let them adhere closely to the example of their Lord and Master, and of those that

were immediately taught by him; and

whether they shall be, what in the cant language of the day is called acceptable, that is, popular preachers or not, they will at least enjoy the consolation of reflecting, that they have not been accessary to the breaking down of the embankments with which Christ has surrounded and fenced his Church, and letting in a tide of indolence and corruption, that, notwithstanding all the imposing splendour of our present achievements, I confess, seems to me to be ready to overwhelm us." P. 250.

Sermon XIII. The active exertion of man in working out his salvation harmonizes with the free grace of God, as being the sole author of it. The misapprehensions and the temptations to indolence on the one hand, and to presumption on the other, which arise from "the combination and co-operation of the free sovereign grace of God with their own active voluntary exertions," are ably counteracted in this discourse by examples principally taken from the history of the Israelites, whose redemption from Egyptian bondage and establishment in the land of Canaan were the work of God, in many instances through human instrumentality. Much of the language and sentiment of this discourse, and the main proposition which it is designed to establish, is worthy of the serious consideration of modern and moderate Calvinists in England, and of all who dispute or deny the co-operation of the grace of God with the active ex'ertions of man.

Sermon XIV. On the privileges of a life of faith. The subject is illustrated by the choice of Moses, of which the wisdom and propriety are approved, and applied with

much earnestness of exhortation.

If this series of Sermons on the nature and effects of Repentance and Faith is not always unexceptionable or exempt from such peculiarities of doctrine and phraseology as are natural to the congregation to which they were addressed; the

The

Mr. Thackeray aims too high :a pamphlet containing two hundred pages, is divided into no less than eleven chapters; in each of which he professes to discuss an important question, or defend a valuable institution. The consequence has been that, with one or two exceptions, his disquisitions are perfunctory and superficial, and his conclusions unexpected and premature. religious ordinances of the ancients, the necessity of an established religion, the advantages conferred on the community by the established Clergy, the inequality of rank and stipend among the Clergy, Episcopacy, the mode of remunerating the ministers of religion from the first ages of Christianity, the char ters of the Clergy of England from A.D. 854 to A.D. 1066, an account

of the Church from 1066 to the Reformation, and a similar account to the present time, form the contents of the first seven chapters; and it is no impeachment of Mr. Thackeray's abilities to say that he has not been able to handle such a variety of matters in so small a compass. On several of the subjects much may yet be said-The Church Charters for instance, which are alluded to, but not examined or classified, have been discussed with great minuteness in the old controversies respecting tithes; and an abridgment of the opinions of our great writers upon these and similar questions would form a useful chapter in a modern treatise. The whole subject of tithes is once more before the public:-their opponents come to the conflict with all the confidence of ignorance and innovation, and it may be as well for the Clergy to look back upon the unanswered arguments of their good and learned predecessors, not for the purpose of bringing them forward in their old shape and dress, but of adapting them to that less solid fashion of reading and thinking which now prevails. Something of this kind might have been easily introduced into the little work before us; and substituted with advantage for the uninteresting truisms with which it now abounds. We feel this more strongly because the question of tithes is precisely that part of his subject which Mr. Thackeray treats the best, and his pamphlet might have been rendered of considerable importance, if he had prefaced this portion of it by information connected with the particular subject on which he was about to enlarge.

We consider the tenth chapter upon tithes as affecting agriculture, to be the best and most useful in the Treatise; and the following extract will suffice to exhibit the line of argument which Mr. Thackeray adopts, and his general method of dealing with it.

"It would exceed the limits, and inREMEMBRANCER, No. 47.

deed the nature and intention of this essay, were I to enter into a regular investigation of the effects produced by tithes upon the agriculture of the country. Before, however, I bring it to a conclusion, I cannot refrain from expressing my decided opinion that no subject has been more grossly misunderstood, nor more perversely misrepre sented. Almost every obstacle, of however opposite a description, almost every

