and the lips can be properly disciplined. If ever a court of justice should be looked upon as an arena appointed for a trial of skill, in which fraud is to be set against fraud, and immunity is to be the reward of ingenious falsehood; it will cease to answer the ends of justice, and will become, when so degraded, a place too well calculated for the shipwreck and submersion of morality. But, fill the mind with the idea of God's presence; overawe it with the idea of his hatred to duplicity; and he who takes a deliberate oath will see that his salva tion is embarked in the business, and his life set upon a throw. "Yet, however difficult it may be to obtain truth from some witnesses, it cannot be denied that others are occasionally subjected to a severer scrutiny than may seem to be either needful or delicate. It would, I am sure, be a bad compliment to the sagacity of their examiners, if we did not suppose that they were often convinced of their honesty, before they ceased to sift their testimony. It has been admitted that there is one cause which leads directly to this practice. Is that cause sufficient to justify it? No one would presume to complain that a fair liberty is used: the complaint is, that in many instances it is abused. And surely it will be allowed. that it is no trifling perversion of justice, to endeavour to abash diffidence ; not even to spare mockery, for the purpose of extorting from a witness expressions favourable to the cause which the advocate has undertaken to support; but it is still worse, if the effect of the ordeal be, to disparage the character, as well as to wound the feelings, of the person so exposed. "This remonstrance is not made because the license alluded to is unmanly; nor because it tends to make the community look with less respect upon judicial processes-these considerations are for those who are justly jealous of their honourable profession. I do not even take my ground here, that it excruciates modesty; but that it tends to confound truth with falsehood; to substitute the one for the other; to discountenance simplicity-in a word, because the moral effect is pernicious. "There is one quarter from which they who indulge themselves in these practices may be, and are, controlled with dignity and propriety; however, since the evil doers still exist, and the eruelty may be repeated, no one, I trust, will be surprised that what is a matter of general regret, should become, in this place, a subject of public reprobation." pp. 260-264. There are some useful considerations suggested in a sermon upon occasion of a proposal for fitting up two apartments in an infirmary for the reception of patients afflicted with consumptive and glandular complaints. There is also an interesting sermon on the gratitude due for a plentiful harvest, and two others, which may be called funeral sermons. The first of them, indeed, is strictly such, in which a portrait is drawn of the Christian walk and conversation of Bryan Burrell, Esq. of Broome Park, in Northumberland. The other contains a long extract from the diary of William Cornforth Lowes, Esq. of Ridley Hall, in the same county, from which it would gratify us to transcribe some impressive passages, were we not admonished by our limits to pass forward to the sermons which have not yet been noticed. Our author speaks highly of the benefits to be expected from the institution of evening lectures in the present circumstances of society; though in so doing he seems to lay too much stress upon the effect of mere external influences. Thus he says: "The last point to which I wish to direct your attention, is the advantage we may probably derive from the late period of the day at which our service is performed. "We all know how much outward circumstances tend to increase the effect of impressions, whether good or bad, upon the mind. Hence arises the value of the decent and solemn rites of our religion. We learn to form just notions of the majesty of the Supreme Being by the practice of prescribed ceremonies equally removed from irreverence and superstition; and which are rendered sacred by being appropriated to his service alone. It is natural to expect that these ceremonies should affect us more, and that their hidden virtue and intrinsic good, which they are only the instruments of conveying to us, should be imparted with surer effect, and sink deeper in our hearts, when they are performed at those times which are most favourable to devotion. Now, the early morning, and the decline of day, are assuredly those periods in which pious feelings are most apt to spring up, uncalled for, in our minds. Those who do not set God always before them,' are inclined to approach him then. If we do not pray at those seasons, when alone, I fear we shall never pray at all. The custom of early prayers, long since adopted by the church, has now fallen into disuse. They are only kept up in the Universities, where the attendance is still regular; and in a few Cathedral Churches, where they are almost entirely deserted. It seems, therefore, desirable that we should take possession of a ground as yet unoccupied, and hallow the close of the Sabbath by devoting it to God's honour. The hour is not far distant, when many of this congregation will retire to rest. I think we may indulge a hope, that what they hear now, and under similar circumstances, whenever they occur, they will hear with profounder attention, and more than usual