The National Register. — London, England, 1814-02-20 00:00:00

FEB.. ?t7• THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 19 - '). It is perfectly in the recollection of the present wtiter, by the Tatty, that the Authors of the Sernionet have been partly forestalled respecting an application to one portion of those P)r whom their labours were designed, mid who con- stitirte the class of beings that are most likely to be improved by them. About two years since, there appeared an ad vertisement, in one of the mmning papers, respectfully informing the public, that .the Rev. M. A. Maws had eotn• posed a " Course orFifty-two Sermons far Children, on sub jects suited to their time of life, and in a style between Me solemn and the playful;" which solemn )et playful sermons the said ievereml gentleman was "desirous of an appoint ment to preach to the pupils of ally respectable seminary of learning, or seriously-disposed family." Here the attraction of delivery, moreover, might be obtained in addition to the graces occomposition,'provided the preacher's presence was conditioned for ; by which his plan of juvenile conversion was evidently calcukted to operate more successfully on the feelings of youth. Preaching will always prove more eller tual than reading. What patronage our clerical advertiser met with, if any, does not appear; but we have only to do with his scheme, in this pia e, which, rather than leave children to preach to them-elves, went to teach, according to expel ience, word of mouth. Addressed. in time first instance, to "those who have not yet acquired" the capacity to profit by the perusal of genuine divinity,—formed, secondly, for the purpose of Amin.; " those who may have lost the inclination to apply the power of attention to compositions" worthy of time pulpit,— designrd, in tine, for " those who are not in the habit of reading a grown-,np sermon,"...stio religious man. with this avowal of the objects of the " Sertnonets" as stated the - authors of them, will be surprised to find. what other wise might have astonished him, that they are unifurmly en livened by anecdotes, which are appendid to each sermonet °tali certainly is an aint,ing age, if, unfortunately, it be lbfri an improving age. Anecdotes and divinity tmot hand-ins hand. ‘V bile we have the art of itialiing grave things libl t, however we have the knack of making light things grave. Philosophy amid politics, as well as divinity, hut too fearfully attest our mum bidness of feeling, and superficiality of under. standing. Those who desire some further account of the volume now adverted to, are informed—that it contaitu; sixty-six Sermo nets, from about eight to twelve pages each, occupied mostly wi!ti piaetical suljects ; and to each of which is appended a Note, recording some anet dote or circumstance in point. This publication is also inscribed to the Rev , rend Thomas Marten, B 9. F. R. and L. S. and Regius P we , sor of B o _ ,tany iu the University of Cambridge. It is not properly a f a ll, s ized octavo, but it comprises three hundred and sixty eight pages in all. Unthinking religionists can see nothing serious in our theological Innovations. Where is the harm, such men may a.k, in the Sermonets which you have here intraduced to our notice, and upod which you have already animadverted at sonic length % Unpresuming in its prwension-, beneficial in its design, and innoxions at lea , t in its te , idency, these pers.ons will be disposed to imagine that the publication in question ought by no means to have subjected it: authors to the species of inquisition on this occasion exertwed. It might have been thought so. ) mnderstood, the Composers of the Se (f lrtio i t i :e o : t rl l: v a: vl-eilgl eiirle rll a voured to deserve well; vet their work is, after all, ail im plied libel on the morality . , connected with the tif their day. Surely it f .ortns an heinous inl! utation On tho. religious character of this " mos t religious age, to insinuate that there saint 41 those who may have loot the inclination is SUBSTITUTES FOR SERMONS ! R, STRICIURES OCCASIONED BY HENRY AND NATI—DA HAWKINS'S SERMONETS. The shelve. are full; all other themes are aprd, Thekney'd and worn to the lh•t flimsy thread ! Satire has long since done his best ; need curst And loathsome ribaldry, has done his wars.; Fancy has sported all he, powers away In tales, in tr!tle., and :rive ch"•srett's platy ; And 'tis the sad complaint, a ti a cost glue. Whate'er we write, we btinv fart ui.thiug new.--Covrritt. LLTITIA- These are, notwithstanding, new times. Every day, nay luoir, is productive of something out of the accustomed track ; and, whether the milleeium of the ancient order of things be or be not approaching, some time seems lilely to elapse, at any rate, before we shall feel ourselves quite re conciled to that sobriety of thinking and sedateness of con dui t which formerly characterised us as a people, and dis tiuguished us, in fact, above all the nations. Times have changed ; and, according to the aphorism of antiquity, we have chaoged with them. Amo. gst the novelties of late years, considered as improve ments or rcfmcm-nts, it not possible to ove,look those which are immediately connected with the condition of re ligion. Of these, indeed, the pious author of ' The Task' arpear , to hase been no indifferent spectator, as numerous, passages in his writings convince us, and more especially as they affected the ecclesiastical establishment of his native land. Cowper was thus foremost to stigmatise the pitiful practice of taking up with purchased sermons, to which clergymeu had resorted ; by pointing out, most intelligibly too, the quarter whence they derived their products. while his verse described, in terms of merited reprobation, the in dividual who was at once recognized as • gr un t currier 111141 dry ottr‘r of the church I' Let it not hastily be inferred, however,•from the preced leg train of thought, that the fraternal and sisterly compo sitions of Ilenry and I mtitia-Matilda Hawkins, modestly en titled Sernomets,' fall s under the -p eculiari censure which was so prooerly applied to him who. formerly vaunted him self on beirig the dry-noise of our church, but whose glory, as to this office, was his shame. Very different is the de sign of the present volume. It is n'ot for preachers, but for beareis, and bearers of a certain cast, that this lady and gen tleman have excited their combined powers, and now adven ture to commit the results of their co-operation to the in spection of the world. These Se.menir Scraps are, then, conformably with their title-page, • addressed to Those who Nave Not yet acquired, or Who may Have Lost, the Inchna• tion to Apply the Power of Attention to Compositions of a nigher Kind' Something might, prisiblv, be done for the - iist class ; but, what can be expected of the latter? What desperate readers must such hopeless hewers prove ! Sermooet," observe the brother and sister, " is a word not only not naturalised, but never yet iutrw!nced into our language." Words, though new, are not on this ace aunt to be invariably deemed inadmissible ; so that its title does not form the principal objection to this wot k. The authors themselves have, indeed, not unskilfully vindicated their choice, on the considerations of " fitness to their per formances—novelty, which may attract attention—and a n agreeable association of ideas with diminutives, recognised by such as are conversaut with the languages of foreign na tions." This agreable association of ideas with expressive diminutives is as naturally recognised by our mother tongue, although we are not so accustomed to carry them, whether • in speaking or writing, iato Qur awe goneral intercoutle. , A