tion" in righteousnefs? "Behold, the church openeth her door, and the preacher lifteth up his voice. Enter in, ye fons of diftrefs, ye objects of fcorn and neglect-enter in, and let the word of God defcend into your hearts by faith with thanksgiving. Were not the excellent inftitution of preaching established, ye might have perifhed in a state of ignorance, like that of the favage, or in a ftate of religious infenfibility, like that of the beafts who perish." The "But the rich and learned are often poor and ignorant in a religious fenfe. And it would be injurious to fufpect that inftruction from the pulpit is not neceffary, or at least highly advantageous to them, and, indeed, to men of all ranks, and of every denomination."-" In the laft century there was fome reafon for complaining of the length and dulness of fermons. Controverfial divinity, which was then in fashion, as it was then frequently conducted, was difmally dull. Divifions and fubdivifions were then made, without end and without reafon. preacher often claimed the attention of the hearer to a moft uninterefting compofition, for the space of two hours. It was this practice which induced a very ferious and fenfible writer to compofe a confolatory effay for the evil of long fermons. But there fubfifts no longer the thadow of a reafon for complaint against the length of fermons, as they are now ufually produced. We are not required, like our Lord's difciples, to watch even fo long as one hour."-"As falvation of fouls is the most valuable object of the true Chriftian, and as it is inconteftibly true that fermons duly preached and duly attended greatly con duce to promote the improvement of heart neceffary to obtain it, let us close the fubject with a devout wish, that neither we who preach, nor those who hear, may be deficient in attention to our bounden duty and service." We hesitate not in recommending the numerous fermons before us to the favour of the public, being well affured of their utility,+ though we could with that they had not been thrown together promifcuoufly. Had they been arranged under certain general heads, they might have been rendered infinitely ufeful to those descriptions of perfons for whom they were principally intended. ART. XX. A Sermon, preached in the Cathedral Church, at 8vo. Pp. 35. Price is. ANY one who knows the character or talents of Mr. Hutton would be extremely difappointed, were he to find any production of his pen deftitute of matter to inform or to meliorate the mind. In the excellent difcourfe before us, on the fertile topic of Chriftian Cha rity, which is here defined with peculiar accuracy and juftice, the purity of the motives which influence the commiffion of good actions is particularly infifted on; and the affumption of merit to ourselves, for the discharge of a mere duty imposed on us by the exprefs commandment of the Creator, most properly cenfured. That freedom of * Boyle. To extract paffages from any of the fermons, by way of specimens of the publication, would be abfurd and ridiculous. X 3 will, 1 will, which attaches refponfibility to man, for deeds which, if they proceeded from the irrefiftible impreffions of a fuperior power," could not poffibly carry with them any degree of guilt, is ably maintained against the fanciful theorists of modern times." How wild, abfurd, and vifionary, then," exclaims this worthy divine, “are the opinions of thofe dreaming philofophifts, (unworthy, as they are, of the name of philofophers,) who maintain that man is a mere machine,' and that his actions, as well as every thing that happens in the univerfe, are the result of abfolute neceffity. To the author of this ftrange doctrine, fo. admirably fuited to the purposes of modern reformers, whofe inftruments it is neceffary to exempt from the fear of incurring the vengeance of heaven, Mr. H. addreffes the following note: "Mr. Godwin muft excufe me when I declare that his doctrine of neceflity is utterly contrary to every thing I have ever heard, or read, or thought, or feen, or experienced, on the fubject. I can never, in any way, perfuade myfelf, that man is fuch a machine as he defcribes. The utmoft extent of the compafs of my belief falls fo far fhort of it, as, not to come within the profpect of a poffibility of approximation. And I really am under the neceffity, (not Mr. G.'s neceffity, but a neceffity arifing from found reafon and ftrong conviction,) of believing that the man who can believe the omnipotence of neceffity is himself a voluntarily paffive machine, under the influence of that nonfenfe of neceflity which he defcribes; in other words, that he labours under an imbecility or unfoundness of mind, which the proper application of a little common fenfe and fober-mindedness may eafily remove. The activity of Mr. G.'s candour, however, will certainly attach no blame to me, for difbelieving his doctrine of paffivenefs, becaufe, (according to his own fyftem,) he muft conclude that my infidelity in this article refults from abfolute neceffity. I will, therefore, here take my leave of Mr. G. in perfect good humour, wifhing him all the happiness and enjoyment which he can expect to derive from his ftate of pafliveness, requefting him, at the fame time, to practife a little more paffive obedience and fubmiffion to common fenfe, in any future difquifitions with which he may be difpofed to favour and to illuminate mankind; and, in particular, that he will be cautious of again obtruding on the world fuch grofs mifreprefentations, fuch unfounded calumnics, as appear in his Adventures of Caleb Williams.' Pp. 32, 33. Mr. H.'s obfervations on the inequality of conditions of life are highly judicious; tending to enforce the neceflity of charity in the rich, and the duty of contentment in the poor; and fhewing to each the advantages which they derive from the other. On the late attacks on this fyftem, old as the Creation itself, he remarks : : "This doctrine of an univerfal equality amongst mankind was of late years attempted to be diffeminated amongst us by a degenerate individual,* whose writings have exhibited one unvaried tenour of blafpheray, abuse, and invective, against the religion and government of his country, and who is now, by that country, defervedly difowned and rejected, as an outcaft.