Sketches of Sermons, preached to congregations, in various parts of the United Kingdom, and on the European Continent; furnished by their respective Authors. Second edition, Vol. I. London: Holdsworth, 1821, about 200 pages, 12mo. pr. 4s. bds. Sacred Lyrics. By JAMES EDMESTON, second set. London, Holdsworth, 1821, 12mo. 3s. 6d. bds. WE gave some account of the former set of Mr. Edmeston's Lyrics, in our fifth volume, page 245; and, if the WE are quite unable to account for reader will take the trouble of referring the fact, of the first edition of this work to the article, he will find, that we then having entirely escaped our notice; but, with the friends of sacred poetry, In predicted the author's rising reputation we find, upon enquiry, that the whole the little volume before us, he has impression was disposed of in less than redeemed the pledge of excellence with six months. And, when we consider which he commenced his poetic career. that it is a publication calculated rather for the use of ministers and students in favourite with us: for, while by no We confess, that his muse is a great theology than for general readers, we think the public may safely admit it as vention and melodious cadence, she is means deficient in the powers of ina proof of its merit. In an exceedingly chaste-she is elegant-she is pawell written Preface of about a dozen thetic. We have not the pleasure of pages, the important ends designed to be answered by public preaching, and knowing Mr. Edmeston personally; the doctrines which should form the domestic relations, as he is respectable but, he appears to us, as amiable in his basis of a minister's pulpit addresses, for his talents. Who, for instance, can are stated with great clearness and pre-read the following Elegy, without feelcision. And, this is followed by some ing attached to the writer? In excellent observations on the most useful method of composing sermons, with cautions against the more prominent faults in modern preachers. deed, the whole of this Preface is very valuable, and highly deserving the attention of young ministers, on which account we strongly recommend it to them. It indicates, throughout, the hand of a master in Israel. The volume comprises the outlines of fifty sermons, on a great variety of subjects, both doctrinal and practical, after the plan of Simeon's Skeletons. Each sermon occupies from three to four closely printed pages, including a pertinent exordium to each discourse-an illustration of the doctrine contained in the text-and this is followed by an application or improvement of the subject. The volume abounds with judicious hints and pertinent reflections, which cannot fail to be exceedingly useful to such as are called to labour in the word and doctrine. We shall be glad to see it followed up by several others of equal value. Though we do not pledge ourselves for the correctness of every sentiment contained in the sermons, we can truly say, that we have hitherto seen no work of the kind that so fully meets our own views of excellence. We repeat it, that young ministers may derive great assistance from this little volume, on the plan and composition of their Sermons; but, we should not approve of their working these sketches up by wholesale. To the Memory of a Sister. Thy chains are burst, thy bars are broken, Each silent mark, each icy token. Thy cheek is fixed, thy brow is bare, Thy lips are pale, thine eye is faded; Pleasure and health attract the view, Life lights the eye, and gives it splendor; A smile more sweet, a grace inore tender, And while upon thy face I gaze, Where once the flash of pleasure lightned, And pictures hours that thou hast brightened, Perchance, the smile I loved to trace May give one day a better greeting, And thou, sweet Spirit! now set free, 1 loved thee-yes, bear witness here. Thy grief, thy bitterness, is o'er, Then far be grief-I will not mourn; There are several charming pieces | remarkably pathetic and touching; and must have put the preacher's feelings to a severe test. We can only say, that the reading of them was more than we could accomplish, without a pause for the purpose of repressing ours. in the present volume, which we would gladly lay before our readers, could we afford room for them. The concluding one is an Ode to the New Year, from which we must quote a few stanzas, as applicable to the moment of our publication. The New Year, 1821. When the Memory turns to gaze If some moments, here and there, Ever as the beams appear In the first of annual hours, HOPE enwreathes the infant year With a coronet of flowers: Then we think, as moments fly Thus the Elegy, that sings Mourns o'er days of useless flight, Hopes the coming hours to seize; When shall Conscience cease to write Vows but made to break like these! Joyful Anticipations: a Sermon occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Sloper, and preached Lord's-day Evening, Nov. 4, 1821. By SAMUEL SLEIGH, Salisbury; Printed and sold by Westley, Stationer'scourt, pp. 56, pr. 1s. THE name of Sloper, will recall to the recollection of many of our readers, a respectable minister of the gospel, who, we are sorry to say, is by a very bereaving providence, left a widower, with four infant children, to bewail the loss of a most amiable wife and mother, taken away from them, in the very spring-time of life, after a union of a few years. Mr. Sleigh was called upon by the family to improve the mournful Occurrence, in a sermon, from Rev. xxi. 25. in which the heavenly rest is contemplated as a state of knowledge, purity, glory, and joy. The concluding part of the sermon furnishes an interesting account of the state of Mrs. Sloper's mind during her last illness, and of her noble triumph over the last enemy. Several of the incidents are The Work and Reward of the faithful Pastor; the substance of a Discourse occasioned by the death of the Rev. Thomas Williams, late Pastor of the Congregational Church, Haggerston, near London, BY GEORGE EVANS; to which is added a Memoir of his Life: London, Westley, Stationer's Court; and Offor, Tower Hill, 1821. pp. 24. Price 1s. "I cannot conclude this Memoir," says Mr. Evans, "without declaring that I have never known a more disinterested, or more laborious servant of Jesus Christ, than THOMAS WILLIAMS." This is certainly high praise; but far be it from us to question its justness. We had not the pleasure of knowing Mr. Williams, even by report; but we know Mr. Evans, and are very sure that he would not publish to the world, what he did not believe to be true. He is himself, both a laborious and a disinterested servant of Christ, and he has given proof of it in the present publication, all the proceeds of which are for the benefit of the widow and children:” his own church having, as we are told, with a liberality, which does them great credit, defrayed all the expenses of publication. The text is, Rev. ii. 10. