166 
This also, in no obscure terms, he inti- 
mates himself: J beheld Satan, says he, as 
Eghtning fall from Heaven.—Luke x. 18!” 
he whole passage in which this occurs 
we recommend to the reader’s notice, as 
an admirable specimen of the bathos or 
art of sinking ; a finer descending climax 
we do not recollect ever to have seen, 
excepting indeed that the order is in one 
instance violated: Christ is said to have 
existed before Abraham, before the tempter, 
before David, and before John. 
These may serve to demonstrate the 
truth of the observations with which we 
opened this article. The volume abounds 
with similar marks of the want both of 
judgement and of taste. From the fol- 
owing quotation, however, the reader 
will be induced to conclude, that if Mr. 
Nares had not mistaken the nature of the 
composition best adapted to a country 
congregation, he would have produced 
discourses not only more worthy of the 
public eye, but more likely to please and 
to benefit a country audience: 
«© But, though it may seem more remote, 
the liberties we take with our lives, through 
a wanton abuse of health, is not less irrati- 
onal, or more to be defended.’ ‘There are 
many excesses men run into, the certain cf- 
fects of which are well known to be, the po- 
sitive destruction of health, and a premature 
bringing on of decay and decrepitude. Be- 
cause it does not happen that life is apparent- 
ly brought into immediate danger by every 
Art. XXXI. Sermons upon Subjects interesting to Christians of every Denomination. — 
By Tuomas Taycer. 
The subjects of these sermons are 
more interesting than the sermons them- 
selves, we apprehend, will prove. The 
preacher has done little to attract and to 
tix the attention: he has delivered plain 
truths in a plain manner, and addressed 
himself to the judgement, rather than to 
the feelings; but whatever may be the 
general opinion of these discourses, they 
will prove, without doubt, acceptable to 
the members of the church and congre- 
gation of protestant dissenters in Carter- 
lane; to whom they were formerly de- 
livered, and are now dedicated, and with 
whom the author has had, as he himself 
says, “the honour and happiness to be 
connected for more than thirty-six years.” 
—The following subjects are here dis- 
cussed in twenty sermons: The moral 
government of God; accountableness 
to God for our religious opinions; ge- 
nuine religion distinguished from that 
which is counterteit ; the superior excel. 
THEOLOGY AND ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 
has been shewn, the wanton abuse, and deli- 
single act of intemperance, we are heedless 
of remote consequences. But since life is 
now known to bea state of trial, it should be 
considered as a post of duty we have to main- 
tain, and which we have no right to abandon 
till we haye a regular dismissal from him who 
laced us init. If the fabric of eur mortal © 
bodies is so constructed as that by care and — 
management they may reasonably be expect- 
ed to last ‘¢hreescore years and fen,’ so ~ 
much we may conceive to be the common 
term assigned for our trial and probation, and ~ 
what right can we have to abridge it? But, 
if by intemperance and excesses we hasten 
the termination of life, undoubtedly we in ~ 
effect do withdraw from our post, contrary to — 
the original will and design of him who ap-— 
ointed the common limits of human life. 
Ti matters not when we destroy life, if we do- 
but unnecessarily hasten its ‘destruction.— _ 
Besides, it is not allowable to think, that life 
is not always exposed to danger, in every act 
of excessive indulgence; surely many have 
been known to die in the midst of their plea- 
sures; many have been as suddenly. hurried 
out of life by the intoxicating bowl, and — 
other gross irregularities, as by the sword of ~ 
the duellist, or the murderous arm of the su- 
icide. Great is the error then, and most 
dangerous the mistake, of fancying our health ~ 
and our lives to be our own; of which, as 
we have no account to render here, we can 
have none to render elsewhere; indeed of no 
two things, perhaps, shall we have a more 
formidable account to render; since, as it 
berate exposure of either, are connected with 
soine of the foulest crimes, and most disgust- 
ing immoralities.” : 
8vo. pp. 455. 
lence of the righteous; the wisdom of © 
doing every thing in its proper season ;_— 
the present our only state of trial; the - 
duty and obligations of religious wor 
ship; the divine authority of the chris- 
tian sabbath ; the piety and fortitude of 
Daniel; Daniel’s' miraculous deliver- 
ance ; the authoritative manner in which 
our Lord delivered his doctrine; the 
perfect purity of our Saviour’s charac- 
ter; the crucifixion of our Lord; the 
conduct of the disciples in deserting” 
their master ; the duty and obligations 
of imitating Christ; the peculiar affec- 
tion which christians owe to each other ; 
and Jonah’s gourd. : 
The following extracts will afford a 
specimen of the author’s manner : i 
In the second sermon, upon being ac- 
countable to God for our religious opi4 
nions, he observes, ‘ 
«©The most upright minds, -in this frail 
state of flesh and blood, caunot always, by 
ry 7 
q 
