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    and important knowledge of this kind may be made b y every man , who under the influence of that " earnest desire" of it which Mr . S . recommends , keeps his eats and his understanding open to receive it . In speaking of attention as a requisite quality in a wise hearer , the preacher observes , that attention 13 a habit which must be acquired as other mental habits are formed , by frequent exercise , and by a strict discipline of the mind , A mere desire of knowledge , " he adds , " can no more instantly form a

    habit of attention , than a desire of wealth can produce a habit of industry , " This remark is perfectly just ; at the same time we may observe , that as Attention , * when analyzed , seems to be nothing more than perception fixed , as it were , and enlivened b y desire , to strengthen the desire of knowledge by every means in our power , to impress more deeply upon our own minds the conviction of its importance , will be the very best means of forming the habit of attention * The desire of wealth , it is true , cannot instantly produce a habit of industry , while there are other desires , such as those of pleasure ,

    ease , &c , which counteract its influence ; but , should it be nourished by any means or circumstances into such strength as to overcome all these / the . habit of industry will infallibly be formed . So likewise we have only to cultivate and cherish our desire to work out our salvation , and a gromng attention to the means of doing so will be the certain consequence . We recommend to the attention of our readers the following excellent passage on serious recollection , as a requisite qualification of the wise

    hearer : . " When we are once well convinced of the truth , it is not of the first import to recollect all the arguments by which it has been proved . The most enli g htr ened intellect is a storehouse of the general results of the process of ratiocina ~ tion . But as it distracts the attention too much to be seeking for objections when we should Attend to aw argument , recollection may be very useful to prevent our being misled . Recollection is the proper introductory process fox renexainiiung tne proof of a doctrine , or if we be perfectly convinced , yet

    many truths are themselves highly deserving of being remembered that we may be prepared for their defence if they be impugned , or for the discovery of the conclusions which may be fairly deduced from them . But especially if they be truths which ought to influence the conduct , it is of the greatest importance to reflect on ta $ m , to endeavour to revive the good impressions which they have made , and to bring them bonne to our business and bosoms at a time when , unobserved by human eye , we may freely pursue a train of thought * wi indulge impressions , wluqh the presence of others has a tendency to restrain . "

    We cannot close our remarks on this truly valuable Sermon , the whole of which we earnestly recommend to the reader's perusal , without noticing what appears to us the very happy comparison of the momentary compunctions of the thoroughly hardened and impenitept Jiearer of the word , —the ? mental apd bodily contortions , b y which he sometimes excites , in the mind of the spectator , a delusive hope that the principle of moral life is not ye ^ dead within him , —to " the convulsions caused by the application to a lifeless jsubject of the mysterious fluid , on the subsiding of which the lirajbs relapse into tfye inertness of death . " Mr . Shepherd ' s Sermon is followed by the Charge , delivered by tfre Rev . Robert Aspland , of Hackney , to Jhjis son . It is difficult to conceive a father

    * See jLectmrep p n the Pfrjjpsophy of Mind , fry ppe of &e « wt acute , ^ rMnating and amiable of pjiiloaojp ^ e ^ , tfye late Dr . Thpmas prown , Vol .. II . Lcct xatxj . ¦• ¦ ' - ' - '

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    Rnview , —* Ordi ) iation Services * 107

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1827, page 107, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1793/page/27/