REVIEW OF DR. A. THOMSON'S SERMONS.

(Concluded from our last Number.)

IN our last Number we stated it to be our intention at some future period, if it pleased the Lord that we should continue in strength to labour in his vineyard, to call the attention of our readers to the merits of Dr. Thomson's Sermons, and at the same time to point out in what that merit consisted. We have no hesitation in pronouncing the sermons good: but, that we may not be misunderstood, it is incumbent upon us to explain what we mean by the word good. We mean, then, good of their kind; nay, more, some of the very best of their kind : but, then, we contend that their kind is miserably low, and defective. We mean by good, that they are superior to the average of the sermons of the present day: but, then, we are prepared to shew that there never could be a day, since that dispensation began of which one great characteristic was to be "preaching," that preaching was more unlike what preaching ought to be, even that "foolishness of preaching" which the Apostle commends.

In order to make ourselves clear upon this point, we must remind our readers that the science of Theology consists of three divisions: Firstly, speculative, or intellectual; which explains and establishes the doctrines of religion as objects of faith: in this class are to be ranged such writers as St. Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Hooker, Charnock, Vaughan, Irving, Wardlaw, Pye Smith, &c. Secondly, positive; which consists in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and of the signification of them in this class are to be ranged the annotators, such as Poole, Scott, Gill, Henry, Mant, Griesbach, Michaelis, &c.; that is, where the labours of these writers are confined to the text, and not those parts of their works wherein they deduce doctrines from the text. Thirdly, moral; which teaches us the Divine laws relating to our manners and actions: and in this lowest walk of theology are to be numbered "the whole deluge of trash, under the name of practical sermons, which annually issues from the press; "the best of our religious periodicals, such as the Christian Observer, and the Edinburgh Christian Instructor; and, at the head indeed, but still in this rank, the powerful volumes of Drs. Gordon, Chalmers, and Thomson: we can scarcely venture to place the recent Sermons of Dr. Dwight in any other.

It is obvious that publications of any length must occasionally step beyond the limits of either of these divisions, and commit a trespass upon its neighbours; and indeed we would defy the most obtuse composer of practical sermons, provided only he will run out the length of a lusty octavo-to which ordi

narily they are nothing loth-not to write some sentences at least on points of speculative theology, as well as occasionally to hazard a conjecture upon the meaning of some passage in the sacred record: but that these are secondary objects in their writings they do abundantly declare by the choice of the word practical, as the most characteristic epithet whereby to describe their productions;-the propriety, however, of the term we shall examine presently. But, that we may not be charged unjustly with forming alow estimate of the standard of theology in the present day, we shall transcribe the opinions of others, who are very laudatory of the actual state of the sermon trade, and prognosticate the introduction of the Millennium by its operations. The first extract will be found in the Christian Observer of March 1829, in a review of eleven volumes of sermons which it places in one lump at the head of the article. The reviewer says, that a few years ago "every volume of sermons written with a fair portion of ability could claim a distinct eulogium; whereas now, by the wonderful blessing of God upon our national Zion, such volumes are issuing from the press so rapidly that the columns of a magazine can scarcely keep pace with them;" and therefore he is obliged to review them by the dozen, as in the present instance. Before proceeding with our extract, we observe, that, so far from looking at the parturient labours of the press with such sermons as a blessing, we think that the press producing nothing else is a curse; that under this curse we are suffering; and that what is called our vital religion is little better than a half-popish, half-sentimental infidelity. The merit of the sermons, which issue with this marvellous rapidity, arises, as the reviewer proceeds to inform us, "from their being plain, scriptural, and practical; free from novelties and doubtful speculations; and therefore not calling for those discussions which dangerous or doubtful speculations require." That is to say, full of common-place truisms, which call for no labour of thought in the reader, and over which he can nod in unruffled and well-satisfied security. "Sermons of the very highest order of thought, or of extraordinary originality or power of eloquence, are not often to be expected, especially when we consider the numerous demands upon the time of our clergy, and the vast quantity of material which is requisite for the returning pulpit wants of each successive week." This apology, of want of time in the parochial clergy, is really miserable: it might be a good reason for not writing at all, but is no reason for not writing better. Brougham, or Sir Samuel Romilly, or any lawyer in full practice, might plead the extent of his professional avocations as an excuse for not making speeches in Parliament, or writing essays upon law or politics; but no one in his senses would plead

Mr.

such an excuse for writing and speaking badly, or only upon common place topics. The second head of apology is directly the reverse of the fact; and instead of the clergy requiring or laying up a vast quantity of material for their sermons, the very thing we are now complaining of is that they lay up no materials at all: and the proof that they lay up none is, that, if they did, it would be impossible for them not to produce something of more importance than they do; impossible that some portion of this vast quantity of materials, weekly laid up, should not appearBut let us hear their encomiast: "We should not object to take the pile of sermons now on our table as a fair average specimen of the ordinary preaching of that large and respectable portion of the pastors of our Church who are currently. known by the name of the Evangelical Clergy.' In so doing we should not so much put forth their claim to the highest prize of eloquence, or the widest range of literature, or the most exalted developments of intellect (though in each and all of these departments we could find powerful claimants), as to the brighter meed of sound, useful, scriptural preaching, united with a respectable degree of learning and talent, &c.... The volumes now before us are but specimens of thousands of discourses composed every week," &c.-It cannot fail to be observed here, that the reviewer himself considers that the highest merit a volume of sermons can possess, are eloquence, and a wide range of literature. If this be so, it follows that the addresses of the Apostles,whether preached or written, were some of the worst that ever were published. But, in the opinion of the reviewer, it was neither the end sought nor obtained by the authors before him, who are samples of the whole body of Evangelical clergy, to rise even to the POSITIVE, far less to the SPECULATIVE theology; that the lowest order-namely, the MORAL-is all that is attempted; and that even in this the Divine laws relating to our manners and actions are considered of less importance than eloquence and a wider range of literature, since he places this as the acme of perfection.

