preacher, with great propriety and pathos, thus mentions the former and prefent ftate of its members. "Amidft that endless variety of religious fects and parties, into which our country is fo ftrangely divided, it is fome comfort to reflect, that the shattered remains of the old national church are till diftinguished by a steady adherence to primitive truth and order, and at latt happily delivered from that depreffed and difagreeable fituation in which political caufes had, for a long time, involved the very name of Epifcopacy in this part of our iiland. Thankful fhould we be to the Almighty Difpofer of human affairs, that the cloud of fufpicion, which fo long hung over us is now removed, and better days begin to dawn upon us. No longer reftrained in the excrcife of their piritual powers, our clergy are allowed to perform their facred functions, with all that outward decency, which our ritual preferibes. No longer frightened from our communion by legal penalties, or the danger of giving offence to thofe in power and authority, the laity of all ranks are at full liberty to join in our public worship, and avow their attachment to a church fo friendly to order and regularity, and to all thofe wife and falutary principles, which it is the intereft of government to promote. Thus happy in the confidence of our king and our country, with fervent wishes for the profperity of both, we look up to the throne of our heavenly fovereign, and addreffing our fupplication to him who reigns for ever, and whofe kingdom ruleth over all, we do not fail to feek the peace, and pray for the happiness, of the land in which we live, that in the peace thereof we may have peace ?"

In point of matter and compofition, the fermons are fuch as would do credit to any Bishop, in any age or country. The flyle, if less laboured and lefs polished than that of many contemporary writers of fermons, has much of that dignified plainnefs which recommends, and is fo well fuited to, difcou fes for the pulpit. The text of the first fermon is from Exod. xx. v. 24, In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee; that of the fecond is from St. Matthew, xviii. v. 20. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. With a part of the learned expofition of the former text, we will close our review, making our acknowledgments to the author for the great fatisfaction we have received from a perufal of the whole performance.

"When we fpeak of a man's name, we generally mean the title or appellation by which he is known, or the fame or reputation which he may have attained. But from the language of Scripture, it would appear that fomething more is implied in that fignificant expreffion, the name Jehovah, which we read the name of the Lord. When this Jehovah promifes, in the book of Exodus, to fend his angel before his people, to keep them in the way, and to bring them into the place which he had prepared, he tells them, beware of him, and obey his voice; provske him not; for he will not parden your tranfgrefims';for my Name is in him. In like manner where the Pfalmift fays, the Name of the God of Jacob defend thee; and Zechariah declares that Jebruahjkall be one, and his Name one, thefe, with a great number of pallages, where the Name of Jehovah is faid to be placed, to dwill, and to act, all plainly fhew, that by the Name of Jehovah, a perfon, and not a title, is incant;

and

and no other furely than that perfon, the eternal logos or word, by whom the Deity was to be revealed, difcovered, and made known to mankind."

ART. 33. A Sermon preached at an Annual Vifitation of the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Winchester, held at St. Saviour's, Southwark, September 25, 1795. By the Rev. John Grofe, A. M. F. A. S Minifter of the Tower, Lecturer of St. Olave, Southwark, and Chaplain to the Right Hon. Countess Dowager of Mexborough. Published by Requeft. 8vo. 17 PP. 6d. Mathews. 1795.

From Mark xvi. 5. Mr. Grofe difcourfes upon the nature of the clerical com iffion, and the duties with which it is accompanied. The doctrinal part is fupported chiefly by fcriptural proofs, or citations from the articles of our church; and the duties of the preacher are explained and enforced, with an agreeable mixture of strictness and modefty.

ART. 34. A Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Sarum, at the Triennial Vifitation of John, Lord Bishop of the Diocefe, on Friday, August 7, 1795. By W. Lifle Bowles, A. M. 4to. 12 pp. IS. Dilly. 1795.

The characteristic fimplicity of Chriftianity, and the ftate of exifting offences, form the fubject of this difcourfe. There are paffages in it which muft delight, and obfervations that may inftruct; but the fermon is, generally confidered, too much inflated by rhetoric, and deltitute of chaltenefs and propriety. The perfonification of religion may occafionally be admitted with fafety, but fhould always be used with difcretion. A want of attention to this rule has caufed the author (who appears to have no ordinary command of language) to fall into the ludicrous errors of employing the pronoun be, in fupporting the female attribute of religion, ten times in a paragraph, confifting of about as many lines.

