have too much reason, God knows, to exult in their fuccefs. If, then, in attempting to counteract the malice of infidelity, to stem the torrent of licentioufness, we seem to "ftretch out ourselves beyond our measure;" if we "reprove, rebuke, exhort," with all the earnettnefs the importance of the cafe demands; if we fet before your eves the danger to which you are expofed, and conjure you, as ye dread the eternal difpleasure of God, to deprecate it; fhould we utter truths harth to faftidious ears, and offenfive to preconceived principles, "forgive us this wrong;" we have folemnly fworn thar, "whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear," we, for our part, will not fail to " declare unto them the whole counsel of God. To bring many fons unto glory," is the object of our appointment; and if, by not attending to the work of the ministry, we give the enemy an opportunity to fow his tares whilft we fleep; instead of doing the work of an evangelift," we afford men but too juft occafion" to defpife the offerings of the Lord, and caufe the name of God to be blafphemed." P. 7.

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"The minifters of the gofpel are to give a ftrict account of every difcourfe they have delivered, and of its tendency to forward the im mortal happiness of their hearers: it will then be published before men and angels, whether, with vigilance of attention and folicitude of mind, we have laboured and prayed to promote the falvation of our refpective flocks; and, if we have been negligent in a matter of fuch vaft concern; if we have been regardless of the very thing which demands our utmost care; however we may have been employed in works of fancy, genius, or learning; however we may have been engaged in the traffic of gain, or have flept on the bed of floth; as we can make no atonement for the fouls we have fuffered to perish, fo we can plead nothing in justification of such strange, such unpardonable neglect." P. 17.

The advice and inftruction conveyed to the people is no lefs falutary and expedient. Thofe more efpecially who have "itching ears;" who will not " endure found doctrine;' who are of opinion that the gospel is feldom delivered in its genuine purity in the church; and therefore, inftead of attending its worfhip and fervice, flart afide, and attach themfelves to other communions, where they expect, and foolishly fancy they receive, more edification.-All fuch are called upon (and they will do well to comply with the invitation) to lend a ferious and collected attention to the author's remonftrances, in this and other difcourfes on thefe fubjects.

In the fifth Sermon, after having adduced the reasons which ought to prevail with all Chriftians frequently and devoutly to commemorate our Lord's death, in the bleffed Sacrament of his Supper, the preacher feverely reprchends all thofe frivolous excufes which are ufually alledged in juftification of neglecting this folemn ordinance. The two following objections have, we fear, but too much weight in the minds of

many

many well-difpofed and pious Chriftians: they are here plainly flated, and briefly, but very fatisfactorily, removed.

"There is a third excufe for not frequenting the Sacrament: often urged by men of a very different complexion; by men who lead honett moral lives, regularly attend the church, and are not very remifs in other religious duties; which is, that an unworthy receiving will expofe them to eternal damnation. The original word fignifies only judgment and condemnation, and in this place, in a temporal fenfe; and fo it ought to be rendered. It was firit made ufe of to deter the people of Corinth from the excefs which, at the celebration of that holy feaft, they ufually ran into. But were the danger ever so great, the confequences ever fo dreadful, we are exprefsly commanded by its divine author to "do this in remembrance of him." Let not, then, a falfe tenderness of confcience prevent any one from commemorating the love of his great Redeemer. The Saviour of the world never could enjoin what, in its nature or its confequences, would render us liable to that wrath, from which, to redeem us, he vouchfafed to die.

"The last excufe I fhall mention, which is indeed the parent of every other, is, that should men relapfe into fin, after having communicated, inftead of expiating, they are aggravating their guilt. This excufe will vanish whenever you frequent the Lord's table, with fuitable difpofitions. Know once what it is to receive the facrament with

a lively faith in Chrift, a thankful remembrance of his death, and in perfect charity with all men", and the Commandments will appear no longer grievous, the yoke of Christ will infenfibly become eafy, and the burthen of Religion imperceptibly grow light. Compare for a moment a courfe of wickedness and vice, a heart you are afraid to look into, a dread of God's avenging wrath, with a life uniformly regulated by the maxims of the Gofpel," a confcience void of offence," and an humble affurance of eternal felicity, and you will not absent yourfelves from the Lord's table through an apprehenfion of thereby multiplying your fins. The Communion being the moft folemn part of the Chriftian Religion, the defign of a frequent participation of it, is to invigorate our fouls, and fecure them from the most infidious attempts of temptation." P. 73.

