Sayfadaki görseller
PDF
ePub

"Hence, a Deity being conftantly placed at the head of every polical fociety, it followed, that there were as many different Gods as people. Two different communities, ftrangers to each other, and almoft always at variance, could not long acknowlege the fame Mafter; nor could two armies. drawn up againit each other in battle, obey the fame Chief. Thus Polytheim became a natural confequence of the divifion of nations, and thence the want of civil and theological toleration in any.

"If it be asked, why there were no wars on the score of Religion among the Pagans, when every State had thus its peculiar Deity and worship? I anfwer, it was for this very reafon, that each State having its own peculiar Religion as well as Government, no diftinction was made between the obedience due to their Gods and that due to their laws. Their political were thus theological wars; and the departments of their Deities, were prefcribed by the limits of their respective nation. The God of one people had no right or authority. over another people; nor were thefe pagan Deities at all ambitious of exclufive empire; partaking, without jealoufy, in the command of the world. Even Mofes himfelf fpeaks fome. times in this manner of the God of Ifrael. It is true, the Hebrews defpifed the Gods of the Canaanites, a people pro.. fcribed and devoted to deftruction, and whofe poffeffions were given them for an inheritance; but they speak reverently of the Deities of the neighbouring nations whom they were forbidden to attack. Wilt not thou poffefs that, fays Jeptha to Sihon, King of the Ammonites, which Chemofh thy God giveth thee to poffefs? So whomfoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we poffefs. There is in this paffage, I think, an acknowleged fimilitude between the rights of Chemofh, and thofe of the God of Ifrael.

"But when the Jews, being fubjected to the Kings of Babylon, and afterwards to thofe of Syria, perfifted in refufing to acknowlege any God but their own, this refufal was elteemed an act of rebellion against their Conqueror, and drew upon them thofe perfecutions which we read of in their history, and of which no other example is afforded us till the establishment of Chriftianity.

"The religion of a people being thus exclufively attached to the laws of the State, the only method of converting other nations, was by fubduing them; Warriors were the only Miffion aris; and the obligation of changing their religion

being a law to the vanquished, they were firft to be conquered before they were follicited on this head, So far were men from fighting for the Gods, that the Gods combatted, as they do in Homer, for mankind. Each people demanded the victory from its refpective Deity, and repaid the fervice by the erection of new altars.

"The Romans, before they befiaged any fortrefs, fummoned its Gods to give it up; and tho' it be true, they left the Tarentines in poffeffion of their angry Deities, it is plain they looked upon thofe Gods as fubjected, and obliged to do homage to their own: they fometimes left the vanquished in poffeffion of their religion, as they did of their laws. wreathe for Jupiter in the Capitol, being often the only tribute they exacted.

A.

"At length the Romans, having extended their religion with their empire, and fometimes even adopted the Deities of the conquered, the people of this vaft empire found themfelves in poffeffion of a multitude of Gods and religions; which not differing very effentially from each other, Paganism became infenfibly one and the fame religion, throughout the known world.

"Things were in this ftate when Jefus came to establish his fpiritual kingdom; which neceffarily dividing the theological from the political fyftem, gave rife to thofe inteftine divifions which have ever fince continued to embroil the profeffors of Christianity.

"Now this new idea of a kingdom in the other world, having never entered into the heads of the Pagans, they always regarded the Chriftians as actual rebels, who, under a hypocritical fhew of fubmiffion, waited only a proper opportunity to render themfelves independent, and artfully to ufurp that authority, which, in their weak and rifing state, they pretended to refpect: and this was undoubtedly the caufe of their being perfecuted.

"What the Pagans had feared, in procefs of time, alio came really to pafs. Things put on a new face, and the humble Chriftians, as their number increased, changed their tone and language; while their pretended kingdom in the other world became, under a vifible head, the moft defpotic and tyrannical, in this.

"As in all countries, however, there were civil Governors, and laws, there refulted from this twofold power a perpetual ftruggle

MONTHLY CATALOGUE,

For DECEMBER, 1762, Continued.

RELIGIOUS.

Art. 1. Samuel Roe's Obfervations on the great Doctrine of Tythes
Confidered. 8vo. Is. Nicoll.

WE are furprized that a man of fame life and spirit, as the Au

thor of this little tract appears to be, could throw away fo much time and paper upon fuch an inconfiderable object; for he himself deems the work of his Opponent to be only the over-flowing of an heated imagination, or the effect of an irregular and difordered brain: manifelting itself in flanderous reports, repro chful fafehoods, and ecclcfiaftical Billing fgate:-all to blacken and mifrepresent the Quakers. In defence of this fect, and alfo to give a mortal ftab to the churchdoctrine of Tithes, and even, if poffible, to overthrow the Church itself, our Author ftands forth;—and, (though fighting be a very unquakerly principle) many a fmart stroke has he aimed at the establithed Clergy in general, as well as at poor Mr. Roe in particular, whom he unmercifully bruifes and batters from head to foot: here a flap in the chaps, there a black eye, now a punch in the ftomach, and then a kick on the breech. Nor is he too, any more than the Parfon, wanting in reproachful language, as fcurrilous even as the ecclefiaflical Billingfgate, which he fo jully condemns in his reverend Antagonift; bind Prief, low-lived and greveling Divine, being fome of the fofteft names by which he vouchlafes to diftinguith him. This brings to mind a late altercation, which the Writer of the prefent article overheard, between two ragged Bailiff's Followers, as they fat wrangling on a bench under his window, in one of the Inns of Court. As the warm dialogue grew rich, one of the enraged Blackguards ftarting from his feat, and cafting a fide-glance of ineffable "See what a man gets difdain at the other, vehemently exclaimed, by keeping fuch dad low-life company!"

