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tian watchfulness . To persons in trade—to men of strong passions—in reference to what is called visiting
and gossiping ' , and to convivial entertainments—the passage is of peculiar moment . In the Ninth Sermon , " Steady Trust in God , " is shewn to be < l consistent
with the most distressing apprehensions . " On the book of Job , the preacher makes some exceedingly correct and pertinent remarks ; and he selects his text from ch . xiii . 15 . The
words , " Though he slay me , yet will I trust in him , " disclose a state of great and extraordinary apprehension ; such as considerable weakness and pain of body , sad discouragements in
a person ' s circumstances , an accusing conscience , and the influence of temptations on the soul , have often excited . At the same time , the language of the man of Uz expresses a holy , fixed confidence In God « This mixed state
of feeling may appear strange and inconsistent with itself : in the present discourse , however , Mr . who evidently writes from his own experience , illustrates the manner in which devout confidence acts within the deeply-afflicted soul , and points out the circumstances in which it may be indulged .
His Tenth Discourse is on the pleasing theme of " Friendship : " Prov . xviii . 24 : And there is a friend that sticfieth closer than a brother . God has implanted in our nature a social principle . Upon this principle , according to the order of Providence , are founded certain qualifications , distinctions and relations among mankind ; and they give scope to it . There have been also surprising instances of friendship among men . Friendship keeps society together . Rich pleasures attend the exercise of the social
principle . By means of friendship we become , in a humble degree , like God himself : and it is exactly suited to our state and circumstances in both thin world and another . Still , from peculiarity of natural temper , from a
collision of interests , from an incapacity to help , from the want of religion , from distance of place , and from shortness of duration , human friendship is imperfect . Appropriate precepts and cautions form the conclusion of this discourse , the leading thoughts of which we have set before
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our readers , and which is of great excellence and value . An habitual remembrance of Christ 9
is urged in the Eleventh Sermon , from 2 Tim . ii . 8 . Mr . T . endeavours to shew in what sense it is practicable ^ in the present state , to remember Jesus Christ . He points out the
obstructions which Christians find in the exercise of this remembrance . Then he states why we should remember Jesus Christ , and represents the means that should be employed by us for a purpose so essential and important . The judicious and instructive preacher advances to the discussion of a
topic which has suffered greatly in inferior hands . The unpardonable sin is considered in No . XII . ; the text being supplied by Matt . xii . 31 , 32 . Mr . T . inquires , in the first place , what the unpardonable sin is , and afterwards shews the grounds or
reasons of its unpardonableness . What the sin is , appears plainly from the connection of the passage : he sins against the Holy Spirit , who maliciously and obstinately ascribes to a foreign agency—be it diabolical or
dsemoniacal—the miraculous operations of the Holy Spirit , amidst the clear discovery and full display of that power . Now this crime is unpardonable , because it implies a contumacious resistance to the last remedv of
the soul ., and to the utmost evidence that God could give to the truth of his gospel ; and , further , because from such offenders God , in righteous retribution , cannot but withhold his grace . On this comprehensive and accurate statement of the subject , Mr . T . builds some admirable remarks ; and he honestly acknowledges that he deems It impossible for the unpardonable sin to be literally committed at the present day , —though there are those who make certain approaches to it .
In Dr . Chalmers' opinion , * the sin against the Holy Ghost is not peculiar to any one age , but coins is ts in hardened unbelief , in the wilful rejection of the gospel , in turning a deaf ear to the suggestions of the Spirit .
But . surelv . the best interpreter of But , surely , the best interpreter of tlie words of Jesus Christ , is Jesus Christ himself , who expressly informs * Sermons in St . John ' s Church , Glasgow , ( 182 ; $ , ) pp . : V 26 , &c .
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Review . —Toller ' s Sermons on Various Subjects , 293
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 293, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/37/
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