The Quarterly Review

THE

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

OCTOBER, 1822.

ART. I.-Histoire des Sectes Religieuses qui depuis le Commencement du Siècle dernier jusqu'à l'Epoque actuelle, sont nées, se sont modifiées, se sont éteintes dans les quatre parties du Monde. Par M. Grégoire, ancien Evêque de Blois, Membre de l'Institut, &c. &c. 2 tom. 8vo. Paris.

THIS work is characteristic of its author. It bears ample proofs

of his frankness and benevolence, as well as of his inconsistency and enormous prejudices, political and religious, of his weak judgment and warm heart. M. Gregoire was not in favour with Buonaparte, though he published some remarks upon the state of the Roman Catholics in Ireland, (the Slavery of the Whites he called it,) which were hardly exceeded in falsehood and effrontery by any diatribe from the Imperial, or Radical, or Whig press. The present volumes were seized by the police (like Madame de Staël's 'Germany') and suppressed; in both cases the suppression seems to have proceeded more from personal ill-will than the apprehension of any possible injury to the imperial government from such books. They were returned to the author after the restoration of the Bourbons.

A Protestant called Langius, M. Gregoire tells us, published a geographical sketch of the Empire of Orthodoxy, which, according to him, is bounded on the east by Fanaticism, and on the west by Pseudo-Orthodoxy. The empire is composed of three confederated kingdoms, called Illumination, Justification and Renovation, and the author enters into a detailed statistic account of each. The river of Orthodoxy, which runs through the three kingdoms, rises from different sources in Sinai, Thabor, and the Mount of Olives, and discharges itself into the Pacific Sea, opposite to the Island of the Blessed. This reminds us of a map of the Land of Tender, so called in the translation of Clelia, ('an excellent new romance' one hundred and fifty years ago,) written by the exquisite pen of Monsieur de Scudery, with the Lake of Indifference, the Sea of Enmity, and the three cities of Tender upon Inclination, Tender upon Esteem, and Tender upon Gratitude.' John Bunyan should have designed maps of this kind to illustrate his Pilgrim's Progress and his Holy War. These are devices which would explain nothing so clearly as the prejudices of the designer. But there are parts both of literary and ecclesiastical history which

might

might be greatly elucidated by genealogical trees,* and the historians of heresy, from Epiphanius downward, might have assisted themselves as well as their readers by introducing them. In the present instance, if M. Gregoire had formed one, however incorrectly, it would have suggested to him some kind of method, in which his book is now utterly defective. The different sects are arranged neither with any relation to each other, nor chronologically, nor geographically, nor even in alphabetical order, (the easiest and laziest of all modes of arrangement,) but with as little method or connection as the paragraphs in a newspaper.

If the Ex-Bishop of Blois, in imitation of Langius, had constructed a map of the Land of Heterodoxy, they who are really acquainted with the ground might smile at some of the positions which would have been found there. He informs us, for instance, that the belief of the existing English church bears no resemblance whatever to that of Cranmer, Parker, and Laud; that the present dissenters, though enemies to the clergy, make common cause with them against the Catholics; that one of the great theological disputes which have recently occurred in England, related to the reform of the Athanasian creed, and that à cette discussion se rattache la controverse Blagdonienne entre le Curé de Blagdon, près de Bristol, et Miss Hannah More. With equal accuracy he designates one of the distinguished advocates of Calvinism as le poëte Sir Richar Hill, Baronnet; and informs us that Mr. Wilberforce is a disciple of Methodism, and has defended its principles in his writings. M. Gregoire has fallen into these errors by writing upon subjects with which he is very imperfectly acquainted; there are others into which he has been misled by his imperfect knowledge of English. For example, he accuses Robert Robinson, the Baptist-historian, of saying that the whole life of Bossuet was nothing but a torrent of iniquity: (et dont la vie entière n'est qu'un torrent d'iniquité.) Upon referring to the original the words prove to be these: nothing stopped his career; he rolled on, a mighty torrent of mischief, driving all before him.' This misrepresentation of Robinson's words has clearly arisen from misapprehending them. In another instance he appears to have followed some faithless translation: speaking of Wesley's Primitive Physic, he quotes the following prescription as bizarre-Pour guérir une colique venteuse, prenez une femme saine, et tûtez-la tous les jours: remède éprouvé par mon père. The easy but singular substitution of tâtez

