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opinion; and I feel myself incompetent to decide on the subject. I own I am not very partial to accommodation; and thought, while you was preaching, that if you had said the same important things, from a text in which they were evidently contained, they would have been more convincing, impressive, and effectual: but then I observe, that a great majority is against me in this respect.

"The ingenuity, that deduces important instructions from a text, which seems not to contain any thing to that special point, excites the approbation and admiration of many: but some think it unwarranted, and that it gives too much scope to fancy; and tends too much to take men off from the plain meaning of scripture, to hunt after such allusions, till they forget the Go, and do likewise,' as has been exceedingly the case in the good Samaritan. Your allusions, however, though I own I could not find the ground of them in the text, were of a practical nature and tendency; and thus calculated to produce good among those who have a taste for ac commodation." p. 69, 70.

This reply produced a refusal to publish the sermon, and was followed by another letter from the same friend, in which we find the following useful observations.

"I am fully satisfied, that you are capable even of excelling, in that way which seems to me most suited to communicate solid instruction,-to produce abiding conviction,-and so to silence objection, by sound speech which cannot be condemned, that they who are of the contrary part may have nothing to say against it; for I have heard you, and others, who are no more favourable to accommodation than I am, have heard you, and have wondered that you did not understand where your forte lay.

"When you take a plain text, full of matter, and, from the real meaning of the text, raise doctrines, draw conclusions, explain, illustrate, and apply the subject, there is great weight in your manner of preaching; which the fertility of your invention and liveliness of imagination kept in due bounds, render more interesting to the many, without giving any just ground of umbrage to the few. But, it appears to me and to others, that you frequently choose texts suited to give scope to the fancy, which is con

stituted the interpreter, instead of the judgment; and that you thus discover allusions, and deduce doctrines and instructions, true and good in themselves, but by no means contained in the text, nor, indeed, easily made out in the way of accommodation. In this case, your own vigour is principally exerted in the exercise of the imagination; and, while many hearers are surprised, amused, and delighted, their understandings, consciences, and hearts are not address. ed or affected, by any means in so powerful a manner, as by a plainer subject.

What St. Peter says of prophecy, that it is not of private interpretation, is true of every part of scripture: the Holy Spirit had, in every part, one grand meaning, and conveys one leading instruction; though others may, by fair inference, subordinately be deduced. This is the real spiritual meaning,' which we should first of all endeavour to discover, as the foundation of all our reasonings and persuasions. We should open, alledge, argue, enforce, apply, &c. from this mind of the Spirit in scripture; nor is any passage fit for a text, properly speaking, which does not admit of such an improvement of it, in its real meaning. But that, which you seem to call the spiritual meaning,' is frequently no more than a new meaning put upon it, by a lively fancy. Typical subjects, indeed, have a spiritual meaning, in another sense, under the literal meaning; being intended, by the Holy Spirit, to shadow forth spiritual blessings under external signs; and some prophetical vi sions are ænigmatical, and the spiritual meaning is the unriddling of the ænigma-parables, and such parts of scripture as Canticles, are of the same nature. But in all, the judgment should be the expositor, not the fancy; and we should inquire what the Holy Spirit meant, not what we can make of it.

"But there are many scriptures, that have no other meaning than the literal; and which are to be improved, not by finding out a new meaning and calling it spiritual; but by trying what useful instruction we can deduce from the plain sense of the passage. To illustrate my meaning, let me bring forward your text as an instance.-Nabopolazar, King of Babylon, who, in conjunction with Cy

axares, King of Media, subverted the Assyrian empire, is supposed to be meant by the dasher in pieces; and your accommodation of this title to the French was fair-But the latter part of the verse is a challenge to the inhabitants of Nineveh, to do their atmost to withstand this fierce conqueror; with an intimation, that it would be all to no purpose. Keep the manition; watch the way; make thy lains strong; fortify thy power mightily. For, as the Lord hath not spared the offending Israelites, but had punished them by the Assyrians, who cruelly entreated them, so, he would not spare the Assyrians, but would destroy Nineveh by the Babylonians, who would fully avenge on the Assyrians their cruelties to Israel. Now, I think, the accommodation of this, to our watching, praying, and using all means of averting the wrath of God from a guilty land, with hopes of success, must appear far-fetched to those who study the Scriptures carefully; and who would say, The in'struction was good, but what right had the preacher to put such a sense on the words? At this rate we may 'make the Scriptures mean what we please, by putting our own sense on 'any passage; and there will remain no certainty in interpreting Scrip*ture, but it will be equally easy to prove error as truth from thence.' In fact, I thought I could see, that you had some difficulty in making the allusion out; and was too much engaged in that pursuit, to bring it so much home with energy to the heart and conscience, as you would have done, if you had said the same things from the words of Joel for instance, chap. i. ver. 12-14, or 17: or those of Isaiah, chap. i. 16-18. Nor let it be forgotten, that many hearers of the gospel, love best to have evangelical truths proposed without much applition, for reasons best known to themselves, or rather to the Lord.

