vice strives to hide her own deformity under her garb. Hence the patrons of theatrical representations have been studious to deny, or, at least, to extenuate the mischiefs which are imputed to them. Some persons will gravely contend for their utility, will extol them as schools of morality, and will recommend them for the lessons they teach, and the powerful incentives they propose to the cultivation of good and amiable qualities, or the performance of brave and benevolent actions. "It is a consolatory reflection, that this homage is still paid to virtue, that this honourable suffrage is universally acknowledged to be her due, and both candour and justice claim of us the persuasion, that the warmest patrons and most strenuous advocates of these exhibitions want only to be convinced of their fatal consequences, to acknowledge their error, and subscribe their recantation. "Names do not alter the nature of good and evil. The boundaries of virtue and vice, of religion and profaneness, are marked by a clear and broad line of distinction, amidst all the fluctuations of fashion, and varieties of human opinion. Were our opinion even asked of the morality of our modern dramatic pieces, we do not scruple to declare our pointed reprobation. They are calculated to corrupt the morals, and instil the most dangerous and criminal maxims. Did we wish to root up every religious and moral principle from the heart, to tempt our daughters to barter away the brightest jewel of their sex; to inflame the passions of our sons, and abandon them to their law- of the stage, and the age we live in, these three ladies are the prominent characters of the re spective pieces, and instead of being held up instructive warnings to others, are contrived to be made the objects of sympathy, esteem, and admiration. "And surely it is no recommendation of our modern dramas, no proof of our superior refinement and delicate feelings, when we not only tolerate, but openly encourage the immodest allusions, which abound in our favourite comedies, and tinge with blushes the virgin cheek of innocence; when the ears are shocked with those equivocal expressions, which the most profigate rake dares not repeat in the drawing-room, without incurring the danger of being shewn to the door by the father of a virtuous family; and when to this is added the unpardonable privilege, which the performers themselves assume, of improving, as they imagine, upon the author, by additions from their own prolific genius. Their coarse profaneness and shameless blasphemies, with which they interlard their speeches, and supply the imperfections of their memory, are too notorious to be denied, and too revolting to the moral feelings to enlarge upon." Review of New A discourse, delivered at the opening, for public worship, of the Presbyterian church in the Northern Liberties of Philadelphia, April 7, 1805. By ASHBEL GREEN, D.D. senior minister of said church. Philadelphia. T. and W. Bradford. 1805. As there is no probability, that the bulk of our readers will have op FRAGMENT. I BECOME daily more and more convinced, (said an eloquent modern professor of divinity of our own country) of the importance of frequently holding out in our sermons the precise characters of the saint and the sinner; of shewing what are the Christian graces, and what their most specious counterfeits; of marking the exact boundary line between the fruits of the Spirit, and highly excited natural affections. This was the Puritans' mode of preaching; and the success that attended their ministrations proves that God owned and blessed it. Our modern preachers, it is true, excel these old servants of Christ, in taste, and style, but still we must remember it is of more importance to give a gospel knowledge of gospel truths, and to amend the heart, than to please the ear and gratify the fancy. When I take the work of an old Puritan in my hand, I seem to sit down to partake of solid food, plainly dressed, indeed, but nourishing; whilst many of our most extolled modern divines appear to, me to spread table, on which there is very little that is substantial, although the dishes are arranged with taste & garnished with elegance. Publications. portunity to peruse this interesting discourse, we have made larger quos tations from it, than are commonly found in reviews. None, we trust, will disapprove, after carefully reading these quotations. THE author, with propriety, thus introduces the discourse; "Assembled, my brethren, to consecrate to God a house erected for his worship, I have chosen to address you on a text, which his own unerring Spirit dictated on a similar occasion." The text, so wisely chosen, is 2 Chron. vi. 40, 41. “Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now, therefore, arise, O Lord God, into thy rest ing place, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness." The exordium con tains a very happy illustration of the text. The design of the discourse is to show, "1. What duties are incumbent on us in consecrating, and after