both public and private monitions and exhortations, as well to the fick as the whole within their cures." In the mean time, we truft that Mr. S. Smith difplays, in this refpect, fo truly Christian an example to his brethren, as authorizes him to adminifter to the negligent that reprehenfion, which, in this Preface, he fo liberally bestows.

But it is not by negligence alone that the clergy are culpable; they make, it seems, a bad choice of fubjects for the pulpit.'

"Of the twenty fix hours which they are, every year, allowed for the inftruction of their fellow creatures, they wafte part in explanations of difficult paffages of fcripture, differtations on the doctrinal and myfterious points of religion, and learned inveftigations of the meaning and accomplishment of prophecies; whereas the whole ought to be employed on practical fubjects.'

We

Who fhall decide, when Doctors difagree? Or, what courfe fhall the clergy pursue, when differently directed by their authorized guides? "If a preacher's difpofition," fays Bishop Warburton*, "incline hiin to the illuftration of the facred text, which, in STRICT TRUTH, is performing what by his office he has engaged himself to undertake, that is to fay, to preach the word of God, the best model I can think of are the Sermons of Dr. Samuel Clarke of St. James's, who is always plain, clear, accurate, and full." Without drawing any comparifon between Bishop Warburton and Mr. S. Smith, we cannot help thinking that, if Clarke's Sermons merit the character given of them by his Lordship (and to us they appear to merit it completely) the multitude, whether elegant or vulgar, would be as little fatigued, when doomed to hear them," as when liftening to the difcourfes in the volume before us. agree, however, with Mr. Smith, that a preacher should embrace every opportunity of "explaining and enforcing that conduct which the fpirit of Chriftianity requires ;" but we are perfuaded, that fuch conduct cannot be explained and enforced, without occafionally illuftrating paffages of Scripture; and we are likewise of opinion, that our religion contains no doctrine, however myfterious, from which practical inferences do not naturally flow. No man indeed can preach like Dr. Clarke, without introducing into his Sermons fcriptural phrases; but this, fays Mr. Smith, difplays bad tafte! What shall the parochial clergy do to obtain the approbation of their " gra tuitous infpectors?" This author informs them, that their churches are thinned, for thefe, among other reafons, that they preach not always on mere moral subjects, and that they inter

Directions for the Study of Theology.

lard

Jard the language of their fermons with fcriptural phrases; whilst another cenfor declares, that if they deal out the mere fcraps of heathen morality, the poor will run to the lefs learned, but more earneft inftructors—to those who speak to the heart, in terms intelligible to themselves, though not fatisfactory to the refinement of taste"!

From the subject and style of English fermons, the author proceeds to the manner in which they are delivered; and this he pronounces to be "extremely ungraceful." After reprefenting his countrymen as generally remarkable for doing very good things in a very bad manner, he asks why they are natural every where but in the pulpit? We can anfwer this question only by afking, in our turn, if men are every where natural by generally doing good in a bad manner?

"A clergyman," fays Mr. Smith, "clings to his velvet cushion with either hand, keeps his eye riveted upon his book, speaks of the ecftacies of joy and fear, with a voice and face which indicate neither, and pinions his body and foul into the fame attitude of limb and thought, for fear of being called theatrical and affected. Is it wonder (wonderful) then, that every femi-delirious fectary, who pours forth his animated nonfenfe, with the genuine look, and voice of paffion, fhould gefticulate away the congregation of the moft profound and learned divine of the established church, and in two Sundays preach him bare to the fexton ?"

Yes, Sir, it would be truly wonderful, were it a fact, that by mere gefticulation the femi-delirious fectary preaches the learned divine "bare to the fexton"; but there is nothing wonderful in confirmed hypocrites, or determined finners, who cannot banish from their minds the idea of a future ftate, leaving the church of the learned divine, who infifts upon the neceffity of good works, for the fchifm-fhop of him, who affures them that they fhall certainly be faved, if they firmly believe that as Jefus Chrift died for the elect in general, fo he died for themselves in particular." Let the fectary" articulate with every limb, and talk from head to foot with a thoufand voices," if the object of his talking be to perfuade his audience, that "faith without works is dead; that without holiness,no man fhall fee the Lord;" and that it concerns not them to enquire into election and reprobation, but to "work out their own falvation with fear and trembling," his gefticulations, however violent, will not long keep them within the pale of the conventicle.

