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"It is a fad thing, fays Bishop Bull, to fee

an ignorant Mechanick prefer his own fmall "wifdom before the wifdom of the whole Church "wherein he lives; and dare to tax the most de"liberate and advifed fanctions and constitutions

of the learned and holy Father's of it of impru"dence and folly." Serm. V. Vol. I. p. 213.

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A Protestant Divine fhould take care how he handles this fubject. A Bishop of the Romish Church would have faid the fame thing of a reformed mechanick, who fhould have prefumed to flight the Decrees of Popes and Councils. This terminates at laft in the doctrine of implicit faith, and blind obedience.-Tendimus in Latium.

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What St. Paul and other Apoftles pronounce against the hereticks of their time, is not to be applied to all thofe, who in thefe later ages err in matters of faith. They neither despise the Apoftles, nor reject the Gofpel: nor do they usually seem to be feduced from the right way by views of honour or of profit. Many of them might fay to the church, as Æneas to Dido,

Invitus, regina, tuo de litere ceffi.

Dr.

Dr. Waterland, in one of his books of. Controverfy, chofe for his motto, from ACTS IX. 5.

Εγώ ειμι Ιησᾶς, ὃν σὺ διώκεις.

"I am Jefus, whom thou perfecuteft."

To which his antagonist replied, from I. PET. II. 23.

Ος λοιδορέμενος, ἐκ ανελοιδόρει.

"Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again."

There is a propofition contained in our Articles, which I do not remember to have feen difcuffed by any writer upon that fubject; which, I believe, few of the Subfcribers ever examined; but which, I think, every one may fafely receive with implicit faith. It is this:

"The Churches of Hierufalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred." ART. XIX.

Dr. Courayer ended the regularity and validity of Ordinations; and we are obliged to

him

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him for doing us juftice in that point. But, after all, it is a queftion of no importance; for the consent of a Chriftian nation makes all acts of that kind good and valid,

Barrow, in his Opufcula, endeavours to mollify the damnatory claufes in the Athanafian Creed. He fays that "they condemn only those, who, against the conviction of their own confcience, reject the doctrine of the Trinity laid down in that Creed."-I am glad to hear it; for no perfon, I believe, can eafily be guilty of fuch a fault.

* Of this celebrated and excellent man, concerning whom too much can hardly be faid by the friends of that moderation, cha rity, good temper, and found learning, for which he was remarkable; See what is said in the "Anecdotes of Bowyer,” p. 83, 544; and "The Epiftolary Correspondence, &c. of Bishop Atterbury," published by Mr. Nichols, 1787, Vol. IV. p. 103. He died October 17, 1776, after two days' illness, at the great age of 95- -The writer of this note perfectly remembers, that about a short time before the event, he dined in a family party at Ealing, where the venerable Doctor was prefent. He began and ate as he liked; but upon the remove, and a fresh supply of what Lord Chesterfield used to call kitchen stuff and cellar stuff, the lady of the house asked the fage, what she should help him to. “Oh, pardon me, Madame, (faid he) and do not tax an old man with profaneness, when I affure you, that feldom in my life have I trusted to providence for a fecond-course."

The

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is a public religious action, rite, or ceremony, in "Commemoration of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby." Every thing advanced concerning it, beyond and befides this, is precarious and far-fetched.

When it is confidered what advantages we receive from the fufferings of our Lord, it feems improper to commemorate his beneficial death with mourning and fafting: and when it is confidered how much he suffered, it seems as improper to commemorate his death by a feast, or a banquet.

This ceremony, therefore, is neither a feast, nor a faft; but fomething between both. It is a fhort, fober, frugal repaft, on a piece of bread, and a draught of wine.

CURSORY

CURSORY OBSERVATIONS.

I have fome doubt whether nota, for notes, is good Latin: But fince notare means to obferve, why should not note mean Obfervations, Notes, Remarks?

THE Nile is called by the Greeks Mixas, by the Hebrews Shihor, Niger. Paufanias fays, that the images of all the River-Gods were made of white flone,-except that of the Nile, which was of black. Porphyry obferves, that the ftatues of the Gods were often made of black marble, to denote the inconfpicuous nature of the Deity. Πολλοὶ δ ̓ ἂν και μέλανι λιθῳ τὸ ἀφανὲς αυτς τῆς ἐσίας ἐδήλωσαν. See Eufebius, Præp. Evang. III. 7. P. 98.

The Abbe Couture, in his Differtation on the Fafti, in the Mem. de l'Acad. T. II. 89. fays, "Lucan, fpeaking of himfelf, after the manner of

the

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