Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Review of New Publications.

of them faithlefs ftewards, but who are advifed, by fome acts of kindness, to make friends of thofe who embrace the truth, and will be fons of GOD, and heirs of the kingdom, that, when they are left out, they may remember them, and receive them into their bleffed habitations in the next ftate. To fupport this conftruction, Mr. K. imagines an interval between the beginning of the day of judgment, or first refurrection, and the final confummation of all things, and deftruction of this earth by fire; i.e. during the reign of Chrift on earth, or what is commonly called the Millennium; in which he prefumes many perfons who left this life without having acquired the happy lot of being numbered with the redeemed, yet are far from deferving torment, and therefore have a fecond chance of recovering themfelves, and being faved. This, to us, favours a little too much of purgatory new modified, and contrary to the exprefs words of Scripture, Eccl. xi. 3, that, as the tree falls, there it must lie, and hardly reconcileable with the divine justice and mercy. The text rather is a recommendation of wildom equal to that of the worldly wife, but in a better caufe. When Mr. K. fuppofes, p. 315, the Eastern compliment, "O King, live "for ever!" implies a perfuafion that thofe who could obtain favour through the promifed Meffiah would really live for ever, he forgets the extravagance of Eastern flattery and hyperbole. And when he adopts, p. 319, the LXX's verfion of Deut. xxxii. 8, allotting the feveral nations of the world, according to the number of the angels, he forgets that Mofes is merely speaking of the appropriation of the promited land to the children of Ifrael according to their tribes. Nor has he, in our poor opinion, better, if fo good, authority, p. 329331, for the different fates of nan after death," that fome remain fhut up in "the pit (as), in a Rate of fuffering and fearful expectation-fome are al"lowed to rest and fleep in inactivity "fume go to a place where they find "themfelves in a fituation affording "both peace and comfort, (concerning which place we may perhaps form very probable guesses and conclufions, "though I name them not here,)-and "fome even afcend to heaven, to par "take of glory with their Lord, and "wait till they hall again defcend with "him to judge the world."

343

Section VIII. explains the General Judgment of the laft day, in a fenfe entirely new, our author fuppofing that the fentence of that day is fo far from final, that, though the number of elect, or immediate fervants of, and believers in, Jefus Chrift, be comparatively fmall, yet "at laft, for the fake of those who

66

are thus first perfected, and by their "means, and because of kindness fhewn "unto them, multitudes of others,-in "fhort, all who have manifested real "fincerity of heart, fhall at last find a means to escape." Now, though we have little doubt of the final falvation of all truly good men, of every age and nation, we cannot comprehend this progreffive account of the operation and time of that falvation, any more than we can a fucceffion of time called aionian, or ages of ages, or of all ages, diftinct from eternity.

In Section IX. Mr. K. enters upon the bold attempt, in which fo many have bech foiled, of explaining the Revelations. He confiders the feals as relating to that period wherein the fame fyftem of government continued that prevailed at the time of the prophecy; the trumpets, as marking the changes after the great civilifed part of the world had departed from that ftate and form of things, and had affumed the badge of Christianity; and the vials, as defcribing changes that fhould enfue, more particularly in the Weft, during the prevalence of fome of the other events defcribed as happening in the Eaft, and contemporary with them, and therefore to be defcribed by themselves, in a fort of Appendix. He fuppofes the two first feals have been mifunderftood from miftranflation. The first feal relates to the conquefts of Trajan among people remarkable for the use of the bor; the fecond feal was not to take away, but to receive, peace from the earth; i. e. to establish it as in the peaceful reign of Adrian, and yet leave men to flay one another; the third fea! characterifes the juft and righteous.reign of Antoninus Pius; the fourth, that of Aurelius, and his fucceffors, to Maximus, which were one fcene of plague, fainine, and flaughter, except the reign of Alexander Severus; the fifth refers to the eighth perfecution of the Chriftians in the fucceeding reigns of Decius, Gallus, and Valerian; the calamities of the fixth are emblematic reprefentations of the fhaking of the Roman govern

