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** But all at btice with axes now Afcd hammers they go to , A&d down the carved work thereof , They break and quite undo . " Scotch Psalms , lxxiv . vers . 5 , 6 .
Let him boast that such strains give ^ lory to God , and exalt the devotional feelings of the pious . They have nothing " sickl (< y' * about them—nothing " to excite delusive emotion—nothing to charm * ' the polite world : "
but the elect , of which number of course the Eclectic Reviewer is one , can find in them something far above the Hebrew Melodies of Byron , the Sacred Songs of Moore , and the Vespers and Matins of our Unitarian Bard . Some of these elect , or eclect , in all
their purity , existed in the days of the good Dr . Watts , and he describes their taste in the Preface to his Lyrics : " They love the driest translation of the Psalms best ; they will venture to sing a dull hymn or two at Church " ( daring spirits !) " in tunes of equal dulness , but still they persuade themselves and their children that the beauties of poesy are vain and dangerous . All that arises a degree above Sternhold and Hopkins is too airy for worship , and hardly escapes the sentence of unclean and abominable . " ¦
Our Reviewer has advanced a step farther . Every generation improves upon the past . He has imported foreign literature , and finds great gratification in the Scotch Psalms , from which the two beautiful and pious stanzas above are extracted .
In one thing Mr . Bowring is superior to all his predecessors , though he modestly disclaims originality . There is breathing through his sacred songs a strain of devotion of a more cheerful , elevating and confiding character than in any volume of devotional poetry with which I am acquainted . His principles lead to this . They put not vengeance , wrath and fury amongst the attributes which they extol . They explain strong oriental language , so as to make it consistent with sense and justice ; and they fill the heart
with confiding repose , which the advocates of the gloomy tenets of Trinitananism and Calvinism can neve * je el . With very slight exceptions , I Jiesitate not to pronounce Mr . B / s *| ttie volume a beautiful treasure of devotional poetry , which will bef ead
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with pleasure and improvement , perhaps as long as bigotry , and something ' else as bad , can keep Sternhold and Hopkins , and even the Scotch Psalms > in high esteem and pious use . A NORTONIAN .
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Description of the Mw Chapel in Stamford Street . 631
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Description of the New Chapel in Stamford Street , lately opened for the Use of Dr . Thomas Rees ^ s Congregation . ( See p . 6070 ( From " The Literary Chronicle" of Saturday , October 18 .
THIS building , which was opened JL for public worship on Sunday last , forms a striking and elegant contrast with the generality of chapels and meeting-houses ; and may be regarded as a happy illustration of that maxim which ought never to be lost sight of by architects , namely , that
beauty is attainable with the most limited pecuniary means , provided those means be employed according to sound economy and pure taste . When we observe the barbarous and truly hideous style in which almost , without a single exception , all our metropolitan structures of this kind are erected , —
their utter insignificance , the despicable attempt at ornament which they sometimes display , and the complete absence of the knowledge of , or the least relish for architectural effect , which they invariably manifest , —when we consider this , it was not without
some feeling of surprise that we first beheld this truly unostentatious and simple edifice ; and , on viewing it , we cannot help considering it , and hailing it as the indication that a better aera of architecture is commenced , and that a taste for its beauties is
becoming more generally diffused : and yet we must , indeed , confess , that when we witness the sad doings and pitiful grimaces that our builders—^ especially
those who carry on their exploits m our suburbs—daily perform in brick and mortar , we are fain to retract our opinion , and confess , to our shame , that therfe is still nothing among us like a popular feeling for architecture , else could not suclf deformity bt
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1823, page 631, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1790/page/15/
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