very much exalt the joys and improvements of the good, and as much heighten the horror and rage of the wicked." Another reputed unbeliever, in conduct happily distinguished from Lord Rochester, is said to have entertained the same objection to Revelation, on the ground of its alledged doctrine of endless pun. ishment. The passage is in Biog. Britt. (iv.) and introduced in the following manner. be New Testament positively asserted 66 "If," says Dr. Kippis, "his Mr. now Dr. Huntingford, the lordship had lived in the present learned Bishop of Gloucester, com- day, he would have found a nummunicated to Dr. Kippis, in 1789, ber of divines who would have for his Life of Lord Shaftesbury, given him quite a different answer. some "anecdotes and observa. They would have informed him, tions." In these, the Preface to that, in their opinion, Christianity Whichcot's Sermons is declared to holds out no doctrine of so dread. be undoubtedly the production of ful a nature; and that at the very of that nobleman, and a fair pre- utmost, it only denounces the final sumption of "what Bishop But extinction of the impenitently Jer used to assert, that had Lord wicked; so that such, if there be Shaftesbury lived in the present any such, who after all, shall recentury, when Christianity is more main incorrigibly corrupt and perfectly understood, he would abandoned, will, at length, no have been a good Christian." longer exist in the creation of Mention is made of some unavail. God." ing, and now lost, "letters, in which Mr. Locke recommended Christianity to his lordship." These had been a few years before "read to have occupied his mind with by two gentlemen, who were so painful anxiety, on the subject of affected by the strong and pressing the divine dispensations as they terms in which Mr. L. expressed respect the final condition of man. his sentiments that they could not I refer to a letter written by Mr. Say, abstain from tears." To this com. of whose papers you have given a munication Dr. Kippis subjoins large account. [Vols. iv. & v.] This letter is in the collection generally the following passage: "There is a tradition, that, called Hughes's Correspondence. (ii. amidst other difficulties which oc- 150.) It is dated March, 1743. Mr. curred to the Earl of Shaftesbury, S. " endeavoured to persuade him. with regard to the truth of the self, that there never was a sensiChristian revelation, he was star- ble or conscious being, who, upon tled at the idea of its containing the whole of his existence, should the doctrine of the eternity of hell not possess an overbalance of good torments; that he consulted some to his evil, notwithstanding the eminent churchmen, whether the two different states of good and One of Dr. Kippis's predecessors in the service of the congregation at Princes Street, appears cherishes this generous doctrine, join with the apostle in the following pathetic exclamation, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out." bad men, which we believe here kind, at the consummation of all after." Yet he was immediately things. With what raptures of. perplexed with the case of Judas. devotion must every one, who This letter to an anonymous correspondent, is followed in the collection (p. 156.) by remarks dated May 27, 1743, a very few weeks after the writer's death, from the pen of his friend, Mr. W. Duncombe, a man of letters, the correspondent of Lord Corke and Archbishop Herring, and author of a Mr. D. next sustains his opinion tragedy entitled Lucius Junius by quoting the well-known passage Brutus. Mr. D. has taken a from a Sermon by Tillotson, and liberal and comprehensive view of thus concludes a view of divine this most interesting subject, in the Providence towards man.-"They, following passages, which, I think, indeed, who obstinately refuse to you will deem worthy of being be converted, shall suffer punishtranscribed:ment proportionable to their offen. ces, and such as the rules of jus tice and equity dictate. And this the order of God's government, the reverence due to his laws, the benefit and final conversion of the offenders themselves, and the im provement of other moral agents, manifestly require.” (P. 162.) "Perhaps all those natural evils, or moral obliquities, of which we so grievously complain, may be no stronger an objection to the rectitude of the whole system, than hills and mountains are to the rotundity of the globe; and may answer various excellent purposes, though we are too short-sighted to discover them. Vindictive justice in the Deity, is, I own, no article in my creed. All punishment in the hands of an infinitely wise and good Being, I think, must be medicinal, and what we call chastise. ment." Mr. D. then quotes a pas sage in Milton's Mask of Comus," Virtue may be assailed, &c. as seeming "to comprise the marrow of theology," and adds: I have quoted