we have consecrated a house to the worship and service of God. "2. What benefits we may reasonably hope to derive from the faith ful performance of our duty in this important concern." In order to illustrate these points, the preacher thus proceeds, "In consecrating a house to the worship and service of God, we should, first of all, endeavour to provide for the full accommodation of the worshippers, and that even the building itself should bear testimony to the reverence, which we feel for the great object of our religious homage." After some striking remarks on this part of the subject, we find the following well written paragraph; "Among the primitive Christians, indeed, persecuted and oppressed as they were, few public buildings for religious exercises were permitted to exist. Caves, and cellars, and private chambers were the churches to which they resorted. And even now, where the people are poor or persecuted, and in every instance, in which necessity, and not choice, is the cause, no doubt the humblest or meanest building may contain those, who worship, with the fullest accept ance, that God, before whom all earthly splendour is, in itself, but "Wherefore, my brethren, you have done well, that in the erection of this house, you have endeavoured to serve God with your best. You have done well, in the exertions you made and the expense you have incurred, to give to this sacred place those comely proportions and modest ornaments, which it now possesses." The author further explains the duty above mentioned, by remarking, "2. A house, dedicated to the worship and service of God, ought ordinarily to be used only for that purpose; and should be resorted to with a serious recollection of the nature of the exercises, in which we are going to engage." In the course of what he advances, to show that a meetinghouse should ordinarily be used for a sacred purpose, he introduces this satisfactory reasoning, founded on that principle of the human mind, which is called the association of ideas. "The law of our nature is such, that whenever we have seen an ob ject often connected with a certain business, or employed for a certain purpose, so soon as this object is presented to our view, or even to our imagination, its whole use and design present themselves at the same instant to the mind, and frequently with resistless power, solicit and command our meditations. If then our churches be connected wholly with the devout offices of religion, the very sight of them, and especially our entrance into them, may have a salutary effect in impressing our minds with sentiments favourable to the duties we are there to perform. We may be rendered serious and solemn, by the recollection of the sacred employments, with which we have always seen the sanctuary associated.." "3. When a people have dedicated a building to the service of God, it becomes their sacred duty to resort to it statedly for the performance of that serviceUnder the gospel dispensation the command relative to this subject is; "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is." But among us, how awfully are duty and tacts at variance! It is truly shocking to think, of how many the manner is, to forsake entirely the house and worship of God.---------Can we suppose that these unhappy mortals ever think of their guilt? Alas, they avoid the house of God, lest they should be made to think of it. They reflect not that they are bringing ruin on their own souls. They consider not, that their example is leading their families to perdition.Do these persons suppose that churches are built and consecrated only for the clergy, and for a few whom they reproach with the name of devotees? Think as they may, churches are nurseries for heaven. In them are commenced the exercises, that are to be perfected above. If then, these despisers of Sabbaths and sanctuary privileges are content to give up the hope of be. ing admitted to the temple of God in heaven, they act with an awful consistency in avoiding his temples on earth. But if they expect admission there, they must assuredly seek it here in the assembly of his saints.---- "Even those, who attend inconstantly, may be justly charged with marring the worship of those who are reg ular. If we, who are called to minister in the gospel of Christ, are at all worthy of our station or employment, what must be our feelings? Must not our hearts bleed within us, and our spirits be greatly sunk, when we see those, for whose souls we are bound to watch, slighting our ministrations, and refusing to give us so much as an opportunity to address them? It is not in human nature to speak with engagedness to naked walls and deserted seats. Thus the neglecters of public worship, by depressing and discouraging the ministers of religion, injure not only themselves, but these who attend, hy ren dering the service less animated and impressive, than it would have been, but for their, absence. And at length the influence of this practice sometimes banishes the gospel altogether from places, where once it was enjoyed in abundance and purity.