The National Register.
London, England, 1808-10-30 00:00:00

TILE NATIONAL REGISTER.

D. peerage and pension. By the terms of the Convention it had
been stipulated, that the French should evacuate Egypt at two
diiferent periods, of three and five months. A certain number of
'cannon was to he carried away, for the conveyance of which
•.thrce transports were to he allowed, and morc if they could be
•iproeured. They were also to have ten rounds of ammunition;
'indemnity was granted to all those who might have taken up
arms in favour of the French, and the sequestrations which bad
been laid on the property of all such were removed, and the
property itself restored to the proprietors. In all these features
the Convention in Egypt resembled the Convention in Portugal.
The Sheritf put the question of adjournment, b, desirin„
that those VI ho were for the petition should go to his right band,
and those who were for the adjournmeut should go to the left.
The majority appeared for the adjournment, and consequently
the original motion was lost.

POPULAR PREACHERS.
No. XII.

IGhost4y Counsel—if it be not backed
With skew of love, at least with hopeful proof
Of some sincerity on the giver's part;
Or be dishonor'd in the exterior form
Or made of its conveyance by such tricks
As move derision, or by foppish airs
And histrionic mummery, that let down
The pulpit to the level of the stage ;
Vropi from the lips a disregarded tbing.—Tars Tssx.

REV. ISAAC SAUNDERS.

WHILE it is incumbent-on him whose writings are sup-
posed to influence public opinion, not to disguise those de-
tects which are open. to observation and obnoxious to ani-
madversion,still it must be always more grateful to himself,
and perhaps as useful tosociety, when the writer is enabled
to exhibit characters of real excellence,—promising to ob-
tain the esteem due to.private integrity, and candidates for
the approbation that is honorably awarded to public abi-
lity. Let us sometimes contemplate the favorable aspect
of human allairs. It is honest, it is consoling, it is generous,
it is animating, to disco%er worth for ourselves, and then
openly to commend it to the attention of others. Where,
indeed, is the delectation of incessantly brooding over dis-
satist actory and desponding- conceptions ; aggravating those
evils which, if nut unavoidable, are continually incidental
to mortal existence, aad refusing either to discern the beau-
ties or enjoy the blessings of our condition ?
Without being unapprised of the errors and vices of the
age, I confess, fur myself, that I can frequently derive con-
solation from the virtues, and delight from the information,
of my contemporaries. Cbecquered and mixed as this scene
of action undoubtedly is, still, amidst depravity and igno-
rance and dishonor, I can every where set: illustrious evi-
dences of worth, intelligence, and talents. If it is demanded
of me to apply this sentiment to the object that is more im-
mediately in my view, I am perfectly contented. It has
been so long the fashion to complain of the clergy, without
troubling ourselves to inves!igate the fact, that what at first
was perhaps erroneously asserted, generally speaking, has,
by repitition, beetwie almost indubitably admitted. The
system, however, hap: had ow. good effect. Accusation na-
turally roused enquir ; enquiry produced circumspection;
I.nd the result is, even at the present hour, that we now pos-
sess an uncommon number of truly able and eminent cler-
gy men, while, at. the same time, several young divines, emu-
lous of adorning the most important of all professions, are
rising rapidly into 'reputation. Our church is really in-
debted to its adversaries. Schism has awakened energy ;
and infidelity has called forth ability.
• ISAAC SAUNDERS, the divine of whom I proceed to
detail some short particulars, is from Edmund Hall, in the
University, of Oxford. He is now, with Mr. Gurney, alter-
nate Morning Minister at St. Clement Danes, and the Free-

OCT. 30.

+Numemen.
Chapel inWestStreet,Tokineely "'belonging to the ni....eniordbl,,
John Westley, St. Giles'b ; he is also Afternoon Lecturer of
St. Andrew by the Wardrobe and St. Ann's iu Black Friars;
and the alternate Evening Lecturer of St. Bride's, in Fleet
Street.
Prepared for the ministry by the late Alphonsus Gunn,
patronised by Mr. Goode and Mr. Gurney, and succeeding,
in religious estimation, the late Mr. Patrick, there can be
no dilbculty in determining as to the clerical character of
MR. SAUNDERS. He ranks high among the Evangelical
Ministers of the metropolis.
It may be proper to qualify the last sentence. When I
class Mr. Saunders among evangelical ministers, as almost
all extemporary preachers are too commonly called, let him
not be confounded with the calvinistic methodists. He is
practical, as well as doctrinal. While he earnestly contends
for the faith once delivered to the saints, he soundly incul-
cates, at the same time, the necessity of living so as in all
things to adorn the christian vocation. Works, indeed, are
never to be substituted for faith, but they are as certainly
the necessary fruits of it.
What first struck me in the present preacher, whose
whole deportment my situation enabled me to scrutinise,
was the manlier in which he ascended the pulpit. I think
it impossible for time to obliterate the impression which he
then made on my mind. His look, his manner, was devo-
tion itself. A preacher so evidently, yet unatfectcdly, im-
pressed witbthe awful importance of his divine commiss,oc,
I recollect to have but seldom seen. His only difficulty
seemed to consist in labouring to controul the emotions
his heart ; and of him I am confident to affirm, that

" the tear,
" That dropped upon his Bible, was sincere !"

If my aim was to flatter individual presumption, or gra-
tify the execrable taste of satirical minds, Mr. bailiateri,
and such as him, would not be the subjects of my selection
and the objects of my commendation. I cannot cater, I
confess, for the depraved appetites of too many of my con-
temporvies.—God forbid that I should ! Let me, however,
still indulge the hope, that honest exertions, in the best 01
causes, may be productive of some good.
Mr. Saunders's discourses are entirely extempore ; and,
while he displays much of the excellence of the stein of
preaching he has adopted, he exhibits some of its disadvan-
tages. His reasoning isnot always connected ; his expres-
sions, which are not uniformly felicitous, arc frequently re-
peated and sometimes recalled; and his metaphors partake
both of inelegancy and inaccuracy. Metaphorical language
is, indeed, that in which the extemporary speaker is most
liable to failure. To be forcible, metaphors should evince
correctness of construction and propriety of application;
but these are qualities which require premeditation, and arc
therefore seldom discovered in the effusions of unstudied
oratory.
The personal appearance of Mr. Saunders is happily in-
teresting,— his countenance being finely intelligent, his sta.
tare and form adapted to his station, and hisaction, with-
out extravagance, sufficiently impressive. His voice is both
manly and melodious ; but it requires, what he appears n; t
to have attended to, judicious management. His cadence
is too abrupt, and he too often indulges in the supplicating
hine to which I objected in Mr. Jay. He would do well
to pay inure attention to his emphases. I wish, too, that
may prevail upon him not to " bundle out" of the pulpit
almost assoon as the congregation begins to separate. Ile
ascends it devoutly; and, notwithstanding all the excep-
tions I have taken to him, he fills it most ably. These con-
siderations compel me the more to regret the hasty, not to
say indefeusible, manner of his departure.
I have freely, and fully, descanted on the faults of this
preacher ; because, I hope, he is not inaccessible to candid
admonition ; and because, when I consider his youth, I feel
that ho is capable of profiting by it. If he knew—stras-
gers thou;h we are to each other—how honorably I esti-