variation in the price of produce, has, at

one time or other, been ascribed to the operation of tithes. That heterogeneous and disjointed production, "The Annals of Agriculture' contains many of these vague and indefinable charges. Mistaking headlong assertion, for political courage, and hostility to one class, for friendship to the community, it long cried out against the hardships imposed upon the farmer by the payment of tithes. It went farther, and dared to say that the time was not distant, when the unanimous voice of England will refuse to discharge them. When that day arrives, is there, I ask, in the names of every thing sacred, venerable or lawful, What nobleman, what gentleman, what is there any sort of property secure? yeoman, shall be unassaulted by that species of logic, which would deprive him of his possessions under the plea of rendering them more advantageous to the commu

nity? If tithes occasion obstacles to the productions of the earth, or the increase of its inhabitants, are there not many other causes much more powerfully affecting both? Let me illustrate my meaning by a homely appeal to men in each gradation of society. Upon the same reasoning that tithes would be attacked, why may not the nobleman of great landed possessions be told, that if his estates were parcelled out into many minute divisions, a much greater quantity of corn might be raised,

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When the price of corn was at its height, the common cant mode of accounting for it was tithes." The present wonderful depreciation in corn, &c. has been referred by many farmers, to the same cause. This senseless jargon of the antithists, reminds one of the mutinous will have it that his existence is the sole citizens in Shakspeare's Coriolanus, who cause of the scarcity of bread.

1st. Citz. First you know, Caius Marcius is the chief enemy of the people.

All. We know it, we know it.

1st. Citz. Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price. Is't a verdict?

All. No more talking on't, let it be done! Away! Away!

4 S

a much greater number of human beings enabled to subsist? That if he would but consent to reduce his establishment, and simplify his fare, he could afford to let his Band at a very considerable abatement? The private country gentleman, with the same reason may be told, that if he would but consent to substitute for wine, the nutritious beverage ale, if he would but elothe himself in a coarser apparel, and adopt some other similar retrenchments, his tenants also might thrive. The yeoman might even be upbraided by his subtenant, with superfluity in his expenditure; might be told that the gloss of his Sunday hat was a reproach to him as a landlord, and that a saving in the vehicle which ronveyed him to market, would enable him to repair the cottage of his tenant, and remit some portion of his rent. Every man, taken from the unsifted mass of the community, must now see the utter absurdity of such reasoning. They must see It, because the occurrences of each day teach them that human society and human mature would not admit of such a levelling application. Why then are the claims of the Clergy to be made an exception? Ouly because the selfish think they are more detached from the community than other classes, and therefore that they are to be assaulted with greater impunity. To me it has never appeared that the operation of tithes, has been any impediment to the interests of agriculture. perhaps, in some cases have checked the

It may,

<It is true estates are not as beneficial to the possessor, as if there were no tithes; so neither are farms as beneficial to tehants, as if there were no rents, and no right to turn them out. But as this is no reason why landlords should be deprived of their rents; so neither is it a reason why the Clergy should be deprived of their tithes. Dr. Belward's Defence of the Right to Tithes, on Principles of Equity.

This reasoning is strictly applicable, and a reference to history will prove its truth. It is curious, indeed, to observe, how nearly the pretexts of hypocrisy and avarice may resemble each other. As the last would now attack tithes, so the first once objected to the payment of -rents. Hume tells us that, during Cromwell's protectorate. the doctrine was pretty common, that it was unworthy of a Christian man, to pay rent to his fellowcreatures; and the landlords were obliged to use all the penalties of the law against those tenants whose consciences were scrupulons.-Hume, Note F. Vol. x.

enclosure of waste lands, but the advan tages arising from a very extended cultivation appear to be questionable. If it can with certainty be proved, that tithes have prevented the present quantity of land under cultivation, from receiving the necessary improvements of labour, manure, and general attention; if it also car be shewn that the stubborn avarice of the Clergy, in refasing a moderate compensation for a certain number of years, has been a serious impediment to the culture of wastes; and, above all, if it can be proved that the general interests of agriculture have within the last fifty years, receded, I will acknowledge that a parliamentary investigation is necessary, and that a general commutation of tithes may be expedient. But even allowing these facts to be proved, I would still exhort my ecclesiastical brethren, and all who value the dignity and stability of the profession, to pause most deliberately before they consent to alienate and exchange rights, the most ancient, the most universal, the most legitimate in the world. Let them, even then, pause before they consent to accept a degrading pensionary establishment, or lend themselves to any compromise of eliaracter or station, by receiving à substitute, which would reduce them to be mere tillers of the earth. But the case I have supposed, is imaginary. It is im possible to look around one, in any part of England, without being convinced, that so far from receding, the progress of agriculture has been prodigious. That so far from there having been any remissness or languor in the work of enclosure, the attempt has been extended with heedless ardour to soils almost incapable of improvement. That the farmers have been of the race of Antaus-giants, acquiring their strength from the elastic tonch of the earth; and then (to continue the comparison) becoming wanton with success, have supposed that the Herculean power of the world was to confess their ascendancy. That agriculture has been most powerfully affected by recent occurrences, that the plough may, in consequence, partially stand still, must be allowed and lamented. But is a temporary, or even a permanent inconvenience to one class of men, to be the cause of injustice to another? Another, which for centuries, when the farmers of the country were considered scarcely perior to the clod they turned, or the cattle they drove, have been eminent and illustrious in almost every portion of the globe. Those who entered upon farms ten or twelve years ago, may be compared to merchants. Their venture was a great

