ON UNITY OF WORSHIP.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN,

ONE great excellence of the Established Church, and for which it is, and has been highly admired even by foreigners, is the unity of its form of worship; but pray let me afk, is this ftrictly pre-. ferved in all the Churches of England, or even in those of the Metropolis ? when the custom fo much prevails of placing a certain number of men and boys in a particular part of the church or chapel, to display their fine voices and kill in finging, in folo's, &c. or, what is not unfrequent, a ludicrous exhibition of wry faces and contorted features, with boys ftraining their throats to fuch a pitch, that they "crack the ears of the groundlings." The audience, in the mean time, are seated, fome liftening to the mufic (if good), others yawning, fome taking fnuff, and joining chorus with their nofes, while others are entertaining themselves with fmiles and chit-chat. This cannot be called unity of worship. In my humble opinion, there fhould be no persons fet apart to fing, while the reft of the congregation are merely auditors, as at the Opera, or an Oratorio; but they should all stand up and join in the Pfalms and Hymns: In fo doing, the unity of worship would be perfected.

Laft fummer I troubled you with a note on the fingers at Portland Chapel leaving the Church immediately after the prayers, and before the fermon is begun. I think proper to fay, that they still continue to do fo. Those who with to feel the pleafure of unity of worthip, may be gratified by attending the service at Margaret Street Chapel, Cavendish Square, where I have often experienced its healing power.

I am, Gentlemen, your conftant reader,

London, March 15th, 1802.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

H. P. J.

A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of DURHAM, at the ordi nary Vifitation of that Diocefe, in July, 1801, by SHUTE, Lord Bishop of DURHAM.

(Concluded from p. 164.)

HAVING ftated the chief impediments to fpiritual religion, the Right Rev. Prelate next lays before his clergy the principal means of cultivating it in themselves, and of promoting it in thofe committed to their charge. He exhorts them to remind the young and uneducated, "which conftitute the bulk of their congregations," of what are "the first principies of the oracles of God." That the foundation of all true religion must be laid in the knowledge of God and ourselves: that the Scriptures and the works of creation are the grounds of the first of these two branches of religious knowledge; and that the second is to be learned from the Scriptures, from the world, and from ourfelces. His Lordfhip adds, "They fhould also be accuftomed to confider faith as the beginning and end of all religion." Here we beg leave to obferve, but with becoming deference, that the end of all religion, according to our views of the fubject, is virtuous practice, integrity of heart, and uprightness of conduct towards mankind; and humility, felf-abafement, refignation, and pious confidence towards God. That a right faith is operative of these good effects,

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and

and is the originating principle of holiness, we moft readily allow; but if faith be the beginning, we cannot fuppofe it to be the end of all religion. It is true, that "without faith no man can please God, no man can partake of the promises of God," but as faith is the vis motrix to religious action, fo, by confequence, does it lead to righteous conduct, the end of a right faith, but not "of all religion." It produces "all religion;" of which the end is, a holy life, which includes obedience to the revealed will of God.

"This faith fhould be grounded on fhort and clear evidence of religion in general, and of Christianity in particular; to which they may be familiarized by difcourfes on the stated returns of the great folemnities of our public worship. They fhould be taught to have lively and diftinct impreffions of the power and omniscience of God in the creation and government of the univerfe; of his juftice in the punishment of fin, in this life or the next; of his goodness in the reward of virtue; and of his infinite mercy in the redemption of mankind by his Son. The atonement made by Chrift for the fins of the world is a fubject fo interwoven with the effential doctrines of Christianity, and if properly understood, of fuch weighty intereft to the hopes, and of fuch efficacy on the life of every fincere believer, that you cannot take too much pains to establish it to the conviction, and to impress it on the feelings, of your hearers.

To the religious obfervance of the Sabbath, the Bishop adds the neceffity of recommending to, their congregations, "family and fecret prayer," and " in addition to the reading of the Scriptures, the frequent and ferious ftudy of the prayers in the Book of Common Prayer." This will teach them to pray not only with the Spirit, but with the understanding alfo.