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life;" and the sermon discusses, the Work and the Reward of a faithful Pastor-the former as, beneficial in its nature and tendency-difficult in its performance, and most important in its results, having the glory of God, and the happiness of man for its object-the reward, a crown of life, an eternal inheritance in the heavens. The circumstances attending Mr. Williams's death, are exceedingly alecting : at breakfast with his family, he was scalded in a dreadful manner, by the overturning of a coffee-pot! The accident brought on erysipelas, and fever, under which he languished eight weeks, and died Oct. 4th 1821, at the age of fifty-eight, leaving a widow and seven children, three of whom, with their mother, are unprovided for. We have said follows: "It is the peculiar object of this annual compendium of Physico-Theology to show that the Book OF NATURE is only to be studied to advantage by the aid of parallel passages in the BOOK OF REVE LATION; that "stars teach as well as shine;"-that "all beasts and birds, all fishes and insects, are for food to us, and for ornament, for instruction, for variety, and wonder, and for religion;”that whether we wander through the daisied meadow, or by the shell-strewn borders of the ever-rolling ocean, we every where discover evidence of a Deity:-that the flowers which adorn, and the fruits which enrich, every successive season, indicate alike the wis dom and the beneficence of the Creator; that every blade of grass has a moral meaning; and, in short, that all may, if they will take the pains, or rather the pleasure of searching, Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. "Choice specimens of Biography and Anecdote, gleaned from the rich harvest field of the great reaper TIME, and intertwined with the "everlasting flowers' of Poesy, as usual, form the ornamental parts of the table on which our "Feast of Reason" is displayed." We have seldom met with a more agreeable parlour-window book than this; it is a complete picture gallery, presenting subjects for every taste; and, as there is a fresh exhibition of pictures every year, Time's Telescope becomes equally entertaining, in its way, with that which annually attracts so many thousands to Somerset House. Hare are birds, shells, and insects, all painted after nature, by the first masters; flower pieces, almost equal to Van Huysum's; spirited sketches of men, eminent for their virtue or their talents; humorous and grotesque scenes of olden time: lively and piquant anecdotes, and the whole is full of "ancient saws and modern instances"-the said gallery being tastefully ornamented, and the pictures intertwined with some of the choicest flowers that are continually dropping from the garlands of the Muses. In this amusing book, all nature, and every day in the year, is laid under contribution, and does not fail to produce some instructive or pleasing subject. The principal, and indeed we may say, almost the only objectionable thing which we have noticed about this volume is, that it is so liberal of its details What boots it to us who Saint Agatha respecting the Saints of the Romish church. Britius, Chad, Denys, or fifty others was, or Saint Alphege, or Baise, or here chronicled. It is surely high time that we had done with this trumpery, which no sensible person can reflect scious shame, that they should ever upon without feeling the blush of conhave been dignified by being associated with the records of our country. We cannot suspect the Editor of an attachrior a mind to allow of that. He may ment to popery-he displays too supetell us, indeed, that our excellent Church of of England, thinks proper to "observe days" appropriated to the memory these Saints and Saintesses; but we should think her quite as excellent, if she did no such thing! titled "The Complaint of the dying The last article in the volume, is enyear," ,"attributed to Dr. Henderson, the well known Missionary, and author of "Travels in Iceland." We cannot make room for the whole of it, but a specimen our readers shall have. 66 "I am," said he, "the son of old father Time, and the last of a numerous progeny; for he has had no less than five thousand eight hundred and seventeen of us; but it has ever been his fate to see one child It is the expire before another was born. is beginning to break up, and that, when opinion of some, that his own constitution he has given birth to a hundred or two more of us, his family will be complete, and then he himself will be no more. roses, and sparkling in sunbeams, and laid up a store of costly ornaments for her luxuriant successors: But I cannot stop to enumerate the good qualities and graces of all my children. You, my poor December, dark in your complexion, and cold in your temper, greatly resemble my firstborn, January, with this difference, that he was more prone to anticipation, and you to reflection. "If there should be any, who, upon hearing my dying lamentation, may feel regret that they have not treated me more kindly, I would beg leave to hint, that it is "Here the Old Year called for his account book, and turned over the pages with a sorrowful eye. He has