"My dear Sir, I am so deeply convinced, that this way of accommodation is capable of very dangerous abuses, and has been so abused to very bad purposes, by those who make divisions and deceive souls, that I grieve when any person of real piety and respectability gives any countenance to it; and I have so high an opinion of your integrity, benevolence, desire of glorifying God, and of doing good, and of your ta

lents likewise, if properly exerted, that I have long wished to discuss the subject with you.

"I should hint to you, 1. The propriety of commonly taking plain and full texts, which evidently contain the substance of what you mean to set before the people. For taking difficult texts has been so abused, that judicious persons are almost always ready to ascribe it to a bad motive. 2. Of first inquiring after the primary meaning and intention of the text, by examining the context accurately; and then considering what subordinate uses may be made of the general subject. 3. To aim at keeping judgment and imagination in their proper places;-judgment as expositor, imagination merely to illustrate and give animation to the decisions of the judgment. 4. To be upon your guard, when thoughts, which strike your fancy by novelty, occur to you; they are seldom so solid as brilliant; and sometimes have little but novelty to recommend them, as a sober review may often convince us." p. 73.

The sermons are eighteen in number, upon the following subjects: Christ the Way, from John xiv. 6.Christ the Truth, from John xiv. 6.Christ the Life, from John xiv. 6.The Gospel a faithful Saying, from 1 Tim. i. 15.-Christ the Chiefest among Ten Thousand, from Cant. v. 10.-The Ascension of Christ, from Psalm Ixviii. 18.-Christ the Head, from Ephes. iv. 15, 16.-The Holy Ghost the Comforter, from John xiv. 26.-Faith working, from James ii. 22.

The Love of God and Man, from 1 John_iv. 11.-Christian Graces, from 1 Peter iii. 8.-Christian Loyalty, from Matth. xxii. 21.-The Pharisee and Publican, from Luke xviii. 14.-On the Times, from 2 Kings vi. 15.-The Barren Fig-tree, from Luke xiii. 8, 9.-David's Curses the Believer's Prayers, from Psalm cix. 12, 13.—God's Sword and Bow, from Psalm vii. 12.—and on the Confession, from 2 Cor. i. 13.

As a specimen of the Author's composition we extract the exordium to the third Sermon: the text is, John xiv. 6. I am the LIFE.

"In the various elements of fire, water, earth, and air, animated nature breathes and exists; and these elements are suited to the innumerable creatures destined to inhabit them. If the order, which the God of Na

ture hath appointed, be inverted, animation and beauty are suspended or destroyed; and, in proportion to this inversion, disorder, and mischief

ensues.

his inclination; he is eager after hap piness, and naturally inquires, who will shew me any good? Every one is ready to answer the question. Is there youth, beauty, rank, and talents?— Come with me,' says the man of the world, I will shew you what happi

quirer by the hand to the assembly of fashion; initiates him in the dissipated amusements of the times,—the theatre-the course-the gamingtable-the luxurious repasts and ensnaring gratifications in which Dives revelled, or the impure joys in which Herod indulged, and the reproof of which cost the Baptist his life. Alas! it is not life, but death, to which such panders lead the way. The dead are here; living in pleasure, they are dead while they live.

"Could we soar, with eagles, the trackless paths of air, and ascend to the limits of our atmosphere, respira-ness or life is.' He takes the intion would become difficult, and would quickly cease; nor has the Author of our being given us the faculties or members suited to such a flight. Were we to descend with great Leviathan the depths of the sea, the same consequences would follow. We should almost instantly perish, because we do not possess organs, enabling us to exist in so dense an element as water. The birds soar to heights, and enjoy existence, where our faculties and powers would be destroyed; and the inhabitants of the mighty waters glide in safety, where man cannot approach them; both the one and the other have all the enjoyment and support which their nature needs, and which the all-wise Creator intended.