meat,

ment, as from the fetting up of the 30 tyrants to Conftantine, accompanied, indeed, with remarkable phænomena in the natural world; the feventh feal comprehends all the reft of the prophecy, the events defcribed on founding the feven trumpets, and in the little additional book, after which no fpace of time is left for the accomplishment of any events defcribed by the feven vials; confequently they must be contemporary with fome part of the events of the feven trumpets. The filence between the opening of the feventh feal and found ing the first trumpet denotes the peaceful reign of Conftantine, for 25 years; the hail-ftorm with fire and blood, of the first trumpet, the calamities confequent on his death. The fecond trumpet forefhews the facking of Rome by Alatic and his Goths; the third, the ravages of Alaric and Genferic, and the introduction of Arianifm; the fourth, the conquefts of the Vifigoths, to the extinction of the Roman empire in the dukedom of Ravenna. Some dreadful event, to happen on the founding of the feventh trumpet, is announced by the eagle or angel (for the MSS. differ) flying through the midft of heaven, and crying thrice Woc. Bp. Newton's explanation of the fifth and fixth trumpets is adopted by Mr. K. with the addition of a few general remarks. Among thefe is that which difcovers the ufe of firearms and ordnance predicted and firft ufed in the Turkish armies. The feven

vials are agreed to have been poured out on the corruptors of Chriftianity; and, in his illuftration of them, we cannot help thinking Mr. K. has been very happily comprehenfive. He profeffes himfelf not pretending to prophecy; yet, by comparing events, he gives at leaft as good, if not better, reafons for his explanation as any of his predeceffors. Contemplative minds, that turn their thoughts to thefe fubjects, will always find fcope to exercife their cons jectures. The feveral predictions are meant to be strongly imprefled on fcrious minds: "Come and fee;"-and in this spirit of reverential investigation, our author is led to offer his conjectures for the conclufion of the whole in the courfe of the enfuing century. We are forry our limits do not permit us to tranfcribe the paffage at large from the notes, p. 328-391.

Sir Ifaac and Bishop Newton fuppofereprefented the Roman empire; but

which Mr. K. refers to the Mahometan power, which sprung out of the Syrian, as that did from Alexander, the great goat of the Grecian empire. This opinion he fupports with great ingenuity and plaufibility; and when he follows this power from its rife to the com-mencement of its decline by the interference of Ruffia, he discovers a difcern- . ment of the figns of the times that we do not remember to have traced in any other expofitor. This reference to the Mahometan power is further refumed in

Section XI. from Daniel xi. 40-45; where the Kings of the North and South are explained to mean the Turks and Saracens, who firft contended with each other, and afterwards united to overrun Judea, Greece, Afia Minor, Egypt, and Africa, yet could not wreft from many of the Arabs their independency; and fhall at laft be overthrown by the Ruffians in the North and in the East, or China, India, and Perfia.

Section XII. holds out a new con

ftruction of the account given, Acts v, of the Community formed by the Apoftles; which Mr. K. fuppofe's the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira were intended to put an end to, and, thereby, to all fuch feparate inftitutions among Chriftians in future, and of courfe to monkish cftablishments. This he deduces from the word noλarbai, ver. 12, which he underftands" forming a compact, in"violable property, by an entire union "of property and intereft." But furely the obvious meaning of verfes 12 and 13 is, that the Apoftles kept all together in Solomon's porch, and of the rest durft no man join them through fear of what had just happened, but the people at a diftance magnified them.

Section XIII. clearly vindicates Jude iv. from the idea of predeflination, (the perfons there treated of being @pofispaμ-. μeves, profcribed, rather than predeftinated;) and farther illuftrates the whole verfe, as alfo Roin. iii. 8.

Section XIV. contains proofs of the word xn being used in Scripture for mere animal fpirit, probably refident in

the blood.

In an Appendix Mr. K. takes up fome conclufions, "not fo fully and poIn Section X. Mr. K. proceeds to il-fitively fupported from Scripture" as Juftrate the Little Horn of the He Goat, his former. The firft is the prophecy defcribed in Daniel, viii. 8-25; which of St. Peter, 2, iii. 7, c. refpecting the

deftruction

Review of New Publications.

