ome further extracts, which shall be taken from the very sermon that in two instances has fallen under our censure. "Now every man understands what is meant by a burden pressing upon and galling his shoulder; and never fails to feel that burden, whenever he labours under it; but it is not every man that feels There the weight and burden of sin. are many, alas! who travel, through their whole lives, with the load upon their shoulders, and yet fancy themselves at liberty. And to what, it may be asked, is it owing, that man should be so sensible of oppression in one case, and not in the other? "The answer is obvious. So long as man continues in an unrenewed condition, he 'The has no spiritual sense about him. natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God; neither can he know them; for they are spiritually discerned.'— He is that insensible being, who, in the strong language of scripture, is described as 'dead while he liveth;' · -'dead in trespasses and sins.'—And a dead man, we know, feels nothing. The apostle, therefore, addresses him in that insensible condition; to give us to understand, that man must first be roused and awakened from it, before he can come to any sense or feeling with respect to his actual condition. 'Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.'-In fact, a lively sense of a man's natural condition, constitutes the necessary preparatory to any thing being done to relieve him. When God has opened his eyes to see "The religion of Christ, it should be remembered, is an heart-working thing; it is the greatest cleanser and purifier in the world; where it has its perfect work, it leaves no foulness or corruption behind. Whenever, therefore, what is called religion, leaves man in the same natural condition in which it found him; earthly, sensual, and corrupt; a slave to his appetites and passions; depend upon it, that man's religion is not the religion of Christ, but something that has been mistaken for it: some imagination of his own, with which the grand deceiver persuades him to rest satisfied, in the view of preventing him from looking farther, and from becoming that spiritual creature, which the religion of the blessed Jesus was designed to make him. "There is one infallible mark, by which it may be known whether we are come to Christ, in the sense in which we are invited in the text; and it is this: examine whether the life of Christ is in us; for he who hath not the life of Christ in him, hath nothing but the name; nothing but a fancy of Christ; he hath not the substance." (p. 218, 219.) We beg leave here to state, for the benefit of all whom it may concern, that the two last extracts contain very just and striking specimens of that experimental preaching, which of late years has sustained so much obloquy and reprehension. In the following discourse, preached at a visitation of the clergy, we were glad to find Mr. Daubeny thus addressing his brethren on the himself fallen in Adam, man then begins duty of a minister in the established to appreciate the means that have been provided for his recovery; for no one seeks a remedy for an evil he does not feel; and where no remedy is sought, none will be found; it being the condition upon which all things are to be obtained by man, that they be sought by him. Seek and ye shall find;' is the direction of that same divine Person, who calls upon man in the text to come to him for rest, and is in fact only a different mode of conveying one and the same idea; namely, that man must go out of himself, and seek from another quarter that salvation, which will not otherwise be found." (p. 204-206.) The following just and scriptural sentiments afterwards guard the subject which Mr. Daubeny had thus clearly and forcibly handled. Church. "In the next place, but above all, his object must be to take away all just reason for the desertion of his ministry, by giving full proof of his evangelical commission. With the apostle he must be able to say to his bearers, 'I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men; for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.'-To this end, whilst he is guarding against the fatal error of Antinomianism on the one hand, he must at the same time take care, that Seneca does not occupy in his Church the place of St. Paul. In a word, he must endeavour to give to every part of the Gospel covenant its due weight and consequence. In conformity with our articles and homilies, the misery of fallen man, salvation by Christ, the Christian faith, and good works, as the fruit of the Christian tree, must constitute the summary of his doctrine. For in a matter of this importance, men will take the liberty to judge for themselves; and if they have reason to think that they are not fed with the true bread of life within the walls of our Churches, they will unquestionably seck for it, where they fancy it may be found, either in fields or in conventicles." (p. 248, 249.) it pleasure that reproof, however mildly insinuated, is apt to provoke; destroys all its effect. "However we but which at the same time usually may differ (says Mr. Daubeny) in points of lesser moment; upon subJects of essential consequence it is impossible but we must all agree." How can Mr. Daubeny's conscience allow him thus to flatter! Is it possible, that he can sincerely believe, that, even as to their speculative creed, there is no essential differnions of any of his clerical brethren ence to be found between the opiand his own? Does he not then consider the doctrines of original sin, of the atonement, and of the necessity of the Holy Spirit's operation, reader of these sermons will, we are as of essential consequence? No confident, attribute to the author any lower estimation of their value. But has Mr. Daubeny then never heard of Mr. Fellowes or Dr. Gleig? Has he never heard (to say nothing of the Antijacobin Reviewers) of the Editors of the British Critic, (clergymen we presume) who in (see Christian Observer, vol. for some late numbers of their work, 1804, p. 499.) have adopted most unequivocally Dr. Gleig's sentiments upon original sin, in direct violation prospectus, and with complete hosof the principles avowed in their tility to the sentiments inculcated in this volume by Mr. Daubeny? fessed guardians of our religion and When we see such men, the proliterature, and who in many instances had deserved well of the from the faith which they had procause of evangelical truth, departing fessed, and in which we had hoped they were established; it is high time surely