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ority of time, the former takes the precedence of some years, the latter, he contends, is his equal in point of sublimity of description, and his superior in purity of language and propriety of conception.

If also in the literary annals of the former part of the 17th century, a Jeremy Taylor occurs, whose sprightly wit and lively imagination (no less than his piety) have been since celebrated; a Pascal, who wrote some years after, may be paralleled both in the brilliancy and scope of his genius and his exemplary piety.

The researches of Malbranche after metaphysical truth may be said to have been rivalled (or eclipsed) by Locke, who, with the same temper and zeal of mind, (although his endowments of intellect and of intense thinking were probably of a superior order), embarked in the same inquiries about the same period of time, examined the same theories, and has left perhaps to posterity a equally great and respectable in those regions of abstract inquiry which involve, in so high a degree, vigour and subtlety of thought.

(To be continued.)

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THE VICAR OF DUDLEY'S ANNUAL
PASTORAL ADDRESS, ON NEW YEAR's
DAY, 1820.

laws, and a steady attachment to "the faith that was once delivered unto the saints." The various attempts of men wishing violently to alter the former and to subvert the latter, which unhappily wrought so much mischief elsewhere, were by you resisted in a manner alike honourable to your understandings and to your hearts. Though, like" the pestilence that walketh in darkness," infidelity and disaffection here scattered their noxious tares, with a diligence deserving a better cause; yet so far from taking root in a single heart, they excited only pity towards the wretched disseminators, and horror at the dreadful precipice down which such emissaries of Satan would plunge the unwary. Your peaceable demeanour at your daily employments, and your added numbers, on the Sabbath, at the Sanctuary, proved this,-expressively declaring that you conceived it an indispensible duty to shew in a public manner who were on God's side, when the mouth of the wicked was opened against him. Yes: during that perilous time when the anarchist, the parodist, the deist, and the atheist, seemed leagued in a common confederacy not only against the laws, but against God and his Church, to the laws ye remained inflexibly obedient; and to the Church ye resorted with an

AGAIN, my dear Parishioners! with increased ardour of affection.

the best intentions I unobtrusively enter your dwellings, at a time when the mind is generally disposed to serious thought: and never, surely, was serious thought more requisite in all classes, than at the present crisis. A crisis, when no one, who is desirous that the laws of God should continue inviolate, or that the bonds of civilized society should not be broken, will charge the sacred guardian of a parish with exceeding the line of his duty if be thus publicly exhort those, over whom the Holy Ghost hath made him overseer," to holiness and to peace! That such exhortation will be received in the same spirit as that in which it is written, I have reason to presume, my flock, from your recent conduct, during those days of blasphemy, disloyalty, and rebuke, when so many of your deluded countrymen in other parts of the kingdom were too prone to "follow a multitude to do evil." Then did you wisely maintain a faithful adherence to the

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Thus did infidelity and disloyalty, by their own boldness, unmask their own features; which, "to be hated, need but to be seen." Continue, my flock! to abhor them, while ye pity and pray for their infatuated votaries, observing the strictest vigilance and caution against their devices. Continue to "fear God, to honour the king, and meddle not with them who are given to change." In a word, contiDue in the faith of Christ, grounded and settled; and let nothing move you away from the hope of his Gospel. (Col. i. 23.)

To strengthen and confirm that faith, behold the following high_authorities in its favour! opposed to which what can infidelity adduce that is comparable?

"There never was found, (said the great Lord Chancellor Bacon) in any age of the world, either philosopher, or sect, or law, or discipline, which did so highly exalt the public good as the Christian faith."

"There

1820.]

Authorities in favour of Christianity.

"There is no book (said Lord Chief Justice Hale to his children) like the Bible, for excellent learning, wisdom, and use. It is want of understanding in them who think and speak otherwise. By frequent reading it with due observation, it will make you wise for this world, and for that which is to come."

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"Let me exhort you, (said Sir John Eardley Wilmot to his Son) to read with the greatest attention both the Old and New Testaments. You will find your mind extremely becalmed by so doing, and every tumultuous passion bridled by that firm belief of a resurrection which is so evidently impressed upon mankind by Christianity."

"There are no songs (said Milton) comparable to the Songs of Zion; no orations equal to those of the Prophets; and no politics like those which the Scriptures teach."

"Had Cicero lived (said Addison) to see all that the Gospel has brought to light, how would he, who so fondly hoped for immortality, have lavished out all the force of eloquence in those noblest of contemplations, the Resurrection, and the judgment that will follow it! How had his breast glowed with pleasure, when the whole compass of Futurity, revealed in the Scriptures, lay open to his view! How would he have entered, with the force of lightning, into the affections of his hearers, upon the glorious themes which are contained in those pages!"

In his own Bible thus wrote the learned Sir William Jones: "I have regularly and attentively perused these Holy Scriptures; and am of opinion that this Volume (independently of its divine origin) contains more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have been written."

In his last moments, when his penitence was as great as had previously been his infidelity and his vices, Lord Rochester, laying his hand on the Bible, exclaimed with emotion, "Ah! here is true philosophy. Here is the wisdom that speaks to the heart. A bad life is the only grand objection to this book."

