ing up to ridicule what is at least honourable to God, and accordant with the noblest ideas of his attributes and dispensations, solely to crush an opponent," and then adds, "That opponent, however, he has not crushed. The time will come, when the writings of MAGEE will only be quoted as affording numerous and disgusting specimens of what controversy ought not to be. The name of BELSHAM will go down to posterity in connexion with the honoured names of PRIESTLEY and LINDSEY; and those who may think that on some points his opinions are not sound, and that (like Dr. Priestley) he has occasionally given to others, which yet will bear the most rigid examination, a form that unnecessarily renders them obnoxious and repulsive, will still admire the elevation and comprehensiveness of his views, the clearness and strength and eloquence of his diction, the judicious arrangement and force of his arguments, and the energy of the understanding, and Christian principle of the heart, from which they proceeded."-Pp. 285, 286. [To be concluded in the next Number.] TH ART. III.-An Epistle from a High Priest of the Jews, to the Chief Priest of Canterbury, on the extension of Catholic Emancipation to the Jews. 8vo. pp. 28. Wilson. 1821. THIS " High Priest of the Jews" knows more than becomes a modern Jewish Rabbi. He is, in fact, a merry Christian, who endeavours to promote by means of irony those principles of universal charity and liberty which have hitherto failed of making their way by pure argument. There is a useful hint to thriving and ambitious Dissenters in the following passage: "We are not to be answered as the Dissenters have been, that repealing the tests would be of small advantage to us; for God and your whole order know, we ever had more scrupulous consciences than to be occasional conformists. Though you may have had Unitarians, Republicans and Deists swallowing your tests, eating your passover, and ratting into those comfortable conscience-traps-the honours and emoluments of Attorney and Solicitor-General-you cannot charge us with any such power of religious digestion. We strictly confine ourselves to our own sacrament, and never in our lives made free with your sacred ordinance; and this is the more commendable in us, who do not esteem baptism as any thing beyond a common washing, and never affected to deny that bread and wine were extremely palatable with the Paschal Lamb."-P. 4. Coming from a Jewish High Priest to "the Chief Priest of Canterbury,” the appeal that follows is ad hominem: "In the name of justice, therefore, look upon us Jews as a people whom you have injured, and to whom you are indebted. We are not in the case of the Dissenters, who are said to have injured you: we never turned you out of your churches; we never set up chapter-lands to sale, nor pulled down your hierarchy, (for it was not till after the Puritans and Protector had laid waste your dominion that we resided amongst you,) but, on the contrary, it is to us that you owe your mitres and your revenues, your privileges and pre-eminences. If any one asks, Whence do you derive your priesthood? you know, in your consciences, that Christ himself was a layman; you fetch your pedigree from the house of Aaron, and make more profit to your order of the five books of Moses, than all the four evangelists."-P. 7. ART. IV.-The Practical Tendency of the Doctrine of the Simple Humanity of Christ: a Discourse delivered at Bridgewater, July 19, 1820, before the Western Unitarian Society. By William Hincks. 12mo. pp. 36. Hunter. [N the battles of theology it is desi rable that the trumpet should utter a certain sound, and we applaud those on every side who speak to be understood. Of this description is Mr. W. Hincks, whose sermon before us is an explicit and manly, but at the same time not an intemperate or uncandid assertion of the importance of the doctrine of the pure humanity of Christ. He first meets the charges which are brought against this tenet, and next describes the advantages which are connected with it. He denies that it is blasphemous, or inconsistent with the love of Christ, or heartless and uninteresting, or that it takes away the sinner's hope: he contends, on the other hand, that it makes Christianity more acceptable to the reason of mankind, that it guards the Divine Unity, that it sets a proper value on the real excellence of our Lord's character, that it enforces his moral example, and that it exhibits the full benefit ART. V. Various Views of Death, MR Dr. Evans was a zealous Welshman, and though the Sketches" are incomplete, they are a valuable contribution to Cambro-British Nonconformist Biography. The volume contains also a "Sketch of