"In very early life, the tree of knowledge seemed a very fine, a glorious tree in my sight: but, how many mistakes have I made upon that subject! And, how many are the mistakes which yet abound upon that which we are pleased to call knowledge, in common speech. "He that hath read the classics; he that hath dipped into mathematical science; he that is versed in history and grammar, and common elocution; he that is apt and ready to solve some knotty question, and versed in the ancient lore of learning, is thought to be a man of knowledge and so he is, compared with the ignorant mass of mankind. "But what is all this, compared with the knowledge in my text? Knowledge, of which few of the learned, as they are called, have the least acquaintance with at all. [Now comes the imitation.] "I know." What, David? what do you know?" I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." "Fond as I may yet be of other speculations, I would rather, much rather, possess the knowledge of this man in this text, than have the largest acquaintance with the whole circle of the sciences, as it is proudly called. "God grant, my friends, you may aspire to such knowledge as this, and be enabled, every one of you to say for yourselves" I know,-I do not conjecture:" for the word here relates to experimental knowledge-" I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right."It might be said, it is an easy thing for you so to think, when you see the revolutions of kingdoms, the tottering of thrones, the distresses of some mortals, and the pains of others, that they are all right.-"Yes" -saith he," but I have the same persuasion about all my own sorrows; I do know, that, in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me." Who does not recognise Robinson's manner in all this? Take another specimen from Sermon xli. The text is 2 Cor. ii. 7. "Lest, perhaps, such an one be swallowed up of overmuch sorrow." Never, as I imagine, did I perceive a more truly Christian spirit, even in St. Paul himself, than on a certain subject, just now, for the first time, remarked by me with weight, while I was reading this chapter to you. I am pleased, I am instructed, I am delighted with the beginning of the chapter. His words are these. "But I determined thus with myself, that I would not come again unto you in heaviness." The reason is astonishing and perhaps just (perhaps just!!) "For if I make you sorry, who is he that shall make me glad, but the same that is made sorry by me?" It is admirable! The apostle doth, in effect, say this, "Whatever I have written for correction, for reproof, for rebuke, is far from my being willing to distress you: for, if I make you sorry, Christians, who in the world is to make me glad?"- Most noble thought! It intimates that if he hath not comfort, and fellowship, and communion with Christians, notwithstanding all their weaknesses and infirmities, he is never to expect it from any other society. For neither men of fortune, men of science, nor men of title, nor men of power, merely as such, could ever make his heart glad. Admirable! I protest, if any man, under a profession of religion, can be at home any where but in truly Christian society, and truly christian conversation, I should very much doubt whether he ever partook of the grace of God in truth. 66 My dear friends: lay this fine thought to your hearts. Do not be shy of your Christian friends. Others may amuse you; tempt you; flatter you; but who will comfort you? Where are you to be at home? where will you unbend the powers of your minds, the longings of your souls, and the rising affections of your hearts? Tell me nothing to the contrary. You cannot do it, if you are Christians; you cannot do it but in truly christian company; and with people called by the mighty grace of God? Others could not do it; how then should we do it? Why are we then so fond to scrape(the meanness of the action deserves the meanness of the word)-to scrape acquaintance with people who cannot relish the doctrines of eternal life? Civil, we should be, to every body, but, at home we can never be if we are partakers of the grace of Christ, but where Paul was. Ten thousand quarrels would die; ten thousand excellencies would rise, if we drank into this spirit, &c. &c. "I wish, my friends, with all my heart, you could consider human life, as a kind of history, or drama, consisting of more acts than one; so that when you read one act, or one scene of human life, you may not take it to be the whole: you may not form all your judgment by any one thing that comes under your notice. "From the words I have read, I lay down this doctrine, strange as it may seem but I venture to lay it down; and beg your patience; namely, That it is possible there may be overmuch sorrow for sin. The doctrine and instruction I raise from the words, is, that, it is a possible case, with some people in this world, to have, as the text expresseth it, over much sorrow, even for sin against God. I should think that my character will not be so much mistaken, as that I should now plead, to my dear Christian friends here, that I do not mean, by what I have said, that any sorrow of the sons of men can be in equality to the sin committed. No sirs; were ye to weep from morning to night, were ye to forget your daily food, O! Imitatores! Servum pecus! as our old friend Horace would surely have exclaimed, had he been here: But quitting Mr. Martin's clumsy imitation of Mr. Robinson's colloquial addresses, of which the extracts now produced afford