speculation; it succeeded for some time, But the causes of that success were un naturally stretched, and the collapse has been most violent. They have suffered, and their sufferings are to be lamented, So likewise are those of the merchant, who, miscalculating the supply of any fo reign or domestic market, is ruined by the incumbrance of his unsold cargoes. So likewise are those of the merchant who is deprived of half his vessels by the violence of the tempest. But these last are every day occurrences, and no one stops to be moan them. The poor merchant is left to repair his rates quassas,' to embark again in speculation, or, pauperiem pati.' No one can be more thoroughly convinced than myself, of the importance of agricul, tare to the welfare of all classes of the English community. But the conviction of that importance may carry, and has carried men too far. The farmers sup posing their individual interests identified with those of the country, have plunged into expences wholly beyond their means and utterly inconsistent with their occu pation. They went on in a giddy sort of expenditure without appearing to think a change of condition possible; and now that change has taken place, they seem to consider themselves the only legitimate objects of public commiseration und

assistance.

I wish not to say any thing harsh, I wish not to involve the whole class of farmers in one sweeping condemnation, for numbers of most prudent, most industrious, and most honourable men are amongst them; but I must say, that the farming scheme has been carried so far during the last five and twenty years, that it appears to resemble, in many of its features, the notorious South Sea scheme of 100 years ago. I allude merely to the self-delusion which existed, to the disappointment and loss which has ensued; any farther com parison would be most inapplicable and unjust, That the farmers will, for years, severely feel the depression of the market prices of produce, is, I fear, too. certain to be disputed. What then is to be the re medy? I know of none which will not demand a long, patient, and painful eadurance. A degree of forbearance to wards them, on the part of the community, and a great degree of exertion on their own, will, I trust, enable the present proprietors to retain their farms, and the present tenants to cultivate them. If not, however harsh the truth may sound, the lands must necessarily be transferred to others, who can, and will, afford to accommodate themselves to the expences and

profits of cultivation. The higher orders of land proprietors must set the example, and the most rigid economy must be adopted." P. 172.

The Use and Abuse of Party-feeling in Matters of Religion, considered in Eight Sermons preached before the University of Oxford, in the Year 1822, at the Lecture founded by the late Rev. John Bampton, M.A. Canon of Salisbury. By Richard Whately, M.A. Fellow of Oriel College. 8vo. 304 pp. 7s. 6d. Rivingtons. 1822.

THE object of this volume is so amiable and excellent, the author's claims to attention so well founded and notorious, and the execution of his labours for the most part so successful, that the work must be come the subject of very general regard. There are few persons in this age of party spirit and controversy, who do not require to be res minded of the danger of carrying them to excess. Mr. Whately warns us against errors to which all men are prone. He draws the limit with great skill and perspicuity, between feelings which are not always dis tinguished accurately from one ano, ther; and he furnishes tests to as, certain the true character of motives which are the source of so much good and so much evil, and with respect to which the heart is often ignorant of its own secrets.

The first point, therefore, to which we shall attend in this review, will be to put our readers in possession of Mr. Whately's senti ments, as far as they can be ade quately conveyed by an analysis of his Lectures. The second will be to furnish specimens of his mode of reasoning and writing; and the third to explain the grounds upon which we venture to differ from some of the conclusions at which he arrives.

The first lecture contains an enquiry into the principle by which