P. 29. He will act the beft, who beft can feel. But there are feelings far beyond the reach Of all the nobleft faculties of fpeech; And Greece and Rome must filently submit, Nor e'en for once avail the pow'rs of Pitt.' These feelings, which neither Greece nor Rome, nor the chancellor of the exchequer, can exprefs, are the forrow which the empc: or Paul felt for the death of his preceptor. The author then anticipates the deliverance of Europe by the exertion of this Great monarch of a powerful reign, That more than doubles Europe's whole domain.' In the poftfcript we are told that the brightnefs of this profpect has faded, and that a fpecies of gloomy regret has at once overshadowed the continent of Europe: but this Mr. Pybus could not forefee, and inaccurate prophecy may be excufed in a poet. The concluding lines reprefent Paul, as well as his mother, to be one Peter more.' Thus, when entranc'd by intellectual night Its prime denotes the zenith of his rays, The full refplendent orb of Paul's meridian blaze.' F. 40. The poorness of the Greek types in the notes furprised us, in a volume of fuch typographical elegance. They ought to have refembled the beautiful Greek of Mr. Bedford's Mufæus. CRIT. REV. VOL. XXIX. May, 1800. C After the fpecimens adduced, it is unneceffary to speak of the merits of this poem. The defign and the execution, the fentiments and the language, are fuch as we expect when a lord of the treasury writes a poem to an emperor. An impartial and fuccinet History of the Rife, Declenfion, and Revival of the Church of Chrift; from the Birth of our Saviour to the prefent Time. With faithful Characters of the principal Perfonages, ancient and modern. By the Rev. T. Haweis, LL. B. & M.D. 3 Vols. 8vo. 11. 1s. Boards. Mawinan. 1800. THIS is a very extraordinary and interefting publication. Church hiftory has exercised the pens of the moft diftinguished writers in every fect of Chriftianity; but in general we may obferve that their attention was directed to the great political. events in which churchmen were the actors, rather than to the filent progrefs of the Chriftian faith in various parts of the world, or to the effects of corruption and fuperftition on the number of true believers. The outline of the history of the church of Chrift is to be found, we are fully perfuaded, in the book of Revelations. The harlot clothed in fcarlet reprefents the pollutions of the Romish church, whofe notorious crimes fill the pages of our hiftorians. The woman fleeing from the wrath of the dragon is the true church; but, from the nature of her flight, it will be difficult to trace her footsteps. It is the object of the author of the prefent work to write the hiftory of the latter; and, however we may differ from him in many of his opinions, we highly applaud his defign, and, in feveral refpects, its execution; but we must point out the general tenor of the work, that our readers may exercise their judgement on the propriety of fome prominent features in this publication. The author is a diftinguished minifter of the church of England, is in poffeffion of a confiderable living, was countenanced by lady Huntingdon, was favored with the friendship of John Wesley and George Whitfield, and was principal agent in the plan for fending miffionaries into the South Seas. It is needlefs to obferve to our readers, that, from thefe facts, and from the particular ufe of the word evangelical, the author is to be confidered as a leading member of that body of the clergy of the church of England which has affumed to itfelf the title of Evangelical. This obfervation must be kept in view in the perufal of the whole work, which on this account is the more interefting, as we may hence gather the chief opinions of a confiderable part of the clergy, who are now of fufficient ftrength and importance to excite the parti cular attention of every friend to the church and its interefts. In fact, the perufal of this work has opened our eyes more than any other publication to fome occurrences that have taken place in the church within the last fifty years; and to understand them thoroughly we must go back to an earlier period. The articles of the church of England were fettled in the reign of queen Elizabeth. A latitude in the interpretation of them was first admitted in the reign of Charles the Firft; and the advocates for the innovation were ftyled latitudinarians. This latitude took deep root on the publication of bithop Burnet's interpretation of the articles, which was followed by a neglect, or almoft contempt, of the controverfies agitated in the early days of the church. Moral preaching naturally fucceeded; fubfcription to the articles was modified in a variety of fhapes, and at laft almost explained away. In this ftate it was natural that two parties fhould be formed; the one ftrenuous for the articles in the most rigid fenfe, the other inclined to adapt them to the new opinions of the times. The former party ran into methodifin, the latter into Arianifm. Many clergymen of the former clafs imitated the customs and preaching of the itinerant methodist minifters; a confiderable number of the latter clafs formed themselves into a fociety for relief in the affair of fubfcription; and a petition was prefented by them to parliament for that purpofe. The ill fuccefs of that petition, and the confequent feceffion of fome of the clergy from the church, fubjected the petitioners to fome obloquy; and the church, alarmed with the cry of Socinianism and Arianifm, began to look with a favourable eye on the more rigid fubfcribers, whofe tenets and practices had been branded with the names of enthufiafm, fanaticifm, and methodifm. In both cafes there was danger of fchifm. On the one hand, the latitudinarian opinions were introducing fchifin on the subject of doctrine; on the other, the evangelical opinions, as they are now called, were making a fchifas on the fubject of difcipline. The latitudinarian clergy had no objection to the form of the cftablishment, if the doctrines of the church were modified to their ftandard: the evangelical clergy had lefs regard to the form or difcipline of the church, provided the