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    Art . II . —Sermons , chiefly on Practical Subjects * By E . Cogan . ( Concluded from p . 261 . ) rriHE Sermon " On Devotion ' A ( Ser . XVI . Vol . 1 . ) is a beautiful specimen of Mr . Cogan ' s style and habit of reasoning . As a composition , it is complete ; and the analysis of it would be a profitable exercise for the divinity stndent . Having shewn in the introduction that man from his

    situation and powers is capable of the devout affections , and pointed out and exposed the common mistake that devotion consists in " the stated performance of certain exercises of which God is the object , " the preached

    defines devotion , " a habit of mirtd arid feeling answering to the relations in which we stand to God , as our creator , benefactor , governor and judge " ¦ — " a state of the affections produced ty frequent meditation on the attributes and characters of the Divinfe ttemg , and on the connexion between

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    this Being and ourselves , who are hii offspririgl , and who lie altogether at his disposal . " I . S $ 5 . He argues that as our idea of God is a very complex one , the devotional habit which is

    founded upon it must necessarily be complex likewise , " compounded of a number of different feelings , all amicably blended , indeed , by having one individual Being for their object . " I ; 337 . tie then considers what

    affections the attributes and characters of the Suprenie Being are calculated t 6 excite in a serious and reflecting mind , and concludes that devotion is at once

    a powerful , dignified and pleasurable feeling . There follows a description of the virtuous and happy influence of devotion , and the sermon ends with an animated exhortation founded on the subject . In the descriptive part * the preacher says , " If devotion is feeling ; as we oiigBt to

    feel towards the great Author of our being , it cannot rest in a mere casual impulse , or the discharge of a formal duty ; it canuot be limited by any boundaries of time * or place , but must be a habit of rn . in . cl which will accompany us lu every circum-t

    stance , and amidst every occupation , _ It will go with us where we go , and dwell with us where we dwell . It is not peculiar to the temple or the closet , but is conversant with the ordinary business of the world . It has its favourite scenes and its appropriate exercises ; it lores , at proper seasons , to retire from the view of ma ^ and to indulge in silent , solitary contemplation } but it shrinks not from the theatre of active duly , and while it blends itself with the feelings which arise from the various occurrences of human life , it

    suggests Vvprevailing propriety of de > portment ; improves the relish of every pleasure , and mitigates the severity of every grief . It presents the Deity constantly to view , and teaches those in whom its true character is formed , to ' live a * seeing him who is invisible . * " I . 343 , 344 . The leading thought in the

    conclusion of this Sermon is eloquently amplified in Ser . IX . of the sariiS volume , " On the Influence of Religion in Seasons of Joy and Grief /" from which we extract a very

    inipressive passage : " It does not seem to be sufficiently considered by Christians in general ] that religion is not confined to \ ariy particular season or occasion , but that it belongs to all tiirfes and circumstances : It * dull ** nfoy vary with our sitdatlou , fait th * y e&a

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    Review *—Cogaris Sermons . S 2 #

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    quotations , which have never been before corrected . These are sedulously done away in the edition before us . In the *• Institutes" not only were there a great number of typographical mistakes and erroneous references , but passages from the Bible incorrectly quoted , having probably

    been inserted from memory . The work is now , by patient industry , in all these instances corrected . In the Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit 9 the references , the passages quoted , and the translations , have been carefully revised , and often freed from the errors to which the zeal and numerous

    avocations of the Author gave occasion . The quotations from Lardner , in the Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever , have been rendered accurate , and the references given td tlie voluiries of his works , which , when Dr . Priestley wrote , were not published in a connected form * For the great and

    unambitious toil necessarily bestowed on these emendations , the Editor amply deserves the gratitude of all to whom the memory and the renown of his Author are precious . Most earnestly do we wish that he may be favoured with health to pursue , with all the vigour of his mind , his most laborious and disinterested exertions . * # #

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1819, page 323, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1772/page/43/