"While the explains the moft awful truths, fhe appeals to our gentleft feelings; the is our guide and conforter through the wildernefs of our mortal pilgrimage: fhe unlocks the filent prifon of the tomb: the leads us through the Valley of the fhadow of death:" fhe fhews us the mighty destroyer, bereft of his weapons and strength: fhe bids us take the "Wings of the morning," and arife from the duft, to light and to life: the brings us before the throne of "Him who liveth for ever:" yet ftill retaining her primitive and peculiar character, whilst the joins the Hofannah of Angels and Arch-angels, Glory to God in the higheft:" he adds, " on earth peace, goodwill towards men." P. 3.

ART.

ART. 35. A Sermon preached at Worship-ftreet, Shoreditch, October 18, 1795. Being a fincere Tribute of Refpect to the Memory of the Rev. Samuel Stennet, D. D.; the Rev. Andrew Kippis, D. D. F. R. S. A. S.; and the Rev. Rice Harris, D. D.; to which are prefixed a few Particulars of their Lives and Writings. By John Evans, A. M. Published by Request. 8vo. 38 pp. 15. Crofby. 1796.

It is the well-known cuftom of the Prefbyterian church to celebrate confiderable perfons deceafed in funeral orations. The moft remarkable of the three here noticed is, Dr. Kippis; who is faid to have been in his 71ft year when he died, on October 9, 1795. His funeral Sermon, by Dr. Rees, is alfo in our hands, which we shall notice more particularly. Mr. Evans takes for his text Pfalm xii. 1. "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceafeth: for the faithful fail from among the children of men," and the difcourfe is a useful and pious illuftration of those words.

ART. 36.

Obedience to God rather than Mer. Recommended in a Sermon preached at Taunton, on February the 22d, 1795, being the Sunday before the late Faft Day. By Thomas Broadhur, Minifler of a Congregation of Proteftant Diffenters in Taunton. Svo. 23 pp. 6d. Johnfon.

That Chriftians fhould obey Ged rather than men, in cafes where the commands of the latter interfere with thofe of the former, is a principle which Mr. Broadhurit muft not fuppofe confined to his own particular community. He admits, in his difcourfe, that it has been ufual with Diffenters to obferve days thus appointed by public authority, and feems defirous that now, for the firft time, they should abandon that ufage. We are no advocates for obliging men to faft or pray contrary to their creeds, and their confciences; but we must be allowed to fufpe&t, that when outward decorum is on the decline, inward allegiance is not on the increase.

ART. 37. On the Duty and Importance of religious Worship. A Sermon, preached at Camberwell Chapel, on the 28th of June, 1795, being the Sunday after it was opened. By the Reverend Thomas Sampfon, A. M. F. A. S. Publifhed at the Request of the Congregation. 8vo. 22 PP. 15. Lowndes.

The pious exclamation of Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 17) furnishes Mr. Sampfon with a favourable ground for difcuffing the duty and importance of focial worship. The obligation of man adore to the Deity, as deducible from natural reafon, the manner in which this obligation has been expreffed in the ufage of all nations, the beneficial effects of focial adoration upon mankind, and the promifes annexed to it, are the leading features of this difcourfe. The ftyle and fentiments of it are fuch as to do no difcredit to the pen from which it proceeded, or the patronage under which it was published. But why twenty-two pages, widely printed, fhould claim a fhilling, when

twenty-three

twenty-three of clofe, and fmall type, are fold for fix-pence in the preceding difcourfe, we do not fee.

ART. 38. Sermons on Rev. W. F. Jackjon. lin, April 23, 1795.

practical and important Subjects. By the late Tried and convicted for High Treafon, in Dub8vo. 239 pp. 45. fewed. Evans. 1795. Any thing very remarkable happening to an author renders his works immediately an object of traffic. The melancholy catastrophe of Mr. Jackfon's life has called thefe fheets, long ago printed and defigned for publication, from the retirement in which they had begun to change their colour: and, with the addition of only five pages and a title, has brought them forward to the public eye. So ftrange are the perverfions of the human mind, that we fhall not attempt to enquire by what extraordinary combination of circumftances a writer, whofe difcourfes exprefs a ftrong and even a rigorous piety, fhould have been led to the commiffion of fuch crimes as thofe which ftained the latter days of this teacher. His fermons, eleven in number, are rather above than below the common level of compofition. Sometimes his exprefiions are rather harth, and fometimes there appears an affectation of rhetorical flourish, or pathetic appeal to the feelings; but, on the whole, they are fuch as lead the reader to regret, yet more frongly than before, the unhappy termination of the author's career.