deftruction of the prefent earth by fire, which, on a comparifon with fimilar paffages in Ifaiah and Revelations, Mr. K. inclines to think means the reduction of our planet to a comet. In the paffage from Ifaiah we apprehend open to bear the fame fenfe as in all the profane writers, the habitable earth, not the whole folar fyftem; and we doubt much how human spirits, if by them Mr. K. means evil-difpofed fpirits, incapable of any good exertions, can be qualified to inhabit a comet. What the LXX chara&erife as particular fowls, or monfiers of the beaft kind, Mr. K. comprehends under the general appellation of foul infets, borrible damoniacal beings, and barrid animals. Ilive, a crazy journey man printer, placed hell in this earth; and Mr. Swinden, in the fun; and each wrote a book about it. As our author fet out with finding heaven in a new place, fo, in the laft fection of the Appendix, he inclines to fix, not only our hell in the centre of our earth, but the hell of every other planet alfo in the centre of that planet. It is to be feared, that the inference drawn to this effect from Pfalm lxiii. 10, and other paffages, is not authorised by the feveral contexts. In the Pfalm particularly the Pfalmift is only expreffing his confidence in Pro. vidence, and his little apprehenfion of danger from his enemies, who would, fooner or later, come to an untimely end, and be put out of the way; which by no means implies his wishing this to happen. There is, perhaps, no lefs uncertainty about the place of ns, whether it does not mean the Grave in general. Mr. K. vindicates the history of Jonah's being fwallowed by a great fish, and ends with a fummary of the Con"clufious ventured into the world in

"these sheets, trufting that there is ftill "further fo much candour, and fuch a "fpirit of philofophical enquiry to be "met with, that he fhall not be deemed "a madman, nor have the whole of "what he has written wantonly fcoffed

"at."

We alfo here clofe this long review of his 622 quarto pages with this remaik, made, we trull, in the fpirit of candour and impartiality, that, in all ages, good men, of the buft intentions, have done more harm to the caufe of Revelation by their fpeculations, however modeftly hazarded, than the whole body of fceptics who object without knowledge or reflection.

GEST MAG. February, 1788,

145

20. Doctor and Student; or, Dialogues between a Dafior of Divinity and a Student in the Laws of England, containing the Grounds of thofe Lars, with 2 flors and Cafes concrning the Equity thereof. The Senteenth Edition. Corrected and improved by William Michell, Gent. 1787. 8vo.

THE author of this book was Chrif

topher St. Germain, of the Inner Teinple, barrifter, fuppofed, in extenfive knowledge in the laws of his country, to be equal to moft men of his time.Soon after this was first published, in 1518, he was engaged in a finart controverfy with a ferjeant at law, relative to a point of doctrine advanced by him in the 12th chapter of the Ift Dialogue; Mr. Hargrave's Collection of Tracts, the particulars of which may be feen in Vol. I. He clofed a long life of piety, usefulness, and integrity, in his Soth year, and was buried in the church of work is mentioned with particular reSt. Alphage, near Cripplegate.-This fpect by Sir William Blackfione, in his Commentaries; Sir William Jones, in his Ejay on the Law of Bailments; and Mr. Reeves, in his Hyfory of the English Law. To the prefent edition are added notes and references to illuftrate the fubjectmatter, and to fhew how the law has

been altered by acts of parliament and judicial decifions.

21. The Controverfiad; an Epifle to a Learned Friend, exhibiting a Sketch of the Controversy between Dr. Priestley and bis Opponents; fome Ailujions to the Controverfial Atacks on the Rev. C. W. Hawkins and bis Wife, by Father O'Leary, and others. 8vo.

WHATEVER becomes of the feve

ral Controverfies here treated of, which feem to be lulled afleep for the prefent, our poet will hardly revive them.Poet, did we fay rather Portafler; for

who can hammer fuch lines as the fol

lowing, and claim a feat even at the foot

of Pindus?

[blocks in formation]

for an univerfal philofopher, did we hear of a fill being the test of opinions. But "Such Priestley is, whom Units must admire." Febral.

Unawed will never rhyme with rod; nor a-day with Thelyphthora.

Speaking of the herd of leffer antagonifts to Priestley, he fays,

Do fuch men write? Do BANTUM Cocks commend?"

But what does he mean by "PEG, FOX, and PRIESTLEY, in a trio join, (Ere yet replete with Rhenith and Sirloin,) Unite-compare-and match them as you

can

A pretty groupe! and worthy PRETTY MAN! Why, why were bishops, why were pulpits made? [aid? What caufe is that which needs fuch heavenly By heavens! his Boy fhould drive him from: the chair,

And bid him preach in Bedlam or Rag-fair?"

