cleanfeth us from all fin;' only believe on the Lord Jefus Chrift, and all this is yours!

Surely you are ready to fay, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.' Encourage then, I pray you, by earnest prayer to the throne of divine grace, that God will further your defires more and more; be reftless in prayer, that you may have fome comfortable token before you go hence and be no more seen, that fins are washed away

in the rich streams of mercy!

6

your

Here is the bleffing of the gofpel, that mercy triumphs over justice! Only let our triumph be fafely founded, let us be made aç. quainted with the victorious Captain of our falvation; let us not raife up the banners of triumph on prefumption, nor drop them through defpondency.

I hardly know what more to fay to you; I cannot give you faith, for that is the gift of God; but whofoever fincerely petitions for it, will not be denied; and whoever has it, must be faved to all eternity!'

After having thus cheered them with hopes of falvation through faith in Chrift, towards the close of his difcourfe he totally extinguishes every ray of hope, and dooms them to eternal perdition, in the following decifive words: And now, my poor and miferable fellow-finners, what more fhall I fay to you? How fhall I bid you farewell to all eternity!' p. 104. We fhall fuppofe that, after all his warm exhortations to truft and confidence in the merits of Christ, he himself despaired of the falvation of his hearers; yet, was it proper, was it decent, was it not the excess of cruelty to tell them, by this extraordinary farewell, that they were to be eternally damned? If we take this puzzling dilemma by the other horn, the confequences lead equally to perdition; for if we fuppofe that Dr. Barry thought the convicts were to be faved, and yet bade them an eternal farewell, as the Church of England admits no middle flate, we muft conclude that he, at the time, believed he was not to be faved *. In fhort, matters are fo badly managed, that the damnation of the preacher or of the hearers, muft unavoidably be supposed. We dare fay that the doctor, by his farewell to ail eternity, had no intention of leading to fuch a conclufion; but unluckily it is the only one that can follow from the premises.

As an orator, the prefent author is equally faulty. His endeavours to foar only render his weakness more confpicuous; we have seldom met with more unsuccessful attempts in the figurative and ornamental ftyle. A few inftances will convince our

* This furely, at beft, was an imprudent avowal, and not likely to imprefs his audience with reverence for the preacher, or confi dence in his doctrine,

readers

In his fermon on the

readers of the truth of what we advance.
5th of November he thus inveighs against popery:

And though the poisonous venom of papal power and principle cannot at prefent fhew its teeth, yet what fhall hinder that combustible, that alarming matter, from re-fuppurating, and once more burting forth? For the principles of the Romish church are the fame, her documents the fame, and human nature is the fame. But thanks be to God that opportunity is not the fame! For where pride is to be interested, or ambition gratified, the fecret language with too many is, like the hufbandmen in the gofpel, Let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours,' let us wade through all, fet every feeling that ought to dignify our nature at defiance, and with daring effrontery laugh at and infult the nobleft fentiments of humanity, of virtue, and of justice! Such ambition is fo paltry, that what can you mention too mean for its attention, if for its gratification? it will cringe to the dunghill, or it will dragoon the palace; it will facrifice a friend, a family, a kingdom, if the can but hector with ignominious triumph. To tafte the poifoned hateful honey, ambition will fuck it from the most painful thorn-from her fawning fmilesadulation, and homage as your vaffal, your fervant, your flave, your friend, your martyr, your any thing. Nurfe but her wishes, cherish but her hopes, and like the viper fhe will corrofively fting the very bofom which gave her heat. If the brilliancy of virtue in her most delightful attire; if the bleeding tears of grief and humanity melting through every pore, and piercing every fenfe; if religion, gemmed round with all the dazzling enchanting ftars of the purest heaven, fhould ftand gazing one moment with filent horror at the unrelenting havock of pride and ambition; even on thefe they would glut their inglorious revenge!'

A

་

In this extract we have the poisonous venom of papal power fhewing its teeth,' and in a moment this venom is transformed into combustible matter,' which re-fuppurates.' Venom perfonified may have teeth, but the venom of papal power can have none; and we are well convinced that the fuppuration of combustible matter is a new difcovery, hitherto unknown to the greatest adepts in chemistry. In the concluding fentence of the extract, the author has ended as he began. As he gave teeth to the venom of papal power, he has bestowed eyes on the brilliancy of virtue,' and on the bleeding tears of grief and humanity' the brilliancy of virtue in her moft delightful at<tire-the bleeding tears of grief and humanity, melting through every pore, and piercing every fenfe-stand gazing! But what is it that fuch an orator cannot perform? It is needless to proceed; almost every page discovers the want of taste and judgment of the author; we are told of feeing our Saviour through the windows of faith;' of the Almighty fending his

thunder

thunder to rattle' the foundations of a prifon;' with a long et cetera of expreffions which debase the fublimity of Chrittianity.

To have dwelt fo long on a publication which might have been difmiffed with much leis ceremony, appears at first fight unneceffary; but when it is confidered that, in examining with some attention the Sermons of Dr. Barry, we have been deciding on the merits of what is termed popular preaching, we trust that the intelligent public will not think our time has been totally mifapplied,

It would be unfair to the author not to give his advertisement for a benefice, which he has introduced in his Address to the Reader;'

Haying thus much faid, he begs here to make a serious propofition to patrons of church preferment.