-Byt, from the infig nificance of its author, the doctrine had nearly funk into filence and oblivion, until, very lately, a new advocatet ftarted up in its defence, from whofe natural and acquired abilities his country had reason to expect better things." p. 33. We fhall conclude our account of this fermon, from the perufal of which we have derived very great fatisfaction, with one other *Thomas Paine." ተ "Gilbert Wakefield, B. A." extract extract of a note, written in defence of allufions, in the pulpit, to political topics a practice, in times like the prefent, more peculiarly neceffary, and certainly juftifiable on the plaineft principles of religious and moral duty : "That the pulpit is not the vehicle for politics,' is a propofition to which I can; by no means, bring myfelf to accede. That religion is not to be perverted into an occafion for promoting the political views of a party, and fanning the flame of a party fpirit, (which is the confined fenfe of the word politics,) that it is not to be made ufe of as an inftrument to rouze the fierce and unbridled paffions of the multitude, to let loofe the demons of envy, hatred, and malice, of tumult and civil difcord, to prey upor mankind, I moft readily and cordially admit. But I am difpofed as ftrenuously to deny that religion has nothing to do with politics, in the enlarged acceptation of that term, as it implies and relates to the origin and rights of government, together with the economy and adminiftration of it, the nature of focial union, the claims and duties of fociety, the neceffity of authority and fubordination, the reciprocal duties of rulers and fubjects, of high and low, of rich and poor, the frequent exhortation and call to national humiliation, fafting, and prayer, in confequence of national fins; these matters, (under the title of Chriftian Politics,', enter fo largely into the concerns of every Chriftian, that, fo far from being inconfiftent with evangelical charity, it appears to be the duty of a preacher of the gofpel to inculcate and enforce right notions upon fuch fubjects, that the minds of his hearers may not be perverted by the delufions of fancy, nor warped by the prejudices of error; more particularly at a time when principles which tend directly to the diforganization of fociety have been, and continue to be, induftriously diffeminated. And let it not be objected, that the great luminary of our hemifphere, whofe fetting we have fo lately and forrowfully witneffed,* has declared, that no found thould be heard in the church, but the healing voice of Chriftian charity;' on topics of fuch momentous importance to us as men and as Chriftians; the voice that inculcates the furely, in an eminent degree, principles of rectitude, and the dictates of peace, the healing voice of Chriftian charity.'-It is a circumftance which redounds peculiarly to the glory and honour of the Church of England, that she has, almoft tingly, ftood in the breach, and ftemmed the torrent, of French revolutionary principles; that she has stayed the proud waves of infidelity, and the troubled waters of democracy, whilft Diffenters of almoft every denomination, particularly the Socinians, have joined hand in hand to break down the mounds and barriers, and to fwell the inundation: fo clofe is the alliance between Socinianism and Republicanifm. We have even feen individuals of the Roman Catholic perfuafion, how confiftently with their profeffed tenets I leave for them to decide, engaged in acts of treafon and rebellion, and uniting with Republicans, to aid and abet the dirty work of French profligacy; we have feen thofe perfons, like Herod and Pilate, made friends together, who, before, were at enmity between themselves." Pp. 33, 35. ART. XXI. A Sermon, preached at the Lent Afizes, bolden at THE object of this fermon, and an object highly appropriate to the occafion, is to fhew the immenfe importance of a due attention * Mr. Burke. to to the principles of public juftice in a state, and to prove that in no country of ancient or modern times, have these principles been fo duly appreciated, or fo fully practifed, as in England. Political wifdom, indeed, or public juftice," fays Mr. Hayter, is the most useful, the higheft, talent, to which men can attain; it is the most profound in the fearch, the most difficult in acquifition, and moft arduous in its economy. By this alone the fecurity of perfon, of property, and of life, is rendered inviolable; it embraces at once, and combines all the interefts of fociety." But, while we fully agree with Mr. H. in the fuperior excellence of our laws, and in the pre-eminence of our mode of adminiftering justice, we cannot approve the general cenfure which he cafts, indifcriminately, upon all the conftitutions of other ftates; nor can we even understand what he means by the following defiance :"On the map of nations, then, in the old or new hemifphere of the earth, let our adverfaries point out, except in this country, the fighteft fhades of