abilities may ferve, and whofe conduct may adorn it. That ftatefman, indeed, betrays the most facred truft, who perverts the ecclefiaftical patronage, committed to his care for the bet of purposes, into a mere engine of state; and who neglects a fuperior intereft for the paltry purpose of procuring votes in parliament. But this wretched and narrow policy will, in the end, prove fatal to himself. The church that is not respectable, will not long be refpected; and, though we may not carry to fuch an extent as fome have done our ideas of the alliance between church and state, yet we are perfuaded that the civil and ecclefiaftical conftitutions of this country are fo interwoven and connected, that the one could not sustain an injury without materially affecting the other.

Our attachment to the interests of religion, and of the established church in particular, has inadvertently led us into this digreffion. We return with pleasure to the volume before us, which does honour to the epifcopal bench. Independent of the excellence of the compofition, thefe difcourfes are diftinguished by an earnest, though rational piety; by a spirit of charity and good humour, which pervades the whole; by strong, popular, and well arranged arguments to enforce the belief and practice of religion, and by a number of excellent obfer vations and useful precepts for our conduct in life.

The difcourfes contained in this volume are, 1. Cheerfulnefs a diftinguishing Feature of the Christian Religion. 2. On the Chriftian Doctrine of Redemption. 3. The fame fubject continued. 4. Self-communion recommended. 5. On the Character of David. 6. Purity of Manners no less neceffary to a Chriftian Character than Benevolence. 7. A Difcourfe for the Anniverfary of the Sons of the Clergy. 8. Early Piety enforced. 9. Partial Faith and partial Obedience not permitted by the Chriftian Religion. 10. A Sermon before the House of Lords, on the 30th of January, 1778. 11. The fuperior Excellence of Chriftian Preaching, and the Caufes of it. 12. A Difcourfe for the Annual Meeting of the Charity Schools. 13. On the Government of the Paffions. 14. On the Character of Jefus Chrift. 15. On the Thanksgiving. for his Majefty's Recovery. 16. The one Thing needful. 17. On the various Opportunities for doing good. Of thefe were particularly pleafed with the 1ft, 6th, 8th, and 17th, which, we think, are not inferior to any compofitions of the kind that ever came under our infpection.

Our readers will doubtlefs be gratified by a few extracts. The two following are from the first fermon, and will fufficiently juftify our commendation of it.

That future ftate of existence, of which Chriftianity first gave us a clear and diftinét view, affords a profpect to us that cannot well

fail to chear and enliven our hearts, and even bear us up under the heaviest preffures of affliction. Without this fupport, there are, it must be owned, calamities fufficient to break the highest spirits, and to fubdue the firmest minds. When the good and virtuous man is unjustly accused and inhumanly traduced; when enemies oppress and friends defert him; when poverty and distress come upon him like an armed man; when his favourite child, or his beloved companion, is fnatched from him by death; when he is racked with inceffant pain, or pining away with incurable difeafe; when he knows, moreover, that he can have no reft but in the grave, and supposes that this reft is the absolute extinction of his being; no wonder that he finks into melancholy and defpair. But let the divine light of immortality break in upon him, and the gloom that furrounds him clears up. Let this day-star arife before him, and it will shed a brightness over the whole scene of his existence, which will make every thing look gay and chearful around him. He is no longer the fame being he was before. A new fet of ideas and fentiments, of hopes and expectations, fpring up in his mind, and reprefent every thing in a point of view totally different from that in which they before appeared to him. What he had been accustomed to 'confider as infupportable misfortunes, he now fees to be most falutary chastisements. This world is no longer his home. It is a scene of discipline, a school of virtue, a place of education, intended to fit him for appearing well in a far more illuftrious station. Under this conviction he goes on with alacrity and steadiness in the paths of duty, neither difcouraged by difficulties, nor depreffed by misfortunes. He is a citizen of a heavenly country, towards which he is travelling his accommodations on the road are fometimes, it must be owned, wretched enough; but they are only temporary inconveniences; they are trivial difquietudes, which are below his notice; for at home he knows every thing will be to his mind. The bleffings which there await him, and on which his heart is fixed, infpire him with an ardour and alacrity that carry him through every obstacle. Even under the most calamitous circumftances, he fupports himfelf with this reflexion, more pregnant with good fenfe and folid comfort, than all the vast volumes of ancient philofophy or modern infidelity, that "these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, fhall work for him (if he bears them with Chriftian patience) a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

