rior to all party distinctions, and promote one grand patriotic universality of sentiment and action. Our object is to prove, that, opposed by a man of such shifting pretences as Bonaparte sometimes inclined to conciliation, and sometimes to outrage-sometimes to commerce, and sometimes to war-it has been almost impossible to avoid exhibiting a series of fluctuating counsels in return; and that, whatever may have been their own occasional imbecillity or intemperance, Bonaparte has sunk far below them in every respect. The blunders he has exhibited render him indeed, in our view, at the present moment, no longer an object of serious apprehension; and present him in no other light, than a compound of pride, vanity, deceit, ambition, political ignorance, and personal fear. By a little common honesty, he might have retained St. Domingo, and possessed himself of the whole of the Antilles: by his infatuated treachery, he has lost the one, and is almost driven out of the other. a little dexterity and delay, he might have re-acquired Malta, and re-conquered Egypt: but he was too childish to wait, and too precipitate for discretion. Louisiana was actually his own; and, with common prudence, he might have lorded it, as he intended, over the Anglo-Americans: but, being no longer thus gifted, he has lost Louisiana, and is become the laughing-stock of the United States. We are struck with his successes: but he has had many more mortifications; and, to us, he has never appeared so weak, as at this very moment, while we are talking of the extent of his territory. It is impossible, indeed, for all Europe not to be sensible of his folly, and for the most abject state under his tyranny not to feel its chains becoming looser.

By

MONTHLY CATALOGUE.

RELIGION.

ART. 16. The Blessings of Peace: being the Substance of a Sermon, delivered at the late Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel, Brighton, October the 4th, 1801. With Hymns appropriate to the Occasion, and a Dedication to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. By the Rev. T. Haweis, LL. B. M.D. 8vo. Is. Williams.

The blessings of peace are displayed in stopping the effusion of human blood, in staying the devastations of war, in checking an im

mensity of waste and expense, in freeing us from apprehensions of invasion, in diffusing general joy, in producing plenty, in restoring the friendly intercourse of nations, in softening down enmities and animosities, in cementing the happy union with our sister country, in consolidating probably our Indian empire, and in presenting a happy prospect of the introduction of the kingdom of the prince of peace among all nations. The preacher feels a juster indignation against the spirit of popery, than has been expressed in several pulpits on the effects of the late tremendous revolution.

'I am shocked and ashamed to hear the whining lamentations of many over the ruins of popery, and their ardent wishes for the restoration of its power and splendour. If the hand of judgment hath been heavy on the heads of papal dignitaries and monastic institutions, whatever were the instruments, it was just retribution. That church, which had thirsted after and drank deep of the blood of others, God hath in righteous judgment drenched with her own.' P. 13.

A Discourse occasioned by
Mary Aldermanbury, Sep-
Clericus on qui tam.

Re

ART. 17.-The Parish Church. a Vacancy in the Cure of St. tember 19; with Notes, and spectfully dedicated to the Society for the Suppression of Vice. By John Moir, M. A. 8vo. 28. Dutton. 1802.

Some very wholesome truths are here communicated in rather homely language. The author is a disappointed candidate, and several of his notes seem to exhibit the temper of disappointment. The dedication to the society for the suppression of vice, and the approbation of penal statutes for compelling persons to frequent their parish churches, are not likely to induce the author's readers to pay a very favorable attention to his other arguments. If the church stand in need of penal statutes, or of a society which makes a point of keeping in its pay a set of spies and informers, its influence must be very much on the decline; but we are persuaded that our unsuccessful candidate has viewed the subject through an unlucky medium; and we wish him a happier preferment and a better congregation than he seems at present to enjoy.

ART. 18. An Enquiry into the Origin of true Religion; together with the Invention of Letters, and the Discovery of the most useful Arts and Sciences: wherein it is attempted to prove, that the Knowledge of these Things originated in the Eust; and hath been diffused amongst Mankind by va rious Channels, but chiefly through the Medium of the an cient Jews, and those Writings which relate to their political and religious Economy. By the Rev. James Creighton, B. A. Svo. 1s. Baynes. 1803.

