David; and that as for the Elect, how ever they might be reproved and chastised for their offences, yet that God would never punish them!" When I looked on the congregation, with which I was surrounded, I could not help saying to myself, "What is become then of the wholesome restraint of hell and everlasting death. How many of these poor souls will be ready enough to fancy themselves of the number of the elect, and go on fearlessly sinning, under the flattering assurance that God will never be angry with them, and, that the utmost they have to dread, is a little gentle castigation and reproof." Is this the way to diminish the frequency of crime in the country? Or is this the Gospel of Him, who, when referring to the judgment of the last day, declared, that "many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." And yet the words, or at least the substance of the words which I have quoted, came from the mouth of one of those who claim to themselves the exclusive title of being Gospel Preachers! Should these remarks fall under the observation of the person in question, I trust that they may make him reflect a little; or at least that they may open the eyes of others to the tendency of his doctrines. He may plead that the expressions dropped from him in the heat of extemporaneous delivery: then why have recourse to so unsafe a mode of preaching? Why not previously weigh, and digest, and write down, what he has to deliver, in his closet? A soul is not to be made the sport of every violent, and popular, and often ignorant, declaimer. Your's, &c. London, Oct. 20. 圈 A HEARER. SACRED POETRY. REFLECTIONS ON THE LORD'S PRAYER. God's sacred name with reverence profound So low to us does Heav'n vouchsafe to bow! His kingdom come. For this we pray in vain, His will be done. In fact 'tis always done; Happy the man! whose wishes are confin'd Referring all to His paternal care To whom more dear, than to ourselves, we are. It is not what our avarice hoards up: 'Tis He that feeds us, and that fills our cup: That He should all our trespasses forgive, We curse ourselves, when thus inclined we ask. Guard us from all temptations of the foe, For not the dead, but living, sing Thy praise, WALLER. CHARITY. A PARAPHRASE ON 1 COR. xiii. Did sweeter sounds adorn my flowing tongue, Yet, gracious Charity, indulgent guest! Charity, decent, modest, easy, kind, Each other gift, which God on man bestows, Nor bound by time, nor subject to decay, In happy triumph shall for ever live, And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive. As through the Artist's intervening glass . Our eye observes the distant Planets pass: A little we discover, but allow That more remains unseen, than art can show : So whilst our mind its knowledge would improve, High as we may, we lift our reason up, Dawnings of beams, and promises of day. Heav'n's fuller influence mocks our dazzled sight, But soon the mediate clouds shall be dispell'd, In all his robes with all his glory on, Then constant Faith and holy Hope shall die, Thine office and thy nature still the same, Shalt stand before the Host of Heav'n confest, PRIOR. ON THE LAST JUDGMENT, AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN. (From the Latin of J. Gerhard.) In that bless'd day, from ev'ry part, the Just The reverend sires with pleasure shall we greet, There, like their days, their joys shall ne'er be done, ROWE. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. A Series of Sermons on the Nature and Effects of Repentance and Faith. By the Rev. James Carlile, Assistant Minister in the Scots Church, Mary's Abbey, Dublin. 298 pp. Longman. 1821. WHEN Sir Roger de Coverley, in the days of his youth, was sent to St. Anne's Lane, and was under a necessity of inquiring the way, he met with various reproofs, corresREMEMBRANCER, No. 47. ponding with the different sentiments of the passengers, and adapted to the form in which he sought the required information. When at first he asked for Saint Anne's Lane, he was rebuked for his superstition, and angrily questioned, Who made her a saint? When afterwards, in deference to the authority of his censor, he asked for Anne's Lane, he was again rebuked for his presumption in desecrating the mother 4 R of the Virgin. The latter rebuke would probably be addressed to any one, who in the metropolis of the land of saints, should make enquiry for Mary's Abbey, and who, unless he chanced to meet a member of the Scots Church, might expect to receive the same instructive reply, as the person who translating the Latin words with grammatical precision, should ask, with Saint Sepul chre's in his view, for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is not always wisdom to depart from the popular nomenclature; and when Mr. Carlile is pleased to rob the Virgin of her sanctity, it would be consistent and worthy of the pure simplicity of the Church in which he ministers, to leave his own name without the attribute of Reverend. This series of Sermons on the nature and effects of Repentance and Faith, delivered in Mary's Church, Dublin, may be naturally supposed to conform with the peculiar tenets of the Scots Church, by whose ministers, and to whose members they were originally addressed: and in fact, whatever of controversial matter may be found in this volume, is designed to expose the specious sophistry of Mr. Sandeman and his followers, especially as they were exhibited in the letters of Palemon. It is the author's ostensible purpose to lead the public mind from these visionary imaginations to the sound, manly, and scriptural principles of the Reformation; and he finds an occasion of unfeigned satisfaction in reflecting, that his inquiries correspond with the definitions of Faith and Repentance adopted by the Westminster Assembly of Divines, who it may be cursorily remarked did not assemble until a period long subsequent to the Reformation, and who far exceeded the moderation at least of the English Reformers. The acknowledgment of their authority will prepare the reader for some specuJative doctrines, which still distinguish the Church of Scotland. These doctrines are not, however, obtrusively brought forward, but rather alluded to in a manner sufficient to indicate the bias of the preacher's mind, without injury to the important subjects of which he treats, or to the general candour and moderation with which he conducts the inquiry, and the appropriate earnestness with which he enforces the result. The principal purpose of the inquiry is to explain, 1st. the nature of Repentance; 2d. the nature of Faith; and 3d. the connexion between Repentance and Faith. These subjects are discussed in fourteen Sermons. Sermon I. II. On the nature of Repentance. The first discourse is occupied with some general observations on the nature of repentance as it means a change of mind, or, according to the definitions of the Westminster Assembly, "a saving grace, whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turns from it unto God with full purpose and endeavour after new obedience." These observations are afterwards more particularly applied to the illustration of the nature of repentance, and are followed up by a detailed and rather prolix comparison of the distinctions between legal and evangelical repentance; the former addressed to the fear of punishment, the latter originating in principles of love and gratitude. The practical application, which is the proper and professed subject of the second discourse, is interrupted by an exposition of the doc. trine, that repentance as it implies a change of views, is obviously and exclusively the gift of God and the work of the Spirit, but (as the doctrine is cautiously guarded from abuse) not independently or exclusively of the means by which the divine gifts are bestowed. The method of the Church of England is to pray for true repentance and the |