I Mr. URBAN, March 11. HAVE been long a reader and admirer of your Magazine, and, having received much pleafure and inftruction from it, am bound in gratitude to give a teftimony in favour of it, by way of aniwer to Mr. J. Berington's letter, and your note fubjoined, p. 124. I have always attended to your felection of matter with attention, and have ever obferved you to act with all the judgement, impartiality, fpirit, and candour, fuitable to your undertaking, in regard to every religion, political party, art, fcience, circumftance, &c. &c. The confequence is, that I place fo much confidence in you, as to be fully of opinion, that your examination of the pieces offered for infertion is a fufficient obftruction to the admiffion of all improper ones, without having recourfe to the rigid reftrictions propofed by Mr. B; reftrictions which would deprive you of your female, your noble, and your youthful correfpondents. The feminine writer declines public notice; the peer likes not to difclofe his title; and the youth is unwilling to expole the first fallies of his genius to the fevere criticifins of his elders. Writers of various other defcriptions would alfo ceafe communicating with you; among whom would be myfelf. My meanings will always ftand the ftricteft teft of moral inveftigation; yet I chufe not to proclaim my name any more than I should my religion, though I have not the fhadow of a reafon for being afhamed of either; I only am not defirous of parti. cularifing myfelf. When you reject my letters, I fubinit to your fuperior judgement contentedly; when you infert them, I feel myfelf obliged. I only infit on impartiality and exact copying. The part of Mr. B's plan, which he fill adheres to, would, in one refpect, anfwer extremely well to him, who feruples not expofing his name, as it would generally fecure to him an undisputed field of battle; for, however erroneous and-controvertible his affertions and opinions might be, they could not be oppofed by any perfon, how able foever, who was not willing to become a public difputant: hence Mr. B. would often have the fatisfaction of enjoying imaginary triumphs. But, on the other hand, he would lie under the difadvantage of feldom receiving anfwers to his enquiries; for if your readers could not gratify him without publishing their ames, few of them would do it at all. Go on as you have done. Mr. Urban; you cannot do better. If you fhackle your correfpondents, you crush the fpirit of your Mifcellany. In perufing Agricola's reply to Can dide (p. 104), I derived much fatisfac tion from the objections made by Agri cola to the ill-judged propofition for private executions, which, if adopted, would prove a fource of many evils, and a ftab to the conftitution of this coun try. To evince the dangerous tendency of the idea, I take leave to observe, that the public execution of the fentence paffed by law on capital convicts is a check on the royal prerogative, in fome meafure neceffary towards the prefervation of our rights. To give an inftance explanatory of my affertion, I fuppofe it poffible that, were private executions to be established, the executive power might collufively grant life in return for parliamentary intereft. Even one folitary vote, in a hard conteft, might fave from juftice a murderer. Within the confined walls of a prifon, deceptive executions might be conducted without difficulty. The expofure of criminals' bodies might be easily evaded under many plaufible pretences, for people would not be very peremptory in requiring to fee objects fo unpleasant. The Crown cannot make fuch an im proper ufe of its pardoning power publicly; but it might act in the private manner alluded to with impunity; and we cannot be too watchful in guarding against the extenfion of arbitrary power; it is far more eafy to keep our ground, than to recover it when loft. Agricola's objections are fufficient; yet mine is to be added to them. Ereunetes, p. 130, does my remarks on his Elay much honour: they deferve not all the epithets he bestows on them; yet that of candid is just, if my pen coincided with my intention. I am much gratified in finding that my fentiments on each fubject are approved by Ereunetes, whofe principles and knowledge I hold in much esteem. I think attempts might be made in both cafes for procuring redrefs, or at least relief; for though the prefent fyftems are pow erfully fupported, yet the excellent maxim of the late good and wife John Jebb fhould be always kept in view, viz. "that no effort is ever loft entirely." As I do