POLITICA L.

Art. 2. An Epistle to his Excellency the Duke d' Nivernois. In
which a new Light is cast upon fome Tranfactions of the highest
Importance to the Honour of Great Britain as well as to that of
France. To which is added, an humble Addrefs to the greatest
Affembly in England. By (unfafhionable as the Term may
appear) a real Lover of his Country. 4to.
Wilfon and Fell.

Is. 6d.

This real Lover of his country is evidently fome young Politician, whofe wit by far outftrips his judgment. It had not been amifs, however, had he taken time to learn the name of the refpectable

perfonage

[ocr errors]

perfonage whom he hath here addreffed. How far his Excellency may edity by this crude performance, if he should condefcend to read it, we do not pretend to fay; but, for our own part, we mult confefs ourselves as much in the dark as before, with regard to any of thofe important transactions, on which this Writer pretends to throw a new light. He makes one obfervation, nevertheless, of the truth of which his Epistle is an eminent proof, viz. that " in England we take unaccountable liberties, and have a strange method of speaking about men and meafures.”

As to the humble Addreis annexed, it is nothing more than a pert and flippant repetition of fome trite and captious objections to the preliminaries of peace.

Art. 3. A Letter from a Member of Parliament in Town, to his Friend in the Country, upon the three great Objects of present Attention, Peace, Parties, and Refignations. 8vo. I S.

Burnet.

Moderately, and not altogether injudicioufly, inveftigates the Preliminaries; which, upon the whole, the Auther approves : tho' he thinks, that the limits of Canada thould be more clearly and accurately afcertained in the definitive Treaty. He alfo takes notice of "a very material omiffion in thefe articles, which is, not mentioning that great and extenfive country Labrador, which reaches from the N. E. of the Gulph of St. Lawrence as far as Husfon's Boy a as we may doubtlefs fuppofe the French will avail themflves of this great tract of land, as yet uninhabited by Europeans, to form a fettlement upon the Atlantic Ocean.-If, therefore, we would prevent the French re-establishing their empire in North-America, it will be neceffary to ftipulate, in the frongest and most expiels terms, that they shall not fettle upon, or fortify, any part of the country of 1 abrador."

In what this Member of Parliament (for St. Kida, perhaps, or the Bofs in the Firth of Forth) has faid in relation to the State of Part es among us, at this critical juncture, and concerning the Late relignations, he more openly fhews himself an Advocate for the Mi niltry; he fneers at the Gentlemen fuppofed to have taken the leat in the new oppofition; works Mr. Pitt's patriotifm and gout; and concludes with fome comp iments to the Earl of Bute.

Art. 4. The comparative Importance of our Acquifitions from France in America. With Remarks on a Pamphlet entitl 1, An Examination of the commercial Principles of the late Negociation in 1761. 8vo. 1s. Hinxman.

"This pamphlet was writ before the preliminary articles of peace were figned, which have fince been ratified, and communicated to Parliament. They are conformable to the main fcope of the Author's argument, although in fome very important particulars they exceed his moft fanguine hopes; and he is happy in finding, that his

L.lay

Effay upon what ought to be, is now become, if it hath any force, a vindication of terms actually concluded." These are the words of this very fenfible Writer, in an Advertisement prefixed to the masterly performance before us; of which, the points contended for being actually fettled, it is now unneceffary for us to enter into particulars.

Art. 5. The true Whig difplayed: Comprehending_cursory Remarks on the Addrefs to the Cocoa Tree. By a Tory. 4to. Is. Nicoll.

Our Readers will eafily guess what kind of a picture a true Tory will draw of a true Whig. The Author is, indeed, a moft rancorous dauber. He has painted an ugly devil, and wrote WHIG under it, in flaring capitals: with as much propriety as we have feen Queen Anne fubfcribed to a frightful figure, which otherwife would have been taken for the Turk's Head:

Staring, tremendous, with a threa:'ning eye,

Like fome fierce Tyrant in old tapestry.

We would advife this angry Writer, to reflect calmly, if his warmth of difpofition will permit him, on his own obfervation, p. 2. that "the zeal of party is feldom worthy of praife."-He will alfo do well to confider, whether it can poffibly redound to the true interest of a British King, to be reprefented as the favourite object of regard with the Tories, and equally difefteemed by the Whigs: which, we truft, is by no means a juft reprefentation. His Majefty, we are perfuaded, reigns equally in the hearts of all his fubjects; and is neither a King of Tories nor a King of Whigs, but a King of England: as Pope expreffes it, in his Letter to Atterbury.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 6. The Trial of the Roman Catholics. By Henry Brooke, Efq; Author of Guftavus Vafa, the Farmer's Letters, &c. &c. Dublin printed, London re-printed for T. Davies, 8vo. 5s. in boards.

The most masterly defence of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, with regard to the common objections brought against them by their proteftant fellow-fubjects; and to the political restraints under which they are held by the laws of that kingdom. According to this very fenfible and fpirited Writer, the Protestants have been unjustly prejudiced against the Roman Catholics; and the Government hath been unreasonably afraid of them. The form of a judicial procefs, under which Mr. Brooke has chofen to difcufs this important fubject, renders his work more entertaining, and, perhaps, more convincing, than it might have proved in that of a continued differtation; in which both fides of the queftion might not have appeared in fuch distinct and contrafted lights. Serjeant Statute, and Counsellor Candour, argue the feveral points very pertinently; tho' it muit be ob

« ÖncekiDevam »