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Sermons are so seldom examined with any considerable degree of critical vigilance, that we are apt to discover in them sometimes a great laxity of assertion; such as the following:

divinities he has painted are certainly a | ble, and imperatively dignified: and more drunken, quarrelsome, adulterous, if Dr. Rennel means, that St. Paul disintriguing, lascivious set of beings, than played these qualities at different times, are to be met with in the most profli- then could not any one of them direct gate court in Europe. There is, every or soften the other. now and then, some plain coarse morality in Homer; but the most bloody revenge, and the most savage cruelty in warfare, the ravishing of women, and the sale of men, &c. &c. &c., are circumstances which the old bard seems to relate as the ordinary events of his times, without ever dreaming that there could be much harm in them; and if it be urged that Homer took his ideas of right and wrong from a barbarous age, that is just saying, in other words, that Homer had very imperfect ideas of natural law.

age

Having exhausted all his powers of ealogium upon the times that are gone, Dr. Rennel indemnifies himself by the very novel practice of declaiming against the present age. It is an evil age an adulterous age - - an ignorant an apostate age- and a foppish age. Of the propriety of the last epithet, our readers may perhaps be more convinced, by calling to mind a class of fops not usually designated by that epithet- -men clothed in profound black, with large canes, and strange amorphous hats-of big speech, and imperative presence-talkers about Plato-great affecters of senility. despisers of women, and all the graces of life- fierce foes to common sense -abusive of the living, and approving no one who has not been dead for at least a century. Such fops, as vain and as shallow as their fraternity in Bond Street, differ from these only as Gorgonius differed from Rufillus.

"Labour to be undergone, afflictions to be borne, contradictions to be endured, danger to be braved, interest to be despised in the best and most flourishing ages of the church, are the perpetual badges of far the greater part of those who take up their cross and follow Christ."

This passage, at first, struck us to be untrue; and we could not immediately recollect the afflictions Dr. Rennel alluded to, till it occurred to us, that he must undoubtedly mean the eight hundred and fifty actions which, in the course of eighteen months, have been brought against the clergy for non-residence.

Upon the danger to be apprehended from Roman Catholics in this country, Dr. Rennel is laughable. We should as soon dream that the wars of York and Lancaster would break out afresh, as that the Protestant religion in England has anything to apprehend from the machinations of Catholics. such a scheme as that of Catholic

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emancipation, which has for its object to restore their natural rights to three or four millions of men, and to allay the fury of religious hatred, Dr. Rennel is, as might be expected, a very strenuous antagonist. Time, which lifts up the veil of political mystery, will inform us if the Doctor has taken that side of the question which may be as lucrative to himself as it is inimical to human happiness, and repugnant to enlightened policy.

In the ninth Discourse (p. 226), we read of St. Paul, that he had "an heroic zeal, directed, rather than bounded, by the nicest discretion - -a conscious and commanding dignity, softened by Of Dr. Rennel's talents as a reathe meekest and most profound hu- soner, we certainly have formed no mility." This is intended for a fine very high opinion. Unless dogmatical piece of writing; but it is without assertion, and the practice (but too meaning: for, if words have any limits, common among theological writers) of it is a contradiction in terms to say of taking the thing to be proved for part the same person, at the same time, that of the proof, can be considered as evihe is nicely discreet, and heroically dence of a logical understanding, the zealous; or that he is profoundly hum-specimens of argument Dr. Rennel has

afforded us are very insignificant. For | found thought, not vulgar violence and putting obvious truths into vehement the eternal repetition of rabble-rousing language; for expanding and adorning words, were necessary to literary reputamoral instruction; this gentleman certainly possesses considerable talents; and if he will moderate his insolence, steer clear of theological metaphysics, and consider rather those great laws of Christian practice, which must interest mankind through all ages, than the petty questions which are important to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the time being, he may live beyond his own days, and become a star of the third or fourth magnitude in the English Church.

JOHN BOWLES.

