of Christianity, Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian; shewing that, while they opposed the religion of Jesus, they confirmed the authenticity of the N. T. Some judicious remarks on the style of those sacred books are subjoined: but we think that the plain readers, for whom the au thor intends this essay, will not understand him when he observes, P. 72., that the writings of Porphyry staggered the faith of some Christians, and totally changed the polarity of it in others.'

Art. 22.

Occasional Considerations on various Passages of Scripture. By the Author of "Sunday Reflections." 8vo. 5s. 6d. Boards. Hatchard..

It is admitted by the author that these Considerations belong to the Sermon-family;' and had not the new word, lately coined, been also appropriated, they might not improperly have been intitled Sermonets: but, though the lady who has invented the Sermonet, and in course obtained a patent for it in the court of criticism, will not allow her right to be invaded, it may yet be safely evaded by a still greater affectation of humility, or by a diminutive still farther diminished. Perhaps, in the present instance, some use may be made of the hint, and in the next edition these Occasional Considerations may be termed Sermonetettas. In fact, they are sermons in disguise, forming a sort of continuation of the "Sunday Reflections," intended for Sunday-evening reading, and are indeed sufficiently serious and practical for this purpose. Publications calculated for family-exhortation are becoming numerous: we hope that a perverse decrease of family-religion and piety will not defeat the object of these speculations.

Art. 23. The Friendly Call of Truth and Reason to a new Species of Dissenters; or nominal Churchmen, but practical Schismatics; to which are prefixed, a few Observations on the Expediency of Parliamentary Interposition, duly to explain, and if necessary to amend, the Act of William and Mary, commonly called "The Toleration Act." By the Rev. Edward Barry, M.D., Rector of St. Mary's and St. Leonard's, Wallingford, Berks. 4th Edition. 8vo. 5s. Boards. Rivingtons.

By those persons to whom this Friendly Call is addressed, it will not be regarded either in its style or its object as very friendly. No body of Dissentients will like to be stigmatised as Dissenters from artifice and dissimulation; nor will Dissenters in general be very thankful to Dr. Barry for the guarded liberality expressed by him in the following sentence: Of those who are truly and conscientiously Dissenters, and by suitable manners and appearances come within the description and real meaning of the act; far, very far, be it from me to surmise any thing that should have a tendency to abridge the liberty.' Who is to be the judge of these suitable manners and appearances? Who is to distinguish between what Dr. B. calls the claims of sincerity and those of deception? By the parliamen tary interposition which such a reasoner would recommend, short work would be made with Dissenters, who have considered it their duty to revolt from the church as by law established.' If to dissent is to revolt, this act is a high crime and misdemeanour, and ought to

be

be punished accordingly; the Toleration Act ought not to be altered, but repealed; and the old penal statutes against Dissenters should be revived.

We notice these traits in Dr. B.'s Friendly Call, to shew that his mode of displaying 'truth'and reason' is more adapted to irritate than to persuade. His zeal for the established church, and his alarm on the subject of dissent, are apparent in his remarks on the British and Foreign Bible Society; and probably many persons are to be found, who cherish similar feelings: but Dissentients are not likely to be convinced on being roundly charged by a beneficed clergyman with the crime of schism; especially when the accusation may be retorted, since they have no otherwise separated from the Protestant established church, than the Protestant formerly separated from the Catholic

church.

Art. 24. An Inquiry into the Evidence of the Divine Origin of the Christian Religion. 8vo. 1s. Bickerstaff. 1813.

Misapprehension sometimes passes for ingenuity, and we are charitably disposed to hope that we have here a case in point; since, if we could, we would attribute a good meaning to the present author, though we are unable to perceive any soundness in his argument, or any correctness in his view of the Christian religion. According to him, if our religion be from God, we must resign all possibility of comprehending its merits or tendency:-we want a further sense to view it distinctly. Now this proposition is no more absurd than the following, viz. that, if food, be the gift of God, we shall require an additional stomach in order to digest it. In the works of revelation, as well as in those of nature, we perceive an adaptation of means to ends we find in the sacred Scriptures that the word of God is addressed to our reason and understanding; and inquiry is urged as a means of leading man to conviction. Indeed, the inquiry respecting Christianity here proposed is completely useless, and even farcical, if, as the anonymous writer asserts, we are incompetent to decide on its good or bad effects.' If we cannot tell whether it be good or bad, can we be interested in the discussion of its evidences? Another remark in this little pamphlet is made with much plausibility: but, from the manner in which it is offered and defended, we are led to suspect that the author does not mean to render Christianity that service which he pretends to design :

