Page images
PDF
EPUB

cal ftyle of the Hebrews might afcribe to a faint and martyr, the adoptive title of SON OF GOD.

Yet in the insufficient creed of the Nazarenes and the Ebionites, a diftinction is faintly noticed between the heretics, who confounded the generation of Chrift in the common order of nature, and the lefs guilty fchifmatics, who revered the virginity of his mother, and excluded the aid of an earthly father. The incredulity of the former was countenanced by the vifible circumftances of his birth, the legal marriage of his reputed parents, Jofeph and Mary, and his lineal claim to the kingdom of David and the inheritance of Judah. But the fecret and authentic history has been recorded in fevera! copies of the Gofpel according to St. Matthew, which thefe fectaries long preferved in the original Hebrew as the fole evidence of their faith. The natural fufpicions of the hufband, confcious of his own chastity, were difpelled by the affurance (in a dream) that his wife was pregnant of the Holy Ghott: and as this diftant and domestic prodigy could not fall under the perfonal obfervation of the hiftorian, he must have liftened to the fame voice which dictated to Ifaiah the future conception of a virgin. The fon of a virgin, generated by the ineffable operation of the Holy Spirit, was a creature without example or refemblance, fuperior in every attribute of mind and body to the children of Adam. Since the introduction of the Greek or Chaldean philofophy, the Jews were perfuaded of the pre-existence, tranfmigration, and immortality of fouls; and Providence was jullified by a fuppofition, that they were confined in their earthly prifons to expiate the flains which they had contracted in a former ilate. But the degrees of purity and corruption are almoft immeafurable. It might be fairly prefumed, that the moft fublime and virtuous of human fpirits was infufed into the offspring of Mary and the Holy Gholt; that his abafement was the refult of his voluntary choice; and that the object of his miffion was, to purify, not his own, but the fins of the world. On his return to his native skies, he received the immenfe reward of his obedience; the everlasting kingdom of the Meffiah, which had been darkly foretold by the prophets, under the carnal images of peace, of conqueft, and of doOmnipotence could enlarge the human faculties of Chrift to the extent of his cæleftial office. In the language of antiquity, the title of God has not been feverely confined to the first parent; and his incomparable minifter, his only begotten Son, might claim, without prefumption, the religious, though fecondary, worship of a fubject world.

The feeds of the faith, which had flowly arifen in the rocky and ungrateful foil of Judea, were tranfplanted, in full maturity, to the happier climes of the Gentiles; and the frangers of Rome or Afia, who never beheld the manhood, were the more readily difposed to embrace the divinity, of Chrift. The polytheilt and the philofopher, the Greek and the Burbarian, were alike accustomed to conceive a long fucceffion, an infinite chain of angels or dæmons, or deities, or æons, or emanations, iffuing from the throne of light. Nor could it feem frange or incredible, that the firit of thefe eons, the Logos, or word of God, of the fame fubitance with the Father, fhould de

fcend

fcend upon earth, to deliver the human race from vice and error, and to conduct them in the paths of life and immortality. But the prevailing doctrine of the eternity and inherent pravity of matter, infected the primitive churches of the Eaft. Many among the Gentile profelytes refufed to believe that a cæleftial spirit, an undivided portion of the firft effence, had been perfonally united with a mass of impure and contaminated flefh: and, in their zeal for the divinity, they piously abjured the humanity, of Chrift. While his blood was ftill recent on mount Calvary, the Docetes, a numerous and learned fect of Afiatics, invented the phantaftic system, which was afterwards propagated by the Marcionites, the Manichæans, and the various names of the Gnoftic herefy. They denied the truth and authenticity of the Gofpels, as far as they relate the conception of Mary, the birth of Chrift, and the thirty years that preceded the exercise of his ministry. He firft appeared on the banks of the Jordan in the form of perfect manhood; but it was a form only, and not a fubftance; an human figure created by the hand of Omnipotence to imitate the faculties and actions of a man, and to impofe a perpetual illufion on the fenfes of his friends and enemies. Articulate founds vibrated on the ears of the difciples; but the image which was impreffed on their optic nerve, eluded the more ftubborn evidence of the touch; and they enjoyed the fpiritual, not the corporeal, prefence of the Son of God. The rage of the Jews was idly wafted against an impaffive phantom; and the myftic fcenes of the paffion and death, the refurrection and afcenfion of Chrift, were reprefented on the theatre of Jerufalem for the benefit of mankind. If it were urged, that fuch ideal mimicry, fuch inceffant deception, was unworthy of the God of truth, the Docetes agreed with too many of their orthodox brethren in the juftification of pious falfehood. In the fyftem of the Gnoftics, the Jehovah of Ifrael, the creator of this lower world, was a rebellious, or at least an ignorant spirit. The Son of God defcended upon earth to abolish his temple and his law; and, for the accomplishment of this falutary end, he dexterously tranfferred to his own perfon the hope and prediction of a temporal Meffiah.'