With the following obfervations, as they contain the fentiments of the clergy of the Church of England, in general, and are perfectly confonant with the meaning of her articles, upon a point which enthufiafm has fadly perverted, we shall conclude our remarks on this charge; which breathes throughout a true fpirit of piety, is exceedingly forcible in its application, is well adapted to the times in which we live, contains much important advice to the clergy, and impreffes on the candidate for holy orders a proper fenfe of the duties attached to the facred office, of its importance, of the qualifications which it demands, and of that zeal, which, when tempered with knowledge, promotes the caufe of religion, increases attachment to the Established Church, prevents fchifm and herefy.

"The folemn queftion which concerns a Minifter's chief fitness for holy orders, as arising from the inward fuggeftion of the holy spirit, is too often, it is much to be feared, too flightly thought of. Far be from me the wish to excite unneceffary fcruples in the minds of the well-difpofed. If the candidate for orders be influenced by a clear and determined difpofition to do all the good in his power, by an earnest wish to promote the interefts of Chriftianity; a zealous hope of rendering his conduct in the miniftry, by its purity and usefulness, conducive to the glory of God, and the edification of his church; if fuch be his difpofition, he may justly confider himself as called to the miniftry by the Holy Spirit. For to him only can he owe fo pious a determination. If after his admiffion into the miniftry, he finds his conduct correfponding with his firft refolutions, he ought to afcribe his perfeverance in welldoing to the fame holy Spirit, and be thankful for the inestimable privilege of being thought worthy to be God's inftrument in the falvation of his fellow-creatures".

Memoirs of JOHN BACON, Esq. R. A. with Reflections drawn from a Review of his Moral and Religious Character. By RICHARD CECIL, A. M. Minister of St. John's, Bedford Row, &c.

We are informed in the advertisement to this account of Mr. Bacon," whofe

whofe character as a Chriftian, and whose works, as an eminent fculptor, will furvive him fo long as the one commands respect, and the other excites admiration, that these memoirs appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, for Sept. 1799, and that by the defire of the family of the deceased, they were published in the prefent form.

This celebrated Sculptor was defcended from an ancient family in Somersetfhire: his grandfather Jonn Bacon was the fon of William Bacon, who poffeffed a confiderable eftate near Manfel in that county. His father Thomas Bacon was a cloth-worker in Southwark, where Mr. Bacon was born November 24th, 1740.

"Providence feems to have peculiarly favoured his infancy; for when he was about five years of age, he fell into the pit of a foap boiler, and would have perifhed, if a man, who then entered the yard, had not discovered the top of his head, and immediately drawn him out. About the fame time he fell before a cart, the wheel of which went over his right hand, and must have crushed it, had it not fallen between two projecting ftones.

"When very young, Mr. B. difcovered an inclination for drawing, common to children; but not purfuing it, he never made any great proficiency in that art.

"In the year 1755, and at the age of fourteen, Mr. B. was bound apprentice to Mr. Crifpe of Bow Church Yard; where he was employed, among other things, in painting on porcelain. Mr. Crifpe had a manufactory of china at Lambeth, to which Mr. B. occafionally went, and where he affifted. His then occu pation, indeed, was but a feeble step towards his future acquirements, as he was chiefly employed in forming fhepherds, fhepherdeffes, and fuch fmall ornamental pieces; yet, for a felf-taught artist to perform even works like thefe with taste, and, in less than two years, form (as he did) all the models for the manufactory, was to give an indication of no ordinary powers. But as goodness of heart excels greatnefs of parts, a proof of his filial affection ought here to be recorded at this early period he principally fupported his parents by the produce of his labours, even to the abridging himself of the neceffaries of life."

:

"Mr. B.'s capacity, however, for greater things in his art than he had yet attempted, difcovered itfelf on the following occafion: in attending the manufactory at Lambeth, he had an opportunity of obferving the models of different Sculptors which were fent to a pottery on the fame premifes to be burnt. Small circumftances often give rife to the most important events in our lives. From the fight of thefe models, Mr. B. first conceived a strong inclination for his future profeffion. He applied himself to this attainment with the most unremitting diligence; his progrefs was as rapid, as his turn for it was fudden and unpremeditated. This will appear from the books published annually by the Society for the encouragement of Arts; where it may be found, that, between the years 1763 and 1766 inclufive, the first premiums in thofe claffes, for which he contended, were no less than nine times adjudged to him. The firit of thefe attempts was made in the year 1758, in a fmall figure of Peace, after the manner of the antique."