abundant evidence to convince the most sceptical, we shall proceed to examine the Sermons upon the ground of their own intrinsic merit, and without any regard to the circumstance to which we have above adverted. might refresh their memories now that his public labours are terminated. This is assigned as a reason for the publishing of the volumes before usand we chearfully allow its validity. In them Mr. Martin will continue to live and preach to generations yet unborn-and, as a preacher, his likeness is so faithfully preserved-his manner so happily hit off, that, on those who admire it, the publisher may be confidently pronounced to have conferred a lasting obligation. De gustibus, indeed, non est disputandum: We do not happen to be of the number of those who think his manner or style of preaching to possess any excellence, and consequently are no way interested about having a facsimile of him preserved. But others may be differently minded, and those who are so, will consequently appreciate the labours of Mr. Palmer in furnishing the work before us. The subjects professedly discussed in these Seventy Sermons are numerous and many of them highly important. Would, we could say that they are handled in a manner, in any tolerable degree, corresponding to their intrinsic importance and excellency; But to affirm that they are would be to do violence to our own convictions. That the preacher now and then surprises "by his singular and striking turns of thought," and that these were "uttered with a dignity and firmness not often seen," we are not disposed to deny; but having admitted this, we have granted to them all the commendation to which they appear to us fairly entitled. We The volumes comprise Seventy Sermons, not indeed prepared by the author himself for the press, and on that account they certainly are entitled to a degree of indulgence which ought to disarm criticism of its severity: they are said in the Preface to be printed, as taken down in Short-have not, in all the seventy Sermons hand at the moment of delivery; and they certainly bear upon the very face of them, indubitable evidence of their correctness and authenticity, so that even had Mr. Palmer withheld from us the sanction of his own respectable name, such is their internal evidence, that we could not reasonably doubt of their being the genuine productions of Mr. Martin. met with one that appears to us to rise above mediocrity. It is utterly in vain that we look for any clear, scriptural, masterly statements in them of the distinguishing doctrines of the everlasting Gospel. The mind of the preacher perpetually floats upon the surface of things-his own views and conceptions are generally confused, and his statements conseIt was, we admit, very natural to quently crude and indigested. Professexpect that, in a numerous and re-ing, as he did, an ardent attachment spectable congregation to which the to the doctrines of free and sovereign author had been in the constant prac-grace, the negative merit may certice of preaching for more than forty years, many individuals would be found desirous of having some of his Sermons preserved in print, with which, after hearing them with pleasure as delivered from the pulpit, they tainly be awarded him, of seldom advancing any thing contrary to the form of sound words-but for a bold and perspicuous exhibition of the doctrine of the cross of Christ-the ground of hope to guilty mortals, and merely among the mass of the popu lation of this vast city, but even in: our leading dissenting congregations, and too frequently, alas! among the ministers themselves. The church in Keppel street, appears to us, an instance in point, and it is to be feared that most of the Baptist churches are in a similar predicament. Admitting the Sermons before us to constitute the standard of the degree' of knowledge in divine things to which that church has attained, we scruple not to affirm that the subject is deeply affecting. It goes to shew that a Society respectable for its numbers and the description of its members, may continue for generations in a state of infantine imbecility, ever learning yet never advancing beyond the very first principles of the oracles of God, nor even attaining to any clear and distinct conceptions of them! How indeed should the case be otherwise with those who are to the way of acceptance with God, we, in vain examine the Sermons of Mr. Martin. Robinson would have called him, and called him truly " a retailer of small wares." His views were contracted and his mind incapable of any expansion. True indeed, no man is accountable for the exercise of talents which God hath not bestowed upon him ; and we should be extremely censurable were we to blame Mr. Martin for not effecting that which was beyond his reach. But while, we trust, we shall ever be disposed to the exercise of candour towards the feeblest talents when accompanied by modesty and becoming diffidence, we equally feel it our duty to chastise personal vanity and self-conceit wherever it may be found, and more especially in a minister of the Gospel of Christ. Had Mr. Martin possessed the talents of an Angel, the spirit of arrogance and self-sufficiency which pervades his pulpit harangues would still have rendered them to us intole-be" taught in the word," when the rably disgusting-but when, instead of that, we behold it in one who was scarcely able to put two ideas together, it becomes doubly odious. Let the reader who has not access to the volumes themselves, carefully notice the tenor of the extracts which we have given from them, and mark the dogmatical, pompous, and consequential strut of the preacher, and he will ask no apology for the severity of these strictures. mind of the teacher himself is bemisted upon the plainest and most fundamental articles of the Christian faith? Take for a specimen, the Gospel itself-and faith or the belief of it, by which sinners obtain justification and eternal life. We have in the first volume of these Sermons, two discourses on Rom. i. 16. