worship of God; The sabbath; The Pharisee and Publican; The attainment of salvation; A peaceable disposition; The one thing needful; A visitation sermon; A ser mon on the occasion of a school meeting; On the education of childre; Against profane swearing; andon Discontent. ART. XXXVI. Sermons on important Subjects. By DAVID BLACK, late Minister of Lady Yester's, Edinburgh. To which is prefixed, an Account of the Life and Character of the Author, 8vo. pp. 492. THE author of these sermons, we are informed, was a native of Perth, and a descendant of some who attained to considerable eminence in the church of Scotland. He is said to have been a very exemplary minister, a character which is certainly not inconsistent with the moderate talents which he appears from his writings to have possessed. He died at the age of forty-four. This volume comes before the public with all the disadvantages of a posthumous work, and on that account claims indulgence; but from the general character of the discourses of which it is composed, we can readily believe that it would not have appeared with much great are er advantage had it come immediately from the hands of the author. Its principal characteristics plainness of style, seriousness of thought, and rigid orthodoxy. The sermons are fifteen in number, upon the following subjects; The deceitfulness of the heart; The evil of sin; Sin detected; Repentance; The gospel invitation; Christian benevolence; Justification; The law established by the doctrine of faith; Faith's victory over the world; The Christian character; The safety of believers; Christ's little flock; The improvement of affliction; The duty of seeking the things which are Jesus Christ's; and Support in God's covenant. ART. XXXVII. Sermons controversial and practical, with Reflections and Tracts on interesting Subjects. (Heretofore published in Ireland only.) By the late Rev. Philip Skelton, Rector of Fintona, &c. Republished by the Rev. SAMUEL CLAPHAM, M. A. Vol. the First. 8vo. pp. 519. MR. Clapham seems ambitious of being considered as purveyor general of sermons for the clergy of the establishment, and for private families; and although the articles he provides are not always so good as might be desired, his industry in the discharge of his office cannot reasonably be questioned. We have already four ponderous volumes, closely printed, collected from authors both major and minor; and are threatened with a fifth and even a sixth. These are to be succeeded by two volumes containing various tracts by the author of the discourses now before us. Skelton was undoubtedly a man of a strong mind, and brilliant talents; capable of forming fine con ceptions, and of clothing them in language well adapted to give them success. But he was deeply tinctured with bigotry, and occasionally could condescend to employ the lowest abuse. An arian, the religious bugbear of his day, as the unitarian in modern times, appears to be in his apprehension the legitimate subject of the severest calumny" he is a wolf in sheep's clothing, a wily fox, a mimic ape,""passing for a Christian only because he wears the fleece"-shrowding himself in the simple and seamless garment of Christ, for which he hath cast lots with the more avowed enemies of that Master, whom it is his part to hail, as it is theirs to buffet; while the whole of his teachings, exhibits, to a discerning eye, nothing better than a manifold patchwork of deistical shreds, artfully tacked together with a scriptural thread." "What but fallacy," he asks, 66 can be learned from teachers so false? As here the tree may be known by its fruit, so the fruit may as easily be known by its trec: No man in his right senses will go to such thorns for grapes, nor to such thistles for figs, from whence he can expect nothing but trash for his understanding, and a wound to his conscience." The same truly Christian and liberal spirit appears in his attack upon Hoadly, in reply to that venerable prelate's Plain Account of the Lord's Supper. Here he shews himself altogether unqualified for scriptural criticism, and as little entitled to the character of a gentleman as he is to that of a fair controversialist. With unparalleled effrontery he accuses that great man of artifice and falsehood, while he himself, in a paraphrase of the Bishop's tract, discovers the most culpable disingenuousness. Mr. Clapham would have been wiser had he kept these parts of his favourite author from public view; but so "enraptured with Skelton" is he that, like a true lover, every blemish seems to him a beauty, and every defect a grace. Nothing else indeed was to be expected from one who could presume to alter the works of the great Dr. Clarke, so as to suit his own contracted and mistaken views. But although we are not "enraptured" with this Irish preacher; we are not blind to his merits, and we have no hesitation in bearing our testimony to the general excellence of the volume of his works here presented to the pub lic. The following passage selected from a discourse on conformity to the world, and well adapted to prevailing manners, is a favourable spe cimen of the talents of this eccentric preacher. One ac "It is but fit, that we who neither can make, nor even wish to make, a long stay here, should follow a different rule, in most parts of our conduct, from that which those very wise people observe who look on this world as their only home, set death at defiance, and have no thoughts of ever removing. quainted with their actions only, and not at all with their bodily constitutions, world but this, have no other home but must conclude, they know of no other here; and hold possession of it by a te nure that can never expire; for why otherwise should men so wise in their generation, men capable of wisdom in any one thing, take so much pains, indeed lay out all their thoughts and endeavours, in improving, for such they think it, on the present spot? To make the most of what they have, an infinite deal of art is called in to help out nature, till at length nature is buried under an endless in the manner; and necessity itself set variety of refinements; the thing lost aside for mode and fashion. Who, in the genteel world, eats to satisfy his hunger,drinks to quench his thirst, cloaths himself to keep out the cold, or