seriousness; that they will pray more fervently, and praise God more heartily. Of one thing I am certain, that when they lay their heads upon their pillows, they will feel no slight satisfaction in recollecting that the adoration of their heavenly Father was the last public duty of the day." 242-244. pp. Of the remaining sermons, three relate to the duties of fraternal love, respect to the aged, and attendance on the sick; on each of which topics the author evidently writes from personal observation and feeling, though we should have been glad to have seen the connexion of these various disquisitions on relative duties with those higher principles, out of which we believe them to grow in the author's own mind, more fully developed to his readers. We offer the following extract, as a specimen of the whole : "Respect for the aged is frequently associated with a moral virtue of high character and importance. They who are noted for respect to the aged, are generally not less remarkable for affecon to their parents. The feeling in J question seems, indeed, an emanation from filial piety, an expansion of that more condensed and glowing sentiment. They are so nearly allied, that the one can scarcely exist without the other. In truth, there are certain associations here, probably designed by our benevolent Creator, which cause these kindred feelings to give a mutual aid and support to each other. There are some who only become acquainted with the infirmities of age, by contemplating them in the decay and gradual decline of a parent's health; hence they are led to think, how heavy these sufferings may be, in other cases, where they are aggravated by poverty or neglect. There is one instance, also, in which it procures for us a sort of new and more extended relationship, by inducing us to double our attentions to the parents of our friends. These are ties which bind society together in sober and innocent enjoyment; they show us the fairest side of human nature-the best, though it may not be the most brilliant. There is, perhaps, no gratification more sincere, or which affects a delicate and sensible mind more deeply, than that which arises from observing the solici tude of their most intimate friends to please, or comfort, or oblige, the authors of their own being. "Again, there are many in whom the recollection of a parent's form, or countenance, together with all the tender ideas, which may be supposed to accompany such a recollection, are often called up by the casual sight of an aged person. I should be sorry to be thought fanciful on this point, but, indeed, I am rather inclined to think, that many must have made the same observation, that there is a uniformity of feature, traced and moulded by the hand of time, which draws many countenances, essentially different in youth, to a resemblance in the decline of life. These similarities. can seldom be observed without emo tion: they impress a sacred character on age: they give a sudden pause to the spirits, when they are flowing cheerily along they sustain the sentiment of filial piety, when it is in vigour; or prolong and perpetuate it, when it is beginning to lose its power from inaction. "How strong is the appeal which the poor man makes, when, unknown to himself, he awakes such recollections! His gray hairs, or his sunken eye, or his tremulous voice, plead more powerfully for him, than his sad tale of distress, Suppose a person, struck with a resem、 blance of this nature, after having torn himself from his parents, whom he has left to lament his disobedience, and to pine without support. He may have succeeded in driving from his memory the miseries he has caused them; but this, if any thing, will rouse him from his apathy, and hatch the viper of remorse in his bosom. "Or, suppose a man about to commit a crime, and the same vision suddenly to impress itself upon his imagination;he will falter-his hand will fail. The least that can be hoped is, that his thoughts will be forced into a new direction; and time be given, if he avail himself of it, for reason and virtue to resume their sway. "So much for the nature of the feeling which forms the subject of our discourse. It may be sufficient to say of those who have it not, that they are frequently more presumptuous than wise; and too much occupied with themselves, to observe what is due to others. There is reason to doubt, whether they will ever be grateful to those who shall confer favours upon them, since they show no respect or gratitude, to those to whom all the world is under obligations. "Nevertheless, it must not be forgot ten, that how good soever this feeling is in itself, and how unnatural soever it may be, to be devoid of it; yet, there is little probability of its being cherished and kept alive, without a becoming conduct on the part of those to whom it is due. Every right judging person will make allowances for the querulousness, and the egotism, and even for the dogmatism, of age: these are the weak points, by nature, of that period of hfe. But let the old beware, how they affect the indiscretions of youth. Let them not descend from their station. Let it be far from them to show, that they are ashamed of the characteristics of age. The glory of young men, say the Proverbs, is their strength, and the beauty of old men is the gray head. In like manner, there are duties and employments, which are peculiarly theirs: pleasures and diversions, from which they