Druidism," an interesting picture of the most singular institution that was ever established, an Essay on the Introduction of the Gospel into Britain," and an "Account of Pelagius;" together with some minor pieces. Some of these contents were inserted in our earlier volumes. Dr. Evans has added a "Postscript, on the Rev. J. Ivimey's History of the Baptists, and the Treatment of Dr. Richards's Memory," meaning by the Baptist Magazine, which would not even record the death of so sturdy a heretic. Yet W. Richards had his line of orthodoxy, and Unitarians (according to a quotation from a letter, given by his present Editor, p. 498) were not included in it: that is, they are not generally Baptists, and baptism was a cardinal point with the worthy Cambro-Briton. We had marked some passages for quotation, but find we must content ourselves with this brief notice of the "Memorial." To some readers it will communicate much information, and there are few to whom some passages and papers will not impart Christian satisfaction and even pleasure. led him into certain observations in praise of military prowess, and in extenuation of the guilt, or rather in defence of the practice, of war, which we deem altogether dissonant with the strain of his work. Should another edition be called for, which we sincerely hope will be the case, we submit it to the consideration of the respectable author, whether these passages should not be expunged, or at least modified. It is of less moment to observe, that do not like what our neighthere are many verbal inaccuracies and some glaring Scotticisms which demand correction. ART. VII.-The Evils of Education, elucidated in a Letter to Henry Bankes, Esq., M. P. 8vo. pp. 48. 28. Wilson. 1821. TE bours the French expressively call persiflage on subjects of grave interest to mankind. Long-continued irony, even when pointed against ignoto be laborious idleness. But all tastes rance and superstition, appears to us are not alike, and to such as relish keen sarcasm and well-sustained banter, the present will be an acceptable pamphlet. They who least approve of the author's mode of writing, must admit his talents; and the most rigid critics may well pardon a little levity, when the object, as here, is to shame down that aristocratical prejudice against the Education of the People which cannot be reasoned out of the world. NOTICES OF FOREIGN THEOLOGICAL FRANCE. LITERATURE. THEOLOGICAL works are rare in France. One has been recently put forth which excites some interest: namely, Le Missionaire selon l'Evangile, par M. le Comte de N., former Counsellor to the Parliament of P. This Gospel Missionary is highly praised by the Revue Encyclopédique and the Chronique Religieuse. Its object seems to be to shew what a contrast there is between a missionary actuated by the spirit of the gospel and the missionaries that are now trumpet ing slavish doctrines, setting up hierarchical claims, and promoting the grossest superstitious practices throughout the French dominions. The author has put into the mouth of his missionary some fragments of sermons which were actually preached at court in the years preceding the Revolution of 1789. Mons. H. AzAIS, who published some time ago a Treatise on Compensations, has published, as a sequel to it, the following: Du Sort de l'Homme dans toutes les Conditions, &c.: "On the Fate of Man in all Conditions; on the Fate of Nations in all Ages; and especially on the Fate of the French People." He adopts the theory of a moral balance, maintained in Tucker's "Light of Nature." According to him, a general law, that of Equilibrium, presides over the organization of the universe. The phenomenon of life, like all other phenomena, is subjected to the influence of this law. The animal is born, grows, decays and dies. In order to return to the point from which it set out, it must necessarily restore to nature all that it received from her; and the decay (décroissement) must, therefore, be in proportion to the growth. Now, all acquisition is accompanied with a sensation of pleasure; all diminution, all loss, is accompanied with a sensation of suffering. The sum of painful sensations, therefore, must be perfectly equal to that of agreeable sensations. The man who has enjoyed much, will have much to suffer in descending to the grave; he who has known but few enjoyments, will terminate his existence without extreme regret.