Oh, fields for ever dear! Oh, friends belov'd! The world unheeding, by the world unknown. The Poem, after an addrefs to Virgil, of almoft Virgilian elegance, concludes with the following verfes: "Ainfi feul, a l'abri de mes rochers déferts, Veuillent les Dieux fourire à mes champêtres fons! Compter quelques printemps; et dans les champs que j'aims While Difcord fhook the trembling world around, Some few returning fprings, my books, my friends. We rife from the perufal of this work with too much gratitude for the delight which it has afforded us, not to with moft heartily that the modest prayer of the illustrious author may be granted, and that he may long enjoy and celebrate thofe pleafures, which are fo well fuited to his pure and elegant mind. Every lover of literature muft join with us in the wifh, that his age may not be embittered by the care of fubfiftence. There feems to be no impropriety in taking this opportunity to remind the public, that this poet is one of the moft interefting victims of the French Revolution. Robbed of his whole fortune by that terrible event, he has fince fteadily refifted every temptation to return to France, which the oppreffors of his country could hold out to him, though they they have tried to shake his honour by offers, which it requires great firmnefs in an exile, fpoiled of his all, to refift. His friends have undertaken to procure him fuch relief, as he might honourably accept, by the publication of a magnificent edition of his Gardens," greatly enlarged by himself, which they have circulated propofals to print by fubfcription; and we trust that they will not be disappointed in their reliance on the generofity of the English nation, which will not be infenfible to the claims of a poverty, voluntarily embraced for the fake of honour; nor deaf to the united voice of genius, virtue, and glory, who are joint fuppliants to our national munificence, in behalf of this illuftrious poet. We ought to add, that the conclufion of this Poem originally confifted of a highly finished picture of the miseries of France under her various revolutionary tyrannies, from Mirabeau to Bonaparte. The French government fuppreffed this beautiful paffage, and it is now expected to form a ftriking part of the Poem, to be published by the Abbé Delille, under the title of Le Malheur et Le Pitié; which is faid, by thofe who have heard parts of it recited, to be the most affecting defcription ever given, of the miferies of the greateft convulfion that has been known to fill the world with sufferings and with forrows. ART. III. Sermons preached to a Country Congregation: to which are added, a few Hints for Sermons; intended chiefly for the Ufe of the younger Clergy. By William Gilpin, Prebendary of Salisbury, and Vicar of Boldre, in New Forest. 8vo. 438 pp. 65. Cadell and Davies. FEW EW theological writers have more completely poffeffed the art of producing useful works than Mr. Gilpin, whofe Lectures on the Catechifin," and "Expofition of the New Teftament," are in the hands of every English reader who delights in facred knowledge. We fee with pain that, in the opening of his very judicious and manly Dedication to Sir John Mitford, he defcribes himself as not likely ever again" to fpeak from his pulpit." This apprehenfion, however, has occafioned the prefent publication; and fo far the public is bene fitted by it. In a fhort and well-written Preface, Mr. G. throws out fome very beneficial hints, on the mode of writing fermons for fuch congregations as he mentions in his title-page. These we shall infert, with our unqualified approbation. "When "When we write a treatise, we confider the fubject throughout. We ftrengthen it with arguments-we clear it of objections-we enter into details-and, in fhort, we leave nothing unfaid that properly appertains to the fubject. Much prefatorial matter alfo may arife, before we begin the difcourfe. "But in the construction of a fermon, perhaps a different mode of compofition may, in general, be more eligible-at leaft, where a country congregation only is addreffed on a common fubject. "In the first place, though a fhort opening of a text may often be neceffary, there feems to be no occafion for a long preface. Whatever appertains immediately to the difcourfe, had better perhaps be introduced into the body of it. If it do not immediately belong to the difcourfe, it might as well be omitted. At least, if it be not perfectly appofite, it takes off the firft edge of attention from an audience, which will not perhaps fo readily be restored. "A few eafy divifions in difcuffing a fubject seem ufeful. Some divines think it better to melt all together. But a few heads, I think, are a kind of land-marks, which prevent the confufion of running one part into another. They are alfo heads of reference, which bring a fubject more eafily to the memory. "In proving a point before a common congregation, it seems unneceflary to produce all the arguments that may be used. Such as are moft forcible, are enough. Many will labour a point fo much, and throw fo many different lights upon it, that, like an object feen in a multiplying glafs, it will be confused rather than enlightened. The common people cannot feparate a chain of arguments. They lofe one in another.