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prevail on you to undertake it, if hitherto neglected, I intend,

1. To show you, what it is to cover our sins, and what must be the final issue of doing so.

2. To enlarge on the happy effect of confessing and forsaking them.

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1. To cover our sins signifies to disown our guilt of them; or (as we have already seen) to "dissemble and cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father." But oh; how vain and foolish an attempt! For to him all hearts are open, all desires known, and from him no secrets are hid." He knows that we are all miserable offenders ;" that we have erred and strayed from his ways like lost sheep; that we have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and that we have done those things which we ought not to have done;" and that, by reason of inward depravity, "there is no health in us" that is, no spiritual health; no health or soundness in our fallen souls. What an act of presumption, then, must it be in any of us to persuade ourselves that our hearts are holy, our lives righteous, and that we have not much sin to answer for to Almighty God? What hypocrisy to say, under the influence of these sentiments, "We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed by thought, word, and deed, against thy Divine Majesty; provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us: the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable P How can we think that we have but little to answer for, when called to judgment; since we pray unto God, saying, "From thy wrath, and from everlasting damnation, good Lord, deliver us!" For if we are in no danger, by reason of our sins, of suffering "God's wrath and everlasting damnation, wherefore should we beseech him to deliver us from it? If we think ourselves to be good, with what propriety or shadow of truth can we thus address the throne above: "O God, the Father of heaven, have mercy upon us, miserable sinners!"

If we depend on our own performances, either in whole or in part, for our acceptance with God, how can we declare, at the celebration of the Lord's supper, that "we do not presume to come to this his table trusting to our own righteousness ?" Or, if we entertain a hope that any of our supposed good deeds will help to counterbalance our evil deeds at the bar of judgment, what vile dissimulation must it be thus to appeal to Omniscience itself: "O God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do!"

Oh, think no more of covering your manifold sins and iniquities, as with a cloak, from the all-seeing eye; nor "dissemble them before the face of Almighty God!" But confess them with a meek and lowly, with a broken and contrite heart. For otherwise, according to Solomon in my text, you cannot prosper nor obtain forgiveness of the same. Prosper, indeed, you may in your bodies and in your worldly concerns; but not prosper in your souls. For you have not obtained as yet redemption through the blood of Christ; and you have no right to say, "Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults." How unspeakably unhappy is your present state! For in the midst of life you are in death. And "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God;" "for lo! the Lord cometh out of his place to visit the wickedness of such as dwell upon the earth. O terrible voice of most just judgment, which shall be pronounced upon them when it shall be said unto them, Go ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels! Then shall it be too late to knock, when the door shall be shut ; and too late to cry for mercy, when it is the time of justice. Therefore, brethren, take we heed betime, while the day of salvation lasteth; and let us not abuse the goodness of God which calleth us mercifully to amendment" and who only "pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy gospel."

2. I now proceed to enlarge on the happy effect of confessing and forsak

ing our sins. For without these two qualifications we can never be said to repent; and without repentance, we shall never be saved.

The effect is blessed, and highly desirable. For every true penitent is made a partaker of divine mercy. But because "we are not able to do these things of ourselves, nor to walk in the commandments of God, without his special grace; we must, therefore, learn at all times to call for it by diligent prayer." We must solemnly address him saying, "O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee, mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord." We cannot forsake our sins, we cannot even desire to forsake them, in and of ourselves; because by nature we love them ; and because it is from God that "all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed."

"Forasmuch, therefore, as we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves," and such is our natural "frailty, that without God we cannot but fall;" how strongly do these considerations enforce on us the necessity of "beseeching him to grant us true repentance and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do at this present, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy; so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

But think not that repentance gives you a just right and title to divine mercy; or that on account of your confessing and forsaking sin, you deserve mercy at the hands of God, for that would be to set aside the need of a Saviour. On the contrary, "Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins, did shed out of his most precious side both water and blood." Our prayer therefore for forgiveness should be grounded not on any thing in us, or done by us; but singly on "Christ's meritorious cross and passion, whereby ALONE we obtain remission of our sins, and are made partakers of the kingdom of heaven." We must humbly beseech God to grant, that by the merits and death of his Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and all his whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion." God insists on our repentance, with a view that we may become capable of future salvation; and that, when he hath given us "a due sense of all his mercies, our hearts may be in the issue unfeignedly thankful." We must not therefore presume to come before his throne "trusting in our own supposed righteousness" of any description; but in Christ's "agony and bloody sweat; in his cross and passion; in his precious death and burial; in his glo