it with deference, I hope Mr. H. Croft will excufe my faying, that I am not fatished of Miller's competency to filling the botanic head to Mr. C's new Dictionary (p. 92), unlefs Profeffor Martyn is inferting in Miller's work an account of all the trees, plants, &c. that have been introduced into England fince it was laft amended by its original author. We poffefs many trees, &c. that Miller never heard of, and there are others that were known in his time, but omitted by him. If Mr. C. does not enumerate as many of them as have received English names, his Dictionary will be imperfect; and to prevent that, this liberty is taken by, Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, BRADWARDIN. March 18. THE HE account which your agreeable and worthy correfpondent, Mr. Greene, has given of the piece of fculpture preferved in his Museum, I make no queftion may be the true one, namely, that it was "meant for a representation of the Bleffed Trinity;" but I fhould not have been forry if he had not told us fo. We might then, perhaps, by a very harmlefs miftake, have fuppofed that the figure, crowned with the papal tiara, was defigned for one of the Roman pontifs, embracing an image of Chrift, whofe vicar on earth the fovereign pontif ftyles himself But, confidered as what was intended to reprefent the Almighty, though we are 'fenfible of its futility, I am not fure that it is altogether innocent to exhibit it. This at leaft is certain, that the attempt to make like nefs of the Deity, by any vifible form, is at once abfurd and profane. It is ab. furd, because He who is a fpirit, "whom no man hath feen nor can feet," cannot poffibly be pourtrayed by the fimilitude of any thing created. It is profane, because it derogates from the honour and majefty of God, and tends to increase that propenfity which there feems to be in the human mind to think of the Supreme Being under fome definite form, or circumfcribed by fome fpace; to whom indeed, as reigning in Heaven, where his glory is difplayed, our prayers are to be addreffed, but of whom, nevertheless, we fhould always conceive as being prefent every where, and filling all in all," Ephef. i. 23. The fpirituality of the Deity is one of thofe truths which the light of nature fuggefted to the heathen; and they fometimes fpeak with great dignity on the fubject. For," fays Cicero, " * Jan. Mag. p. 9. t1 Tim. vi 16. we can conceive of God himself, as our in tellect conceives of him, 'in no othe manner than as of a mind uncontrouled and free, exempt from all perishable mixture, perceiving and actuating all things, and itfelf endued with eternal activity," Tufcul. Quæft. lib. I. xxvii. The paffage is a noble one, and truly worthy of its great author. But here, Mr. Urban, a difficulty occurs. For how are we to reconcile fuch ideas as thefe among the heathen with the univerfal prevalence of idolatry and polytheifm how was it that they, who had fuch fublime, and, as far as they go, juft notions of the Godhead, did not fee the infallible inference from them, that it was the extreme of folly to make any material refemblance of the Deity, and the height of impiety to pay religious worship to Jupiter, to Apollo, and fuch a herd of divinities? Being in poffeffion of the premifes, did it require a great ftretch of intellects to deduce from them their neceffary and evident conclufion? It is not ufually fo; whence was it in this cafe? Have we here, as we feem to have, one of those riddles, thofe inconfiftencies in the province of reason, of which Revelation alone enables us to give a fatisfactory account, by informing us what human nature once was, and what it now is? In the truths retained, or the difcoveries made, by unaffifted reason, we fee a glimpse of those talents which man originally poffeffed, when he came forth from the hands of his Creator, formed in the divine image. At the fame time, in the deplorable ignorance and more deplorable errors of the wifeft of the heathen, we have a ftriking and melancholy proof of what man is at prefent, depraved, polluted, blind, groping "amid the blaze of "when truth fhines around him with brightest splendour. noon, But whence is it that thefe things are to us fo evident, that, did not inconteftible facts fhew the contrary, we could fcarcely believe there ever was a time in civilized life when they were unknown or obfcure? has reafon in these latter days acquired fresh powers? and do we really furpafs the ages of antiquity in abilities and wildom? or is this rather the accomplishment of that which was