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carried on, is weighty and momentous, no less than the preservation of our liberties and our lives. We are fighting now for the shade of our own oaks, and the streams from our own springs. We are called now to defend our rightful monarch from degradation and insult; our princes, our nobles, and our senators from poverty and exile; our wives and daughters from the brutal violence of a lawless soldiery; our fathers and our sons from slavery and from death. When we think over the magnitude and extent of the misery with which we are threatened; instead of despondency, why feel we not confidence? To animated exertions it cannot fail to rouse every British arm; and that these exertions will prevail, it affords to every British heart no unstable ground of hope. The proud Assyrian led in vain his locust troops to pollute and to destroy the little hill of Zion: the Persian despot having marched in eastern pomp, at the head of the whole force of his extensive empire, to insult and to overthrow the venerable seat of ancient Liberty, returned a miserable fugitive, unpitied and alone, through those very provinces, which were lately not sufficient to supply the luxuries of his table. We ourselves, in later times, were discomfited, when we unjustly attempted to prevent the independence of our powerful and distant colonies, and to fill our treasury on the banks of the Thames,

with the profits of the industrious settler on the shores of the Ohio: and even they who are now threatening to be the invaders, were not suffered to fall before the numerous and well-disciplined forces that were not long since on their march to dictate to them the government they should form, and the laws they should obey. Why then may we not humbly trust in the same benevolent Providence to battle and to bring to nought those counsels and those attempts, which would deprive us of our dearest privileges; violate our most sacred rights; rob us of our mest valued possessions; and reduce us to slavery, misery, and ruin?

The sequel of this discourse is em ployed in an estimate of our national character, and the aspect which it bears on our present situation; in an animated description of the consequences which would result from the success of the hostile enterprize; and an earnest recommendation, as the importance of the cause demands, to the use of those efforts, in dependance on divine Providence, which may most speedily accomplish a favourable termination of the contest in which interests of such magnitude are involved.

ART. XLIX. A Sermon preached at Peterborough, on Wednesday, October 19, 1803, the Day appointed for a General Fast. By the Rev. SPENCER MADAN, A. M. Prebendary of that Cathedral. 8vo. pp. 22.

FROM a striking and appropriate passage of scripture, (Hab. iii. 2.) Mr. Madan directs the attention of his audience to some just and pertinent reflections on the state of public affairs. From the first clause of his text, "O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid," he properly represents the present threatening aspect of events, as an awful intimation to mankind of the necessity of reformation, and the practice of public and private virtue. He does not encourage us to hope for victory and safety, because we may conceive our adversaries to be more wicked than ourselves; we have each of us crimes of sufficient magnitude to account for; and it is our wisdom to estimate, with most scrupulous examination, the sum of our own guilt. But while, in hearing the voice of God, we have reason to fear, we have also reason to hope that “in

wrath he will remember mercy." From this part of his text, Mr. Madan takes occasion to review some of the most remarkable instances of national deliverance, which occur in the latter ages of our history; to advert to our human means of protection, and to encourage the hope that, if repentant, we shall, in the day of danger, experience the divine blessing and assistance.

The composition of Mr. Madan's sermon is, in general, careful and somewhat studied. In a few instances, his language partakes rather too much of a poetical structure. For instance: "The victories, the fierceness, the rapidity of the foe, became conscious of a sudden reverse." The following words (p. 23,) present a complete verse of ten syllables: "Or taint with pestilence the breath of heaven.”

ART. L. Unanimity and Energy in the present Crisis. A Discourse delivered in the Dissenting Chapel at Lympston, Devon, on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 1803, being the Day appointed for a General Fast. By the Rev. THOMAS JERVIS. 8vo. pp. 61.

THE author of this eloquent discourse takes an ample range of political, moral, and religious reflection, adapted to our . present situation. The text is taken from Isaiah ii. 4. After some illustration of the prophetic style of this passage and its context, the author proceeds to describe the awful nature of the contest in which we are engaged, after the transient period of tranquillity succeeding the fierce and bloody war, by which this nation was lately occupied. Her situation is now different from that of the late and almost every former contest in which Britain has been involved. We have now to sustain alone the attacks of a mighty foe, before whom Europe has fallen; danger is at our gates, and our independent national existence is the stake in question. At such a crisis every other sentiment and consideration must be suspended; the country is in danger; its citizens hear no voice but that which calls them to arm in its defence. In this part of his discourse, Mr. Jervis draws an animated, and, we believe, a just picture of that extraordinary man, as he is justly termed, who threatens to assail us. To undervalue the talents and formidable qualities of our adversary, is folly; to appreciate them justly, and prepare ourselves with the requisite vigour to counteract their effects, is true magnanimity and prudence. We should with pleasure extract the whole of this well-drawn character, did it not extend to a length exceeding the proper limits of this article: we must therefore confine ourselves to the following sketch of the consular period of his life.

