ftate, to heaven, and to eternity. When faith looks back on all that our bleffed Saviour hath done and fuffered for us, it is clofely connected with gratitude and love; when it looks forward to all thofe fcenes of blifs and glory that are in reserve for us, it is then more immediately united with truft and hope.The hiftorical object of faith was at firft fmall; but as acts of divine mercy were multiplied, and the records of them enlarged, this part of the object increased. And as it encreased we find the promises of God, which were at firft revealed in general terms, growing at the fame time more diftinct and explicit. The horizon, which bounds the view, enlarges as we advance forward in the hiftory of revelation, fo that each fucceeding patriarch or prophet had a fuller profpect of the bleffings and the promises of God, than those that went before him. The hiftory of paft, and the promises of future mercies, were ftill encreafing together, till, at length, to us who have the happinessof leeing the work of redemption accomplished, and whatever concerns our eternal ftate placed in the clearest light, the object of faith is completely revealed, and appears before us in its full magnitude. In the third fection, Mr. Rotheram endeavours to fhew, that the distinction already remarked in the object of faith, and confequently in faith itself, as connected on one hand with love, on the other with truft, is the only diftinction that is well founded in fcripture, or that is of any confequence in the ftudy of our religion; that we may lay afide all other distinctions, as of no importance to common Chriftians at least, as tending only to encumber and embarrafs their minds, and to open the way to a train of needlefs difficulties and groundless fufpicions. If we are content to follow the fimplicity of the gospel, we fhall find, that there is in reality one kind of faith: faith being every where a belief of redemption, and of all the bleffings and promises that belong to it, as far as they are revealed. To us therefore, who have the happiness to fee revelation finished and compleated in the gospel, and all faving truths there fummed up and concentered, faith, our Author fays, may be defined, a belief of the gospel. This fimple idea, we are told, will be found to answer every purpofe, and to be the bafis of every character afçribed to faith in the holy fcriptures. All that the infpired writers affirm, of faith, arifes from this fundamental idea, which, like a central light, difcovers to us the fymmetry of the whole Chriftian fyftem, and clears up the difficulties which must ever be inexplicable to fuch as attach themselves to fome inferior part only, regardless of what is principal or dependent in the fyftem, and lofing fight of that grand order and connection which run through all the works of the Almighty. Mr. Mr. Rotheram, in the fourth fection of his work, confiders the origin of faith; but what he fays upon this fubject was published fome time ago in a fingle difcourfe, which, he tells us, has gone through two impreffions.. In the remaining fections, he treats of the tendency and operation of faith, of regeneration, of good works, &c. and concludes the whole fubject with an addrefs, firft to those who maintaining the fufficiency of reafon, do blindly reject the affiftance of revelation and fecondly, to those who imagine, that revelation doth wholly fuperfede the use of reason, and exclude its exercise from the nobleft fubject on which it can be employed, the fubject of religion. As to the merit of Mr. Rotheram's effay, we can only say, that those who are acquainted with the fubject will find little that is entirely new in it; they will be much pleased, however, with his manner of writing, which is very sprightly and very agreeable. R. The Sermons of Mr. Yorick. Vol. 3d. and 4th. 12mo. 65. bound. Becket and De Hondt, W He Hether all the fermons contained in these two volumes were preached or not, we cannot inform our Readers. We would willingly believe, for the fake of the Author's credit, that they were not: there is an air of levity in fome of them, altogether unbecoming the dignity and feriousness of pulpit-difcourfes, and which no brilliancy of wit, luxuriance of fancy, nor elegance of compofition can atone for. Propriety is a rule as neceffary to be observed in writing, as decorum is in conduct; and whoever offends against the one, must neceffarily incur the juft cenfure of every competent judge, as much as he who offends against the other. Serious fubjects, indeed, feem but little fuited to Mr. Sterne's genius; when he attempts them, he feldom fucceeds, and makes but an aukward appearance. He is poffeffed, however, of fuch a fund of good humour, and native pleafantry, and seems, at the fame time, to have fo large a fhare of philanthropy, that it is impoffible, for us at least, to be long difpleafed with him.His fermons, if they must all be called by that name, contain many pertinent and ftriking obfervations on human life and manners: every fubject, indeed, is treated in such a manner as fhews the originality of his genius, and as will, in fome measure, There is a different Title to the 4th. Vol. which fays, Sermons by Laurence Sterne, M. A. Prebendary of York, and Vicar of Sutton on the Foreft, and of Stillington near York. P 4 foften foften the severity of cenfure, in regard to his ill-timed pleafantry and want of difcretion. We fhall, for the fatisfaction of our Readers, prefent them with fome of thofe parts of his work, which have given us the moft entertainment. The first part of his fermon upon the prodigal jon is truly excellent, and muft ftrongly affect every Reader, who has any real fenfibility of heart. I know not, fays he, whether the remark is to our honour or otherwise, that leffons of wisdom have never such power over us, as when they are wrought into the heart, through the groundwork of a story which engages the paffions: is it that we are like iron, and must first be heated before we can be wrought upon? or, is the heart fo in love with deceit, that where a true report will not reach it, we must cheat it with a fable, in order to come at truth? Whether this parable of the prodigal (for fo it is ufually called)is really fuch, or built upon fome story known at that time Jerufalem, is not much to the purpofe; it is given us to enlarge upon, and turn to the best moral account we can. "A certain man, fays our Saviour, had two fons, and the younger of them faid to his father, Give me the portion of goods which falls to me: and he divided unto them his fubitance. And not many days after, the younger fon gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wafted