On this page

• Text (1)

  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

• 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

    only a poor , but a false apology , for where these people have any interest to serveP ihey can keep their tempers well enough /* —P . 62 . The following is the bold and animated introduction to Sermon IX . on Matt , v , 9 . The Peacemakers :

    " None but those who have actually felt the ravages and desolations of war ran have a full conception of the inestimable blessings of peace . Imagination may sketch a dreadful picture , but the most vivid painting must fall infinitely short of the reality . To have the harvest .

    when it is just ready for the sickle , laid waste by a fiery deluge—to see a ruffian soldiery ransacking every house—tearing from the trembling inhabitants their necessary food—stalking along the streets begrimed with the blood of the innocent infant , and the venerable old man—to see iu every quarter , wives , mothers and virgins flying in tain from violation and

    death—to behold the land not wine enough for these outrages ' , but the sea also crimsoned with the blood of contending mortals , and to hear , as has frequently been the case , the names of justice and religion prostituted in tlie defence of such'barbarities , —what can l > e imagined more terrible than this?—And yet we know that into tliis picture , melancholy as it is , not a hundredth part

    of the calamities of war are introduced . The labour of ages is annihilated in , ' perhaps , & single campaign , and the most serious part of its mischief It is impossible to repair . Cities may rise again from their ruins—houses may be rebuilt , mid considerable portions of property may be replaced ; but the mutilated limb it is impossible to restore—the moral

    contagion it is impossible to calculate—and the immortal spirit , which was sent to its ficcotint in the most awful circumstances , can never be recalled . If we measure this calamity by the numbers it is sure to involve , what an enormous evil is this

    scourge of the earth ! Admit that most of those that thus perish are , as is always the case , of the lower orders of society , yet each of them has an immortal soul ; vlm \ supposing the tear of the poor widow , and the helpless orphan , to pass for

    nothing , yet , surely , an immortal soul is of some consequence I Can we wonder that Jesus , who was the prince of peace , that Jesus , who was all benevolence and love , should pronounce such an eulogium as the text contains upon the promoters of peace and concord ? Blessed are the

    - peace makers ; for they shall he tailed the children of Corf . Every line of the gospel illustrates this character of the

    Untitled Article

    Almighty , that he is the God of peace and the Father of all consolation . "—p * 119—121 . v ' Ser . X . on Matt , v , 10 , the Persecuted , is thus introduced : <; Into what a multitude of sorrowful and aching hearts lias this beatitude darted consolation and joy 1 Ye howling wildernesses , ye dens and caves oftheeartli

    the habitations only of savage beasts , till persecution peopled you with the sons and daughters of integrity , bear witness witn what a glistening eye , with what a t&mspprted spiritp *«» f ¥ y i \ trembling forlorn disciple has uttered these words of his Master : ^ Blessed are they wlio are

    persecuted for righteousness * sake ! ' "—p , 135 . One of the reflections upon " the dreadful consequences of had example , " 5 s very impressive : u A city set on a hill cannot be Hid , If our conduct be careless and criminal .

    it will be of no importance that our gencnil conversation and manner be grave and serious . Men will judge of us , not by what we say , but by what we do . "What an awful thing will it be in the day nf judgment , to have many , perhaps , ascribing their everlasting ruin to our conduct—saying to the Judge of the

    universe , That was the man , that was the woman by whose example I was drawn aside into the paths of folly and sin!—They taught me that under tlie cloak of religion 1 might indulge my impure and unholy passions , and that if I preserved a fair outside , it was a matter of little consequence what was my real character ! O my fellow-professors ! never , never let such a charge as this lie at your doors . " —P . 195 .

    We could readily multiply interesting quotations . The above are perhaps sufficient to justify our recommendation of the volume . It ought not to pass unnoticed that the work , though neatly printed , is sold at a price ( five shillings ) which makes it accessible to the mass of readers . The Sermons are generally short , and on this as well as other accounts are well adapted to the use of families . Contemplating a second edition , we would suggest that " the garden o \ Egypt , " p . 45 , is a misprint for " the garden of Eden , " and wouM also recommend that the passage , p- 2 o »» charging upon the Church oi' B orTie the maxim which she has solemnly renounced , that no faith is to be fa'P

    Untitled Article

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

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1825, page 490, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2539/page/36/