"The instant he appeared in the capital of France, he placed himself at the head of one of the most populous, extensive, rich, and fertile nations in Europe. There he still go verns with an absolute sway, and rules without control. All is obsequious to his nod. His will is absolute, his word is law. His colossal power is identified with the very existence of the great country over which he presides. Giddy on the lofty pinnacle of power, intoxicated with the unexampled splendor of his accumulated fortunes, and the grandeur of his elevation amongst the potentates of the world, he now gives an unbridled loose to the suggestions of a wild, visionary, and domineering ambition. Whether it is that unlimited and absolute power tends to develope the real characters of men;

or, that unmerited prosperity instils a subtile poison into the human heart, and corrupts and contaminates the most exalted minds-be this as it may, the subsequent conduct of this hitherto wonderful man, different aspect. He is now lofty and implaces him before our eyes under a new and perious, inflexible and severe, crafty, dark and suspicious, cruel, impetuous and revengeful. Nothing can withstand the irritation and fury of his passions. Yet, in the wildest paroxysm of passion, thought alike regardless of the considerations of personal dignity and the forms of external decorum, never does he so far lose the posof deep dissimulation, of a subtile and desession of himself as to defeat the purposes signing policy. In these representations, I would not wish to subject myself to the imputation of indulging in the language of harsh and indiscriminate censure, of unfounded calumny, or of a disingenuous intention to blacken that conduct which is in

itself sufficiently atrocious. But, let us for a moment advert to that dereliction of principle, that accumulation of hypocrisy and enveloped; his oppression at home, and his crime in which his political character is exactions abroad; and I fear we shall be amply justified in stating that he has made humanity the pretext of his ambition, and religion a mere engine of political intrigue; and thus has betrayed the cause of liberty, that venerable cause which he professed to but which in reality only served him as a -foster and cherish, to patronize and protect; ladder by which to climb to empire and fame! Let us call to mind only a few of those events which have marked his pro gress. And here, let me ask, is not this the man whose insatiable lust of conquest has ravaged Italy and Gerinany-has invaded the territories, and annoyed the peaceful inhabitants of Holland and Belgium, and grasped with a rapacious hand the fruits of their honest industry and labour? Is not this the man, who, with a remorseless insensibility, disturbed the tranquillity of the simple, unoffending, brave and generous Swiss, in the hallowed recesses of their mountains and vallies; and with a cruel and insidious pretence of redressing their supposed wrongs, laid them under the iron yoke of a despotism more burthensome and galling" than they, or their fathers," and their venerable ancestors were able to bear?" Is not this the man, who has violated the laws of justice, and resisted the claims of humanity and freedom in the distant regions of the Atlantic

who attacked the natives of St. Domingo, defending themselves in the natural entrenchments and the impregnable fortresses of their woods and mountains; gallantly fighting for

their wives and children; and bravely opposing the attempts of the hostile invader to subjugate and enslave them till, at length, foiled in his enterprize, after immolating thousands of unhappy victims upon the altar of a dishonourable ambition, he was reduced to the necessity of withdrawing the reliques of his army which were saved from the ravages of the climate, and the fury of the injured inhabitants ?"

The remainder of this very animated discourse is devoted to a just estimate of the nature of our danger, and the degree of confidence which we are entitled to entertain, and the moral and religious reflections with which it becomes us to occupy our minds. The wisdom of a liberal policy, on the part of government, for conciliating and uniting all classes of the nation, is pertinently recommended and enforced.

We have sometimes thought that there exists a considerable similarity between the characters of Hannibal and the French consul. We do not however accept the omen of the comparison, that, like another Hannibal, he shall bring destruction to the entrance of our capital: we believe, that to cross the channel, commanded, as it is, by British fleets, is an enterprize more difficult than to surmount the Alps; but should our adversary break through this barrier also, we trust that he will still find, on British ground, some British Scipio, who shall terminate his career of triumph, and place a final obstacle before his way to that universal empire at which he seems to aim.

ART. LI. Courage, Patriotism, and Resignation, the Duties of the present Times. The Substance of a Sermon preached at Churchgate Chapel, Stockport, Öct. 19, 1803. By W. EVANS. Ενό. PP. 23.

THIS is a discourse marked by the same patriotic sentiments and principles, which we have already noticed in so many similar publications.

From

ii Sam. x. 12, the preacher exhorts us to defend our country with courage, to prize its worth, and to resign ourselves to the will of God.

