ART. 27. A Sermon, preach d in the Parish Church of St. James, Colchester, on Tuesday, the sft of August, 1797, for the Benefit of the Sunday Schools fablished in that Torn. By Robert Acklom Ingram, B. D. Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, and Curate of Boxted and Worming ford, Effex. Publifhed at the Request of the Governors, and for the Benefit of the faid Charity. 8vo. 22 pp. 15. Key. mer, Jun. Colcheiter; Robinfons, London. Upon the text Jer. xxxi, 34, the preacher off rs "a few arguments, deduced from the prefent critical pofture of fociety, on the neceffity of exerting every endeavour to promote the univerfal diffufion of religious knowledge" p. 2). Thefe arguments fhow great attention to, and knowledge of, the prefent condition of the lower claffes in this country, and of the proper means for rendering them good and happy members of fociety. In one point especially we concur entirely with the preacher, and fhall extract his fentiments, recommending them to the attention of our readers: "I fhall prefume to recommend, that in the gradual extention of your plan, a preference be fhewn to the education of girls; for which advice, from a variety of very important argu ments, I fhall be content, at prefent, to felect the following. The minds of girls are, commonly, more fufceptible of pious impreffions at an early period, than thofe of boys, and are more eafily infpired with a defire of improvement. The conduct of men alfo depends in an extraordinary degree upon the manners of women :-and, in proportion as women are taught to refpect their own characters, the morals of men will be pure, and their manners refined and dignified. To which I fhall add, that the earlieft impreffions, and the firft habits, as well as the whole conduct of domeftic education, in poor families, depend almost entirely on the mother's care and prudence." P. 18. ART. 28. Sermons on a Future State. By the Rev. R. Shepherd, D. D. Archdeacon of Bedford. 8vo. 94 PP. 2s. 6d. Nicol. The first and fecond of thefe Sermons were published in 1797, and were noticed with much approbation in vol. x, p. 557, of our Review. The fame degree of approbation may be extended to the third Sermon, which is now before us. It briefly ftates the arguments from fcripture, for "the exiftence of the foul in a ftate of happiness and percipiency," between death and the refurrection. Other divines have produced the fame arguments, and particular Dr. Jortin. But in the inferences, or leffons, drawn from this doctrine, Dr. S. is more original. They are very ingenious, folid, and juft; and are fet forth with an eloquence highly interefting and affecting. ART. 29. Thoughts on the Neceffity of the moral Difcipline in Prifons, as prelimary to the religious Inftruction of Offenders; with Obfervations on the Expediency of appointing, by Authority, a Form of Prayer for the Ufe of Prifoners. By Thomas Bowen, M. A. Chaplain of Bridewell. Hofpital, and Minister of Bridewell Precinct. 8vo. 36 pp. IS Rivingtons. 1798. Many judicious and ufeful thoughts are fuggefted in the former part of this tract, which we recommend to the attention of the legiflators and and magiftrates; and we take this opportunity to exprefs our earnest hope, that the zeal which Mr. Howard excited in the public mind on the fubject of prifons, has not abated, nor will abate; but that its beneficial effects will continually be experienced in every district within the kingdom. With regard to the fecond object of this tract, the appointment by authority of a Form of Prayer for the Ufe of Prifoners, it becomes us only to fay, that the measure is here ftrongly and well recommended, that we perceive no valid objections to it, and that we should rejoice, to hear that the heads of our church had taken it into ferious confideration. ART. 30. This is the ful flance of a Sermon, " delivered from notes;" the expreflion alfo being generally retained. It is pious' and animated. The preacher is very far from juftifying any fingle act of violence that can be prevented; but he is not one of thofe enthufiafts who reject all felf-defence and if argument be not thrown away upon fuch perfons, perhaps the following quotation may affift in rectifying their perverted' judgments. It has been objected, What if, in the event, a man may fall by my hand? Would to God fuch a Chriftian fenfibility were more prevalent through Europe! It would ftop many a vain-glorious enter-. prife. It would wrest the fword from many a rafh hand, and turn it into a ploughfhare. But that our confciences may be enlightened as well as tender, we should confider that the fame fcriptures which teach us meekness in that beautiful hyperbole, unto him that fmiteth thee on the one cheek, offer alfo the other, teach us alfo to regard the interefts of fociety, and the governments under which we live; governments appointed of God for "the punishment of evil doers," as well as for the praife of them that do well." It ought to be no queftion with you as Chriftians whether you would fave the invader of your peace; but it may be a queftion