mortgaged. There is no need of fuch exaggerations; and wife men, friendly in general to the meafures of adminiftration, would have rejoiced if the overtures of France had not been rejected with fuch precipitation. The prefent writer thinks otherwife; but his thoughts add nothing to the current opinion upon this subject. The French Expedition into Syria, comprising General Buonaparte's Letters, with General Berthier's Narrative, and Sir Wm. Sidney Smith's Letters from the London Gazette. Svo. 35. 6d. Ridg way. 1799. The accounts concerning the French expedition have been fo contradictory, that fuch a collection as the prefent cannot fail to gratify thofe who have followed the reports of the events in Egypt and Syria with any anxiety. Little doubt can be entertained of the authenticity and accuracy of Berthier's narration, which is the most important article in this collection; and we muft fay that it is remarkably curious and interefting. Whatever opinions may be formed of Buonaparte as a man, there can be but one fentiment of him as a general; and this narration, we think, will add to his military reputation. We hope that the failure of the French expedition will only lead the way to a fimilar adventure from this country; for the civilifation of Egypt and Syria appears to us fo important a confideration for the benefit of the human race, that we are anxious that fome enlightened nation fhould carry it into execution, and deliver the wretched inhabitants of thofe delightful regions from a bondage which knows no parallel in the hiftory of mankind. RELIGION. Two Sermons preached before his Majefty at the Chapel Royal at St. James's during Lent, By Brownlow, Bishop of Winchefter. 410. 15. 6d. Wright. 1799, Thefe fermons are dedicated to the king. Under your majefty's gracious permiffion,' fays the right reverend author, moft gladly availing myself of your majesty's auguft name, I have in all humility infcribed thefe difcourfes to your majefty.' From the first difcourfe, to which the text affixed is, The fool hath faid in his heart there is no God,' we learn that civil government and religious establishments are of divine authority, and hence that the character in the text hath never been a national character in any place, but that fuch fools have been single and individual every where, and their folly in all places equally confpicuous and equally odious." This difcourfe concludes with a contrast between the nations of France and Great Britain, in the latter of which we may contemnplate that state of fociety, the most perfect which the mind of man can imagine, in which public profperity, private fecurity, honor, freedom and happiness, abound.'. 6 In the fecond difcourfe the fame fubject is purfued from this text. -'Doubtless there is a God who judgeth the earth;' whence the preacher takes occafion to reprobate French atheism, and to extol the purity of religion and faith, the juft fenfe of morals, the peace, comfort, and rational enjoyment both in fpirituals and tem porals, which become the dignity, and adorn the character, of the religious well-ordered people' in this happy ifland. Both texts appear to us capable of exciting the most animated fentiments on the nature of God's government, and the folly of difputing or denying it; and the facred history affords innumerable examples to establish the general propriety of the preacher's doctrine; but, when he alludes fo pointedly to facts of a recent date, when he raises our indignation against our enemies, and flatters so strongly our own felflove, an audience is in danger of dwelling upon the political topicsof the day, and forgetting the great truths which the worthy prelate intended to inculcate. Serious and candid Obfervations on that Part of the Bishop of Lincoln's Work, entitled Elements of Chriftian Theology, which contains his Lordship's Expofition of the Seventeenth Article of the Church of England. To which is annexed, Bishop Beveridge's Expofition of the fame Article. In a Letter from an Old Chriftian in the Country, to his Friend in London. 