Far, however, be it from us to plead for the practice of those preachers, whether established or fectarian, who, "when their hands by mifchance, flip from the orthodox gripe of the velvet, draw them back as from liquid brimstone, or the caustic iron of the law, and atone for this indecorum, by fresh inflexibility

and

and more rigourous famenefs." To the Chriftian orator we would fay, in the words of Cicero, Dicenda, demonftranda, explicanda funt omnia: caufa non folum exponenda, fed etiam graviter, copiofeque agenda elt. Perficiendum eft, fiquid agere aut proficere vis, ut homines te non folum audiant, verum etiam libenter ftudiofeque audient. All this cannot indeed be effected by him who keeps his eye rivetted on the book," or who does not exhibit fuch looks and geftures as are difplayed by earnestness, indignation, or compaflion, in the common intercourfe of life; but we would not fend the young preacher to the Tabernacle of the Methodist, or even to the play-houfe, to Audy fuch geftures, left, inftead of " using them gently," he fhould learn, as Shakspeare expreffes it, to "faw the air too much with his hand." The geftures and motions of a preacher ought all to carry that kind of expreffion which nature has dictated to him; otherwife they will infallibly appear ftiff and forced, and aukward and ridiculous. Johnfon, fpeaking of Young's Poem on the LAST DAY, juftiy observes, that the fubject makes every man more than poetical, by fpreading over his mind a general obfcurity of facred horror, that oppreffes diftinction, and difdains expreffion." A fimilar remark might be made on ftudied gefticulation, when it attempts to picture a reuniting world, a refurrection of fouls, a rekindling of antient affections, the dying day of heaven and of earth, and to unveil the throne of God." To fuch fcenes no gesticula-tion that we have ever witneffed, or which it hath entered into the heart of man to conceive, can be fuitable.

66

Whilft we thus freely exprefs our difapprobation of this fingular and very reprehenfible Preface, truth requires us to acknowledge, that in the difcourfes themselves, many fentiments abound, with which every reader of taste and virtue must be pleafed. In their ftyle too we frequently perceive what the great orator calls the flores et lumina jententiarum; but we have as often to regret the almost total ablence of fcriptural phrases, which, when properly introduced, unquestionably add much to the eloquence, the dignity, and value of a Sermon. Such phrafes, fays Dr. Blair, afford the preacher a fund of metaphyfical expreffion, which no other compofition enjoys, and by means of which he can vary his flyle: they both give authority to his doctrine, and render his difcourfe more folemn and venerable."

Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. To the admirers of Mr. Smith's Preface, we beg leave to recommend particularly, as a contraft, the 29th and 31ft Lectures, which treat of the eloquence of the pulpit, and contain the reflections of a man, whofe fame as a preacher will hardly be furpaffed.

The

The difcourfes in this volume are eight in number, treating of the following fubjects: 1. The Effects which Christianity ought to produce upon our Manners; 2. The Pride of Birth; 3. The Union of Innocence and Wifdoin; 4. A farewel Sermon to a Country Parifh; 5. Vanity; 6. The Treatment of Servants; 7. Men of the World, 8. For the Swifs. We shall give the conclufion of the laft Sermon as a specimen of the author's manner, and a complete proof of his poffelling genius, which, we truft, will in time be more completely placed under the controul of judgment."