—The author compares existence to a stone thrown into the air, which returns through exactly the same space which it passed through in ascending. He concludes that good and evil balance each other in the human lot, and that, notwithstanding the diversity of their circumstances, the result, the final balance, is always equal. A Hebrew Grammar is announced, in 8vo., by a Professor of the College of Avignon. A Catechism for Jewish Youth is in the latest list of Parisian publications, and is advertised with a high encomium. On the speech of M. Odillon Barrot, relative to the hanging of tapestries, delivered the 27th of November, 1819, before the re-united sections of the Court of Repeal, under the superintendance of Mgn. le Garde-dessceaux," the Mélanges de Religion, Tom. I. pp. 44, 45, has the following critique: A passage of this remarkable speech has furnished M. de la Mennais with a subject for some very pathetic exclamations. But to indulge in these, he found misrepresentation necessary. We give the author (M. Barrot) in his own words : "I hear already certain persons exclaim, Is the law, then, Atheistical?' Yes, it is, and ought to be, if you understand by it, that the law, which only exists to controul, should be indifferent to the religious opinions of men, which are free from all restraint: if you understand that the civil power, which has no other aim than the protection of the persons and properties of individuals, has no interest in objects separated from these temporal interests, for which and by which alone it exists." We do not enter into the particular discussions which might arise from the last sentence of the paragraph. But we observe, that religion, if it be any thing, has its sanctuary in the heart. M. de la Mennais himself allows it. Law has not, then, and ought not to have, any controul over it. The exterior acts of religion are visible, and thereby may give a handle to the law. But is it right that the law should constrain us to hypocrisy? Can any thing be gained by rendering the conscience pliant? And if conscience be what it ought, do not we expose ourselves to gratuitous evils, by framing laws which we . know to be in opposition to it? Whether the Protestants are right or wrong in making the hanging out of tapestries an affair of conscience, we do not pretend to determine. But if they refrain from really conscientious motives, what advantage is contemplated in coercing them by law ? Where, then, is the contempt for religion exhibited in the words of M. Odillon Barrot, and in the decision of the Supreme Court? A Protestant pastor who, without doubt, had not read M. Odillon Barrot, except in the version of M. de la Mennais, is indignant at his language. Does he regret the time is passed when the laws could constrain in religious matters ? He exclaims, "See to what a pitch the luminaries of the age have conducted us!" Would he, then, desire the return of the age of Charles IX. ? HOLLAND. The theological branch of the Société Teylérienne at Harlem, proposed as the subject for the prize to be adjudged in the month of November last, the following question: "Dating from the Augsburg Confession, what influence have Formularies and Creeds of that nature had on theological studies? How far does our experience of that influence recommend either that formularies and confessions of faith should be disused, or that a new mode of drawing them up should be devised; and, in the latter case, what form would be entitled to claim the preference?" Although out of the four essays which were presented, all of them written in the Dutch language, that numbered 1, having for its motto, Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up, and that numbered 2, with the motto, Hec fundamentum est libertatis, hic ،، What fons æquitatis, were, in many respects, considered worthy of approbation; yet the prize was not awarded. The Society proposed, as a fresh subject, was the origin, and what has been the progress, of the Bible Societies now existing in so many parts of the world? With respect to Religion and Morality, what has been the result of propagating the Sacred Code, by means of these Societies, amongst uncivilized nations, or amongst such nations as, though more or less civilized, are not less ignorant of Christianity? What hopes for futurity have we reason to cherish? And, are the means employed by the Societies the most likely to attain their object, or could others be adopted more capable of ensuring success?" The offered prize is a gold medal, of the value of 400 florins (800 francs); the essays, written legibly in Dutch, Latin, French or English, with the name of each author, sent in a sealed note, must be delivered in before the lst of January 1822, addressed to the Fondation de feu Pierre TEYLER VAN HULST, at Harlem. The Mélanges de Religion, for April, gives an account of Specimen Academicum Inaugurale, exhibens Commentationem in Psalmum cx.; by J. T. BERGMAN. This gentleman is a minister belonging to