God's sanctifying influence on our souls is always requisite. "By his special grace preventing us, he doth put into our minds good desires; by his continual help" we "bring the same to good effect." We may cherish perhaps a flattering conceit, that we possess power to regulate and control our own wills: nevertheless it is certain that "God alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men." It is the Lord, "from whom all good things do come" and therefore it is the Lord must "grant unto us, that by his holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by his merciful guiding may perform the same." In bap tism we were "called into a state of salvation;" and in regard to a change of state in which we received a title on the conditions of repentance, faith and obedience to all the privileges of the Gospel covenant, were 66 REGENERATED by water and the Holy Ghost "rious resurrection and ascension," and but the privileges then given will be forfeited, unless we fulfil the conditions, and improve the grace of baptism, so as to "crucify the old man, and thereby abolish the whole body of sin ;" and thus become " RENEWED by God's Holy Spirit-"

intercession at the right hand of his all-holy Father. And, consequently, whenever we pray, saying, "Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father," we must add, "For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake" (not for our repentance sake,

no, but)" for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past: grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator Jesus Christ.".

To conclude. Remember that you are all to meet that God," to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners," both in the hour of death and at the day of Judgment; and it behoveth you beforehand, "who for your evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished," duly to humble yourselves at the feet of his majesty. "The way and means thereto is to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God's commandments; and wherein soever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sin-fulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life," if "prevented with his most gracious favour, and furthered with his continual help." And whenever you hear God's ten commandments rehearsed in the public congregation, after every commandment, ask God's mercy for your transgression thereof for the time past, and grace to keep the same for the time to come; for it is God must "grant you true repentance and his Holy Spirit." It is He must "endue you with the grace of his Holy Spirit," in order that you may be enabled to "amend your lives according to his holy word."

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But, above all things, you must give most humble and hearty thanks to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ, both God and man; who did humble himself even to the death upon the cross for us miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow of death; that he might make us the children of God, and exalt us to everlasting life."

And now may these great things be effectually accomplished within you! May God "cleanse the thoughts of your heart by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit." May he "grant you by the Spirit to have a right judgment

in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort!" May your souls be precious in his sight! May he "wash you in the blood of that immaculate Lamb, which was slain to take away the sins of the world!" May he make you to know and feel, that "there is none other name under heaven given to man, in whom and through whom you may receive health and salvation, but only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!" And finally, from day to day, may God the Holy Ghost sanctify you, together with "all the people of God!" To him, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three persons and one God, be ascribed all honour, praise, might, majesty, and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen.

THE PRAYER.

O Holy God, who canst not look on iniquity without abhorrence, have mercy upon me a miserable sinner. Deliver me from the delusion of attempting to conceal my sins from thine all-seeing eye, and grant me "repentance unto life." Pardon me through the blood of the cross, all mine iniquities, "which I from time to time most grievously have committed by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine majesty;" accept me through the death and merits of thy beloved Son; "and grant that I may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newness of life, to the honour and glory of thy name," and to the eternal benefit of my own soul. Make me pure in heart, that I may be able to behold thy glory. O" cleanse the thoughts of my heart by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit! Grant me by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort." And "Forasmuch as thou hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man's understanding, pour into my heart such love towards thee, that I may love thee above all things, above the gains and pleasures of this transitory world, and may finally obtain thy promises, which exceed all that I can desire, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Amen.

COWPER'S Character as a Poet-extracted from a Review of the last volume of his Poems in the Quarterly Review.

true taste.

At the time when our poetry began to emerge from the bondage of formality and pomp, Cowper appeared to advance the cause of nature and With an opinion sufficiently high of Pope and his contemporaries, modest and unenterprizing, alive to censure, and seemingly scarcely conscious that he was an innovator, he yet helped essentially to restore the elder vigour and simplicity, by presenting to us the primitive Muse of England in her own undisguised features, her flexibility of deportment, her smiles and tears, her general animation and frequent rusticity. From the effects which this exhibition produced on the public, satiated with classical imitation and antithesis, he may be reckoned among the patriarchs of the present school of poetry. Cowper's qualities are, conspicuousness of idea, often without sufficient choice; keenness of observation, descending occasionally to wearisome ness or disgust; an addiction to elevated thought and generous feeling; and a pliable manner, passing easily from the tender to the sublime, and again to the humorous. In the very throng and press of his observations on the most serious subjects, it is not unusual to encounter an effusion of wit, or a familiar remark. This may seem a strange anomaly in a writer of Cowper's turn; yet it is to be accounted for. The subjects in question were the constant themes of his meditation, the fountains of his actions, liis hopes, his duties; they were inwoven with his mind, and he spoke of them with that familiarity, perfectly distinct from lightness, with which men naturally speak of what is ha bitual to them, though connected with their happiness, and involving many hopes and fears. It must be confessed, however, that he sometimes uses expressions, which, in a person of different principles, would be interpreted as the language of levity.

