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« WDted with the former volume of sefinotiS , [ M . Repos . I . 31 & 93 . ] by this truly Christian preacher , we should think it unnecessary to do more than announce the present publication . They know what to expect , aud they will not be disappointed . —Simplicity aad godly sincerity , unaffected
earnestness in the cause of religion and virtue , benignity and zeal in happy union , speak in their proper language through the whole volume . The name of Baxter has often occurred to us in the perusal of it ; for like the works of
that very impressive preacher , it abounds in affectionate , practical appeals , ardent expostulations , and that persuasiveness of address which is suggested , and therefore recognised by the heart . We no where detect an endeavour to win admiration or extort
applause by ornament or artifice or labour . The author appears to have lost sight of himself , his thoughts and feelings wholly occupied by the grandeur and importance of his subjects ; and the serious reader can scarcely fail to lose sight of him too , attending solely to the matter and objects of his address .
For the sake of such of our readers as may not be acquainted with the preacher ' s manner , we insert the following specimens of his devout oratory . In one of the sermons on the final Consequence of our present Conduct , he thus pours forth his convictions :
" Could I make you privy to the good man ' s thoughts , to the best man ' s feelings in his happiest hours , when , musing- on the works and providence of God , or meditating on the glorious discoveries of his gospel , his souf , dilated into the noblest sentiments of charity , and elevated into the sublimest transports of devotion , triumphs in
the government of God , and with all the ardour of gratitude for what is past , unites » ll the prospects of the liveliest and most « xalted hope in respect of what is yet to come-, when , finding all things right with-M , he forgets whatever is amiss without , overlooks the sufferings that are present with him , overlooks the sufferings he has yet to
undergo , overlooks the death he has to die , and anticipates his union with the innumerable company of angels , with his departed friends , with the spirits of just men made perfect , with Jesus , whom not having seen he loves , and with God the standard of
excellence an < f the fountain of all good ; « ould I make you privy to his feelings in these happy hours , when , encouraged by «» e testimony of his conscience , he is not Afraid to indulge his hope and confidence »» GM , you wight think that these wanted
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nothing but stability and immortality , U convert this earthly happiness into Heaven . " Pp . 262 , 263 . The following passages are extracted from the series of sermons on Christian Perfection . " We must propose to ourselves an exalted standard if we mean no more than to make a moderate progress .
" Every man ' s experience may be appealed to , how much in all affairs , and particularly in those of religion , our designs ordinarily surpass our execution . We propose great things ; it is but little ones we perform . In the most enlarged views , with the most intense desires , with the most elevated purposes- with all the ardour and
ambition of our souls stretching forward towards perfection , if we make no speedier progress in the Christian character , and our progress is liable to so many interruptions , disgraced by so many failures , what would be done , how much less could be expected from narrow views , from groveling purposes , from cold desires , and faint endeavours ? To rest content with the
attainments we have already made , bespeaks such a degree of self-complacency and self-confidence as bodes very ill to our patient continuance in well-doing ; it bespeaks much of that pride which goeth before destruction , and of that haughty spirit which precedes a fall . " Pp . 115 , 116 .
" Departed hours , and neglected talents , are like departed and neglected friends . When they come to stand upon the margin of the grave , when from the bed of death , they look back upon their forepast life , and on their former talents , then it is that men wish most earnestly to call back the years that are gone by ; then it is that they lament their insensibility and
negligence . They might have made better preparation for the tribunal of their Judge , they might have raised a better harvest from this only seed-time of their existence : but , alas ! the season is gone , and they too must go , with what they have donfe , and what they have neglected to do , to the bar of an all-knowing and all-righteous God . '' Pp . 121 , 122 .
The following animated appeal to Christian professors is in the last series of discourses , on the great Importance of the public Ministry of Christ . " Among all your schemes and purposes
of improvement , does it never enter into your thoughts , that your capacities of usefulness may and ought , not only to be employed , but to be enlarged ? Are the riches of beneficence , the only riches you have no solicitude to increase ? Are these
the only pleasures of which you are conteated with a little sphere ? Are these the only honours in which you are willing . too be undistinguished ? Can you . pass from week to week * and from year to year , so-
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Review . — Cappes Discourses . \ & 3
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1816, page 103, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2449/page/39/
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