the Walloon churches in the United Provinces. These have been long on the decline, owing, says the Journal before quoted, to two causes,-the naturalization of the descendants of the refugees, and the perfection of Dutch preaching. If they had the happiness to see training up for them such ministers as they at present possess in Messrs. Huet and Pareau, and the author of this Thesis, there would be some counterpoise to the causes of their decline, and they would carry on the rivalry with more chance of success. Before he maintained with so much success for his degree of D.D: his Thesis upon Psalm ex., he had already gained equal honour in the Faculty of Philosophy, by his Specimen Academicum Inaugurale, exhibens Isocratis Areopagiticum, instructum lectionis varietate et annotatione. The school of Huttenbach, adds our author, and that of Professor Van Voorst ought to be equally wellpleased in such a pupil as M. Bergman. He had previous to these learned spe cimens produced a dissertation "On the State of Literature amongst the Romans, from the Time of the First Punic War to that of Vespasian," which was adjudged to a prize in an Academic Assembly, and received into the Annales Academiæ Lugduno-Batave, Tom. II. GERMANY. J. G. J. Bailenstidt: Die Urwelt, oder Beweis von dem Daseyn und untergange von mehr als einer Vorwelt. The primitive World, or a Proof of the Existence and of the Destruction of more than one World previous to our own. Part the first. Archeological Dissertations. 2nd edition. 1818. This work is very curious, and has excited some attention in Germany. For the sake of giving an idea of it, we will translate the heads of the chapters, as they are given in the Literary Gazette of Jena. Preface. 1. Demonstration of the existence and of the destruction of a world before Adam. 2. Refutation of certain doubts and objections against the existence of this world. 3. Men inhabited this primitive world. 4. The Mammoth (Elephas Primigenius). 5. Discoveries respecting this primitive world. 6. Discovery of a large animal of this primitive world at Offleben, in the Duchy of Brunswick. 7. The potteries of Thiede furnish abundant specimens of the animals of the primitive world. 8. Toads found alive in the midst of stone are the produce of the primitive world. 9. The character of the primitive world and its productions. 10. Did Giants exist in the primitive world? 11. The primitive world was not entirely destroyed by the deluge. 12. What put an end to the primitive world? Appendix. 1. An attempt to explain, in a rational manner, the history of the primitive world in the Bible. 2. On the value of the Jewish chronology; and, first, Was Adam the first man? Or, on the antiquity of the human race, and on the primitive population of the earth. The titles alone of these chapters announce a very curious work. 66 A work is advertised by L. A. KEHLER, Archdeacon of Kottbus, on Supranaturalism and Rationalism, in their common origin, their separation and their transcendant union : a word for tranquillizing those that know not whether they ought to believe according to knowledge or to know according to belief." We apprehend that the English reader is no loser by this book being locked up in the German language. The same may perhaps be said of another work in the same tongue, of which little more than the title is known to us, videl. "Scriptural Proofs that after his Resurrection, Jesus lived 27 years upon the Earth in Silence and Obscurity, and that for the Good of the Human Race: by J. A. BRENNEKE." The author rejects, of course, the fact of the Ascension. He is said to display great learning. Messrs. Haumann and Witting have entered the lists with him. The controversy is related in the Halle and Heidelberg magazines. GESENIUS, the celebrated Theological Professor, of Halle, has obtained leave of his University to make a literary tour in France, Holland and England. SPAIN. A work has been just published at Madrid by Don JACQUES JONAMA, on the Trial by Jury. The constitution, restored by the Cortes in 1820, established this invaluable institution in principle, but it is unknown to the Spaniards in practice; and therefore this patriotic author has endeavoured to enlighten his countrymen upon the subject. There has just appeared at the National Printing-office at Madrid, a work entitled "Satirical Essays in Verse and Prose, by the licentiate MACHUCA, Antient Inmate of the Black-House." The name Machuca (says Llorente, in the Revue Encyclopédique") is a blind, and the description of " inmate of the Black-House" signifies a Tenant of the Dungeons of the Inquisition. The work contains fifteen satirical pieces, wholly original and very smart. |