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

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 ;uul 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 to
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 tacos
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-