Concerning POPE JOAN, Courayer, in his notes upon a libel in the ninth book of Sleidan's History of the Reformation, remarks thus. "C'étoit une opinion assez commune, dans le tems que parut ce libelle, que la personne, qui a porté le nom de Jean VIII. a été une femme, qu'on assure avoir accouché d'un fils la troisième année de son pont fedt. Mais il n'y a presque personne aujourd'hui, qui ne convienne que cette historiette est une fable qui n'a pas le moindre fondement, et qui est contredite par tous les monumens contemporains.'

E

Il est visible, par les conclusions de Malvenda, aussi bien que par celles de Bucer, qué la dispute sur la JUSTIFICATION, qui a été un des principaux points de division entre les catholiques et les protestans, n'a été proprement qu'une dispute de mots, et qu'on ne s'est attaqué que faute de vouloir s'entendre. Car les uns et les autres convenoient, de bonne foi, que la foi en Jésus Christ et la pratique des bonnes œuvres sont également nécessaires pour le salut, que l'une sans l'autre est insuffisante, et qu'il est également contraire à la raison et à l'analogie de la foi d'exclure l'une ou l'autre comme non nécessairé à la justification." La chaleur des contestations, au commencement de ces disputes, fit, à la vérité, qu'on exprima quelquefois, de part et d'autre, d'une manière si outrée qu'il étoit assez naturel de penser que les uns n'exigeoient aucune bonne œuvre comme nécessaire au salut, et que les autres tenoient peu de compte de la foi. Mais et les aveus faits en d'autres endroits de leurs écrits, et les limitations proposées forsqu'on venoit à s'expliquer, démontrent clairement, et qu'on convenoit dans l'essentiel, et qu'on ne se contredisoit, ou que dans les expressions ou que dans les idées de logique ou de métaphysique, qui faisoient placer la cause formale de la justification dans un point plutôt que dans un autre. Courayer sur Sleidan, tom. ii. p. 280.

11

1-1

What Courayer says on this head is true enough perhaps of the disputes between protestants concerning justification, who all deny the merit of good works; but is not so strictly just of the disputes between the papists and the protestants, as there was a particular difference between them concerning the meritoriousness of works. See Faith.

The first approach towards IMAGE-WORSHIP amongst the nations was, as some learned men probably suppose, their erecting stones and pillars in honour of their deities. This seems to have been an abuse of a custom that was originally used by theworshippers of the true God, who were wont to erect large stones, as monuments, in places, where, in those, antient times, there had been remarkable divine appearances; and there they erected altars and offered sacrifices.. See Gen. xxviii. 18, 19. Leland's Christian Revelation, vol. ii. p. 457.

But to this supposition there seems to arise a difficulty, which is this, that the erecting of those pillars and the worship of images seem to be at the same period of time, or rather plain stones or pillars might be erected in contradistinction to images.

IDOLOLATRIAM

IDOLOLATRIAM ante diluvium extitisse nusquam legimus, nec etiam tunc fuisse credibile est. Quia recens adhuc erat mundi creati memoria, et religionis puritas ab iis, qui vocabantur Filii Dei, conservabatur. Limborch Theolog. Christian. lib. iii, c. 6.

But may it not rather be inferred, from the deluge, that this was the principal sin which induced the Deity to destroy the whole race of mankind except eight persons; and as the Scripture informs us that all flesh was corrupt, surely the sin of Idolatry hardly escaped them: besides, when the worshippers of the true God were distinguished by this peculiar appellation, the sons of God, does not this title seem to be given in contradistinction to the worshippers of false gods, as they expressly are, 1 John, iii, 10.

Mr Apthorpe, in his Letters, p. 161, supposes that the antediluvian world was characterised by a moral apostacy, and that polytheism, or IDOLATRY, did not commence till after the deluge. But why might not mankind be as prone to this sin in the antediluvian age as after? and,-when we read that all flesh was corrupt, does not this seem to include the sin of Idolatry? And, in whatever sense we understand those words of Genesis, c. iv. 26, it may be inferred that Idolatry had then taken place: for, if we translate them, with some, then men began to call themselves by the name of the Lord, this must be supposed to be in contradistinction to others who worshipped some other being, (perhaps Satan under the form of the serpent; for, the worship of the serpent seems to have been of great antiquity, and hence certainly arose that early error of two principles). If, with others, then men began to profane the name of the Lord, the same inference still follows, that they worshipped some other being besides their Creator. And it is rather inconsistent to suppose that they should so soon after the flood fall into Idolatry and be entirely free from it before, as they had had so recent and so dreadful an example of God's vengeance, and that the Deity should punish mankind so severely for the violation of moral duties, and not punish them at all for Idolatry till the destruction of Pharoah and his people. And does not the apostle, in his epistle to the Romans, c. i. suppose that the corruption of the moral principle was judicially inflicted upon mankind, in the earliest ages, as a punishment for the perversion of their religious principle?