------That those, who contemn both our Master and his message, should be controlled by any sentiment of respect or tenderness for us who preach the gospel, we certainly are not so senseless as to expect. But this is no reason why the tendency of their conduct should not be exposed. And I have sometimes thought that persons of the description contemplated, so long as they retain the feelings of natural affection, would constrain themselves more frequently to attend at church, if they knew how ceasingly their pious relatives and friends mourn and grieve, while they sten in the sanctuary to truths, which they know are calculated to touch and transform the hearts of these miserable sinners, who, alas, are not there to hear them. "Remember, then, I solemnly charge you, that in consecrating this house to the worship of God, you this day become pledged to worship him in it.Never, never let it be said, that you have built and adorned a church, which you seldom enter. Let it now be indelibly impressed on every heart, that the greatest ornament which this house can ever receive, is to be filled with attentive, serious, and devout worshippers.---..” (To be continued.) The Centaur, not fabulous, in six letters to a friend on the life in vogue. By EDWARD YOUNG, D. D. author of Night Thoughts, &c. &c. Doth he not speak parables? EZEK. Newburyport. Thomas and. Whipple. WE are very glad to see a new edition of this serious and useful little work, worthy the celebrated author of Night Thoughts. It is honourable to booksellers to publish such works; it is honourable to the religious character of the com munity, when booksellers can depend on them to patronize such publications. The first letter is on infidelity; the second, third, and fourth, on pleasure; the fifth is life's review; the general cause of security in sin; thoughts for age; the sixth is the dignity of man ; the Centaur's restoration to humanity; the conclusion. In these letters we recognize the seriousness, the eloquence, the pathos and sublimity, which render the writings of this author so excellent and interesing. The following pointed sensences are from letter first. "God Almighty would not have made a Revelation, but in order to be received: and by whom received? Doubtless by the reasonable and good; and if by some of them, why not by all? And if all the reasonable and good receive it, what must they be, who reject it? Therefore revealed religion rejected, proves natural religion disobeyed. I said above that Deists were blamable, how good soever their lives might be; but now it appears that their lives cannot be good. Others have, perhaps, for borne speaking so plain, out of charity. I venture on it out of what I conceive to be charity greater still; for nothing that can awaken them can be kindly suppressed." Another specimen of the author's manner of writing and of his orthodoxy, we give from page 17. "As to the mysterious articles of our faith, which infidels would by no means have me forget, "Who," say hey "can swallow them ?" In truth none but those, who think it no dishonour to their understandings to credit their Creator. Socinus, like our infidels, was one of a narrow throat; and out of generous compassion to the scriptures, which the world it seems had misunderstood for fifteen hundred years, was for weeding them of their mysteries, and rendering them in the plenitude of his infallible reason, undisgusting and palatable to all the rational part of mankind. Why should honest Jews and Turks be frightened from us by the Trinity? He was for making religion familiar and inoffensive: and so he did, and unchristian too. Those things, which our hands can grasp, our understandings cannot comprehend. Why then deny to the Deity himself the privilege of being one amidst that multitude of mysteries, which he has made? Faith in these [mysteries] is more acceptable to God, than faith in less abstruse articles of our religion; because it pays that honour, which is due to his testimony, and the more seemingly incredible the matter is, which we believe, the more respect we show to the relator." When pleasure is fashionable and faith is decried, this is an excellent book for parents to put into the hands of youth. They will find a vein of wit and irony running through the work, rendering it pleasant and entertaining, while it is serious and instructive. In page 65 and onward is a high wrought and moving de-. scription, a terrific picture," The The death-bed of a profligate." melancholy colours express terWe minror, and excite alarm. gle with his weeping friends around his dying bed; we see his anguish; we hear his self-reproaches, and his sighs of despair. He dies and gives no sign of hope: Religious Intelligence. We have received from our Correspondent in London, the Annual Report of the Missionaries at Bethasdorp, South Africa, for the year 1803, from the Missionaries Vanderkemp and Read; from which we grat ify our readers with the following ex tracts. |