gular and exclufive idea of filiation.'-We leave the difcerning reader to his own reflections on this curious paflage! The tenth difcourfe is entitled Characters of Antichrift. The text, Ifaiah Ivii. 10. In our opinion it requires a very strong imagination to perceive that Ifaiah had any reference in this chapter, and particularly in the 10th verfe, to the Bishop of Rome. But fancy is equal to any thing. We need go no further for a proof of this than our Author's comment on ver. 6. Slaying the children in the vallies, under the clifts of the rocks. This paffage,' fays he, is inexplicable, but by applying it to the events of the long perfecutions in the vallies of Piedmont, and among the rocks of the Alps.' The eleventh has for its title The Myftic Tyre. The text is Ezekiel, xxviii. 1-10. This and the other predictions of Ezekiel against the king and city of Tyre, Dr. A. upon very flight grounds, fuppofes to be myftic allegories,' pre-fignifying the corruption and ruin of the church and city of Rome. He fuffers his imagination to carry him fo far, as to conclude, from fome expreffions of the prophet, that the city of Rome and its adjacent territory will fall into the ocean by the force of earthquakes, and of fubterraneous fires. Italy,' fays he, is a ftorehouse of fire. Vefuvius, Etna, and all the vulcanian ifles, will burft forth into flames. By earthquakes new eruptions will probably be opened in the Apennines; and near to Rome, and in Rome itfelf; which will be abforbed into a lake of fire, and fink into the fea; as is more than intimated in the Apocalypse *.' 6 The laft difcourfe is entitled Prophecies of the Origin and Progrefs of the Reformation. The text, Rev. x. 7. It points out, according to the Author's own account of it, the remedies of those corruptions,' viz. which fubfift both in the Roman and Reformed churches. The declining power of Antichrift, and the moral means of advancing the promised purity, amplitude, and felicity of the Chriftian church, probably on earth, to be completed in the heavenly state.' 6 6 In reading thefe difcourfes we noticed, among many others, the following affected terms and expreffions. Vol. I. p. 29. celestial epopée.' P. 66. those who outrage the prophetic emblems to an excess of scenical reprefentation.' P. 87. Implement,' for completion. P. 117. unique' as an adjective. P. 208. The expiation of Chrift's paffion. P. 223. the famed 'AAZIZ, or excifion of ferufalem.' P. 265. Interminations' for threatenings. P. 284. Adaption.' P. 289. tranfmiffively difordered. P. 297. evanid fhadow.' P. 349. evanefcence of the old law." P. 341. they create a paradife, a tempe, or a panchaa, in the reader's imagination.' Vol. II. p. 5. celeftial panoply. P. 12. *Rev. xviii, 21. and P 46 6 and other places, fafluous.' P. 43. the Ifraelites were expiated.? 6 We no longer wondered, however, at the falle tafte which Dr. A. has difcovered in regard to language or compofition, when we had read the following paffage, Vol. II. p. 338. A felection might be made from St. Luke and St. Paul; from Minucius, Lactantius, Prudentius, Jerome; Juftin, Clement, Origen, Chryfoftom, Bafil, Macarius; and the poems of Nazianzen, Nonnus, and Sinefius;' (Hear him, ye men of Oxford and Cambridge!) which might rival in elegance, and far exceed in utility, the very best claffics.' But that we may not be thought to have noticed only what is exceptionable in thefe volumes, we fhall copy the following juft representation of Chriftianity, which our Author has given, Vol II. p. 344. 6 By this auguft name I mean that religion which is defcribed and exemplified in the New Teftament, a religion of perfonal, domeftic, and public virtue in which the paffions are not extirpated, but governed: in which, God is adored through Jefus Chrift, with love, admiration, fear, and gratitude: by which fociety is continually improved and meliorated; while the individual is daily renewed and prepared both by the bleffings and adverfities of the prefent life for the endless felicity of the future.' If Dr. A. had adhered, in the course of these lectures, to this idea of Chriftianity, without introducing fuch extraneous matter as party-opinions, inexplicable doctrines, and myftie allegories, we should have been happy to have recommended them to the perufal of men of all parties and denominations. In their prefent form we cannot think that they do any credit to his judgment, whatever they may to his imagination; or that they can be of any service to the caufe which they are intended to fupport, as, inftead of convincing unbelievers, or confirming the doubtful, they have, in our opinion, a tendency to ftrengthen their prejudices, by leading them to think that Chriftianity confifts of doctrines at which reafon muft ever revolt, and that the argument from prophecy is obfcure, fanciful, and unfatisfactory. Em: ART. IX. Letters to the Jews; inviting them to an amicable Difcuffion of the Evidences of Chriftianity. By Jofeph Priestley, LL. D. F. R. S. &c. 8vo. 1s. Johnfon. 