or plain Practical Sermons, edited almost anonymously, without Preface Introduction, and without a pompous "LIST" of wealthy and titled Subscribers, is indeed a novelty in modern literature. To the Rev. Edward Repton, A. M. the Discourses, nineteen in number, are “inscribed" (i. e. dedicated); and to that Gentleman, therefore, the heads of well-ordered families will gratefully ascribe the pleasure and profit they shall derive from the publication. Mr. Repton, no doubt, is acquainted with all his friend's just motives for temporary concealment: and, in due time, we trust, when the throes of Authorship shall be no longer felt, and the present literary bantling shall be not only weaned but able to run alone, the kind foster-father will graciously name the child, and vindicate his right to legitimacy. More than any other work, certainly, a volume of SERMONS requires to be distinctly appropriated and avowed; and no person, man or woman, however ingenious or however poor, should dare, from the parlour or from the press, to promulgate doctrines affecting the salvation of souls, which doctrines either he or she dares not openly and most unequivocally to maintain. We do not now impute blame to Mr. Repton's friend for the general tenour, or for the particular tenets of his Discourses; we approve and we applaud both highly ;-but we will not allow even a work of merit to escape from the broad and weighty censure that ought to overwhelm and crush a treatise of minor excellence. Mr. R. will duly appreciate our great forbearance. Honest Criticks are the trusty Wardours and Watchmen of Literature: and never must we, as guardians of social safety, permit strangers to enter our neighbours' houses with their faces muffled up or blackened for some secret purpose, and with arms of formidable power in their hands.-There is throughout these SERMONS an assumption of spiritual authority in the use and application of Scripture, impressing the hope and belief that they constitute bona fide the lucubrations of a pious head, on which Prelatical hands were once laid for clerical ordination; still, it is barely possible, that they are mere compilations of human wit, the produce of studious ease and leisure, has long been known and universally THE original Work of Erasmus esteemed; and Mr. Crowther, by presenting it to the publick in an agreeable modern dress, has performed an acceptable service. 66 Charmed," he says, "with the pious zeal and benevolence displayed in the tary power, I offer a new Edition. SoEnchiridion, and convinced of its salu licitude for the diffusion of such exalted sentiments overcame my objections to the task. I have availed myself of a former translation of the Enchiridion, but not without attempting to do greater justice to the manly and persuasive eloquence of Erasmus. Some passages of the original are omitted, and others al-· tered, to render the Work more gene-. rally beneficial. The Enchiridion shews that life is a warfare with the devil, provides weapons to subdue our prevailthe world, and our unruly passions, and ng sins. We are excited to fight bravely ble punishments. Christ is our great by the most glorious rewards and terriCaptain; we must obey and follow him. I have drawn copiously from the well of water springing up into everlasting life, and poured it on most pages, that the Reader may satisfy his thirst. He must not go to the stream corrupted by human doctrines and customs, but drink from the fountain-head.—By the recommendation of my Author, and others, I have introduced the opinions of cele brated moral writers. 'Seize on truth where'er 'tis found, Among your friends, among your foes, On Christian, or on Heathen ground. The flower's divine where'er it grows: rose.' I have adopted the language of others myself responsible for every sentiment in preference to my own; but consider in this Work, and scorn the agis of any name.-I have expatiated on Ethicks to confute many popular errors. "The "The Biographers of Erasmus are numerous, yet their writings are more calculated to gratify the learned, than to interest the general reader. I have benefited by their labours. My detail is confined to his residence in England; and I hope the good humour of Erasmus will communicate itself to the Reader, and engage bis attention to the Author, and indulgence for the Editor. I have no pretensions to literary fame, neither do I value learning but as it makes us better Christians. The knowledge of our duty should be the end of all our studies, and the discharge thereof our greatest care this is the one thing needful; and my design is to promote religious and moral improvement. 'On piety, humanity is built; And on humanity, much happiness; And yet still more on piety itself.' YOUNG, Night viii. -Let not my sentiments be weighed by the false standard of custom, but by the real standard of Scriptures by which we shall be judged in the last day. To them I appeal. Prejudice has never guided my pen, or apprehension of worldly censure checked it. 