His great work, the Task, was wel

comed on its appearance with general acclamation. It has ever since continued to rank with the most popular poems. This performance, so singu lar in its nature and original, has a sufficient admixture of faults: some passages are tedious, others uninteresting, and others even revolting. The language is often tinged with meanness, and pathos and beauty are sometimes interrupted by witticism. The charm of the work consists in its tender, generous, and pious sentiments; in the frankness and warmth of its manner, its sketches of nature, eulogies of country retirement, and interesting allusions to himself and those he loves; the refreshing transitions from subject to subject, and the elasticity with which he varies his tone, though the change is not always with out offence; and the glow, which when a poet feels, he is sure to impart to others. We share his walks, or his fire-side, and hear him comment on the newspaper or the last new book of travels; converse with him as a kind familiar friend, or hearken to the counsels of an affectionate monitor. We attend him among the beauties and repose of nature, or the mild dignity of private life; sympathize with his elevations, smile with him at folly, and share his indignation at oppression and vice-and if he sometimes detains us too long in the hothouse, or tires us with political discussion, we love him too well to wish ourselves rid of him on that account. He is most at home on nature and country retirement-friendship-domestic life-the rights and duties of men-and, above all, the comforts and excellencies of religion; his physical dejection never overcasts his doctrines; and his devout passages are, to us, the finest of his poem. There is not in Milton or Akenside such a continuation of sublime thoughts as in the latter part of the fifth and sixth books. The peroration is remarkably graceful and solemn.

Cowper appears, at least at one time, to have preferred his first puh lished didactic poems to the Tas There is something in priority of com position; and the Task was to him

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Odyssey, a second work on lighter subjects, taken up more as a relaxation, written less with a view of his most favourite subject, and less with the awful, yet elevating, sense of performing a momentous duty. Whatever may be attributed to these considerations, we think that a poet's opinion of his own performance is seldom without some foundation and that many of these pieces are more uninterruptedly pleasing, and contain fewer intervals of insipidity, than the longer poem. Table Talk is a distinct production, a kind of Task in Miniature; as Young's Resignation is another Night-Thought. It abounds with passages of wit, energy and beauty, and is replete with good sense. There is something in it which reminds us of Churchill. The seven succeeding poems are mostly sets of precepts and remarks, characters and descriptions, delivered in a poetical manner. Here, as elsewhere, his wit, always powerful, is often clumsy, and sometimes, from being more intent on the sentiment than the expression, his language deviates into prose. There is, besides, a want of system in the subjects of each piece, which in some injures the continuity of interest. Still there is so much unsophisticated description, and sentiment, and humour-the richness of the poet's heart and mind are so diffused over the whole, that they will always be read with delight. He who would behold the full beauty of Christianity, might be referred to these poems -especially the last four.

Cowper's light pieces are characterized by vigour, playfulness, and invention; debased sometimes by inelegance, and even by conceits. His Tales are excellent. The verses for the Bills of Mortality are poetical and impressive; and the Epistle to Hill is quite Horatian. His lines on his mother's picture display remarkably his powers of pathos. Such a strain of mellowed and manly sorrow, such affectionate reminiscences of childhood unmixed with trifling, such an union of regret with piety, is seldom to be found in any language.

His translation of Homer retains

much of the old poet's' simplicity, without enough of his fire. Cowper has removed the gilded cloud which Pope had cast over him; and his version, though very imperfect, is the more faithful portrait of the two.

In the Task, the author has introduced a new species of blank verse; a medium between the majestic sweep and continuous variety of Milton and Akenside, and the monotony of Young and Thomson. It is suited to his subject, smooth and easy, yet sufficiently varied in its structure to give the ear its proper entertainment. Sometimes, as in the description of the Sicilian earthquake, and the Millennium, he seems to aspire higher. He affects much the pause on the third and seventh syllables, the latter of which combines dignity with animation more than any other. It must be confessed, however, that he has not avoided flatness and uniformity. His rhyme has the freedom and energy of Dryden's, without its variety. His diction resembles his versification; forcible, but often uncouth. It is the language of conversation, elevated by metaphors, Miltonic constructions, and antiquated expressions, above the level of prose.

His letters are full of the man-of his mildness, philanthropy, and domestic temper; his pensiveness and devotion, his overstrained timidity, and his liveliness of imagination. They form the principal charm of Hayley's Life-for of all biographers, Mr. Hayley is happily the least loquacious; the letters, like the anecdotes in Boswell's Johnson, compensate for the scantiness or ordinary quality of the narrative with which they are interwoven. We think them equal to any we have met with. There is a delightful playfulness pervading them, which is perhaps the most attracting quality of an epistle.

Cowper was versed in the irony which criminates without provoking,

the chiding which affection loves, Dallying with terms of wrongthe well-wrought affectation of pomp or gravity, and the thousand other artifices, by which an agreeable sun

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