One of the most difficult points to the comprehension of the unbeliever, is the fact, that we are indebted for all our knowledge in religion, and every thing that is most valuable in life, to the Jews. Arts and sciences have traveled to us from the east ; and the memory of the early ages of the world is preserved only in the sacred writings of

those who are now the most despised people upon earth. These facts are truly humiliating to the pride of human philosophy; but they cannot be overthrown by modern sophistry; and this little essay deserves to be perused with attention by all who call them in question, and will gratify those who have not the least doubt of their truth. ART. 19. Diatessaron, seu integra Historia Domini nostri Jesu Christi Latine, ex quatuor Evangeliis inter se collatis ipsisque Evangelistarum verbis apte et ordinate dispo sitis confecta, E Versione præcipue Castellionis castigata et emendata. Cui præfiguntur Tabula Palestine Geographica, necnon Ordo Rerum. In Usum Scholarum. Opera et Studio T. Thirlwall, A. M, 12mo. 5s. Boards, Riving tons, 1802,

This is a very useful and excellent school-book. For, learners of Greek, the Greek Diatessaron, by White, cannot be too much recommended; and, for the learner of Latin, this publication is equally advantageous. The plan is the same as that of the former, the language only being altered. The ground-work is taken from Castellio, whose forced and affected phrases are corrected by the translations of Beza and Tremellius, and by the Vulgate. It makes an elegant little pocket volume; and an English translation is announced, which we hope will be equally well adapted to the English reader.

ART. 20.-Dialogue first and second, between a Minister of the Church and his Parishioner, concerning the Christian's Liberty of choosing his Teacher, and concerning Christian Edification. By the Rev. Thomas Sikes, M. A. 12mo. 10d. Rivingtons. 1802.

The minister argues with a poor man on the impropriety of leav ing his own parish church for one in a neighbouring parish, under the pretext that purer doctrines are preached in the latter than in the former. The main drift of the argument is, that the minister of each parish has received an authority from Christ to take care of the spiritual welfare of the souls in their respective districts; and that he who quits the ministry of his own parish for that of another, is guilty of disobedience to his Saviour's authority. Our author has probably not been accustomed to study books of controversy, or he must have noted that he is only retailing the arguments that are constantly used by a popish priest, to show the protestant that he is guilty of the sin of schism in quitting the Romish communion. In asserting roundly, too, that a dissenter cannot be so good a subject as a member of the church of England, he utters a sentiment equally untrue and unnecessary. But, though there be much to blame in the mode of conducting this delicate question now agitated between the evangelical clergy and their brethren, there is one point in this work which, we think, cannot be too often insisted upon. The seceders from their parish church pretend that their minister does not preach the pure doctrines of the Gospel. Let us suppose it to be so, Is their conduct to be justified in seceding? By no means. They have not applied for the proper remedy which the church has, in such a case,

appointed. They are in duty bound to make their complaint to the bishop, and to put the cause in a train of being fairly tried. We remember an instance in point, of a curate giving offence to several of his parishioners by the doctrines which he preached, and which they termed methodistical. Upon complaint to the bishop, the curate was removed. It is a great mistake, as is properly observed in these pamphlets, to suppose that the people have no concern in the conduct of the clergy. In the first place, they can stop the ordination of any man by a representation to the bishop, of his misconduct; and, if a clergyman be guilty of immorality, omission of the regular service of the church, or introduction of any false doc trine into it, the cause will be fairly decided by the bishop, and justice done between the parties. Let the complainant then pursue the steps which, as a member of the church of England, he is bound to pursue; but let it be strongly inforced upon him, at the same time, to follow the scriptural rule of first warning the minister himself, and then making his complaint in a regular manner. The people cannot, indeed, as in a dissenting meeting, analyse among themselves the cha racter and conduct of their minister, and dismiss him by a majority of voices; but, in a sober and dignified manner, they may make their objections to a superior; and, if these be well-founded, the minister will doubtless be removed from his cure.

