fited by it. Mrs. Trimmer has proved, in a very familiar, pleafing way, that if heads of families would watch over the morals of their fervants, cultivate their minds, and treat them with kindness and juffice, rewarding the good, and giving juft characters of the bad; and if fervants would confider them as their best friends, and be defrous on all accafions to fhew their affectionate regard, the former would be well ferved, the latter every way rewarded.

RELIGIOUS.

Art. 50. A Letter to the Clergy of the Diocese of Cheffer, concerning Sunday Schools. By Beilby, Lord Bishop of that Diocefe. 8vo. IS. Payne. 1786.

This refpectable prelate recommends to his clergy, on folid and ftriking motives, a ferious attention to those popular inftitutions which have lately engaged, a very confiderable fhare of public notice. He has now a farther argument with which to enforce the subject; viz. the fuccefs that has attended the undertaking, during the two years in which the experiment has, in fome places, been made. Befide the confiderations offered in favour of this work of love, the good Bishop mentions fome precautions that fhould be attended to in conducting it. Among other things, while he is folicitous to maintain the religious obfervance of the Sabbath, he at the fame time wishes to preferve its cheerful afpect, and therefore that the hours of confinement may be fo directed as not to render them burthenfome and painful. We cannot doubt but his Lordship's benevolent and feafonable remarks will meet with regard not only in the diocese of Chester, but in other parts of the kingdom.

SERMONS.

I. On the Incarnation; preached at Newington in Surry, Dec. 25, 1785. By the Rev. Samuel Horley, LL. D. F. R. S. Arch deacon of St. Alban's. 4to. IS. Robfon.

Luke i. 28. Hail thou that art highly favour'd, &c.

That the,' fays the learned Archdeacon, who in thefe terms was faluted by an angel, fhould, in after-ages, become an object of fuperftitious adoration, is a thing far lefs to be wondered, than that men profeffing to build their whole hopes of immortality on the promifes delivered in the facred books, and clofely interwoven with the hiftory of our Saviour's life, fhould queftion the truth of the meffage that the angel brought.'.

But that is the point to be proved, fays Dr. Priestley-And can any point be clearer, rejoins his antagonist? Here is a fimple and unequivocal narration of a matter of fact. It is put beyond doubt as much as any other miracle recorded in the evangelifts: and a man hath as much right to quellion the refurrection, as the miraculous conception of Jefus. Both are equally out of the courfe of human events, and exceptions to every general rule that appears to govern the prefent fyftem of nature.

After ftating and vindicating the doctrine of the incarnation, the learned and ingenious preacher concludes with the following inference:

From what hath been faid, you will eafily perceive, that the evidence of the fact of our Lora's miraculous conception is anfwerable to

the

the great importance of the doctrine; and you will efteem it an objec tion of little weight, that the modern advocates of the unitarian tenets cannot otherwife give a colour to their wretched cause, than by denying the infpiration of the facred hiftorians, that they may feem to themselves at liberty to reject their teftimony. You will remember, that the doctrines of the Chriftian revelation were not originally delivered in a fyftem, but interwoven in the hiftory of our Saviour's life. To fay, therefore, that the firft preachers were not infpired in the compofition of the narratives in which their doctrine is conveyed, is nearly the fame thing as to deny their inspiration in the general.

You will perhaps think it incredible, that they who were affifted by the divine fpirit, when they preached, should be deserted by that fpirit, when they committed what they preached to writing. You will think it improbable, that they who were endowed with the gift of difcerning fpirits, fhould be endowed with no gift of difcerning the truth of facts. You will recollect one inftance upon record, in which St. Peter detected a falfehood by the light of inspiration ; and you will, perhaps, be inclined to think, that it could be of no lefs importance to the church, that the apoftles and evangelifts hould be enabled to detect falfehoods in the hiftory of our Saviour's life, than that St. Peter should be enabled to detect Ananias's lie, after the fale of his eftates. You will think it unlikely, that they who were led by the fpirit into all truth, fhould be permitted to lead the whole church into error for many ages; that they should be permitted to leave behind them, as authentic memoirs of their mafter's life, narratives compiled with little judgment or felection from the ftories of the day; from facts and fictions in promiscuous circulation.