We have, however, if possible, better evidence still than this. In January last a new" weekly publication" was set up, for the express purpose of "devoting its pages" to reporting sermons. The object of the conductors in doing this was "to wipe away the reproach which has been cast upon our ministry by one of the most influential and widely circulated literary journals of the day, that they do not display either the talent or the learning or the eloquence that the themes upon which they are accustomed to dilate are so eminently calculated to call forth, and the opportunities for study and improvement which they enjoy give the public a right to expect;' and also 'to present to their readers a body of theological learning, to which they may always

VOL. I.-NO. IV.

4 Ꮓ

turn with delight." Accordingly, the editors set to work at their vocation right heartily, and have gone on ever since publishing one or more sermons weekly-chiefly those of Dissenters— and which have been preached upon some anniversary, or in a course of subjects on which their authors had been long meditating in order for this special display. There is therefore presented in THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER the élite of the sermons of the year. Now, then, let us hear the same editors speaking in a subsequent number, after their labours had been in operation for some time, and they had themselves tried whether the "reproach" they were anxious "to wipe off" was merited or not. "It has often been a matter of surprise to us, that, although such numbers are engaged in the Christian ministry, and such opportunities abound in their profession for the display of impassioned eloquence and lofty sentiments, so few volumes of sermons that deserve to live in the recollection of posterity should issue from the press......It is certain that the published labours of our divines do not exhibit that power of mind .......which we should naturally expect to find in their writings. There is a mediocrity, both of thought and expression, for which we cannot account; so that we turn almost instinctively from a volume of sermons, unless it bears the name of some celebrated man. The press is inundated with volumes which ought never to have seen the light."

It cannot be necessary to load our pages with similar extracts from other journals, in order to prove a point which no one at all conversant with modern works on theology will deny : and our only reason for using the language of the magazines in preference to our own is, that we might, in expressing our own opinion, rather use the terms of panegyrists themselves, than of censurers, which we ourselves are compelled to be. In fact, they all speak the same thing; and we think that the Eclectic Review of Mr. Cunningham's sermons has afforded a reason why it must be as they state:-" It is much to be lamented that exposition, which we cannot but consider as the genuine business of the pulpit, should in the present day be so much neglected. It was the primitive, and we believe it to be the most efficient, mode. Orations or essays having a text for a motto, or dissertations upon a particular doctrine, may be all very well now and then; but it seems to us that the book of God is most honoured when it is read and expounded in course, and the preacher studies to give the sense, and to cause the people to understand the reading......As to the objection, that it does not fall in with the taste of a modern audience, the greater is the need that our hearers should be brought back to the habits of better times. The truth, however, is, that an expository mode of preaching is not less po

pular, but it is more arduous: it requires a greater degree of previous study, and deprives the preacher of the adventitious helps of an artificial method."-From this passage we see the truth; that, instead of the vast quantity of material, which the Christian Observer assures us prevents the Evangelical clergy from publishing better divinity, it is, according to the Eclectic Review, the want of previous study, which compels them to put forth little else than superficial truisms. For such men, then, to consume the time in committees, on platforms, at societies, in travelling, in evening expositions in drawing-rooms, &c., which could be profitably spent in severe meditation, is not only matter of awful responsibility to themselves, but of necessary decay of sound religion in the body of which they are the heads, and which they are ordained to feed.

Many of the sermons published are for charity in order to obtain their end, they must be bought; and to find purchasers, they must flatter the prejudices of the buyers. Thus the object of the preachers is not to tell wholesome, unpleasant truth; but to tell smooth things. In the Dissenting congregations, the obsequious deference paid by the ministers to the opinions of their wealthy members completely precludes the free range of mind, and the whole abandonment of self to the teaching of God's Spirit, which is indispensable to a healthy state of the church. The assumption of lay interference between the ministers and the truth, is antichrist, and a form of antichrist of the same nature as that exercised in the Papal church. It appears marvellous, no doubt, that the same form should manifest itself in the man of Infallibility, and in the wild opposite of radical Dissenterism; but thus it is: and it consists in thrusting a power of controul between the pastor of a flock and Christ; for the ministers of the churches are in the right hand of Christ himself, and no one may intervene between him and them. In Guernsey, although in the Church of England, there is a chapel to which the hearers elect the pastor, on a job, for five years. In the Isle of Man, a pastor of an Independent congregation has been discharged lately because his doctrines did not please the congregation. In a town in the north of England the same thing is now taking place. From a suit, actually carrying on in the Court of Chancery, we learn that a Baptist congregation in Guildford has been in the habit of turning off its pastors for several years. In America, Dr. Lee, who has been dismissed by his congregation, says, that there is" a restless spirit spreading through the country, separating pastors from their churches. It is an unprecedented and alarming fact, which ought to be known, and seriously weighed, that in this little state (Connecticut) no less than eighteen settled ministers, pastors of churches, have within as many months been dismissed from