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them to the moft lively exercife. To illuftrate this, let us attend a little to the frame and workings of our minds in other refpects, and towards other objects.

In the material world, what is vaftly great begets in us a pleafing admiration; what is beautiful, we look on with delight. The grand works of nature, or of art, or such as difcover exquifite contrivance and defign, or are executed in the finest and beft manner, always give us fenfible pleasure, and cause certain agreeable emotions of mind. That kind of beauty which is feen in the various orders of the world of life, especially in our own fpecies, and those works of human art which are an imitation of it, fuch as fculpture and painting, pleafe ftill more, and more engage the attention of the admiring mind. We account that tafte which giveth the greatest fenfibility in these things a perfection in nature, and a very. high one, and look upon infenfibility to all fuch things as a reproachful defect. But we find this fenfibility, and the emotions, which in pursuance of it are raifed in the mind, with refpect to moral characters, ftill greater. Let any man of difcernment in moral objects, have a character of high diftinction in purity, fortitude and refolution, in conftancy and fidelity, fet before him; let him fee thefe virtues tried to the utmoft, in the most painful trials, conquering and coming out like gold from the fire, and he cannot but admire, love, and delight in them. Nay, and in attend ng to fome one very heroic action, how will the foul be moved? How will the very animal frame be affected? And will not all acknowledge, that thefe ftrong and moving fenfations are most natural and commendable? and the charater is accounted defpicable in which no fuch thing is found. But to show how much and deeply the mind is affected by thefe beauties and graces of the moral kind, and with what a ftrong inclination it uniteth itfelf to the objects in which they are found, let the entertainment and delight which spring from the tendernelles of facred intimate friendship teftify, and thofe working in the heart, of love, efteem, and fympathy, which are fo fenfible and affecting. Surely all these are most natural and becoming the heart of man! Now, from this frame, and thofe affections planted in us, we may judge how the heart may be, how it ought to be touched in our contemplation and converfe with the objects of religion, with the greatnefs and excellency, the goodnefs and love of the Supreme Being, appearing in all his works; with the astonishing grace and condefcenfion, the friendship and love of him who died for us; with the vaftnefs of thofe profpects which

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are opened to us by faith, and the amazing greatnefs of the world of spirits, and those numberlefs multitudes which conftitute the family of God. Surely, to feel admiration, the highest reverence, the most ardent love and gratitude, glowing in the heart, one would think fhould be the most natural of all things, when we seriously contemplate the Parent of all. "Or, fhall we, without wonder, behold infinite contrivance and wifdom? the vaftnefs and inexpreffible magnificence of the works of God, without any emotion? Shall our thoughts be fixed upon fpotlefs purity, upon unchangeable goodness, upon a Being whofe very effence is love, whose beneficiaries we conftantly and moft eminently are, without love, without gratitude? Shall we behold, in the cross of our Saviour, unfpeakable excellency, conflicting with the greateft fuffering and distress, bearing this with the greateft conftancy and refignation, bearing it on our account, and for our fakes, without emotion? Shall not the wonders of grace make a deep impreffion upon our minds; that grace which fo confpicuoufly appeared in the interpofition of the Son of God, the most amazing event in the whole of the divine adminiftration? Certainly, the moft lively exercises of love and gratitude, and the greatest fenfibility to these matchless objects of them, infinitely become us: and to be cold and unmoved by fuch things as these, speaketh a very undefirable state of the mind. Again, how glorious the profpects which are set before us? how high the dignity of thofe illuftrious conquerors, to whom it is promised by our bleffed Saviour, that they fhall be fet down with him upon his, throne, as he alfo overcame, and is fet down with the Father upon his throne? And how doth the affurance of an endless duration in fuch an honourable and happy state affect the mind? Is it to be wondered at, that the joy of a Chriftian in believing fhould rife into rapture; and that the greatest activity, and zeal, and delight in the fervice of God, fhould attend it, that the most lively vigour fhould animate all the powers, and that the joy of the Lord fhould give an invincible ftrength? In a word, in the greatnefs, excellency, and loveliness of thofe divine objects, the believing and attentive find what above all things elfe raifeth admiration, love, gratitude, and all thofe affections, which are the most fenfible and powerful, as well as the moft delightful to the mind. But what I principally aim at, is, that those emotions of foul are most natural; and that if they are at all to be called enthufiaftic, that enthufiafm is of a moft excelient kind, greatly to be defired, carefully to be cultivated and encouraged."

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This happy and delightful ftate of the Soul is to be diftinguifhed from that wild enthufiam, which our author treated of in the first part of his Difcourfe. The one is quite natural and rational, the fruit of a proper improvement of our understanding, and exercife of our best affections; the other has nothing to do with reason, and is, indeed, a kind of phrenzy. The one is tumultuous, attended with great agitations of mind, and even of body; the other is all compofure and ferenity, all uniform, and worthy of the very best and most perfect ftate of the mind; not weakening the rational powers, but giving them additional life and vigour. In the exercise of thofe devout affections, arifing from the difcerned excellency of the object, the mind perceives itself right, and the very feeling of the Soul juftifies itself; but in the other, wild and unaccountable imaginations take place; and the most extravagant reveries pafs upon men for divine infufions.