"About the year 1763, Mr. B. first attempted working in marble; and having never seen that operation performed, he was led to invent an inftrument for transferring the form of the model to the marble, (technically called, getting out the points) which inftrument has fince been ufed by many other Sculptors in England and France. Its advantage, beyond the inftruments formerly employed, confifts in its certainty and exactnefs-in its taking a correct measurement in every dis rection-in its occupying fo fmall a compaís as not to encumber the workman→→ and, that it may be transferred either to the model, or to the marble, without having a feparate inftrument for each, as before was the custom,

"At this time Mr. B. lived in the City, where his family connexions were, but in the year 1768 he removed to the west end of the town; and it was then (being about twenty-eight years of age) in attending the Royal Academy, instituted that year, that he received his firft inftructions in his future profeffion; having never before feen the art of modelling or fculpture regularly performed.

"In the following year, the gold medal for fculpture, the first ever given by that Society, was decreed to Mr. B. He became an Affociate of that body in the year

1770.

1770. His reputation was now well established by the exhibition of his ftatue of Mars; it recommended him to the notice of the prefent Archbishop of York, who having defigned to place a buft of his prefent Majesty in the Hall of Christ Church College, Oxford, prefented Mr. B. to the King, who was pleased to fet to him for that purpofe.

"Mr. Jan old acquaintance of Mr. B. heard Mr. Weft, the prefent prefident of the Royal Academy, fay, when he faw the model of Mars (Mr. B.'s first tatue), If this is his firft effay, what will this man attain to when he arrives at maturity? The fame friend alfo remembers, that when Mr. B. was modelling the buft of his Majefty, the King afked him if he had ever been out of the kingdom? Upon being anfwered in the negative, his Majefty faid, I am glad of it— you will be the greater honour to it.'

"Mr. B.'s execution of this work, added to the fame he had already acquired, procured him the Royal Patronage, and he received an order from his Majesty to prepare another buft, intended as a prefent to the University of Göttingen. Her Majefty was alfo pleafed to give directions for a third; and Mr. B. has fince executed a fourth, which was placed in the meeting-room of the Society of Antiquaries. He was foon afterwards employed by the Dean and Fellows of Christ-Church in forming feveral bufts for them, particularly thofe of the late General Guise, the Bishop of Durham, and the Primate of Ireland.

"In 1773 he prefented to the Society for the encouragement of Arts, two statues in plaifter, which, by a vote of that Society, were directed to be placed in their great room.

"His first work in fculpture is in Chrift Church College already mentioned; the firft figures he executed in marble, are at the Duke of Richmond's at Godwood; his firit monument is that of Mrs. Withers in St. Mary's, Worcester.

"In the year 1777 he was employed to prepare a model of a monument to be erected in Guy's Hofpital, Southwark, to the memory of the founder. It was this work that chiefly recommended him to the execution of Lord Chatham's monument in Guildhall. This latter gave fuch general fatisfaction, that he was prefented with a hand fome gratuity after the fum agreed for was paid.

"The next year, in which he became a Royal Academician, he finished the monument of Mrs. Draper. About the fame time he began a marble statue of Mars from the model he had before exhibited; the commiffion was given him by Charles Anderfon Pelham, now Lord Yarborough; but it was not compleated till the year 1786. Some time in this year (1780) he executed the two groups for the top of Somerset houfe, and alfo the monument of Lord Hallifax, placed in the north aifle of Westminster Abbey.

"In the year 1781, he began the ftatue of Judge Blackstone for All Souls ColJege, Oxford; and the next year that of Henry the Sixth for the Anti-Chapel at Eton.

"There was fomething fo fingular in the manner in which he received the order for this ftatue, that I hope to be excufed if I mention the detail. A gentleman called on Mr. B. who appeared like a diftreffed clergyman applying for relief. The great refpect which he had for perfons of that defcription, and the fatisfaction he felt in relieving them, induced him, with his ufual complacency, to ask this franger to enter and be feated. He had not continued long before he began to afk, Pray Mr. B. have you been at Rome?' Mr. B. answered in the negative. • I fuppofe you have been at Wilton, to fee the antiques there?'- No. After two or three more fuch questions and answers, he said, with his patience almost exhausted, Have you ever been at Westminster Abbey?' On Mr. B's replying yes; the stranger said, I may, however, as well walk to your rooms, and look at your works. He examined them attentively, faying, as he paffed, Wellvery well-excellent-and all this produced without going abroad!-But I can tell you one thing, and that is, that you have no need to go.' He then gave an order for a bust of Henry VI. for Eton College, and paid down half the price, "After this was executed, he wrote a polite letter of approbation, faying he had but one fault to find with the performance, which was, that it was not carried down