(E. REVIEW, 1802.) Reflections at the Conclusion of the War: Being a Sequel to Reflections on the Political and Moral State of Society at the Close of the Eighteenth Century. The Third Edition, with Additions. By John Bowles, Esq.

tion, he would never have emerged from that obscurity to which he will soon return. The intemperate passions of the public, not his own talents, have given him some temporary reputation; and now, when men hope and fear with less eagerness than they have been lately accustomed to do, Mr. Bowles will be compelled to descend from that moderate eminence, where no man of real genius would ever have condescended to remain.

The pamphlet is written in the genuine spirit of the Wyndham and Burke school; though Mr. Bowles cannot be called a servile copyist of either of these gentlemen, as he has rejected the logic of the one, and the eloquence of the other, and imitated them only in their headstrong violence, and exaggerated abuse. There are some men who continue to astonish and please the world, even in the support of a bad cause. They are mighty in their fallacies, and beautiful in their errors. Mr. Bowles sees only one half of the precedent; and thinks, in order to be famous, that he has nothing to do but to be in the wrong.

War, eternal war, till the wrongs of Europe are avenged, and the Bourbons restored, is the master-principle of Mr. Bowles's political opinions, and the ob

If this peace be, as Mr. Bowles asserts, the death-warrant of the liberty and power of Great Britain, we will venture to assert, that it is also the deathwarrant of Mr. Bowles's literary reputation; and that the people of this island, if they verify his predictions, and cease to read his books, whatever they may lose in political greatness. will evince no small improvement inject for which he declaims through the critical acumen. There is a political whole of the present pamphlet. as well as a bodily hypochondriasis; The first apprehensions which Mr. and there are empirics always on the Bowles seems to entertain, are of the watch to make their prey, either of the boundless ambition and perfidious chaone or of the other. Dr. Solomon, Dr.racter of the First Consul, and of that Brodum, and Mr. Bowles, have all com- military despotism he has established, manded their share of the public atten- which is not only impelled by the love tion but the two former gentlemen of conquest, but interested, for its own continue to flourish with undiminished preservation, to desire the overthrow splendour; while the patients of the of other states. Yet the author informs latter are fast dwindling away, and his us, immediately after, that the life of drugs falling into disuse and contempt. Buonaparte is exposed to more dangers The truth is, if Mr. Bowles had than that of any other individual in begun his literary career at a period Europe, who is not actually in the last when superior discrimination and pro- stage of an incurable disease; and that his death, whenever it happens, must involve the dissolution of that machine of government, of which he must be considered not only as the sole director, but the main spring. Confusion of

It is impossible to conceive the mischievous power of the corrupt alarmists of those days, and the despotic manner in which they exercised their authority They were fair objects for the Edinburgh Review.

object of Divine vengeance till she takes one. In the same page, all the miseries of France are stated to be a

thought, we are told, is one of the truest indications of terror; and the panic of this alarmist is so very great, that he cannot listen to the consolation judgment of heaven for their cruelty which he himself affords: for it appears, to the king; and, in the 33rd page, upon summing up these perils, that we they are discovered to proceed from are in the utmost danger of being de- the perfidy of the same king to this stroyed by a despot, whose system of country in the American contest. So government, as dreadful as himself, that certain misfortunes proceed from cannot survive him, and who, in all the maltreatment of a person, who had human probability, will be shot or himself occasioned these identical mishanged, before he can execute any one fortunes before he was maltreated; of his projects against us. and while Providence is compelling the French, by every species of affliction, to resume monarchical government, they are to acquire such extraordinary vigour, from not acting as Providence would wish, that they are to trample on every nation which co-operates with the Divine intention.

We have a good deal of flourishing, in the beginning of the pamphlet, about the effect of the moral sense upon the stability of governments: that is, as Mr. Bowles explains it, the power which all old governments derive from the opinion entertained by the people of the justice of their rights. If this sense of ancient right be (as is here confidently asserted) strong enough ultimately to restore the Bourbons, why are we to fight for that which will be done without any fighting at all? And, if it be strong enough to restore, why was it weak enough to render restoration necessary?

To notice every singular train of reasoning into which Mr. Bowles falls, is not possible; and, in the copious choice of evils, we shall, from feelings of mercy, take the least.

