oufly contend that Arminians are the only true churchmen." P. 274.

If by English Arminians this author means the difciples of Socinus or Bifhop Hoadly, we have no objection to this. character of them and of their fyftem; but if under the denomination of English Arminians he rank all who think not with Calvin, on the confequences of the first tranfgreffion, and the freedom of the human will, we must take the liberty to tell him, that he has here grofsly flandered fome of the moft diftinguifhed ornaments of the Church of England. Does the fyftem of Bishop Bull approximate towards Pelaginifm, or take a strong tincture of philofophical Deifm? Of that fyftem we have given the outlines in our 24th Volume, p. 186, &c. and let the reader compare it with the fummary of Pelaginifm fubjoined to this page*,a fummary

The diftinguishing opinions of PELAGIUS were,

I. That Adam had mortality in his nature, and that whether he had finned or not finned, he would certainly have died.

II. That the confequences of Adam's fin were confined to his perjon; and that the rest of mankind received no difadvantage from

thence.

III. That the law qualified for the kingdom of Heaven, and was founded upon equal promifes with the gospel.

IV. That before the coming of our Saviour fome men lived without fin.

V. That new-born infants are in the fame condition with Adam before his fall.

VI. That the death and difobedience of Adam is not the ne ceffary cause of death to all mankind, neither does the general refurrection of the dead follow in virtue of our Saviour's refur

rection.

VII. That if a man will make the most of himfelf, he may keep the commands of God without difficulty, and preferve himself in a perfect state of innocence.

VIII. That unlefs rich men, notwithstanding the advantage of their baptifm, part with all their eftate, all other inftances of virtue will be infignificant to them; neither can they be qualified for the kingdom of Heaven.

IX. That the grace and affiftance of God is not granted for the performance of every moral act; the liberty of the will, and information in the points of duty, being fufficient for this pur-pofe.

X. That the grace of God is given in proportion to our Merits,

9

XI. That

a fummary, which on a former occafion was fent by a Calvinift to the prefent writer, as containing, he fuppofed, the fubftance of his creed! It is taken from Collier's Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, and as we were at fome pains to compare it with the authorities to which Collier refers, we can with confidence pronounce it to be a very accurate fummary of the opinions of Pelagius; though we furely need not add, that it is very different from the creed of any writer in the British Critic, as well as of any English Arminian, of whofe fyftem we have ever written in terms of approbation.

In the mean time, we beg leave to ask the prefent author what opinion he would form of our candour, were we to reprefent the fyftem of English Calvinifts as APPROXIMATING TOWARDS FATALISM, and taking a strong TINCTURE OF PHILOSOPHICAL ATHEISM? He knows very well, that the doctrine of philofophical neceffity, when pufhed as far as it will go, leads to FATALISM, and that farther than fatalifm neither Spinoza, nor any other modern Atheist, has ever gone; he knows likewife that Edwards, when teaching, as he doubtlefs believed, the predeftination of Calvin, taught in reality a modification of fatalifm; and he can hardly be ignorant that almost every man of fcience among the Calvinifts of the prefent day, has converted the arbitrary decree of Calvin himfelf into that philofophical neceffity, which refults from the fuppofed infeparable connection between motive and volition, and which, when predicated of the Supreme Being, deprives him of the attribute of free-agency, and leaves nothing in the univerfe but a chain of neceffary events. Were we difpofed to make a malicious retort, we would accufe this author himself of teaching this doctrine; for he more than infinuates (p. 276), that no choice can be made among objects perfectly alike. God forbid, however,

XI. That none can be called the fons of God unless they are perfectly without fin.

XII. That our victory over temptation is not gained by God's affiftance, but by the liberty of the will.

We have published this fummary of the Pelagian herefy, that no true Churchman, or Churchman of any other defcription who reads the British Critic, may be without a teft by which to try the herefy of whatever opinion refpecting the fall of man, the freedom of the human will, or the operation of the Divine Spirit, he may feel himself inclined to ftigmatize with the opprobrious epithet of PELAGINISM. Rev.

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BRIT. CRIT, VOL. XXXI. JAN. 1809.

that

that we fhould accufe him or any other Chriftian of holding a fyftem, which, he owns, approximates towards fatalism, and takes a trong tincture from philofophical atheism; for in thefe abftrufe fpeculations, no man ought to be charged with confequences, which he does not perceive, and which, when pointed out to him, he rejects with indignation.

After paffing a very flight cenfure on the Calvinifts for their curious fpeculations on the nature of God, from which refults Calvin's abfolute decree, this author returns again to the Arminians, whom he condemns for indulging themselves in fimilar speculations, and then adds,

CITY.

