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country! O deliver not our ftrength into captivity, nor our glory

into the enemies' hand.

-"Hitherto, O Lord, thou haft helped-hitherto thou haft fuccoured us-Thou haft heard the fupplications of thy fervants, and haft not given us over for a prey unto our enemies. Bleiled be thy name, for the protection which thou haft afforded us ; for the light of thy countenance which hath thined, and, as we humbly truft, will yet fhine, upon thy people. Bleffed be thy name, for the fpirit which glows within the hearts of our countrymen-for the zeal and ardour which thou haft infpired--for thofe affociated powers, thofe bonded energies which thou haft called forth for our defence. O Lord, should it be thy will to bring upon us the fword of foreign hoftility, or of domeftic infurrection, then be thou prefent with thefe thy fervants in the hour of danger, and with all others, who, like them, fhall willingly offer themfelves: ftrengthen their hearts, and nerve their arms for the conflict. In that hour may they remember thee, O Lord, who art great and terrible; and may they fight with irresistible bravery for their brethren, their fons and their daughters, their wives and their houses!

Thine

"We have heard with our ears, O God-our fathers have told us, what thou haft done in their time of old. Thou art the fame, yester. day, and to-day, and for ever: with thee is no variablenefs, neither fhadow of turning. Thou, O Lord of hofts, art with us, as thou wert with our fathers; thou haft not failed nor forfaken us. is the greatnefs, and the glory, and the victory, and the majefty. Even now thy mighty hand, thy ftretched-out arm, hath faved us from our enemies, and hath put them to confufion that hate us: therefore do we praife thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. We laud and magnify thee, O thou Sovereign Ruler of all the World, for that fplendid NAVAL VICTORY, the tidings whereof have awakened every heart to rapture, and have caused the found of joy and gladnefs to be heard throughout our land. In that great and fignal event we fee the manifeftation of thy divine power, directing, controlling, and furthering all occurrences, for the honour, the fafety, the exaltation of thy faithful fervants. Who fhall not fear thee, O King of nations? forafmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord: thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Can we, with felfifh ingratitude, avail ourfelves of thy bleffings, and not afcribe the praise to thee, its only author? Can we forget God our Saviour, who hath done fo great things in Egypt ?'

"Continue to us, we beseech thee, thy mercy, and profper the work of our hands upon us--Behold, O God, our defender, and look upon the face of thine anointed. Blefs thou his righteous caufe; and thefe the loyal, independent fupporters of that caufe---thefe, who in thine awful prefence, and in the houfe which is called by thy name, pledge themfelves by whatfoever things are folemn, whatfoever things are facred, to guard and defend the throne of their Sovereign, the conftirution of their country, the religion of their fathers. And oh, may

it be thy good pleafure to accelerate that hour, to which the friends.

of

of mankind look forward with eager expectation; that bleffed hour which fhall bring PEACE on its wings-no bafe and miferable compromife-no fhort-lived repofe, purchafed by the furrender of national honour, and of national virtue; but a fafe, equitable, permanent peace, the brightest object of every valorous atchievement, every patriotic exertion: fuch a peace, as, through thy bleffing, may reftore tranquillity to a world now convulfed and agonized; fuch a peace as may confole us for our paft fufferings, and may cheer our future profpects; fuch a peace as may be the means of transmitting all the bleflings which thou haft bestowed upon us, pure, entire, undiminifhed, to our children, and to our children's children.

"In full affurance, that thou wilt hear the prayers of thy fervants, and in thine own good time grant their requests; in all fubmiffion and readiness of mind to fuftain whatever trials thou fhalt previously lay upon us; in dutiful obedience to thy commands, that whatsoeyer we do, we fhould do all to the glory of God, we now fet up thefe our banners unto thee, folemnly confecrating them in the name of The Lord God Omnipotent, the God of the Armies of Britain!' and with them dedicating ourfelves, all that we have, all that we are, every faculty of fpirit, and foul, and body, to thy honour and fervice; and fo far as each of us, in his refpective ftation, can promote it, to the welfare and profperity of our country.

