Sacheverell, who, a renegade from Whiggism which had not been profitable to him, was now a violent Tory with a better prospect of gain; and after two or three attacks on Government, which had been passed over with contempt, preached a sermon at St. Paul's before the Lord Mayor and Corporation on the 5th of November, 1709; in which, taking for his text the words of St. Paul, 'Perils from false brethren,' he held up the Whig Lord Treasurer Godolphin to the hatred of his countrymen under the title of Volpone, attacked in a scurrilous manner the Bishops who were against persecuting the Dissenters, condemned the Revolution, and asserted in the broadest sense the doctrine of passive obedience to arbitrary power. Such of the congregation as listened to the sermon were offended at the language of the preacher; and the matter was brought before the Privy Council, which determined upon an impeachment, and thus fell into a snare that had perhaps been laid for them. The seditious sermon was printed, and the Tories exerted themselves with so much activity in dispersing it abroad, that no less than 40,000 copies are said to have been sold. A tedious trial, ill conducted, ended in the condemnation of the sermon (which was burnt by the hangman), and in the Doctor being inhibited from preaching during three years. The trial was the making of Sacheverell; he was now held forth by the High-church party as a martyr for the good cause, and it was darkly intimated that the Queen (who had a strong leaning towards the Highchurch) secretly approved of his conduct. Every kind of means was employed to provoke people to join in the cry, that the Church and the Crown were in danger from those who now ruled the country, and that Sacheverell was persecuted because he had stood up in their defence. Incendiary sermons were preached from the pulpit; money is said to have been freely distributed among the mob, and songs were written to keep up the excitement; even caricatures, which at this time were not so much in use as half a century later, were made ⚫ in considerable numbers on this occasion. In fact, it was the first event of English history in the 18th century which furnished a subject for caricatures. Dean Kennett, in a pamphlet published in 1714, tells us that for distinguishing the friends of Dr. Sacheverell as the only true Churchmen, and representing his enemies as betrayers of the Church, there were several cuts and pictures designed for the mob; among others, a copper-plate with a Crown, Mitre, Bible and Common Prayer, as supported by the truly evangelical and apostolical and monarchical, truly legal and canonical, or truly Church-of-England fourteen,' who had supported Sacheverell through his trial."-Vol. I. pp. 4-6. "The Whigs not only wrote and sung against Sacheverell, but they caricatured him, and that very severely. In an engraving of this time, the Doctor is represented in the act of writing his sermon, prompted on one side by the Pope and on the other by the Devil, these three being the 'false brethren' from whom the Church was really in danger. The other party in revenge caricatured Bishop Hoadly, the friend of the Dissenters, and one of the most able of the Low-church party, in a number of prints, in which the evil one was pictured as closeted with that prelate, whose bodily infirmities were turned to ridicule. Moreover, they made a nearly exact copy of the caricature of Sacheverell, with a Bishop mitred in the place of the Pope, and the Devil flying away in terror at the Doctor's sermon, thus insinuating that this miserable tool was the great defence of the Church of Christ against the attacks of Satan. A remarkable instance of this adaptation of one design to the two sides of the question is furnished by the medal, which must have been distributed in large quantities, having on one side the head of the preacher surrounded by the words H. SACH. D.D., while the inscription on the reverse, IS FIRM TO THEE, surrounded on some copies of the medal a Mitre, and on others the head of the Pope, thus being calculated to suit purchasers of all parties. The Whigs looked upon him as the trumpeter to the Pope, while with the Tories he was the champion of the Church of England. For the Whigs and Dissenters had raised the cry of 'No Popery,' in answer to the Tory outcry of the danger of the Church; and every sensible man saw that the contest between High-church and Low-church was in reality a struggle for the succession to the Crown between the House of Stuart and the House of Hanover."