tainly would leffen the merit of Mr. Wakefield's View of Chriftianity in the eyes of many of his readers. The Reviewer profeffes, indeed, not entirely to agree with Mr. Wakefield, yet he defends him in general, and thinks his View of Christianity more nearly resembles the divine original than that of Mr. Wilberforce. I, therefore, readily agree with him in his conclufion, that "there is a mode of defending opinions, which excites as strong a fufpicion of their ftability as the most open attack on them," I remain, Mr. Editor, Your obedient humble fervant, Plumtree, Notts, GEORGE HUTTON. MISCELLANIES. THE WRANGLING PHILOSOPHERS, SHALL not then, reverend Sir, make you my confeffor in matters I of religion, but I will difclofe to you my opinion, as a man of lets p. ters, on the compofition of your book. Having, in former days, read many works of theology, I was curious to find out whether by any chemical process you had discovered real beings in that world of invifibles; unfortunately I am obliged to declare to the public, which according to your expreffion, P. xix, "hopes to be inftructed, to be led into truth, and not into error by me," that I have not found in your book a fingle new argument, but the mere repetition of what is told over and over in thousands of volumes, the whole fruit of which has been to procure for their authors a curfory mention in the dictionary of herefies. You every where lay down that as proved which remains to be proved; with this peculiarity, that, firing away, as Gibbon fays, your double battery against thofe who believe too much, and those who believe too little, you hold out your own particular fenfations as the precife criterion of truth; fo that we must be all juft of your fize in order to pass the gate of that new Jerufalem which you are building. After this, your reputation as a divine might have become problematical with me; but recollecting the principle of the affociation of ideas fo well developed by Locke, whom you hold in estimation, and whom, for that reafon, I am happy to cite to you, although to him I owe that pernicious ufe of my understanding which makes me difbelieve what I do not comprehend-I perceive why the public having originally attached the idea of talents to the name of Mr. Priestley, doctor in chemistry, continued by habit to affociate it with the name of Mr. Prieftley, doctor in divinity; which, however, is not the fame thing; an affociation of ideas the more vicious as it is liable to be moved inverfely.* Happily you have yourself railed a bar of feparation between your admirers, by advising us in the first page of your preface, that your prefent book is efpecially defined for believers. To co-operate, however, with you, Sir, in this judicious defign, I muft obferve that it is neceffary to retrench two paffages, feeing they afford the greatest fupport to the arguments of unbelievers. You fay, preface, P. xv. "What is manifeftly contrary to natural reafon, cannot be received by it ;"—and P. 62. With refpect to intellect, men and brute animals are born in the fame ftate, having the fame external fenfes, which are the only inlets to all ideas, and confequently the fource of all the knowledge and of all the mental habits they ever acquire." Now if you admit, with Locke, and with us infidels, that every one has the right of rejecting whatever is contrary to his natural reafon; and that all our ideas and all our knowledge are acquired only by the inlets of our external fenfes; what becomes of the fyftem of revelation, and of that order of things in times paft, which is fo contradictory to that of the time prefent? unless we confider it as a dream of the human brain during the state of fuperftitious ignorance.-With these two fingle phrafes, I could overturn the whole edifice of your faith. Dread not, however, Sir, in me fuch overflowing zeal for the fame reason that I have not the frenzy of martyrdom, I have not that of making profelytes. It becomes thofe ardent or, rather, acrimonious tempers, who miltake the violence of their fentiments, for the enthusiasm of truth; the ambition of noise and rumour, for the love of glory; and, for the love of their neighbour, the deteftation of his opinions, and the fecret defire of dominion. As to me who have not received from nature the turbulent qualities of an apoftle, and never sustained in Europe the character of a diffenter, I am come to America neither to agitate the conscience of men, nor to form a fect, nor to establish a colony in which, under the pretext of religion, I might erect a little empire to myself. I have never been feen evangelizing my idear, either in temples or public meetings. I have never likewife practifed that quackery of beneficence, by which a certain divine, impofing a tax upon the generofity of the public, procures for himself the honours of a more numerous audience, and the merit of diftributing at his pleasure a bounty which cofts him nothing, and for which he receives grateful thanks dexterously ftolen from the original donors.