kept, it appears, an accurate account of the moments, minutes, hours, and months which he has issued, and subjoined, in some places, memorandums of the uses to which they have been applied, and of the losses he has sustained. These particulars it would be tedious to detail, and perhaps the recollection of the reader may furnish them as well or better; but we must notice one circumstance; upon turning to a certain page in bis accounts, the old man was much affected, and the tears streamed down his fur-yet in their power to make some compenrowed cheeks as he examined it. This was the register of the forty-eight Sundays which he had issued; and which, of all the wealth he had to dispose of, has been, it appears, the most scandalously wasted. "These," said he, "were my most precious gifts. I had but fifty-two of them to bestow. Alas! how lightly have they been esteemed! Here, upon referring back to certain old memorandums, he found a long list of vows and resolutions, which had a particular reference to these fifty-two Sundays. This with a mingled emotion of grief and anger, he tore into a hundred pieces, and threw them on the embers, by which he was endeavouring to warm his shivering limbs. 66 sation for their past conduct, by rendering me, during my few remaining days, as much service as is in their power; let them testify the sincerity of their sorrow by an immediate alteration in their behaviour. It would give me particular pleasure to see my only surviving child treated with respect: fet no one slight her offerings; she has a considerable part of my property still to dispose of, which, if well employed, will turn to good account. Not to mention the rest, there is one precious Sunday yet in her gift; it would cheer my last moments to know that this had been better prized than the past. 66 Having thus spoken, the Old Year fell back on his couch, nearly exhausted, and trembling so violently as to shake the last shower of yellow leaves from his canopy. Let us all hasten to testify our gratitude for his services, and repentance for the abuse of them, by improving the remaining days of his existence, and by remembering the solemn promises we made him in his I feel, however," said he, "more pity than indignation towards these offenders, since they were far greater enemies to themselves than to me. But there are a few outrageous ones, by whom I have been defrauded of so much of my substance, that it is difficult to think of them with patience, particularly that notorious thief Procras-youth." tination, of whom every body has heard, and who is well known to have wronged my venerable father of much of his property. There are also three noted ruffians, Sleep, Sloth, and Pleasure, from whom I have suffered much; besides a certain busybody called Dress, who, under pretence of making the most of me, and taking great care of me, steals away more of my gifts than any two of them. "As for me, all must acknowledge that I have performed my part towards my friends and foes. I have fulfilled my utmost promise, and been more bountiful than many of my predecessors. My twelve fair children have, each in their turn, aided my exertions; and their various tastes had dispositions have all conduced to the general good. Mild February, who sprinkled the naked boughs with delicate buds, and brought her wonted offering of early flowers, was not of more essential services than that rude blustering boy, March, who, though violent in his temper, was well-intentioned and useful.-April, a gentle tender-hearted girl, wept for his loss, yet cheered me with many a smile. June came crowned with VOL. VIII. How swiftly pass our years! How soon their night comes on! And human life is gone! Falls, like the dewdrops in the breeze. Cold WINTER hastens on! Fair Nature feels his grasp; And sighs their glory past! So, LIFE, thy Summer soon will end, But Summer will return, Then may we daily seek A mansion in the skies, There an eternal SPRING shall bloom, 26 Religious and Literary Entelligence. The merits of the Inquisition, is a subject now so generally understood in this country, and so fully appreciated, that it is needless for us to say anything by way of elucidating it: and were the case otherwise, it may be sufficiently ascertained from the last of the Speeches which we are about to lay before our readers. The abolishing of this dreadful engine of Papal despotism, in Portugal, may be regarded as one of the most inemorable occurrences of the year 1821. The daily journals have communicated some interesting information respecting it but the two following Speeches, which were delivered by members of the Cortes, when the question for its abolition came under discussion in that assembly, have never yet been presented to the eye of the English reader. They were transmitted to us by an intimate friend, who has resided in Lisbon during the last dozen years, and who has been at the trouble of translating them from the Portuguese expressly for this journal. Edit. SPEECH OF JOAO MARIA SOARES "I have listened to all that has been said with respect to the Holy Office; and though I can only bear testimony to my own time, I must nevertheless offer some remarks on that Establishment. "There exists, doubtless, the principle of reason, which ought to correct the actions and thoughts of man. Reason which is his most essential attribute, and which ought to guide him according to the principles of justice engraved on his heart; but unhappily reason ifself turns dumb in the midst of the passions, and the human imagination, ever fertile in chimeras, commonly substitutes in its place, fantastical ideas, which men's interest, and custom, render sacred and respectable, until other new ones occupy the place of the former. The philosopher, however, contemplating with some impartiality the institutions of every time and age, examining them with equal impartiality, but recognizing in them the same origin, distinguishing in each the character of the age to which it belongs, man affairs. Let us not wonder then if the as foolish? |