The fourth, fifth, and fixth Sermons, well deferve the reader's ferious and attentive perufal. They contain a distinct view of the genius and fpirit of Chriftianity; and are indeed excellent Difcourfes. The Doctor fhews, that the Chriftian religion has a tendency to infpire the mind with ftrength and vigour, in all feafons of difficulty and distress; to render it fit for all the fervices of life; to root out all those difpofitions which contract the fpirit, and cramp the good affections; to engage to all offices of benevolence; to deliver men from what diftracts the mind and perverts the judgment; and to yield that compofure and ferenity which give them the free ufe of their rational powers.

In the feventh, eighth, and ninth Difcourfes, he confiders the powers and faculties of the human foul, the operations of the understanding and will, the affections, their arrangement in the heart, and their operations as fprings of action and enjoyment. And here he does not amufe his Readers with nice and fubtle difquifitions of an abftract and metaphyfical nature, but confines himself to plain and eafy reflections, chiefly of a practical tenor.

In treating of the affections, he obferves, as a very pleafing inftance of the wisdom of our Maker, that the ardour of the affection is proportioned to the capacity and opportunity of pursuing the tendencies and purposes of it. For instance, we can be greatly serviceable to those who are joined to us in the relations of domestic life, or in tender and intimate friendfhips, or in near and familiar neighbourhood, while we can

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do little but wifh well to perfons who are at a great distance from us, and thereby in a manner quite out of the reach of our influence. Did the affections work with the fame energy towards perfons at a great diftance from us, that they do towards intimate friends and dear relations, this would not only answer no end, but it would really make men very unhappy. Suppofe, for inftance they were to be affected by the misfortunes, or fickness, or death, of abfolute strangers, in the fame manner that they are by those of their near relations, who are perhaps the defire of their eyes and the joy of their hearts, their state must be very painful and miferable indeed. Or, fuppofing the affections were as strong incentives to action where there was no opportunity or capacity of doing good, as where there are both, this would be very inconvenient, and could be of no ufe.

In the tenth Sermon, which is a very judicious one, the Doctor confiders the power of reafon and confcience over the affections, and particularly the authority of confcience in directing the conduct. In the eleventh and twelfth, he treats of the lofs of the foul, and the infignificance of all temporal acquifitions, when oppofite to future happiness.

The happiness which human nature, by its various powers and capacities, is made capable of enjoying in a state of perfection, is the fubject of the thirteenth Difcourfe. The greatnefs of God and his works, his univerfal providence, and the happiness he must enjoy from the execution of the glorious defign, are confidered in the fourteenth; and in the fifteenth the Doctor difcourfes upon the diffolution of the material system, and the final confummation of all things.

In the fixteenth, he explains communion with God in a sense not liable to the charge of enthufiafm; and in the feventeenth, treats of the reverence a man owes to himself, and the great importance of a just sense of the dignity of human nature, as a prefervative from vice, and incentive to virtue. This Sermon we have read with peculiar pleasure, and think it well deferving the attentive perufal of every ferious reader, The Author fhews, in a very clear and judicious manner, that men never appear in a more honourable light, than when a fense of what they owe to themfelves, makes them incapable of fubmitting to the impofitions of others, and when they prefer internal honour, the approbation of their own hearts, to the applauses of all the world. This is doing juftice to the dignity of nature; and to this we owe fome of the most illu

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ftrious characters, and useful fervices, with which the history of the world presents us. Without the prevalence of fuch a fpirit, indeed, Christianity could never have obtained in the world; without it the proteftant religion could never have obtained in the Chriftian world; nor indeed any reformation, against which prevailing and fashionable fentiments and cuftoms were oppofed.The Volume concludes with an excellent difcourfe upon friendship.

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MONTHLY CATALOGUE,

For JUNE, 1762.

POLITICAL.

Art. 1. A ferious Addrefs to the Vulgar. In which the Character and Abilities of a certain Nobleman, and the Prejudice agamft the Place of his Birth, are impartially confidered. 8vo. 6 d. Hooper.

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HOUGH this Writer is pleafed to degrade himself, yet it muft be acknowledged, that he rifes greatly fuperior to the rank he affects; his obfervations are many of them fenfible and juft; and his manner decent, if not elegant. But he expreffes too much zeal, to do any effectual fervice to the caufe he efpoufes; and destroys the force of his arguments by attempting to prove too much. He even ventures to contend, that the employing a foreigner in the administration of a free country, may fecure its freedom. And he lays it down as a neceffary fuppofition, That even if the E-1 of B-e occupied no other ftation than that of a private officer in his majefty's household, his advice would ftill have a certain degree of influence, and controul over public measures.' What the Writer means by this paffage we are unwilling to understand. We know, that upon the fup. pofition of his Lordship's being a private officer, his degree of influence would only be in common with other privy counsellors: And it would be an affront to the Sovereign to fuppofe him capable of being guided by an unconflitutional influence. In fhort, the altercation which has fuddenly arifen on the promotion of his Lordship, appears to us to be premature and fenfelefs. What fwarms of hebdomidal Scribblers have given the alarm, before they can point out any danger? And what numbers of Sycophants have flattered the minifter, before they can refer to any action worthy of commerda tion? The Monitor, the Briton, the North-Briton, the Auditor, the Patriot, with other hafty Adventurers, have opened the fluices of invective and panegyric, and bid fair to deluge the town with their naufeous ftreams, while the fprings of elegance and true wit remain dry and exhaufted. It is to be wifhed, that the people of this kingdom would confine themfelves within their proper province. It is certain

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