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New Testament, is not very formidable even to the unlearned, and I will venture to say that, let any man, after their perusal, sit down with the New Testament in his hand, and read attentively ten chapters following one another, taken from almost any part of the book indiscriminately, he will then find Rammohun Roy's seven hundred pages fully answered, and a conviction the very opposite to that which he has drawn to be fairly established in his mind. "Still, however, Rammohun Roy's unbiassed opinion as to the superior excellence of the morality of the Christian religion remains, and it is this with which we have at present chiefly concern; but of him enough, and more than enough, has been said."" P. 40.

Sermon II. (from 1 Timothy, iv. 13,) was preached at a general ordination held by the Lord Bishop of Oxford; and, as the occasion required, has relation to the qualifications requisite for the proper discharge of clerical duties. "The knowledge of religion, (says Dr. Williams,) like every other useful knowledge, is only to be acquired by well directed industry."

"The languages in which revelation was originally conveyed to us should be acquired; histories are to be examined, facts investigated, opinions to be canvassed, nay the precise meaning of a single word frequently to be settled: these are difficulties which successive ages have increased, and which, however they may have been diminished during this and the preceding century, are not yet, by any means, entirely removed. True it is, indeed, that the learned labours of some excellent divines in our church have furnished us with productions of the first rate, and various in their kind; but these, instead of rendering us indolent, should, at the same time that they excite our gratitude, rouse us to emulation, and encourage us to improve, with equal assiduity, the talent which hath been committed to our trust.

"But why should I entirely pass over, as an incentive to diligence and attention to duty, the regard we ought to have for the credit, the welfare, and interest of our country? It has been the fashion to hold this remote corner of the world in a supercilious point of view: Britons have never been wanting in manly spirit and integrity of principle. Let us not then degenerate from our ancestors, but rather cultivate that principle and improve that spirit in the study of whatever can invigorate or adorn it. What! thongh we are behind our more polished neighbours in the arts of luxury and refinement, why should we remain behind them in the cultivation of our understanding, and of the decent and valuable arts of life?

"There is one thing more, which perhaps, as individuals, will strike us no less forcibly, and, therefore, should not be omitted; our character and our influence are concerned in this matter: men are not naturally inclined to pay much respect or attention to those they think no wiser than themselves, and even the very multitude will often disregard the best admonitions, when they think there is but little or no learning to give those admonitions their due weight. Thus example and advice are made to lose much of the authority naturally belonging to them: accordingly, to the ignorance, no less than to the immorality of the public teachers of religion, have been justly attributed that contempt which they laboured under, and that impiety which baffled all their exertions, when thick darkness hung over the Christian church.

"Yet high authority is often more forcible than general arguments: I will therefore just observe, that Christians of all ages and of all countries, except a few ignorant fanatics with some ill-designing men, have constantly concurred in the recommendation of sound literature; and the church, as early as the time of that crafty apostate Julian, considered his decree, which, in effect, forbad all

Christians to be taught the rudiments of grammar, as a more destructive engine against the Christian faith (and so it certainly was,) than all the sanguinary persecutions of his blood-thirsty predecessors. It is also worth while to take notice, that soon after the revival of letters had opened the way for the reformation, when we see the religion of Christ emerging out of a state of ignorance and barbarism, and approaching somewhat nearer to its original purity, that wise and salutary law which excludes unlearned persons from the Gospel ministry, acquired the force and influence it still retains in the greatest part of the Christian world: may it never be relaxed or diminished.

"I need not point out to you minutely the uses of the different branches of human learning, or observe in what respects they severally contribute to the illustration and confirmation of sacred scripture. Without entering into these particulars, the reason to induce us to give attendance to reading is, I should hope, sufficiently strong: I might add, however, that we shall thus prepare ourselves for filling higher stations in life with proper dignity; that we shall best understand the true end and happiness of man; that, should it be our lot to mix much with the world, we shall check, hereby, any latent propensity to idleness and idle diversions, and keep aloof from the vicious and foolish fashions of mankind, that, in the greatest solitude, we shall avoid the danger of becoming slaves to our appetites, because we shall have always in our power the means of pleasure and mental conversation, and, above all, that whatever rational, and moral, and religious improvement we shall here make, we are to consider it only as a foundation for further acquisitions: for righteousness is immortal, and to him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

"If then, upon the whole, we have good reason to believe it to be the settled purpose of God's providence, that learning and philosophy properly so called shall ever contribute to the understanding and advancement of true religion, and that the alliance which by nature seems to subsist between the human mind and whatever things are true, aud fair, and good, shall always be disordered by ignorance, it becomes the duty of every liberal-minded man to give attendance (according to his leisure and abilities,) to reading to the improvement, that is, of his intellectual faculties; if then of every such man, how much more of him who is purposely appointed to check the progress of wickedness and vice, and to maintain the cause of true religion and virtue." P.65.

