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points at issue dispassionately: though with the advocates for parliamentary reform they are become matters rather of argument than of hope. The danger of innovation operates powerfully and extensively. Distorted and mis-shapen' as the body-politic is admitted to be, yet, while it can perform its ordinary functions' cautious men do not relish the idea of any fractures and dislocations." They hope that it will last their time, and as for posterity it must take care of itself. If such, however, be the sum and substance of modern patriotism, posterity will never erect altars to its memory.

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MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 41. Rules for the Government of the Gaol and House of Correction at Dorchester. 1810. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Nichols.

These rules, which are 93 in number, appear to be drawn up with every attention to cleanliness, health, decorum, sobriety, industry, regularity, reformation, and, as far as the security of prisoners will admit, to humanity. The arrangements of this gaol are in unison with the liberal spirit of the age; and if the benevolent Howard was alive to peruse this volume, he would derive satisfaction from considering them, especially as he would recognize in them the good effects of his commendable inquiries into the state of our prisons.

Art. 42. Hints to the Public and the Legislature, on the Prevalence of Vice, and on the dangerous Effects of Seduction. Wilson. 1811.

12mo.

28.

Nothing can be a more complete object of disgust and of pity than the common prostitute, and no character is more base than that of the systematic seducer: but, of the numbers who fill the ranks of prostitu tion, perhaps a small proportion can attribute their fall merely to the arts of man. A want of chastity is very common; and the general prevalence of this crime is more owing to the improper education given to females than to the wiles of the other sex. Throughout the kingdom, young women are educated above their station, and the pride of which this is the consequence leads for the most part to fatal effects. Too fine to be plain housewifes, and aspiring to be ladies without justifiable pretensions, they are easily persuaded to become mistresses, and, when abandoned by their gallants, they throw themselves on the town. How is this evil to be remedied? Not by altering the law respecting seduction and adultery, but by altering our system of female education and our general manners. The cases of adultery which come before the public are few in comparison with those which pass without observation. By imbuing the minds of the fair sex with the principles of virtue in early life, by educating them in the bosom of their respective families, by avoiding that public education which tends to make them masculine and assured, and by returning to a more modest and humble style of dress, our youthful females would be impressed with a sense of duty instead of pleasure: but, as women are at present educated, and as even the lower classes are suffered to dress, every idea of duty is lost in the gay dream of dissipation. Vicious men ought to be restrained and punished: but, if women are self-seduced to their hands, the blame is half taken from

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the corrupter of female innocence. Let us meet the evil fairly, put it in its true Fight, and then we shall know how to apply the proper remedy-altogether to prevent it is impossible. Some years ago, prostitution was not so common as it is now, though the laws were the same; and we are not disposed to call in severe enactments to promote the cause of morals, if the object can be attained by other means. Let us look to the source of the evil, and purify the stream as it flows from the fountain.

Art. 43. Instinct displayed, in a Collection of Well-authenticated Facts, exemplifying the extraordinary Sagacity of various Species of the Animal Creation. By Priscilla Wakefield. 12mo. pp. 311. 5s. 6d. Boards. Darton and Harvey. 1811.

By collecting instances of animal sagacity, Mrs. Wakefield not only affords her young readers a rational amusement, but a powerful incentive to humanity. We applaud her attention in selecting, for this pleasing little volume, only such facts as have been attested by persons deserving of credit, and her candour in detailing them precisely in the same form in which they were communicated to her: but we confess our incredulity respecting the musical taste of a dog, who (see page 192.) is said to have beaten time with his tail to the Piano-forte.

Art. 44. Trifles in Verse and Prose. By E.H. Rose, late a seaman of H. M. Ship L'Impetucux. 12mo. pp. 112. Printed at Plymouth. r811.

BACON said that, "if a man read little, he had need have much cunning to seem to know that he doth not:" but of this cunning Mr. Rose was not possessed; nor are his errors of style and his deficiency of information compensated by such traits of original genius or natural taste, as in some instances have triumphed over ignorance and habit. He calls himself a child of war,' a poet,' and a bard!' We know not whether the former of these appellations belongs to a purser's steward, which he appears to have been but we must not honour with the title of a Poet,

"Col nome che più dura e più onora,”

:

the author of these doggerel verses, odes to a Cyprian and to a Goose, valentines, and songs; in which, among other faults, saw is made to rhyme with Gallia, down with sound, wot with sport, &c.