-Either in the capacity of a ftranger, or in that of a citizen, a fincere friend to peace, I carry into fociety neither the fpirit of diffention, nor the defire of commotion; and because I refpect in every one what I wish him to * Mr. Blair, doctor of divinity; and Mr. Black, doctor in chemistry, met at the coffee-house in Edinburgh a new theological pamphlet written by Dr. Priestley was thrown upon the table. Really," faid Doctor Blair, "this man had bettter confine himself to chemistry, for he is abfolutely ignorant in theology:"-" I beg your pardon," anfwered Doctor Black, "he is in the right, he is a minifter of the Gofpel, he ought to adhere to his profeffion, for, in truth, he knows nothing of chemistry!" refpe&t refpeft in me, the name of liberty is in my mind nothing elfe but the lynonyma of juftice; as a man, whether from moderation or indolence, a fpectator of the world rather than an actor in it, I am every day lefs tempted to take on me the management of the minds or bodies of other men: it is fufficient for an individual to govern his own paffions and caprices. If, by one of thefe caprices, I am induced to think it may be useful, fometimes to publish my reflec tions, I do it without obftinacy or pretention to that implicit faith, the ridicule of which you defire to impart to me, P. 123. My whole book of the Ruins which you treat fo ungratefully, fince you thought it amufing, P. 122, evidently bears this character. By means of the contrafted opinions which I have scattered through it, it breathes that fpirit of doubt and uncertainty which appears to me the beft fuited to the weakness of the human mind, and the moft adapted to its improvement, inafmuch as it always leaves a door open to new truths; while the fpirit of dogmatifm and immoveable belief, limiting our progrefs to a first received opinion, binds us at hazard, and without refource, to the yoke of error or fallehood, and occasions the most serious milchiefs to fociety; fince, by combining with the paffions, it engenders fanaticism, which, fometimes milled and fometimes mifleading, though always intolerant and defpotic, attacks whatever is not of its own nature; drawing upon itfelf perfecution when it is weak, and practifing perfecution when it is powerful; eftablishing a religion of terror, which annihilates the faculties, and vitiates the confcience: fo that, whether under a political or a religious afpect, the spirit of doubt is friendly to all ideas of liberty, truth, or genius, while a fpirit of confidence is connected with the ideas of tyranny, fervility, and ignorance. If, as is the fact, our own experience and that of others daily teaches us that what at one time appeared true, afterwards appeared demonftrably falfe, how can we connect with our judgements that blind and prelumptuous confidence which purfues thofe of others with fo much hatred? No doubt it is reasonable and even honeft, to act according to our prefent feelings and conviction: but if thefe feelings and their caules do vary by the very nature of things, how dare we impofe upon ourselves or others an invariable conviction? How, above all, dare we require this conviction in cafes where there is really no fenfation, as happens in purely fpeculative questions, in which no palpable fact can be prefented? Therefore when opening the book of nature, a more authentic one and more ealy to be read than leaves of paper blackened over with Greek or Hebrew, when I reflected that the flightcft change in the material world has not been in time paft, nor is, at prefent, eficcted by the difference of fo many religions and fects which have appeared and ftill exift on the globe, and that the course of the seasons, the path of the fun, the return of rain and drought are the fame for the inhabitants of cach country, whether Chriftian, Musulman, Idolators, Catholics, . Proteftants, &c. I am induced to believe that the universe is governed by laws of wildom and juftice, very different from those which human ignorance and intolerance would enact. And And as, in living with men of very oppofite religious perfuafions, I have had occafion to remark that their manners were, neverthe lefs, very analogous; that is to fay, among the different Chriftian fects, among the Mahometans, and even among those people who were of no fect-I have found men who practife all the virtues pub. lic and private, and that too without affectation; while others, who were inceffantly declaiming of God and religion, abandoned themfelves to every vicious habit, which their belief condemned—I became convinced that Ethics, the doârine of morality, are the only effential, as they are the only demonftrable, part of religion.And as, by your own avowal, the only end of religion is to render men better, in order to add to their happiness, P. 62, I have concluded that there are but two great fyftems of religion in the world, that of good sense and beneficence, and that of malice and hypocrify. In clofing this letter I find myself embarrassed by the nature of the fentiment which I ought to exprefs towards you; for, in declaring as you have done, P. 123, that you do not care for the contempt of fuch men