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    Review , ^^ diahners s Astronomical TtiscGttrseg * 42 &

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    and , admitting this , it is not impossible that their heavenly visitants may give them intelligence of the condition of distant systems . By this golden chain he arrives at his grand conjecture , that " thus as we talk of the public mind of a city , or the public mind of an empire , by the well-frequented avenue *

    of & free and ready circulation , a * public mind might be formed throughout the whale extent of God ' s sinless and intelligent creation" All the rest of the Sermon is , of course , anti-climax after this . There are , however , passages on the prabable view taken by ait gel ic beiags of the dispensations of God , which almost border on eloauence .

    For the third time , the peculiar goodness of God in bestowing his blessings on so small a portion of his universe , as Miecartb , is expatiated on at length , and illustrated by the glory an earthly sovereign would acquire from an act of benevolence performed on a private family . We cannot endure these petty

    sentimentalities , when applied to the character of the Almighty , or to those universal . blessings which he delights to scatter over every part of his creation . The fifth Discourse , entitled w On the Sympathy which is feltlbr Man in the distant places of the Creation , "

    opens with the old topic with which the preceding Sermon closes . At length , after due preparation , we are introduced to the company of the angels . But , whether it be from the «« wave of delighted sensibility ' which Dr . Chalmers has sent among them , * or the " flood of tenderness" he has made them " lavish , " f or the " tide of exuberancy" he has poured out everv where , t or from the dizziness of

    our own perceptions , we have acquired no distinct ideas of these celestial messengers . In point of fact , no description was ever half so wretched . The glorified spirit is only presented to us as a pure abstraction of all that is perfect y not arrayed in any aetherial beauty , or endowed with peculiar

    properties . He is Mr . Wilberforce with wings , and nothing more . Even this grand idea we are only permitted to attain , as Doctors do their honoursby degrees . First we are to imagine a man whoi& an amiable private charaoter , and thin&s of nothing beyond his

    * P . 16 I > , f P . 179 * t JP . Ml .

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    immediate circle ; secondly , one-who goes a Httle further , and extends his beaevoience to the town in which he lives ; thirdly , one whose heart embraces his country ; and fourthly , a philanthropist , such as the worthy gentleman just named , who not only

    unites all these good affections , but desires the welfare of the whole race of man . " £ t this point of his argument" Dr . Chalmers pauses to eulogize the charity of the present age , in one of the best passages of his work , but rather out of season , considering that

    we are still impatient to be introduced to the angel . After this celestial inhabitant has been described as surpassing the best of our fellow-men , we return once more to earth ; not feeling dizzy as though we had been wafted en an aerial vovasre . but wh » - ¦ ov

    — " — - — — — — - —— — - — - " — ~ — — — - —^ m ^^^^ P ^ m ^^ 7 v v ^» v w ^*^ m . ^ ried as from a journey in a lumbering family coach , which has stopped for a proper length of time at every stage . The sixth Discourse bears a most appalling title . It is "On the Contest for an Ascendancy over Man amongst the higher Orders of IntellisreaceJ *

    Nor does it threaten in vain . It not only maintains the doctrine that satanic influence is yet permitted in the world ; it . not only intimates that strength from on high may be given to overcome temptation , but it represents the armies of hell and heaven , of demons and of an eels , as still arrayed against

    each other , and fighting for dominion over man ( The idea of this warfare is evidently taken from Milton , but how has Dr . Chalmers improved on it ! The author of Paradise Lost represented it as lasting only for a few hours , but he has made it at least six

    thousand years in duration . He has left it as a mighty field for future bards . He knows not , indeed , precisely its extent —••• if our rebellious world be the only strong-hold which Satan is possessed of >§ or if it be but the single post of an extended warfare , that is

    going on between the powers of light and darkness . " But his ignorance on this point is more than compensated , by his nice and accurate information on the original designs of the fallen archangel . We must give this

    § This term seems to imply , that Satan is completely master of the field ; and yet he is said to have been vanquished at the death < 4 Christ !

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 423, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/47/