The argument which has been deemed the most powerful and effective against this religion is, that it is founded on miracles, but that to prove a miracle there must be miraculous evidence, because no fact or event can be proved without tantamount evidence, or evidence of equal degree. I will admit this argument, and at once lay it down, that the Christian religion, resting on miracles, cannot be substantiated without miraculous proof.'

To establish this miraculous proof, long quotations are made from the O. T. respecting the Jewish people; and the connection between the predictions concerning them and the occurrence of events is termed a miraculous proof: but the writer must know that the ful. filment of a prophecy delivered in the O. T. is no proof of the mi

racles

racles recorded in the N. T.; and, if he would insinuate that, from the nature of the case, no better is to be obtained, the supposition is not altogether improbable that, while he repeats Hume's objection against the evidence of miracles, he is partial to Hume's creed. When, moreover, it is hinted that a part of the prophecy concerning the Jews is accomplished, and that at this moment we can see the gradual march of circumstances to the fulfilment of the last part,' (meaning their restoration to the land of Canaan,) the author can only mean to sport with the credulity of his readers; for what one circumstance can be pointed out as indicative of this return? Are we to suspend our believe in the Gospel till this improbable event occurs ?-Mr. Anonymous, you appear in a very questionable shape!

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 25. An Essay on Average; and on other Subjects connected with the Contract of Marine Insurance. Dedicated, by Permission, to the Committee for managing the Affairs of Lloyd's. By Robert Stevens, of Lloyd's. 8vo. pp. 196. Boards. Richardson. 1813.

We have more than once expressed our sollicitude to see a greater proportion of publications on mercantile topics, in the hope that they would conduce to facilitate to the young trader the acquisition of that knowlege which, as matters stand at present, is found to require the best part of a person's life. Without wishing to insi nuate that any printed instructions can supply the want of practice, we must be allowed to repeat that they might be made to co-operate very efficaciously with the effects of active participation in business; and to lead, at a comparatively early period, to the formation of those general views which constitute the sum of the experience of an enlightened merchant. Above thirty years, it seems, have now passed since any work has been printed on the practical part of insurance; a circumstance which is considered by Mr. Stevens as a principal cause of the state of uncertainty in which many points continue to be involved. Merchants in general, he adds, possess much less information on this subject than its importance to their interest requires; and, even among underwriters, the rules for the adjustment of disputed claims are still very imperfectly understood. Mr.S. does not flatter himself that the establishment, by authority, of a code of insurance-regulations, would form a satisfactory settlement of the question, because an attempt of this nature, made in 1747, failed in an early stage; and there seems to be little hope of arriving at undisputed conclusions, until repeated discussions and decisions shall have paved the way for the adoption of comprehensive principles.

It is a familiar remark that we are little aware of the extent of labour in acquiring a thorough knowlege of such occupations as are unconnected with our own particular line. An Oxford student who knows, by sad experience, that year after year of undiminished application is necessary to the attainment of a knowlege of Greek and Latin, can with difficulty be made to comprehend that sacrifices not much inferior are required in the acquisition of the science of

political

political economy. In the same way, few persons, either in or out of trade, are conscious of the complexity, variety, and difficulty of insurance-questions; or of the nice and intricate discussions arising out of the doctrine of Average. To many, indeed, it may be necessary to give a definition of the word, which means a contribution made by the different persons interested in a ship and cargo towards the loss of those who have their goods cast overboard for the safety of the remainder.' This contribution, being proportioned to the value of each person's interest, has hence acquired the name of Average; which, in a general sense, denotes a medium or mean proportion. As the principles of money constitute the most difficult part of political economy, the doctrine of Average may, in like manner, be pronounced to be the most intricate department of insurance. Mr. S. has analyzed a variety of points connected with the apportionments due in particular cases, and has been indefatigable in pursuing the subject through all its devious mazes through the decisions of our judges, the voluminous writings of foreigners, and the not less voluminous acts of our legislature. We applaud his industry in investigating, and his clearness in communicating, the result of his researches: but we must decline to enter on the discussion of questions which present so uninviting an aspect to general readers. As the country of our good friends the Dutch boasts no purling streams nor picturesque cascades, the best written treatise on such a topic as this must be barren of attraction to the reader of taste or imagination. It would puzzle even Johnson himself to render pages, written on the subject of Average, of that description which, in his elevated phraseology, he was wont to term "pages of amenity." A very different estimate of the book before us will, no doubt, be formed by the grave personages who are professedly interested in it; and particularly by the members of the Committee of Lloyd's, whose names figure with due solemnity in the dedication-page.