does any of the three, to support life? And who in the lower ranks aims not at an imitation of the higher, in these things, with all his little might, nay, beyond his power, and above his circumstances? Whereon these wretches are stretched Awkward ambition! Miserable rack! between want and pride, between poverty and splendor, till their scanty substance, and too often their feeble consciences, are put wholly out of joint. It is the tyrant, fashion, that thus inverts the order of nature among the people of this world, properly so called; that gives the night for action, and the day for sleep; that disgusts them with the wholesome and delicious food of their own country, only because it may be easily reign poisons, only because they are farhad; and whets their appetites for fofetched and expensive. It is in a great measure owing to this total departure from nature and necessity in the rich and great, that so many of the poor go half-naked, and pine for want of food: custom. while so many of their betters, who feed and dress only for the fashion, never consider, that food and raiment are still necessary things, nor that a man without meat, must be hungry, and without cloathing, cold. Nature, necessity, the laws of our country, the commands of God, and what is more with the men of this world, than all these, their visible interest pass for nothing in opposition to An individual might as well think of encountering an army, is resisting this usurper, who never wants a bigotted crowd to encourage him. Supported by that, he conquers all, governs all, and persecutes all, who are so singu lar as to dissent, till they are scarcely thought fit for society; for he is not considered as mad, who acts against reason, but he who acts oddly; and he only is thought to act oddly, who acts as few others do. The power of this tyrant is derived from our pride, cowardice, and living together. He or she is greatest, who is soonest and highest in the fashion. Few have sufficient resolution and greatness of soul to bear up against the stream of custom, and contemn the ridicule of crowds, though known to be made up of fools, as long as living, dealing, and conversing with them, is necessary. The greatest slaves to custom therefore, are those who live most in the world; and they who submit least to his power, are such as spend their days in retirement. This tyrant can subdue a multitude together with more ease, than one person by himself. Contagions of all kinds are propagated fastest in places that are most populous; and custom may be cal led a contagion, because through corruption of our nature, it becomes the vehicle of little else but vice, which carried by example, flies from mind to mind, infecting souls, as the plague does bodies. Pity, that for so contagious a disorder there are too few good and wise examples to furnish us with an epidemic cure!" ny "I know nothing wherein the tyran Το more in the established rules and notions of of custom is so remarkably seen, as honor. To debauch the daughter or wife of a friend is honorable. run him through the heart in defence of these detestable actions, is still honorable; more honorable though done with all the palpitations of a coward, who trembles between the opinions of men and the judgments of God, and of a fool, who prefers the former to the latter." lume are: The origin of faith; InThe subjects treated in this vofidelity is of the heart; Belief in God dictated by reason; Standing fast in the faith; The true Christian both dead and alive; The benefit of meditation; The efficacy of example; Conformity to the world; The wisdom of the world; The punishment of profligacy; The seductions of arianism; A friendly remonstrance with the dissenters; Vanity of vanities; Marriage; How happiness is to be attained in marriage; Confirmation; The duty of bishops; Compassion to the French protestant refugees recommended; A charity sermon for the Magdalen Asylum. To these are added "a reply to the bishop of Winchester's plain account" twenty reflections upon various subjects, which are for the most part very uninteresting; and family and private prayers, which af ford an additional proof of the great difficulty of succeeding in this species of writing. ART. XXXVIII. Sermons on several Subjects and Occasions. By the late JAMES RIDDOCH, A. M. One of the Ministers of St. Paul's Chapel, Aberdeen. 3 vols. 8vo. pp. 400. 500. 411. The Third Edition. THE public voice has declared in favour of these volumes, and we are not disposed to contradict it. Their intrinsic merit is not such as to render them altogether worthy of the distinction they have obtained; we must therefore attribute their popularity to the plainness with which serious admonitions are delivered, and the conformity they exhibit with commonly received opinions. The sermons, which are fifty nine in number,discover through out deep piety, and though strictly orthodox, are not generally uncharitable. ART. XXXIX. Sermons for the Use of Families. By W. IIazlitt. A.M. În tw☛ Volumes. pp. 368. 367. THE sermons here presented to the public are very unlike the generality of those which, in the regular discharge of our office, we are compelled to peruse. They possess some originality of character, are distinguished by liberality of sentiment, and occasionally display much critical acumen, and what an apostle perhaps would deem soundness of faith. The subjects upon which they treat are The marvellous greatness of the works of God; The wisdom, the justice of God; The goodness of God in the creation, constitution and preservation of man, in providing us with present necessaries, and in establishing us in families; The sentiments which should animate our minds when we address the great God as an heavenly father; The mystery of Godliness; The Rich fool; Prudence; Frugality; Conscience; The Christian Race; Nonconformity to the world; The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error; The wisdom and dignity of remembering our Creator in the days of our youth; The character of Jeoahaz or Shallum; Peter's denial of his master; The character of Cornelius; The Publican and Pharisee; The preaching of John the Baptist; The superiority of Jesus Christ to John the Baptist; The truly pious capable of distinguishing between divine and merely