this should be denied us by Him who ruleth supreme over the nations of the earth in their utmost distractions; if that country to which we are attached by every endearing tie, should be dissolved, and the universe itself shaken to the centre, still shall our labour not be in vain in the Lord. The ark of Christ's church has through innumerable difficulties and perils reached our times, and shall yet endure amidst the rudest storms which can assail the human race; in her we shall find certain security, when the help of man shall be found worse than vain.

"Having thus then taken our position, let us remain firm and undismayed. Let our best prayers and our most zealous exertions be for our country's welfare: but whatever may happen, above even this, and before all things, let us zealously labour to secure that better country, that eternal kingdom where sin and sorrow shall be done away, where the wicked shall cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest!!!"

We close our account of this sound and judicious discourse with earnestly recommending it to the perusal of all who have a regard for primitive order: and of the "humble society" whose cause it so well pleads, we earnestly hope that "the little one may become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation."

A Sermon preached before the Archdeacon of Bucks, at his Visitation, held at Stoney-Stratford, on Friday, May 2, 1806, by the Rev. THOMAS LE MESUrier, M. A. Rector of Newnton Longville, and late Fellow of New College, Oxford. 8vo. pp. 27.

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HIS discourse is highly creditable to the zeal and abilities of the author. From the awful warning given by our Saviour, "What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch," occasion is taken to call the attention of the clergy to a due consideration of the "signs of the times," and to exhort them "by their example and influence, as well as by their immediate exertions, to improve the state of morals, and extend the power of religion, which can only be accomplished by maintaining the true faith, and preserving that purity of doctrine, which is our surest and indeed, only guide, to innocence of life, and holiness of conversation.'

The situation of the church certainly requires the most vigilant watchfulness on the part of her sincere friends;

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for "while her doctrine and her discipline remain the same, the attacks to which she is exposed, and the manner in which these attacks are conducted, have greatly varied, and are now not only different from what she was exposed to at the beginning, but very different from what might have been expected."

That Mr. Le Mesurier has not been an indolent "watchman," the present discourse, and his former publication on the Catholic petition* sufficiently prove. He here exhibits the character and artifices of the adversaries of the church with considerable force of colouring, yet, at the same time, with perfect accuracy. On the subject of those who create divisions in the church, under the pretence of being the only true churchmen the preacher observes:

"If, in the first instance, and as it is natural, we inquire who and of what description are the adversaries of the church, we shall find a considerable difficulty in resolving even this simple question. We shall find it not very easy, at least we shall not be allowed very quietly, to distinguish the friends from the foes of our establishment. If we look to some late controversies, we cannot but remark a certain number (not, I believe, a very large, but still a number†) of our brethren, the regularly ordained clergy, who have put themselves forward to notice, in contradistinction to the rest of our body, as being the only preachers of evangelical truth. Their pretensions to this they found upon certain doctrines, which however they may have received countenance from some divines of our communion, have, as we con tend, never been adopted or enjoined by any authority of the church; which were never maintained by a majority of her members; and, as I believe, for near a century, reckoning from about fifty years back, lay dormant, and were considered by most persons as obsolete, or exploded. They are doctrines, which the very professors of them, at least those of whom I am speaking, do not always venture to represent in their full light: and of which, when pressed in argument, they disclaim the most necessary consequences. Yet upon such grounds they join with the avowed sectaries in representing their brethren, that is, nineteen out of twenty of the clergy, as negligent, and as not doing the work of the Lord, or doing it "deceitfully." Under what

* See Orthodox Chur. Mag. vol. viii. p. 482.

We have good grounds to believe that their number is more formidable than the worthy preacher supposes. At least we are convinced that they are upon the encrease; for establishments have been formed in various quarters for the purpose of training up evangelical ministers, as they are called. EDITOR.

denomination

denomination we should class those persons, I will not now ask you. They say that they are not hostile to the church; nay, that they are her only true sons. With what reason they say it, I leave to the judgment of every sober man to determine.

"Connected with these, and of a description somewhat less equivocal, are those individuals among the laity, who, professing to hold communion with the established church, do yet frequent the meetings of those who have separated from her. And they too, justify their conduct by the same heavy, but, I trust, railing accusation,' that the majority of us, the regular clergy, do not hold the true doctrine, and that therefore, in order to be fed with what they affectedly call the fat and marrow of the gospel,' they are compelled to resort to these irregular and selfconstituted preachers of the word.”

It might have strengthened this statement if the preacher had observed, as he might truly have done, that the laity are encouraged and led into this schismatical practice by the gospel preachers or evangelical ministers of the church, who dwell upon it, that if christians do not hear the gospel in their parish churches, they ought to seek for it elsewhere. Those persons who begin to wander about from church to church, and from chapel to chapel, in quest of evangelical preachers, generally terminate at last either in deism or a conventicle.