&c.

Art. 45.

SINGLE SERMONS.

Preached in His Majesty's Chapel at Whitehall, January 21. 1810. at the Consecration of the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chester. By Francis Haggitt, D.D. Prebendary of Durham, &c. 4to, 28. Faulder.

In this discourse, which is printed by command of the Archbishop of York, the learned preacher first considers the perils which Christianity has encountered at different periods, and then proceeds to take a view of the dangers which at present threaten the Church of England, (which Dr. H. pronounces to be the fairest fruit of

Christ

Christianity,') and to rouse the clergy ard members of the Establish ment vigorously to repel its enemies, that the gates of hell may no more prevail against it than against Christianity itself. Dr. Haggitt divides the history of Christianity into four distinct ages:—the age of Persecution, including the first three centuries; the age of Ignorance, comprehending what are commonly called the dark or middle ages; -the age of Scepticism and Infidelity, which succeeded the Reforma tion and the discovery of printing;-and the age of Indifference, the name which he gives to the existing period. The dangers of the Church of England are stated to arise from three distinct sources; viz. the malignity of enemies,-the coldness of conformists,-and the dissentions in the church itself. Under the first head, he arranges Infidels, Disaffected Persons, and Sectaries; the last of which are represented as incapable of tolerating the Church of England, though the Church of England tolerates them.' Without attempting to estimate the quantity of loving kindness which subsists between the Establishment and the mass of Dissent, we will venture to say that no Sectary will allow himself to lie under any obligations to the Church of England, but solely to the government, for the degree of toleration which he enjoys. Dr. H. speaks of the scorn of a tolerating spirit ;' and when he describes Dissenters as 'a swarm of sectaries,' he completely exemplifies his own meaning.

This sermon is well written, in a lofty tone.

Art. 46. Scriptural Christianity recommended: - preached at the New Chapel in Broad-street, Lynn, May 19, 1811, in consequence of the Author's separation from the Society meeting there for Divine Worship: to which is prefixed an Introductory Narrative, stating those Views of Satanic Influence, the Athanasian Creed, and the Calvinistic System, which occasioned his Separation, and induced him to become the Minister of a New Congregation. By Thomas Finch, Author of Essays on Man, &c. 8vo. pp. 72. 28. Sherwood and Co.

Mr. Finch is a gentleman who, after having been educated in Calvinistic principles and commenced his ministry as a Calvinistic preacher, uncalvinized his mind by that process of reading and rational inquiry which the wise endeavour to promote, but which bigots would always suppress. With an expansion of sentiment, Mr. F. coupled the most perfect ingenuousness; he apprized his congregation of the change which his opinions had undergone; and as this change was displeasing to several of the society to which he officiated, he, at their instigation, resigned his charge and became the minister of another congregation; formed, it may be supposed, of seeeders from the old, and perhaps of some new members. We are told in the Narrative that the author was dismissed from the chapel in Broad-street, by little more than a twentieth part of the congregation;' and if this be the case, the majority of the old society must have followed him to his new situation. Mr. F.'s narrative and farewell discourse are declarative of a manly and liberal spirit. His mind is imbued with the genuine principles of religious liberty; his heart appears animated with a zeal for gospel-truth; and he seems to be a man who would wish to speak the truth in love.

Art.

Art. 47. Christian Charity delineated and recommended :- preached at the Request of the Female Society of Glasgow, March 21, 1811. By John Mitchell, A. M., Minister of the Gospel, Anderston. 8vo. Is. Ogle. 1811.

Never have we seen the duty of Christian charity more clearly explained and more forcibly urged than in the discourse before us; and those persons who requested the preacher to print it evinced both their judgment and their public spirit. Mr. Mitchell correctly ob serves that the Apostle, in the words of the text (James i. 27.), is not speaking of the whole of religion, but means to assert this important truth, that practical Christianity is eminently a ministry of holy compassion and generosity.' Into the ramification of this discourse, we cannot enter, nor can we point out the many excellent remarks which it contains: but we recommend it to general perusal, trusting that its practical hints and forcible addresses will be of service throughout Great Britain. It produced (we learn) a large collection at the time of its delivery for the Glasgow Female Society; and the author has devoted any profits which may arise from the sale of it to this charity. If we may be allowed to make an extract from this single sermon, we shall take that passage which occurs at p. 16.