It must not be forgotten, he observes, that "those rights of government, which, because they are ancient, are recognised by the moral sense as lawful, are the only ones which are compatible with civil liberty." So that all questions of right and wrong, between the governors and the governed, are determinable by chronology alone. Every political institution is favourable to liberty, not according to its spirit, but in proportion to the antiquity of its date; and the slaves of Great Britain are groaning under the trial by jury, while the free men of Asia exult in the bold privilege transmitted to them by their fathers of being trampled to death by elephants.

In the 8th page, Mr. Bowles thinks that France, if she remain without a king, will conquer all Europe: and, in the 19th page, that she will be an

In the 60th page, Mr. Bowles explains what is meant by Jacobinism; and, as a concluding proof of the justice with which the character is drawn, triumphantly quotes the case of a certain R. Mountain, who was tried for damning all kings and all governments upon earth; for, adds R. Mountain, "I am a Jacobin." Nobody can more thoroughly detest and despise that restless spirit of political innovation, which, we suppose, is meant by the name of Jacobinism, than we ourselves do; but we were highly amused with this proof, ab ebriis sutoribus, of the prostration of Europe, the last hour of human felicity, the perdition of man, discovered in the crapulous eructations of a drunken cobbler.

This species of evidence might certainly have escaped a common observer: But this is not all: there are other proofs of treason and sedition, equally remote, sagacious, and profound. Many good subjects are not very much pleased with the idea of the Whig Club dining together; but Mr. Bowles has the merit of first calling the public attention to the alarming practice of singing after dinner at these political meetings. He speaks with a proper horror of tavern dinners,

"-where conviviality is made a stimulus to disaffection-where wine serves only to inflame disloyalty-where toasts are converted into a vehicle of sedition-and where

the powers of harmony are called forth in the cause of Discord by those hireling singers, who are equally ready to invoke the Divine favour on the head of their King, or to strain their venal throats in chanting the triumphs of his bitterest enemies."

All complaint is futile, which is not followed up by appropriate remedies. If Parliament, or Catarrh, do not save us, Dignum and Sedgwick will quaver away the King, shake down the House of Lords, and warble us into all the horrors of republican government. When, in addition to these dangers, we reflect also upon those with which our national happiness is menaced, by the present thinness of ladies' petticoats (p. 78), temerity may hope our salvation, but how can reason promise it? One solitary gleam of comfort, indeed, beams upon us in reading the solemn devotion of this modern Curtius to the cause of his King and country

DR. LANGFORD.

(E. REVIEW, 1802.) Anniversary Sermon of the Royal Humane Society. By W. Langford, D.D. Printed for F. and C. Rivington.

AN accident, which happened to the gentleman engaged in reviewing this sermon, proves, in the most striking manner, the importance of this charity for restoring to life persons in whom the vital power is suspended. He was discovered, with Dr. Langford's discourse lying open before him, in a state of the most profound sleep; from which he could not, by any means, be awakened for a great length of time. By attending, however, to the rules prescribed by the Humane Society, flinging in the smoke of tobacco, applying hot flannels, and carefully removing the discourse itself to a great distance, the critic was restored to his disconsolate brothers.

"My attachment to the British monarchy, and to the reigning family, is rooted in my 'heart's core.'-My anxiety for the British throne, pending the dangers to which, in The only account he could give of common with every other throne, it has himself was, that he remembers readlately been exposed, has embittered my ing on, regularly, till he came to the choicest comforts. And I most solemnly following pathetic description of a vow, before Almighty God, to devote my-drowned tradesman; beyond which, self, to the end of my days, to the maintehe recollects nothing. nance of that throne."