for the friends of truth to give the alarm, instead of using to betray the cause which they flattering words, that can only serve ought to vindicate and support. On the first part of this passage, is obvious to remark, that, if the advice be good and wise, as unquestionably it is, then, that very different conduct, attributed in the preceding sermon to the general body of the clergy, with reference to a most essential doctrine of the Gospel, must be far indeed from deserving these epithets; and that the apology for such conduct there offered by the author is completely. at variance with the counsel here given. The sentiment in the latter part of the passage deserves the most general and serious attention, as it assigns, we are persuaded, the true reason for that lamentable desertion of our Churches, which every friend of the establishment, and of true religion, deeply deplores. The true remedy for the evil is here indicated. preaching and writing in the world All the against schism, enthusiasm, &c. will avail little to oppose the progress of sectaries, and their conventicles. There is one effectual way of doing it, and but one. "Out preach them, and outlive them," is said to have been the answer of Charles the Second to his clergy, when complaining to him of the defection in their own times from the church to the conventicle. The advice suits all times, and will never be mended. We are sorry to observe, however, the preacher before us weakening the impression of his own counsel, by one of those qualifying admissions, frequent in modern charges and visitation sermons, which serve indeed to ward off the disCHRIST. OBSERver, No. 50. number, several passages had been Of the remaining sermons, six in originally marked for quotation, one only of which we shall, however, bring forward, in order to confirm P the importance of some observations which fell from us in an earlier part of this review. It occurs in the 11th Sermon on 1 John, iii. 3. the second on the same text, in which, after much just and scriptural observation, the author thus proceeds: “But although man is not able to cleanse himself from that stain and infection of sin which is hereditary to his nature, still he may in some degree free himself from the power and dominion of sin. God alone, we know, must cleanse and purify; because God alone can create that grace in the heart, whereby this purification is effected. Yet that man might be so cleansed and purged by divine grace, he must first, in a degree, be morally cleansed, by an abstinence from unrighteous actions, and by a denial of all carnal indulgence. Hence it is that a part of the engagement, by virtue of which fallen man is admitted into the church, for the purpose of his being finally and effectually cleansed from all sin by the blood of Christ is, that he renounces the Devil and all his works, together with the sinful lusts of the flesh: in such a sense, that he will not follow, nor be led by them.'-In this sense sinners are called upon by the Apostle to cleanse their hands and to purge their hearts. And provided they thus draw near to God, God, we are assured by the same Apostle, will draw near to them.James iv. 8. In such case he will not fail to carry his part of the evangelical covenant into complete effect, by purifying them as he is pure'." (p. 295, 296.) James iv. 8. It will be recollected that, in our remarks on Sermon V. of this volume, we objected to Mr. Daubeny's manner of speaking, where he says, "that the grace of God, and the free-agency of man, when considered in their relation to the economy of redemption, have certain limitations." The ill consequence of viewing the subject in this manner is strongly exemplified in the above quotation, where we see that it has led the author into an assertion of the ability of man, independently of the grace of God, to "free himself in some degree from the power and dominion of sin;" and of the necessity of his being "first, in a degree, morally cleansed, by an abstinence from unrighteous actions, 66 &c." as the indispensable preparation for his being spiritually "cleans ed and purged by divine grace.” Mr. Daubeny has indeed here supplied in some measure that desideratum which we formerly inquired after. He has at length assome precision those sigued with "limitations" which he before affirmed to exist, but of which he had then neglected to trace the boundaries. It appears pretty clearly now what it is that a man must do for himself, before he can expect God He is to to do any thing for him. cleanse himself morally," &c.; in other words, to" free himself from the power and dominion of sin." Still, however, some perplexity remains, for it is only" in a degree," or as "in some deelsewhere expressed, gree," that he is expected to do all this; so that an honest inquirer would yet be somewhat at a loss to ascertain with as much exactness as he must wish in a case of such moment, and where the condition of his exerting himself to the point required involves no less than his eternal felicity, how far he is to carry this preparatory operation. But seriously, is this the way in which the Scriptures speak on these subjects? Or is it reconcileable even with what Mr. Daubeny himself has elsewhere spoken:with those views of the moral depravity, and of course the moral impotence of man, which are as strongly affirmed in these sermons as we have ever known them to be in any author ancient or modern:-and with that entire, unqualified adoption of the apostolic decisions, "that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think or do any thing as of ourselves, but that all our suffici ency is of God," and that " it is God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure;" which is found in the very sermon just now referred to? vide p. 124. Can plainer evidence be required, that Mr. Daubeny has not hit upon the right manner of representing this controverted subject, than the entangled, confused, and to say all in a word, the unscriptural modes of speaking into which it has betrayed him? Whether the correction we have ventured to propose in its proper place, be more just and scriptural, the reader must judge for himself. Mr. Daubeny's representation, and our own are both before him, and we can only say, Utrum horum maris, accipe. Upon the whole, it is easy to see what is our judgment of these discourses. Their great excellence consists in their deserving, much more than modern sermons commonly do, the title of Christian discourses. They affirm the universal and total corruption of