to whom they are dedicated. But in any abode where a just sense of the Deity fills the soul, "Such bubbles burst, and folly's dancing foam Melts, if it cross the threshold; where the wreath Of awe-struck wisdom droops." P. 106. We meant to say not one word more on the subject of Wordsworth's politics, but the Sonnet of "Congratulation," p. 98, has flashed upon our eye, and we cannot refrain. Mr. W. has lately travelled through the South of Europe. He can hardly have journeyed a league without hearing indig. nation in every form against his country's perfidy. He has probably been at Genoa. He knows that England is every where accused of having consented to every scheme of spoliation and tyranny. He knows that every country which has lost its liberty looks upon England (or the English government) as having rivetted its chains. He knows that England has lost her reputation for hospitality and generosity, ever since she denied (no! England has not denied!) the protection of her laws to the exiles who might seek her shores. The cruel and Antienglish Alien Bill exists-and Words. worth writes: "We have felt, As a loved substance, their futurity; Good, which they dared hope for, we have seen; A State, whose generous will thro' earth is dealt : A State, which balancing herself between Licence and slavish order, dares be free." P. 98. We remember the time when the name of Englishman was, over the whole continent, a passport to urbanity and courtesy; and we say, without fear of contradiction, that from Torneo to the Pillars of Hercules, from Athens to the Tagus, that name is become a sound of reproach,-of indignation-and of hatred. "So has her generous will thro' earth been dealt." The " "Memorials" have many pages of exquisite pathos, of strong and glorious poetry. There are descriptions in the very highest style of vigour and beauty; and some of the Hymns and Devotional Memorials ing to be thus sung-worth suffering to be thus consoled.. The Ode to Enterprize is, perhaps, the master-piece of the volume. The sublime aspirations are clothed in the richest imagery, and a variety of objects admirably grouped and powerfully described. "And thou Didst oft the flame-eyed eagle scare P. 73. "Inflamed by thee, the blooming Boy Makes of the whistling shrouds a toy, And of the Ocean's dismal breast A play-ground and a couch of rest." P. 74. All the charm and beauty of that poetical creed of which Wordsworth is the high-priest, is contained in the following powerful lines: 66 - But oh! what transports, what sublime reward, Won from the world of mind, dost thou prepare For Philosophic Sage-or high-souled Bard - Let empires fall; but ne'er shall Ye disgrace Your noble birthright, Ye that occupy Your council-seats beneath the open sky, On Sarmen's Mount, there judge of fit and right, In simple democratic majesty ; genuous, the susceptible and the strong-minded have laid down their grateful offerings. Though noiseless as the voice of time, he has produced a deeper and a more lasting influence on modern English poetry than any writer of his epoch. His spirit may be traced in almost every thing that has obtained the chance of enduring fame. His poetry has made its way -an unobtrusive, gentle proselytizerlike the great stream of knowledge and improvement. He has not gathered the harvest of general applause: it will be for his memory and not for his earthly triumph. Of the living names which will be immortal, Two at least will be said to have been little honoured in their day and generation. B. ART. III.—A Letter to the Ven. and Rev. Francis Wrangham, M. A., F. R. S., Archdeacon of Cleveland, on the Subject of his Charge, delivered to the Clergy at Thirsk, on the 18th of July, 1821. By Captain Thomas Thrush, R. N. With an Appendix, &c. 8vo. pp. 144. York, printed by Wilson and Sons; sold by Hunter, London. 1822. APT. THRUSH's excellent Let ter has excited, it seems, no little atto his Fellow-parishioners tention in his immediate neighbourhood. Several clergymen of the vicinity have thought it their duty to warn their respective flocks against archdeacon of Cleveland, delivered and his errors, and Mr. Wrangham, the has since published a Visitation Charge counteract the heretical efforts of the to excite the Clergy to watch and Naval Officer. Undaunted by this polernic array, and unwearied in the cause of truth, Capt. Thrush has addressed this Letter to the Archdeacon, containing much sober argument and Christian remonstrance. In the Appendix, he has re-published the "Letter to the Inhabitants of the Parish of Filiskirk," and on this subject he says, "That those who have heard or read Soft breezes fanning your rough brows." your Charge, and who may likewise con P. 98. Wordsworth is indeed a great poet. If his admirers be few, they are chosen from among the best of our species. At his shrine the young, the in descend to read these pages, may form a correct judgment concerning my delin This "Letter" was reprinted in the Christian Reformer, Vol. VII. pp. 169— 178, 194-202, 238-246. us. quency, I think it necessary, in my own I assure "The good character I have maintained in the world, (for I will not be guilty of the affectation of professing that 1 have no such character,) has, I believe, been awarded me by some, in a great measure, in consequence of my regular attendance upon the ordinances of the Established Church. The small still voice of conscience has at all times whispered to me, that, instead of deserving the praise of others for this, I have merited their censure. Could they have read my heart, they would have discovered that, instead of discharging my duty with Christian candour and sincerity, I was (in part at least) acting with disingenuousness, not to say duplicity and deceit; and this not only towards man, but towards God: instead of serving him in spirit and in truth-instead of endeavouring, by honesty and plain dealing, to obtain his favour, my conscience has told me that, by attending