Thefe, labouring like paviours, mend our ways Ram their coarse nonsense down, though ne'er so dull, YOUNG. By a fimplicity of thought, I mean all thofe fentiments which arife naturally out of the fubject, and are proportioned to the common fenfe and ideas of mankind. Thoughts of this kind (which feem so obvious, and as it were the fpontaneous growth of nature itself) are fuch as may fall into the minds of every man, but generally do not; fuch as all the world may have, and but few really have. Each fentiment that is affected or unnatural, mean or abject, finical or precife, are alike faulty, by departing from a just fimplicity. The effential and inherent perfection of fuch a fimplicity of thought appears from hence, that it is equally relished by the learned and illiterate, perfons of every form of life, every degree of understanding. By a fimplicity of expreffion I would be understood a natural and easy tile, free from all peculiarities of diction or anomalies of conftruction. All ftately and gigantic, all quaint and flowery, all homely and beaten roads of expreffion are repugnant to, and deviate from, this laft quality or perfection. Some preachers fhall by certain odd and peculiar modes of expreffing themselves, give every thing they deliver a foreign and unnatural air, which cannot but excite a weariness and difgutt.' Our Author introduces the first part of his work with telling us that, as man is compounded of three principal ingredients, viz. reason, imagination, and paffions, eloquence divides itself into the rational, the florid, and the pathetic, according to the proportion in which it is addreffed to one or the other; that the pulpit eloquence in England is plainly of the fevere and rational fpecies, a general fpirit of eafoning and enquiry having in a great degree extinguifhed the natural enthufiafms of the human mind in religious fubjects.'- Ranging however all Christian orators under three diftinct claffes, continues he, I fhall endeavour to mark out the capital beauties and imperfections which belong to each of them. If you would behold the native light of truth obfcured by no cloudy or ambiguous phrafes, no falfe or distorted fentiments, no corrupt paffions or acquired prejudices, perufe the ineftimable fermons of CLARKE and CONYBEAE. The chief merit of these two celebrated preachers lies in that fcholaftic precifion and philofophic clofenefs, with which each special article of faith or morals is treated. Few or no fallies of fancy are committed, which arise from the mind's collecting all its powers to view only one fide of a fubject, while it leaves the other unobferved. All florid epithets, all frigid circumlocutions, which only tend to weaken or debafe an argument, are utterly rejected. Each finished difcourfe forms a whole, coherent and proportioned in itfelf, with due fubordinacy of conftituent parts. If it turns upon a branch of morality, or any particular virtue, they never fail to ftate the limits, extent, and compass of it, with a wonderful justness and propriety. If it refts 14 upon upon any article of faith, they ever comprize the doctrinal part in fuch a space, as to leave fufficient room for a diftinct and particular enforcement of the practical duties refulting from it.' Our Author produces, in the next place, a few paffages from the fermons of Clarke and Coneybeare as proofs of their logical precifion, their accuracy of distinction, their familiar acquaintance with, and clear expofition of fcripture language, &c. and then fhews, at full length, the fuperior excellence of our Saviour and the apoftle Paul, in that fpecies of oratory which is addreffed to the understanding. The Doctor introduces the fecond part of his work with obferving that the bufinefs of a Chriftian orator is not merely to explain the word of God, but to do it in fuch a manner as to give his hearers a thorough fenfe of, and proper relish for it ;— that the naked truth, ftripped of every ornament which the. imagination is able to lend it, fhall, with all its charms, be little heeded by the many Its pure and delicate light, fays he, does not enough ftrike that which there is of fenfible in man.'-As our Author has quoted Bruyere, Gifbert, and fome other French writers, we are inclined to think that this fentence is a literal tranflation from the French; if we are mistaken in this, we are at lofs to account for his expreffing himself in fo affected a manner. He next obferves, that objects fo remote from fense and matter as moral and divine truths are, require to be brought near the mind, and made familiar to it by ftrength of imagery;—that the great and chief difficulty confifts in knowing how to make a due feparation between thefe graces and ornaments which, being natural and genuine, fet off and adorn the truth, and those which, being purious and foreign, only tend to weaken and debafe it ;-that the beautiful fimplicity which we so much admire in the compofitions of the ancients, is perfectly confiftent with the former, but altogether repugnant to the latter. The Grecian orator, fays he (whole eloquence alone raifed him a fort of throne, and fixed the hearts of a