ture, yet it is this doctrine which is fo ftrenuously controverted by Socinians on the one hand, and by Papists on the other, The evidence in favour of this doctrine is adduced and corroborated from various texts and paffages of Scripture; and we are emphatically warned to avoid the errors of those, who either deny the atonement by Chrift's death, or who queftion its fufficiency, as we value the hopes, and venerate the foundation of our religion.

The next object of the pious and learned Prelate is to point out for encouragement and imitation thofe, whose firmness and perfeverance effected our deliverance from the errors of Popery, and who fealed with their blood their pertinacious adherence to the truth. Surely that which coft fo much to establish, deferves to be preferved, nor are we, from the highest to the lowest denomination of Proteftants, at liberty to temporize or compromife religious duty with any political expediency.

But the ftrongest part of the charge, in point of fact and argument, is that which relates to the Veto, and this it is which of itfelf is fufficient to put Proteftants upon their guard against profeffions, however plaufible, or claims, however importunate. The heads of the Roman Catholics in this country obftinately refufe to their Sovereign, what has invariably been conceded to the Kings of Spain, and the Princes of the Continent, Proteftants as well as Papifts,

We are told, indeed, by the advocates of Popery, that every fecurity fhall be given for the fupport of the established Church, and of the Proteftant fucceffion, that is confiftent with the rights: of confcience. As long as the Romish Church continues in its unreformed ftate, thofe rights of confcience must be an infuperable bar to any thing like reciprocal conditions on their part. Even the unavailing meafure, called the Veto *, which was held out. to both Houses of Parliament, on their own authority, is a proof of fuch impediment. Though this offer was made much use of

"The Kings of Spain have long regarded themselves as the immediate patrons of all the benefices, dignities, and bifhoprics in their dominions. The Chapters of their Cathedrals were indeed' in the cuftom of electing their Bishops, but the Crown had always a preponderating influence over thefe elections. In the year 1482, the Catholic King obtained for himfelf a Papal buil, granting him the power of nomination to all bishoprics in his dominions. De Laborde's View of Spain, Vol. V. p. 26. Other Princes on the Continent, Proteftant and Popish, poffefs the fame right; yet our Roman Catholic brethren have declared that they cannot, in confcience, confent to the King's exercifing fuch a power,"

on the occafion, it was afterwards declared by themselves to be impracticable and impoffible. What ftep towards reciprocation has ever been made by the Romanifts in return for all the conceffions which have been made to them within these last thirty years, the removal of penalties, and the grant of valuable rights? What has been done by them towards leffening the objections which Proteftants have to the conftitution of their Church, and to their religious creed? The errors of their creed were among the chief grounds of our feparation from their Church; and the connection of their Church with a foreign jurifdiction, is inconfiftent both with thofe civil and ecclefiaftical rights, which the King is worn to maintain, and for the fupport of which the Proteftant fucceffion was established by law, And yet their advocates, who plead fo loudly for their rights of conscience, are altogether filent on the confideration that is due to the confciences of Proteftants-a Proteftant King, a Proteftant Government, and a Protestant Clergy; who, in fidelity to their refpective functions, feel themfives bound to refift the progrefs of Po; ery, and are perfuaded, that to admit the Papifts to the privileges which they folicit, without any renunciation, on their part, of the errors which diftinguith their Church, would be to abandon all the principles adopted in the Reformation in one century, and in the Revolution in the next. What fecurity can be given against the abuse of power in the hands of thofe whofe principles and confcience are at variance with doctrines which we revere as Chriftians, and with rights which are moft dear to us, as Englishmen, and members of the Established Church?

"If my opinions could have any weight with them from the confideration, that my age, at leaft, may exempt me from the imputation of worldly or felfith views on this fubject, I should think myself moft happy. If I could, in any way, conduce to diffipate thofe dangerous errors of fpiritual delufion, which keeps them at fo great a diftance from many effential truths of Chriftianity, and alienates them from that community of faith and charity which ought to bring Proteftants and Papifts into one fold under one fhepherd," P. 9.

In reply to the prefumed intimation that all endeavours to accomplish the project of union between Papifts and Protellants must be impracticable, and are therefore ufelefs, it is urged that we are bound by our duty to agitate these questions. There is a folemn obligation, even to exert ourselves in enforcing the conviction, that it is idolatry to deify and worthip the confecrated elements; that it is facrilege to fupprefs half the Eucharift; that it is blafphemy to ascribe to angels and faints the divine attribute of univerfal prefence; that it is impiety to deny the fufficiency of our Saviour's fa crifice once offered; and finally, that it is a crime against the laws of this country to admit a foreign fupremacy and ju

rifdiction.

rifdiction. When the Roman Catholics fhall fee thefe fubjects in the point of view in which we, as well as all our Proteftant brethren behold them, then, and not till then, will we alfo become advocates for the removal of thofe lefs important reftrictions, of which the Papifts ftill, but as we think unreasonably, complain. Then, and not till then, will that CATHOLIC UNION be eftablifhed, for which the good Bishop, in common with his brethren, fervently and devoutly prays.

The Charge concludes with the following energetic paragraph:

"If I fhould live to fee a foundation for fuch union well laid and happily begun; if Providence fhould but indulge me 'with even a dying profpect of that enlargement of the Meffiah's Kingdom, which we have reafon to hope is not very remote, with what confolation and joy would it illumine the last hours of a long life? With what heartfelt pleafure fhould I use the rapturous language of good old Simeon: Lord, now letteft thou thy fervant depart in peace!'

