On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    Art . II . — Discourses on our Lord ' s Sermon on the Mount . By the late Edmund Butcher . I 2 rno . pp . 326 . Bath , printed by Binns ; sold by Sherwood and Co . 1825 .

    WE have before had occasion to take notice of volumes of Sermons by this much-respected author ; [ Mod . Repos . I . 544 , and XV . 163 , ] and we are srlad that conjugal

    affection lias done honour to his memory by presenting another to the public . There may have been more able and more eloquent divines ; but a more amiable or more useful preacher cannot be named than Mr . Butcher , nor

    are his excellencies in these respects any where more prominent than in the " Discourses" before us . They are Twenty-one in number , and bear the following titles : General Remiirks upon the Sermon on the Mount—On Poverty of Spirit —On Afflictions —On Meekness —

    Righteousness the only Foundation of Happiness—The Reward of Virtue—On Mercifulness—On Purity of Heart—* Character and Reward of the Peacemakers— Promises to the Persecuted —On Persecution—Christians the Salt of the Earth—The Influence of Ex .

    ample— The Duty of setting an Emi' wuly Good Example—Oa the Importance and Stability of the Moral Law—The Mischief and Iniquity of corrupting- the Moral Law—Character ( >* the Pharisees — On Anger—Oa the Huiwnce

    ¦ " oi Right Dispositions in teligion—On the Necessity of Chas-^ Y and Self-Denial . 1 'rom these titles the reader will JUbtV infer that the " Discourses" are J ^ eiical ; they are also plain and fa-VVJlj

    Untitled Article

    miliar and frequently searching . Every one , of whatever age , character , or calling , will find something in them suited to his own case . Mr . Butcher probed with an unsparing hand both public and private vice . He jyrote

    as a patriot and philanthropist , and though he designed these Sermons to be chiefly moral , he omitted no convenient opportunity of asserting and defending his principles as a Protestant Dissenter and an Unitarian

    Christian . We have space but for few extracts , and many are not necessary to shew the value of this little volume . The preacher remarks that the Sermon on the Mount exhibits " the great design of the Christian Institution : "

    c < Now , in this discourse , delivered to such a multitude , and in so formal and solemn a manner , is it probable that our Lord should confine himself only to the subordinate and inferior parts of his religion ? Would he omit any important article of his commission ? Is such a

    supposition consistent with any just notions , either of his wisdom or faithful ness ? Is it for a moment to be imagined that in the kmgest of our Master ' s discourses , which has been handed down to us , there should be nothing or but little truly evangelical ? But if there be ar » v thing

    evangelical in it at all , it must be entirely so , for it is all of a piece . Here , therefore , % ve may expect to meet with every thing that is essential to our practice , as disciples of Christ and candidates for eternal salvation . That every thing of this kind is actually contained in this sermon , Christ has expressly assured us ,

    for he thus closes the whole ; ' Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine , and doeth them , I will liken him unto a wise man icho built his house upon a rock ; and the rain descended , and the floods came , and the winds blew , and beat upon that house , a ? id it fell not , for it was founded on a rock y —Pp . 8 , 9 ,

    He has a shrewd remark upon the frequent apology for bad temper : cc Great , however , as these advantages of meekness are , tlu > exercise of it , upon many occasions , requires so much

    resolution and self-denial that very few make the attainments they might in this divine temper ; and the common excuse is , that by their very constitution they are so inclined to hastiness and passion , that they really cannot help it . This is not

    Untitled Article

    Review . —Butcher ' s Discourses on Sermon on the Mount . 489

    Untitled Article

    3 o had thy swains in ease and plenty slept , # . Tbv poet had not sung , nor Britain wept . Nor let Britannia mourn her drooping Unhonour'd genius and her swift

    de-Oh Patron of the poor ! ft cannot ^ be While one—one poet yet remains like Thee ! Nor can the Muse desert our favour ed isle , Till thou desert the Muse and scorn her

    smile . ' ff '^ Cy ( To be continued . ) ^^ ) ( y

    Untitled Article

    •**• 3 r

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1825, page 489, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2539/page/35/