The credulity that fwallows these contradictions, while it ftrains at myfteries, is not the faith which will remove mountains.

The Ebionites of antiquity, little as they were famed for penetration and difcernment, managed, however, the affairs of the fect, with more difcretion than our modern Unitarians. They questioned not the infpiration of the books which they received: but they received only one book, a fpurious copy of St. Matthew's gospel, curtailed of the two first chapters.

• You will think it no inconfiderable confirmation of the doctrine in question, that the fect which firft denied it, to palliate their infidelity, found it neceffary to reject three of the gofpels, and to mutilate the fourth!'

The controverfy between the Archdeacon of St. Alban's and Dr. Priestley, feems verging apace toward the iffue that we expected, and foretold; and now we have nothing more left to do, than attentively to watch, and candidly to report, its further progress. II. The Character of Jefus Chrift; a Sermon. By George Skene Keith, M. A. Minilter of Keith-Hall, Aberdeenshire. 8vo. Evans. 1785.

IS.

This fermon has fome marks of a fertile and lively imagination : but the marks of puerility and inexperience are more deeply impreffed in it. Age, we hope, will mature the Author's judgment, and chaften his fancy. The glare of falfe eloquence will be foftened

into a milder and fteadier light; and the tinfel trappings of declamation will be exchanged for ornaments lefs captivating to vulgar minds, but more folid and more graceful: fuch as become the fimple dignity of religion, and are moft acceptable to men of found judgment, and a cultivated taste.

When this period arrives, the Author will be ashamed of fuch paffages as perhaps he now regards, with fond complacency, as the peculiar beauties of his fermon; and will then number them, as we do, among thofe pulpit-tricks to which the religion of Chrift fcorns to be indebted for fupport or recommendation.-From feveral other inftances of falfe and affected oratory, we will select the following paffage, as a fpecimen, (p. 13.)

Where fhall we begin our enquiry into the character of Jesus Chrift? Go to Bethlehem.-Pafs by the inn.-Turn afide hither to this ftable. Look into the manger: and you fhall fee a poor babe wrapt in fwaddling-clothes. Befide him leans his mother, weak and languid. Here are the wife men from the Eaft: there a few fhepherds from Bethlehem. A ftar in the firmament directed the wife men to this place. They worship the infant. A company of angels lately informed thofe fhepherds, that this child was the fon of the most high God, and the promised Saviour of men.-What an amazing ftoop from the heavenly glory! What an immenfe tranfition from the throne of God! Aftonishing humility, generofity, and condefcenfion in the Son of the Higheft, to affume human nature, and affume it in fo mean a condition !-In the character of the child Jefus, how many virtues are united!'

It is well that the Hiftory of the Birth of Christ was not penned in a ftyle like this. Such a mode of relation would have funk its credi, and we should have been rather difpofed to fmile than to believe.

The Author informs us that this fermon is published as a specimen of a volume of fermons now in the prefs.-Had he no judicious and faithful friend to whisper in his ear

Nonum prematur in annum? or did he turn a deaf ear to good counsel ?

III. Preached at the Magdalen-hofpital, on the Anniversary Meeting of the Prefident and Governors of that Charity, May 11, 1786. By John, Lord Bishop of Oxford. 4to.

for the Benefit of the Charity. Rivington. 1786.

IS. Printed

No quotation could more exactly correfpond with the occafion, than that which is felected as the text of this difcourfe, Galat. vi. 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken, ye, which are fpiritual, reftore fuch an one in the Spirit of meekness, confidering thyself, left thou also be tempted. The fentiments here implied, are illuftrated and recommended by his Lordship, in a fenfible and ferious manner. Thus, in a plain and practical way, he enforces, in the general, this branch of a Chriftian fpirit, and properly applies the whole to the purpose which more directly claimed his attention.

IV. An Attention to outward Cleanliness recommended as a Virtue.Preached in the Parish Church of Blackburn, July the 17th, 1785. By Borlafe Willock, M. A. with a View toward preventing the Progrefs of an alarming epidemical Fever, which raged in that Town and Neighbourhood. 8vo. 6d. Richardfon.

