The National Register. — London, England, 1809-04-30 00:00:00

ns4 Ci)t Pulpit. The Pulpit, and I name ft filled With solemn awe, that bids lite well beware With whit latent t touch that holy thin , Al There stands the messenger of truth; there stands The be ate (4 the Sliies!—llis theme divine, Ills office sacred, his credentialp clear.—COW PER. LECTURES ON THE LITURGY, rommeuced February the UM, and on March the`. 213 t Terminated, BY G. ANDItENVES, D.D. OF Sr. JAMES'S CIIURCII, iv PICC4DILLY. HAD I wished to depart from the arrangement of Dr. Andrewes's Lectures on the Liturgy, or hnd the limits pre scribed to me last week admitted of exteosion, I should have coupled the present lecture on the order for the VISITATION OF IIIE SICK, • Sunday Evening, March 12, with the few thoughls which I threw out on "The order for the Pnrial of the tread.' The connection between sickness and dying obviously suggested this to me. Considering the insecurity of our existence. and knowing how sadly the business of ragion is of!en neglected during health, it concerned inc o hear Dr. Andrewes affording h ;: : countenance, by the least excu?;ation of any kind, to those preachers who are disposed to slight their duty as priests. Although the rubrick of our church specifies, in case " the sick person," not being " able to come to the church," who " is desirous to receive the Communion in his house," must, in such case, " give kno%ileilge thereof over-night, or else early in the inorning-, to the curate," this requisi lion, which applies to :letinitive communion only, does n9i dispense with the prompt attendance of religions ininis!ers on dying persons. To whom should the wounded in spirit apply, if not to him who has the care of souls ? It is his post ; and, though " darker every hour," i! is one by -which he must stand to the last ! Instant in season and out of season, the christ inn pastor must, like the " herd and bishop of snui:;," know his own and be known of them. If one of his sheep, even on the sabbath, fail into the pit, he must lay hold on it, and tilt it. out. mated go about doing good. It is his highest interest, it is his great . .- est gratification, so to do. Much has the Church of ',lll , 4land been injured by the irreligious indifference of its parochial ministers to th:s portion of their duty. Are ailv of his congregatien sick, the dissenting teacher, the metholist or the evangelical preacher, waits for no call, no pre\ ions notice, no over night knowledge, to haeen, as becorecs him, where the sick lies. While the establisicd clerg man i:: often not. to he found when sent for, the religious yelunt . .er, if so I may term hini, is always at hand without any call: and by these means no discreditable opportunity is a n - o.sied the Ili ter for inducing yarious ridividuais to become :embers Of the meeting over which himself presides, or adhe"cnts to the religious community whose numbers it is his glory to augment. Dr. Andrewes judiciously adverted to the duty of making last wills. Here, as on some other points, his discourse was highly valuable, and energetically delivered. " Many," says Lord Verulam, in his Essayoa Death, " die intestate; this being a rule, that when their will is made they think themselves nearer a grave than before; now they, out of the wisdom of thousands, think to scare destiny, from which there is no appeal, by not making a will ; or, to live longer, by protestation of their unwillingness to (lie." Sometimes, however, Dr. Andrewes betrayed his ac quainhnce with the casuistry of the church whose errors he principally reprobated. The word absolution sounds better in the mouth of a romanist than in the mouth of a 'rotestant. Man, considerations induce me also to object I.'J: L~ilr', APRIt :O. to the custom of absolving dying persons. Common minds, and of such minds.the greater part of the people are, seem prone to by too much stress on the prayees of the priest hood, and supinely to rely upon the merits of sacerdotal absolution. Feeling themselves to be at the point of death, then, and often not untill then, they send for a clergyman be cause they are sick, as they would go to a conjuror if- they were in health, to effect their miraculous deliverance from an inevitable calamity. Is it difficult to imagine what de- pendence such persons (who pray because they are in pain, and confefs because they , trust for . pardon) may place, however erroneously, on the following sentences as pro nounced by the otliciating minister ?—"i absolve thee from all thy sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Fon, and of the Holy Ghost: Amen!" Even when less questionably asserted by the Ministers of Christianity, during the usual service of the Church of England, this " power and commandment to declare and pronounce the Absolution ;u u l Remission of Sins," spoken of as " left to the churdt," mostly excites in me the feel ing- of its impropriety, and appears as one remnant of the imperfection waich still attaches to our best form of right eousness. OIVESI.IIC6*. April 29, 1809. RE FL El 770xs ON THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. The.great Synagogue,in Duke's-Place, is to be honoured with the presence of several of the Royal Family. Great prepara tions are about to he made, for the reception of the . Royal Dukes and other distinguished characters.— Yegitcrdav, (Friday April 110 at half past six o'clock, the Duke of Cumberland, Stu4: , ex, iital Cambridge, attended the stiagogue, in Duke's Place, to witness the Ilebrew form of worship.—The .Netespapers. THE history of the Jewish 'People is a history of mi. racks. Whether we look back to the call of the Father of the Faitllful, survey his progeny as the Leading Nation Of tee earth, and contemplate the subsequent annihilation of their government, or consider their existing sit untiou , still, view them as we maw, there is in the fate of the .I , :!wisli People sowelliing histc:rically miraculous.. Whoever scru tiniz;!s their state more thoro.!gilly, also sec, though t o many it may not be so plain, that they are no Oil the eve or so., great poliLical re% olution. Circion...iancrs seem wonderfolly concurriEg to the accomplishment of taco s important catastrophe. 'Now subsided is the prejudice wYch once so powerfully operated a rainst. the Jews! From the pulpit to the stage, and from the highest to the lowest conditions of society arnon: 115, this people, who were insnited wherever they went, are not only to!:!ratel hat respectcd, and begin to perienc the kindness to which they were always en- titled. Nor does this prospect of amelioration termiiiiite even at this point. Denationaliz.ed as '.ire have been, and considered, individually and coiiectiveiv, as unworthy either of trust or rank. the first of exis ing pol'intes, in the pleni tude of sway, appears to view then with *the eye of philo sophical contemplation ; and actually hot is oat to them the hope of their again speedily becoming a in . glity tuition. Who does not perceive, in thPse signs of the times, the hand of one whose ways are not as oar ways ? •. Without labouring to ascertain II Napoleon Bonaparte is the person raised . up to effed . the RestoCation ofthe Is raelites, he has, by politicatlycountenancin,T them, af ready done much in their behalf.. If ever any Sattheeltim should assemble in London, they may thank the convening of the Sanhedrin) at Paris for it. The attention of the French Ruler to them, with whatever design paid, evi dently roused the respect of our English Rulers for them. What will be the end of these things ? Since the Jewish People are yet to experience score kill of national rests- THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Pt .0-