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, &c." and in the second volume, one on Heb. xi. 1. We do not deny that Mr. Martin "Now faith is the substance of things managed to raise himself to some de- hoped for, the evidence of things not gree of eminence among his cotempo-seen." With respect to the Gospel, raries; but those who have paid any attention to the subject of ministerial popularity, will see nothing in this to excite surprise. In three cases out of every four that occur, the popularity of the preacher stands on no better a foundation than the ignorance of his followers; and, perhaps, in no place under the sun does this more frequently happen than in London. To one who has not had the opportunity of making his observations on the point, it would appear almost incredible to be told how little real scriptural knowledge is to be found, not he indeed informs us at the outset that the word means glad tidings concerning Jesus Christ"-but then, we have no clear, simple, scriptural statement of that wherein these glad tidings consist-nothing like what the apostle Paul gives in 1 Cor. xv. 1-3. The whole is a confused, desultory, and round about chase, calculated rather to bewilder and perplex the mind of the hearer, than to enlighten and inform it. And then, as to faith, we shall quote a single paragraph from his Sermon on that subject, and submit it to the conside When the * Some years ago, Mr. M. was one evening engaged, to preach for the late Mr. Timothy Priestley, in Jewin street, the latter gentleman being present. congregation were dismissing, one of the members, who occasionally itinerated, happened to come in contact with Mr. Priestley, who taking him by the hand, thus significantly accosted him. "Had this Sermon been delivered by you, it would have been thought nothing of—but this is Mr. Martin !" The remark is a proof of Mr. Priestley's good sense. ration of every competent judge, what must be the confused state of that preacher's mind, who could thus darken counsel by words without knowledge. Thus Mr. Martin speaks; Man, undoubtedly, is possessed of two distinct faculties and powers; of God and dependent on him. To the one we give the name of Sense of the other, the common name is Reason. Sense and Reason, are in different proportions, with all men, with whom we soberly converse. But there is a third faculty and power which it pleaseth God to give, in different degrees to some men, and that is Faith. And, I suppose it will be found, in all our pursuits, in all our connections, in all our businesses, in all our amusements, and in all that relates to religion, it will be found I suppose, that we are carried hither and thither; this way and that; and are led to avoid some things and pursue others, just as it is with us in reference to Sense, Reason and Faith." Vol. II. p. 20. To those who have learned their religion from the Bible, it must be altogether unnecessary for us to say any thing in the way of exposing the palpable absurdity of thus represting FAITH as a faculty of the mind distinct from Sense and Reason; and to others it would only be so much labour lost; we therefore close our account of these strange compositions. An Excursion to Windsor, in July, 1810, through Battersea, Putney, Kew, Richmond, Twickenham, Straw berry Hill, and Hampton-court; Interspersed with Historical and Biographical Anecdotes, for the improvement of the rising generation, &c. &c. BY JOHN EVANS, A. M. London. Sherwood and Co.; about 570 pages, with plates, Price 9s. 1817. NOTWITHSTANDING that this Excur. sion was made seven years ago, it is only now, for the first time, submitted to the tribunal of the public; and it is singular enough that it should find its way into our hands, just at the moment when we had returned from making, for the first time in our lives, the "Excursion" which the volume is principally intended to describe, namely, through Battersea, Putney, Kew, Richmond, Twickenham, Strawberry Hill and Hampton court." We took it up therefore with the greater interest than we should otherwise have done, being determined to satisfy ourselves how far Mr. Evans's observations and remarks corresponded to those which he had made. Before we proceed farther, however, with our critical animadversions, we must take the liberty of remarking for the benefit of our readers at a distance, who have never been privileged with a trip to the metropolis, that the particular part of the country which this Excursion embraced, might not inaptly be termed "the British Garden of Eden." Richmond Hill, as Mr. Evans justly remarks, is a subject on which prose and poetry have exhausted their energies; the spot is so truly enchanting as almost to set exaggeration at defiance. From this eminence" the raptur'd eye sweeps the boundless landscape" "From hence we trace the matchless vale of Thames, Far winding up to where the muses haunt, pile; Has of Achaia, or Hesperia sung : And joys to see the wonders of its toil. spires, THOMSON. From Richmond to