human doctrines; The evidence in favour of the Christian Religion arising from testimony; The difficulty of understanding some passages of scripture,no just objection against them. Public worship; Prayer; The Resurrection of Christ; The Lord's Supper; The apostle's doctrine of eating and drinking unworthily; Why a woe is denounced upon us when all men speak well of us; and The fallen Angels. We shall subjoin a specimen or two both of our author's manner and his opinions. In the sermon on the cha acter of Cornelius which is throughout ingenious, and interesting, we have the following among other practical reflexions: "We may learn from the history of Cornelius, and from the vision which Peter saw, that every man of every nation who fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him. It is astonishing, indeed, that any persons can speak so blasphemously of goodness, as contradictorily to represent it, as having in it the nature of sin, unless it be found in The God of all mercy must ever love some peculiarly privileged persons. all his creatures. mercy, and every other excellence in Honesty, integrity, piety, humility, and liberality, in a Jew, a Mahommedan, or a heathen, are so far from having in them the nature of sin, that they are necessarily pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God." Accordingly, it is very remarkable, that the character which is given of Cornelius in the text, did not arise from the preventing grace of Christ, but belonged to him be fore he was converted to the Christian faith. It was also before this period, as we are expressly informed, that his prayers and his alms went up as a memorial before God. The Holy Gospel, whatever be the conduct, the harshness, and uncharitableness of some of its professors, never vilifies goodness, nor the least branch of goodness, in any character whatever. For, it was purposely revealed to make men good, to make them better than they could possibly have been without it. It is also such in its own nature, and accompanied with such incontestable evidences of its divine original, that none who fairly contemplate it, can avoid loving, embracing, and gratefully complying with the terms of it. But to substitute empty speculations in the room of the Gospel, to place those and it at absolute variance, to represent the best actions of those who never heard of the Gospel, or who are not what they call converted, as criminal and odious in the sight of God, and to make the salvation of men depend on enthusiastical conceits, and rhapsodical feelings and effusions, even on the rejection of reason and common sense, instead of the practice of that tighteousness which the Gospel requires; these things are universally condemned in the Gospel, and could not, we should suppose, have ever been adopted by any one acquainted with the history which we have been considering. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, and will find acceptance with the Father of all mercies. But, to say that we are in a state of grace, and there fore that sin in us is not sin, and that righteousness in all others is even worse than unrighteousness, is a horrid doctrine, and without any foundation in the Scriptures." He thus speaks of the much controverted passage, 1 Tim. iii. 16, Great is the mystery of Godliness, &c. "Whilst thousands of texts of Scripture unequivocally and harmoniously declare,that there is butOne living and only true God, that this Sovereign Jehovah is the alone God, as distinguished from all other beings in heaven and on earth, and that he is from everlasting absolutely perfect, without any variableness and shadow of turning; when this is the voice of the whole volume, in con junction with the clear and loud voice of universal nature; if, at the same time we should meet with three or four texts of scripture, which look as if there were more Gods than one, or which ascribe deity to any other being, except the God and Father of all, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; we may be certain that these texts are either interpolations, or that they have been corruptly translated, or transcribed; because, as the same fountain cannot send forth sweet water and bitter, much less can the God of all truth and perfection blend light and darkness together in the same revelation. "But, notwithstanding these remarks, I do not mean to insinuate, that the text before us contains any strange or contradictory doctrines, supposing the beginning of it to be the same in the original that it is in our translation. For, as it would be absurd to say, because God is manifest in the heavens, that therefore the heavens are God; or as it would be absurd to say, because the Eternal power and deity are discernible from the works of the universe, that therefore these works of God, which proclaim the invisible things of him, are God himself; and it would be equally absurd to say that the flesh is God, because God was manifest in the flesh; as much so as it would be to call an image the original, a rainbow the sun that shines upon us, or the impression made upon wax, the seal that makes that impression. "But, there are other and great diffi culties which will be immediately removed by adopting the following reading of the text, which is justified by the best authorities. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, which was manifested in the flesh, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, &c.' This is the reading of the Syriac, which is reckoned the best of all the different versions of the New Testament. This reading is likewise found in the Arabic, the Latin interpreter, and the oldest Greek manuscripts. And this reading, indeed, seems evidently the genuine one, though it were not supported by the most respectable testimonies: for it conveys to us an easy and unembarrassed doctrine, and agrees best with the sense of the Apostle, who, in this, and in the preceeding verses, had fixed his chief attention upon the glorious Gospel. "He had been instructing Timothy how to preach the Gospel. He had described the extraordinary privileges which Christians derived from the Gos pel, by representing them as the house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and support of truth. These reflexions led him to consider the wonder |