'If I am right, thy grace impart, Still in the right to stay; If I am wrong, oh teach my heart To find that better way.' -Let us cease malevolent reflections upon the tenets of our brethren; be content with their Christian morals, and if they err in belief or mode of worship, count them not as enemies, but admonish them as brethren. "It is the duty of all to conform to non-essentials, that peace may be preserved; yet no human institutions or traditions should influence our faith or practice, unless they correspond with the Gospel. This is the unerring touchstone; search the Scriptures, honestly and diligently; not to confirm your prejudices by relying on detached pas sages, and wresting them to your everlasting perdition, but to discover the truth. If this Work emancipate one from the bondage of sin, or strengthen the Christian principles of an individual, I shall enjoy the sweet reflection that my leisure has been alike profitable to society and myself." The "Account of Erasmus" fills 46 introductory pages, and is a very entertaining article of Biography. 25. A Sermon on the Excellencies of the Established Liturgy of our National Church; preached at St. Mary Le Bow, Cheapside, on St. Mark's Day, April 25, 1815, before the Trustees of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers' Charity School; and on May 7, 1815, at the Asylum for Female Orphans. To which are added, Prefatory Remarks on the Influence of Private and Public Prayer on the Personal Condition of Man. By the Rev. Henry G. White, A. M. Curate of AllhallowsBarking, Great Tower-street, and one of the Preachers of the Asylum for Female Orphans. 8vo. pp. 52. Asperne. THE Sermon before us has internal evidence of much reading and much deliberation; nor let it be slighted in this orthodox age, there is also much. demonstration of Christian charity. It is introduced with some prefatory remarks on the influence of private and public prayer upon the personal condition of Man, which prove to us that the Author feels as well as writes like a Christian. We have traced throughout these Remarks our own feelings, and are much mistaken if they do not meet the experience of nine-tenths of our Readers. We heartily concur in the Author's description of the death-bed consolation, p. 18; but it appears to us, that his many forcible arguments for the union of private and public prayer would have been better worked up into a single Sermon by itself, than made introductory of the one that succeeds them. Our Author has taken his text from Heb. x. 23, 24, 25: "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He is faithful that promised: and let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another." Mr. White's exposition of the Excellencies of the Established Liturgy is in itself excellent; but we cannot go with him to the length of asserting that no prayer can be considered efficacious, or acceptable at the Throne of Grace, which is not offered with some regard to form, direct or indirect. We insert with pleasure the Author's very able delineation of the generally allowed properties of the Liturgy: "This Liturgy is admitted, even by those who dissent from its prescribed form, to possess an unrivalled degree of excellence in its language and its purpose. There is a general tone of seriptural simplicity, and an exalted spirit of devotional fervour in its composition, which conciliate the heart, and elevate With the following very impressive passage we take leave of this publication, recommending it to our Readers as a very useful and a very genuine GENT. MAG. August, 1816. testimony of a pastoral and a Christiau mind :. "This Common Form of Prayer brings together a whole neighbourhood into one congregational assembly; and piety, like our other affections, acts in society with peculiar force, and is greatly strengthened by sympathy; for what we feel together, we feel with double force. Each person is animated by his fellowworshipper, and our sympathies are kindled into a warmer glow of devotion; and the impulse of brotherly love, joined to the love of God, communicates to each mind the purest satisfactions *.' The sight of an assembly of Christians, consisting of high and low, rich and poor, young and old, engaged, notwithstanding the difference of their worldly conditions, in addressing, by the same supplications of one common prayer, the same common Father, imploring the same common mercies, as candidates for the same happiness, and heirs of the same hopes-a view such as this, of our common dependence on God, and our connexion with our fellow-creatures, must at all times tend to improve our humility, our mutual forbearance and benevolence towards each other, and in duce us to consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works; and not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but to exhort one another to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.It is true, my brethren, that the Father of all consolations has so widely spread the light of his Gospel throughout this favoured land, and has so multiplied the means of access to him, that the gates of his holy temple are opened in almost every street, and his word is nigh unto us, even at our doors; and well does it become us to be thankful, and to take comfort to ourselves, and give to God the glory of this liberty of approach to him. But in our own PARISH