Mr. Le Mesurier proceeds to consider a very extraor dinary feature of the times, and that is the circumstance of dissenters of every denomination, parting with their well-founded jealousy, and joining openly to promote every application which has been made on behalf of the members of the Romish communion, for the removal of those restraints which the wisdom of our ancestors thought fit to impose upon them." This, however, is not quite so great a novelty as is here represented, It is a well-known fact, that when the infatuated James the second endeavoured to remove the barriers which defended the Protestant religion, he was thanked for his christian wisdom and liberality, by the principal dissenting congregations in the kingdom, of all denominations: and in the great controversy then agitated upon the popish doctrines, and the claims of the papacy, it is a remarkable fact, that the dissenters to a man were silent. They could oppose the cross in baptism, a prescribed form of prayer, and the polity of the church with great virulence, as though these were matters injurious to salvation; but when the Protestant Religion itself was

at

at stake, they left its defence to the members of the Church of England.

We cannot close our notice of this article, without expressing the satisfaction which we have felt in the perusal of it; and we recommend it with great pleasure to the serious attention, not only of the clergy, for whom it is principally adapted, but also to the laity, as containing such a view of the state of the church and its adversaries, as will point out the line of duty to be adopted for her protection.

A Sermon preached at St. Mary's Church, in Truro, at the Primary Visitation of the Right Reverend the Bishop of Exeter, on Wednesday the 17th Day of July 1305. By the Rev. WILLIAM GREGOR, M. A. Rector of Creed. 4to. pp. 32.

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HIS discourse has been printed at the request of the learned prelate, before whom it was delivered, and undoubtedly it is highly deserving of that honourable distinction. The preacher sets before his brethren the example of the apostle Paul, "I am made all things to all men," 1 Cor. ix. 22, 23. This example is well and forcibly applied to the parochial clergy: I. In their neral deportment and intercourse with the world. II. By paying due regard to the case and circumstances, the wants and weaknesses, the peculiar modes of life, and habits of thinking of those whose spiritual welfare is intrusted to their charge. III. In regard to those who may be opposed to them in discipline and doctrine.

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Under each of these heads we meet with many valuable, and even some uncommon, but still excellent observations.

The following advice on plain and practical preaching cannot be too carefully attended to.

"If the post assigned unto us, be that of pastors of a country-parish, we must earnestly endeavour to know our sheep and to be known of them.' We must never suffer ourselves to lose sight of the Apostle's maxim, that knowledge puffeth up but charity edifieth.'---Gifted as we have been with a learned education, and taught to discern and to appreciate the various elegancies of stile in literary compositions; accustomed as we are, in the course of our studies, to take a lively interest in deep and

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argumentative disquisitions and theological controversy, we must consider those, who are the objects of our instruction. The plain unlettered man receiveth not these things, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are learnedly discerned. Let not our preaching be ostentation, as to ourselves, and mockery unto those that hear us: but let it be unto them 'edification, and exhortation and comfort.' We must sacrifice the beauties of stile to plainness of speech, and renounce the scholastic rules of art, for that mode of practical reasoning, which is accommodated to the capacities of our congregation. If we employ figurative language and comparisons, let them be chiefly borrowed from those objects, with which country folks are familiar. Rural scenes, rural occupations, and the succession of seasons, which induce change and variety on the face of nature and the labours of man, afford abundant means of lively illustration, and suggest unto us, ou various occasions, appropriate and striking subjects, for the instruction of the day. Thus it will appear, that the subjects of our discourses are not carelessly nor casually selected: nor will our preaching be denominated the cold formality of a stated service; but by being thus variously and judiciously adapted to the times, seasons, and persons, before us, it will carry with it proofs, that we are zealously affected' as to the main object of our ministry: that we are in earnest, and on the watch to catch at every passing subject and improve every occasion, that is likely to interest and affect our hearers, to their spiritual edification.

"But let it not be imagined, that plainness of speech implies vulgarity, or that disclaiming the rules of art and the aids of learning, we are at liberty to deliver from the pulpit desultory and colloquial effusions. Simplicity of stile, and a due adaptation of the means of persuasion to those, who are to be the objects of it, so that the preacher and his discourse be respected, whilst he persuades, may appear a work of ease, but it is an ease which cannot be attained unto without difficulty. The greatest effort of art is to conceal art. We never can express ourselves plainly on a subject which we do not clearly comprehend. The minister who preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ has the dignity of that gospel to support: he himself also, has the character of a minister of that gospel to maintain; a quaint and affected familiarity of stile or manner debases both. Our discourses may be disrobed of ambitious ornaments,' and yet neither nakedness nor deformity may appear: they may possess that chaste simplicity, which is neither bereaved of strength, nor destitute of grace."

The pretended Calvinism of our church is refuted with considerable ability; and we are glad to see the attention

of