with you as citizens legally appointed to maintain it, whether, all things confidered, you can. We are bound to pray for an enemy, to do him good for evil, and to try to fave him, if poffible, from the pit he is digging; but the law of love which feeks his good, muft not be oppofed to the law of self-prefervation, which prevents his doing evil. If then, while you are thus dif pofed, and thus commiffimed to keep the peace, any one should fall in his attempt to break it, How-let every one afk himself-how does fuch a man fall? Verily, as the houfebreaker-as the incendiary—as the affaffin-as Goliath. Who kills the lawless ruffian? The magif trate that executes the law? The citizen that stands merely upon his own defence? No: the man kills himself. This fon of violence as clearly puts himself to death as a mad dog that rushes upon the oppofed fpear. "He digged a pit, and fell therein, and his blood is upon his own head.” Pp. 14, 15. ART. ART. 31. A Sermon, preached on Thursday, Nov. 29, 1798, being the Day appointed by Proclamation to be observed as a Day of general Thanksgiving. By Charles Nofworthy Michell, M. A. of Oriel Cellege, Oxford, and Curate of Wefton-under-Penyard, in the Diocese of Hereford. 8vo. 16 pp. 15. Allen, Hereford; Dilly, London. $798. A very fhort and plain difcourfe, the reafons for printing which are not affigned; nor are they very obvious. ART. 32. The Efficacy of Courage in a good Cause. A Sermon, preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, before the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, the Aldermen, Sheriffs, the Common Council of the City of London, the City Officers, the Hon. the Artillery Company, and the Temple Bar and St. Paul's Diftri&t Military Affociation, on Thurfday, Nov. 29, 1798, being the Day appointed by his Majfty to be ob ferved as a general Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the late glorious Victory abtained by his Majefty's Ships of War, under the Command of Rear Admiral Lord Nelfon of the Nile, over the French Fleet, and for other recent and fignal Succeffes. By Thomas Bowen, M. A. Chaplain of Bridewell Precinct, and Chaplain to the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor. 4to. 24 pp. 19. Rivingtons. 1798. It cannot be thought extraordinary that this fpirited difcourfe was acceptable to the audience before which it was delivered. Every truly British bofom must echo the following fentiments and withes; But what words can tell, what longuage can exprefs the praife of THE INTREPID MAN, who flood for all that we hold dear, on that triumphant day? Prodigal of his life, if he might fave bis country, he had infufed his own ardour into the breafts of his gallant feamen: they felt the impulfe, and caught the fpirit of his energetic mind; and though he had fallen, his victory was fecure! But God guarded his precious life, that he might exhibit to furrounding nations the bright examples of a Hero and a Chriftian, who, unlike his boasting adverfary, arrogates not to himself, nor afcribes to fortune the fuccefs of his exploits, but gives the praife to HIM only who is the giver of all victory! He was faved from death, that he might enjoy not only the heartfelt joy of his own enraptured countrymen, but that he might tafte the fublime pleafare excited in his mind by the gratitude of Europe. If fecurity is reftored to property, honour to religion, or order to civil life, thefe bleffings are derived from Britain; and it is the valour of a British Fleet, and the prowess of a British Admiral, by which, under Providence, they will be recovered to mankind. May God Almighty give him to his native land! There, repofing in the bofom of his country, may he long witnefs the bleffings which he has fecured; and, at his last hour, when his earthly warfare is accomplished, may he feel the fweeteft confolations of that holy faith which he has fo well protected!" Pp. 18, 19. Rather a low expreffion. Rev. ART. ART. 33. A Sermon, preached at St. John's, Wakefield, for the Benefit of the Chair of the faid Church, December 16, 1798. Published at the Requeft of the Congregation. By the Rev. Samuel Clapham, M.A. Vicar of Great Oujeborne, near Knaresborough. 4to. 17 pp. ISJ Glendinning, Rivingtons: 1799. Not only the best arguments and authorities for the application of mufic to divine worship are here collected in an able manner, but the whole difcourfe is animated by a fpirit and fervour of piety, which do great credit to the writer, muft have been highly edifying to the Hearers, and will make a favourable and ufeful impreflion on every ferious reader. POLITICS. ART. 34. Remarks on the Explanation lately published by Dr. Priestley, refpecting the intercepted Letters of bis Friend and Difciple, John H. Stone. To which is added, a Certificate of Civism, for if ph Priefiles, Jun. By Peter Porcupine. 8vo. 52 pp. Is. 6d. Wright, Piccadilly. 