a worship of which I disapproved, under the plausible excuse of setting a good example, and keeping up a decent appearance, I was courting the unsatisfying approbation and countenance of the world, and rendering myself unworthy of these, which I felt I enjoyed, in some measure, in consequence of a false estimation of my character." Pp. 9-11. Having treated the supposition of himself having taken the advice of the Archdeacon in his theological dif ficulties, and having come to the conclusion that no honest Christian minister could have advised religious duplicity, he puts, in a note, the following case: "Instead of a layman coming to you, as Ordinary, for spiritual advice, suppose a minister under your pastoral care should have applied to you, and stated that, as he could find no such God as God the Holy Ghost mentioned in the Bible, he could not conscientiously continue his ministration in the Church-would you have advised him to consult the Articles, the Creeds, or the Homilies, or to stick to the Bible and follow the dictates of his conscience? "This is not altogether an imaginary statement. The Rev. Mr. Baring, a member of one of the most wealthy private families in the kingdom, has lately resigned his living in the Church on this He has made many convery account. verts to his opinions, who, except rejecting the divinity and personality of the Holy Ghost, retain, I believe, the other doctrines of the Established Church. The same spirit of free inquiry may perhaps lead him and others to the conclusion, that God the Father is alone God; and that the Mediator between God and man cannot in any sense be God himself; or that the God and Father of Jesus Christ cannot be Jesus Christ himself. If we are to dispense with the plain rules of grammar, of arithmetic, and of commou sense, in explaining the Holy Scriptures, they will become a mere dead letter."Pp. 15, 16. This well-instructed layman asserts the supremacy of the Scriptures. He says (p. 69) that Jesus Christ is by his doctrine" the same yesterday, toamong day and for ever," but that " nen, Jesus Christ is continually chang ing." For proof of this, he refers to the Peterborough Questions, which, he adds, have been called "cobwebs for catching_Calvinists," but which might, he thinks, be more properly denominated " patent machines for the manufacture of hypocrites, by wholesale, upon a new and improved principle." The Appendix contains, besides Capt. Thrush's Letter before-mentioned, a reprint of the following pamphlet: "Remarks on the Athanasian Creed; on a Sermon preached at the Parish Church of Deal, Oct. 15, 1752; and on a Pamphlet, lately published, with the title, Some Short and Plain Arguments from Scripture, evidently proving the Divinity of our Saviour.' In a Letter addressed to the Rev. Mr. Randolph, Rector of Deal. By a Lady." This female production was occasioned by the suspension of the Curate of St. George's Chapel, Deal, Dr. Nicholas Carter, by his rector, Mr. Randolph, for omitting to read the Athanasian Creed in his chapel. The Sermon alluded to in the Lady's title-page, was published by Dr. Carter, from Matthew xxiii. 8-10, Against the Athanasian Creed. Of this conscientious divine, Dr. Herring, the Archbishop of Canterbury, says in a letter to William Duncombe, Esq., dated Nov. 5, 1755, "Your friend Dr. Carter is grievously teazed by folks who call them selves orthodox. I abhor every tendency to the Trinity controversy; the manner in which it is always managed is the disgrace and ruin of Christianity." Dr. Carter's name appears very suitably in our list of the Petitioning Clergy, in 1772. (Mon. Repos. XVII. 16, col. 1.) He is celebrated in our biographical histories as the father of the learned Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, and to this lady the Letter here republished has been commonly attri buted. Her biographer and relation, Mr. Montague Pennington, denies that she was the author, but admits that he knows not who was: his theological bias may have disinclined him to give its full weight to the evidence of its having proceeded from her pen. On this disputed point, which some of our correspondents may enable us to clear up, Capt. Thrush says, "The copy from which I reprint this letter was in the possession of the late Duke of Grafton at the time of his death, and was marked in (I believe) the hand. writing of that nobleman as the production of Mrs. Carter. Her memoir, so far from throwing any light on the subject, does not in any way allude to this letter. Of her ability to write such a letter no one can doubt; and that her religious opinions were not orthodox is to be inferred from her never once, in her Notes on the New Testament, offering the slightest remarks on those texts which are generally brought forward as decisive proofs of the doctrine of the Trinity: all So entitled in Letsome's Preacher's Assistant, 8vo. 1753. Appendix, p. 283. these texts are passed over in perfect silence, as much so as if they had no place in the sacred volume. "As the learned historian of Mrs. of trivial moment, has taken no notice Carter, who has mentioned many things of this letter, certainly no inconsequential one to the subject of the memoir, and merely alluded to the circumstance of Dr. Carter's suspension, it affords some ground to suppose that either Mrs. Carter or her sister, afterwards Mrs. Pennington, the mother of the reverend biographer, had written this letter; the lady last mentioned, it is to be remarked, had written on controversial subjects (see p. 6 of Mrs. Carter's Memoir). Either of these ladies, no doubt, was qualified to few women; and it is very natural to write this letter, which is the case with suppose that they would both feel a wish to humble Mr. Randolph, the ungenerous enemy of their beloved father. That the family regarded Mr. Randolph in that light is evident from Dr. Carter's Letter to that gentleman, prefixed to a Sermon which he preached at St. George's