Hampton court, a distance of less than half a dozen miles, is a kind of enchanted valley. The village of Twickenham, rendered ever memorable as the residence of Pope; and Strawberry Hill, renowned as the abode of Horace Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford, lie in the road to Hampton court; and these interesting objects, as well as almost every person and every thing connected with them, are detailed or described by our author with much minuteness and very commendable accuracy. Interesting however, as these favou rite villas unquestionably are, they must yield to Hampton court, once the residence of British Sovereigns, and still worthy of a nation's pride, on account of its numerous ornaments, We followed Mr. Evans very agreeably in describing its interior, until we arrived at page 230, where he notices" the great pictorial treasure," the Cartoons of Raphael, which have been for some time deposited at Hampton court. "These Cartoons or coloured drawings on paper, were executed by Raphael, at the desire of Leo the Tenth, and sent into Flanders to be copied in the richest which the Abbe du Bos has fallen, in describing one of the figures in this picture, should have allowed this to pass without notice. "The Abbe tapestry. There they remained obscure and forgotten, until Rubens apprized Charles the First of their situation. The king purchased them, and afterwards Cromwell gave three hundred pounds for them. They were placed first at Hamp-duced in this cartoon is intended for says, that one of the persons introton Court, then in the Queen's Palace, and afterwards at Windsor Castle, whence they were again brought to Hampton Court. They are placed in the King's Gallery, or what is now emphatically called, the Cartoon Gallery. "The Cartoons, seven in number, have for their subject: 1. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. Luke v. John xxi. 2. The Charge to Peter. 3. Peter and John healing at the Gate of the Temple. Acts iii. 4. Death of Ananias. Acts v. 5. Elymas, the sorcerer, struck blind. Acts xiii. 6. The Sacrifice to Paul and Barna bas. Acts xiv. 66 Judas; forgetting that this scene is after the resurrection, and consequently, that Judas had hanged himself!" It is truly astonishing to remark the egregious blunders into which sometimes fallen in their attempts to artists of the first reputation have describe scriptural subjects. Some years ago, a most magnificent edition of the Bible was published by the late Mr. Macklin, as a specimen of the state of the Arts at the close of the eighteenth century. It forms five or six volumes in Imperial folio, and the texture of the paper, the beauty of the typography, and the elegance of the engravings are of corresponding excellence; so that the tout ensemble may be pronounced unrivalled. Among the engravings, is one representing "the mother of Zebedee's children' We are quite aware that it is the fashion of the times to cry up these Cartoons as an "invaluable" treasure, and that in with-holding our admiration of them we expose our-introducing her two sons to the Saviselves to the ridicule of the diletanti! our, one in each hand, and asking "The genius of Raphael," says our the favour from him, "that they author, was transcedently great, might sit, one on his right hand and and the subject of universal admira- the other on the left in his kingdom." tion." Be it so: let not our admira- Now every one who reads the New tion of his genius, however, deprive Testament with attention must see us of the exercise of common sense that these two individuals, for whom in judging of his performances. Take, this honour was solicited, were our for instance, the second cartoon in Lord's two disciples, James and John, Mr. Evans's enumeration. It is de- who were evidently grown up to mansigned to represent that memora-hood, and probably as old as Jesus ble interview which took place between our Lord and the apostle Peter after his resurrection when the question was thrice put; "Simon Peter lovest thou me?" Peter is represented as bowing himself to the earth in humble adoration, while he utters the reply, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest all things-Thou knowest that I love thee !" Jesus is exhibited There is, at the seat of the Earl as giving him the solemn charge, of Derby, at Knowsley in Lanca"Feed my lambs-feed my sheep:"shire, a noble collection of Paintings, and behold! a flock of sheep and which we remember to have been lambs literally are introduced into the much entertained, about a dozen years picture, and Jesus is described as ago, in viewing. Many of them are pointing to them with his finger!! by eminent Italian masters; and, for Now this is preposterously absurd, one of them, in particular, if we reand it requires nothing but the exer- member rightly, his lordship had recise of a little plain common sense to fused a thousand guineas! The subject perceive its absurdity. We are really is Matt. xvi. 18, 19. "Thou art Peter surprised that so acute an observer and I will give thee the keys of as Mr. Evans, who has very ingeni-the Kingdom of heaven, &c." the ously detected a curious mistake into artist was either Rubens or Titian, himself: but the artist has described them in the picture as two little boys, scarcely reaching higher than the knee of their mother! Yet this stupid blunder, is suffered to pass in a work which cost the Subscribers about Sixty pounds a copy-and which was to present to posterity a memorial of the state of the arts among us! |