1799. We fee, with great pleafure, that our honeft and able friend, Peter Porcupine, for the reality of whofe exiftence in America we were obliged to combat in 1794, continues more and more fucceffully to exercife his pen against the democrats of that country, and the inveterate enemies of this. By practice he has improved his ftyle, which, without lofing any of its native vigour, has acquired facility, and occafionally a degree of polish; nor can even his enemies deny that his writings have had an effect, far beyond the ufual powers of the pen. He cannot yet difmifs his original object of attack, Dr. Priestley, whofe views and difpofitions no one has more clearly feen, no one fo fuccefsfully explained. The intercepted Letters of Stone, publifhed in England, made it neceffary for Dr. Priestley, who was addreffed in them, to attempt fome justification in America. For this purpofe he wrote a Letter, which he required, as a point of juftice, to be inferted in Porcupine's Gazette. This Letter forms the fubject of the prefent pamphlet, in which Peter very ably fhows the futility of the Doctor's defence. So great a part of Dr. P.'s conduct, has had reference, and hoftile reference, to England, that the difcuffion of it will generally involve fome objects of confequence here. This is certainly the cafe in the prefent pamphlet, which in many points of view deferves attention. There are not, however, many paffages more remarkable than the for lowing, with the note upon it, which developes the fate of various fons of Sedition, formerly inhabitants of Britain. The Doctor, in his defence, takes care to infinuate, that he was ever, as well as Stone, a zealous friend of the American and French Revolutions. This, fays Porcupine, was dragged in as one of thofe little baits for popularity, which are in conftant ufe amongst all the renegadoes from Great Britain and Ireland; a bafe method of paying their court to the people of America, and one to which every man, who has a drop 64 of of true blood in his heart, fcorns to have recourse. In stating this circumftance, the Doctor indirectly reminds the Americans of his own merits, as one of those who secretly aided their cause, during the conteft between them and the mother country; which, while it proves him to have been unfaithful to his native country, will not, I affure him, serve as a set-off to his correfpondence with Stone. If the public papers, and the arts of land-jobbers, have invited traitors to the country, the people have, on their arrival, uniformly treated them with every mark of abhorrence; and it is a well-known truth, that, of the vaft horde who have fled hither fince the beginning of the French revolution, not one has met with confidence or encouragement." P. 19. This affertion is fupported by the enfuing note. "Reynolds, the feditious united Irishman, who was obliged to fly from Ireland to fave his neck, now stands profecuted for a libel on the American Secretary of State. Go where he will, ftill he must be a malcontent. He is, however, now reduced fo low, that no one will affociate with him, except he be of the very dregs of the mob. He called himself Doctor for fome time; but the title has been laid afide, as of no ufe. This wretch, in his paffage to America, guillotined the king in effigy. Archibald Hamilton Rowan makes fpruce beer, and drives it about for fale in a wheel-barrow. He lives in the borough of Wilmington. Daniel Ifaac Eaton, of hog's-wah memory, was quite bold on his first arrival. He adverti fed pamphlets for fale by 66 Daniel Ifaac Eaton, fix times tried for fedition;" but the alien law foon made him withdraw both his advertisement and himself from the notice of the public. He fome time ago lived in a log-hut over Schuylkill, where he cohabited with an Indian fquaw. The proprietor of the hut, finding what gentry he had got for tenants, turned them out bag and baggage. I happened to be going out on a fhooting party, when the mifcreant and his yellow-hided frow were coming into Camp-town, trapfing through the dirt. And is that," thought I," the PRINTER TO HIS MAJESTY, THE PEOPLE!" He has brought his hogs to a fine market! "Citizen Lee first attempted a magazine, then a book, and then he tried what could be got by travelling, and he is at last comfortably lodged in New-York jail. "Poor Merry (whom, however, I do not clafs with fuch villains as the above) died about three months ago, juft as he was about to finish a treatife on the juftice of the Agrartan fyftem. He was never noticed in America. He pined away in obfcurity. The people here have, thank Heaven, no taste for the Della Crufcan poetry or politics." Subjoined to the tract, we obferve Porcupine's Propofals for a complete edition of his works, which, we truft, will find in England the encouragement they fo well deferve; notwithstanding their extent, and confequent price. The Propofals are written with great fpirit, and, in part, even with elegance. Speaking with much diffidence of the intrinfic merit of his own works, Cobbett alledges, that " Things of no intrinfic value frequently become valuable when seen in a relative point of view. The Beacon, that stands on the fhore, is, in itself, but a mean and infignificant fabric, compofed of materials the most com mon, |