Inter causas, quæ genuerunt opinionem de INTERCESSIONE SANCTORUM, facile principem obtinet locum philosophia Platonica, cujus dogma est, animas pias post excessum ex hac vitâ dæmonas effici terrestres, optimos, mali Averruncos et custodes generis humâni. Et inter Christianos Platonicis impense addictus Origines primus opinionem eam in ecclesiam invexit. Sed consilii saltem Nicæni tempore pontificii in pellere neminem potuerunt ad invocandos defunctos, tametsi particularum eorum intercessionem aliqui faterentur. Voss. de Inv. Sanct. Disp. x. 6, 7.

If we examine the antient book of JOB, who descended from Abraham and lived before the promulgation of the Mosaic law, we shall find that there is scarce any one of the moral precepts, which were afterwards published to the people of Israel, but what may be traced in the discourses of that excellent man and his friends, and which are there represented as having been derived by tradition from the most antient times." Leland's Christianity, vol. ii. 4to. p. 27.

10

"The power of JUDICATURE, in our excellent constitution, is so justly tempered, so properly disposed, and placed in such safe and faithful hands, that there never existed any nation whose happiness in this respect was so wisely considered or so effectually secured. It is the great and singular privilege of every subject of this happy state to be judged by a jury of his own equals, by those, who, from a similitude of situation, of circumstances, of interests, and even of sensations, are most likely to give evidence with justice, with candour, with equity, with mildness, and tenderness; as friends rather than judges, as an assembly of brethren rather than a tribunal of inquisitors; appointed in such a manner as to leave no possibility for fraud, malice, or prejudice; consisting of such a number as that their unanimous consent must imply a clear and certain investigation of truth; so far liable to the refusal of the party, whose life or property is in question, that those who are not refused may justly be esteemed his own choice. The venerable magistrate who pronounces sentence, though distinguished by the name of judge, bears in reality a character superior to the ordinary import of that name, that of a being abstracted front all external regards, without affection or partiality, without passion or prejudice. It is Law herself uttering her decrees with a human voice, who absolves without favour and punishes without resentment. Lowth's Assize-Serm. Aug. 15, 1764.

99

But this singular privilege of the subject, and that of true representation, is in some measure defeated for want of a reform in the right of freeholders to vote at elections and to serve upon juries: for, a man can scarcely be said to be tried by his peers now, when the qualification of forty shillings a year for a freeholder to serve upon juries, when first established, was at least equivalent to thirty pounds a year at present" as, according to Lord Lyttelton, the custom of trying by twelve men is of Saxon original. See his Letters, 6th.

Crediderim melius esse extra templa locaque sacra IMAGINEs, quam in iis reperiri; nimium vicina est idololatria occasio, ubi in templis imagines conspiciuntur. Facilis levisque a religione ad superstitionem, ab admiratione ad devotionem transitus est, nisi repagula singulis pæne momentis objicias. Utilitas vero, quæ ex illarum positione speratur est tam parva, ut non modo non cum periculo Idololatria aut saltem cum illius periculi metu, sed ne quidem cum aliis damnis atque incommodis, quæ inde proveniunt, conferri mihi posse videatur. Optarem Christianos hujus sæculi sapientissi

mum

mum Deum imitari, qui templum suum, vacuum ab omni imagine esse voluit; et pripum mi seculi puriorisque consuetudinem, quâ templis locisque sacris imagines exesse severa religione jubebantur. Simplicitas illa innoxia est, et tuta ab Idololatriæ et supersti tionis periculo. Quæ vero ex imaginibus utilitas speratur, ea alio remedio facillime refarciri potest, quod periculum aut metum istum periculi non habet. Episcopius de cultu Imagin. c. vi.