1786. CH HRISTIAN benevolence, we muft fuppofe, hath prompted Dr. Priestley, not merely to plead the caufe of a neglected though very numerous past of the human race, but directly to addrefs addrefs, and reafon with, them, on points of the most interesting and important nature. No people, fince the creation, that we have read or heard of, were ever fo defpifed, and hated, by the reft of mankind,-fo cruelly oppreffed, fo fingularly marked out by their fufferings, as that nation to whom these extraordinary letters are written. Happily, however, the times in which we live are not chargeable with the oppreffions and perfecutions here alluded to. Humanity, guided by Chriftian principles, has taught us, in thefe later and better days, a wifer and more equitable conduct. The hiftory of the Jews, ancient and modern, prefents us with a curious fubject of obfervation, in a philofophical view, when it is confidered that the defcendants of Abraham once poffeffed, for ages, a country, where they lived in the full maintenance of cuftoms and manners peculiar to themfelves, and in the enjoyment of fome advantages, and particularly the most important branches of knowledge, to which the reft of mankind were ftrangers, or, at leaft, concerning which, they were in a very great degree of uncertainty and darkness; and ftill they are as much fignalized as before, though in very different circumftances; having been, for ages alfo, driven out of their own land, difperfed over almoft every habitable part of the globe; and yet, wherever they come, remaining wholly diftinct from the rest of mankind. Other nations have been totally vanquifhed as well as the defcendants of Abraham, but the remnants of them have intermingled with the different people among whom they fat down, and their original hath been at length forgotten: but it hath not been fo with the Jews! Dr. Prieftley, fully perfuaded that they have been, and are, the peculiar people of the one living and true God, and that their extraordinary fufferings have been caused by their rejection of the Meffiah, invites them to a fair, difpaffionate, and diligent confideration of the fubject. He addreffes them with compaffion, with affection, and with respect; at the fame time that he appeals to their reafon and judgment. He urges them, efpecially the more learned among them, to a free difcuffion with respect to the Chriftian faith. He wishes to hear the objections they may have to offer, and affures them they fhall meet with the greatest and most candid attention. The Doctor feems to apprehend that fome of his peculiar tenets and explications of fcripture are favourable to his attempt; and, accordingly, he difclaims the doctrines of the miraculous Conception, of the Divinity of Chrift, and of the Trinity. Thofe, however, who deem themselves more orthodox Chriftians, will certainly object to fuch important conceffions; and will confider his relinquishment of thofe great points, as giving up all. Be this as it may, our Author's main defign is undoubt edly laudable; and the pious endeavour is well conducted, and REV. March, 1787. R fupported, fupported, by arguments, urged in fuch manner as feemed moft likely to excite the attention of those to whom the letters are addreffed. The Doctor's principal aim is to engage the Jews to think duly on the fubject:- I am, fays he, far from flattering myself that the little which I have advanced, fhould of itfelf make any of you converts to Chriftianity. My utmost hope is, that it may be the means of drawing your attention to the fubject, and especially to the ftudy of your Scriptures and ours in conjunction; that you may judge for yourfelves, whether there be reafon in what I have advanced or not.'