Sermons

ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836,

BY DANIEL A. CLARK, A.M.

In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New-York.

HENRY LUDWIG, PRINTER.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

From the New-York Observer of November 19, 1836.

Rev. D. A. Clark's Works.-I was truly happy to see the notice of the publication of "Clark's Works," or three volumes of Sermons, by Rev. Daniel A. Clark. No one, I presume, whose conscience has ever been probed by his searching appeals, or whose heart has ever been warmed by his fervid and glowing piety, or whose spirit has ever been overwhelmed by his melting eloquence, or whose sense of duty has ever been quickened by his forcible and practical illustrations, but must rejoice in the privilege of reading at his leisure, and praying over in secret, such productions of such a man.

Mr. Clark is so well and so extensively known to the American churches, that nothing need be said to recommend him or his writings. He has been justly styled one of the best practical writers of the age, and I do hope that every minister will procure his sermons as a model, and every Christian for his own benefit, to help him on to heaven. EVANGELICUS.

From the New York Mirror of October 29, 1836.

Mr. John S. Taylor, of the Brick church chapel, has issued the second volume of Sermons of the Reverend Daniel A. Clark's; they are written with all the elegance of Blair, with the depth and energy of Sherlock and Horsley; and are an eloquent appeal to Christians of every denomination, urging the great and fundamental truths of Christianity, and vividly impressing the moral and essential points of a believer's actions and doctrines.

From the New-York Evangelist.

Clark's Works.-There are some books which will be read by every body in a few weeks after they leave the press, and then laid aside, and three years afterward little or nothing is known or said about them. There are others that more gradually attract the public attention, and when this is once secured the hold is permanent; they are transmitted from father to son, and from the venerable grandsire to

children's children, and one edition after another is demanded, till their record is indelible on the catalogue of our choicest standard works.Among this latter class we rank, without hesitation, the writings of the Reverend Daniel A. Clark. Of his three volumes of sermons, the writer of this article has had opportunity of examining only the first; and of this he is prepared to speak in strong terms of approbation. It is well known that Father Clark never permits any work in which he engages to decrease in interest; therefore we may have the utmost confidence respecting the worth of the other two volumes. But his sermons must be studied that they may be duly appreciated. You will be far from doing them justice if you simply take them up hastily, glance at the texts, the plans, and the concluding sentences, and then pass your judgment.

You must take them to your retired room, read them deliberately and prayerfully, and they will instruct you; you will love them, and will feel gratified to find leisure to reperuse them. In the writings of D. A. Clark, you will seldom find any extraordinary things said, but you will find common truths presented in such a manner that every one must feel and remember them. Let me refer to one sentence to illustrate this last remark, (vol. i. p. 123,) "The cause of temperance moved on briskly till it was discovered that the church held in her fellowship those who would drink the cup of devils, but has stayed in its march till she can have time to entomb her inebriates." Here we have nothing but the common-place idea, that the use of ardent spirits in the church retards the temperance reformation; but his mode of expressing this makes the whole world pause, gazing on the church of Jesus Christ as she bears to the sepulchre the besotted obstacles of reform. Once have this figrue before us, and it is impossible to forget it. It is my prayer that I may see these sermons in the house of each one of my parishioners, and I trust that this is the desire of not a few ministers.