his fubftance with riotous living." The account is fhort: the interefting and pathetic paffages with which fuch a tranfaction would be neceffarily connected, are left to be fupplied by the heart:the ftory is filentbut nature is not : -much kind advice, and many a tender expoftulation would fall from the father's lips, no doubt, upon this occafion. He would diffuade his fon from the folly of fo rafh an enterprize, by fhewing him the dangers of the journey,—the inexperience of his age,the hazards his life, his fortune, his virtue would run, without a guide, without a friend: he would tell him of the many fnares and temptations which he had to avoid, or encounter at every step,the pleasures which would follicit him in every luxurious court,- the little knowledge he could gain-except that of evil: he would speak of the feductions of women,- their charms-their poifons: what hapless indulgences he might give way to, when far from reftraint, and the check of giving his father pain. The diffuafive would but inflame his defire,. I fee the picture of his departure:-the camels and alles loaden with his fubftance, detached on one fide of the piece, and already on their way the prodigal fon ftanding on the : fore fore ground, with a forced fedatenefs, ftruggling against the fluttering movement of joy, upon his deliverance from reftraint: -the elder brother holding his hand, as if unwilling to let it go the father,-fad moment! with a firm look, covering a prophetic fentiment," that all would not go well with his child," approaching to embrace him, and bid him adieu. Poor inconfiderate youth! From whofe arms art thou flying? From what a shelter art thou going forth into the storm? Art thou weary of a father's affection, of a father's care? or, Hopeft thou to find a warmer intereft, a truer counsellor, or a kinder friend in a land of ftrangers, where youth is made a prey, and fo many thousands are confederated to deceive them, and live by their spoils? • We will feek no farther than this idea, for the extravagancies by which the prodigal fon added one unhappy example to the number: his fortune wafted, the followers of it fed in course, the wants of nature remain,the hand of God gone forth against him, For when he had spent all, a mighty famine arofe in that country."-Heaven! have pity upon the youth, for he is in hunger and diftrefs,-ftray'd out of the reach of a parent, who counts every hour of his abfence with anguish, -cut off from all his tender offices, by his folly,--and from relief and charity from others, by the calamity of the times. • Nothing fo powerfully calls home the mind as diftress: the tense fibre then relaxes,the foul retires to itself,fits pen five and fufceptible of right impreffions: if we have a friend, 'tis then we think of him; if a benefactor, at that moment all his kindneffes prefs upon our mind. Gracious and bountiful God! Is it not for this, that they who in their prosperity furget thee, do yet remember and return to thee in the hour of their forrow? When our heart is in heavinefs, upon whom can we think but thee, who knoweft our neceffities afar off-puttest all our tears in thy bottle,-feeft every careful thought,-hearest every figh and melancholy groan we utter ? Strange!-that we fhould only begin to think of God with comfort, when with joy and comfort we can think of nothing else. Man furely is a compound of riddles and contradictions: by the law of his nature he avoids pain, and yet unless he fuffers in the flesh, he will not ceafe from fin, tho' it is fure to bring pain and mifery upon his head for ever. • Whilft all went pleasurably on with the prodigal, we hear not one word concerning his father--no pang of remorse for the fufferings in which he had left him, or refolution of returning, to make up the account of his folly: his first hour of diftrefs, feem'd to be his firft hour of wisdom;-When he came to to himself, he faid, How many hired fervants of my father have bread enough and to fpare, whilst I perish! Of all the terrors of nature, that of one day or another dying by hunger, is the greateft, and it is wifely wove into our frame to awaken man to industry, and call forth his talents; and tho' we seem to go on carelef ly, fporting with it as we do with other terrors- -yet, he that fees this enemy fairly, and in his most frightful shape, will need no long remonstrance, to make him turn out of the way to avoid him. It was the cafe of the prodigal-he arofe to go unto his father. Alas! How fhall he tell his ftory? Ye who have trod this round, tell me in what words he fhall give in to his father, the fad Items of his extravagance and folly? -The feafts and banquets which he gave to whole.cities in the east,-the cofts of Afiatic rarities,-of Afiatic cooks to dress them -the expences of finging men and finging women,-the flute, the harp, the fackbut, and of all kinds of mufic-the drefs of the Perfian courts, how magnificent! their flaves how numerous! their chariots, their horfes, their palaces, their furniture, what immenfe fums they had devoured!what expectations from ftrangers of condition! what exactions! How fhall the youth make his father comprehend, that he was cheated at Damafcus by one of the best men in the world; that he had lent a part of his fubftance to a friend at Nineveh, who had fled off with it to the Ganges; that a whore of Babylon had fwallowed his beft pearl, and anointed the whole city with his bala of Gilead;-that he had been fold by a man of honour for twenty fhekels of filver, to a worker in graven images;that the images he had purchased had profited him nothing;that they could not be transported across the wildernefs, and had been burnt with fire at Shufan ;-that the apes and peacocks*, which he had fent for from Tharfis, lay dead upon his hands; and that the mummies had not been dead long enough, which had been brought him out of Egypt :that all had gone wrong fince the day he forfook his father's houfe. Leave the ftory-it will be told more concifely.When he was yet afar off, his father faw him, Compaffion told it in three words-He fell upon his neck and kiffed him. • Great is the power of eloquence: but never is it fo great as when it pleads along with nature, and the culprit is a child ftrayed from his duty, and returned to it again with tears: Cafuifs may fettle the point as they will: But what could a parent fee more in the account, than the natural one, of an ingenuous heart too open for the world,-fmitten with strong senfations of pleasures, and fuffered to fally forth unarm'd into the midft of enemies ftronger than himself? • Vide 2 Chronicles ix. 21. • Gene |