The author almost despairs of perfonal intereft to secure him even a small living! With refpect to his doctrine, and pretenfions as a preacher, the world may form fome idea from what he hath written in this book. Now, if patrons, in the disposal of their fayours, really confult the good of their fellow-creatures, and should fuch be convinced of the many advantages refulting to a parish in a clergyman thus fitted, he here pledges himself, that if honoured by an appointment as rector or vicar of any church, no matter the country nor the distance, that he will then, not only to the utmost of his power, faithfully and confcientiously discharge the facred duties. of his order, but will cheerfully be ready, at all times, to serve his poor parishioners with every poffible advice and attention, without gratuity or fee!"

We have only now to conclude with informing the public that this work confifts of twelve fermons, fix dedications, an addrefs to the reader, a lift of fubfcribers, and a tolerable head of the author.

ART. XI. The Village Curate; a Poem. Small 8vo. 4s. fewed. Johnson. London, 1788.

WE E are at a lofs to characterife this eccentric poem. It is grave and gay, folemn and ludicrous, defcriptive, fatirical, moral, critical, &c. &c. The matter and manner are equally various, and often fhock the reader by their discordancy. The writer has clothed himfelf in a garb made up of patches from the mantles of Thomson, Young, and Milton, in which he would have made a very decent appearance, had he not at the fame time put on the galligafgins of the author of the Splendid

Shilling.

1

Shilling. But he has fairly told us that he will do as he pleafes; and if he chooses to appear in masquerade we cannot help it.

⚫ I love my liberty; and if I fing,

Will fing to please myself, bound by no rule,

The fubject of no law.'

The Village Curate might have received any other title with equal propriety; for Alcanor, the curate, and his concerns, conftitute a very inconfiderable part of the poem. It is in fact reflec tions on inanimate and animated nature, throughout the four feafons of the year, interfperfed with whatever this difcurfive and defultory mufe chofe to appropriate as she went along.

Without farther remark at present, the author fhall speak for himfelf. The following extract, in which Young feems to be the archetype in view, though the topic and thoughts are common-place, yet is not deftitute of merit:

Come hither, fool, that vainly think'ft
Thine only is the art to plumb the depth
Of truth and wisdom. 'Tis a friend that calls,
And has fome honeft pity left for thee,
O thoughtless ftubborn fceptic. Look abroad,
And tell me, fhall we to blind chance afcribe
The fcene fo various, fo fair, and good?
Shall we no farther fearch than fense will lead,
To find the admirable cause that fo delights
The eye and ear, and scatters all about
Ambrofial perfumes? O! there is a hand
That operates unfeen, and regulates
The vast machine we tread on. Yes, there is
Who firft created the great world, a work
Of deep conftruction, complicately wrought,
Wheel within wheel; tho' 'tis in vain we strive
To trace remote effects thro' the thick maze
Of movements intricate, confus'd, and strange,
Up to the great Artificer that made

And guides the whole. What if we fee him not?
No more can we behold the bufy foul
That animates ourfelves. Man to himfelf

Is all a miracle. I cannot fee

The latent caufe, yet fuch I know there is,
That gives the body motion, nor can tell
By what ftrange impulfe 'tis the ready limb
Performs the purposes of will. How then
Shall thou or I, who cannot span ourselves
In this our narrow veffel, comprehend
The being of a God. Go to the fhore,
Caft in thy flender angle, and draw out

The

1

The huge Leviathan. Comprefs the deep,
And shut it up within the hollow round
Of the small hazel nut. Or freight the shell
Of fnail or cockle, with the glorious fun,
And all the worlds that live upon his beams,
The goodly apparatus that rides round
The glowing axle-tree of heav'n. Then come,
And I will grant 'tis thine to scale the height
Of wisdom infinite, and comprehend
Secrets incomprehenfible; to know
There is no God, and what the potent caufe
That the revolving univerfe upholds,
And not requires a deity at hand.

O tell me not, moft fubtle difputant,
That I fhall die, the wick of life confum'd,
And spite of all my hopes drop in the grave,
Never to rife again. Will the great God,
Who thus by annual miracle restores

The perish'd year, and youth and beauty gives,
By refurrection ftrange, where none was afk'd,
Leave only man to be the fcorn of time
And fport of death? Shall only he one fpring,
One hafty summer, and one autumn fee,
And then to winter irredeemable

Be doom'd, caft out, rejected, and defpis'd?
Tell me not fo, or by thyself enjoy

The melancholy thought. Am I deceiv'd?
So let me be for ever.
If 1 err,
It is an error fweet and lucrative.

For fhould not heav'n a farther course intend
Than the short race of life, I am at least
Thrice happier than thee, ill-boding fool,
Who ftriv'ft in vain the awful doom to fly
That I not fear. But I shall live again,
And still on that sweet hope fhall my
A medicine it is, that with a touch

foul feed.

Heals all the pains of life; a precious balm,
That makes the tooth of forrow venomless,
And of her hornet fting so keen difarms
Cruel Adverfity.'

The extract that follows does credit both to the head and heart of the author:

O undeferving parent, that neglects

To train the infant boy to deeds humane.
See how his fports, his paftimes, dearest child,
Are all to be indulg'd, whether he choose
To whip his nurfe, to lafh the fleeping puppy,
Or pinch the tail of unoffending pufs.
Go, catch the furly beetle, and fufpend

The