promifed? I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and they fhall all know me, from the leaft of them unto the greatest of them," Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. The great leading truths refpeƐting pure and fpi ritual worship, which reafon could not dilcover, are yet, when difcovered, fo congenial to reafon, and learnt fo early, that we do not know the time when we had them not; they are engraven fo deep, that neither depravity of life, nor perverfenefs of difpute, can totally ef. face them. There are fome remarks on these ponts, by one who certainly was wellinformed, fo appofite to the whole of this letter, that I truft I fhall be excufed in quoting part of them: "The invifible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly feen, being underfood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; fo that they are without excufe; becaufe that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind," or rather, perhaps, as the margin has it, “a mind void of judgement," erting about matters in themselves moft evident, and of the laft importance. See Rom. i. 20, Yours, &c. R. C. 31, 28. P. S The notion combated in your Magazine, p. 38, &c. I find is no new idea, but an ancient Pagan fentiment; which is thus expreffed by Lucan, on the principles of the Stoics, whofe con cit it was: Victurofque dei celant, ut vivere durent, Pbarfal. lib. iv. 519. In p. 38, col. 2, 1. 50, Bght. TH Mr. URBAN, April 4. HE book referred to in Dr. Ducarel's letter, p. 195, is intituled, Korte Befchryvinge van eenige vergetene en verborgene Antiquiteten van't oude Vrieflandt & Annales Drenthia. Johan Picardt. Amft. 1660." 4to, with curs. The defcription of the Stonehenge, as the Dr. calls it, is in c. 5, p. 22, from whence the following account is taken by Keyler*, in his " Antiqui He gives the book this title: "Joh. Picardti Autiquiteten der Provincien en Landen gelegene tuffchen de Noord Zee de Yffel, Emfe, en Lippe." tates Septentrionales, 1720,” p. 5 : “ In Drenthe in Over Yffel near Coeworden, on the borders of Eaft Friefland, is a collection of ftones of immenfe weights, the heaps of which are 16, 18, 20, 25 paces long, and 4, 5, 6 broad. Upon fmaller ftones are laid others of much larger dimenfions, fome of which are 56 feet in circumference, fome 40, 36, 30, zo." Compare alfo Schaten Hift. of Weftphalia, vii. p. 487. The print, as copied by Keyfler, reprefents 3 or 4 of thefe piles of ftones in a confufed indiftinct manner, ruder than our Stonehenge. Key fler adds, “fuch stones are more numerous in this tract than all other kingdoms put together. There is one of very large dimenfions near Anle, two near the village of Ann, one near Balloo, feveral near Benthem, nine of different fizes at Borger, near 16 at Drowen, one of amazing fize at Embfbuir, others near Ounen, two in the neighbourhood of Rolden, a very large one at Saltzberg," &c. &c. If in thefe feveral inftances the number of ftones form but one mafs, it is only a cromlech, and not to be compared with that at Drenthe, which feems to come nearer to our Stonehenge. Picardt from certain obfervations determined it to have been erected by the heathen Saxons, who afterwards came into England, conquered the nation, and left many monuments erected, without infcriptions. Mr. Vertue, in a letter to Dr. Ducarel, in my poffeffion, fays, "he remembered a gentleman of the Dr's acquaintance faying, that he lived in Friefland near this ftone monument, and had often feen it, and had the printed account," which was fo difficult to be got, but which Dr. D. afterwards procured, and which was fold at the fale of his library, Apr. 8, 1786, N° 1211, for 19s. 6d. to Mr. G. Nicol. I know not whether this monument appears in the maps of Drenthe by De Wir, Schenk, or Valk. It is not in one which I have by Pynacker, nor is it noticed by Bufching, xiv. ii, 213— 217, or by any of the general defcriptions of the country. Picardt wrote alfo a Hiftory of Drenthe, printed 1659, and re-printed at Groeningen 1732. Your correfpondent the Country Rector, p. 225, feems to be poffelled of the very letter, of which a copy was before Mr. Walker when he penned his Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 23. Mr. W. adds, that, "notwithftanding this To the Bishops and Clergy of the Epifcopal Church of Scotland. 