Thus confidered, the Revelation has in itself evident proofs of its divine authority. Indeed this, and fome other parts of Scripture, that fortel things lately fulfilled, or now fulfilling, have, with respect to us, an increafing evidence of their authority. For when we fee events in fuch a variety of inftances correfponding to defcriptions, which we know were written many ages before the events happened, and there being not one vision but what admits a fair application (except those which from their place in the book, and other circumstances, are judged to foretel events not yet come to país) we find ourfelves obliged to own, that no man could write this book unlefs God was with him.'

A View of the great Events of the Seventh Plague, or Period, when the Mystery of God shall be finished. Rev. x. 7. By Robert Ingram, A. M. 8vo. 3d. Robinson.

T

'HE leading idea of this pamphlet is, that the mystery of God, under the feventh trumpet, fhall owe its accomplishment to the converfion of the Jews. The Jews, fays the author, when they are converted and restored again to their own land, out of an abhorrence of themselves for their late crime, (Ezek. xxxvi. 21.) and to obliterate it as much as poffible, and that they may even outdo the Gentiles on this occafion, will be more remarkably zealous and diligent than ever any people were before, in converting all nations to the Christian faith.' This active and zealous fpirit will, according to the author, excite against them hatred, perfecutions, and wars, on the part of many of the princes and potentates of the world, who will look upon them as forming confpiracies to overthrow their ancient establishments of civil, as well as religious polity. The cruel treatment they must experience in confequence of this jealoufy and hardness of heart, will drive them from one nation and people to another, till at length they shall have carried the light of the Chriftian revelation to every part of the earth. Those nations or individuals who, after all overtures for their converfion, thall remain obdurate, and turn a deaf ear to the voice of divine truth, as well as that grand corrupter of it, the church of Rome, who fhall refuse to be reformed, will at length, though probably at periods of time fomewhat fucceffive, draw down that vengeance of the Almighty, reprefented to St. John, by the feventh angel pouring out his vial into the air, when there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, it is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, fuch H 4

as

as was not fince men were upon the earth; and the great city was divided into three parts; and the cities of the nations, and great Babylon, came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath, &c. Rev. xvi. 17, 18, 19.

There appears little novelty in Mr. Ingram's View of the Seventh Plague, except his idea of its being brought down on the unconverted and unreformed part of the world, in confequence of their perfecutions of the enlightened Jews, and their rejection of the Gospel at the hands of thefe zealous profelytes. This idea is fupported on no improbable interpretation of feveral texts adduced by the author, both from the Old and New Teftament.

Mr. Ingram confiders this performance as completing and adding confirmation to An Explanation of the Seven laft Plagues, which he lately offered to the Public.

Letters concerning Education: addressed to a Gentleman entering at the University. By Peter Williams, M. A. Chaplain of Christ-Church College, Oxford. 8vo. 45. Rivington. A Young man, juft fet free from the reftraints of the earlier fcenes of education, and entering at the univerfity, warm with all the vivid affections of that blooming feafon of life, exulting in his confcioufnefs of new enlargement and liberty, is not a little obliged to any fincere and intelligent monitor who may offer him advice at this most critical period. His fu ture character, happiness, and eftimation in the world, will ever greatly depend on, if they be not generally fixed by his conduct during this ftage of his education. The Letters before us are meant, and indeed appear well calculated, not only to direct the first outset, but to regulate each progreffive tep from his entrance on the academic walk to its termination on the confines of a perilous world.

Our author does not profefs to amufe his correfpondent with novelties, to fuggeft any unheard-of plans of study, or recommend any change in academic difcipline or customs, (we accufe him of no want of respect for the established modes), but his chief design is to advertise the young ftudent of every thing that will be required of him in the course of his ftudies, and to encourage his literary purfuits, and the performance of all his duties, by friendly and affectionate admonition. The author has made a frequent, but difcreet ufe of the thoughts of Bacon, Milton, Locke, Harris, Monboddo, and other writers on learning and education, and he has been profuse in his quotations from the ancient Greek and Latin claffics, al

mot

mcft to a degree of pedantry; unless we fuppofe, what perhaps in candour we ought, that, as all these paffages are untranflated, they were meant to give fome exercife to his young correfpondent, and, now they are published, to other readers in the fame fituation. Thefe paffages are felected with judgment, and are generally fuch as the claffic fcholar cannot but receive with prepoffeffion, and confequently with advant age to the author's probable intention. We do not advance the flight intimation we have given of the want of originality in these Letters, with the leaft tone of cynical faftidiousness; for the earnestnefs, good fenfe, knowlege, and perfpicuity, with which they are written, muft claim our unfeigned approbation.

To give our readers a general idea of this performance, we fhall transcribe the table of contents.

Of the Importance of making a good Ufe of one's Time when at the University; and of the Nature of this Correfpondence. Of having a correct Tafte in Matters of little Moment,

Of what depends on the Choice of Company; and of ufing Oneself, in Time, to make Obfervations on Men and Manners, -Of regulating the Paffions. Of entering upon a Course of Study. Of Perfeverance, and Regularity in ufeful Studies. Of Reading, confidered in a general Way. Of studying Mathematics. Of ftudying the Claffics.-Une Bagatelle.-Some General Obfervations on the Greek Tongue, and of studying it.-An Effay on the Prepofitions of the Greek.-A curfory View of the Revolutions of ancient Literature.-Some general Obfervations on the Latin Tongue.-Of attending the public Lectures in experimental Philofophy, &c.-Of ftudying Logic. -Of employing leifure Hours.-Some hiftorical Account of Logic; with fome Remarks upon Ariftotle.-Of taking Care of one's Health. Of ftudying History. Of ftudying Rhetoric and Eloquence.-Some Account of ancient Oratory; and of those who made the greatest Figure in it.-A Sketch of a Country Curate's Manner of living. Some general Hints refpecting polite Behaviour.-The fame, refpecting moral Behaviour.The Story of Antonio.-Of ftudying Poetry.-Some hiftorical Account of the Greek and Latin Poetry. Of studying Ethics. -Recapitulation.-Some general Hints about ftudying Divi

nity."

