rational and manly liberty." We are disposed to take these loose and undefined expressions in the best sease; but we submit it to Mr. E.'s sound sense and good taste, whether his description would have been less luminous if he had said, We Chris REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS. tians, enjoying the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father! This wisdom, which is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy, and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." There is a dignity, sanctity, and authority in the words of the Holy Ghost, which impart elevation to the noblest sentiments, and elegance to the most beautiful. It is the legitimate style of the pulpit, and the canonical robes of her divine instructions. The Churchman's Confession, or An Appeal to the Liturgy: a Sermon proached before the University at Cambridge, Dog, 1, 1805. By the Rer. Charles Simeon, A. M. Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Is. THE text is 2 Cor. i. 13, "We write none other things unto you than what you read or acknowledge;" from which the preacher observes, that "the faithful minister derives great advantage from being able to make this appeal to his hearers; by referring them to the Holy Scriptures in proof of all that he advances, he establishes his word upon the most unquestionable authority, and fixes conviction upon their minds. The ministers of the church of England have a yet further advantage, because, in addition to the Scriptures, they have other standards to which they may refer, in conarmation of the truths they utter." These, however, the author observes, are not put on a level with the inspired volure, but considered only as an authorized exposition of the sense in which all her members profess to understand the Scriptures. On this ground Mr. S. appeals to 133 the general confession in the daily prayer, from which he discourses on three things, namely, Our lost state, The means of our recovery, and The path of duty; and concludes with commending this truly scriptural prayer as a test in a two-fold view; first, As a test whereby to try the discourses which we hear; and, secondly, As a test whereby to try our own experience. Appeals like these, to a serious and candid Churchman cannot be made in vain; and all the opposition at present made to evangelical clergymen will fall to the ground, while they are shielded by these authorized and established forms. LITERARY NOTICES. A Fourth Volume of the Sermons of President Davies, from authentic MS. is just ready for publication; · and a new edition of Fenelon's Dialogues on Eloquence, is in the Press. Mr. Styles, of Cowes, is about to publish, by subscription, a work on the Unlawfulness and Evil Tendency of Stage Amusements: to which will ba added, a Sermon on the Excellency of the Scriptures. The price not to exceed 45. Mr. Fyreman, of Newport (Isle of Wight) has prepared for the Press an Essay on Baptism. We have been favoured with a line from the Rev. Mr. Fill since our last; by which it appears that we were mistaken, in supposing that the second edition of his Warning was not published when we reviewed it. The short note he refers to, therefore, must have been overlooked by our Reviewer, tho' certainly not intentionally. This note we gave in our last, and wish to leave its full impression on our readers. SELECT LIST OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS. Expository Discourses on the Book of Genesis, interspersed with Practical Reflections. By Andrew Fuller. Two vols. 8vo, 108. The Works of Dr. Is, Watts (being the last of the Practical Works) 8vo, 8s. 6d,; Fine Royal Paper, 138. Essays on various, Subjects (Religi pus, Moral, and Literary). By John Bigland. Two vols. 8vo, 28. The Church of God. Third Edition, 8vo, 91. Christian Politics. By Ely Bates, Esq. 8vo, 97. Sermons, chiefly on Sacramental Oce casions, by A. Shanks, with a Life of the Author, 8vo, 7s. 6d. Lord Nelson's Funeral improved: a Sermon by the Rev. J. Townsend, 8vo, Is. A Thanksgiving Sermon at Charnock, on Account of the glorious Vic tory off Trafalgar, 8vo, 14. Reflections on the Recent Extension of the Powers of their Lordships the Bishops, 8vo, 1s. 6d. Second Edition of Mr. Jay's Thanksgiving Sermon, is. |