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d * aw it within the compass of its firm stal natural entrencMierits , wlrieh will be found , in the end , impregnable /* ; ' - ~ Cs .
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thrie of fear and distress . Whilst de ^ p oi ^ deiicy enervates a « & enfeebles t&e mind atitf reridws it ftusapabte * tff prudent defil berafioft and vigorous exertion , and of availing itself of those means df redre ss that may-occur * the prospect of deliver ance from apprehended or impending evil
would invigorate every faculty , inspire resolution and magnanimity , and secure the success of wise and salutary measures by the ae&l and activity with which it would dispose us to adopt and execute them . Dejection and impatience under actual distress aggravate it whilst it is
continued , and prolong its duration ; they render ud unfit for contriving and for effecting our own rescue : whereas , hope is the spring of resolute and active endea vours ; it maintains that self-possession which Qualifies us for concerting means of relief ; and it encourages those
exertions that are necessary to this beneficial effeeu When Alexander was projecting the march of his army into Persia , and contemplating , in prospect , the perils with which he was likely to encounter , he distributed various gifts amongst his associates and friends ; and being asked by one of ftieni what he reserved to himself ,
he replied , Hope . No possession he could have retained was of equal importance and value to him as this principle ; and though We cannot vindicate the object of his expedition , or the motives with which it was undertaken ) his conduct suggests a very instructive lesson , that Will apply to cases of distress that unavoidably occur iA the course e > f ha man life * It teaches
us the utility of hope , as a principle of resolution and activity , and as the only principle which can bear us superior to the evils of life , and which will serve to mitigate and counteract , to redress and remove them . "—III . 378 , 379 .
The next Sermon , XXI . of Vol . III ., ia wholly historical , " An Abstract of the History of Esther , " and the tale is so well told , and the moral reflections are so appropriate and useful , that we cannot help wishing that the preacher had favoured us with still more discburses of the same character .
Dr . Rees appears in his ministry to have consulted especially the benefit of the young , and the Sermons in these volumes addressed to that class of hearers are not the least valuable of the collection . In one of these ,
however , W 6 meet with Ja passage which seems open to obfteetion t it admits , in f&ct , of two ge&fiti&j and ia one sense implies , if-W does hot mett , the docflW of hereditary dfepravitfr , wta <*> we aw'fteirswdflA ; tlie enlightened w-
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6 lO Review . * + lkr . Rets ' 8 Pf&eiicat j&trm * ns .
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J 5 kRT . IV . —Practical Sermons . By Abraham Rees , D . D . &c . &c . ( Continued from p . 542 . ) ONE of the best Sermons in these two volumes is Ser . XVI . of Vol . III ., in which the venerable preacher states arid resolves the € < Difficulties in the Contemplation of the Moral
Providence of God . " He discusses this interesting subject by a series of observations , which are judicious and pertinent , and rise gradually out of one another . Under one of these , he thus amplifies a common simile :
** It has not been unusual to compare the condition of human life to a drama , the plot of which is gradually developed and explained ; &n& the allusion is apt sind instructive . In the first scenes of its representation , characters and events are readered interesting by the obscurity
with which they are veiled , and by the suspense in which the mind is detained , whilst they are progressively unfolded . But when the plot is unravelled , every character is justly exhibited : the termination of events assigns to each its due recompense . Thus we see the first stages
of human existence : many incidents must decur which . are mysteriotts and inexplicable , whfch tend to puzzle and perplex the contemplative mind ; but , in its further £ r *> gress and final issue , the scheme of Providence reveals itself ; the
succession of events reflects light upon the obscurity * of past scenes ; the completion of the wlfcile design reconciles its discordant parts , and evinces the perfect wisdom , equity and goodness , with which they were concerted and conducted . "—III . 306 , 3
The Sermons are properly entitled * Practical , " but some of them come nearer to men ' s business and bosoms Hum . others . The XXth of Vol . III . fou Stance , on Hope in Distress , cannot be xiead without peculiar interest ,
and mu * t have produced a deep iinpreseioa on its delivery . We quote one passage pn account of its containing dt ) historical allusion , one of the be&t spe < Siea df ornaments of which a sermon adiirits :
cc TJie benefit of ftOpe inay be farther illustrated by considering it us a powerful incitement to activity and gxtrtittn . in a
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1821, page 610, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2505/page/42/
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