this writer so largely, not merely on account of his literary reputation, but because, unfortunately, not a hint on the subject is given by Dr. Kippis in his life of Mr. Duncombe, (B. B. v. 504.) compiled chiefly from the communications of his son, the late Rev. John Duncombe, the editor of Hughes's Correspondence. There is a passage in that life (507, Note M.) from a MS. letter to Archbishop Herring, which, if "What St. Paul speaks more not already given, you may wish directly of the reconciliation both to add to your notices of Mr. Say. of Jews and Gentiles to God, by "I never conversed," says Mr. Jesus Christ, Romans xi. 32. For Duncombe, "with a person of God hath concluded them all in more learning or modesty. He unbelief, that he might have mercy was an excellent critic, and haḍ upon all, I am willing to under- a fine talent for poetry. But it tand in a more extensive sense, was his misfortune to have so of he general redemption of man. penetrating a judgment, that he could never be satisfied with his Ainsworth's Annotations are reown performances, nor think them presented as containing only the correct enough." DISCURSOR. Chalmers's General Biographical SIR, Pentateuch (p. 261.); whereas they contain all his Annotations, viz. on the Pentateuch, the Psalms and Canticles. Upon the whole, the work is free from a party spirit. From this praise, however, must be ex cepted the whole of the article Alembert, or, as it is more commonly and properly given, D'Alembert. How could Mr. Chalmers revile the authors of the French Encyclopædia upon such authority as the Abbé Barruel? A persuasion of the dangerousness of discussion is no good qualifi cation for a general literary biographer.. I am one of those who watch the periodical and popular lite. rary productions of the day, with a particular view to the spirit and character of the authors who are likely to influence the times. With some eagerness, I lately procured the 1st volume of the New Gene. ral Biographical Dictionary, editing by Alexander Chalmers, and a cursory examination of it has, I confess, afforded me pleasure. It We may notice also two minor seems to be more extensive in its exceptions. Richard Adams, plan than any similar work in the one of the ejected ministers, is English language; and it is a called (p. 141.) “an Anuba ptist great recommendation of it, that teacher." This term Anabaptist the works of authors are specified is not descriptive, but reproach. with the titles at length, in their ful. They who practice adult proper form and language, and baptism by immersion, hold every with their respective dates. The other mode of administering the omission of scripture biography ceremony to invalidate it as a is, also, an improvement. scriptural rite, and to make it There is, however, one consi- nothing at all. The epithet is abanderable blemish in the work: doned to the small remnant of when the lives of several persons theological bigots. In the ac of the same name are given, they count of John Alexander, a dis are huddled together without chro. senting teacher, mention is made nological arrangement. I per- of his posthumous work on the ceive, indeed, that they are in the xv. chap. of Corinth. 1. published alphabetical order of their Chris- by John Palmer, and it is added tian or first names; but this is the (p. 415.) "Mr. Palmer has be poorest and meanest of all modes stowed high praise on the critical of classification. sagacity and learning displayed in Some inaccuracies are retained this work. It is some deduction from the old edition. Bishop Al from its merit, however, that in drich is said (p. 381.) to have the preliminary dissertation, he ❝ died March 25, 1555, at Horn- favours the opinion of there being castle, in Lincolnshire, which was no state of consciousness between a house belonging to the Bishops death and the resurrection. Of of Carlisle." The folio editions of his talents, in another respect, a VOL. VII. 3 s much more favourable opinion may form no essential part of religion, be formed from the papers he properly so called, they are apwrote in "The Library." This pendages designed to answer the passage is bad enough for the ob- purpose of extrinsic evidences. scurity of the last sentence, but Miracles have ceased, but the worse for the dogmatism and il moral law is as immutable as God liberality which run through it. himself, and will continue the I point out these faults in Mr. same yesterday, to-day and for Chalmers's work, not with a view ever." of disparaging it, but in the hope that if this letter should reach his eye, or that of any of the book. sellers concerned in the publica. identical. tion, there may be more care bestowed upon the suceeeding volumes. EPISCOPUS. Mr. Fordham on Natural and Revealed Religion. I commence then, at once, with the broad plain position, that natural and revealed