We of this kingdom have been repeatedly ftigmatized by the other nations of Europe as a melancholy, dejected, gloomy people.. The charge, I fear, is upon the whole but too well founded; and the proofs too vifible, and fometimes too dreadful to be evaded or denied. It behoves us therefore, furely, to enquire a little into the true caufes of this national malady; and to confider, whether one of thefe caufes may not be a contemptuous difregard, or, at least, a S 2 cold

cold indifference for that moft pure, and holy, and enlivening religion, which contains the only true remedy for our difeafe. Instead of this, we have too commonly recourfe to a very different mode of relief, to thofe pernicious cordials of unbounded pleafure and endlefs diffipation, which, though like other cordials, they may raife our fpirits for the moment, yet afterwards fink and deprefs them beyond recovery, and leave the unhappy patient infinitely more in diftrefs and danger than they found him. If this be the cafe, we know. what we have to do. We muft fly to a totally oppofite regimen ;) to that purity of mind, that fanétity of manners, that self-government, that moral difcipline, that modefty of defire, that difcreet and temperate enjoyment of the world, that exalted piety, that active benevolence, that truft in Providence, that exhilarating hope of immortality, which the doctrines and the precepts of the Gospel fo powerfully imprefs upon our fouls, and which, as we have feen, are the best and most powerful preservatives against all depreffion of fpirits. It is here, in fhort, if any where, true chearfulnefs is to be found. To thofe, indeed, who have been long diffolved in luxury and gaiety, that moderation in all things which Christianity preferibes, may, at firft, appear a harth and painful reftraint; but a little time, and a little perfeverance, will render it as delightful as it is confeffedly falutary. Be prevailed on then, for once, to give it a fair trial; and accept, with all thankfulness, that most gracious invitation of our bleffed Redeemer, "Conie unto me all ye that travel and are heavy laden, and I will give you reft. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye fhall find reft unto your fouls. For my yoke is eafy, and my burthen is light."

The following are from the fourth fermon, which was preached at St. James'.

Nothing is fo apt to wear off that reverence for virtue, and abhorrence of vice, with which all well-principled men enter into the world, as a conftant commerce with the world. If we have had the happinefs of a good education, our firft judgments of men and things are generally right. We deteft all appearance of bafenefs, artifice, and hypocrify: we love every thing that is fair, open, honeft, and generous. But how feldom does it happen, that we carry these fentiments along with us, and act in conformity to them, through life. How feldom does it happen, that we are proof against the freedom of converfation, or the contagion of example, which infenfibly corrupt the fimplicity of our hearts, and diftort the uprightness of our opinions. We are aware, perhaps, of the open attacks upon our virtue, which every one may fee, and guard againft, if he pleafes; but it is not every one that fees thofe more fecret enemies, that are perpetually at work, undermining his integrity. It is fcarce poffible to be always with the multitude, without falling in with its fentiments, and following it to do evil, though we never in

tended

r

tended it. The croud carries us involuntarily forward, without our foeming to take one step ourselves in the way that they are going. We learn, by degrees, to think with lefs abhorrence on what we fee every day practifed and applauded. We learn to look on bad examples with complacency; and it is but too eafy a tranfition, from feeing vice without difguft, to practising it without remorse. We quickly find out the act of accommodating our duty to our interefts, and making our opinions bend to our inclinations. We lofe fight of the honeft notions we first fet out with, and adopt others more pliant in their stead. The iffues of life thus corrupted, the infection foon fpreads itself to our actions. We are enflaved by habits, without feeling the chain thrown over us, and become guilty of crimes, which we once could not think of without fhuddering. It is, therefore, of the laft confequence, to ftep afide fometintes from the world, in order to compare our prefent way of thinking and acting with our paft; to try and fift ourselves thoroughly; "to fearch out our fpirits; and feck the very ground of our hearts; to prove and examine our thoughts; to look well, extremely well, if there be any way of wickednefs in us; that if there be, we may turn from it into the way everlasting."