"There is no book, (said Selden,

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who, on account of his extensive acquirements, was called by Grotius The Glory of England) there is no book, upon which we can rest in a dying moment but the Bible."

Edward the Sixth, seeing a person once in the council chamber, take a Bible and stand upon it, for the purpose of reaching some paper then wanted, was much displeased with him for making such a use of so sacred a book: and, rising from his seat, the King took up the sacred volume, and having kissed it, in a very reverent manner put it in its place again.

"The Bible is a matchless volume, (said the learned Boyle); it is impossible we can study it too much, or esteem it too highly."

"It is (said the profound Locke) all pure, all sincere, nothing too much, nothing wanting. Therein are contained the words of eternal life. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter."

"Young man, (said the learned Dr. Johnson, in his last illness, to a gentleman who sate by his bed side,) attend to the advice of one who has possessed some degree of fame in the world, and who will shortly appear before his Maker: Read the Bible every day of your life."

Ponder, my parishioners! in your hearts, these deliberate and disinterested opinions of eminently-learned men; before whose names those of unbelievers fade into nothing: opinions given upon the fullest consideration; some of them on the bed of death, when disguise is the least likely to take place: and observe, these are all the opinions of laymen; whose honourable host might easily be enlarged by such distinguished characters as Grotius, West, Lyttelton, Bryant, Beattie, Cumberland; laymen also; and from that profession whose province it is to act as the conservators of divine truth, the sacred witnesses in behalf of the Bible might be multiplied a hundred-fold. To the flippant sarcasms of unbelievers, oppose only, with dispassionate minds, the authorities here laid before you; and, concerning the result, I have no apprehension. The pages of infidelity, as "Works of darkness," ye will "cast away" from you with contempt, and will press the Bible to your hearts, as

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BSERVING in your last Supple

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ment, p. 609, a letter dated Middlewich, Dec. 31, signed G. C. B. (also p. 2. of this vol.) I take the liberty to presume, that it cannot be better replied to than by referring to a valuable and scarce publication by the late highly-respected Ralph Bigland, Esq. then Somerset Herald, afterwards Garter Principal King at Arms, entitled "Observations on Marriages, Baptisms, and Burials, &c. &c. 1764," in which, amongst other very useful and interesting information, is the following:

"Almost all uations have maintained

that no person can assume Arms without lawful authority; and whoever presumes to bear them without the King's licence, or having first obtained the Earl Marshal's warrant to the proper officers established by patent, under the great seal of Great Britain to grant the same, infringes upon the Sovereign, the fountain from whom all honours should spring. The King's children do not bear Arms without a license from the Sovereign, their royal father, directed to the Earl Marshal, &c.* neither

can a person, though dignified with the title of baronet, knight, or esquire, when created by the royal favour a Peer of this realm, or nominated to be a knight companion of either of the honourable orders, have Supporters to the Arms he has used, unless he can prove a lawful right to them; and the same with regard to esquires, to knights of the Bath, &c. I mention this to shew, that, however some from an illjudged opinion may contemn, or endeavour to discountenance all things of this kind, there is a time when such distinctions must be lawfully settled; and as nothing can excuse a negligence of this sort, every person should be cautious of bearing false arms; he should consider these things in due time, that his children may not

Gent. Mag. vol. LXXXVII. ii. p. 310.

hereafter be under the necessity of settling what their father might or should have done before. One would think it natural for every one, who had creditably advanced himself in fortune, to covet something

adequate in honour; and it is certain that he, who, by his industry, his more extensive and prosperous dealings, or by any other honourable methods, is enabled to be a founder or restorer of gentility, and shall entail a coat of arms upon his family, has a real claim to honour, and stimulates his offspring to exert those laudable principles which have deserved such distinction."

from Maitland's History of London, Somerset proceeds with a quotation (last edit. vol. II. pp. 862, 863); and concludes by judiciously observing,

"I could here enter into a large discourse concerning the public utility of the Heralds' Office; and could easily shew how prejudicial a disregard to it may prove; but being myself an Herald, I shall forbear to expatiate on these topics, which might be construed as arising more from a view to private interest than zeal for the public service."

Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

H. C. B.

Feb. 7.

PERHAPS the following little attempt at Philology (Logology ?) may not be deemed an inadmissible trifle, as a dash of seasoning, or as an entremet, in the intellectual feast of your Magazine.

Suppose me then, Mr. Urban, in the President's chair; and Peter Morris may be there, to make craniological observations, and to eulogize the dishes and wines: but let him beware of the gout. Suppose me, I say, baranguing upon the superiority of the ancient languages over the modern, in the union of conciseness, elegance, and energy, and instancing as follows: A Roman would say, Gaude tu, gaudeantque omnes! an Italian, Godi tu, godite tutti! a Frenchman, Rejouistoi tu, et que tous se rejouissent! an Englishman, (Come in, John Bull ! leaning upon your auxiliary verbs,) Do thou rejoice, and let all rejoice! The eldest daughter of the Latin keeps pace indeed with her parent (in this instance at least) in conciseness, but not, I think, in elegance. The two others (who are of rather a mongrel breed, with their reflective and auxiliary helps,) limp but aukwardly after.

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