ART. 39. Obfervations in Anfwer to Mr. Thomas Paine's " Age of Reafn." By the Rev. William Jackfɔn, now a Prifoner in the New Prifon, Dublin, on a Charge of High Treafen. 8vo. 72 pp. 25. Ridgway. 1795.

There is no fmall portion of acutenefs, and ftrong evidence of ftudious reading, and found memory in this answer to Paine; throughout, a proof of talents and qualities, which redoubles our forrow for the fatal political corruption of the author's mind. Though he compliments his antagonitt on his abilities, he does not fpare him with respect to the book in question." After all," fays he," what has Mr. Paine produced? Scarcely any thing of novelty. He has only faid what others with more point, raillery, and acutenefs have faid before him. Hobbes, Spinoza, Bayle, Voltaire, Toland, Tindal, Collins, Morgan, Mandeville, and Chubb, have in their feveral ways anticipated every thing to be found in the Age of Reafon. Bolingbroke beats our author out of the field.” P. 52. Mr. Jack fon's account of himself and the circumftances attending the compofition of this tract, are too curious to be omitted.

"Having thus confidered the most material objections to revealed religion, contained in the "Age of Reafon," I quit the subject, and take leave of Mr. Paine. He thinks his work will be a confolation to men ftaggering under a fufpicion that the Chriftian fyftem is fabulous. I wish to let thofe who believe in our religion fee, that fomething may be faid in fupport of their faith. Like Mr. Paine, I write from the fulness of conviction. My oppofition to his tenets is as cordially fincere, as his defence of them. I believe in the truth of revelation;

after

after having read every thing written against it that I could meet with. Mine is not a profeffional faith; it arifes from having searched into the evidence at an adult period, unfhackled by any church fyftem, and totally unconnected with profeffion. This fearch was profecuted for my own fatisfaction; and, going a different way to work from that of Mr. Paine, I arrived at an oppofite conclufion. Every man fhould do the fame; for, to ufe an expreffion of Chancellor Bacon, it is a matter that comes home to every man's bofom." At my early outfet in life I came to this country as one of the fuite of Lord Bristol, appointed Lord Lieutenant: he engaged himfelf to do every thing for me I could wifh. After waiting fome time for his arrival, a change took place in England, and he was fuperfeded; there began, and there ended my profeffional views. From that period to the prefent I have stood on a different ground. The hand which now holds this pen, and the God who has on a variety of occafions directed it, have been my fupporters. My life has been a concatenation of afflictive circumftances; a difaftrous feries of contingent woes.

of property and relatives by fire, fingular cafualty, and agonizing difeafe. Nearly a third portion of my exiftence has been confumed in watching the ceafelefs depredations death was making on those most dear to me. Heavy calamities! As fuch they ftaggered my nature, for we are only men, but they did not thake my reliance. I mentally gravitated to the centre of being, and was fuftained by Almighty power in the orbit of life. To have this opportunity of defending what I moft folemnly believe to be the revelation of that Almighty power, affords me confolatory pleafure. It is happiness growing out of misfortune; good deduced from evil.

"I am very confcious of the defects of this production. It is not, in point of argument, fo authoritative, nor, in point of style, fo polithed as it ought to have been. On thefe accounts I have given it the title of 66 Obfervations," rather than an " Anfwer," to Mr. Paine's work--what I offer in excufe for thefe imperfections, will be admitted by men of candour. I write in a prifon, after nearly eleven months confinement in a fingle room. Out of the many books I wanted to confult as authorities, I have only been able to procure one. 1 refer, therefore, from memory, to productions which it is feveral years fince I looked into. Had I poffeffed the neceffary aid, I would have brought forward a great deal of that fpecies of evidence which, to me at least, appears inconteftible. What Mr. Paine calls reafoning, I confider as fpeculation; and it is not by fpeculating that books of antiquity are to be established or overthrown: they should be treated as antient records; requiring concurring teftimony to authenticate, and collateral helps to explain them." P. 70.

POLITICS.

ART. 40. The Commonwealth in Danger, with an Introduction, containing Remarks on fome late Writings of Arthur Young, Ejq. By John Cartwright, Ejq. 8vo. 331 pp. 55. Johnfon. 1795. By prefixing one hundred and feventy-three pages of introduction to one hundred and forty-three pages of pamphlet, and fifteen of ap

pendix,