8vo. IS. Row. 1800. We have heard of the addrefs from the old whigs to the new, from which the writer of this pamphlet may have borrowed his title of the Old Chriftian, as the fubject difcufled by him is the question now much agitated refpecting the feventeenth article of the church. The bishop of Lincoln vindicates the new doctrine attributed to that article: the old Chriftian maintains the opinion of Calvin, which, indeed, was the doctrine of the early fathers of the church, and was generally maintained till the time of biop Burnet by the members of the church of England. Archbishop Whitgift, bishop Beveridge, Dr. Fletcher, bishop of London, and Dr. Hutton, archbishop of York, were ftrenuous in fupport of the old opinion: Burnet, Hoadly, Pyle, Clarke, the Arminians and Socinians, oppofe it. The bishop of Lincoln gives his reafon for rejecting the, old doctrine. For we cannot conceive that a being of infinite justice and mercy would arbitrarily felect out of his rational creatures a determinative number, on whom he would bestow the blefsing of eternal happiness, while he configned all the reft to eternal punishment, or paffed them over as unworthy [of] his regard and attention. Such an idea of election ought furely to be rejected.' But this mode of arguing feems inadmiffible. We are, it is faid, to judge of the conduct of God by our finite conceptions; we are to make our reason the standard of faith. Beveridge, whofe expofition of the article is given in this work, juftly reprobates fuch a proceeding. Though in the other articles (he fays) we may make ufe of reafon as well as fcripture, yet in this we must make use of feriptures and fathers only, and not of reafon for it concerns God's predeftination, which must be infinitely above man's apprehenfion; fo that a cockle-fish may as foon croud the ocean into its narrow cell, as vain man ever comprehend the decrees of God.' There are two questions then dependent upon this article. First, is the interpretation of the article, given by the bishop of Lincoln, agreeable to the literal grammatical fenfe? Secondly, is the article itfelf confiftent with fcripture? The writer of this work answers the first question in the negative, the second in the affirmative; and he maintains his opinions with piety, candour, found judgement, and fcriptural authorities. A Sermon, preached, by particular Defire, in the Parish Church of Willand, Devon, on Thurfday, the 7th Day of February, 1799, at the Interment of John Weftcott, Yeoman, who died of a melancholy Accident, in the Prime of Life. By the Rev. Jonas Dennis, S. C. L. &c. 410. 15. Rivingtons. By what melancholy accident the perfon, whofe death gave occafion to the reflections contained in this fermon, was removed from this world, is not mentioned, nor is it material for the public to know. It is fufficient to obferve that the preacher has made a fuitable religious improvement of the event, in a pious and animated addrefs to furvivors. The doctrines inculcated in this discourse are those which are ufually deemed orthodox. The preacher dwells upon the points of original fin and divine influence. His ftyle is not defpicable; nor is the peroration deftitute of fpirit; and it is . not the leaft inducement which we feel to recommend this difcourfe to our readers, that, as Mr. Dennis informs us, the profits of this publication will be applied to the relief of the widow and eight orphans of the deceased.' 6 A Sermon, preached in the Parish Church of Brading, in the Isle of 8vo. This faft-day fermon, in addition to the many others which have been preached on like occafions, fhows the laudable eagerness of the preacher to call the attention of his flock to fubjects which are not only important to individuals, but also to the nation. The dif courfe is plain, pious, and practical; and though it has little to diftinguish it from a number of others which have iffued from the prefs, yet we would not, on that account, with-hold from it the praife of exhibiting a faithful picture of the times, and forcibly recommending that religious principle and perfonal reformation, without which all other exertions will prove a weak defence in the time of calamity. 1 A Sermon preached in Lambeth Chapel, at the Confecration of the Right Reverend John Randolph, D. D. Lord Bishop of Oxford, on Sunday, Sept. 1, 1799. By the Rev. Thomas Lambard, M. A &c. Published by Command of his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. 4to. 15. Rivingtons. 1799. There are many just remarks in this difcourfe. The advantages of political and civil union, and the evils of loofening the bonds by which focieties are knit together, are well difcuffed by Mr. Lambard. It is a fermon well adapted to the occafion, and to the fubject, which is taken from Eph. iv. 3. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.' 6 A Refutation of fome of the more modern Mifreprefentations of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers; with a Life of James Nayler; by Jofeph Gurney Bevan: alfo (by Permiffion of the Meeting for Sufferings) a Summary of the Hiftory, Do&rine, and Difcipline of Friends. 8vo. 25. W. Phillips. 