Art. 92. The Univerfal Reftoration: exhibited in a Series of Dia Jogues between a Minifter and his Friend; comprehending the Subftance of feveral Converfations that the Author hath had with various Perfons, both in America and Europe, on that interesting Subject: wherein the moft formidable Objections are ftated, and fully anfwered. By Elhanan Winchester. 8vo. 3s. fewed. Marfom. 1788. The doctrine of the final falvation of all men, which has lately, as well as in former times, had feveral advocates, is here treated in a familiar and popular way, more adapted to engage the attention of the generality of readers, than to afford entire fatisfaction to the accurate critic in biblical learning. But, whatever becomes of his doctrine, we cannot but commend the philanthropy of the writer.E. SERMONS in Commemoration of the Revolution*. I. Two Sermons, preached at Mill-bill Chapel, in Leeds, on the Celebration of the hundredth Anniversary of the happy Revolution. By William Wood. 8vo. 1 s. 6d. Johnfon. The text of the firft fermon is from Pfalm cii. 18-20, The fubject is the rife and progrefs of civil liberty, a subject with which the Author feems well acquainted, and which he has treated with great judgment. The conclufion of this difcourfe is very animated and pathetic. Speaking of our patriotic countrymen, who were virtuously active for our welfare, as well as their own, in 1688, and who now are numbered with their fathers, he adds: Though dead, they yet speak to us with the impreffive eloquence of their never to be forgotten deeds. Clofed as they are in their honourable tombs, their venerable forms this day prefent themfelves to our eyes, and conjure us to preferve, and to improve the rights, for which they bravely rifqued their fortunes and their lives, and which they happily fecured without the effufion of human blood. They charge us to tranfmit what we have received from them, pure and entire to our defcendants, and to fit them for it, by inftilling into their minds a love of piety and virtue, a reverence for the laws, and a public-fpirited ambition of acting, in every department of life, with the exemplary usefulness of good citizens.-Yes, ye illuftrious fhades, we will be faithful to the depofit which you have committed to our truft: we liften with awful refpect to your facred commands; we will not disturb your hallowed fepulchres by our unrighteous lives. Reft in peace, till the blifsful refurrection of the juft; we will then hail you as our magnanimous fathers, and you shall not fpurn us from you as degenerate children.' The text of the fecond fermon is Gal. v. 13. The fubject, religious liberty, or the purity of religion and the rights of confcience. Mr. Wood informs us, that the juft principles of tolerance were little known till the fuperior genius of Cromwell difcovered their force, and openly profefled, that in matters of religion all men have a right to think and act for themfelves, and that while they lived in peace with the reft of mankind, they were free to diffent from the magiftrate and the priest. The author's opinion on this See the lift in the last month's Review. 95 point is very evident from the following quotation, which breathes a truly candid and liberal spirit: Let us efteem as a friend and a brother every honest and good. man, by whatever religious denomination he may be diftinguished; whether he worship at the church or the meeting-houfe, the mafshouse or the fynagogue; whether he ufe a prefcribed or a difcretional form of prayer; whether he prefers an epifcopal, a prefbyterian, an independent, or any other form of church government. In the most corrupted religious communities, numbers are to be found who are ornaments to their own, and would be an honour to any profeffion; the pureft and the best are disgraced by unworthy. members. Then let us not judge of others by the narrow model of our own creed; but love all who love God, and defire, by a patient perfeverance in well-doing, to obtain eternal life. As we are bleft with the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, let us manifeft our gratitude to the protecting magiftrate by a regular and exemplary conduct, by an active difcharge of our refpective duties, and by an animated zeal for the public good. Let us be at peace with each other, and with all mankind, and the God of love and peace will be with us.' As we have been much pleafed with the perufal of these ingenious II. A Century Sermon on the glorious Revolution; preached in SINGLE SERMONS, on other Occafions. Do I. Preached on the Death of the celebrated Mr. J. Henderfon, B. A. of Pembroke College, Oxford, at St. George's, Kingfwood, November 23, and at Temple Church, Bristol, November 30, 1788. By the Rev. W. Agutter, M. A. of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford. 8vo. 6d. Rivingtons, &c. The deceased, according to the account here given of his charac ter, was a perfon of moft extraordinary endowments and accomplishments. He excelled in divinity, law, phyfic, and chemistry; and his knowlege was applied for the benefit of others. He relieved the the poor by his alms, and the fick by his medicines. He confoled the afflicted, and inftructed the ignorant. He defended the injured, and extricated the diftreffed, &c. &c.' With respect to his notions of religion, fome idea may be formed, from what is here faid, in his own words, on a particular and leading article of faith. The paffage is given us as an extract from one of his own letters." I Armly believe that Jefus is very God of very God; is my God as much as the Father, and I adore him and pray to him as fuch. I believe that He, as God, in his divine nature, took upon him human nature, i. e. the foul and body of man. I believe that the Godhead was fully and wholly in his humanity; and that the Father, whom no one man hath feen, or can fee, in his own perfon, became vifible in the person of Jefus, &c. &c. *"-Mr. H. we find, had been con nected with the late pious Mr. Fletcher of Madely, and was with him at the college of Treveka, where, at twelve years of age, he taught Greek and Latin.' In a word, he feems to have been a fecond Baratier; and the preacher of his funeral fermon appears to have omitted nothing that zeal and affection could poffibly fuggeft in his praise. * If this be not what fome people call rational, it is what others term orthodox; and the former, no doubt, will always be out-voted by the latter. II. On the African Slave Trade-Preached at the Maze Pond, Southwark, Nov. 30, 1788. By James Dore. 8vo. 6d. Buckland, &c. Several very material points of national confideration, relative to the criminality of the man-trade, are here adduced with force and feeling; the inhuman treatment of the Negroes, in the tranfportation of them from their native foil, is pathetically reprefented, from the teftimony of feveral writers on the fubject; and we are earnestly exhorted, as free-born Britons, nurfed in the lap of Liberty, to pay due regard to the natural rights of our fellow-mortals,-and to lend our best affiftance to promote the benevolent defign of freeing the poor Africans from the bondage in which they have been fo long, unjustly, and fo cruelly held.