-I. 8-10. High-church Mobs. "On the second day of Sacheverell's trial, the mob which had followed him to Westminster Hall was assembled in the evening; and being joined by a multi tude of persons of the very lowest class of society, proceeded to Lincoln's-Inn Fields, where was the meeting-house of a celebrated Dissenting preacher, Mr. Burgess, now known by the name of Gate-Street Chapel. The mob burst into this chapel; and amid ferocious shouts of 'High-church and Sacheverell!' tore out the pulpit, pews, and every thing combustible, and with these and the cushions and Bibles made a large bonfire in the middle of Lincoln's-Inn Fields. They treated in the same manner other well-known meeting-houses in Long Acre, New Street, Shoe Lane, in Leather Lane, in Blackfriars, and in Clerkenwell. In the latter neighbourhood, they mistook an episcopal chapel for a Dissenters' meeting-house, because it had no steeple, and would have destroyed the house of Bishop Burnet, had they not met with a vigorous resistance. No stop was put to their proceedings until it was reported that they were going to attack the Bank, when they were dispersed by a detachment of the Queen's guards. It was commonly stated that persons of a higher class of society in hackney-coaches directed the movements of this mob, and distributed money amongst them. In fact, the High-church party approved of their proceedings, and justified them by referring to the attacks on Popish chapels at the period of the Revolution. A poem, Upon the Burning of Mr. Burgess's Pulpit,' exclaims, 'Invidious Whigs, since you have made your boast That you a Church-of-England priest would roast, With Presbyterian tubs to light the fire.' "The success which had so far attended this plan encouraged Sacheverell's patrons to carry it further, and to try its effect on the mobs of other parts of the kingdom. The Doctor made a progress through various parts of England, marching in a sort of triumphal procession, and was received in cities and towns as though he had been some great dignitary. 'Good folks, I pray, have you not heard Of a criminal of late, Who has rode through town and country too In a most pompous state? In a most pompous state indeed, In a train of brainless fools, All managed by some knaves above, And made their easy tools.' "So says one of the Whig ballads of the day; and the object of Sacheverell's progress was apparent to all. "In the moment of his success, Sacheverell is said to have been flattered with the prospect of a bishopric; but the only preferment he eventually obtained was the good living of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and he had long been looked upon with the personal contempt he deserved by those whose tool he had been, when the accession of the House of Hanover came to excite his apprehensions. We learn from the newspapers of the day, that in the first week after the death of Queen Anne there was some talk of ejecting the Doctor from his living; and his name was brought forward on one or two other occasions. But he seems to have been cautious of provoking too far a party in power, when he had evidently much to lose and nothing to gain; and as his own party had some more illustrious martyrs to cry up in the persons of Lord Bolingbroke and the Duke of Ormond, he was regarded as an object too mean even for persecution, and he was allowed to enjoy what he had until his death."-I. 10-14. Here, for the present, we must stop, intending, however, to resume our extracts in a future No. An Introduction to Practical Chemistry, including Analysis. By John E. Bowman, Demonstrator of Chemistry in King's College, London. LondonChurchill. WHEN education comprises the subjects which it ought to embrace, the study of Chemistry will receive no small share of attention in the routine of school duties. Some knowledge of chemistry is of great value to every one. In the education of females it ought to be considered an indispensable requisite, for an important portion of their duties find their "why and wherefore" in the science of chemistry. We sometimes fancy that our children's children will enjoy many a good-natured laugh at our expense, when, in looking back, they shall see how we went on blindly and wastefully through processes of cooking and other parts of housewifery, which were capable of indefinite improvement by a correct knowledge of chemical laws. Our ignorance and consequent loss and disadvantages in this matter, are penalties-deserved penalties -for the prejudices which prevent us from making the education of our girls as good at least as that of our boys. Educated women are still shunned by the bulk of men, and we must therefore be content with another race or two of mothers lacking the highest of all qualifications, namely, a sound, well-informed and well-disciplined mind in a sound and vigorous frame. The time will come. Meanwhile, the neat, small manual which we wish to introduce to the reader with our warmest commendation, and which, with its clear type, effective engravings, fair page and distinct arrangements, may well tempt the student to a perusal even at the first glance, will greatly contribute to promote the study of chemistry, especially among the young. From many years' experience in teaching, we know that such a book as this was needed. We thank Mr. Bowman for supplying a desideratum. We congratulate him on his success. Though small, the volume contains all that is necessary. The style is simple and perspicuous. In one point this manual has a special recommendation. Chemistry can scarcely be learnt apart from analysis. Each student, if he is to make much proficiency, must go through its processes himself. Mr. Bowman, for this purpose, takes his reader by the hand, and, with the aid of engravings, symbols and words, shews him how to set each