The National Register.
London, England, 1809-06-18 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

'ITV?'" ..A.

JUNE IS.

METHODIST SERMON ON KISSING.

Mr. EnITOR,

Although this Sermon was preached many (a great marry)
Nears since in a parish of the County of Suffolk, it rusty serve
to amuse some of your Readers ho are not acquainted with the
style of these propagators of the doctrine of original sin an't the
necessity of regeneration.
The text iv ill he found in the 21 verse of the first chapter of
the song of Solomon.

" Let him kiss me with the hisses of his mouth."

My beloved, you will perceive (rota the words of the text
that my discourse this eveniuff is intended for the younger part
of my audience, w ho, I doubt not, will pay that sweet attention
to it w hick the tendeiness of the subject demands more p.ati-
cularly from them.
These songs of the Royal Prophet have been considered by
many divines of what is cr:/%.!tt the established church, in an
allegotical scow, but fur my pitrt 1 can only urderstand them in
the literal sense, %%16411 so naturally occurs in the eerusal.
Solomon was the greatest and t Priuce that ever reined,
(it required no great sharo of wi:dom you Will Say to be di—
tingtashed for it among Princes), and consequently he entertain-
ed a mire than continuo regard for the fair sex, for how else,
my dearly beloved in the Lord, ran we account for his having
had (at one and the same time) three hundred wives, and seven
hundred eoncubines, as we are assured in holy writ he certainly
had. But wisdom, my beloved, is power ! Solomon must have
been a prodigious wise man ! Thus far for introduction. Now
for your better understanding of the text ! " Let him kiss me
with the kisses of his mouth :" I shall divide the subject into
three heads.

First, The Kiss of Friendship.
Secondly, 7he Sentimental Kiss.
Thirdly and lastly, The Setamat Hiss.

First, The Kiss of Friendship—by this you donbtedless know
that I mean the salute which is customary among those who are
allied in blood, on a temporary separation, or upon meeting
again after it, and that it likewise proceeds from that natural
and mutual regard between the sexes in general, without either
particular views or impure thoughts. This Sort of kissing, any
dearly beloved, is. I believe, the most common of all. Many
an old hatchet or and aged virgin has been devoutly consoled
with it. It is given, received, and soon forgot, and as harmless
as the endearments of little children, consequently you may all
of you safely and piously indulge ynurselves therein. I say
piously, any beloved, for you know, or if you do not, you (ight
to know, that the Apostle Paul bath commanded that " we
6hould greet each other with an holy kiss." Now, if there he
any prudes among any hearers who arc otieoded with Oak ad% ice,
who consider, or rather Afeet to consider, the touch from the
lips of a man, as a blemish upon the unsullied ermine of
their purity, let such, in God's name, kiss each Other, they have
my free consent so to do ; but with all my charity for them, I
cannot help suspecting their sincerity (11 judge, my beloved,
from myself), and do verily believe that all such like hut
too well to partake of the secret Seasual Kiss, the kiss
behind a door, or in some snug corner, and peradventure,
sometimes consider it only as a prologue to a play. This sort of
kissing, my beloved, I meaa the Kiss of Friendship, I ap-
prehend to have been the prineipal ammement of most of
Solomon's rives and concubines; or what other use he could
make of so great a number, is above my comprehension; for.
judging, as I said before, by myself, oe most otherwise have
very much mis•llletalated his wants; and they, Tamar souls, they
were deserving of pity ; my bowels yearn towards them, and
I have shed maoy a tear of kind compassion when 'perusing the
history of their pohappy
I come now to my secorol head, the Sentimental Kiss.
which, my keloycd, is meant the Nisi which colavtyx ve heart,

