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 Smithfield 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.