319 letter, Mr. H. continued to officiate as before, upon which Cromwell, with a party of foldiers, attended by the rabble, came into the church in time of divine fervice with his hat on, and directing himself to Mr. H. faid, I am a man under authority, and am commanded to difmifs tbis affembly upon which Mr. H. made a paufe; but Cromwell and the rabble palling up toward the communion table, Mr. H. proceeded with the fervice, at which Cromwell returned, and, laying his hand on his fword in a paffion, bid Mr. H. leave off bis fooling and come down, and fo drove out the whole congregation." What followed after this we may conclude from the reforming ravage of Dowfing in all the churches of the country three months after. Mr. H. was one of the clergy vicars. Co D. H. April 5. Mr. URBAN, CONSISTENCY, p. 195, is defired to fatisfy himself and the publick, whether the marriage of two fifters, when there is no iffue of the first marriage, is prohibited, and then arraign the eftablished clergy of prevarication, or the fupporters of that establishment of abetting them in it. Was not Mijon, who affifted the Princefs Sobieski in her efcape, p. 200, the traveller of that name? See in his letter from Rome, May 4, 1688, the infcriptions in honour of Cha. and Ja. II.; but his life in Biog. Dict. does not favour the fuppofition. Tool was probably an Irishman. What can induce the Monthly Reviewers of Biblioth. Topog. No. XLI. to take fo much pains to guard us from cherishing thoughts of inherent fanctity in ancient walls, pillars, &c. ? are they afraid Mr. Pegge is going to introduce Popery? Yours, &c. P. Q To the Bishops and Clergy of the Epifco SIRS, pal Church of Scotland. A CENTURY is now winding up finte intrigue and violence combined to oblige you to give up your religion together with your King. And though I trust there is not a man among you, who, at this day, feriously wishes the abdicating family restored, yet in fuch wayward circumftances are you placed, that a nominal attachment to that family appears equally with your religion to be your bond of union.Your perfeverance in your religion under a degree of oppreflion which has only been equalled in modern times by does credit to your principles; nor is it the revocation of the edict of Nantz, tion, your church could not readily aca matter of furprize, if, at the Revolu commodate its loyalty to a King, a fokingdom by low intrigue, who murreigner, who managed the affairs of your dered your fellow-fubjects by military treachery your expenfive fettlement at execution in cold blood, who ruined by promifed to extend your commerce, and Darien, which, whether juftly or not, enrich your country, who gave up your Church and you into the hands of bitter tyranny you had but just escaped. and enthufiaftic enemies, from whole But things have entirely changed their appearance in the courfe of time. The restoration of your old family is become morally impoffible, if even probable; every principle of good fenfe, poIn fact, it was juftly expelled, and, tho licy, and religion, militates against it. the tender heart muft fympathize with its fufferings, no friend of Britain can with that it should be recalled. The prefent family no longer rules by a fac tious party, which, knowing itfelf inferior in power and real influence, carried domineer in the ftate, but by holding on all things by intrigue, and could not the iron rod of oppreffion conftantly over their adverfaries, and keeping every man at a distance from their King, who was not of their faction. If you will government, you will have a right, not entitle yourselves to the protection of alfo. Your Church, by its conflitution to protection only, but to countenance is friendly to Kingly power. The Ge only by accident. Had it not been ne neva difcipline in your country is loyal ceffary for the Calvinifts, ever fince the Revolution, to attach themfelves to gevernment, to fecure that establishment favour by furprize, or had they beca which Carstairs got King William to placed in your fituation of perfecution, their worship profcribed, and their perfons in continual danger; if we can judge of them by their conduct from the time of the Reformation till then, we fhould not have had two rebellions in Scotland, but two and twenty. cenfure on the prefent eftablished clergy. I mean not by this to throw the leaft They are forced to take their Church as tious fpirit. They have merit in having they found it, framed by a reftlefs facbeen able to meilow down its turbu the laws. They are men of learning, lence into good order and obedience to and and of fober exemplary manners, and furely nobody ought to grudge them the poor pittance, which they retain of the ancient revenue of the Church. They are not answerable for the factious