whole republic in him), feeks for no ornaments but what arife naturally from the fubject in hand, makes use of no flowers but what offer themfelves of their own accord. Having no other paflion but the love of truth itself, he difdains to render her lefs beautiful or effeminate by tricking her up with painted metricious graces. By an energy of thought and vehemence peculiar to himself, he was able to raife that fpirit, and excite thofe affections, which he was defirous to raife and excite. The true intereft of the people to whom he addreffed himself being ever uppermost in his view and thoughts, he feems to forget or lofe fight of himself. The falvation of his country being the fole and ultimate end of all his finished orations, the applaufe which refulted from thence to him felf appears to be much beneath his regard. How infinitely worthy, in all these refpects, is the Grecian of being imitated imitated by every Christian orator. How far is it beneath the latter to be ftudiously hunting after those frivolous, puerile, affected ornaments which were rejected with contempt by the former! Of this fort are the flashing metaphor, the brilliant fimile, the luxuriant allegory, the florid epithet, the contrafted phrafe, and the remote allufion, All thefe pitiful embellishments, which are fo induftrioufly fought out and fo highly admired by little fanciful writers, only ferve to corrupt and debafe the truth. They may be refembled to the plaiftering of marble, or the painting of gold, the glory of which is to be feen, and to fhine by no other luftre but their own. Such an effeminate ftudy of beauty is (according to the moft judicious and elegant of critics) no other than taking pains to be ugly or deformed. The folidity and grandeur of the fubjects which are handled, is that which forms the character of true and perfect eloquence. Such is the native and inherent greatnefs of thofe topics which belong to the Chriftian orator, that they will hardly admit of, and are very liable to be fullied by, ornaments in general. The glorious attributes of God, the astonishing exertion or difplay of his wifdom, goodness, justice and power, in the work of our redemption, an endlefs and inconceivable flate of rewards and punishments in a world to come, the refurrection of our bodies at the laft day, the ftapendous awfulness of a future judgment, when the fon of man fhall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, and before him Shall be gathered all nations, are a fort of truths which fand in need of no foreign embellishments. The purity, majefty, and energy of them, are fure to be diminished by florid epithets, brilliant metaphors, or useless circumlocutions. All graces must be utterly excluded, except of that kind which may be faid decently to adorn without incumbering, and modeftly to fhine without glaring. In fine, the imagination does its proper office, when it is made ufe of as a handmaid to truth, neither over-dreffing her, nor leaving her wholly naked.' Dr. Weales then proceeds to lay before his readers a few paffages from the fermons of Seed and Sterne, whom he fingles out from among that race of orators, whofe fancy, he fays, was full apt to catch and blaze out in metaphor, fimile, and the like. In regard to Seed, he obferves very juftly, that thofe glitterings, with which every difcourfe is befprinkled (we ufe his own words), may afford fome little entertainment to the imagination, but will not at all contribute towards colouring the boisterous and rebellious paffions, or delivering a bewildered reafon from error and prejudice;-that the hearers rife as from a painted banquet, going away juft as empty and void of fpiritual food as they fat down to it. Sterne, we are told, has adulterated the word of God with a vicious mixture of foreign or unnatural ornaments-loofe fparkles of wit, luxuriant defcriptions, fmart antithefes, pointed fentiments, epigrammatical turns or expreffions, are frequently to be met with in his fermons.-The great truths of the gofped are enervated by the fupernumerary decorations of style and REV. June 1778. eloquence. Ff eloquence.—In a word, his oratory is decked in all the glowing colours of poetry, as it first appeared in Greece. Dr. Weales fhews that our Saviour and his apoftles poffeffed, in an eminent degree, that faculty which enables the preacher to give elegance to fimplicity, and dignity to the most common and obvious truths. In this fecond part of his work the Reader will likewife find fome pertinent remarks on our modern declaimers. The third part is introduced in the following manner:THE CHRISTIAN ORATOR, who proceeds no farther than to convince his hearers by the most powerful arguments, or to please them by clothing thofe arguments with all the natural graces and ornaments of which they are capable, hath left the most important and the most difficult part of his work undone. It is no fuch rare talent to fhew a man the path of life, and to make it as clear as poffible that it is at once his duty and his interest to walk in it, but it calls for more than ordinary powers to work upon his will and affections to that degree, as actually