"With regard, then, to the mysterious parts of our religion, (and mysterious parts one could not but expect in a religion come from Heaven, and addressed to creatures of such confined capacities,) a man of this character being fully persuaded that all the knowledge to be gained of them must be derived from relation, will attend, therefore, principally to the expressions of the inspired writers themselves. Here, however, he will carefully avoid that dangerous, though common, error of considering such expressions separately, but will compare them with the contexts and with each other, and will take an enlarged view of the scope and argument of the author: he will not attempt to refine on what is above his comprehension, or explain, on principles of human philosophy, what he would never have had any notion of, had it not been supernaturally revealed; nevertheless, he will not reject any assistances that can be obtained from the exertions of the human mind, but will be careful that it be exerted in a proper way, and confined within those limits which God has fixed to it." P. 84.

Sermon III. (from 2 Timothy, ii. 15,) is entitled "The difficulties attending a just explanation of Scripture considered, as they have

arisen from the gradual progress of revealed religion through a length of time.' This is not the production of our author, but of Dr. Joshua Berkeley, and is well worthy of a place in the selection, as will appear from the following passages.

"Another important occasion of difficulty in explaining the books of the New Testament, arises from the evidences of Prophecy, which those writings, as the other scriptures had done, carry with them; and which, gradually unfolding themselves, support the cause, and assist the progress of revelation. "The application of prophecy, is necessarily a matter of great nicety and judgment; requiring also extensive learning and long acquaintance with the prophetic style and manner; particularly, where prophecies, as it is observable often in the New Testament, are blended and incorporated with other subjects. The wonderful agreement of events, as they have sprung up, with the prophecies thus left us, as sacred pledges of the truth of the gospel, has sufficiently explained to us the reasons of the divine economy in this respect.

"II. If the causes assigned were sufficient to introduce obscurities in the earliest period; a great length of time hath at present heightened every former difficulty, while it hath added others nearly as important, and immediately arising from itself. The consideration of these was the second object I had in view.

"A just knowledge of the laws, customs, and manners of foreign nations, is, even to their contemporaries, a matter of great study and attention. It is unnecessary to observe how much more judgment, as well as industry, will be required, when these laws and customs have so long, in a great measure, ceased to have any existence but in description. In these respects, therefore, and in all circumstances affecting the history of nations, every former difficulty has been increased by time, while new ones have arisen immediately from the

same cause.

"The divine wisdom, having at the time it thought expedient, withdrawn the gift of Inspiration and sealed the sacred volume; it soon became the grand object of the Christian church to draw the line, and to ascertain with precision, what should be judged to be the genuine work of the Spirit, and what should be admitted as useful to explain the sacred writings, but not received as of equal authority.

"The canon of scripture was at length settled on the clearest evidence, and the strongest proofs of the genuineness of the several writings were laid up for the use of future ages. Such, I mean, as result from the attestation of the great number of transcripts of the original; of ancient versions into the principal languages, which were dispersed through the most distant countries; of citations of inany parts of the New Testament occurring in the writings of the first fathers; and of early testimonies of ancient authors, both Jewish and heathen.

"Such evidences having been, by the Divine care, treasured up, which the discretion and industry of future ages, might call forth and avail themselves of, the dark period of ignorance and superstition succeeded. During this period the knowledge of the sacred writings received little cultivation; yet a strong argument of the genuineness of those writings, as we now possess them, may be derived from the history of those times. The oracles of the Old Testament were committed to the Jews, as unsuspicious guardians of those scriptures by which themselves were condemned. In the same manner many of the acknowledged manuscripts of the Greek Testament, and some of the most respectable versions, were intrusted to the church of Rome; which may, had we no other evidence of their genuineness, be hence conceived to have come down to us without any essential corruption; since every page condemns the principles and doctrines of that church, to whose keeping these books had

been delivered, and which, as the Jews had done, was ignorantly fulfilling the prophecies that it thus preserved.

"When the shades of ignorance were dispelled on the rivival of letters, divine knowledge had its share of cultivation; and as editions and versions of the scriptures at large, and of those of the New Testament in particular, appeared at different times, new manuscripts were gradually brought out to public notice." P. 121.

Sermon IV. (from Acts, i. 6, 7.) was preached at Bangor. From this we cannot afford room for more than a short extract.

"Is it not matter of serious concern to every Christian, to every Christian minister especially, to vindicate his religion from every injurious imputation? We, my brethren, in particular, should be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us, with meekness and fear.'