ART. 21-A Letter to a noble Duke, on the incontrovertible Truth of Christianity. 8vo. 2s. Robson. 1803.

This is a re publication of Mr. Leslie's Short and easy Method with the Deists, a work of very great merit, and deserving the perusal of confirmed Christians. As long as any Christian has a friend so unhappy as not to have embraced the truths of Christianity, he will do well not only to read this little tract himself, but to put it into his friend's hands. Its argument is well known to be complete; yet it cannot be too often brought before the public. Four rules are laid down by which true religion may be distinguished from the device of man; and it is clearly seen that these four marks concur in revealed religion.

1. That the matter of fact be such, that men's outward senses, their eyes and ears, may be judges of it....

2. That it be done publicly in the face of the world.

3. That not only public monuments be kept up in memory of it, but some outward actions to be performed.

4. That such monuments, and such actions or observances, be instituted, and do commence from the time that the matter of fact was done.' P. 5.

Dr. Middleton endeavoured in vain, for twenty years, to find some false assertion in history in which these marks concurred; and we may safely prophesy that similar researches will prove equally futile. ART. 22.-The Recorder: being a Collection of Tracts and Disquisitions, chiefly relative to the modern State and Prin ciples of the People called Quakers. By William Matthews, of Bath. Vol. I. 8vo. 5s. Johnson. 1802.

The society of quakers has been chiefly distinguished for its disap

probation, or supposed disapprobation, of human ties and articles, on the subject of religion; and if, in point of discipline, its attention to morals have been regarded as pressed beyond the common mark, a gene ral laxity with respect to doctrine is esteemed to have been equally so. In deed it could hardly be otherwise; for, not having, like other churches, a fixed standard to regulate opinions, the members seem to have been left very much to themselves; while, in consequence of their having been gifted, or so supposing themselves to have been, with an inward light, they could not easily be brought to any temporal tribunal to determine on the propriety of their conduct. In this situation, the society has existed for a considerable period; few of them giving themselves the trouble to examine minutely the opinions which distract the Chris tian world, and the great body exhibiting that contented formality which is the peculiar characteristic of the sect. Of late years, how ever, the peace of the community of quakers has been much disturbed; a spirit of inquiry has been excited, and the Scriptures have undergone a more serious examination. Hence, the great question on tithes has been, with much propriety, proposed and asserted by the writer of these tracts to be a matter of mere temporal, instead of spiritual, concerns and that, in submitting to an act of parliament, the rights of church-membership ought not to be violated. This, of course, has given great offence to the heads of the society; for the quakers have chiefs among them, notwithstanding their boast of equality; and chiefs, whose authority cannot be called in question by any member with impunity. That the payment of tithes is justifiable, few of our readers will doubt; and nothing can be more ridiculous than to suppose, that, because a man is a quaker, he is to be enabled to purchase an estate to so much greater advantage than any of his neighbours. There is a sufficient quantity of land, free from tithes, which the members of this society might purchase, if they chose to be proprietors of land in which this supposed grievance would cease to be burdensome. But doctrinal, and not temporal, matters, it seems, have of late pro duced the greatest disturbance; and Hannah Barnard, a very powerful preacher, has been silenced in a manner which does no great credit to the interior government of the community; while it is curious to observe that a chief article exhibited against her, is on a point on which the quakers are supposed, by the rest of the world, to extend their principles to an extravagant excess. They admit that war is contrary to the principles of Christianity; and that it cannot conscientiously be exercised by a Christian. Hannah Barnard proceeds completely with them in this doctrine; and she asserts, that what they now declare to be true, was always and essentially so, and might be applied to every man in all ages. Consequently, in her opinion, God has never ordained war of any description; and yet the quakers are such constrained logicians as to be indignant with her for propagating such a doctrine. She has been tried for this offence in various quaker courts; and, by the final judgement of twelve persons, is condemned to perpetual silence. Her preaching has, however, produced many converts; and the perusal of the Scriptures is, in consequence, become very prevalent. In this work the whole affair is impartially stated. It deserves the attention of the society, and may gratify the curiosity of those who are fond of church history. Its editor was ori