The writer of thefe eight lines doubtlefs thinks them very pretty; and also thofe which follow about the Vice-dean of Canterbury's three ftars, which, in a long dull note, are interpreted lies.

But Truth's fair well his facred line defies, Or why pour out the torrent of his ****?** Would it not have been much prettier to have written thus:

"But Truth's fair well defies his facred Squibs, Or why pour out the torrent of his fiba?"

But, to crown all,

Not fo when Horfley ftalks in letter'd pride, With all the grace, not meekness, of a bride. 'Tis then he [Priestley] ftrikes the meditated blow,

And finds his motive in a fcornful foe.
Does Truth appear in native charms array'd?
Revile who may, he hails the blooming maid.
Her form does Error take, with painted hue;
He tears the mafk, and gives her to the view
Unrob'd and full; when either meet the eye,
We mark the law, or heavenly charms defcry.
Confined and fwaddled fhould they both re-

main,

Difcernment eyes and Reafon pores in vain.”

In this hurlothrumbo jumble of fome tolerable and fome intolerable lines, the writer's object feems to be, to prove that Dr. Priestley will think for himfelf in spite of all the world, and is the only judge on earth of what is truth; that none of the writers on his fide afk feducive ore, i. e. are actuated by interested views; that Do&tors Horfley and Price differ from him through pride. — He breaks out into a high-flown panegyric on Truth, who is defcribed

"Like virtuous beauty, 'bove all human coft, Dimm'd with no forrows, bounded by nofky."

Then he hails facred Reafon, and pays her as high compliments, telling her that Price fhall blend the flow of reason with his friend and brother Priestley. Then, in the 29th page, about a dozen fines from the end of his work, he cries

out,

"Here let me paufe; the task offriendship o'er; You afk'd an outline, and I give no more, Should priefts affail, or Priestley papists dami

us,

Pa-pa-ti-en-ter, honest frieml, feramus."

Juft fuch is the hard lot of reviewers, fentence as the nature of the business who have given the author as speedy a would admit; if not as favourable an one as he hoped, the blame is not with them.

22. Mont Blanc. An irregular Lyric Poem. By the Rev. Thomas Sedgwick Whalley, Author of "Edwy and Edilda," a Poem "On Mrs. Siddons," &c. &c. 419. Printed at Bath.

"Wonder of earth! fublimeft midft fublime! Auguft MONT BLANC! who fhall thy praifes fing? [King, What harp, though ftrung like that of Ifrael's To foothe or roufe the foul with numbers fweet; Erhyme, What fong, though breathing all the powers of To celebrate thy glory fhall be meet ?

Yet, fhall Olympus' praise be fung

In potent verfe? Shall Ida's name Dazzle with immortal fame ? With founds as lofty as his wond'rous flame, Shall horrid Ætna's majetty be rung And, greatest thou the works of God among, Shall not thy wonders wake one lyre? Round thy triumphat head no bays be hung? Nor thy fuperior theme fuperior lays infpire ?'

-

then

Monfieur Mont Blanc mounts his throne, puts on his crown, towers up to, and talks with, the fun; draws his bed curtains; then wakes, and thakes his ears; -" Be Aill, be fill;" -the wind blows round his head, and beats down the poor eagles. Then be launches thunderbolts; the furrounding mountains, his vaffals, tremble, and bowl from their cliffs. The Avalanches ftun the thunder. What chance then the nether world? Well may it cry out,

Spare us, mighty mountain, fpare !"

All this horrid fcene is very inadequately compared with what paffed on Sinai :

"So once round Sinai's facred brow,

Thick clouds their aweful covering spread,
To fcreen weak man's imperfect fight
From heaven's intolerable light,
And veil the great Creator's bead;
Yet ftill, by firs, a b.teful beam

Would through furroundingdarkness gleam
And

Review of New Publications.

And now the rnsh of winds was heard,
And now devouring fires appear'd,
And bickering fparks and ruddy flame,
Bursting with thunders through the finoke,
Which, as they burn'd from pole to pole,
The Godhead's waken'd vengeance spoke,
Harrow'd rebellious Ifrael's foul,
And fhew'd the almighty arm from whence
they came."