ART. LII. Reformation of Life, Trust in God, and vigorous Exertions recommended. A Sermon preached in the Chapel of Berwick, Od. 19, 1803. Being the Day appointed by Proclamation for a Public Fas. By SAMUEL BUTLLR, M. A. 8vo. pp. 22. MR. BUTLER is advantageously known to the public, as having distinguished himself at Cambridge by his acquisitions in classical literature; and in his present situation he has, we be lieve, rescued a considerable and once flourishing seminary of education, from a state of great decline to fresh activity and usefulness The present discourse bears many marks of a cultivated and liberal mind. The text is from Deuteronomy xx. 1. The plan of the sermon is delineated in the title-page.

Mr. Butler mentions with just abhorrence and indignation, the infernal de

cree of the convention to allow no quarter to the English and Hanoverians, and animadverts with becoming spirit on the very unjustifiable intimations which have appeared in some of our own journals, for the adoption of a similar conduct against the force which may invade our country. Mr. Butler, in censuring the French rulers, ought in candour and justice to have mentioned, that the soldiers refused to obey the orders of their government : nor was the decree, we believe, ever in a single instance executed.

ART. LIII. An Antidote to the Alarms of Invasion: a Discourse delivered at the Meeting House in the Old Jewry, on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 1803, being the Day appointed for a General Fust. By ABRAHAM REES, D. D. F. R. S. Editor of the New Cyclopædia. 8vo. pp. 23.

"ACCUSTOMED to reason more than to declaim," Dr. Rees takes occasion, from Nehemiah iv. 14. to state some obvious arguments, that seem to Justify the application of the words of the text to our own case. To shew that Britons ought not to be afraid of their enemies, but to fight with confidence,

he exhorts us to consider: 1. The nature of the contest in which we are engaged. 2. The character and views of the enemy with whom we have to contend. S. Th important and invaluable objects which depend upon the present contest. 4. Th advantages which are likely to resul from the prosperous issue of it. 5. The

means of our defence; and 6, That in the cause of justice and self-defence, we may rely on the providence of Almighty God. If we meet not with any towering flights of eloquence, we have what

the preacher considers as of higher value, good sense, sound argument, and the expression of firm and rational piety, pure patriotism, and unshaken loyalty.

ART. LIV. Trust and Confidence in the universal and sovereign Government, and constant Providence of God: a Sermon preached in the Unitarian Chapel in Essex-street, London, on Wednesday, October 19, c. By JOHN DISNEY, D. D. F.S. 4. pp. 22. "DISAPPROVING of the discussion of merely political topics, in a place appropriated to religious instruction." and wisely judging that "our fortitude in promoting and securing our defence, or in bearing and suffering our defeat, must be built on a broader and more satisfac tory foundation, than that of merely gratifying our indignation at the avowed jealousies, asperities, or resentments of an ambitious and sanguinary enemy,"

Dr. Disney "proposes simply to suggest to his hearers such observations and reflections, deduced from the superintending providence of God, as have been and continue to be the support of his own mind." The words of the text are selected from Rev. xix. 6. Though not destitute of animation, this discourse is chiefly distinguished by its piety, and the liberal and enlarged views it presents of the government of God.

ART. LV. The Situation, the Prospects, and the Duties of Britons in the present Crisis of Alarm and Danger, represented in a Discourse delivered to the Unitarian Congregation at Hackney, October 19, &c. By THOMAS BELSHAM.

THIS discourse is of a complexion somewhat different from the preceding. The preacher does not avoid politics, but he introduces them no further than as they were naturally suggested by the subject and occasion of his address.The situation of the country, he consi. ders as alarming, from the peculiar cha racter of the present contest, to which there appears no prospect of a termination; but still he sees no reason for despondency. The power of the British navy, the bravery of our defenders at home, the unexampled unanimity of the nation, the conciliatory spirit of the present administration, the moral character of Britain, the recollection of the sea sonable interposition of Divine Providence in past emergencies, unite to afford a good ground of hope, that the divine blessing will accompany our strenuous exertions. With respect to the du

ties incumbent upon us at the present crisis, the preacher observes, that we should be properly sensible of the danger of our country, free from unmanly dejection, duly apprized of the nature and importance of the contest, anxious to bury all private animosities in a patriotic regard to the public good, strenu ous individually to exert ourselves to perform those duties which the exigencies of the state may require, and in the faithful and resolute discharge of these should commit ourselves and our cause to God.

The whole discourse is animated and energetic; and contains such expressions of loyalty, as some would perhaps be surprised to hear from a preacher of the sect to which Mr. Belsham belongs, after all the unmerited obloquy which has been thrown upon it.