Mr. Stevens gives the public reason to expect an extensive work on Insurance, but appears to have hitherto delayed it from a consideration of the almost boundless field of research which is necessary to a thorough investigation of such a subject. We shall welcome a publication of that nature, both as tending to supply one of the most important of the blanks mentioned in the beginning of this notice, and as likely to afford us some less forbidding topics of discussion than the unkindly theme of Average.

Art. 26. History of the Origin and Progress of the Meeting of the three Choirs of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford, and of the Charity connected with it. To which is prefixed, a View of the Condition of the parochial Clergy of this Kingdom, from the earliest Times. By the Rev. Daniel Lysons, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A. Rector of Rodmarton, in the County of Gloucester. 8vo. 7s. 6d. Boards. Cadell and Davies.

That every benefice in England should be made a fit and competent maintenance for an educated minister is an object much to be desired: but we are not sure that the immense property, vested in the ecclesiastical body under the Popish regime, ought to be restored to the

clergy

clergy of our Protestant church; who, from the altered state of things, are not so numerous as the Romish clergy were, and now bear a small proportion to the population of the kingdom. It is amusing to look back to old times; though, probably, they will afford few hints to guide us in the reformation now so much wanted. To the religious houses, large landed revenues were assigned by royal grants and the donations of superstitious laymen: but have our present parochial clergy a right to the vast property which belonged to the monasteries and abbeys, and was alienated at their suppression? No one can approve the profusion with which grants were made out of it to the favourites of the crown; yet the entire conversion of it to the sole use of the clergy would have been a national grievance *. Because our popish Mary was disposed to restore this property taken by her father from the church, Mr. Lysons speaks in her favour, while he asserts that the church of England has venerated Elizabeth much more than she deserves. He condemns impropriations; not considering that, by uniting the interest of the nobles and the rich commoners with that of the ecclesiastical body,they secure the stability of church-property. From large lay-impropriations, an allowance ought to be made to vicars and curates, so as to afford them a respectable maintenance; and the evils of pluralities and non-residence call for redress: but, before the latter can be altered, those livings which are so small that no minister can live on them must be augmented, and the number of this description still remains great. 1626, out of nearly 9000 ecclesiastical livings, two-thirds were then under 30l. a-year; 4000 under zol. and 2000 under 10l. in value.' It is certain that, in consequence of the multitude of small livings, Queen's Anne's bounty for their augmentation must operate slowly.

'In

It has been calculated,' adds Mr. Lysons, that up to the year 1802, including a space of 88 years, this munificent bounty produced the sum of 963,400l.; with which, aided by private benefactions to the amount of about 318,000l. 6407 augmentations were made to poor benefices; yet so inadequate has it proved to the magnitude and extent of the evil, that, under its operation alone, it would now require about 200 years to raise all the poor livings to between 50l.

As the poor were fed at the gates of the religious houses, and as the suppression of these establishments occasioned the necessity of the poor's rate, the lands which belonged to the monasteries may be considered to be as much the patrimony of the poor as of the church; and those parishes, in which impropriations exist that were formed out of the spoils of the religious houses suppressed by Henry VIII., have as good a plea for claiming them in aid of the poor's rate, as the Establishment can have for the maintenance of its clergy. Burnet, in his H story of the Reformation, remarks that the bequests to the monasteries and abbeys were in a great measure for private masses; and at the suppression the question was, whether the lands thus bequeathed should revert to the families of the donors, or escheat to the crown? The Protestant church could have no claim.

and