step in succession. An Appendix furnishes tables and a very useful glossary. Christianity without Sect, addressed to the Congregation of the Octagon Chapel, on withdrawing from the Unitarian Association. By the Rev. J. Crompton, M.A. Pp. 11. Norwich. HAVING recently given to Mr. Crompton's movement (if we may call it such) a degree of attention and space due, as seemed to us, rather to its pretensions than to its practicability or the strength of his advocacy, it may be enough here to say, that this tract ought in justice to have been addressed, not to the Octagon congregation, but to Church people and orthodox Dissenters of all denominations, who are the real offenders against the catholic Christianity which it advocates. If Mr. Crompton or any one else will induce them to give up their creeds and confessions, and, withal, their dogma of vital articles of belief, the work he aims at will be near accomplishment. And, short of this, it will not. Curiously enough, Mr. Crompton seeks to fortify his position by quotations-first, from Coquerel's Orthodoxie Moderne, in the form of an express creed, but one which would be rejected by all Trinitarians as sheer heresy;-next, from Dr. Arnold, "groaning over the divisions of the Church," and propounding as the "very truth of truths, that Christian unity and the perfection of Christ's church are independent of theological articles of opinions," yet retaining his own adhesion to the dogmatic creeds of the Church of England ever after he had taken his friend Coleridge's advice to work off his Unitarian doubts by parish air and exercise; and, lastly, from Dr. Channing, who has said, "he distrusted sectarian influence more and more," but whose appeals against the withering power of the spirit of orthodoxy, as well as his plain vindications of what he himself believed to be scriptural doctrine, seem to be forgotten by those Unitarians (and Trinitarians too) who have chosen, since his death, to set forth that fearless and thoughtful man as a theological indifferentist or mystic. Coquerel's anti-sectarianism is still a creed; wide enough, indeed, to include all Christians, but therefore not narrow enough to satisfy real Trinita rians. Arnold's anti-sectarianism is, conformity to the sectarian Church established by law. Channing's is, the fearless avowal of his own opinions, and the indignant reproof of orthodox terrorism. Mr. Crompton's is, a call upon Unitarians to repent of other men's sins against the human mind and the spirit of the gospel. We fear that Mr. Crompton has not forecast all the inconveniences that may result from the singular course he has seen fit to adopt. The title of his tract is so vague as to lead to misapprehension, and it is stated by Mr. J. W. Dowson that the advertisement of it in the Norwich newspapers has already led many to the conclusion that Mr. Crompton had withdrawn not only from the Unitarian Association, but from the Unitarian body, and consequently from the pulpit of the Octagon chapel, where the worshipers during the last two or three generations are well known to be Unitarians in fact, if not in name. Has he sufficiently taken into his consideration what are or may be the religious wants of his congregation? May it not be a consequence of his proscription of Unitarianism from the pulpit of the Octagon chapel, that the religious liberty of some of the worshipers therein is practically abridged? Ought he not, as their pastor, to be as jealously careful of their religious liberty as of his own? To us, this appears a weighty consideration; if it has suggested itself to Mr. Crompton, there is in his several publications no sign thereof. That it is not an imaginary danger is proved by the complaint, already publicly expressed, of one member of the congregation, whose intelligence and public spirit entitle what he says to respectful attention. "Those of the congregation" (observes Mr. Dowson) "who think it their duty openly and fearlessly, yet with perfect candour and goodwill towards all who differ, to avow their religious convictions (which are to them no other than the light of Christian truth), are placed in a somewhat awkward position, if the public are led to suppose that they would now hide that light under a bushel, and shrink from a name which they have so long borne through good report and evil report." A First Book of Lessons in Chemistry, in its Application to Agriculture: for the Use of Farmers and Teachers. By John F. Hodges, M.D., Professor of Chemistry to the Royal Belfast Institution, and the Chemico-Agricultural Society of Ulster. 12mo. Pp. 170. London-Simms and M'Intyre, 13, Paternoster Row, and Donegall Street, Belfast. 