must quietly recede. The old err greatly, when they think that they recommend themselves to the young, by imitation of their vices. There are serious thinkers almost in infancy: and severe judges of conduct even among the profligate; but, indeed, without any moral consider ations, there is something in ill-timed dissipation, which creates disgust, instead of promoting sociality. There is another mistake into which the old are apt to fall;-an error of the present day, and not of those good times, when the relative duties of domestic life were better understood than they now seem to be. What 1 allude to is this: -Without stooping to imitate, or to join in, the vices of the young, they will sometimes endeavour to win their affections by indiscreet familiar intercourse. Now, it is one thing to relax austerity, another to forget decorum. The old must not expect to be loved in the first instance, and afterwards listened to as infallible oracles. They must be content to be respected first: for upon that foundation only can affection to them be reared up. I am not now speaking of the case of parents and children, where an attachment is imbibed with the first nourishment received in infancy: yet it is but too evident that parents are often under a gross delusion, with respect to the treatment which should be adopted towards their children. They pretend to be their easy, and intimate, and confidential friends, instead of their grave and affectionate instructors. To bring this about, they labour to induce them to throw off all restraint; and some have even a foolish pride in training their children to address them in terms of undutiful and odious familiarity. "Why, you might as well attempt to make the mountain bow to the plain, as attempt to unite the extremes of youth and age. Things forced into too close a contact, only dispart the more suddenly and widely. There are many confidences unfitted for a parent's ear; many thoughts and feelings, (I allude to such as are perfectly innocent,) the communication of which forms the real bond of union amongst the young. How can they, who are upon a footing of complete equality, the playfellows of their children, and who must necessarily connive at many follies, in order to establish their new character, expect that they shall, in a moment, regain the tone of superiority; that they shall be regarded with reverence, when they rebuke, or be obeyed when they command? Let it not be thought, that I would encourage reserve on either part. There is a province assigned to parents, in the discharge of their duties, in which they may show both majesty and sweetness; but, if they step out of that province, they lose both the control which they have by nature, and the estimation they might have gained in the exercise of it." pp. 164-170. but we The remaining sermons relate to more general subjects. They are principally four, which were preach ed before the University of Oxford, and two on the Christian temper, and the means which God employs to bring men to salvation. They are the first in the volume; have reserved them to the last, for the sake of some suggestions in one of them, which appear to be peculiarly appropriate to the present season of national difficulty. Before, however, we cite the passage to which we have just alluded, we must take permission to extract the following remarks on the influence of friends in forming the character. "It is a common error for people to suppose that they possess a formed and decided character, which will remain unchanged in the active scenes of life, just as it may be seen to do in the incidents of a fictitious narrative. I do hot mean that they flatter themselves with the idea of being invulnerable by temptation. That is greater weakness and vanity than falls to the lot of the generality of mankind: but they fancy that whatever they do, they will do with their own free-will; and that, whether they act right or wrong, they will act independently of others.. This is far from being the truth. We are less the lords of ourselves, than the creatures of others. For example, there is something like accident, in the formation of friendships, which strangely alters our sentiments and habits. A man may live many years before he meets with that congenial disposition, or commanding intellect, which opens out the capacities of his soul by cooperation, or controls him by natural superiority; or, losing these advantages early, he may not recover them again, and feel all the miseries arising from weakness and indecision, without fully ascertaining the cause of them-namely, that he is left to himself. "With respect to direct advice, however well intended, it often fails of accomplishing its object; either because they who give it cannot avoid assuming an air of authority and su perior wisdom; or because those who ask, or receive it, have, for the most part, made up their minds to follow their own inclinations. But it is not always entirely lost on these accounts; CHRIST. OBSERv. No. 185. and there are times when it comes with double force; as, for instance, when it and substantiated by circumstances; recurs at a distant period, strengthened when the thing formerly recommended, grows out of our own experience after we had long forgotten it, and then is if to confirm the decisions of our own called up at once to our recollection, as judgment. It is then of use to have been forewarned, though we did not profit by the immediate