"And, O Lord, do thou confecrate us unto thyfelf, by thy Holy Spirit, that we may continue thine for ever; that through thy pro tection we may be free from all adverfities, and devoutly given to ferve thee in good works, to the glory of thy bleffed name, and our own everlafting falvation, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

"The Almighty Lord, who is a moft ftrong tower to all them that put their trust in him, to whom all things in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, do bow and obey, be now and evermore our defence, and make us to know and feel, that there is no other name given unto men, in whom, and through whom, we may receive trength and falvation, but only the name of our Lord Jefus Chrift."

ART. XVII. A View of the Nature and Defign of Public Fafts; occafioned by Peter Pindar's Satire on Fafts, in a Sermon delivered at Afb, the 7th of March, 1798; with Additions. By N. Nifbett, A. M. Margate; printed at the Thanet Prefs, and fold by J. Warren: fold alfo by F. Rivington, St. Paul's Church-yard, and C. Dilly, in the Poultry, London. Price Is. Pp. 29.

WE give this writer the fullest credit for his good inten

tions, but we cannot equally commend his judgement in degrading the dignity of the pulpit, by noticing the indecent fcoffs, and forgotten blafphemies, of fuch a man as

K 2

Peter

Peter Pindar, whofe coarfe ribaldry and prostituted pen have long fince configned him to the contempt and execration of every good fubject and fincere Chriftian. As one of the moft favourable specimens of Mr. Nifbett's ftyle, we fhall present our readers with the concluding paffage of this fermon:

"No period," fays he," of our history ever called for more virtuous fortitude, or for greater facrifices, to preferve our existence as a nation, and to form an effectual barrier against a foe whofe fucceffes have been unparalleled, and whofe ambition is unbounded. The prize that our enemies would gain by the conqueft of this country is too dazzling for us to entertain a doubt of their making every exertion to obtain it. As therefore our danger is great, and the stake [which] we have to loofe [lofe] immenfe, let the energies of our character, as Britons, be difplayed; let us remember we are contending, pro aris et focis, for all that is valuable to us as men and Christians."

ART. XVIII.

"Ignorance productive of Atheism, Faction, and Superftition :" A Sermon, preached before the Univerfity of Cambridge, on Commencement Sunday, July 11⁄2 1798. By Thomas Rennell, D. D. late Fellow of King's College, and Master of the Temple. (Printed by the fpecial Defire of the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Colleges.) 8vo. Pp. 56. Price 1s. Rivingtons. London. 1798.

THIS

"HIS learned divine juftly questions that claim to preeminence which modern philofophers arrogate to themfelves over their predeceffors, though, at the fame time, "extremely aware that ftrong exception will be made to a statement which reprefents any deficiency in wisdom, in an age called knowing and enlightened beyond all former example." Such, indeed, is the language of the French fchool, and their disciples in England. Thefe beings conceal their ignorance by the brazen front of arrogance, defpife the learning of their forefathers because unacquainted with their labours and exertions; and the petulant frippery of a coxcomb, in the opinion of the generality of the world, triumphs over the found information of the modeft fcholar, who, the greater his abilities or acquifitions may be, the more fully is he convinced that his knowledge, comparatively, confifts "in knowing nothing." But as, in the words of the text, "My people are deftroyed for lack of knowledge," it is proper to enquire whether the fpecies of knowledge in which philofophifts pride themselves in excelling is referred to by the

Prophet?

Prophet? Doubtlefs, an acquaintance with chymistry, mine ralogy, the mechanical arts, or fpeculative fciences, occurred not to the mind of this writer, when peruling the paffage; for these constitute "fcience, falfely fo called." An atheist may be a proficient in fuch literature, yet be deftroyed for his prefumption, and wilful ignorance of the Almighty Creator, The knowledge that HOSEA alludes to, is not merely a knowledge of God with the Deift, "that he is," but that he is a rewarder of the righteous, and a punisher of the wicked; and practical virtuous habits, refulting from fuch knowledge, can alone prevent the deftruction of the people. This knowledge is RIGHTEOUSNESS, in our mother-tongue right-wife-nefs, a right-wife life; this knowledge is WISDOM, wife-doom, or wife judgement, who holds "length of days in her right hand, and, in her left hand, riches and honour; her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." In fuch knowledge, our good old divines excelled, and, as this able fcholar proceeds:

