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    hearts , and see If there be one of them who will deny that * his situation is embittered by a thousand sorrows , disgusts , and mortifications , and that he lives in perpetual captivity . Do they not acknowledge this even in the midst of prosperity ? But when they are disappointed after a series of intrigues ; when , by the disgrace into which they unexpectedly fall , all their designs are disconcerted and overthrown , an 4 they find themselves forgotten , neglected , despised , then , my dear hearers ,, they render a solemn homage to that Providence , whose care they had

    refused : then does the Almighty demand in that language of just indignation addressed to the Jews : — ;< Where are your Gods , and your rock in whom you trusted ; ' those protectors of whose support you were so assured , by whose favour you were so elated , the objects of " your worship , and on whom you depended ? Address your supplications to these your Gods , whom you have served , and in the extremity to which you are reduced , and the abyss into which you are fallen ^ let them rise up and help you , and be your protection . "

    The sermon " On the Last Judgment / ' preached at court-, is peculiarly grand and impressive ; and we aTe almost reminded of Paul who reasoned before Felix concerning ;; righteousness and judgment to come , in such a manner as to make the

    corrupt governor tremble . If Lewis and his courtiers were not incapable of trembling , they must have been agitated in a similar manner . The discourse turns on two points , the first * That we shall be judged by our faith as Christians ;'~ the second " That

    we shall be judged by our reason as men / ' Under the latter the preacher enters his protest against a doctrine too commonly embraced by both catholic and protestant churches—That of the total depravity of human nature ; on which subject he observes as -follows :

    C It is a doctrine as baneful in effect , as holy in appearance , that since the fall of our first parents reason is become altogether corrupt $ and to assert that when uninfluenced by faith , man has no other guide than error , and passion , tends under the pretext of humbling him , to render him licentious . Independently of faith , we are endued witk

    the principles of reason , which even after the commission of sin , asserts its empire . That reason makes us acquainted with our Creator , points out our duties , enjoins laws for our observance , and subjects us to order . Can it then be absolutely and totally depraved . I know that reason alone , without divine illumination , is insufficient for our

    salvation ; but I maintain that although it is not powerful enough to save , it is sufficient to condemn us . Reason , I acknowledge , is frequently " obscured by clouds of passion ; yet it is invested with a light which all our passions cannot extinguish , and which , through the thickest darkness of sin , illuminates our minds . We shall be judged by tl * e pure reason which God has given us . Nothing is more certain /*

    The translator of these sermons , ( a lady ) has performed her task with considerable ability . Instead of servilely copying the author , she has very properly omitted a few passages not connected with the main subject , and which to Protestants must have appeared considerable blemishes : her translation is free

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    Bourdaloue ' s Sermons . 605

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1806, page 605, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1730/page/45/