CHURCH, every social affection that can interest the soul, and amend the heart, gives additional strength to our devotional fervour: we behold those with whom we live in the interesting union of family connexion, and others with whom we associate in neighbourly intercourse, engaged in the same holy exercises with ourselves; and the mutual example produces mutual edification. THE PARENT, whilst be beseeches the Lord that it may please him to preserve all young children,' feels a tender earnestness of heart, that gives sincerity to his prayer, whilst he beholds his own children lift * Dalzel on Public Worship. ing ing up their petitions with his to the Almighty Father of both for blessing and support. THE HUSBAND AND THE WIFE, whilst their lips implore the Lord to defend and provide for the fatherless children and widows, and all that are desolate and oppressed,' reflect with pious gratitude upon the divine loving kindness, which has hitherto provided for them and their children, and preserved them to each other amid thousands who are numbered among the desolate' mourners of the land, · oppressed' in soul with poverty and afflic tion. THE FRIEND AND NEIGHBOUR, whilst he calls upon God, 'that it may please him to have mercy upon all men,' prompted by the affections of his heart, blends his general prayer with some peculiar application of it to those who are at the same time united with himself in the supplication. And I appeal to the experience of you all, when you are assembled in your Parish Church, whether you do not continually perceive that your thoughts associate with the season' and the place of prayer many of the happiest events of your social life?-and whether they do not receive a consolatory tone of meditation, even under the recurrence of your most mournful recollections? - Can those who are here assembled think so lightly on these things as to assert, that when they turn their eyes to that altar, where they most solemnly called upon God to witness and to ratify the conjugal vow, and to bless the union, they do not feel an endearing interest rising in their bosoms, which, as it were, incorporates the idea of the sacred place and that of the union in a degree of relative attachment? Can, and there be any one, who is endowed with the common feelings of human nature, and those feelings exalted by pious exercise, who, when he finds himself in his Parish Church, within the hallowed walls of which he was dedicated to God, and grafted into the body of Christ's Church, is not conscious of some reflections that associate the very walls with the reminiscence of his Christian duty? which of you that has followed, with silent step and heavy heart, some near and dear relative to that grave (where, pass but a few short hours of a precarious existence, and you yourselves may in like manner be attended)-which of you did not feel the hope of his soul restraining the sorrows of his heart, when from the desk he heard that glorious event declared, Death is swallowed up in victory?- Methinks even now I hear the whisperings of your recollections-At that altar I was married.'-'In this Church I was christened.'—' Under that stone lies my dear parent- my loved child-my affectionate brother-my endeared sister- my faithful friend and companion;' and even the dust with which their mouldering bodies are mingled, bears a sacred estimation in your minds. I trust, then, that I may leave my subject to these familiar recollections and associations, with a confiding hope that you will continue to hold fast your profession of faith without wavering, and exhort one another to do the same; conscious that no better can be adopted-no better can be supplied. But while we thus prefer it, let us not disallow, with an uncharitable severity, which neither our Christian profession does, nor our moral principle ought to permit to have a moment's influence upon our hearts, the pretensions of others to sincerity, who may differ from us in the outward modifications of worship. So long as they are consistent with the general tenour of the Christian system-so long as their deviation from our own service of worship does not violate any of the primary principles of Christianity, we have no right to doubt, no power to call in question the purity of their motives. Rather let us study to maintain our own profession, by becoming examples of the purity of its faith; and in the meantime considering, as we ought, the general weakness and various ranks of buman intellect the effects of different impressions, associations, and habits through life-let us be more disposed to regulate our own conduct, and to imitate the merciful impartiality of our Heavenly Father, than to pronounce rashly on the opinions of others. And while we lament that words of cold division, and distinc tions without difference, are suffered to break that communion of Christians, which Christ laid down his life upon the Cross to establish; let us not cease to pray that all such peculiar exceptions, and their consequent uncharitable surmisings, may all one day be offered up at the foot of the Cross, in one general thanksgiving for that oblation of Himself, which our crucified Redeemer there made for the