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our great Master—of one who had deeply and affectionately meditated on his life and precepts—one , too , who had not excluded from his mind the contemplation of Heathen virtue in its highest forms , hut , full fraught with the recollection of what was best in the sages of elder times , had come to the reading of the gospel , aud found its wisdom deeper , its spirit purer . Mr . Ware ' s object is one of no mean extent . The survey of our Saviour iu the various relations in which he stands to us , is in itself a very animating and vast one ; aud though we remember that it chiefly treats of what has beeu done and is doing for man , rather than what he is to do for himself b y means of the grace bestowed upon him , every Christian must surely feel the connexion in which he stauds to the great First-born from the dead , as one of the most interesting subjects which can occupy his thoughts . This subject is Mr . Ware ' s , and though one alone , it is most glorious and comprehensive in its unity . With some ministers , the Saviour is not made a sufficiently prominent object ; with others , " to round the closing period with his name , " is very essential ,
aud this constant repetition , accompanied by the frequent genuflection , wearies and often disgusts us in the services of the Established Church . Among the Evangelical part of the clergy , the same blessed name is repeated , as if mercy were centered there , and nowhere else throughout the wide creation ; but , with Mr . Ware , there is no such imperfection
or disproportion . Christ is the effect of a Father ' mercy and love , the Saviour is the kind gift of one willing to save ;
the beautiful precepts he gave , and the light he threw upon the counsels of Almighty God , are not put before us as things utterly foreign to the previous ideas and capacities of the human race ; on the contrary , it is because they are so suitable , so consonant to expectation , so conformable in all things to what we should have looked for and to what we want , that we find unceasing reason to treasure aud revere them .
We do not make extracts from Mr . Ware's volume , for it is so small and so marvellously and modestly cheap , that it ought to be in the hands of almost every reader . We particularly recommend it to our chapel libraries .
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Critical Notices . — Theological . 53
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Art . II . —Sermons on the Principal Festivals and Holy days of the Church . By the Rev . Arthur T . Russell , S . C . L . of St . John ' s College , Cambridge . Where did the author of this volume concoct the following passage ? It 3 s so much above , in spirit and expression , the rest of his book , that we transcribe it with real pleasure , only wishing
heartily we could find more such , and we would praise and quote accordingly . But , spite of the absence of originality and impressiveuess , we have at least found subject for commendation in the utter absence of pretension . We cannot for a moment question the entire sincerity
of the author , but we do question his experience and reflection , or why does he speak of some people fearing that ** they cannot make up their minds to love God as they ought" ? Love is not surely a matter of mental determination , though the removal of obstacles to its growth aud increase may be so .
" If , by loving God , we meant the mere contemplation of the pleasures of heaven , aud of the consolations of religion , the raptures of praise , and the complacent wanderings of the imagination , many might then say that they loved God . For many thus seem to themselves to dwell in paradise : but
they walk not with God among the trees of this garden . They build to themselves a temple , but themselves form the glory of it , not the light of God and of the Lamb . Nay , in this paradise and temple the spirit of self is still alive , and opens aud shuts the gate at pleasure ; and from this fancied heaven the rain
descends not on the evil aud ou the good : the sun shines not ou the just and on the unjust ; for all this enchantment is the heaven of self and of pr ide , not of the great God , who is love . "—P . 178 .
We differ from the conclusion , " Such is the heaven of the proudly devout , " for we know of no devotion which is proud , nor any pride that is devout . We have noted one very singular expression iii the Sermon on Good Friday :
* ' We therefore plead the cause of blood . The blood of the Sou of God is upon you ; do not trample upon it , ' * &c . Of the Sermon on Triuity Sunday we can only say , that its argument seems to us exceedingly weak , and that we cannot understand how its author could venture
to print any thing » o loose and so imperfectly put together , ou » uch a subject . Such is the ignorance prevailing among
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1831, page 53, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2593/page/53/
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