human nature. They inculcate on every man, that he is a sinner and needs forgiveness. They teach strongly the necessity of Divine influence to qualify us for the performance of every good word and work. And they teach all this seriously and impressively. The language bespeaks the preacher to be in earnest. The sentiments seem to come warm from the heart. O si sic omnia! But Mr. Daubeny is a man of strong prejudices: and although these place him in the singular predicament of shewing hostility towards the men, to whose sentiments, and even to whose very phraseology, his own evidently have a much nearer approximation, than either to the language or opinions of many of those divines whom he treats with partiality and friendship; they are yet so firmly fixed in his mind as unques. tionable verities, that under their influence, he is betrayed into a want of candour and fairness of representa tion, which we are often at a loss to explain, in any consistency with that integrity and good principle which we wish always to attach to his character. In his eyes Calvinism is a bugbear, and every man whom the world is pleased to call a Methodist is a Calvinist. Arminianism is also the triumphant system of the day, and an author, prejudiced as Mr. Daubeny is against the contrary scheme, has therefore strong temp tations to the violation of controversial fairness and integrity, which it will require the whole force of his moral principles to overcome. Let an author avow himself an Anti-Calvinist, and he has nothing to fear. Let him but give the name of Calvinism to whatever opinions it pleases him to dislike, the popular voice will be on his side. Reviewers will stand forth to blow the trumpet of his fame: they will call his declamation argument, and his assertions proofs. No misrepresentations, however palpable, will their critical acumen be able to detect. No quotations, however garbled or falsified, will their literary impartiality induce them to rectify. No sophistry, however flagrant, will their love either of truth or of sound logic, prevail with them to expose*. Some less fashionable and accommodating critic may indeed venture to tell the world the truth, but it will be easy, with the help of so many powerful associates, to cry down a writer who shall act so unpopular a part. To call him the advocate of a party, and give him a few ill names, will generally do the business; nor will it occur to the herd of loose and superficial readers, that the applauders on the other side are in a party also, and their testimony therefore liable to equal suspicion, and calling for equal caution. Mr. Daubeny is exposed to still additional temptations, as the champion of his party, with whom it is but too probable, as with parties in general, religious as well as political, that popularity is not to be kept up by cool and candid statements, by fair reasoning and dispassionate repre sentations, but by methods directly contrary to these; too well known, alas! and too often practised, to require any more distinct specification. We do not mean to attribute to Mr. Daubeny the being knowingly and wilfully influenced by such motives and considerations as have been suggested. God forbid! We have spoken of them only as temptations which lie in his way; and it implies no imputation of more than the ordinary measure of human infirmity to suppose, that temptations like those which we have mentioned, so flattering at once to an author's vanity, his prepossessions, and his love of ease, may have even a considerable, though an unperceived operation upon his conduct; drawing him insensibly aside from that line of scrupulous care and fidelity, which, under circumstances of an opposite complexion, a regard to his reputation might have warned him to observe. Of Mr. Daubeny's style nothing need be said. The public is well acquainted with it, and want not to be told by us, that it is easy, perspicuous, and well adapted in all respects to theological subjects, FOSTER'S Essays. (Continued from p. 50.) THE third Essay is on the application of the epithet Romantic. Mr. Foster introduces it with some just censure on the manner in which compendious terms of reproach are generally applied, and gives soine instances of it in those of Puritan, Methodist, and Jacobin. The epithet Romantic, he observes, has obviously no similarity to these words in its coinage, but it is considerably like them in the mode and effect of its application. -For having partly quitted the rank of plain epithets, it has become a convenient explod ing word, of more special deriding significance than the other words of its order, such as wild, extravagant, and visionary. Having mentioned the origin of this term to have been the designation of the qualities which characterised the persons and the transactions displayed in the works called romances, the author justly adds, that the great general distinction of the actors in those books and times has been the ascendancy of imagination over judg ment; and that this is, therefore, the main principle of every thing that may properly now be denomi nated romantic in human character. After describing this undue prevalence of the imagination, Mr. Foster proceeds to distinguish those forms of it which may be justly called romantic. One of the effects some times produced by the predominance of this faculty, he observes, is a persuasion in a person's own mind, that he is born to some peculiar and extraordinary destiny; while yet there are no extraordinary indications in the person or his circum, stances. This is traced in a variety of instances, with much accuracy and liveliness. Another effect of this predominance of the imagination, is stated to be a disposition to form schemes, or indulge expecta tions, essentially incongruous with the nature of man, This is illustrated in the cases of visionary schemes of life;-and of those theories of education, and those flatteries of parental hope, which presume the possibility of young people in general being matured to eminence of wisdom, and bedecked with the universality of noble attainments, by the period at which the faculties are in fact, but beginning to ope rate;-in the case also of speculations as to an equality of property and modes of life throughout socie ty;-and by the character of the age of chivalry. A third instance of the undue prevalence of the imagination which Mr. Foster states, is the disregard of all the relations between ends and means. This is traced in the habit which some indulge of musing on those happy casualties, which |