down to the feet (or a whole length). Soon after he called again on Mr. B. and informed him that he had left a fum of money in his will for a statue of the abovementioned king to be placed in the chapel of Eton College. But,' faid he, upon fecond thoughts, it feems I had better have it done while I live; and you should fet about it immediately, but that I know your custom is to have half the fum paid down at giving the order; now this is not quite convenient to me at prefent, but I think I could let you have rool. Pray Sir,' faid Mr. B. 'don't let that be a confideration-you have always fhewn yourself a man of honour-I shall leave every thing to your convenience, and make the defign directly." 'I think,' faid the gentleman, after a paufe, I can let you have 200l.'; after thus demurring, he paid down the whole cuftomary depofit before he left the

house.

"In the year 1783, the inhabitants of Jerfey having determined to perpetuate the memory of the gallant Major Pierfon, who fell in the defence of that ifland against the French, the execution of the monument was committed to Mr. B."

"Of the works which Mr. B. exhibited at the Royal Academy, the following may be enumerated: ftatues of Mars and Venus ;-a coloffas buft of Jupiter ;—a coloffal ftatue of the Thames ;-feveral small figures in marble; and a monument fince placed in the cathedral of Bristol, to the memory of Mrs. Draper, celebrated by Sterne under the name of Eliza.

"When Mr. B. exhibited his ftatue of the Thames juft mentioned, it was noticed by a certain great perfonage, who after having expreffed her admiration of it as a work of art, enquired why he could not avoid making it fo frightful a figure › He replied, Art could not always effect that which was ftill within the reach of nature-the union of beauty and majesty.'

"But the most important work hitherto prefented to the publick by Mr. B. is the monument of the Earl of Chatham, erected in Weftminster Abbey. This was begun in the year 1778, and finished in 1783. It may perhaps be produced as an inftance, not only that true genius is the growth of the British ifle, but that it may be fully ripened in it, unaflifted by foreign aid.

"When young, Mr. B.'s abilities as an artift were not called in queftion, except with refpect to the antique; of which some affirmed that he understood nothing. On this occafion he modelled his large head of Jupiter Tonans, which was infpected by feveral eminent connoiffeurs, and mistaken for a fine antique: they even enquired from what temple abroad it had been brought?'"

"Befides the works already mentioned, thofe which ftand among the principal are, The bronze group, in the fquare of Somerfet-houfe-Lady Miller's, at Bath -Lord Rodney's, at Jamaica-Lord Heathfield's, at Buckland, near Plymouth -Earl and Countess of Effingham's, at Jamaica-Sir George Pocock's and Bishop Thomas's, in Weftminster Abbey-Mr. Howard's and Dr. Johnson's, in St. Paul's Cathedral-and the pediment of the Eaft India house.

"Mr. B. had under his hand at the time of his death the following monuments: that of Mr. Whitbread;-Sir William Jones ;-the poet Mafon;-Rev. Jofeph Milner;-General Dundas, for St. Paul's;-Captains Harvey and Hutt, for Westminster Abbey;-a group for India, containing a coloffal ftatue of Marquis Cornwallis ;-an equestrian bronze of William the Third, for St. James's Square; -with fome others of lefs importance.

"This diftinguished artist, and excellent man, was fuddenly attacked with an inflammation in his bowels, on the evening of Sunday, August 4th, 1799, which occafioned his death in little more than two days. During this fort illness, he expreffed a firm reliance on that Sure Foundation on which he had long and confiftently built. He departed on Wednesday morning, Auguft the 7th, in the 59th year of his age; leaving two fons and three daughters by his first wife, and three fons by his laft, the furviving widow.

"Thus departed a man, who though one of the most diftinguished artists of his day, had a mind capable of efteeming this rank but a fmall attainment. He grafped at the higher honours and unfading rewards which he now enjoys. Amidst the in-. firmities and temptations to which our common nature is fubject, and under which

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