Mr. G. then explains the double nature of Cerinthus, and the divine incarnation of Apollinaris; concluding his inquiry with the following paragraph:

The groveling Ebionite, and the phantaftic Docetes, were rejected and forgotten: the recent zeal against the errors of Apollinaris, reduced the Catholics to a feeming agreement with the double nature of Cerinthus. But inftead of a temporary and occafional alliance, they established, and we ftill embrace, the fubftantial, indiffoluble, and everlasting union of a perfect God with a perfect man, of the fecond perfon of the Trinity with a reasonable foul and human flesh. In the beginning of the fifth century, the unity of the two natures was the prevailing doctrine of the church. On all fides, it was confeffed, that the mode of their co-existence could neither be represented by our ideas nor expreffed by our language. Yet a fecret and incurable difcord was cherished, between thofe who were most apprehenfive of confounding, and thofe who were moft fearful of feparating, the divinity and the humanity of Chrift. Impelled by

C 2

religious

religious frenzy, they fled with adverfe hafte from the error which they mutually deemed most deftructive of truth and falvation. On either hand they were anxious to guard, they were jealous to defend, the union and the diftinction of the two natures, and to invent fuch forms of fpeech, fuch fymbols of doctrine, as were leaft fufceptible of doubt or ambiguity. The poverty of ideas and language tempted them to ranfack art and nature for every poffible comparison, and each comparison mifled their fancy in the explanation of an incomparable mystery. In the polemic microfcope, an atom is enlarged to a monster, and each party was fkilful to exaggerate the abfurd or impious conclufions that might be extorted from the principles of their adverfaries. To efcape from each other, they wandered through many a dark and devious thicket, till they were astonished by the horrid phantoms of Cerinthus and Apollinaris, who guarded the oppofite iffues of the theological labyrinth. As foon as they beheld the twilight of fenfe and herefy, they started, measured back their steps, and were again involved in the gloom of impenetrable orthodoxy. To purge themselves from the guilt or reproach of damnable error, they difavowed their confequences, explained their principles, excufed their indifcretions, and unanimously pronounced the founds of concord and faith. Yet a latent and almoft invifible fpark ftill lurked among the embers of controverfy: by the breath of prejudice and paffion, it was quickly kindled to a mighty flame, and the verbal difputes of the Oriental fects have fhaken the pillars of the church and state.'

[To be continued.]

ART. III. Memoir of a Map of Hindooftan, or the Mogul Empire; with an Introduction illuftrative of the Geography and prefent Division of that Country, and a Map of the Countries fituated between the Head of the Indus and the Cafpian Sea. By James Rennel, F. R. S. late Major of Engineers, and Surveyor General in Bengal. To which is added, an Appendix, containing an Account of the Ganges and Burrampooter Rivers. 4to. 14s. Boards. Faden *. 1788.

TH

HIS valuable work forms a volume in quarto, of 400 pages, and contains the moft improved fyftem of oriental geography that has yet been presented to the public. Since the death of the learned and accurate D'Anville, Mr. Rennel may be regarded as one of the firft geographers of the age; and if he continues his labours with the fame ardour and fuccefs, and fhould he reach the fame advanced period of life, which we heartily with he may, there is reafon to expect that his fame will not be greatly inferior to that of the illuftrious Frenchman.

As every particular refpecting India is an object of popular curiofity, this publication is now peculiarly feasonable. The memoir is much augmented, and the map which it accompanies is on a larger fcale than the former, [See the 68th vo

*The price of the map is one guinea in fheets, coloured.

6

lume

lume of our Review, for an account of Mr. Rennel's former work] in the proportion of two and a quarter to one; the fcale of the prefent map being one inch and a half to an equatorial degree. The quantity of land reprefented in it nearly equals. one half of Europe. In his preface, Mr. R. gives an account of the new materials which have enabled him to exhibit the graphy of India in fuch an improved ftate; and on confidering geothe facts which he relates, it is impoffible to withhold our applause of the munificence and fpirit of the Eaft India Company, who have provided aftronomical inftruments, employed furveying pilots, encouraged geographers, caufed accurate furveys to be made of a tract of country equal to France and England taken together, and traced the outline of an extent of near 2000 miles of fea-coaft, and a chain of iflands reaching 500 miles farther.