-Again, he adds, Diligently compare the hiftorical evidence of both religions. Both, you will find, are in reality but one. They are perfectly confiftent with, nay they imply each other, and must ftand or fall together.' We have only farther to obferve, that fhould there be a profpect of obtaining, in any measure, the defirable end propofed, thefe letters will be tranflated into Hebrew, for the ufe of learned Jews in all parts of the world. H. ART. X. Sylva: or a Difcourfe on Foreft Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in his Majefty's Dominions. By John Evelyn, Efq. F. R. S. With Notes by A. Hunter, M. D. F. R. S. new Edition. To which is added, The Terra, a Philofophical Difcourfe of Earth. Royal 4to. 2 Vols. 21. 15s. Boards. On Imperial Writing-paper, 41. 10s. Boards. Dodiley. 1786. WE A E are happy to find that our opinion of this valuable work hath been confirmed by the public approbation. Dr. Hunter, whofe character for learning, ingenuity, knowledge, and perfeverance, is well known to the literary world, gave a beautiful and much improved edition of this excellent treatife, in 1776. And we have again the pleasure of feeing it republifhed, with additional notes to illuftrate the observations of its great Author. Mr. Evelyn was a man who would have done honour to any age or country, and his memory will ever be refpectable on account of thofe valuable productions, which, in his lifetime, fecured him the greatest reputation from his contemporaries, and to which the fucceeding age acknowledged his juft title. The Sylva is one of his most important publications, and is written on a moft interefting fubject; but, fince its first ap-. pearance, fo many improvements have taken place in natural' knowledge, and fuch great advances have been made in every department of it, as to call aloud for notice, and render another edition expedient. With a view of accomplishing this defign, Dr. Hunter undertook the laborious tafk of including all later improvements in the prefent edition; a tafk which he has per * Of York. formed formed with great induftry and fidelity. Added to this, there were many obfcurities in the language and ftyle of our Author, which rendered him in a great measure unintelligible to the generality of readers. In this fituation, it was neceflary to remove the difficulties and to elucidate what was obfcure; in doing which, it was impoffible to avoid making fome alterations in the text; but the Doctor obferves in his preface, that the liberties he has taken with it, in a variety of places, are warranted from a careful collation of the five editions with fome original manufcripts, without which he could not poffibly have proceeded with any degree of fatisfaction; for,' adds he, of all the books in the English language there are, perhaps, none fo incorrect as the two laft editions of the Sylva: the one printed in 1704, the other in 1729.' In Mr. Evelyn's original Introduction, there is an inftance of modefty and humility, as pleafing as it is rare: After what the frontispiece and porch of this wooden edifice prefents you, I fhall need no farther to repeat the occafion of this following difcourfe: I am only to acquaint you [the reader] that as it was delivered to the Royal Society by an unworthy member thereof, in obedience to their commands; by the fame it is now republished without any farther profpect: and the reader is to know, that if thefe dry sticks afford him any fap, it is one of the least and meanest of thofe pieces, which are every day produced by that illuftrious affembly; and which enrich their collections, as fo many monuments of their accurate experiments, and public endeavours, in order to the production of real and ufeful theories, the propagation and improvement of natural fcience, and the honour of their inftitution.' What a contraft to the vain-glorious declarations of fome of the ancients, in their own favour; how different from the encomium which Horace paffed on himself, Exegi monumentum ere perennius, &c. And furely if meritorious and fuccefsful exertions entitle any writer to felf-approbation, no one can dispute the right poffeffed by Mr. Evelyn. Having, in the Review of the former edition, given a circumftantial account of all the improvements which the Doctor had then introduced, we refer our readers to that account, and fhall now briefly mention fome of the notes added to the prefent republication +. We are prefented with an ingenious note, at p. 27, vol. i. on the analogy between the eggs of animals and the feeds of plants. In a note to p. 63, vol. ii. there is an interesting account of the *See vol. Ivii. p. 428. + We must obferve that the Terra, another treatise of Mr. Evelyn's, is placed at the end of this edition which work we shall notice in the next Article, as it has been feparately published. R 2 : falfe |