*

With

"In compafs and command of language, in fimplicity and energy of diction, in orderly and comprehenfive thought, in profoundness of learning, and in the detail of accurate and patient investigation, I cannot help thinking that we thould be unwife in contefting the fuperiority. But it is more to my purpose to mark those intellectual habits which interfere with the cultivation of that knowledge which directs, fuperintends, and fanctifies every portion of wisdom we can acquire. The language of the ancient Theology of the English Church is, that we are capable of God both by Understanding and by Will; by Understanding, as he is that fovereign truth which comprehends the rich treasures of all wifdom; by Will, as he is that fea of goodness whereof whofo tasteth fhall thirst no more.' Juch principles of wisdom predominating in their intellect, and reigning in their affections, did our predeceffors in thefe feats of learning, for a long courfe of time fubfequent to the Reformation, proceed in their literary career. Whatever was the region of fcience which they explored, whatever branch of learning they cultivated, they fteadily kept in view the great fource of every good and perfect gift, in whom, by whom, through whom, for whom, are all things. Not only in treatifes where Theology was the profeffed object, was divine knowledge diffufed, but in thofe where the connection was lefs vifible and direct. The divine adminiftration was perpetually pointed to by the hiftorian; the paffions of men confidered as mean and fubordinate inftruments to the fteady difpenfation of juftice or mercy, of reward or punishment, to communities of men either acknowledging the hand of the Almighty, or prefumptuously oppofing his counfel and com

* Hooker,

mands.

mands. In examining the moral fyftem of man, and his powers, inclinations, and habits in the attainments of happinefs, religion was confidered as the polar ftar of morality. Still more in Natural Philofophy was the finger of God, whether in his outward structure, the laws of the material world, and the motions of the heavenly bodies perpetually pointed out and defignated. Every work was in fome neafure a school of divine knowledge; and yet no man alive will, if converfant in the works of thefe men, prefume to fay that their efforts were cramped or confined by their piety. Was the political fagacity of a Hooker the lefs confpicuous for the perpetual eagerness he expreffed to found every maxim, and the foundnefs of all regimen, on the love and admiration of Almighty God? Was the wifdom of a Bacon, in difcerning the provinces, in marking the limits, and in pointing to the advancement of moral and fcientific truth, the lefs fublime for his reverential awe of the Deity, and his zealous and orthodox profeffion of the faith of Chrift, in all the magnanimous humility of Chriftian abafement? Is the history of a Clarendon lefs grave, fplendid, inftructive, and dignified, for that fpirit of conftant piety which pervades and upholds every fentiment and reflection? Are the refearches of thefe men lefs profound, their intellect lefs penetrating, their knowledge les exuberant, their genius lefs lighted, and their eloquence les enflamed, than that of those who are now employed in the fame provinces of learning and fcience? Be this as it may certain is it, that the channels by which the knowledge of religion was communicated are neither fo numerous nor abundant as in the days of our fathers; and rarely is it indeed that, except in works directly treating of Theology, any pious reference, even when the fubject moft points to it, is made to the difpenfations and moral government of Almighty God. In a variety of caufes will this be traced; in none more than in Pride, or in its abortion, Vanity."

From fuch fpecimen the reader must neceffarily entertain the highest opinion of Dr. Rennell's fermon, printed at the request of the University of Cambridge. It is a manly, feafonable, and vigorous production; and the notes annexed to it difplay great learning and judgement. The preacher is a found defender of proteftantifm against the fupremacy of the church of Rome; but, in his deteftation of popery, he afcribes the rebellion in Ireland not fo much to its primary, as its fecondary, caufe, the fuperftition of its inhabitants. Surely, the late commotions in that unhappy country originated amongst the conspirators at Paris, the enemies of all religions, order, and government, apoftates to their God, and murderers of their King. Thefe artful Jacobins, indeed, took advantage of every prejudice in every country to forward their defigns, fomented the jealoufies of all parties hoftile to the religious or civil establishment of a nation, and had its prefbyterian illumines for the diffenters of Belfast, equally with

the

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