fpirit of the doctrinal articles, or, as they would term it, vital Chrif tianity, fhould be retained. Hence the latitudinarians remained in general, after the rejection of their petition, quiet members of the establishment; the evangelical clergy, from the natural defire of awakening the people, were more active in their measures; and their zeal has produced the erection of meet ing-houfes in various parts of the kingdom, whofe increase within the last three years, as fpecified in this work, far exceeds our calculations. In this ftate of the church, the publication of a history whofe evident tendency is to lower our opinions of epifcopacy and to leffen the attachment to the peculiar difcipline of the church of England, muft be viewed with a jealous eye; and, as the acquiefcence of an Arian in the difcipline of the church feems by no means to juftily his fubfcription to the articles, the moft rigid belief of the doctrines of the church is no palliation for the infinuations against its difcipline thrown out by one who has fubfcribed the articles and is in actual poffeffion of a We therefore think it neceffary to point out in marked terms our difapprobation of the liberty in which this writer has indulged himfelf, that, in beftowing due praise on the piety, liberality, hiftorical knowledge, attachment to Chrif tianity, labour, fkill, arrangement, which diftinguish this work, we may not give encouragement to the propagation of fchifm. The hiftory is divided into centuries, and in each century. is affigned one chapter to the true fpiritual church. The first volume contains the hiftory of the first four centuries; in the fecond are comprehended the following twelve centuries; and the laft volume brings the hiftory down to the present times. The first and laft volumes are concluded with appendices on uniformity in religion, on fchifm, on infidelity, on the prefent ftate of evangelical religion, on the means of extending the fpiritual church of Chrift, and on the call of captain Wilfon to conduct the miffionaries to the South Seas; and in these. effays the peculiar tenets of the writer may be clearly dif cerned. In the introduction these tenets are given by himself; and they deferve the attention of our readers. Having, through divine mercy, obtained grace to be faithful-in providence received my education-and been called to minifter in the church of England, I have embraced and subscribed her articles, ex animo, and have continued to prefer an epifcopal mode of government; and I am content herein to abide with God, till I can find one more purely apoftolic. But difclaiming all exclufive pretenfions, and joined to the Lord in one fpirit, with all the faithful of every denomination, I candidly avow my conviction; that the true church is catholic, or univerfal; not monopolized by any one body of profeffing Chriftians, but eflentially a fpiritual church; and confifting only and equally of thofe who, in every denomination, love our Lord Jefus Chrift in fincerity. Refpecting the administration of this church, I am not convinced that the Lord of Life and Glory left any precife regulations. His kingdom could ake fubfift under any fpecies of government; and having nothing to do with this world, was in externals to be regulated by exifting circumftances. Whether epifcopacy, a prefbytery, or the congregational order, be established as the dominant profeffion, it affects not the body of Chrift. The living members, under each of thefe modes of administration, are alike bound to love one another out of a pure heart fervently; to indulge their brethren in the fame liberty of private judgment, which they exercise themselves; and ought never to fuffer these regulations of outward order to destroy the unity of the fpirit, or to break the bonds of peace. When I speak of epifcopacy, as most correfpondent, in my poor ideas, to the apoftolic practice, and the general ufage of the church in the first, and generally esteemed purer ages, let no man imagine I plead for that epifcopacy, which rifing very early on the ftilts of prelatical pride and worldly-mindednefs, has fince overfpread the earth with its baneful shadow; or fuppose those to be the true fucceffors of the apoftles, who, grafping at power and preeminence over churches, which their labours never planted or watered, claim dominion over diftricts, provinces, kingdoms, beyond all power of individual fuperintendence. Thefe all, every where, and in every age, have manifested the fame fpirit of antichrift; and that juft in proportion as their ufurpation of authority over the churches and the confciences of men, hath been moft extenfive, most exclufive, and most intolerant.' Vol. i. P. ix. Dr. Haweis then sketches his primitive church, founded by apoftles and itinerant evangelifts. The bifhop and prefbyter were in his opinion the fame; and they were not decked with earthly fplendor, or gorgeous apparel; not ruling extenfive dioceses, with vast revenues, but plain men, wearing often the garb of poverty and humility, in no eminence of birth, or of philofophical or fcientific attainments; devoting their own little fubftance, as well as what the piety of the faithful entrusted to their care, to the nobleft acts of charity; eminently felf denied in their own conduct, and exhibiting to their flocks the brightest examples of deadnefs to the world, and heavenly mindednefs; employing their lives in unwearied labours for the fouls of men; and affecting no pre-eminence above their fellows, but that which age, excellence, and fuperior fervice, naturally fecured to them. Where the danger was fo great, and the advantage so small, a man of God could only be constrained by confcience, and the fuffrage of his brethren, or by ardent zeal for the glory of his Lord to undertake the awful charge. Such were the primitive bishops appointed by the great thepherd and bifhop of fouls. The impofition of hands confirmed the people's choice, and acknowledged the divine call, placing thefe in the foremost rank of death and dignity. Vol. i. P. xiv. The history is introduced by a flight sketch of our Saviour's life, and properly dates its origin from the day of Pentecoft, ' |