A&T. LVI. A Sermon preached on the late Fast Day, at the Parish Church of Hatton, Warwickshire. By SAMUEL PARR, LL. D. 4to. pp. 31. ANY work to which the name of Parr is affixed, will justly excite attention; and all that the promise of the publication now before us can have raised, will, by its appearance, be amply gratified. Distinguished by soundness of argument, vigour of expression, loftiness of style, and a liberal and enlightened patriotism, this discourse will not only promote the purposes in aid of which it

was composed and delivered, but contribute to preserve the well earned fame of its author, to a far distant period. Nearly one half of this sermon is occupied in vindicating the gospel from the charge which has been alleged against it, in consequence of the supposed want of all instruction relating to the duty of patriotism. The sum of the preacher's reasoning is thus given by himself:

"If from the national temper and political situation of the Jews and Romans, to whom our Lord more immediately addressed him self, any precept about the love of our country would, probably, have been misconceived by the rash, and abused by the crafty; if the duty itself, in all its essential points, is evidently implied in the injunctions of the gospel, about universal benevolence; if the affection itself is sanctioned by the example of our Saviour, surely we are furnished with a sufficient answer to the severe reproaches of infidels, and the wild misrepresentations of believers. The gospel, in reality, separates the artificial from the genuine virtue. It omits all mention of false patriotism, and by such omission, as well as by the general spírit of its laws, may be said to discountenance it.

It includes whatsoever is sound and praiseworthy in true patriotism, under the more comprehensive and more noble duty of charity; and in the life of its blessed author, it exhibits some particular and practical illustrations of that patriotism, which every head may understand, and every heart must feel."

One passage in the course of this reasoning, is worthy of particular attention:

"There is another point of view in which I wish you to consider the subject; for the frequency with which some commands occur in the scriptures, for the earnestness with which they are enforced, and for the phraseology in which they are expressed, satisfactory reasons may be assigned from the known and peculiar circumstances of the world, when our Lord appeared in it. Upon contemplating those circumstances, you will, perhaps, find ample reason for admiring both the wisdom and the humanity of our blessed Saviour, when he abstained from any explicit and positive directions for the love of our

country.

"The passion, I am aware, is noble in itself; it takes a strong hold upon some of our best affections; it delights the imagination; it warms the heart; it gathers strength from the instantaneous and instinctive sympathy of every spectator. But, upon all these accounts, it is liable to be abused very grossly and very perniciously, by hurrying us into eager co-operation with the ambitious, and into implicit confidence in the artful. Hence has often arisen the misapplication of a term, which, in its original sense, was precise; and hence too has proceeded the perversion of a principle, which, in its native character, is most meritorious.

"Now, when our Lord was upon earth, the Roman empire was stretching itself far and wide, and the Roman armies were leagued in a fell conspiracy against the tranquillity and the liberties of the world, The Jews also, among whom he lived, were bigotted to their own religious tenets, to their own ceremonial observances, to their traditions,

to their temple, to their false and proud no tions of a Messiah, who was to erect for them a temporal kingdom. Under the influence of that bigotry, misguided by error, and infuriate from zeal, they would gladly have bound all other nations in chains,' and, in thus exalting their own country, to the disadvantage, and even with the subjugation of the whole human species, they would have looked upon themselves as instruments, naturally, or it may be, even preternaturally, appointed to accomplish the will, and to promote the glory of God among his favoured people. Amidst such propensities, then, of the Jews, such practices of the Romans, and such wicked passions as were common to both, a precept immediately and earnestly directing men to love their country, would have been soon misunderstood, and seen misapplied. Through the glosses of interpreters, and the blindness of hearers, patriotism would have quickly mounted up to the highest class in the catalogue of virtues. In speculation, it would have been so perverted, as to debase the authority, and to counteract the influence of every obligation to universal benevolence. In practice, it would have produced such ambition in governors, such impetuosity in leaders, and such phrenzy among their followers, as would have plunged them into undertakings wholly inconsistent with common prudence, common equity, and common humanity."

Having shewn what may be really collected from the scriptures of the New Testament, upon this much agitated subject, Dr. Parr proceeds to point out how the friend of religion will prove himself a patrict. He next explains the motives by which he was induced, during the late war, to abstain "from political discussion, and even political allusions, when he addressed his parishioners from the sanctuary;" and justifies his present deviation from what had formerly been his practice. He then calls the atten tion of his audience to the peculiar and alarming situation of public affairs; and endeavours, in a very eloquent and impressive manner, to excite their confidence," to animate their zeal, and to direct their conduct, upon an occasion most important to them, in all their va rious relations, as inasters of families, as servants, as parents, as children, as Englishmen, as christians.”

From many other equally impassioned and forcible passages, we select the fol lowing, as a specimen of the preacher's eloquent efforts to rouse the valiant spirit of his countrymen:

"You, my hearers, are not without your portion in the blessings which I have just

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