"The earth, the element of which man was formed, and with the dust of which he mingles when consigned to the grave, is replete with life: with myriads of the works and creatures of Jehovah. Analogy has led philosophers to conclude the same, of the unnumbered stars and planets, with which the great arch of Heaven is bespangled; and it seems probable, that creatures, formed to exist with comfort in any one of these, would be destroyed by transportation, were that possible, to another. But this is mere speculation, and, therefore, not to amuse you unprofitably, we will apply the subject to mankind; who, though sharing, in some sense, similar powers and faculties, are yet almost infinitely diversified in their actions and pursuits. So various, indeed, and opposite are the views of different persons, that one can scarce breathe or live in the element of another. To do it with any degree of comfort, the one or the other must undergo a suitable modification or change, in his nature and affections.

"A man is entering into life; ad. vancing in years and knowledge; coming forward upon the stage of society, on which he is to act a part, and in some particular department of which he is to move:-Ile consults

"Others, of a more sober cast, will introduce the inquirer into what they deem life, through the avenues of worldly commerce, and the busy scenes of merchandise and traffic. This is the life of trade or business, and, so far as the body's existence for a few short uncertain years may be concerned, it may and does, sometimes, subserve the end. But this makes no provision for the immortal part of man. What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lofe his own soul? A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. The larger class of society labour and earn their daily bread, by the sweat of their brow. This is indeed, more immediately the way, which God hath ordained; and, so far, they are living and acting according to the dictates of nature and right reason. But these, as well as others in the higher ranks, are generally deceived in their ideas of happiness, and careless of improving life, to those glorious ends which God intended; nay, not unfrequently they surpass their superiors, in blasphemy, dishonesty, intemperance, and uncleanness.

"There is little difference, however, in these respects. Every order of persons in the world, must meet upon one and the same ground, as sinners. The ways of sinning are variously modified, refined, and subtilized; but there is no difference in the general character:-There is none that doeth

good.

66

Yet, not to lose sight of my first

idea upon this subject, though we all meet upon one common ground as sinners, abusers of the means of life and the faculties of nature,-we live and move in different spheres and stations; and let the labourer, the man of business, or of fashion, invert the order of things, and abandon their several stations,-they will indeed physically exist, but must be considered as unable to act with propriety, or exist with comfort, because out of their proper element. The husbandman excels in and enjoys the labours of the field, but would ill acquit or enjoy himself at court, or uponChange. The courtier would be equally at a loss, in the alteration of his station and employments; and the man of commerce would share in similar un fitness, if transposed into either of the other situations, without a suitable change or preparation, in his faculties and understanding, for the purpose.

"These observations are not altogether foreign to the object I have in view, from the short text I have advanced:-I am-the Life. To enter

into the ideas suggested, by which I am to point out further two different and opposite classes, which, in a spe cial sense, may be said to divide and comprise all mankind. They are the carnal and the spiritual world; and these persons may truly be said, to live each in their peculiar and appropriate element. A spiritual person cannot exist, cannot find any comfort or sustenance in a carnal atmosphere; and if, led by the strong current of temptation, he breathes in it for a time, he becomes distressed, and hastens out of it as soon as possible. On the other hand, the carnal, natural, and unconverted man, cannot breathe and live with any sort of comfort, in a spiritual atmosphere; and if he be, by any accident, drawn into it, he generally makes as speedy a retreat as he can. The man who lives in pleasure, in sin, in the world, has no idea of the life of faith, the life of grace, or the life that is in Christ Jesus. This, however, is the life which the text leads us to consider, and on which we shall spend the residue of our present opportunity." p. 39-44. To the Sermons are subjoined what the Author calls Helps to Prayer, being short expressive forms of devotion, and the whole makes a volume of 500 8vo. pages.

VOL. I.

LIV. A DISSERTATION, Moral and Political, on the Influence of Luxury and Refinement on Nations; with Reflections on the Manners of the Age at the Close of the 18th Century, By ADAM SIBBET, A. B. Rector of Clarendon, in the Island of Jamaica.