Chapel, in Deal, August 9th, 1752. The probability that one of these ladies wrote this letter is strengthened by the perusal of Mrs. Carter's Memoir, where, among that period, we find no one mentioned at that lady's correspondents and friends at all likely to write such a letter. As Mrs. Carter (it is to be presumed) had left no letters or documents concerning this letter, of so much consequence to her and her family, her silence conveys a suspicion that, if not the writer of it, she was not in ignorance on the subject. This supposition receives strength from the Mrs. Carter was living upon terms of consideration that soon after this period dignitaries of the Church. The air of friendship and intimacy with the highest episcopal palaces has a wonderful effect in suppressing inquiries after religious truth. I by no means say this to cast any imputation upon Mrs. Carter, whom I consider as a kind of superior being, whose character cannot be affected either by praise or censure from my pen. But I think myself justified in making the remark, as it applies to characters in whose society the relations of Mrs. Carter would not be sorry to see her placed. Dr. Porteus, afterwards Bishop of London, Dr. Yorke, afterwards Bishop of Ely, and Dr. Percy, subsequently (I believe) elevated to the prelacy, were among the clergy petitioning Parliament for relief in the article of subscription; but, after breathing the air of episcopal palaces, they deserted the cause in which they had before embarked."-Note, pp. 5—7. Whoever was the author of this pamphlet, it was well worth reprinting, and its being subjoined to Capt. Thrush's Letter increases the value of his seasonable, temperate and interesting publication, which we dismiss with a cordial recommendation of it to our readers. ART. IV. The Wisdom and Goodness of God in the Appointment of Death. An Essay on the Moral Benefits of Death to Mankind. By David Eaton. 12mo. pp. 48. Sold by the Author, 187, High-Holborn. 1822. THE sensible author of this Essay expresses his surprise that while so many volumes have been written on death, its "moral benefits" have been so much overlooked. These he accordingly states and reasons upon in this little publication. Some of his observations have been anticipated in Mr. Watson's "Various Views of Death," (Mon. Repos. XVI. 305,) but we know of no short treatise, drawn up in a popular form, which contains so much sound argument, enforcing a rational preparation for death, or administering consolation under its be reavements. In the following passage, the author appears to us to take a just view both of human nature and the Divine dispensations: "Men, as frail beings, naturally contract in their journey through this world, certain habits and opinions which, though not always absolutely wicked, are neither wise, nor pure, nor liberal, nor just. And, at a certain period of life, the mind becomes so stationary and contracted, as almost to preclude the possibility of enlargement; and the habits are so fixed, that scarcely any means are sufficient to rectify or remove them. The whole history of man is decisive evidence of this truth. It is quite proverbial to say, that use is second nature, that custom is a tyrant; we need only reflection and observation to perceive that habit is indeed invincible. But death, by withdrawing the aged, not only removes their infirmi ties, but also their prejudices, their ignorance and their faults; and younger minds, more pure, docile and ardent, profit by their errors and discoveries, and make those moral and intellectual attainments and improvements of which their fathers formed no conception. Death not only removes prejudiced individuals from the world, but, by its apprehended approach, frequently removes an individual's prejudices from himself. And, a man awaking from the sleep of death, in new circumstances, may have new feelings and see things in a very different light, as, in the morning, the intemperate look back with regret on the last night's excess. This reasoning supports the pleasing idea, that the world is, and will continue to be, improving: a fact as grateful to man as it is honourable to the moral government of God."-Pp. 20, 21. The following reflection, which ap proves itself equally to reason and piety, is happily expressed: "All things are so fitly adjusted, so nicely balanced in due weight and measure, by the Divine Architect, that, were would produce settled gloom and melanthe fear of death stronger than it is, it the innocent pleasures of life. If it were choly, and destroy cheerfulness and all less awful and impressive, it would cease to produce that attention and those moral effects which now conduce so much to knowledge, virtue and happiness. Or, if we had no doubts and fears, if our faith were stronger and our hopes brighter, if we had clearer views of the glory and felicity of heaven-our minds would be so fixed and absorbed by the blissful scene, that we should undervalue our present existence; this world and its affairs would cease to influence us, and its most important duties and labours would be neglected; the moral economy of life would be at an end, and all those active energies which now so much conduce to the well-being of society, could not exist. How great is the wisdom and goodness of God! What a provision for happiness, by which the good man can enjoy both this world and the next The light shineth,' but not so brightly as to oppress our vision, or to prevent, in many instances, both doubts and fears, which serve to increase our vigilance and inquiry; yet the light of life is sufficiently strong to excite ardent hope and strong desire, and to bear every wish above.' Pp. 31, 32. Upon the whole, we think that Mr. Eaton's Essay is entitled to a place amongst those publications on practical religion which the Unitarian Associations are accustomed to intermix, in their lists of works for distribution, with doctrinal and controversial pieces. |