religion are The God is one; and the religion which emanates from In all its features God is one. and qualities it resembles its Divinė Parent. Like him, it is benevolent, immortal and universal. Like him, it is just, tolerant, sublime and beneficent. Christianity is adapted to the nature of man; Much has been written upon that which is suited to the naturè the subject of natural and revealed of man must form a part of the religion, as if there were two parti- system of nature. This is the cular distinct religions, indepen- point at which I aimed. Can ang dent of each other. For my part, thing be more evident? The writ. I am of opinion, that there is but ten law of God forbids gluttony one simple, indivisible, eternal and drunkenness, so does the unreligion, which is founded in the written law of Nature. immutable order of things, of drunkard and the glutton do not which God is the sublime author. act in compliance with the simple Natural and revealed religion dictates of Nature, which renders mean one and the same thing. it absolutely impossible for either God, who is the God of all things, of them, even to enjoy the physi and ever consistent with him cal and moral beauty of a healthy self, can never be the author of organization. It is as impossible two distinct religions, because, this would be to make him at variance with himself. The God of nature, is the God of Christianity. Christianity is the religion of Nature, or the religion of Nature is the religion of Jesus Christ. I do not intend here to include miraculous operations, but to confine the interpretation of the word religion or Christianity, to the Moral Code, which is religion, properly so called. Miracles that they should experience the sweet and noble tranquillity of pure and perfect health, the divinest blessing that can emanate from the mercy of God, as that water should flow from a lower to higher situation, or that we should swallow poison and not destroy ourselves. The written law of God inculcates chastity, so does the unwritten law of Nature. ft teaches us that it is necessary to our health and strength, that it conception of the Virgin, or that she was born without the taint of original sin. Mr. Stone, as is well known, controverted the supernatural, or as it is generally named, the mira, culous conception of Jesus Christ, By thus publickly avowing his heresy, according to the judgment of his own church, he certainly contributes to our vigor of mind and body; that libertinism un dermines our moral energy, and our ardour for the great and beautiful, and surrenders the voluptuary, in the prime of life, to all the infirmities aud miseries of a premature old age. The written law of God teaches gratitude, jus tice, mercy, humility; so does the unwritten law of Nature. All has fallen a victim to his honthese virtues are modifications of esty," but I cannot so readily as, interior felicity.-Is it not agree- certain "the ignorance and want able to our nature, to be happy? of charity of his opponents." I am are we not organized for this grand not able to forget that the preacher purpose? and his opponents alike held their I know, Sir, that this interest- ecclesiastical benefits on the faith ing subject admits of considerable of their adherence to the creeds expansion, but enough, I presume, and articles of the Church of Enghas already been produced to land. One of those creeds asprove my point, which, at the serts that Jesus Christ was con same time, is, I conceive, to sup- ceived by the Holy Ghost and port the honour of God, the unity born of the Virgin Mary. of his design, the harmony of his attributes, and to show that the scope of his operation, is not nar. row and confined, but grand, expansive, universal and sublime. I conclude, with repeating, what I commenced with, that as God is one, so religion is one, and that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and the exalted interpreter of the Jaws of Nature. G. G. FORDHAM. VERBUM SAT. Letter of the Rev. Theophilus Browne to the Hereford Journal. Congleton, July 22d, 1812. SIR, The inclosed address having been refused admittance into the Hereford Journal, I have to request that you will give it a place in your Repository. I am, Sir, Your's respectfully, T. B. To the Editor of the Hereford Journal. Case of Mr. Stone. SIR, August 2, 1812. The benevolent person (p. 447.) who has chosen to advocate, in a mode so unusual, the opinion SIR, ably maintained by the late Rec. tor of Cold Norton, has not, very Whenever the public mind is in accurately, stated that opinion. danger of being misled, whether He seems to have been thinking designedly or by accident, it is the on another question, long agitated, duty of every man to endeavour and still undecided, in the Papal to prevent it as far as lies in his church, respecting the immaculate power. Error, though in many |