• If Providence has caft our lot in a fair ground, has given us a goodly heritage, and bleffed us with a large proportion of every thing that is held moft valuable in this world, rank, power, wealth, beauty, health, and ftrength; though we may then, perhaps, be lefs difpofed, yet have we more occafion for felf-communion than ever. Reflexion will, at that time, be particularly needful, to check the extravagance of our joy; to preferve us from vanity and felf-conceit; to keep our pampered appetites in subjection; to guard us from the dangers of profperity and the temptations of luxury, from difüipation and debauchery, from pride and infolence, from that wanton cruelty, and incredible hardness of heart, which high spirits and uninterrupted happiness too often produce. Instead of thefe wild exceffes, religious meditation will turn the overflowings of our gladnefs into their proper channels, into praifes and thanksgivings to the gracious Author of our happinefs, and a liberal communication to others of the bleffings we enjoy; which are the only proper expreflions of our thankfulness, and the only fuitable return for fuch diftinguishing marks of the divine favour."

In enforcing the purity of a Chriflian life, in the fixth fermon, our excellent prelate thus proceeds:

In whatever fenfe, then, we understand the expreffion of charity covering our fins, the fenfualift can never avail himself of that protection, becauf he acts in direct contradiction to the very firft principles of true Chr.ft an charity. "Love worketh no ill to his neigh83

bour."

bour," fays St. Paul; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law; and therefore he who works fuch ill to his neighbour, as the voluptuary does every day, (by deftroying the innocence, the peace, the comfort, the happiness, temporal and eternal, of thofe very perfons for whom he profeffes the tendereft regard) must be an utter stranger to real philanthropy. Though he may feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and vifit the fatherlefs and widows in their affliction; yet, if to gratify his own paffions, he plunges those who have never offend, ed him in mifery and difgrace, he is a hurtful member of fociety, Nay, perhaps his very liberality and good-nature ferve only to render him the more hurtful. They throw a luftre over the criminal part of his character, and render him an object of admiration to the croud of fervile imitators, who, not having the sense to separate his vices from his accomplishments, form their conduct upon his example in the grofs, and hope to become equally agreeable by being equally wicked. And, as if it was not enough to have these patterns before our eyes in real life, they are once more ferved up to us in the productions of some modern writers, who, to the fond ambition of what they call copying after nature, and of gaining a name, are content to facrifice the interefts of virtue, and to lend a willing hand towards finishing the corruption of our manners. Hence it is, that

in feveral of our most favourite works of fancy and amusement, the principal figure of the piece is fome profeffed libertine, who, on the ftrength of a pleafing figure, a captivating addrefs, and a certain amiable generofity of difpofition, has the privilege of committing whatever irregularities he thinks fit, and of excufing them in the eafieft manner imaginable, as the unavoidable effects of conftitution, and the little foibles of a heart intrinsically good. Thus, whilst he delights our imagination, and wins our affections, he never fails, at the fame time, to corrupt our principles. And young people, more especially, inftend of being infpired with a juft deteftation of vice, are furnished with apologies for it which they never forget, and are even taught to confider it as a neceffary part of an accomplished character.'

From these specimens our readers will fee that the style is plain, yet, in general, chafte and correct-Perfectly free from all affectation, and yet neither deficient in vivacity nar elegance.

2. Horatii Flacci, quæ fuperfunt, recenfuit et Notulis inftruxit Gilbertus Wakefield, A. B. 2 Vols. Jmall 8vo. 10s. 64. Boards. Large Paper 18s. Kearsleys. 1794.

IT

T is difficult to point out a more interefting writer among the Roman poets, than Horace, both on account of the variety of his talents, and the elegance of his compofitions. It is not, therefore, furprizing that fo many commentators