The National Register. — London, England, 1809-02-12 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 110 Monday about one o:elock his Majesty arrived at the Queen's Palace from Windsor. At two o'clock his Majesty held a private Levee, after which there were numerous presentations. His Majesty gave private audiences to the Duke of Portland and the other Cabinet Ministers, who were all present, except the Earl of Chatham and Earl Bathurst. His Majesty proceeded to prick for the Sheriff: for the year ensuing. The Court did not break up till about seven o'clock; after which his Majesty set off on his return to Windsor. It was more numerously attended than any Court that has been held at the Queen's Palace. Monday a Court of Common Council was held at Guild ball, which was numerously attended. The Committee for Ge neral Purposes reported relative to the expiration of the Ad for laying a toll upon horses and carriages passing on a Sunday ever Blackfriars-bridge, H hick was read, and the Court agreed to a Petition to the House of Commons, for a continuance of the said Act ; which was ordered to be fairly transcribed, and signed by the Town Clerk, and presented forthwith by the Sheriffs, attended. by the Remembrancer ; and al-o a Petition for leave to brio.. a Bill for the removal of Smith fi eld Market. Mr. ' Wardle is a native of Cheshire, and a man of consi derable fortune. He served in Ireland during the diAurbanc...s of 1798, as Niajor of the regiment of Ancient Britons, of which - gir Watkin Williams W yore was Colonel. Since that time Mr. Wardle has been remarkable, chiefly as a ban vivant, and an ardent amateur of the sports of the field. Ile has astonished all his Cheshire friends, by the warmth with which he has entered upon his political career, as well by the ability with which he has hitherto proceeded. POPULAR PREACHERS. No. XX VI. Canst thou dream there is a pow'r In lighter diet, at a later hour, 'To charm to sleep the threatening of the skies, And hide past folly from all-seeing eyes ? The fast that wins deliverance, and suspends The stroke that a vindictive God intends, Is to renounce hypocrisy ; to draw Thy life upon the pattern of the law; To war with pleasure, idoliz'd before; To vanquish lust, and wear its yoke uo more. Cow PER. RIGHT REVEREND -rut BISHOP OF CARLISLE. IF any apology is required for the introduction of the present Prelate to the notice of the public, that apology offers itself in the occasion on which he last preached, and the audience to which his sermon was addressed. As the occasion was national, so was the audience popular. The sermon also is deserving of very general attention ; and the BISHOP Of CARLISLE, on the whole, certainly made *an impression highly creditable to his own talents, as well as beneficial to his numerous hearers. The Bishop's text, which was peculiarly appropriate, is recorded in the Book qf the Prophet Isaiah; and may he found in the '26th Chapter, and at the 9th Verse, of bit Prophecy.—Wilh my soul have I desired Thee in the-night: yea, with my spirit within me will I seed': Thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Notwithstanding the opinion already expressed of the ability of the new Bishop of Carlisle, he must allow me to dissent from him respecting the propriety, or even the ne cessity, of his critical explanation of part of the text which formed the subject of his excellent discourse. Whether Nye read, with the Vulgate, " when thy . judgments," &c. or, AS his Lordship would render it, " amirding as," or, " in proportion as," speaking of the Almighty, ‘, thy judg ments are abroad in the earth," &c. the distinction, it ap pears to me, is by no means essential to the full and true application of this passage of Holy 'Writ. Such expesitory discussions, indeed,. if not really beneficial, are serioudy detrimental. Either let review and revise the common bible altogether, or eke !Lt. us IC:igious4 refrain from !es- FEB. le. sealing its authority with the mass of the people. Is not the authority of our Common Bible impeached, and its in fluence affected, by every unnecessary a:tempt to explain its supposed diffiebilties, and correct its imagined inaccura cies ? His Lordship's exordium was otherwise highly in structive and interesting. The division of his subject was perfectly judicious, and his illustrations were strikingly apposite. His sermon very properly referred, immediately and principally, to the situation of this country. He did not attempt to discuss the nature of fast-days. With a precision always admirable, and an energy often commanding, he traced, from the cradle of philoscphical infidelity, the growth of that demon which, hiv.ing first tinder th..! moral supports of society, has produced the subversion of legitimate supremacy, and the conse quent desolation of empires and countries. His allusion to the great Frederick of Prussia, together with his exempli fication, in the ruin of that power, of the effects resulting from the countenance afforded to infidel principles, was as just as it was forcible. if any part of the picture seemed to be incongruous, it was where th.; Bishop found it incumbent: on him to introduce the corruption and degeneracy of the highest orders of civilized cornmunitles. Here, I think, he rather softened his general colouring. It well became the Bishop of Carlisle, as a christian preacher, to insist, in the manner he did, on the folly and danger and impiety, now so growingly prevalent, of almost excluding the Divine Creator from interfering in the con cerns of his human creatures. How deplorable is such a persuasion, when, as the Bishop of Carlisle too truly ob served, " there is a Power raised up" for the scourging and afflicting of the nations ; and when, as to ourselves, " We have now no Ally, if we have not God !" We, how ever, seem sadly disposed to discard the assistance of the Di vine Providence ; and this, too, at the precise period when mast we need its interposition and protection ! Happy, happy, most llappy, the man, who secs 1 God employed In all the good and ill that ehecquers life ! Resolving all events, with their effects, And manifold re‘ults, into the will And arbitration wise of the Supreme. The Task. Really, it is vain, and worse than vain, to boast of hu man genius, or prowess, as alone able to give chit-ability to earthly power. Why (as the Bishop demanded) if the continuance of human authority depends wholly on the exercise of human ability, have so many powerful dynast. ties, in various epochs of the world, rose and fell, without one of them attaining to any thin:; resembling perpetuity ? And how comes it, we might add, that of those, succes sively distinguished from among their several contempora ries, who alter and decide, humaniv s;:eaking, the desti nies cif communities—how happens it that, of such cha racters, one age is more prolific than another ; and that, in many instances, such characters appear only in certain ages, and in particular countries ? While we cannot dispute the effect of this dispensation, we persist, nevertheless, in wilfully resisting the cause. I was much gratified to find the Bishop of Carlisle en tirely consistent. Taught of Jesus Christ, as well as disci plined by he insisted, wi!li much earnestness and devotion, on the important doctrine of the divine atone ment. He disdained to halt between orthodoxy and theo loLty; resting his hope of eternal salvation, directly and absolutely, on his acceptance through the merits of his heavenly mediator and redeemer ! Let us look for some good from this episcopal example. Aly present limits preclude me from following the Bishop of Carlisle through other topics; or, I should gladly avail myself of this occasion to discuss, with him, the necessity of erecting places of worship for the agreeable, yet gra tuitous, accommodation of the people. The measure is entitled to consideration. I shall perhaps venture, at a more convenient opportunity, to suggest some observa tioes respecting it. v• • • ii*;ts , • • : •• • •