The following extract from Letter IV. on the subject of the Paffions, will give no difadvantageous impreflion of the author's ftyle, and mode of thinking.

As long as man retains any thing that is decent and rational about him, he can never doubt of the wisdom and propriety of being able to regulate his paffions: the queftion is, whether and how this can be effected. That it can be effected, there remains not the least shadow of doubt. Ill, indeed, would man

have

have deferved to be fo emphatically styled by the phifiologifts a Microcofm, if the paffions, which make up fo important a fhare of his internal structure, contributed nothing to the excellence of his frame, but tended rather to obliterate the grandeur and destroy the dignity of the nobleft part of it. The wonderful contrivance that is obfervable in this divine fabric, is not confined to the rational faculties, or to the contexture of the human skeleton, but is ftrikingly extended over the whole. It follows then that the paffions, though fome of them, upon a flight view, may appear violent and perverfe, must be modelled nevertheless, and tempered by nature, fo as to tend to the welfare of the individual, and of fociety; if fo, we must neceffarily have the power of directing them to juft and proper ends : and indulgent nature has not been lefs careful of giving us this power for the right conduct of life, than of furnishing us with eyes to fee, and hands to ward off an impending evil,,

At the end of the eleventh Letter, the author has favoured his correfpondent with an ingenious Effay on the Prepofitions of the Greek Language, written by James Moor, LL. D. late Profeffor of Greek in the University of Glasgow.

The twenty-fecond Letter, on a Country Curate's Manner of living, is a very pleafing one, and being more calculated for general amufement than any of the reft, we shall present it to our readers.

I am wonderfully pleafed with your last letter, as it informs me of your intending to pafs this fhort vacation at my little villa. Being convinced that in making me this vifit, you act (as you always do) on a noble and exalted principle, the principle of true friendship, I am under no apprehenfion that my frugal plan of living will be at all difagreeable to you. However, to form fome notion how you are likely to spend the enfuing month, fee a full account of the manner in which I pafs my days: fhould you think it tedious and abounding with egotifm, remember (though we never gain by it), how naturally fond we all are of talking of ourfelves. What we are all then fo liable to fhould be confidered with great candour.

The little village where I am curate, often puts me in mind of the flourishing fate of Goldfmith's Auburn, which he has celebrated in one of the beft defcriptive poems in our language. The houfe I live in is not large, but neat and convenient; the neighbourhood focial, genteel, and fenfible; and my falary, though fmall, yet fufficient to exift upon-Importung tamen pauperics abeft. You are not ignorant that my mother and filter live along with me: they are what I may call liberal œconomists.

Thus retired, I endeavour to difcharge the duties of my profeffion with all poffible fidelity. Religion (we are told) is too generally confidered as matter of little moment, and is greatly refined in this our age: it, therefore, gives me much

com

comfort to fee that my little flock, allowing for the unimproved state of the understanding of most of them, have a good notion of the aim, and nature, and importance of Christianity, and endeavour to live according to its precepts. I contrive to make each family, how poor and obfcure foever, a fhort vifit once a week and in these vifits, though I take care that my behaviour fhall be fuch as to command the refpect due to their paftor, it is best to put off all unneceffary forms, and endeavour, in the way of converfation, to bring in fomething pertinent and ufeful. This I confider as part of my duty, and for that reafon I feel no fmall fatisfaction in difcharging it :-befides, the good people love and revere me-and, to a reasonable man, is not this alone fatisfaction enough?

This takes up but a little portion of my time: the rest is employed between reading, bodily exercise, and the fociety of a few friends.

The little learning I gleaned up, when in college, I now find of the greatest confequence, as it enables me to profecute my ftudies with pleasure and improvement. A well written book is a moft precious article in one's viaticum through life; and should we not pity the man, whatever honours or riches he may have, who has not the convenience or the capacity of enjoying it-Indeed to a young perfon, who in the university has acquired little more than habits of idleness and intemperance, the being thus fecluded as it were from the world, must certainly be one of the moft irksome things on earth. The fports of the field, without a mixture of that pure and folid pleafure which arifes from properly exerting the faculties of the intellect, will foon lofe all their zeft-all their novelty. The correct Boileau has the fame truth, with more elegance-Take it in his words:

“

"Je ne trouve point de fatigue fi rude,
Que l'ennuyeux loifir d'un mortel fans etude."

• Three or four hours, therefore, in the morning, and from ten to eleven at night, are spent in fome ferious and regular courfe of ftudy, in arming myfelf with ftrength of mind, and reflexion, fufficient to regulate my life, and fupport me in every fituation of it. And the evenings I divide for the most part (unless when I write a long letter to Eugenio) between reading fome agreeable moralift or hiftorian to my little family, and contending at our favourite games of piquet, or backgammon, or the nobler one of chefs-How fweet" to rock the cradle of repofing age!"

66

But a too ftudious and fedentary life is productive of lowfpiritedness, and tends of courfe to impair one's health and good humour." True:-hence then, one is induced to take one's gun or fishing-rod, and, attended by trufty Ranger, pafs away an hour now and then among the fields in refreshing the mind, and exercising the body; thus avoiding thofe many inconveniencies, which a dull and torpid inactivity brings along

with