In the feventeenth Sermon, the pleas for not attending pubfic worship are thoroughly inveftigated, and their futility completely expofed; and, in conclufion, the author, with the authority of an Ambaffador of Christ, and with a fervour worthy of the fubject, warmly expoftulates with thofe who prefume to employ the Sabbath in other engagements, and to other purposes, than to thofe of devotion.

There is much accuracy of obfervation, and fome very pertinent advice, in the eighteenth Sermon," on devout Behaviour in the Church." Should it be thought, that the author is too minute in pointing out fecondary duties, we are hence led to conclude, that nothing is by him deemed unworthy of, or beneath, his notice, which is in any manner connected with the worthip of Almighty God. In this we perceive the overflowings

flowings of a heart extremely folicitous to difcourage every, the leaft, appearance of mifconduct; and to maintain, in all their force, thofe rules of order and decorum which are fo effential to the end and defign, nay even to the very existence, of public worship. What thofe inftances of inattention, levity, and indifcretion are, which appear to have fallen under his notice, he fummarily recapitulates in the following plain, but zeabus exhortation.

"I will beg your patience a moment longer, whilft I make a short application. Let me then request of you all, my brethren, to think feriously, before you enter the church, into whofe awful prefence you are going and when you have entered it, let me befeech you to fall meekly on your knees, to fupplicate God's acceptance of your prayers, and that he will grant, that the word to be preached may become " a favor of life unto life" to all that hear it. Let there be in future no noife made by you in entering it: and whether you are reading or hearing the word, or offering up your prayers and thanksgivings, do not let any little disturbance, as the opening of a door, or falling of a book, withdraw your attention from your duty. Let this church in future be diftinguished by the reverence and devotion of all who frequent it; and let me intreat you to pay fo much honour to Almighty God as to pray to him, not in your prefent cuftom of fitting on your feats, or even the more decent one of standing, but "meekly kneeling on your knees." Let all impertinent gazing at other people's drefs; let all talking, whispering, and laughing, be for ever banished from this holy place and instead of haftily departing before the bleffing is pronounced, let us return thanks to God for the opportunity of attending his house and service, and beg his grace to accompany what has been delivered." P. 271.

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The twenty-firft Sermon, " on Compaffion," prefents us with a pleafing fpecimen of the perfuafive and pathetic powers of this writer; which are likewife difplayed with equal felicity, in treating on the Uncertainty of Life," and "on Sicknefs." His great talent is pathos; and perhaps his fondness for it fometimes carries him to an extreme. But it is difficult to do juftice to fubjects like thefe, without occafionally incurring the difpleafure, and having to fuftain the rebukes, of frigid cenfurers. We fhall only make one extract more, which is the inftructive peroration of the laft-mentioned difcourfe.

"There are two ftates which divide the life of man, health and fickness. Now as fickness is often the forerunner of death, and " after death the judgment;" I am to exhort you to prepare, whilst you are in health, against the day of fickness; which, unless we are inftantly cut off by the vifitation of God, will one day overtake us. And if we live regardless of it, if it fhould fuddenly arrest us, in what way shall we be enabled to discharge the duties of aftate with which we