as me,* (ignorant as you were of my opinion,) you tell me plainly that you do not care for their efteem: I leave, therefore, to your difcernment and tafte to determine the fentiment most congenial to my situation and your defert. Philadelphia, Mar. 10, 1797. C. F. VOLNEY. P. S. I do not accompany this public letter with a private note to Doctor Priestley; becaufe communications of that nature carry an appearance of bravado, which, even in exercising the right of a neceffary defence, appear to me incompatible with decency and politenefs. SIR, To the Editor of the Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine. WHE HEN I faw the Review of Rivers's pamphlet in a former Number, I was much inclined to give your readers fome facts which have come to my knowledge; but fuppofing it would receive a reply I waited for that event. I beg leave, therefore, now "And what does it do for me here, except, perhaps, expofe me to the contempt of fuch men as Mr. Volney, which, however, I feel myfelf pretty well abie to hear?" P. 124. This language is the more furprizing, as Dr. Priestley never received any thing from me but civilities. In the year 1791 I fent him a differtation of mine on the chronology of the ancients, in confequence of fome charts which he had himfelf published. His only anfwer was to abufe me in a pamphlet in the year 1792. After this firft abufe, on meeting me here laft winter, he procured me to be invited to dine with his friend Mr. Ruffel, at whofe houfe he lodged; after having fhown me polite attentions at that dinner, he abufes me in his new pamphlet. After this fecond abuse, he meets me in Spruce-street, and takes me by the hand as a friend, and fpeaks of me in a large company under that denomination. Now I ask the public what kind of a man is Doctor Pricftley? to to fubmit to your perufal and infertion, if you choose, the following obfervations and facts. Your correfpondent G. fhould have ftated who were the Orthodox Diffenters; for it is well known they have much decreased in number, most having become Latitudinarians in fo extensive a sense as to differ little from Socinians or Deifts for the truth of which, fee Dr. Horfeley's Letter, on the fubject, to Priestley, in the Collection of his Tracts, and Fuller's Socinian Controverfy difcuffed. On which account the heads of the Diffenters have thought it neceffary to publifh an expurgata edition of Watts's Hymns, from which they have expelled every expreffion which militated against the Saducæan doctrines of no fpirit and no futurity. This conduct, however, they have not avowed either in the title-page or preface. His objection against ex uno difce omnes is unfounded; we muft neceffarily deduce the character and difpofition of our fectarifts from the leaders of the most numerous divifions. Now, Sir, Diffenters have been lately in the neighbourhood of Northampton as well as Salisbury, extremely active in forming congregations in villages, and fome of the chief preachers at them are young men not in orders, or pretended orders, but flax-dreffers, grocers, fhoe-makers, &c. who were the most ftrenuous fupporters of oppolition at our laft election. Sometimes the established preachers of the meeting houfes of Northampton lend their affiftance; fo that in their turns preach Anabaptifts and Pædo-baptift Diffenters of any defcription. Neither is it true that they go only to Villages where there is no duty nor refident minifter; for, on the contrary, they have established meetings at Efton, Wefton Favel, and Great Houghton. At the two firft have been refident minifters for at least fifty years back, and at the laft near ten, all bearing, to fay the leaft, a character yet unimpeached for performing the duties of their ftation. The following occurrence paffing in a court of justice is of public notoriety. lage of Quinton, where refides a gentleman of the highest character as a magiltrate and clergyman, one of the parishioners refolved to have a meeting-his name was Marriot, calls himnielf an Orthodox Diffenter, and applied to the Quarter Seffions, held at Northampton, January 1798, for a licence; his Rector, being on the bench, faid, he thought there could be little neceflity; but the confcience of our puritan, as he faid, obliged him to perfift. The licence was granted; but the landlord put a stop to the meeting.-In the delertion of the Diffenters from their firft orthodoxy may be at once fcen, both the neceflity for articles and creeds, and alio the fure end of fchifm ruit in pegus.-Let G. remember, that if to correct any real, or imaginary, defect in the Church Minifters, one perion may break through the laws of fubordination, any other may, and then there's an end of all order. The S ribes and Pharifees fit in Mofes's feat, whatfoever they fay unto you that obferve and do. I truft no confcientious man will fay that the English Clergy are no better than the Scribes and Pharilees of old; and, if they were, ftill the command is conclufive. Will any Orthodox Diffenter fay, that falvation cannot be obtained in the belief and practices of the In the vil Church |