1800. The doctrine and difcipline of the friends have been greatly mifrepresented by Mofheim, Hume, John Wesley, and one of of the writers in the Encyclopædia Britannica; but thefe mifreprefentations have had little effect upon the country at large, and no fect can boast of fuch general eftimation as the quakers. The excellence of their conduct makes fufficient amends for the fingularity of their outward appearance; and it was scarcely necessary to revive and refute the objections which at various times have been brought forward against their body. The name of James Nayler is almost buried in oblivion; and the recital of the horrid punishment which he received from the decree of a fanatical and puritanical parliament, excites our indignation at the foolish prejudices and perfecuting spirit of the feventeenth century, while every one is inclined to cast a veil over the faults of the poor fufferer, and no one can be found to impute his errors to the body of which he was once a member. The fummary of the doctrine and discipline of the friends is well drawn up, and a good account is given of a fect which has many excellent qualities, but which, from various causes, seems to be now approaching to its decline. We hope that there is too much good fenfe in the nation to permit another perfecution of this fect; and, if its tenets are growing daily into lefs repute, we fee no reason to admire the change of habit in the feceders from fo wellregulated a community. A few Obfervations on the Expedience of Parliamentary Interpofition, duly to explain the Act of William and Mary, commonly called The Tolerating A&t. By the Rev. Edward Barry, M. D. c. Svo. IS. Pridden. 1800. The nature of toleration and the inefficacy of religious perfecution are in general better understood at prefent than they were at the clofe of the feventeenth century; yet there are perfons fo injudicious as to expect to give additional strength to the church by applying civil restraints to thofe who are not within its pale. They are led into this pernicious error by not attending to the hiftory of diffent from the establishment. At the termination of the feventeenth century, the body of the diffenters agreed firmly with the church in its doctrines, but differed on the fubject of difcipline. From the time that bifhop Burnet published his interpretation of the articles, a laxity crept into the church with refpect to its doctrines; and the writings of Dr. Samuel Clarke greatly encouraged that latitude of judgement. From the ftrange mode of fubfcription allowed by Paley, Hey, and others, a kind of fchifm has now taken place among the clergy of the establishment, fome adhering clofely to the doctrinal articles, but loofely understanding thofe which relate to difcipline, and affuming to themfelves the appellation of the evangelical clergy, while others adhere to the difcipline of the church, but interpret the doctrinal articles in fuch various ways as feem most agreeable to their views of Scripture, or confider them merely as articles of peace. The lower claffes adhere very much to the evangelical clergy; and if in any parifh one of this defcription is fucceeded by one of the contrary defcription, a feceflion frequently takes place from the church; and, from the want of a proper clergyman of the church, one of the feceders, perhaps not very well qualified for fuch a duty, occupies his place. Under the prefent fyftem fuch meetings are licensed; and in our opinion it is proper that they fhould be fo. Our author requests the interference of the legiflature, which we deprecate on this occafion, as the church has full power over its ministers. LA W. A Treatife of the Law of Awards. The fecond Edition, revifed and corrected; with very confiderable Additions from printed and manufcript Cafes: and an Appendix, containing a Variety of useful Precedents. By Stewart Kyd, Efq. Barrifier at Law, of the Middle Temple. Svo. 9s. 6d. Boards. Robinfons. 1799. The utility of a practical and concife ftatement of the law of awards is obvious; but we do not think Mr. Kyd's book calculated to answer the general purpose of a treatise on a subject so connected with the concerns of the mercantile world. The first edition of this treatife was enlarged by unneceflary copioufnefs of difcuffion, and frequency of quotation from the compilations of the civil law. The prefent publication is more than twice the bulk of the former; and we do not perceive the neceflity for the precedents of declarations and bills in law and equity, which conftitute the chief part of the Appendix. The practising gentlemen of the profeffion will confider them as fuperfluous; and to the public they are doubtlefs unintelligible. |