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are entirely unacquainted? Languor of body, depreffion of fpirits, confcioufnefs of guilt, apprehenfion of punishment, may fo diftra&t our mind, that we may have no refolution to make our peace either with God or man. Let us, who are now in health, enquire of our hearts what would be our profpects of eternity? Could we look round upon all our neighbours, upon every one with whom we have had any intercourse, and challenge them to fay any evil of us? Have we defrauded no man? Have we injured no man? Could we, on our return from this holy place, lie down on a bed of sickness with clean hands, and pure hearts? Could we look forward to the judg ment-feat of Chrift without fearing to meet the unprotected, the in nocent, and unfuspecting? For we cannot pafs out of this world with rational, with well-grounded hopes of being faved, unless, if we have committed injuftice, if we have done to others as we would not be done unto ourselves, unless, I fay, "we make reftitution and fatisfaction." And, as Chriftians, could we review our lives with compla cency and approbation? Or, have we offended God by perpetual drunkennefs? By frequent curfing and fwearing? By devoting the Lord's Day to the purposes of idleness, bufinefs, or diffipation? By neglecting to participate that most folemn ordinance, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper? How many of you, my brethren, are at this moment fmitten by your confciences? How many of you are under the fevereft reproof for your fhameful and fcandalous contempt of the laft command of your gracious Redeemer? How many of you have always flattered yourselves that you will communicate before you die? I appeal to your hearts-Are you guilty of deceit, of injustice, of drinking, of fwearing, profaning the fabbath, of difregarding the holy Sacrament? Do you live in the open commiffion of a vice the Scripture forbids? Do you live in the wiltul neglect of a duty it enjoins? If you do-impofe not on yourfelves by hoping that you are in a state of falvation. Place no dependance on the merits of Chrift whilft you live in any known fin. For be affured, if you die as you live, he will fay unto you" depart from me, I know not whence ye are." Let me therefore befeech you to repent whilft you are in health, and turn to God. Acquaint yourfelves with him by breaking off your fins, and by acting uprightly. Every day of your lives offer up your prayers to him, and do not have this work to learn when you lie on a fick-bed. Every day of your lives confider how, when fickness arrefts you, you fhall be prepared for eternity. If you knew the agony of mind, the mifgivings of heart, the ftings of confcience, which thofe men feel whom fickness overtakes whilst they live in the commiffion of fin, 1 fhould not this day exhort you in vain.Could I defcribe to you the fituation of that man whofe life has been profligate and wicked; whom a fever, a confumption, or any other dif order is precipitating to his grave; how very awkwardly he fets about the work of repentance; how very unholily he prays for the forgivenefs of his fins, and how very weary he appears of that divine employment, how half unwilling and exceedingly afraid he is to receive the bleffed facrament; how when he is tortured with pain, or difappointed of cafe, from his habit of curfing, he vents his imprecations againft his diforder, although he is standing on the precipice of eternity

—there

there is not a fingle person that now hears me who would not from this moment cease to live wickedly, who would not from this moment ftrive to die happy. But though language cannot defcribe, imagination cannot paint, the horrors of fuch a fituation, remember that, unlefs you repent, fuch fituation will one day be your own; and be affured that the apprehenfion of death, that the dread of eternity, is nothing when compared with the actual punishment which awaits you, of dwelling for ever with the devil and his angels."-The denunciation is tremendous, but it is the denunciation of him who is TRUTH itfelf." P. 357.

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An address like this can hardly fail to make its way to hearts and minds of every popular, or mixed, congregation. In the remaining Sermons," on the Divinity of Chrift," and on the Defcent of the Holy Ghoft," the author is concife and convincing. On thefe, as on other doctrinal subjects, he more especially unfolds his powers of argumentation and deduction. They are fuch as in no degree to detract from our general praife, and leave no doubt on our minds of his judg ment, and the foundnefs of his creed. To convey, in a few words, our opinion of this zealous and active divine, we shall adopt a paffage from an eloquent, and much admired modern writer." This preacher carries the Bible in his hand; he warmly expatiates on its importance and its truth; he teaches what it reveals with every appearance of fincerity; he enforces what it commands with the utmoft earneftnefs."

ART. VII. Rural Philofophy: or Reflections on Knowledge, Virtue, and Happiness; chiefly in Reference to a Life of Retirement in the Country. By Ely Bates, Efq. 8vo. Longman and Rees. 1803.

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THE idea of retirement is fo welcome to the human mind, whatever may happen to be its talents, occupations, or purfuits; and prefents to the imagination fuch grateful scenes of relaxation or of pleasure, that all men are apt to turn with a pleafing prepoffeflion to every writer who undertakes to reprefent, in more circumflantial terms, its advantages and enjoyments. Through every period of life, we remember with complacency, and repeat with eagerness, the paffages both of ancient and modern authors, which expatiate on the delights of the country; and few indeed there are, who do not propofe to themselves, at one period or other, the opportunity of participating in reality, what they contemplate with fo much fatisfaction in profpect.

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