fpirit or intrigues of their predeceffors. There is no going back to the first fettlement of things, under pretence of reftoring juftice; they are in fair poffeffion of the law. Still the fpirit of Calvinifm is to fplit into parties, and oppose itself to authority. But as every thing is made to co-operate for wife and good purposes, perhaps their establishment which attaches them to govern ment was permitted for the quiet of the reft of the British empire. For, had the Calvinifts been reduced to your state, their reftlefs fpirit would have given fuch conftant exercife to government, as would effectually have prevented it from taking that part on the theatre of Europe which for wife, though perhaps hidden purposes of Providence, we hitherto have been made to act. In like manner, your unprecedented ftate of oppreffion, and your exemplary perfeverance in your religion, may yet have the beft confequences, if you follow up the gracious defign for which they have been permitted. The Church of which you are a part, established in the seat of government, and profcribed among you, forms a circumftance not eafily to be accounted for on any principles of found realoning. When any profane blafphemer, in both kingdoms, is allowed to broach his opinions, and make difciples, you are obliged to meet by ftealth, and owe to the indulgence of individuals that permiffion of worshiping God which the law denies you. The difcipline of the Kirk, which has affumed your place, is admirable in theory for preferving decency and order amongst its members. But the want of a Liturgy is a radical defect in its conftitution, which draws after it the moft untoward circumftances. Every private clergyman is left at li berty to form his inftructions and his doctrine according to his own particular notions. He reads and comments only on fuch portions of Scripture to his hearers, as he judges may fuit them. Hence that variety of opinions, and feparate affociations, which have fprung up in it, and broken the peace of it. Hence Dr. Priestley's boast of the number of followers he has gained in Scotland, to allift him in his attempts to degrade our Bletfed Saviour from his office of Redeemer. The Church of Eng land, for near fourfcore years, has been deprived of the privilege (which every petty club enjoys) of approving or cenfuring its members, or regulating its difcipline; nor can fhe, as a Church, take any notice of the many horrid at tacks made on the religion of the Bible. Yet fuch are the good effects of an eftablished Liturgy therein, and of the great proportion of Scripture which enters into its daily offices, that, except we reckon as a deviation Methodism, which, indeed, is wrong in the manner, rather than the thing, the fame doctrine continues to be preferved; our Saviour is honoured, and we truft in his merite for falvation. Now, Sirs, after premifing all this, if you, by taking the oath of allegiance, will entitle yourselves to the protection of government, and thereby fecure and make legal the continuance of your con gregations in the different quarters of the kingdom, efpecially in the feveral towns, by your being in poffeffion of a Liturgy, and keeping up a spirit of emulation in preaching the true Gospel of Chrift, you would be of the utmost fervice to your country in particular, and to religion in general. I dread the annihilation of Epilcopacy among you. Nor can the good effects of it to government and religion be preferved by those who are called qualified clergymen in Scotland (perfons ordained by Englith Bishops). They have no bond of union, and they are in circumstances too dependent on their congregations to divide the word of God on all occafions fincerely. Were I indeed a Scotch Calvinift, I fhould pray that you might be directed to this ftep, that your Church might ever be preserved, to keep me and my Church right. For the confettion of faith, as its doctrines of eternal decrees and predeftination are generally underftood, reprefent a good God in too harth a light to be much infifted on, or strictly adhered to, in thefe our days. When the fubject is confidered in one particu lar point of view, there is a folecifm in government's allowing any perfons to continue, as hitherto you have done (I will not fay under its protection, but) within the limits of its authority, who refufe, as you do, to acknowledge obe dience to it. Nothing can account for the indulgence, but a confciousness of the extreme hardship, I would rather fay, the Dioclefian profcription, exer cifed on you at the Revolution. It |