sins of the whole world.Let us ever bear in mind, that the primitive Christians were eminent, above all other sects, for their mutual love and charity; and if we assume, in our profession of faith, a pre-eminence of original authority and truth, so let us shew, by the pre-eminence of charity (without which, if we had all faith, we are nothing), that we consider the very soul and spirit of Christianity to consist in unity, love, and amity. Thus shall we continually bring forth those fruits which will stamp upon our profession our - profession the character of that wisdom which is from above; for the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. If we thus unite our profession and our practice, we may be truly said to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; and we shall prove that we desire, with all the energies of our souls, to manifest ourselves the disciples of Christ, according to his own divine evidence-If ye have love one towards another, then are ye my disciples indeed." 26. A Review of Mr. Norris's Attack upon the British and Foreign Bible Society. Dedicated, by permission, to the Lord Bishop of St. David's. By the Rev. W. Dealtry, B. D. F. R. Š. 27. An Examination of Mr. Dealtry's Review of Norris on the British and Foreign Bible Society: with occasional Remarks on the Nature and Tendency of that Institution. By a Clergyman of the Diocese of London. 8vo. Rivington. REGRETTING that such a Controversy should exist, we refer to vol. LXXXV. ii. p. 124, for a concise character of Mr. Dealtry's" Review," and to LXXXVI. i. 199, for a character of the Examination." 28. Observations on the Scarcity of Money, and its Effects upon the Publick. By Edward Tatham, D. D. Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford. 8vo. pp. 32. "THE cause of the present fall in the price of all commodities" is ascribed by Dr. Tatham to "the cessation of Government-contracts, the reduction of the Navy, and our Armies being maintained by another Country: these are small and partial causes; but the great and general cause is, the rise in the value of money;"-the rise in the value of money, to its "scarcity in circulation ;" - and the "cause of that scarcity” is thus accounted for: "The number of Drains which have co-operated of late in drawing money out of the Kingdom; which, together with the too rapid and vast Accumulation of the National Debt, in order to supply these drains, have drawn this Country into an alarming difficulty. 1st. Gold and silver coin has been sent abroad, year after year, in loans and subsidies to other nations to a vast amount; beside large sums in coin for the support of our fleets and armies in different quarters of the globe; whilst British commerce, the only channel by which it could flow back, was stopped by the Ruler of France in all the parts and ports of Europe. 2dly. Great sums are annually sent to China and the East for tea and other commodities, which find no means of returning back. 3dly. In the late years of scarcity, much coin went abroad for corn and other necessaries. 4thly. Considerable sums have been, and still continue to be, spent in France and other nations, by British and Irish visitants. 5thly. Other sums have been lately drawn away for the purchase of stock in the French funds. 6thly. Quantities of coin may have been hoarded and kept out of circulation, by the fears and alarms of our own subjects, in times of real or imaginary danger. 7thly And whilst all these drains were taking away our coin, the sources by which bullion is supplied, of which coin is made, have greatly failed from the wars and perplexities of Portugal and Spain, both in their European and American dominions. These seven causes operating together for some years past, in a degree surpassing all expectation, and beyond all example in former times, fully account for the present uncommon Scarcity of coin in the British circulation." For these evils, the Reverend Financier proposes various remedies, of which the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be the ablest Reviewer. On their success, however, Dr. Tatham is tolerably sanguine. Thus," says he, "the difficulty arising from the various Drains which have caused the Scarcity of Money, and from the vast Increase of the National Debt, may, it is presumed, be effectually overcome by the expedients proposed: and after the difficulty be overcome, they will continue to operate, to the future opulence and prosperity of the publick. The Debt, however nominally great, they will virtually diminish, and gradually reduce; though its total extinction is neither to be expected nor desired.". 29. Reasons for Gratitude; addressed to the Labouring Classes of Hertford. 8vo. pp. 20. Austin. THESE "Reasons" contain the substance of a Discourse, which was intended for delivery in the Parish Church of St. Andrew; but a preference is given to this mode of addressing the Labouring Classes, for whose present and future happiness the Author's best wishes are offered. "The most important and valuable benefit to be conferred on our poorer brethren is, their early education, and the promotion of their religious knowledge. Our next eare should be, to in duce |