Now the author "touches a fweet, a
"chearful ftrain."-"All the mountain
"horrors ceafe," and Mount Blanc be-
"comes a vaft Behemoth, heaving above
"the watery plain;" and as, by the help
of the fun beams, be darts his rays with
brilliance and gladdening warmth, Mr.
W. (as poets are very apt to do) ventures
to ask him a few questions about him-
felf and his glaciers,-whence, why, and
what means. The children of Ifrael
are again called in for a fimile? All
the birds and beafts of the Alps attend
on the occafion, with all the leffer
mountains; compared to which, the
piles of Egypt's land are pigmies: the
lordly Dru, the loftier Charmos, the
Needle of the South, with one Argus
eye, great foraffe, the Giant's Tower,
Chamouny, &c. Then come the Al-
pian flowers, and Luna, and a picture
of Winter among the glaciers, in fome
bold figures, for whofe boldness the au-
thor thinks it needful to apologile;
fuch as a meffage fent in thunder relift-
ed, and Winter checked by the mountain
"Banning, yet aw'd at thy command
He, howling, ftays his favage hand"-
and the flowers ftill bloom around for
Mr. W. to lie voluptuoufly down on,
his body preffing the most delicious
perfumes, while a bottle of wine ftood
cooling by in a bed of frozen fnow.
New wonders follow: the diamonds
and fpars in the mountain's' bowels, the
ftreams from his fides, his age, and that
of his mother Earth, his great vicege-
rent the Schreck born of the Swifs Alps,
and how the Angels alighted upon
Mont Blanc's head, to vifit and guard
Paradife; an epifode of the fall and
flood; and, as M. Sauffure conjectures
that the latter did cover this mountain,
fo Mr. W. hopes it will furvive the ge-
neral conflagration.

23. A Sermon by Edward Parry, Rector of

Llangar in Merioneththire. THIS Sermon (from Luke x. 37) was preached in Mold church, Jan. 7, 1787, for the benefit of the Chefter Infirmary, and published at the defire of

147

the friends of the author, who apolo-
gifes for the inaccuracies of hafty com-
pilation. He pays a juft compliment to
Mr. HOWARD; but, when he says,
"bebeld the magnificent flatue," we are
at a lofs which way to look for it, or
whether Mr. Bacon has received orders
to fet about it. But perhaps Mr. Parry
means, hyperbolically, the just tribute
of the people who wish to erect this
monument of beneficence, or that the
aggregate body of all the prifoners in
Europe is the monument.

24. An Attempt to tranflate and explain the
different
rent Pages in the Song of Deborah,
wub the Alliance of Kennicot's Collations,
Roff's Version and Critical Conjectures. By
the Rev. Stephen Wefton, B. D. Reclor of
Mamhead and Hempfton Parva. 4to.

THIS ingenious critic, whofe labours we have before had occafion to commend, conceives that an injudicious use has been made of the Arabic, to the neglect of the Hebrew, language, in illuftrating this piece of Scripture poetry; and modeftly fubmits to the publick "this fhort fpecimen of Hebrew criti"cifm." In the 2d verfe he reads, "for the taking away of the veil in If"rael," where the LXX are justified by fix Hebrew MSS.

Verse 7. The Hebrew and LXX agree in leaders instead of villages. Verfe 8. Mr. W. reads, "The Lord chofe Kedeth of the Weft;" referring it to Barak, who was of Kedefh, and into whofe mouth he puts this ftanza.

Verfe 10. Ye that fit in judgment; or, as the LXX, in chariots, is here tranflat

ed, "it at home in competence," referring it to the fecond clafs of men.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

66

Verfe 11." Above the noife or voice "of the archers;" feil "join or raise your praifes, and rehearfe the rig"teous acts of the Lord, and the bravery of his leaders," as in verse 7. Verse 14. "Out of Zebulun the "fcribes of the boft." Verie 20. The heavens fought, "the night was dark, and the ftars gave "no light." Veric 21. "The river of Kihon "fwept them away"-" Their defiruc"tion was the river Kifhon." Verte 22. "The hortes' hoofs were

[ocr errors]

"broken by the bafty and precipitate 'flight."

Verte 25. Not butter, but thick cream. Verte 26, "She finote Sifera, making "a print with the nail on his head."

Verfe

« ZurückWeiter »