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    The plans of the Sermons are generally inartificial , even to carelessness ; the reader must sometimes look back to keep the preacher ' s design present to his mind . Figurative language is sparingly used ; and the figures adopted bespeak less imagination than feeling . The style has few faults and many

    excellencies ; it is easy , flowing and sonorous : the parts of sentences rise naturally one upon another , and the close is usually pleasing to the ear ; the composition thus combining the two important qualities of strength and

    sweetness . The second Sermon in the volume appears to us entitled to the first place in point of merit . The argument is maintained in a masterly manner , and

    there is no falling off ( which we think we perceive in some of the other discourses ) in the strength and spirit with which the subject is discussed . From the animation that pervades the whole discourse , we infer that this is the

    preacher ' s favourite topic . He founds the argument , from the inequality of present good and evil to future retribution , on the parable of Dives and Lazarus , taking nearly the same view of these allegorical characters as is represented in Massillon ' s celebrated sermon upon the same subject . He considers the rich man as a mere

    voluptuary , and the beggar as a mere sufferer . The difference of moral character strengthens the argument , but is not essential to it . The Author ' s powers are unusually exerted to combat the two objections , that inequality of outward condition does not imply inequality of happiness , and that the

    most wretched have , all things considered , a preponderance of enjoyment . Upon the whole , we think he succeeds ; though his pictures of human misery are traced with a . bold ! and rapid pe ** - cil , and he makes , perhaps , too little allowance for the power of h&bit in accommodating the human being to his condition . With much abatement

    of the actual wretchedness which is here supposed , the argument is still eolid and incontrovertible . In sketching the character of the Sadducees , the Jewish Epicureans , whom our Lord intended to reprove in the parable , the Author thus exposes the want of motive to virtue , which there is in any scheme of infidelity :

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    " Their system was , to enjoy the passing hour by indulging freely in every luxury , bodily and mental , which their circumstances could afford , without any regard to a future account . Had their infidelity been well grounded , the wisdom of th | s system would have been incontrovertible . The only restraint which a

    man , actmg upon their principle , should impose upon himself , is that of a prudent attention to health and reputation ; for , to pay the least respect to moral duties , independently of immediate advantage , would be the height of inconsistency . Where pleasure is the sole end of living , ( as to those who are convinced that their

    pleasure and their existence must end together , it ought undoubtedly to be , ) morality is matter of mere convenience and duty , a word without a meaning . They may admit virtue as an auxiliary ; they cannot consider it as a principal . It may be employed to promote or to

    secure enjoyment ; but should never be suffered to interfere with it , where there is a competition . In ordinary cases , indeed , it may be advantageous , and consequently expedient , even upon this plan , to abstain from « the great transgression . —Pp . 31 , 32 .

    And again , " It has indeed been argued by some , that the feelings of pleasure and pain , which by the constitution of our minds are inseparable from virtue and vice , form of themselves a retribution , sufficient both for the purposes of society , and for the vindication of Providence in

    the unequal distribution of good and evil . It is not intended to undervalue these feelings as they are an inherent part of our moral frame . But we must insist , that their influence both in supporting and rewarding virtue , depends chiefly , if

    not solely , upon that reference , which nature and reason uniformly give them to a future account . Take away the belief of this , and what do you leave ? You reply , The dictates of conscience . What then are these dictates , considered as a

    recompense to the righteous ? Some undefined admiration of moral beauty , some transient feelings of self-satisfaction , than which , when unconnected with the anticipation of a future judgment , nothing can be more fallacious * and nugatory ! And what are they as a punishment to

    the wicked ? Merely a few vam remonstrances , which they ought to regard no more than the croaking of a raven . Are suchi feelings an adequate encouragement to suffering virtue , or such remonstrances an adequate infliction of divine justice upon easy , voluptuous and domineering -Vice ?" -uPp . 58-, 59 .

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    38 Review *—Dr . Lindsay s Sermons .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1820, page 38, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2484/page/38/