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After defcribing in picturefque terms the virtues of the Swifs, their happiness before the irruption of the French into their peaceful country, the heroifm with which they defended themfelves, and the favage atrocity of their defolating conquerors, Mr. Smith thus addreffes his audience:

"Is it, then, can it be neceffary, after this narrative, to make any long, or urgent appeals to your feelings? If ever the misfortunes of man were a care to you; if ever you have facrificed any pleasure to lighten the heavy heart; if a wretched face, and a waiting voice, have ever pierced your foul, and funk your gaiety to the duft, and filled your eyes with tears, have mercy, I beg you, on thefe poor forfaken people. I do not afk of you much, but give them a little, and their hearts will fing with joy; they have no bread, no fhelter, no friends; they feel they have no right to petition you; but they fling themselves down on their knees before you, and beg you, through the gospel of Jefus Chrift, to have pity on them, or they must die: And yet, if any one of you had been wandering in their mountains, they would have entreated you kindly, and gently; if you had been fick, they would have watched your bed; if you had been weary, they would have sheltered you in their cabins; if you had been hungry, their very children would have come to fhare their food with you, and their little faces would have been clouded with forrow, till the countenance of the poor ftranger within their gates was turned to mirth, and joy. Do not let these men perish; but though you have heard in thefe latter days many tales of mifery, be not wearied with doing good; but taught by that power which has ever pity on you, learn ye to have pity on them.

"The genuine foul of compaffion is fwift to figure, and to conceive; it glides into the body of the fuffering wretch; it writhes with his agony, it faints with his hunger, it weeps with his tears, it bleeds with his blood, till blind with the wife, and heavenly delufion, it mi nifters to its own fancied forrows, and labours for another felf. Forget, then, for a moment, that you are living in a free country, in affluent circumstances, and under refpected laws; put yourfelves in the fituation of thefe poor peasants; you would fee your children daily wafting before your eyes, for want of proper food; you would be forced to bear their looks; you would fee the little fpot where all your affections centred, the habitation of your forefathers, the pride of your life, broken down to a desolation, and a defert; you would fit

down on the ruins; you would remember the happy days of your infancy that you had paffed there; you would think your country was no more, your kindred was dead in battle; you would think of all thefe things, and your heart would break.

"My brethren, farewel. I have done. I have faid every thing in my power for thefe poor creatures; I have faid it with all my heart, and foul, for I abfolutely believe they are dying from hunger. I humbly crave fome little charity for them: I beg you as Chriftians, as good, and kind men, to turn your hearts towards their wretchedness; I beg you, as you hope for mercy from the good, and gracious Jefus, as you hope to spend your latter days in peace, as you wish that your children in diftant lands fhould return home to you in good report, and bless your eyes once more before death. If there be here a parent who feels the warning of age, and lingers in heart round his dear family; if there be a child that knows how to cherish the declining age of its parent; by all these hopes, by all thefe feelings, by all these paffions, I folemnly intreat your mercy; and may the God of Heaven, and earth, and man, by teaching you to pity, give you the right to implore." P. 256.

ART. XIII. A Collation of the Hebrew and Greek Texts of the Pfalms, &c. By Jahn Reeves, Efq.

(Concluded from p. 350.)

IN N the paffages which we quoted on a former occasion*, from the learned and elaborate Préface of Mr. Reeves, one prominent feature can scarcely fail to have attracted the attention of the reader-we mean, the author's decided attachment to the Maforetic fyftem of the Jews. Now, as we ourselves are not altogether free from the fame bias, we shall here venture to add a few remarks on that fubject; and we trust that they will not be confidered as entirely mifplaced, or altogether useless.

Of all the tongues with which we have any acquaintance, that of the Chinefe feems the most extraordinary; as the language fpoken and the fame language written, have not the leaft connection together. This may be aptly illuftrated by our Arabic numerals. The character, 4, for instance, is made up neither of confonants nor vowels: it has neither an ƒ, an r, an o, nor an u in it. Such too are all the Chinese characters, which ferve them inftead of alphabetic writing with us, yet, notwithstanding all the difficulties attendant on this fyftem,

*British Critic for April, 1801.

the