"May that gracious Saviour, who has left us, in the record of his Gofpel, his own anxious prayer for the union of his dif.. ciples, promote and profper the bleffed work of CATHOLIC UNION; and for this purpose, may he diveft the minds of both Proteftants and Papifts of all prejudice and paffion, of all indirect and uncandid views, and of every feeling contrary to the fpirit of the Gofpel. May he difpofe all parties, to make the word of God the rule of their judgment and conduct; and fo form the hearts of all to the fimplicity of the Gofpel, that in all their endeavours for the good of the Church, their great purpose may be to feckChrift, and him crucified; and, (while they depend on his death alone for the pardon of their fins) to govern their lives by obedience to his Gofpel. May he fanctify them by his word, and fo difengage their minds from the rudiments of the world,' from the burden of fuperftitious ordinances,' and unfcriptural obligations, that they may fincerely fulfil the cominand of Chrift, to worship God in fpirit and in truth.'" P. 13,

6

We

After the analyfis and extracts which we have above given, commendation is unneceflary, and praife would be fuperfluous. We are proud to add, that every argument and affertion introduced by the Bishop is in ftrict conformity with our fixed and invariable opinions. have only to fubjoin our earneft hope, that a life fo ufeful and fo valuable may yet further be prolonged, enlightening us by its wifdom, and animating us by its example.

# Cor. xi. 2.

t Col. ii, 20."

ART.

ART. VII. Efays and other occafional Compofitions, chiefly reprinted. By the Rev. R. Nares, Archdeacon of Stafford, &c. &c. In two Volumes. Poft 8vo. 16s. Rivingtons.

1810.

ALTHOUGH the Effays and other Compofitions, of

which these two neat volumes confift, are chiefly reprinted, they are yet proper fubjects of our criticifm. They have never before been collected; and of those which now appear for the fecond time before the public, the greater part were first published before the commencement of our critical labours. In the order in which they are here placed, the first, and, if not the moft ufeful, perhaps the most original tract in the whole collection, is An Effay on the Damon, ar Divination of Socrates, firft printed in 1782, but in this fecond edition confiderably improved.

"Whether the great and excellent Socrates," fays the author, "had or had not a fupernatural attendant, a 'prophetic dæmon, by whofe warnings he was frequently affifted; whether he ima. gined himfelf to be fo attended, or wifhed only to impress that belief upon thofe about him; or leftly, whether a mifconftruc. tion of his words and an inattention to his ftyle of converfation, have not been the fole fupport of thefe extraordinary ideas; are queftions long debated, varioufly handled, and yet at this day confeffedly undecided."

The author, in his notes, gives a copious lift of the wri, ters, ancient and modern, by whom this queftion has been difcuffed; rejects, as utterly inconfiftent with the character of Socrates, the fuppofition that he practifed deceit; obferves juflly, that he feems not to have had, like many other ancient philofophers acroatic or exoteric principles; and reduces the opinions, which have been generally received concerning

his dæmon to two heads:

"1. The first is, that of those who are inclined to give implicit credit to the hiftory, as commonly understood, and to allow that Socrates was actually attended by a familiar dæmon; an opinion founded upon the words of Plato; fupported, upon the principles of his philofophy, by the fuperftition of his followers; and too eafily admitted afterwards by the Platonizing Chriftians, whofe notions of dæmons were nearly coincident with thofe of the Academies. 2. The fecond, and of late years, for evident rea. fons, the more in fashion, is that of thofe, who endeavour to explain away the meaning of the word demon; who would per fuade themfelves and others, that the reafon, penetration, or wif

dom

dom of the philofopher, with a certain felicity of conjecturing contingent events, is all that the expreffion implies." P. 19.

That both thefe opinions are ill founded the author proves by arguments, which adinit, we think, of no reply. His own hypothefis, however, will have fome objections to encounter, unless the two following propofitions be previously admitted; but these he thinks, and we heartily agree with him, are too plain to accafion even the flightest hesitation.

"1. That for the determination of any queftion concerning Socrates, whether it relate to his hiftory or to his opinions, the authority of Xenophon is preferable to that of Plato. 2. That a fingle inftance of error, or of fuperftition, is by no means incompatible with the character even of the greatest and beft of men." P. 23.

Mr. Nares produces feveral arguments in fupport of these propofitions, for which, as we think them almost fuperfluous, we refer to the Effay itfelf. He then obferves, that as the Platonic writers were the first who difcuffed the question of the dæmon of Socrates, it has been chiefly viewed through the medium of their reprefentations, and that the tincture of Platonifm has remained upon it to this day. After these pre liminary obfervations, he fays that

"The folution now proposed to be given of this famous queftion is founded on a fact very often denied, from a mistaken zeal for the character of Socrates, but certainly not capable of being denied, when all that we know of him is recollected. The fact is this-Socrates believed in the gods of his country, and was not free from the superftitions connected with that belief; par ticularly thofe refpecting omens and divination. 'The idle

fables related of the heathen deities he probably rejected*; as the figments of inventive brains; but thefe might be falfe without affecting the existence of those beings, of whose interpofition in the conduct of human affairs he feems not to have en tertained the fmalleft doubt. This fact moft evidently appears from every history of his life, and from every regifter of his opinions. Such being his established principles, he was thence naturally led to the belief in omens, dreams, oracles, and divinations of every name and fpecies; a belief which, as he took it up without any rigorous examination, grew doubtless, according to the invariable nature of fuch ideas, habitual and inveterate in his mind.” Pp. 30, 31, 35, 36.

Of this it will be seen by and by, that there can be no doubt. Rev.

Of