I

In memory of the cessation of the great eruption of the mount Vesuvius last year, attributed to a miracle, of ST JANUARIUS, a marble statue has been erected by the. city of Naples upon Maddalena bridge; and, at the bottom of the pedestal, the following inscription has been lately placed: "Clement XIII. pope, grants one hundred days indulgences, toties quoties, for ever, to each believer, who devoutly invokes this statue of our patron St Januarius. By brief, dated the 10th of May, 1768." London Gazette; Naples, October 25.

·,,

JULIUS CESAR was without doubt a person of extraordinary parts and wonderful abilities in all the arts of war and civil government, and of equal diligence and application in the use of them. He was beloved and revered by the people, honoured and adored by his friends, and esteemed and admired even by his enemies. But, as his ambition, which knew no bounds, prompted him to inthral his country and usurp a despotic and arbitrary power over those who were as free as himself, he met in the end with that doom which all tyrants and usurpers deserve. If the state had been deemed irretrievable, and a usurper a necessary evil, Rome could not have had a better than Casar: but, as Brutus, Cicero, and the best and ablest Romans, judged otherwise, the dictator's power and dominion were downright usurpation, and consequently every Roman was warranted, by all the laws of Rome, to put him to death."

During the several expeditions of Casar into Gaul, he is said to have taken 800 cities, subdued 300 different nations, and to have defeated, in several battles, 3,000,000 of men, of which 1,000,000 were killed and another taken prisoners. Circumstances which would seem greatly magnified, were they not vouched by Plutarch and other authentic historians. Univ. Ilist to masterɔ sit, qofbryd and a

Historians, for what reason I know not, are fond of describing the transactions of JAMES I's reign with ridicule; but, for my own part, I cannot avoid giving just applause both to his wisdom and felicity. Upon a review of his conduct, there are few of this monarch's actions that do not seem to spring from motives of justice and virtue; his only error seems to consist in applying the despotic laws of the Scottish government to the English constitution, which was not susceptible of them. The clemency and the justice of this, monarch's reign early appeared from that spirit of mo-.

12

deration

deration which he shewed to the professors of each religion. The minds of the people had been long irritated against each other, and each party persecuted the rest, as it happened to prevail. James wisely observed, that men should be punished for actions only, and not for opinions; each party murmured against him, and the universal complaint of every sect was the best argument of his moderation towards all. Were we to take the character of this monarch from Rapin, we should consider him as one of the worst of princes, even while he pretends to defend hiin: he strongly insinuates throughout that James was a papist, with no better proofs than his being ever a favourer of toleration. He had but just before blamed Mary, and with reason, for her implacable partiality, yet he condemns James only because he was impartial. To this monarch the English are indebted for that noble freedom of opinion they have since enjoyed. The reformation had introduced a spirit of liberty, even while the constitution and the laws were built upon arbitrary power. James taught them, by his own example, to argue upon these topics; he set up the divine authority of kings, against the natural privileges of the people: the subject began in controversy, and it was soon found that the monarch's was the weakest side. Lyttleton's Letters, let. 38.

That every word and letter in the Scriptures should be dictated by the Holy Spirit, 1st. Unnecessary, as the authors of these sacred volumes did not want the assistance of the Holy Spirit in matters of facts and sayings, which had fallen under their own observation. 2dly. Had these Scriptures been inspired by an organical conveyance, there must have been the most perfect agreement amongst the several writers of the Gospel in every circumstance of the smallest fact. But we see there is not this perfect. agreement in some minute particulars, which regard neither faith nor manners. 3dly. Supposing a verbal INSPIRATION, the turn of style had been one and the same throughout all the sacred books. 4thly. The words of Scripture must have been preserved throughout all ages, pure and free from mistakes and corruptions of transcribers. In what sense then is this inspiration to be understood? Without doubt in this, as it is the only one which agrees with appearances, and fully answers the purpose. That the Holy Spirit so guarded the pens of those writers, that no error of importance fell from them, by enlightening them with his actual Inspiration in all such matters as were necessary for the knowledge and instruction of the Christian Church, which, either through ignorance or prejudice, they would have falsely or partially represented, and by preserving them, in the more ordinary course of providence, from any mistakes of consequence in the narrative of those things, whereof they had acquired a competent. knowledge in the common way of information. In a word, incessantly watching over his agents; but with so suspended a hand as permitted the use, and left them to the guidance, of their own faculties, while they kept clear of error, and then only interposing, when without the divine assistance they would have deviated from truth. War burton's Sermons, vol. i. p. 228.