-The difcourfe is written with good fenfe and animation. * For this author's Letters on Faith, fee Review, vol. lxxvii. P. 332. Dr. Layard very briefly, and in general terms, complains of the uncandid and violent attacks which have been made on the most important tenets of the Chriftian faith, and on the venerable form of church government derived from the Apoftles and their immediate fucceffors; and he exhorts the friends of true religion vigorously to defend the faithful word delivered to the faints. E. Anfwers to various Correfpondents will be found in our Ap pendix (p. 702. published with this Number.. "P.63. penult. dole "word agreeably? THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For FEBRUARY, 1789. ART. I. The Rural Oeconomy of Yorkshire; comprizing the Manage ment of landed Eftates, and the prefent Practice of Husbandry in the agricultural Districts of that County. By Mr. Marshall. 8vo. 2 Vols. 12s. Boards. Cadell. 1788. WE E congratulate the Public on the early appearance of another performance on the rural economy of diftrias in England by Mr. Marshall. In our account of the Rural Oeconomy of Norfolk, we gave a general sketch of the author's plan, and the manner of his executing his truly interefting work; and it is only here neceffary to recall to the Reader's recollection, that Mr. Marshall profeffes to give a diftinct account of the practice of agriculture, and the general management of land, in the different provincial districts which he may select for that purpose, rather than a didactic performance on the fubject;-without, however, precluding himself from making such obfervations, tending to improve that practice, as may occur. We think this plan, if executed with due caution, cannot fail of proving highly beneficial to the interefts of agriculture, by the diffemination of useful knowlege:—which muft, in the natural courfe of things, conduce to the general advantage of the kingdom. The author has now felected the diftrict of Pickering, near Scarborough, in the north-eaft corner of Yorkshire, as the par ticular scene of his obfervations. This is a fertile vale, of conderable extent; its largeft diameter being about 35 miles in length, and its width about 12, including in its area, and the cultivated lands on its banks, about 300 fquare miles, or 200,000 acres. It is bounded on the north by a great extent of high ground, called the Eastern Morelands; on the fouth, by a ftill more extenfive tract of lower chalky hills, called the Wolds; on the west, by fome irregular rifing grounds that feparate it from the great vale of York; and on the east, by a narrow ridge of high land, between it and the fea, to the fouthward of Scarbo VOL. LXXX. * See Review for Auguft 1787. rough. rough. Mr. M. fays it is a lake left dry by nature: a bafon formed by eminences on every fide, fave one narrow outlet of the waters collected within its area, and upon the adjacent hills, Nature, perhaps, never was fo near forming a lake without finishing the defign. A dam of inconfiderable length acrofs the Derwent, near Malton, would deluge the entire vale, and the firft paffage of the waters would, in all probability, be down the fea cliffs which are its eastern boundary. To render intelligible the geography of this diftrict, our author, always attentive to whatever may convey real information, has illuftrated his work by two elegant maps :-the firft, a general bird's-eye view of all Yorkshire; in which the feveral hills and dales, and other irregularities of furface, are diftinctly delineated :-the fecond,. a plain unshaded outline-map of the vale of Pickering, with its feveral towns and villages, and the rivers and rivulets which water the vale, as they defcend from the high grounds that furround it; all diftinctly marked, and traced through their smaller ramifications. How frequently have we occafion to regret the want of fuch aids, when accompanying an entertaining tra veller or inftructive hiftorian; many of whofe most interesting descriptions are rendered, in fome measure, obscure and unintelligible to the greatest part of their readers, because of this omiffion! The general outlet for the water of this vale is through the channel of the Derwent, whofe ftream is augmented by the junction of the Rye, a little before it iffues from the vale. These two rivers move with a flow and fluggish courfe along the bottom of the vale: the Derwent from east to west, and the Rye in an oppofite direction, receiving the fmaller ftreams from either fide. As a proof of the general flatnefs of the vale, the waters of the Rye are four or five days in paffing from Hemiley to Malton (about fourteen miles): and thofe of the Derwent not lefs than a week in moving from Ayton (about fifteen miles) to the fame general outlet. It is highly probable, that in a state of nature a principal part of the vale was fubject to be overflowed. Even now, fince rivers have been cut, and embankments made, extenfive fields of water are ftill to be seen in times of floods; not, however, through natural neceffity, but for want of farther exertions of art. By increafing embankments, and by removing obftructions natural and artificial *, the rivers, in their higheft fwell, might be kept within due bounds.' The acclivity rifes on either fide with a gentle flope, and dif plays an ample scene of hanging fields around the flat. Such The cataract mill-dam across the Derwent at Old Malton is a public nuifance, which reflects difgrace on every man of property in the Vale. It appears as if intended to finish what nature has left undone! |