7

If

If the fubject of this Difcourfe is at all unusual, its propriety and importance are neverthelefs felf-evident; and the particular circumftances of the time and place of its delivery, render any apology for the Author wholly unneceffary, It is a well-compofed Difcourfe, worthy the attention, not only of the very poor, for whofe difficulties fome little allowance might be made, but of others, who would not chufe to be claffed in that number. The text is Levit.

viii. 6 V. Preached at the Anniverfary Meeting of the Sons of the Clergy, at St. Paul's, May 12, 1785. By Thomas Jackfon, D. D. Prebendary of Weftminster, and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty. 4to. Is. Rivington.

This difcourfe is entirely employed in ftating the grounds of the charitable inftitution for the Sons of the Clergy, and in enforcing, with plain and manly eloquence, the arguments which recommend the establishment to the countenance and support of the Public.-To the fermon are fubjoined, Lifts of the Stewards for the fafts of the Sons of the Clergy, together with the names of the Preachers, and their texts; and the fums collected at the anniversary meetings, fince the year 1721.

NOTES to CORRESPONDENTS.

** We have received C. C.'s remarks.-The opinion we delivered refpecting the "excifion of the part bitten by a mad dog being the only efficacious prophylactic," was the refult of the mott minute inveftigation, and the moft impartial enquiry; and therefore (notwithstanding the authority of Dr. Hillary) we cannot poffibly retract it. To flatter people with fecurity from other more gentle methods would be to deceive them in a matter of the utmost consequence, and might, in the end, prove no lefs prejudicial to them, than unworthy of us.

1st A Conftant Reader," who enquires concerning Dr. Jones's book on the state of Medicine, which he fuppofes we overlooked, is referred to the 67th volume of our Review, p. 170. If he will like. wife turn to p. 383. vol. i. of our General Index, under the name of Jones, in the Medical clafs, he will find it inferted there alfo.

The article to which Mr. Graham refers, though not yet inferted in the Review, was written fome months before we were favoured with his very fenfible letter. What we had, with equal freedom and impartiality, remarked, at the time when we perfed the book, could receive no alteration, in confequence of the particulars communicated by this Correfpondent.

✪ Philalethes is under confideration.

1

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For OCTOBER, 1786.

ART. I. Dr. REID's Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, continued. See our laft.

TH

HE fecond effay contains an amazing quantity of valuable erudition, as well as of found reasoning, and deep investi gation, and conftitutes almoft a third part of the whole volume. Its title is, Of the powers we have by means of our external fenfes." It confifts of twenty-two chapters. A confiderable portion of it is taken up in giving a clear and accurate account of the theories and opinions that have been embraced and maintained by philofophers, both ancient and modern, with regard to the fenfes, and the knowledge derived from their operations. The doctrines of the most eminent leaders of fects, from the days of Pythagoras to thofe of Mr. Hume, pafs fucceffively under review; and every class of tenets upon the subject is traced from its origin through its subsequent changes. The hiftorical deduction is every where accompanied with judicious obfervations and acute difcuffions. Of this, and of many other parts of the work, no tolerable notion could be communicated to our readers by means of an abftract. The matter treated of, from the nature of it, requires the full illuftration which the Author has bestowed upon it, to convey a competent knowledge of it. We must therefore fatisfy ourselves with mentioning, in general, the topics that are difcuffed, referring the inquifitive reader to the book itself, which, we can affure him, will not only furnish him with rational amufement and valuable information, but will also present him with more diftin&t and accurate views of the fubjects treated, than are to be met with in preceding authors.

The first four chapters treat of the organs of perception, and of the impreffions that are made upon the nerves and brain. The fubftance of the doctrine contained in them is thus fummed up by the Author himself :

It is a law of our nature, established by the will of the Supreme Being, that we perceive no external object but by means of the organs given us for that purpofe. But thefe organs do not perceive. The eye is the organ of fight, but it fees not. A telescope is an ar

VOL. LXXV.