1848. VIEWED merely as a treatise on Chemistry, this little work would come more properly under the notice of the scientific journals; but as an effort to extend and improve the ordinary course of school education, it deserves the attention of the Christian Reformer. As an elementary work, it seems to us remarkably well executed,-being clear and judicious in its arrangement, sufficiently copious for a text-book in the amount of information which it affords, careful and accurate in its statements, and written in a pleasing, intelligible style, with a variety of practical applications and explanations of natural phenomena interspersed, which give animation to the subject, and prevent the reader's attention and interest from relaxing. We are of opinion that very many adults might find the amount of their knowledge considerably increased by a careful perusal of this little volume. Dr. Hodges is evidently well acquainted with the latest researches of organic chemists, both in Great Britain and on the Continent; and we observe with pleasure that he takes every suitable occasion to refer the information which he communicates to its proper authors, while his own contributions to this branch of science are neither few nor unimportant. The treatise contains much that must be valuable to the agriculturist in every region; but many of its statements and investigations are peculiarly adapted to the soil, climate and agricultural productions of Ireland, and to the method of culture which there prevails; and it must be regarded as a weighty testi mony to its excellence in this respect, that it has been adopted as a text-book for their agricultural schools by the Board of Commissioners for National Education in Ireland. The dissemination of knowledge such as this little work affords would do much to invest farming with the dignified character of a scientific pursuit, and to develop the resources of the land for the support of its inhabitants. The Sunday-School Penny Magazine. Published by the Manchester District Sunday-School Association. Vol. I. 12mo. Pp. 280. London-Chapman. WE greeted this modest little periodical on its commencement with a hearty welcome. The volume now completed enables us to say that its promise of usefulness is so far well fulfilled. Mr. Travers Madge has in the course of it been assisted by Miss Martineau, Mrs. Dawson, Miss Carpenter, Miss Rathbone, Rev. Thomas Bowring, and other writers skilled in the art of amusing while they instruct young readers. Mrs. Dawson's beautiful little tale entitled "My Scholars," and which runs through four numbers of the Magazine, is one well adapted to delight teachers and parents as well as scholars. There are many contributions to the volume which are entitled to the same commendation. Parents are generally interested in whatever interests their children; and if we would realize to our minds the attraction of this little periodical to its youthful subscribers, we must revert to our own youthful days, and remember the charm which belonged to the first book we called our own. We can well imagine that many of the pleasing tales and other articles in this volume have been listened to by parents and neighbours as well as brothers and sisters. Regarded in this point of view, and as a direct channel whereby to pour good thoughts and religious wisdom into the hearts of many of the adult as well as youthful poor, the Sunday-school Penny Magazine is a not unimportant ally of the Domestic Missionary. We recommend our Sunday-school teachers to maintain an acquaintance with this pleasant periodical, to carry it with them now and then to their class, and to take an opportunity of illustrating some lesson by its means. If they, in addition to this, assist their scholars to obtain it for themselves and carry it to their several homes, they will probably have no occasion to regret such an exertion of their influence. A Catechism for Children, designed to teach the First Principles of the Christian Religion and the Plain and Great Moral Duties. By Robert Aspland. Third Edition. London-Chapman. THIS Catechism, composed in the latter years of his life by the late Mr. Aspland, originally for the use of one of the schools connected with the GravelPit meeting-house, has passed through two large editions. It contains seven chapters, the subjects of which are-1, Religion; 2, the Holy Scriptures; 3, Duties of Children; 4, Faults of Children; 5, the Lord's Prayer; 6, the Ten Commandments; 7, the Apostle's Creed. It also contains a Farewell Charge to a Child on leaving School with a Good Name. By the use of this little manual, not merely scholars, but we venture to say in many cases the teachers also, will acquire a very considerable amount of scriptural information. On the subject of Catechisms generally, we extract the following passage which stands at the head of the Preface: "The Compiler of the following little Catechism confesses that he long objected to this mode of instructing the Young in their religious and moral duty, probably from his having been tasked beyond his capacity in his early years by more than one doctrinal formulary of this kind. He thinks he has lived to see the great expediency, if not the necessity, of teaching children the lessons of Divine wisdom authoritatively, of fixing them by repetition in the memory, and of furnishing them with a standard to which in after-life they may refer. Have not too many of our young been left untaught, from the fear of teaching them any thing which in the progress of their minds they may have to unlearn? The same scruple would stop early instruction on many other subjects besides moral and Christian duty.” |