"But to the individual himself, as a man,

channels. The spring being suddenly cut off, what confusion must follow in the

Whether this patriotism be original, let us add the interruption to all the temor whether it be copied from the Up-poral business in which his interest was holsterer in Foote's Farces, who sits engaged. To him indeed now apparently up whole nights watching over the lost, the world is as nothing; but it seldom British constitution, we shall not stop happens, that man can live for himself to inquire; because, when the practi- alone: society parcels out its concerns in cal effect of sentiments is good, we various connexions; and from one head would not diminish their merits by in-issue waters which run down in many vestigating their origin. We seriously commend in Mr. Bowles this future dedication of his life to the service of his King and country; and consider it as a virtual promise that he will write no more in their defence. No wise or good man has ever thought of either, but with admiration and respect. That they should be exposed to that ridicule, by the forward imbecility of friendship, from which they appear to be protected by intrinsic worth, is so painful a consideration, that the very thought of it, we are persuaded, will induce Mr. Bowles to desist from writing on political subjects.

streams which have flowed from its source? It may be, that all the expectations reasonably raised of approaching prosperity, to those who have embarked in the same occupation, may at once disappear; and the important interchange of commercial faith be broken off, before it could be brought to any advantageous conclusion."

This extract will suffice for the style of the sermon. The charity itself is above all praise.

To this exceedingly foolish man, the first years of Etonian Education were ingreater misfortune on a country, than to trusted. How is it possible to inflict a fill up such an office with such an officer?

PUBLIC CHARACTERS OF 1801,
1802. (E. REVIEW, 1802.)
Public Characters of 1801-1802. Richard
Phillips, St. Paul's. 1 vol. 8vo.

ARCHDEACON NARES.*

(E. REVIEW, 1802.)

A Thanksgiving for Plenty, and Warning against Avarice. A Sermon. By the Reverend Robert Nares, Archdeacon of Stafford, and Canon Residentiary of Lichfield. London: Printed for the Author, and sold by Rivingtons, St. Paul's Churchyard.

THE design of this book appeared to us so extremely reprehensible, and so capable, even in the hands of a blockhead, of giving pain to families and individuals, that we considered it as a FOR the swarm of ephemeral sermons fair object of literary police, and had which issue from the press, we are prepared for it a very severe chastise- principally indebted to the vanity of ment. Upon the perusal of the book, popular preachers, who are puffed up however, we were entirely disarmed. by female praises into a belief, that It appears to have been written by what may be delivered, with great prosome very innocent scribbler, who feels priety, in a chapel full of visitors and himself under the necessity of dining, friends, is fit for the deliberate attention and who preserves, throughout the of the public, who cannot be influenced whole of the work, that degree of good by the decency of a clergyman's private humour, which the terror of indictment life, flattered by the sedulous politeness by our Lord the King is so well cal-of his manners, or misled by the falculated to inspire. It is of some im-lacious circumstances of voice and acportance, too, that grown-up country tion. A clergyman cannot be always gentlemen should be habituated to read considered as reprehensible for preachprinted books; and such may read a ing an indifferent sermon; because, to story book about their living friends, the active piety, and correct life, which who would read nothing else. the profession requires, many an excellent man may not unite talents for that species of composition: but every man who prints, imagines he gives to the world something which they had not before, either in matter or style; that he has brought forth new truths, or adorned old ones; and when, in lieu of novelty and ornament, we can discover nothing but trite imbecility, the law must take its course, and the delinquent suffer that mortification from which vanity can rarely be expected to escape, when it chooses dulness for the minister of its gratifications.

We suppose the booksellers have authors at two different prices. Those who do write grammatically, and those who do not; and that they have not thought fit to put any of their best hands upon this work. Whether or not there may be any improvement on this point in the next volume, we request the biographer will at least give us some means of ascertaining when he is comical, and when serious. In the life of Dr. Rennel, we find this passage:

"Dr. Rennel might well look forward to the highest dignities in the establishment; but, if our information be right, and we The learned author, after observing have no reason to question it, this is what that a large army praying would be a he by no means either expects or courts. much finer spectacle than a large army There is a primitive simplicity in this ex-fighting, and after entertaining us with cellent man, which much resembles that of the first prelates of the Christian church, who were with great difficulty prevailed upon to undertake the episcopal office."

the old anecdote of Xerxes and the flood of tears, proceeds to express his sentiments on the late scarcity and the present abundance: then, stating the manner in which the Jews were governed by the immediate interference of God, and informing us, that other

This was another gentleman of the alarmist tribe.

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