There is a noble kind of beneficence, which deserves our notice on this part of our subject. It is that which consists in encouraging the industrious poor, by the loan of small sums, or by affording them labour at an advantageous rate; and in bringing forward young per sons of promising talents, or of virtuous habits, by supplying them with the means of education, of establishment in business, or of advancement in the world.'

Such acts of charity or kindness promise a rich harvest: but the vague and casual almsgiving, commonly called charity, is too often productive of injury rather than benefit."

Art. 48. The Duty of Christians to partake of the Afflictions of the Gospel, considered and inforced; delivered at Portsmouth, on June 26, 1811, before a Society of Unitarian Christians, established in the South of England for promoting the genuine Knowlege of the Scriptures, and the Practice of Virtue, by the Distribution of Books. By Thomas Rees. 12mo. 15. Johnson and Co. Among the evils with which the Gospel is afflicted, Mr. Rees particularly enumerates Persecution, the corruption of its doctrines and the indifference of its professors; to each of which he proposes to apply an adequate remedy. He classes the Trinity, Original Sin, Atonement, Election, and Reprobation, in the list of errors; and he does not scruple to reprobate them in terms which some persons, as Mr. Rees himself tells us, have called harsh and severe. For this harshness and severity, however, he offers no apology; being convinced that it is his duty to deliver the convictions of his mind with energy, and assured that it is practicable to express the deepest abhorrence of doctrines which are supposed to be of a very pernicious tendency, without being deficient in charity to those who hold them. Mr. Rees shews none of the indifference which he laments in others: but, with all the zeal of a conscientious Unitarian, he endeavours to point

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point out the bad tendency as well as the errors of the creed which he opposes: yet he with pleasure admits the fact that persons of exemplary piety and goodness are to be found among Calvinists. Art. 49. The Connection between the Simplicity of the Gospel and the leading Principles of the Protestant Cause: preached July 10, 1811, at George's Meeting-House, in Exeter, before the Society of Unitarian Christians established in the West of England, for promoting Christian Knowlege and the Practice of Virtue by the Distribution of Books. By John Kentish. 12mo. IS. Johnson and Co.

Of all our modern sects, the Unitarians are perhaps the most undaunted in the prosecution of their inquiries, and in the undisguised avowal of their opinions. Without fear of consequences, they are warmly solicitous of bringing every doctrine to the test of reason and scripture; resolved, at all events, to discard every thing which will not bear the touch of Ithuriel's spear. Mr. Kentish, as an Unitarian, therefore, strongly reprobates the practice of obstructing the path of inquiry by prejudice and human authority, and enters his protest against all restraints on investigation. Taking this ground, he cannot be assailed by the consistent Protestant: for on all points of doctrine the Protestant's sole question is, "What say the Scriptures? By them and by them alone shall my mind be influenced." Speaking as an Unitarian, also, Mr. K. disclaims all mystery. Upon our doctrines,' says he, no such character is inscribed; in these there is nothing which shrinks from discussion, which dreads the light, which condemns reflection.'

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The Unitarian Society, before which this discourse was preached, seems to have been on the increase since we last saw a list of subscribers, which is here subjoined. At the same time, we must remark that the whole list contains little more than 200 names.

Art. 50.
The Apostolic Message to the Nations considered in con-
nection with the Duty of Christian Baptism, delivered in the public
Town-Hall at Lane End, Staffordshire, July 1810. Published at
the Request of the Hearers; with a Preface, explanatory of the
Occasion of the Sermon, and an Appendix, exculpatory of the
Author's Principles and Conduct from the Misrepresentations of
Mr. Thomas Brocas of Shrewsbury. 12mo. IS. Button.

The preface to this discourse is signed Thomas Shaw, who must consequently be considered as the author of the sermon, though his name does not appear in the title. This preacher, who is a strenuous anti-pædobaptist, urges some strong arguments on his side of the question, and considers himself as having fully proved that Christ's ordinance of baptism never was intended by him to be administered to infants, but that it was the uniform practice of the primitive church for two hundred years to administer it to adults alone, and by no other mode than that of immersion. He defies his opponents to prove that the word Bank signifies any thing short of plunging the whole body under water. We shall not enter into this controversy, but shall refer the reader to Suicer's ample view of the subject in his Thesaurus, under the word Barr: only observing that, as baptism is

merely

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