* We have seen them in convents, upon a large scale, applied to monastic history. The hint was perhaps taken from a passage in the works of St. Antoninus of Florence: -Quemadmodum arbor una est in radice et trunco, multiplex autem in ramis et fructibus, qui tamen humorem et vigorem habent a radice et trunco, ita status monachalis in Occidente unus est, ab uno Patre derivans, a radice Regulæ Benedicti habens vigorem. la

la for tetez la might be ascribed to the printer, if it were not evident that M. Gregoire could not have had the original work before him; because the remedy of human milk is advised by Wesley for consumption, and not for colic. It seems to have been prescribed as commonly in former times as asses-milk is now. Baxter tells us that he used it four months, and was somewhat repaired by it; and it was the last remedy which was ordered for the merciless Alva. The account of Methodism is equally superficial and inaccurate. The author has chiefly followed Lackington, and seems not to have known that Lackington, after he was reconciled to the Methodists, published a retractation of the work which is here relied on. The letter purporting to be written by Wesley at the age of eightyone, to a lady of twenty-three, is also given, without any doubt being implied of its authenticity. The letter is in itself so grossly incredible, that M. Gregoire ought to have seen its falsehood; and, in point of fact, it is known to be a forgery, by the avowal of the person who forged it.

The sectarians of whom M. Gregoire speaks with most indulgence are the Quakers. This partiality towards them arises from the honourable manner in which they contributed to the abolition of the Slave Trade; the aid which he has contributed to the same cause being the redeeming part of his public life.. This sympathy induces him to sum up the character of the society by saying, that if the title of Primitive Christians, which they claim, cannot be allowed them on the score of their belief, they have some right to it on account of their morals; and that among all Christian sects, theirs appears to be one of those which, being characterized by the greatest integrity in the conduct of the members, are at the same time a model and a reproach to others. The account which he has given of them is vague and desultory, scarcely touching upon their history, and not attempting to trace or account for the gradual but great change which they have undergone. When he describes the works at Coalbrookdale as their creation, he imputes to the spirit of Quakerism what has been produced by the spirit of trade; and when he characterizes that district as a tract où les bonnes mœurs, le travail et l'aisance ont fixé leur séjour, he shows how little he is acquainted with the state of morals and domestic comforts in manufacturing or mining countries..

M. Gregoire is not more accurate in saying jamais une` Quakeresse ne fut marchande de modes; for Quakers there are, both male and female, who deal in such pomps and vanities without scruple and without reprehension. Nay there are some who have traded in guns and gunpowder, so difficult is it for any sect to separate itself from the general concerns of that society wherewith it is surrounded. The spirit of the age has acted upon them with better

A 2

better effect in exciting a desire for intellectual improvement, and the Quakers of the present time have not only their chemists and naturalists, who hold a high rank among their contemporaries, but their poets also. If some of these betray no marks of their profession, the poems of Bernard Barton bear the decided stamp of Quakerism, and are equally honourable to the society and to the individual. Some of his pieces are written directly upon the principles of the community to which he belongs, such as the stanzas on Silent Worship, the Quaker's Burial Ground, and the poem entitled Napoleon, in which he takes occasion, from the character of that merciless destroyer, to inculcate the opinions of the Quakers concerning the unlawfulness of war. But all his compositions breathe the same pure and religious spirit. One little piece we shall quote to justify the terms of commendation in which we have spoken of this writer, by exemplifying his merits: though written with a Quaker's views and feeling, its beauty will be felt by Christians of every denomination.

THE POOL OF BETHESDA.
I.

Around Bethesda's healing wave,
Waiting to hear the rustling wing
Which spoke the Angel nigh, who gave
Its virtue to that holy spring,
With patience, and with hope endued,
Were seen the gather'd multitude.

II.

Among them there was one, whose eye
Had often seen the waters stirr'd;
Whose heart had often heav'd the sigh,
The bitter sigh, of hope deferr'd;
Beholding, while he suffer'd on,
The healing virtue given-and gone!
III.

No power had he; no friendly aid

To him its timely succour brought;
But, while his coming he delay'd,

Another won the boon he sought;-
Until THE SAVIOUR'S love was shown,
Which heal'd him by a word alone!
IV.

Had they who watch'd and waited there
Been conscious who was passing by,

With what unceasing, anxious care

Would they have sought his pitying eye;

And crav'd, with fervency of soul,
His Power Divine to make them whole!

But

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