a Conftitution, or fhould, perhaps, at prefent, the faint colourings, the equivocal tints, of a conftitution be difclofed, he (they) will acknowledge them to be adventitious, or adulterated imitations of this!" Moft certainly, wherever there is a fixed government, (of whatever form, there is a conftitution; and if the author mean, as it would feem from the latter part of the fen. tence, to contend that, under the Monarchy, there was no conftitution in France, (even according to his ideas of a constitution, if we rightly comprehend them,) he is moft egregiously mistaken; we could, indeed, eafily refer him to treatifes written upon the conftitution of France, previous to the revolution. Every man is certainly free to contend that the conftitution of the government of a country, (for that is the proper application of the term,) is good or bad; and if Mr. H. had contented himfelf with faying that the conftitu. tion of our government was better, than that of any other, we should have heartily fubfcribed to the juftice of his pofition; but to say that a country which has a regular government has no conftitution, is, in fact, to adopt the miferable jargon of Paine. It is with pleasure we turn from this part of his discourse to his delineation of the effects of our judicial fyftem : "Here, with the moft erect confidence, can the lowly tenant of the humbleft cottage enter the unobstructed doors of the judgement hall, and demand, without any fear of a repulfe, the interpretation and execution of the laws. He can eye, with triumphant fatisfaction, the pure fcales of public juftice; fcales, which placed far, far beyond the reach of corruption, can ftill, with a righteous partiality, turn the beam in behalf of misfortunes or diftrefs. See the ray of confolation, which darts across the miserable cell of the accufed prisoner. However wretched, he reflects that an equitable fuppofition of innocence precedes his trial, that proof muft precede guilt, that his country's perfuafion and declaration of his guilt, muft precede the final fentence of conviction and punishment." P. 13. The ftyle of this fermon is occafionally too inflated; and is, indeed, generally deficient in that perfpicuity which is particularly > defirable in religious difcourfes, ART, ART. XXII. Tavo Sermons, preached before His Majefty, at the London. 1799. FROM the words of the Pfalmift, "The fool hath faid in his heart, there is no God," the pious prelate takes occafion to delineate the character of "the fcriptural fool," and to trace the fatal con. fequences of infidelity on the moral conduct of man. The Infidel, by afcribing all the operations of the moral world to chance, to caprice, deftroys the very bafis of all political and religious eftablishments, diffolves the firmelt ties of civil fociety, and deprives the focial fabric of its ftrongest buttreffes. In our preface to the fecond volume of our Review, we had occafion to infift on the divine origin of government, in answer to fome cavils which had been made on our political tenets. It will appear, from the following extract, that a perfect conformity of fentiment fubfifts, on this important topic, between the Bishop of Winchester and ourselves, After obferving that civil government "is a copy of God's early ordinance at the creation," and that "the end of it is the fame," the learned prelate proceeds thus : "The authority of civil government, therefore, is grounded on the reason and neceffity of it; but this reafon and neceffity are of God, a ftamp upon our nature; they iffue from the conftitution of the world, as it came from the hand of him who, by his example in his own works, who, in his juft punishment of the murderous Cain, of him who avows the confcientious obligation in that early acknowledgement of guilt, The first that meets me fhall be my avenger,' who, in all the patriarchial inftitutions, in the theocracy, in his uniform declarations throughout the Old and New Teftament, hath given to civil government the fanction of his holy approbation." P. 8. Having traced all legitimate government to its true fource, the will of the Creator, the Bishop paints, in ftrong, but juft, colours, the evils which refult from the inculcation of an oppofite doctrine : Moral virtue, then, having alfo the ftamp of divine authority, however ignorance may excite our pity by its blindness, however we may lament the errors of fuperftition, words are wanting to exprefs the odioufnefs and folly of him, who, denying the origin of this focial compact, leaves all the obligations of virtue without fupport; or, by denial of the existence of God, denies the whole fyftem of his ordinances for our good. Is there any folly in the annals of man equal to this folly? Or any error fo abundant in mifchief as that which rends and diftracts fociety, which, unloofening the bands of public and private faith, robs the Prince of the allegiance of the fubject, and the fubject of the protection of his Prince; tears the fon from the father, and turns the parent from the child; ftrips the mafter of the fidelity of the fervant, and the fervant of the foftering care of his master? Which, therefore, fets up anarchy in the place of government, prefers paffion to reafon, force to law, fin and darknefs to religion; in fhort, changes the whole picture of heavenly order, which God would have pourtrayed in the life of man, and fubftitutes that scene of diffraction and horror which the mind imagines as the worst punishment of the already condemned." Pp. 11. 12. The fecond fermon is a continuation of the fame fubject, from the conclufion of wifdom, "Doubtless there is a God that judgeth the |