These operations,' fays Mr. R. indicate a fpirit fomewhat -above the mere confideration of gain, and ought to convince us, that in a free country a body of fubjects may accomplish what the ftate itfelf defpairs ever to attempt. The foundings on the coaft of Bengal are better known than thofe in the British channel, of which no tolerable chart exifts, even at this day. During the late war, an Eaft India fhip owed her fafety to the knowlege obtained from a chart of the mouths of the Ganges (made and published by order of the Company), into one of which the escaped from two French cruifers, and afterwards came into the Hoogly river by an inland navigation.'

Befide the principal map, which is contained in four large fheets, Mr. R. has given a small map for the purpose of bringing into one view the refpective pofition of the places mentioned in the tables of the diftances between the principal cities and towns of Hindooftan. There is likewife an elegant map of Mr. Forfter's route from India to the Cafpian fea, including Samarcand, and the marches of Alexander the Great from the borders of the Cafpian to the river Iaxartes. To these maps, which are the moft elegant that we have feen, the Author has very judiciously added an Index, an invention feldom practised, but which will doubtlefs, on account of its utility, be often imitated. By a very fimple contrivance, the index fhews at once the place in the map where the name is contained; and if it be not contained there, it faves the reader's time, by preventing fruitless researches.

The account of the Ganges, and of the Burrampooter river, the latter of which owes its celebrity to Mr. Rennel, first made its appearance in the Philofophical Tranfactions for 1781; but the introduction to the memoir, which contains 140 pages, is entirely a new work, and comprises the moft diftinct and fatif

*See a particular account of this paper in our Review, vol. lxvi.

p. 366.

[blocks in formation]

factory account of Indian affairs that we have any where met with. Until it appeared, there did not exift, under any form whatever, a connected abftract of Indian hiftory. The Major, with great modefty, prefents it merely as a fketch, and that chiefly with a view to render fo dry and fo unentertaining a fubject as the geography of a country fomewhat more interefting and agreeable. His ftyle is precife, perfpicuous, and manly; as a fpecimen of it, we fhall infert fome obfervations, which, coming from a man of fuch credit, may counteract much falfe information that the Public hath recently received from the impure fources of rhetorical declamation and political faction.

[ocr errors]

The Bengal provinces which have been in our actual poffeffion near 23 years (that is from the year 1765 to the prefent time), have, during that whole period, enjoyed a greater fhare of tranquillity than any other part of India, or indeed than thofe provinces had ever experienced fince the days of Aurungzebe. During the above period of 23 years, no foreign enemy has made any incurfion into any part of them, nor has any rebellion happened in any of the provinces (the very inconfiderable one of the Zemindar of Jungleterry in 1774 excepted). Previous to the establishment of our influence, invafions were frequent, particularly by the Mahrattas; and one province or other was ever in rebellion, owing to a want of energy in the ruling power. Thofe who know what miferies are brought on a country by its being the feat of war, will know how to appreciate the value of fuch a bleffing, as that of having the horrors of war removed from our habitations. There are doubtlefs evils that re infeparable from the condition of a tributary ftate, where the fupreme ruling power refides at the diftance of half the circumference of the globe; but thefe are, I hope, amply compenfated by the advantages of military protection; and it is a fact not to be controverted, that the Bengal provinces have a better government, and are in a better state as to agriculture and manufactures, than any other of the Afiatic countries, China alone excepted.' Page 105.

ART. IV. The New Pharmacopaia of the Royal College of Phyficians of London. Tranflated into English, with Notes, Indexes of new Names, Preparations, &c. &c. By Thomas Healde, M.D. F. R. S. Lumleyan Lecturer at the College of Physicians, and Senior Phyfician of the London Hofpital. 8vo. 5 s. Boards. Longman. 1788.

A

*

FTER the account which we have already given of the new Pharmacopoeia, little more remains to be now done than laying before our Readers a general view of Dr. Healde's tranflation and notes. With refpect to the former, it has the great recommendation of being literal and true, fo that had it been published in 1588, or 1688, the good old words, ." faith

* See Review for last month, [vol. lxxviii.] p. 449.
8

fully

« PreviousContinue »