to determine him to walk in it. For fuch, alas! is the native pride of the human heart, that it will not presently yield to the just empire of reafon; and fuch is its acquired obstinacy, that when it can hold out no longer, it will even impel a man to act in full and direct oppofition to it. • How a preacher then is to become master of the heart and affec tions, so as to regulate every movement of them at pleasure, is the great point in queftion. To touch or play upon the paffions (which may be confidered as no other than the flops and keys of the foul) in a masterly way, is confeffedly an extraordinary gift, and falls to the fhare of but very few. The only way by which an Orator can poffefs it in any degree, is to apply to his own feelings, and enquire upon what occafions, and in what manner his own heart is wont to be affected. Now every emotion of joy or forrow, hope or fear, that himself hath experienced, took its rife from either the lively apprehenfion of fome impending, or the actual feeling of fome immediate good or evil. From whence it clearly follows, that one perfon fhall excel another in the article of railing those emotions, in proportion to his fkill and ability of painting fuch good or evil in more or lefs glowing colours. The pathos in a fermon is the object not of reafon, but fentiment, and can be estimated only from its impreffions on the minds of an audience. In fine, nothing can be more evident than that the direct way to the heart lies through the imagination. Amongst the few English preachers who have excelled in raifing the paffions, I fhall not fcruple to give the first place to the juftiy celebrated Dr. Sherlock. A noble glow, a rich vein of eloquence, runs through his admirable difcourfes. His oratory comes in to the aid of argument, and impreffes thofe truths which logic teaches in a warmer and more effectual manner. His plan or defign is ever the moit juft, the moft natural, the most complete imaginable. He lays down fach rules and principles as cannot fail to strike with equal certainty and evidence upon all readers. Almost all his propositions are are particular and determinate, and confequently influencing. The fentiments arising out of the subject, are in their own nature just, great, and emphatical. The diction, which is chafte and fimple in the doctrinal part, doth, with wonderful propriety, rife and grow warm by fome heightenings of imagination in the practical.' Our Author now goes on to lay before his readers several paffages from the fermons of Sherlock, South, Atterbury, and Tillotson, and to point out their beauties; after which, he fhews that our Saviour and his apoftles are entitled to a distinguished place in the lift of pathetic writers, inferting, with this view, a variety of striking paffages from the New Teftament, contain ing the ftrongest addreffes to the hopes and fears of mankind. We fhall conclude this article with the following paffage, which well deferves the ferious attention of every one who is, or intends to be, engaged in the facred office: 'Let the ambassador of Chrift,' fays our Author, act, and talk, and think as becometh one invested with fo auguft and honourable a character. A good life is the most compendious and the moft powerful of all reformers. It is a fort of argument that lies level to the apprehenfions, and will find its way into the hearts, of all men. Primitive lives and primitive labours can and will alone recover the respect paid to our function in primitive days. As long as the preacher of the gospel keeps his eye fleadily fixed upon that great end which he hath laid himself under the most folemn vows never to lofe fight of, I mean the falvation of thofe committed to his charge, he may look upon himself, and ought to be looked upon by others, as a fellow-worker with God. But as foon as he takes his eye off from, or pays little or no attention to fuch end, he ought to confider himself, and will be confidered by others, as the most perfidious of all traitors, the moft contemptible of all hypocrites.' R. ART. IV. A Treatise on Practical Seamanship; with Hints and Remarks relating thereto : deugned to contribute fomething towards fixing Rules upon philofophical and rational Principles; to make Ships, and the Management of them; and alfo Navigation in general, more perfect, and confequently lefs dangerous and deftructive to Health, Lives, and Property. By William Hutchinfon, Mariner, and Dock master of Liverpool. 4to. 12 s. 6d. Printed for the Author, and fold by Richardfon and Urquhart, London, and at all the principal Sea ports in Great Britain and Ireland. 1777. Naging that great and complicated machine, a ship, acTAVIGATION, as an art, is the proper addrefs in ma cording to the principles of feamanship, as a fcience: but while the theory is not to be acquired without fome acquaintance with letters, this manual dexterity is the refult of hard labour and dangerous experience; in the turbulent courfe of which, all literary knowledge is oftener totally neglected or forgot, than cultivated. The Writer of this ufeful work concludes his preface with the following account of himself: Ffa • Mo& |