NARES’S 
And again he observes, 
«¢ Or are we to consider future rewards as 
~ eternal, and future punishments as temporal, 
_ though the very same word is used to express 
both? This, no doubt, in the opinion of 
many people, would be the most commodi- 
ous way of interpreting scripture; but whe- 
ther it would be most agreeable to the just 
_ tules of interpretation, I much doubt.” 
We must be allowed to express our 
surprise, that any one who tonsiders 
properly the character of God, the na- 
ture and design of his moral govern- 
ment, the condition of the constitution 
of man, and the idioms which prevail in 
the language of. scripture, should stre- 
nuously contend for so dreadful a doc- 
Se 
trine as never-ending torments, reserved ° 
SERMONS. 
165 
for the wicked. And we cannot refrain 
from expressing our deep and sincere re- 
gret, that a christian minister should 
himself feel, and endeavour to infuse 
into the minds of others, such uncandid, 
and unchristian sentiments concerning 
those who cannot be induced to main~ 
tain the same principles. No one, sure- 
ly, who speaks thus harshly of all who 
do not doom the frail and erring crea 
tures of a day to everlasting and reme- 
diless woe, can have read the pious, the 
benevolent; and the able work of Petit- 
pierre! 
The hints for sermons are, in general 
excellent,andmay be used bythe younger 
clergy with much advantage. : 
Art. XXX. Sermons composed for a Country Congregation. By the Rev. Epwarp 
Narzs, A. M. Rector of Biddenden, Kent, 8vo. pp. 410. 
OF a character very different from 
that of the preceding article, is the vo- 
lume now before us. Composed with 
the same view, and preached, we sup- 
‘pose, in similar situations, there are no 
points in which the discourses agree. In 
the one prevail chasteness and simplicity 
of diction, not without much elegance; 
in the other there appears consciousness 
of superiority, ill diseuised and imper- 
 fectly concealed by poverty of sentiment, 
and meannese of expression. Mr. Gilpin 
is a country clergyman, who without 
any restraint, or any violation of the 
most polished manners, can talk to his 
ens upon equal terms. Mr. 
ares is the gentleman of high breeding, 
who seems to be out of his proper sphere 
when not in the drawing room, and who 
stoops with difficulty and awkwardness 
to converse with a villager. His dis- 
courses justify the remark we have al- 
ready offered, respecting the difficulty 
of addressing the less cultivated classes 
of society, and demonstrate the neces- 
sity under which country clergymen 
ought to consider themselves, of study- 
ue the models of this most: useful style 
# pulpit composition, exhibited by the 
vicar of Boldre. 
-Incondescension, no doubt, to the vul- 
saree of his rustic hearers, Mr. 
Nares does not scruple to violate the 
wainest principles of English grammar: 
thu $, in page 26, he says, “* to'a second, 
perhaps, who she sees striving hard to 
‘Taise himself above his fellows, religion 
cry out, to humble himself, &c ;”? and 
ge 272, “ turn then to the iddgy he 
thinks it better to set in the sunshine and 
sing.’ How judicious the preacher, 
who striving, we suppose, to become all 
things to all men, thus accommodates 
his style to the unpolished minds of an 
illiterate congregation! “The poor man 
will be cheartul and gay; the sick man 
patient and full of hope; the lowly, 
humble and submissive, and so onJ?’— 
Page 145. Again, “ We must allow it 
to be pardonable, while they are not 
taught better; but few are so destitute and 
forlorn, as to have no aged friend be- 
longing to them who should teach them 
better. The sin must rest with these if 
they take no pains to teach the young Leta 
ter,” &c. What the lowest of his village 
hearers could have written, the lowest 
must certainly have understood. ‘ 
Serious as was the’subject, we much 
doubt whether the preacher did not ex- 
cite a smile even amongst his rustic pa- 
rishioners, by the following most pathe- 
tic passages: ‘¢ And first, to weep for 
the dead, is very natural indeed, for we 
are of course left behind to lament their loss! 
They are gone and have left this trou- 
blesome world; and, alas! have left us 
to struggle through the difficulties of it 
unfriended and alone!’ And again,“ Weep- 
ing and grieving are very painful and 
distressing !” 
From the same principle, we suppose, 
of accommodation to the prejudices and 
the ignorance of the unlearned, Mr. 
Nares misinterprets the language of scrip- 
ture. “ Jesus, (he observes, page 352,) 
existed before the tempter, through 
whose seductions our first parents fell. 
M 4 