- -And, in the arguments you use, if you dwell only on the most prominent parts, you may make an impreffion, which a long detail, though equally good in its kind, cannot do.In fhort, it feems to be one of the preacher's great points to draw his fubject into fo compact a form, that his congregation may have a complete view of the whole. "An illustration may fometimes not only explain a point, but have the weight of an argument with fome hearers; at leaft, it is a vehicle which makes advice the better remembered. "With regard to language, if you avoid vulgarity, and low ideas, it cannot be too eafy. Long fentences are apt to produce confufion Shorten them as much as you can, and have an eye chiefly to perfpicuity and cafe. "Sermons, conftructed on the plan here defcribed, the author hath thought, from long experience, to be the most useful in a country congregation. Some preachers have the power of faffening the attention of a congregation for more than an hour together. He certainly fhould not wish to check fuch preachers: but with numbers, it may be feared, fuch attempts will be very feeble. In general, perhaps half that time is as long as a country congregation can be brought to attend. At leaft, as much may be faid in that time as they can well carry off. P. vi. The Sermons, according to the author, are not, in general, more than common parith difcourfes"; but they are of the moft moft judicious and useful kind. They are twenty-five in number; and the subjects are such as cannot fail to intereft and instruct the generality of readers. "Serm. I. II. III. IV. On the gradual progress of verbal prophecy. On the liberty of the gospel. On the parable of the different talents, V. On the called and chofen. VI. Our fin will find us out, VII. Character of Balaam. VIII. Strangers and pilgrims on earth, XII, Promife of the life that now is. XIII. On affliction. XIV. God's mercies our comfort in affliction. XV. On the Providence of God. XVI. On mixing religion with the affairs of life, XVII. The Lord's cup. XVIII. On the promifes of the gofpel, XIX. On felf-examination. XX. The husbandman, XXI. It is finished. XXII. The hour cometh, XXIII. Chriftian joy. XXIV. The rich man, and Lazarus. Befides thefe, there are thirty-feven of the fhorter fketches, which Mr. Gilpin calls Hints for Sermons; and on these Hints much may certainly be built by found andable divines. From the fecond difcourfe we fhall chiefly make selections, as explaining very clearly the fubject of types, of which Chriftians in general are extremely ignorant, and thofe who are fanatical make an extravagant ufe. Types are thus explained and ilJufirated by Mr. G. "But to render the proof from prophecy yet ftronger, it pleafed God to give mankind not only written prophecies, but the prophecy likewife of types. A written prophecy differs from a prophecy by a type in this; the one is a prophecy by words-the other by actions. Thus, for inftance, the prophet Ifaiah speaking of Chrift's death, fays kis foul (that is, his life) fhall be made an offering for fin. This is a prophecy of our Saviour's death in words. In another part of icripture we read, that Abraham was ordered to facrifice his only fon Ifaac. This was a prophecy of Chrift's death by an action-that is, by a type. Again, David prophecying of Chrift's refurrection, fays, Thon will not leave my foul in hell (that is, in the grave) neither wilt thou fuffer thy baly boly One to fee corruption. This is a prophecy in words. In another part of fcripture we read, that Jonah was twallowed by a great fish, and remained three days and three nights in its belly; and afterwards came to light. This is a prophecy of our Saviour's refurrection by an action-that is, by a type." P. 15. Soon after, the conditions which decide an action to be typical are duly stated. " We expect, in the first place, that an action, in order to be confidered as a type, fhould be exprefsly marked, and applied as fuch by fome infpired perfon. Thus Jonah is exprefsly applied as a type by our Saviour himfelf. When the Pharifees afked him for a fign, he tells them he would give them no fign, but the fign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; fo fhall the fan of man be three days, and three nights in the heart of the earth. 66 But, fecondly, though an action may not be expressly applied as a type by any infpired perfon, yet ftill it may be confidered as one, if it ftand connected with a number of other actions of a like kind, which are themselves applied as types. Thus we confider the facri fices, and atoning rites of the Jewish law, as types, or typical prophefics, of our Saviour's atonement for fin; moft of them being mentioned as fuch in the new Teftament, particularly in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Yet there are fome, which are not mentioned, Thus, for inftance, the high-priet's confeffing the fins of the people over the fcape-goat, which was turned loofe into the wilderness, is no where, as I recollect, mentioned as a type: yet it may, notwithstanding, be fairly confidered as fuch, not merely because of its resemblance; but because it ftands connected with a number of other actions, which are exprefsly mentioned as types." P. 17. The preacher then dwells more particularly on the brazen Serpent, fet up by Mofes in the Wilderness, as a type of Chrift. After dwelling on the circumstances of the type with great clearness, the author applies it finally to the Chriftian doctrine of atonement. "But particularly we fee the great force which the type of the brazen ferpent gives to the grand doctrine of the atonement of Chrift; which is, in the opinion of all fober Chriflians, the moft comfortable doctrine that ever was revealed to man. "But it is mysterious, fays the deist. "Aye, furely; and fo is every pile of grafs you tread on. But the queftion is not, whether a thing be myfterious-for all things are myfterious but whether the history be fupported by evidence? The pile of grafs appeals to all nature, for its being the work of God; and the truth of Christ's atonement, however mysterious, is fupported by evidence equally ftrong-It refts on all the evidence that fcripture can give on the prophetic parts of the old Teftament, and on the hifto. rical and epiftolary parts of the new. Indeed it appears to be a doctrine fo interwoven with feripture, that he who rejects it must reject fcripture |