--

"They feem to think, that every man in the world has a certain portion of light, and certain innate powers and difpofitions, by which he may find out God, and know and do his will, fo as may be fufficient to commend himself to the divine favour and bleffing, and TO ACQUIRE FOR HIMSELF ETERNAL FELIThey can easily admit the idea of a mediator, as a matter of expediency, through whom fin may be forgiven to thofe WHO HAVE MADE THEMSELVES FIT OBJECTS OF THIS MERCY, OR WORTHY OF IT; and through whom the imperfect obedience of virtuous and good men may be rendered acceptable to God, and be REWARDED. Of the redemption of mankind by JESUS CHRIST, they can fpeak determinately enough as a doctrine of revelation (as a doctrine of what else could they fpeak of it ?), and as an expreffion of the natural goodnefs of the Supreme Being, or of the Deity, for fo they love to speak of Gop, the Father of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, probably as more philofophical, or out of partiality for NATURAL RELIGION-but as a thing necessary to our falvation, they either fay nothing at all, or they fpeak of it rather with fceptical, than with modeft diffidence. And when they mention the grace of GoD, as aiding the infirmities of human nature, they seem to mean little more than that common influence of the Creator, which enables a man to lift his hand to the mouth in feeding himself, or to ufe his fingers in writing a letter, or mending a pen." P. 277.

115.

If there be indeed any Arminians in the Church of England, of whom any part of this can be faid with truth, we can only folemnly declare that they are utterly unknown to We have ourselves been denominated by The true Churchmen, fometimes ARMINIANS, fometimes PELAGIANS, and occafionally SOCINIANS; but in all that we have written and publifhed on the Calviniftic controversy, we defy any man to point out a fingle paffage, in which, if interpreted with candour, will be found any one of the impious opinions, which our author in this extract afcribes to the Ar

minians

minians at large. We had occafion in our 22d volume (p. 397, &c.) to declare our notions of natural religion, which the reader, who thinks it worth his while, may compare with what is here faid of the Arminian notions in ge neral. We have every where reprobated, in the strongest terms that we could command, that pride which leads men to dream, that he or any created being can merit eternal life as a reward from his MAKER; though we may have occafionally fpoken, as the bleffed Jefus himself fpake (St. Matt. v.) in a popular fenfe univerfally understood, of the reward of fuffering piety and virtue. We have uniformly reprefented the redemption of mankind by JESUS CHRIST, as, by the will of God, neceffary to our falvation; or, in other words, as the only meritorious cause of juftification, because we are by the Apoftles affured, that "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be faved;" but whether the great fcheme of redemption by the death of Chrift was fo neceffary in itself, that God could not have faved mankind without it, is an impious question, to which, though we have often met with it, we have never given, and hope, through divine grace, never, to give a prefumptuous anfwer, which would be equally impious. As we have often infifted on the neceffity of the grace of God to aid the infirmities of human nature, under the first covenant, we fhall hardly be fufpected, we think even by this author, of having so mean an opinion of its importance under the fecond covenant, as he attributes to all thofe whom he is pleafed to call English Arminians. Our notions of the neceffity of divine grace, under both covenants, are explicitly ftated in our 21ft Volume (p. 607) and have been plentifully railed at, as we foretold they would be, by the anonymous prefbyter, whofe pretended vindication of the Church of England we were then reviewing. We know, however, that they have been the. inftrument of doing fome good; and as we never heard them cenfured by any man entitled to be called an English Arminian, we truft that they are conformable to the fentiments of thofe Arminians at large; otherwife we would not have recalled them to the reader's attention.

We have now only to request all who pay any regard to our judgment, not to fuffer themfelves to be prejudiced against the work at prefent under our review, by this manifeft partiality of its author to the English Calvinifts in preference, to the English Arminians. He has completely proved, if not the Anti-Calvinifm, certainly the Non-Calvinifm (if we may ufe fuch a word) of the Church of Eng

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land.

land; and his partiality ought to ftrengthen the force of his argument. In our opinion, Primitive Truth, &c. is a book highly valuable, and as fuch we earneftly recommend it to every young Clergyman, to be placed in his library by the fide of Laurence's Bampton Lectures.

ART. VI. Practical Obfervations on the Principal Difeafes of the Eyes; Illuftrated with Cafes. Tranflated from the Italian of Antonio Scarpa, Profeffor of Anatomy and Practical Surgery in the University of Pavia, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Berlin, of the Royal Society of London, of the Jofephine Medico-chirurgieal Society of Vienna, and of the Medical Society of Edinburgh, &c. &c. With Notes, by James Briggs, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, and Affiftant-Surgeon of the Public Difpenfary. 8vo. 570 p. 10s. 6d. Cadell and Davies.

1806.

IT is fome confolation to find, that whatever fuccess our ambitious enemy may obtain in obftructing our commercial intercourfe with the continent; yet nothing can binder the free barter of literature. Difcoveries in arts and fciences, works of fancy, and all the manufactures of the mind, will be mutually conveyed from nation to nation, in fpite of Cuftom-houfe prohibitions, or the rage of a most powerful tyrant."

We have lately had imported an Italian work of very confiderable value. Profeffor Scarpa has been long known to us by his curious researches into the anatomical structure of the organ of hearing; and we have read this treatife on the difeafes of the eyes with much gratification. It not only contains many new pathological obfervations, but the author deduces from them methods of treating the diftempers, which are unknown in this country.

He begins with The Puriform Difcharge of the Palpebra, and the Fiftula Lachrymalis.

The profellor entertains a very different notion of the difeafe named Filala Lachrymalis from other modern furgeons, all of whom are of opinion that it originates in an obftruction of the nafal portion of the lachrymal duct. Whereas the profeffor endeavours to prove, that it proceeds from a morbid ftate of the internal membrane of the palpebræ, particularly of the lower eye-lid, and of the febacious glands of Meibomius. He thinks, that the vifcid, or purulent