MY

and which tnaav of you, my beloved, hav- most devoutly e•:-
perienced. It is a mode id kissing wlt;ch affords isltioite sat
faction. One of the profane poets has described the soft trmt-
sports that flow froM such a glowing of the lips in these
which I. think superior to ,ofee Mere v.,!nies tlatt have been writ-
ten upon this Lilt!: delightful tillbjC(l.
" When thought everts thought, e'er from the lips it part,
" And each wain., wish spri mutual from the heart."
Methinks I read in our eyes, and :rather from the iffrosion lir
you(' cheeks, my dearly, very t
deafly
.)e.oved, how you enjoy the
sentiment, how you sock in the sweet conta4ion, even as the bee
loadeth his thigh with the swerti of the !Aril ru=e lyni, but sort
W :IA doubtless lie cm loos ta know if) w bat manner the
heart is conveyed by this sort or ? my beloved,
it springs in a moment from the breast of a man into the bosom
of the fair in whom he delighteth, and grapples with her very
heart strings ; but all this awl a emit deal more is done so imper-
ceptibly, a, neither to be seen or hecrd, bet only to be felt. Yost
will, perhaps, object to the absurdity of a ittno's contiefting to
live after he has lost his heart ; for how, you will say, c:
life suhsist w hen the source and fountain of it is removed ?--
True, IT beloved, and the observation is aja •1, very just one;
tt ithhot a heart you yy•ould doubtless be like so many dead
mackerel, or teith,T sprats. There is only one !flog t:fits coo
i,ove von, and that, inv dearly hr !WM!, k the ilia rec. von have
when your heart is finial; tixed in the bosom of your fair, of
its never being gaiet lier's is geniiy bored au ,
sewer of Lure, and made to glide softly dowo into the vacatiity
prepred for it under sour kit breast; and if is mice get it there,
hold it fast as you value your existence, for woe be unto von if
you once let it go ; believe me, it will he next to a miracle if you
ever catch it again. And now, toy beloved, as to the ;applica-
tion of this ducts isle, 1 must leave. it to dame nature and s
ossn conscience. Itly Gird and last head, the Sensual lii
would perhaps lead me a great way at this late hour, hot as I
hope to see yon all again next Sniniay, I shall keep this part of
soy discourse for our next meethig.

THE Qv EVN or SwEnes.---This :tibia e, this disconse-
late Princess, is most inierestit,rly• belt cry much
resembling her sister the I.'.mprvss of Russia. she is
fair, with expressive blue eves, her tea:tires are line, hut
the affability of her counteuitnr, smile. and eogaging
independentiv of other charms, woutzi be sufficient to to
ciliate every 'heart almost to forget she v•as Cf.teen in her
loveliness as a woman. the dr:..sies with exquisie taste.
The last time she graced the st;.ge hex at t!!e theatry,
her Majesty wow her hilir in hut tresirs over
her brow aid ht tt t, aud leotu up with a dteilde diwlent
of jewels. Her ro!)e Was Sp lendid v crnbroidcred, and on
111.- breast she more the bakt;;es of the Order of t. Cathe-
rine. And certaiidy it must be acknowlAgeii.
star,:, whether of diitinction or of heantv, 1!,.2% Cr Sh One
brinlite- than on the bosom of the fair Helen of the North;
for thus this beautiful Queen is g,enertily distinguished,
though she may be mere appropriately compared to
Audromache, whose beauties., lovely as they mere, were
yet transcended by the more endearing graces of the
chaste wife and the tender mother,---The Queen, the
disconFo!ate Queen, is suffered to have access to the
King- in his -confinement at Cripsholm. All the Ladits
of Honour, and courtly attendants, have withdrawn.
themselves from her Majesty's person, and their ',laves are
supplied by two female domestics, awl a lad, v.-ho are
assiduous in their attendance; their services are requited
by her Majcsty, whose ineahs, it is well I:nown, are very
scanty. Tl,e first interview in the castle, lam assured by
an eNe witness, was the most affecting scene he ever be-
held. The Queen, on seeing her husband pale and ema-
ciated, fell at his feet and fainted. The Crown Prince,
who is al'out ten years of age, acid who had till now been
kept ignorant of the situation of his father, burst into
tears, and c:minred his Royal Parents to impart to hint
the cause of I°'oer sorrow. When Count Tennis Wrangel.
nd Baron Lagerbjelke, were about to NV It lid taW, the
Prince threw himself at their feet, and, frantic with grief,
exclaimed: “Do not leave me I Don't you see my tee.
Cher, how she cries ! That has my father done :".