ONVINCED that there is just reason to lament over the lux

ury and profligacy of the times in which we live, and that the increase and continuance of these have a and prosperity of the country, we are threatening aspect upon the strength

determined to lend our aid to make as public as possible all such publications as have a tendency to check the growing evil, and effectually to advance the interests of morality and religion. Such is the tendency of this dissertation, in which the Author traces the influence of luxury and dissipation as having been the ruin of Babylon, Tyre, Greece, and Rome,

and that such will be its effects in all

ages and in all countries. To the great, to heads of families, and to the young, he offers advice well worthy of their regard, and calculated to promote the national welfare.

EXTRACTS.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY IN

STRUCTION.

"THE inexperience of youth, there. fore, the peculiar flexibility of the tender mind, naturally open to every impression, can only be preserved from vice by being imbued and strengthened with sound principles and holiness. And this great work is to be commenced at a very early period of life; for the principles which we embrace, and the habits we contract, even in childhood, are difficult to be eradicated, but as we advance a little further in our course, and as our observations enlarge, and our mental faculties begin more and more to expand, the sentiments that we then adopt, and the attachments that we make, have such a degree of influence upon us, that our character is almost entirely formed upon them. The impression, at least, which is now given, whether on the side of virtue or vice, is often decisive and generally predominates during the remaining part of our life; and when

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the mind has once got its bias, it is a most arduous task to draw it to a contrary direction. The vast importance, therefore, of attending diligently to the formation of the mind and principles of the juvenile part of the nation, is highly expedient in all places and in all times, particularly in the present, in order to resist that spitit of scepticism and levity which so universally prevails." p. 119.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS.

"The public amusements of a nation have a considerable influence upon the general manners and taste of a people. But their effects upon the juvenile part of the community are so very important, that they require to be regulated with the greatest circumspection." That the amusements in our own country are not so regulated is obvious, if this writer's evidence upon the subject of operas is well founded, alluding to them, he says, "The performers of the ballet have now so far overstept modesty,' that a gentleman can hardly carry his family to see them, without being often hurt by the extreme indelicacy of their manners. However the fashionable world may commend their elegance and their grace, they should also consider, that the licentiousness of their attitudes and actions is often such as greatly to affect decency, and, consequently, an offence of a very capital kind against our public manners. The voluptuous dances of India, as described by Raymal, and the present rites of Pagan antiquity, where modesty was often so audaciously violated, could not far surpass the indelicate gestures, the studied levity, and the wanton airs of the modern dancers of the Opera House. Are not such exhibitions hostile in the highest degree to that delicacy which is so friendly to every virtue! Are not they calculated to irritate, to inflame, to corrupt, and to taint our British youth, yet rosed over with the virgin crimson of modesty,' and to destroy that immaculate purity of soul, which should be equally unsullied by the utterance of obscene words, and the view of unbecoming actions." p. 147.

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THE BANEFUL INFLUENCE OF IM
MORAL WRITINGS.

"The epigrams of a buffoon, the
whining elegy, and the flimsy novel,
will be read with avidity in frivolous
times, while Homer and Milton, and
Demosthenes, and Burke, will be
neglected: for luxury and vice have
a tendency to corrupt and debilitate
the mind as well as the body, to con-
taminate our intellectual taste as
well as our moral perceptions; and,
when we want energy and purity of
soul to comprehend the vast and
grand, or to be charmed with the de-
ficate and elegant compositions
true genius, we from the mere de-
pravity of our faculties, delight to
feed upon the disgusting garbage, or
the impertinent conceits of the lite-
rary profligates of the day, the im-
moral and puny writers of a degene-
rate age; and there is nothing per-
haps so fatal to the morals of a nation
as corrupt and vicious literary pro-
fluence over a large space, and affect
ductions, as they diffuse their in-
all ranks and descriptions of men."

of

THE DANGER OF INTRODUCING
YOUNG PERSONS ΤΟ PUBLIC

AMUSEMENTS.

"IN ages of great refinement, the young are generally introduced into the world at too early a period of life, as every thing then is forced, unnatural, and premature. That amiable diffidence and modesty, which always prevails in virtuous societies, and which spread so many charms over that interesting time of our existence, are generally considered as the most attractive graces of youth, are seldom to be seen in luxuriant ages.".

Again, the writer observes, "The self-sufficient school-boy, and the pert miss, are introduced into the beau monde so early, that they become old in the ring of pleasure before they are five and twenty. But, perhaps, there is nothing more injurious to physical strength and moral purity than this pernicious practice, for the constitution is broken and debilitated by the vigils of dissipation before it is properly established, and habits of levity and debauchery are contracted at a time of life when the mind should

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