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the law audthe prophets . ; I am not gome to destroy , but to fulfil ., ' . . Tfce object $ f it is to shew-that Judaism * was intended j ^ l % u % l ^ # WW » && r ^ WMSPHb » # * futions wer& desjgn .-fed $ o- OT ^ tie , agent ^ ^ f the ^ rjatjiHi ^^ saWon . Jt f /; i' \ , , The secprid disx ^ urse , i # an exposition of flie first Psalm . ' It reminded us of
Mr . Belshain ' s sermon on the same subject , in the first of the volumes lately published , in which a similar train of sentiment Is pursued , and which will certainly lose nothing by comparison . We give with pleasure an ' extract from the Layman ' s Discourse , which we are sure will meet with approbation proportioned to the truth and importance of the observations it contains , and recommend them strojigly to the , aftejjtion of Our readers ,
" Thirdly : Nor sttteth he , whom the Psalmist describes , in the seat of the scornful . There is a grave and delusive reasoning which causeth to err—there is ah example of sin which is more seductive than sophistry—but there is a third , and to many dispositions a yet * more formidable mode of seduction , arising from evil communication . It is the fear of
ridicule , a fear so much engrafted on our nature , thaj : many shrink with apprehension from the laugh of scorners , who could riefute their arguments , resist their example , and defy their violence . There has never been an hour or an age , in which this formidable weapon has been more actively employed against the Christian faith than our own day . Wit
and ridicule have formed the poignant sauce with which infidels have seasoned their abstract reasoning , and voluptuaries the swinish messes of pollution , which they have spread unblushingly before the public . It is a weapon suited to the character of the Apostate Spirit himself , such as we conceive him to beloving noting , honouring nothing , feeling neither the enthusiasm of religion
nor of jpraise , but striving to debase all thatf Is excellent , and degrade all that is noble and praiseworthy , by cold irony and contemptuous sneering . " W e ? re ( ar fr ° m terming a harmless gratification of a gay and and lively spirit sinful prevei * useless . It has been said , and perhaps with truth , that there are tempers Which may be won to religion .
by indulging them Jin their natural bent towards gaiety . But supposing it true that a jest may sqm ^ imea frit him who flies a sermon , tpo surely jfee are a hundred cases for one where the sermon
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cannot remedy $ he evil which * £ JffsMjSj * tpjvo > duced . According tp our . ^ ttaftgely v varied faculties , our- seiise of , rjjdieule , ' ^ though sr \ ent , remains in > amfcifsh and u »§ p the watcfr 4 & ring offices jof the deepest solemnity , a& 4 mfe > n& of f the Jiighest sublimity ; and iff < augb * happens to call it into aetio » , oth £ Gsense . of the
ludicrous becomes m $ v& resistless from | he previous contrast * and the < conside ^ rations of decorum , which-ought ? to restrain our mirth , prove like oil seethed upon the flam e * There is also an unhappy desire in our corrupt nature , to approve of audacity even hi ^ wickedness , as men chiefly applaud those feats of agility which are performed at the risk of the artist ' s life . And such is the
strength and frequency of this unhallowed temptation , that there are perhaps but few who have not at one time or other fallen into the snare , and laughed at that at which they ought to have trembled . But , O my saul , come not
thou into their secret , nor yield thy part of the promised blessing , for the poor gratification of sitting in the seat of the scorner , and sharing in the unprofitable mirth of fools , which is like ^ the crackling of thorns under the pot T' —Pp . 59 —63 .
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Art . V . —Remarks on Religious Liberty ' , and the Duty of Nonconformity to Human Prescriptions in Religion ; with an Appendix , Him * trating the Beneficial Influence of Dissent on the National Interest . 8 vo . pp . 63 . London . Holdsworth .
1828 . There is a more sturdy and zealous spirit of Dissent embodied in this pamphlet than has of late been commonly to be met with . The writer is in good earnest ; and he gives no quarter to established religions , of however modified a description . He strikes at the principle of an Establishment as unchristian , and his blows are very effective—in our apprehension , decisive ; at
least so far as Establishment implies peculiar advantage to the votaries of some particular form of faith or worship . His objections to <* a universal plan of en- ' dowing all sects , or of giving salaries to all religiou ^ teachtfro , of whatever aontiw mentft and name , " arc tea convincing . We cannot flgreq , witfc hhn > that the payment of , # , taxjjtivted fry the . proper ) authoritks , poine jiftrt oft whom > pr » ceed » might be * iu our opinion , applied " to
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$ 24 Critical Notices .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 624, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/40/
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