"To the want of this readiness and ability one may ascribe, in a great measure, at least, the corruption and decay of Christianity in a neighbonring kingdom, and too generally all over the continent, if not in our own country likewise. For there, more especially, the profligate church of Rome, taking advantage of the 'dark or middle age,' as it is called, burdened the rational religion of Christ with a load of absurdities, which its very ministers disbelieve; and which the bulk of their philosophers, being but partial and sceptical inquirers after truth, mistake for Christianity itself. And thus, by degrees, have they been sinking into the dregs of materialism and infidelity, and have, at last, in their madness, banished religion from their land.

"But, thanks be to God, 'we have not so learned Christ.' We have embraced his religion upon different principles, and can, I trust, satisfactorily prove it to ourselves and others, to be most rational, most holy, and divine. As to inquirers, of a presumptuous cast, 'who seek to know above what is written,' the best and securest way of dealing with such, is to point out the unreasonableness of their demand, and to expose its absurdity. Nor can this be foreign from the purposes of the present solemnity; for here we are assembled to inculcate, on ourselves and others, the belief and practice of the only pure religion in the world; which it were idle to attempt, without previously removing all possible objection." P. 141.

The following observations are quite as applicable, (if not more so,) to the present times as when they were first delivered.

"Seeing the infinite advantages, as well as the necessity, of subordination in all civilized society, and knowing the peculiar privileges we enjoy from our divine religion, and under our admirable constitution; the glory of its real friends and the envy of its enemies; let us, in the hour of peril, rally, one and all, in our different stations, around that constitution, and faithfully discharge our several duties; being ever ready to lose our lives in preserving that, which our forefathers lost their lives in obtaining. God forbid we should ever degenerate from them! But let us ever rest assured, that those several duties can never be faithfully discharged without a due sense of religion. In this, alas, there is room to fear we are fast degenerating! Within but a few years the grand and petty jury, at our different assizes, were wont to consider it as part of their duty to attend such a solemnity, as the present, and the house of God was filled with his worshippers. But now they make light of it, and go their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise,' or are, perhaps, occupied with more frivolous concerns. In the day of danger and affliction our 'fathers trusted in God, and were delivered.'

"It becomes us to be animated by their piety, no less than by their valour:

NO. XIII.

I

and the more so, because in these our days a proud, unnatural, irreligious, and most wretched independence has been proposed and recommended, as the first object of desire, to each individual. Yes, we have been told, in contradiction of our daily experience, and notwithstanding the infinitely various inequalities which we see between man and man in mental, as well as corporal, endowments, that we are nevertheless all equal. The reverence and affection, which the sense of inferiority and the consciousness of obligation were intended to create, are now condemned as the effects of a mistaken judgment and an abject spirit; and, in their stead, are introduced discontent, and envy, and conceit, and impatience of all subordination. Loosened therefore are all the ties that bind, not kingdoms only, but families together. And thus, at once, the best security of public peace is shaken, and all the charities of domestic life destroyed, and all its comforts sapped and undermined! Civil society, is, in short, annihilated! But neither is this the whole, nor even the chief part of the evil! this impatience of all dependence of one man upon another is the consequence, only, of a still more diabolical temper, which implies, in fact, an impatience of all dependence even upon God himself. When visited with afflictions, or encompassed with difficulties, we are now no longer to derive comfort from God, and trust in his providence and protection. When we feel, as we must feel in innumerable instances, our own ignorance and infirmity, we are now no longer to look up for direction to the revelation of his will! we are to consider it as wisdom to let loose, unrestrained, every inordinate desire, and as meanness to 'fear Him, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell!' We are taught, in fact, to say with the fool, there is no God! And when we shall perfectly have learnt this impious and horrible creed, what is the liberty or satisfaction, to which we shall have attained? Why, we may then, without remorse, become every man the instrument of his neighbour's misery, and of his own shame: we may then exchange the firm hope of a blessed immortality for the gloomy idea of annihilation.

"From a system of such consummate wickedness, infamy, and falsehood, let us always pray in the energetic language of the litany of our church, and say from the heart and soul, good Lord, deliver us!" P. 179.

If we had given way to our own inclination we should have extended our quotations, but we have already exceeded the limits which could be conveniently assigned to the review of a single work of small dimensions. Most sincerely do we hope that the pious and aged author may have the satisfaction of witnessing its extensive circulation, not only in the Principality, but throughout the island.

We cannot dismiss this article without noticing the opinion which Dr. Williams (preface, p. ix.) expresses respecting the fate of the Welsh language.

"As to the Welsh language itself, 'the literature of Wales (as Dr. Owen Pughe justly observes) is at this time in the last stage of its decline:" which observation is fully confirmed by Mr. Knight, who says that but 'few scholars now speak the language, fewer still write it; and among the gentry it has long since ceased to be the vernacular tongue.' Had not, indeed, the church service been performed in Welsh in this and a few other parts of the Principality, the language, like the Cornish, would long, ere this, have vanished from the face of the earth.

"Nor will the revival of Eisteddfodau ever bring it into vogue again: for

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