admonition." pp. 106-108. with the extract to which we have We must now content ourselves already alluded. "In the pride of philosophy, or the dearth of piety, we are now too apt to refer to secondary causes, all those results which secondary causes are in any degree imagined to affect, There was a time when national calamities were believed to be Divine judgments; when solemn humiliations were something more than idle ceremonies; when, the arm of God being supposed to turn the tide of battle, prayer naturally preceded every enterprise, and praise followed every success. But the general diffusion of free opinions on religious and moral matters, has, it seems, disturbed our acquiescence in tenets which were once undisputed; and the dread of being thought ignorant or superstitious, in the midst of an enlightened age, has superseded in our hearts the fear of God. We now see, in the ruin of states, no other operating cause but the weakness or perfidy of rulers; and we discover sufficient reason for the success of villany, in well-combined re sources, and prompt decision. "Nor is the case different in private life. If our secret thoughts do not altogether belie our uttered sentiments, and it is not natural that they should, we are apt to refer the treachery of friends, or the coldness of patrons, to bad fortune, rather than to the aversion of Providence; and our inability to arrest the progress of disease, to the failure of human skill, rather than to the will of that Power, in whose hands are the issues of life and death. In fact, it is difficult to believe that we have not a very strong influence over moral causes, when we perceive that the boundaries of science are enlarging every day by our own efforts, and that truth seems to be the never-failing result of investigation and experiment. 2 X "Yet, though we may conjecture that the agency of God is, in such regions, withdrawn into narrower limits, or the range of our own powers extended, there are, nevertheless, certain affections and feelings which are quite beyond our control; tender places, as it were, of the mind, which shrink from the impression of a hand which is not of this world. As in them we cannot easily discover the operation of second causes, so we are here more ready to acknowledge the First Great Cause who has created the soul, and given to it the sensibility to pain."' pp. 77—79. It can hardly fail to occur to the reader of this passage, that we have in a great measure passed, by the blessing of God, through a season of national distress without one act of national humiliation or acknowledgment to the Almighty. This (we seriously think) could not have happened some centuries ago; and the reason of its happening now has been well pointed out by our author. A philosophizing spirit has prevailed amongst us, which, while it has enlarged our acquaintance with second causes, has diminished our sense of dependence upon the First Great Cause of all. In truth, it appears (and it is a humiliating acknowledgment) that our recognition of Providence is limited to those events which we cannot trace to any other origin; as if our knowledge of his ways could make him less our Governor, or as if the extent of our privileges could diminish his claim upon our gratitude. Whatever may be our superiority in the general diffusion or in the progressive advancement either of knowledge or of benevolence, in public acts of piety we have greatly declined from our ancestors; and we shall not think that the passage just quoted has had its fair effect upon our readers, if it does not incite them to pray to the Giver of all grace, that it will please him, in his bountiful goodness, to increase our faith, that we may regard him as the Author of all our blessings, and "in all our troubles put our whole trust and confidence in his mercy, through Jesus Christ, our only Advocate and Redeemer." LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE, &c. &c. GREAT BRITAIN. PREPARING for Publication:-A Descriptive Catalogue of the Geological Specimens deposited in the Museum of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, by Dr. J. A. Paris;-The Works of Virgil, partly original, and partly altered from Dryden and Pitt, by Mr. John King;-An Historical Display of the Effects of Physical and Moral Causes on the Character and Circumstances of Nations, by Mr. John Bigland;-A Poem, by the Right Hon. Sir Wm. Drummond, under the title of Odin; A Key to the Old Testament, or a summary View of its several Books, by the Rev. H. Rutter;-and The Cottager's Companion, intended to instruct the Labouring Poor in the Art of Cottage Gardening, &c.; by Mr. W. Salisbury, of Sloane-street. In the Press-Shakspeare and his Times; including the Biography of the Poet, &c., by Dr. Drake;-The late Dr. Leyden's Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa ;-History of Whitby, with a statistical survey of the vicinity to the distance of twenty-five miles, by the Rev. George Young;-and (by subscription) The Memoirs of the late Miss Emma Humphries of Frome, Somersetshire; with a Series of Letters to Young Ladies, and to Parents; by T. East. The Board of Agriculture have resolved to give the following among their premiums-To the person who shall draw up, and produce to the Board, the best Essay on the Means of employing the industrious and unoccupied Poor-the gold medal, or one hundred pounds to be produced on or before the 1st of March, 1818. |